Chapter 1386 Ma Bo’s Secret
Ma Bo didn't dare to refute, so he could only nod in agreement, but he didn't entirely agree with what the other party said. It has been more than a year since the Haihan people settled in Dengzhou. Although they still maintain their ruling area within Fushan County and have not continued to expand externally, Mabo is very aware of the changes that have quietly occurred in this ruling area. The actual control of the Ming Dynasty here has dropped to a historical low, even far less than during the Denglai Rebellion. No one regards the county government in Fushan County as the authority anymore, and no one expects the Ming army in Dengzhou City to " "Recover the lost territory", the base built by the Haihan people on Zhifu Island is the real hub of the local area, and more and more people choose to join Haihan's camp, accept its military protection, or become part of its huge trade network One ring.
The Ma family is the representative of the change of camp. From the squire of the Ming Dynasty to the marriage with the high-ranking official of Haihan, the Ma family completed this identity change in less than a year and became the most important spokesperson for Haihan's local interests. If the Ming Dynasty government still had substantial influence in Fushan County, the Ma family would never be able to take the initiative to complete such a change if they took the family's future into consideration. But now the Ma family has gone too far, and it is impossible to look back - at least for most people except Ma Bo.
The reason why Ma Bo chose another path was that firstly, the marriage between Haihan and the Ma family was late, which made him miss the opportunity to choose his side. Secondly, he believed that the Ming Dynasty would eventually take back Fushan County, and at that time, the Ma family would definitely After being liquidated by the government, the only person who could stay to protect the Ma family's property might be Ma Bo.
But looking at the current situation, Haihan has no intention of leaving here and returning to the south. He has also established a new stronghold in Liaodong across the sea. As for the officers and soldiers in Dengzhou City, apart from some assassinations and sneak attacks that were not on the stage, they were not seen doing anything decent anymore. A few days ago, the Haihan Army even robbed a horse farm belonging to the Ming Army and brought back hundreds of war horses. This was known to everyone in Majiazhuang, but Dengzhou showed no reaction at all, as if it had nothing to do with it. If it was true as Heiying said, how could the Ming army turn a blind eye to this.
Ma Bo actually felt a little regretful in his heart. He just wanted to protect himself and preserve a bloodline for the Ma clan, and maybe he could get rich from it. But now it seems that this choice is just jumping from one pirate ship to another. The risks faced have not become smaller at all. It is difficult to make an accurate judgment about which one is good and which is bad.
In October, the Dengzhou government organized a surprise attack on Majiazhuang. Although Ma Bo did not witness the brief and bloody battle at the scene, he saw it with his own eyes when the assassins' bodies were transported out of the battlefield by carriage. Those bloody corpses gave him a huge shock and made him truly realize the cruelty of this struggle. Hearing that several people had been captured alive, Ma Bo was really afraid that the Haihan people would trace the clues from these prisoners to him, because he was the one who provided information about Chen Yixin's daily routine to the middleman, and then passed it back to Dengzhou. Let the Ming army plan this assassination operation.
If the truth of this matter is known to Chen Yixin, Ma Bo can be sure that the marriage between the Ma family and Ma Bo will not protect him in the slightest. So for him, although the matter has not been exposed, there is no way back now. If you leave, you can only obey the mercy of others. But now he no longer dares to expect that the government can drive Haihan out of Shandong in the short term. Moreover, if one of the two sides has a thought, they can crush him with just one finger, so he We can only struggle to find a balance point between the two sides and try our best to avoid offending both sides.
"It doesn't matter whether Liu takes the money or not. You just need to keep an eye on him and see what other moves he makes next." The black shadow warned again: "He is just a small civil servant who has just come to Shandong. , don’t be afraid of him. In my opinion, he may not dare to provoke you. In short, don’t panic when things happen. Don’t forget who your backer is!”
After Mabo exited the room, he slowly sighed. He knew that he was in a low status and could not afford to offend anyone, so he could only choose to compromise. Not to mention the old man in the room, even the seemingly harmless Liu Shang was a high-status official of the Haihan State, and he was not something he, a rich country man, could deal with. The person in the room put the responsibility on himself with just a few words, but Ma Bo had no ability to deal with Liu Shang. He could only deal with it tremblingly, hoping that Liu Shang would let him go. , don’t delve too deeply into the problems existing in the immigration camps.
