Chapter 1420: Gain both wealth and wealth!

Hearing that the Li family had sent an envoy to see him, Zhang Meng was a little surprised and asked:
"Who is this person?"

"Your Excellency, the person who came is an old man. He brought some gold and jewelry and said he came to ask for peace!"

Zhang Meng thought about it and said:

"Let him in!"

"Yes"

A moment later, a little old man walked into the room, along with three boxes of treasure. Looking at Zhang Meng, who was sitting in the main seat in the room, the little old man bowed respectfully and said:

"I, Li Youjia, come to see Lord Zhang!"

"What do you want to talk to me about?" Zhang Meng asked calmly:

Facing Zhang Meng's question, Li Youjia said without hesitation:
"I came here this time under the order of our Li family leader, Li Huan, to ask for peace with you, General Zhang!"

"We, the people of the wilderness, are ignorant of etiquette and have accidentally offended the emperor's majesty, attracting heavenly soldiers and generals like you, General Zhang. We are extremely terrified. As the ancients said, the heavens are kind and loving, the earth is generous and generous, and gentlemen are willing to help others achieve their goals!"

"General Zhang, please ask His Majesty the Emperor to spare us, the common people in the wilderness, a chance to live. We are willing to work like slaves to repay His Majesty the Emperor!"

After saying this, Li Youjia continued:
“General Li, this time I brought 100 gold bars and two boxes of 150 kilograms of various jewels. This is the wealth of our Li family for hundreds of years. I hope that General Zhang can show mercy and give our Li family a way out…”

At the end, the old man named Li Youjia not only burst into tears, but also fell to his knees with a thud. He looked as pitiful as he could be.

Looking at the light emitted by the heavy gold bars and jewels in the box, Zhang Meng was also a little moved, but on the surface he still snorted coldly and said:
"What do you mean? Are you trying to bribe this commander?"

Upon hearing this, Li Youjia quickly said:

"I have heard that Commander Zhang has always been honest and upright, so I naturally dare not have such disrespectful thoughts. I would like to ask Commander Zhang to present these to the Supreme Emperor!"

"Humph! You still have some filial piety! You are not hopeless!"

"Go back and tell your clan leader Li Huan that it is not too late to turn back. As long as he opens the city gate and gives up resistance, I, Zhang Meng, am willing to give him a chance, and the court will treat his people well!"

"But if he insists on resisting, then your Li family will just be like an egg hitting a rock. Once the imperial army arrives, everything in your Li family will be wiped out!"

Hearing Zhang Meng's bold words, Li Youjia's eyes flashed with a strange look, but on the surface he still said in a very flattering manner:
"Master Zhang! On behalf of our team leader and the entire Li family, I would like to thank you for giving our Li family such an opportunity to reform. You are truly a compassionate person. God will surely bless you with promotion and wealth!
Facing Li Youjia’s compliments, Zhang Meng seemed to be very pleased. After threatening him a few more times, he let Li Youjia go...

After Li Youjia left, Zhang Meng looked at the gold and jewelry with a very proud expression. Based on the previous intelligence from the Coordination Office, Zhang Meng also believed that Li Huan, the head of the Li family, was not an ordinary person, so he attached great importance to the Li family!

Therefore, this time when attacking Jinzhi City, he not only formulated a detailed battle plan, but also mobilized more than 30,000 main forces of the First Army, as well as 20,000 soldiers and horses from other chieftains who surrendered to Daqian, totaling more than 50,000 soldiers and horses, ready to win the battle in one fell swoop!

However, Zhang Meng never expected that before he could take any action, the Li family had already knelt down and sent so many treasures over!
Although the gold sent by the Li family looked impure and the jewelry was crudely made, the gold was large in quantity and the jewelry was of good quality. Zhang Meng estimated that these things together were worth at least 50,000 to 60,000 taels of silver, which was a considerable fortune!
Thinking of this, Zhang Meng's mind became active. Although these gold and jewels were presented to His Majesty the Emperor by the Li family, now that they have fallen into his hands, he naturally needs to carefully examine them for His Majesty to see if the Li family has any conspiracy or trickery with these things!
What if the Li family had smeared some poison on these gold and jewels, and if Zhang Meng rashly gave them to His Majesty, wouldn't he become a sinner of Daqian?

