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As a smart man, Huo Zhengyuan hated having his thoughts and actions seen through in advance.
But since the other party was Zhou Shangjing, Huo Zhengyuan had nothing to say. He just asked, "What two things did Zhou Shoufu explain?"
Zhou Quan replied: "The first thing is that the people of Nanjing are furious. Zhou Shoufu believes that we must put the overall situation first. If it is an ordinary town, for the sake of higher interests, chaos will be chaos, but Nanjing is completely different. The number of people here is as high as one million, and it is the key point of our dynasty second only to the capital. Once chaos breaks out, it will not be easy to end, so... we must appease the people of Nanjing."
Huo Zhengyuan nodded in agreement. It was out of such considerations that he came to Dongyuan to visit Zhou Shangjing for advice.
Zhou Quan continued: "Out of this consideration, Zhou Shoufu believes that the Nanjing government should immediately lift the martial law order, and some grain and drug stores in the city should also resume business immediately!"
"Only part of it? Not all of it?" Huo Zhengyuan frowned.
Zhou Quan smiled and explained: "Yes! It's just part of it, not all of it! My master said that part of the grain and drug stores in Nanjing are in the hands of the Jin gentry, and part of them are in the hands of the United Shipping Company. Those grain stores and drug stores can resume business first, but those grain stores and drug stores controlled by the Jin gentry will still be closed in a short time! After all, Jin Yiwei has placed the head of the Song family under house arrest, and the Jin gentry are now also very angry. I vowed to fight the Jin Yiwei to the end, but Zhou Chief Fu could not persuade them."
After Huo Zhengyuan pondered for a moment, he roughly guessed Zhou Shangjing's plan.
After the grain store and drug store controlled by the "United Shipping Company" was the first to resume business, the people found a channel to purchase grain and medicinal materials, and they must rush to the grain store and drug store to buy grain and medicinal materials. This approach can not only temporarily stabilize people's hearts, but also It can divert the attention of most Nanjing people. Except for those few people who suffered losses due to the fire and Jinyiwei's suppression, the rest of the people will not continue to embarrass the government, and the situation in Nanjing can be temporarily controlled.
However, due to the city-wide martial law during this period, a large number of Nanjing residents exhausted their food and medicine reserves at home. When they rushed to buy food and medicine, the demand naturally increased sharply.
Under such circumstances, if only some grain stores and pharmacies are allowed to resume operations, supply will inevitably exceed demand, prices will inevitably rise, and a large number of people will inevitably be unable to purchase grains and medicinal materials smoothly.
Therefore, the people of Nanjing will still be dissatisfied, and the possibility of civil unrest and unrest still exists!
In this way, it was equivalent to letting the "United Shipping Company" and the Jin gentry forces control the public opinion in Nanjing.
"United Shipping Company" can declare that its inventory is exhausted at any time and close the grain store and drug store again. After the ups and downs of Nanjing's people, they will inevitably become more and more angry, which will make the situation in Nanjing even more out of control.
The Jin gentry forces can also resume the business of the Lianghang Pharmacy at any time, and completely restore the balance of supply and demand in Nanjing, allowing the people of Nanjing to smoothly purchase all necessary supplies for life, thus completely stabilizing the people's hearts.
All in all, for "Zhou Party" and "Zhao Party", under the current situation, only allowing some grain stores and drug stores to resume operations will have a much stronger effect than if all grain stores and drug stores resume operations, which can not only allow them to temporarily stabilize the situation in Nanjing , they can also be allowed to manipulate and change the subsequent situation at will, and Zhu Hejian also allows them to grasp their weaknesses, and many things can only be compromised.
After understanding Zhou Shangjing's plan, Huo Zhengyuan couldn't help but secretly admired in his heart, "Ginger is still spicy when he is old."
But at the same time, Huo Zhengyuan also had some doubts in his mind - why did Zhou Shangjing give the benefit of being the first to resume business to "United Shipping Lines"?
You know, due to the rush of people in Nanjing to buy, those grain stores and drug stores that were the first to resume operations were able to make a fortune even if they did not take the opportunity to raise prices. However, the profits earned by those grain stores and drug stores that resumed operations later were It must be much lower.
Although the "United Shipping Company" is a hodgepodge, all forces are involved in it, and the "Zhou Party" also gets a share of the pie, but after all, it is more influenced by the "Zhao Party", and the Jin gentry forces are Zhou Shangjing's basic base, so Why did Zhou Shangjing give more benefits to the "United Shipping Company" instead of the Jin gentry forces?
