The autumn rain is like silk, and with the autumn wind, waves of chill hit my heart.【】
Pedestrians on the street were running hurriedly in the swaying wind and rain, and it really felt like passers-by were about to die. Search for the latest updates, and you can see a horse-drawn carriage galloping gently, with four horses riding on the shaft, driving smoothly and steadily.
If you look at it at first glance, you won't think there is anything unusual about this car. The car is very elegantly made, but it is not luxurious. The car is wide and large, but the materials and decorations are very few. This is really considered a place where the wealthy businessmen of Lianghuai and Huaihe gather.
It was not such a conspicuous car. However, sitting in this car was Pan Qiren, the head of the Pan family, the largest salt merchant in Lianghuai.
The Lianghuai Salt Fields are located along the Yellow River north of the Yangtze River in Jiangsu. The one north of the Huai River is called the Huaibei Salt Fields, and the one south of the Huai River is called the Huainan Salt Fields. They are the largest salt fields in the history of our country. They are known to have "the benefit of boiling salt since ancient times.
In the southeast, the two Huaihe Rivers are the highest." It is said that "the two Huaihe Rivers have the highest salt tax in the world".
There are many salt fields in Lianghuai and there are also many rich people, but when it comes to the long history of the business name and the rich family wealth, the Pan family is the leader. It is said that the Pan family salt field existed as early as the early years of the Song Dynasty. Over the years, the Pan family's heritage has
It is conceivable. Therefore, there are many rich people in Lianghuai, and the Pan family is like a wealthy aristocracy. Whether it is style, taste, or sitting, lying and walking, they are far from being comparable to those of the nouveau riche.
The car owned by the head of the Pan family is plain and plain, because the Pan family no longer needs to decorate its appearance with wealth. However, although the car does not look gorgeous inside, it is extremely spacious and comfortable. The tables, chairs, couches and curtains are all
Under the erosion of the years, it has a kind of precipitation over the years. As long as the vision is not too bad, who would underestimate it because it is not a magnificent color at first glance.
Pan Qiren is over sixty years old, but he looks like he is in his early forties. He is very well-maintained. He is tall, has a clear face, a pair of very bright eyes, a long beard that is neatly combed, and a blue gown.
Sitting in this car, he has a calm momentum, but he has a kind of imperial majesty. Here, he is the emperor. There are countless salt merchants in Lianghuai and Huaihe, many of whom are rich enough to rival the country. Behind these people, there is a huge political force.
, and the king of these people is Pan Qiren.
Seeing the master's car coming back from a distance, the two gatekeepers ran out holding umbrellas, opened the gate, stood by the door and bowed to welcome the master, the carriage bowed straight in, and when the car entered, the gate slammed shut again. This is just
There is a side door, and the door is much wider than the front door of an ordinary house. There are two welcoming pine trees at the door, and when you enter the yard, you will see a long straight road, with sycamores planted on both sides.
The car drove until it stopped at the corridor at the end of the road. The pedal was put down and the car door opened. Pan Qiren slowly stepped out of the car and stood firmly on the ground. The steward of the Pan family was wearing a long robe, but he was as elegant as a Shaoxing man.
The master gently lifted the front train of his robe and came up to help Mr. Pan. Pan Qiren was still in good health and did not need help, and the steward did not really use any force to help him, but the two men raised their arms.
, once we put hands together, it was very natural and there was no artificial feeling at all.
Under the dripping eaves on both sides of the corridor, raindrops were like curtains, slapping against the fat plantains on the corridor. Then he smiled and said: "Two million catties, how do you do?"
Pan Qiren's expression was calm, and he didn't show any signs of surprise when his son heard what Shen Du said. He said directly without blinking an eyelid: "My nephew, since it was Mr. Ji who spoke, I have no objection to it. However,
You also know the salt method of the Ming Dynasty. The salt produced in this salt farm has a fixed amount. I asked my nephew to take away these two million kilograms of salt. Even though there was still some in the library, there was not much, so I transferred the salt to the envoy.
Si, how should I deal with the salt class? Since my nephew is here under the orders of Lord Ji, Lord Ji should solve this problem for me, right?"
Shen Du laughed, with the arrogance of a villain: "Shibo, I know that the name Master Ji alone cannot scare you! Hahaha, maybe Shibo, in his heart, thinks that I, Shen Du, am trying to fake the power of a tiger. Are you pretending to be Mr. Ji and coming to blackmail you?"
Mr. Pan smiled and said: "My nephew is serious. It's only two million jins, which is not a small amount. My nephew asked me to bring out this batch of salt. I can indeed afford it, but if I take out this salt, even if I can't exchange it for nothing, The extra money should be worth it, right?"
"What does it mean to be worthy?"
"Eliminate disasters, not cause them!"
