"Mr. Zhao, there are some things that don't need to be said so clearly!" Liu Cheng stopped Zhao Wende and continued: "Later, you will send me five hundred taels of silver to Master Du, his family should be able to use it!" ”

"Yes, sir!" Zhao Wende responded. Liu Cheng sighed and sat back in his chair. It is said that Du Wenhuan's experience is not only not a bad thing for him, but it is a good thing, but people's hearts are not steel, in the two years since the crossing, almost all of the people who have been accompanied by Liu Cheng day and night are the Qiu Ba of the Ming Dynasty, he is very familiar with their advantages, disadvantages, and desires, and takes their likes and dislikes as his own likes and dislikes, and unconsciously regards himself as a part of them. Like Du Wenhuan, a disciple of a general who sold his life for several generations for the Zhu family, died inexplicably in the emperor's thoughts, and Liu Cheng's heart couldn't help but feel a trace of sadness.

"Zhu Youxiao, you are really a person who is easy and cold, in your eyes, aren't all the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty a person who can be killed?"

Seeing Liu Cheng's gloomy expression, Zhao Wende couldn't help but sigh, he knew very well that he had already taken that decisive step when he said that sentence, he was no longer a courtier of the Ming Dynasty, but Liu Cheng's personal subordinate. As a scholar with a good Confucian education, this is an extremely difficult step, but his encounter with his old master Yang He told Zhao Wende an ironclad fact - the old road is no longer working, and he was originally disheartened and saw new hope in the rising Liu Cheng, so he made up his mind to follow Liu Cheng and walk out of a new path.

"My lord, you are about to go to Jingshi, do you have any arrangements?"

"Jingshi?" Liu Cheng was stunned when he heard this, and immediately reacted that what Zhao Wende was referring to should be his resignation in Beijing, and he should have gone a long time ago, but the war in the northwest has been tight and he can't leave, and now he has almost swept away the border troubles in the northwest. There is no longer any reason to delay.

"Well, it's arranged!" Liu Cheng nodded: "Jiansheng, my shogunate is short of people, why don't you stay and be my secretary!" ”

"Good!" Zhao Wende's answer was very refreshing, which surprised Liu Cheng a little, the official he promised was not an official position in the Ming Dynasty. In the modern term, it is a permanent secretary. Originally, according to the official position of the Ming Dynasty, the official position of the general soldier was granted when the troops were dispatched, and the soldiers returned to their respective guards, and the generals were resigned, but in the middle and late periods, with the abolition of the guards and the frequent wars, the general soldiers also became permanent generals and led a military region alone. There must be a large amount of general work that cannot be completed by oneself, so generally officers above the rank of general have a staff team to handle these tasks for them. And Liu Cheng is even more prominent, because in addition to his army, he also has factories, gold bureaus, liaison with various tribes, and the upcoming large-scale tuntian and other complicated work, if he doesn't want to be exhausted to death, he must set up the team as soon as possible.

"Great!" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "The first thing is that you immediately write a letter to the Ma family father and son, so that they can come here immediately, and I will arrange some things before leaving!" ”

"Yes, sir!"

Zhao Wende soon showed his outstanding talent in administrative matters. In just a dozen days, he commanded a group of scribes and lamas. A total of more than 20,000 strong men and 40,000 old and weak women and children were registered, forming a detailed paper file. Facing the new booklet that almost filled half a wall, Liu Cheng couldn't help but be ecstatic. He knew very well what that meant, and as long as he had this, he could divide the pastures according to the atlas, levy troops, labor, and collect taxes. It can be said that it is a priceless treasure!

"Good, good, well done!" Liu Cheng rubbed his hands together and said with a smile: "Jiansheng, you can have another copy of these field books." Send it to Chaoyi, so as not to encounter disasters such as fire and water, and the first part of the year will send the birth, old age, sickness and death to be revised. In addition, the place where the archives are stored must be strictly guarded, and no one is allowed to enter and consult them without my permission, let alone take them out without permission, otherwise they will be put to death! “

"Yes, sir!" Zhao Wende owed: "My lord, there is one more thing, the lame Fanyi you mentioned last time has been brought, and it is in the firewood room in the backyard." ”

"Well done!"

