Chapter 51: Certificate of Passage (Seeking Recommendations, Seeking Collections)

  Just as Pang was shocked by the "huge" amount of protection fees, Kong Lin saw that the military officer was still silent and thought he was dissatisfied with the small amount of silver. He quickly explained: "Sir, this time the goods are indeed a large quantity, but our company has been losing money recently. The profits from this transaction will be used to make up for the losses, so we can't take out much silver for you. However, please rest assured that our company will definitely show its gratitude in the future and won't let you down."

  "Oh... oh.... ah...... what? Filial piety, this is not needed." Because Pang Gang just heard Kong Lin's last sentence while being in a state of temporary numbness after suddenly hearing that there were 20,000 taels of silver coming into his account, he reflexively said, "You people also find it hard to do business. Although this official also likes silver, a gentleman loves wealth and takes it by proper means. This official will not be polite about taking the silver that should be taken, but things that should not be taken, this official absolutely will not touch."

  After saying this sentence uncontrollably, Pang Gang couldn't help but regret it a little, feeling that he was still too kind and had refused too quickly. It seemed that his skin wasn't thick enough after all.

  "Sir......so this time escorting these goods is your......?" Kong Lin stared straight at Pang Gang, asking tentatively.

  "Hmm, this matter has been taken care of by me!"

  Pang Gang waved his hand decisively and agreed. What a joke, if he didn't want such a large sum of money, it would be a heavenly punishment. Now Wang Hai Fortress is so poor that it's ringing, Pang Gang has been worried about the silver for many days, if he doesn't want this large sum of money from heaven, wouldn't he be an idiot?

  "Thanks a lot, sir!" Seeing Pang Gang's promise, Kong Lin was overjoyed in his heart. Qi Shu, who was on the side, finally breathed a sigh of relief. With the protection of the government soldiers along the way, they would see if anyone dared to move them.

  Unlike Kong Lin, who was overjoyed, Pang Gang was happy for a moment, but then he started to worry. Yangzhou belongs to Jiangsu Province, and Pang Gang is the garrison of Shandong Province. It's not feasible to send troops to Jiangsu Province in such a big way. According to the Ming Dynasty law, if the garrison moves troops across provinces without the order from the Ministry of War and the certificate issued by the local commander's yamen, it will be considered as treason. However, as the saying goes, "there are policies from above and countermeasures from below". Can't we just send hundreds of people to Jiangsu Province in the name of buying grain? Who let their place be rich in food, while our side is short of food?

  Yes, that's what I'll do. Tomorrow morning, I'll rush to the Commanding Office and tell Commander Song this and that... Pang Gang quickly thought of a countermeasure.

  After thinking of a countermeasure, Pang Gang asked Kong Lin warmly: "Kong Shaodongjia, the official's garrison is currently short of food. I was thinking of taking advantage of going to Yangzhou to buy some grain back. May I ask what is the current price of grain in Yangzhou?"

  Kong Lin heard Pang Gang's inquiry and didn't dare to be slow, hurrying back with: "In response to your question, sir, now that it's winter, the grain price is much higher than in previous days. Currently, the price of one stone of grain is about two taels of silver, and it's still rising."

  Pang Gong listened and fell silent, Kong Lin thought the other party was dissatisfied with the price, so he explained: "Sir, nowadays food is in short supply, Yangzhou here is still good, if it were to be transported to Shaanxi, one stone of grain would cost four taels of silver, but it's still hard to find a buyer."

  "What are you thinking about? I'm not worried about that." Seeing Kong Lin's frightened look, Pang Gang couldn't help but laugh and comforted him: "I was thinking, after arriving in Yangzhou, can the Kong family help me buy some grain to let the military households under my jurisdiction get through this harsh winter?"

  "This is absolutely no problem, just a little food, I'll take care of it!" Kong Lin saw Pang Gang wanting to buy grain and hurriedly patted his chest with a loud thud, solemnly guaranteeing that as long as he returned safely, the problem of buying grain would be taken care of by him.

  "Alright then!" Seeing that the matter had been discussed and settled, Pang Gang stood up. Kong Lin and Kui Shu also took their leave, bowing to bid farewell.

