After hearing Jia Cong's domineering words, Li Rong knew enough not to refute.
He knew that no matter what he said, Jia Cong would never change his mind.
Because he had long heard that when Jia Cong was in Liaodong, he used his own money to subsidize his soldiers.
Now that we have won the battle and captured something, it makes sense to use part of the harvest to reward our soldiers.
Although he is suspected of winning people's hearts by doing this, he has to admit that this method is really effective. Just look at the actions of those generals.
However, there is something wrong with this move.
Rewarding soldiers is a matter for the imperial court and His Majesty. In doing so, he is overreaching.
Li Rongdao: "Ning Guogong, if this matter is reported back to the court, someone will definitely intervene in your case. Aren't you afraid that His Majesty will be suspicious of you and deliberately win people's hearts?"
Jia Cong smiled bitterly and said: "Master Li, there is no way around this. If we want to completely wipe out the rebels in Shaanxi, we must improve the morale of our officers and soldiers, inspire the bravery in their bones, and make them willing to fight for their lives.
But who is willing to die if there is no benefit? Talk about dedication and glory to these soldiers. How many of them understand this? They are soldiers just to make a living. Only real money and real benefits can make them risk their lives.
Everything I have done has not the slightest selfishness, let alone the idea of winning people's hearts. It is all to win this war. Once the war is over, I will hand over the military power. I have no military power in my hands. What can be done?
As the saying goes: Don't trust those you employ, and ignore those you doubt. My loyalty to Your Majesty can be learned from heaven and earth, and I don't have the slightest dissent. I believe Your Majesty will support my approach. "
Li Rong was somewhat noncommittal about Jia Cong's statement.
All emperors are suspicious by nature and do not trust others easily, not to mention that His Majesty is the best among them today.
If His Majesty knows about it and has no idea at all, it is almost impossible.
He has said what he should say, and it is Jia Cong's business whether to listen or not.
His Majesty sent himself here for the purpose of supervision, and everyone knew it.
Li Rongdao: "Since Ning Guogong has already made a decision, I won't say more, but I will report the matter to Your Majesty truthfully."
Jia Cong nodded and said: "Master Li, even if you report it, you are not afraid of others knowing what you have done. I will also mention this matter to Your Majesty and send the Yulin battle report to the capital.
By the way, Mr. Li, I will leave this government office to you. I have wiped out all the rebels in the city. From now on, the affairs in the city will be handed over to Mr. Li, and the prisoners will also be handed over to Mr. Li. Mr. Li still Put your main focus on this. "
Li Rong frowned. He was really troubled by the handling of these prisoners.
If you don't handle it well and let these people rebel again, then your own responsibility will be huge, which is purely thankless.
But he was here to deal with the aftermath, and he couldn't ignore it, so he had to bite the bullet and agree.
"Ning Guo Gong, I can take over the matter of the prisoners, but so many people are too difficult to control. You have to lend me some manpower, otherwise there will be trouble and it will not be good for everyone."
Jia Cong did not refuse. With so many prisoners handed over to a scholar, Jia Cong felt uneasy.
"Don't worry, Master Li. My army will rest in Yulin for one to two months. During this period, I will help you keep an eye on them. If you really can't use so many people, I can select a group of people to form a group." A death camp."
Li Rong's face improved after hearing this.
He said, "This will make me feel more at ease. I really can't use the more than 20,000 prisoners. Ning Guogong should first select a group of people to set up your death camp. I will take care of the remaining prisoners." Assign them to do something else.
By the way, Mr. Ning Guo, why did you rest for so long this time? Will it delay the war? "
Jia Cong smiled and said: "Master Li, you are not good at fighting. From now on, you can just take care of internal affairs and leave the war to me. These things will be fine."
Soldiers come from different places and have varying strengths. They need thorough training to improve their strength and allow the army to form combat effectiveness.
Another thing is that we have just arrived and don’t know much about the rebels. We need to find out detailed information about the rebels before we can make a complete strategic plan. We must know that sharpening the sword will not waste time cutting wood, and knowing yourself and the enemy will enable you to fight without danger.
