"Your Majesty, Shopkeeper Shi is here!"
Caoyun Yamen, in the courtyard where King Zhongxin lived temporarily.
King Zhongxin's entourage came in.
"Let him in!"
King Zhongxin, who was holding a vase and looking at it carefully, said casually.
Everyone responded, and soon a fat middle-aged man wearing a uniform came in.
"Young man, pay my respects to the prince!" Shopkeeper Shi came up and paid homage, kowtowing several times.
"Well, no courtesy, please sit down..." King Zhongxin put down the vase, sat cross-legged on the couch, and looked at Shopkeeper Shi lazily.
"Your Majesty, this is the offering for these days!" Shopkeeper Shi, who was even loyal to King Zhongxin, quickly took out an account book from the box he carried with him and handed it to King Zhongxin by his personal attendant.
King Zhongxin took the account book with his long-nailed hand, flipped through it casually, frowned, and turned directly to the final summary. When he saw that the offering reached 300,000 taels, he smiled.
"Well, yes, yes, there are 300,000 taels in one quarter. It's very good. It's not in vain that Gu and the Zhen family have worked so hard to cover you in the court..."
King Zhongxin closed the account book with his orchid fingers and handed it to his attendant casually.
Shopkeeper Shi even expressed his loyalty, which made King Zhongxin elated and nodded continuously.
"By the way, it's rare for me to come to Jiangnan. Why don't you come to meet me?"
Shopkeeper Shi naturally knows who "you and others" refer to.
"Hui, Hui Wang, we have too many people, and all the kings in the Yamen are here. Besides, we and this Jiangnan Camp... Hehe, you are too talkative, you are too talkative, just in case someone sees it, but We must not let them get involved with the prince!"
Shopkeeper Shi had a sneer on his face.
Seeing this ugly face, King Zhongxin lost interest in talking.
"Okay, work hard. One day, I will definitely not treat you badly. Okay, I'm sorry, let's go down..."
King Zhongxin yawned, waved his hand towards Shopkeeper Shi, and told him to go out.
"Okay, Your Majesty, please excuse me..." Shopkeeper Shi bowed respectfully to King Zhongxin and bowed his head before exiting the main hall.
"Huh..." Shopkeeper Shi stretched out his sleeves as if to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
The attendant who came out to see him out sneered.
"Shopkeeper Shi, is the prince so scary? The one who called the shopkeeper was covered in sweat!"
"No, no, no, the prince is so charming, how can he be scary? I respect the prince, that's why I sweat so much!"
Shopkeeper Shi quickly retorted.
"Haha, it's good that you know. Relax and work hard. If one day..." The personal attendant raised his eyebrows at Shopkeeper Shi, "How could the prince treat you so badly? Right! Hahaha!"
The attendant proudly patted shopkeeper Shi on the shoulder until he leaned over to beg for mercy, and then returned to the courtyard.
Seeing him closing the courtyard door, shopkeeper Shi, who had been bending down and groveling, straightened his back, took a deep look at the courtyard, and turned around to leave.
. . . . . .
"If anything happens, just send someone to deliver a message. Anyway, the prince's disciples and your family's soldiers all know each other, so I will take care of it for you as soon as possible!"
Chen Si patted his chest and said to Jia Hui.
At the south gate of Huai'an, Chen Jingyuan came to see off Jia Hui and his party.
"Sure, I won't be polite! You should also be careful in court. If you can't make up your mind about something, just go to your palace chief Shi Shenqian. He is a talented person. Okay, let's see how a certain family breaks their loyalty! Come on! "
Jia Hui turned his horse's head and headed towards the distant convoy. The three thousand households who had been waiting beside him quickly followed. For a moment, the dust was flying and Chen Si was choking and coughing.
"Jinyu, I think King Yiyong has a good relationship with you?" Lin Hai asked.
"That's a life-long friendship!" Jia Hui grinned.
Da Qi calls the prince the prince and the county prince the prince. However, as time goes by, people close to him also start to call the prince the prince.
Jia Hui turned his head and looked at Jia Zhu, who was in a trance.
"Hey, wake up! You're about to fall off your horse!"
"Ah? Ah..." Jia Zhu trembled and drank a few mouthfuls of cold water before she woke up.
"That's too bad, Brother Zhu. If you continue like this, how can I entrust you with important things?"
He gently patted Jia Zhu on the back with a riding crop.
"The matter has come to this, and we must keep moving forward!"
After saying that, Jia Hui whipped his horse whip, and with the long neigh of the war horse, he rushed towards the four young men who had already ridden ahead.
"The enemy will leave! Why don't we fight a certain family for three hundred rounds!"
The four teenagers in front exclaimed and ran away into the distance.
The dust raised by the horse's hooves covered Jia Zhu's face.