When Liu Cheng approached the firewood room, he saw four strange-looking Mongolian soldiers standing at the door, and nodded with satisfaction. Zhao Wende figured out his mind and didn't want outsiders to know about it, it is estimated that these Mongolian soldiers couldn't even speak Chinese. When the soldiers saw Liu Cheng's figure, they hurriedly shouted twice into the firewood room, and a person came out of it, but it was Gesang, who saluted Liu Cheng with his hands crossed: "My lord, the person is inside!" ”

"Hmm!" Liu Cheng nodded: "You are guarding outside, and no one is allowed to enter this courtyard!" ”

"Yes, sir!"

Liu Cheng pushed the door in, and a smell of dust came to his nose, he couldn't help sneezing, waved his hand angrily, and swept away a few cobwebs hanging in the air. I saw that the room was empty except for a heavy chair, and the lame foreigner was tied to the chair, like a rice dumpling, with a cloth ball stuffed in his mouth, and was looking at himself viciously; There was a nervous man standing next to him, but he was an interpreter.

"Tell him that I just want to ask him a few questions, and as long as he answers honestly, I'll let him go!" Liu Cheng said to the interpreter, the interpreter nodded, and repeated it loudly to the man in the chair in Russian, Liu Cheng noticed that the man's eyes became a lot calmer, and said to the interpreter: "You can take out the cloth ball in his mouth!" ”

The interpreter carefully twisted the tail end of the cloth ball with his fingertips, and pulled it out of the man's mouth, as soon as the cloth ball left his mouth, he spat at Liu Cheng fiercely, Liu Cheng hurriedly turned to one side, and was in the middle of his clothes when he couldn't dodge.

"Bold!"

"Ask for forgiveness!"

Almost at the same time, Zhao Wende and the interpreter both shouted, the difference was that one was scolding the foreigner, and the other was apologizing to Liu Cheng. The man shouted something indifferently, and his eyes were full of smugness.

"That's it. What is this guy talking about? Liu Cheng held back his nausea and asked the interpreter.

"This-" The interpreter showed a look of embarrassment on his face, Liu Cheng estimated that the other party said something unpleasant, the interpreter was afraid of annoying himself and being angry with him, so he smiled and said: "You just tell the truth, no matter what he says, I don't blame you." ”

The interpreter gritted his teeth. Whispered: "He said this is what happens to the bad guys!" “

"What happened to the bad guys?" Liu Cheng smiled and said, "Then you tell him that I let him be tied up, and he spit on me, and we have evened it out, now can we talk about business?" ”

Hear the words of the interpreter. The man's face showed a hint of surprise, he thought about it and said a few words, and the interpreter said to Liu Cheng: "This guy said that he had nothing to say when he was tied up. “

"Untie him!"

After being untied, the foreigner looked at Liu Cheng curiously while rubbing his wrists and shoulder joints vigorously to allow him to quickly restore blood circulation. Apparently he remembered that the man in front of him was the governor of the empire they had come to visit, and he suddenly said a few words in a loud voice.

"My lord, he asked why you tied him here?"

"You tell him that I have no ill will towards him. I just did it to talk to him individually, one-on-one, because I felt that he was different from his companions! ”

After listening to the interpreter's words, a trace of fear appeared on the foreigner's face, and it disappeared, like a ray of sunlight shining in through the gap in the thick curtains, but this did not escape Liu Cheng's eyes, and he shouted two words loudly. The interpreter turned around and said to Liu Cheng, "He said that he was an attaché of the caravan like his companions. They're all Christians, and he wants you to let him go right away! ”

"Really? So if you're just an ordinary attaché, why are you drawing this? Liu Cheng took out the piece of paper that he had stolen out of his room, shook it in front of the foreigner, and said with a smile: "Don't tell me it's not from your hands?" “

"It's just a personal hobby of mine, I love to draw. Nothing to do with my identity! He shouted.

"Really? I'm afraid that won't convince me! Liu Cheng laughed: "Or I'll give this piece of paper to Mr. Lobanov and ask him to give me an explanation, can you look at it?" “

Hearing Liu Cheng's threat, the captive could no longer hide his fear, and he stared at Liu Cheng with wide eyes. Sweat ran down his forehead. He knew very well that Lobanov was a real businessman, and if he gave the right price, he could even sell his own wife. Although he was instructed by Lobanov to do this, if Liu Cheng did this, Lobanov would flatly deny it and shift all the responsibility on himself, so as not to affect the tea trade with the Ming people.

