Chapter 134: Fifty Thousand Taels

Ning Qiangui and Wu Tongzhi are also familiar with each other, and there was no intention of evasion, who would have thought that when Wu Tongzhi entered the door, there was still one by his side, and Wu Tongzhi's attitude was obvious, and the status of the person who followed him was relatively high, but this person was not an official in Jiaozhou City, and Master Ning immediately retired and avoided it.

Seeing that there were outsiders, Li Meng was a little puzzled in his heart, but Wu Tongzhi was also his own person, so he stood up with a smile and said:

"Distinguished guests come to the door, please come inside."

Having said that, Li Meng's body did not move, this is the difference in status and status, and he gradually adapted to this kind of rule, but to his surprise, Wu Tongzhi dodged half a step, let the people around him step forward, and said:

"Master Li, there is indeed a distinguished guest today, this is Brother Liu Qian of the Shangguan Family of Gonggong Liu's Mansion, Jiaozhou City, who only arrived yesterday afternoon, and came over today."

The great eunuchs in the capital often have their own houses in the city, and there is a way to be a seven-grade official in front of the prime minister's door, in fact, the gatehouse of the powerful ministers and eunuchs, even if it is a third- or fourth-grade official, they have to treat each other with a smile, and the head of the celebrant and the pen, that is also a great character, no wonder Wu Tongzhi is so respectful.

It's just approaching the end of the year, it stands to reason that among the Beijing divisions, the head of such high-ranking officials should be the busiest one, why come to Jiaozhou, if it is in the summer when the transportation is smooth, it is just that, in winter, the canal is frozen, and it can only rely on land, and now the army is in chaos, but the risk is not small.

Turning a corner in his mind, Li Meng had a smile on his face, walked down quickly, and said:

"This is really a rare guest, a rare guest, I don't know if Gonggong Liu is doing well in Beijing?"

Although Liu Qian was dressed decently, he looked like an old farmer, and when he saw Li Meng coming down, he didn't dare to slack off, so he hurriedly took a few steps forward, knelt on the ground, kowtowed, and said respectfully:

"The nephew and the young master said that he really killed the slave, my master Liu asked the nephew and the young master, he is in good health, is this position suitable?"

Wu Tongzhi on the side was taken aback, looking at Liu Qian's attitude, the relationship between Li Meng and Jingshi Liu Gonggong was much closer than he imagined, and he said with a respectful attitude of 120,000 points:

"Master Li, your own family has important matters to discuss, and the next official will retire."

"Master Wu went to find Master Xianing, I still have some souvenirs to offer."

Li Meng said casually, and sent away Wu Tongzhi, who was smiling, while reaching out to help Liu Qian, who was kneeling on the ground, Liu Qian's attitude as soon as he entered the courtyard was very respectful, which really made Li Meng a little unsure of what he was going to do. Invite someone into the house now.

Maybe Liu Qian is indeed majestic in Beijing, but here he abides by the duty of his subordinates, as soon as he entered the room, he first took the teapot on the table and poured Li Meng full of hot tea, and then stood aside, the scene was a little quiet, and after a while, Li Meng said with a smile:

"What the hell is going on, firstly, I don't know what to call it, and secondly, I am uncomfortable like you, since we are our own family, then we don't have to hide it, just say it."

After Li Meng finished talking with a smile, Liu Qian also laughed, and said with a smile:

"The old man will talk to you in his spare time, saying that you speak fast and fast, intimate and real, today I see that this is the case, the next person is the next person, what else do you want to call it, young master, you call me Lao Liu."

"Lao Liu, my uncle is in good health, have you received the felt and mattress I entrusted someone to bring, the weather is not warm, the old man must pay attention to it."

Because of the smoke of war and gunfire in Shaanxi and Gansu, the original leather goods were also in short supply in the capital, because of the troubles of the Dongyu Jurchens, the large-scale trade between the Mongols and the Han people almost stopped, and the high-quality goods were basically unable to pass, but Li Meng could make some purchases because of the business of green salt.

Among the gifts that Li Meng sent to Jingshi were good felt and mattresses, although Liu Fulai's status was not lacking, it could be regarded as a very heavy heart. Hearing Li Meng ask, Liu Qian replied with a smile:

"The old man's legs and feet fell into the wind chill when he was young, and the felt and leather mattress you sent from the young master are very warm!"

Hearing this answer, Li Meng nodded with a smile, took a sip of the tea bowl, and politely took a long time, it should be to get to the point, sure enough, Liu Qian first bowed slightly, took out a letter from his arms, handed it to Li Meng, and said:

"This is the letterhead that my master wants to give to the young master."

