The Second Master of the Iron-blooded Lian of the Red Chamber

Jia Lian and his entourage rushed southward at full speed, while the emperor's grandson and his entourage released a group of pigeons on the third day after they left the city, flying to Yangzhou and the two lakes in the south of the Yangtze River.

Lin Ruhai has been a salt teacher in Yangzhou for two years, and has made a lot of achievements; Qin Yue has worked in Lianghu for five years, and has met many wealthy businessmen, so naturally he has retained some people.In fact, the pigeons released by the grandson of the emperor did not write anything confidential. It was nothing more than asking the two places to start buying rice that had not been pounded into rice, barley and corn that had not been ground.

Grain preservation is not easy. Although rice takes up more space than rice, it is better preserved than rice. Therefore, farmers may not keep much millet for themselves, but there should be a lot of rice merchants and wealthy households.The ancient grains were full-grained grains, but as long as they were not pounded into rice and wheat and corn were not ground, they could germinate, take root, and be used as grain seeds.As long as intensive cultivation is done, such seeds will not reduce the yield much compared with self-reserved seeds.

Purchase these few things first, even if someone tampers with them, there is still time to replant them after discovering them.

Jia Lian had expected that Zhen Hanguan might use falcons to hunt pigeons, so he did not release the pigeons from the capital.Iron Net Mountain is west of the capital, and after three days of traveling in the direction of Iron Net Mountain, the homing pigeons should have gone out of the falcon hunting range deployed by Zhenhanguan.As long as one of these pigeons is in the hands of the informants left by Lin Ruhai and Tan Yue, it is possible to rush to buy grain for spare before Zhen Hanguan steals the beam.

After releasing the pigeons, the eldest grandson of the emperor did not continue westward, but turned southward at full speed, releasing falcons in Tongzhou, Tianjin and other places.The flying birds also have their own routes. The pigeons going south from the capital mostly overlap with the route going south from the canal. If Zhenhanguan is still in the capital, the pigeons must be sent to various places for action.Zhen Hanguan can use falcons to kill pigeons in Rongguo Mansion, and the eldest grandson of the emperor can also use falcons to kill pigeons in Zhen Hanguan.

However, Zhenhanguan only reacted two days after the emperor's eldest grandson left the city. On the third day, the emperor's eldest grandson rushed back to release the falcons after releasing the pigeons three hundred miles west of the capital.

He also said that day after Zhen Hanguan learned that Jia Lian was likely to divert to the south, he immediately ordered people to collect the falcons and release the pigeons.

But even though the eldest grandson of the emperor took a group of falcons to the direction of Iron Net Mountain, there were still many people in various parts of the capital at dawn. He captured the pigeons released by Zhen Hanguan.

On the afternoon of the day when the people from Zhenhanguan released the pigeons, Lou Rui replied, "Mr. Hanguan, according to the report from Feiyutang, besides our falcons, there are many falcons of unknown origin in the south of the city."

Zhen Hanguan listened, and nodded with a hmm, suddenly beads of sweat appeared on his face, he raised his head and said, "Let's retreat quickly!"

After a little thought, Lou Rui understood, said "Yes!" with a serious face, and hurriedly ordered to prepare.

There are a group of falcons of unknown origin in the south of the city, and these falcons are most likely to belong to the imperial court.If the people of the imperial court intercept the pigeons released by Zhenhanguan, they can confirm that Zhenhanguan is within the capital and its vicinity.It is equivalent to the risk of exposure of Zhen Hanguan's hidden stake in the capital.

Zhen Hanguan is a cautious person. Before the activities in the capital, he prepared the retreat route.In order to protect the safety of the emperor's eldest grandson, Jiang Dahu has been leading people to go with the emperor's eldest grandson. Although Lixiao was very keen when he stayed in the capital, after all, because Zhenhanguan had already prepared, he went a step late and only caught some minions.

Even so, Zhen Hanguan broke out in a cold sweat. Although Jia Daishan died soon, he not only broke his own situation in a very short period of time, but also found a countermeasure, which is really admirable.Even though Zhen Hanguan and Jia Daishan are rivals, they can't help feeling a little admiration for Jia Daishan.

Jia Lian and his party hurried all the way south, and entered Baoding Mansion the next day.

