The branches swayed and the leaves moved, the clouds rolled and the air surged.
Xiao Zhan threw down the handful of rice in his hand and said with a sinking face: "Call your shopkeeper to come out!"
The waiter looked him over from head to toe. Seeing that he didn't look like a wealthy family, he looked through his nostrils and said, "This distinguished guest, how much rice do you want to buy? Do you need my shopkeeper to come over to greet you?"
Xiao Zhan became very powerful and his eyes widened: "I want all the rice in your shop! Load it into my car and transport it to my house! Don't look down on others!"
The guy immediately threw the wooden bucket in his hand to the side and said angrily: "You, who are you scolding?! Look at your poor appearance, don't talk nonsense and flash your tongue..."
Xiao Zhan opened his hand and was about to draw the knife from his waist, but felt that his palm was empty. Then he remembered that on the day he resigned, he had thrown the sword, talisman, letter and uniform into the Henan government office. Now he was wearing a shirt with a missing crotch,
He was wearing old black boots and his head was stuck in a crotch, so he looked like he was down and out, didn't he?
At this moment, the shopkeeper of the rice shop heard the quarrel and hurriedly came out of the shop. He waved his hand and said: "You bitch! How can you talk to this distinguished guest? How many times have I taught you this?"
! Harmony breeds wealth, harmony breeds wealth! If you continue to do things like this, go back to your village as soon as possible and farm in peace!"
After the shopkeeper taught the man a lesson, he kicked him back to the shop. He put on a smile and said, "Dear guest, I'm telling you the truth! There has been a shortage of rice recently. There is a price but no market. There is not much rice left in the shop.
, but there are only about three stones left. Secondly, the profit is small and no credit is owed. If you are a sincere guest, I will send all these three stones to your house for a price of 400 pence a dou. I don’t know.
Where is your residence located?"
Xiao Zhan narrowed his eyes slightly and said teasingly: "It's in Chongzhengfang. Just now your clerk said that the price of rice is three hundred cents per dou, why did it increase by another hundred cents in a second?"
When the shopkeeper heard the words "Chongzhengfang", he felt something bad. But as he was a rice seller, he was used to seeing all kinds of people. He immediately calmed down and said with a smile on his face: "The distinguished guests are joking.
! Maybe that bitch’s memory was wrong. Yesterday it was indeed 300 cents per dou. As soon as the market opened today, several rice shops raised their prices again. For 400 cents per dou of corn, distinguished customers will never find another one.
Home!"
Xiao Zhan finally couldn't hold back his anger and shouted: "What a cunning shopkeeper! A bucket of four hundred coins, three stones doesn't cost three taels of silver? How can ordinary people afford it?! What you do is different from that of the cutter."
What a difference there is between a strong man and a strong man!"
Seeing that he was not sincerely buying rice, but was sincerely looking for trouble, the shopkeeper of the rice shop actually rolled his eyes and said, "If your distinguished guest wants to fight against injustice, he can go find the strongman who cuts the path. Come to my rice shop to play tricks, but if you want to find fault,
Wrong place to go! I won’t sell you this rice today. If you still don’t leave, I will report it to the Chief of the City Leveling Department and ask him to explain it to you in detail!"
At this time, Du Canjun had already rushed over with a group of unscrupulous guards. Hearing the last words of the Mipu shopkeeper, he looked slightly stunned: "I am the order of the city's leveling department! You are talking about the chief minister.
, I wonder which of my subordinates it is?"
Seeing that Du Canjun was angry, all the bad guards immediately surrounded the rice shop and refused to let out even a mouse.
The shopkeeper of the rice shop knew that he had kicked the iron plate today, and he repeatedly raised his hands and begged: "This old man is blind! I bumped into a few distinguished guests. So I closed the rice shop, and I don't dare to offend the bad guys again..."
Xiao Zhan had already turned his head, not wanting to pay attention to such treacherous merchants anymore. Hearing him say that he wanted to close the rice shop, he suddenly turned around and said: "Shopkeeper! Don't say that I will bully you! Normally, the price of rice is only three or four dollars.