Just when Huo Zhengyuan was confused, Zhou Quan quickly explained: "As for why we should take the lead in allowing the various shops of the United Boat Company to resume business, on the one hand, it is because the gentry is at a time when the public is furious. Even my master, It is also difficult to persuade them to compromise, not to mention that my husband is in urgent need of rest and has no energy to persuade them;
On the other hand, it's because... when all the forces were discussing follow-up matters at the Juying Pavilion this morning, Academician Huo and the Seventh Prince were cooperating with each other and reaching a tacit understanding, so the Seventh Prince was even more wary of Academician Huo. Some, it is also easier to make a deal with Maester Huo! "
"Conclude a deal? What do you mean?" Huo Zhengyuan became increasingly puzzled.
Zhou Quan explained patiently: "My master believes that although we can resume some shop operations and try to stabilize people's sentiments, we can still take the opportunity to take care of other things!
Therefore, my master suggested that before the "United Shipping Company" resumes business, it is best for Academician Huo to go to Zhanyuan to visit the Seventh Prince, and negotiate with His Highness the Seventh Prince on the condition that he is willing to persuade the "United Shipping Company" to resume business. Take the opportunity to gain some benefits, and also take the opportunity to test the Seventh Prince's bottom line to see if he still holds more trump cards! "
After hearing this explanation, Huo Zhengyuan suddenly realized, and the doubts in his heart finally dissipated.
So, Huo Zhengyuan nodded again and said: "Understood! Tell Zhou Shoufu that I will try my best to fulfill his request! After negotiating with the Seventh Prince, I will also report the negotiation process and final results to Zhou Shoufu in detail!"
After a pause, Huo Zhengyuan asked again: "You just said that Zhou Shoufu had two things to confess to me, so... what about the second one?"
Zhou Quan continued: "As for the second order, it is related to the gangsters who were arrested! Before that, after discussions between all parties, it was decided that all the gangsters who were arrested and arrested would be imprisoned in Yingtianfu Yamen Prison...
But now, Yingtianfu Yamen is being besieged by Nanjing people asking for an explanation. Even if the 'United Shipping Company' resumes the business of grain stores and pharmacies, it can only persuade those Nanjing people who are short of food and medicine to leave, but there are still many people in Nanjing. Due to the fire last night and the forced suppression by Jin Yiwei, they suffered a lot of losses. I am afraid they will not give up and retreat easily. Yingtianfu Yamen is still the first to bear the brunt...
As a result, the arrested gangsters are not suitable to continue to be detained in Yingtianfu Prison, otherwise it will seriously hinder the subsequent interrogation and investigation! "
Huo Zhengyuan said with a solemn expression: "This matter is also one of the reasons why I came to Dongyuan to visit Zhou Shoufu, but I don't know what Zhou Shoufu has to suggest?"
Zhou Quan smiled mysteriously and said: "My master suggested that all the arrested gangsters... be transferred and imprisoned in Zhanyuan where the seventh prince is temporarily staying!"
"What!?" Huo Zhengyuan was shocked: "I finally captured these gangsters alive, but now I want to transfer them to Zhanyuan for detention? Let's not mention whether Zhanyuan has the ability to imprison, but considering that the Seventh Prince and those gangsters With the relationship between bandits, what is the difference between this kind of thing and sending a sheep into the tiger's mouth? Doesn't Zhou Shoufu want to follow the clues to find out the truth? "
Zhou Quan patiently explained again: "Scholar Huo, do you know how many guards the Seventh Prince has under his command when he goes to Nanjing this time?"
Without waiting for Huo Zhengyuan's answer, Zhou Quan asked and answered himself: "There are a total of one hundred and twenty guards! Among these one hundred and twenty guards, about twenty guards have been following His Highness the Seventh Prince for many years. They are all undoubtedly Seventh Prince. His Majesty’s confidants, but the other one hundred guards were temporarily assigned to the Seventh Prince by His Majesty in the name of protecting the Seventh Prince!”
Huo Zhengyuan's eyes lit up and he said thoughtfully: "Could it be that Zhou Shoufu thinks that... His Majesty's spies are hidden among the one hundred guards temporarily assigned by His Majesty to the Seventh Prince?"
Zhou Quan nodded and said: "My master believes that with His Majesty's imperial mentality, this is inevitable! Your Majesty asked His Highness the Seventh Prince to come to Nanjing to preside over the central government's takeover of the six ministries in Nanjing in order to conduct a detailed inspection of His Highness's character. With such ability, how could we not place spies around the Seventh Prince to collect detailed information?
