Chapter 249 Jing Long’s Strategy

Before Qi Tai came, Zhu Yunwen granted him all the power to negotiate. If Li Weizheng was willing to support the court, then Qi Tai could agree to his request in his official position and title, and even grant his family a generous title. Therefore, Qi Tai prepared even the imperial edict to confer Li Weizheng as Duke of Liao. Unexpectedly, Li Weizheng proposed the condition to store grain on Qiongzhou Island. This condition involved land and was a major requirement. Although Qi Tai was the plenipotent representative, he did not dare to make decisions without authorization.

He pondered for a moment and said to Li Wei: "General Li, as far as I know, there is a large Ryukyu island a hundred miles east of the Penghu Islands, with an area of ​​like a county, and it is not within the territory of my Ming Dynasty. Moreover, I remember General Li also suppressed Japanese pirates there, so why didn't he go to that island to cultivate farming? If that is the case, General Li not only solved the problem of military food, but also made new requests to the court, such as the court can grant you the Duke of Liao, and your wives and concubines can also grant you an imperial edict. Wouldn't this kill two birds with one stone?"

Li Weizheng sighed and said, "I have thought about this problem. First of all, the climate there cannot be three ripening a year, and the miasma is everywhere, so it is extremely difficult to cultivate. Secondly, Liaodong is sparsely populated, and the Goryeo people would rather die than leave their hometowns. If they want to cultivate there, they can only immigrate a large number of people from Fujian. But it is not the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Wouldn't I violate the Ming Dynasty's laws? So I considered Qiongzhou Island and recruiting people from Guangdong and Guangxi to go farming. It is relatively easier. If the court agreed to my conditions, I could add another one million taels of silver to assist the court in three million taels of silver. What do you think?"

Qi Tai actually knew what kind of farming was just Li Weizheng's excuse. His purpose was to occupy Qiongzhou Island and echo Liaodong north and south. Although he could agree to this matter, he also knew that once other ministers in the court knew about it, he would definitely attack him. Zhu Yunwen would also blame him, and it was very likely that the matter of asking for money from Liaodong would be cancelled.

He was in a dilemma and finally said, "General Li, is there no compromise plan?"

Li Weizheng smiled slightly and said, "Shangshu Qi is worried that he will not be able to make a mistake to the court! Then, I don't want the court to formally agree to anything, and I don't need any written agreement. I just want the emperor to acquiesce to me to farm on Qiongzhou Island."

"This..." Qi Tai's heart moved. If he had acquiesced, the emperor might agree. Moreover, he knew that there were only two thousand households on Qiongzhou Island, and with Li Weizheng's navy, it would be no problem to take it down. He did this just to give face to the court! If he really seized it with force, the court would have no choice.

Li Wei was just seeing that he was already moved, so he persuaded him again: "In addition, I can also promise the emperor that if Lan Yu has the ambition to march towards Guangdong and Guangxi, I will be responsible for intercepting him. Lord Qi, don't think that Lan Yu doesn't know that Guangdong and Guangxi is empty!"

Qi Tai's face turned pale, and Li Weizheng's words hit the thing he and the emperor were most worried about. Due to the lack of troops in dealing with the two lines of Yan King and Lan Yu, all the troops in Guangdong and Guangxi were taken away. If Lan Yu recruited a large number of troops in Sichuan and really went south from Guizhou to Guangxi, then his troops could drive straight into Guangdong and Guangxi, Fujian and even Zhejiang.

Li Weizheng's words were like the last straw that crushed the camel's head. Qi Tai suddenly made up his mind and nodded solemnly: "Okay! I can agree to your request, but as you said, I can only acquiesce to you to farm on Qiongzhou Island. The court will not discuss this, let alone have any written agreement. And I hope you don't make too large a big deal and disturb the local government and the people. Do you understand what I mean?"

"Don't worry, I won't let local memorials be passed to the court."

Half a month later, Qi Tai returned to the capital and reported the matter secretly to Zhu Yunwen. Although Zhu Yunwen was not very willing, under financial pressure and preventing Lan Yu from entering Guangdong and Guangxi, he finally agreed to the secret agreement reached by Qi Tai and Li Weizheng. In fact, just as Qi Tai set off, Li Weizheng sent two mixed naval fleets of 20,000 people, carrying various military supplies, to Qiongzhou Island to open up his second front.

As time gradually came to the beginning of February, news came from the north that King Yan Zhu Di personally led an army of 250,000 to Shanxi. In this way, only 100,000 troops were left in Beiping. Zhu Yunwen believed that Beiping was empty and it was a good opportunity to directly attack King Yan's nest. On the one hand, he ordered the imperial army to withdraw from Shanxi, Shaanxi, and stationed in Henan. At the same time, he issued an order to Li Jinglong, ordering him to lead his army to the north immediately.

Just when Zhu Yunwen was full of confidence, he suddenly received unfavorable news. Li Jinglong had a dispute with Sheng Yong in Jinan. Sheng Yong refused to hand over the army to Li Jinglong. The two imperial troops were in stalemate in Shandong.

Zhu Yunwen was shocked. He urgently sent Huang Zicheng as the Xuanfu envoy to Shandong to resolve the conflict between Li Jinglong and Sheng Yong.

