Survival countdown

Zhao Baiyu waved his hand, affirming that the Jiangxi merchants were bluffing.

"There are always more solutions than difficulties. You have many times of experience in buying grain, and you have accumulated a lot of contacts. I am afraid that you have seen more storms than I have eaten salt. How can a little difficulty be so rare for you?" Zhao Baiyu dialed. Buddha beads, said very reliantly: "I trust you very much, especially Judge Dou. I believe that you will definitely solve the troublesome grain merchants."

After saying that, he shook off them and left.

Watching Zhao Baiyu's back, several people got together.

"How?" An official from the Cao Division of the Jizhou Prefecture asked in a low voice, "I think what Mr. Zhao said has some truth. Jiangxi is a province with a large grain production. The grain merchants in each prefecture harvested enough grain and grass last year. With such a large amount, other than the government can Who to sell it to? The businessman is short-sighted, and once he finds out that the interests in his hands cannot be kept, he may beg the government to sell it at a low price."

"fart."

The officials of Caosi in Jizhou Prefecture were terrified: "It's the lower officials who fart, the lower officials are dull, and talk nonsense."

"Zhao Baiyu is farting!" Dou Zumao finally said all the anger he had been holding in for a long time, "Return the grain merchants crying to the government? Sell them at a low price? The court stipulates that the annual allowance should be paid in full at the end of March. Do you think the grain merchants can afford it, or the grain merchants?" Can't we survive these two months?"

The official of Cao Si in Jizhou Prefecture was surprised: "The trouble is clearly caused by Zhao Cao envoy, and it has nothing to do with us!"

"Tell the Jiangxi merchants about this, and see if they will be lenient." Dou Zumao patted his head irritably: "It's a disaster without reason, it is a disaster without reason. My mother's bastard! Other places are to please officials , it’s the other way around here, as an official, I have to be the grandson of those bastards!”

Gan merchants are powerful, and monkeys dare to bully tigers, but the pockets of the officials present are all bulging by Gan merchants. Now they are being made difficult, but they forget about it.

"Judge Dou, on your mission, you can save us. I see that Zhao Cao's emissary is pretentious after handling two major cases. He thinks that Jiangxi merchants are paper tigers that can be rounded and flattened by him. Of course he can sit back and relax, but don't come Something happened and pushed us all out of the top bag."

This made other people afraid, and they surrounded Dou Zumao: "Yes, my lord, we all know that you have a good relationship with Yan Sanwan, the largest grain merchant in the mansion. But if you come forward, you can't sell your face..."

"I was just put down by Yan Sanwan!" Dou Zumao glared at everyone, and then looked at Zhao Baiyu's place where Zhao Baiyu was running errands. With peace of mind, he felt uncomfortable in every possible way.

"Do you really want to get out of trouble?"

"Naturally!" Everyone brushed in unison.

"I have an idea, I don't know if you are willing or not."

"Quickly tell me, Gan Shang and Zhao Cao Envoy seem to be at loggerheads. Immortals fight, little ghosts suffer. As long as we can survive this calamity, we are willing to do anything."

Seeing that everyone's emotions were turned up, and there was a bit of resentment in their words, Dou Zumao said his real purpose: "Go to the Ganshang Guild Hall."

"What to do?"

"surrender."

***

As soon as Dou Zumao and the others left, Zhao Baiyu came out from behind the wall, smiling at their backs who couldn't wait to go to the Ganxi Guild Hall.

Yan Bing was quite sad: "As you expected, they really turned to Jiangxi merchants."

Shaking his head, he couldn't hide a trace of anger: "The officials in Liangjiang are really hopeless! Since ancient times, scholars, farmers, businessmen, and businessmen have been regarded as cheap. These officials, who have been in the cold for ten years and once leaped into the dragon's gate, are vying to pursue a group of businessmen! The most ridiculous thing is While aggrieved by being belittled by the businessman, at the same time rushing to be belittled by the businessman, he is full of ugliness, laughing at others, especially without knowing it."

