They have been friends for hundreds of years and are all married to each other. Logically, the Dugu family and the Dou family should be on the same boat. However, after the Yu Chaoen incident, Dugu Lingqiu discovered that the Dou family was extremely scheming and was actually an undercover agent of the emperor, which made Dugu Lingqiu feel a little uncomfortable.
I can’t believe the Dou family.
Especially today, Dou Yi took the initiative to invite him. Du Lingqiu even doubted whether the emperor asked him to come and find out his bottom.
Although Dou Yi scolded fiercely, Du Lingqiu did not dare to follow. He smiled and said: "I proposed to the emperor that Zhao Chongwen's family be released and you want to collect money from the Guanlong family. You should at least have some attitude! This
He responded very quickly and issued a general amnesty in the afternoon, which is quite good."
Dou Yi shook her head, "You are wrong about this. After the news of Guo Song's amnesty order came, the emperor had plans for amnesty. It has nothing to do with your advice. He just did a favor for you.
"
Du Guqiu pondered for a while and said: "That's not entirely true. At least he should listen to my advice on pardoning Li Yi, otherwise Xue Xun will not come back."
"He actually did it for himself. If Guo and Song didn't send troops, he wouldn't be able to return to Chang'an at all."
Speaking of this, Dou Yi whispered: "Brother Dugu, Guo Song is your son-in-law. Do you think he will send troops to Guanzhong?"
"Frankly speaking, I really don't know. I don't want to ask about this kind of thing, and he won't tell me easily. Telling me will only increase my risk, and there will be no other benefits."
"That's right, knowing some things is not a good thing."
Dou Yi took a sip of wine, lay on the soft couch and said with a smile: "Old friend, has he given you any good advice? Let me share it too."
Dugu Qiu smiled slightly, "We are in-laws. If you want to know, why wouldn't I tell you? About the year before last, he wrote to me and suggested that the Dugu family reduce their estates and turn to business. I followed his advice."
"Has all the land of the Dugu family been sold?" Dou Yi asked in surprise.
"No way is it possible to sell them all? He didn't ask me to sell them all. He just asked me to reduce the land estate. He meant that the amount of land should be held in an appropriate amount, so the Dugu family only retained the largest estate in Jiangnan and several other estates.
They were all divided and sold one after another. At the same time, the Dugu family went all-out into commerce and handicraft industry. Our family owns more than 5,000 looms in various places, as well as cabinet workshops. Now I find that the cabinet workshop is really a big and profitable business."
Dou Yi asked with great interest: "How does the cabinet shop make money?"
Du Guqiu smiled mysteriously and said, "Brother Dou, are you interested?"
"Who is not interested in making money? Hurry up and tell me!"
"It's more complicated to say. Let me give you an example. The Anbaoli Cabinet Shop in Chengdu is opened by the Dugu family. Many big businessmen don't dare to store their money at home, so they leave it to the locker shop. We will store valuables specially.
In the underground vault, a custody fee will be collected every year. If copper coins or gold and silver are stored, we will not charge any custody fee. Then I will take out the money to lend, and Anbaoli Cabinet will earn interest. One year
There is a one-cent interest, and if we lend 100,000 guan, we can earn 10,000 guan."
"Wait a minute!"
Dou Yi hurriedly interrupted him, "What if the depositor wants to use the money? You loaned all the money."
Dugu Qiu laughed, "Can't the Dugu family even come up with this little money? If he wants to withdraw money, I will just give it to him. One hundred people save money, ten people withdraw money, and there are ninety people who don't mention it! Say!
Maybe it will be stored in a cabinet for decades and left to his descendants."
"But what if the borrower doesn't pay back?"
Dugu Qiu picked up the wine glass and said leisurely: "Is there anyone who dares to borrow money from the Dugu family and not repay it?"
Dou Yi was immediately tempted and said with a smile: "Can you give a little share to the Dou family so that the Dou family can also make money?"
"With the wealth of the Dou family, do you still need to follow the Dugu family?"
"Nonsense, if Guo Song were my son-in-law, would I look for you?"
Dou Yi's words immediately reminded Du Lingqiu that the Dou family would never be in the wrong team. His son-in-law was Guo Song. At this critical moment, how could the Dou family betray themselves for Li Shi?
After thinking about this, Du Lingqiu's heart dropped. He took a sip of wine and said calmly: "Let's talk about the topic! I don't think all the Guanlong family can escape from this fundraising. I
Let me tell you, I pledged 200,000 yuan."
This is a very important point. The Guanlong family must communicate with each other, otherwise they will be brutally slaughtered by Li Shi. This is actually the reason why Dou Yi made an appointment with Du Lingqiu.
