jdhmnovel Chapter 921 Are you guys always this good at having fun at the Dengzhou border market?
Chapter 921 Are you guys always this good at having fun at the Dengzhou border market?
As soon as Yu Tongyuan arrived at the Dengzhou government office, Xu Liang got straight to the point and said, "My lord, I have had all the usable seagoing vessels in Dengzhou gathered here."
"Furthermore, people from Huai'an Prefecture have also sent word that all of Huai'an Prefecture's ships have already headed north with supplies and will arrive in Dengzhou soon."
"In addition, Laizhou Prefecture, Qingzhou, Jinan and other places, all the seagoing ships in Shandong are gathering in Dengzhou recently."
"The Dengzhou government office cannot command so many ships. The Marquis needs to send someone to take over command and bring them all with him on the next trip to Liaodong."
After a slight pause, Xu Liang added, "In addition, I have had about 300,000 laborers prepared. These laborers will arrive in Liaodong in batches, but I need Your Excellency's help to coordinate the post stations and garrisons in Liaodong."
Yu Tongyuan was completely numb.
"Give me a heads-up first, how many ships are gathering this time?"
"And where did you get around 300,000 laborers from without making a sound?"
Good heavens, that guy Yang Dianfeng is always complaining about not having enough manpower, but you, Xu Liang with thick eyebrows and big eyes, have hidden away more than 300,000 laborers.
When he gets back, he'll beat you, Xu Liang, to a pulp. You'll be lucky if he doesn't!
Yu Tongyuan was internally complaining, while Xu Liang said with a bitter face, "There are a total of 3,158 ships in Dengzhou Prefecture, the larger ones are 2,000 liang and the smaller ones are less than 500 liang."
"There are fewer ships from Huai'an Prefecture, a total of 769."
"I truly do not know how many ships there are in other parts of Shandong."
"This prefecture sent a letter saying there were over five hundred, and that prefecture sent a letter saying there were over three hundred. I don't know how many they actually had left over."
"As for the approximately 300,000 laborers..."
Xu Liang chuckled dryly twice: "It was under the guise of the Prince Consort that I forced those envoys to prepare it."
"In addition, I also had them prepare nearly 500,000 shi of grain."
"We don't need to help transport the laborers and provisions from these vassal states, but we do need your help to coordinate with Liaodong to receive them."
"..."
Yu Tongyuan was still a little confused.
No matter how much you act under the banner of the Prince Consort, do you think the 300,000 laborers and 500,000 shi of grain are free?
Even if those envoys from those vassal states were cowardly, they wouldn't be cowardly to this extent, would they?
While inwardly complaining, Yu Tongyuan looked at Xu Liang and asked, "Aren't you afraid they'll stall for time?"
Xu Liang chuckled and said, "Them? You think they can hold out any longer?"
"The Koreans have always believed in the importance of power; whoever has the bigger fist, they will obediently act as their dog."
"Now that the Ming Dynasty has a strong fist, they will naturally behave obediently as dogs for the Ming Dynasty and dare not have any thoughts of resistance."
"Short and ugly guys are full of beastly instincts and could devour their master at any time. But as long as you beat them into submission, they are more obedient and docile than Koreans until they realize they have no ability to resist."
"The monkeys have the guts to stall for time, but there's more than one monkey in Southeast Asia, and the Chen family incident just happened recently, so they don't have the guts now."
"There's no need to say more about Ryukyu. With those short, ugly guys and monkeys around, Ryukyu's only option if they don't want to die is to obediently follow orders."
"As for the rest..."
Xu Liang smiled meaningfully and looked at Yu Tongyuan, saying, "My lord, rest assured, as long as the Dengzhou fleet is still there, as long as the Dengzhou fleet's cannons can still fire cannonballs, they won't dare to resist."
"Besides, I'm only asking them to provide some labor and provisions. I'll settle their wages later. What reason do they have to delay?"
"Moreover, the wages I quoted them this time were as high as twelve cash a day. If 100,000 laborers work for a day, that would be 1.2 million cash, a full 1,200 strings of cash."
"Twelve hundred strings of cash! That's enough to buy a glass tea set at the border market."
"I refuse to believe that they can just stand by and watch 1,200 strings of cash go untouched."
……
Just as Xu Liang and Yu Tongyuan were discussing how to transfer supplies and manpower to Liaodong, Park Sung-heon and Du Shunqin, along with a group of vassal envoys, also gathered together.
None of the dozens of envoys, including the chief and deputy envoys, were willing to speak first.
It wasn't until quite a while later that the Japanese deputy envoy, Kikuchi Yoshita, spoke up: "Our great Japan will gather 100,000 laborers within half a month and send them to Liaodong in batches."
Park Deok-hwan glanced at Kikuchi Ryota and said, “We in Goryeo will gather 100,000 laborers and 100,000 cattle and horses in the shortest possible time and send them directly to Liaodong.”
Kikuchi Yoshita glanced at the chief envoy, Kikuchi Yoshimasa, stood up, and announced loudly, "In addition to 100,000 laborers and 20,000 cattle and horses, our Japanese nation will also gather 50,000 Japanese women and send them to Liaodong."
"If they are able to become pregnant, the Japanese will send people to bring them back to Japan, and their children will be nobles from the day they are born."
Park Sung-sung also stood up, walked to Kikuchi Ryota's front, and sneered, "You shorty bastards, you're never satisfied with taking advantage of others."
Kikuchi Ryota raised his head, stared intently at Park Sung-sung, and said sarcastically, "You Koreans should know perfectly well what nonsense you've been spouting in Korea."
The tension between Park Sung-hwa and Kikuchi Ryota escalated, while Du Shunqin and other vassal envoys grew increasingly bewildered.
The envoys from Srivijaya and Malacca, in particular, were completely bewildered.
How did the short, stocky guy and the tall, muscular guy end up arguing for no apparent reason?
Furthermore, the Assistant Magistrate of Dengzhou Prefecture keeps demanding tens of thousands of laborers and tens of thousands of bushels of grain. Instead of trying to delay the time, you two envoys are more and more eager than the other.
The envoy, Ma Lajia, quietly approached Du Shunqin and whispered, "Tens of thousands of laborers and tens of thousands of shi of grain and fodder—that's no small amount."
Du Shunqin glanced at the envoy from Malajia and asked, "Do you think it's too much?"
Seeing the bewildered look on the envoy's face, Du Shunqin coughed and said in a low voice, "The Ming court pays ten coins a day, but Xu Tongzhi pays twelve coins a day. There is a difference of two coins."
"With 10,000 people, the difference can amount to 20 strings of cash a day."
“If you report to your king that you are paid ten coins a day, then these twenty strings of cash will be in your own pocket.”
"Six hundred strings of cash a month, more than seven thousand strings of cash a year."
"The losses belong to the imperial court, but what ends up in our pockets is our own."
"Can't you even figure this out?"
Ambassador Malaja was completely bewildered.
Are you guys all this good at having fun at the Dengzhou border market?
What if we get caught?
Du Shunqin chuckled: "In the entire border market, among the dozens of envoys, big and small, who doesn't do the same thing?"
"As for the Koreans and the short, ugly ones?"
Du Shunqin glanced at Park Sung-hwa and Kikuchi Ryota, "Just considering the deep-seated hatred between their two families, this is nothing."