Chapter 1345 Coercion
According to Tie Pingjiang's understanding, businessmen like Zheng Ai took the initiative to offer benefits in order to hold on to this lucrative trading right. Haihan's local material suppliers all require qualification certification, and the person in charge of this certification is a military quartermaster like Tie Pingjiang. Of course, Zheng Ai is not the only local businessman in Dengzhou who can supply stone and wood to Haihan. With Tiepingjiang's support, he will naturally be able to maintain his supplier qualifications more securely.
But Zheng Ai's real purpose is not just to be a supplier. Among his tasks, making money is only second, and buying Tie Pingjiang to spy on intelligence is the first. Zheng Ai was also dubious about Tie Pingjiang's promise, because it seemed to be somewhat inconsistent with the information he had learned from other channels.
"Master Tie, are you sure there will be no changes in the near future? Why did I hear from Chief Chen that the handover will be arranged before the end of the year at the latest?" Zheng Ai decided to be bold and test it again.
The "Chief Chen" Zheng Ai refers to is, of course, Chen Yixin, who is currently in charge of local civil affairs. Tie Pingjiang's expression changed when he heard this. He didn't know if Zheng Ai had really gone to find Chen Yixin, but the timetable arrangement was indeed true, and he was not bold enough to deny Chen Yixin's words. But he just insisted that the rumors related to trade jurisdiction were false. Now he wants to admit the news. Wouldn't that be a slap in the face to himself?
Tie Pingjiang felt that Zheng Ai was really bad at talking. If it weren't for the "gift" he just received, he would have really wanted to kick Zheng Ai out and cancel his qualifications as a supplier. as punishment.
"You have already found out about Chief Chen's decision before it was announced? I haven't even received the notice yet, and you got the news faster than me. It seems you are quite capable! Since you are so familiar with the chief, What you mean is that you don’t need me to take care of you anymore, right?” Tie Pingjiang decided to retreat and not say whether the news was true or not. He only said that he had not been notified by his superiors to avoid being caught by Zheng Ai. Stop talking.
Zheng Ai was so slick. Although Tie Pingjiang's words seemed to be flawless, he had already sensed the other party's intention to give in. As for the time arrangement he mentioned, it was not said by Chen Yixin himself, but came from other sources. But he knew that using this reason to deceive Tie Pingjiang would definitely have certain results. As expected, Tie Pingjiang was not sure of this, and the flaw was finally revealed. The seemingly tough attitude actually proves that Zheng Ai's words are highly credible. I am afraid that the management of this supplier will soon change hands.
"Master Tie, you don't have to speak so harshly, right?" Zheng Ai's attitude at this time was obviously no longer as respectful as it was at the beginning, and even the look he looked at Tie Pingjiang was a little more playful: "Master Tie, you I usually get benefits from villains, but now I am about to hand over my power. This deal is not going to work, and my friendship is gone.”
Tie Pingjiang was not an idiot, so he naturally felt the change in Zheng Ai's attitude, and said angrily: "Do you overestimate your status? You are just a supplier of building materials to my Haihan Garrison, and the transaction is clearly stated at the real price. , who told you about friendship?”
Zheng Ai was not frightened by Tie Pingjiang's anger and responded calmly: "You can't say that. Zheng has spent a lot of money in the past few months just to buy a share from Tie Ye." Friendship? If Mr. Tie feels that the price offered by the villain is not enough to buy a friendship, then please ask Mr. Tie to return all the benefits received before, so that we can be considered to have settled the money and not owe each other! ”
Hearing Zheng Ai's unceremonious remarks, Tie Pingjiang's eyes suddenly became a little more violent, and his voice became deeper and deeper: "Zheng Ai, are you threatening me? Do you know what you are doing?"
Zheng Ai chuckled and said, "Of course I know what I'm doing. I'm afraid it's Master Tie who really doesn't understand his situation! Why don't Master Tie tell the villain, if the leaders know about the bribe you accepted?" Number, what will they do with you?”
Zheng Ai slowly showed his ferocious side, and Tie Pingjiang was secretly frightened, and responded sternly: "Bribery? What evidence do you have to prove that I have accepted benefits from you?"
