Flourishing of the Ming Dynasty Novel - Chapter 50

Chapter 50 To Deal with Somebody Courteously but Without Sincerity
Late at night, Guang Ling County was under the cold wind. The whistling sound of the wind caused even the trees whose leaves had fallen to the ground to crash, like wild beasts lurking in the darkness screaming strangely.

But Lu Zhen’s room was warm, because he had added a charcoal stove, which was much warmer than before. Although there was no kang, it was only a wooden bed, Lu Zhen, who was lying on it, did not feel cold.

However, he did not fall asleep. Although he had already extinguished the candles in the room, his eyes, which were leaning against the bed, were still sparkling and he was quietly thinking about something.

Ever since Lu Zhen came out of prison a few hours ago, he had been thinking like this. No one knew what he had talked to Zheng Fu about, but judging from his worried look, the people below could infer that this matter was definitely not small.

“In a few years, they sold thousands of kilograms of grain to Dazi and countless sabers, spears, and arrows. These guys are really bold. It’s not like the imperial court will lose its prestige in a few decades. Once someone finds out about this, Xiao Mo won’t even have ten heads to chop off.” Lu Zhen muttered softly. The news he received from Zheng Fu really shocked him.

But this was probably the reason why Xiao Mo dared to do so, because he didn’t think that it would cause much trouble for Da Ming. Although Great Ming had no Taizong (that is, Zhu Di) until the Jiajing Dynasty, because of their own ruling needs, the posthumous title of Taizong was changed to the ancestor. In fact, there was no such thing as Ming Chengzu before this. Passersby pressed down on him, suppressing the might of the Meng people. Even though there was only a small amount of friction in the border area, the Ming army still decided that the Mongols would not be able to succeed. Even if they were given food and weapons, the scattered Mongols would not be able to pose a real threat to the Central Plains.

However, Lu Zhen knew that this was just a wishful thinking on the part of those people! Six years later, that fellow would bring his powerful cavalry to kill the Great Ming army that had been blindfolded and was still living under the light of the Great Sect. Even Emperor, who was on his personal expedition, would become his prisoner. Then there will be a greater calamity. The Dazi army will charge straight to the gates of Beijing …

Actually, Lu Zhen had raised a question when he looked at this period of history in the past. How could the Meng people suddenly become so powerful? Just because they had left, this once-in-a-hundred-year hero had allowed the weak to become the most ferocious prairie wolves again?

From the looks of it, the Great Ming Border Army had also contributed to this. It was their unceasing generous “support” that provided the Mongol people with large amounts of food and weapons, which made the originally weak Mongol army incomparably powerful. Afterwards, they used these supplies obtained from the Ming army to completely destroy the Ming army!

From Zheng Fu’s narrative, Lu Zhen could guess that not only the troops stationed here in Guangling County, but also the other border town guards that bordered the Mongol people must be doing something similar. For their own selfishness, they sold the supplies that the Imperial Court had distributed to the Mongol people, which should have been used to defend against foreign enemies!

This was the malady that Cheng Ping had suffered for a long time. The people had long since relaxed their vigilance and did not treat those formidable enemies as children.

Of course, these were too big for Lu Zhen and too far away. He was just a small county magistrate, so it wasn’t his turn to worry about it. It was because of his current situation that he found it difficult to fall asleep during the night.

This matter was so serious that Xiao Mo would undoubtedly die once the people above knew about it. This deduction really made Lu Zhen a little uneasy. In order to protect himself, the other party might jump over a wall, but he was really in danger.

Originally, Lu Zhen had even thought of gathering some evidence and sending it to Datong. But now, this thought had been completely dispelled by him-with Xiao Mo’s mind, he would not have been wary of his own life and death? If he really did that and was stopped halfway, the other party would probably kill him regardless of all costs.

The reason why he was able to scare Xiao Mo earlier was precisely because Lu Zhen believed that the other party did not dare to risk everything and did not dare to truly rebel. However, Xiao Mo and his subordinates couldn’t just sit there and wait to die if they discovered that they had no other way to retreat. Even if they were going to die, they would still drag their own creator to be buried with them.

Thinking of this, Lu Zhen felt his heart tighten. Only then did he know how serious the problem he was facing was. Even though he was in the county government, it was still filled with dangers.

“What shall I do? Handing over the evidence now was akin to committing suicide, but dragging it out like this was not the way to go. Once Xiao Mo found out about his own situation, he would most likely make a move first. Lu Zhen thought back and forth for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth. He could only lie to the snake first, and then find an opportunity to report the other party.

But where would I find this opportunity? This caused Lu Zhen to feel very troubled, and he once again frowned and began to think hard.

