Chapter 263: Forced to kill

The house was not big. After all the personal guards of Qiu Lei came out of the Jiaozhou Camp information, Li Meng was indeed alone and proudly entered.

The door of the main hall was wide open, and Shandong general Qiu Lei stood respectfully by the door in the regular uniform of a military general. Needless to say, his attitude and the attitude of greeting were clearly the attitude of a lower-level military officer to welcome Shangguan. Of course, everything is worse than others at the moment, so he can only do this.

After seeing Li Meng walk into the yard, Qiu Lei, who was standing on the steps, hurriedly stepped forward a few steps. His posture seemed to be about to kneel down, but thinking that he was the general and the other party was a general, his identity was different. Doing such etiquette might make the other party misunderstand, so he quickly stopped his movements and bowed deeply.

"General Qiu, you haven't seen each other for almost a month!"

Li Meng said coldly, but he didn't go into the room and spoke directly in the yard. Qiu Lei couldn't help but shiver when he heard Li Meng's tone. He didn't know what to answer, but just nodded. Li Meng continued to maintain the same tone and said:

"I haven't seen each other in January, General Qiu's troops are only so small. Could it be that he fought a big battle with the Tartars, and suffered heavy casualties?"

It is no different from slapping people in person when he said this. Qiu Lei's face was pale and hesitated for a long time without answering. Li Meng sneered a few times, stopped talking about this topic, and spoke:

"I heard that the General has a lot of land in Jinan Prefecture and Dongchang Prefecture. I also heard that the General boasted to others that I was the second in Shandong. Although the Confucius Mansion was the first, it was accumulated over hundreds of years. If I became the General in the Year, this would definitely be mine."

Qiu Lei didn't know what Li Meng was trying to say this, but he could only laugh at himself and explained, "It's all jokes, jokes, you can't do it really, you can't do it really!" Li Meng continued to say to himself:

"General Qiu has many soldiers and generals. In addition to these more than 6,000 people, I heard that there are 600 children from the hometown in Ye County, guarding your more than a dozen wives and children's property, right?"

Listening to Li Meng clearly telling his land, family, and children, General Qiu Lei's face turned pale. He didn't know what to answer, nor did he know what Li Meng was going to say next, but his body gradually began to tremble. He fled all the way, and his courage and even his savage and domineering aura were wiped out.

"General Qiu, let's take his own life!"

Li Meng said this in a very plain tone. Qiu Lei took a few steps back, but found that he was not too nervous or afraid. Li Meng's few inquiries just now contained too many meanings. People like Qiu Lei who have been in the officialdom for a long time naturally understood it.

Seeing that General Qiu Lei was not panicked and looked mentally broken, Li Meng nodded and continued:

"I know that General Qiu took all the land deeds and other things with him, and transferred them to me. A document to recommend that you commit suicide because of the burden of Shandong elders. You are willing to recommend General Li Meng as General Shandong and guard one side."

After hearing Li Meng's words, Qiu Lei rarely plucked up some courage and stared at Li Meng with hatred, but he dared not have any reason to act rashly. Although Li Meng entered the yard alone, Jiaozhou camp soldiers holding various weapons were eyeing him at the door of the yard. If he wanted to make some moves, he was afraid that the people who rushed in from outside would be chopped into meat paste before they could be implemented, and Qiu Lei had no regrets.

If he did not agree to Li Meng come in alone to meet him, looking at his current situation, I am afraid that the consequences will be chopped into meat paste. Qiu Lei's reaction on his face would not have any intimidation for Li Meng, but instead continued to speak:

"General Qiu, if you commit suicide, your family can be rich and prosperous for a lifetime. If you don't want to, I will not force you. It is also a good thing for the whole family to get together. I will naturally be willing to become a beauty."

After Li Mengran said this, the last trace of courage on Qiu Lei disappeared, and he felt that he had no strength in his body. When the Tatar army entered Shandong, Qiu Lei hurriedly arranged for his confidant children to send his family to Chengye County, Laizhou Prefecture, which seemed safer.

The matter was urgent that day and he didn't care about anything. After the Tartars left the Shandong territory and Li Meng returned to Dezhou City, he realized that Chengye County, Laizhou Prefecture, was originally the territory of the general Li Meng, who took the initiative to deliver it to his door. It was really a sheep entering the tiger's mouth.

