Chapter 29 Bargaining
"My Lord Baron was able to wipe out seventy-two pirates. This is a blessing for Yanling County. I am very pleased.
Therefore, I have specially obtained military merit for you and applied for promotion.
This matter has just been completed, you came at the right time, you can take it back." Zhang Hongjiang said indifferently, and asked his lawyer Zhou Tong to bring the official documents over.
"Thank you, Lord Zhang, for your support!" Tang Wen bowed.
"Your Excellency is too polite. We are all serving the royal family, and it is our duty." Zhang Hongjiang said calmly.
"Sir Zhang, Lord Tang's personal guard captain was captured by Kang Qingfeng of the Six Gates. He is now in our prison. Can we..." Yang Yun just opened his mouth, and Zhang Hongjiang frowned and waved his hand, saying, "Captain Yang, I am very busy right now, how can I care about these things?"
"Well, I am incompetent and cannot share your worries." Yang Yun said with a guilty look on his face.
"Captain Yang just told me about the military pay. The Qin State brazenly attacked our Chu State, burning, killing, looting and committing all sorts of atrocities.
Tang Wen: I am a member of the royal family of Chu State, so of course I have to contribute to the royal family.
I just regret that I am too weak to fight, so I want to go to the battlefield but I am powerless. ” Tang Wen said.
“Now all the great gentry in the city have donated generously. Like you, they want to go to the battlefield, but they are powerless to kill the bandits.
However, our superiors have assigned a lot of tasks to our county to provide food, fodder, and horses, as well as one million taels of silver.
As long as you have money in your hands, you should do your best for the country.
Lord Tang, isn't that right?" Zhang Hongjiang asked.
“Of course, of course. Actually, I have already told Captain Yang some time ago that I want to donate some money to serve the country.
However, his men have been arrested now , and Lord Zhang must understand the ways of the Six Gates.
I am afraid that they will beat me to a cripple. Who will protect me then?" Tang Wen said.
"Haha, even if I come forward it may not work, you still need to be capable, sir.
Otherwise, if you were the Earl, I would be able to speak more.
Otherwise, they won’t take you seriously, and my words will be useless.” Zhang Hongjiang smiled.
"Are you serious?" Tang Wen looked at Zhang Hongjiang intently, knowing that he had probably discussed this matter with Captain Yang a long time ago.
Their purpose was nothing more than to use Qiao Xiao's matter to force me to donate more money to solve their urgent needs.
Of course, Tang Wen didn't agree immediately and was certainly bargaining.
"If the Lord is working so hard to protect the country, I, Zhang Hongjiang, will sacrifice my old reputation and talk to the Six Gates." Zhang Hongjiang said.
"How many military achievements do I need to be promoted to earl?" Tang Wen asked.
"Master Zhou, can you tell me the math?" Zhang Hongjiang's lips twitched, and he turned to ask Zhou Tongdao.
Zhou Tong took out an abacus and started fiddling with it. Soon, he answered, "About 170,000 taels, or a third-class earl."
"Didn't Captain Yang say 100,000 taels before? How come there is 70,000 taels more?" Tang Wen asked.
"Haha, Lord Tang, you may have misunderstood.
What I meant is that it costs 100,000 taels to upgrade from a first-class viscount to a third-class earl, but you are only a second-class baron now.
A second-class baron would have to pay 10,000 taels of silver to be promoted to a first-class baron, and a first-class baron would have to pay an additional 15,000 taels to be promoted to a third-class viscount.
To be promoted from a third-class viscount to a second-class viscount requires another 20,000 taels, which means a total of 45,000 taels.
Going up... and so on, the third-class earl would have more than 170,000 taels." Captain Yang said with a smile.
"According to this calculation, being promoted to first-class earl would cost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. That would be too much for the Marquis. There is nothing he can't get with millions of taels." Tang Wen snorted.
"Haha, a first-class baron can't get hundreds of thousands of taels, who is the marquis? He deserves to be a marquis.
The promotion from a third-class earl to a second-class earl would cost 300,000 taels, while the promotion from a second-class earl to a first-class earl would cost 700,000 taels. The promotion from a first-class earl to a third-class earl would cost 30 to 40 million taels, which is a multiple increase.
My Lord, please think about it. There are several thousand nobles in our Great Chu, but how many Lords do you have?
Moreover, most of them are from the royal family of Chu, how many of them are from other families?" Zhang Hongjiang said with a smile.
"It's too much, 170,000 taels. Alas... I am powerless." Tang Wen sighed.
“I have also learned that your Tang family’s move from Liangzhou to Koh Samui was difficult at first.
Koh Samui is still a deserted island, so I will only collect some taxes this year, but next year you have to follow the rules and cannot collect the same amount as this year.
