Zhe Ziyu scolded him, but the man in green just responded quietly. Zhe Ziyu then suppressed his anger and sighed regretfully: "Taking advantage of the shortage of food and the instability of people's hearts, if Li Yu raises troops now, it is still too late. As long as it is too late.
The attack of the Tang army would make things worse for the Song state. The people of Kaifeng would be shaken. Zhao Kuangyin would not dare to risk his life and use troops against the Han state again.
As soon as the crisis in the Han Dynasty was resolved, the situation in the world changed instantly. Zhao Kuangyin had to spend another seven or eight years to rearrange this game of chess. Unfortunately, Li Yu was a man who had no power as a man, but indulged in pleasure and had no ambition.
Ambition, a piece of mud that cannot hold up the wall, is not as good as a woman like me!"
The man in Tsing Yi hesitated and said: "Miss, what if our Fugu sends troops...?"
Zhe Ziyu shook his head and said: "The northwest vassals are just trying to protect themselves from being annexed. They have no strength or ambition compared with Song Dynasty. Now in the Central Plains, the only country that can fight with the Song Dynasty is the Tang Dynasty. If the Tang Dynasty sends troops, it will be bad."
Although the Song State's plan to annex the Han State angered the Song State, it would actually make it safer.
But I can’t make a fuzhou, and the fuzhou is only the land of one state, how can I compete with the Song Dynasty? Moreover, the Li family is controlled by the Qiang from outside, and they only want to be his Caotou King. If they sit on the land of five states,
Fuzhou overestimated its capabilities and took the initiative to use troops against Song Dynasty. Maybe Xiazhou will capture Fuzhou before the Song army and gain a big advantage."
She thought for a while and said: "We only have a few detectives in the Central Plains, but we can't do anything. Now that the situation has been decided, whether or how to solve the situation is beyond our control. Li Yu is short-sighted, not
It is absolutely impossible for a hero to send troops. Lin Huzi has 70,000 soldiers and it is useless. However, it is possible to ask him to help a little. I will write a letter. You can go to Zhenhai immediately and ask him.
The training of troops in Dajiang has aggravated the tense atmosphere in the Jianghuai area. In this way, it may be more difficult for Zhao Dezhao to calm down the matter."
"Yes! That little guy stands down and waits for his orders." The man in green nodded his head and quietly stood up and retreated.
Zhe Ziyu watched his back disappear at the stairs, and frowned slightly: "I thought that we were separated from you by mountains and rivers, and there was no possibility of meeting us again. Who knew that your ghost was still there, but you were born again?
There have been many twists and turns. I set up this difficulty for the Song Dynasty, but in the end it was you who came to solve the problem. Can you solve it?"
She raised her eyebrows and said with some resentment: "When you were fleeing in Guangyuan, it was our Zhejia who helped you out; it was our Zhao family who put you in Luling, troubled internally and externally, and it was the Zhao family who narrowly escaped death and gave you
I am the one who helps you achieve great success. After you succeed, it is still the Zhao family who takes away your power and wants to harm your life. I don’t know what good the Zhao family has, but you are so dedicated to working for them.
.”
She sighed and murmured to herself: "In the officialdom of the Song Dynasty, you suddenly emerged, and you are an anomaly. Among civil servants, you are an anomaly, and among military officers, you are still an anomaly. Whether it is an official, the King of Jin, or a prime minister
, among the three forces, you are not a direct descendant. Even if you have made such a contribution, if you stand on the cusp of the storm without any foundation, you will be at your own peril. This time you were set up by Sizhou profiteers. If it really fails,
It may not be your blessing. Yang Hao, just take care of yourself..."
"How much food has Liu Yuanwai raised now?"
Yang Hao asked with concern. After being introduced by Magistrate Deng, he found out that the member of staff in his early fifties who came with him was Liu Xiangzhi, a major grain gentry in Sizhou and the uncle of Magistrate Deng's wife. This man had great influence on the grain market in Sizhou.
They must know each other quite well, so the three of them went to the second hall, chatted for a few words, and then Yang Hao went straight to the topic.
Liu Yuanwai is in his early fifties, but looks to be around sixty. He has a long and narrow face that is a bit thin, full of dense wrinkles, rough and dark skin, and gray hair and beard. He does not look like a pampered wealthy gentleman at all.
