Chapter 581 Liaodong News
Chapter 581 Liaodong News
There is a small courtyard covering an area of one acre in Daohuafang, Luoyang. This is the residence of Li Dewu, the former chief clerk of Weiwei Temple. Li Dewu and Li Min are from the same clan, and he is the nephew of Li Hun.
Li Hun was dismissed from office for assassinating Li Min, and other members of the Li family were demoted or dismissed. However, Li Dewu escaped by chance and was not dismissed from office. Instead, he was appointed as the chief clerk of the Weiwei Temple and was promoted half a level.
The reason was that he had a good father-in-law, Pei Ju, who was deeply favored by the emperor.
But Li Dewu's good fortune lasted less than half a year, as his official career came to an abrupt end. He was appointed as the assistant military officer of the Cangcao in the Liaodong Camp, that is, the head of the warehouse camp, responsible for the collection, storage and distribution of all food and supplies.
After the outbreak of the epidemic, the emperor fled hastily by boat with all his officials. Li Dewu was unable to take away the food and supplies from the Liaodong camp, so he had to close the warehouses and camp and follow Xue Shixiong to lead his troops to retreat to Zhuo County. Of the 160,000 troops, only 80,000 were left, and the rest of the troops died on the return journey.
The main general Xue Shixiong was dismissed and investigated, and all other officials were also dismissed, including Li Dewu. He did not bring back food and supplies, and even though there was a threat of epidemic, he could not escape the responsibility and was dismissed from his post and became a commoner. Fortunately, his father-in-law interceded for him, otherwise he would also have been imprisoned and investigated.
After being dismissed from office and becoming a commoner, many of his benefits were lost, including his horse-drawn carriage and the three-acre official residence. The family of four had no choice but to rent a small courtyard, and all the servants were dismissed. Usually, when Li Dewu went out to do business, he could only ride a donkey.
Li Dewu is not even 30 years old yet. He can't find a job and is unemployed at home. The family has to rely on their little savings and the help from his father-in-law to get by, and they spend every day in anxiety.
That afternoon, Li Dewu was sitting in his study in a daze as usual. At this moment, there was a knock on the door. "Who is it?" his wife Pei asked in the yard.
"Excuse me, is this where Wang Zhubo lives?"
"I'm not the chief clerk anymore. My husband is Li Dewu. Who are you?"
The man smiled and said, "I am the manager of the Jiangnan General Administration Office in Luoyang. My name is Qiao Kuan. Madam, you can call me Manager Qiao."
When Li Dewu heard that the other party was from the Jiangnan General Administration, he was moved and stood up and walked out of the room and said, "I am Li Dewu, what can I do for you, Manager Qiao?"
"I am here on orders, and I have something to ask Lord Wang!"
"Hey! You are no longer the chief clerk. Please come in and sit down!"
Li Dewu directly invited Qiao Kuan to the study, and then winked at his wife, asking her to serve tea.
The two sat down in the study, and Qiao Kuan smiled and said, "Has the court not given my brother an explanation?"
"What explanation can you give me? You can't ask the emperor to admit that he was wrong!"
"So what is your brother doing now?"
"With nothing to do, the family can only live off their savings."
Qiao Kuan laughed, "Brother Wang is full of talent, how come you can't find a job? If you don't mind, I can recommend a job with a good salary for you."
"Oh! What's the errand?"
"One of the jobs is to inspect the Xihai Guifang, which pays 50 strings of cash per month. Simply put, it is to check the accounts. Another job is that we are short of a record-keeping officer in the Jinzouyuan. The salary for this job is slightly lower, 25 strings of cash per month."
Li Dewu didn't want to go into business, so he asked, "What do soldiers usually do?"
"The job of recording the military officers is to extract the various documents and reports from the court every day. For example, if a document is about a thousand words, you have to compress it into about a hundred words. In short, you have to extract the essence. The requirements are very high and it is difficult for ordinary people to be competent. Brother Wang should have no problem."
Li Dewu nodded. He could do this indeed. He then asked, "What is the nature of this record of joining the army?"
"Belongs to the second-level staff of His Royal Highness Prince Jin."
This position is not bad. If my father-in-law asks, I can say that I am the staff of His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin. Moreover, the salary of 25 strings of cash is not low, which is enough to support the family.
"It is my honor to serve His Royal Highness Prince Jin. I can accept the position of recording military service!"
