"Master Yi, it's been a few days. Doesn't the person named Xu run away because he doesn't think the imperial court has received enough?" Wei Youming asked from the side. "That's not possible. Isn't 30% too little for him?"
Yi Xiaodao was a little embarrassed. He didn't tell Wei Youming, but only gave the two of them 10%. It wasn't that he wanted to keep the 20%. These were not banknotes. He just picked two and it was done. The mine's 40% profit cannot be deceived at all. Yi Xiaodao just wants to leave 20% as a leeway to "reward" them if they do well in the future.
"Don't talk about Xu Hong, even Master Ding can't be found. I really don't know what they are doing." Wei Youming continued to complain.
Yi Xiaodao sighed: "Oh, let's wait and see." The words have been spoken, and it is not appropriate for Yi Xiaodao to change it at this time, so there is no other way but to wait.
Wei Youming also sighed: "Oh, you are greedy."
Yi Xiaodao knew that Wei Youming's words were referring to Xu Hong and Ding Kai, but he always felt that he was referring to them vaguely, as if he was talking about himself.
He shook his head to get rid of this idea: If I don't say anything, who in the world will know that I am stingy?
Several soldiers outside the door brought lunch. As soon as Yi Xiaodao and Wei Youming picked up their chopsticks, a strange messenger came to report: "Master Ding invites Master Yi to come to the city for a talk."
Yi Xiaodao quickly dropped his chopsticks and urged: "Hurry up, hurry up, lead the way from the front, lead the way from the front."
"Master Yi, let's go after dinner." Wei Youming shouted from behind.
"If you call me at this point, you will be guaranteed a meal for me. How can he still starve me? Just wait for my good news!" Yi Xiaodao didn't even look back.
At Yicheng Yamen, a table full of delicacies has been served. The wealthy businessmen and gentry of Yicheng have all taken their seats, waiting for the arrival of the most important guest, Yi Xiaodao.
Yi Xiaodao was already very familiar with the Yicheng Yamen. He ran to the banquet without waiting for the servants to take the others: "I'm starving to death. Come on, come on, come on, don't wait, let's start the meal."
All the wealthy businessmen were in a daze. They saw that Yi Xiaodao had already picked up a chicken leg full of sesame oil and stuffed it into his mouth. Without resting his hand, he picked up a crab from the pot, without using any eight pieces of crab, and hammered it down. , the shell is the shell, the meat is the meat, eat it hungrily.
"This...this Master Yi is quite a heroic man, ha...haha" A wealthy businessman reacted quickly and was the first to praise Yi Xiaodao.
"Yes, yes, those who achieve great things don't stick to trivial matters."
"Yi Xiaodao has a really good appetite. He is open to all kinds of things. It's a blessing to be able to eat!"
The rest of the wealthy businessmen and gentry followed suit and started patting the horses.
Yi Xiaodao spat the chicken bones aside and took the time to ask: "Everyone, please stop trying. I'm in a hurry. How's the recruitment going?"
Everyone's eyes were focused on Ding Kai, the magistrate of Yicheng County. Ding Kai knew he couldn't hide, so he had to say frankly: "Master Yi, this is a conscription. Although Yicheng is not rich, the life of the people is not bad. It is no problem to have enough food and clothing to live on. I and a group of squires have spent a lot of effort to promote it! But the applicants...are very few..."
"How many is a few?" This situation was expected by Yi Xiaodao.
"Less than...a thousand." Ding Kai looked a little embarrassed.
Yi Xiaodao raised his eyebrows: "Exact number of people?"
"One hundred and twenty people..." Ding Kai's face turned even darker.
Yi Xiaodao kept moving, grabbing the plate of peanuts and pouring it into his mouth. He "drank" the peanuts like fine wine.
"Master Ding means that even if these one hundred and twenty people are on business, are you afraid that I will be unhappy and hold a banquet to stop my mouth? Is Yi Xiaolao's...mouth...so easy...to live with?" Yi Xiaodao simply fished out the whole chicken and gnawed on it as if no one else was watching.
Everyone looked at Yi Xiaodao and looked at each other, muttering to themselves: You obviously enjoyed eating it.
Yi Xiaodao didn't care to talk, so he ate it all. Then he slowed down his movements, filled a bowl of mutton soup, and drank it carefully.
Everyone had to wait for him to finish drinking.
After Yi Xiaodao finished drinking, he burped and said hello: "Eat, everyone is eating, why are you standing there in a daze? Doesn't it suit your appetite? I feel good eating it."
Everyone looked at the mess on the table, wondering where there was a piece of good meat, so what else could they eat? Crab shells fell into the mutton soup, lion heads rolled everywhere, a good chicken was chewed to pieces by Yi Xiaodao, and minced meat was everywhere, which was really unappetizing.
Seeing that everyone refused to eat, Yi Xiaodao picked his teeth and asked, "These one hundred and twenty people...should be all poor people, right? Of all the people here, the young members of the clan must not be among them, right?" "
The wealthy businessmen all look ugly, but there are many children in the family. But if your family has a big business, who is willing to let your relatives serve as soldiers? Let’s go to Donglu, which is the most chaotic place right now.
No one spoke, even the wealthy businessman who reacted the fastest just now pretended to be deaf and dumb.
"Master Ding, this Yicheng is also an important town in Nanhuai. Nanhuai is good at literature and calligraphy. There must be many champions in the city, right?" Yi Xiaodao changed the topic.
