Chapter six hundred and sixtieth tacit understanding
In the imperial study room, Zhu Si finished reading the house sale report submitted by Yuan Xiu. He tapped the table with his thick index finger and reported: "Have you investigated such an obvious problem?"
According to the report, a total of 345 official houses were sold, and Li An and Zhang Lei bought 330 of them, paying more than 600,000 yuan, with an average of less than 2,000 yuan per house.
arrive.
"Who are this Li An and Zhang Lei?" Zhu Si asked dissatisfied.
"Your Majesty, all the ministers have investigated clearly. Li An is the original deacon of Huangshang. He is a descendant of Li Bi, a nobleman of Guanlong. He has a very good relationship with the Li family. He is also extremely wealthy himself, and Zhang Lei
He is Guo Song's senior brother, and he is actually Guo Song's front man in the shopping mall. He is also a well-known rich man in Chang'an, and Meishou Wine is his industry."
"No one else dares to buy a house, so why are they the only ones who dare to buy it?"
Yuan Xiu added: "Your Majesty, no matter how rich the two of them are, they can't buy so many houses. Obviously, someone is buying houses through them, either in Chengdu or Taiyuan. I think Taiyuan is more likely.
When they were older, both of them had close contacts with Guo Song."
Zhu Si frowned, "You mean, Guo Song used money to buy an official residence in Chang'an?"
Yuan Xiu nodded, "That should be the case. He is probably also worried that these official residences will fall into the hands of ordinary people and will not be recovered in the future."
"Is he so confident that he can surely capture Chang'an?"
"Your Majesty, it's normal for him to think this way. In fact, Wei Chen feels that since he is willing to give money to your Majesty to repair the palace in Luoyang, it can be regarded as a tacit understanding between them. Why not do it?"
The reason why Yuan Xiu wanted to intercede for Zhang Lei and Li An was mainly because he was the one who issued the exemption order. Repairing the Luoyang Palace would cost at least 500,000 to 600,000 yuan. The money from the imperial court's Zuozang treasury must first guarantee the military salary, and the remaining
The money he bought was only a few hundred thousand guan, which was not enough to repair the palace. He had to sell his official residence to raise money, but he couldn't sell it at all. In desperation, Yuan Xiu had to issue an exemption order.
Zhu Si thought that Guo Song forced him to move the capital, and he felt a little unhappy. He walked back and forth for a few steps with his hands behind his hands, still a little hesitant. Yuan Xiu advised again: "Your Majesty, I have to tell you the truth. If we want to move the capital smoothly,
, it is best to reach a tacit understanding with Guo Song, otherwise he can cut off our passage to the Central Plains at any time."
Zhu Si was really depressed. He knew that Yuan Xiu was telling the truth. Luoguan was lost and he was in a huge passive position. Guo and Song's army could enter Guanzhong from Tongzhou at any time. If he hadn't taken Li Shi of Chengdu into consideration, he would have entered it long ago.
The pass is right, this tacit understanding is beneficial to me, and I really can't break it easily.
"I know, I will sell it to them, and I agree."
Zhu Si took up his pen and approved the report, which was regarded as agreeing to the transaction.
Yuan Xiu bowed and retreated. At this time, Zhu Si suddenly remembered something and ordered the eunuch: "Hurry and find Military Master Liu to see me!"
Not long after, Liu Sigu hurried over, bowed and saluted, "See your Majesty!"
"I'm here to ask you, is there any progress in the iron fire thunder test?"
Not long ago, Taiyuan intelligence agents spent one thousand taels of gold and finally got the formula for iron fire thunder. After mixing saltpeter and kerosene, they can make iron fire thunder. Zhu Si felt like he had found a treasure and urgently ordered Liu Sigu to recruit the top craftsmen.
Ten days had passed since the experiment was carried out, and Zhu Si thought about the progress of the experiment.
Liu Sigu said quickly: "The craftsmen have tested it, and explosions have indeed occurred, which shows that this direction is correct. However, how to achieve the explosive effect of the iron fire thunder, the craftsmen still need to test and explore again and again."
"I don't want to know the process, I just want the result. When can it be created?"
Liu Sigu was really embarrassed, and said after a while: "Wei Chen estimates that it will take about half a year!"
"Okay! I will see the iron fire thunder explode before June next year. If I can't do it, these craftsmen will no longer live!"
........
It has entered late October, the weather has turned cold, and the rivers in the north have not yet frozen. Many fleets that rely on shipping have set off to prepare for the last shipping trip of the year.
Chenliu County is the shipping center on the Cao River. There are several shipyards in the county, and almost every shipyard has more than a hundred tank boats. The entire Central Plains region is indeed dominated by tank boats. The river network here is dense, and almost all kinds of supplies are available.
Through water transportation, not only the government has thousands of tankers, but also the private sector has thousands of ships.
During this period, more than a dozen shipping fleets were active in the Central Plains region. They specialized in purchasing tank ships at high prices. Since the Yangtze River-Huaihe waterway transportation was diverted to the Yangtze River, the cargo transportation volume in the Central Plains dropped sharply, and many small fleets were in serious losses. Therefore,
The emergence of the fleet has been welcomed by many owners of small fleets, and they have cashed in their fleets.
