Hearing this, Dugu Yan, who was drinking tea, turned pale for a moment, his eyes fell on his teacup, his pupils shrank, and he turned around immediately.
"vomit!"
After spitting out the tea in his mouth, Duguyan said tremblingly: "Master, I..."
"Don't worry, there's no poison in the tea."
Dugu Chen glanced at Dugu Yan, took the other person's tea cup and took a sip.
Duguyan breathed a sigh of relief, laughed dryly, and slapped himself.
"I wrongly blamed the young master!"
After Dugu Chen put down his tea cup, he said calmly: "I want you to commit suicide at the gate of the prefect's mansion."
Duguyan's calm expression changed again, and he said in horror: "Master, I am loyal to our family..."
"It is precisely because of your loyalty that you are required to die for the Dugu family now." Dugu Chen explained seriously without thinking, "I mobilized those academy scholars. It is true that they are filled with righteous indignation, but now that the people accept Liang Xiao's favor, naturally they will not Maybe they will follow suit. Scholars are not confident enough, so they need to add fire. For example, Liang Xiao forced you, a philanthropic rice merchant, to death."
Dugu's words were stuck in his throat, and he was frightened and at a loss.
"Duguyan, this time the business failed miserably, and we lost tens of thousands of taels of silver. As the person in charge, you went to Yanzhou to transport grain in advance and fell into Liang Xiao's trap. You should bear the primary responsibility. I can't protect you. If you can't help the family If you give me an explanation, I'm afraid your wife and children will also be implicated in the future."
"On weekdays, the family treats you very well. If you like a commoner's daughter or married woman, they will get it for you privately, even if it destroys the other person's family. Now you still have a wife and children in our family. Provide food and clothing without worries.”
"Don't worry about what happens after your death. When your son grows up, he will receive the best education, rise to prominence, and remain a core member of the Dugu family. He won't have to devote himself to the family like you..."
Listening to Dugu Chen's explanation, Dugu Yan, as a businessman, naturally understood what Dugu Chen meant.
He must die at Liang Xiao's door. If he doesn't die, his wife and children will not end well.
Duguyan really couldn't figure out why the young master who was usually so kind to him abandoned him like a piece of shit at this moment.
"I won't force you, just think about it yourself. If you don't want to 'dedicate', you can explain it to my father yourself when you go back." Dugu Chen sighed.
Dugu Yan's face turned pale and he was silent for a long time before he said tremblingly: "Master, I was born as a member of the Dugu family, and I die as a ghost of the Dugu family!"
Dugu Chen then smiled and said: "Don't worry, the family will treat your wife and children well, and will leave them ten thousand taels of silver, which will be enough for them to live in fine clothing and food for several lifetimes!"
Duguyan left trembling.
A figure walked out from behind the screen and said, "Is he reliable?"
"If he doesn't want to be dignified, someone will help him look decent." Dugu Chen said nonchalantly, and then said, "Qin Xun, does Liang Xiao really have no idea what to do?"
The figure said: "He is very guarded and cannot be exposed."
"When the family arranged for you to continue to lurk in the Tuoba clan, it was a good move. Unfortunately, the Tuoba clan fell first..." Dugu Chen couldn't help but sigh.
The figure comforted him: "Don't worry, young master. I still keep in touch with Tuoba Jun and eat at both ends of Liang Xiao and Tuoba's family."
Dugu Chen praised: "You have done a good job. Now in front of Liang Xiao, you are a spy of the original Tuoba family who has returned from the lost way. Officials from poor families in the prefecture, among your colleagues, there are also our people, and they also have their own When the time is right, I will introduce you to him. The most critical task right now is to understand the operation of the newspaper and its technical foundation."
"I still can't understand why Liang Xiao can print tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of copies of each issue of the newspaper?"
Qin Xun said: "These core technologies are guarded by Xuanwei. If we take the initiative to investigate, not only will we not be able to find out, but we may also arouse Liang Xiao's vigilance."
Dugu Chen nodded and said: "I know, wait until Liang Xiao takes the initiative to find you."
At night, in the prefect's mansion, all the officials had a rare leisure time and went out to relax, chatting under the moonlight, reciting poems and composing poems.
Qin Xun's eyes swept across the crowd, with some doubts in his eyes.
After a moment, Qin Xun's eyes stayed on the faces of Qin Baili and Lin Xiu, thoughtfully.
"Marquis Lanling is here!"
A scholar reminded excitedly, and everyone stood up to greet him.
"Those rice merchants must not be able to hold on anymore. They are all coming to visit now. I asked them to wait outside the door first." Liang Xiao said with a smile.
Everyone clapped their hands and laughed.
"When they harmed Yanzhou, they should also understand that they will end up like this!" Qin Baili said.
Liang Xiao said confidently: "Tomorrow, the group of academy scholars will come outside the prefect's mansion to denounce me. I will deal with it then. You don't have to stand up for me."
After everyone agreed in unison, Lin Xiu reminded: "Lan Linghou, in comparison, the people of Yanzhou are multi-minded. The most important thing is to protect the most critical technologies, newspapers, bookstores and weapons supervisors."
Liang Xiao thought for a moment, glanced at everyone, and asked tentatively: "We are short of a reliable person in charge. Who is interested in taking care of it?"
Lin Xiu hurriedly said: "Xuanwei should still be responsible for such a key technology to ensure safety!"
Hearing this, Qin Xun's eyes returned to Qin Baili's face.
Qin Baili nodded and said: "Only Xuanwei is reliable, you can't rely on others anymore."
Qin Xun was confused, but he still echoed with everyone.
Liang Xiao just nodded with a smile and went back to deal with the rice merchant.
In the lobby, more than thirty rice merchants from aristocratic families were all present.
Duguyan's face was still pale and he smiled bitterly and said, "Marquis Lanling, can't the price be higher?"
Liang Xiao said categorically: "Twenty cents per stone, not even one cent more will do! If you are not satisfied, you can try selling it at a higher price, such as thirty cents or forty cents? I will leave it here today: The Prefect's Mansion has been ordered by the Emperor to provide relief to the people, and there is no problem in providing relief until the autumn harvest! The people of Yanzhou have endured hardship and hard work for many years, so we should give them a tax exemption for a few years."
As he spoke, Liang Xiao glanced at the rice merchants and said with a smile: "After all, His Majesty only reformed the salt policy last year and confiscated the Tuoba family's property. The expenditure was only about 100,000 taels, which is nothing to worry about!"
The rice merchants were crying and some even kowtowed and begged.
"Marquis Lanling, please raise the price of rice a little more!!"
"Forty coins!"
"No... just thirty coins will do!"
Liang Xiao said word by word: "I said twenty coins, it means twenty coins!"
Qin Baili and others looked on with cold eyes, and the reaction of the rice merchants was disappointing.
Salt merchants, rice merchants, wine merchants, and tea merchants can be said to be the richest group of people.
The huge profits of rice merchants are no less than that of wine merchants, and their influence is far greater than that of wine merchants.
People can't stop drinking, but they can't stop eating!
Liang Xiao was still sitting on the main seat, drinking Yueming wine and feeling calm and relaxed.