Although His Majesty also arranged for my master, the Crown Prince Wang Baoren, the Nanjing garrison Xu Shengying, and the eunuch Xi Cheng to escort His Royal Highness the Seventh Prince, His Majesty has never truly trusted my master and Wang Baoren, and has always been worried about people like Xi Cheng. The ability of the eunuchs in the inner court, as for Xu Shengying... Although he is loyal to His Majesty, he pays more attention to the interests of the family, and Your Majesty will not place your trust in him! Therefore, His Majesty will definitely place spies around the Seventh Prince and collect intelligence. "
After a pause, Zhou Quan added: "His Royal Highness the Seventh Prince must have guessed this, so after he temporarily stayed in Zhanyuan, he arranged the one hundred guards temporarily assigned to him by His Majesty outside Zhanyuan. He never dares to let these one hundred guards participate in any confidential matters. When he encounters trouble, he would rather rely on the power of the Jinyi Guards because he knows... His Majesty is secretly watching him!
Under such circumstances, sending the arrested gangsters to Zhanyuan for detention would only make His Highness the Seventh Prince more constrained and would not dare to suppress the evidence at will! If His Highness insists on suppressing his words and destroying his evidence, His Majesty will surely notice all his suspicious things! At that time, my master, Academician Huo, Xu Shengying and others will report to Your Majesty the details of the changes in the situation in Nanjing and various doubts. After Your Majesty combines the intelligence from all parties, you will definitely doubt the true character of the Seventh Prince! "
Speaking of this, Zhou Quan couldn't help but sneer: "His Majesty's temper, Academician Huo also knows very well... It is not easy to secure the position of the Crown Prince, and the current Crown Prince is proof that even His Majesty has never doubted him. His temperament, his position as crown prince is still shaky!
If His Majesty begins to doubt the character of His Highness the Seventh Prince, and the situation in Nanjing has repeatedly gone out of control, Your Majesty will also doubt his ability to do things. In this case, even if we do not find conclusive evidence that he secretly raised soldiers to die, His Highness's final fate will be The ending is already determined! "
Thinking about Emperor Deqing's suspicious temper, once he became suspicious of someone, he could never be eradicated, and then thinking about Emperor Deqing's various methods after he became jealous of people, it was definitely constant suppression, repeated testing, and various precautions. Huo Zhengyuan I have to admit that Zhou Shangjing's idea makes sense.
Huo Zhengyuan never dared to underestimate Emperor Deqing's tricks.
If Zhu Hejian was spotless and had a clear conscience, that would be fine, but Zhu Hejian was by no means a spotless person with a clear conscience.
So once Emperor Deqing couldn't help but become suspicious of Zhu Hejian, it meant... the countdown to the day when Zhu Hejian was taken to the Zongren Mansion for trial had begun.
Zhou Shangjing's proposal is also good for "Zhao Party".
When Emperor Deqing began to doubt Zhu Hejian, even if the truth had not yet been found out, it would definitely delay the opportunity for the crown prince to depose him. The current crown prince, Zhu Hejian, would have more opportunities to reverse the situation and stabilize his position.
Zhu He? has turned enemies into friends with Zhao Junchen, so the "Zhao Party" is also happy to see this situation happen.
Thinking of this, Huo Zhengyuan nodded seriously and said, "Please tell Zhou Shoufu that I will seriously consider his proposal."
Seeing that Huo Zhengyuan did not agree directly, Zhou Quan did not force it, but just asked: "I don't know, Bachelor Huo, do you have anything else that you need help from?"
Huo Zhengyuan nodded and said: "I came to Dongyuan this time because I really have one more thing to do. I want to take away someone!"
*
About a stick of incense later, Huo Zhengyuan left the East Garden in a sedan again.
At the same time, a carriage drove out of the East Garden, closely following Huo Zhengyuan's sedan.
Zhou Quan was still standing outside the main entrance of the East Garden, watching Huo Zhengyuan's sedan and the carriage gradually go away, with a sneer appearing on his face again.
Zhou Quannai was Zhou Shangjing's confidant, so he had been standing behind Zhou Shangjing this morning and watched with his own eyes the negotiation process of the big shots.
Therefore, Zhou Quan also witnessed many things with his own eyes, such as Huo Zhengyuan betraying the tacit understanding between himself and Zhou Shangjing without warning and disrupting Zhou Shangjing's follow-up plans; and Huo Zhengyuan deliberately delaying time and instigating heated debates among the big shots. Continuously draining Zhou Shangjing's physical and mental vitality, leaving Zhou Shangjing exhausted and unable to continue, so he could only compromise.