, if he were put into coarse cloth clothes, he would look like an old country farmer squatting on the head of a field.
This old farmer-like official frowned, and a deep "Sichuan" word appeared on his forehead, like a ravine. He shook his head, sighed heavily, and said slowly: "Your Majesty, the prefect of Sizhou is my nephew.
Son-in-law, your elbows are not turned outwards. If you can help me, why shouldn't I not help you? But now, it is really difficult to harvest food. I have been running around here and there these days, but I have collected less than four thousand dan!"
He slapped his thigh and said bitterly: "Unkind uncle Zhou Wang who is greedy for wealth has done a lot of bad things. As long as he is here, the grain market in Sizhou will never be peaceful. But Zu Yang is too indulgent towards him..."
Deng Zuyang said with some embarrassment: "In front of the envoy, please don't complain like this. I also know that Uncle Zhou Wang is not very well-behaved, but he has lived in Sizhou for more than ten generations. The children of the Zhou family are all over Jianghuai, and they are all in different walks of life.
In the industry, government and local areas, the forces are intricately entwined and have a deep foundation. He has not done anything out of the ordinary. If we cannot find the actual evidence for his wrongdoing, how can we punish him?"
Liu Xiangzhi said angrily: "Does this mean there is no evidence?"
He turned to Yang Hao and his eyes became eager: "Yang Yuan Envoy, Uncle Zhou Wang covers the sky with his hands. He has been controlling the Sizhou Grain Market for more than a day or two. He has bought a lot of grain. Now there is a shortage of grain in the grain market.
It was not because of the poor harvest, but because he contacted many grain gentry and jointly manipulated the market, harvesting as much grain as there was, so that there was no grain to sell in the market, and the grain market rose steadily. This man had a lot of money, and he also dealt with grain sellers.
There are so many tricks.”
Yang Hao perked up and said hurriedly: "Executive member Liu, please tell me slowly, what methods does he use to collect grain? Why is it that the official warehouse cannot collect grain, but he always has grain to harvest?"
Liu Xiangzhi said: "Sir, they brought the grain to Sizhou. The official warehouse buying field must evaluate the grade according to the quality, and then weigh it and store it in the warehouse. The Zhou family is very wealthy locally, and many small officials in the buying field have received it.
Among their benefits, some of them are related to the Zhou family. At this time, they will deliberately lower the price, and keep the price as low as possible. Naturally, grain farmers are unwilling to sell grain to the official warehouse.
At this time, there were many helpers and brokers hanging around the official warehouse all day long, chatting with them and introducing them on their behalf. Uncle Zhou Wang was able to receive the grain in his own hands at a price slightly higher than the price in the official warehouse. The grain came from afar.
Households, people and land, need to find a helper, and they directly take them away. As for the small grain households, hey! Not to mention, those rogues are following around and making false threats. They are afraid of causing trouble, so how dare they not take care of them?
Sell the grain to them?"
Yang Hao interjected and asked: "The officials and subordinates colluded with the grain gentry. They knew it but couldn't stop it?"
Deng Zuyang sighed: "To be honest, sir, when I first took office, I really had a headache for a long time in order to store grain in the official warehouse. However, although the joints are clear to me, the subordinate officials in the warehouse and even many servants cannot be replaced.
Even if they are replaced, the people who have been replaced are still gone. I can only issue orders, but I can't spare my time to wait at the market every day to be a treasury official.
My wife's uncle originally did some small business, but then became a grain gentry, and used his laws to control his people. This way, he was like grabbing grain from the mouth of a tiger, snapping up as much grain as possible from other grain gentry, ensuring that the official warehouse should be stocked with food.
The amount of grain consumed every year is higher than the current price, but compared to other prefectures and counties, my contribution in Sizhou is already the least."
Yang Hao's heart moved, and he suddenly thought of a way for farmers to supervise each other when distributing seeds in Bazhou. After a second thought, he gave up the idea. The situation in this state was much more complicated than that in a village, where everyone had equal status.
The farmers in the country are really fighting over their own acres of land, and no one is afraid of the other. But there are many things involved here, including class, hierarchy, strength, and many things you know clearly where the maladministration lies.
