The Warriors of the Three Kingdoms

Immediately shouted at Liu Zheng.

Chapter 60 The Fierce Cai Mao

"You handsome man, you are finally here!"

After fighting with the Yellow Turban Army for so long, Cai Mao also knows the division of positions in the Yellow Turban Army.

And he was captured by Liu Zheng, so he was naturally quite impressed with Liu Zheng.

As soon as he saw Liu Zheng coming, he knew that if he wanted to survive, Liu Zheng had to speak and speak.

"This is Cai Mao, General Cai?"

Liu Zheng asked clearly, and responded to Cai Mao in a questioning tone.

Cai Mao nodded immediately.

"Yes, yes, I am Cai Mao."

"You asked me to come, what do you mean?"

Liu Zheng didn't ask Cai Mao straight to the point, about taking money to redeem people, although he knew that Cai Mao came here to buy his own life with money, and wanted Liu Zheng to let him go.

But businessmen will not expose their bottom line from the very beginning.

Even if Liu Zheng really wanted to make a deal with Cai Mao, he wouldn't show it at the beginning.

This is not conducive to his bargaining with Cai Mao.

Only when he is very unhappy first, Cai Mao will spare no effort to save his life and make Liu Zheng let him go.

"Shuai Qu, I want to know what you want to do with us when you catch us here and imprison us. If you want to kill us, can you give us a quicker way? If you just want to imprison us, then it’s better to put this sentence on the table and say whether we have a chance to survive.”

In fact, Cai Mao is not afraid of death, but being held in the dungeon by Liu Zheng is too aggrieved. If Liu Zheng wants to kill him, Cai Mao will have no complaints. After all, the defeated will not be qualified to talk about life and death.

So he just wanted to find out from Liu Zheng what Liu Zheng's purpose was.

"I have no grievances or enmities with you. If I say I want to kill you, it is unnecessary. But if you let you go like this, you are officers and soldiers after all, and I have a natural hostile relationship with me. If you let you go like this, I will let you go." If you agree, the people under you may not agree either."

Liu Zheng knew what Cai Mao meant, so he immediately responded to Cai Mao. He didn't say that Cai Mao and the others must be killed in his words, so smart people should be able to hear from Liu Zheng's words that Liu Zheng is giving Cai Mao Under the steps, let Cai Mao take up the topic of ransom by himself.

Sure enough, Cai Mao is a smart person. He heard the meaning of Liu Zheng's words, and immediately showed a gleam of joy on his face, and immediately questioned Liu Zheng.

"So, Qu Shuai is willing to let me wait?"

"It's not impossible to let you go, it depends on whether you are on the way."

Liu Zheng spoke again, and this time he made his intentions more obvious.

Having been in the officialdom all year round, Cai Mao naturally understood what Liu Zheng meant.

"On the right path, on the right path, if Qu Shuai is willing to let me go, I am willing to give five hundred gold to honor Qu Shuai and Qu Shuai's many brothers."

When Liu Zheng heard Cai Mao's words, he quickly calculated in his mind.

As far as he knows, in this era, gold and silver are not the main currency in circulation.

Although gold is in circulation, it is generally owned by high-ranking officials and nobles, while the currency owned by ordinary people is five baht.

The five baht coin is actually a copper coin that is usually called by modern people. It is a copper coin with a square hole in the outer circle, and because the word five baht is engraved on it, it is named five baht coin.

A thousand five-baht coins are also called consistent, or one-way.

As for gold and silver, the unit is calculated according to the catty, but the catty at this time is different from the modern catty.

The catty at this time is only about half the weight of the modern catty.

As for the exchange ratio between gold and five baht coins, Liu Zheng is actually not too clear about it. After all, he has never received gold. After struggling in this troubled world for so long, it is actually just savings of some five baht coins.

But he heard that one gold can be worth at least thousands of dollars.

As for Cai Mao, he only said five hundred gold, so it is conceivable that this guy's family is still very rich.

You know, what is the concept of five hundred gold in an era when a person went to a hotel for a simple meal and it was only thirty yuan.

I'm afraid that five hundred gold is money that many people will never earn in their lifetime.

Although Liu Zheng was surprised to hear that Cai Mao was willing to spend so much money for his acquaintances, Liu Zheng still had to pretend to be very dissatisfied.

"That's all?"

Liu Zheng frowned, expressing his dissatisfaction.

Seeing Liu Zheng's expression, Cai Mao knew that Liu Zheng wanted the lion to speak up, and he was just about to quote a higher price.

