"Is the money still enough?"
Jin Wenchi's other identity in the Shi Weng Group is the general housekeeper, including the collection and payment of money.
"It's enough for the time being. But money has been flowing like water recently - I can get thousands or even hundreds of silver from a single note. I heard that there will be a big event next, which will cost tens of thousands of silver. It's the end of the year, and the expenses for the New Year are Another stroke..." Taoist Jinshi smiled bitterly, "I'm afraid it won't last long."
"There is a sum of money coming from Guangdong, about thirty to fifty thousand." Zhou Lezhi said, "It could have arrived in a few days. But..."
The bank that "just" made the remittance was Delong - it had been "sealed" by the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen since Leng Ningyun was kidnapped.
Zhou Lezhi also thought this move was very good. Otherwise, the Shanxi House in the capital, which was busy sharpening its swords, would have run over Delong. Even so, they still stopped accepting Delong's notes and claimed that they were "a piece of waste paper." ".
Although he said it was "a piece of waste paper," Zhou Lezhi knew that the stewards and clerks at Shanxi House were secretly collecting Delong's notes at a 30% or 40% discount. Obviously, they themselves do not agree with the waste paper statement. The Jinshi Taoist in front of me also collected some.
"We have calculated everything and just forgot about this matter." Jin Wenchi said with a smile.
"It's okay. It doesn't matter if it takes a few days. The dividend from the Shanghai Investment Promotion Bureau is coming soon, and it's more than 20,000. Just deal with the current situation." Zhou Lezhi seemed confident, but in fact he didn't know what to do. He remembered his husband's words: "War, business, and affairs all cost money."
"Money is a good thing, but it's hard to earn..." he murmured to himself.
Shi Weng Group has a lot of money and seems to have endless money. In fact, the many actions planned in the past few years were all loss-making transactions. The biggest loss was the group of heroes making trouble in Lingao, which can be said to have lost both the wife and the army. There were more than a hundred fallen martyrs from various martial arts sects who participated, and more than 15,000 taels of silver were spent on the compensation alone. Including various previous expenses, the total cost was more than 20,000 taels of silver.
It was a small expense to spend money, but it owed a lot of favors to various sects. Fortunately, these years have been marked by war and chaos, and many sects have had to take shelter from the government in order to survive, and they dare not care too much about them.
After Jin Wenchi left, he reviewed the current situation again. The situation in the capital is now turbulent. Since the emperor proposed the southern expedition, various political forces have launched new activities around the topic of the southern expedition. In particular, the bigwigs of the imperial court who had made a lot of money in the past and received many benefits from the Kun thieves were even more active. Especially Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, who was originally thought to be completely dead, actually came back to life. In recent years, relying on the weapons sold to him by the Kun thieves, he organized and trained a "new army". It won several small victories in the Liaodong battlefield. Not only was his official reinstated, but he also won many awards from the court. He was like a member of the imperial court. In terms of the minister, he became an important minister. His mentor Xu Guangqi fell seriously ill while training in the field in Tianjin and was dying. He heard that he had received the "elixir" and was alive again. Although he has retired and returned to his hometown, he still gathers the educated Jin gentry to carry out secret activities and hooks up with the Kun thieves...
While thinking, Liu Zhao came.
"What's going on?" Zhou Le was surprised.
It was already late at night, and Liu Zhao's sudden visit obviously had something important to do.
"I heard from brother Fusi in Beizhen that the emperor has heard about you and is asking for news about you." Liu Zhao whispered.
The two brothers of the Liu family, Liu Ying, who transformed into Taoist Mu Shi, was responsible for liaising with all parties and constantly investigating the movements of the Kun thief; from time to time, he caused some obstacles for the Kun thief; while Liu Zhao was by Zhou Lezhi's side, responsible for liaison with all parties and intelligence information. In the capital, as long as Fu Si of Jinyiwei North Town could inquire about something, Liu Zhao could also know it.
"Oh, is there anything strange?"
"I reported back that you are staying at Zaohua Temple for medical treatment, and there is nothing unusual about it. It will be out of the way for a while. But you, the old man, need to be more careful."
"I know. Any other important news?"
"The Emperor also ordered to inquire about Qian Taichong..."
"Interesting, interesting. It seems that Mr. Qian's money was not wasted."
"One more thing, the emperor has noticed Delong Bank, and ordered Zhenfu to find out whether Delong has any connection with the eunuchs in the palace..." At this point, his voice had been lowered to the point where it was barely audible.
Late at night, and Liansheng.
Xiao Bazi's figure flashed, walked into the hall, and said: "General escort, the merchant Qin Erlang wants to see you."
Li Rufeng rubbed his temples, frowned impatiently, and said, "Sooner or later..."
Liao Sanniang said from the side: "If you come to the door late at night, there must be an emergency."
Li Rufeng paused, and after a moment, he said in a deep voice: "Please."
Qin Erlang is in his thirties, with a medium build and a rough appearance. He wears green walking clothes and soap leather boots. He is covered in travel dust. It is obvious at first sight that he is a man who has traveled a lot.
Qin Erlang was sitting at the bottom, looking first at Li Rufeng who was looking up, then at Liao Sanniang, and twisted his clothes a little awkwardly.
Liao Sanniang sat opposite Qin Erlang, took out her pencil, opened her notebook, and waited quietly for him to speak.
Li Rufeng spoke first: "Sir, please give me some tea."
