In the east of the Forbidden City, on the Dongtangzi Hutong, which is very close to Dong'an Gate and Donghua Gate, there is a magnificent house, just a door face is worth the size of the hall in Mingzhu's house, and there is a plaque of "First Class Gong" on the door face. There were also guards with plain gold tops at the door, and the bolted horse piles were lined up one after another, all polished and smooth. Several of the bolted horses were still tied to the brightly colored tall horses, and several carriages were leaning against the side of the road, and there was also a circle of guards with waist knives around the carriages, all of them in good spirits, as if they were bidding farewell to the guards at the gate of the mansion.

The owner of this mansion guarded by Su Jindingzi is the number one real power person in the Qing Dynasty today. Bow down!

The Aobai Mansion has always been a door-to-door city, and this minister of the king of parliament and the minister of the interior of the guard really treats the affairs of the Qing Dynasty as his own family affairs. Therefore, he often calls his henchmen to hold small meetings at his home...... Military affairs are often finalized in Aobai's mansion, and the council of ministers is a passing motion, and Kangxi Xiao Mazi just sits in the palace.

However, the "first-class public rank" who visited Aobai today is indeed not Aobai's henchman, nor is he a real power figure, but Wu Yingxiong, one of the three major hostages in Beijing.

Wu Yingxiong came to worship with Wu Guogui and Liu Xuanchu, and as usual, he also sent some Yunnan native products to Aobai - real native products, not gold, silver and jewelry. Ao Bai is a traitor who doesn't take much bribes, nor is he greedy for beauty, he just likes to seize power.

So it was useless for Wu Sangui to send him money, so he could only give him a murder.

But Wu Sangui's baby son Wu Yingxiong is a master who can't be fierce, and he was already cowardly when he saw Ao Bai looking like he was going to eat alive, sitting in the second hall of Ao Mansion, holding a tea bowl, his forehead was full of beads of sweat, and he didn't speak very well: "Taishi...... I, Amma, am still loyal to the Qing Dynasty, and he is doing it now...... Also, I was forced to be helpless. The people of the Pingxi Domain, and there are more and more children of the Yun and Guilu camps...... The people he recruited in order to appease the Chuang and Xianyu parties back then can't just say that they don't care...... You see, this can be, what can be done here? ”

Seeing Wu Yingxiong's cowardly look, Ao Bai was anxious for him. is such an instigation, how can he be Wu Sangui's eldest son? Is it biological? It doesn't look like a ...... It can't be picked up, right?

In the future, Wu Sangui's old guy will go to the eighteenth layer of hell, can this cowardly Wu Yingxiong be the home of Pingxi Palace?

Thinking of this, Ao Bai was not in the mood to listen to Wu Yingxiong's ramblings, and directly pointed to Wu Guogui, who was sitting with his head held high next to Wu Yingxiong, "Wu Dutong, you should say it for your brother...... What does King Pingxi want? ”

Wu Guogui looked very happy, and when he heard Ao Bai's question, he replied with a smile: "If you go back to Taishi, what my father means is that now in Yunnan alone, there are 100,000 elite soldiers to raise...... These are all elites who have been on the battlefield and seen the world, and there are many old soldiers who have followed the former Ming, the thieves, and the Western thieves. These people don't know much about loyalty and patriotism, and they want to eat and drink well when they enlist in the army, so next year's military expenses must rise! ”

His words were not very pleasant, but Ao Bai was silent. Because this Ao Taishi knows who Wu Sangui is? Well, anyway, there are no good people, and no loyal ministers, just a group of capricious old thieves. The reason why they are not rebelling now is that the Qing Dynasty still provides for them. If the court doesn't want to raise them one day, this group of people will definitely start a war with the court.

And Ao Bai doesn't want to start a war with Wu Sangui now...... If there is no war, the myth of the invincibility of the Eight Banners and the Heavenly Soldiers will not be shattered, and the Qing Dynasty will be able to maintain stability.

If there is a war, who will kill the deer, it is not certain!

Ao Bai nodded and said, "The old man knows the difficulties of King Pingxi, but the court has also been difficult in the past few years!" The pirates on the southeast coast were so fierce that the imperial court had to move along the coast...... With this relocation, the taxes of many coastal state capitals have been greatly reduced, although the old man has tried his best to reduce expenditure, but the imperial court's hands are still tight! ”

"Hey, aren't they just a couple of pirates?" Wu Guogui said with a smile, "Taishi, if you can trust our Pingxi Palace, we will send 50,000 troops to help the Ping Domain and the Jing Domain to fight...... We can cushion this military fee in Pingxi Wangfu first, wait for the pirates, and then ask the merchants of Guangdong and Fujian to pay for it. ”

When Ao Bai heard this, his face sank, and he glared at Wu Guogui viciously, but Wu Guogui didn't care, but Wu Yingxiong on the side was so frightened that his face was colorless.

