That night, the father and son finished their walk and returned to Yan's mansion. Then an anonymous letter was delivered to Yan Shifan through the doorman.
"Who sent this letter? Did you see the face clearly?"
Yan Shifan took the letter from the boy's hand, frowned, and turned to ask.
"Thank you, Mr. Xiaoge, the person who came here is also entrusted by others. As for other things, I don't know!" The boy guarding the door bowed and saluted.
"Okay, go down! Don't mention this to anyone, do you understand?"
"I understand, little one."
"This month your monthly payment will be doubled."
"Thank you, Mr. Xiaoge!"
Yan Shifan ignored the boy behind him, but took the envelope and went straight back to his room.
After he read the contents of the letter, he couldn't help but be shocked: "How dare they!"
The content recorded in the letter was clearly the plan previously discussed by several elders and King Yu, which naturally included a vicious plan to destroy embankments and flood fields to cause chaos in Zhejiang! After understanding the seriousness of the situation, Yan Shifan did not dare to delay too much and knocked directly on his father Yan Song's door.
"What's the matter?" Yan Song opened the door, wearing single clothes and looking like he was going to sleep soon.
"Father, I just received an anonymous letter. Take a look!" Yan Shifan said and handed the letter to his father.
Yan Song took the letter, walked tremblingly to the bed, put on his reading glasses, and began to read the contents.
After a long time, Yan Song raised his head, his cloudy eyes full of horror, and asked in a deep voice: "Who gave you this letter?"
"Father, this letter was sent by someone, but the specific identity cannot be ascertained."
"Father, should we report this matter to His Majesty and leave it to His Majesty to make a decision?"
After Yan Song pondered for a moment, he replied: "There is no need to report this matter to Your Majesty. Since they want to destroy the embankment and flood the fields, let them destroy it!"
Yan Song looked at the horror in his son's eyes and explained: "The autumn harvest is already halfway through now. Destroying dikes and flooding the fields at this time will affect nine counties and hundreds of thousands of acres of land! Once the fields are flooded, the people will not have enough food, and the land will be flooded." The price will naturally depreciate significantly, and we can take this opportunity to lower the field price. When the time comes, all the harvested fields will be planted with mulberry trees, which will be regarded as the early implementation of the conversion from rice to mulberry."
"Let Shen Yishi handle this matter. Let him prepare food in advance and exchange food for fields."
Yan Song waved his hand and ordered in a low voice.
"But father, the child is still a little worried. What if chaos really breaks out in Zhejiang? What should we do?"
"Don't worry, Zhejiang Province doesn't have enough grain. It can be transferred from neighboring provinces. As long as the scale is controlled well, there will be no chaos in Zhejiang!"
"Yes, father, I will go down and inform you immediately."
Yan Shifan heard this and bowed to leave.
…
"Mr. Xiaoge, this is the letter sent by your student Gao Hanwen before." After Yan Shifan arranged everything properly, as soon as he returned to his mansion, the housekeeper stepped forward and handed over the letter.
"You go down." Yan Shifan waved his hand with a tired look on his face.
After the housekeeper went down, Yan Shifan read Gao Hanwen's letter to himself by the light of the candle: "Teacher, student Gao Hanwen, how are you doing lately..."
After thoroughly browsing the contents of the letter, Yan Shifan threw the letter aside and kept rubbing his temples. Everything that happened today made him feel tired. First, Qingliu wanted to destroy the embankment and flood the fields, and then his student Gao Hanwen Inadvertently touching on such a big minefield that the imperial tax was not implemented.
After thinking for a long time, Yan Shifan finally wrote: "Hanwen, what you said in your letter is already known to the teacher! The imperial court will send people to Zhejiang soon to investigate. Please speed up the progress of measuring the acres..."
After finishing the letter, Yan Shifan immediately called the housekeeper and mailed the letter. When the housekeeper was about to leave, he also ordered: "Go and ask Zheng Michang and He Maocai to keep an eye on him. Don't let him mess with me again." Trouble! You can use some means if necessary."
