Facing Shen Youlong's "inquiry", Ma Jixiang swallowed his saliva and said, "The bandit Xian is stationed in Yongzhou at this time. I want to send a spy in to find out the situation and provide intelligence when Lord Shen attacks."
"Spies are always facing life-threatening situations, and only death warriors can take on this responsibility. Recruiting death warriors requires a lot of money, so I would like Lord Shen to provide some silver."
Shen Youlong squinted his eyes and thought for a while before shaking his head: "It's not that I don't want to help, it's that I can't help."
"Why?" Ma Jixiang was a little panicked.
His real purpose was not to provide intelligence to Shen Youlong, but to complete the counter-espionage plan given to him by Chongzhen and Li Ruolian.
Five days ago, he received a letter from Beijing asking him to find a way to alienate Zhang Xianzhong and Li Dingguo.
Ma Jixiang racked his brains and finally decided to start with Zhang Xianzhong's son-in-law Wang Zhaolin.
Wang Zhaolin was originally a scholar from Tongcheng and came from a wealthy family.
Because he made a mistake while studying in the county school, he was thrown into prison. When he heard that Zhang Xianzhong was attacking Tongcheng, he incited the prisoners to riot, broke through the prison door and rushed to the city wall to cause chaos.
With the help of both inside and outside forces, Tongcheng fell.
Zhang Xianzhong had been raising troops for many years, and his army was basically composed of military generals, with no decent strategists.
Wang Zhaolin's arrival solved this problem.
Zhang Xianzhong was so delighted that he betrothed his daughter to him.
Therefore, Wang Zhaolin was not only Zhang Xianzhong's military advisor, but also his son-in-law. He was cruel and cunning, and good at flattering and vying for favor.
If Shen Youlong didn’t help him, he wouldn’t be able to complete the tasks assigned by the emperor and Li Ruolian.
The consequences are predictable.
Looking at the dazed Ma Jixiang, Shen Youlong smiled slightly: "Commander Ma, don't think too much. The court has ordered me not to take the initiative to attack, but to focus on defense."
"If we focus on defense, there's no need to send spies, so I can't help you."
Ma Jixiang quickly regained his composure after the panic. He rolled his eyes and said, "Lord Shen now has only 40,000 soldiers available, stationed in Guilin, Wuzhou and Shaozhou."
"If the bandits gather their forces to attack one of these places and capture it before the other reinforcements arrive, how will Lord Shen respond?"
Shen Youlong remained silent.
What Ma Jixiang just said was exactly what he was worried about.
But there is no way, the relationship between the attacker and the defender is not equal.
The advantage of the attacker is that they can choose their target at will.
The advantage of the defender is that he can hold the city and wait for reinforcements.
"If Lord Shen could learn the attack direction of the bandits' main force at the first opportunity and deploy troops accordingly, wouldn't things be so complicated?" Ma Jixiang continued to persuade.
"Ten thousand taels of silver! With just ten thousand taels of silver, I can send someone to infiltrate the bandit army and tell Lord Shen the key information at the critical moment."
"I believe that with the help of this information, Lord Shen will be able to plan and win the battle thousands of miles away!"
Shen Youlong thought for a moment, "According to what you said, I can find someone to do this myself, why should I alarm you Jinyiwei?"
Ma Jixiang chuckled: "Your Majesty once said that professionals should do professional things. Anyone can get information, but only the Jinyiwei can guarantee the authenticity of the information they get and the timeliness of the information they deliver."
Shen Youlong thought about it again for a while and felt that what Ma Jixiang said made sense.
The Jinyiwei are good at collecting enemy intelligence and inciting enemy generals to defect.
Other people generally can't do it!
After making up his mind, Shen Youlong stretched out five fingers of his right hand and said, “Five thousand taels!”
"Oh my!" Ma Jixiang was overjoyed, but he complained silently: "Sir Shen is the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, can't he come up with 10,000 taels of silver?"
Shen Youlong smiled bitterly: “Don’t even mention 10,000 taels, even these 5,000 taels of silver are all the public funds saved by the three general yamen over the years.”
"Then...nine thousand taels!" Ma Jixiang began to bargain.
“Five thousand!” Shen Youlong insisted.
"Eight thousand taels!"
"Five thousand!"
"Seven thousand taels!"
"Just five thousand!"
Ma Jixiang was bargaining while cursing in his heart.
This Shen Youlong is even more stingy than a miser.
Five thousand taels of silver may seem like a lot, but it was not enough to impress Wang Zhaolin.
Only those with more than ten thousand taels of silver have a chance to get close to Wang Zhaolin.
Obviously, Ma Jixiang wanted Shen Youlong to pay all the money and make him the scapegoat.
"Six thousand taels, the lowest!" Ma Jixiang decided to throw out the bottom line.
Shen Youlong sighed: “Five thousand five hundred taels.”
"Deal!" Ma Jixiang agreed without any hesitation.
Being able to swindle five thousand five hundred taels of silver from Shen Youlong was beyond his expectations.
"Master Shen, please prepare the silver quickly. I will arrange for someone to go to Yongzhou immediately."
"Okay, but I have to say this first. If Commander Ma fails to fulfill his promise, I will drag you down with me even if I die." Shen Youlong threatened with his big eyes.
Although Ma Jixiang felt a little guilty, he did not show any guilty expression on his face, and promised solemnly: "Don't worry, Lord Shen, I, Ma, have always been reliable in doing things."
"That's good." With Ma Jixiang's promise, Shen Youlong also breathed a sigh of relief.
Being a governor in the Ming Dynasty was a dangerous job as one could be executed at any time.
Although he cared about the court, he did not want to die in vain.
After both sides counted the silver, Ma Jixiang flattered Shen Youlong before leaving: "Lord Shen is able to plan and win battles thousands of miles away. He is truly a meritorious official and general of the Ming Dynasty!"
Shen Youlong smiled faintly: "Commander Ma, you are too kind. We are all serving the court. We don't seek merit but only avoid mistakes!"
"See you later!"
"See you later!"
......
Yongzhou Prefecture.
The reason why Zhang Xianzhong's army stopped in Yongzhou Prefecture was actually very simple: Zhang Xianzhong was sick.
Wind-cold.
That is the common cold in modern medicine.
In ancient times, colds could be said to be one of the diseases with a higher mortality rate.
This disease itself is not a serious disease, but the bad thing is that it can cause other complications, such as pneumonia, myocarditis, etc. Many emperors in history died of complications caused by colds.
For example, Kangxi.
Although Zhang Xianzhong showed signs of improvement under the treatment of military doctors, he was still drowsy and listless.
"Where are the doctors? Capture all the doctors nearby and have them treat my adoptive father one by one. Those who cannot cure my adoptive father will be beheaded!" Sun Kewang stood in the military tent, furious.
"The famous doctors in the city have all run away long ago. The remaining ones are all unknown doctors, and the medicines they prescribe are all the same." Ai Nengqi said helplessly.
Just as everyone was sighing, military advisor Wang Zhaolin walked in with a proud look on his face.
"Don't panic, everyone. I found a famous doctor."
"Famous doctor?" Liu Wenxiu came forward and asked doubtfully, "Where did this famous doctor come from? Who taught him?"
"I came from Guangzhou Prefecture and studied under the famous doctor Wu Youxing."
Wu Youxing, also known as Youke, is the founder of the "Wenyi School".
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