"Speaking of it, it's the money that makes the trouble, and the silver is their parents, and no one can offend the ancestors who gave the silver. When the Jiangxi merchants fall, they will jump on it like leeches to suck blood." Zhao Baiyu stretched out his hand. Lanyao: "Let's go, go see Ma Deyong."

Yan Bing was stunned: "Aren't you following?"

"No need. They don't need to guess what they want to do."

"Aren't you afraid of making things worse?"

"I'm afraid that things won't be a big deal, and no imperial envoy will come."

"Imperial envoy?" Yan Bing was stunned, "If the imperial envoy comes, it means that the two rivers are really in trouble. You are in the center of the whirlpool, and you may not be able to escape. But Goro never fights unprepared battles. Do you want His Majesty to send an imperial envoy to Liangjiang didn't aim for nothing... Do you want imperial envoys to deal with Liangjiang's officialdom?"

Zhao Baiyu looked back at Yan Bing, and said quite curiously: "What kind of divine book did Yan Bing read recently, and he has made such great progress."

Yan Bing laughed: "I saw that Wulang and Liangjiang's officials and merchants were fighting fiercely, and even stumbled a few times. I was so anxious, but you were calm and relaxed. Looking back at your fighting skills, I found that you stumbled." , but it was not painful or itchy, without any loss, but gained real political achievements. On the other hand, the officials and businessmen in the two rivers, which one did not suffer heavy losses? Which one did not really bleed? I understood, one thing feedback The result of coming back is nothing more than success and failure. Both success and failure have to go down, but when others lose, they are devastated. If you stumble, you can figure out a lot of things from it. Oh, I have come to think of it Oh, none of what Goro did was thought out on the fly, they were all thoughtful... Alas, it’s my fault that I don’t know Goro well enough.”

Zhao Baiyu used to be a magistrate in the Yamen of the capital, and he was soft-spoken, so it was not suitable for him to take Yanbing with him. Afterwards, when the tide rose and he became an imperial envoy, he took Yanbing with him to teach by example.

"So I also read Sun Tzu's Art of War recommended by my husband. There is a saying in the Art of War: If you want to take, you should give first. First is the smuggling of salt, and then the smuggling of water transport. Both are big cases. There are so many gods and buddhas, I was stunned to suppress the two big cases, and I couldn't catch this big net behind the scenes—" Yan Bing changed the subject: "But it also exposed how big the benefit net of the two rivers officials and businessmen colluding , It’s too strenuous to break through one by one, and they will be angered, and they will be attacked by groups, so you plan to do what they wish, withdraw the knife that was slashed at Liangjiang, and let the imperial envoys deal with Liangjiang?”

Zhao Baiyu pursed his lips and smiled: "Almost."

That is to say, there are still points that have not been analyzed in place, but this sentence is already the greatest affirmation of Yan Bing.

He finally understands a little bit of officialdom!

Yan Bing hurriedly asked: "But why did we go to find Ma Deyong?"

Zhao Baiyu: "Maintain the relationship."

"what?"

Yan Bing, who had just been complacent for a while, withered, and could no longer see through Goro's chess.

***

Dou Zumao and others came to the Jiangxi Chamber of Commerce to ask to see Chen Luowu, and they got a reply that they agreed to meet before they went in.

Chen Luowu clasped his hands and laughed loudly when he saw someone: "My lords are here today, my Ganshang Guild Hall is full of splendor. Sit down, please sit down. Come, let's have a cup of tea."

Several people sat down quickly, and seeing Chen Luowu concentrate on drinking tea, they hesitated to speak, and looked eagerly at Dou Zumao.

Dou Zumao regained his composure, and when he was about to speak, Chen Luowu interrupted: "Drink tea, Pu'er from Nanzhao is worth one or two hundred gold overseas." Then he lowered his head as if he didn't intend to talk about anything else.

Dou Zumao's heart sank, originally he was planning to get more benefits, but now he didn't dare to have any thoughts, gritted his teeth, and said straight to the point: "Chairman Chen, you know Mr. Cao envoy ordered me to find someone to pretend to be a grain merchant from other places?" , buy a large amount of grain and grass from the grain shops in various prefectures in the province, if the grain shops dare to deliberately raise the price, can the crime of disrupting the market be punished logically?"

