On the streets of Lanzhou, a down-and-out middle-aged man was hesitating in front of the pawn shop with a bunch of things in his hands. After much hesitation, he walked in, put a cotton robe and a box of stationery on the counter, and said in a hoarse voice: "When
thing."
The counter of the pawn shop was very high. The cashier glanced at the middle-aged man condescendingly, and he started to care. He picked up the cotton robe, looked at it, and said, "Twenty cents."
The middle-aged man asked anxiously: "The new cotton robe that I made for two pennies a year ago has only been worn for one winter. How come it is worth twenty pennies?"
"Ragged clothes are not valuable in the first place. Twenty cents is not worth it. Seeing that you are a gentleman, accepting your things is just to show face."
The middle-aged man lowered his head and said, "I will."
The accountant looked at the box of stationery again. The box was made of gold-painted lacquerware. Although it was old, it was well maintained. The corners were wrapped with silver. It was a good thing. The dozen or so brushes inside were all produced in Huzhou. The remaining
The two pieces of ink are also authentic Hui ink, and there is also an inkstone carved into the shape of a lotus leaf. The carving is excellent and the material is high-quality. It is clearly a rare Duan inkstone. Although the value is not as high as a city, it is still very expensive.
, the accountant's eyes lit up, and then he pretended not to care, flipping through it randomly, and said: "A box of dilapidated study utensils, bald pens and broken inkstones. Seeing how pitiful you are, I'll give you two taels of silver."
"This is my family's heirloom. It can at least be worth a hundred taels of silver. Why only two taels of silver?" The middle-aged man couldn't help it this time and jumped to his feet and shouted.
"As I said before, if you want to pawn it, the whole Lanzhou Prefecture, that is, our pawnshop is willing to accept the Four Treasures of the Study. You can go to another pawnshop and keep it or not." The accountant looked down at the middle-aged man with a look of disdain.
"Two taels of silver is not enough for me to go back to my hometown. Sir, can you give me some more?" The middle-aged man begged softly.
"Humph, seeing that it's not easy for you to be a scholar, I'll give you three taels of silver. No more will be enough."
The middle-aged man came out of the pawn shop with the pawn tickets and three hundred and twenty cents in his arms. When the wind blew, he couldn't help but shed tears in his eyes. He lowered his head and wailed: "It's really an insult to gentlemen. I'm sorry for our ancestors."
It turned out that this person was Fan Liangchen, the former Tea Horse Disciple. He thought that he could win the appreciation of his superiors by exchanging a bunch of waste paper tea horse coupons for 300 Qiang horses. Little did he know that after Xun Shang Dao found out, he couldn't help but tell him what to do.
He was accused of dereliction of duty, stripped of his official uniform and stripped of his official uniform, and became a white man from then on.
Fan Liangchen was naturally dissatisfied, but the Tea Horse Department was directly under the Patrol Road and had nothing to do with the governor's office. If he wanted to file a complaint, he could only go to the capital. However, he had no relatives in Lanzhou Prefecture, and there was not enough money to go back to his hometown or to the capital.
In desperation, I had to pawn the only valuable thing in my house, and exchanged some scattered silver, hoping that it would come in handy.
Fan Liangchen knew that Mr. Zhou from the Ministry of Revenue was coming to Lanzhou for inspection recently. The inspection of business roads was under the control of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Mr. Zhou also served as an errand for the Metropolitan Procuratorate. I heard that this man was an upright official. If he could find a way to meet him, he could hand over his grievances.
If you go up there, you should still have a chance to turn over.
Lord Zhou Ziqing, the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Censor of Zuodu, is indeed coming to Lanzhou and has already passed Tianshui. Now under the imperial court's territory, there is no horse-producing area. All horses have to be imported. Originally, there was a tea horse method to help
, they can also import horses at a cheap price. However, the horse administration has been neglected in recent years, and the imperial court's control over the local area is not as good as before. It used to be able to import 10,000 war horses from the Western Regions every year, but now it is zero. If the imperial court wants to use horses, it can only buy them from merchants.
They bought them at high prices. In fact, these horses were smuggled. Everyone knew it, but everyone benefited from it, and no one wanted to tell the truth.
In the spring, when the Mongols were plowing grass in the valley, three thousand cavalry rushed into the Datong line. They burned, killed, and looted as if they were in an uninhabited country. One hundred thousand frontier troops could only stick to the city and did not dare to go out to fight. They watched the Mongolian Tatars helplessly.
Zi robbed tens of thousands of people, women and children, and Long Yan was furious! The general of Datong was imprisoned, and the Minister of War was dismissed from his post. Fortunately, no one was killed, because the emperor also knew that infantry could not fight with cavalry in the field. To leave the city rashly would be to seek death.