"good good good good……"
Shen Du laughed again. He glanced at Pan Qiren triumphantly, touched his arms, took out two things, put them gently on the table, pushed them to Pan Qiren's hand, and said proudly: "Shibo, you also know that Jin Yiwei is Those who work directly for the emperor need to spend more money to do more, bigger and more secret things. The money allocated by the Ministry of Accounts is not enough!
For this matter, we can no longer ask for money from the Ministry of Household Affairs, so the emperor issued an order to transfer salt from the salt farm, and his nephew will come forward to run it. All the proceeds will be used for military supplies. It is good for Shibo to know about this. Please note After all, it is not easy to express clearly that disaster is caused by mouth. If the envoy of the Salt Envoy and Tiju Division finds out and writes a bitter remonstrance, refuting the emperor's face, this matter will not be easy to handle."
"Of course I know this!"
Pan Qiren picked up the waist badge. It was indeed the ivory waist badge of a senior military attaché of the Jin Yi Guard. He then took the piece of paper and unfolded it gently. It was actually an order from Emperor Yongle to Ji Gang, the commander of the Jin Yi Guard. What he said was exactly what Shen Du said. It is said that it is indeed the same, and there is the small seal of Emperor Yongle on the bottom.
"My nephew, this warrant..."
Shen Du said displeasedly: "Brother Ji, isn't Mr. Ji's face big enough? If you want this warrant, my nephew will keep it for you, but if Mr. Ji is not happy, , Shibo, my nephew can’t bear the burden for you! My nephew doesn’t believe it. With the Gu family’s position in the Taishan Beidou of the Lianghuai Salt Farm, the Gu family will have no way of explaining it to the Salt Envoy after allocating this batch of salt!”
Pan Qiren chuckled: "Of course I know my nephew's difficulties. Well, since this is the emperor's will, how can I not agree? When will you need this batch of salt?"
"The sooner the better!"
"Okay, give me three days to prepare. After three days, you come to pick up the salt!"
Shen Du was overjoyed. He grabbed back his waist tag and the warrant written by Emperor Yongle to Ji Gang. He carefully put it back into his arms and said happily: "Then I won't bother you. My nephew takes his leave. I'll come back to see Shibo in three days!"
Pan Qiren then stood up and said with a smile: "It's raining, and it's rare for my nephew to come to my Gu family. How can I just leave like this? Let's stay for a light meal!"
Shen Duxin sneered: "Do you know how to please me now?"
He said: "No, no, thank you very much, Uncle Shi. My nephew still has a lot of things to do, so I'll take my leave now. Uncle Shi, stay here, brother, stay here!"
Pan Qiren stood under the dripping eaves, with one hand behind his waist and the other stroking his beard, looking thoughtfully at the rain and fog in front of him. After a while, Pan Sanye, who had sent Shen Du away, hurried back and waved to him. The servant holding an umbrella said to Pan Qiren: "Father, do we agree to him now? Two million pounds of salt, he...he will leave with just one word! I just sent him out, listen to his words It seems... it seems that it’s not just this time, there may be people coming to ask for salt in the future, when will this end?"
"Be calm in everything. If you are so impatient, what problem can you solve?"
Mr. Pan glared at his son displeasedly, turned around and went back to the living room, and Mr. Pan followed him in.
"Tomorrow morning, you go to the Salt Transfer Department to pick up the salt section. The salt that should be delivered will have to be delayed."
"this……"
Pan Sanye said: "Father, there are quite a lot of merchants, big and small, who come to the salt field from all over the country to bring salt. I don't know how long this delay will last. They..."
"Let's just give an explanation to the Salt Envoy and the Tiju Division. We don't need to worry about this matter!"
"yes!"
Pan Sanye lowered his hands and listened to the instructions, muttering in his heart. The salt method implemented in the Ming Dynasty was the breaking method, which originated from the folding method in the Song Dynasty. Because transporting grain to the frontiers was long and expensive, it was a huge burden. It involves supervision issues. Therefore, the imperial court implemented this method and asked merchants to transport grain to the frontiers for military needs. After the shipment arrived, they were given salt guides according to the amount of grain and rice, and then used the salt guide to go to the salt field to collect salt and sell the salt for profit. .
In this way, using the power of salt merchants to transport grain to the border will not have any impact on the current government system. As long as part of the profits are transferred to the salt merchants, the transportation of grain and wages can be completed by the merchants alone, and the government does not need to have any manpower. Investment in material resources can reap the rewards. At the same time, through the establishment of laws, merchants can be effectively mobilized and private capital can be used to solve the transportation of military supplies. This not only reduces the burden of corvee on the people, but also promotes economic development in border areas.
Therefore, there are all kinds of salt merchants from various places who are waiting to get salt. There are many powerful rice merchants and big salt merchants in various places. These people are also very powerful, so Mr. Pan is a little guilty.
Mr. Pan added: "Also, if you want people to keep an eye on Shen Du, he will never only look for our family. After he has found several salt merchants, he will find a way to get his 'warrant'. The method must be It needs to be clever, not letting him know that it was stolen, but that it was 'destroyed'!"
