Li Wei's hand holding the wine glass froze in front of him, and the word "court" moved him a little.
Chang'an is at the feet of the Emperor of Chongqing. Being able to hold an official position in Chang'an is the lifelong ideal of many people in the officialdom.
"Yes, it's the imperial court." Xiao Ming's words became more explicit, "Now the Minister of Honglu Temple will step down in three years, and now many officials are vying to get it. Although Honglu Temple is not a lucrative position, , but he is also a fourth-rank official."
Li Wei struggled for a moment, and suddenly said: "But what does this have to do with me? I may stop here in my life."
"Not necessarily, if the envoy is willing, I will. With the king's current status, it is no problem to recommend someone to the emperor as the minister of Honglu Temple, right? If the envoy is willing to work for me, I will guarantee that the envoy can be appointed as the minister of Honglu Temple in three years."
Xiao Ming said. To put it bluntly, Li Wei is obviously a person who attaches great importance to his official position. There is a huge difference between a Biejia under the command of the King of Wei and a fourth-rank official in the imperial court.
Moreover, if the recruitment failed, Xiao Ming would not suffer any losses. At most, he would not be able to take advantage of King Chu.
Li Wei fell into deep thought. His father was once a ninth-rank official in the imperial court. His last wish before his death was that he would one day become a highly respected minister, but there was obviously no hope under the command of the King of Chu.
As King Qi said, I am getting older and older, and if I wait any longer, I can only go home and farm.
And once he obtained the official position of Minister of Honglu Temple, he could enter the court to discuss affairs. What an honor it was. He said: "Your Highness means what he said."
"Seriously."
Xiao Ming smiled, just as he once said The same as before, betrayal did not happen just because there was not enough benefit. People live selfishly, and few people can completely abandon temptation.
Li Wei continued: "It is empty talk, but please make a written statement. If Your Highness regrets it in the future, even if I die, I will let the people with lofty ideals in Dayu know that Your Highness is a person who does not keep his word."
After hearing this, Xiao Mingda With a smile, he said: "How difficult is this."
After that, he asked Ziyuan to prepare pen, ink, paper and inkstone to write down his promise. Then he said to Li Wei: "Since it is a promise, two people need to sign it."
Xiao Ming wrote his name and handed the pen to Li Wei.
Reaching out to take the brush, Li Wei held the pen and stayed on the writing for a long time, because he understood that once he wrote his name, he would have to listen to King Qi's orders in the future.
If he doesn't obey, King Qi can also use this evidence to ruin his reputation.
But the humiliation of being sent to Qingzhou and the depression of these years finally made him make up his mind and write his name on the paper.
"His Highness will give you orders in the future, and I will do my best." After signing, Li Wei stood up and saluted.
Xiao Ming waved his hand and asked Li Wei to sit down. This was the first time that Xiao Ming tried to win over a minister. Fortunately, he did not expect to succeed. Now he finally understood why the ministers in the court had chosen different vassal kings.
These vassal kings with different surnames have been operating in Dayu for such a long time, so naturally they are better than him at wooing important court officials.
"Messenger, don't be nervous. I will not let you do dangerous things. I just need the envoy to inform me of the information about Chu Land from time to time. At the same time, if the King of Chu has any tricks in this transaction, please let the envoy know. "
Having already signed, Li Wei was also very conscious. He said to Xiao Ming: "Xia Guan is only serving as a Lin'an farewell driver in the Prince of Chu's Mansion. The title of this farewell driver seems to be quite big, but in fact, it is just recording daily affairs for the Lin'an governor. , but because he is like this, he knows something about some secret things."
Xiao Ming raised his glass and drank, waiting for Li Wei's next words.
"Now the King of Chu's army has a total of 15,000 musketeers and more than 3,000 merchant ships. These more than 3,000 ships are large merchant ships, excluding medium-sized merchant ships and small merchant ships. If you add the two together, the King of Chu has enough Eight thousand merchant ships. This time the King of Chu and His Highness purchased artillery. They did not want to give large merchant ships to His Highness. They just wanted to use medium-sized merchant ships and small merchant ships to exchange artillery with His Highness. At the same time, there were a total of thirty shipyards under the King of Chu, but this time The King of Chu has no intention of handing over the real core craftsmen to His Highness, but just handing over ordinary craftsmen to His Highness…"
Li Wei told Xiao Ming everything he knew.
Before he went to Qingzhou as an envoy, the King of Chu told him many of the bottom lines of the negotiations. Naturally, he knew all the tricks involved, but the King of Chu would not have thought that Li Wei would tell the truth now.
Envoys in Dayu have always played a very miserable role. Envoys sent to the barbarians basically risked their lives, because the barbarians would be killed if they were unhappy.
At the same time, vassal kings would also send envoys to each other. If the envoys proposed things that made the other party unhappy, they would be humiliated even if they were not beheaded.
So when the King of Chu selected him as an envoy, he was already extremely disappointed with the King of Chu.
Xiao Ming nodded frequently. It was true that King Chu wanted to buy artillery, but it was also true that he wanted to pass off inferior artillery. If he had not bribed Li Wei today, he would probably let King Chu take advantage of the loophole again this time.
In addition to the intrigues in this trade, Li Wei also talked about the affairs of the King of Chu and the Cao family, and the situation of the transaction between the Dutch and the King of Chu.
Generally speaking, the Dutch now mainly buy porcelain, silk, tea and other items from the Chongqing Kingdom, while the King of Chu only buys matchlock guns from the Dutch.
Moreover, the matchlock guns were sold for five hundred taels each. A few days ago, the Dutch sold the mirror to the King of Chu at a high price, causing the King of Chu to suffer a lot of losses.
"The real reason for the Dutch's dissatisfaction with the King of Chu this time is that the Dutch feel that they have suffered a loss in trade, because the purchase of porcelain, silk and tea has drained the Dutch's money." Li Wei concluded.
Xiao Ming nodded. In fact, the problem Li Wei mentioned was the trade deficit. Now the Dutch are obviously aware of this. Long-term trade has made the Chu land more and more wealthy, but the King of Chu rarely buys their goods.
Britain's huge trade deficit with the Qing Dynasty made the British eventually import opium into the Qing Dynasty. It seems that now the Dutch are also going crazy because of this matter.
Xiao Ming is very satisfied with the information Li Wei told. He will continue to provide information in three years, and at the same time, he will continue to uncover the traps in this trade to prevent him from being fooled by the King of Chu.
After the meal, Xiao Ming sent Li Wei to Wei's restaurant to rest, while he was planning how to get the King of Chu's large merchant ships and high-quality shipbuilding craftsmen.
While he was thinking, a sudden "boom" of explosions came from the direction of Bowen College, which startled Xiao Ming.
In order to facilitate the teaching, Bowen College was only a few streets away from the palace. I don't know what happened with such a huge explosion.