"Oh? Really?" Chen Luowu pretended to be surprised: "But I'm not a grain merchant after all, why don't you go to Yan Sanwan?"

Not to mention Yan Sanwan, the grain merchants in various prefectures in the province are colluding, haven't they listened to the words of the Jiangxi Chamber of Commerce?But Chen Luowu pretended to be stupid with them, and they couldn't help it.

"You are the president of the Jiangxi Chamber of Commerce, and you have responded to every call. You give an order, not to mention Yan Sanwan, even businessmen from the 38 prefectures of the four provinces have to give you a little bit of face. Our brothers are really small officials and soft-spoken people. This Zhao Baiyu It's us who are on top of the job, what does he want to do, what else can we do besides obeying orders? But we know how to repay the kindness, and we receive a lot of favors from Jiangxi businessmen on weekdays, and when it comes to critical moments, we will naturally reciprocate. Zhao Baiyu wants to deal with food Shang is to deal with merchants from Hongzhou Prefecture and even Liangjiang, so how can it be done? Without Jiangxi merchants, Liangjiang can’t mess up? Whether it’s a personal relationship or a public position, I’m obliged to tell you later.”

"Hahaha... I am very grateful for the kindness of the adults."

Chen Luowu gave a wink, and someone brought up a tray covered with a red cloth. Dou Zumao lifted a corner of the red cloth, and his eyes lit up when he saw the white silver inside.

"It's a trivial matter, why worry about it? President Chen is really polite." While talking about being polite, these officials took the money unceremoniously.Dou Zumao showed embarrassment: "Although the grain merchants are dissatisfied with Zhao Baiyu's excessive behavior, the delay in buying grain...but it has something to do with us."

"Your Majesty Dou was joking. It was Zhao Baiyu who delayed the court's purchase of grain. What does it have to do with you? Even if the court blames him, he will blame the Cao Si envoy who is in charge of the matter, and it will not be blamed on the small officials. , Besides, this is Liangjiang, not under the foot of the emperor, so how to settle the case is not the final decision of the criminal department?"

And the Criminal Division received the benefits, so he would naturally help if he could.

With this guarantee, Dou Zumao and the others immediately felt at ease.

"Chairman Chen thinks about me, we should reciprocate, and we will not let the people below disturb the business of the grain shop—"

"No, don't go, you just listen to Zhao Baiyu's words. He is on a job, you should obey orders, if you should ask someone to go to the grain store in disguise, just ask someone to go, there is no need to shy away from it."

Several people looked at each other, unable to figure out what Chen Luowu was thinking, but it was a good thing they didn't stop them from doing business, lest they have to find reasons to deal with Zhao Baiyu.

"In that case, I would like to thank Chairman Chen."

***

Ma Deyong was imprisoned in the Caosi yamen for several months. No one paid any attention to him. He ate, drank, and messed up in a small room. From the beginning of cursing, threatening, and begging for mercy, to the current numbness, disheveled hair, and dirty body, Haggard, I only moved my eyelids when I realized that the door was opened, and squatted in the corner facing the wall.

"Ma Deyong." Zhao Baiyu said.

Ma Deyong turned a deaf ear until Zhao Baiyu asked, "Do you want to go out?"

"It seems that I don't want to go out. Forget it, let's go."

"Let... let me out, let me out!" Ma Deyong suddenly came back to his senses, and flew over, trying to hug Zhao Baiyu's leg but in vain, when he reached the threshold, he burst into tears: "I want to go out... Your Highness , save the old slave."

Zhao Baiyu squatted down, "Your Royal Highness has given up on you a long time ago. The smuggling case of more than 200 million taels of silver has been pushed on your head. Ten of your heads are not enough to cut off. Even if the official let you go out temporarily , Your Royal Highness may also suspect that you have revealed her secrets in private to make amends, and maybe you will be arrested and sent back to torture... I think you know very well how Princess Changping is."

Thinking of Changping's torture methods, Ma Deyong couldn't help but shudder.

Seeing that his expression of fear was particularly obvious, Zhao Baiyu continued, "So do you want to redeem yourself for your crime?"