Needless to say, these dozen fleets came from Hedong. Hedong needed ships to transport food and supplies and was in urgent need of ships. It would be too late to build ships. Guo Song then took the idea of private fleets and sent more than a dozen teams to the Central Plains to collect ships.
In just half a month, they have acquired more than 3,000 tankers, and they have all returned to Hedong one after another. Currently, only the Chenliu County fleet is left. They discovered a secret. The Chenliu County government has a thousand tankers.
The supernumerary fleet, the so-called supernumerary fleet, means that this fleet does not belong to Bianzhou nor is it the legal asset of Chenliu County. They are actually the fleet of the Yantie Supervision Bureau, which was stranded in Chenliu County because of Li Xilie's rebellion.
He has never returned and is now under the control of Chenliu County.
Of course, there was no way to go back. Bianzhou belonged to Zhu Si's Qin Dynasty, while Yangzhou still belonged to the Tang Dynasty. The two sides became hostile countries. How could Chen Liu return the fleet to Yangzhou?
However, there is no cargo to be transported in Chenliu County. This fleet has been idle for nearly two years. The fleet that came to Chenliu County has taken a fancy to this fleet.
At night, the cold air of late autumn and early winter penetrates into clothes, and many people are reluctant to go out. The nights in Chenliu County are particularly deserted.
At this time, a carriage slowly stopped at the gate of the county government house, and a twenty-seven-year-old man walked out of it. His name was Wei Lun, and he was the county magistrate of Chenliu County. He came specifically to visit the county magistrate.
Zhihe.
Wei Lun is the legitimate son of the Wei family in Chang'an. He passed the Jinshi examination five years ago and was awarded the title of Registrar of Gushu County. He was promoted to the county magistrate of Chenliu County two years ago.
As soon as Wei Lun got off the carriage, a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy came forward. His name was Wang Qing, and he was the eldest son of the county magistrate Wang Zhihe.
Wang Qing hurriedly saluted and said: "Welcome Uncle Wei Shi, father asked me to wait here."
"My dear nephew, I have been waiting for a long time. Is your father here?"
"Father is waiting outside in the study. Please come with me, Uncle Shi."
Wei Lun followed Wang Qing into the mansion and went to the small courtyard. The county magistrate Wang Zhihe was waiting at the door wearing a plain scarf and a green robe.
"Welcome Wei County Prime Minister to come and sit in his humble abode!"
Wei Lun quickly leaned forward and said, "I'm really sorry to disturb the county gentleman from his rest at such a late hour!"
"You're welcome, Qing'er, serve tea to Uncle Wei Shi."
Wang Zhihe waved his hand, "Xian Cheng please!"
"Please, Lord County!"
The two of them politely gave in to each other and walked into the outer study room to sit down respectively. Not long after, Wang Qing came in and served them tea.
"My son will be sixteen next year! Have you considered where to go for further studies?" Wei Lun asked with a smile.
Wang Zhihe sighed and said: "You know I am from Hongnong County, Guozhou. I plan to send my son to Yang's family to study. I am from there myself, but my mentor is appointed as a doctor of Guoxue in Taiyuan. He wrote a letter.
I am really embarrassed to send my son to him."
Wei Lun knew very well why Wang Zhihe was in trouble. His backstage was the Yang family of Hongnong. He was a disciple trained by the Yang family. His son should also go to the Yang family of Hongnong, but his mentor asked him to send his son to Taiyuan.
It's the Yang family, and on the other side it's his mentor, so he's so hesitant.
Wei Lun smiled slightly and said: "I suggest the county gentleman write a letter to the head of the Yang family, tell him the situation and listen to his opinion, but I believe the head of the Yang family will let you send your son to Taiyuan."
"Why?" Wang Zhihe asked puzzledly.
"It's very simple. If the Yang family doesn't release him, your master will never be able to go to Taiyuan. I think that the county prince's mentor asked your son to go to Taiyuan to study. He must have a tacit understanding with the head of the Yang family."
Wang Zhihe thought for a moment and said, "What you said makes sense. I'll think about it again."
At this time, Wei Lun said again: "It has been three days since I forwarded a document for selling a boat to the county king. The county king should have read it!"
Only then did Wang Zhihe realize that Wei Lun came to visit him for this matter.
He took a sip of tea and felt a little confused: "Although Prime Minister Wei County has approved it, if the ships are sold, Governor Han will not be able to explain it. He specifically told me that these ships cannot be moved, which is really difficult for me to do.
"
Wei Lun sneered slightly and said: "The county gentleman will not think that these ships are really bought by Jianghuai merchants!"
Wang Zhihe thought it was Wei Lun who agreed to sell the ship after getting bribed by the businessman. This made him very dissatisfied and kept holding on to the approval of the ship sale.
But listening to Wei Lun's tone, it seemed that this was not the case. Wang Zhihe hesitated and asked: "I also heard some news that there are many people buying boats in the Central Plains states. Do they have a background?"
Wei Lun said lightly: "I might as well tell the county prince the truth. If an ordinary businessman buys a boat, I will never approve it. I don't care about the benefits. It's not worth offending the Han governor for a group of businessmen, but the person who bought the boat is not