Chapter 1019: Ji Zijuan’s aftermath
Mu Tianyan and Liu Guoquan looked at each other. The eagle-eyed man in front of them was undoubtedly Zasai, the de facto leader of the five inner Khalkha tribes.
However, it seemed that the other party's attitude was not as fierce as expected, and could even be said to be somewhat kind, which made both Liu Guoquan and Mu Tianyan feel a little more relaxed.
Although they felt that killing a group of their own people would not be beneficial to the Inner Khalkha people, they were accustomed to living well in the capital city and had never dealt with these tribes on the grassland, so they were still a little afraid in their hearts.
In particular, the Inner Khalkha people are not the Chahars and Tumuts who are representatives of the left and right wings of Mongolia who often deal with the Zhou Dynasty. They live in the Liaohetao and Tuhe areas outside Liaodong. They said that many of them had never even heard of these places, let alone the directions in which these place names were located.
What made them even more reassured was that Zasai could actually speak Chinese. Although it was not very standard and a bit stiff, they could probably understand it.
"Since you are the commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp, then you must be able to make the decision after I talk to you?" Zasai knew that he did not have much time. He needed to negotiate a deal in the shortest possible time and deal with the tens of thousands of people pressing on him as soon as possible. A prisoner in his own hands.
"I don't know what General Zasai wants to talk to us, but since we have been defeated and become prisoners, we have no right to express any position on behalf of the court. It is useless to promise anything..." Liu Guoquan was very cautious. Since the other party had no intention of killing They, if this big rock is put down, everything else will be much easier to handle.
"Well, Master Liu, Master Mu, do you mean that the Zhou Dynasty will not care about you?" Zaisai smiled half-heartedly, "That also means that I can deal with tens of thousands of you at will, just like you Han people in history What did Bai Qi do in the battle of Changping? I will not send Zhu Qizhen back to the Ming court in vain like Grand Master Ye Xian did."
Liu Guoquan and Mu Tianyan both couldn't help but shuddered. How could this Inner Khalkha man know about the traps and killings in the history of the Han people? Although there was a hint of ridicule in the other party's words, the two of them did not dare not believe it. Their lives were at stake and they did not dare to gamble.
“General Zasai, I can only say that the imperial court has its own dignity and cannot accept your blackmail, but if you can let us go, we will definitely be grateful...”
Before Mu Tianyan could finish his words, he was interrupted by Zai Sai with a wave of his hand, "No, no, Mr. Mu, there is no way I can do such a thing. You Han people have always been unfaithful. You should know the losses we suffered in the battle under Qian'an City." It's a heavy life, I must get compensation and reward. You more than 50,000 people are the weight. If the Zhou court refuses to pay compensation, then I can't really kill you all, but I will bring you back. Going up to the grassland, you should know that from here you have to go over Hongshankou or Panjiakou, or Xifengkou, which is our grassland. The distance is not far. This is not a big deal for my sons, but maybe you people can I can’t guarantee how many people will survive over the mountains and reach the grassland.”
Liu Guoquan and Mu Tianyan exchanged glances before slowly saying: "General Zasai, are you saying that you went to Qian'an City?"
Zaisai didn't intend to hide anything, because sooner or later this would be known to others, he nodded calmly: "Liaodong Town's elite fire gun battalion ambushed in Qian'an, and they really caught us off guard. Sooner or later we will settle this account with Liaodong Town We're back, but now we have to settle your account."
Liu Guoquan and Mu Tianyan did not expect that the Inner Khalkha people actually suffered a loss under Qian'an City. The Fire Gun Army from Liaodong Town went south? Is Feng Tang so bold?
But now is not the time to discuss this, they are more concerned about their own fate: "General Zasai, what do you mean...?"
"I have no intention of embarrassing you. The two countries are at war, and each has its own master. The winner is the king and the loser is the enemy. Now that you have been defeated, you have fallen into my hands. If you want to go back, it is very simple. You can redeem your people with silver or property..." Zasai Quietly.
“What kind of atonement?” Liu Guoquan asked tentatively.
"You two, each have 50,000 taels of silver. There are also several generals with 30,000 taels each. Each of the guerrillas has 20,000 taels. The generals, garrison commanders, commanders, and generals of Qian are respectively 10,000, 5,000, and 3,000 taels. One thousand, two thousand, one thousand taels are calculated. As for those below a thousand generals, the same is from five hundred taels to one hundred taels, and ordinary soldiers are fifty taels..."
Zaisai took out a rough list of statistics and said, "Now I have more than 57,000 captives including all of you. I have calculated that you will need about 3.5 million to redeem these people. Two silver coins,…”
Hearing Zaisai’s calculation, Liu Guoquan and Mu Tianyan couldn’t help but take a breath.
