Guo Song did not raise any questions, he knew that Aunt Gongsun would explain it clearly to him.
After a moment of silence, Aunt Gongsun said slowly: "This matter is actually related to Yuan Zai!"
"Yuan Zai?"
Aunt Gongsun nodded, "Lu Sigong's unscrupulous pursuit of money in Lingnan has reached the point of lawlessness. Letters of complaint from Lingnan flew to Chang'an like snowflakes, and were all seized and hidden by Yuan Zai. Many of them went to the capital to complain.
People also died inexplicably, and everyone suspected that they were assassinated by someone sent by Yuan Zai."
"Master aunt is saying that Lu Sigong and Yuan Zai are colluding."
"Exactly! It is said that Yuan Zai's condition was that half of Lu Sigong's corrupt property should be given to him. There are also rumors that Yuan Zai persuaded Lu Sigong to separate Lingnan and become a Lingnan vassal town. Of course, these are just rumors. We
There is no evidence, so the task assigned to me by the emperor is to find evidence that Yuan Zai colluded with Lu Sigong, and to control Lu Sigong and his property."
Only then did Guo Song understand the true meaning of the emperor telling him to be patient. The emperor had secretly investigated the evidence that could make Yuan Zai fatal. Lu Sigong was the best entry point. It seemed that the emperor not only wanted to depose Yuan Zai, but also
He must be eradicated completely.
It is easy for the emperor to depose Yuan Zai, but to install a crime that will completely make it difficult for Yuan Zai to stand up, or to directly get rid of Yuan Zai, then you need evidence that can convince all officials, especially young officials.
The prestige among young officials is still quite high.
Guo Song was refreshed and smiled again: "It is not easy to complete this task."
"It is indeed not easy. The key is to find the evidence of Yuan Zai without alerting the enemy. Lu Sigong led a thousand soldiers and the defense is very tight. No one under my command can do it so far, not even Li Twelve Niang
It can’t be done either.”
Guo Song pondered for a moment and said: "The south bank of the Yellow River is the territory of Li Zhengji, the military governor of Ziqing, and the north bank of the Yellow River is the territory of Tian Chengsi, the military governor of Weibo. Will they watch this huge amount of wealth pass by before their eyes?"
Aunt Gongsun shook her head slightly and said: "That's because you don't understand the situation. There is a reason why Lu Sigong did not take the Yangtze River and then go north from the Bianhe River. Huaixi Jiedushi Li Zhongchen has a navy in his hands and will intercept him on the water.
, and Li Zhengji and Tian Chengsi have not yet established a naval force, and each has only dozens of sentry boats. If they fight on the Yellow River, they are really no match for Lu Sigong. There is another reason, you are in Bo
Have Zhou and Qizhou encountered inspection barriers?"
Guo Song shook his head, "The journey was smooth, without any hurdles."
"Neither Li Zhengji nor Tian Chengsi allowed the establishment of checkpoints. They encouraged commerce. Merchants had a high status here and were extremely free, which made the commerce of Weibo and Ziqing prefectures very prosperous. Li Zhengji and Tian Chengsi also benefited from this.
They obtained a large amount of commercial taxes and became an important source of military expenditure for them."
Guo Song nodded silently. Only then did he understand why the big businessman named Cui could ride in the luxury carriage. The key was that he could provide a large amount of business tax to Li Zhengji every year. Of course, Li Zhengji regarded him as a guest.
Aunt Gongsun added: "The boats on the Yellow River come and go like crucian carp. Li Zhengji and Tian Chengsi never check them. They are safer. That's why Lu Sigong chose to take the Yellow River waterway."
Guo Song remembered another important question and asked: "Where is Lu Sigong's fleet now?"
Aunt Gongsun said slowly: "The latest pigeon message I got this morning is that their ship was in Dengzhou yesterday to replenish fresh water and will arrive in Qizhou in four days at the latest."
This task is indeed very difficult. Lu Sigong has a thousand navy guards. He must obtain evidence that Lu Sigong colluded with Yuan Zai, arrest Lu Sigong, and ensure the safety of 10 million yuan of money.
This means that they have to defeat a thousand soldiers, which is not as difficult as the Sword Hidden Pavilion against Aunt Gongsun. No wonder Aunt Gongsun wants to ask the emperor for help.
Not to mention that for Aunt Gongsun, even Guo Song would find it difficult to complete this task.
Guo Song was silent for a moment and then asked: "There should be some of our people around Lu Sigong!"
This is also an extremely critical question. If there was no one around Lu Sigong, how could Aunt Gongsun know so much information and know that Lu Sigong and Yuan Zai colluded?
Aunt Gongsun nodded, "There is indeed one of our people beside him. She is a little maid who brings tea and water. She accidentally heard a little bit of information."
Guo Song then left, and Aunt Gongsun settled them in the Baofeng Inn next door. The proprietress of Baofeng Restaurant and Inn was Aunt Gongsun's apprentice, so it was very safe and the conditions were very comfortable.