Suddenly, something mentioned in the official document that he had just received yesterday jumped into his mind. Lu Zhen didn’t pay much attention to the extra documents at hand because he had been trying cases and fighting head-on for the past two days.

But now that he thought about it, there was one thing that he had really neglected. It was clearly written in that document that he, the county magistrate of Guang Ling, would report to Datong Prefecture on the seventh day of the first month of next year! As the magistrate of the Datong Prefecture, this was the usual rule.

“This is an excellent opportunity, and it’s impossible to attract attention. Even Xiao Mo can’t stop me from going to the Great Harmony” Lu Zhen had an idea in his heart. Only then could he calm down and slowly fall asleep.

@ @ @ @

The next day, Xiao Mo’s dream came true, thinking that he was going to make a fool of himself with Xiao Mo. It was because that very morning, Boss Xiao had sent someone to apologize. Not only that, the person also took advantage of the fact that there were only the two of them in the room to present a silver note to Lu Zhen!

That’s right, it’s silver. At a time when it was very rare to see silver, this Xiao Boss actually gave Lu Zhen a silver bill worth 300 taels, which could be cashed at the largest bank in Datong Prefecture.

Lu Zhen couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw this complicated and peculiar banknote, “This is …”

“County magistrate Lu, please accept it. This is also our general courtesy. It can only be considered an apology for yesterday’s incident.” The military clerk cupped his hands sincerely.

Lu Zhen didn’t know what to do with such a banknote. He could tell that the other party had not only given him the banknotes to apologize, but also to buy him off, or even to stabilize him. However, with County Magistrate Lu’s greedy behavior and the strategy he had planned last night, it was really hard for him not to accept this banknote.

So after a moment of hesitation, Lu Zhen still smiled and put the bill into his sleeve, “Thank you so much for taking care of it.”

“Fine, fine. As long as County Magistrate Lu recognizes my lord as a friend, we can get closer in the future.” Seeing that he had accepted the banknotes, the clerk’s face immediately revealed joy and he said in a friendly tone.

“Naturally. As long as Boss Xiao doesn’t blame this official for yesterday’s offense, this official will naturally be closer to him.” Lu Zhen hurriedly smiled and agreed.

“County Magistrate Lu is indeed a happy person. Then let’s write off the past. We have plenty of opportunities to cooperate in the future.”

‘”Then about Zheng Fu” Lu Zhen asked probingly.

“This is a matter for the county government. Naturally, we will not interfere.” The document had obviously been instructed by Xiao Mo, and he agreed to it without hesitation.

Seeing that he answered happily, Lu Zhen’s face was naturally filled with joy, but in fact, he was even more vigilant in his heart. This matter was too abnormal. There was only one possibility for such a magnanimous reaction, and that was that the other party must have another move. But now, he could only temporarily suppress the doubts in his heart and deal with them.

After a while of flattering Lu Zhen, the clerk went to find Hou Xiancheng and Shen Zhubu and gave them a large sum of money. Moreover, he said in a subtle tone, “Let’s talk about the general situation. In the future, the county government will have to rely on the two adults to take care of this place. We will never treat you unfairly.”

“Good talk, good talk.” The two of them reacted in unison. They smiled and nodded in agreement, “Actually, the people of Guangling County need Xiao to take care of them. Without you here, how could a small county like ours resist the surrounding Dazi tribes?”

“My lords, you are too serious. This is only the responsibility of our soldiers.”

The few of them were polite for a while, and once again, they were amiable and dissipated happily. However, they were the only ones who knew what was going on in their hearts.

When Xiao Mo learned that the people in the county government had collected his money, he felt a burst of pain. That was nearly half of his savings, but he had risked all sorts of dangers to accumulate wealth over the years. But very quickly, he was happy again. As long as he could stabilize the county government, he would soon be able to completely uproot Lu Zhen’s opponent.

“Alright!” A sinister smile flashed across Xiao Mo’s face, “He accepted the silver and will soon know how powerful it is! I will make him pay a painful price.”

“Chief Ba, you still have to be on guard against him acting with us.” Elder He didn’t dare to take it lightly and couldn’t help but remind him.

‘”Don’t worry, Elder He. I’ve always placed him on the road to Datong. As long as he dares to move, I’ll know. Moreover, this person has always been greedy. This time, he only gained the upper hand because of good luck, but he won’t be so lucky anymore. I will definitely let him lose his reputation and die a terrible death!” Xiao Mo snorted and announced.

Of course, all of this would have to wait until the end of the year. This was because it was already after the twentieth of December, and in the blink of an eye, it was already New Year’s Day.

However, this traditional festival passed down from thousands of years ago was another taste for Lu Zhen …