When Wei Bao arrived, Li Jingbai and his two sons, as well as Liu Yangyao, the general soldier of Shandong, were already waiting.

"Meet Master Wei!" When several people saw Wei Bao coming, they hurriedly got up.

In fact, according to their official ranks, Li Jingbai and Liu Yangao are both second- and third-grade officials, both of whom are much higher than Wei Bao's official ranks, so there was no need to be so polite.

But behind Wei Bao is the Yamen of the Governor of Haiphong, and he is a big celebrity around the emperor, according to reliable sources, Wei Bao also has a very good relationship with Wei Zhongxian.

This series of factors combined with each other has caused Wei Bao to be more disadvantageous than the ordinary second-grade official, although he is currently only a fifth-grade official.

Which five-rank functional officer can bring Shang Fang's sword?

Wei Bao's official hall not only has the sword of Shang Fang given by the emperor, but also the seal of the prison army who went to Liaodong!

In addition, Lord Wei also wore a nine-dragon jade pendant given by the emperor on his waist.

All of this shows one thing, Master Wei, it's not good to cheat.

"You're welcome, everyone." Wei Bao smiled: "Please sit casually, I haven't gone to Shandong yet, I didn't expect you to come to Tianjin Wei." Thank you very much. ”

Seeing that Wei Bao was so kind, several people looked at each other, and secretly said that this guy can really pretend, you have arrested so many people at one time, you must have known that we were behind our backs!

"Master Wei, don't tell lies in front of real people, everyone knows that you, Lord Wei, are a first-class smart person in the Ming Dynasty, and he is deeply appreciated by His Majesty! Therefore, the last general will not go around the bend in front of Lord Wei. Liu Yangwu said.

"General Liu doesn't have to be polite, just say it if you have anything to say, I'm also a very open person, I like to go straight, and it's boring to beat around the bush." Wei Bao laughed.

"Well, as I said below, if the imperial court must dismiss my 50,000 soldiers in Shandong, if there are 50,000 people left, who should be kept? Laying off 50,000 people, who should be laid off? It's a big problem! Giving the brothers enough money to settle down is another big problem! If it is so difficult, why should we brothers in the defenders of Shandong be moved! Everyone is a hereditary soldier, deeply favored by the emperor, and never dares to slack off in peacetime, and if you want to abolish it, you should definitely not dismiss our soldiers and horses in Shandong! Needless to say, how important is it for us to guard the Gyeonggi gateway for the royal family, right? If you want to cut the defenders in remote places, you should also cut them! Liu Yang'ao got straight to the point.

"Although Shandong is the gateway to Gyeonggi, is there not enough 50,000 people to defend it? The soldiers are fine but not many, and they will be brave but not wide! Besides, at present, the imperial court has huge expenses, and there have been famines in various places for many years, and you are not unclear about these facts! Normal assessment, full payment of settling-in allowance to the brothers who go home, do a good job of persuasion, and there will be no chaos, it depends on your generals to do the work! Moreover, at that time, the Yamen, the governor of Haiphong, will give birth to many industrial bureaus, and just to build docks and docks, there will be a lot of management personnel who will be needed in the future, and there will be industrial craftsmen who will not say it, and they will give priority to the dismissal of the brothers, and the brothers who want to do things will do things, and who can have an opinion on this? Wei Bao said solemnly: "As for violating your interests, there will be more or less a little, but definitely not more, the people who follow me Wei Bao have never suffered losses!" ”

Wei Bao not only lays out facts and reasoning, but also draws a big pie to win over, which is his basic skill in both hands.

"Master Wei, you are not violating our interests at all, but you have cut off everyone's financial resources! Besides, if you take away all the power to collect taxes in all places at once, the yamen below and the squires everywhere will also be dissatisfied. Li Jingbai was afraid that Liu Yang's temper would be urgent, so he choked up with Wei Bao, and couldn't help but rush to say: "I hope Master Wei can understand the difficulties of our people, and do everything slowly, and if you slow down, you will be round." For example, a few hundred people will be laid off this year, and a few hundred people will be laid off next year, increasing year by year, as for the tax law, the Ming Dynasty has not changed for hundreds of years, and the sudden changes have made everyone at a loss, isn't it going to give birth to chaos? I hope that Lord Wei will report our difficulties and hardships to the court. ”

Wei Bao smiled slightly: "It's a good thing to slow down, if it is according to your intentions, you don't have to do anything." The court raised us as officials to contribute to the court, not for the benefit of the gentry below! We have to pretend to be Ming in our hearts, and the people of Daming! Don't you see hunger everywhere? Don't you see that people everywhere are struggling to make a living? If you go to Beijing, there are hungry people even near the capital, and all parts of Shaanxi are victims who can't eat and revolt angrily! Don't you feel anything when you think about it? Without Daming, what kind of personal position do you talk about? What personal interests to talk about? ”

After Wei Bao finished speaking, he only felt that he was full of righteousness.

