The Office of the Chief Secretary of Peking!
Bao Zhao walked in directly without waiting for anyone to tell him.
Guo Zi hurried over after receiving the news and bowed respectfully upon meeting him.
"Your Majesty, Guo Zi, has seen the great Sikou!"
Bao Zhao glanced at him coldly and said nothing.
Guo Zi noticed that the visitor was unkind, but his expression remained unchanged and he respectfully invited Guo Zi into the check-in room.
As soon as the two sat down, Bao Zhao spoke directly.
"Guo Cunxing, you are deeply appreciated by Emperor Taizu Gao, and that's why you have risen through the ranks. In just ten years, you have been promoted from a household concubine to the chief envoy to the left in Beiping!"
"It's okay if you don't want to repay the emperor's favor. Why do you want to collude with King Zhu Di of Yan and prepare to be the rebellious traitor?"
Bao Zhao's tone was extremely harsh, and Guo Zi was immediately put off.
You must know that the person in front of you is the Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment, who is famous for not being angry and asserting himself.
What's more, if this great commander accuses you of colluding with the vassal king to rebel, you would be panicked!
Fortunately, Guo Zi is an old fox after all. After a brief period of confusion, he immediately reacted.
"Where did Da Sikou start talking about this?"
"I have always been grateful to the Emperor for his kindness and devoted himself to his duties. Why did he collude with the King of Yan to plot rebellion?"
After all, he was an old official who had experienced many ups and downs in his career. Guo Zi's words in this scene were extremely beautiful.
It's just that Bao Zhaoyuan is very human, how can he be easily fooled!
"Okay, you said you never colluded with King Zhu Di of Yan. Then I only want to ask you one thing. Why is Beiping Mansion short of food?"
Beiping Mansion is short of food?
Isn't this a normal thing?
Besides, why Beiping Mansion is short of food? It’s not because of the good work of the imperial court!
Guo Zi replied nonchalantly: "After the melee at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the northern region was very depressed, far less prosperous than the south, with a sparse population and a ruined economy."
"Coupled with the vast area of Beiping Prefecture, the sparsely populated area and the bad weather, the grain production is not high, so most of it relies on the imperial government to dispatch from the south."
"But the imperial court has now cut off the supply channels of grain and grass to Beiping Mansion, so it is trapped in a food shortage!"
"I would like to ask the chief minister, why is the imperial court doing this? Is it necessary to ignore the tens of millions of people in Beiping Mansion?"
Baozhao's eyes flashed. He didn't expect that Guo Zi was so brave and dared to rebel against an entire army!
"Guo Cunxing, you and I both know exactly where the food has gone!"
"I came here today just to warn you, don't bring yourself to death and harm your descendants!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Bao Zhao stood up and left, not caring about Guo Zi's livid face.
After Bao Zhao left, Guo Zi became furious and smashed the tea cup he was drinking from!
"That's unreasonable!"
"Baozhao, you old man, how dare you bully me like this?!"
Hearing these commotions, Guo Zi's confidant Sun Yu, deputy envoy of the Ministry of Justice Mo Lin, Qianshi Lu Zhen and others came in one after another, their expressions were not very good.
Guo Zi and Zhu Di have been operating in Peking for ten years, and their influence has already penetrated into every aspect.
Not only the Chief Secretary, who is in charge of civil affairs, but also the Inspectorate, which is in charge of overseeing prisons, and the Metropolitan Commander's Department, which is in charge of military affairs, all have their party members.
Everyone looked ugly, especially Guo Zi, whose face was livid.
When Bao Zhao came today, he undoubtedly gave them a kick!
"Sir, what should we do now?"
Lu Zhen was the first to ask, breaking the deadlock of silence.
Now they can be said to have reached the end of their road, with no way out.
Guo Zi glanced at him coldly and forced himself to calm down.
"Baozhao, this old man, should set his sights on food next."
"If he finds the food and grass we secretly saved, everything will be over!"
"So this matter must be taken seriously. I will go to Yanwang Palace right away. You guys will keep an eye on Bao Zhao and record every word and deed!"
