Chapter 44
The general extended the invitation. Everyone looked at Marshal Zhu, waiting for his decision.
Marshal Zhu laughed heartily. "Since General Xing has so graciously invited us, we shall not refuse."
Both men knew that he had to accept the invitation, otherwise they would think that Marshal Zhu was afraid of him. Moreover, although they couldn't resort to violence, the matter had to be resolved, and they had to sit down and talk.
The last point, and this was also his own selfish motive, was that he had been wondering: how had Xing Changfeng discovered the warehouse he had been raided? It was so well hidden, and how were his other two warehouses safe? He couldn't sleep peacefully until he figured this out.
In a blink of an eye, Marshal Zhu and his men were welcomed into the military settlement. The soldiers he brought with him did not leave, but were led by his trusted aides to wait outside the gate of the settlement. If anything went wrong inside, they would lead their troops to attack.
The elite troops under Xing Changfeng's command did not withdraw either, and the two sides formed a confrontation situation.
However, the 6,000 elite soldiers on their side were well fed and well-drinking. The soldiers from the Yichun camp were summoned at short notice early in the morning and had not had time to eat breakfast, so they were all hungry.
Xing Changfeng invited Marshal Zhu and others into the conference hall.
When he learned that they had not had breakfast yet, he ordered the kitchen to send some breakfast over, no matter what, just whatever was available, and to send it quickly.
This puts the kitchen in a difficult position because they have already started preparing lunch, and all the dishes they are making today are made with chicken.
I heard that just now when the two armies were facing each other at the gate, the shogun's men actually took the big fat chickens he had distributed to them to watch the show, and were seen by the sharp-eyed young generals over there. Marshal Zhu and his men were very upset.
If I do it again...
Finally, the head chef closed his eyes and pointed at a few items for them to send over. After all, it wasn't the first time for Zhu Dashuai and his men. The first time was strange, the second time was familiar, and the excitement would get used to it.
Big plate chicken, stewed chicken with mushrooms, roasted chicken nuggets: Main course: shredded chicken noodle soup.
Looking at the dishes being served one after another, Xing Changfeng's mouth twitched. These people were all the kind of people who just wanted to watch the fun and were not afraid of trouble.
Marshal Zhu's generals all widened their eyes, angry and incredulous.
Marshal Zhu said with a half-smile, "I didn't expect the food in our military settlement to be so good. We had a whole chicken feast early in the morning."
"Nothing can be done. Last night, when we were raiding the mountain strongholds, we were lucky enough to take down a few pheasant nests. Add to that the spoils from the other two strongholds..."
Just make it up!
Manager Wu said, "Everyone, please hurry up and eat before the food gets cold. Please—"
The meeting hall was divided into an inner and outer hall. They were sitting in the inner hall. The food was originally served to them, but they were signaled to move it to the outer hall. The other party's words were clearly an attempt to get rid of them. Marshal Zhu's subordinates looked at him one by one.
Marshal Zhu waved his hand and asked them to eat in the outer hall.
The young general buried his head in the food, but there was no other way. His chicken would not come back, so he could only eat as much as he could. It was impossible to make back his investment, so he would eat as much as he could. Not to mention, chicken raised in the mountains tasted delicious.
At this time, only Marshal Zhu and Xing Changfeng were left in the inner meeting room.
Xing Changfeng casually took a few bites of each dish and then put down his chopsticks.
Sure enough, after he put down his chopsticks, the people on Marshal Zhu's side started eating.
Marshal Zhu also picked up his chopsticks and began to eat. As he ate, he said angrily, "General Xing, you can't do this. Don't put the blame on those nearby strongholds. You and I know the situation inside very well. How about this, if you return 70% of the money and food you took away, I will let it go. The remaining 30% will be my thank you. Otherwise, I will not let it go."
"Don't worry, Marshal Zhu, take a look at this first." Xing Changfeng pushed a booklet over. The booklet contained evidence of his taking unpaid wages, embezzling money, and enriching himself.
Marshal Zhu flipped through the book, his expression growing increasingly grim. He certainly didn't think he could keep everyone in the dark about what he'd done all those years ago, but he was confident the evidence they could find wouldn't be much, at most only scratching the surface, not shaking him. He never imagined Xing Changfeng would dig so deep; handing over this booklet would be enough to cause him serious damage.
Marshal Zhu held the booklet in his hand and said with a forced smile, "General Xing, you are really capable." He was very uneasy in his heart. Some evidence could not be obtained by anyone other than his confidants. What went wrong? Did someone really betray him?
"Not as good as the Marshal."
Marshal Zhu cleared his throat, tried to be friendly, and played the emotional card. "Ahem, Changfeng, Uncle Zhu knows that there were many things wrong in the past. How about this, as for the food, no matter where you got it from, uncle will not pursue it. Just one thing, you have to hand over this booklet and the evidence related to it to uncle, okay?"
Marshal Zhu's heart was bleeding when he said this. This was equivalent to giving up his own private warehouse and several warehouses of his subordinates. It was a huge loss for him.
Xing Changfeng smiled. "Uncle Zhu, it's so kind of you to understand my difficulties. You don't know, when I first received the transfer order, I was completely stunned. I thought I'd be fine once I arrived at the Yichun camp, but I ended up in a military settlement. But since I was already here, I thought I'd make the best of it, but when I saw that the military settlement's granary only had less than two layers of grain, I felt so heavy."
Xing Changfeng smiled and pointed out his good deeds. Marshal Zhu could only chuckle. But despite his smile, he felt sick inside. What was the point of 80% of the military grain for the autumn? Most of that 80% went into the granary of the Yichun camp, leaving him with very little. How could it be worth the loss of the warehouse? He had lost a lot! This brat was not a human being. He got the advantage and still acted ungratefully!