It's all for the court. What's more, the court belongs to you nobles.
We are all your slaves, serving you." Zhang Hongjiang spoke very fluently.
"But it's really hard for me to come up with 170,000 taels?" Tang Wen said.
"Haha, go back and think about it. However, it's hard to say about the people from the Six Gates. If they are to be tried tonight, your men will be beaten.
Talents are rare. I heard that Qiao Xiao is quite skilled.
Although we have many warriors in the Great Chu, there are not many masters.
Now it is a year of famine, with rioters running rampant and bandits running amok.
Even if you have a fortune, what's the point of keeping it if no one can protect your life?" Zhang Hongjiang said.
"If Lord Zhang agrees to bail him out, I'll risk it all." Tang Wen said deliberately, gritting his teeth.
"Aren't you forcing me?" Zhang Hongjiang snorted.
"Sir Zhang, Lord Tang is also anxious." Captain Yang said on the side.
"Forget it. I am as anxious as you are. The issue of food and fodder is driving me crazy. If it's not a big deal, I will agree to your request ." Zhang Hongjiang said with a wave of his hand.
"This is 170,000 taels, please keep it." Tang Wen immediately took out the banknote.
Zhang Hongjiang was stunned and smiled bitterly, "Master Tang, you are trying to fool me."
"This is a large portion of my Tang family's wealth. Sigh... who asked Qiao Xiao to be so loyal to me?
This money was originally intended to be used to reclaim wasteland and cultivate crops in Koh Samui, but now the money is gone.
The task of reclaiming wasteland and farming will have to be postponed. I hope that Mr. Zhang will sympathize with the Tang family's difficulties.
Can this year's tax be waived?" Tang Wen also had a bitter face. "You act and I will act with you."
"It's definitely not possible. Otherwise, people will accuse me of being partial to others. If that happens, I will lose my honor.
However, you do have difficulties, so you can halve them.
I will take 2,000 dan of your grain just for show, but next year I will take at least 8,000 dan." Zhang Hongjiang said.
"Eight thousand dan of grain, Lord Zhang, you know that the newly reclaimed wasteland on the island is poor in soil, and one acre of land can only yield two or three dan of grain.
With such taxes, we would have to reclaim at least tens of thousands of acres of land?
Otherwise, if they were all handed over, nearly a thousand people in my Tang family would have starved to death.
It is simply impossible to cultivate so much land in such a short period of time.
Because we are short of people?" Tang Wen said.
The rice yield per mu in the Great Chu State is only about three or four dan, and that requires good paddy fields. Ordinary paddy fields cannot even produce four dan per mu.
"Lack of people? Even with money you can't recruit people?" Zhang Hongjiang was stunned and asked.
"Of course I can recruit people with money, but I just contributed 170,000 taels to the court. I don't have much money left at home, so it's impossible for me to buy a large number of slaves." Tang Wen shook his head.
"Why sell it? You can rent the land to them." Zhang Hongjiang said.
"Where is Tian?" Tang Wen asked.
“You have Koh Samui, so you can just open up the wasteland there.
At that time, we can sign a contract with the tenants and ask them to reclaim the land.
We can charge no rent in the first year and less in the second year, so that they will be willing to reclaim the wasteland." Zhang Hongjiang said.
"They are almost starving to death, so how can they have the energy to open up the wasteland? It is impossible for them to wait until next year's harvest.
How can I become a tenant with them if I don't have land? If I don't have to pay the 170,000 taels.
I still have some money left to support them and cultivate the land, but now it’s no longer possible.” Tang Wen shook his head. He had gone through so much trouble with Zhang Hongjiang just to borrow his power to get some people.
Otherwise, what would thousands of dan of grain mean?
Moreover, Tang Wen’s mind was not on food at all.
Although the per-acre yield of modern hybrid rice is three or four times that of the Chu State, the profit from grain is not high.
It is impossible to make a fortune from it, so Tang Wen set his sights on planting and breeding.
For example, the profit from growing medicinal herbs is much higher than that from growing grain.
The air in the Great Chu Dynasty contained spiritual energy, and the medicinal herbs grown here were full of spiritual energy. Moreover, their growth rate was much faster than in modern society.
By then, when the medicinal materials are mature, they can be sold in the Dadong Republic, and they will definitely fetch a good price.
Even if you sell it to the alchemists, pharmacists, or drug stores in Da Chu , you can still make a lot of money.
Because the Great Chu Kingdom did not yet have the concept of planting.
Even with this concept, they are unable to cultivate seedlings, while the planting technology in modern society has long been mature.
Therefore, their medicinal herbs are all wild, which is why there are specialized herbalists.