Ma Bo didn't dare to check if Liu Shang had woken up and found what he put on the table last night at this time. Now he could only wait for Liu Shang to appear on his own. Early in the morning, he ordered a confidant to go into the courtyard and keep an eye on the room where Liu Shang lived. He would report back immediately when the other party came out. No matter what Liu Shang's attitude towards the things he sent, he had to confirm it as soon as possible so that he could make the most of the situation and respond accordingly.
Three hours after sunrise, the door of the room where Liu Shang lived finally opened with a creak. The man who was watching under the porch immediately ducked into the third courtyard and rushed to report the matter to Mabo.
Liu Shang only stood at the door for a moment. Before he even stepped out of the house, Ma Bo had already appeared. Liu Shangke didn't think this was a coincidence, and couldn't help secretly murmuring that the rich man was really impatient. He must be waiting for him to open the door so he could observe his reaction.
When Liu Shang was in the room, he had already spent a long time thinking about strategies to deal with various situations. When he saw Ma Bo, he didn't have any big reaction. He just nodded proactively to say hello. Ma Bo was as enthusiastic as ever, and took the initiative to come over to chat and said: "Brother Liu, how did you rest last night? I was afraid that you were still drunk, so I specially ordered my servants in the morning not to disturb you to rest, and to let you sleep enough before you get up. ”
The corner of Liu Shang's mouth raised slightly and he said: "Brother, you are really thoughtful. Thanks to your care, I slept soundly last night and slept until dawn."
Ma Bo wanted to see if the envelope he put there last night was still on the table in the house, so that he could confirm whether Liu Shang had accepted it. But Liu Shang stood at the door and did not move. Ma Bo was a little shorter and could not see the situation inside the house over Liu Shang's shoulder. He didn't dare to make his actions too obvious, so he could only ask with fake concern: "Brother Liu must be hungry when he sleeps at this time, so I will order my servants to bring breakfast."
After saying that, without waiting for Liu Shang to refuse, he called his servant and asked him to go to the kitchen to bring the breakfast prepared by Liu Shang. He thought to himself that you had to go into the house to eat, and when the time came, he made way for the door. He would know at a glance whether he was receiving the benefit or not.
Liu Shang's thoughtfulness was far beyond what Ma Bo could compare with. Naturally, the other party's small thoughts could not be hidden from his eyes. He smiled slightly and got out of the way: "In this case, Brother Ma might as well come in and sit for a while. I haven't eaten yet." If so, let’s eat some together.”
Naturally, Ma Bo would not refuse this invitation. When he followed Liu Shang into the house, he glanced around and saw that the envelope was still on the table. Ma Bo quickly recalled the location and orientation of putting it on the table last night, but he was not sure whether the envelope had been moved. Although he also considered the situation of Liu Shang refusing to accept the benefit, seeing the envelope so dazzlingly placed on the table, he still felt flustered for a moment.
Liu Shang calmly sat down at the table, tapped his fingers on the table, and lowered his voice slightly: "I woke up today and found this thing on the table. Maybe it was last night. Did you forget it in the room when you sent me back?”
Ma Bo swallowed his saliva and responded with a forced smile: "Oh? I have never seen this envelope before. It shouldn't be my thing. Or it may be Brother Liu's own thing. He forgot to put it away after drinking."
"This is definitely not my thing." Liu Shang continued to ask with a sarcastic look on his face: "Since there is no owner, does it mean that it fell from the sky?"
Ma Bo thought to himself that this was a ladder handed to his feet, and immediately responded: "A windfall from heaven, that is Brother Liu's blessing! Brother Liu put it away quickly, and must not let down God's kindness." Liu Shangshen He picked up the envelope with two fingers and said: "It turns out that Brother Ma has a special ability and can see through. He can see that this envelope contains something valuable. I admire him!"
Ma Bo opened his mouth and was speechless. Then he remembered that Liu Shang had never mentioned that he had seen the contents of the envelope, let alone anything related to money. He was only thinking about getting Liu Shang to accept it. This envelope, but in desperation, he revealed his identity. It can be said to be an extremely stupid operation.