While refuting Zheng Ai, Tie Pingjiang recalled the process of collecting money from Zheng Ai in the past to judge whether there was any real evidence in the hands of the other party. Zheng Ai basically gave gifts in the same way as he gave tea just now. He used other ordinary gifts as a cover and secretly sent them out with banknotes. There is usually no third person present in this kind of occasion. It can be said that the gift-giving is something you know, I know, and God knows and the earth knows. If there is a third person who knows, there should be no actual evidence to prove that he received it from Zheng Ai. Too good.
Zheng Ai said calmly: "Master Tie, do you think that if a villain gives you a gift and you receive it, without a third party knowing about it, the chief cannot hold you accountable? Then you are thinking too much. It’s easy, there are witnesses and evidence, you won’t get away that easily!”
Tie Pingjiang was startled and did not respond to Zheng Ai immediately. Instead, he stood up and walked to the door. Seeing that there was no one around him, he immediately closed the door, then returned to the table, and his tone became urgent: "What do you think about this?" Are you tired of living if you dare to publicize it? If you can’t provide evidence, I will punish you with false accusations!”
Of course, Tie Pingjiang is very clear about the attitude of the superiors towards these matters. As long as no one reports them and no obvious losses are caused to the troops, the big bosses above will not take the initiative to investigate these matters strictly. However, if someone reports it, there is credible evidence. Evidence, then something could easily happen. The last time he took this job, he was sentenced by a military court to expulsion from the military and three years of hard labor for accepting bribes.
Tie Pingjiang doesn't know the specific amount of bribes his predecessor accepted, but he knows that if the amount of money he received is exposed, the result will not be any better than that of his predecessor. However, he still couldn't figure out where Zheng Ai found the personal and material evidence that could threaten him. If it was proven that Zheng Ai was just lying, then he would definitely find a way to kill this bold Ming Shang afterwards.
Zheng Ai chuckled and said: "Do you still need to find a witness? The villain himself is the witness. Every money sent to Master Tie is personally handled by the villain. Who else knows better than the villain?" Pingjiang was shocked and angry. He didn't expect that Zheng Ai would even go to the end personally. It seemed that he was planning to fight him to the death. He believed that although he had received a lot of benefits from Zheng Ai in the past, he had never treated him badly. As long as the request was not obviously against Haihan's interests, he basically turned a blind eye and let it go. . Even if the money Zheng Ai spent on him could not be said to be value for money, at least he would not lose money. But why did today's conversation develop into the current situation after a few wrong words, even though everything was going well at the beginning of the conversation?
Just a moment ago, Zheng Ai was respectfully paying filial piety to him, but now he was planning to act as a witness to report his bribery. How did this sudden turn happen? Tie Pingjiang was still confused for a moment. A bit hard to turn around. But he still decided to continue to fight back and could not easily compromise with this profiteer.
"What's the use of just saying that you have no evidence? It will only be regarded as a false accusation!" Tie Pingjiang sneered: "Don't think that our Haihan Army is so easily misled. I'm afraid the person who will be convicted is not It’s me, you, the profiteer who taints people’s innocence!”
Zheng Ai's expression did not change. He was obviously not frightened by Tie Pingjiang's counterattack. He shook his head and said, "Master Tie, you think about things too simply. I give you so much money every month." , do you really think it’s a free gift? Do you know why I only gave you Haihan banknotes and not banknotes? You must think that this is to be considerate of you and make it easier for you to use in Haihan in the future. Huh... I gave you Haihan banknotes because I knew you wouldn't be able to use them locally, so I had to keep them first. But the codes on each banknote I gave you were recorded in advance. You said that if I received a large number at your residence. The Haihan banknotes all match the codes provided by the villain. How do you explain it to your boss?”
The more Tie Pingjiang listened, the more frightened he became, knowing that he was really being plotted by the other party. Haihan had not yet promoted the use of paper money on a large scale in the Shandong occupied areas. Transactions with merchants from the Ming Dynasty were naturally settled in gold and silver. Although the internal staff settled their monthly salary and military pay in Haihan paper money, the food and clothing expenses of the garrison It is all the responsibility of the country. The banknotes received by the soldiers have no place to use them locally. They can only collect them by themselves or deposit them in Haihan Bank. In order to prevent forgery, each banknote is printed with a code composed of Roman numerals and Ariber numerals designed by Schneider himself.