On this day, the five of them found a place to live in Baoding. After dinner, Jia Lian said, "Four gentlemen, I was ordered by my grandfather to go south to work. This is the first time I have made my own decisions. I was young and had little knowledge. , relying on the four gentlemen all the way, but the boy is here to ask everyone to make an idea, so please don't blame the four gentlemen.

Mr. Wei, Mr. Guan, and the two Mr. Cheng, tomorrow we will part ways. The two Mr. Cheng will go to Handan, go south via Nanyang and Xiangfan, and enter the two lakes. No matter whether anyone comes out or sells or distributes grain at a low price, the two gentlemen Be sure to find a way to buy enough grain to make seeds.Mr. Wei and Mr. Guan, let's go south to Yangzhou. "

Before the five of them left, Jia Daishan had already given instructions to four capable men, and they followed Jia Lian's orders on the way.However, Jia Lian was cautious and did not give orders condescendingly, but respected and praised the four of them.

Cheng Jin said: "Second Young Master, we have just entered Baoding City, we don't have many people, if the bandits come after us, won't it be dangerous to march separately?"

Jia Lian shook his head and said, "This is a major matter that concerns the life and death of the common people. We must get ahead of the culprits. If this matter is done earlier, many lives may be saved. Besides, if Zhen Hanguan didn't guess that the emperor's eldest grandson sent us Just go out of the city, if you guess it, you will be able to find out that there are five of us. After the thief hears the news, he must pay more attention to the team of five, and we will break up into parts and act separately, so it will not be easy to attract the attention of the thief."

The Cheng brothers acted calmly, Cheng Qu hesitated and said, "This..."

Wei Jiu raised his head and said, "Excellent."

Cheng Jin and Cheng Qu knew that Wei Jiu's kung fu was amazing, since he didn't object, he must be very confident in protecting the second young master's safety, so they stopped objecting.

The next day, before the five of them left the city, they saw many people rushing towards a grain shop.

I just heard the waiter of the grain shop yelling hard: "Come and see, come and see. The high-quality grain seeds that our shopkeeper sells back to the south of the Yangtze River. Take a look, the size of the grains, the grains are full, and they are planted on the ground. Here, in autumn, there will be a bumper harvest.

Our shopkeeper said that the business needs to be a long-term business. This is the first time this year to introduce this southern grain. In order to let the villagers grow with peace of mind, we will make money and make money.The villagers exchanged one catty of their own grain seeds for two taels of our seeds to go back.If the harvest is good, everyone has harvested the grain in the second half of this year. In addition to keeping enough for their own rations, they must sell the rest to our Harvest Grain Shop, especially not to our Fengshou Grain Shop’s rivals.If everyone agrees, they will take their own grain in exchange. "

Jia Lian frowned when he heard this: He thought that Zhenhanguan would distribute grain seeds to the villagers at low prices or free of charge through Dashanren, Dashantang, but Zhenhanguan was even more ruthless.After changing the grain seeds through the grain store, when the villagers find out that there is a problem with the grain seeds, I am afraid that the villagers' grain seeds will have been smuggled to other places to hide by these rebellious officials and thieves.Not only will the villagers not be able to replant at that time, there will be a famine in this dynasty, and when the bandits and soldiers drive in, they can directly use the grain seeds they exchanged this time to supplement the army rations, killing two birds with one stone.

Jia Lian was far more prudent than the average middle-aged man, and his face turned red with anger at the thought of this. These people are too frantic for the so-called aspiration to the Central Plains.

Then another villager said: "You business people always come to deceive our people. Is there any businessman who loses money in business? I'm afraid there is something wrong with you?"

This question, other villagers also echoed.

The little boy said again: "This fellow, you can't say that. Our Harvest Grain Shop has also been in Baoding City for many years, and the business is getting bigger and bigger. We have always been innocent. There are countless fellow villagers inside and outside the city. , Anyone who buys rice or noodles at our food store has anyone ever encountered short catties and short taels? It's all because I'm used to talking nonsense, and what I said was only [-]% true when I said it was [-]% true. "

As he said that, the little girl slapped him lightly on the face, spit, and then continued: "Fellow folks, take a look at the grains we sell from Jiangnan. I just want to ask everyone whether the grains are big or full. Full? Today, the fellow villagers will exchange a catty of grain for us for a catty of two taels. Although we will suffer a bit on the bright side, our grain business has to sign a contract with the fellow villagers, and wait for the fellow villagers to grow the grain with large ears and full grains. , but can no longer be sold to other grain stores, but to our Fengshou grain store. When our business grows bigger, the interest will naturally come from here.