Liu Shang put the envelope back on the table and then said: "Brother Ma, what do you have to say about this ownerless thing?"
Ma Bo stammered in reply: "I don't...have anything to say."
Although he had already thought about how to deal with it in advance, he was not a person who was good at adapting to changes after all. After Liu Shang pointed out the flaw, he started to get confused, and all the previously thought-out countermeasures were forgotten. Forgot everything.
Seeing his embarrassment, Liu Shang calmed down from his initial anxiety. What Liu Shang was worried about was not that the other party used money to bribe him to cover up the problem of empty wages in the immigration camp, but that Ma Bo was deep-minded and used this method to test his bottom line and whether he had any other options left. Use it. But after testing him with words, he found that Ma Bo was actually the same inside and out. He was just a rich man with no wealth, and he was not a master of conspiracy at all.
As for the money on the table that Ma Bo refused to admit, Liu Shang had already thought of a way to deal with it. He knocked on the table again and said: "Since this thing fell from the sky and there is no owner, why not let me make an idea?" How? ”
Ma Bo naturally wanted it, and he said to himself that it doesn't matter if you keep it yourself, or if you want to pretend to be with me, as long as you accept it, the rest of the matter will be easy to handle. As long as everyone has a decent face and the underlying matters are tacitly understood, the matter is settled. Thinking of this, Ma Bo finally felt a sense of relief from the burden, and couldn't help but turn up the corners of his mouth slightly.
However, the smile on Ma Bo's lips soon froze, because he heard Liu Shang's calm voice saying: "Since this thing has no owner, then use it as public funds for the immigration camp to improve the living conditions of the immigrants." What do you think, brother?”
"Ah...Is that so? This...since this is Brother Liu's intention, then...then let's deal with it like this." Ma Bo never expected that Liu Shang would come up with such a trick to deal with the money. , even the person who pointed him out before did not expect Liu Shang to have such a reaction. Liu Shang accepted the money but confiscated it. Was this considered a success or not?
Before Ma Bo could figure out the reason, Liu Shang picked up the envelope and shook it, shaking the stack of Haihan banknotes inside onto the table. Liu Shang deliberately counted it in front of Ma Bo, and then sighed: "One hundred yuan, this is not a small amount!"
"Yes, yes!" Ma Bo also echoed with an embarrassed look. He thought to himself that it was a good thing that he was just sending a tentative sum of money. If he was really determined to give Liu Shang a large sum of money, wouldn't it be a waste if it was confiscated? But then I thought about it, Liu Shang could withstand the temptation of a hundred yuan, but he might not be able to keep it if he gave more. Maybe he shouldn't be so cautious. It would be much easier to just knock him out with a lot of money.
But now that the matter has come to an end, Ma Bo can no longer ask Liu Shang to keep the money, so he can only do it according to his wishes. Fortunately, the servant brought a hot breakfast at this time, which somewhat relieved the awkward atmosphere in the room.
"Let's eat first, and we'll talk about other things later." Liu Shang didn't want to make Ma Bo look bad, so he put the envelope back on the table, picked up the hot white flour steamed bun and stuffed it into his mouth.
Naturally, Ma Bo would not object to this suggestion. Although he had already eaten a meal after getting up in the morning, he still stuffed his mouth with steamed buns without hesitation, as if he was afraid that he would say something wrong again in a panic.
After swallowing the steamed buns in his stomach in a few seconds, Ma Bo stood up and said he was going to make a pot of tea to eat. He hurried back to the room in the backyard and reported the situation to the man sitting in the dark. Of course, Ma Bo wisely concealed the part about revealing his identity. If the other party found out about this, he would definitely be severely reprimanded.
After listening to Ma Bo's story, the dark figure was silent for a long time and then said: "This man named Liu is quite experienced in doing things. No wonder the Haihan people would transfer him from the south to Shandong all the way... So, that's right. You have to be careful with him, don’t let him see any more flaws!”
Ma Bo asked tentatively: "Then...should we continue to send him money to test him?"
"Don't worry, let's take another look." Heiying seemed to have doubts about the effectiveness of this method: "If this person shows disgust with giving money, then don't try this method again."
(End of chapter)