, and he can't think of a suitable countermeasure. It's impossible to eliminate it. Even if we try to prevent and reduce this kind of activity to the greatest extent, we have to start from the system. And this is not his authority, nor is it the scope of authority of the Sizhou prefect.
.
Yang Hao didn't expect that he could change the thousands of years of collusion between officialdom and shopping malls by himself. He proposed a solution to the food shortage in Kaifeng, but now he just wants to complete his task. Now he wants to use both carrot and stick.
, to force the grain gentry to spit out the grain obediently, and in exchange, they could only seize the pigtails of their illegal activities and force them to sell grain.
So now he just wants to start from this aspect, but after thinking about it carefully for a while, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Even if you know that it is a shortcoming, you can't grasp the reason for the official warehouse to lower the price. The quality of the food is all determined by the eyes of the treasury officials.
There is no fixed rule for opening one's mouth. If you say he is wrong, it is because everyone has different judgment standards. Why is it wrong? As for the grain gentry buying grain, one is willing to buy and the other is "willing to sell". There is nothing that can be done to make them obey.
of credentials.
Yang Hao asked with some annoyance: "So, now that the government has suppressed grain prices, and Magistrate Deng has sent tax collectors to guard traffic arteries, and imposed heavy taxes on private traders of grain and rice, have those grain gentry become more comfortable? There are also private
Are you raising prices, selling grain?"
Liu Xiangzhi said with certainty: "There are, there must be people like Uncle Zhou Wang. If he doesn't earn a few dollops of real gold and silver in a day, he will be unhappy. How can he be a money-crazy man who just watches the grain and rice in the warehouse helplessly?"
Can it be turned into gold and silver? It's just that... I have been a grain gentry in Sizhou for only about two years, and my connections are far inferior to his. In addition, everyone knows that I am a relative of the prefect, and there are some connections that I don't know how to call.
I know, I... I know they must be doing something illegal, but there is no real evidence."
Yang Hao couldn't help but be silent after hearing this.
Liu Xiangzhi added: "However, with such suppression by the government, the large-scale grain and rice trade will definitely be affected. As long as they don't know the details of the amount of grain in Ghana in the official warehouse, they will definitely give in before the autumn harvest and will obediently hand over the grain at a fair price."
Come out."
Yang Hao smiled bitterly and said: "That's what I say, but this plan is too dangerous. Once they are more calm than the court, the expenses will be much higher than now."
Seeing that Liu Xiangzhi also looked embarrassed, Yang Hao hurriedly said: "We are just worried that King Wei is a thousand years old. No matter what, the method you two thought of is currently the best way to deal with those profiteers. I hope it can succeed. No matter what, Liu
A member of the staff came here today and told many secrets about the grain market candidly, and Yang is very grateful."
Liu Xiangzhi showed a smile and said: "It should be, it should be. The helper is helping us, the prefect. Liu will naturally do his best."
Yang Hao cheered up and worked with Deng Zuyang to send Liu Yuanwai out of the house in person. On the opposite side of the road, in an alley, a figure who looked like a beggar in rags was walking timidly. Suddenly, he saw three people appearing in the alley.
At the gate of the government office, Yang Hao said goodbye to Deng Zuyang and Liu Xiangzhi with a smile on his face, and watched them get into the car and leave before returning to the government office.
The beggar was startled when he saw Yang Hao and Liu Xiangzhi being so affectionate. At this time, a few idle men on the street had noticed him. He quickly lowered his head, reversed his steps, and walked toward him as if nothing had happened.
Walk through an alley opposite.
Yang Hao and Deng Zuyang returned to the government office, and Deng Zuyang bid farewell to the back house. Yang Hao returned to the lobby and sat down. He looked at the stumbling and feeble government officials, smiled bitterly and waved his hands and said: "You all go to the corridor to have a rest. If someone plays drums,
Just come and wait in the hall again."
Those government officials had already stood with their legs numb. When they heard this, they felt as if they had been granted amnesty and hurried away. The more Yang Hao thought about it, the more annoyed he became. He punched the big case hard and said: "These profiteers, do I really think this is the case?"
Can’t we control you?”
Bi Su yawned at the side and said lazily: "If you can't fix it, you can't fix it. This world belongs to our old Zhao family, but do you think the prince is anxious when he is a thousand years old? The prince spends all day in the backyard using a broken piano to hook up.