So it's not that our Harvest Grain Shop is not making money, it's that we paid two cents of the grain money first, but booked a big business in the future.What this fellow said is right, we don't do business at a loss, but we will definitely benefit the fellow villagers. "

Standing in the crowd, Jia Lian glanced at the waiter who was yelling hard, but he thought of the teachers who taught in various MLM dens in later generations.Xiao Er's words are sensible and very provocative.In addition, people in ancient times were generally not as wealthy as later generations, so they were more likely to be moved by small favors.After Xiaoer finished yelling, some villagers already showed eager expressions on their faces.

The villager who questioned before came out again and said: "You businessmen, which one of you is not coaxing us illiterate ordinary people with sticks. You said today that we exchanged a catty of grain for you for a catty and two taels, so you will sign a contract with you. Qi, after the autumn harvest, we will sell the grain to you. At that time, you will try harder to lower the price. If we don’t sell it, you will take the contract to the government to sue us, and we will have to sell you the grain at a low price. If With the collusion between officials and businessmen, wouldn’t our common people have no way out? Don’t change, don’t change! I won’t change!”

As soon as the villager finished shouting, the people in the crowd started whispering again, obviously many people who were willing to change their grain just now were shaken again.

Just listen to the waiter in the shop say: "Calm down, folks, be quiet, fellow villagers, listen to me. Our shopkeeper said that we will sign a contract with all fellow villagers, and we will also sign the price of grain. If the price of grain next year is not as good as This year, then we will charge according to this year's price, which is written in the contract; if next year's grain price is higher than this year, then we will charge according to next year's price. In short, the villagers will not suffer.

Fellow villagers, think about it, we run a grain business, after all, we want to do long-term business, and as a grain business, we buy grain from fellow villagers. If we cheat you once, you will not sell the surplus grain to us in the future. Shouldn't it be closed down?So folks, don't worry, if we want to continue our business, we have to look at the faces of the fellow villagers. "

As soon as Xiao Er's words came out, more people showed moved expressions on their faces.When Jia Lian heard this, he also sneered in his heart. In order to deceive people, Zhen Hanguan bought it at a protective price.But his protective price is just a dead letter.

At this moment, someone howled: "Hurry up and exchange grain seeds, everyone. I heard that the grain seeds at the Fengshou Grain Store in the north of the city have been replaced. Later, people from the north gate will come to our south to harvest grains." It's time to grab the seeds, and if you change slowly, there will be no more!"

When the voice was shouted, the crowd really became commotion, and everyone ran away, and the villagers in the suburbs immediately went back to get the grain seeds, and the villagers far away from the city asked whether the small grain in the shop would be replaced in two days , Ask the waiter to keep some for himself.

The terms of expulsion from Harvest Grain Company were very attractive, and immediately, there were many responses.Jia Lian hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, and said, "Leave the city."

Baoding is not far from the capital, and if you want to come, you have to get instructions from Zhenhanguan first, so this end has already started to change positions.Of course, Jia Lian could stay in Baoding first to expose the scam of Fengshou Grain Shop, but after all, Jiangnan and Lianghu are the major grain-producing provinces. Jia Lian assessed the gains and losses, and had to focus on the overall situation first.

Now crowds of people are rushing out of the city, Jia Lian and his party are mixed in the crowd, it is very easy to get out of the city.When he arrived outside Baoding Mansion, Jia Lian flew on his horse and said, "It's not too late. Let's split up according to the plan." After speaking, he raised his whip, and the horse galloped out.

Wei Jiu patted his horse and caught up, saying: "Old Guan, you protect the second son and go first, leave a mark, I will come to find you."

Guan Qishou said hello, and followed Jia Lian without stopping.