Logically speaking, the conflict between Li Jinglong and Sheng Yong should not have occurred. The imperial decree has been written very clearly. Li Jinglong was the chief general of the Northern Expedition, and Sheng Yong was the deputy general, and each commanded his subordinates. Sheng Yong was controlled by Li Jinglong. In other words, Sheng Yong's army was still under his command, but he would obey Li Jinglong's command, but the problem was here. Li Jinglong ignored the imperial edict at all. As soon as he arrived in Shandong, he forced Sheng Yong to hand over the army. Otherwise, according to military law, Sheng Yong ignored it and did not meet him, and the two fell into a deadlock.

In fact, the real problem lies with Zhu Yunwen. He issued an imperial edict that they each ruled their respective subordinates. However, when he saw him off by the river, in order to show his favor to Li Jinglong, he showed a more than possible encounter with Li Jinglong: he made an exception and gave him the "Tongtian Rhinoceros belt", which was almost close to the meaning of the imperial commander in person. Then he personally gave Li Jinglong a cart push ceremony. The most important thing was that before Li Jinglong boarded the ship, Zhu Yunwen actually said the promise of "allowing him to do everything cheaply", which was inconsistent with the rule of their respective subordinates in the imperial edict. Of course, Li Jinglong remembered to do something cheaply and put the imperial edict behind his mind.

At this time, Jinan City was already under Li Jinglong's world. His 300,000 army entered the suburbs of Jinan. In addition, he accepted Geng Bingwen's 100,000 remaining troops. In fact, his army had reached 400,000. The military camp occupied a large area and even compared with Jinan City. However, Sheng Yong and Tie Xuan's 200,000 Shandong troops retreated to the Qihe County area dozens of miles away, waiting for Huang Zicheng to come to mediate.

After entering Jinan, Li Jinglong no longer lived in the military camp. He arranged the general's headquarters in Mingquan Beppu. This was originally a house of a large merchant, covering an area of ​​hundreds of acres, and was built in a luxurious manner. Various precious flowers and trees, and various elegant pavilions and towers were everywhere. Especially in the back garden, there was a spring called Mingquan. Li Jinglong liked to make tea with this spring water the most, so he and the famous prostitute Han Qianjiao lived in this magnificent Mingquan Beppu.

However, Han Qianjiao did not like to use Mingquan water to brew her osmanthus wine. At her begging, Li Jinglong held a tea wine conference in Jinan City, offering a reward of 1,000 taels of silver to collect fine wine. Han Qianjiao personally judged it. In the end, a winery called Lulingxiang won and became Han Qianjiao's exclusive winery.

That afternoon, Li Jinglong and his staff discussed the seizure of power in the study. Li Jinglong put his hands behind his back and said worriedly: "What I worry most now is that the emperor refuses to admit what he said on the riverside. Huang Zicheng has no new imperial edict this time, and everything will be done according to the old order. In this case, I will not be able to get Sheng Yong's 200,000 troops. What should I do?"

Li Jinglong's aide is named Mao Hua. He is a slutty man, but he is full of conspiracies and tricks. He gently pinched the rat's beard and smiled: "I think that since Huang Zicheng is here to mediate, he will definitely not only favor Sheng Yong. He will definitely take into account both aspects. However, I have a way to do this for the general to want Sheng Yong's 200,000 army."

Li Jinglong was overjoyed and asked quickly: "What's the solution?"

"It's very simple, kill him!"

Li Jinglong immediately sat on the chair as if he was depressed, and smiled bitterly: "There is no need to be said by the sir. If he could kill me, I would have killed me long ago, but he didn't come to see me at all and lived in the military camp. How can I do this?"

Mao Hua smiled yinly and said, "That was impossible before, but now I have thought of a clever plan."

Li Jinglong was excited and bounced off the chair again, and asked anxiously: "Sir, please tell me."

"General, isn't Huang Zicheng coming to mediate? You know, Sheng Yong also knows that we can order people to pretend to be Huang Zicheng to come to Jinan Prefecture and give fake books to Sheng Yong to see him. Sheng Yong will definitely not be wary. When he enters Jinan Prefecture, wouldn't it be easy for the general to take other people's heads?"

Li Jinglong applauded and laughed: "Miao! Miao! It's such a wonderful plan."

He immediately said to Mao Hua: "I will ask the teacher to do this. Just ask for money and people. As long as the teacher can kill Sheng Yong for me, I will reward him with tens of thousands of taels of silver."

Mao Hua smiled and said, "Don't worry, General! I promise that Sheng Yong will come to the trap without any doubt. General just mobilizes the army and prepares to collect Sheng Yong's army."

Just as Li Jinglong and his staff were discussing how to deal with Sheng Yong, in a house diagonally opposite him, the famous prostitute Han Qianjiao was using her delicate jade hands to rotate a crystal clear jade pot, while the close maid stood in front of the window to observe the situation diagonally opposite.

"Have he finished the talk?" Han Qianjiao asked casually.

"No, he is walking back and forth with his hands on his back."

At this time, Han Qianjiao had gently turned off the base of her jade pot. This was her favorite jade pot. The whole jade pot was carved from two pieces of top-quality green jade, one piece carved into the body of the pot and the other piece carved into the base. If you don’t look carefully, you can’t tell that the jade pot is made of two pieces of jade. And even if you see it, who dares to check her jade pot?

Han Qianjiao folded a white silk covered with dense small characters from the table, and carefully stuffed it into a gap in the base. There was a very hidden mezzanine inside the base, which could just accommodate a white silk.

Han Qianjiao put the white silk down and looked around. From the outside, she couldn't tell at all. She turned the base onto the pot and handed it to the maid and said, "Okay, you go to Lulingxiang now."

At this time, Li Jinglong's laughter came faintly outside the window: "Only God knows this, the earth knows, you know me."
Chapter completed!