Liu Bancheng said, "Old man, let's see what you do, and you can eat it too. Don't let him eat it. It's not good for his children to eat too much meat!"
The old man smiled at Liu Bancheng.
At this time, Mei Hua'er entered the door.
Pushing open the west wing, there was no one there, and then came to the east wing.
When the old man saw Mei Hua come in, he quickly took a pair of chopsticks and a bowl and filled Mei Hua with rice.
Plum Blossom looked like she hadn't eaten for a long time, so she was not polite and just took it and ate it, big mouthfuls.
"What's wrong with you here?" Liu Bancheng asked.
"Something happened!"
"But it's not a big deal!"
"Tell me, don't be pretentious, it's a trivial matter, you won't come!"
"Tomorrow, Lin Zongren will organize a new tender!"
"Wedding company? Why, what kind of bidding method?"
"Yes, it's about the wedding company. He said that in addition to Caihui and Dilan, a company called Xiangyin will also participate in the bidding tomorrow. All three will be introduced at the same time, fair competition!"
"Three families, isn't that a joke? Two families have enough troubles, why do we need to find one?"
"Then you didn't say that it's difficult to operate here? There are many conflicts between playing and finishing, and more games will cause more trouble."
"I told him, and he said that all the annual events will be reallocated, with one-third for each of the three companies."
"What about the equipment?"
“Free for three families to share!”
"Does Dylan Company agree?"
"Delan Company agreed. This is equivalent to not withdrawing, and it is generally cost-effective. And the bidding will start tomorrow. It is said to be a bidding, but in fact it is a direct signing of the contract."
"Behind this matter, it's definitely not that simple. Lin Zongren suddenly made such a move. He must be famous for it?"
Liu Bancheng asked Meihua again,
"Do you know the background of the last company that came in?"
"I don't know about this, Lin Zongren said, I don't need to find out. He said he understands!"
"Then this time the bidding documents were made by yourselves, or you asked your Lordship for guidance!"
"No, Lin Zongren arranged for someone to do it?"
Liu lost his appetite halfway, put down his chopsticks, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Then just listen to Lin Zongren. After all, he has gone through a lot, and King Liang Mu will give him absolute support. Does the Prime Minister have any opinions?"
Mei Hua said, "The Prime Minister has no objection! He may believe that Lin Zongren is smart and will handle it well!"
Xiao Lidong was not interested in what the adults said at all. He just ate, and he almost finished half of the dish.
After eating and drinking, he wiped his mouth and said,
"I've finished eating, uncles and grandfathers. In this way, I'm going back. I'll come back another day."
The old man sent the child to the door and came back. He said to Liu Bancheng,
"From now on, don't talk in front of this child. This child will talk about this and that in the palace, and sometimes it will have a bad influence on us. Our ancestral hall is a place of purity. From now on, plum blossoms, you will deal with the affairs of Xiangshan Hall. Please try to talk as little as possible here and keep our place clean, okay!"
Meihua said, "Okay, okay, grandpa, I will remember it!"
Afterwards, Mei Hua went back, and the children did not come to the ancestral hall for a long time.
The plum blossoms didn't come, and neither did the children. Liu Bancheng felt so bored.
He could only play with the mice peeking out from their holes in the sun or in a corner of the yard.
Because mice often sneak onto the windowsill and eat all the small grains of rice Liu Bancheng prepares for the pigeons.
The old man raised hundreds of pigeons in the ancestral hall. On a sunny day, they would circle in groups over the courtyard.
This is the old man's favorite.
One day, the old man pointed to a pigeon that was pecking in front of him and said,
"Did you see it? It is a hero of our Liang Kingdom."
"I always feed it the rice grains that are plump and dry in the sun."
Liu Bancheng saw this gray-headed pigeon with some patterns on its neck, which was no different from other pigeons.
"Yeah?"
Liu Bancheng didn't believe there was anything magical about the pigeon in front of him.
"What a hero, please tell me!"
"Once, our King Liang led his troops to go on a battle, and was surrounded by Mexican troops in a mountain valley.
Although the mountains around the col are steep and easy to defend and difficult to attack, there is no food and grass inside and no reinforcements outside, so it cannot last long. "
"Fortunately, King Liang is used to bringing my pigeons with him when he leads troops in war."
"So, in desperation, he tied a piece of cloth with the local geographical conditions and the opponent's troop deployment on the guy's leg and flew back to report the news."
"The defenders in the city learned the information and immediately increased their troops to relieve the siege. They cooperated internally and externally to turn defeat into victory."
To complete the mission, it flew for two full days and two nights, and even encountered an eagle in the sky. During the fight with the eagle, Crop was forgotten, but it did not forget the direction of flying back. "
"After it completed its task, I fed it water, and the water leaked directly from the crop! But I stitched it up, and it saved its life."
Liu Bancheng listened to the story of the heroic pigeon and picked up the pigeon.
This little guy was very sensible. He glanced at Liu Bancheng with a blink of an eye, and then complained about the rice grains in Liu Bancheng's hand that were not full.
The old man said to himself again,
"Why haven't the plum blossoms come in the past two days?"
"Isn't this what your old man said? Didn't you come to disturb this quiet place when you had nothing to do?"
The old man smiled and said,
"I was just joking, don't take it seriously, it's all for your own good!"
Liu Bancheng nodded and said:
"It's okay, I don't know what her situation is over there!"
