Chapter Thirty: Who Does Not Praise That Li Lang?

  Tang Jieyi agreed to attend the banquet, and all the officials behind him were delighted. In Fuping's officialdom, it was rare for someone to invite others to dinner, mainly because everyone's life was tight, they could only take care of their own family and couldn't afford to entertain colleagues, so there were few occasions when people would invite each other out, anyway, everyone was "clean" and no one could blame anyone else for being stingy.

  "Your Excellency, our Fuping is not as good as the Central Plains. Located on the border, we are plagued by barbarians. Thanks to your dedication to serving the court, this place has been peaceful. Under your inspiration, all of you have also worked hard, so that the people of Fuping can live and work in peace."

  Flattery gets you everywhere, Tang Jie listened and nodded in agreement. Who doesn't love hearing good things about themselves?

  Li Qindao said: "This time, I brought a few sheepskins under my command. I want to use the lord's name to sell them and buy some salt to distribute to all the brothers..." He said this with an embarrassed expression, saying: "There are many brothers, but there are only a few sheepskins. Even if we give out salt, it won't be much, yet we still need to borrow the lord's name. I feel deeply ashamed..."

  Tang Jie smiled, thinking: "The kid is doing well, his ability to win people's hearts is much stronger than Tang Biao's!" Just now, Tang Biao was talking to the soldiers in the garrison, and he had heard it, but pretended not to hear, and secretly scolded Tang Biao as a waste. Now that there was a comparison, he naturally felt that Li Qin was good at dealing with people.

  Nodding, Tang Jie said: "You have this kind intention, it's a good thing. The brothers are all your comrades-in-arms, you send them salt, how can they be dissatisfied with more or less? As for saying that I borrow the official name, it's not necessary, just say it's sent by you, how can the official take credit from others?"

  Shen Yisheng's son was very straightforward, whatever he thought he would say. He shouted: "Li Lang said that we should sell the sheepskin and exchange it for salt to distribute to everyone, and the adults agreed!"

  The surrounding soldiers each had their own thoughts, Li Qin won the competition and got a month's worth of military rations. Many of them were quite envious, but when they heard the bald-headed man shouting, they were stunned for a moment before realizing what was going on. It turned out that Li Qin had gotten benefits and wanted to share them with everyone!

  "Li Lang is the most righteous!" The soldiers all shouted in unison.

  Tang Biao's troops had just rescued the unconscious strong men, they didn't mean to blame the strong men, on the contrary, they were very fortunate. Fortunately, they lost, and they still had three days' worth of rations. If they won, except for these guys with packages on their heads, everyone would get nothing.

  Suddenly, someone on the other side shouted that Li QIN wanted to sell sheepskin and exchange salt for everyone. The soldiers in Tang Biao's camp were overjoyed, thinking that Li QIN was much more righteous than Tang Biao. If only Li QIN were their commander! The soldiers, excited, also started shouting, calling out that Li Lang was the most righteous of all.

  The whole audience was filled with applause!

  Li Qinxin thought: "Fame should be sought early, as long as my reputation gets out, in the future when the world is in chaos, I estimate that with a wave of my arm and a shout, I can also raise an army, if I can become a warlord, that would be great!"

  Outside the East City Gate, all the soldiers and civilians were delighted, except for two people. One was Jia Fu in the crowd, and the other was Tang Bao.

  Father Jia stamped his foot and said, "This good-for-nothing is ruining the family! Why didn't he sell the sheepskin to show some filial piety to me? He could have bought a few more jars of wine too. How can he be so foolish as to give it away to all those unrelated people? This prodigal son can't tell right from wrong, I'll have to take him aside and teach him a lesson when I get the chance."

  Tang Biao's face turned iron-green with rage, his heart cursing Li Jin for buying people's hearts. Buying other people's troops was one thing, but to actually buy out his own troops was truly intolerable!

  If it were someone else, since they looked down on Li QIN so much, they would secretly resent him and definitely not attend Li QIN's banquet. But Tang Biao was different, his rascal temper flared up, "You're inviting guests, aren't you? You think I won't go? You're wrong, I must go, and I'll eat my fill, I'll make you poor!

  Tang thought about it and felt that he had taken advantage of Li Qin, his heart felt relieved, thinking that he would eat Li Qin's food soon, he became excited again, so excited that he even forgot the pain in his ribcage!

  Tang Jie's original plan was to take roll call in the morning, then have two rounds of cuju, followed by lunch for the soldiers. In the afternoon, they would have another round to determine the winner and distribute the food. After dinner, they would disperse, and in the future, when there were tasks to be done, he would summon the soldiers, and when there was nothing to do, he would let them go home to eat on their own. But unexpectedly, the match ended so quickly, and Li Qin still wanted to treat everyone to a meal.

  Everything in the field was handed over to the official to handle, and Li Qin was also asked to hand over the sheepskin to the official, who would sell it on their behalf and exchange it for salt to distribute to the soldiers. After making arrangements, Tang Jie led everyone into the city to find a restaurant, where they ate and drank well, and then Li Qin paid the bill.

  Li QIN didn't care if the sheepskin could be sold today, Liu Sheng gave him money to bring over, just to socialize with his superiors and colleagues, one meal was enough.

  The crowd entered the city and rushed to the largest restaurant in the city. The restaurant was said to be the largest, but it was actually just a decent hall, mainly doing business with traveling merchants. When the owner of the restaurant saw that the county magistrate had arrived, he naturally made an effort to entertain him, bringing out all the best wine and food in the store to treat the officials of Fuping County.