Jia Lian knew what Wei Jiu was going to do, so he didn't stop Wei Jiu, and didn't intend to return to Baoding, so he kept on going.The whole group felt very heavy. If Zhen Hanguan succeeded, Baoding City would be just the tip of the iceberg.

If Jiangnan and Lianghu can grab enough grain seeds, even if the imperial court has not taken care of some places, they can distribute the grain seeds from Jiangnan and Lianghu to various places for replanting for disaster relief.Jiangnan and the two lakes are the most important.

Wei Jiu turned around and entered Baoding City again. That night, the shopkeepers of the two Harvest Grain Stores in the north and south of Baoding Prefecture were beheaded. Their heads were hung high above the signboard at the main entrance, and the words were written on the gate of the grain store with blood: There are sixteen big characters that say "profiteers without food, deceive the people, the seeds do not germinate, and the grains do not reap".

The villagers who sang together with Liangxing's waiter in the crowd yesterday were actually Liangxing's trustees.The man was indeed from a nearby village, but he was quite idle and glib on weekdays. Later, the shopkeeper of Fengshou Grain Co., Ltd. took a fancy to him and offered him money to teach him how to speak. First, let him talk about Jiangnan's grain in the village. How good the plant is, and let him say what to say before going to Baoding Prefecture for a harvest of grain on a certain day.

The villager followed suit, and because the treasurer Xu paid him well, the villager seemed to regard himself as a rich man. He didn't go out of the city to return to the village that day, but went to a famous brothel in Baoding Prefecture to fool around.The old bustard had such good eyesight that he could see the poverty of the villager at a glance, so he ordered people to drive him out, and the gate of the city was closed again.

The more the villager thought about it, the more angry he came to Fengshou Grain Shop in the middle of the night. He only waited for the shopkeeper to open the door, and then he wanted to get his own reward, and went to the brothel to hire the most beautiful oiran, and let out a sigh of relief.Unexpectedly, before the villager reached the gate of Fengshou Grain Store, he saw a dark shadow floating into the grain store like a ghost from a distance.Soon, there were mournful cries from the food store.

The villager thought he had seen a ghost, and hid far away behind a big tree in fright, not daring to move.Not long after, I saw a black shadow floating out with something in his hand, and with just a little step, he floated up high, as if he had no weight on his body.

Because it was late at night, the villagers couldn't see what Wei Jiu was doing. They saw the ghost's whereabouts erratically, jumping up and down, which was beyond the reach of manpower. pause before.Then in a blink of an eye, it disappeared.

The villager was scared out of his wits and felt very curious, so he bravely walked towards the gate of the food store, the closer he got, the stronger the smell of blood became.When he got closer, the villager suddenly saw something like a human head hanging on the plaque of the grain store. The villager screamed suddenly, and talked about what he would pay for it. He felt hot and wet all over his body. When the cool wind blows at night, I feel uncomfortable in the coolness of my crotch.Another smell, a smell of urine.It turned out that the villager was so frightened that he lost control of himself.

Because of the bizarre death of the treasurer of Fengshou Grain Store, word spread quickly in Baoding Mansion the next day.A homicide occurred in the mansion, and the city was supposed to be closed down to catch the murderer.Unexpectedly, when the officials and the police arrived, they didn't need to look for it deliberately, but they saw a crazy person lying on the street that Li Liangxing didn't want, and the person insisted that it was a ghost who killed the shopkeeper.

The ancients were superstitious, seeing the sixteen big characters on the gate of the grain shop, the magistrate thought: Could it be that the shopkeeper of the grain shop really did something immoral and suffered retribution from gods and ghosts?Busy and knowledgeable people came to identify the seeds that were exchanged for the villagers by the Harvest Grain Shop yesterday.

The steamed seeds are dried in the sun. Although the grains look full and the same as the raw grain seeds, there are still differences in grinding and taste.Soon, the preliminary identification results came out. Although the color and appearance of these seeds were not much different from ordinary seeds, when they tasted, they were different from the raw seeds. Perhaps they had really been tampered with.

The magistrate is a local official, if there is a problem with the grain, it will cause famine.If there is nothing to say if it is a natural disaster, if it is found out that it is a man-made disaster, the parents and officials will throw Usha at the slightest, and be executed if it is serious.The magistrate of Baoding was so frightened that instead of closing down the city to arrest criminals, he sealed up the two food stores and waited for further investigation.

