Chapter 549 Zhou Guolao is very rich in property, this should be an opportunity!
At Dengzhou Pier, Zheng Hongkui led the Zheng family's negotiation team and calmly disembarked from the Ming Navy ship and landed ashore.
This is his second trip north as a representative of the security recruitment delegation. It really feels like revisiting his old hometown. But compared with the situation last year, things are a little different. Last year, the Zheng family still had the capital to negotiate.
This year I am the fish on the chopping board, and it is difficult not to let others take advantage of me.
Zheng Hongkui felt a little resentful towards his eldest nephew because he was so talkative and unreliable. You said, you concluded the peace talks last year, how would the Zheng family end up like this? Being blocked in Fuzhou and Xiamen along the coast, unable to advance or retreat.
No, how can we still have the capital to negotiate?
"Special envoy, I am the brigadier general's staff officer at the former Military Command Hall. This time I am hosting the deacon of your group. Another deacon sent by the cabinet has arrived in the past two days. The preliminary negotiations will be between the two of us.
Responsible for coordination and communication.”
Brigadier General and Staff Officer? Zheng Hongkui couldn't help but feel a little stunned after hearing the rank reported by the person in charge of receiving him. The imperial court really did not take the current Zheng family seriously. When he arrived in the capital last year, the reception standards were not like this. For the current imperial court officers
Zheng Hongkui knew his rank, and the brigadier general was really not an important figure.
"Thank you, General. Today and tomorrow, the general can inform Zheng of the imperial court's recruitment strategy, so that Zheng can inform the commander-in-chief of the army and complete the recruitment matter as soon as possible."
"This matter does not need to be too urgent. I feel that in the next few days, the general can first understand the regulations of the imperial court's recruitment. When Lord Sikong, who officially represents the imperial court, arrives in Dengzhou, the general will have a detailed discussion with him and then pass it on to your chief soldier.
The more secure it is, the more efficient the communication will be.”
"Lord Sikong? Will Grand Master Zhou personally go to Dengzhou to discuss recruitment matters with Zheng in detail?" Zheng Hongkui immediately became energetic when he heard the person who received him mentioned that Zhou Yanru would come to Dengzhou. Old Zhou retreated to the second line again, which
He was also one of the most important ministers in the entire Ming Dynasty. Being able to come in person at least shows that the court still values the Zheng family.
"Yes, the imperial court will definitely send important ministers with sufficient weight for military and state affairs such as the recruitment of a vassal town. This time Da Sikong came to Dengzhou with the authorization of the emperor. He can represent the imperial court with full authority. The imperial court will also send the imperial order on behalf of the imperial court.
After it is signed and announced, the imperial edict received when your army is officially recruited will basically be consistent with the recruitment order signed by Da Sikong."
"General, I would like to ask you to thank Hongkui in advance after seeing Lord Sikong. We, the guilty ministers, are really ashamed to have troubled the Grand Master to go to Dengzhou in person to recruit him."
Zhou Yanru came to preside over the negotiations, which made Zheng Hongkui feel a little relieved and no longer uneasy. At least it showed that there was still hope for peace talks. As long as the Zheng family lowered the bottom line, it should be possible to save the family's life.
Like what the Zheng family is doing now, to be honest, it is a pretty ideal ending for the whole family to survive together. To be a traitor, you must have the consciousness of a traitor. This is a life-and-death struggle, not a life-and-death struggle.
Every house.
After being taken to the guest house where he was stationed, Zheng Hongkui quickly called several other negotiators to summarize and digest the information after today's contact.
"It seems that the imperial court will give us a way to survive and will not kill us all. This time Zhou Guolao came to talk to us in person. We must seize this opportunity and not mess up the matter like last time."
In front of everyone, Zheng Hongkui expressed his judgment first.
"Indeed, it is a bit surprising that Zhou Guolao can come, but I don't know if the imperial court's recruitment strategy has changed much compared with last year. To be honest, last year's strategy was actually very good, but we didn't
Just catch it." A staff member expressed his opinion briefly based on Zheng Hongkui's words.
Now within the Zheng Group, there is a lot of dissatisfaction with Mr. Damu for missing the opportunity for peace talks last year. You said that you are a talkative boss. Such good conditions last year were wasted, causing you to lose so much capital, and you were forced to do so.
What's the point of reaching a dead end? In the past year, you have been taught how to be a good person by the pirates in the land battle, and you have been almost wiped out by others in the naval battle. The next generation of the Zheng family's successor is really a bit broken.
ah.
"Now we can only obey the imperial court's decision. There is not much room for negotiation. I hope Zhou Guolao can show some compassion this time and give us a satisfactory recruitment condition." Zheng Hongkui said to the Zheng family.
The situation is quite clear. It is precisely because he knows his family's financial situation that he is more pessimistic about the outcome of the negotiations.
On the surface, even now, the Zheng family's stalls can still be seen, and at least they still have a province of land in their hands. However, the province of land owned by the Zheng family is completely different from the one province of land owned by other warlords.
It's not the same thing. If their strength at sea is crippled, their family's wealth is basically gone.
Fujian has been regarded as an indisputable land since ancient times. Except for a few prefectures along the coast, the mountainous area has little value.
, is it that the Zheng family has no wealth? Another point is that the Zheng family relies on the sea for a living. If they are driven to the land, they will be like a fallen phoenix. As long as they lose their sea route, there is no need for the court to take action. The Zheng family will also
They will soon lose control of Fujian. Without maritime superiority, who is your Zheng family?
"If what the staff officer said is true, General, we must be cautious about the upcoming arrival of Zhou Guolao."
"Treat it with caution? What does this mean?" Zheng Hongkui didn't understand what his staff meant when he said this. He must treat Zhou Yanru with caution. Does this matter need to be emphasized?
"What the student means is that we have to find a way to do some of Master Zhou's work. Since he can issue recruitment orders, as long as he is a little more merciful, we will gain a lot."
"You mean we have to find a way to give Mr. Guo a big gift so that he can give us some good recruitment treatment?"
"Exactly! The student heard that Mr. Zhou Guolao is very wealthy, so this should be an opportunity."
"That being said, he really has some skills. It seems that we have to find a way to give him a big gift. It's just that this time we came north, we didn't seem to bring anything that would impress people like Mr. Guo.
Ah." Zheng Hongkui really feels that if Zhou Yanru's public relations can be done well, certain problems can be solved. But the problem is that he doesn't have any useful public relations items at hand now. He can't write a futures IOU to Comrade Zhou.
Right? If you do this, you will probably be kicked out of the house.
In the past, even if the chief minister of the cabinet threw tens of thousands of taels of silver at him, it would be strange if he didn't knock him out. But now, if you want to knock Zhou Yanru out with money, the difficulty has definitely increased. In Zheng Hongkui's view, smashing him
Hundreds of thousands of taels of silver may not be enough to knock Lao Zhou out. So the problem is that he doesn't have that much cash on hand that can be spent directly.