Letterhead? Li Meng frowned and looked at it and asked:

"Lao Liu, don't you know what it says?"

"The master only said that I should hand over the letterhead to the young master, no matter how the young master replied, I know that I can just do it according to the young master's arrangement, Lao Liu is also illiterate, and he can't read it?"

Things are really a bit mysterious, Li Meng took the letterhead a little confused, the letterhead is sealed with fire paint, looking at the fire paint at the seal, no one should have touched it, so solemn, but not explained.

Tear open the envelope and pull out the letter paper, but there are two pieces of letter paper, Li Meng was startled when he unfolded the first one, this paper is not a letterhead at all, just a few lines of words are written on it, which reads: Li Mengwen owes Jiaozhou 50,000 taels of silver today. This is an IOU, and there is Liu Fulai's signature underneath, and it is stamped with a seal, which is generally used in the official documents of the celebrant to prove who handled the document.

Fifty thousand taels is really a huge amount of money in this era, even if it is a high-ranking official in Beijing, he may not get so much in a year, not to mention Liu Fulai, a eunuch who has just been in power for less than a year, Li Meng picked up the second piece of letter paper in confusion, this is the letterhead, in addition to greeting each other, it just said that the affairs of the ceremonial supervisor are becoming more and more heavy, which makes people feel haggard, and after a few polite words, he directly said that he has something important to do in Beijing and urgently needs the 50,000 taels of silver.

However, there is also a lot of leeway in the words, although this thing is not done, the amount of this silver tael is indeed too large, it is good to take it, and it doesn't matter if you can't take it.

After Li Meng read the letter, there was no expression on his face, but he said with a smile:

"Lao Liu, you have worked hard all the way, go to the backyard to rest first, if you need anything, just tell the people in the yard, I have to think about the things on the letter."

When Liu Fu came down, Li Meng took the letter and returned to his study, which was a private space, more comfortable, and guarded by soldiers, which was a place for Li Meng to be alone.

Not to mention what big things the other party is going to do, Li Meng needs to judge whether the 50,000 taels of silver is worth spending, the eunuch who met in Pingshui and made friends with righteousness took care of each other a lot, and both sides also came and went as relatives, but one side was a local official, and the other side was a Bingbi eunuch in the center of the court, and the relationship between them could not be simple at all.

Li Meng's current behavior and his future plans are all about the need for such a superior to escort him, otherwise he will definitely encounter a lot of constraints in doing things. For example, this time the troops were sent to suppress bandits, although the evidence of the crime was conclusive, there were too many painful feet that would be caught in the procedure.

But after the matter is done, there are applause everywhere, there is no problem, this is the benefit of someone escorting above, although Liu Fu said in the letter is very open-minded, you can have money or not, just inquire, but Li Meng estimates that since he is sending the housekeepers to his side, and with the old eunuch's previous friendship, it is estimated that his side can provide, or it is the most promising to lend this money.

At present, all aspects of army expansion and training require money, and it is really difficult to choose......

At dinnertime, Li Meng sent someone to invite Ning Qiangui to his study, and asked directly:

"How much cash do we have at our disposal now?"

The accounts are all handled by Master Ning, and every day this amount is well understood, and he immediately replied:

"After deducting the New Year's gifts and the silver expenses to be sent down next month, we still have 55,000 taels of cash in our hands, mainly the trophies of the Peng family and the Qiu family."

Li Meng groaned slightly, and said in a deep voice:

"Tomorrow, you and Xiaohai will go to the Li family manor to withdraw 50,000 taels of silver, and cover it with a wooden box and skin."

Although Li Meng didn't say what it would be used for, after Master Ning was surprised, he immediately became anxious and hurriedly said:

"Master Li, there is no cash turnover in your hands, and we are afraid that we will not be able to bear the expenses here, because of the New Year, a lot of silver will not be able to come back until the end of the first month."

"There will be some input over there in the green salt, and the fragrant salt shop in Jining Prefecture also has some silver, so I can't use these on top, I think it is necessary to spend money on this silver, don't argue, if a few people in charge of money ask, just say that I have an urgent need, come and ask me."

Seeing Li Meng's insistence, Master Ning couldn't say anything else, so he had to go out to call the soldiers and guards to prepare the carriage and horses, and prepare for the next day's affairs.

Early in the morning of the third day, Wang Hai led fifty cavalry and one hundred and fifty foot soldiers to escort more than a dozen carts on the road.

The money left his own treasury is not his own money, and Li Meng doesn't think about him, the most important thing for him at the moment is to prepare gifts for the Zhizhou Yamen. The fragrant salt shop in Jining Prefecture has a function, which is to collect the best porcelain and then transport it back to Jiaozhou.