Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 9 Intelligence
At the entrance of the Guiwang Mansion, three important officials dressed in bright red court robes slowly walked out, with different expressions on their faces.
"What a great guy, Qu Jiaxuan, he really has some tricks"

Ding Kuichu snorted coldly, glanced at Qu Shisi behind him, and then waved his sleeves and got into the car and left.
Qu Shisi watched the carriage leave silently. After a long silence, he suddenly spoke softly.

"This matter has nothing to do with me, and I have a clear conscience."

Qu Shisi's face was silent, as if he was talking to Lu Daqi beside him, but also seemed to be talking to himself.

After Qu Shisi finished speaking, he got into the car and left without waiting for anyone to respond.
Lu Daqi looked at Ding Kuichu who was leaving to the left, and then looked at Qu Shisi who was walking to the right, with an inexplicable expression on his face. Then he waved to the carriage waiting on the side, got on and left.

He couldn't tell whether someone was really behind this incident, but he knew that everything today was just the beginning. These two people were not easy to deal with.
Not only these two people, even the young-looking King Gui is not an ordinary person. I am afraid that there will be another fierce battle in the court in the future.

In the study room of Prince Gui's mansion, Zhu Lang lifted up his robe and saw a dark blue patch on the outside of his thigh.

Zhu Lang rubbed it gently with his hands, and felt a sharp pain. He couldn't help but hissed and took a breath of cold air.

Zhu Lang is not an actor with a good acting sense. Why did his eyes turn red just now? It happened suddenly because it really hurt.
Zhu Lang rubbed his bruised thigh, with a grimace on his face.
You old gang members just wait, when I take power, it will be up to me to decide whether I will deal with you or not.
Zhu Lang was thinking about how to deal with these people in the future. When he was excited, he couldn't help but laugh, which scared Li Guoyong who opened the door and walked into the study.
"Prince," Li Guo asked tentatively.

"It's okay, what happened, have those three left?"

Zhu Lang's face straightened up, and he returned to his usual respectful and upright demeanor.

"Yes, the three adults have left, but they seemed to have some disputes at the door, and they seemed to leave unhappily in the end," Li Guoyong replied softly.

"It's right to part ways unhappily"

Zhu Lang sneered. Why did he spend so much money and even resorted to the self-torture trick to get Jiao Lian to Beijing?

On the one hand, of course, he wanted to control an armed force that obeyed his orders. On the other hand, he wanted to use Jiao Lian's entry into Beijing to provoke a fight among several people in the court.

If the ministers in the court were all in harmony and united, how could Zhu Lang fish in troubled waters and seize power to control the government?
However, after today's encounter, he felt more and more anxious. Although the court was now divided into three factions, the problem was that none of these three factions belonged to him.
Ding Kuichu, needless to say, had his own army and was trying to control the court before the persuasion was over.

Lu Daqi is obviously a fence-sitter. With the orthodoxy of the Longwu Dynasty in his hands and a group of ministers under him, he waits and sees the situation and is ready to bet on both sides.

Although Qu Shisi was a loyal minister, he was a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, not a loyal minister of Zhu Lang.
It is obvious that sending troops to Beijing will be extremely beneficial for Zhu Lang to quickly seize the court. If he is really loyal to Zhu Lang, he should come out to support it.
Jiao Lian's coming to Beijing would even be beneficial to Qu Shisi himself, but Qu Shisi still advised him to withdraw his decision today.
Because Jiao Lian's arrival in Beijing is likely to irritate Ding Kuichu, and may trigger another fierce confrontation in the Ming Dynasty court.

The Ming Dynasty was now in turmoil and could no longer withstand internal strife, so Qu Shisi took the initiative to retreat and even came forward to persuade Zhu Lang in order to maintain the stability of the central government.

These three people have their own calculations, some are loyal and some are treacherous, but the only thing they have in common is that they are not Zhu Lang's people and are not on the same page with him.
"We must train a person of our own in the court as soon as possible."

Zhu Lang narrowed his eyes slightly. If he wanted to control the court, he must have his own confidant in the court. If he wanted to place his confidant in the court, he must take control of the military power as soon as possible.

Thinking of this, Zhu Lang suddenly looked at Li Guoyong and spoke softly.

"Has Wu Hujun come back? Go find him and ask him to come see me."

Li Guoyong responded and left in a hurry.

Zhu Lang rubbed his thigh and paced in the room. Less than a quarter of an hour later, Li Guoyong led Wu Jisi into the study.

"Old Wu, thank you for your hard work."

Zhu Lang looked at Wu Jisi, who was sweating profusely, and said softly

"It's not hard. It's not hard to do errands for the prince." Wu Jisi's eyes flashed with a sense of comfort, and then he answered loudly.
Zhu Lang patted Wu Jisi's arm, asked him to drink the tea, and then asked

"How is the investigation into Li Mingzhong going?"