Qiao Kuan wrote down an address, handed it to him and said, "Brother Wang, come here to see me tomorrow!"
"Sure! I'll be there tomorrow." Li Dewu stood up to urge for tea, and Qiao Kuan smiled and said, "It doesn't matter whether you drink tea or not, I have something important to do!"
"Butler Qiao, please speak!"
Qiao Kuan groaned for a moment and said, “I actually came to ask about the situation in Liaodong. To be frank, I came to ask about the remaining supplies left on the battlefield in Liaodong.”
Li Dewu's eyes lit up and he said with a smile, "Is Your Highness Prince Jin interested?"
"Of course, it's better than giving Goguryeo away for nothing!"
Li Dewu quickly took out a thick memorial from the box behind him, put it on the table and pushed it to Qiao Kuan, saying, "This is why I was dismissed. After I came back, I compiled a record of Liaodong's inventory and gave it to Yu Shiji. As a result, Yu Shiji said bad things about me in front of the emperor. The emperor was furious and said that I had left so much food and supplies in Liaodong. He dismissed me at that time. This is a copy I copied. Manager Qiao can give it to His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin."
Qiao Kuan was overjoyed. With this record he could report to His Highness.
"Have the bodies of the soldiers who died of the disease been dealt with?"
"We have dealt with them all, burned them and buried them deep. There should be no bodies left in the camp."
At this point, Li Dewu said with some worry: "I am worried that the Goguryeo people will rush to transport the food and supplies."
"Don't worry! There are no people in the northern part of Goguryeo. They can't go to Liaodong until spring. As for the Khitan and Mohe tribes, they are far away from Liaodong and dare not go there. With this list, we know what to do."
Li Dewu got a good job, and his wife was very happy. Twenty-five strings of cash! Now they could move to a better house.
Li Dewu thought about it and decided to report to his father-in-law and listen to his opinion.
After listening to his son-in-law's report, Pei Ju stroked his beard and smiled, "You made a good choice. Being a businessman has no future. Even if you are paid 100 guan per month, don't go. On the contrary, being an aide to the King of Jin and being responsible for summarizing the court reports can better demonstrate your talent. The King of Jin can see it every day. Not only will he appreciate your calligraphy, but he will also recognize the depth of your views on issues. I believe that within a few months, His Royal Highness the King of Jin will promote you to the deputy general manager of the Jinzouyuan, and your official career will start all over again."
"Father-in-law approves of the son-in-law's choice?"
"Of course, I have always been optimistic about the Prince of Jin. Compared with the stupidity and lack of knowledge of the Prince of Qi, the Prince of Jin's strategy is a wise response. He has maintained his independence while getting along well with the imperial court. Once the imperial court cannot continue, the Prince of Jin will be the last hope of the Sui Dynasty. You must seize this opportunity and show yourself well. I will also help you with some important decisions of the imperial court."
Li Dewu was overjoyed and bowed deeply, saying, "Thank you for your encouragement, father-in-law. I will work hard and live up to your expectations!"
In an elegant room of Fuguo Restaurant in Jingkou County, two merchants placed a box of silver in front of Duan Hongwei, the chief clerk of the Military Equipment Department.
"This is one thousand taels of silver. After the matter is completed, we will also give you another five thousand taels of silver."
Duan Hongwei is from Jiangdu County, and a relative who is in business introduced him to this business.
Duan Hongwei said after a while: "The formula you want is the top secret of the Jin Palace. Although the document archive is under my control, it does not have the formula you want. I can only think of another way!"
Both businessmen were surnamed Hong and were from Goguryeo. They had been doing business in the Jiangnan area for many years. While doing business, they were also collecting intelligence. This was the tradition of Goguryeo. They did not talk about business in private. While doing business, they also took every opportunity to collect various intelligence.
Of course, they only collected some public intelligence, such as population, prices, food production, military strength, etc. They did not have access to the real core secrets.
But today, they were ordered to obtain the most core intelligence of the Jiangnan Army, the formula and technology of the iron fire bomb.
Duan Hongwei thought for a moment and smiled again: "I need some time, about three days, whether it works or not, we will meet here in three days!"
The two businessmen stood up and saluted, saying, "Everything is up to Duan Jun!"
Duan Hongwei nodded, "I will try my best!"
After saying this, he picked up the silver box and left.
(End of this chapter)