That's why Mr. Zhou came to Lanzhou to inspect in person. What he was doing was nothing more than horse politics. This time, the emperor made up his mind. No matter how much it cost, he must establish a stable import channel for war horses. The quantity must be guaranteed and the price must not be outrageous.
, in a word, the court has no money.
The imperial court has no money, but it does not mean that these officials have no money. Ever since Lord Zhou's car passed Chang'an, the greeters from the Gansu Commercial Road came, serving Lord Zhou with delicious food, drinks and fun every day, wine from the Western Regions, and Persian wines.
Carpets, Datong girls, all in all are some good things that are rare in the capital city, but Mr. Zhou is not in the mood to play with this. If he can't handle the errand this time, I'm afraid he won't be able to keep the black gauze on his head.
So he rushed to Lanzhou all night long, ten days earlier than scheduled. When Master Wu Qingyuan, who was patrolling the trade road, heard about it, he hurriedly led people thirty miles out of the city to greet him. The governor of Gansu also sent people to greet Zhou Zi, and beat him.
Qing came in.
Zhou Ziqing is a sensible person and knows that what local officials are best at is deceiving superiors. What they take you to see must be fake and what they tell you must be lies. There is no way to visit you incognito in private. Hundreds of pairs of eyes are staring at you.
Well, the only way to know the truth is to temporarily collude with them, eat what you should eat, play what should be played, and slowly watch them reveal their fox tails.
Zhou Ziqing came with the determination to overcome all difficulties, but on the first day he arrived, Wu Daotai gave him a surprise. There were 300 fine Nanfan horses circled in the tea horse stall.
This cannot be faked by using the Yili Horse River to lure horses. Mr. Zhou is very knowledgeable about horses and can be called a contemporary Bole. He can tell what kind of horses are at a glance.
Although three hundred Southern Qiang horses are not many, they are of great significance. You must know that the origin of these horses is under the control of the Qiang people, and the Qiang people have never done business with the court. They only did business with the King of Shu in Sichuan
Doing business and exchanging horses for brick tea. Although the King of Shu was nominally a vassal of the imperial court, he had actually become independent in disguise. The Qiang horses he bought from them were extremely expensive, and they were just a few
A thin, sickly old horse.
Therefore, the appearance of such a group of Qiang horses in Lanzhou Prefecture means a breakthrough. The trade between the imperial court and the Qiang people has been reopened, and there is another way to obtain horses. At least they are no longer so controlled by the Turks. This is really
What great news.
Mr. Zhou immediately asked where the horse came from. Wu Qingyuan said that his brother-in-law had hired someone to sell it from the Gannan grassland. Mr. Zhou asked how many taels of silver had been spent. Wu Qingyuan said in a conspiratorial manner: "It's not much to say it's too much."
, to say the least is a lot, I didn’t spend even a tael of silver, I just gave this year’s tea and horse coupons to those Qiang people.”
Zhou Ziqing suddenly realized that these Qiang people were thinking the same as him. They were afraid that the import channels for brick tea would be too single and would be blocked by others, so they wanted to find another way. They didn't want money but tea horse coupons. Maybe they wanted to organize the import of goods themselves.
It doesn't matter, anyway, the Tea Horse Law has been abandoned. Even if they have the Tea Horse Tickets, they still have to spend money to buy brick tea. In short, there is no harm to the court.
I used to think that Wu Daotai was just a loser, but I didn't expect him to be a capable person. Zhou Ziqing was overjoyed, patted Wu Qingyuan on the shoulder and said, "You have solved an urgent need for the Holy One."
Wu Qingyuan shook his fat face, and his fat face turned into a chrysanthemum smile: "It should be, it should be, there is one more thing I want to report to you, sir."
"What's the matter? Tell me."
"Fan Liangchen, the tea horse manufacturer, was corrupt, perverted the law, and neglected his duties. He used the tea horse company as a tool to make money for himself. My brother-in-law finally organized the supply of this batch of goods and wanted to sell it to the court, but he blocked it in every possible way. What did he want to receive?
The favor money made those Qiang people angry, and if my brother-in-law hadn't been relegated to a humble position, I'm afraid this road would have been interrupted."
"What a corrupt official, he should be punished."
"My lord, I have been dismissed from my post. In addition... Although my brother-in-law has never gone to school, he has a heart to serve the country and has a deep friendship with the Qiang people. He believes that he should not avoid relatives when he promotes talents, but after all, it is against the law.
The laws of the imperial court, my lord..."
"Use talents regardless of the style. As long as they have made meritorious service to the court, they will be rewarded. Mr. Wu's wife and brother should be reused. Let's do this. Let him fill a tea horse position. After I return, I will report it to the Ministry of Personnel for formal appointment."
"Thank you, Master Zhou."
