Guo Song said calmly: "Don't worry, Zhu Si is just strong at the beginning but lacks stamina. I know him very well. As long as we enter the siege battle, the civil war between him and Qiu Jingzhong will inevitably enter a period of confrontation."
Guo Song took a few steps with his hands behind his back, and then said: "The Ding plan I told you before can be started."
"Understood, I will make arrangements immediately. Does Your Highness have any other instructions?"
"There is also the Tangzhou Chamber of Commerce. What progress is there now?" Guo Song asked.
"The investigation of the Tangzhou Chamber of Commerce was handed over to Vice Commander Zhou. Yesterday, he asked him about the situation. He said that the Tangzhou Chamber of Commerce seemed to have suddenly disappeared. There were no clues. He was just a little suspicious."
"What do you suspect?" Guo Song asked.
"Although Deputy Commander Zhou did not obtain any valuable information when he interrogated the Sogdian subordinates named Kang, several of his subordinates said that this old Sogdian man had lived in the grassland for thirty years. Deputy Commander Zhou
I suspect that the Tangzhou Chamber of Commerce may be related to the grassland."
Guo Song nodded and said: "It's okay to have bold doubts, but don't be misled by doubts and go in the wrong direction. Don't expand one person's special experience to everyone's experience. This must be remembered!"
"Remember your humble position!"
"Go ahead! Don't put pressure on Vice Commander Zhou and let him investigate patiently."
"I resign from my humble position!"
Wang Yue said goodbye and left. Guo Song paced back and forth with his hands behind his hands. He was thinking about the civil war in the Central Plains. At this time, his eyes fell on a mounted painting on the wall. This was a painting that Han Huang gave him a few days ago.
This is a picture of two buffaloes wrestling in the field, locked in a stalemate. This was painted by Han Huang many years ago. The two big characters "balance" on it were written by Yan Zhenqing.
Guo Song understood the profound meaning of the picture sent to him by Han Huang. The art of an emperor lies in the way of balance, not only the balance between the forces of the court, but also the balance of all parts of the world, as well as the balance of forces outside the territory.
Zhu Si's civil war is also about balance. To maintain their internal friction, they must maintain the balance of power between Qiu Jingzhong and Zhu Si. When Qiu Jingzhong was at his peak, he captured Xuzhou, so now Zhu Si is strong and Qiu Jingzhong is weak.
What else should be done?
Thinking of Liu Sigu, he hesitated slightly.
...........
Luoyang's business is now in a depression. There were originally thousands of shops in Nanshi, but now less than 10% are still open. They are all necessities of life, such as food, salt and oil, cloth, medicinal materials, etc., and the fur shop has 45
There is only one shop left now.
Yang Mi rode a donkey from the medicine store in the north. He bought a few packages of medicine. Of course, this was his cover. He always ran to the south city. After a long time, people would become suspicious.
Coming from the medicine store is the fur store. The first store is Lao Linji Fur Store. Yang Mi jumped off the donkey and walked directly into the store. Several of the waiters were already familiar with him and ignored him. One of the waiters pointed out
Refers to the inside, indicating that the proprietor is inside.
Yang Mi walked into the back room and saw Jiang Min sitting there in a daze with a sad face. Yang Mi smiled and said, "What's wrong with Boss Jiang?"
"Business is bleak!"
Jiang Min sighed, "We haven't opened one for five days. Yang Shangshu, please do us a favor and open one for us!"
Yang Mi burst into laughter, "Proprietor Jiang is kidding me! Do you still need to open a business? It's not impossible for me to sell things, but just because of your three words 'Yang Shangshu', I won't get a cent!"
Yang Shangshu is a joke. The ministers and ministers of the imperial court have long been ignored by Liu Feng. Liu Feng's group of staff are the real powerful ministers and ministers. Everyone calls them ministers, and Yang Mi is naturally called Yang Shangshu.
"Let's get down to business!"
Jiang Min said solemnly: "I invite you here today to tell you that His Highness the King of Jin has decided to implement Plan D. You have to convince Liu Feng about this matter."
The so-called Ding plan is to eradicate military advisor Liu Sigu. Guo Song did not take Liu Sigu seriously in terms of his military performance. Guo Song could also tolerate his political actions, but he persuaded Zhu Si to win over the family. This was undoubtedly a problem.
Guo Song couldn't tolerate it.
Especially to wipe out Qiu Jingzhong this time, Guo Song needed to weaken Zhu Si's power, so it was logical to attack Liu Sigu.
Yang Mi looked at King Jin's order, nodded and said, "Liu Feng has had this intention for a long time, but he has never been able to find a suitable opportunity."
"Isn't it the best opportunity for him to take charge of logistics in Chenliu?"
"Okay! I'll go and persuade Liu Feng."
Yang Mi clasped his fists in salute and walked out of the room. He remembered something, turned around and said with a smile: "Since business is deserted, I will give you an opening! Send two thousand sheepskins to the Prime Minister's Mansion and give me the biggest discount."
