Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 73: Teng County Magistrate: Middleman? Who isn’t?
Upon hearing this, Li Yi showed an interested expression on his face.

"Now that you mention it, I'm interested. Tell me, how generous can this gift be?"

Hearing this, Luo Youtian stretched out two fingers and said.

"Two thousand taels!"

"If the general is willing to lead his troops to retreat, my county magistrate is willing to offer two thousand taels of silver as the army's departure expenses."

In fact, the ransom the county magistrate of Teng County was willing to pay was five thousand taels of silver.

But in this world there is something called middleman, and there is a behavior called drifting!
It was true that the note written by the county magistrate indicated the allocation of five thousand taels, but there was only three thousand taels of cash in the treasury. When the money went through several more procedures and reached Luo Youtian's hands, only two thousand one hundred taels were left.

As an envoy, Luo Youtian risked his life to go to the enemy camp, risking being chopped to death by the enemy soldiers. It's not too much for him to get one hundred taels, right?

So the ransom for the city was only two thousand taels!
Upon hearing this, Li Yi sneered disdainfully.

"Two thousand taels? To send away a beggar?"

"If you want me to lead the army to retreat and not attack Teng County, it's not impossible to negotiate, but at least you need 20,000 taels of silver and 10,000 dan of grain to support the army's departure. Otherwise, there is no point in discussing this."

Li Yi is obviously asking for too much.

It would be best if the other party can agree, but it’s okay if they don’t agree, we can talk slowly.

He still has to recruit soldiers in Teng County, so there is plenty of time and no need to rush.

When Luo Youtian heard this, his eyes widened instantly.

He thought that the officials in the city were corrupt enough in their exploitation of the poor, but he didn't expect that this evil general was even more evil than them.

Twenty thousand taels of silver, ten thousand shi of grain...

Teng County is just a county town, not a provincial capital. Even if the Teng County government were squeezed dry, it would not be able to come up with such a large amount of money and grain.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

"Last year, Teng County suffered a disaster, and the county government treasury was already empty. The two thousand taels were raised by the county magistrate after much effort. Even if the county magistrate is willing, I am afraid he is unable to pay such a large sum of money and grain."

Li Yi heard this and said with a cold face.

"The county government can't afford it, but there are still some wealthy gentry in the county town, right?"

"Your family can raise 500 taels and his family can raise 1,000 taels. I don't believe that such a large county like Teng County can't raise 20,000 taels of silver and 10,000 dan of grain and fodder."

"I might as well tell you that this general has always planned to capture Teng County. If the county can gather the money and food, it will be fine. If not, you can't blame this general for leading his army to attack the city and take it yourself."

After saying this, Li Yi narrowed his eyes and spoke coldly.

"When the time comes, every wealthy family in Teng County will be wiped out."

"Haha, let me put it bluntly, how much money can those poor people in Teng County have? Even if you squeeze them dry, you can't get more than two ounces of oil! And it's easy to get dirty, but those big families are rich as hell."

"One wealthy family can defeat a hundred landlords, and one landlord can defeat a hundred peasants. If you were me, who would you go after?"

Luo Youtian broke out in a cold sweat when he heard this.

He said timidly.

"This matter is of great importance."

"I am not in a position to make the decision. I still need to report to the county lord. Please let the county lord make the decision. I also hope that the general will wait and not launch an attack on the city rashly."

"Otherwise, whether it kills or injures civilians or your soldiers, it is not a good thing..."

Hearing this, Li Yi raised a finger and said.

"One hour. I'll give you one hour!"

"If you can't give me a satisfactory answer within one hour, I will attack the city and take it myself!"

Of course, Li Yi was clearly trying to scare the other party.

He is now busy recruiting soldiers and preparing to march south to Cenxi, and has no energy to arrange a siege.

Although the other party doesn't know this...

Upon hearing this, Luo Youtian hurriedly turned around and left. As he walked out of the Li family army's camp gate, he tripped over a stone and fell to the ground.

But even so, he did not dare to rest, and hurriedly got up from the ground, patted the dust off his body, and then hurriedly walked towards the direction of Teng County. Fan Xiyuan beside Li Yi asked.

"General, are we really going to attack the city?"

Li Yi shook his head and said.

"What the hell!"

"What if we attract the main force of the Qing demons?"

He was about to lead his troops to Cenxi and did not want to create any more trouble in Teng County.

His extortion of the magistrate of Teng County was nothing more than a trick.

It would be best if the other party agrees, but there is no loss if he doesn’t agree.

After speaking, Li Yi touched his chin and said.

"Order someone to set up the cannons that our army captured in Xunzhou City, and aim the muzzles in the direction of Teng County City."

"After an hour, if there is no response from the city, fire two rounds of artillery at him!"

After Li Yi's troops captured Xunzhou, they seized several red cannons in the city.

Judging from the inscriptions on the guns, these cannons should all be equipment of the Eight Banners of Guangzhou.

Although they looked a bit old, Li Yi was not really prepared to use these old-fashioned cannons in war.

If it's just for scaring people, then there's no problem!

Upon hearing this, the messenger beside Li Yi clasped his fists and left to convey the military order to the troops.

Soon, an hour passed in a flash.

However, Teng County never gave Li Yi a reply.

Seeing this, Li Yi no longer hesitated and immediately sent an order to his own artillery, aiming at the direction of Teng County and firing a few rounds to try his luck.

It would be best if you can scare the other party into giving in, but it doesn’t matter if you can’t, just treat it as training for the gunner!

Well, Li Yi has always been very open-minded and doesn't like to get stuck in a rut.

As Li Yi's military order was issued, the gunners began to fumble with how to load the cannons in their hands.

First, clean the barrel, then stuff gunpowder, shells, etc. into it in order and compact it.

"Fire! Launch!"

The next moment, accompanied by a deafening sound of artillery fire, a shell was fired towards the wall of Teng County.

With a loud bang, the cannonball hit the city wall heavily and was embedded in it.

In an instant, spider-web-like cracks spread rapidly in all directions with the impact point as the center.

Bricks and stones fell off the wall and onto the ground.

The sound of the bombardment was terrifying, and the results were shocking.

……

Teng County, County Government!
County Magistrate Chen Guangguo paced around the hall with a worried look on his face.

Beside him, several wealthy families in the county sat on both sides, watching the green top spinning continuously in the lobby.

"Your Excellency, it's not that we are unwilling to contribute money and effort to the people of Teng County, but that thief is too greedy."

"Forty thousand taels of silver and twenty thousand dan of grain, even if we spend all our wealth, I'm afraid we still can't get it together!"

Lin Ruofu, the head of the Lin family, a famous grain merchant in Teng County, spoke with a worried look on his face.

Well, the reason why 20,000 taels became 40,000 taels and 10,000 shi became 20,000 shi is actually very simple.

County Magistrate Chen Guangguo is actually quite interested in being a middleman.

Guangxi is a poor place, and he naturally would not miss this rare opportunity to make money.

(End of this chapter)