Tie Pingjiang received a large amount of gray income from Ming merchants, so naturally he did not dare to deposit it in the bank, so he could only hide it secretly in his residence. But if he wanted to search with peace of mind, there was really nothing hidden in the room where he lived, and the large amount of banknotes hidden inside would definitely be found. If Zheng Aizhen had recorded the code on the banknotes, Tie Pingjiang would be basically dead with just one verification.
Tie Pingjiang never expected that the personal and physical evidence Zheng Ai mentioned was actually like this. These two pieces of evidence were really ironclad, even more ironclad than his last name. He couldn't even think of how to refute Zheng Ai's statement. But one thing is undoubtedly very clear. Zheng Ai has obviously been plotting against him from a long time ago, and he did not hesitate to spend a lot of money and blood to set up this trap. The insidious methods he used before should also be in order to finally wait for such a person. time to coerce yourself into submission.
Thinking of this, Tie Pingjiang's mood slowly calmed down, he sat back on his chair, and asked Zheng Ai in a calm tone: "You first gave me money today, and then took the initiative to break up with me. This turn must not be accidental. Tell me, what is your purpose?”
"Master Tie, gains and losses can be determined by just one thought. Do you want money or jail time? The choice is in your own hands. I am just responsible for reminding you of this." Zheng Ai saw that Tie Pingjiang's mood had calmed down. , and immediately stopped stimulating him. However, he still did not make his purpose clear immediately, but continued to use words to seduce Tie Pingjiang.
After all, Tie Pingjiang is also a soldier who has experienced life and death on the battlefield, and his will is not as weak as Zheng Ai imagined. Hearing this, he sneered and said: "Zheng Ai, you are too underestimated. Although Tie is greedy for money, he can I’m not a greedy person. If you want to threaten Tie with this matter, I’m afraid it won’t be that easy.”
"Although Mr. Tie is not afraid of death, if he is convicted of corruption and loses his military position and goes to jail, it will be much more uncomfortable than dying in battle, right?" Zheng Ai still did not give up his efforts and searched bit by bit. Tie Pingjiang's Weakness: "I heard that people who are dismissed from the Haihan Army will be sent to extremely remote overseas lands to cultivate wasteland after completing their hard labor, and may not be able to return to their homeland again throughout their lives. Can Mr. Tie accept such a result calmly? ”
Tie Pingjiang did not respond immediately, thinking that it was indeed difficult for him to accept this situation. Although he is just an ordinary grass-roots officer in the Haihan Army, he has served as a meritorious officer and was reviewed by the heads of the Executive Committee at last year's founding parade. In the future, when he retires and changes his career, the country will also be honored because of him. for their military exploits, and will be provided with follow-up welfare care. But if you are convicted of corruption due to being reported, you may actually be sent to a deserted island in Southeast Asia to work as a coolie immigrant to open up wasteland.
Tie Pingjiang is not afraid of death, but he really doesn't want to live in humiliation as a prisoner. He took a deep breath and asked in a deep voice: "Let me ask you again, what exactly do you want? It's best to say it quickly. Otherwise, you will have to serve a sentence anyway, so I will find a reason to kill you. The military court will never sentence me to death, do you believe it?”
After Tie Pingjiang said his harsh words, he stared at Zheng Ai, wanting to see how he would express his stance. He secretly made a decision in his heart. If Zheng Ai continued to talk in circles and tease himself with words, he would kill this guy even if he tried his best to be severely punished by military law. As for whether he would be sentenced to death by military law, he was actually not sure. He just wanted to use this to intimidate Zheng Ai and give himself a little more negotiating weight.
Zheng Ai was sitting less than five feet away from Tie Pingjiang, so he naturally felt the other party's anger and murderous intent. He had other intentions and did not want to arouse Tie Pingjiang's emotions out of control, so he responded immediately: "Master Tie, don't be excited. I mentioned the transfer of power to you today, but it was actually for your sake. Since before the end of the year The handover is about to be completed, so why don’t Mr. Tie take advantage of this period to make some extra money, and then choose a day to retire and return to Haihan to live a happy life.”
When Tie Pingjiang heard this, he knew that this was a joke, and asked calmly: "Get more extra money? Is this extra money falling from the sky? You should tell me how I got this extra money." .”
(End of chapter)