Mr. Pan said in surprise: "Father, that is the emperor's order, let's... let's take that one..., ah!"
Halfway through speaking, Mr. Pan's expression changed and he said in disbelief: "Father, you mean...?"
Mr. Pan said solemnly: "The Salt Transfer Department and the Salt Class Lifting Department have envoys from the Metropolitan Procuratorate in charge, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate is Chen Ying's territory. If the emperor had really issued such an order, do you think Ji Gang would have spent a lot of money? After all the twists and turns, he bypassed the two salt law yamen and put pressure on us directly? Hum! Shen Du will go directly to the salt envoy department and promote the department, just like Shen Du demonstrated to our Pan family, he demonstrated to Chen Ying!"
Mr. Pan said anxiously: "In that case, we shouldn't give him the salt, it's two million catties!"
Mr. Pan shook his head and exclaimed: "The emperor's order may be fake, but the person sent by Ji Gang is not fake. We can't afford to offend him! With the current status of our Gu family, even if it means breaking our muscles and bones, , As long as life and death are not at stake, can you still risk it and fight to the death with such an incredible powerful minister?"
Mr. Pan lowered his hands and said, "Yes! It's just... in this case, why... why should we steal the warrant?"
Mr. Pan glared at him angrily, shook his head and sighed: "Third brother, compared to your eldest brother and second brother, you have too little experience. Just do things, one day you will understand!"
Mr. Pan said with shame: "Yes, my son will make arrangements right now!"
In the back garden of the Yang family, under the pomegranate tree, Xia Xun was lying on a leisure chair, watching his daughters playing in the flowers in front of them. Accompanying them were two beauties from Qiuci, Siren and Jeanne. The blond and blue-eyed
The two women are already commonplace in the Yang family. The children are not afraid of them and get along very well with them.
Nowadays, the two girls have truly grown up, mature and charming, like two juicy and delicious peaches. Their skin is as white as jade, but not as rough as Westerners, and their physical development is far from that of Westerners.
They are more three-dimensional than Han girls. The skirts worn on them perfectly outline their proud figures. The waists are so thin that the curves of the buttocks appear extremely exaggerated even under the skirts.
The bulges look like two queen bees with slim waists and fat buttocks.
Two queen bees led a few happy little bees to fly around in the flowers. When they bent down, dodged, and jumped, the flexibility of their waists, the fullness of their fat buttocks, and the swaying of their breasts would make those
The spring scenery that makes men intoxicated appears.
However, there were only two men at the scene, one was Xia Xun who was lying on the leisure chair, and the other was Dai Yubin. Dai Yubin didn't dare, and Xia Xun... didn't dare either.
Because whenever his eyes meet the two girls, Siren and Jeanne, there will be a hint of resentment. Yes, if they tried to flatter Xia Xun before, their main purpose was to have someone to rely on, but now they are completely mature physically and mentally.
They want a man even more. And besides Xia Xun, who else in the Yang family would dare to touch them?
So they wanted to be locked in a deep palace, surrounded by a group of eunuchs. The women could only glance at Xia Xun from time to time with their fiery and resentful eyes, and at the same time glare hatefully at the man standing next to Xia Xun.
"The Great Eunuch", if it weren't for this guy, they should have a chance to get close to their master.
Eunuch Dai...ah! Dai Yubin reported to Xia Xun without squinting: "The arrangements have been made according to the Duke's instructions, and the emperor will receive the news soon."
Xia Xun said "Yeah" and said: "That's it, you are still mainly responsible for keeping an eye on Ji Gang's news. You can't let up on this matter!"
Dai Yubin agreed, then hesitated: "Ji Gang has become more and more arrogant recently, and has reached the point of being arrogant. The evidence we have now, as long as we mobilize enough power, is not enough to defeat him. Isn't the Duke of the country too much?"
Be more cautious!”
Xia Xun said: "If you get something, just throw something into your arms. That's a child's complaint! A changing heavenly account records everyone's problems. Today's glory is endless, but there may not be no problems, or no one will find his problems.
Just because the official chess game still needs this chess piece, the problem is not a problem. If you act rashly at this time, you may hurt yourself. Only when this chess piece becomes useless will its problem become a murderous knife!
Haha, you have to be patient when playing chess!"
Just as he said this, a gust of wind blew by, and a ripe pomegranate suddenly fell from the tree above his head. Xia Xun opened his hand, and the pomegranate fell steadily into his palm. This scene happened to be seen by Si Xun.
He immediately jumped up and said, "I'll eat it, daddy, give it to me!" and then ran over.
Xia Xun smiled and handed the pomegranate to his daughter, and then said to Dai Yubin: "Most fruits taste bitter before they are ripe. Why not wait until they are ripe before tasting them?"
Miss Xilin, who was chasing Si Xun and ran up to her, happened to hear these words, and glanced at Xia Xun with a pair of big sea-blue eyes even more resentfully, thinking: "She is already mature, why doesn't the master taste it?