GBP Chapter 192 Liang Xiaoming's Political Wedding
Chapter 192 Liang Xiaoming's Political Wedding
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Since Sun Yuanhua arrived in Lingao, he has felt an unprecedented sense of crisis, and his former sense of superiority has vanished.
Originally, Liu Ye had no decent scholars under his command. Liang Xiaoming, the "second-in-command," was obsessed with technology and didn't concern himself with politics. Compared to a military man like Shi Ying and a peasant like Li Ergou, Yan Guang's position as chief strategist was unshakeable. But things changed when Sun Yuanhua arrived. Sun Yuanhua was a scholar who had passed the imperial examinations and had served as a principal officer, secretary, right vice censor-in-chief, and governor of Dengzhou and Laizhou. His achievements, positions, and experience far surpassed Yan Guang's. Yan Guang's status as a minor official in the Nanjing Ministry of War was simply embarrassing. Even his pride in his "military knowledge" couldn't escape the embarrassment of being a mere armchair strategist in the face of Sun Yuanhua's impressive resume.
However, Yan Guang's intuition told him that although Sun Yuanhua was willing to stay in Lingao, his loyalty to the court couldn't be changed overnight. He understood Liu Ye's thoughts better than anyone else; Liu Ye was unwilling to be a military general at the beck and call of civil officials, and his ultimate goal was to conquer the world. He wasn't sure if Liu Ye could truly understand Sun Yuanhua's mind, but he was confident he could find a suitable opportunity to make Sun Yuanhua clarify his stance, to make Liu Ye understand Sun Yuanhua's "feeling loyal but not loyal" mentality. As the saying goes, "a gentleman can be deceived by his principles," and in the situation just now, Sun Yuanhua would never choose to lie and would inevitably reveal his true intentions.
As he had predicted, Sun Yuanhua was "naturally" provoked into making those remarks by his seemingly somewhat rude words. No matter how magnanimous Liu Ye was, this thorn had been planted. In the future, Liu Ye might still rely on Sun Yuanhua's talents, but he would never completely trust him and would always hold back. Yan Guangcai, on the other hand, was a subordinate who wholeheartedly assisted him in seizing power. As for Liu Ye's statement, in his view, it was merely a cover-up to make his actions less unsightly.
Liu Ye couldn't possibly fully grasp the subtle thoughts in Yan Guang and Sun Yuanhua's hearts, but they were generally within his expectations.
Yan Guang wasn't surprised by Sun Yuanhua's stance. His wariness of Sun Yuanhua was human nature; wherever there are people, there's a social hierarchy. While he disdained the so-called imperial strategies championed by the ancients, he believed healthy competition among subordinates was beneficial to the group's development—provided such competition maintained appropriate restraint and order. Therefore, he didn't expose Yan Guang's intentions, nor did he rebuke Sun Yuanhua for his "disloyalty." He simply defused the situation with his own statement. However, his statement was genuine; it was essentially what he truly thought, not the feigned concern Yan Guang suspected.
“However, if we want to have a grand celebration at the end of the year, we need a reason.” Yan Guang had successfully achieved his goal and stopped pressing the issue, returning to the original topic. “Logically speaking, it would be best if someone in the general’s family had a birthday celebration or a wedding. Sending invitations to officials of all ranks in Qiongzhou would achieve our goal and give them a way out. We can’t expect civil officials to come and pay New Year’s visits to military officials; they have to save face.”
Liu Ye and Liang Xiaoming exchanged glances. What he said made sense, but they had both transmigrated here naked, and their parents and families were in another time and space. Where would they find family members celebrating a birthday? Getting married would be more reasonable.
Everyone began to wonder, since the general had no woman to match him as a wife, it was not worth making a big fuss about taking a concubine. What was the best pretext to do it?
Li Ergou thought for a moment, slapped his thigh, stood up and said, "The general doesn't have a suitable person by his side, but doesn't Master Liang have a woman by his side? She's already Master Liang's bedmate anyway, so why not take this opportunity to get things done!"
Everyone's eyes lit up, and they all agreed that it was feasible. Although Liang Xiaoming did not hold any official position in the Qiongzhou Camp, everyone knew his role and status in the camp. He was undoubtedly the "second-in-command." Given that Liu Ye did not have a suitable marriage partner, the second-in-command could still manage the event, and holding a wedding banquet in his name was entirely feasible.