The daughter of the Deng family.
This disaster was caused by Master Chu, the Third Secretary, but do you think he is anxious? The cat has been in the room all day long, wishing to leave this matter to others. The prince is not in a hurry, and neither is the Third Secretary. It’s just you.
You're so anxious to get angry, what's the matter with you here? Even if we fail to raise food, it's not your fault."
Yang Haodao: "You can't say that. It's fine that I didn't intervene in this matter originally, but what if I don't come up with this plan? Maybe there are capable people in the court who will come up with a better way. Now that the officials are following me
This strategy is equivalent to blocking other possibilities. If there is not enough food, even if only one person starves to death, I will not be able to stop and feel uneasy."
He let out a long sigh and said: "But if you can make one million guan, and you let him only earn 500,000 guan, how many people in the world are willing to do so? Now I want them to hand over the food obediently.
, Xiaozhi's righteousness is seeking the skin of a tiger. They are not three-year-old children. A few good words can coax them to hand over the fruit in their hands. The only way is to catch them and force them to submit. But this evidence, hey
! They know that we are here for food and grass, how can they be willing to show their flaws and wait for us to catch them?"
Bi Su rolled his eyes and said in a strange tone: "The government, if you want to commit crimes, are you afraid of finding no excuse? For the sake of food, they bribed officials and subordinates and oppressed and persecuted food households. Even if they don't do it now, they have done it in the past.
I think there are always a few old cases recorded in the government files about bullying, smashing, looting, burning, etc. If you still can’t find evidence, then let’s blame them.”
"Um?"
"You are an official. You have a big mouth. Shouldn't it be up to you to say what is right or wrong? Hey, I have seen a lot of unjust, false and wrongful convictions. I am not slandering you as officials."
"Yes! Why am I like a donkey, tied up by a rope like grain, and all I can do is spin around the millstone, haha, I have suffered from the legal society, haha, when smart people can't think of a way
, the method that the fool came up with is indeed the most effective, I will go and ask Chitose for an order."
Bi Su touched the back of his head and looked at his back in surprise. It took him a long time to realize: "Idiot...me?"
Magistrate Deng gave the original residence certificate to Zhao Dezhao and moved to the adjacent wing. When he returned to the mansion, he went to his room to change clothes and then went to see the prince. As soon as he changed into casual clothes and walked to the hall, his daughter heard the news
Came over. Deng Zuyang smiled and said: "Daughter, didn't you go to Qingling Temple to offer incense today and you're back so soon?"
Deng Xiuer said: "Dad, my daughter went to Qingling Temple to offer incense and something happened. When she heard that her father was coming back, she hurried over to report it to her father."
"Oh? What's going on?" Deng Zuyang asked after taking a sip of herbal tea.
"Dad, when my daughter went to offer incense today, she happened to meet a family who was also praying in the temple, burning incense and worshiping. They burst into tears. When my daughter asked out of curiosity, she found out that it was her third cousin who had done the evil."
Deng Zuyang was taken aback and asked hurriedly: "What did your third cousin do?"
Deng Xiuer said angrily: "My third cousin is in the money lending business. That family's fields were flooded by the flood last autumn. Because they couldn't pay the tax, they borrowed five thousand guan from my third cousin. The interest is compounded. Now it's gone."
Forty-five grains were made. Even if there was a good harvest this autumn, I am afraid that the family would not be able to save a penny, and all of it would go to my cousin. But who would have known that the rice that was about to mature in his family two days ago had encountered some trouble and was secretly stolen?
He set fire to most of it. When his cousin heard that he could not repay his debt, he forced him to come to his house and robbed him. He asked him to use land to pay off the debt. The man begged hard. The cousin also fell in love with his daughter and wanted to force her to become his concubine. But she
My daughter has already decided to get married. The cousin wants some land or someone, and he won't let go anymore, forcing the person to have no other choice, and the family almost hangs himself in anxiety. It's really miserable."
When Deng Zuyang heard this, his face turned red with anger. He slapped the case and cursed: "How dare this bastard do such an unjust act. Come, come, bring that beast to me." His lips trembled with anger.