In the afternoon, Guo Song and military doctor Xue Changshou went out for a stroll. This was the first time Guo Song came to the territory of the feudal town. Most of the information he had come across before about the feudal town was negative. Today he wanted to see it with his own eyes.
The village they were in was called Yuquanfang. Licheng County was Jinan in later generations and was famous for its large number of springs. In the Tang Dynasty, there were indeed many springs in Licheng. There were hundreds of large and small springs, among which there were twenty or thirty famous springs.
Almost all of them are enclosed in private gardens by wealthy families, while most ordinary springs have become places for ordinary people to wash clothes and vegetables.
Business in Yuquanfang is very prosperous. Shops are densely packed on both sides of Main Street. Restaurants, inns, brothels, and shops are all next to each other. The various shop signs are dizzying.
"Chang Shi, I thought the people in the feudal town were living in dire straits, but now it looks like it's not bad!" Xue Changshou sighed.
Guo Song smiled faintly and said: "These are just appearances. Li Zhengji's 150,000-strong army depends on these common people to support them. They have monthly military salary, food and clothing expenses, and tens of thousands of war horses. These expenses add up to at least one million."
Guanqian, as well as their soldiers and equipment, the money invested is unimaginable. Where does the money come from? The court allocates very little money, and you can only rely on yourself to sell private salt and develop business. This is a convenient way to get money. As long as
If you can provide finance and taxes to the army, your businessmen will be sent to heaven."
Speaking of this, Guo Song suddenly had a clear understanding. The reason why the business of the Song Dynasty was more developed than that of previous dynasties was probably due to the practices of various feudal towns.
At this time, there was a commotion behind him. Guo Song turned around and saw a man who looked like an army officer at the door of Baofeng Restaurant. He was drunk and making a lot of noise. He faintly heard him yelling: "You have no money to bully me? I just want to be in the Yellow River."
If you stop a few ships, you'll get a lot of money..."
Guo Song's heart moved and he walked over quickly. Several bartenders persuaded the officer. The officer broke free from their hands and sat at the door. "Bring another bottle of wine, otherwise I will sleep here tonight!"
"General Ma, you are drunk, you can't drink anymore!" the bartender advised.
"You're so drunk! Can you get some wine?"
The bartender had no choice but to report it to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper came out, took a look, frowned and said, "Go get him a jar of wine and charge it to his account."
"But he already owes a lot..."
"Go quickly!"
The bartender had no choice but to run to get the wine. Guo Song stepped forward and asked the shopkeeper in a low voice: "Who is this?"
The shopkeeper gave a wry smile and said, "His name is Ma Ying. He is a brigade marshal in the water patrol camp. He likes wine and gambling, and he borrows money everywhere. Our Baofeng Restaurant alone owes more than thirty guan of wine money. I heard that he still owes a thousand dollars."
He had so much gambling debt that he even sold his wife to a brothel."
"Will Li Zhengji tolerate such a bad character?"
"Li Zhengji doesn't care about such trivial matters. Unless he really intercepts a merchant ship to extort property and is sued by the merchant to the military government, Li Zhengji will take action on him. He doesn't care about anything else."
At this time, the bartender brought a jar of wine, and Guo Song said to the shopkeeper: "This jar of wine belongs to me, I'll treat him to a drink!"
"Why...do you want to buy me a drink?" the officer asked, glaring at Guo Song.
"let's make friends!"
"Be friends with me?"
The officer snorted, "Do you have money?"
Guo Song took out a few ingots of gold and held them in his hand. There were two to three hundred taels of yellow gold. The officer's eyes lit up, he immediately stood up and asked with a smile: "My dear brother, what is your name?"
Several bartenders nearby rolled their eyes. This bastard was not drunk at all. He was just pretending to be drunk and defaulting on his bill.
.......
By the window on the second floor, Guo Song ordered seven or eight dishes and ordered two bottles of good wine. He invited Ma Ying to drink, perhaps to show off his ability. After two glasses of wine, Ma Ying took Li Zheng to the table.
All the situation of the surface troops has been leaked.
The Ziqing Army has a total of forty patrol boats and 400 soldiers, divided into four teams, responsible for patrolling the Yellow River and Jishui. This Ma Ying is the third team responsible for patrolling the Yellow River. He serves as the brigade commander and has one hundred men under his command.
Soldiers, ten patrol boats of fifty stone each.
Their tasks are different from those of the Jishui patrol. The Jishui patrol is responsible for maintaining order on the water surface and protecting merchant ships, while the Yellow River patrol is responsible for monitoring Tian Chengsi's army on the other side. In comparison, the Yellow River patrol has no oil and water. The Jishui patrol is
There was a lot of oil and water, and merchant ships would give them some, which made Ma Ying very jealous.
"Brother Guo, just say it clearly! If you need brother's help, as long as I can do it, I will try my best to help."
He seemed very cheerful, but in fact he was just laying the groundwork to ask for money. He only said that he was willing to help, but he didn't say that he would help for free.
Guo Song picked up the wine glass and smiled slightly: "I really need a little help from my brother for something!"