He didn't even think about these words, he simply blurted them out.

This is the words that have been pressed in Wei Bao's heart for a long time, and he has long wanted to say to people, no matter what era it is, if he doesn't pretend to be the people in his heart, and the people can't eat, he should rebel! Even Wei Bao wants to support them in their rebellion!

Wei Bao knew that once the large-scale rebellion broke out and more and more people participated in the rebellion, it would be too late for these people to try to reform.

Because rebellion is easy, you can eat by fighting and killing, who doesn't like to get something for nothing?

In the final analysis, people are murderous animals, and human nature is evil!

It is human nature to compete, to possess, to get something for nothing!

"Master Wei, what do you mean, you just didn't talk about it? Don't forget, the credit of our 100,000 soldiers in Shandong! If you really don't talk about it, your official position will be lost, and then the court will know the difficulties and retreat, and the only one who will suffer is you, Lord Wei, yourself! Liu Yang said angrily.

Li Jingbai was shocked when he heard this, but Liu Yangyao's words had already been spoken, and it was too late to stop it, so he could only sigh deeply, "Master Wei, you can be considerate and considerate of our subordinates!" In this eventful autumn, it is not easy for everyone, they are all colleagues in the officialdom, why bother with each other? It's not that we have to go against Master Wei, and no one can agree to it. If Lord Wei insists on this, please allow us for a few months, and we will ask the imperial court to transfer to another place together, so as not to block Lord Wei's sunny avenue! ”

Li Jingbai was already very humble in what he said, and he really didn't want to clash head-on with Wei Bao.

They are all people with eunuch attributes.

And Wei Bao is a big celebrity in front of the emperor, and he has a good relationship with Wei Zhongxian.

If you count it, Wei Bao and them should actually be regarded as one camp.

Wei Bao shook his head and said: "Master Li, I don't want to embarrass you, I am also entrusted by His Majesty and the Nine Thousand Years Old, and I have to act like this, if you have the ability, go to the Beijing Division and say to Your Majesty and the Nine Thousand Years Old, I am happy to be relaxed." ”

"But you are now a political participant of the Governor of Haiphong, Yamen? This governor of Haiphong has not set up a governor in the yamen, so can't we only look for you, Lord Wei? Liu Yangao said angrily: "These words should naturally be said to the imperial court by the Yamen, the governor of coastal defense." Whoever else comes, I say the same thing. Also, Lord Wei, I have asked someone to inquire with my friends in Beijing, Gonggong Wei didn't say anything to death, just asked you to try it first, the court did not issue a strict decree, saying that this thing will not be done What about you, Lord Wei! As long as you prevent this catastrophe for us this time, our Shandong officials will all remember the benefits of Lord Wei! Wouldn't it be the best of both worlds to do our best to express our hearts? ”

Wei Bao smiled slightly: "Then what if I don't want this best of both worlds?" As I said just now, I think the intention of the imperial court is right, and the appropriate reduction of troops is indeed beneficial to the Ming court! As long as it is beneficial to the Ming court, I, Wei Bao, will resolutely approve! ”

"Master Li, don't talk about it, let's go!" Liu Yangwu saw that all the good things were said, Wei Bao just didn't eat oil and salt, and he was impatient.

Li Jingbai sighed, and wanted to try to persuade Wei Bao again, Li Jingbai felt that Wei Bao was not like a very rigid person, and he really couldn't figure out why the other party would not hesitate to offend the entire Shandong officialdom? There are also people from Hejian Mansion and Cangzhou Mansion.

Song Yingxing also thinks about the same thing as Li Jingbai, and Song Yingxing also thinks that if the two sides collapse like this, it will not benefit anyone.

Song Yingxing naturally knew how powerful Weijiazhuang, Tiandihui, and Liaonan were.

But this power, used for its own development, is barely enough, and if it is used to sweep away all parts of Shandong, the loss will be great, obviously hurting the enemy 10,000 and losing 8,000.

Moreover, Cangzhou Mansion, Hejian Mansion and Shandong are too injured and too many people are killed, and this matter will be completely big, and when the time comes, all parts of the Ming Dynasty will boycott together, even the imperial court will not be able to bear it, this matter will definitely not be done, and when the time comes, you still have to find the head of your own president.

Wei Bao, who was sitting firmly in the Taishi chair, saw Song Yingxing who kept making eyes outside, but ignored it completely.

Li Jingbai tried to persuade a few more words, but Wei Bao still insisted on what he said just now, and refused to give up an inch.

Liu Yang was angry and said goodbye first, and Li Jingbai had to leave with his two sons.

