When Li Xiaonan arrived at the pier in Bieye, Gu Yan was sitting on a corner platform bent in, waving a fishing pole.
Seeing Li Xiaonan, Gu Yan straightened up slightly, pointed to a chair next to him, and motioned for Li Xiaonan to sit down.
Li Xiaonan sat down, looked down at an indigo cloth bundle next to Gu Yan's chair, leaned forward, and looked at Gu Yan carefully.
"What are you looking at?" Gu Yan threw out the fishhook and asked in a calm tone.
"Are you in a bad mood?" Li Xiaonan looked at Gu Yan, who looked peaceful.
Nothing could be seen on his face, but the feeling emanating from him was wrong, very wrong!
"Yeah." Gu Yan hummed simply.
Gu Yan's straightforwardness surprised Li Xiaonan, and she paused before asking: "What happened?"
Gu Yan picked up the fishhook and threw it out without answering.
Li Xiaonan looked sideways at him. For a moment, she leaned back on the chair and stopped talking.
"Can you fish?" Gu Yan asked.
"No, I don't like fishing."
"Why?" Gu Yan pulled up the fishhook again and threw it out.
"You don't like fishing either." Li Xiaonan watched the fishhook fly out of the lake and then plop into the lake.
Gu Yan didn't say anything, he picked up the fishhook and threw it out again.
Li Xiaonan frowned slightly and looked at Gu Yan.
He was in a very bad mood.
"Have you ever heard of the Linhai He family?" Gu Yan suddenly asked.
"Yeah." Li Xiaonan said affirmatively.
"Have you met the He family father and son?" Gu Yan asked next.
"When Third Sister got married, Uncle He family went to Lijiaji." Li Xiaonan looked at Gu Yan.
"The He family is a member of Prince Rui's Mansion, and the Linhai He family's warehouse property in Linhai Town is the property of Prince Rui's Mansion." Gu Yan set up the fishing rod and leaned back on the chair.
Li Xiaonan looked at Gu Yan, waiting for him to continue.
"I once wondered why it was obviously the property of Prince Rui's palace, but it was called the old name of the He family." Gu Yan paused.
"The property of the prince's palace is named by some old name with other surnames. Is there only one name named He?" Li Xiaonan asked.
"There are two more." Gu Yan turned to look at Li Xiaonan. A smile disappeared before it was fully revealed. After a moment of silence, Gu Yan said with a bitter smile: "These three..."
Gu Yan paused before speaking and fell into silence again.
Li Xiaonan turned around and glanced at the palace villa behind her.
What happened to the old He family? Or, what happened to Linhai Town?
"In the ancestral hall of Prince Rui's Mansion, there are pairs of portraits of ancestors hanging. There are only portraits of great-grandfather and great-grandmother. Only great-grandmother is alone. The one of great-great-grandmother is blank."
Gu Yan paused and lowered his eyes.
The portrait of my great-great-grandmother was not completely blank. There was a flag painted on the portrait, with a huge mulberry character on the flag, waving fiercely in the wind.
"My great-great-grandmother was a strange person. The Hangcheng and Pingjiang villas were all left by my great-grandmother. The He family's old name and two other properties were also left by my great-grandmother. Linhai Town was also built in the hands of my great-great-grandmother.
"Yes." Gu Yan's voice was low and slow.
Li Xiaonan raised her eyebrows when she heard this.
"I have always felt that the He family is very alienated from the royal family." After a moment of silence, Gu Yan said slowly.
"What happened to He Ji's old account?" Li Xiaonan asked.
"There are several accounts in the baggage, take a look." Gu Yan lowered his eyes and looked at the indigo cloth baggage next to the chair.
Li Xiaonan bent down and picked up the cloth bundle, untied it, took the account, opened it and looked at it for a while, then looked at Gu Yan in astonishment.
"He Chengze gave it to me, the father of Uncle He, the head of the family." Gu Yan's face was slightly cold.
"If the silk sea tax is collected according to the truth, I'm afraid it will be no different from your grandfather's reform of the weaving mill tax system." Li Xiaonan flipped through a few more pages and sighed.
According to the records in this account, at least half of the sea tax intercepted by the Silk House was spent in Jiangnan, although their intention was not for people's livelihood but for political achievements.
Gu Yan's expression was gloomy, and after a while, he let out a low hum.
"Are you in Linhai Town today?" Li Xiaonan closed the account book.
"Well, we are closing the net today." Gu Yan glanced at the old account books, "He Chengze said that the curtain has been lifted."
"Well, looking at this account book, it is true that the trouble has just begun." Li Xiaonan sighed.
Gu Yan raised his foot and kicked the fishing rod into the lake.
"Wan Qing said, are you very good at fighting?" Li Xiaonan thought for a moment and said.
Gu Yan glanced at Li Xiaonan but said nothing.
"When is the scariest time during a war?" Li Xiaonan asked.
Gu Yan ignored her.
"Let me ask you, what kind of situation are you most afraid of when fighting?" Li Xiaonan took an account book and patted Gu Yan on the shoulder.
"Do you still know about war?" Gu Yan reached out and patted open the account book.
"It's okay to talk on paper." Li Xiaonan said bluntly.
Gu Yan glanced sideways at Li Xiaonan but said nothing.
"I think the most terrifying situation is that you know there must be an enemy, and the enemy must be very powerful, but you don't know where the enemy is, what they look like, how many people there are, what their equipment is, or how they fight.
What kind of trick is this? You are surrounded by enemies, but you know nothing about them." Li Xiaonan had no choice but to ask and answer herself.
Gu Yan turned his head and glanced sideways at Li Xiaonan.
"Now you know exactly where the enemy is, what he looks like, how many people there are, how many horses, swords, guns, food and fodder. You know all about it. Then you can fight one by one. The most difficult time is over." Li Xiaonan photographed.
With those account books.
"You are quite good at persuading people." Gu Yan snorted.
"Is Mr. Niu okay?" Li Xiaonan asked.
"Well, I should be recuperating in other industries by now."
"Do you want to show this to the prince?" Li Xiaonan patted the account book.
"What do you think?" Gu Yan tilted his head at Li Xiaonan.
"I don't know, I don't know what kind of person the prince is, I don't even know what he looks like." Li Xiaonan sighed, feeling a little regretful.
"If you don't show it to him, just talk to him. No matter what, he is the king." Gu Yan let out a long sigh.
"I think he will really grow horns on his head in the future." Li Xiaonan raised her hand and gestured on her head.
"If your Majesty is like ordinary people, he must be the master of ignorance." Gu Yan reached out and took the bundle from Li Xiaonan's lap, tied it up and put it on the ground.
"I originally thought that this trip to close the net could collect military expenses." Gu Yan sighed again.
"I can collect some money, but you'd better keep it, there will definitely be a lot of trouble." Li Xiaonan sighed.
After a while, Gu Yan let out a low hum.
"It's so sad!" Li Xiaonan leaned back on the chair and let out a long sigh.
"Why are you sad?" Gu Yan was a little speechless.
"I feel sorry for you."
"Thank you, I'm not sad." Gu Yan kicked the cloth bundle with his foot, "Just like you said, now that you know it clearly, the rest is just to fight one battle after another."
He was really sad, not because of this trip to close the net or this burden, but because he had died once. He thought he had everything under control this time, but now he knew that he had just known that he was really going to face
What is right? As He Chengze said, he just opened the curtain.