I received news the day before yesterday that the grain transport team has arrived in Taiyuan and will reach Yulin in a few days. The grain transported this time is quite large, close to one million dan. I proposed this matter, so naturally I have to assist them in selling this batch of grain. Only if they can successfully get the money, will there be a steady stream of grain shipped to Shaanxi in the future, and the price of grain will be completely suppressed. Alleviating the disaster in Shaanxi. "
Li Rong nodded and said, "I will also help with this matter."
The two discussed again, and first sent a group of prisoners to repair the road from Yulin to the Yellow River Ferry to facilitate the passage of the grain team, and then repair the road south along Yulin to facilitate the passage of the army. .
As for the rest, let Li Rong take care of it himself.
At the same time, the two also reached a secret agreement, that is, Jia Cong will take 10% of the future seizures and give half to Li Rong.
This is a large amount of income. Even if it is half a percent, I am afraid that Li Rong will not be able to earn it in a few lifetimes. As soon as Jia Cong opened his mouth, Li Rong hesitated for a while and then readily agreed.
No one doesn't like money, not to mention it is so easy to get, he doesn't have to do anything, he just needs to turn a blind eye.
In fact, it's okay if Jia Cong doesn't give it to him. It's just that he can't take all the seizures. Instead of turning them over to the treasury, it's better to give him a share. This way he can get him on his chariot, and it won't cost him any money anyway. own money.
The two have also discussed it. On the surface, they are still opposed to each other, but privately they can negotiate and help each other.
Taking down Li Rong in this way would be a huge gain without any harm to Jia Cong.
After sending Li Rong away, he called Tie Zhu and Li Biao over.
"My subordinates have met the commander-in-chief."
Jia Cong waved his hand and said, "Sit down and tell me what you gained yesterday."
Tie Zhu said: "Commander, there used to be only three grain shops in Yulin City. Grain prices here have been rising again and again. Some people have seen the benefits and added four more grain shops. Now there are a total of seven grain shops in the city.
According to our personnel's investigation, there are three grain merchants who have close ties with the rebels. We confiscated all of them yesterday. A total of more than 673,800 taels of silver and more than 14,600 taels of gold were seized from the three merchants. , more than 235,200 taels of silver notes, a total of more than 160,000 shi of grain seized from three families, and some miscellaneous things. "
Each of these three families has an average fortune of more than 400,000 taels of silver. As a grain merchant, they are relatively wealthy.
Jia Cong smiled and said: "The harvest is good. I didn't expect these people to be quite rich. Where are all these things?"
Li Biao said: "After these three houses were confiscated, Qingwen went to choose a house as a temporary residence for the commander-in-chief. We moved all the money there. Miss Han and her people have already moved in, and Qingwen has also moved in." over there."
Jia Cong nodded and said, "You've done well. The six of you, plus Qingwen and Nianci, will each be rewarded with one thousand taels, and the other soldiers will each be rewarded with one hundred taels."
Several people raised their hands together and said, "Thank you, Commander-in-Chief, for the reward."
Jia Cong waved his hand and said, "If you follow me, I won't treat you badly. It's not good for us to take all this money. Let's take out 300,000 taels of silver and confiscate it, otherwise it will be too ugly."
The other four companies, you also go and beat them. They have made too much money with bad intentions, so let them spit out some of it willingly. Li Biao should lead people to do this. Remember, you are not asked to ask people for it, but It makes people willingly deliver it to their door. "
Li Biao chuckled and said, "Don't worry, Commander, I've taken care of this matter. They will definitely be willing to give money to the Commander."
Jia Cong smiled and said, "I don't want their money in vain. If they are wise enough to satisfy me, I will hand over the large quantities of grain they have shipped to them for sale.
Naturally, they will make a lot of money.
If they are ignorant, I will ask people to sell the grain at a low price, so that they will not be able to sell a single grain of grain in their hands, but will throw it all into their hands. You can reveal some information to them, saying that I have shipped a large amount of grain and I want to find someone to sell it as an agent in Yulin. "
Li Biao said: "Don't worry, Commander, my subordinates will definitely handle it properly. By the way, Commander, why don't we sell it ourselves? Wouldn't that make more money?"
Jia Cong said: "In the future, there will be more and more grain, and the price will be lower and lower. I want to sell grain to the whole of Shaanxi through these people. First, I will make a fortune from those unscrupulous businessmen, and then One is to try to control food prices and slowly bring them down. As long as more food is sold and there is no shortage of food everywhere, food prices will slowly come down."
