Due to the distance, Beijing has not yet received the exact information on the battle of Suzhou, and even if it receives the news, and then confirms, makes a decision and sends a will, even if it is urgent with 600 li, it will take more than a month, and at that time, it will be too late for others to come and grab the credit.

Fortunately, although most of the local officials in Suzhou died in the previous military accidents, there are still many officials who have taken refuge in Shanghai, and Shanghai is very close to Suzhou, and there is a Suzhou Creek connected to it, so the news can be received in a day or two, and they can leave immediately, and they can arrive in two or three days.

Therefore, the officials who came to Suzhou quickly five days later were basically the fleeing officials headed by He Guiqing who had fled from Changzhou to Shanghai for refuge.

Although He Guiqing escaped from the battle, he was still the governor of Liangjiang before the will of Beijing came down, and he was nominally the biggest tycoon in the Liangjiang region. Others, like Xue Huan and others, also had their own official positions, and before the new order came down, they also represented the authority of the government.

The reason why this group of people did not enter Suzhou at the beginning was because the governor Xu Youren ordered not to open the city, and if a governor was determined to fight against the governor of Liangjiang who was like a lost dog, he could also do it, but the current leader of Suzhou City is Li Yongji, and his current official position is only the ninth rank of a military attaché, so He Guiqing and others hurried to Suzhou to think of a piece of the pie.

Of course, in the same way, since the city defense of Suzhou City is now controlled by the elite army, even if these people come to Suzhou City, whether they can enter Suzhou or not depends on Li Yongji's intentions.

"These people reacted very quickly, and they came so quickly." Hearing that He Guiqing and the others had come to the city, Li Yongji smiled and said to Zhang Wei, "Zhenting, do you think we should let them in?" ”

"Well, I think it's better to let them in for the time being." Zhang Wei pondered, "My lord, after all, they are the officials of the imperial court, representing the face of the imperial court, our official position is too small, if we forcibly refuse, it will be a tear of the face, which is not good for us now."

Now, the whole of Suzhou is under our control, and even if they are officials, they have to look at our faces. Besides, Suzhou has just been affected by the disaster, and there are all kinds of waste waiting to be rebuilt, and there will be many troubles in the future, and they will come to take over, and these troubles can be pressed on them, and the people's grievances will slowly transfer to them, and we will pick them out ourselves. In addition, most of the money and grain we collected before were the grain and silver that we had to hand over to the imperial court, and it didn't matter if we took it ourselves, but we had to give an explanation to outsiders. These officials are useless, it is still okay to testify to us, and through their pens and mouths, we can really push all the losses on the bandits, why not? ”

"Oh, you mean to say that they were let in so that they could help us carry the cauldron?" Li Yongji instantly understood, "For example, we robbed it before, no, the money and grain we received from the treasury can be laundered by them, and they will all be counted on the head of the bandits?" ”

"Yes."

"Then the land near Tiger Hill and Changmen that I want, they can also recognize it?"

"Absolutely!"

"And the city defense jurisdiction of Suzhou City?"

"Do they have any other choice but us?"

"Well, so what are they doing here? Collect taxes and make money? ”

"It's a sure thing to collect taxes and make money." Zhang Wei paused, "But it can't be now, after all, it has just been a disaster, and at this time, it's not impossible to get along with everyone, they don't dare." I think they came here to get a deal from you. For example, we are a group training in Qingpu, which originally had nothing to do with Suzhou, and we came to Suzhou without an order, strictly speaking, to cross the line, and we had to be held accountable.

Now, they can give us this name of coming to Suzhou to fight, and say that they have taken their orders and let us come to Suzhou to assist in the defense, so that we will naturally have no problem, and they can also get a little credit for this, at the very least, they can atone for the crime, so that the court will no longer blame Lord He for the crime of escaping from the battle before. ”

"Well, in that case, let them in." Li Yongji nodded, "But I don't like to talk about these things with these old guys, can I not show up?" ”

"I'm afraid this won't work." Zhang Wei said, "After all, you are the general office, and it is not good not to show up." However, you can talk as little as possible at the banquet, you can not drink, or even make an excuse to leave early. ”

"That's right!" Li Yongji patted his head, "I'm not even fourteen years old, okay, let's do it, let me be these old guys for a while, by the way, when the time comes, call Feng Guifen's old man, although this guy didn't give me much face before, but he is the biggest official in Suzhou City at present." ”

In this way, Li Yongji ordered the city gate to be opened, welcomed He Guiqing, Xue Huan and others in, and then asked people to buy a banquet, nominally to give them a reception, but in fact to negotiate at the wine table.

At the beginning, He Guiqing and the others were still a little arrogant, but when they participated in the banquet, they found that there were soldiers standing guard everywhere, and they didn't respect them at all.

