Send someone to tell him, and the bandit leader will come and caress him. This kind of thing can only happen to Song Jiang in "Water Margin". In reality, recruitment activities are much more complicated. Negotiations often take a long time with the mediator going back and forth... It's similar to making a deal. After all, this is a matter that concerns the gang leader's wealth and life. If the bandits were not in a desperate situation, this negotiation would have lasted for a long time.
The Ming court recruited Zheng Zhilong, from the first time he was cared for in 1626 to his formal care in 1628. It lasted more than three years, during which it went back and forth many times and the negotiations were interrupted several times. In the end, the negotiation was successful because, firstly, Zheng Zhilong had a strong willingness to caress her, and secondly, Xiong Wencan also showed enough "sincerity" to basically meet Zheng's requirements.
Now that Wang Chuyi was going to recruit someone, he naturally had to show "sincerity", otherwise the other party would never believe it.
"It's hard to find a lobbyist," Wang Chuyi said. This "lobbyist" not only has a heavy responsibility, but also has the ability to adapt to changes in situations. He must also have a lot of sympathy with Sun Dabiao and Feng Haijiao and be able to speak well.
Cai Ji of Zhangquan Xunhaidao, who was the mediator to recruit Zheng Zhilong, had been kind to Zheng Zhilong when he was the prefect. Now they can't think of such a person.
"The most suitable candidate is Zhang Tianbo, but he has been scared away." Peng Shou'an said, "Go to him, he probably won't come out. But the students still have one candidate."
Peng Shou'an said: There is a retired local official named Li Shuangkuai. He was the head catcher of the fast class in Yangshan County. He retired and returned home more than ten years ago and now lives in the countryside. In terms of seniority, Zhang Tianbo should be his disciple.
"...In previous years, when Li Shuang was about to celebrate his birthday, Zhang Tianbo would also go to pay homage and give him a gift. We asked him to come forward to find Zhang Tianbo, and Zhang Tianbo would definitely show up." Peng Shou'an offered advice, "Master, you can try to recruit him first. Zhang Tianbo promised him a bright future and offered him generous rewards to work as a lobbyist..."
Wang Chuyi burst out laughing and slapped Peng Shou'an on the shoulder: "It's really yours! No wonder everyone says that scholars have bad water in their stomachs! That's what we do!"
Peng Shou'an's shoulder was almost dislocated by his slap. Coupled with this nondescript "praise", he felt so MMP in his heart that he couldn't help but smile on his face and said: "Thank you, the county magistrate. The student also said a few words, How to act specifically depends on the county chief’s decision.”
Wang Chu nodded and said: "How else could the chief say that you are a treasure? It's absolutely true! Let's do it like this!" After saying that, he immediately arranged for everyone to split up. The squadron leader of the National Army sent someone to conduct reconnaissance at the bandit's nest, and found someone else to act as a guide to find the old leader.
Li Shuangkuai's residence is actually five or six miles outside Beicheng. When the Yao people rioted, he and his family hid in the city. After the Australians rescued them, they returned home.
He has worked as a team leader in the county government for many years and has considerable savings. A lot of land was purchased outside the city. The Yao people's rebellion was nothing more than burning houses and robbing things. They couldn't take away the land. When I returned home this time, my family couldn't help but feel sad and sad when they saw that the house was in dilapidated condition and their wealth had been depleted. Li Shuangkuai was still calm and ordered his family to dig out all the farm tools and money buried in the ground. He built a few temporary sheds and barely settled down.
On this day, he was watching his family hoeing the fields in the garden. The local Paijia came to him and said, "A group of soldiers from the county have arrived, and several officials have been sent over." He wanted to question him.
Li Shuangkuai was a little surprised. It had been more than ten years since he left the Yamen. Although he had many old acquaintances in the County Yamen, his family had nothing to do with the Yamen. What was the purpose of this Australian's sudden visit?
He said, "Come right away," while slowly patting the dust off his body.
The subordinate's mind was very fast. Before he could finish patting the dirt on his clothes, he had already guessed that the Australian's sudden visit was probably related to Zhang Tianbo.
Zhang Tianbo is one of the well-known "Three Hegemons" in the county. It seems that the Australians are unwilling to let him go!
When I walked into the main room, there were indeed three Australian "official servants" standing there. A few polite words were exchanged on both sides, and the visitor introduced himself, but he was the newly appointed magistrate of Yangshan County by the Australians.
When Li Shuang heard this, he quickly knelt down and said, "It turns out that the county magistrate has arrived, and the people didn't come far to greet him. I forgive you, I forgive you."
In order to express sincerity, this search was led by Wang Chuyi himself. Seeing that the old man was so respectful, he couldn't help but be polite and help him up with his own hands.
After the guests and hosts were seated, Li Shuangqi said some clichés such as "The old man came to the humble abode, and the young man was frightened." Wang Chuyi thought that the old man was just "afraid of officialdom", so he was overly polite. However, Lu Dabang, the captain of the county squadron of the National Army and the chief of the county security section who was following him, felt that although this man pretended to be dim and timid, in fact, when he looked at people from the corner of his eye, he was clearly a powerful character.
This old guy is dishonest! Lu Dabang secretly said. It seems that he is a character who is not easy to deal with, and it will probably take a lot of effort.