I picked up the cup and wanted to drink tea. As soon as the cup touched my lips, I felt a surge of anger. I slammed the cup to the ground and smashed it into pieces.
"What's going on? What's going on? You're yelling when you just come back?" A slender woman in red came out of the back hall. She wore a pink shirt and a skirt embroidered with pomegranate flowers. She had a pair of shoes on her feet.
With her crested boots, slender waist and round breasts, she has the charming charm of a mature woman, but the corners of her eyes are slightly raised, revealing a bit of sharpness and shrewdness.
As soon as he saw her coming, Deng Zuyang flicked his sleeves and said angrily: "Isn't this a good thing done by your precious nephew?"
The woman was puzzled. Miss Deng hurriedly stepped forward and told her the story. Upon hearing this, Mrs. Deng disapproved and said: "How big of a deal do I think it is? As for you who are so angry? I lend money and lend money. I am willing to fight or suffer. I come from the countryside."
In the city, from the remote prefectures and counties to the most prosperous areas, there is no place for lending money? This matter does not interfere with the king's law, right? There is no prohibition on lending money in the laws of the Song Dynasty. If the debt is not repaid, we will file a lawsuit with your yamen.
You can’t just ignore it, right?”
Deng Zuyang said angrily: "Madam, when lending money, you have to keep a certain amount of benevolence and righteousness, right? He takes away the land where people live, and also wants to take the opportunity to blackmail their daughters into being concubines. This is an act of deception and destruction."
Mrs. Deng was very displeased and said indifferently: "What do you mean by taking someone's life away and blackmailing their daughter into being a concubine? There are rules for lending money. When Liu Zhong lends money, the money is not all his. He He also has to pay interest to the money people on time. If the account is not returned, won’t the money people cause trouble for him?"
Deng Zuyang shouted: "If you hadn't blindly protected me, I don't think he would have been so bold, huh! Lending money to make money, lending money to make money, I will investigate this matter. If I know that it is him who started the fire, I will definitely I won’t spare him!”
Seeing her husband's stern expression, Mrs. Deng was stunned for a moment, and then started to cry: "Before the others said anything, you first put the shit basin on the head of your relative. Okay, now that you are an official, don't you think so?" Do I, the Liu family, want to be close to you? When you were so poor that you had no room in your house and no ridge of land, did I, Liu E, ever despise you? Your parents died early, and your uncles and brothers treated you like a passerby who went to Beijing to take the exam. You can't even afford the expenses, so who helped you get the money? It was my uncle who sold his own old cow to pay the expenses for you, otherwise you would have been on the gold medal list? How could you be so prosperous today?"
Deng Zuyang lost three points of energy and lowered his voice: "You...what are you talking about? The second uncle became a grain gentry, the third uncle became a head catcher, didn't my uncle also ask someone to arrange for him to work as a treasury in the Bianbei Division? What's wrong, when have I stopped feeling grateful for the kindness of the Liu family?"
Mrs. Deng said aggressively: "Thank you? If you were really grateful, you wouldn't use this topic today to make an issue about my nephew. Lending money for interest also involves risks. If you borrow money knowing that the interest rate is high, you are not doing a good deed. You will not be able to pay back the debt." Of course, compensation is required. If Zhonger likes a girl from his family and is willing to pay off the debt and take that girl as a concubine, his family must voluntarily do so, but they are not robbing civilian girls, right? Killing people to pay for their lives, and paying debts to pay back money. If you say it’s a pity, then you don’t need to exchange the debt?”
Deng Zuyang was completely suppressed by his wife's arrogance and was speechless. At that time, loan sharking was indeed a behavior permitted by the government, and not only people lent money to the people, but also monasteries and Taoists often lent money to the people, so that Occasionally, you can see a group of monks and Taoists coming to collect debts. It is open and legal for officials to lend money to themselves. Needless to say, even local governments secretly misappropriate money from the treasury and hand it over to money bankers to make loans for profit.
