Chapter 316: Defending Laizhou

To issue his first commercial loan, Leng Ningyun had to put in a lot of effort. He conducted a comprehensive credit investigation on the merchant, including his past business performance, credit history, and his assets.

In 17th-century Beijing, there were no specialized private investigation agencies, and the government’s control over private information was far from what it would be in later generations. Therefore, all this information was gathered by Wu Kaidi and his men.

It seemed that he still needed to expand the number of investigators under his command, Leng Ningyun thought. In the 21st century, a bank could hire an investigation company; in the 17th century, he had to set one up himself.

The investigation company didn’t necessarily have to be subordinate to Delong, he thought. It could be managed according to the concept of a “tertiary industry.” If any problems arose, he could immediately distance himself from it.

Speaking of which, he also needed a security team. Currently, the bank’s security was handled by the Qiwei Escort Agency’s Beijing headquarters. They dispatched four guards to serve as guards and night watchmen. Leng Ningyun always felt uneasy. Was this number of people too small? And the weapons carried by the escorts were also very simple, which in his opinion had little deterrent effect.

He returned to his study in a daze, looking at the cash flow charts and various diagrams on the table—all of which he had drawn himself. Delong’s business was very slow, and he had plenty of time to work on this kind of professional business.

Loans still didn’t look very good on the balance sheet. In the last two months, the loans were mainly small loans. Leng Ningyun sighed. Compared to the Shanxi merchants who had great power in the capital, his activities were not yet up to par, and they were a hundred thousand li away from his vision.

In the business of the Delong Beijing branch, Leng Ningyun had his own complete set of ideas. In his original design, attracting savings and commercial loans was only the first step. Delong’s work in Beijing was not only to compete with the Shanxi people for loans and deposits, but also to get involved in the budding insurance industry in the future, including the mutual funds and joint-stock systems he had once envisioned in Lingao—although it was not very practical. But in terms of loans, especially official loans, there must be a breakthrough! Leng Ningyun even considered getting involved in the business of Ming government bonds.

His plan received strong support from the elders of the financial and economic system, but in front of the industrial party led by Ma Duogong, these were all “crooked ways.” In the theoretical journal The Morning Star published by the Propaganda Department, he had once read an article written by a certain elder titled “Beware of the Virtual Economy Bubble,” which called for vigilance against the “virtual economy” in the financial field that would “destroy the economic environment.” This article criticized all kinds of financial business except insurance—although Leng Ningyun believed that most of the content was “nonsense made up by laymen after reading a few books,” this article represented a strong anti-financial sentiment in the Senate.

In contrast, the voice of his own system was still too weak. And the elders who controlled the financial and economic system were generally low-key and had little enthusiasm for the development of financial products and services, mainly playing the role of “accountants.”

His work in Beijing, on the one hand, had to have practical economic benefits, and on the other hand, it was also to increase his own and other financial elders’ prestige.

Wu Kaidi ran around outside for a day and returned to the bank in the evening to report to him.

He had visited more than a dozen government offices and also sat in the teahouses where the clerks and officials’ attendants liked to go. The general news he got was that the news of Kong Youde’s capture of Dengzhou had been reported in the court gazette, and the court was questioning the governor of Shandong, Yu Dacheng, about the whereabouts of Sun Yuanhua and other Deng-Lai officials, and demanding a speedy report.

“…Yu Dacheng has not yet replied—it is said that the emperor is very angry about this and has repeatedly said that Yu Dacheng is ‘incompetent’…” Wu Kaidi said vividly, as if he had personally seen the Chongzhen Emperor say these words, which reminded Leng Ningyun of the taxi drivers in another time and space in Beijing.

“What do the various factions of officials in the court say?”

“Minister of War Xiong is still the same as before, strongly advocating for pacification,” Wu Kaidi said. “Although Grand Secretary Xu and Grand Secretary Zhou haven’t said much, everyone thinks they are also on the side of pacification—Sun Yuanhua is Grand Secretary Xu’s man.”

In general, although Dengzhou had fallen, the current court opinion was still mainly in favor of “pacification.”

“Who are the ones who advocate for suppression?” Leng Ningyun asked.

“The one who advocates most strongly is Li Jizhong, the Director of the Bureau of Military Appointments in the Ministry of War. He once opposed Minister Xiong’s proposal for pacification in the ministry’s council and demanded that Minister Xiong dispatch elite troops from Liaodong for suppression. I heard that it ended unhappily. I’m afraid Mr. Li Jizhong will be dismissed from his post soon.”

He then listed some other names, and Leng Ningyun made a few notes—this was for his own reference. Wu Kaidi would write a detailed report for him later.

“What are the comments on Sun Yuanhua in the court?”

“Anyway, no one is saying good things, but Governor Sun’s life and death are currently unknown, so even if they want to impeach him, there is no target. If he really died for the country in Dengzhou, wouldn’t impeaching him be a cause for gossip?”

