After seeing Wu Sijing off, Ye Yongjia and Cai Xianqing also left the county government office. They were still wearing casual clothes and went to the inn to stay with their names concealed. When the shopkeeper saw them dressed like this, he didn't doubt it. He took the money and hurriedly asked people to arrange it. An empty house.
"Who owns this inn? Have you checked it?" Ye Yongjia asked as he went to get the candle.
"Tinglong, keep your voice down," Cai Xianqing turned around and tightened the door latch, "just in case."
Ye Yongjia nodded silently.
"Don't worry, even if this guy really runs this store, he won't dare to do anything to us. Just be more careful with your words." Cai Xianqing sat down on the chair disapprovingly.
Seeing that it was getting late, Ye Yongjia lit a candle in front of the table and said immediately: "Today has been a fruitful harvest. It's all thanks to Mr. Cai who worked hard every step of the way to figure out all his words. You see, the strategy he came up with has never been They have not discussed it with us. They must have secretly conspired with Fan Shang and set up a plan in advance. I just thought about it for a while and had various guesses about Wu Sijing's motives, but I really can't make up my mind... I want to discuss it with Mr. Cai. .”
"Well, I have the same doubts in my heart," Cai Xianqing said with a solemn expression, "It's best to think of a contingency plan tonight, and not to be passive all the time."
"One thing I am very clear about is that Wu Sijing can make a profit from transporting timber. This person is only interested in profit. If not, he would never propose this." Ye Yongjia said.
"But the wood has to be transported anyway, so why do we have to ask us to get it from the Ministry of Industry?"
"Yes, the Ministry of Industry...the Ministry of Industry..."
Ye Yongjia frowned and kept reciting these two words. He did not know how many times he recited them, but suddenly fell silent at a certain moment.
"What's wrong?" Cai Xianqing looked at him with concern, and saw his eyebrows slowly unfurling, and his eyes were filled with excitement; in case he couldn't see clearly, he lit another candle with the light of the fire—— The outline of Ye Yongjia's entire face became clear.
"Mr. Cai, this is most likely the result of their internal differences! It would cost a lot to purchase the wood by ourselves or transport it by ship. Therefore, many merchants were unwilling to share the profits, so Wu Sijing came up with the idea of turning to the imperial court. . The merchants were relieved of their burdens, and naturally they were willing to share the benefits with him."
Cai Xianqing couldn't help but slapped her thigh several times and laughed loudly: "Tinglong's words really hit home! I admire you!"
Ye Yongjia quickly humbly said "How dare", and then added: "This preacher has evil intentions and has always been in contact with the government. If he does not get rid of it, it will cause serious trouble sooner or later. We will try him again tomorrow. If there is still no problem, I regret it, and please secretly ask the central government to send an official to arrest him."
Cai Xianqing advised: "Master Ye, don't be impatient. Those Fanshang and Wu Sijing are mutually exclusive. If you arrest him, they will lose a comrade they can rely on, and they will be suspected of throwing a rat into a trap. Besides, that strategy is not bad. Yes, it can save some time for the people on the side. For the sake of the current overall situation, just swallow it for the time being and turn a blind eye."
After hearing this, Ye Yongjia also felt that his speech was impulsive: "But we can't stand still. Since there is such a gap to exploit, it is better to set up a plan to drive a wedge between them and intensify the contradiction between them."
"How to separate?"
A cold wind blew outside the window, and Ye Yongjia covered the flames with his hands: "Wait a minute, the camera will do it."
Ye Yongjia finally followed Wu Sijing's suggestion and wrote a secret report specially submitted to the Ministry of Industry, which was quickly sent back to Beijing. This memorial did not cause any trouble in the capital. Niu Yuan and others unanimously believed that this proposal was feasible. After only two days of discussion, the Ministry of Industry sent a reply to Ninghe.
Wu Sijing was overjoyed when he heard that the Ministry of Industry had approved it. Although the four merchants were reluctant to leave, under his urging, they all rushed to Ninghe.
Ye Yongjia sat in the middle of the second hall, looked around and saw that everyone was already seated. He coughed and slowly took out the approval document from the Ministry of Works: "Bishop Wu proposed to me a few days ago, and all the guests also told me Yes, so I accepted the public opinion and submitted it to the court. No, I have indeed received the approval document from the Ministry of Industry. For the sake of fairness, I have not yet unsealed the official document and handed it over to all the gentlemen to open it for review."
Wu Sijing smiled and said: "Master Ye is still wise..."
"Someone, open the book!"
Magistrate Ninghe gave an order, and a clerk came in from outside the door. He held a lacquer plate in his hand, then placed it on the table and tore open the cover of the official document.
"You walk from here to there," the magistrate drew a circle, "and show it to all the guests in turn."
"Yes." The clerk nodded in agreement, then placed the official document in the middle of the lacquer plate and turned it to Ye Yongjia and Cai Xianqing first. The two of them had no reaction, and just nodded with satisfaction; when they turned to the bearded man, his expression was a little distorted, and he pursed his lips and said nothing; when they came to the fat fan Shang, he looked around in shock and looked at both sides. The former looked at each other for a long time.
After the other two people had seen it, the clerk walked obediently to the front of Wu Sixing. Seeing the dignified reactions of the previous people, Bishop Wu suddenly began to feel uneasy. He didn't even dare to look down. He Zhengnai kept handing the bookcase forward, took a deep breath, and started reading in a low voice. : "What Minister Ye said is very true, but the Ministry of Industry has been running out of funds for several years. If the warehouse is requisitioned again, it will not be able to cope with the emergency... If there is no excuse for building a factory, money must be used Buy it with silver, and I will discuss it with all the merchants." After reading the end, his mind felt like a thunderbolt, and he was completely stunned.
"Master Ye, we don't want to buy it, we just want to pick it up empty-handed!" The bearded man complained.
Ye Yongjia said innocently: "This is the court's conclusion. How can I make an opinion? Unless you go to the capital to argue, I can lead the way for you."
Wu Sijing and the merchants looked at each other in confusion. Looking at the word "must be" used in this official document, he knew that the court's attitude was very tough, and he did not dare to say anything even if he went to Beijing.
"I can't make the decision for you about what happens next," Cai Xianqing also echoed, "You should discuss it among yourself. If you don't want to, just pretend that nothing happened and go ahead with the original plan."
Ye Yongjia immediately took out another official document. When he opened it and looked at it, he found a price list attached by the Ministry of Works, which listed the prices of bricks, stones and timber one by one.
"Ah," Ye Yongjia pretended to be completely unaware, "The Ministry of Industry is very considerate of your mood and has left a table for your reference. You can read it carefully."
The merchants took the watch and looked at it. They found that the purchase price was indeed not too expensive and would not cost much money. However, they looked at Wu Sixing worriedly - obviously they were afraid that the latter would profit from it, which would be a huge burden.