Dou Yi nodded, "I have counted. The Dou family can donate up to 150,000 yuan."
Seeing that the time was almost up, Du Guqiu smiled and said: "If you want to join the cabinet shop, go to my third son Qian'er. He is in charge of this business now, but you don't need to come forward. This kind of thing will be left to the younger generations."
Bar!"
"good!"
The two chatted for a few more words and then took their leave.
.........
Li Shi made full use of his skills and obtained nearly one million guan of money and 300,000 shi of grain from the Guanlong nobles in just ten days. This money and grain Li Shi used exclusively for the army, recruiting troops and paying military salaries. With this money
With money and food, the Ministry of War recruited 30,000 troops in a short period of time, 20,000 of which were used to enrich Jiannan Jiedu Mansion to defend against Tibet, and the other 10,000 troops were placed in Yuzhou to defend Nanzhao's army from moving north.
The time soon came to September. On this morning, a team of more than a hundred people was entering Chengdu from the South City Gate. There were several carriages in the team, and the others were escorts. They guarded the carriages extremely tightly.
In one of the large cars, there was a middle-aged man sitting. It was Xue Xun who had been working in Banzhou for nearly a year. He was not in good health. The harsh conditions in Banzhou had caused great harm to his body. In just one year,
Most of his hair has turned white and there are wrinkles on his face. In fact, he is not yet fifty years old.
In the carriages in front of him were Li Yi, who was named King Qiong, and several of his wives and children. If it weren't for the purpose of bringing Xue Xun back, Emperor Li Shi would never let Li Yi return to Chengdu. He could only spend his time in Bozhou.
rest of life.
But even if Li Yi comes back, he will not be free. He will still be under house arrest in the palace. If he goes out occasionally, he will sit in a carriage like now, surrounded by warriors sent by Li Shi. He can't have anything to do with outsiders.
touch.
Although Xue Xun was nominally appointed governor of Bozhou, he was actually exiled. If he did not have a son-in-law whom Emperor Li Shi feared, he would have died in Bozhou.
Another senior official, Han Huang, who was exiled to Bozhou with him, did not return. Instead, he took a boat directly from Yuzhou and went to Mingzhou to take office. His wife and children were not in Chengdu, and he had no nostalgia for Chengdu, so he left directly.
When it was time to break up, Xue Xun got off the carriage and bowed to Li Yi's carriage from a distance. Li Yi couldn't show his face, so he could only wave to him through the window screen. The two said goodbye. As for whether they could still be together.
I won't know the day we meet again.
Xue Xun is still living in Zhang Lei's mansion. More than a dozen warriors from Jinwei Mansion escorted him back to the mansion. The person who opened the door for him was the old housekeeper of the house. The old housekeeper suddenly saw his master standing outside the door and immediately
I was so excited that I cried, "Master, you are finally back."
Xue Xun smiled and patted him, walked into the house and asked, "Where are Madam and Qing'er?"
"Where have they gone to my uncle? The people in the house either left with my wife or dispersed. Now only my old wife and I are left."
When Xue Xun heard that his wife and children had gone to live with his daughter, he breathed a sigh of relief and said to the housekeeper: "There are people protecting me outside the door. You can arrange a room for them to stay, and I will take a rest myself."
"Master, go and rest. I'll ask my wife to make tea. I'll make arrangements for the people here."
Xue Xun returned to his study. His study remained the same as when he left. A collection of Du Fu's poems was still half-opened and had a thin layer of dust on it.
The tables and chairs were wiped clean. It seemed that the housekeeper came to clean up every day, but did not touch his own things. Xue Xun took out a piece of warm and flawless mutton-fat white jade from the bookcase. This was a birthday gift from his daughter, and it was said to be worth thousands.
Well, he was in a hurry before leaving and forgot about it.
Xue Xun held Yu gently to calm himself down. He needed to make a decision. If he wanted to leave Chengdu for Taiyuan, tonight would be his last chance. After tonight, Li Shi would not have a chance if he knew he came back.
left.
After pondering for a long time, he came out and said to the old housekeeper: "If someone from the court comes to see me tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, just tell them that I will go to Qingcheng Mountain to rest for a few days."
"I remember!"
Xue Xun found the leader of the Jin Wei Mansion again and said to him: "I have decided. According to the method we discussed before, you can escort the carriage out of the city now!"
More than a dozen followers escorted the empty carriage away, and Xue Xun then took an ox cart to Dugu Mansion. That night, Dugu Lingqiu personally escorted Xue Xun and secretly left Chengdu.