Qin Erlang picked up the teacup, put it to his mouth, and immediately put it down, saying: "I will go to Leng's house first, and then I know that Leng's house is encountering something big now. Mr. Wu is now living in Delong's shop, but I am Not seen. Mr. Leng's side wife, He Xiang, came out to see the villain. After listening to the villain's words, she said that it was not appropriate to find Mr. Wu in this matter. She could only report it to the boss and send someone to lead the villain here. The boss will forgive you for disturbing me late at night."
Li Rufeng waved his hand and said: "Such incidents like fire and wind are reported as soon as they come, no matter what time of day or night. Mr. Qin is a good friend if he is willing to come and let us know. Mr. Qin, please tell me carefully."
Qin Erlang pulled his chair in the direction of Li Rufeng and said: "That day when I returned from escorting the goods, I only reached the outskirts of Beijing..."
After listening to Qin Erlang's story, Li Rufeng shaved his chin with his fingers. Judging from the description of the clothing, he felt that the story was true.
In the description, Leng Ningyun's clothes were the same as when he traveled. The robbers did not change Mr. Leng's clothes in time, which was not an oversight. They would not have thought that someone would take the risk and open the door to check.
The purpose of wearing sunglasses, eye masks, moustaches, and ear caps is to isolate Leng Ningyun's senses, disrupt his judgment of time, distance, and road conditions, and prevent Leng Ningyun from inferring route information. The kidnappers took precautions after the hostages returned. From this point on The analysis showed that the kidnappers had no plans to silence him, and it could be inferred that Leng Ningyun was temporarily safe, which gave Li Rufeng some relief.
Mr. Leng owns an extremely rare pair of oval-framed sunglasses, which look like a blind toad when worn. It is said to be from the Song Dynasty and was brought by Mr. Leng when he fled the Song Dynasty. These glasses have a nickname: "Ray-Ban", I don't know who the craftsman named Ray-Ban is.
These glasses are the only ones in Beijing. Mr. Leng loves them like a treasure and rarely wears them. They have almost become Mr. Leng’s personal anti-counterfeiting label. He happened to be wearing these glasses that day, so he can be sure that it was Leng Ningyun himself in the car.
When Li Rufeng saw that Qin Erlang had stopped talking and had nothing to add, he glanced at Liao Sanniang. Liao Sanniang tapped her notebook and nodded to indicate that the recording was completed.
Li Rufeng stood up and walked slowly to Qin Erlang. The huge figure obscured Qin Erlang's eyes.
Qin Erlang stood up in a hurry. Li Rufeng stretched out his hands, took Qin Erlang's hands, shook them gently, and said with sincerity: "A friend in need is a friend indeed, Delong and He Liansheng have kept it in mind. When the dust settles, when Drink and get drunk with your husband."
Qin Erlang's back disappeared from sight. Li Rufeng stood at the door of the empty hall, facing the deep darkness. He stood for a moment and shouted to the outside of the hall: "Bring two more lights."
Not long after, several large sticks of wax were held in the hall, illuminating a corner of the inner hall.
Li Rufeng and Liao Sanniang stood in front of the table, with a simple map of Beijing spread out on the table.
Liao Sanniang held up the candlestick with her left hand and lightly traced the map with her right index finger. After a moment, she frowned and said: "This road is to Zhangjiakou. Zhangjiakou is close to Zijing, Feihu and Juyong Pass, and to the west is Shanxi Yanbei. It leads to Mongolia in the north and Guan City in the northwest. If the kidnappers take Master Leng hostage and walk away, the grass will be vast, and searching for people will be like scouring the sand in the wilderness, with nowhere to catch them."
Li Rufeng leaned down and looked at the map, shook his head, and said: "We may not go to Zhangjiakou. If we go to the grassland, the journey is long and blocked by barriers, making communication very inconvenient. Since it is to make money, they will not do anything wrong. It has to be complicated. Roads can be changed, people can walk, and those who go out can also turn back. You can go to Baoding, Tianjin, and Jizhen."
"It's probably impossible in Tianjin..."
Tianjin Station is an important station of the Senate in the north. The relationships and industries left over from Xu Guangqi's cultivation and training in Tianjin are now taken over by Tianjin Station. Since the robbers know the origin of Leng Yuanlao, they are unlikely to throw themselves into a trap.
"That's not necessarily true. It's dark under the light." Li Rufeng shook his head and said, "The robbers probably guessed what we were thinking, and they might have done something unexpected."
Liao Sanniang said: "As for the matter of the journey, let's invite all the senior brothers to come in and discuss it together. It's just you and me, there will always be bias."
Li Rufeng raised his head and said in a low voice: "Senior brothers, you can share weal and woe, and you can trust life and death, but you can't express your feelings. After all, they are not within the system and cannot be close to your heart. Only you and I can figure it out. Ask them to come in and discuss the details."
The robbers were eager to move Leng Ningyun, apparently because they had recently hired people to conduct a large-scale search. The robbers believed that the capital was no longer safe, so they wanted to find another place to hide the tickets.
Once people are transferred, there will be more variables. Especially if there is chaos outside, if someone encounters a ticket robber on the way or encounters a bandit attack on the business trip, or if there is a conflict between the person hiding the ticket and the robbers, the personal safety of Elder Leng may be endangered.
"I think the robbers have the tendency to jump over the wall in a hurry, so we'd better redeem him quickly. As long as the person can come back safely, anything can be said!"
(End of chapter)