Ma Deyong's eyes kept rolling, and he hesitated for a long time before he said: "You just said that if I was released, His Highness would suspect me..."

Zhao Baiyu: "I can guarantee that you are safe and sound."

Ma Deyong swallowed his saliva, thought for a long time, hesitated, probably thinking that he followed Princess Changping for more than 20 years, from the capital to her dispatch to Liangjiang, followed all the way, and has always been loyal, helping to manage the affairs of Liangjiang, depending on the situation In terms of points, maybe you won't be desperate?

"Tian Yingzhuo is dead."

"what?"

"Killed himself by taking poison, killed his whole family, and died without a whole body."

Ma Deyong was trembling all over, terrified, he naturally guessed that Tian Yingzhuo was forced to commit suicide, and even a senior member of the second rank would end up like this, let alone a general judge who was less than the fifth rank?

Zhao Baiyu made a gesture to leave: "It seems that you are indeed loyal, so I won't force it. After a few days, the verdict will be finalized and the case will be concluded. I guess you will be executed after the fall."

"Wait--I said, I said! What do you want to know--" Ma Deyong grabbed the hem of Zhao Baiyu's clothes, looked up, saw that handsome and gentle face suddenly speechless, and asked hesitantly: "You Who is it? Have I seen you somewhere?"

"A certain surname is Zhao, a small sesame official in the capital."

Ma Deyong lost his voice in astonishment: "—is it you?" He turned his head and was even more horrified: "Are you the new envoy Zhao Baiyu?"

Zhao Baiyu looked at him with a smile.

Ma Deyong was instantly slumped, what else can I say?

It turned out that last year the Kyoto prefecture and his party were targeted by others.

Skills are not as good as others, so you should admit defeat.

"Master Zhao, you really are like a storyteller." He is upright and has great strategies, but he doesn't know who will win when he fights with Princess Changping to the end? "You came to me to find out His Highness's crimes from me? Let me tell you in advance, I often watch and ship goods for His Highness, but I don't have any audit books in my hand. I can't identify His Highness with my mouth alone." , if you want me to be a witness, I'm afraid it will be like fetching water from a bamboo basket."

Zhao Baiyu: "Let me ask you, did you buy the official rations knocked over by the Kyoto Prefecture that day from Liangzhe?"

Ma Deyong: "There are also Liangjiang, Guangdong and Fujian."

Zhao Baiyu: "The annual amount of grain purchased by the southern provinces is adjusted according to the grain harvest of the previous year. You received so much official grain from Zhejiang and Zhejiang last year. Are you afraid that you will not be able to pay the government's annual grain purchase quota this year?"

Ma Deyong: "To tell you the truth, my lord, the annual grain harvests of the 38 prefectures in the four surrounding provinces will be concealed."

Concealment is really common. For example, Sima Jiao, the former Huainan Cao envoy, embezzled taxes by hiding and hiding fields, which was actually one of the cases of concealing grain harvests.

"At that time, half of the 200 million shi official grain was taken from the granary in Liangjiang, and the rest was moved from the granary in the four surrounding provinces, and about 80 shi of grain and grass were moved from Liangzhe."

Zhao Baiyu suddenly snapped: "How dare you touch the granary?!"

How important the granary is, it is related to the livelihood of the people in the world. If there is an accident, the person guarding the granary will be beheaded directly, and there is little chance of appealing for mercy.

"The granary was embezzled, and no one found out... Oh, I forgot, the officials of the 38 governments of the four provinces have already been twisted into one rope. No, when I went to the office, I went to the granary, and it was full of grain and grass—you are lying ?”

"No, how dare the little ones?" Ma Deyong glanced at Zhao Baiyu cautiously, and said in a low voice: "If you go to the granary to look at it now, you will find that the sacks are not filled with good rice of the season. Most of them are old rice. Rice... Liangjiang is not bad, and other poor places may be rice bran."

Zhao Baiyu stood up abruptly, and looked at a weed next to the water tank in the garden with his hands behind his back. The scorching sun could not drive away the corruption in the officialdom. It has been like this since ancient times, and there is nothing new.

