Magistrate Chen frowned slightly. He glanced at Mr. Zhao and asked, "The imperial court...is going to war?"
Mr. Zhao's eyes were on the two pipa girls at the moment. After hearing Magistrate Chen's question, he said helplessly: "It's only May. This year alone, the Northern Barbarians have marched to the Huaihe River twice and sent envoys to the capital to intimidate.
Holy Master, if you want the imperial court to pay tribute to them, damn, you are becoming more and more lawless."
"Even the princes in the capital have become angry and want to increase troops in the Huaihe River."
Having said this, Mr. Zhao glanced at Magistrate Chen and continued: "The Queen Mother wanted to stop trading with the Northern Barbarians and cut off communication, but she was stopped by several husbands."
The current Emperor is only a teenager this year, and is not yet old enough to rule. All matters in the court are discussed by the Queen Mother and several princes. However, the Emperor is young and has to rely on ministers and the Queen Mother for many things.
It is difficult for the empress to suppress those husbands who have deep foundations.
"Cut off mutual trade..."
Magistrate Chen was thoughtful, and then whispered: "How is this possible? Almost every one of the officials in the imperial court is doing business. Which one has no contact with the Northern Barbarians? Cutting off communication means cutting off their money.
road…"
Mr. Zhao glanced at Magistrate Chen and said with a chuckle, "You, Mr. Chen, said this. I, Mr. Zhao, did not say it."
Knowing that he had made a mistake, Magistrate Chen picked up his wine glass and clinked a drink with Young Master Zhao, smiling: "We are all our own people, so I just said it casually. Young Master, please don't take it seriously."
After the two of them finished drinking the glass of wine, Magistrate Chen looked up at the two pipa girls, waved his hand and said, "That's it, you guys go down and wash yourself up, and go directly to Mr. Zhao's room later. There is no need to wait here."
The two pipa girls looked at each other, stood up, bowed their heads to Magistrate Chen and Mr. Zhao, then twisted their waists and went down.
Mr. Zhao kept his eyes on the buttocks of the two pipa girls. He waited until the two girls were far away before he lowered his head and took a sip of wine and praised: "The taste of these Jiangdu girls is different from those in the capital. They have charm."
too much."
Master Chen chuckled and did not answer. Then he poured a glass of wine for Mr. Zhao with a wine bottle and said, "Mr. Zhao, the price of food in Jiangdu is not cheap. I don't know whether the Ministry of Household Affairs buys it at the market price or the official price.
Come and buy it. If you buy it at the official price, those grain dealers may hide it and be unwilling to sell the grain."
"Don't want to sell food?"
Mr. Zhao sneered slightly.
"Then are you willing to raid your home?"
In the final analysis, the government office is a violent machine. For a violent machine, if it is willing to reason with you, that is the mercy of the official. If it is not willing to reason with you, there is actually no reason to speak to you.
The reason is very simple. Yangzhou is very close to the Huaihe River, which means it is also very close to the Beiman territory.
Although the Beiman and Dachen are enemies, they cannot fight every year for sixty years. In fact, during these sixty years, the two sides have been at peace most of the time, trading with each other and exchanging what they have.
.
Almost every one of these wealthy Yangzhou businessmen has business in Beiman.
If you catch one of them and charge him with having an affair with the Northern Barbarians, you can justifiably raid your home.
"Master, I misunderstood. Chen didn't mean it this way."
Master Chen glanced at Young Master Zhao, with a faint smile on his face: "What Chen means is that there may be two prices for the grain purchase this time."
This is to make a profit from the price difference, to make a profit from the imperial court.
Mr. Zhao looked at Chen Yu and said with a smile: "Why, Mr. Chen wants to make a fortune?"
"No no no."
Chen Yu shook his head slightly and said: "Master, Mr. Chen will fully cooperate with you to handle this matter, and he will not take any money. All the money will be left to the master, but... after the master returns to Beijing, he will bring a share to Mr. Yang."
."
