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Li Hongzhang now fully understood Li Yunzhong’s idea: it turned out to be extorting gentry and raising military pay!

His teacher Zeng Guofan also did this method, but Zeng Guofan's targets were all wealthy, and he only got ten thousand taels of silver at a time, which was far less than Li Yunzhong's appetite.

Li Guoli first saw the situation clearly and felt that Li Yunzhong was not a joke. These Qiu Ba could do anything for money. For the fate of his precious son, he immediately stepped forward and said, "Sir, since he is fighting thieves for the people, we naturally have to do our best. I am willing to donate 500 taels of silver and 500 dan of food. I also asked the general to release the child. Everyone was happy!"

"Everyone is happy? Your son is Li Xiucai. He is so arrogant. He forced four good women to death within a year, and he was slandered for 16 lives! It is light to execute Lingchi. If you pay 50,000 taels of silver and 50,000 loads of food and grass, you can barely redeem your son!" Li Yunzhong offered the conditions lightly.

Li Guoli rubbed his ears and repeated it as if he didn't believe it: "Fifty thousand taels of silver? Fifty thousand tons of grain? Haha... Sir, you are wrong, are you enough to support 5,000 people!"

"Fifty thousand taels of silver, 50 thousand chariots of food and grass, your son is here with me, you can do whatever he wants to redeem it or not. If you don't see the silver before noon tomorrow, your son will...the head will fall to the ground!" Li Yunzhong repeated again.

Li Hongzhang looked at the gentry present and calculated silently. Each person had 50,000 taels of silver and 50,000 tons of food and grass. There were more than 20 rich gentry, which was one million cars of silver and one million tons of food and grass!

Li Hongzhang was extremely depressed to soothe his restless heart. He thought that he and Lu Xianji, the Minister of Rites, raised 10,000 taels of silver and 5,000 dan of grain in Anhui. How could this be so big in comparison? This is just a Panyang County. If this dog official becomes the prefect and governor...

Li Guoli whispered with a group of gentry and finally concluded that this matter was too much related, so I went back to continue discussing.

"Sir, we will go back to raise money and food. Ming Yue will definitely give you an explanation."

Seeing a group of gentry walking out of the yamen dejectedly, Li Hongzhang admired and said, "My decisive work, he said that achievements are limitless!"

Li Yunzhong said, "Didn't you just scold me for being a fool? Why did you say that my achievements are limitless? I can tell you that flattering is useless to me!"

Li Hongzhang said straight to the point: "I am the aide of Lord Zeng, the Hunan Army. He will be valued by Lord Zeng by means of his means of making money. Why should he travel thousands of miles to Jiangnan to die? As long as Lord Zeng recommends one or two to the court, he can still get promoted and make money."

Hu Mengjun retorted: "Zeng Guofan only uses Hunanese people. How could people like us be valued if they are not close to him or her? The name of the Hunan Army is well-known. Hunan is Hunan. In short, it is the army of Hunanese people. Foreigners have no idea that they have made their debut."

Li Hongzhang explained: "This is a bad word. The Hunan character in the Hunan Army does not refer to Hunan, but to Xiangxiang County. When Lord Zeng established the Hunan Army, Yongding all came from Xiangxiang, so he was named after the Hunan character."

Li Yunzhong concluded: "The Hunan Army is Zeng Guofan's private army. Now the thieves are rampant, so I can use him to eliminate the thieves in the future. Can the court tolerate the Hunan Army still exist? I'm afraid the higher the position, the more unlucky it will be!"

Li Hongzhang was unwilling to argue with Li Yunzhong and continued to recruit him: "Actually, I am a regiment training minister of the imperial imperial sect. Since the two of them are willing to serve the country, why not work with me to fight against the thieves!"

Hu Mengjun looked down on him and asked, "Our general is a guerrilla. Why don't this gentleman defect to my general? It is impossible for him to be appointed as a marquis and minister!"

Seeing that they were unwilling, Li Hongzhang was a little disappointed and sighed: "I have been working in Panyang these days and stayed at the inn. If you two change your mind, you can come to me at any time. I will definitely welcome you and say goodbye!"

