Chapter 200 The villain succeeds
The next morning, Wang An took the receipt issued by Man Gui to find Dong Lingju, the Shaoqing of the Honglu Temple.

Based on his experience in his previous life, Wang An was mentally prepared to encounter trouble, but he did not expect that Dong Lingju would simply let the clerk settle the payment for the goods for Wang An.

Not only that, Wang An asked for some salt and tea permits, and Dong Lingju agreed readily.

Wang An was so happy that he wanted to pay some money as a tribute on the spot, but was sternly rejected by Dong Lingju.

At this point, Wang An’s first border trade was successfully concluded.

So he took out the purchase list of military funds that Man Gui had given him as a reward when he left Datong Prefecture.

Dong Lingju took it and looked at it, then knocked on the table and said, "The purchase of military supplies for border towns has never been the responsibility of our Honglu Temple. It's just that Lingdan Khan used the name of tribute this time, so it has something to do with our royal family and Honglu Temple."

"Man Gui's list was delivered to the wrong place, but for the sake of Shopkeeper Wang, I can help pass it on to the Ministry of War. However, I cannot decide whether it can be approved or how many items can be approved."

During this period of time, Wang An had some understanding of the functions of the government offices of the Ming Dynasty. He nodded to show that he understood and said, "I understand this principle. How dare I embarrass you, sir?"

"Besides, the procurement of military funds is not my main business. It is because Lord Man thinks highly of me that he has sworn brotherhood with me. I can't refuse, so I just helped to pass it on to Lord Man!"

Wang An said with some pride, as if he was pretending that there was someone behind him, and the face of a smug villain was revealed!
We can’t blame Wang An for being hypocritical. As the saying goes, it’s easier to get things done if you have someone in the court.

Although Wang An had been in contact with Dong Lingju, the other party had always behaved incorruptible and amiable.

But if it can make the other party look at you differently, it is always a good thing.

As expected, Dong Lingju was quite surprised when he heard this. "I've always heard that General Man is a powerful general of the Ming Dynasty. Shopkeeper Wang can actually become a brother with him. It shows that Shopkeeper Wang is also a rare talent. Only then can they appreciate each other so much!"

After hearing this, Wang An couldn't suppress the curled corners of his mouth, as if he had become a military god like Man Gui, who was invincible and had fought in many battles on the battlefield.

Dong Lingju's words were not entirely flattery, but rather genuine shock.

First, Wang Chengen, a popular figure around the emperor, came forward and said that Wang An was a little pretentious with His Majesty, and specifically asked to make Wang An an imperial merchant and register him in the Honglu Temple.

Then he went to Datong Prefecture and became brothers with Man Gui, who was a first-rank general and the prince's grand tutor.

Not to mention his friendship with Emperor Chongzhen, just the fact that he was able to become sworn brothers with the local officials was enough to instantly kill 99% of the merchants in the Ming Dynasty!
No, it’s the population of nine times nine of the daimyo that was killed in an instant!
Even though the late Ming Dynasty valued civil officials over military officials, a seventh-rank civil official could point at a third-rank lieutenant general and curse him, thus jumping four levels.

But it also depends on the person. The general lieutenant general, guerrilla general or even the second-rank deputy general, the so-called deputy general, is mostly unknown. They have no soldiers under their command and no military achievements. Of course, the civil officials look down on them.

However, Man Gui held the title of the Prince's Grand Tutor and had fought in hundreds of battles, large and small, and had made countless military achievements. He was respected even in front of the emperor.

Compared with Dong Lingju, an insignificant fifth-rank official at the Honglu Temple, they are like heaven and earth.

However, what made Dong Lingju most suspicious was how could Man Gui, with his identity, become sworn brothers with a businessman?

Even in the Ming Dynasty, where civil officials were noble and military officials were lowly, they were never so lowly!
Think again about Wang Chengen and the young emperor.

Dong Lingju felt that he had grasped something. He was afraid that what Wang Chengen said, "The emperor had a slight friendship with him," was not true...

Dong Lingju swallowed his saliva and smiled more amiably, even inviting Wang An to stay for dinner. However, Wang An was still concerned about his work, so how could he have the time to have dinner with a junior official from a low-paid government office?
So I politely declined.

If it were in the past, when a high-ranking official of Dong Lingju's level invited Wang An to dinner, Wang An would have carefully prepared and taken the initiative to pay the bill.

But now that he has a big brother who is the general, he has unconsciously become more confident.

After asking Ergou and two old soldiers who were accompanying him to pick up the silver, Wang An said goodbye to Dong Lingju.

After transporting the two large boxes of silver back home for safekeeping, Wang An immediately followed Ergou to a vacant lot next to the chemical plant.

From a distance, I saw a few people standing next to the open space. When they saw Wang An and others, they took the initiative to greet them.

One of them was an old acquaintance of Wang Andao. When he bought the coal warehouse and the chemical plant, he asked this person to serve as a witness to sign the contract and obtain the house deed.

He was a boy of medium age from the city.

Wang An guessed that the people around the boy should be the owners of this vacant lot.

Since the beginning of winter last year, Ergou has been working beside Wang An, and his ability to do things has been getting better and better. Last night, he mentioned that he wanted to buy the vacant land next to the chemical plant. The next day, Ergou called his owner and the people from the dental clinic together.

When the few people met, they exchanged some pleasantries first, and then got down to business, measuring the size of the vacant land and negotiating the price.

Actually, this vacant land is about the same size as a chemical plant, but because it has been idle and not suitable for farming, it is empty and no one cares about it.

Also, because it is a little far from the urban area of ​​the capital, no wealthy family is interested in building houses here.

When the owner of the vacant lot heard that someone wanted to buy it, he was even more enthusiastic than Wang An and offered a very affordable price.

Although Wang An was determined to become a big profiteer, he was unable to change his nature and could not learn the essence of cunning. When he saw that the other party offered a fair price, he paid generously.

Under the witness of the escort, the two signed a contract and agreed on a time to go to Shuntian Prefecture to apply for the land deed. This piece of vacant land then belonged to Wang An.

Wang An paid fifty taels of silver as a deposit on the spot, and agreed to pay the remaining amount after the land deed was processed. Then both parties bid farewell to each other happily.

After taking over the vacant land, Wang An rushed back to the chemical plant with Ergou and asked Tian Erlangzi to gather all the veterans.

After all the veterans arrived, Wang An selected and divided them into three groups according to their physical condition and degree of disability.

The most serious cases are those who are blind in both eyes and have lost the ability to work in at least two of their limbs.

Wang An had no intention of abandoning these severely disabled people, but it was a bit of a headache to arrange suitable jobs for them, so he could only let them rest for the time being.

The reason why they were allowed to rest temporarily was that the fate of the old soldiers in the late Ming Dynasty after being injured or even disabled was quite miserable.

(End of this chapter)