Ten coins per dou, even in a bad year, can at most double it, and you can buy it with seventy or eighty coins. Why has the price of rice increased more than ten times in just a few days! Are you not just hoarding? It's simply
It’s taking advantage of the situation!”
Du Canjun's face was ashen, he waved his hand and said coldly: "What are you doing in a daze? According to Xiao Wuhou's words, seal the rice first! They say that no businessman can be a traitor, and today we ran into this traitorous businessman.
If the people don't set an example, won't everyone follow suit? How can the little people still have a way to survive? Give me a seal!"
After saying that, he turned around, flicked his sleeves, chased a few steps, and rushed to Xiao Zhan's side: "Xiao Wuhou, please calm down! There are only a few such cunning businessmen after all. I will arrange for the subordinate officials of the City Leveling Department to strictly investigate these people.
This is a treacherous act, so that many businesses in Nanshi can return to a clean and healthy state!"
Xiao Zhan stood up and turned around, half-smiling but not smiling: "Xiao doesn't believe that Mr. Du didn't know anything about this. Nowadays, the shops in Nanshi are deserted, and it is extremely rare for Han merchants to open their doors to do business.
If Mr. Du continues to beat and intimidate, and seals more places, wouldn't it mean that the people of Luoyang will be cut off from food and clothing?"
Du Shenjun smiled, cold sweat was running down his temples, but he did not dare to say anything more. He knew that Xiao Zhan always had a straightforward temperament, but he was still round and round. He could be called "Zhang Fei's embroidery, thick and fine"
". Today, since I have asked him for something, I should consider myself humble and endure the humiliation and bear the heavy burden.
The two of them led the bad guards and found several open cloth shops, restaurants, incense shops, etc. The prices of goods had skyrocketed, which was staggering. But they couldn't forcibly close them.
The reason is that the Han merchants were in Nanshi. The Han merchants were in danger, resulting in a shortage of all kinds of goods in Nanshi. The Han merchants who had the courage to open their doors for business had their own backers, so they did not have to worry about being captured by the armored guards.
.But when these Han merchants saw that there was a profit to be made, they immediately linked up with each other and raised the market prices of various goods again and again, until they increased several times.
If it's rouge, spices, silks, etc., it's fine if it's more expensive. Well-off people can just spend more money or buy less, and they can get by. But if it's rice, grains, vegetables, etc., if the price rises too much, it will
There were extremely poor households who had no food to eat. In addition, most of the poor households were overworked and sick, lacked medical care, and had no rice to cook. Suddenly, there were many streets and markets, with white flags waving, sackcloth filling the lanes, and the sound of mourning filling the ears.
Absolutely. It’s so miserable!
It was already an hour after the two of them walked around Nanshi.
Du Canjun was sweating like rain, but Xiao Zhan said calmly, "Does Master Xiao know about this?"
Du Canjun smiled bitterly and said: "Of course I know. I just sent the Shaoyin from the left and right of the government office, the Secretary to the Army to record the affairs, the Cao Canjun and other officials to come to lobby the big and small Hu merchants in the city. It doesn't matter whether it is coercion, inducement, or good words to persuade.
No one is willing to buy and sell as usual. The law of the Sheng Dynasty does not blame everyone, and Hu merchants are so unanimous, even Mr. Xiao can't find a good way to break the situation."
Xiao Zhan raised his eyebrows and continued: "It is obvious that this matter was caused by Taiwei Palace and Henan Prefecture joining forces to suppress Zoroastrianism. The relationship between Hu and Han was not as simple as life and death, but Wang Jin insisted on going his own way.
They are pressing forward every step of the way. Even if a trapped animal fights to the death, let alone a barbarian with nine surnames?"
Du Canjun rolled his eyes and immediately understood what he meant: "What Xiao Wuhou means is that to untie the bell, the person who tied the bell must be tied. If the Zoroastrian religion manipulates Hu merchants, then the Zoroastrian religion must be blamed for this matter."
Turn around?"
"That's exactly what I mean." Xiao Zhan dusted off the dirt on his robe and said calmly.