"Time was too tight, so I only did a rough check, but I still figured out the basic situation."

Wu Jisi was modest in his words, but he held his head high. It was obvious that he had not just figured out the basic situation as he said.

"I knew that Old Wu is still capable."

Zhu Lang also praised him, and then Wu Jisi began to report on Li Mingzhong's situation.
"Although Li Mingzhong is now the general of Wuzhou, his ancestral home is in Gan Province, so he is actually a Liao general..."

Wu Jisi presented a piece of neatly arranged letter paper. Zhu Lang looked at the information in his hand and compared it with Wu Jisi's report. He gradually formed an image of Li Mingzhong in his mind.

As Wu Jisi told his story, Zhu Lang's eyes became brighter and brighter.

"In addition, I also heard that although Li Mingzhong led 6,000 people to camp outside Zhaoqing City, he seemed to have some disputes with the Governor-General's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi. I heard that the Governor-General's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi paid insufficient food and wages, and the two sides had quarreled several times."

Wu Jisi finished explaining Li Mingzhong's basic situation and then reported the gossip he had heard in the city.

“Good, well done”

Zhu Lang's eyes brightened when he heard this. His thoughts quickly took shape. He couldn't help but stand up and praise loudly.

Zhu Lang paced back and forth in front of his desk, going over the idea that had just arisen in his mind, and finally made a decision.
Originally, he had planned to take his time with Li Mingzhong, but after listening to Wu Jisi's report, he decided to act immediately and arrest Li Mingzhong.

"How much silver is left in the palace for national use?"

Zhu Lang looked at Li Guoyong who was standing beside him.

"Your Majesty, since the mansion moved to Guangdong Province, we have lost all our fiefdoms and all our expenses are allocated by the court. Therefore, we are short of silver. If we do not want to affect the normal operation of the mansion, I am afraid that... we can only get less than 300 taels of silver."

Zhu Lang fell silent after hearing this. Since crossing over, he has been busy training himself to prepare for being able to escape at any time in the chaos of the army in the future. On the other hand, he is planning his future development direction. He has never paid attention to the expenses of his own palace. Since crossing over, he has three dishes and one soup every day, with meat and vegetables, and they are all cooked by chefs. The quality is better than that of eating out in later generations.
To be honest, what he eats now is better than what he ate before he traveled through time, and this is the result of his order to save as much as possible.
He originally thought that the situation in the palace should be good, but he did not expect that the palace's expenses would be so tight.
For ordinary people, three hundred taels of silver is of course a huge sum of money. During the Chengping period, three hundred taels of silver was probably enough for a family of three to live comfortably for a lifetime.

But he was a vassal king of the Ming Dynasty, and a direct descendant of Emperor Shenzong, and the palace could only afford three hundred taels of silver.

What can three hundred taels of silver do? It's not even enough to feed Li Mingzhong's six thousand men for ten days.

Zhu Lang stood there, frowning and thinking, three hundred taels is definitely not enough
His eyes turned and fell on the two people standing quietly beside him. A light flashed in his eyes.

"Old Wu, I want to discuss something with you. How much silver can you give me now?" Zhu Lang said softly with a friendly expression on his face.

"Ah...this"

Wu Jisi was stunned. He obviously didn't expect Zhu Lang to say this. However, when he saw the prince standing beside him with a kind face, he suddenly panicked and had to bite the bullet and answer.
"I have to pay five... no, three hundred taels of silver. Your Highness, you know that my monthly salary is just that little, and I have such a large family at home..." Wu Jisi complained repeatedly.
Zhu Lang smiled as he looked at Wu Jisi, who had a bitter face. He nodded repeatedly, as if he agreed with what he said, but in his heart he did not believe a word of it.
The Gui Palace was poor, but that didn't mean that Li Guoyong and Wu Jisi, the two stewards inside and outside the palace, had no money. Not to mention the daily expenses of the palace, they were basically handled by these two people.
Besides, ever since the court announced that they would support Zhu Lang as the regent, there have been countless eunuchs and servants in the front yard of the palace. Do you really think that anyone can enter the Gui Palace at this time?
Li Guoyong and Wu Jisi must have made money in this process.

But Zhu Lang didn't care about these. In this era, everyone would make money from their subordinates' work. As long as they were loyal to their work, Zhu Lang would turn a blind eye and let it go.

He didn't want to find out how much money they received. He just wanted to know that they had money to spend.
"Five hundred taels, Old Wu, bring five hundred taels here, I'll lend it to you," Zhu Lang interrupted Wu Jisi who kept begging for mercy and said with a wave of his hand.
"Your Majesty, I really ..."

Wu Jisi's face was filled with grief and indignation. He had always been paid for doing things for others, but he had never heard of someone having to pay for his own work after doing things for his master. How could he go to seek justice?