However, in the opposite room, Qin Jie angrily reprimanded him.

"Cai Mao, what are you doing? Do you want to join the enemy? You coward, if you dare to pay for your life, I will definitely punish you!"

Qin Jie is not a person like Cai Mao who is greedy for life and afraid of death. When he saw that Cai Mao was willing to give money to the Yellow Turban Army in order to survive, he immediately shouted angrily.

Qin Jie's words made Liu Zheng, Cai Mao and others look ugly, and turned to look at Qin Jie.

"Why are you arguing, it's not your turn yet, if you keep shouting, your price will double in a while!"

Liu Zheng didn't take kindly to Qin Jie.

He immediately yelled at Qin Jie, but Qin Jie yelled even more fiercely.

"Hey, traitor, I won't give you a penny at all. If you want my life, you can take it at any time, but if you want me to give you money, don't even think about it. I would rather die than surrender."

Qin Jie still had a backbone, and he didn't seem to be afraid of death, so he yelled angrily at Liu Zheng.

What he said made Cai Mao sweat coldly, but he sneered.

"Hmph, prefect Qin Jie, you are not afraid of death, I am afraid, if you die, the court will naturally appease your family, but if I die, our Cai family will be in decline in Jingzhou. So you can die , but I cannot die."

Cai Mao had a lot of dissatisfaction with Qin Jie, and there was some gap between the two of them. At this time, Qin Jie angrily reprimanded Cai Mao, which made Cai Mao even more unhappy.

He finally waited for Liu Zheng to come, so he could have a chance to let him live. If Qin Jie disturbed him, where would he cry, Cai Mao?

So I immediately stated my position with Qin Jie, and wanted Liu Zheng to know that he and Qin Jie were not of the same mind. Even if Liu Zheng wanted to blame him, he could only blame Qin Jie and not involve him.

"Prefect Qin Jie, if you say that, you are of no use to me. No way, I can only use you"

Liu Zheng was halfway through his speech and didn't continue.

When Cai Mao heard Liu Zheng's meaning, he suddenly had an idea, and immediately said something more to Liu Zheng.

"This Shuai Qu, if you kill Qin Jie, I'm willing to give you two hundred more gold!"

Liu Zheng was taken aback by Cai Mao's words, and immediately looked at Cai Mao in surprise.

Chapter 61 Ransom demanded

"Cai Mao you!"

Cai Hao's words immediately made Qin Jie in the opposite dungeon unable to bring it up, and was almost suffocated by himself.

"Hmph, Prefect Qin Jie, don't blame me for being cruel. This time you defeated the Yellow Turban Army. If you can leave alive, you will definitely blame me. So for my survival, you'd better not go back."

Considering his own results, Cai Mao had no choice but to attack Qin Jie.

It just so happened that Qin Jie took the initiative to anger Liu Zheng at this time, which gave Cai Mao a reason to speak.

"Ah, I can't tell, General Cai Mao, you are so ruthless, you are indeed a hero."

Liu Zheng himself didn't like Cai Hao very much. In history, he abandoned Liu Biao's eldest son Liu Qi and supported his second son Liu Cong to succeed him. Later, Cao Cao called and directly coerced Liu Cong to surrender to Cao Cao.Such a person, only to protect his own family.

In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the three brothers of the Cai family all died in a trick.It is conceivable that members of the Cai family are not smart people.

Give up the huge Jingzhou.What good can a person who doesn't resist at all do.

So although Liu Zheng looked down on Cai Mao, he didn't expect that Cai Mao was so ruthless, which made Liu Zheng look down on him a little bit before.

However, Liu Zheng also didn't like Qin Jie very much. Although this guy was famous in the imperial court and had some talents, he was quite strict with the soldiers, and he ended up not very well in the end.

If Liu Zheng remembered correctly, after he wiped out the Yellow Turban Army, he became the prefect of Nanyang. Unfortunately, within two years, he was killed by his soldiers in a rebellion.

"Qu Shuai, I can't help it. If you want to survive, you have to be tough on yourself."

Cai Mao didn't take Liu Zheng's ridicule seriously.

"Okay, yes, I appreciate a villain like you, but seven hundred gold can't buy Qin Jie's head, I want one thousand gold!"

"One thousand gold!?"

When Cai Mao heard Liu Zheng's lion opened his mouth, his expression darkened immediately, as if he was hesitant, but when he finally thought about his own future, he finally gritted his teeth and agreed.

"Okay, one thousand gold is one thousand gold!"