When everyone left, Song Yingxing came in with a sad face: "President, if it's good, why can't you say it well?" Fall out with them completely, and the situation will not end! ”

Wei Bao smiled: "Do you want to say that I am too rigid and self-serving?" ”

Song Yingxing gritted his teeth and said, "Forgive me for talking nonsense, it's indeed a bit stubborn!" ”

"Mr. Song, do you really want to make peace with me? Didn't you hear them just now? They don't want me to disarm at all, let alone reform the tax system! Wei Bao stood up and said, "In that case, what else is there to talk about?" No matter how much we talk, we can only let the other party look down on us, thinking that we are soft persimmons, easy to pinch! ”

Yang Xue, Xiong Xin'er, Zuo Guozhu, and Song Yingxing's two sons also came in at this time.

Yang Xue and Xiong Xin'er both agreed with Wei Bao's attitude just now.

"There is really nothing to say to these people, they are all selfish, they only have their own silver in their hearts, where will they care about the life and death of the people? I think the president did a good job. Yang Xue said resolutely.

Xiong Xin'er also nodded and said, "The big deal is that they will continue to find someone to run our money bank!" As for sending troops to rebel, they don't have such courage! ”

"That's not necessarily, they're not small." Wei Bao disagreed with Xiong Xin'er's opinion: "We have to prepare in advance for the other party's dog to jump off the wall!" ”

"Then does the president want to transfer a team of people from Weijiazhuang? There are only two or three hundred people around you, how can you stop an army of 100,000? Song Yingxing said anxiously.

"They claim to be an army of 100,000, and a small half of them are paid empty salaries, but in fact there are only about 70,000 at most, and if you dig up the old and weak, you can fight at most 50,000! It is impossible for 50,000 people to be of the same heart as them, they are really henchmen, and they can be mobilized casually, at most 12,000 people, how can they calculate an army of 100,000? Wei Bao smiled.

Song Yingxing saw that Wei Bao didn't care, and sighed: "Yes, if the president doesn't like to hear it, I haven't said it." ”

"Mr. Song! I don't like to hear it, isn't that a discussion? Don't be so irrational, okay? You don't have to accept your point of view when you talk about it, otherwise what else will you talk about?"

This was the first time Wei Bao spoke to Song Yingxing so harshly, and Song Yingxing was startled.

Everyone present was also shocked, and Song Yingxing's two sons were even more frightened.

Even Lin Wenbiao rarely saw President Wei speak so harshly to civilian personnel.

Wei Bao was also in a bad mood, although he drove away Li Jingbai and Liu Yangyao strongly.

But Wei Bao knows very well that the next thing will become more and more troublesome, and he is fighting millions of people with his own strength, fighting the gentry class supported by millions of people.

If these millions of people were to be placed in Europe in a different place, they would be the population of the whole of Europe!

If Europe is moved next to Daming, Wei Bao is confident, with the current strength of Weijiazhuang and Liaonan, not to mention beating the whole of Europe, it will be easy to suppress anyway!

The problem of China is always the problem of one's own people and one's own people, and this is not arrogance, this is a fact.

A discussion broke up unhappily.

Wei Bao rested for a while, had lunch, and went to find Song Yingxing.

Song Yingxing was reading a book sullenly.

Wei Bao smiled and arched his hand: "Mr. Song! ”

Song Yingxing hurriedly stood up, "Don't dare to be the president!" Something? ”

"It's nothing, I'll make small talk to you." Wei Bao smiled.

Although Song Yingxing's words fiercely contradicted him, Wei Bao was not angry.

In fact, Song Yingxing was not angry, Wei Bao was younger than his two sons, Wei Bao was fifteen years old, and he was in charge of such a big power, how could he not have a temper?

Both men know very well that they are both right things and not people.

Wei Bao took the book that Song Yingxing was reading just now.

It's a very shabby book.

Wei Baoqi said: "Does Mr. Song still need to read such a shabby book?" Is it because it is not enough? ”

"No, no, don't get me wrong, I now have thousands of taels a year, more than ten times more than the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty, how can it be insufficient?" Song Yingxing explained: "This book has been with me for many years, and I have always taken care of it, and looking at this book can calm my mind." ”

"Oh, what kind of book is this? So much magic? Wei Bao was curious.

Song Yingxing then told the origin of his book.

When Song Yingxing was fifteen years old, he heard that Shen Kuo's "Mengxi Bi Tan" in the Song Dynasty was a scientific work of high value, so he longed to read it.

Whenever he saw a relative, friend or neighbor who was literate and literate, he eagerly asked if they had the book.

One day, he heard that the Wenbaozhai bookstore in the town had just purchased a batch of new books, so he hurried to buy books, but the bookshelves were all four books and five classics, and there was no "Mengxi Pen Talk".

