Outside Chang'an City, in the Royal Navy's central military tent, Luo Zhang and Gao Gouli's envoy sat opposite each other. A group of generals and leaders stood aside and listened to their words.
Hearing what Luo Zhang said, the generals almost couldn't hold back their laughter. You are really powerful when it comes to repairing ships and raising money for people. You are just making up these nonsense words.
Even when there was a storm at sea, they rescued Gaogouli's ship out of good intentions and towed the ship back. This was just telling lies with open eyes.
It was obviously them who broke up the ship and dragged it back, but the adults said it was a storm at sea. This made everyone admire them. No wonder they became marquises at such a young age, while they were only school captains and guardsmen. .
The envoy of Gaoguli knew what was going on when he heard Luo Zhang's words, but he had to hold his nose and admit it, and asked how much Luo Zhang wanted.
Hearing the questions from the Gaogouli envoy, Luo Zhang smiled happily, like a weasel who had stolen a chicken.
After coughing, Luo Zhang continued: "It doesn't need to be too much. There are 585 Gaoguli crew members on the ship. I won't count you for the daily food and drink expenses for each person. It only costs ten taels of silver." , it took a total of half a month to get here from the sea, with a total of more than 87,000 taels of silver. Let’s count it as 90,000 taels for you. You won’t mind the extra money, right? The other four ships are very It was broken. We sent it to the shipyard for repair. This repair is not cheap. The shipyard told me that the materials to repair one ship alone cost 50,000 taels. This does not include the labor cost. I will not count that as yours. The total of the four ships is 200,000 taels, plus the previous 90,000 taels, the total is 290,000 taels. If you give this money, you can take the people and the ships and leave!"
Gaogouli's envoy was confused, two hundred and ninety thousand taels, two hundred and ninety thousand taels? He didn't expect it to be so much. He thought it would be a maximum of 10,000 taels, but he didn't expect Luo Zhang to ask for so much. This can no longer be described as a lion's mouth. This is simply a money grab, a naked money grab?
What kind of ship costs fifty thousand taels to repair? It's enough to build one from scratch.
One person spends ten taels of silver per day? What is all this food? Delicacies from mountains and sea? You don’t need so much delicacies from mountains and seas. Ninety thousand in half a month is not what Luo Zhang can say.
Not only was Gaogouli's envoy confused, but the soldiers on the side were also a little dazed. They had thought that Luo Zhang would kill Gaogouli ruthlessly, but they didn't expect that Luo Zhang would be so ruthless. He was slashing with a big knife. Otherwise, they might have the urge to go berserk.
The admiration for Luo Zhang in my heart is overwhelming. I have seen people cheating, but I have never seen people cheating like this. It's amazing. Your Excellency is really amazing.
After swallowing his saliva, the Gaogouli envoy looked at Luo Zhang and said, "Luo Hou, are you sure your calculation is correct?"
"Ah? Wrong calculation? How could I be wrong? My calculations are very good. I will never make a mistake. It's 290,000. It won't be wrong!" Luo Zhang patted his chest and said confidently. The crowd was extremely speechless. They had seen shameless people, but they had never seen such shameless people. They praised themselves for not blushing at all.
"But... but this is too much. Each person is worth ten taels of silver per day, and repairing the ship requires fifty thousand taels. This... Luo Hou, this is a bit too much." Gao Gouli The envoy said angrily.
"Excessive? Why have I gone too far? I entertained your people with delicious food and drinks, brought your people back intact, and even repaired the boat. You think I'm too much? I'm asking you for money and you're like this , are you still my friendly ally of the Tang Dynasty? You actually care about me, I am so disappointed in you Gaogouli." Luo Zhang also pretended to be very angry, and everyone who watched had the urge to slap him, Shit, really too shitty.
"Luo Hou, I didn't mean that. It's just that the money is too much and I can't afford it!" Envoy Gaogouli took a deep breath and suppressed his anger.
"Can't afford it? If you can't afford it, just tell your King Gaoguli and ask him to get money to bring people. Do you still want me to teach you?" Luo Zhang said angrily.
"But this will take a long time, and we won't be able to get it for a while. What do you think of releasing the people and the boat first? I will raise the money for you!" Gaogouli envoy discussed.
