Chapter 22: Deciding on a Plan to Eliminate the Rebels

  Lin Chunhong was feeling depressed and uncomfortable, he was not used to taking passive measures, and this passive measure may not be effective. Zhou Wang, Zheng Tiancheng, and Lu Shiyuan saw Lin Chunhong's gloomy face and invited him to take a stroll in Jingzhou City. Jingzhou is not far from Baili Island, about 80-90 miles by waterway, and it takes only two hours to get there. Jingzhou City has six city gates: East Gate, Small East Gate, North Gate, Small North Gate, West Gate, and South Gate. Each gate has a watchtower and a city wall, with the North Gate being the exit of the post road, also known as Liu Men. The South Gate is close to the dock, where wood was piled up, and under Lin Chunhong's enthusiastic sales, Jingzhou had become a famous gathering place for wood materials near and far, and merchants from all directions gathered at the dock, admiring the wood. Although the four were delighted to see this scene, they did not linger and entered Jingzhou directly through the South Gate.

  After entering Jingzhou, everyone's hobbies became apparent. Zheng Tiancheng liked to linger in the tile market, and as long as he heard the sound of haggling, he would get excited. Zhou Wang rushed straight to the weapon shop to see if there were any good swords worth collecting. Lin Chunhong and Lu Shiyuan intentionally or unintentionally walked towards the direction of Jin Jiulong Hotel, where Chen Niang was summoning them.

  Zhou Wang held the dagger and kept stroking it in his hand, he spent two hundred taels of silver to buy this dagger today, the shopkeeper demonstrated blowing hair standing upright on the spot, which made Zhou Wang buy the dagger without hesitation.

  "Zhou Shu, stop touching it, it's already yours, aren't you satisfied with the feel of it?" Zheng Tiancheng said with a smirk.

  "It's just that it's not enough, this is good stuff, you don't understand." After finishing speaking, he took out a dagger from his sleeve and brandished it. The three of them burst into loud laughter.

  At this time, a shout came from behind: "Hey, you four barbarians, stop!"

  The four of them turned their heads to look, and saw more than a dozen bailiffs rushing over, surrounding the four of them. One of them pointed at Zhou Wang and shouted: "You're brandishing a sharp blade in broad daylight, do you know that's against the law?"

  Zhou Wang saw it at a glance, and knew that he had encountered extortion, but refused to hand over the silver, saying: "Take out your dagger, which law did you break?"

  "Laozi said you broke the law, so be it! Come on, follow me to the government office for a trip!" After that, more than ten people made a move forward.

  Zhou Wang was still fuming, putting the dagger back in its sheath, his fists clenched tightly, accompanied by a cracking sound of joints. Lin Chunhong knew this was a sign that Zhou Wang was about to take action, and immediately grabbed Zhou Wang's hand, signaling him not to act rashly. Then he took out some loose silver coins from his pocket, handing them over while saying: "We are country folk, today we came into the city, also don't know the rules, hope you can forgive us."

  The yamen runner took the silver coins, put them in his hand and flipped them over, saying with a swagger: "You're still sensible, from now on you're not allowed to carry knives, got it?"

  Just as he finished speaking and was about to turn around and leave, he suddenly heard someone calling out: "Li Cheng, what are you doing there?"

  Lin Chunhong couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement upon hearing the voice, and he hastily stepped forward, bowing his head: "Student greets Master!" It turned out that this person was Zhang Daohuan, Lin Chunhong's teacher.

  Zhang Daohan was overjoyed to see Lin Chunhong, and quickly helped him up, saying: "So it's Chunhong, I've been hearing that you're doing a great business lately!"

  Lin Chunhong smiled awkwardly: "It's just a group of people trying to make a living. What brings you here, sir?"

  "I happen to be a staff member of the Governor of Jingzhou and am passing through this place."

  After finishing speaking, he turned his head and stared at Li Cheng, his face suddenly turning gloomy, and shouted: "I knew you wouldn't make progress! Today, you actually extorted in public! Be careful of your skin."

  Li Cheng and others hastily knelt down, returning the broken silver to Lin Chunhong. Lin Chunhong laughed loudly: "Just let my brothers have a drink." Not only did he not accept Li Cheng's silver, but also took out about two taels of silver from his pocket and handed it over to him. Li Cheng refused to take it, Zhang Daohuan said: "Take it, Mr. Lin is treating you to wine, don't be ungrateful? Take the silver and roll quickly."

  Li Cheng and others took the silver and rolled away.

  The five of them had met before and agreed to meet at Jinyulong Wine House for a drink.

  "Good boy, not only chopping wood, but also trading with the natives, not bad, not bad, beneficial to the education of the natives!" Zhang Daohuan was not very interested in making money, but he highly appreciated Lin Chunhong's good relationship with the natives.