The shopkeeper saw the young man looking around by the bookshelf, and secretly wondered in his heart that he didn't buy so many scriptures, what was he looking for?

The shopkeeper stepped forward to inquire only to learn that he was going to buy "Dream Creek Pen Talk".

The shopkeeper told him that people now read the Four Books and the Five Classics in order to gain fame, and no one buys scientific books even if they are available.

Song Yingxing had no choice but to leave Wenbaozhai in frustration.

On the way back, Song Yingxing kept thinking about the book in his mind, where to find it.

He let out a long sigh and shook his head helplessly. While walking, I thought about it, only to hear an "ouch" sound, bumped into a pedestrian in front of me, and then looked at the ground, which had already sprinkled many meters of nakedness.

At this time, Song Yingxing's mind returned to his eyes from "Dream Creek Writings", he apologized repeatedly, and hurriedly bent down to help the pedestrian pick up the rice naked.

After checking and checking, my eyes lit up, and there was a line of "Dream Creek Pen Talk" on the waste paper of the rice class.

This is really nowhere to find the iron shoes, and it takes no effort to get it.

He hurriedly asked the man where he had bought the book so that he could find the book.

Song Yingxing ran for several miles in one breath before he was out of breath, sweating profusely and catching up with the old man who sold the rice class, and wanted to pay a high price to buy the waste paper from the old man's rice class.

The old man saw that he loved books, so he found an old book and gave it to him, which turned out to be a fragment of "Dream Creek Writings", and the second half of the book was missing.

The old man told him that he had asked the owner for the book when he passed by the Nancun pulp shop early in the morning.

Song Yingxing ran all the way to the pulp shop, but the second half of the book had been disassembled and soaked in the pool with other old books, and was about to be beaten into pulp.

Song Yingxing was so anxious that he rubbed his hands and turned around by the pool, looking at the books in the pool with a painful heart, and tears fell.

He took the shopkeeper's hand and said eagerly, "Please, help me get the book "Dream Creek Writings" out of the pool." As he spoke, he took out all the money on his body, put it in front of the boss, and took off his clothes as a gratuity.

The boss was puzzled and said, "Child, this pool of waste books is not worth all this money!" ”

Song Yingxing told his boss about his search for this book. The boss was deeply moved by this spirit of study, and hurriedly asked the craftsman to go down to the sink to find the half of the book from the scattered pile of wet paper.

Song Yingxing returned home with the wet book, carefully separated the pages one by one, dried them, and bound them.

He finally got the book of his dreams.

Wei Bao nodded, looked at the "Mengxi Pen Talk" in his hand, and said with great feeling: "Mr. Song's desire for science makes me deeply admire!" ”

I think that in modern times, he himself had scientific knowledge at his fingertips, but he didn't read many books well, which made Wei Bao feel very ashamed.

Compiled by Shen Kuo, a scientist and politician in the Northern Song Dynasty, Mengxi Writing is a comprehensive notebook covering the natural sciences, technology, and social and historical phenomena of ancient China.

The book has also received international attention, and the British historian of science Joseph Needham praised it as "a milestone in the history of Chinese science".

The content covers various disciplines such as astronomy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, etc., and its value is extraordinary.

The natural science section of the book summarizes the scientific achievements of ancient China, especially the Northern Song Dynasty.

In terms of social history, the decay of the ruling group of the Northern Song Dynasty has been exposed, and there are relatively detailed records of the military interests of the northwest and north, the evolution of the ritual system, and the disadvantages of the old enslavement system.

The book in Song Yingxing's hand is the only book in the Yuan Dynasty, although it is only one of them.

But Wei Bao knew that if this book was passed down to future generations, it would be worth less than a city.

However, for Wei Bao, its scientific value is okay.

Wei Bao put the book down, "The matter of the Heaven and Earth Society running the school, Mr. Song has to worry more about it." ”

"It's all what I should do, eat the king's luck, bear the king's worries, I eat the president's money, and I have already regarded myself as a member of the Heaven and Earth Society." Song Yingxing said.

Wei Bao was very happy to hear this, and patted Song Yingxing's arm: "Thank you, Mr. Song, you just said that it's good not to completely fall out with the other party, I'm impatient, I feel that there is no room for turnaround, and I don't want the other party to think that we are too lustful, so I didn't hold back, and I did something absolutely, after all, one of them is the governor of Shandong, and the other is the general soldier of Shandong, which is not trivial, not comparable to ordinary officials, and they are all local powerful factions!" Now he has contacted the Jin merchants and many local yamen officials, as well as the gentry and big families from Shandong, Hejian and Cangzhou Mansions, which is indeed very difficult to deal with. ”