Jiang Min was overjoyed and said quickly: "Guaranteed to be the lowest price!"
........
When Yang Mi returned to the Prime Minister's Mansion, he happened to meet Tuan'er, a boy from Liu Feng's study. Tuan'er stamped his feet anxiously, "The Prime Minister has been angry since he hasn't seen you for a long time!"
Yang Mi's heart skipped a beat, and she hurried to the Prime Minister's room. When she reached the door, she heard Liu Feng pounding the table in the room and yelling, "Where is he going? Go find him quickly, go quickly!"
Several guards ran out in panic and saw Yang Mi face to face. They immediately breathed a sigh of relief and said quickly: "Mr. Yang is here!"
Yang Mi walked into the room and saw Liu Fengmang's angry face. He asked in surprise: "Why is the Prime Minister so angry?"
Liu Feng glared at him fiercely and asked dissatisfiedly: "Where have you been?"
"Ji Zhi...Bi Zhi went to buy medicine."
"It's enough to let my subordinates do a small thing like buying medicine, so why do I have to do it myself?"
"Xiang Guo, please calm down. I have some hidden diseases. There is an old and famous doctor in Nanshi Pharmacy. I actually went to see him for treatment."
Hearing that he was going to see a doctor, Liu Feng's dissatisfaction became a little calmer and he said: "The Holy Emperor sent people back to urge for money to pay the military salary. They asked for 300,000 guan, but Zuo Zang's treasury only had 200,000 guan left.
Yeah, I want to know what's going on? Where are the taxes this year?"
Yang Mi sighed and said: "Prime Minister, now we only have three states and one government left. All their taxes last year were sent to Beijing in April, or the salt tax, but now the price of salt has risen to 680 per dou."
It’s already ten cents, and if the price, which was adjusted just at the beginning of the year, continues to rise, the people will riot.”
"What about the wine tax? How much can we collect in addition to the room tax and household tax?"
"Xiangguo, we collected ten years of inter-house tax all at once the year before last. We can no longer collect this. The household tax was already collected at the beginning of the year. There is also a liquor tax that can be collected, but not much! It can only cost a few thousand dollars at most. It was collected only last year.
There are eight thousand guan of money!”
"Don't tell me this, think about other ways to get money. The Holy Father has been offering four gold medals to urge you for money. If you don't get money, you and I won't even think about having a good life."
Yang Mi thought for a while and said, "I went to Zuozangku not long ago to see it. It seems there are some good things. The Agarwood Pavilion can be sold for at least hundreds of thousands of dollars."
Liu Feng's face sank, "That Agarwood Pavilion belongs to Xingqing Palace. Even the Holy Emperor dare not use it, so don't take any chances with it."
"Otherwise, just sell the gold! There are 320,000 taels of gold. If you take out 30,000 taels, the problem will be solved."
Liu Feng didn't say anything. The 320,000 taels of gold in Zuo Zang's warehouse was their final capital for pressing the box. It could only be used with the consent of the emperor. If the emperor knew that they actually started to use the bottom gold of the box, he would definitely question Liu Feng's ability.
It is undoubtedly an extremely bad stain on his evaluation of the country.
Liu Feng sighed, "Besides gold, is there no other way?"
"Prime Minister, there are two other ways. One is to sell land and houses. The imperial court still has more than thirty official houses, all of which are large houses with more than five acres. There is no problem in raising 300,000 yuan by selling part of them."
"What else?" Liu Feng asked.
"The other thing is to search the homes of a few wealthy criminals. This is the fastest way to get money. For example, Qiu Jingzhong's home, Yu Taiwei's home, and Zhang Situ's home were confiscated. Three of their homes were ransacked.
, three hundred thousand dollars is at your fingertips!"
Liu Feng's eyes lit up. This was a good idea. Needless to say, Qiu Jingzhong's family. Taiwei Yu Sheng's daughter married the deposed prince Zhu Sui. Situ Zhang Wuzhuo was Qiu Jingzhong's in-laws. These three families were all powerful in the court.
Yu Sheng's wife and Zhang Wuzhuo's wife had fought in Quanyi a few years ago. They were both rich and powerful.
"Xiangguo, Guangchou Jingzhong's dozens of restaurants, shops, and manors are very valuable together. They are sold to those wealthy businessmen at high prices. You have to buy them, or you don't buy them. Just think of them as contributing to the army! Then make more.
The money will be used as a surplus to prepare for raising military expenditures next time."
Liu Feng thought for a moment and said, "Just do it!"
But Yang Mi still hasn’t said anything about Liu Sigu! He really doesn’t know how to speak. These are two things. It’s a bit abrupt to bring them up so suddenly. Liu Feng is not stupid, and he might bring this matter up.
Contact him to go to Nanshi.
Yang Mi pondered for a moment and decided to wait a little until the right opportunity came.