Who knows, this is not the case further down the line. Li Shuangkuai was an experienced leader, and he knew very well that since the Australian magistrate came to visit, he could not be fooled easily. Moreover, he had heard that the Australians were extremely disgusted with subordinate officials and would clean them up wherever they went, killing them and arresting them. Although I have retired a long time ago, it is better to be more knowledgeable.
When Wang Chuyi asked about Zhang Tianbo, Li Shuangkuai was happy and said: "Zhang Tianbo is my disciple... my son's disciple."
Li Shuangkuai talked about the past: When Li Shuangkuai retired, he passed on the position of head catcher to his son as usual. Unexpectedly, his son contracted the epidemic and died within a few years of becoming the head catcher. This position was passed to his son's apprentice Zhang Tianbo.
Zhang Tianbo was no younger than his son, and he became a disciple just because he liked this position. Li Shuangkuai had no intention of letting his grandson do the job of a catcher again. After his son's death, he sold the job of catcher to Zhang Tianbo for fifty taels of silver.
"After he became a police officer, did he still have contact with you?"
"After Zhang Tianbo became the head catcher, he has always been very polite to my family because he has a good relationship with him. He always comes to visit during every year and festival; when the old man celebrates his birthday, he also comes to pay his respects as usual, and drinks a few glasses of water and wine before leaving. Let’s go.” Li Shuangkuai didn’t hide it. This couldn’t be hidden in the first place: you’d know as soon as you go to the village and ask.
In fact, things are not that simple. Although no one in Li Shuangkuai's family is engaged in the job of catching police anymore, Li Shuangkuai often takes advantage of the familiarity of people in the yamen and Zhang Tianbo is his disciple and grandson, so he often "takes tea" for others. "Speaking of trivial matters" and colluding with Zhang Tianbo. As for what Zhang Tianbo did, he was certainly aware of it, but to this old subordinate, it was nothing... Being a subordinate was just for making money!
Li Shuangkuai was very afraid that Magistrate Wang would mention these things... To be honest, it would be difficult for him to break away from Zhang Tianbo, and he did have a heart problem. If he really wanted to pursue it, it would be difficult for him to get over it.
Fortunately, Wang Chuyi did not go into detail on this matter, and just said: "Since you are familiar with Zhang Tianbo, our county government also asked you to pass on a message: At present, the county is full of waste and is in chaos internally and externally, and it is urgent to improve public security. He is the original Yangshan head catcher. As long as he is willing to come out and do things, we can let the past be bygones."
Li Shuang quickly wondered: "Master, I don't know where Zhang Tianbo is now..."
"As long as you are determined to look for it, are you afraid that you can't find it?" Wang Chu said, "I will give you three days, and I will send someone to wait for a response early on the fourth day."
No matter how Li Shuangkuai defended his lack of contact with Zhang Tianbo, Wang Chuyi refused to let go. With no choice but to do so, Li Shuangkuai had no choice but to agree.
After seeing off Wang Chuyi, Li Shuang quickly walked around in his yard several times. He was a little confused: he heard that Australians had always had a bad opinion of subordinate officials, and after entering the city, they purged the third team and the sixth room. Why do you suddenly think of using yourself as a brother again?
Naturally, the current situation in the county is chaotic and public security is not good. It is not too strange that the county magistrate sent by the Australians is eager to seek treatment and invites an old policeman from the previous dynasty to take charge.
However, this cunning old catcher still smelled a bad smell from it.
"Could it be a trap?"
However, after thinking about it, I can't think of the point of the Australian setting up such a trap for himself? He is just an ordinary old man now. Zhang Tianbo is actually worthless without his official status as a head catcher. There is absolutely no reason for Australians to put in the effort.
"Forget it!" He thought, this matter doesn't have much to do with him anyway. Since the Australians are looking for Zhang Tianbo, just help them find him! Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to explain it in three days.
He did not tell lies just now. He indeed did not know Zhang Tianbo's whereabouts... he certainly was not hiding at home. He must have taken refuge with a friend and was hiding.
Subordinate officials have the most friends, but most of them are fair-weather friends, with interest-based relationships and rarely heart-to-heart relationships. Li Shuangkuai thought to himself that the person who dared to keep him at this time was either Sun Dabiao or Feng Haijiao. Not to mention that they are brothers of the opposite sex who are sworn to Jinlan, even if they are not sworn brothers, these two have to protect his safety... otherwise they will lose both.
The problem is that just looking for it like this, although I have friendship with Sun Dabiao and Feng Haijiao, they are probably unwilling to admit the current situation.
After much thought, he decided that the only option was to ask Zhang Tianbo's family to come forward.
Zhang Tianbo hid in the bandits' den, and his wife and children naturally hid as well. However, it was not in the bandit den of these two families.
Since ancient times, bachelors have many evil thoughts, and Zhang Tianbo is no exception. Although he, Sun Dabiao, and Feng Haijiao were sworn brothers to Jinlan, he still had to guard against these two sworn brothers... loyalty in the world was never worth real money. Over the years, he has been a catcher and has made a lot of illegal money, and his family has also earned a lot of savings. If this brother has evil intentions and gives him a "one-pot deal", wouldn't it be doomed? In line with the cunning rabbit's three caves, Zhang Tianbo entrusted his family to Li Shuangkuai before hiding. Li Shuangkui didn't dare to take them in at home because he didn't have the place, so he arranged for the family to live in the village where he had taken his brother Xin Laonan.
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Next update: Volume 7, Guangzhou Governance Chapter 409