  After Pang Gang closed the door, he sat on the bed and was about to continue washing his feet, but found that the water in the basin had already cooled down. Too lazy to ask his partner to bring hot water again, he hastily washed his feet with cold water and went to bed.

  Not mentioning Kong Lin's joyful departure, Pang Gang, lying in bed, couldn't sleep, tossing and turning. He was thinking about how to quickly make Wang Hai Fortress bigger. Although the city wall of Wang Hai Fortress had been repaired, it was only covered with a layer of yellow earth. To make it more solid, they needed to add green bricks or giant stones outside, which required a lot of money. Now, in order to earn money, he even became a bodyguard, which was really frustrating. No way, the construction speed of Wang Hai Fortress must be accelerated, and the population absorption rate must also be accelerated. If the cement plant and mine cannot start work soon, Song Zhihui and Wei Tongnian, this county magistrate, will not give him a good face.

  As soon as he thought of Wei Tongnian, a delicate face with a hint of shyness but also a sense of elegance suddenly appeared in Pang Gang's mind. This person was none other than Wei Manqing, the daughter of Wei Tongnian, whom Pang Gang had met today. Logically speaking, Pang Gang, who came from a later generation, had seen countless beauties before, and they were all different from those "non-mainstream" girls on the internet who always pouted their mouths and widened their eyes to appear cute. When Pang Gang first saw Wei Manqing, he felt a wave of bookish air wash over him.

  The phrases "scholarly family" and "farming and reading are passed down through generations" seem to have completely disappeared in later generations, replaced by terms like "rich second generation", "official second generation", "high-rich-handsome" and "white-rich-beauty". It was an anxious era, also an era of faith loss.

  But as soon as Pang Gang saw Wei Manqing for the first time, he knew that this girl must be a clever and resourceful girl who would make a good wife and mother in the future. This feeling was so strong that it lingered in his mind after suddenly appearing there.

  "Whatever, you're just a big fool, a bumpkin. They are genuine ladies from good families, thousand-gold misses. We can't compare to them." Pang Gang kept hinting to himself, tossing and turning for a long time before slowly falling asleep...

  Before dawn on the second day, just after midnight, Pang Gang hastily arrived at the Commander's Mansion and presented his waist card to request an audience with Song Xing. After a long time, he was led by Song Xing's servant to a side hall to wait.

  After waiting for about half a watch, Song Xinghe finally arrived at the side hall with a yawn, his face showing displeasure. "Pang Baihu, what important matter do you have that you asked to see me so early? If you don't tell me clearly, I'll have to punish you!"

  Seeing his superior getting angry, Pang Gang quickly reported to Song Xing that the number of refugees in Wanghai Fort was increasing and food might not be enough, and he wanted to go to Yangzhou to buy grain. He said: "Sir, as the saying goes, no grain is unstable. If Wanghai Fort runs out of grain, those new refugees may take risks and go astray. Once these people become bandits, it will be troublesome."

  "Hmm, is that so." Song Xinghe thought for a moment before asking with some concern, "You can be selfless, but now that winter has arrived, it's not easy to buy grain. Even in Yangzhou and other places, the price of grain is still high. How can you have so much silver to buy grain?"

  Pang Gang smiled: "To answer the master's question, yesterday I met a merchant who was about to take a batch of goods back to Yangzhou. He was afraid of encountering bandits on the road, so he asked me to escort him all the way. Since it was such a good opportunity, I didn't stand on ceremony with him and extorted 1,000 taels of silver as protection money. Now we have the silver to buy grain, don't we?"

  Pang Gang also left a heart eye and directly reduced the protection fee by 90%.

  "Hehe......"

  Song Xinghe pointed at Pang Gang with a helpless expression and said, "You, you, such good things can be encountered by you, it seems that you still have some luck. Alright, since this is the case, I won't stand in your way of making money either. I'll issue a pass for you later, saying that I'm sending you to Yangzhou to buy grain, will that do?"

  "Thanks for your help!" Pang Gang was overjoyed to see things done and gave Song Xing a military salute.

  Song Xinghe saw Pang Gang's delighted expression and couldn't help but smile, "Alright, I know you're busy so I won't keep you, go ahead and go down!"

  "Yes!"

  Thank you for the reward from Yi Jian Piao 123 Tong Xie!