"Why are you so loyal to that Mr. Lobanov?" Liu Cheng walked up to the captive and asked in a gentle voice, "You're not their compatriot, are you?" ”

"How do you know?" The captives looked at Liu Cheng in despair, thinking of the various strange abilities that these pagans possessed in the legend.

"It's not how I know it's important, it's whether it's true!"

Liu Cheng's final blow finally broke through the captive's psychological defenses, and he raised his head and shouted, "Okay, okay!" Give me something to drink, I'll say anything! “

"Very good, tell me what your name is, your real name, and I'll give you a drink!"

"Thomas!"

Bang!

A copper wine glass slammed on the chair, shaking the flask next to him and jumping up, Thomas stared at the red eyes, panting, picked up the flask and wanted to pour another wine, but found that it was empty, he raised his head and shouted: "Wine, wine!" ”

"Can't give him any more drinks!" Even Zhao Wende was able to understand this word, he lowered his head and said to Liu Cheng: "My lord, if you still want to ask him a question!" ”

"Hmm!" Liu Cheng nodded: "Get some cold water!" ”

A servant girl walked up to the lame man with the flask in her hand, snatched it and poured it into her mouth with the spout.

"Phew!" He suddenly spit out the liquid in his mouth, looked at Liu Cheng viciously and shouted, "Wine, no water!" “

"You tell him that if he doesn't answer my question right away, the next pot will be filled with urine!" Liu Cheng turned his head and said in a deep voice to the interpreter.

Hearing the interpreter's words, the anger on Thomas's face disappeared, he paused for a moment, took two more sips of water, and whispered, "My lord, can I start now?" ”

Thomas was a Scotsman, and today it is a cold, barren place where even the minor aristocracy could hardly live on their land, so young and ambitious young men often traveled to the Continent as adults to work in an ancient trade, mercenary. Fortunately, since the death of Charlemagne, the European continent has fallen apart, which is a tragedy for the people, but a boon for the mercenaries - they don't have to worry about finding an employer. Thomas's ancestors helped Louis XI the "Octopus Spider" against Charles the brave (Duke of Burgundy), the Italians against Charles VIII (King of France), and the French against the Spaniards, and they used to have lilies, lions, and foxes flying above their heads, but in the end they were all money bags. In order to save food for his five younger siblings, Thomas followed his uncle across the ocean at the age of twelve to the Holy Roman Empire, where the emperor fought endless wars with bishops, bishops and dukes, dukes and kings, kings and cities, at first as miscellaneous servants, feeding horses, cleaning armor, polishing weapons, rubbing arquebuses, etc., then spearmen, spearmen in the front row, arquebusiers, by bravery, cunning, cleverness and a little luck, by the age of thirty, He eventually became a captain with about 300 men under his command, as well as prostitutes, peddlers, cripples, and family members who numbered nearly twice as many soldiers. This is almost the limit that a good man of his background can reach, if you want to climb up again, it will take not only bravery, wisdom, and strategy, but something more rare, such as the fact that his mother gave birth to him with a certain earl instead of the old Scottish mercenary.

Thomas didn't have any extravagant expectations, his ideal was not to be killed before the age of forty-five, and to have enough florins (ancient Florentine gold coins, roughly equal to 3.5 grams of gold) in his pocket, enough for him to return to his hometown to live out his old age, and to marry a daughter-in-law and leave a property to his son. But luck did not favor him, and in 1625 he went to Sweden with his "Tercio" (the basic unit of the Spanish phalanx, which can be translated as an infantry regiment) to serve Gustav II. The great commander-in-chief played the Poles with the Russians and almost turned the Baltic Sea into an inner lake for the Swedes. Thomas was not so lucky, a three-pounder shell took his right leg below the knee, and he became a prisoner of the Russians, although he survived and used the money he had saved to buy back his freedom, but the money bag that had been so hard to fill was empty. A cripple can't continue to be the leader of "Tercio", and Thomas has only two paths in front of him: return to his hometown and spend the rest of his life sitting in front of the church as a beggar; Or start over with the Russians with what you have learned from twenty years spent in mercenaries. (To be continued.) )

PS: Two days ago, I saw someone in the discussion forum asking me if I had a readership, Weber used to have several groups, but then he didn't write a book for a while, so it was relatively deserted. Since there are readers who want to join, I will re-establish a new group, welcome readers who are willing to use subscriptions, rewards, and monthly passes to support Weber to join, the group number is 191448593, please indicate the ID at the starting point when joining, I hope you are happy in the group.