When Deng Zuyang first arrived in Sizhou, the former prefect, who had a long history with the Zhou family, was impeached and dismissed by the imperial officials for engaging in corruption. The local officials and the wealthy and powerful Zhou family were extremely hostile to him, so they tried their best to exclude and threaten him. He did not follow the rules and appointed private individuals arbitrarily. The Liu family made great efforts to consolidate his power and support his wife's second uncle, Liu Xiangzhi, to become a big grain merchant to fight against Uncle Zhou Wang. However, his eunuch was not rich. At the beginning, he also controlled the treasury in his own hands, secretly transferred money to bankers for lending, and earned generous interest as capital. It can be said that he was not a stupid official, but Liu Zhong His behavior really made him very angry.
But now Madam is inexplicably angry. The help and kindness from the Liu family to him is indeed too great. Deng Zuyang is a little discouraged and can't help but think to himself: "I should secretly summon Liu Zhong and tell him not to do such an unjust act and give the family some mercy." I've been here for a while, but now I've made my wife so angry, why bother?"
Seeing that her father was being scolded by her mother, Deng Xiuer became silent and wanted to help, so she stepped forward and said, "Mom, my father is not to blame for this, my cousin..."
"Shut up!" Mrs. Deng glared at her daughter fiercely: "Your mother had no milk, and it was your sister-in-law who fed you. How dare you, a girl, to accuse your cousin?"
Deng Xiuer said reluctantly: "Mom, my daughter didn't mean to embarrass her cousin, but that family is really too pitiful."
At this moment, a clear voice from the hall said with a smile: "Is Magistrate Deng back? What's so noisy?"
Deng Xiuer looked back and saw a handsome young man with bunted hair, wearing a gold crown with orbs, and an onion-white robe with silver trim, and a four-clawed python dragon embroidered on the robe, standing at the entrance of the hall with a smile, and his pretty face suddenly turned red.
, she already thought that this person was the Wei Wang Zhao Dezhao with whom she played the piano for several days for fun. This prince was indeed handsome.
Zhao Dezhao and Deng Xiuer were playing harmoniously with each other, and their longing for it became more and more intense. When I heard the noise in this room today, I had an excuse to show up, so I couldn't help but walk over. When I saw the girl in the hall looking back gracefully, Zhao Dezhao felt like stepping on clouds under his feet.
, the soul was floating in the air and stayed there immediately.
What a beauty. She wears a white skirt and a top jacket under the moonlight, which makes her look like a jade carving. She has narrow sleeves and a short jacket, a floor-length skirt, and a tight-fitting half-armor with a pair of beads and peacock patterns.
The couplet was placed right on the rise of her beautiful chest, and she was also wearing a green mandarin shirt embroidered with partridges on her shoulders, as if she had just returned from the outside.
Her appearance is not the kind of stunning beauty, but she has the charm of a Jiangnan girl. She has long and thin eyebrows, a small nose, and thin red lips. When they looked at each other for a moment, both of them felt like they were in shock.
"Ah, it's just...just some trivial family matters. I didn't expect to alarm the prince. Please forgive me." When Deng Zuyang saw Zhao Dezhao coming, he quickly stepped forward to salute. Mrs. Deng also wiped her tears and forced a smile.
She and her husband both came forward to greet him. However, Deng Xiuer turned sideways, with her head half-draped, she bowed to Zhao Dezhao skillfully, and then retreated into the inner room.
Zhao Dezhao was about to help the Deng couple. When he saw that the thoughtful people were trying to avoid him, he coughed quickly: "We are meeting in a private house. How can there be so many etiquettes? Please get up quickly, virtuous couple!"
Who is this girl?"
Deng Xiuer had already retreated to the bookshelf, and was about to duck behind the screen. The prince suddenly asked about her identity, but it was inconvenient for her to leave again. She leaned forward, and then stopped again, leaning and stopping, and then stopped.
It has become a landscape, standing there beautifully, as if it were a volume on the bookshelf that still exudes the fragrance of ink.
Seeing that Zhao Dezhao no longer asked about the reason for their quarrel, Deng Zuyang secretly rejoiced and said hurriedly: "This is my little daughter Xiu'er, Xiu'er, come and see the prince."
Deng Xiuer glanced at Zhao Dezhao again, her heart was beating wildly, and Shanshan came forward. Just as she was about to bow down, Yang Hao came hurriedly, entered the door and looked around, but failed to see the subtle situation in the hall, and said angrily: "Oh!
, Mr. Futai is here, the prince is also here, great, great, Yang is here to ask for orders again!"