After You Song entered the house, he looked around and recognized Song Huiyue at a glance.
He was surprised, but calmly invited Xi Zhang to sit at the head of the crowd.
Ouyang Bai walked at the end and asked the bartender to remove the refreshments and bring out the wine and food. He also asked everyone to please relax and take a seat.
The banquet had already been arranged. A pig was roasted, a sheep was slaughtered, and two barrels of wine were sold. A large bowl of wine and large pieces of meat were placed on the table. The knife was stuck in the meat with a glimmer of oil.
In front of everyone.
Huang Xianjue and others sat in front of a table full of wine and meat. No one dared to make a move. They were also impressed by the majesty and fierceness of a leopard with a ring-shaped head and eyes, a lion's nose and a wide mouth. They were timid at first and forgot all the complaints they had discussed earlier.
Two pure.
When Xi Zhang saw their deer-like heads and rat-like eyes, they shrank in fear and his anger was still lingering, so he immediately said, "Why don't you eat?"
Ouyang Bai received the command from the capital commander to take care of Xi Zhang, so he quickly got up and scooped a bowl of wine for Xi Zhang, cut a piece of mutton into the bowl, and asked each of his servants to scoop the wine without restraint.
With him moving around, everyone calmed down a little bit.
Song Huiyue lowered her head and stepped forward, cut the pig ears for He Jianghuai, and poured him wine. He Jianghuai picked up the bowl, his hands shaking.
Everyone ate and drank cautiously. After drinking a barrel of wine, Ouyang Bai stood up, offered everyone an empty bowl, and smiled and said why he came. As expected, he came to ask for money.
Huang Xianjue was used to talking nonsense. After drinking two bowls of wine, he couldn't hold his tongue and muttered: "After what we did last year, our business was also greatly affected. The officials wanted it, so we had to squeeze out some."
Just not much."
The others also nodded and looked at Xi Zhang carefully, wanting him to tell the truth as to how much money was needed. They would try their best to collect it.
Xi Zhang stabbed a piece of mutton with a knife and stuffed the tip of the knife into his mouth. After eating, he simply said: "Ten million taels."
He suddenly opened his mouth so loudly that even Ouyang Bai was dumbfounded and speechless.
The merchants who received the invitation were also speechless.
They thought that the city camp only cost one million taels at most, and each of them contributed 100,000 taels, so they got over the matter. But it cost ten million taels. Where would they get the one million taels of silver from?
?
Silver is not a stone. You can pick it up when you go out. Moreover, even if they have silver, they all have a use. If they take it out, they will immediately go to drink the northwest wind.
This was even scarier than Song Huiyue putting a knife on their necks.
Xi Zhang saw them hesitating, each saying they had no money, and they didn't even dare to look directly at him. Instead, they lowered their eyes and looked at the ground, as if everyone's shoes were all carved, and they became more and more ruthless.
He stood up with the boning knife: "You people, with fine clothes, fine food, fine clothes and fine wine, are all protected by our city camp. Our city camp turns a blind eye to what you do."
, now we just ask you to do some small things, and you start pushing back and forth!"
Everyone said they didn't dare, and asked Xi Zhang to lower the price, and they would definitely get it together.
Huang Xianjue muttered again: "Even if we are taken advantage of, we can't even get together ten million taels."
Xi Zhang picked up the knife, shouted angrily with a thunderous voice, and slammed the knife on the table. It was obviously a not very sharp boning knife, and it was inserted like cutting tofu in one stroke, and the blade was exposed.
Under the table.
"If you can't get it together, let's treat it like this."
Huang Xianjue knelt down with a "plop", and the others were all Nanshan monkeys. They fell to the ground one after another and knelt down together.
He Jianghuai and Xi Zhang were from the same place. Seeing Xi Zhang's style, he applauded in his heart. Seeing others kneeling down, he knelt down meaningfully. At the same time, he wanted to ask Song Huiyue how much money he could give.
You Song stood up and helped He Jianghuai up: "Everyone, get up and think about how much money you can spare."
Everyone sat back tremblingly, becoming more and more silent. After a while, the rhinoceros horn merchant Niu Yiqun whispered: "Generals, there is a shortage of silver and food and grass in the city camp. We should definitely contribute, but you want ten million taels."
, it really makes things difficult for us, so we shouldn’t get the military pay.”
It was a good thing that he didn't mention the word military pay. As soon as he mentioned military pay, Xi Zhang immediately let out a cold look from his eyes, as if he wanted to kill everyone present with a knife.
After being exploited by the Marshals and Transport Departments, less than half of the military pay actually reaches them.
Even the grain and grass distributed by the imperial court were changed hands one by one by these people, and in the end the soldiers were fed only pig food.
You Song said politely: "Everyone knows what it was like last year. There was no harvest in the fields, and there were no cattle or sheep on the pastures. In order to let the soldiers survive, many war horses were killed. Kyoto was unprepared for the drought.
, so much so that they didn’t even prepare the grain. If the King of Jin hadn’t sent tens of thousands of stones of grain and grass, the generals in the military camp would have starved to death, and there would be no one to guard the city gate. Since you can’t come up with ten million taels, then you can come up with it.
How about something you can take out?"
Everyone looked at each other, but Niu Yiqun finally spoke first: "When I came back from the south, I bought 10,000 stones of grain, and I haven't unloaded it yet. My boy can lead you to unload it."
Xi Zhang looked at Ouyang Bai: "Let's go and take a look now."
Ouyang nodded, got up and followed the Niu family boy to the dock. Not long after, he came back with a smile on his face: "Commander, I personally went on the boat to see it. It's all good millet. I've already sent someone to go there."
Removed."
Xi Zhang nodded and his expression softened a lot.
At this time, grain was more valuable than silver. If these ten thousand shi of grain were converted into silver, it would only cost around ten thousand taels. However, it was extremely rare to be able to deliver it to the city camp without being exploited.
Only these merchants who do not act openly can do this.
The government took advantage of them, and they were coming and going in secret. Let alone ten thousand shi of grain, no matter how much they had, they would not attract attention.
The government will even provide cover for them.
The rest of the people also realized that the main purpose of the city camp this time was not money, but food, and they all weighed their own wealth and showed their sincerity.
When it was He Jianghuai's turn, before He Jianghuai could speak, Hu Jinyu suddenly said: "May I ask you military masters, can a military household do a business like ours?"
When everyone who was discussing heard this, they were all stunned. Seeing that Hu Jinyu was looking in the direction of He Jianghuai, they all moved their eyes there.
You Song couldn't help but clenched his hands while frantically trying to hide Song Huiyue's identity.
Military households can do business, but if they interfere in the underground business, they are suspected of collaborating with the enemy, and Xi Zhang will never tolerate it.
Xi Zhang's eyes were like lightning, directed at Song Huiyue and Tian Jiguang, but in just a moment, they fell on Song Huiyue.
She looks weak, but she has eyes that swallow everything.
Hu Jinyu then said: "Master Li, why should you hide your head and only let your subordinates come forward? Since I mentioned you, I will ask you to come out and speak."