Chapter 9: Insatiable Greed
After agreeing on the price, Bai Gui let out a sigh of relief and hastily called out his servants to serve tea and refreshments. He also warmly invited Li Mingfeng to stay for dinner. Li Mingfeng was actually eager to try authentic Chinese cuisine, having eaten dry bread for so many days that he was starting to feel nauseous. However, given the current situation, Li Mingfeng immediately rejected the proposal and urged Bai Gui to hurry up with the payment.
At Li Mingfeng's suggestion, Andrew ordered the soldiers surrounding the Xunfu Gate to come in and rest, have a few cups of Eastern tea, and taste some Eastern pastries.
In less than an hour, Park Gui came in with several servants carrying a large trunk. As soon as the lid was opened, Andrew, who was sitting in the main hall, widened his eyes and took out a fist-sized gold ingot, bit into it, checked its quality, and exclaimed excitedly: "Li, this is real gold, pure gold! This piece of gold can be minted into at least ten, no, twenty gold coins!"
Bai Gui saw the foreigners' expressions and knew they were satisfied this time. He walked up to Li Mingfeng and said, "Lord Li, here are 300 gold bars, each weighing 10 taels, totaling 3,000 taels." After finishing speaking, he took out a stack of paper from his pocket: "These are 'Ri Sheng Chang' silver notes, which can be exchanged nationwide, totaling 30,000 taels. Together with the gold, it's at least worth 5,000 taels of gold. Please check, Lord."
Li Mingfeng did not expect that this high-ranking official would actually address him, a small translator, as "sir", but the feeling was quite pleasant, so he didn't bother to correct it.
Put away the silver ticket, Li Mingfeng smiled and said: "The gold of Lord Bai Gui will not be paid in vain, rest assured, from now on this governor's mansion will be completely safe."
Looking at the relieved expression of Bo Gui, Li Mingfeng secretly scolded him in his heart. This old guy is still cunning enough, saying that there aren't many gold pieces, but he's already handed over 3,000 taels of gold and 30,000 taels of silver tickets. It's estimated that it won't be difficult to cheat him out of another 30,000 to 50,000 taels. However, since he had spoken earlier, Li Mingfeng couldn't bear to go back on his words, so if he said 5,000 taels of gold earlier, then he could only accept 5,000 taels.
Regretting his previous words was no longer possible, but if he could squeeze out some more silver using other methods, it wouldn't be considered going back on his word. Li Mingfeng began to calculate again in his mind.
"The foreigners have occupied Guangzhou and will soon establish a new government office, appointing a new governor to maintain order in Guangzhou. I wonder if you would be interested in this position?" Li Mingfeng threw out the bait.
Bai Gui's eyes lit up immediately after hearing this, and then he calmed down again, awkwardly saying: "As a subordinate of the imperial court, I'm afraid it's hard to gain the trust of foreigners. Moreover, although the foreigners have occupied Guangzhou, if I may speak bluntly, I'm afraid they won't be able to hold on to this place for long either."
Li Mingfeng heard this and knew he was afraid that after the foreigners left, the Qing court would settle old scores with him.
Li Mingfeng slowly said with his eyes narrowed: "What does the Lord of Fuzhou think about the current situation in the world?"
Bai Gui didn't know why he was asking this and looked at Li Mingfeng with suspicion.
Li Mingfeng's mouth curled up in a strange smile, and he raised his finger to point north: "Today, the war is raging, the Long-haired bandits occupy half of the country, and even these two provinces are full of rebels. The imperial court? Can the imperial court control this place?"
Bai Gui immediately waved his hand: "This is not something to be said casually. Although the Long-haired bandits have gained power, Hong Xiuquan has been killing his own generals since last year, first beheading Dong Wang, then Yan Wang and Bei Wang, and this year Yi Wang Shi Dakai led the main force of the Long-haired bandits out of Tianjing. Although they haven't suffered a major defeat, their strength is actually at its weakest point in five years. As for the Nian rebels, they are not unified under one leader and fight separately, although they have tens of thousands of troops, the imperial court only needs to send 100,000 elite soldiers to eliminate them."
Li Mingfeng never expected that Bo Gui would have such insight, but thinking that he is a high-ranking official after all, it's understandable to be afraid of death. If he can't even see the overall situation, how could he possibly sit in this position today?
Li Mingfeng relied on his historical knowledge to know that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had been declining since the Tianjing Incident, but he didn't expect this seemingly shameless governor to be able to analyze things so thoroughly. He thought to himself that he must use something unexpected to intimidate him in order to profit from it.
"What adults analyze is extremely opposite, but adults must not forget that this world is not just the imperial court and rebels."
"What does this mean?"
"A few thousand foreign troops can break into Guangzhou; if the foreigners mobilize an army of a million, how many soldiers will this great Qing dynasty have to defend against the enemy?"
Bo Gui, who had been a Qing official all his life, was hearing for the first time someone so boldly discussing this issue. After being stunned for half a moment, he calmed down and replied: "This humble official has heard that the country of the foreigners is tens of thousands of miles away from the Great Qing, how can they send out an army of 100,000 to cross the vast ocean? Even if the foreigners were to send an army of 100,000 and break into the capital, what use would it be? They couldn't possibly move their people to live in our China."
"The adults don't understand the Westerners' way of governing a country. The Westerners have a strategy called colonial occupation, where after occupying another country, they don't annex its land, but instead support local people to be their agents." Seeing Bo Gui's puzzled expression, Li Mingfeng knew that ancient people didn't understand many specialized terms, so he explained it in simpler terms: "In other words, the Westerners send a large army to capture the capital, then establish another person as emperor, and have this new ruler organize troops and establish a new dynasty."
Bai Gui felt his heart racing upon hearing this, thinking to himself that the young man in front of him was too bold, spouting treasonous words that would scare others to death if they heard them. Now, Bai Gui was a man under someone else's roof and didn't dare offend Li Mingfeng, yet he also refused to say anything treasonous, so he just kept his mouth shut. Li Mingfeng had originally wanted to entice Bai Gui with the throne, but hadn't expected that he was too deeply poisoned by feudalistic thinking, and didn't have the guts to change dynasties or establish himself as emperor.
As a modern person, Li Mingfeng thinks that the struggle for power is too simple. Bai Gui has been in the official circle for many years and knows that although the Qing dynasty has many drawbacks, it is still a powerful tiger after all. No matter how strong an ant is, it can't hurt the tiger's hair.
Waving a big flag and pretending to be an emperor is something that only those ignorant rural husbands would dare to shout. To really defy the heavens and change one's fate, how could it be possible for ordinary people to proclaim themselves as emperors? Bai Gui, deeply poisoned by feudal ideology, also believed in his subconscious mind that imperial power was divinely ordained, and even if the rebels were rampant for a while, they would ultimately be defeated.
Li Mingfeng saw that the bait he threw was too big, so big that Bai Gui was afraid to eat it. He changed his mind and tempted him again, saying: "Bai Gui, a great official of the Qing Dynasty, is truly a model for officials." Bai Gui hurriedly declined, saying he didn't dare.
Li Mingfeng suddenly became indifferent again, and Bai Gui saw that he didn't speak, nor did he know whether it was his own words that were not spoken properly, which made this jinx unhappy. Just as he was about to open his mouth to dispel the awkward atmosphere, he saw Li Mingfeng sighing and becoming somewhat melancholic.