  Several tables were put together, Tang Jie sat at the top, Li Qin was the one who paid the bill, so he accompanied him at the lower end. Others found their own places and sat down according to the table setting. When the wine and meat were served, they opened their stomachs and ate and drank loudly, shouting and cheering each other on to drink more.

  Tang Jie put down his reserve, had a few bowls of wine, and with a flushed face, he patted Li Qin's shoulder and said: "Li Lang, you have good character, generous and willing to part with your wealth. People like you are rare these days. What is your heart's desire? Don't hesitate to speak up and let me hear it out. Let's see if I can help you in any way."

  Li Qinfang put down his wine cup and said solemnly, "I have a request that is not easy to make, but I'm afraid if I say it out loud, Your Excellency will not agree, and I don't want to trouble you."

  Tang Jie waved his hand and laughed: "Go ahead and speak, you're a sensible person. If it's really an unreasonable request, you wouldn't mention it. You definitely won't make things difficult for this official!"

  "Your Excellency, I only wish to follow you always and serve you. This is my sole request. I fear that Your Excellency might disdain me for being incompetent and unwilling to let me follow you."

  Tang Jieyi burst out laughing and said, "So that's the kind of unreasonable request you have! You have this wish, how can I not agree? I agree, I agree!" He knew Li Qin wouldn't make things difficult for him, he must be saying something pleasant.

  All the other officials sighed in secret, this Li Qin really knew how to talk, and made the county magistrate laugh heartily without stopping. In the whole of Fuping, there was no second person who could achieve this.

  At the end of the long table, Wu Xiaosan and Shen Yibei were also highly valued. Many small officials and county magistrates couldn't get a word in edgewise, they could only desperately toast Wu Xiaosan and his group, taking the opportunity to make connections. In this day and age, strong and robust men like them are popular wherever they go, especially ones as fierce as Wu Xiaosan and his group.

  Wu Xiaosan and the others drank this wine with great relish, each of them taking turns to drink from the same tankard. Wu Dangzi finished his bowl of wine and said in a low voice: "In the past when I was a thief, whenever I saw an official, I would hide; who would have thought that today I could drink with them together, and they even toasted me? This is the most glorious moment of my life!"

  Shen Yi also said: "Yes, in the past when I was a bandit, there were many days of drinking heavily and eating large chunks of meat, but it's never been as enjoyable as today."

  "Wu Xiaosan said: "It seems that following Li Lang is indeed promising. Come, Shen brothers, let's have a drink together, and from now on we'll be sworn brothers for life and death! You must take good care of your elder brother!" He picked up the wine jug and poured a bowl of wine for Shen Yi."

  Shen Yiyu is not a petty person, whoever treats him well, he will treat them well. He raised his wine cup and clinked it with Wu Xiaosan, saying: "Brother Wu, you're the one who should be taking care of me!"

  The two men drained their cups and felt a sense of relief wash over them, as if all the unpleasantness of the past had vanished into thin air!

  Jing Qi, fueled by wine and flattery from the officials, talked about various strange stories and his ideals as a great hero. The officials listened with amusement, nodding their heads in agreement and flattering him with words.

  Xu Xiaoni drank less wine and ate more meat, while thinking to himself: "Dad was right, following Qingen has enough meat to eat!"

  The whole table, only Tang Biao was unhappy, he ate and drank, first filled his stomach, then started drinking wine. Seeing everyone at the table flattering Li QIN, he was very unhappy in his heart. But since Tang Jie was present, he couldn't find an excuse to get drunk and be unreasonable. With a turn of his eyes, he saw that Tang Ren next to him was drinking wine, and he had an idea.

  Tang whispered: "Big brother, this Li Qin has ulterior motives and will be detrimental to you."

  Tang Ren was taken aback, put down his wine bowl and asked: "What's the disadvantage of the law? I didn't offend him, why does he want to be unfavorable to me?"

  Tang Biao said: "Big brother, think about it, Li Qin is so good at buying people's hearts and has won over Uncle Father, this is not without reason. He is a soldier, what can he gain from this? It's not just the position of team leader or garrison commander, with such a large investment, he must be eyeing your position, big brother!"

  Tang Ren murmured softly, he was already confused, and after drinking, he became even more confused. Moreover, his ears were soft, and he took everything others said as true. He casually asked: "Could it be like that? Then how should I respond?"

  Tang was overjoyed, and he immediately agreed. "You go and fix Li Qin," he said, "and I'll cover for you from behind." He whispered, "We should send someone to keep an eye on Li Qin, find out what evil deeds he's done, and then punish him!"

  Tang Ren nodded in agreement, "Not bad, it's indeed the case. Luckily you reminded me, brother. Alright, I'll let you handle this matter. You go and keep an eye on Li Qin."

  Tang Biao's face suddenly contorted, "No way! Who came up with this idea and who's going to do it? If I had known it would be like this, I wouldn't have come up with the idea in the first place. It's easy to come up with ideas, but hard to put them into practice. What if Li Qin finds out that I'm monitoring him? Won't he break my left rib too?"

  His brother and superior gave him an order, so he could only grit his teeth and agree, saying: "Yes, I will definitely...I will definitely find out his weakness."

  With a full stomach and enough wine, they continued eating until the afternoon before dispersing. Tong Jie was supported by others as he returned to the government office, while Li Qin led his men, along with Meng Mu, to go outside the eastern city wall to inspect the allocated grain and salt supplies.

  ——

  It's too hard to rush to the top, it's really not easy! I sincerely ask for votes, collections and support, thank you brothers and sisters!