After Cai Mao agreed, Liu Zheng raised the corner of his mouth, showing a hint of complacency, and then said another sentence.

"Your own ransom will be calculated separately. The total is [-] gold. If you agree, send someone to your house now and ask someone to bring the money over."

After Liu Zheng finished speaking, he looked at Cai Mao, waiting for Cai Mao's answer.

Cai Mao had just made a difficult decision, but now that Liu Zheng, a profiteer, raised the price to [-] gold again, he wanted to cry, but there was nothing he could do.

I agreed to a thousand gold, so it's hard to go back on one thousand and five, or I just gritted my teeth and agreed.

"Bring me some pens and paper, and I will write a letter home. You all go to Xiangyang City in the starry night, find the Cai Mansion, and give this letter to my younger brother Cai He, and everything will be fine."

Cai Hao had already thought about all this, and he was just waiting for Liu Zheng's people to prepare.

After Liu Zheng listened to Cai Mao's words, he ordered Zhou Cang to give Cai Mao what he needed, and after a while, Cai Mao had already written a letter from home.

Wrap it in an envelope and hand it to Liu Zheng.

Liu Zheng wasn't that stupid, he just took it out and read it by himself first. Although he couldn't understand the characters in this world, it was no problem asking Xu You to read it for him.

After confirming that the envelope only said to ask Cai He to prepare [-] gold and immediately deliver it to Runan City, and there was no other mark on it, he wrapped it properly, and then found a trusted aide to send it to Runan City. Xin ordered him to take it to Xiangyang City.

Xiangyang City is not far from Runan.

To the west of Runan is Nanyang, and below Nanyang are Xiangyang and Jiangxia.

If the journey is fast, one day is enough for a round trip.

Soon, Liu Zheng received a reply from the Cai Mansion in Xiangyang.

After all, Cai Mao is the eldest son of Cai. The Cai family is in Jingzhou, and they were not originally a famous family. The reason why they can grow up quickly is mainly due to women.

Why do you say that, the rise of the Cai family in Jingzhou is mainly due to Cai Mao's aunt, who is the wife of the current court Sikong Zhang Wen.

As for Cai Mao's own two younger sisters, one married Huang Chengyan, a well-known scholar in Jingzhou, and the other married Liu Biao, the future lord of Jingzhou.

Although Liu Zheng still doesn't know whether this matter will succeed or not, this is the majority of Liu Zheng's impression of the Cai family.

To be honest, Cai Mao was still the uncle of the famous Zhuge Liang in the future.

Because Zhuge Liang's wife is Huang Yueying, and Huang Yueying's mother is Cai Mao's younger sister.

Cai Mansion's reply letter is very simple, it is to ask Liu Zheng not to hurt Cai Mao for the time being, they will not be able to collect [-] gold in a short time, it will take two days to prepare, and on the third day they will send someone to escort the prepared money To Runan City.

Regarding this point, Liu Zheng is not in a hurry. Although he is quite poor now, he is not in a hurry for these two days, so he can afford to wait.

However, if they had to wait a few days, Liu Zheng would simply ask them to prepare five thousand catties of pig iron and send them over.

Pig iron, in this era, is not particularly expensive, about forty or fifty yuan a catty, and copper coins are usually enough to buy dozens of catties.

Although Liu Zheng can buy it himself, the quantity he needs is relatively large. At the same time, his status makes it difficult to buy a lot. If the Cai family can buy enough, he can save his effort.

Three days later, a convoy traveled from the direction of Xiangyang City, along Jiangxia County, all the way to Runan County.

They didn't go to Nanyang. After all, Nanyang was Zhang Mancheng's territory. If there was a little carelessness, Zhang Mancheng's people robbed the [-] gold in the convoy, it would be no joke.

The members of the Cai family came to Liu Zheng's Runan City with a dozen boxes.

In this box, half is the gold agreed before, and the other half is the pig iron that Liu Zheng needs.

Dozens of private soldiers of the Cai family were in charge of escorting them outside the city.

"Shuai Qu, the Cai family's ransom has been delivered, and it is now outside the city, let us go over and take over."

Zhou Cang, who received the news, quickly found Liu Zheng and asked Liu Zheng to receive it.

After Liu Zheng heard the news, he immediately became interested, and immediately brought people outside Runan City.

Sure enough, I saw some people escorting more than a dozen boxes and appeared outside Runan City.

Liu Zheng took Xu Huang and Zhou Cang out of the city gate and approached the Cai family who were escorting the money.

As soon as he saw someone finally coming out from the city, a little brother came up to him immediately.