Chapter Nineteenth: The Huang Family Seeks Help

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  "Come on, gentlemen and sirs, let's finish this cup together. In the future, I and my brothers will still need to rely on your support, give us more business to do, thank you in advance, esteemed bosses." Liu Mingjiu raised his wine glass, saying this to the surrounding merchants as he toasted them. After finishing speaking, he downed the wine in his own cup in one gulp.

  Liu Mingjiu was promoted to upper captain and removed the "acting" prefix from his title, and the eighteen brave warriors who came with him were also converted and promoted. The businessmen who cooperated with him would not miss this opportunity to interact with him, and they all came to Linglong to congratulate Liu Mingjiu. Now, there are more than 40 merchants cooperating with the Eighth Company. If he had to entertain them one by one, Liu Mingjiu wouldn't have time for anything else, so he let Wu Tongjin notify these people to come at a fixed time. Firstly, it can reduce the time and trouble of socializing. Secondly, instead of letting these businessmen send all their money to the largest wine house opened by Zhao's family in the town, why not spend his own money to invite them to drink and then let them send the money to his own pocket?

  Wu Tongjin found Zhao Donghai, the second young master of the Zhao family in charge of the wine tower, according to Liu Mingjiu's arrangement. Zhao Ershao took over immediately, and on the day of Liu Mingjiu's banquet, the entire Zhao family wine tower did not receive anyone else. The Zhao family did not publicly turn against Liu Mingjiu, so Zhao Donghai still had to build relationships, and the cost of entertaining was all borne by the Zhao family. In this way, Liu Mingjiu himself didn't spend a single penny to gather more than 80 big households, merchants, and landlords from outside and local towns to the Linglong Wine Tower of the Zhao family.

  After Liu Mingjiu finished drinking, he sat down. Zhao Miaosheng stood up beside him: "Everyone, Officer Liu is young and promising, leading the army in an orderly manner, and has also given great help to each of your merchant roads. Come on, let's toast Officer Liu together! Wish Officer Liu a smooth career advancement and a bright future. We will still need Officer Liu and the brothers of the 8th Company to help us a lot in the future."

  The merchants immediately responded, and one after another stood up to toast Liu Mingjiu. Liu Mingjiu also held his wine glass in the air for a few circles, and then returned the courtesy of the crowd, and drank the wine in his glass again. The scene afterwards became lively, among those merchants, wealthy families, and financiers, they were not very unfamiliar with each other, and soon formed groups to drink together. Those who were brought by Liu Mingjiu, including Lian Vice Luo Xiliang, Minister of Administration Wu Tongjin, Tong Quan, Qi Quan, Yin Baoshan, Guan Yutang, Meng Dashan, Han Yijun, as well as the guards, communication officers, and clerks who came with him, were all quickly surrounded by local celebrities to toast continuously.

  "Director Liu, these past six months, you've truly made me admire you." After everyone had toasted and drunk in pairs, Zhao Miao Sheng spoke up alone: "The brothers of the Eighth Group under your leadership are all vigorous and powerful, not daring to cause trouble near our Linglong Tower. You also strictly discipline your subordinates, now every citizen in our town has nothing but praise for you."

  Liu Mingjiu also looked at Zhao Miaosheng. He clearly understood that everyone would be happy, but these people who had always relied on exploiting and oppressing the common people to get rich were absolutely not happy. However, with a smile on his face, he replied: "Where, where, isn't this the result of Town Head Zhao's help and the support of our fellow villagers? I don't dare to take all the credit for myself. In the future, I will still need to ask Town Head Zhao and the village elders for their continued assistance."

  Zhao Miao Sheng also piled a smile on his chubby face, which could be compared to the dignified appearance of a certain animal: "How dare I, how dare I, assisting the noble department is just our duty, what's there to boast about, I'm ashamed and don't dare to accept it."

  You're really not worthy of the title. Assistance, for more than half a year, your "assistance" has been quite formidable. You were able to get the case passed through your son-in-law to the Rehe Military Governor Jiang Guotie, this assistance is indeed substantial. Secretly colluding with Wang Xiaozai's men to rob merchant caravans, this is also quite substantial. Liu Mingjiu had already hated this typical old rural tyrant and big scoundrel in his heart, but on his face, not a hint of it showed, and he continued to chat with him.