For the two of them, fifty thousand taels of silver was a painful sum of money, but it was nothing compared to their lives.
And since the other party said so, I'm afraid they won't accept a separate ransom.
As expected, Zaisai continued: "I can give you a discount, 3.3 million taels of silver, everyone will be released, the silver is not enough, gold, horses, silk, tea, salt, porcelain, cloth, grain, Medicinal materials, everything can be redeemed, but I will not accept ransom from a certain person or a few people. If I want to redeem it, I will ransom it all."
Liu Guoquan and Mu Tianyan looked at each other, and finally Liu Guoquan said with a wry smile: "Master Zasai, whether you have 3.5 million taels or 3 million taels, the amount is too large, no one can take it. For such a large sum of money, even if the court is willing, it still can't come up with it."
"I said, it doesn't have to be silver, gold, cloth, grain, salt, horses, iron materials, silk tea, everything can be discounted according to the current market price. This won't embarrass you, right?" Zaisai said calmly: "The imperial court If you can't get it, you can't get it from your own family? Is the life of these soldiers in the Beijing camp not even worth fifty taels of silver? If you can't get it for a while, I can help you contact your merchants in Da Zhou, who often come and go. In our grassland and the hinterland of your Central Plains, you should be able to lend money from them, right? If you don’t have money, the goods they have in our tribe can be redeemed for us, no problem."
Liu Guoquan and Mu Tianyan almost suspected that the leader of the Inner Khalkha people was not a Mongolian. How come he had such a strong business aura and was so familiar with such tricks that he actually thought of going to a merchant to borrow money for them.
The most popular people on the grassland are naturally the merchants from the Shanshan Chamber of Commerce. They all have their own fixed business routes and partners, and these tribes on the grassland cannot do without them.
Their long-term cooperation has also allowed them to establish a good reputation among these grassland tribes. In the long run, they will not allow situations that damage their credibility to occur. Similarly, these tribes on the grassland will never be willing to damage their credibility. .
If we find this group of businessmen, we might be able to lend them millions of taels of silver.
So what if it’s just loaned out? How to deal with the money of these soldiers? The businessmen would definitely not trust them, and in the end it would have to fall on the generals, including themselves, to provide guarantees.
But after these people go back, when can they pay back?
Some people are definitely fine, but some people are hard to say.
Not all sergeants in the Beijing camp are wealthy, there are also a large number of poor people who are just hanging around.
"General Zasai, if you can invite Shanxi merchants to pay ransom for us people, I think we can borrow money from them. There should be no big problem. But these ordinary soldiers may have some difficulties." Mu Tian Yan frowned and said: "Their situations are different. I'm afraid businessmen may not be willing to lend them money or guarantee for them..."
Zaisai said with a straight face, "I told you to deal with it together, otherwise you guys wouldn't be able to leave with just tens of thousands of taels of silver. After all, you are also famous figures in the Zhou Dynasty. You should think about it carefully." Zaisai said. With a wave of his hand, he motioned for his men to take them down.
After Liu and Mu left, Zaisai said with a sullen face to the silent people on the side: "Everyone has seen that the situation is not as simple as we thought. These generals are not willing to pay ransom for their soldiers. This no!"
"These Han people are selfish and cunning. They only want to care about themselves. They ignore the tens of thousands of soldiers who fight for them. Zaisai, what should we do?" Bi Lingtu said anxiously, "They The total of these generals is only three to five million taels of silver. Do we really want to **** tens of thousands of soldiers back to the grassland?"
"How is that possible?" Zhuangtu shook his head repeatedly, "These are not hundreds or thousands of people, but more than 50,000 people. Even if we set off right away, it will take ten days to walk to the grassland. What will they eat? It's a long journey. , what should I do if something goes wrong in the middle?"
Hongol hesitated for a moment and said, "Zaisai, did Bushiya Mara tell you about this that day? Did she have any solution?"
Zaisai shook his head, "Bushiya Mara mentioned it, but she didn't say how to solve it specifically. Unexpectedly, she actually guessed it. Winning this battle is easy, but how to deal with it has become a troublesome matter. Son."
"Then why not ask Busia Mara and see if she has any good ideas. Then you might as well give them some Ye Hebu portion." Hong Guoer just wants to return to the grassland as soon as possible. Even if it's a little less, you won't have to worry about it here. After all, this is within the territory of Dazhou. If Ji Zhen's soldiers catch up, their success will be in vain.
"That's all." Zaisai sighed. He also estimated that Busia Mara might be waiting for him. There must be a man named Feng standing behind him, and he must have some plans. "I'm afraid I'll let him know by then. Everyone must be mentally prepared to provide some of the benefits, and don’t always think about having enough in one bite.”
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(End of this chapter)