Chapter 921: The Magnificent Power of Han (Forty-Five)

The five hundred thousand taels that Wang Wudi mentioned were naturally not the principal of the bonds issued by Zhengdong Mansion, but only the interest. In fact, after the one-year period was up, only a few people got back the principal. More people got back the interest and used their principal to buy the next issue of bonds. Some even reinvested the principal with interest. Over the past few years, everyone who bought the bonds issued by Zhengdong Mansion He had tasted the sweetness and used Zhengdong Mansion's credit as a guarantee. After one year, he would make a steady profit without losing any money. Based on Wang Wudi's experience in the past years, the gap was only about 500,000 taels.

But in other words, the scale of land bonds issued this year will probably need to be expanded again to meet the needs of this year. As the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Wang Wudi, who is proficient in financial planning, is naturally very aware of the risks here. Debt The snowball is getting bigger and bigger. Even if the principal is not repaid, the interest alone is a large expense. To maintain the credit of Zhengdong Mansion, the Zhengdong Army needs to continue to expand and win battles, so generally Generally speaking, Wang Wudi was quite generous when it came to the Ministry of War's requests for military expansion, increased production and storage of armaments, and the development of new weapons. He complained, but when he really wanted money, he never showed mercy.

As soon as he heard Gao Yuan say that he could get another one or two million taels of silver, Wang Wudi's eyes suddenly lit up, and his eyebrows that were hanging upside down immediately rose up at this moment, and he said with great joy: "If If the governor can really get it, then this year will be better. After paying the interest on the bonds, plus various expenses at the end of the year, we can at least balance the balance of payments this year and there will be no losses."

"Actually, our campaign to conquer Dongfu and establish the country can be simpler and not too extravagant and wasteful. You have always claimed that you are an iron rooster. You might as well use it again this time. If you can't afford it, try not to spend it." Gao Yuan said with a smile.

"That's not possible!" Wang Wuyi, who has always been stingy, was uncharacteristically this time, "Commander, this is a big thing, an overwhelming big thing. You can save everything, but you can't save any medicine at all. This is a country." Your dignity and your majesty cannot be looked upon as a joke. I have already prepared this money. Since the governor said that there is still such a large sum of money in his account, it can be more generous."

Seeing Wang Wudi's iron rooster becoming generous, Gao Yuan's idea of ​​being more frugal was considered bankrupt. He shook his head and stopped talking. Formalism seems to be necessary at all times.

The negotiations on the second day seemed much smoother. Fan Sui believed that he had figured out the context of the Zhengdong Mansion. Gao Yuan, as a military master of the time, would not fail to know the importance of Zhucheng to the Qin Army. He should be very clear that the Qin Army was No matter what, he refused to give Zhucheng to Zhengdong Mansion. He wanted to extort some benefits elsewhere, and this benefit was nothing more than money.

So when he sat across from Gao Yuan again, he confidently offered new conditions. In addition to the land promised in the first negotiation, he would also compensate Zhengdong Mansion with one million taels of cash. The condition was that both parties After signing a peace treaty and mutual non-aggression, the Eastern Expeditionary Army in Jiuyuan County must immediately withdraw from Jiuyuan County and not a single soldier can be left in Jiuyuan County. At the same time, the garrison in Shannan County must not exceed 5,000 people. As a corresponding condition, the Qin State's garrison in Jiuyuan County will not exceed 5,000 people.

Fan Sui did not mention the tens of thousands of Qin people who were plundered by the Eastern Expeditionary Army in Jiuyuan. Gao Yuan seemed to have completely forgotten about it. The two parties signed this agreement in a friendly atmosphere.

With this agreement, Fan Sui was not at ease. The signing of the treaty did not mean that both parties were in peace. On the contrary, what he saw and heard when he came to Jicheng this time made him even more convinced that Gao Yuan As a rising star on this continent, Gao Yuan and Qin are in complete conflict with their ultimate goals. One day, the two sides will inevitably meet in arms and compete on the battlefield. Now both sides are just We are unable to do what we can, so we can only compromise with each other.

Fan Sui has now deeply realized that Zhengdong Mansion will inevitably become Qin's strongest opponent in the future, and the policies implemented by Zhengdong Army, in Fan Sui's view, are much more advanced than Qin's, but he Although they understand this, it does not mean that the Qin people can follow the other party's footsteps. The Zhengdong Mansion led by Gao Yuan is a new force. They dare to break all the old shackles and build on a blank sheet of paper. On top of that, they rebuilt their unique order, but this was not the case with the Qin State. After hundreds of years of founding the country, deep-rooted interest groups have been firmly tied to the Qin State. Li Ru's way of governing the country only combined the interests of both sides. The interests overlap as much as possible. If the Qin State also learns the tactics of Zhengdong Mansion, it is afraid that the country will be destroyed, and there will be no need for outsiders to fight, and the country will be in chaos.

On the tenth day after the two sides completed the signing, from the direction of Fengcheng, a dozen carriages, escorted by fully armed Qin soldiers, drove into the Chadianzi Zhengdong Army camp. Ye Zhen received these on behalf of the Zhengdong Army. The carriages did not stop at all, and the Meihua Division of the First Division of the Young Guards was sent to escort these dozen carriages back to Jicheng.

