"Chen Wenshu!"

"Cao Bantou!"

Chen Gu and Cao Minghu greeted each other and knew each other.

Cao Minghu looks ferocious, but he is actually quite kind and his every move is well-controlled. He doesn't look like a warrior, but more like a scholar.

The two walked around the empty warehouse and chatted for a while, and then they got to know each other.

Cao Minghu is a native of Fuzhou City. His family has been clerks for generations. He did study in the clan school, but because his lineage could not take the imperial examination, he entered the government office as a clerk. However, due to his ugly appearance, he could only become a yamen runner in the end.

There are actually differences between the six rooms of clerks and the three shifts of yamen runners.

The first class was called the Standing Guard, similar to today's bailiffs. They were responsible for following their superiors, guarding and clearing the way, standing on both sides of the hall during the trial, maintaining discipline, escorting criminals, and carrying out interrogations and flogging.

The second class is called the Buban Kuaishou, which is the familiar Bukuai, a bit similar to today's criminal police, responsible for summoning defendants, witnesses, detecting criminals, and searching for evidence. This is often called "observation" in "Water Margin".

The third class is called Zhuangban Minzhuang, which is the real yamen runners, responsible for guarding the city gates, yamen, warehouses, prisons and other key locations, patrolling urban and rural roads, similar to today's armed police. In the Water Margin, they are often called "Dutou", such as Zhu Tong, the Bearded Man, Lei Heng, the Winged Tiger, and Wu Song, the Walker.

In addition, there were jailers who guarded and managed the prison, Chen the Assassin's former professional executioner, coroners who examined corpses and injuries, night watchmen, warehouse keepers, as well as bell and drum men who told the time, grooms who raised horses, cooks who cooked, and other miscellaneous staff of the yamen. All of them were collectively called yamen runners.

Yamen runners are actually the lowest level of existence.

Of course, how well you do and whether you can make money depends on your own means, whether you have a background, how close you are to your superiors, whether you have harmonious relations with your colleagues, and so on.

Anyway, wherever there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and each circle has its own rules of survival.

A truly strong person never complains about the environment.

"Chen Le has just arrived, and will need more guidance from Brother Cao in the future. Today, I will treat you brothers to a meal." Chen Gu took out a tael of silver and called a short yamen runner behind him, asking him to help buy some wine, meat, vegetables and fruits.

"Ha ha!"

"Thank you, Chen Wenshu!"

"Thank you, Master Chen!"

"Thank you, Mr. Chen!"

Seeing Chen Gu taking out silver to entertain everyone, everyone cheered and thanked Chen Gu one after another, and kept saying compliments. Although it was just a little food, in this era of material scarcity, being able to eat meat was already a very good thing.

Although one tael of silver is not much, it can still buy a lot of things. After the things were bought back, the short yamen runner reported the bill to Chen the Executor.

First, I spent two hundred wen on ten kilograms of liquor, five hundred wen on ten kilograms of fatty pork, and two hundred wen on twenty kilograms of rice. I used the remaining one hundred wen to buy some vegetables, fruits, seasonings and the like.

Everyone worked together, piling up a few stones, putting a clay pot on top, adding water and lighting a fire, and soon the aroma of meat wafted out.

After eating and drinking for a while, Cao Minghu drank a bowl of white wine and his words became obviously more sincere.

"Brother, the warehouse was originally a lucrative job, but after Lord Lin took power, things became difficult to handle. If you are not careful, you may even lose your head!" Chen Gu raised his wine bowl and clinked it with Cao Minghu, and said with a smile: "We are doing our job properly, even if there are some losses, it won't cost us our heads, right?"

Chen Gu naturally knew what Cao Minghu meant. They were just clerks managing the warehouse. If there was a real possibility of losing their heads, it would only mean that the loss was too great.

"Not really?" Cao Minghu sneered after taking a sip of wine, "The original arsenal is almost empty, and it's not just a small loss. If we hadn't fought a few battles with Cai Qian to settle the account, I'm afraid there would have been problems long ago.

But the weapons that were captured and stored are gone now, and there has been no fighting in recent months, so it won’t be easy to settle the accounts now!”

Chen Gu frowned and thought for a while, then said, "Warfare, don't we have any of our own in the army?"

"Of course there are. Not to mention others, there are quite a few Cao family members serving in the army. I know what you mean, but Lord Lin has already issued an order, strictly ordering all armies to take the initiative to attack. He probably wants to take down Cai Qian in one fell swoop.

Therefore, the path of starting a war is no longer feasible!" Cao Minghu said: "Otherwise, why would you and I need to come up with ideas? The superiors would have made a fortune long ago!"

There will be losses only when there is war, huge losses. No matter who wins or loses in the end, it will not delay everyone from making money. The most feared thing is that the situation will be calm like it is now, leaving everyone with no room for maneuver.

Chen Gu thought for a moment and said, "Since we can't take the initiative to attack, we can always fight passively, right?

If we can’t invite Cai Qian, can we invite the other side’s ordinary generals?

If that doesn't work, can't we form a Cai Qian Army ourselves?"

Cao Minghu's eyes lit up and he laughed, "Haha, Brother Chen is indeed a serious scholar."

"Hehe, as long as Brother Cao finds it useful, that's enough. I'm just talking about it on paper. It's okay to talk about it, but if you really want to do something, Brother Cao has to come forward!" Chen Gu said with a smile.

"Haha, from now on we brothers will combine our civil and military skills, and we will be able to make a lot of money sooner or later!" Cao Minghu patted Chen Gu's shoulder and laughed.

As a clerk, promotion is basically impossible, but there are still many opportunities to make money.

After a hearty meal, the atmosphere in the entire warehouse became much more harmonious. Everyone treated each other like brothers and looked very happy.

After dinner, it was almost time to get off work. Except for the two people who were on night watch, everyone went home after get off work.

The house that Chen Gu rented was very close to the government office and not far from the newly built warehouse. It only took him about ten minutes to get back to the place.

Seeing that Zhang Zhe had already prepared dinner, Chen Gu walked over and sat on the recliner, saying, "I've already eaten, you guys can eat by yourselves."

Zhang Zhe poured Chen Kui a cup of tea and asked with a smile, "How does it feel to be a clerk, Leader?"

"Not bad." After taking a sip of tea, Chen Gu continued, "Send someone to inform Cai Qian to launch a feint attack on Fuzhou. It would be best if it were a continuous, harassing attack."

"Yes!" Zhang Zhe did not ask the reason.

Chen Gu thought for a moment, then said, "Send someone to inform our troops in the direction of Wenzhou, and also launch a harassing attack on Fuzhou. We must make Fuzhou nervous."

(End of this chapter)