Or maybe these gold and jewels are crudely made and disturb Your Majesty's interest, then that is also Zhang Meng's fault!
In short, before sending these gold and jewels to the court, Zhang Meng, as a loyal and righteous man of Daqian, must carefully select them for His Majesty, and only send them to the court after confirming that there are no problems!

Thinking of this, Zhang Meng felt at ease and asked his personal soldiers to take these boxes of gold and jewelry to his residence...

Originally, because the battle of Jinzhi would determine the direction of the entire Yunqian war, Zhang Meng, who had issued a military order to Ye Mingsheng, also attached great importance to it. He had just been studying the topography around Jinzhi. But now that he saw that the Li family was going to surrender without a fight, Zhang Meng felt that there was no need to study an opponent who had already decided to surrender!

Since the Li family has decided to surrender, Zhang Meng feels that he can have a celebratory drink in advance and also call a few women to indulge himself in the evening!
Although Zhang Meng is a second-rank commander of Daqian, his personal hobbies are the same as those of ordinary soldiers. He loves wine and women. He is always full of energy and never leaves his mouth without wine or women.

Although he loves wine and women, Zhang Meng has been fighting on the battlefield for so many years that he is well aware of the harm of wine and women, especially since he is the commander-in-chief of an army. If he indulges in wine and women, the soldiers under his command will pay a heavy price for it!
Although Zhang Meng can't be said to love his soldiers like his own sons, he has worked his way up through the ranks in the army, and he knows how difficult it is for the soldiers at the bottom, so he doesn't want his soldiers to pay for his mistakes with their lives.

So before the war, Zhang Meng would have fun and drink to his heart's content, and then during the war he would abstain from alcohol and sex and concentrate on fighting. This time was the same as before. Before leading his troops into Yunqian, Zhang Meng indulged in sensual pleasures for three days and three nights. And in the more than half a month since entering Yunqian, Zhang Meng not only did not drink a drop of alcohol, he did not even touch a woman's hand!
Therefore, Zhang Meng is now very frustrated. He originally planned to capture Jinzhiyunqian, and the overall situation would be settled. He could indulge himself for a while...

But now that the Li family is going to surrender, Zhang may not have to wait until the day when Jinzhi is captured. He can celebrate a little tonight!
Thinking of this, Zhang Meng became even more motivated, because he had made careful deployment before the battle and assembled superior forces and heavy artillery. So Zhang Meng, who believed that there would be no problem in taking down Jinzhi City, had already prepared fine wine and beautiful women for himself in advance, and was only waiting for the day when the city would be captured so that he could enjoy himself!
In particular, there was a pair of sisters among the beauties. When Zhang Meng saw them for the first time, he was attracted by them!

Having been in a high position for so many years, Zhang Meng has fought with at least 50 or 60 women, but he has never fought with the sisters. If they were not still fighting, Zhang Meng would have learned a lesson about their strength! So now that the Li family has surrendered, maybe he can fight with the sisters in advance to see how powerful they are!

Thinking of this, a smile appeared on Zhang Meng's rough face. At this moment, footsteps were heard outside the door, and then a seven-foot-tall white-faced man walked into Zhang Meng's operations room.

This man's name was Wang Ruijin, and he was promoted by Zhang Meng after he was transferred to the position of commander of the First Army. After entering the operations room, he immediately reported to Zhang Meng:
"Your humble servant greets you, sir!"

Zhang Meng waved his hand to signal Wang Ruijin to excuse himself, and then asked:
"What happened?"

"Your Excellency, it rained for more than an hour this morning at Koizumi Mountain, and landslides occurred on some sections of the road..."

"The marching speed of the 5,000 soldiers in Commander Chen Tao's battalion has been affected, and they will not be able to reach Gray Snake Ridge tomorrow. Commander Chen Tao has sent someone to ask you to give them two more days. They will definitely reach Gray Snake Ridge in three days and complete the order you have given them!"

After hearing the report from his men, Zhang Meng frowned slightly. He was about to say that the marching speed could not be delayed and the troops must be led to the combat position immediately within the specified time.

But before he could finish his words, Zhang Meng changed his mind and realized that the Li family was about to surrender, so it didn't really matter whether he arrived at the combat position on time!