Zhu Lang ignored Wu Jisi who was still trying to beg for mercy, and walked back to the desk, took a piece of letter paper, and quickly wrote a few lines of big characters:
"Zhu Youlang has borrowed five hundred taels of silver from Wu Jisi, agreeing to return it in six months. This document is hereby written as a proof of payment."

Zhu Lang quickly wrote the words, then took the King of Gui's golden seal from the side and stamped it on the loan note.

"Old Wu, I won't say much to you. The three of us are all connected in wealth and glory. If we prosper together, we prosper together and if we suffer together, we suffer together. I need this silver now. This is the IOU. Please keep it. I will return the money to you in the future."

Wu Jisi looked at the IOU with the seal of the King of Gui in his hand, and his face was in a panic. He knelt down with a thud.

"What is your Highness doing? If your Highness wants money, just tell him. There is no need to sign a promissory note. This is really embarrassing for me."

"I will go back to get the money, but you cannot accept this IOU. Please take it back, Your Majesty."

Wu Jisi knelt on the ground, as if the IOU in his hand was hot and he refused to take it.

"If I ask you to take it, just take it. Why are you talking so much? If it's someone else, I won't give it to you. This matter is settled. No need to say anything more."

Zhu Lang stuffed the IOU into Wu Jisi's arms without saying anything, and then pulled Wu Jisi up.

"Don't kneel down when there are no outsiders around. There are no so many rules between you and me, the master and servant," Zhu Lang said softly.

Wu Jisi glanced at Zhu Lang and found that he was really not angry, and his face did not look unhappy, so he felt a little relieved.

He had no choice but to hold the IOU in his hand, but it seemed to be too hot to touch. He was neither left nor right, and his expression was even more bitter than before when he hadn't received the IOU.
"Your Majesty, I have saved some silver, and I can also take out 500 taels of silver."

Li Guoyong looked at the IOU in Wu Jisi's hand and gritted his teeth and said
The prince even took out the IOU, which clearly showed that he really needed money. Besides, Wu Jisi had already paid the money, but Li Daban didn't. How would the prince look upon him in the future?
Old Wu is dragging his feet and is not very helpful, so Li Guoyong should take the initiative to serve the prince and let him know that he, Li Daban, is the prince's first confidant.
But five hundred taels of silver... it really hurts
Zhu Lang glanced at Li Guoyong, whose face was filled with pain, and was somewhat speechless. If you feel so bad, then don't say it.
"Forget it. What can you do with these hundreds of taels of silver? Do you really think your prince's IOU is just a random one?"

Zhu Lang waved his hand, but Li Guoyong on the side became anxious. Since the prince had accepted the money from Old Wu, how could he not accept the money from Li Guoyong?

"Your Majesty, I really do have five hundred taels of silver, and I can give more, more..."

Li Guoyong, who was standing by, hadn't decided how much more money to pay when Zhu Lang interrupted him.

"That's it. Even if you can come up with another 1,800 silver coins, what can you do with this little money? Let's get down to business now."

Zhu Lang was indeed not lying. He borrowed 500 taels of silver from Wu Jisi not because he could do anything with the extra 500 taels of silver, but because 300 taels of silver was too much to bear.
Zhu Lang straightened his face and said

"Li Daban, go to the mansion and take out three hundred taels of silver, and then put it together with Old Wu's five hundred taels."

"Remember, take out 50 taels of the 300 taels of silver from the palace and cut them into small pieces for me. Don't cut them too evenly. Cut them into small pieces of a few cents, one tael, and several taels."

Li Guoyong looked at his own prince's face and found that he really didn't seem angry, so he quickly agreed.

Hearing the prince's request, he looked a little confused, but he didn't dare to ask any more questions.
Then Zhu Lang looked at Wu Jisi on the other side.

"Old Wu, please take a moment to go out of the city and find a way to invite Li Mingzhong to come to the palace to see me."

"What if Li Mingzhong refuses to come?" Wu Jisi lowered his head and said
Zhu Lang was silent for a moment
"He should come back. As long as he is not crazy, he will definitely come."

Zhu Lang seemed to confirm what he was thinking and repeated it again.

"When you go to the army, be polite and don't lose your manners. If he insists on not coming, then the information you have gathered may be wrong and you need to check again."

"Let's get things done first, you guys go ahead."

Zhu Lang thought for a moment, then waved his hand and let the two of them leave.

The two bowed to Zhu Lang and left in a hurry, not daring to disturb Zhu Lang who suddenly became silent.

Zhu Lang looked at the two men going away with an inexplicable look in his eyes. If everything went well, he would not have to wait for Jiao Lian to come to Beijing. He would be able to intervene in the court situation in advance and gain the qualifications to truly compete with the three men.

In the new book period, if there is a chapter of more than 4,000 words, it will be updated once. Today is a chapter of 4,000 words.


(End of this chapter)