"Ha, childish!"
. . . . . .
Heading south from Huai'an, bypassing Gaoyou Lake, and walking slowly for four days, we finally arrived at Yangzhou, where the Xunyan Censor's Yamen is located.
"Quick, quick, this lantern is hanging a little crooked, a little to the left, a little more, okay!
The master of Huamanlou has arrived? What? Can't come for something?
Didn't you tell him that you were hosting a banquet for the Commander-in-Chief of the Left Army? No more invitations! "
Jia Min, who had received a message from her husband early, swept away her previous depression, and her whole person became dazzling again, returning to the proud eldest lady of the past.
Mother Lin held Daiyu in her arms and smiled as she watched her daughter-in-law command the servants of the family like a general. She lowered her head and looked at her little grandson lying in the car next to her. She was extremely satisfied with her current life.
"Madam, madam! The master and nephew are almost entering the city!"
A boy ran over panting.
"Really? Hurry, Daiyu, hurry! Your cousins are coming!"
Jia Min walked quickly to Daiyu and looked at the little person carefully. Her daughter was so beautiful, so there couldn't be any flaws in her clothes!
"Oh, okay, you've watched it eight hundred times in less than an hour. I'm tired of watching this old lady..." Mother Lin saw her granddaughter being pushed back and forth by her old lady, and quickly stopped Jia Min's behavior.
"Old lady..." Jia Min was still a little unwilling and wanted to check Daiyu again, but Mother Lin hugged Daiyu hard in her arms and refused to let Jia Min move any more.
This caused Daiyu to shrink into her grandmother's arms and look at her mother with a smile.
Jia Min glared at Daiyu angrily. She had no choice but to give up, turned around and picked up her chubby little son, looked at each other and laughed at the drooling little Zaizai.
After trying to see if the diaper was wet, he quickly helped his younger son pee to make sure that his cousins would not be wet. Then he nodded and put the diaper back on.
"Madam, we're here, almost at the door!"
Jia Min quickly stood up with her son in her arms and walked towards the yamen door.
Today we have a distinguished guest at the Censor's house, and the entire Yamen has a day off!
The subordinate officials in the yamen also knew for a long time that the current Commander-in-Chief of the Left Army was the nephew of Mrs. Lin Yushi, so naturally they would not make any mistakes.
You have to be discerning when it comes to making connections. When family members are reunited, it would be considered generous of a general for you, an outsider, to suddenly come over and ruin the atmosphere and only wear small shoes for yourself!
Therefore, even the Futai and others from the Yangzhou Magistrate's Yamen only greeted him outside the city gate, and went back after making an appointment to have dinner on another day. They, the subordinate officials of the Salt Patrol Yamen, should be more discerning.
In Yangzhou, apart from the magistrate's yamen and the salt inspector's yamen, the most impressive ones are the salt merchants. But the salt merchants can talk about luxury at most, but due to the etiquette, the luxury is limited, which makes them crazy. Talk about arrogance with such noble people!
Just like a carriage!
Although sedan chairs have become very common, carriages have always been a symbol of strength, financial resources and status.
Although Daqi allowed merchants to ride carriages, they could only be small carriages pulled by one horse. No matter how good the horse is, it will only pale in comparison to the four-man carriage.
Previously, all the inheritance of Duke Xu Wusu had to be returned to the state because of the lack of heirs.
However, the emperor still followed Wu Sugong's last wish and left the 180,000 taels of property in Caogong Union. The remaining noble property, in addition to the land being nationalized, the movable property was distributed to the guests with corresponding titles.
All the kings rode in five-horse carriages, so the four-horse carriage that Duke Xu Wusug owned during his lifetime was assigned to the only Duke present, Jia Hui.
After planting the brand-new Suzaku flag, this ancient vehicle, which was at least a century old, carried Jia Hui into Yangzhou City.
Soon, a team carrying the black tiger battle flag of Daqi and the red Suzaku flag appeared on the streets of Yangzhou. Between the black flags and the red flags, there were faintly a few teeth embroidered with the word "Jia". The flag fluttered in the wind.
"Who is this? Why is there still a bird flag?"
"What a bird flag! Have you never seen it before? This is called a Suzaku!"
"Suzaku? Do we still have the Suzaku flag in Daqi?"
"It didn't exist before, but now it does! That is the battle flag given to us by the Emperor, the famous general of Da Qi, the Great General Sima, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Left Army, Jia Hui and Mr. Jia! We, Da Qi, are like scorpions - a unique honor! "
"Awesome!"
Jia Hui brought over two hundred and thirty cavalrymen who proudly held their heads high. Even though they were sweating, they were still wearing brand-new cotton armor and were lined up on the left and right sides of the carriage. They were holding spears, spears and various long weapons, and looked at both sides of the road defiantly. In the restaurant, everyone looked out with fearful faces, as if they were the ones standing upstairs.