  "To be honest with you, sir, the money we're making from the locals is now on par with what we make from logging."

  "Hehe, when doing things, whether in business, government or military, one must take a broad view. Even if you don't know that you've done something remarkable, having accomplished it is still a stroke of luck. From now on, think more. As the saying goes, 'A person without long-term plans will have near worries.'"

  "Yes, we are now worried that the Jingzhou government is powerless to eliminate Zhang Chao and others, the Yangtze River waterway is not peaceful, and our business has almost come to a standstill." Lin Chunhong explained in detail to Zhang Daohan about Zhang Chao's robbery of wood.

  Zhang Daohan furrowed his brow, pondering for a moment before saying: "Now the imperial court is in chaos, and so is Jingzhou Prefecture. The Governor of Jingzhou, Tang Hui, is putting pressure on Jingzhou Prefecture, which is at a loss as to how to eliminate Zhang Chao. As for Zhang Chao himself, he's quite a capable man. After being outmaneuvered by Yang Yiren, whenever he encounters an official, it's always a fight to the death."

  Zhang Daohan saw that everyone didn't know about Zhang Zhao's affairs, so he told the crowd about Zhang Zhao's background. The crowd listened with rapt attention, and Lin Chunhong's heart was even more eager to recruit him. Zhou Wang said: "No matter who Zhang Zhao is, since he has blocked our path of life, we must eliminate him."

  "It's just the same principle, it's just that Zhang Zhao is on the water and we can't do anything about it." said Lu Shi Yuan.

  Zhang Daohan smiled: "The water bandits won't come ashore? If they can't do it on the water, then we'll bring them to land. This is called taking advantage of benefits and avoiding harm, using my strengths to attack their weaknesses." Zhou Wang listened to Zhang Daohan's words, his mind suddenly enlightened, and he shouted: "Great! Mr. Zhang is indeed formidable, one sentence has shown us a way, can't we lure him onto land? Mr. Zhang, I toast you, it's really great!" After finishing speaking, he raised his wine cup and drank it all in one gulp.

  Zhang Daohan stroked his short beard and nodded: "However, things can't be done this way. As the saying goes, 'if the name is not correct, then the words will not be smooth'."

  Everyone admired Zhang Daohan and looked at him with puzzled eyes when he said that it couldn't be done.

  "Think about it, if you eliminate Zhang Zhuo, what can you gain?"

  "The Yangtze River waterway is unobstructed, we can make money, and it's also a good thing for Jingzhou." Lin Chunhong said.

  "What else can you get if you have an official position?" Zhang Daohan asked further.

  "Not only can you make money, but also get promoted." Lin Chunhong said excitedly.

  "This is just right, now that your business has grown big, it's only a matter of time before you attract other people's attention. With an official position, everything will be easy to handle! Eliminating Zhang Chao would be a great opportunity to get promoted."

  This remark made the four people feel a sense of longing, after all, in this era, officials enjoyed countless privileges, and the extortion by the yamen runner earlier had deeply stimulated everyone. Merchants are nothing, without an official position, a single yamen runner can bully you.

  "Sir, would you please come and guide us? Your vision is broad, and compared to you, we are just frogs at the bottom of a well." Lin Chunhong now deeply feels the importance of strategy, what's lacking now is someone like Zhang Daohan.

  "Heh heh, I don't understand your business dealings. The current prefect of Jingzhou, He Zhongyuan, is an acquaintance and friend of mine. As his aide, it's actually beneficial for you. For matters concerning the government office, just ask me more questions, lest you fall into a trap without realizing it."

  Lin Chunhong nodded in agreement and asked: "We are all ordinary people, how can we get an official position?"

  Zhang Daohan closed his eyes and pondered for a moment before saying, "Your father still has some influence in Jingzhou City, I believe it's not difficult to get a job as an inspector, but this requires silver coins, how many can you take out?"

  "It shouldn't be difficult to take out 10,000 taels!" Lin Chunhong said.

  Zhang Daohan nearly jumped up, exclaiming: "I didn't expect you young man to have done business on such a large scale. I thought it would be good if you could take out three thousand taels. Where do you need so much? One thousand taels is enough, and the rest of the matters will be handed over to me. You just wait for your official position!"

  Everyone dispersed until midnight, talking about their interactions with the locals and Da Tian Qianhu, interspersed with discussions about the situation in the Ming dynasty. Lin Chunhong and the other three people only realized today how important strategy is, and what they did before was simply reacting to situations, wanting to further develop but encountering many difficulties. Now Zhang Daohan has shown them a clear path, leaving them extremely excited.

  After a conspiracy, Lin Chunhong spread out a big net and waited for Zhang Chao to drill in.