"Let the man and the boat go first? Do you think I'm a fool? What if you don't give me the money if you let the man and the boat go? Who will I go to? I don't want to be a debt collector. In a word , if you give me money, let people and ships go. If you don’t have money, hurry up and get money. In addition, for every extra day these people stay with me, they will get ten more taels of silver. Five hundred and eighty-five people, that’s five thousand eight hundred and fifty per day. Two, and the money for the ship to dock, which is one thousand taels per day, even if you have eight thousand taels, if you delay for one more day, it will be eight thousand taels, you can decide what to do." Luo Zhang said with his fingers.
"What? You want money every day? Why don't you go and grab it?" Envoy Gaogouli finally couldn't help but burst out and roared at Luo Zhang.
"Robbing? No, no, no, I won't do that kind of thing. I am the most reasonable person. You can reason with me, but you can't frame me. This is the first time, and I hope it will also be the last time. If you dare again Framed me, I guarantee you won’t be able to leave this military camp, do you believe it or not?” Luo Zhang narrowed his eyes slightly.
"You!!!" Envoy Gaogouli wanted to say something, but when he saw Luo Zhang's cold eyes, he suddenly woke up and his back became wet. This time he remembered that he was in the Royal Navy barracks, here. Yelling at Luo Zhang is like asking for death by hanging himself. What's more, with his strength, he doesn't even need Luo Zhang to take action. He is afraid that he will die.
"Hurry up and get the money. If you don't get the money, eight thousand silver will be added every day. You can figure it out yourself. If you don't want to give it away!" Luo Zhang waved his hand as if to shoo away flies.
Gaogouli's envoy stood up, rolled up his sleeves, and strode away to show his anger, but he did not dare to say another word for fear that Luo Zhang would be angry and chop him into pieces.
After Gao Gouli's envoy left, eager laughter erupted in the Chinese army's tent, and everyone burst out laughing.
"Sir, you are so powerful. Two hundred and ninety thousand taels. Add in the 500,000 taels sold by the several cargoes on the ship. We made nearly 800,000 taels on this trip."
"Yes, this is a great harvest! And that's not counting the money we make from the cargo on our cargo ship!"
"It's better to plunder Gaoguli. The money from the Japanese ships is more than our hard work in transporting goods. It's only 800,000 taels!"
Everyone was talking in a hurry. Luo Zhang listened for a long time before he signaled everyone to be quiet and said, "Are you all happy?"
Everyone nodded, how could they not be happy? They would get a share of whatever they harvested. Who would think it was too much money?
"But have you ever thought about the consequences if you lose the battle?" Luo Zhang poured down a basin of cold water.
"This... we will not be defeated!" someone said.
"Will you not be defeated? There is no ever-victorious commander in this world. No matter when and where you are, you must keep a vigilant heart. Be careful, be careful again and again, and never be arrogant or complacent. I can give you the best advice. A good ship can also give you the best weapons, but if you are arrogant and complacent, no matter how good the ship or the best weapons are, it will be useless. You will be in trouble because you are careless and complacent. Believe it or not?" Luo? Zhang reprimanded.
No one said anything, everyone looked at each other, wondering what was going on, why did the adults reprimand them so well.
"Don't think it's great that you just won a battle, Gaogouli, the Japanese are nothing at all. There is still a long way to go, and there will be more powerful opponents waiting for you. By then, if you can laugh Just come out.”
"My requirements are not high. As long as you take every time you go to sea seriously, whether it is to transport goods or to annihilate the enemy, you must go all out. If anyone dares to do nothing for me, I will not use such people. Remember it clearly. Are you ready?" Luo Zhang said loudly.
"Yes, sir!" Everyone hurriedly bowed and agreed.
"Just remember, okay, it's time to eat and drink, tonight belongs to you!" After Luo Zhang said this, he stood up and left the tent, leaving behind a group of soldiers who were smiling bitterly.
After leaving the big tent, Luo Zhang took a deep breath. He didn't know why he said those words just now. Maybe he said it out of emotion, or maybe he didn't want the people in the tent to see tomorrow. In short, what he said was not wrong. I'm afraid It won't take long for Arab ships to arrive here. Their warships are better and their weapons are not weak. If there is a confrontation, it is still unknown who will win and who will lose. Luo Zhang is just preparing for a rainy day.
