"Your Cao family is a big family in Datong City. You said you can't get 20,000 taels of silver. It doesn't matter. My people can search for it themselves. If you find the silver, don't blame me for being rude." Zhang Sancha snorted coldly.
Coming from a poor family, he had no good impression of a wealthy family like the Cao family.
Moreover, he already knew about such a big family as the Cao family before coming here, so naturally he didn't believe that the Cao family couldn't even come up with 20,000 taels of silver.
Since the Cao family master dared to deal with him face to face, he didn't mind taking this opportunity to confiscate the Cao family, which could be regarded as establishing prestige in front of the squires after the Tiger Character Banner entered the city.
Mr. Cao's Adam's apple twitched, and he realized that the other party was not trying to scare him.
"I'll hand it over, I'll hand it over. The Cao family will pay for the 20,000 taels of silver." Mr. Cao's family didn't dare to let these gangsters go to his Cao family to search.
Once the robbers are allowed to search his home, the loss will not only be 20,000 taels of silver, but more, and even the children in the family are likely to be harmed.
"It would have been better if we had done this earlier." Zhang Sancha smiled coldly, and then said to a soldier beside him, "Get everyone back!"
The man turned around and ran to deliver the order.
Zhang Sancha looked at Mr. Cao again and said, "Don't worry, twenty thousand taels and a penny are not much for you, but if you are dishonest, don't blame me for being rude."
"Don't dare, don't dare, don't dare." Faced with such a threat, Mr. Cao did not dare to refute.
Twenty thousand taels of silver is a large sum of money. There are not many families in Datong City who can spend so much money at once. The Cao family is one of the few families who can spend so much money at once.
Large families like the Cao family have their own existence. In many cases, the silver will be cast into the shape of winter melons or large silver ingots and stored in the cellar.
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, more and more money flowed into the Ming Dynasty, which also gave many wealthy squires more opportunities to bury their money.
The master of the Cao family did not dare to let the people brought by Zhang Sancha follow the Cao family to get the silver. Instead, he asked the Cao family's housekeeper to take the servants of the family to prepare 20,000 taels of silver.
"The servants in the family have already gone to get the silver. The leader might as well go down to the side hall and sit down and drink a cup of hot tea." The master of the Cao family said flatteringly.
Datong City has fallen into the hands of the bandits. Before the Ming army retakes Datong City, the people who have the final say in the city are the bandits. At this time, only by pleasing the bandits can the Cao family be protected from being harmed by the bandits.
Squire like them are afraid of bandits entering the city after the city is broken.
The officers and soldiers only dared to harm the rich and ordinary people in the countryside, but they did not dare to do anything bad to the wealthy families in the city, especially the families of gentry that had been passed down for generations.
Such people have countless connections in the officialdom, so ordinary officers and generals not only dare not offend them, but also need to please them.
But it was different when the rioters entered the city. They would only attack the big households in the city. The more powerful the household, the easier it was to be targeted by the rioters. Otherwise, the Cao family would not have joined forces with several other squires in the city to attack outside the city. The gangsters gave away money just to buy peace for their families.
Zhang Sancha glanced at the Cao family master and said: "No need, as long as your Cao family pays the money honestly, your Cao family will be fine."
"Thank you, chief." Mr. Cao family hugged Zhang Sancha again.
With Zhang Sancha's assurance, he could feel more at ease. As for the idea of meeting Liu Heng, the leader of the bandits, he couldn't even think about it.
It's not that he doesn't dare, but he doesn't think the bandits can stay in Datong City for long.
Go meet the leader of the bandits at this time. Once the imperial army recaptures Datong City, the Cao family may be charged with being a fellow bandit.
So he would rather spend money to buy peace from the bandits than meet Liu Heng, the bandit leader.
"Deputy Commander, here is a chair. You can sit down." A soldier brought a chair out from a nearby room and brought it to Zhang Sancha.
The chair was placed behind Zhang Sancha, and Zhang Sancha sat down.
Mr. Cao's legs had long been weak from fear, and he wanted to sit down, but facing the bandit leader in front of him, he did not dare to let his servants bring him a chair to sit on.
He could only wait for his butler to bring the money together so that he could give away all the murderers in front of him.
Zhang Sancha took out his pipe, twisted some tobacco leaves, put it in it, lit it with a fire stick, and started smoking dry tobacco with his mouth.
The smoke that was exhaled floated in front of Mr. Cao's family, and Mr. Cao's family took a few strong breaths.
Many people in Datong have learned to smoke dry tobacco, and Mr. Cao is also a pampered person. Before yellow tobacco was planted in Tiger Flag, he had already started smoking dry tobacco through his connections in the south.
When he smelled the smell of cigarettes, he wanted to smoke himself, but in front of the bandit leader, he did not dare to let his servants get his pipe and pot.
Zhang Sancha took a few puffs of cigarettes, and seeing Master Cao's patient look, he asked, "Master Cao also smokes dry cigarettes?"
"Yes, take a few puffs when you have free time." Mr. Cao said with a smile, and at the same time swallowed the saliva in his mouth.
Zhang Sancha took a long drag from his pipe, then puffed out the smoke and said, "I smoke tobacco from our Tiger Flag. I wonder what kind of tobacco Mr. Cao likes to smoke?"
"The tobacco we smoke is also sold in Tiger Character Banner." Mr. Cao's family said, "In the past, if you wanted tobacco leaves, you could only buy them from the south. Since Tiger Character Flag also sells these things, my family members can save a lot if they want to buy tobacco leaves." thing."
Zhang Sancha said with a smile: "Since Mr. Cao also smokes, don't hold back and smoke! I can't bear to let others watch me smoke."
"Thank you, chief." Master Cao cupped his hands, turned around and said to a servant next to him, "Quickly, go to the room and get my pipe pot and tobacco leaves."
The servants hurried to the backyard.
Not long after, the servant ran back with a pipe pot in his hand.
Mr. Cao took his pipe pot, skillfully pinched some broken tobacco leaves into it, lit it with a fire stick and took a big puff, causing sparks to ignite inside.
After taking two puffs of cigarette, he looked left and right, looking for a place to sit, but found that there was no place for him to sit, so he had to stand awkwardly smoking the pot.
"Bring a chair to Master Cao." Zhang Sancha noticed Master Cao's embarrassment and asked someone to move the chair.
Soon a soldier came back carrying a bench.
The bench was placed on the ground. Mr. Cao thanked him and sat on it with his butt raised.
It took almost half a stick of incense to pass.
Butler Cao, who had gone to move the silver, came over with his servants carrying wooden boxes.
Wooden boxes were placed in a row in the open space in the yard.
"Chief, we have twenty thousand taels of silver. Can you please order some?" Mr. Cao said cautiously.
Zhang Sancha glanced at it, and then said to the people around him: "Weigh all the silver."
Several Tiger Flag soldiers walked over and began to weigh the silver in the wooden box.
Twenty thousand taels of silver is a large sum of money. Naturally, one will not think that it is really twenty thousand taels of silver just because of what the Cao family said. With such a large amount of silver, the amount can only be determined after it has been weighed.