In the banquet, although they were all surprised by Li Yongji's age, it didn't matter, they were able to adapt quickly, and kept boasting about the exploits of Li Yongji and the Jingwu Army.

He Guiqing and others all understand that at this time, they must not use their official positions to oppress people, after all, they are under the roof, and they are asking for others, so it is very important to put on a correct posture. Anyway, He Guiqing and these people have already done the thing of escaping from the battle, and they are basically guilty of crimes, and at a critical juncture, it doesn't matter what kind of face they have.

Li Yongji is still not very accustomed to this kind of banquet, he basically doesn't talk during the banquet, and he doesn't drink, but he just responds passively, basically Zhang Wei and Wang Sanwu are coping.

Within a quarter of an hour, Li Yongji became impatient, and under the pretext of being entangled in military affairs, he left the scene early, and the subsequent negotiations were handed over to Zhang Wei and Wang Sanwu. Anyway, in this case, they are the strong side, and the conditions are also agreed in advance, so they can't help but agree.

At about eight o'clock in the evening, Zhang Wei and Wang Sanwu came together to report the content of the negotiations.

Sure enough, He Guiqing basically agreed to the conditions set before, not only helping to say that the money and grain in the government treasury were seized by the rebels, but also promising to allocate the land near Tiger Hill and Changmen to Li Yongji as the governor of Liangjiang under the pretext of preparing to build a garrison barracks. At the same time, he will also report to the imperial court, try his best to ask for credit for the Jingwu Army and Li Yongji, and say that at least he should ask Li Yongji for the title of chief soldier.

In return, the Jingwu Army admitted that it was ordered by He Guiqing to go to Suzhou to assist in the defense, so that He Guiqing could get some military merits from it, and the previous escape from the battle became a strategic retreat and counterattack.

However, there is also disharmony, that is, He Guiqing was too greedy, and he actually asked for 500,000 taels of silver, saying that if he didn't give money, the previous agreement would be invalid.

"Who does he think he is?" Li Yongji laughed, "I'm crazy, it's all at this time, and I still don't know the situation?" Dare to ask us for silver? And 500,000? ”

"That's what I'm talking about." Wang Sanwu grinned, "In my opinion, his eyes are red, and he wants money and doesn't want his life." However, it is estimated that this is also a temptation, if we insist on not giving it, he will still have to be obedient and obedient, and he will not be afraid. ”

"But he is still the governor of Liangjiang after all, and his words are still very useful." Zhang Wei hesitated slightly, "It's better for us to give less, 108,000 should be fine." ”

"the fart!" Wang Sanwu pouted, "Now in this Jiangnan region, we are the biggest, we recognize him, he is the governor of Liangjiang, we don't recognize him, he is not a fart!" I don't believe it, the court will offend us for him now. Hmph, without us, who will stop the bandits? Who will defend Gangnam? ”

Just when Zhang Wei wanted to open his mouth to refute, someone suddenly came to report, saying that Jiang Ningbu's political envoy Lord Xue had come to visit, saying that there was something important to discuss, and he came alone in plain clothes, and he was outside the door at the moment.

Hearing this, Li Yongji hadn't spoken yet, Zhang Wei spoke first: "My lord, I think it's better to see you, if you come alone so late, there must be something, just listen to what he says." ”

Nodding, Li Yongji ordered to bring this Lord Xue in to see what he was going to do.

Because there were many people at the banquet before, and they were all wearing official uniforms, Li Yongji didn't look closely, but now when he looks, Xue Huan, who is dressed in green clothes, is quite energetic, looks like he is in his forties, his face is full of light, and he looks like an energetic person.

After coming in, Xue Huan didn't put on a show, first bowed with a smile, and after sitting down, he started to make friends. Only after saying this did he know that Xue Huan, Su Songdao, Wu Xu, and Yang Fang, the salt transport envoy, were all old friends, and he had heard of Li Yongji's name for a long time, and he had wanted to visit for a long time, but he had never had the opportunity to see him.

After the polite words were spoken, Li Yongji simply asked about the other party's intentions.

"The general manager is a happy person, so I won't hide it." Xue Huan smiled, "I came late at night to discuss something with you." ”

"Oh? What's going on? ”

"I hope that your lordship will not agree to He Guiqing and Lord He's conditions." Xue Huan said.

"Why?" Li Yongji asked.

"Because it's useless to promise, he can't fulfill his promise to you at all." Xue Huan smiled, "First of all, He Guiqing is a complete villain, my lord, you are a hero, you can't get involved with such a villain, it will ruin your reputation." ”

"Oh." Li Yongji nodded noncommittally.

