After the directors of the Dongshan Chamber of Commerce left, Zhao Wu took a teapot and poured some water into Liu Heng's teapot, and said: "Master, do you think these people are all stupid? They are like tigers like us." The relationship between the flag and the flag is not so easy to break off. Even if they want to, the officials in Datong may not be willing."
Liu Heng held the teapot in his hand and said with a smile: "It's not that they don't understand this, but they are afraid and confused. They want to give it a try even if there is a slight possibility of survival."
"It's useless to be afraid. They've earned the money, and now they want to break off the relationship. How can there be such a good thing in the world." Zhao Wu said sarcastically.
From the bottom of his heart he despised these wallflowers.
Liu Heng leaned back on his chair, holding a big teapot in both hands, and said: "Once there is news from the Foreign Intelligence Agency, I must be notified in time no matter what time."
"I understand." Zhao Wu nodded solemnly.
The directors of the Dongshan Chamber of Commerce all live in the county town. As soon as they came out of Xujiazhuang, they got on their own carriage and returned to the county town.
When they arrived at the county town, they did not go back to their respective homes, but went to Fatty Xu's home together.
Fatty Xu's house is second only to the Xu family back then, and the area is much larger than the Xu family's house.
Several Dongshan Chamber of Commerce directors gathered in the side hall of the Xu family, while Fatty Xu sat on a wooden bed in the side hall.
In addition to Fatty Xu, Li Lidong and Yang Yuqian, the directors of the Dongshan Chamber of Commerce also include Wang Shuochen.
However, compared with the previous three, the scale of Wang Shuochen's iron yard is far smaller than these three. However, because he is a director of the Dongshan Chamber of Commerce and he is willing to cater to them, his relationship with these three people has become closer and closer.
This time when he returned from Lingqiu, he was also called to Fatty Xu's home.
Li Lidong looked at the other people present and said, "You all tell me, what should we do next?"
He asked several Dongshan Chamber of Commerce directors in the side hall.
Yang Yuqian said with a bitter look on his face: "What else can we do? It's a dark road. Do you really think that the court will let us people go? If you're to blame, you shouldn't have helped the Tiger Flag to deal with the Xu family in the first place. If the Xu family is still here, even if we are oppressed by the Xu family, it would be better than having our homes confiscated and executed by the imperial court."
"It's useless to say all this now. The top priority is how to preserve the Tiger Flag. Liu Heng is right. After the Tiger Flag is gone, none of us will survive." Li Lidong said to several people in the side hall.
No one is a fool who can become the proprietor of an iron farm. I went to Xujiazhuang to find Liu Heng, thinking that I could save my family by severing ties with the tiger-character flag. But when Liu Heng reminded me, my mind cleared up and I knew that I wanted to fight with the tiger flag. It is no longer possible for Zi Qi to break away from the relationship.
Fatty Xu swallowed the preserved fruit in his mouth and said, "I just hope that the Tiger Flag can be accepted by the court. In this way, our family can still have a way to survive."
"Alas!" Li Lidong sighed.
When things have reached this point, everyone knows that they don't have much choice, and they can only follow the tiger flag to the end.
Wang Shuochen, who had rarely spoken all this time, suddenly said: "Several proprietors, have you ever thought about it, if the tiger-character flag breaks through the sky one day, all of us will be heroes in the future."
As he spoke, he pointed his finger upward.
As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Yuqian immediately sarcastically said: "Are you thinking of a good thing? No matter how powerful the tiger-character flag is, it is just a business that raises thousands of soldiers. How can it be more powerful than the imperial army?" .”
"I'm afraid Dongzhu Yang has forgotten that the Tiger-Charactered Banner defeated the Beibei army at Xinping Fort not long ago. This shows that the strength of the Tiger-Charactered Banner's soldiers is very extraordinary. Once the Tiger-Charactered Banner can defeat the official army and capture one or two The county seat will definitely attract many people to join, and we will soon be able to gather an army of hundreds of thousands. Even if we cannot capture the capital in the future, there is always a chance to break the soil and become a prince." Wang Shuochen's face looked a little excited.
It seems that he has already seen the scene of the tiger-shaped flag splitting the earth and sealing the lord.
Fatty Xu said: "The imperial army has more than one million troops. No matter how powerful the tiger-character flag is, it cannot be a match for an army of one million people. Mr. Wang, please put away those unrealistic fantasies as soon as possible."
Yang Yuqian and Li Lidong both nodded in agreement with Fatty Xu's words.
None of them were optimistic about the tiger-shaped flag. No matter how powerful the troops were, facing several or ten times the imperial army, there was only one way to be destroyed in the end.
The illusion that Wang Shuochen had just aroused was completely shattered by Fatty Xu's words.
"Old Xu, is your news accurate? Did the imperial court really send an army to Lingqiu to quell the rebellion? The Tiger Character Banner did not officially rebel anyway." Li Lidong asked Fatty Xu.
The reason why he went to find Liu Heng today was because Fatty Xu received the news that the imperial court designated Tiger Flag as a rebel.
Fatty Xu said: "You also know that the housekeeper and my Xu family are related by marriage. He told me about this. He also said that our County Magistrate Guo drinks in the county government office every day and gets drunk every day. , all day long, in addition to scolding the tiger-character flag, Liu Heng, and the supervisor in Datong."
"Our County Magistrate Guo is quite unlucky. Under his rule, a business name like Tiger Character Banner has been set up with the intention of treason." Wang Shuochen said sympathetically.
Fatty Xu looked at Wang Shuochen and said, "If you can sympathize with him, why not sympathize with yourself? We all have been dragged down by the Tiger Flag."
At this time, he felt aggrieved. He originally only wanted to make some money with the Tiger Flag, but unexpectedly, he ended up risking the lives of his whole family.
Li Lidong said: "Now, we have no way out. We can only follow the tiger-character flag all the way to the dark side, so don't complain here. With this time, we might as well imagine how to appease the shareholders of the Dongshan Chamber of Commerce. Some shareholders have started to connect secretly. We can't help Huzi Banner with other matters, but we must not let anything happen to the Dongshan Chamber of Commerce. This not only affects Huzi Banner, but also everyone present."
"When did those shareholders start getting together?" Yang Yuqian asked hurriedly.
Li Lidong hesitated for a moment and said: "It has been a while, and there is the shadow of the Fan family behind this, and the Fan family is using the guise of Datong patrol. Some shareholders who are worried about something happening to the Tiger Flag have begun to collude with the Fan family."
"How do you know this?" Fatty Xu asked with a frown.
Since the connection was private, it would definitely not be known to outsiders. As a director of the Chamber of Commerce, he didn't know about these things, and he didn't quite understand why Li Lidong knew about these things.
Li Lidong hesitated for a moment and then said: "The Fan family asked me, but I didn't agree. At that time, I still believed that the tiger-character flag could solve this trouble. After all, neither the governor of Datong nor the commander-in-chief said anything. With the tiger-character flag, With connections, maybe we can suppress the matter.”