Du Canjun's face immediately twisted into a ball: "If you ask the palace envoys to bow their heads to Zoroastrianism, it's not like being a dojo in a snail shell - difficult! We in Henan Province can only lower our faces, find a suitable person, and have a drink with them."
, it would be best to expose this matter to the Zoroastrian leader." At this point, he suddenly paused, and then continued, "After thinking about it, only Xiao Wuhou can come forward in this matter, and maybe he can lobby for it.
…”
"Stop it!" Xiao Zhan waved one hand and hurriedly declined, "Master Du, have you forgotten? A few days ago, I led a group of warriors to fight with Zoroastrian people in the suburbs of Luoyang. At this time, I called Xiao again.
If I try to get into trouble with Zoroastrianism, I'm afraid I'll be lucky if I can leave a whole body!"
Du Canjun smiled bitterly and secretly blamed himself for being abrupt: If Mr. Xiao had brought up this matter, he might have had a better chance of winning. Before he could think it through, he blurted it out, which was quite a bit of a warning.
So Xiao Zhan strolled in front, while Du Canjun led a group of bad guards and walked behind in whispers. The streets were empty, and the sound of black leather Liuhe boots stepping on the stone slabs echoed faintly.
Suddenly, Xiao Zhan stood still, as if he had seen something incredible.
Du Canjun and others followed their gaze and saw a young man in brown clothes and a dirty little beggar eating mutton soup and cooking buns under the pergola of a restaurant.
Xiao Zhan walked forward slowly and said in a cold voice: "Young Master Yang, you have been very comfortable these days!"
When Du Canjun and others heard this, they were all shocked. Recently, there was a rumor in the city that the palace envoys wanted to take this Yang Chaoxi back for punishment. Even the feared mail guards were also searching the city for this person. I thought that this person
He has three heads and six arms, and has the power to reach the heavens, but he didn't expect to see him today, but he is actually a young boy who has not lost his youth!
Without any instructions, the bad guards quickly formed a semicircle in front of the restaurant. Then they saw the young man slowly placing his chopsticks on the bowl, waving his sleeves and wiping his mouth and saying: "When you go out to eat something, you have to be chased by flies. It's really
It’s so annoying! Little monkey, you should go practice your sword first! I’ll go back after I finish taking care of this place.”
The little monkey nodded repeatedly, and with a pair of flying bamboo chopsticks, he quickly pulled the buns and soup from the bowl into his mouth. Then he patted his butt, got into the restaurant, and left through the back door.
Several bad guards were stunned and immediately wanted to go around to the back of the restaurant to catch them. However, there were several sharp "chichi" sounds, and several bamboo chopsticks scraped against several people's chins and passed through the air. Some of them hit the stone slabs.
, broken into two pieces, some of which were directly buried into the wooden pillars and railings of nearby houses. If the bamboo chopsticks were just a few inches higher, they could pass through the throat.
In the blink of an eye, they were only a hair away from death. The bad guards were also frightened for a while, and their feet became weak. However, they saw that Yang Chaoxi had already stood up, cupped his fist slightly towards Xiao Zhan and said, "Don't dare! Commander Xiao led a group of heroes to kill everyone."
, is the true hero of the world. How come these days! If Wang Jin hadn't been anxious to see me, he would have been free."
Xiao Zhan sneered, raised his eyes and stared at him and said: "Young Master Yang, everyone in the city said that you killed Huo Xianren alone. I was on the painting boat that day, but I didn't see it very clearly. I just happened to come here with my brothers today to ask for advice.
Your technique of subduing the tiger!"
"Hmph! I was trying to settle a score with a bad guard these days, and someone hit the head of a gun. Just in time!"
Yang Zhaoxi suddenly stretched out his foot and stamped, and a stool flew up. After flipping a few times, it was placed on his thin shoulders. He actually used the stool as a weapon.
"Very good! Since you have agreed, don't blame me for bullying the minority!"
Xiao Zhan smiled instead of being angry. He suddenly pointed at the entrance and blew a loud whistle. Then he drew a horizontal knife and attacked first.