Hu Mengjun mocked Li Hongzhang's back and said, "The official is not very big, but he is quite angry. He is obviously a person with a low attitude and a lot of talk. Fortunately, the lord did not agree to him."

Li Yunzhong had a different view: "This scholar has clear eyes and elegant demeanor. He is a character who can be literary and martial. Such characters are not willing to be lonely. As long as he is given a platform, he will definitely display his talents to the fullest. I really want to recruit him and use it for my own use."

Hu Mengjun was a little jealous. He felt that he was more than better than this nerd. Why did the general never praise him? He asked the whisper of Zhong Lin who was following behind, "Do you often praise people?"

Zhong Lin rolled his eyes: "If you are praised by the Han... General once, you will be developed, either a third-rank official or a fourth-rank prefect."

Hu Mengjun stood there and savored: That's amazing!

More than twenty gentry left the yamen and went straight to Li's mansion to continue discussing whether to agree to the conditions proposed by Li Yunzhong.

"Brother Li, think of a solution! This corrupt official wants too much. I have never met such a blatant corrupt official who is so bold. 100,000 taels of silver! Isn't this a robbery?" Zhou Di complained to Li Guoli, who was sitting in the head.

Li Guoli was thinking about gains and losses, and there was no kung fu to deal with them. He replied impatiently: "He just robbed him. What can we do? Which of your doorsteps has no soldiers? It's too late to run away now. What? The back door? Even if you can run out, can you still leave the city? There must be soldiers on duty at the city gate now."

"Brother Li, you mean that this corrupt official failed to ask for bribes, so he had to rob him openly!" Zhou Di said in surprise.

"It's better to lose money and eliminate disasters..."

"Dream, I don't want this brother, and I don't want to give up so much money."

"Bah, brother, of course you don't care anymore. Wait until the soldiers snatch your son over, and see if you give it to me."

"Is this... just let this corrupt official succeed? Or is Mr. Wu smart and moved his family to the provincial capital early in the morning and escaped."

"When the rebels break through the provincial capital, Wu Yuanwai will be destroyed by his family, and even Yanjing will not be safe unless he fled to the Han Kingdom."

Li Guoli looked at the mess below, frowned, and advised: "Everyone should try to get the money. This dog official will definitely escape before the imperial army arrives. If he does not receive the money before he escapes, what will he do?"

Zhou Di looked panicked and said in shock: "He will rob the whole city! Wouldn't we want our family to be destroyed?"

"What! This dog official must be able to do it, I'll say goodbye first!"

"The family will be destroyed tomorrow! I have something to do in my family, so I will say goodbye first."

"I have something to do, so I'll say goodbye!"

...

"I'll say goodbye, both."

Seeing Zhou Di also going back, Li Guoli advised: "Brother Zhou should not waste his time. Since this corrupt official has set up a trap, how could we take our family out of the city so easily?"

Zhou Di sat down dejectedly and sighed: "It's better to lose money and avoid disasters. We will go to the corrupt official tomorrow morning. If you can pay less, you will pay less. It's better than losing your family."

"Although a hundred thousand taels of silver is enough to hurt us, I am still afraid that this corrupt official will not be satisfied, or that other officials will learn from him to fish in such a way that we will really lose our family and die." Li Guoli smiled bitterly and shook his head.

Zhou Di said ruthlessly: "We must kill one to warn you. No matter who instructs this corrupt official, they will pay the price no matter what. It is the royal family. I want them to be unable to gain a foothold in Jiangxi!"

Li Guoli agreed: "Brother Zhou is talking very much! I must find out the backstage of this corrupt official tomorrow."

When Wu Changqing saw Li Hongzhang coming back from the yamen, he was depressed. He often looked at the gate and seemed to have something to come to visit.

"Sir, what's wrong with you? There's something unusual about this magistrate of Panyang. Why is he distracted when he comes back?"

Liu Mingchuan also noticed Li Hongzhang's abnormality and asked with concern: "Sir, who is waiting for? Just go and catch him. Why should you look around?"

Li Hongzhang stopped him and said, "You don't understand. I just met a genius who actually plundered a million taels of silver in one day. If we had his support, would we still rely on others? We can go back to Anhui to set up a group to fight against thieves."
Chapter completed!