Li Biao said: "The commander-in-chief is far-sighted and his subordinates admire him greatly."
Jia Cong smiled and said: "I want to select 10,000 people from those prisoners to form a death camp. You go ask Xie Qiong to see if he is willing to be the leader of this team. If he is willing, then Let him come to me."
Li Biao said: "Now that I know the commander-in-chief, I will go down and inform him."
Compared to several other people, Xie Qiong is still relatively young. If she dares to fight, she will be indispensable for her contribution.
The opportunity has been given to him. Whether he can seize it or not is up to him.
Jia Cong looked at Tie Zhu and said, "Tie Zhu, I'll leave it to you to find out the information. Send all the scouts out. I want to know all the information about the rebels. I'll give you one to two months. Take the time to do your best to do this for me."
Tie Zhu said: "Don't worry, Commander. The people we sent here have already contacted those undercover agents. They will definitely complete the tasks assigned by the Commander."
Jia Cong smiled and said: "In that case, let's go and leave this place to Old Man Li. Let's go to our own house. After traveling for more than a month, it's time to take a good rest. By the way, later. Change the title deed of the house to my name."
"Yes, I will obey."
······
A quarter of an hour later, Jia Cong arrived in front of a luxurious mansion.
At a glance, I knew that this was a rich man's house. That damn guy really didn't know how to keep a low profile and deserved to be beheaded.
This is a large courtyard with five entrances, and the layout inside is quite good.
There was a group of soldiers standing guard at the door. When they saw Jia Cong and others approaching, they quickly stepped forward to salute.
"My subordinates pay their respects to the Commander-in-Chief."
Jia Cong said: "No need to be polite, have everything been packed inside?"
The soldier said: "Reporting back to the commander, the place has been set up and all the items have been replaced with new ones."
Jia Cong nodded and walked through the door.
Seeing the clean and tidy yard inside, Jia Cong nodded with satisfaction.
After generally going around in a circle, we returned to the inner courtyard.
Qingwen heard the movement and came out with a smile: "Commander, are you satisfied with this place?"
Jia Cong smiled and said: "As long as you are satisfied, I don't have many requirements. Besides, I won't stay here long, only a month or two at most."
Qingwen smiled and said: "Even if we stay for a month or two, we should live comfortably. I have been busy traveling during this period, so I just have a good rest."
Jia Cong said: "There won't be much going on next, so just have a good rest."
He walked around the backyard again and asked, "Qingwen, have you checked carefully in this house? Are there any secret passages or anything like that? Don't we want to sleep in the middle of the night and be eaten by someone?"
Qingwen said: "I've checked where the secret passage came from, and there's nothing there. Just don't worry, Commander. Besides, Chunlan and I are here. Even if someone comes, they're looking for death."
Jia Cong said: "Don't take it lightly. There are many desperadoes among these rebels. We killed their second leader and wiped out their 100,000 troops. Maybe they will really send people to assassinate us."
Qingwen said seriously: "Well, I will arrange for personal patrols.
, if you are not a top expert, you will definitely not be able to do anything to us. "
Jia Cong nodded. With the strength of himself and others, it would be very difficult for most people to get close to him. If he came, he would probably die.
At this time, Han Nianci also came over and said with a smile: "Commander, the meal is ready. Let's wash up and eat first."
Jia Cong smiled and said, "Well, thank you for your hard work. Can you still hold on along the way?"
Han Nianci said: "We also train occasionally, but I don't feel too tired."
The waiter Jia Cong washed himself and changed his clothes before they sat down to eat together.
Jia Cong sat on the main seat, with Qingwen, Chunlan, and Xia Zhu on his left, and Han Nianci, Qiu Ju, and Dongmei on his right. The seven of them sat together, as if they had returned to the days when they served in the army in Liaodong.
There are still seven people together, no change, they just changed places.
Han Nianci smiled and said, "Li Biao and the others got a hump from nowhere, so I asked the people in the kitchen to make it. How does it taste, Commander?"
Jia Cong picked it up and took a bite. He felt that the taste was quite good. He smiled and said: "Yes, yes, it tastes very good. You guys should also try it. Shaanxi also has many special dishes and snacks with unique flavors. Let's have some time." Let’s go out and taste it together.”