Therefore, there was no need for him to force Chen Tao. Although Chen Tao was promoted by Ma Zhongjun, he had always been respectful to him after he was transferred to the First Army. There was no need for him to make things difficult for him. Besides, the soldiers under him had also been on the road for a long time. As the commander, he should also be considerate and cherish them!

Thinking of this, Zhang Meng also ordered:
"Okay! I want to see them at Gray Snake Ridge in three days!"

"Yes!"

After Wang Ruijin left, Zhang Meng could no longer suppress his desire, and immediately called his personal guard captain over and instructed:
"Go find the Xiong sisters and some good wine. I want to have a good time tonight!"

Although he was a little surprised that his own general made an exception and indulged in advance, the captain of the personal guards immediately prepared under Zhang Meng's order...

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Yijing, the Imperial Palace

In the imperial study, Ye Mingsheng looked at the memorial in front of him and couldn't help but sigh.

Some time ago, heavy rains hit the south, and floods occurred again in some sections of the Nanjiang River. Many places in Jingchu, Anqing, and Huainan were affected, and many places suffered heavy losses.

Therefore, Anqing Governor Bai Changjiu and Jingchu Deputy Governor Dai Ping also submitted memorials expressing their hope that the court's tax-free policy could be extended for one year, and that the court would provide some subsidies to help them better provide disaster relief!

As for the Huainan area which was also affected by the disaster, Murong Yuliang, the governor of Jianghuai, also submitted a memorial. He said that although the situation in Huainan was equally difficult, he had already mobilized some money, grain and supplies from Jiangnan to help the people of Huainan tide over the difficulties!

Therefore, Huainan no longer needs funding from the court, but Murong Yuliang, Bai Changjiu and Dai Ping also hope that the court can extend the tax exemption policy for Huainan for one year so that Huainan can better overcome the difficulties!
Ye Mingsheng was helpless about the requests from these three places. Because of the frequent wars in the last years of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the people were living in dire straits. Ye Mingsheng was mindful of the hard work of the people and the difficulty of life. Therefore, in order to better help the people from all over the country recover, he also asked the court to tighten its belt and proposed a tax exemption policy for some provinces.

Originally, the tax exemption period in various places was going to expire in July or August next summer. Ye Mingsheng was very happy about this. After all, once taxation was resumed, the financial situation of the court would be greatly improved, and the court's life would be easier.

But I didn't expect such a thing to happen now, which is really a headache...
For Ye Mingsheng, the imperial court certainly could not sit idly by while these three places were hit by disasters. He had already sent a batch of emergency money and supplies, and allocated some local reserve soldiers to assist in disaster relief. However, these were obviously not enough to satisfy the appetites of Bai Changjiu, Dai Ping, and Murong Yuliang!

In order to get a more accurate understanding of the situation in the disaster-stricken areas, Ye Mingsheng had asked the Ministry of Households to send people to inspect. Now, he thinks there should be some news!

There happens to be a cabinet meeting tomorrow. I can bring this matter up at the meeting and listen to what these cabinet ministers think!

Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng did not immediately approve these memorials and put them aside. Then Ye Mingsheng opened another memorial.

This memorial was submitted by Wang Feihu, the censor in charge of Jingchu affairs in the Censorate. Looking at the contents of the memorial, Ye Mingsheng was both furious and somewhat suspicious!
Wang Feihu's memorial was an impeachment memorial. In fact, the memorials submitted by the censors of the Censorate to Ye Mingsheng were basically impeachment memorials, which was also their job as censors!
The person impeached in Wang Feihu's memorial was none other than Yang Qinghe, the prefect of Hanyang in Daqian!

As for the reason why Wang Feihu impeached Yang Qinghe, it was that Yang Qinghe took his daughter-in-law as his mistress!

According to Wang Feihu, Yang Qinghe has a son born out of wedlock named Yang Ning, who got engaged to Wang Lingling, the daughter of a wealthy businessman in Hanyang, more than half a year ago. The man and woman had originally planned to get married more than two months ago!"

“But who would have thought that Cheng Yaojin would show up and disrupt their marriage, and Cheng Yaojin was none other than Yang Ning’s biological father, Yang Qinghe, the prefect of Hanyang…”

(What do you think about the latest plot? Feel free to speak up, Tongming will listen attentively!)
(End of this chapter)