"Secondly," Xue Huan continued, "For the destruction of the Jiangnan camp, there must be someone to take responsibility, if He Guiqing is fine, there will be too many people who need to help him go to the top tank, which is something that everyone is not happy about, after all, this matter does resents him." Therefore, I don't know how many people complained to the court, and I don't know how many people are looking forward to his death. In this case, even if you give a part of the credit to He Guiqing, it is impossible for him to continue to be his governor of Liangjiang.

To tell the truth, without you to share the credit, with his crimes, sooner or later he will be beheaded and abandoned in the city, with your credit and profit, at most he can spare his life, but it is impossible to step into the official career again. Otherwise, why would he ask you for so much silver? 500,000 taels at a time? He had long been thinking about the idea of resigning from his official position in case it didn't go well. ”

"How do you know the number of 500,000 taels?" Zhang Wei suddenly asked, "This is what we said in private, how do you know?" ”

"How would I know? Because that's what I've said. Xue Huan smiled, "It's ridiculous, this kind of thing asking for money, he didn't close the door to think about it, he actually came to me to discuss." Originally, he said that he wanted 1 million taels, but I persuaded him not to ask for it too hard, so he reduced it to 500,000 taels. Hmph, such a mediocre and greedy is also a shame that he can do it. I think he's so old and confused that he doesn't know what he's doing. ”

Li Yongji looked at Zhang Wei, and then said to Xue Huan: "Lord Xue, what do you mean?" ”

"I mean, put the conditions on hold first." Xue Huan smiled, "I'll talk about it when the will of the imperial court comes down." ”

"I still don't quite understand." Li Yongji shook his head.

"Let's put it this way." Xue Huan thought for a while and said, "The silver can't be given to him, and he can't write a joint letter with him." How he writes the recital is his business, but you must not write it yourself, and even if you do, don't bring him with you when you ask for credit. ”

"Oh, but in this case, what about the conditions I want? He didn't admit it, and even bit me back, saying that I was greedy for money and grain from the government treasury in Suzhou. ”

"Your Excellency, you're too worried." Xue Huan smiled, "You have the great merit of defeating the loyal and rebellious Li Xiucheng and preserving Suzhou City, how can the imperial court blame you for this?" It is impossible for He Guiqing to make irresponsible remarks on this matter, and it is useless to say it. ”

"Then why did I bring troops to Suzhou without permission?"

"Hehe, that's not a problem." Xue Huan smiled again, "Not to mention that you have great merits, and you are in a hurry to follow the power, just talk about the name of sending troops...... Hehe, he's not the only one who can lower the military order, I can too, I'm also the political envoy of Jiangning and the minister of the Qincha. ”

"Oh, I see." Hearing this, Li Yongji nodded, "You mean, let me give you the credit?" ”

"Exactly!" Xue Huan was also polite, "He Guiqing's future is over, it's the same with you or not." But I'm different, once He Guiqing is removed from his post and investigated, this is my biggest official, after all, I am Jiangning's political envoy and minister. At that time, in order to seek stability, even if the imperial court does not give me the position of governor of Liangjiang, it will give me the position of governor of Jiangsu. ”

"Well...... this"

"Master Li, I admit that I also want to benefit from you, but the distribution of credit also depends on the person and the strength." Xue Huan persuaded again, "He Guiqing is confused and greedy, and he is already a dead horse, and his future is bleak, so he is definitely not a good partner to work with." I'm different, I don't have any stains on me, and I have a bright future, so you might as well join forces with me, and everyone will be promoted and make a fortune together. As long as you are willing to write me a joint recital, just say that you were sent to Suzhou at my request, and give me some credit for defeating the bandits, I promise, not only can you get what you wanted before, but I can also help you get the identity of the governor of Jiangsu, by no means so stingy for a general soldier, what do you think? ”

"Admiral? Can I be a Commander all at once? ”

"Why not." Xue Huan smiled, "I am the minister of the Qin Mission, and I can directly give the emperor a secret fold, as long as I praise you and make the situation more critical...... At the time of the national crisis, you have such a great contribution, it is simply to turn the tide of the tide, and you are exceptionally promoted to be a commander, what is so difficult? Hmph, even a villain like Zhang Yuliang can change from a guerrilla to a commander, you are so brave and good at fighting, if you are not a commander, no one can say it. ”

"Okay." Li Yongji nodded, "I promised you, I will cooperate with you, and I won't play with He Guiqing anymore." However, don't lie to me, I don't read much and have a bad temper, if you dare to lie to me, then I won't follow it. ”

"Don't worry, Lord Li!" Xue Huan was full of smiles, "Everyone will be ministers in the same hall in the future, I still expect you to help, how could I lie to you?" ”