The removal of Fan Liangchen was naturally the result of the activities of the Yuchi family. The relationship between Yuchi Jiong, the chief storekeeper of the Yuchi family, and Mr. Wu of Xunshangdao was quite good. The two of them made a plan to first remove Fan Liangchen from his official position. In this way,
If you come here, you can control the circulation of tea-horse coupons. Even if Yuan Feng and others are making trouble, the units that sell tea-horse coupons will not cooperate with you. Why are you arresting smugglers?
Yu Chijiong was a very courageous man who handled matters vigorously and resolutely. He did not have the authority to hold office in Luyang County, so he simply sent five of his men to assassinate him. These five men were not the swordsmen raised in the D-shaped house, but the boss himself.
He is a close confidant who will do things swiftly and reliably, and even if he makes a mistake, he will never reveal the secret.
After the Luyang Magistrate was killed and the Tea Horse Chief was dismissed, the official identity that Yuan Feng relied on was gone. He was no longer an anti-smuggling horse, but a complete horse thief, a criminal who robbed serious businessmen and destroyed the imperial economy.
The government sent people to raid the village, but the villagers still dare to use force?
The fourth shopkeeper Han Shihe returned from Shibali Fort in defeat, which made Yu Chijiong very happy. The fourth shopkeeper was a close confidant of the family leader Yu Chiguang, and he had long wanted to promote him to become the chief shopkeeper. But if he failed this time, he might not have the chance to correct himself.
No more, and the operation he carried out in this regard went very smoothly. Chama Si took control of it. Although the person sent to assassinate him has not returned yet, there is probably no suspense. After this matter is completed, his prestige will naturally increase...
…
Yu Chijiong worked very well, and everyone was happy all the way. Zhou Shangshu took out something and reported it to the emperor, Wu Daotai had more money in his wallet, his brother-in-law became a minister, and he took control of tea.
Ma Si controls the channels for Qiang horses to be imported. Regardless of whether they are sold to the court or smuggled at a high price themselves, they can always make a lot of profits.
There is a misunderstanding here, because when Yuan Feng and others trafficked the first batch of Qiang horses, there were a hundred Qiang people in the team, so they were misunderstood that the Qiang people were the majority in the team, and these ten Han people were just horsemen and translators. Since
It's easy to say that the Qiang people recognized Cha Ma Si, but it's not easy to find people to replace Yuan Feng and others.
Outside the Xunshang Road Yamen, Fan Liangchen was looking forward to it. He had just spent two taels of silver to bribe the concierge and asked him to help him present the brochure he had written to Mr. Zhou's attendant at the Ministry of Revenue. An hour had passed, but there was still no reply.
Fan Liangchen mustered up the courage to knock on the door again. The side door opened, and the concierge asked angrily: "What are you doing?"
"Brother, my letter..."
"Believe it or not, this is a government office, and no one is allowed to stop here!"
"But, I gave you two taels of silver."
Fan Liangchen was anxious and went up to pull the porter's sleeve, but was kicked away. While they were making a fuss, a shout came from inside: "Your Excellency, your Majesty has set off." It turned out that Mr. Zhou and Mr. Wu were going to the banquet together. Because Zhou
The minister loved horses, so unlike other civil servants, transportation in the city was carried out by horseback. Wu Qingyuan naturally followed him and rode a horse instead of a sedan. The two of them walked side by side, and Wu Qingyuan was very measured and lagged behind.
Half a horse's head, followed by a young man with shoulder-length shoulders, wearing a black gauze on his head and a green robe. He is a stranger, but you can tell his identity by looking at the street cleaning signs displayed by the entire team, except for the household department.
Apart from the main hall and the main hall of Xunshang Road, there is the Lanzhou Tea Horse Main Hall.
It turned out that this person was the person who took over his position. Fan Liangchen suddenly realized that there were a lot of crows in the world. This young man didn't know whose relative he was, and he was kicked off to make room for him.
Fan Liangchen just stood by the door blankly, watching the large group of carriages and horses passing by. The distance was so close that even Mr. Zhou and the others could clearly hear their conversation.
"Ding Tisi is a young man who has made great achievements. He opened up a way for the imperial court to import Qiang horses. This is really a great achievement. After I return to Beijing, I will ask the Holy One for your credit."
This was Zhou Shangshu talking to the young man with slumped shoulders, and the new chief minister hurriedly answered: "Your Excellency, you are so complimentary. It's all my brother-in-law... Lord Wu gave you some good advice, so we thought of exchanging tea and horse coupons for Qiang."
Ma, when it comes to merit, Mr. Wu deserves the credit."
"No need to be humble, it's all merit, hahaha."
The group of people left with a smile, leaving Fan Liangchen standing there blankly. This was obviously all his own work, why did it become theirs? It turns out that this officialdom is darker than he imagined.