"Yes." After hearing this, the housekeeper bowed and left.
…
Zhejiang, Shen Yishi's home, Zheng Michang, He Maocai, and Yang Jinshui gathered here.
"Boss Shen, this time we must follow the wishes of Mr. Yan Ge and the others!" Zheng Michang picked up the tea cup and took a sip.
"That's natural. After receiving the news from Mr. Yan Ge and the others, Shen bought 100,000 shi of grain from neighboring provinces overnight. I think it should be able to meet the requirements." Shen Yishi put down the rotten porcelain bowl in his hand and responded.
Seeing that the rotten porcelain bowl in Shen Yishi's hand was out of water, the maid on the side quickly added some cold water to it.
"The land price has been reduced by half, which is really a good calculation! As far as I know, those are all good farmland. I believe that Boss Shen will be able to make a lot of money this time." Yang Jinshui looked at it. Come here, with a high-pitched voice.
"I'm just doing something for Mr. Yan Ge. You'll all be indispensable after it's done!" Shen Yishi picked up the rotten porcelain bowl again, blew on it, and drank all the water in it.
"By then, all the harvested fields will be planted with mulberry trees. Firstly, the Weaving Bureau's order for this year can be successfully completed. Secondly, the conversion of rice to mulberry can be implemented in advance. It is really a strategy of killing two birds with one stone." He Maocai couldn't help but admire after hearing this.
"Just everyone, how should we deal with the other matter that Mr. Xiao Ge asked us about?" He Maocai hesitated for a moment and finally spoke.
Everyone knew that what He Maocai was referring to was that Mr. Xiao Ge asked them to watch Gao Hanwen and not to cause any more trouble.
After Zheng Michang pondered for a moment, he spoke out: "After my observation during this period, I found that this apprentice of Mr. Xiaoge is a rare person of noble character, who hates evil as much as he hates it! If he acts rashly, it may not end well."
"It's not easy. Just pull him over. As the saying goes, it's the hardest thing to accept the kindness of a beauty! Doesn't it happen that Boss Shen has raised a Yun Niang?" Yang Jinshui thought for a moment and said coldly.
"What Eunuch Yang means...let's make a game?" Zheng Michang's eyes lit up after hearing Yang Jinshui's suggestion.
Yang Jinshui just nodded slightly and did not answer.
"But this villain has to be Boss Shen." Yang Jinshui looked at Shen Yishi aside with a playful expression.
"Me?" Shen Yishi put down the broken porcelain bowl, his face full of doubts.
"It must be you, you are the most motivated among us!" He Maocai also understood what Yang Jinshui meant and said slowly.
"Okay, I'll be ready when I go down later. When the time comes, we will have control over him. Are we afraid that he will be disobedient?" Shen Yishi nodded, agreeing with Yang Jinshui's suggestion.
"I will invite Gao Hanwen over that night!" Seeing that the matter entrusted by Mr. Xiao Ge was perfectly solved, Zheng Mi Chang also had a smile on his face.
…
In the Governor's Mansion of Zhejiang Province, Gao Hanwen read the letter sent back by Yan Shifan. After learning that the imperial court would send someone to conduct a thorough investigation soon, he couldn't help but smile on his face. The teacher is still the same teacher, and has not changed at all! At the same time, Gao Hanwen also secretly made up his mind to speed up the progress of clearing the land in order to repay his kindness.
"Xiandi, I will accompany my eldest brother to a banquet tonight."
I saw Zheng Michang coming in a hurry, with beads of sweat on his forehead. He called Gao Hanwen aside and whispered.
"What kind of banquet?" Gao Hanwen frowned slightly. His original plan was to use tonight to compile the previously measured land data into a book.
"It's hard to explain to you, but this banquet is very important to my brother!"
"In that case, I will go." Gao Hanwen nodded, agreeing to Zheng Michang's invitation.
"Brother, I'll just wait for the good news." After Zheng Michang finished speaking, he left quickly, leaving only a confused Gao Hanwen.