As if thinking of something, Ma Deyong hastily added: "But the grain and grass in Liangzhe are not official grain, they are bought from grain merchants."

Zhao Baiyu: "Do you have friendship with Liangzhe grain merchants?"

Ma Deyong: "Some friends."

Zhao Baiyu: "I need 100 million shi of official food, can I buy it?"

Ma Deyong's face was full of embarrassment: "If I didn't have the event of going to Beijing to present my birthday last year, I could get it all together, but right now I guess it's only possible to get 50 shi."

"It's okay." Zhao Baiyu: "How to convince the two Zhejiang grain merchants you know?"

Ma Deyong: "Just wait for me to write a letter. I have a life-long kindness with that grain merchant. If I ask him, he will definitely help. But... can I really make meritorious deeds?"

Zhao Baiyu promised with a smile: "I never lie." As long as he didn't commit any other crimes.

Ma Deyong immediately wrote happily.

Zhao Baiyu, who received the letter, was quickly sent to Liangzhe.

***

At the same time, several officials including Dou Zumao followed Zhao Baiyu's orders and also followed the hints of Gan merchants, ordering the subordinates to disguise themselves as out-of-town grain merchants to purchase at the rice shop in Hongzhou Prefecture, and every transaction was a big deal.

It went smoothly at first. For four or five days in a row, they collected 20 shi of official rations, which made Dou Zumao and others puzzled. They said they were teaching Zhao Baiyu a lesson. How could they really let him buy official rations?

I went to buy it on the sixth day, but was rejected by all the rice shops. The official pretended to be a grain merchant and asked dissatisfiedly: "I can still buy it yesterday, why can't I not today?"

The store clerk took out a wooden sign with two words written on it: sold out.

But the officer saw sharply that there were still a few people going in to buy rice, and the rice vat was also full. Feeling perfunctory, he said angrily, "You are targeting me!"

The shop clerk rolled his eyes, the official may have acted in his head, and immediately became furious, pushing and shoving the shop clerk, the quarrel turned into a physical fight in an instant, the scene was extremely chaotic, until the shopkeeper came out to speak.

The shopkeeper said to everyone: "It's not that I don't want to sell rice, but that you have bought too much these days, and the stock is seriously insufficient. If you continue, there will be no food in the rice shop. Where can the people in the mansion go to buy it?" What else to eat? In recent days, the shopkeepers of various shops have come to tell me that there is not enough rice, and the price has to be raised twice... I insisted on it, saying that rice is for the common people to eat How can you raise the price casually for your full stomach and life? How can you tell the poor to live? Our company is a time-honored brand, and we will never do anything to drive up the price of rice!"

"So, bosses, from today onwards, the rice from my Yan's shop will no longer be purchased in large quantities. Our rice will be reserved for the common people and the poor!"

"Well said! Boss Yan is a real person! He has lived up to everyone's trust and often comes to your store to buy food!"

There were cheers from the crowd, and the mood of the crowd was quickly lifted.

"You, you guys, are you crazy if you don't do business if you have business? Stop talking about hypocrisy and hypocrisy, because you are obviously afraid that we will steal the business!"

The officer was still yelling, but he didn't notice that a clerk behind him saw the collar of the officer under his coat and unexpectedly took off his clothes to reveal his official uniform.

"—It's the official messenger! The official messenger pretends to be a grain merchant to buy and store rice, intending to drive up the market price and prevent the common people from eating cheap rice!"

Apart from profiteers, officials are the most disliked by the common people. Hearing someone clamoring that officials buy rice on purpose and sell it at a high price, embezzlement and oppression of the poor, coupled with the conspicuous uniforms of officials, immediately ignites the anger of everyone. The crowd was furious.

"Corrupt officials buy and hoard rice, and suck blood from the common people!"

"Knowing the law and breaking the law, oppressing the people, rebelling against the law!"

"roll!"