However, Ao Bai can't tear his face with Wu Sangui now, because Wu Sangui really has 100,000 elite soldiers, and if he provokes these 100,000 elite soldiers, they will really rebel, and it won't be a matter of hundreds of thousands of taels of silver at that time......

Thinking of this, Ao Bai snorted and said, "As for the military expenses, let the people below slowly sort it out." Let's set a big number today, and next year's cloud and expensive military expenses will be 3 million! ”

Wu Yingxiong breathed a sigh of relief, and just wanted to agree, but Liu Xuanchu on the side coughed, and Wu Guogui immediately rushed to speak: "Taishi, three million is not enough, at least four million." Otherwise, there are so many people in the Pingxi Domain and the Yungui Green Camp, which is really not enough to spend! ”

"No! No way! Ao Bai shook his head repeatedly, "Too much, too much...... The land taxes and commercial taxes of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces are not paid to the imperial court, and they have to take another four million from the imperial court a year, how can this work...... Up to three and two hundred thousand. ”

"Taishi," Wu Guogui said solemnly, "King Pingxi has taken care of more than tens of thousands of party members under the command of the two thieves for the imperial court...... Those are the survivors of a hundred battles! If it weren't for the good food and drink, they would really be the opposite. Although my sons and daughters of the Pingxi Domain can bring them down again for the imperial court, tens of thousands of casualties are inevitable. Could it be that the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers are not worth a million taels of silver? ”

Wu Guogui's words almost scared Wu Yingxiong to death...... Dare to speak like this to Aobai, this is to rebel!

And Ao Bai didn't expect Wu Guogui to say such a thing, and he was a little uncertain for a while. Because with his understanding of Wu Sangui, he knew that this old immortal thing was very cowardly, and it was unlikely that he would rebel. But this old immortal likes to collect anti-thieves too much! In particular, there are tens of thousands of officers and soldiers from the camp of thieves and thieves. If these people want to rebel, whether the soldiers under Wu Sangui's domain will rebel together, or suppress it for the imperial court, it's really hard to say!

Looking at this Wu Guogui's attitude, I'm afraid it ......

Ao Bai gritted his teeth: "Three hundred...... Three million four million, it can't be more! ”

Hearing Ao Bai say this number, Wu Yingxiong didn't know whether he should be stupid or stunned?

However, Wu Guogui still looked very dissatisfied, and wanted to ask Ao Bai to add more money, but Wu Yingxiong on the side couldn't bear the pressure, and said before Wu Guogui: "Okay, good, good...... Three million four thousand is three million four million! ”

Seeing that Wu Yingxiong was soft and cowardly, Wu Guogui was out of line, who made Wu Yingxiong the son? So he could only nod and say to Ao: "Taishi, since the prince has spoken, then he can only agree...... Although 3.4 million is really not enough to spend, my Yungui troops can still live their lives with a belt of their trousers.

By the way, there is one more small thing, my father wants to promote someone to be the imperial guard...... It's just a mixed background, and I ask the master to make it convenient. ”

As he spoke, he took out an envelope and respectfully handed it to Aobai.

"What? Protecting an individual as a royal guard? Ao Bai negotiated the military salary for the coming year, and his mood was a little more relaxed, and he also felt a little strange when he heard that Wu Sangui wanted to protect a guard, so he took the envelope and asked, "Who do you want to protect?" ”

Here Wu Yingxiong continued the topic and said: "My Ama wants to protect Wang Zhongxiao, the son of Wang Fuchen, Wang Zhongxiao is a white flag wrapper, and he will be picked this year, with his ability, there is no problem in picking a Bai Tang A, but I am afraid it is a little difficult to pick a guard, after all, his background is not very good." However, I, Ama Aicai, want to promote the juniors, so I want to protect him as a Blue Feather guard. ”

"That's the case......" Ao Bai had already taken out the letter paper at this time and looked at it, on this letter, Wu Sangui had praised Wang Zhongxiao for a while, and he was about to blow it into the sky.

After reading the letter, Ao Bai was silent for a while, and then said slowly: "So, Wang Fuchen's father and son are both people from King Pingxi?" ”

"Of course," Wu Yingxiong said with a smile, "otherwise I, Amma, would not have written to ask you to sell him this face." ”

Wu Guogui also smiled and said: "Taishi, Wang Fuchen is a lowly brother, and Wang Zhongxiao is a brother of a lowly son...... They are all from our old Wu family! ”

Hearing them say this, Ao Bai was of course relieved. Because he is now mainly wary of the little emperor Kangxi instead of Wu Sangui, Wu Sangui is also in Yunnan, and it is impossible to oppose it in Beijing!

Therefore, if Wang Zhongxiao is Wu Sangui's person, there is really no need for Ao Bai to step on him...... This Wu Sangui can't collude with Kangxi to rebel, right?

Thinking of this, Ao Bai said: "The face of King Pingxi, the old man always has to give it, and when the time comes, the old man will go to see it in person, and if he really has the ability, he will promote him exceptionally." ”