Chapter 185 Departure
But no matter what, the person in front of him was the one Wang Chengen said had a friendship with Chongzhen, and he repeatedly reminded himself not to reveal Chongzhen's identity.

He actually had a friendship with Emperor Chongzhen. No matter what kind of person Wang An was, he was not someone he could afford to offend.

Even if he was willing to give a kickback, he could not accept it for both public and private reasons.

After figuring out the key point, Dong Lingju immediately put on a righteous look and said, "What are you talking about, Manager Wang? I have been a scholar for ten years, studying hard just to serve the court until my death. How can I accept bribes from the people?"

Looking at Dong Lingju's unwavering eyes, Wang An couldn't help but feel a little dazed.

First, he met the Shuntian prefect who was selfless and unassuming, and now he met a Shaoqing of the Honglu Temple who refused to accept kickbacks.

Oh shit, has the Ming Dynasty officialdom changed so much that everyone is a gentleman?

Wang An became a little hesitant, suspecting that Dong Lingju was just pretending to be serious.

He wanted to say something else, but was interrupted by Dong Lingju: "If Manager Wang continues to talk, it will be an insult to my character!"

"I never make friends with people who insult me. Please respect yourself, Wang Changgui!"

Upon hearing this, Wang An immediately put on a dog-licking face and gave a thumbs-up, praising: "If all the people in the Ming Dynasty were as upright and honest as Lord Dong, there would be no need to worry about the Eastern Tartars not being annihilated and the bandits not being pacified!"

The two men exchanged a few more business compliments, talked about some specific details and delivery time, and then Wang An stood up and said goodbye.

After leaving the Honglu Temple, Wang An immediately found Yun Zhao and Er Gou and told them that he had accepted the job at the Honglu Temple.

Both of them looked at Wang An in disbelief, wondering how their master suddenly became a yellow businessman.

Although Wang An has always been a symbol of ability in the eyes of both of them, it is not something that ordinary people can do to establish connections with the court in those days.

Wang An was very proud for a while, then he took out the list of supplies that Man Gui had prepared and said, "Er Gou, you know people well, so you should follow me for the time being and prepare these supplies."

"Yun Zhao, you will also follow us and be responsible for accounting and payment. This is our first cooperation with the court, so we must do it properly so that no one can find fault with it."

Yun Zhao and Er Gou both suppressed their excitement and nodded continuously.

As Wang An's status improves, the two of them will also be able to rise to higher positions.

After all, in the feudal period, although they were both workers and domestic slaves, the status of domestic slaves was different for different people.

This is like the servants of a noble family. When they go out, they are even more arrogant and domineering than the average landlord. Even some lower-ranking officials have to give them face.

If a maid in an ordinary small family fell into the hands of these servants, she would be beaten to death.

So the three of them, without any delay, immediately went from door to door looking for shops to discuss purchasing matters according to the supplies on the list.

Because of this matter, Wang An finally pawned the big pearl that Wei Zhongxian left for him.

But this time I made inquiries in advance and found a pawn shop with good credibility and reputation.

Because Liu Zongzhou once said that this big pearl was worth at least three thousand taels, Wang An had an idea in mind and finally bid two thousand five hundred taels.

According to the pawnshop practice of giving a maximum of 70% of the profit, this amount is considered high.

Of course, the big pearl was a rare treasure, which was rarely seen, so the pawnshop was determined to get it. However, the amount of money for the big pearl was still not enough, so Wang An pawned another treasure, and with the profit of the coal warehouse during this period, he could barely make up about 12,000 taels of silver.

As for the purchasing process, it went smoothly. The tricks used by unscrupulous merchants in this period were not as diverse as those in later generations. Even if some tricks were used, Wang An, who had suffered from the baptism of unscrupulous merchants in later generations, could see through them. Therefore, the quality and price of the purchased materials were still good.

Except for some items that were in large quantities and could not be delivered immediately, the rest of the items were transported by Wang An to a relatively deserted coal warehouse and temporarily stored.

He then found a carriage and horse company and hired a sufficient number of carriages and horses, and also found a thug company and hired fifty thugs.

They were called thugs, but in fact they were all strong farmers from the nearby countryside and local thugs from the capital.

Although their fighting capacity was not high, they had several veterans among them, so if they encountered some hungry people or small groups of bandits on the road, they could barely deal with them.

Besides, it was still the early Ming Dynasty, which was already "peaceful" enough compared to the situation more than ten years later. As long as we traveled during the day and stayed at night and took the official road all the way, there would not be any big problems.

After making all the preparations, Wang An hurriedly took this makeshift caravan and embarked on a journey to Datong.

The journey was smooth sailing, because Chongzhen gave the batch of war horses traded by Ligdan Khan a name of tribute, so Wang An was given not only the "issue" document, but also the certificate issued by the Ministry of Rites.

Therefore, the banknote checkpoints he encountered along the way did not make things too difficult for Wang An. At most, they just asked for some "tribute" and then let him pass.

As for the taxes that should be paid, they are all reduced or exempted.

This made Wang An sigh all the way, saying that it was really easy to get things done when you have someone in the court.

After more than half a month of travel, Wang An finally brought three teams to Datong Prefecture, and the journey was safe and sound.

Although they encountered several waves of starving people, they were all fleeing groups and not so-called uprising troops, so they dispersed when the thugs drew their swords.

The officers and soldiers guarding the city gate were a little surprised when they heard that Wang An was coming to deliver supplies.

Because Chongzhen had already ordered to "abolish all rewards", given their status, Man Gui could not take the initiative to tell them that he had submitted a memorial to the court.

So Wang An had to argue for a while, and after spending five cents of silver, the leader of the team finally agreed to inform on Wang An's behalf.

Two quarters of an hour later, the soldier guarding the city came back and enthusiastically took Wang An into Datong Prefecture.

Wang An's three lines were led to a place that looked like a warehouse so that the caravan could rest temporarily.

Then he took Wang An to the general's residence the night before, ready to meet Datong General Man Gui.

Wang An waited in the gatehouse for two hours before he was allowed to see Man Gui's servant.

So Wang An met this legendary military king from the late Ming Dynasty in a study room.

I saw that the other person was tall and strong, with a dark face and untidy beard. He looked quite rough like a Mongolian. No wonder the whole world was saying that he was a Mongolian.

However, there are actually differences of opinion among later generations regarding his true race.

(End of this chapter)