Ding Kai didn't know why, so he replied honestly: "It's true that Yicheng is an important town, but... in terms of literature and calligraphy, it is at the bottom. The children who have just grown up are busy doing farm work and doing business, and there is nothing outstanding about it."
Yi Xiaodao chuckled and patted a fat wealthy businessman next to him: "Hey, did you bring any money?"
"I brought... I brought..." the fat wealthy businessman replied quickly and took out a wad of banknotes from his sleeve. "Master Yi, I only brought these..."
"It's quite rich." Yi Xiaodao smiled, took it all, stuffed it into his arms, and turned to an old wealthy businessman on the other side: "What about you? How much did you bring?"
The old wealthy businessman tremblingly took out a cloth bag, opened it and handed it to Yi Xiaodao: "Old...I only brought..." As he spoke, his eyes widened, wanting to count.
Yi Xiaodao also took them all and stuffed them into the pocket on the other side.
"Do you still want me to ask for them one by one? What about you?" Yi Xiaodao glanced around and saw that there were five or six wealthy businessmen left. Everyone hurriedly took out their pockets, some took out silver bills, and some took out gold ingots. They were handed to Yi Xiaodao one after another.
Yi Xiaodao shook a pile of banknotes in his hand and said with a smile: "My ancestors have never been an official, right? Let's not talk about anything else. Being an official is good for this."
No one dared to say anything.
"Everyone wakes up early and works hard until late at night, but with just one word from me, all the efforts of a day or even several days are taken back. Now the opportunity is in front of you, but you still don't know how to cherish it and let the children of the clan inherit the inheritance. , and then wait for the next court official to ask for money?"
Heart-wrenching words!
The wealthy businessmen and gentry looked at me and I looked at you. They just felt as if something had suddenly been opened.
Indeed, what's the point of working so hard all day long on the map? Isn’t it just to keep the family prosperous? In the past, when the King of Nanhuai recruited troops from Yicheng, he only valued the bravery of the people in Yicheng. For no other reason, the soldiers who went out of Yicheng could only be soldiers. The officials in Nanhuai were all from prominent families trusted by the King of Nanhuai and people from the surrounding areas of Su City, so it was their turn to come to Yicheng.
Over time, the people of Yicheng naturally resisted the idea of conscription. Everyone is only thinking about how to make more money, how to save more food, and how to make others think more highly of themselves.
Nowadays, if soldiers are recruited to fight for the imperial court, if they have done meritorious service, they can just rely on their military merits to get an official position. Didn't you hear what Mr. Yi said? This is the time for the imperial court to employ people.
Many wealthy businessmen were somewhat agitated and secretly watched to see what other people would do.
Yi Xiaodao saw that what he said to everyone was a little emotional, so he stopped when he was satisfied. Excessive urging would arouse everyone's resentment. He stood up and was about to say goodbye when he saw a Yulin soldier coming outside the county government office and was let in.
As soon as Yi Xiaodao walked out of the hall, he saw the Yulin Army coming towards him.
"Report, Mr. Yi, there are about two thousand troops outside the city. They are said to be conscripted soldiers from Jiacheng. They were brought to our camp by a man named 'Xu Hong'. General Wei, please go back quickly to discuss important matters!" "
"Two thousand troops in Jiacheng? Can't you tell that Xu Hong is quite popular..." Yi Xiaodao said in a loud voice, deliberately so that everyone in the hall could hear it.
"Reward! I will go back and tell Your Majesty that Jiacheng's mining resources will be divided into another 10%!"
! ! ! ! !
"Master Ding, did Yi Xiaodao just say that Jiacheng's mining resources will be increased by 10%? Then they will get 20%!"
Beside the banquet, a wealthy businessman asked Ding Kai.
"You ask me, how do I know? Haven't I persuaded you enough in the past few days? I'm shouting." Ding Kai was so angry at this time that he also heard Yi Xiaodao's shouting outside the door. Yes, when he heard that two thousand troops were coming from Jiacheng, Ding Kai just wanted to find a crack in the ground and crawl down to pull him down.
Everyone was quarreling. You blamed me, I blamed him, and the quarrel was endless.
"Okay! Stop arguing! Now go back and discuss it with your family and clan. Master Yi is right. This opportunity comes only once in a lifetime. Don't you want the children of your clan to have a good future? Follow Master Yi. Wrong!" Ding Kai made the final decision and everyone stopped arguing.
In the end, a group of wealthy businessmen and gentry from Yicheng rushed back to their homes and nervously held an emergency meeting within the clan.
Yi Xiaodao arrived outside the city and rushed to the military camp immediately. Xu Hong was sitting upright in the commander's tent, looking honest and responsible.
"Brother Xu, thank you for your hard work." Yi Xiaodao opened the curtain and entered the tent.
Xu Hong shook his head, with a look of shame on his face: "Jiaocheng is not a wealthy city. Xu Hong tried his best but only 2,000 people came. I'm ashamed, I'm ashamed."
"Hey, Brother Xu is serious. This is no less than a timely help! Regarding the mine, I will personally report to Your Majesty. The mining resources of this mine will add 10% to Jiacheng!" Yi Xiaodao praised.
"Another 10% more!? Master Yi, can you get this...?"
"Yes!" Yi Xiaodao was very confident, "This matter is settled."
Xu Hong approached Yi Xiaodao: "Master Yi, what about this Yicheng..."
Yi Xiaodao looked at the low-tower city wall of Yicheng and sighed: "Let's wait a few more days. If it doesn't work, we can only take these 7,000 people to Donglu."