The old man said softly,
"I heard that there are more and more troubles over there. Also, last night, a boss of Dilan Company was assassinated on his way home!"
"What assassination? Is someone dead?"
He was dead. It is said that when the patrol arrived, they saw blood all over the ground and a headless body with the head cut off! "
The old man wanted to continue talking, but at this moment the door "squeaked!" was pushed open, and the little winter solstice came.
Liu Bancheng immediately calmed down his nervousness and greeted the child.
It's been almost three months, and the child seems to have grown taller.
Once a person grows taller, he looks less childish.
After Xiao Dongzhi greeted Liu Bancheng and the old man, he asked while sitting down,
"What's for lunch today? I'm going to eat your big stew. It's delicious. I'm proud of it!"
The old man stood aside and was very polite.
"No problem, kids. I'll make another pot for you at noon. We haven't had anything to drink for a long time."
Xiao Lidong pulled the stool forward and sat down.
"What are you talking about? It's been a long time since I've been here. Uncle, Master, how are you?"
"Well, there's nothing to talk about!" Liu Bancheng remembered the old man's reminder not to talk more here.
"We didn't talk about anything, we didn't talk about anything, and we're still so nervous. See if I'm here, so there's no need to be so nervous!"
Liu Bancheng felt that this child had very poisonous eyes and very strong observation skills.
"There was really nothing to talk about and nothing to be nervous about."
"That's good. Just don't be nervous. However, I guess you must be talking about the death of someone at the Xiangfu Wedding Company?"
"Really, someone is dead, how do you know?"
"Does that need to be said? Everyone in the Liang Kingdom knows that their families are assassinating each other in order to compete for interests. Everyone is dead, so they can't keep secrets!"
"Oh, is that right? People die for money, and birds die for food? This sentence is not wrong at all!" Liu Bancheng agreed.
"Yes, it really shouldn't be!"
Liu Bancheng asked, "Let me ask, kid, how did you know?"
"The higher-ups have been alarmed, how could I not know?"
"Ah, no, I heard it from the palace! All the ministers were involved!"
"Tell me, Uncle Liu, is there any good way to solve this kind of problem?"
Liu Bancheng was not wary of the children's questions.
"Let me see, there is no good way, because someone has to eat the cake, and someone has to rob it. The more people rob, the less profit. If the profit is less, it is easy to go to extremes and kill people. This is a normal rule. ."
"Uncle, tell me, what is the root cause of this incident?"
Liu Bancheng smiled bitterly,
"The root cause should be me!"
Xiao Dongzhi was very surprised, "Why? How could I have made the mistake?"
Liu Bancheng said,
"Because I started the wedding business of Xiangshantang! In the past, wedding services were not many and not standardized, and the reputation was not as great as it is now."
"You are right to start the wedding business. You have increased the income of Xiangshan Hall and at the same time revitalized the economy of our Xuyang City. What's wrong with that?"
Liu Bancheng still smiled bitterly,
"The problem is, if the imperial court gives the Prime Minister's Office allotment of food expenses on a per capita basis, wouldn't it be over? The Prime Minister's Office will not focus on making money to support itself, not to mention, what kind of money does such a big yamen make? And they don’t pay taxes to the state.”
Xiao Dongzhi said, "Actually, the state also allocated food money to Xiangshantang, but with that money they spent endlessly recruiting customers, training slaves and chefs, and providing bodyguards and so on. Some even used the money given to them by the state to build buildings. Manage the office, expand operations, treat guests and give gifts, and win over officials to eat and drink. The court saw that their power and influence were getting bigger and bigger, so they cut off their supply!"
Liu Bancheng looked at the child in shock.
"How do you, a little kid, know so much?"
"Ah, ah, I heard all this from them."
"Who are they? Who said that!"
"Oh, don't ask. Everyone in the palace knows it. Oh, I just heard it from here and there."
The old man next to me hurriedly came forward to pour water for the two of them, and said,
"If you don't give me money, you have to run your own business. If you give me money, they can do whatever they want. Is there no other way?"
Xiao Dongzhi looked up at Liu Bancheng, wanting to hear Liu Bancheng speak.
"There is no way to solve the problem, but there is. My child, didn't you just say one thing, that is, the state will allocate food expenses on a per capita basis, standardize the headcount of each government office, prohibit independent business operations by government officials, and give one to individual merchants on the market. fair."
Xiao Dongzhi nodded.
"Why are you involved in the personal holiday merchants on the market again?" The child still didn't quite understand.
"For example, if your imperial government office comes to hold a wedding banquet, they will not pay taxes to Xu Yangcheng if they generate income. Then other restaurants on the streets are generally run by ordinary people. They have to pay rent or taxes, and at the same time, they have to use their meager With the income, we have to support the various households connected with the imperial court. These households eat in the tavern, some pay, and some just eat the King's meal, so it's free of charge!"
"Think about it, officials make money without paying taxes and are not bullied, while ordinary people make money and pay taxes and are bullied. Isn't this unfair competition? In this society, people will have grievances. If things go on like this, there will definitely be Something big happened."
"Furthermore, it is reasonable for officials to make money, support their own retainers or servants, and expand their own power. What is even more frightening is that they also expand their own armed forces. If not stopped, sooner or later something will happen to the security of the imperial court!"
After hearing this, Xiao Dongzhi stood up and patted Liu Bancheng hard on the shoulder.
This kid is not big, but his hands are very powerful.
Really, after three days, you should look at each other with admiration.