  The wine feast continued until the evening, and the crowd bid farewell one after another. Liu Mingjiu was supported back to the camp area of the 8th Regiment by Wen Shu, who had been arranged in advance, and Xue Zhisheng, the head of the cooking class.

  Just as he lay down to sleep, the guard Han Zhen quietly walked in and whispered into Liu Mingjiu's ear: "Battalion Commander, Battalion Commander, Huang Zuquan, the town head of Yao Wang Temple Town, requests an audience."

  Liu Mingjiu's head was splitting with pain at this time, but as soon as he heard that Huang Zongsheng had come to see him, he immediately sat up with the help of Han Zhen: "Quickly invite, quickly invite, oh dear, this headache is killing me. Go and ask him to come in."

  "Commander, why don't you take a rest first? I'll ask him to come another day. You also look uncomfortable." Han Zhen saw Liu Mingjiu sit up and shake his head repeatedly with his hand, and advised him.

  Liu Mingjiu got up with a wobble: "It's nothing, please let him in. These people are all masters who don't come to the Three Treasures Hall for no reason. This old fellow is also one of our first batch of customers, can't neglect him."

  Huang Zuojin appeared in front of Liu Mingjiu soon after Han Zhen left. Huang was slightly shorter than Liu, who was about 1.8 meters tall, but he looked very thin and weak, with a strong air of a corrupt Confucian scholar. After the fall of the Qing dynasty, he had retreated to his hometown of Huangjiazhai to manage his ancestral property and become a large landowner. Later, he used his connections in the official world to buy and mix his way into becoming the town head. He was the fourth person to actively seek out cooperation with Wu Tongjin after the Eighth Route Army arrived. Over the past few months, his businesses in leather goods, medicinal materials, grain, and furniture had brought a significant income to the public account of the Eighth Route Army. Liu Mingjiu did not want to offend someone like him, as he knew that to stand firm, he needed money and power. These people were now bringing him money, and they usually had high-ranking officials backing them up. If they didn't help you, they wouldn't be afraid, but if they really wanted to destroy your reputation, you would not be comfortable either. These remnants of the old regime still had some influence in the country at that time. Many people did not participate in the "Zongqin Party" organized by the Qing dynasty's princes, but they also had their own "Zongqin Party" and network of relationships locally.

  "Huang Lao, you've also been following everyone around for so long, at your age, there's no need to personally come, just let someone inform us and that would be enough. You must take care of your body." Liu Mingjiu said with a warm smile as he supported Huang Zongshan and led him into the room.

  Huang Zuqin stepped aside, turned to Liu Mingjiu and bowed: "Officer Liu, congratulations on your promotion and elevation in military rank. I'm offering you my humble congratulations here. This small gift is not enough to show respect, just consider it as a token for the carriages, tea and water expenses of you and the brothers of the 8th Regiment, please don't think it's too little."

  Liu Mingjiu looked at this former jinshi of the Guangxu year, who had later donated one or two hundred thousand taels of silver to serve as a prefect of Jinzhou and was now over sixty years old, with great disgust in his heart, but still managed to force a smile on his face. He took a promissory note from his hand and glanced at it with his eyes, which was a 2,000 yuan promissory note.

  "You're too kind, then I'll bring the eight brothers to thank you for your kindness. What can we do to help you, sir?" Liu Mingjiu naturally understood that this money wouldn't be given out for nothing, so he asked Huang Zusheng.

  Huang Zuqin looked around and saw that Liu Mingjiu had already dismissed the communication officer and guard standing beside him, saying in a low voice: "Let's take a step to talk."

  Liu Mingjiu didn't know what this old bureaucrat would ask him to do after giving him the money, but he still politely led him into his inner bedroom. Seeing Liu Mingjiu personally accept his gift, he knew that this young nobleman would definitely be able to help him in the future, and only then did he sit down on a chair under Liu Mingjiu's indication and start speaking.

