The reason why they believed so firmly in Shu Niu’s words was actually not unreasonable.
Since ancient times, there have been many internal fights among aristocratic families, not to mention the Zheng Kingdom. Nowadays, among the vassal states and even the Zhou royal family, which family's struggle to seize the heir is not bloody?
This is true for all princes, let alone these ordinary wealthy families.
And Shu Niu's words are also very concise and clear. He bluntly said that he doesn't like to share with others. The implication is that he can only have the final say in the future sacrifice of the clan.
His other two younger brothers, let alone inheriting the family business, will not be able to even take a look at them.
It is precisely for this reason that he wanted to take this opportunity to sell his two younger brothers so that he could solely own the Ji family business. This is reasonable and reasonable.
As for these Qi merchants, they may still have some doubts in their hearts, but they only have the courage to do so.
However, considering that Shu Niu usually always speaks the truth, they had some confidence in Shu Niu for a while.
As a result, the matter was quickly settled, and Shu Niu immediately arranged for his cronies to go and transfer Jishi's grain depot.
Everything is going on quietly.
……
Three days later, Zheng's official rations and sacrifices were all arranged, and he was ready to set off immediately.
In order to show the importance this time of relieving the country from the disaster, Zheng Guo also sent another official to see him off.
At the east gate of Zheng Yi, Yin Duan (Yin family, given name Duan, courtesy name Zishi) of the State of Zheng was inspecting the carriages, horses and grains accompanied by Ji Zeng and Ji Xun. Ji Le had nothing to do, so he called Li Ran.
Come here so that he can join in the fun.
Looking at the parade of inspections in front of the seal section, Li Ran couldn't help but sigh in his heart: Sure enough, the styles of leaders' inspection work have been so similar throughout the ages. When people come, they speak, but with this heart, it seems
I will never forget it in my own home.
While Li Ran and Ji Le were chatting and looking at each other, they saw a fleet of cars with no end in sight. At this scale, Zheng Guo had really spent a lot of money.
Judging from the number of carriages, the three thousand stones of grain sacrificed here required more than a hundred carriages, and they were at the forefront of the convoy.
However, the number of carriages carrying Zheng's grain was twice that of Ji's. As a result, the entire driveway on the outskirts of the city was suddenly crowded with these carriages carrying grain, making it impossible to pass at all.
And this nearly ten thousand shi of grain was undoubtedly a huge sum of money for Zheng Guo.
Yin Duan, one of the six ministers of the Zheng Kingdom, is from the same clan as Zi Chan. In terms of seniority, he can be regarded as Zi Chan's nephew. Although he is young, he is calm enough. Because of this, Zi Chan will arrange for him to come before him.
Come and see Jishi off.
He only took a quick look at the food for family sacrifices in the front row and then finished it. But when he inspected the official carriages in the back row, he became serious and inspected them one by one, not daring to show any slightest hesitation. In full view of the public, Dr. Zishi's change was so obvious that everyone present had no choice but to notice.
Li Ran was no exception. Li Ran said to Ji Le beside him:
"Girl Ji, do you know why Dr. Zishi is becoming more serious now?"
Ji Le was naturally not stupid. When Li Ran asked her this question, she immediately replied playfully:
"Hehe, this is not a problem for this girl. There are two reasons for this."
"Oh? Tell me about it?"
I saw that Ji Le was writing and saying seriously:
"Doctor Zishi sees that our chariots and horses are completely different from those of the official family. This represents the official family's trust in our family. Secondly, it naturally shows that he represents the official family in treating this matter.
A meticulous attitude."
After hearing this, Li Ran smiled knowingly and joked with her:
"Oh my, it's really true that the person who is close to the vermilion is red. Miss Ji's eyesight has really improved a lot."
What Ji Le said is actually quite right. The officials have always had great trust in Ji Shi. Otherwise, Zheng Guo would not have chosen to let Ji Shi's caravan go to Weiguo on his behalf this time.
So, after Yin Duan's inspection, he turned around, looked at the second son of the Ji clan with great solemnity, and said:
"This trip is of great importance. You two must be careful not to cause trouble along the way, let alone neglect your duties and neglect your precautions, causing this batch of food to fall into the wrong hands."
Ji Xun and Ji Yi heard the sound and hurriedly said yes, not daring to take a breath.
Ji Le looked on and said to Li Ran with a smile:
"From here to Weiguo, the road is our Zhengguo territory. Who dares to do something small under the nose of Dr. Zichan? Dr. Zishi, is he a little too cautious?"
"After all, these ten thousand stones of food can save many people of Weiguo. It's okay to be cautious."
Hearing what Li Ran said, Ji Le realized that he had said the wrong thing, and immediately stuck out his tongue and fell silent.
At this time, Li Ran followed the grain cart of the Zheng Kingdom and looked forward. Jishi put the carriage containing his own grain in the front row. In fact, the meaning was very clear. It was undoubtedly to protect the big but not the small.
Once the convoy encounters a situation on the road, the first to suffer heavy damage is the carriage carrying the grain for the sacrifice, followed by the grain carriage for the government. Therefore, the convoy at the back can turn around in time to avoid disaster.
It’s just this Ji clan’s grain truck...
"What's wrong?"
Ji Le saw Li Ran stunned as he stared at the grain truck in front of him, and suddenly frowned, and couldn't help but ask.
But who would have thought that Li Ran didn't seem to hear anything and walked forward anxiously. When Ji Le saw this, he hurriedly followed.
Arriving at the Jishi grain cart, Li Ran scanned all the grain carts up and down, and then stopped at the ruts run over by the wheels of those carriages.
He looked back and forth, then turned his head to compare with Zheng Guoguan's grain cart, his face even more confused.
"Ziming, what happened?"
Ji Le also took a look and found nothing wrong, so he immediately asked again.
Hearing the sound, Li Ran came back to his senses and turned to look at Yin Duan, Ji Zeng, and Ji Enquiry Office. Seeing that they were walking to the front row, he immediately pulled Ji Le to a Ji family grain truck and pointed to
Wheels.
"If you look at your grain cart, the marks on the ground are of different shades, and the weight of the car body is uneven. On the other hand, the grain cart of the Zheng Kingdom's court behind it is smooth and stable, without any weirdness."
"What does this mean?..."
Ji Le is still a little unresponsive.
Li Ran looked at the grain truck body wrapped in mulberry cloth and continued to question:
"If it were all grain, then in terms of weight, it should be quite even, and there wouldn't be such a serious deviation. But you see, of these grain trucks, the left side is obviously heavier than the right side, and this
One car, the back is obviously heavier than the front..."
"It's so weird...it's really disturbing!"
He was a little unsure. After all, this was Jishi's own grain truck and it was loaded by Jishi himself. Could there be any problem with this?
Seeing this, Ji Le naturally understood Li Ran's doubts, but she still couldn't believe it.
"Although Brother Zhong and Brother Ji are not as reliable as Brother Meng, my father personally told me about this matter, so how could they not take it seriously? If it wasn't filled with food, what else would it be?
What?"
As she said that, she looked at the front gate of the city and saw Ji Zeng and Ji Xun accompanying Yin Duan on the Zhou Road and were making the final explanation.
But when she turned around, she found that Li Ran had already reached out to untie the rope binding the mulberry cloth.
"Presumptuous!"
At this moment, a sharp shout came from the grain truck pile.
The next moment, Li Ran and Ji Le saw Shu Niu leading a group of guards galloping towards them.
"Li Ran, do you think this belongs to your family? How can you touch this food casually?!"
"Take your hands away quickly! Don't damage these grain trucks!"
Shu Niu's hostility towards Li Ran was not concealed at all.