It is related to his life and death. How could Qiu Lei make such a decision? He glanced at the other party several times and wondered if there was a possibility of holding the other party hostage. But seeing the other party's majesty and stroll, he thought about his body being hollowed out by wine and sex over the years, and a little bit of courage disappeared.

Li Meng looked at the other party hesitating there and shouted to the outside:

"Have you invited General Qiu's rank?"

There was a noise outside, and when he saw a middle-aged man dressed as a literati, being pushed in, Qiu Lei's master was already scared by the situation outside. When he entered the yard, his legs became weak and he knelt down directly. Li Meng smiled and said:

"General Qiu, your rank often uses your handwriting, steals seals, and does something greedy. In fact, there are some things you don't need to do, and you can't do!"

Hearing Li Meng's words, Qiu Lei's last glimmer of hope also scattered. He fell to the ground and said dejectedly:

"Mr. Qiu agreed, just ask Lord Li to express his trust!"

"I will do it naturally if I agree. Master Zhang and General Qiu will handle all the transfer of land deeds. Then the death-ending confession letter must be written well. Don't make any mistakes, don't do anything."

The master kowtowed and agreed like pounding garlic. Li Meng walked out of the house directly. Naturally, there were personal soldiers from Jiaozhou Camp and people from Lingshan Trading Company entering the courtyard. The transfer of land deeds and suicide notes were carried out only if someone was surveillance. When people died, they would always do something that they were not very clear.

There were no one else in the aisle outside except Jiaozhouying. After Li Meng walked out, he casually found a stone on the side of the road and sat down, waiting for news inside.

There was a silence inside and outside. After about half an hour, several personal soldiers walked out of the yard with a stack of paper and documents, and came to Li Meng's side and reported:

"Sir, General Qiu fled all the way, causing Shandong soldiers and civilians to be poisoned by the Tartars. They blame themselves every day and finally decided to commit suicide and apologize. Just now, their subordinates went in to check and found that General Qiu had already hanged himself. His aide, Mr. Zhang, was also loyal to the victim, followed him."

Li Meng nodded, and the account room of a Lingshan Trading Company next to him raised the land deed and the transfer document in his hand and added:

"At his death, General Qiu decided to transfer all the land to the adults, let the adults farm and build troops, fight the Tartars again, and recommend the adults as the next Shandong general in his suicide note."

Li Meng sighed and said softly:

"General Qiu is also loyal to the country. He informed the officials of this matter and was buried with a grand ceremony!"

The people below nodded and dispersed.

Governor Yan Jizu and military supervisor Liu Yuanbin reported Li Meng's military merits, and the court's praise would definitely not be missing. The title of the general and the addition of the left governor are all a foregone conclusion, but there is a difference between the general and the general. Liu Zeqing's Caozhou General is a miscellaneous general, and Qiu Lei's Shandong General is a military officer of the imperial court, and they have a subordinate relationship with each other.

Li Meng knew that he was not the kind of military general who had been on the right path for generations. The court would not give him the title of Shandong General for balance or seniority, but it was very likely that he would be the title of Jiaozhou General or Denglai General, and then he would re-arrange some generals to come to serve.

What you do is still restrained. If you are not upright, you will be dissatisfied. Without the title of Shandong General, you will never be able to determine your status in Shandong.

But now the situation is suddenly unconscious in the court and the country, civil officials and military generals have forced them to retreat from the Tartars army. If they can be given up, they will be given up. Apart from Lu Xiangsheng, there is no other example of loyalty to fight against the enemy. At this time, if the news that the Shandong general committed suicide due to the unfavorable resistance against the enemy, it will inevitably be promoted by the Ming court as a typical example. Then, the loyalist's recommendation and cooperation with his military merits will surely be without suspense.

Furthermore, Qiu Lei is known as the second largest landlord in Shandong. The only one in Kong Mansion, the farmlands in his hands are large in the area, and most of them are in Jinan and Dongchang Mansions, where land is fertile. Although General Qiu should be the third largest landlord after the establishment of the Tuntian Farm in Jiaozhou-ying, the number of land in his hands is still huge.

By getting these lands, the Jiaozhou Camp's Tuntian Village was connected into pieces throughout Shandong. Not only did it increase significantly in income, but it increased significantly in refugees and a significant increase in the source of troops. Moreover, because of the strict organizational structure of the Tuntian Village and the Jiaozhou Camp behind it, its influence among the local gentry and landlords also increased, which would attract the grassroots of the Ming ruling class to rely on, and there were many benefits.
Chapter completed!