  Huang Zuojun originally retreated to his hometown of Huangjiashanzi after the fall of the Qing dynasty and became a large landowner. Although he had some prestige in official circles as a town head, the border between Huangjiashanzi and Caojiazhuang to the south was always unclear, with several barren mountains and hundreds of hectares of farmland disputed. As a result, armed clashes often broke out between villagers organized by the two families. Four years ago, the second son of the Cao family defected to the Fengtian Army stationed in Xingcheng and became a regimental commander. The Cao family also took advantage of this opportunity to purchase artillery from the Fengtian Army and formed a team of over 60 guards armed with cannons.

  In this way, the several barren mountains and hundreds of acres of fields were occupied by Cao's family. The Huang family started to recruit cannon handlers, but they only managed to get less than 40 people. And Cao's family even set up four mortars on the barren mountain, openly showing off their strength to the Huang family. The Huang family was powerless and could only watch with anger.

  Three months ago, the third young master of the Cao family actually took people to Huangjiazhuang and forcibly took away the only daughter of a distant cousin of Huang Zongyi as his concubine. On the way back, he even shot and injured the only son of Huang Zongyi who came to block him, and he is still bedridden until now. Huang Zongyi has taken the case all the way to General Jiang's place, but unfortunately, the Cao family somehow managed to bribe even the general, and as a result, the land and mountain were actually awarded to the Cao family, with 5,000 yuan in compensation for the Huang family's young master.

  "Oh, haha, so that's how it is. You should know, General, that Xingcheng and Jinzhou are now under Zhang Zuolin's troops. Our General Jiang and General Zhang have a long history together, of course they won't fall out over something like this." Liu Mingjiu said with a smile. Actually, he had heard about the matter between the Cao and Huang families a long time ago, it was three months ago, now the two families seem to be very calm.

  "So, I beg you, Officer Liu, to avenge my nephew and help the Huang family's elderly parents, rescue my niece from her suffering." As he spoke, Huang Zuojin stood up and suddenly knelt down in front of Liu Mingjiu.

  Huang Zuojin is old enough to be Liu Mingjiu's grandfather, so Liu Mingjiu can't let him kneel in front of himself, that would be a big loss of face. So he immediately supported Huang Zuojin's body as he tried to kneel: "Town Head Huang, this won't do, you're my elder, how could I let you kneel to me? Tell me, what do you need me to help you with?"

  Huang Zuojin was helped up by Liu Mingjiu, tightly grasping both of Liu Mingjiu's hands, trembling as he said: "Please, Officer Liu, help this old man get back my niece and those few mountain lands. No matter how much silver is needed to reward the brothers, I'll provide it all, even if it means selling out my entire family estate! I must get revenge and rescue my niece!"

  "Alright, Old Huang, rest assured that I will take care of this matter for you. I'll help you get it done, but this is going to require our brothers to risk their lives. The Cao family has over 60 cannons and more than a hundred box-shaped cannons - this isn't child's play." Liu Mingjiu helped Huang Zuoting back to his own seat and sat down after he did the same.

  "Director Liu, rest assured, I'll give each brother 100 taels of silver as a reward. For those who are injured, I'll give 200 taels. As for those who are disabled, they can come to my Huang family's village and I'll support them until the end of their days. Each month, I'll also provide an additional 20 taels of silver. If any brother unfortunately dies for the sake of my Huang family, I'll give 500 taels of silver and also take care of his dependents, including his wife and children."

  In fact, the Beiyang Army had done such things long ago, and it was not a new thing. However, in the Yi Army, although similar incidents had occurred before, those involved were either dismissed or executed.

  "The little old man just gave Director Liu 2,000 as a deposit. After the matter is settled, the little old man will give each of you officials an additional 10,000 yuan." Huang Zuoshen hastily added another sentence, fearing that Liu Mingjiu would change his mind.

  "Alright then, Old Huang, don't worry about it, I'll take care of this matter from now on. However, I hope you can keep it a secret after we part ways, and not let anyone else know except for the two of us." Liu Mingjiu understood that the reward offered by Huang Zuosheng was already sufficient. To be honest, with the current standard of living, a family of five could live comfortably with 10 to 15 yuan per month, and 100 yuan would be enough for a family of five to live well for half a year.

  "That's all, I'll just thank Captain Liu here. I'll take my leave now and prepare the reward money, waiting for Captain Liu's good news." Huang Zuojin saw that things had been settled, stood up and bid farewell to leave the regiment headquarters.