A few days later, the carriage appeared in front of Gao Yuan, and boxes were lifted one by one and piled in front of Gao Yuan. Gao Yuan smiled and walked to the pile of boxes, kicked them over, and the top box fell down. , with a crash, the lid of the box opened, and the neatly packed silver fell out of the box and scattered on the floor.

Mei Hua and other escorts all had their eyes widened. The order they received was that no one was allowed to approach the box along the way, and no one was allowed to explore what was in the box. It turned out to be boxes of silver. Several carriages were worth millions of taels of silver. Even Mei Hua, who was born into a wealthy family, was dazzled by these coins at this moment.

Standing next to Gao Yuan, Wang Wuyi narrowed his eyes with laughter. He had taken over Jicheng's original inner treasury, but unfortunately it was already empty. Now he finally has some silver to cover the bottom of the treasury. With money. , I feel a lot more confident.

The handover of money was clear, and the Qin army began to retreat as promised. The first one to withdraw was Fengcheng. Then the Qin army and the Zhengdong Army advanced and retreated. The two sides cooperated tacitly. The Qin army had just withdrawn from an occupied city. In less than an hour, The troops of the Eastern Conquest Army will be ready to appear and take control of the city.

The actions of both sides were extremely efficient. In just half a month, the Qin army withdrew from more than 30 counties and cities in Wei under its control, and the Eastern Expedition Army then moved in. The yellow dragon flag that had just been made was flying high in these counties. The newly occupied land. Before the people of Wei had time to rejoice at the departure of the Qin army, they were shocked by this brand-new flag that they had never seen before.

The Qin army left, but the Wei army did not come.

The private transactions between the Qin people and the Zhengdong Army kept the Wei people in the dark. When news of the Qin Army's large-scale retreat reached Daliang, the Wei capital, the entire court rejoiced. Wu Qi had previously been searching everywhere. Two million taels of silver were sent to the Eastern Marching Army, which aroused a lot of criticism. But now, the criticism has been swept away. Money can make all the difference. The Eastern Marching Army who took the money was indeed extremely brave. Even the Qin Army Everyone is looking forward to the wind, and they can run faster than a rabbit. A large area of ​​land has been recovered by the Eastern Army. If you count on the Wei people themselves, let alone two million taels of silver, even twenty million taels, you may not be able to get it from the mouths of the Qin people. Take out the food!

Suddenly, Wu Qi's prestige was at its peak, the beams were decorated with lanterns and colors to celebrate the victory, and the Wei officials who had previously escaped from the occupied areas began to pack their bags and prepare to return to their hometowns to take over the lost territory.

However, when the first Wei official who returned to his hometown happily and prepared to accept local management rights was mercilessly expelled by the Eastern Expeditionary Army, the Wei people finally realized that something was wrong. The Eastern Expeditionary Army occupied the place that Qin had spit out, but did not He didn't inform the Wei people, and he had no intention of explaining it to them.

"Tell me, what did the stationed Zhengdong Army say?" Wu Qi stared at the county magistrate who was expelled back. "Is that the general you saw?"

The county magistrate looked aggrieved. He didn't see any generals at all, and the other party didn't see him at all. He was just at the gate of the county town. When several soldiers guarding the city heard that he was a magistrate of the Wei Dynasty, they immediately turned upside down. Face, if I hadn't run fast, I would have been poked in the butt by them.

The other party did not recognize the identities of these people at all.

Wu Qi felt something was wrong. But he still summoned up the greatest courage and regarded this as a single incident caused by the lack of communication between the two sides. While sending envoys to Jicheng, he patiently waited for others to accept the local government. The official's response.

More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye, and without exception, those officials were either expelled back unceremoniously, or left aside and ignored at all, let alone taking back the management rights of the place. , every word and deed was closely monitored by the Eastern Expedition Army.

Wu Qi finally understood what was going on. It was a typical situation where the wolf was driven out through the front door and the tiger came in through the back door. What was even more painful was that he actually spent hundreds of taels of silver to invite this tiger himself. It is easy to send a favor to God. Oddly enough, the Eastern Expeditionary Army is ready to swallow up these places in one go.

Pulling himself together, Wu Qi rushed to Jicheng again to ask for a meeting with Gao Yuan.

Yan Shenghao once again approached the chief minister of Wei who looked haggard.

"Xiang Wu, the Governor already knows about the unpleasantness that happened between us recently. However, you also know that the Governor is really busy now, so he entrusted me to explain something to Xiang Wu." Yan Shenghao He has a pleasant appearance and speaks in an unhurried and authentic manner.

"You helped our country expel the Qin army. We are grateful and are ready to thank you with the greatest sincerity." Wu Qi said with difficulty: "The whole country has agreed to raise another five million taels of silver to express our gratitude. This time the Eastern Expedition Army generously helped us, but we are strict about politics. You also know the current situation of our country in Wei. If we cannot recover the lost land in time and collect taxes in these places again, it will be difficult for us to collect this money in a short time!"

Yan Shenghao coughed a few times. Five million taels of silver really made him salivate. But thinking about it again, no matter how good the money is, it will be spent when it is spent. With land and population, that is an endless way to make money. .(To be continued)