But with the other party holding the handle, what could he do? "Uncle Zhu thinks that all this is in the past, and we should always look forward, right? Look, you solved the food problem in one night. From now on, Uncle Zhu, don't make such a mistake again, and you shouldn't always remember what happened in the past."
Marshal Zhu hinted frantically that this was a tit-for-tat affair and they were even. They would develop on their own in the future and no one would try to mess with the other.
"I agree very much with what Uncle Zhu said. But I think there are two more points to add."
He still has requests? Seeing the booklet in his hand, Zhu Dashuai had to swallow his anger and said, "You say."
"Regarding the future of the military settlements. Since you only allowed 30% of the soldiers to come and cultivate the land, I plan to give 30% of the annual output of the land currently owned by the military settlements to the Yichun camp. The remaining shortfall will be handled by you yourselves."
"No! Absolutely not! According to the ratio of garrison and garrison, you only keep 30%, and give us 70%, which is more or less enough." Marshal Zhu shook his head frantically. This was equivalent to Xing Changfeng taking away the military settlement they had managed well for many years with only 30% of their investment. He couldn't agree to it! "And 30% of the food can't even feed the entire Yichun camp."
"Uncle Zhu, think carefully about this. The military settlement isn't yours, but this booklet concerns your life and future. Besides, if your subordinates can secretly raise chickens in the mountains, then opening another military settlement shouldn't be difficult." Tsk, what's not to like about getting 30% of the food for free? If possible, he wouldn't even give 10%!
Marshal Zhu's face was gloomy at the moment, but he had to admit that Xing Changfeng's words hit the nail on the head. The military settlement wasn't just his...
Xing Changfeng was not worried at all that he would not agree. If he was not a person who harmed the public interest for his own benefit, they would not be able to find any evidence against him.
Marshal Zhu pondered for a moment, "You have such a big appetite. I have leverage over you, but I can't do anything to you. But aren't you afraid that the generals in the Yichun camp will report you?"
Xing Zhangfeng raised his eyebrows. "Report me? Isn't this the condition they agreed upon when they transferred me to the military settlement in Yichun?"
What kind of conditions are there? When Marshal Zhu realized what was going on, he couldn't help but choke. They had secretly transferred him to the military settlement and sent a letter to the court saying that he had agreed to it. If anyone from the camp reported him, he would say that this was the condition they had previously agreed to.
There was no other way. "Okay, I promise you!"
"Uncle Zhu, can you tear up the memorial you planned to submit after the New Year?"
Is this his second condition? "You mean the memorial about streamlining the military? No problem, I won't submit that memorial." Marshal Zhu wasn't surprised he knew about this. He could even dig up evidence of his own crimes so secretive, so how could he possibly hide this from him?
"But it's no use if I keep silent. I don't own the Yichun camp alone. The middle and high-level generals in the camp know about the streamlined troops. I'm not the only one who is qualified to submit reports to the capital." Marshal Zhu used his previous words to block him, and he felt very happy. Humph, no matter how much advantage you get from me, as long as this problem is not solved, you will be trapped in the military settlement sooner or later.
Xing Changfeng snapped his fingers and said, "This is easy. Just give me a number." Whether they mentioned streamlining the troops or not had little impact on him.
Give him a designation? Marshal Zhu was in a state of confusion.
In this case, wouldn't all his efforts have been in vain? No, not in vain. Not only did he lose several warehouses belonging to himself and his faction, but he also lost the autonomy of the military settlement! A huge loss, a huge loss.
"Impossible, I can't do it!" Why had he been able to kick him to the military settlement so easily before? Wasn't it because the Third Prince didn't like him? If he applied for a number for him, it would be against the trend, which would be extremely difficult.
Xing Changfeng didn't press the issue any further, but instead said, "Don't you want to know how the address of your secret vault was leaked?"
He thought, even in his dreams he wanted to know where the secret had been leaked! He could then infer whether his other two secret vaults were still safe.
In the end, Marshal Zhu's selfishness prevailed. He gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, I promise to apply for a number for the Xing Family Army, but you must tell me how the address of my secret library was leaked."
It worked? Xing Zhangfeng raised an eyebrow, surprised.
"I certainly can't tell you the reason right now, but I promise you the other secret vaults are safe." Yao Zhubo speculated that Marshal Zhu had more than one secret vault, but she could only deduce the location of one, leaving the others unknown. Although she didn't know the location, it was still a good way to trick Marshal Zhu.
Sure enough, the other two secret vaults were also leaked! Marshal Zhu was furious. He wanted to flip the table, but if he did, he would die. If he didn't die, he would at least lose a layer of skin. He could only endure it!
"Alright, that's enough. I agree to all your conditions! But if anything happens to my other secret vaults again, don't blame me for going all out!"
"Uncle Zhu, don't worry. Compared to others, I still prefer Uncle Zhu to sit in the commander's seat in the Yichun camp."
"Hmph!" Marshal Zhu's face was ashen as he left, and he left angrily with his subordinates.
Along the way, the people in the military settlement knew at a glance that he had not gained any advantage, and they all felt relieved.
Not long after, General Wu and the people from the shogunate reported the results of the negotiations between the two sides. Everyone in the shogunate was excited and said that the results of this negotiation were too great.
The general was so powerful that he actually tore off such a large piece of meat from Marshal Zhu. No, it was several pieces of meat. Yao Chunnuan didn't dare to think that almost all their predetermined goals had been achieved.
Manager Wu looked at Yao Chunnuan with a kind gaze. She had made a significant contribution to the smooth negotiation. He'd give her a raise starting next month! He'd see if there was anything she could use, and that would be given to her as well. And since she was pregnant, he had to have someone start keeping an eye on the midwife. Such talent must be protected.
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