Young Master Yang was the son of Yang Jingzong, the Prime Minister of the capital, and the Prime Minister Yang Jingzong was the mentor of Chen Yu, the governor of Jiangdu.
At this age, Chen Yu was able to sit in the fat and fat job of Jiangdu Prefect, and his teacher was very helpful behind the scenes.
Hearing these words, Zhao Gongzi Zhao Yu looked at Magistrate Chen with a half-smile, and then laughed: "It seems that Governor Chen does not want to get rich, but wants to be promoted."
"I don't want to be promoted, but I just want to show my filial piety."
"good."
Mr. Zhao stood up from his chair and stretched: "Just do what Master Chen said about this matter."
After saying this, he cupped his hands towards Master Chen and said with a smile: "Master Chen will come to the pavilion to pay homage to the Prime Minister in the future. Please take care of me."
"Don't dare to take it seriously."
Chen Yu bowed his head and returned the gift: "Master Zhao and I are in the same spirit. We can only say that we help each other..."
Mr. Zhao laughed and said: "It's good to help each other. The two pipa girls want to come and are in need of help at this time. I will help them go."
When Chen Yu heard this, he smiled like a man, and lowered his eyebrows as he said, "Young master, have fun."
………………
The next day, Chen Yu invited more than ten grain merchants from Jiangdu Prefecture to the prefect's Yamen to discuss matters.
This discussion lasted all morning, and it was not until ten minutes at noon that these grain merchants walked out of the prefect's Yamen with sad faces.
By the afternoon, a piece of gossip spread like wildfire in Jiangdu City.
The imperial court wants to allocate military rations from Jiangdu!
The news spread very quickly. In just half an afternoon, it spread almost throughout Jiangdu.
At this time, Shen Qilang and Shen Yi were drinking tea in a teahouse in Jiangdu City. Opposite him, a middle-aged man in commoner clothes sat. The middle-aged man was very talkative. He sat in front of Shen Yi and chattered endlessly.
This is a friend Shen Yi met in a teahouse. His surname is Tian, and his given name is Tian Boping. Because his family is from Ba family, he is nicknamed Ba Ye. Because there is a scar on his face, many people understand him as Scar Ye.
In the past half month, Shen Yi often drank tea in various teahouses in Jiangdu City. Firstly, he wanted to understand this era and this city, and secondly, he also wanted to get some useful information for himself.
Shen Yi would see this eighth master almost every time he had tea. Once Shen Yi got interested and invited him to have a drink, and the two of them got to know each other.
At this moment, Tian Laoba was sitting opposite Shen Yi, with a pot of wine and a plate of side dishes in front of him, and he was talking to Shen Yi about the big and small things in Jiangdu City with great interest.
After drinking less than half of a pot of wine, the eighth master suddenly lowered his voice and whispered: "Brother Shen, I have a piece of news to tell you. You must not spread it."
Hearing this sentence, Shen Yi rolled his eyes silently and said angrily: "Okay, Brother Tian, you should say this once to a person, you are such a big mouth, but any news that comes out of your mouth, Half of Jiangdu City knows about it."
"This is really top secret news!"
Tian Laoba became a little anxious and whispered: "If you tell me this, you will be held accountable by the government."
Shen Yi lowered his head and took a sip of tea, then said with a smile: "Then come and listen."
"The imperial court...is about to go to war with the Northern Barbarians."
Tian Laoba looked serious.
Shen Yi frowned slightly: "Why do you see that?"
Tian Laoba's expression became mysterious, and he whispered: "Brother received reliable news. This morning, the prefect's master called all the best grain merchants in the city to the prefect's Yamen. It is said that the government wants to requisition grain... "
Shen Yi burst into laughter: "What happened in the morning was reported to Brother Tian in the afternoon? Then Brother Tian, you..."
At this point, Shen Yi was suddenly stunned and did not continue.
He put down the teacup in his hand and said thoughtfully: "The news spread so fast, which means someone is spreading it deliberately..."
He turned the teacup in his hand and frowned again.