The reason why they believed so firmly in Shu Niu's words was actually not unreasonable.
Since ancient times, there have been many internal fights among aristocratic families, not to mention the Zheng Kingdom. Nowadays, in various vassal states and even the Zhou royal family, which family's struggle to seize the heir is not bloody?
This is true for all princes, let alone these ordinary wealthy families.
And Shu Niu's words were also very concise and clear. He bluntly said that he didn't like to share with others. The implication was that he could only have the final say in the future sacrifice of the clan.
His other two younger brothers, let alone inheriting the family business, will not be able to even take a look at them when the time comes.
For this reason, he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to sell his two younger brothers so that he could solely own the Ji family business. This was quite reasonable.
As for these merchants from Qi who may still have some doubts in their hearts at the moment, they only have the determination to dare to do so.
However, considering that Shu Niu usually always spoke the truth, they had some confidence in Shu Niu for a while.
As a result, the matter was quickly settled, and Shu Niu immediately arranged for his cronies to go and transfer Jishi's grain depot.
Everything is going on quietly.
…
Three days later, Zheng's official rations and sacrifices were all arranged, and he was ready to set off immediately.
In order to show the importance this time of relieving the country from the disaster, Zheng Guo also sent another official to see him off.
At the east gate of Zheng Yi, Yin Duan (Yin family, named Duan, courtesy name Zishi) of the State of Zheng inspected the carriages, horses and grain accompanied by Ji Zong and Ji Xun. Ji Le had nothing to do, so he called Li Ran over so that he could join in the fun.
Looking at the parade of inspections in front of him, Li Ran couldn't help but sigh: Sure enough, the inspection styles of leaders throughout the ages have been so similar. People are here, mouths are here, but this heart seems to be forever forgotten in my own home.
While Li Ran and Ji Le were chatting and watching, they saw a motorcade with no end in sight. At this scale, Zheng Guo has really spent a lot of money.
Judging from the number of carriages, the three thousand stones of grain sacrificed here required more than a hundred carriages, and they were at the front of the convoy.
However, the number of carriages carrying Zheng's grain was twice that of Ji's. As a result, the entire driveway on the outskirts of the city was suddenly crowded with these grain carriages, making it impossible to pass at all.
And this nearly ten thousand shi of grain was undoubtedly a huge sum of money for Zheng Guo.
Yin Duan, one of the six ministers of the Zheng Kingdom, was from the same clan as Zi Chan. In terms of seniority, he could be regarded as Zi Chan's nephew. Although he is young, he is quite calm. Because of this, Zichan arranged for him to come and see off Jishi.
He only took a quick look at the food for family sacrifice in the front row and then finished. But when he inspected the official carriages in the back row, he became serious and inspected them one by one, not daring to show any slights.
In front of everyone, Dr. Zishi's change was so obvious that everyone present had to notice.
Li Ran was no exception. Li Ran said to Ji Le beside him:
"Girl Ji, do you know why Doctor Zishi is becoming more serious now?"
Ji Le was naturally not stupid. When Li Ran asked her this question, she immediately replied playfully:
"Hehe, this is not a problem for this girl. There are two reasons for this."
"Oh? Tell me about it?"
I saw Ji Le writing in a serious tone while saying:
"Doctor Zishi sees that our chariots and horses are completely different from those of the official family. In this case, it represents their official family's trust in our sacrificial family. Secondly, it naturally shows that he represents the official family in treating this matter. A meticulous attitude.”
After hearing this, Li Ran smiled knowingly and joked with her:
"Oh my, it's really true that the person who is close to the vermillion is red. Miss Ji's eyesight has really improved a lot."
Ji Le's words are actually quite good. Officials have always placed great trust in the Ji clan. Otherwise, Zheng Guo would not have chosen to let Ji's caravan go to Weiguo on his behalf this time.
So, after Yin Duan's inspection, he turned around, looked at the second son of the Ji clan with great solemnity, and said:
"This trip is of great importance. You two must be more careful. You must not cause trouble along the way. You must not neglect your duties or neglect your precautions, causing this batch of food to fall into the wrong hands."
Ji Xun and Ji Yi heard the sound and hurriedly said yes, not daring to take a breath.
Ji Le looked on and said to Li Ran with a smile:
"From here to Weiguo, the whole road is our Zhengguo's territory. Who dares to make small moves under the nose of Doctor Zichan? Doctor Zishi, are you a little too cautious?"
"After all, these ten thousand stones of food can save many people of Weiguo. It's okay to be cautious."
Hearing what Li Ran said, Ji Le realized that he had said the wrong thing, and immediately stuck out his tongue and fell silent.
At this time, Li Ran looked forward along the grain cart of the Zheng State Court behind him. Jishi put the cart containing his own grain in the front row. In fact, the meaning was very clear. It was undoubtedly to protect the big but not the small.
Once the convoy encounters a situation on the road, the first to be severely damaged is the carriage containing the grain for the sacrifice, followed by the official grain cart. Therefore, the convoy in the back can turn around in time to avoid disaster.
It's just this Ji clan's grain truck...
"What's wrong?"
Seeing Li Ran stunned as he stared at the grain truck in front of him, Ji Le suddenly frowned and couldn't help but ask.
But who knew that Li Ran didn't seem to hear it and walked forward anxiously. When Ji Le saw this, he hurriedly followed.
Arriving at the Jishi grain cart, Li Ran scanned all the grain carts up and down, and then stopped at the ruts run over by the wheels of those carriages.
He looked back and forth, then turned his head to compare with Zheng Guoguan's grain cart, his face even more confused.
"Brother Ziming, what happened?"
Ji Le also looked at it and found nothing wrong, so he immediately asked again.
Li Ran heard the sound, came back to his senses, and turned to look at Yin Duan and Ji Zeng, Ji Ji's inquiry office. Seeing them walking towards the front row, he immediately pulled Ji Le to a Jishi grain truck and pointed at the wheel.
"Look at your grain cart. The marks on the ground are of different shades, and the weight of the car is uneven. On the other hand, the grain cart of the Zheng Kingdom's court behind it is smooth and stable, without any weirdness."
"Brother Ziming means..."
Ji Le is still a little unresponsive.
Li Ran looked at the grain truck body wrapped in mulberry cloth and continued to question:
"If it were all grain, then in terms of weight, it should be quite even, and there wouldn't be such a serious deviation. But you see, of these grain trucks, the left side is obviously heavier than the right side, and this One car, the back is obviously heavier than the front..."
"It's so weird...it's really disturbing!"
He was a little unsure. After all, this was Jishi's own grain truck and it was loaded by Jishi himself. Could there be any problem with this?
Seeing this, Ji Le naturally understood Li Ran's doubts, but she still couldn't believe it.
"Although the second brother and the third brother are not as reliable as the eldest brother in their work, my father personally told me about this matter, so how can they not take it seriously? If it is not filled with food, what else could it be? Woolen cloth?"
As she said that, she looked towards the front gate of the city and saw Ji Zeng and Ji Xun accompanying Yin Duan on the Zhou Road and were making final instructions.
But when she turned around, she found that Li Ran had already reached out to untie the rope that bound the mulberry cloth.
"presumptuous!"
At this moment, a sharp shout came from the pile of grain trucks.
The next moment, Li Ran and Ji Le saw Shu Niu leading a group of guards galloping towards them.
"Li Ran, do you think this belongs to your family? How can you touch this food casually?!"
"Take your hands away quickly! Don't damage these grain trucks!"
Shu Niu's hostility towards Li Ran was not concealed at all.
