ATPnovel Chapter 57 Wanfu, that old bastard, takes the money but doesn't do the job!
Chapter 57 Wanfu, that old bastard, takes the money but doesn't do the job!
Chapter 57 Wanfu, that old bastard, takes the money but doesn't do the job!
Should we make some arrangements and have someone deal with Luo's army?
Upon hearing this, the bandits' eyes lit up instantly, and they understood what the head manager was thinking.
Hehehe, that's right. A big bandit like Luo's army occupies a region, controls nearly 20 villages, runs rampant everywhere, and has a bunch of guns in their hands. They can be considered an illegal armed force.
Most importantly, they had never heard of the Luo family army bribing people in the imperial court!
Thinking about it this way, Wan Fu, the current garrison commander of Kaiyuan City, is probably already quite dissatisfied with the Luo family army. If they could take the opportunity to contact Wan Fu and let this military leader of Kaiyuan City, who has an official position, deal with the Luo family army, wouldn't it be easy to take care of them?
The bandits immediately thought it was a good idea, but they didn't consider one question at all: whether Wanfu, with his Eight Banners soldiers and Green Standard Army soldiers, was capable of dealing with the current Luo Ke.
They had never really thought about this much before. On the one hand, Wanfu had a large and powerful force, with over a thousand soldiers, which made them dare not provoke him easily.
On the other hand, and most importantly, Wanfu was, after all, an official figure, and a member of the Manchu imperial family!
Under these circumstances, the bandits dared not easily take action against Wanfu, because if they did, it would be tantamount to changing their identity from bandits to rebels!
If they rob a group of villagers, the imperial court might turn a blind eye, as long as they manage to maintain proper relationships, the court won't bother to deal with them.
But if they dared to attack the imperial officials and soldiers, that would undoubtedly be considered a rebellion. While these bandits were all wild in their hearts, they weren't so wild as to actually want to rebel.
Because of this, the bandits were completely unaware of just how weak the Eight Banners and Green Standard Army had become.
In their minds, although the Manchu Eight Banners were certainly no match for the elite Eight Banners troops when they entered the pass, they were still, after all, elite cavalry!
The Green Standard Army soldiers were well-equipped. The government troops received regular pay and were much better equipped than these bandits. How could they possibly be weaker than these bandits?
Therefore, these bandits all believed that as long as they could persuade Wanfu to send troops and have him directly define the Luo family army as rebels, then the Luo family army would inevitably only have two choices:
Either obediently submit to the court, follow the rules like them, and bribe these officials to buy peace.
Either the Luo family army would have to actually become rebels, and then, with the combined efforts of these bandits and Wanfu soldiers, they would be easily wiped out. Naturally, they would also be able to divide up all the territory controlled by the Luo family army and take their weapons along with it.
The bandits were all dreaming big. After devising a plan, they immediately found a eloquent leader, obtained a box of gold, and then had the bandit leader secretly find Wanfu and deliver the small box of gold to him.
Regardless of whether the Luo family army has offended Wanfu, they are now asking Wanfu for favors, so even if Wanfu himself may want to deal with the Luo family army, they still have to show them courtesy.
Otherwise, Wanfu could indeed deal with Luo's army on his own, but in return, he could make them gain nothing and even force them to spit out more.
Before leaving, Tie Liancheng, the leader of the Black Flag Territory, frowned and asked, "Wait a minute, everyone, if we go to Wanfu for help to deal with the Luo family army, doesn't that mean a large portion of our gold mine's share will be taken away?"
"I was thinking before that we three might as well split the original share of Black Dragon Mountain together, but if Wanfu gets involved, wouldn't we just be left out on the sidelines?"
To this question, Black Whirlwind, the leader of Erlong Mountain, simply waved his hand dismissively, saying, "Heh, we don't need to worry about that at all. We only asked Wanfu to deal with the Luo family army, not to ask him for a share of the gold. Why should we hand over Black Dragon Mountain's share to him just because he defeats the Luo family army?"
"Does the Luo family army have a share in inheriting Black Dragon Mountain? No, right?"
"So, as long as you keep your mouths shut, the three of us can send some people to occupy Black Dragon Mountain and pretend it hasn't been destroyed. How will Wanfu know that Black Dragon Mountain's share is now vacant?"
Oh, right!
They didn't need to tell Wanfu about the vacancy in the gold mine quota; he had misunderstood!
Once he understood this, Tie Liancheng's smile instantly broadened. As long as his gold wasn't touched, he didn't mind going to Wanfu to smooth things over.