Leng Ningyun thought to himself that it seemed that once the news of Sun Yuanhua’s arrival in Laizhou reached the capital, he would be subjected to a fierce barrage of fire.

He looked at the court gazette that Wu Kaidi had brought—he had received special training in classical Chinese on how to read the court gazette. However, although the memorials were not elegantly written, they were not in classical vernacular either, and it was very difficult for him to read them.

“Call the secretary later.”

Leng Ningyun used several secretaries to help with the documents, especially the content of the court gazette, which he often relied on the secretaries to explain. These secretaries were not naturalized citizens, so they only handled business and did not participate in secret affairs.

Impeachment would not only come from his own political opponents, but also from various forces dissatisfied with Xu Guangqi, Zhou Yanru, Xiong Mingyu, and even the Liaodong clique, who would use this incident as ammunition to attack their opponents. The situation Sun Yuanhua would face was probably very unfavorable.

To ensure his safety, it seemed extremely difficult. Leng Ningyun couldn’t help but feel troubled—this task was too difficult!

However, to show his ability, he had to get things done. Who couldn’t do easy things?

After thinking for a moment, he felt that he still had to work on the eunuchs. He wondered what the eunuchs’ intentions were now. Wu Kaidi said that he had specially gone to the residences of old Eunuch Yang, young Eunuch Yang, and several other eunuchs with whom he often had dealings, and chatted with the familiar young eunuchs and servants to sound out the views of the “inner ministers” in the palace.

In general, Sun Yuanhua had no bad reputation among the eunuchs. Generally speaking, he was quite smooth in his official career and was not a member of the Donglin Party, so he treated the eunuchs well. Although he couldn’t be said to have a great friendship with them, there were at least no signs of enmity.

In that case, it would be much easier to maneuver. Leng Ningyun thought that, as the saying goes in later generations, things that can be solved with money are not difficult.

After careful consideration, Leng Ningyun decided to continue collecting information for the next few days. He himself would telegraph the “center” that he was preparing to ask for help from Wang Dehua and others through Eunuch Yang’s connections. For this, he would need to use some special “Australian goods” from the inventory as bribes and ask the “center” for approval.

While Leng Ningyun was racking his brains in Beijing considering how to start helping Sun Yuanhua, Sun Yuanhua had already handled many things in Laizhou.

First, he rectified the defense of Laizhou. The prefect of Laizhou, Zhu Wannian, was resolute and capable. In the original historical trajectory, Zhu Wannian had contributed greatly to the defense of Laizhou and was eventually lured into a trap and killed in Dengzhou. Now that Sun Yuanhua had escaped, Zhu Wannian had a backbone and immediately strengthened the defense of Laizhou under his instructions. The magistrate of Ye County, Hong, was also a very capable local official. The defense of Laizhou immediately improved greatly.

The most crucial person was the Shandong Censor, Wang Daochun. This person had held a “suppression” attitude from the beginning. After Sun Yuanhua escaped, he immediately visited him and expressed his remorse and determination to “vigorously suppress.”

In this way, Wang Daochun, who had originally criticized Sun Yuanhua’s “pacification” policy in the Deng-Lai incident and was also a censor, became Sun’s ally—at least until the situation subsided, he would not impeach Sun Yuanhua, who was currently presiding over the suppression work.

The front command estimated that as long as Sun Yuanhua arrived in Laizhou and took a “vigorous suppression” stance, his originally passive situation would greatly improve. In particular, a group of officials who deeply hated the rebel army would more or less change their stance towards him.

Sun Yuanhua’s second step was to quickly visit the local gentry. The gentry were not only wealthy but also had great influence in the local area. Some gentry were themselves the leaders of the militia and belonged to the local powerful factions with grain, pay, and soldiers. In ancient society, it was crucial to get the support of the local gentry to defend a city.

Although Laizhou was not a wealthy place, the county seat of Ye County also had some large gentry families. The former Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Left, Jia Yuxiang, and the jinshi of the fifth year of Tianqi, Zhang Xin, were both local people.

Sun Yuanhua visited them one by one and received their support, especially Zhang Xin, who had a large fortune at home and immediately expressed his willingness to donate a huge sum of money to recruit militia and reward the soldiers.

Afterward, he summoned the students of the prefectural and county schools and asked them to work together to prepare for the defense of the city.

However, there were not many defenders in the city, only three thousand. Some of them were garrison troops from the local garrisons. Fortunately, the Laizhou garrison also had some Tartar officers and soldiers, who were descendants of the Semu soldiers of the Yuan Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, the combat effectiveness of the Tartar officers and soldiers had always been relatively strong.

But Sun Yuanhua knew very well that this small force was difficult to resist the attack of the rebel army. He knew too well this force that he had personally formed, equipped, and trained. None of the Ming armies were as good at using firearms as they were—not to mention that Dengzhou city was full of firearms and gunpowder—that was the result of his years of hard work.

Except for dispatching elite border troops from Liaodong, the various armies distributed in Zhili and Shandong were simply no match for the rebel army. Not to mention field battles, they might not even be able to defend a city.