Whether the grain seeds can germinate or not depends on people's identification or there may be omissions, but if they are sprinkled with water to germinate seeds, it will take as little as two days and as many as ten days, and there will be a conclusion.

So the prefect of Baoding ordered people to take samples from the homes of the villagers who had changed their grains yesterday, and tried them one by one.

Not to mention how the prefect of Baoding dealt with this matter, but because an eyewitness insisted that the crime was committed by a ghost, the prefect never ordered the city to be closed, and Wei Jiu spent less effort.Early the next morning, Wei Jiu went to a horse shop and bought two fine horses, and changed to three horses, and went straight after Jia Lian and Guan Qishou.

As for Baoding Mansion, because of Wei Jiu's disturbance, the matter quickly spread widely.Because the grain seeds exchanged by the Harvest Grain Store for the villagers could not germinate, the news spread that the shopkeepers of the two grain stores had been condemned by God.Without exception, all the seeds never germinated.

The people lived on one year's harvest, and the grain seeds they kept had been exchanged for the grain bank, which was seized by the government. The villagers had to go to the Yamen of Baoding Mansion to make a fuss again, begging the government to return the seeds in the grain bank.

After two days of commotion, officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs who inspected the spring plowing also arrived.Many of these officials are guilty of crimes, wishing to make contributions earlier, and pay off their crimes. When they arrived at the place, they asked the reason, and then cooperated with the people in the prefect's yamen to return the grain one by one.

In order to make things like normal purchases, the Harvest Grain Department signed a contract with the villagers, and each villager received a few catties of rice, wheat, and corn. Therefore, although the work of replanting is cumbersome, the villagers are not afraid of it. Taking the opportunity to conceal the report, it went smoothly.

Relying on one person to deliver the letter, no matter how fast the footsteps are, it is not as fast as spreading it from the people to ten or ten to hundreds.The case in Baoding Prefecture soon spread to surrounding prefectures and counties.When other prefectures in Northern Zhili got the news, they were also busy searching grain stores and homes of benevolent people who blocked the grain exchange.It's just that there is a disadvantage of the people passing the news. When the news is known to everyone, the thieves have already learned about it.Therefore, some state capitals moved quickly to recover part of the losses, and some state capital thieves had already changed the grain seeds and fled with the grain seeds.

Jia Lian and Guan Qishou also paid attention to the matter of exchanging grain for grain in Baoding Mansion.The next day, the two arrived in Hengshui. After entering Sutou, Guan Qishou went out to inquire where there was a grain store in the city that could exchange grain. Change food.

Guan Qishou thanked the man, and made several detours before returning to the inn where he settled down.The thieves have been raising killers for decades, and even if Bodhi Temple and Hujiazhuang are taken away, they don't know how many such organizations there are. Guan Qishou has to be careful.

"Second Young Master, I've found out clearly that it's Mancang Grain Shop that trades grain in Hengshui City." After returning to the inn, Guan Qishou told Jia Lian what he had heard.

Jia Lian nodded and said, "Mr. Guan has worked hard. Since Mr. Wei has returned to Baoding Mansion, I'm afraid he has already succeeded, and the inspectors from the Ministry of Household Affairs will also arrive shortly after. We don't need to make troubles. Let's keep our spirits up and continue on our way tomorrow."

Guan Qishou took a few glances at the young man in front of him, and nodded solemnly.Back then, when I was at Jia Lian's age, I was still learning how to fetch copper coins from a frying pan, and my hands would often get scalded.What was your mood at that time?I just feel that I have suffered too much and suffered too much. There is no more painful business in the world than stealing doors.But compared with the boy in front of him?He is well-clothed and well-fed, yet he shoulders the important affairs of his family and country early on, and he doesn't know who is suffering more.

"This gang of utterly unconscionable bastards, for their own selfishness, disregarded the lives of the common people, and one day they will be torn to pieces!" Guan Qishou cursed a little louder because of his anger.

For some reason, Jia Lian suddenly felt every hair stand on end, like a cat about to explode.Jia Lian hurriedly turned around and gestured to Guan Qishou to retreat.Seeing Jia Lian's expression, Guan Qishou felt his back tighten.