The official looked in a hurry, turned his head and looked at the shopkeeper, pushed him down the stairs and shouted: "Cao Si buys grain, who dares to disobey? Let me tell you, buying rice is the order of the new Cao envoy Mr. Zhao, you If you don’t want to sell the rice, you have to sell it, otherwise you will catch the grain merchants and seal the rice shops to see if you still have any business to do!”

The common people dared not speak out, the shopkeeper knocked his head, his face was covered with blood, and the officials arrogantly made people remove all the rice in the store, dropped a few strings of money, and took half after thinking about it.

Looking at the looted rice shop, the shopkeeper was so angry that he passed out on the spot.

***

"Corrupt officials, stupid officials!" In the box of the restaurant near the rice shop, the aides witnessed the scene of officials buying and selling by force, and said quite indignantly: "A few days ago, I heard that Cao Si had difficulty in buying grain, and the grain merchant threatened not to be Zhao Bai. The fish business seems to be a Gan merchant. I thought Zhao Baiyu could come up with a good way to fight back, but it was a bad idea to ask someone to pretend to be a grain merchant to buy wildly!"

"Speak less." Zhao Chongjin scolded with an unhappy face: "Didn't you see the shopkeeper and the troublemaker making eye contact with each other? There are also a few people in the crowd who have ulterior motives, deliberately stir up the emotions of the people, and point the finger at Zhao Baiyu. It's clear. People from all three parties worked together to perform this play, and Zhao Baiyu's method would have worked well if the officials below him hadn't been so rotten."

Staff: "..."

how to say?

That method was so stupid that even he felt that it was not up to the level of a caosi envoy. If Zhao Baiyu was really as smart as the rumors said, but his master, who is the number one scholar, praised Zhao Baiyu's method as easy to use.

...That is to say, is it possible to be possessed by an evil spirit?

"Changping and Jiangxi merchants teamed up. Both Jiangxi officials and merchants are digging pits to murder Zhao Baiyu. No matter how cautious he is, he is still an individual. There are always times when he cannot guard against it. I am afraid that the entire Jiangxi province will not be able to gather 30 shi for official rations, and I am even more afraid In addition to the failure to buy food, there are even more ruthless tricks to force people to death." Zhao Chongjin murmured in a low voice: "Tiger poison does not eat its young, and the attack is so fierce, it really doesn't have the slightest bit of affection..."

Staff: "What did you say?"

Zhao Chongjin stared down, and suddenly said: "Go to Cao Sishi's mansion, and tell Zhao Baiyu what happened today. Also," after a long pause, he said softly: "Tell him that there is a third person behind Chen Luowu." Lord."

The aide was startled, and lowered his voice to dissuade him: "Think twice, my lord. It took us a long time to investigate and managed to find some clues about the third master. He has such a wise strategy and the profit network spread by Liangjiang. If it can be used by us, Will be a big fan in the future.”

Zhao Chongjin raised his eyes and looked over, as indifferently as if he was looking at a dead person.

The aide bowed his head wisely: "Humble to obey orders."

***

"Third Master?"

Who is this?

Zhao Baiyu chewed on these two words, and at the same time wondered why Zhao Chongjin suddenly showed his affection. As for the reaction of the grain merchant, he did not show much surprise.

On the same day, more than a dozen rice shops in Hongzhou Mansion clashed. People who pretended to be grain merchants from other places to buy rice were exposed as government servants in disguise.

The officials and the common people didn't take it seriously, until the second and third day, no rice shop in Hongzhou was open.

The door of the store was closed tightly, and a wooden sign was hung on the door, which read: Cao Si buys grain, and there is no rice to sell.

From morning to night, Cao Si's servants ran all over the city.

Before the sunset, from time to time, an official came back sweating profusely to report: "My lord, the rice shops in Dongcheng are closed."

"The rice shops in the west city are also closed!"

"My lord, hundreds of rice shops in the mansion are closed... closed!"

……

Zhao Baiyu raised his eyes and looked expressionlessly at the servants in Caosi's Yamen, including Dou Zumao and several high-ranking officials, none of them dared to meet Zhao Baiyu's eyes that seemed to see the truth.

The last official dragged his exhausted body into the Caosi yamen, gasping for breath: "My lord, the grain merchants...the grain merchants are on strike!"