Not long after, the bandit leader who had been sent to deliver the gift arrived in Kaiyuan City and went to Wanfu's residence.
Although the bandit leader had already bribed the gatekeeper and steward with some silver, he still stood outside for more than half an hour before finally receiving the message that Wanfu was willing to summon him.
Looking at the steward walking leisurely ahead of him, his nose practically pointing to the sky, with an arrogant air about him, the bandit leader suddenly felt disgusted and had an urge to hit him.
"Damn it, this old dog is shameless! He's clearly just a bully, relying on his master's power, yet he acts like this, blatantly abusing his authority!"
"That bastard, without his officials, he's nothing!"
Despite thinking this in his heart, the bandit leader dared not utter a single curse.
He knew very well that one had to consider the owner before beating a dog, and if he really offended Wanfu's steward, it would be easy for the steward to ruin his plans.
If he messes up the boss's plans, he won't be able to go back. The boss will probably chop up his son right away!
The father and son went up the mountain together, but his son stayed on the mountain as a hostage!
It was precisely for this reason that his leader was willing to entrust him with the task of delivering the gold. Otherwise, if it were any other bandit, would he have simply run away on the way with a box of gold?
After respectfully approaching Wanfu and presenting the box of gold, the bandit leader racked his brains and used almost every word of praise he could think of in his life.
Unfortunately, Wanfu, sitting upright in his armchair, completely ignored him. Only when he was getting hoarse from talking did the old man Wanfu give a slow and unhurried "hmm".
"Alright, you brats from Erlong Mountain, stop playing dumb with me. I know what you're up to!"
'
"Go back and tell your head manager that the Kaiyuan City garrison must not act rashly unless you can clearly prove that the Luo family army is indeed a rebel. Otherwise, the imperial court will not rashly send troops to wipe out a local force."
"But you Erlong Mountain needn't worry. I'll give the Luo family army a talking-to later, telling them not to go too far. It's good for young people to be proud and arrogant, but if they become so arrogant that they don't know what the world is, then I won't hesitate to pour cold water on them!"
What the hell? They sent over a whole chest of gold, but they still refuse to send troops?
The bandit leader looked embarrassed and hurriedly tried to say something, but Wanfu waved his hand, directly signaling the servants next to him to see the guest out.
Seeing that these burly servants were not polite to him at all, grabbing his shoulders and preparing to drag him out, the bandit leader could only slink away with the servants. Otherwise, if he were really dragged out, it would be very undignified for him.
After he was ushered out of the mansion, looking at the high walls and courtyard behind him, and the gatekeeper whose face showed no attempt to hide his contempt, the bandit leader couldn't help but curse inwardly.
Damn it, Wanfu is such a heartless bastard! This scoundrel takes the money and does nothing!
They had been offering this man so much respect and courtesy, but when they came to visit, they were still met with a cold shoulder. They even presented him with a whole box of gold dust, but the old man still refused to send troops to help them!
Damn it, I wonder how badly this old man can beat the Luo family army.
If the Luo family army could truly settle down and stop attacking these bandits, everything would be fine. But they were afraid that the Luo family army would agree on the surface, but would still secretly harm them. That would be a bad situation.
In fact, even now, these bandits still can't understand:
Why did the Luo family army not attack the common people, but instead target these bandits?
It's so easy to squeeze money out of ordinary people. These bandits are all tough as nails, and they're not exactly flesh and blood. Yet the Luo family army is targeting them. It's just not fair!
After much thought, the bandits could only attribute the whole thing to the fact that the leader of the Luo family army might have a grudge against them. If it wasn't because of a grudge, they really couldn't understand why the other party would go through all this trouble with them!
When the bandit leader returned to Erlong Mountain trembling with fear and recounted the whole story, even though Black Whirlwind, as the head manager of Erlong Mountain, never showed his emotions, he still couldn't help but reveal a hint of anger.
"You bastard! That old bastard is truly heartless!"
"Damn it, all that money I spent before went down the drain!"
Just like the bandit leader, Black Whirlwind couldn't help but curse Wanfu in his heart for being so heartless. After all, he took the money and did nothing, which even he found unacceptable!
But after he had scolded him, he still couldn't do anything about Wanfu.
Because he attacked Wanfu, he would immediately become a rebel. He would even have to continue to cultivate a relationship with Wanfu in order to obtain official protection and avoid being used as a typical example of a certain force and having the court send troops to wipe him out!
While Black Whirlwind was cursing, he had no idea that in Wanfu's mansion, the old man Wanfu was also suffering in silence.