Beiping Fucheng is now their territory. Guo Zi doesn't believe that Bao Zhao can cause any trouble in his territory!
As for the food issue, this is a bit troublesome.
Prince Yan's palace will become the target of public criticism, so hiding inside the palace is not a good idea.
But if it continues to be placed in those warehouses, it will be easier for Bao Zhao to trace the clues!
what can we do about it?
Guo Zi left in a hurry and rushed to the Yan Palace.
Bao Zhao took Ye Xixian and continued shopping like a normal person.
"Sir, we seem to be being targeted!"
"Let them follow!" Bao Zhao said coldly.
In fact, after he decided to reveal his identity, he prepared for the worst.
It's just that Bao Zhao never expected that Guo Zi and Guo Cunxing would collude with King Zhu Di of Yan, and he would be so decisive!
The Prince of Yan's Mansion has been operating in Peiping for nearly twenty years, and with the addition of Guo Zi, the chief envoy, it is no exaggeration to say that the Peking Mansion is now their base camp!
The situation in Peiping has become so rotten. King Zhu Di of Yan is the source, and the chief envoy Guo Zi is working for the tiger and deserves to be killed!
When he thought of this, a flash of anger flashed in Bao Zhao's eyes.
At this moment, a familiar voice came from not far ahead.
Bao Zhao's eyes suddenly lit up and he smiled unconsciously.
"I didn't expect it to be such a coincidence!"
After squeezing through the crowd of onlookers, Bao Zhao saw Su Yang arguing with someone.
Su Yang originally invited a doctor to treat his nervous second cousin, but the doctor came and disappeared. He apologized to the doctor for a long time and paid the "visit fee" in vain!
Seeing that he was a little unhappy, the little girl took the initiative to suggest that they go shopping together.
The couple wandered around like this until they passed a small vendor selling roast duck.
When the little wife smelled the alluring fragrance, she couldn't walk away immediately.
Well, it brought back the glutton in her memory!
What else could Su Yang do when he saw this? He could only pamper her.
But when his daughter-in-law picked one and he was about to pay, he was horrified to find that a fucking roast duck cost one or two silver!
What's this?
This is the "roast duck assassin"!
The market price of a mature duck is only seventy or eighty cents. After roasting it, it costs a damn one or two cents, which is more than ten times the price!
Even excluding the cost of artificial raw materials, the price of this roast duck is too high!
You must know that the price of goods in the Ming Dynasty is actually not high. The purchasing power of one tael of silver far exceeds that of a thousand yuan in later generations. It is enough to feed an ordinary family for a year!
Of course, that's just food. Taking into account all kinds of taxes, labor, and other expenses, one tael of silver is enough for an ordinary family to live for three months!
Although Su Yang didn't value money, his money didn't come from strong winds, so he argued with the hawker on the spot.
Unexpectedly, the hawker was rude. Seeing Su Yang and his wife wearing coarse linen clothes, he was also very rude in his words. He laughed at the roast duck that it was only for the nobles. If they couldn't pay, don't buy it!
When Su Yang heard this, he immediately became angry, and the two sides started to quarrel, which attracted a lot of onlookers, as well as Ye Xixian and Ye Xixian.
Bao Zhao was about to step forward and teach the dealer a lesson for looking down on others, but Su Yang suddenly said harsh words.
"OK!"
"Just wait for me!"
"Damn roast duck assassin!"
“If I don’t lower the price of roast duck, my surname will not be Su!”
Su Yang angrily took his daughter-in-law away and went straight to the blacksmith shop.
Bao Zhao looked at this kid with dumbfounded eyes and felt that his head was full of black lines.
"What did this kid just say?"
"Roast duck assassin? He wants to bring down the price of roast duck?"
Ye Xixian was also a little confused, and then his face was filled with disdain!
Roast duck is indeed something only those with a lot of money can afford!
Who of the ordinary people would be willing to spend such a big price to buy a roast duck to satisfy their craving?
So this roast duck itself is for dignitaries, so don’t buy it if you don’t have money!
"not good!"
"This boy is going astray!"
"He's not really going to sell roast duck, is he?"
Ye Xixian: "???"