Liang Xiaoming hadn't expected the criticism to be directed at him, and quickly waved his hand, saying, "This isn't appropriate. That's just an ordinary woman; I'm afraid she can't handle such a large event..."
Yan Guang said, "That's easy. Just have the county magistrate recognize her as his goddaughter, and the issue of her identity will be resolved."
Everyone agreed that the second-in-command of the Qiongzhou camp marrying the county magistrate's adopted daughter was quite interesting, somewhat reminiscent of Princess Wencheng marrying the Tibetan king or Wang Zhaojun marrying the Xiongnu Chanyu.
Liu Ye clapped his hands and laughed: "That's a brilliant idea. Master Liang sacrificed himself for righteousness and made an indelible contribution to our development. Those officials should at least do us the honor of coming for a drink to celebrate, right?"
Liang Xiaoming was somewhat at a loss. He had never imagined that his wedding banquet would be burdened with so many political tasks. He felt a little awkward, but since it concerned the important matter, he couldn't refuse outright and could only let it be.
Li Fu coughed twice and said, "I would like to first congratulate Master Liang on his marriage. There is another matter to announce today, which can be called double happiness. As per the general's instructions, the Qiongzhou Trading Company has been established, incorporating the winery, clothing factory, and Hangzhou Wanhualou into it. The annual profits, after deducting the needs of the arsenal, steel mill, shipyard, and the military pay of the Qiongzhou garrison, and keeping a reserve fund, will be divided into several shares and distributed as dividends to everyone present."
Everyone was overjoyed. Liu Ye had indeed mentioned this profit-sharing arrangement when he established the Qiongzhou Trading Company, and they hadn't expected it to materialize so quickly.
Liu Ye smiled and said, "Li Fu, could you give everyone a brief overview of the accounts so that everyone has a general idea?"
Li Fu nodded respectfully, took out an account book, and said while flipping through it: "The winery opened in April this year, was closed for more than a month in the middle, and by November, it had earned a total of 38,000 taels of silver in seven months; the clothing factory earned a total of 208,000 taels; the Wanhua Tower earned a total of 1.8 million taels. Every month, we sell cannons to Zheng Zhilong, the guerrilla commander in Fujian, and can get 300,000 taels of silver. 150,000 taels have been earned, and the remaining 150,000 taels can be delivered before the end of the year. This income has also been transferred to the trading company's account."
Although everyone knew that the winery and Wanhualou were golden goose geese, they were still shocked by the numbers. What they didn't expect was that selling cannons could bring in 300,000 taels of silver, and that Wanhualou could have more than 1 million taels.
Li Fu continued, “The army and navy pay a total of 8,750 taels; the training of muskets and cannons consumed lead bullets and cannonballs worth 1,200 taels; the battles of Qiongzhou and Guangzhou were costly, but the government reparations amounted to 100,000 taels, leaving 78,000 taels remaining after expenses; the expenses allocated to the steel mill, arsenal, and shipyard were 15,000 taels, 23,000 taels, and 37,000 taels respectively; the construction of the new city ultimately cost 40,000 taels; the construction of Nanyuan cost 2,600 taels, but the general stated that this money would not be paid from the public funds, but from the general’s own dividends…”
"This year's expenditures totaled 134,950 taels of silver, while income was 2,196,000 taels. After offsetting the two, the surplus is 2,061,050 taels. Next year, because we will be fighting against Liu Xiang and even Zheng Zhilong, we need to set aside more silver. We will set aside 2 million taels as reserve funds, leaving 61,050 taels. This will be the silver for this year's dividend."
Everyone was overjoyed. The dividend was as much as 60,000 taels of silver. There weren't many people present, so even if it was divided equally, everyone could become rich overnight.
Liu Ye began, “The profit sharing will be divided into three classes: Mr. Liang and I will be in the first class; Mr. Sun and Mr. Yan will be in the second class; and the first battalion commander Shi Ying, the second battalion commander Xu Yifan, the guard captain Lin San, the special operations captain Qin Tian, the naval fleet commander Gao Jie, the merchant guild manager Li Fu, and the land manager Li Ergou will be in the third class. The first class will receive 40%, the second class 20%, and the third class 40%. If new people join the Qiongzhou camp in the future, they will also be divided according to their rank. As the business grows and profits increase, the profit sharing will also increase. Does anyone have any objections to this distribution?”
The general's words set the rules, and it was a great opportunity to distribute silver. Everything was taken care of, so who would be confused and raise objections? Everyone said in unison, "The general is wise!"