Shock Xiaoxiao!
On the second floor of Huamanlou, Bai Zhaoxing, the president of the Yangzhou Salt Merchant Chamber of Commerce, looked at Jia Hui's guard of honor downstairs with fear, snorted coldly, and turned his head.
"Hmph, who are you trying to scare now? Jia Hui is nothing more than that, an arrogant and domineering young man, nothing to worry about!" President Bai said disdainfully to the salt merchants present.
But everyone across from him could see the overflowing envy and jealousy in President Bai's eyes.
"President, please don't let your guard down!" said an old man with a gray beard.
"Yes, Jia Hui is a military general after all, and he was a famous general who actually destroyed two countries! He won't tell us any shopping mall rules. Didn't you see that he brought more than 3,000 people here?"
Although shopkeeper Shi, who was loyal to the Wang family, had said that Jia Hui was here to rectify the Jiangnan camp, how far was Jinling from Yangzhou? His own uncle was in trouble, would he just stand by and watch?
"What's the use of saying this? Although we are local snakes, how can we fight with this fierce dragon crossing the river? It's better to stay safe and keep ourselves safe. At least we can get Jia Hui away!"
"Otherwise, we should just keep to ourselves and do business, and don't get involved in the court, right?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? When it's beneficial, you rush to the front, but when it's not beneficial, you want to surrender immediately? Dreaming! Don't forget that when Lin Ruhai was ambushed, there were also dead soldiers from your family!"
"What are you afraid of? Behind us are the Zhen family and the prince!"
"So what? Not only did Jia Hui come with the order of the Second Sage, there is also a righteous and brave king behind him!"
The salt merchants quickly divided into three factions.
The capitulation faction has the fewest people.
Radicals, there are not many people but they are the most courageous!
Then there are the dormant faction who make up the majority.
"stop fighting!"
President Bai slapped the table, and everyone in the audience looked at him and fell silent.
Everyone is waiting for him to give orders so that they will have a scapegoat in the future.
A bunch of old foxes!
President Bai looked at everyone present gloomily. He had no choice, because he was the person who contacted Mr. Shi of Prince Zhongxin’s Mansion on behalf of the salt merchants. If Prince Zhongxin failed to seize the throne, he didn’t know what would happen to other salt merchants, but they The Bai family is doomed, and the Donghai navy is crossing the sea, even if they want to, they can't run away!
After a long silence, President Bai sighed.
"I'm dormant for now, but if Jia Hui doesn't know how to praise, we won't be easy to mess with!"
The salt merchants remained silent, which was regarded as acquiescence.
At this time, there was a knock on the door.
"Master, someone from the Lin family is here. I want to invite the master chef in the building to come to the Lin family to cook. He said he wants to entertain the Governor of the Left Army..."
As soon as he finished speaking, the salt merchants became restless.
A twenty-year-old household head scratched his head.
"Mrs. Lin doesn't know that Huamanlou is Uncle Bai's property? Isn't she afraid of us drugging her?"
"She is eager for us to drug her! She will have to test the poison in advance before putting it on the table. If any poison is really found, hey, won't the opportunity to attack us come back?"
"Then why didn't she do this?" The young family leader immediately realized that he was making a joke and quickly shut up.
"...
First of all, the Lin family's moral integrity is much higher than yours.
Secondly, we have never sent a master to their home in the past few years.
Third time... Huamanlou has always been the leader of Yangzhou cuisine. On weekdays, we just refuse the invitation from the Yanyan Yamen. We can barely call it majestic and unyielding, not afraid of the powerful.
But if you can't even invite General Sima to come, then you don't have to be afraid of the powerful, you should call him a big boy!
There is no need for Jia Hui to take action. Any one of the officials who wants to curry favor with him can kill us. Don’t use the prince as an excuse. It’s better for the county magistrate to take charge now!
Therefore, we not only have to send the best chef to make the best Yangzhou cuisine for Jia Hui, but we also have to provide the best ingredients together!
In this way, Mrs. Lin can still have some money left, hum! "
"What? This...isn't this too frustrating?"
"...So what, we are just merchants, but he is a Duke and a Grand Governor!
Forget it, just treat it as our Yangzhou elders, filial piety, filial piety... respect... Mr. Jia! "
The more President Bai thought about it, the more he felt aggrieved. However, the more he thought about it, he couldn't help it anymore. He grabbed the teacup on the table and threw it on the ground.
The crystal clear porcelain cup fell to the ground and broke into pieces.
The first update, there will be another update around two o'clock, and thanks to book friend 20221130153529843 for the tip!
(End of chapter)