As a result, Zhou Quan naturally had no good impression of Huo Zhengyuan.
But just now, while talking to Huo Zhengyuan, Zhou Quan had completed Zhou Shangjing's instructions - dug a hole for Huo Zhengyuan and let Huo Zhengyuan jump into it.
Since Huo Zhengyuan openly betrayed Zhou Shangjing in full view of the public, and even took advantage of Zhou Shangjing's lack of energy to force Zhou Shangjing to compromise, then Zhou Shangjing must retaliate against Huo Zhengyuan and make Huo Zhengyuan suffer a severe setback.
It's not that Zhou Shangjing is narrow-minded, but because Zhou Shangjing is the chief minister of the dynasty, the leader of the "Zhou Party", and the spokesperson of the gentry class. After he suffers a loss, he must take revenge, otherwise his own prestige will be damaged.
"It seems that Huo Zhengyuan has been diverted by me and has not discovered that the master is plotting against him... In this case, the power and operation of the 'United Shipping Company' in Nanjing will be accepted by my master!"
After muttering with a sneer, Zhou Quan turned around again and faced the gentry who were waiting for his further instructions.
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Huo Zhengyuan didn't know what Zhou Quan was thinking.
Of course he knew that after he betrayed and made things difficult for Zhou Shangjing in public, he would definitely receive revenge from Zhou Shangjing.
However, Zhou Shangjing's consistent emphasis on the overall situation and Zhou Shangjing's kind words and advice to him when he left Juying Pavilion misled Huo Zhengyuan's judgment, making Huo Zhengyuan mistakenly believe that Zhou Shangjing would not choose such a critical moment even if he wanted to take revenge on himself. Take action.
In addition, the two tasks assigned to him by Zhou Shangjing contained a huge amount of information, which diverted Huo Zhengyuan's attention and prevented Huo Zhengyuan from discovering some key points at all!
After leaving Dongyuan, Huo Zhengyuan concentrated on thinking about the two instructions given by Zhou Shangjing, and quickly made a decision, ordering the bearers to go to Zhanyuan.
Both Zhanyuan and Dongyuan are located in the east of the city where dignitaries gather, and the distance is not too far, so Huo Zhengyuan quickly rushed to Zhanyuan and expressed his intention to see them.
Just as Huo Zhengyuan guessed, Zhu Hejian is currently in a state of distress.
After returning to Zhanyuan, Zhu Hejian was initially focused on destroying evidence and covering up the crime.
But before Zhu Hejian could discuss it with Lu De, Jia Lun and other confidants, all kinds of bad news came one after another.
As more and more people in Nanjing ignore the martial law and go out of their homes, the situation in Nanjing has quickly gone out of control. After the people gathered together to communicate with each other, they became more and more angry. All the major government offices asked the people to besiege and beg for help. According to the statement, the situation in Yingtianfu Yamen is particularly tense. There are still a large number of people blocking outside major grain shops, clamoring and strongly demanding that these shops resume operations.
Some people in Nanjing even thought of the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, who had an excellent reputation among the people, and rushed to the garden to ask for help, hoping that Zhu Hejian would stand up to bring order to the chaos and uphold justice. Fortunately, the Nanjing defenders and Jin Yiwei squeezed out some of their troops to stop these people. People, otherwise once Zhanyuan is besieged by the people, Zhu Hejian will no longer be able to control the situation.
At the same time, the Jin gentry was greatly stimulated and indignant by the arrest of Song Chengren. Not only did they add fuel to the flames and make the people more emotionally unstable, they also took the opportunity to threaten Zhu Hejian, demanding that Zhu Hejian immediately release Song Chengren and prove Song Chengren's innocence. Innocent, otherwise they will never resume operations at major grain stores and drug stores.
As a result, Zhu Hejian was naturally in a dilemma and was in dire straits. For a while, he could not even think about suppressing his reputation and destroying his evidence. Once a riot broke out in Nanjing, his chances of becoming a leader would also be completely ruined.
If Lu De, Hu Xiao, Jiang Xiao and others can only be regarded as small figures in Zhu Hejian's eyes, then the people of Nanjing are not even small figures in Zhu Hejian's eyes, they are just a set of seemingly important statistics.
But it was the unimaginable anger of the people of Nanjing that made Zhu Hejian's situation even worse and more passive.
At this time, Zhu Hejian accidentally heard a report that Huo Zhengyuan came to Zhanyuan to see him.
Zhu Hejian was also a smart man. He quickly guessed something, his eyes lit up, and he immediately summoned Huo Zhengyuan.
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