At dusk, Yang Ji came to the guest room of the Bohai Restaurant. Under the watchful eyes of the wealthy owners of the Dunhuang family, he led Mai Tiezhang, Wang Bian, Li Jing, Su Dan and others to the front.
The people who were invited to the meeting knew that there was no good banquet. When they saw the host of the banquet finally arrived, they all bowed respectfully and tried their best to behave more respectfully than others, so as not to become Yang Jiliang. The 'chicken' that 'warns the monkey'.
When Yang Ji walked to the main table, the table in front of him only had four plates of cold dishes, a plate of barbecue frozen into a weight, and a bamboo rice bucket. It was so simple that there was not even a pot of wine.
Looking at this situation, I definitely need to add another meal.
Zhang Chuchen and Liu Rumei, who were wearing curtains, waited for Yang Ji to take his seat. Then they stepped forward and stood on the left and right holding swords, watching every move below vigilantly.
Yang Ji faced everyone and said nonsense that even he did not believe: "First of all, I would like to apologize to everyone. Because of the rush of time and the lack of food prepared by the wine shop, I was a little neglectful of everyone. I am really sorry."
After hearing this, Gao Yan blushed with anger. When the shopkeeper heard that King Wei was hosting a banquet here, she immediately informed her; she asked the shopkeeper to bring deer tongue, deer spine, snow leopard meat, Blue-eared pheasant, spotted-tailed hazel pheasant and other expensive ingredients are all available, and even wine from the Western Regions that has been treasured at home for more than ten years is brought in.
As for whether the other party would give her money, she didn't care. She even wished that the other party wouldn't give her money. However, Li Daliang, who came to negotiate, only gave the shopkeeper a bunch of money and asked for the dishes to be served according to this standard. On average, he couldn't even afford meat dishes, so the weight barbecue was added at a discount.
Now Yang Ji blames the wine shop, which really makes her angry. If this word spreads, if the business travelers who come from a long distance hear that the majestic King Wei of the Sui Dynasty entertains guests at the Bohai wine shop, the Bohai wine shop does not even have decent ingredients. If we can’t get it out, who will be willing to come here to eat, stay, or play here in the future?
"Secondly, I would like to thank everyone. If all of you here had not been friends, generous and loyal enough, former General Manager He Ruohuaikuo would not have turned from a promising general into a corrupt official who wasted no time on human life."
When Yang Ji was in Beijing, he paid great attention to the case of the He Ruo family and knew the story of He Ruo Huaikuo's crimes. He did very well in his first year as the governor and general manager of Guazhou. He not only worked hard to train troops and eliminate horse thieves and bandits in the territory, but also paid attention to people's livelihood and worked hard to serve the people. Ordinary people seek welfare. However, the six major families who controlled 80% of the fertile land in Guazhou kept causing him trouble. Since more than half of the military rations for the Dunhuang garrison were supplied by their fields, they joined forces to control the food and not sell it when they could not bribe He Ruohuaikuo. , which made He Ruohuaikuo very anxious. When he came to negotiate once, these people made colorful remarks, saying that they wanted to give him some food for his sake. After negotiating again and again, they became "good friends". He Ruohuaikuo himself is not a scheming person. As a "good friend", he will respond to whatever he asks for; over time, he finally fell under the sugar-coated bombs.
Although the main reason is still He Ruohuaikuo's unsteady stance, are these accomplices who added fuel to the flames and tried every means to corrupt him not responsible?
"Your Highness, what you said is wrong. He Ruohuaikuo is corrupt and perverts the law. What does that have to do with us?" The speaker was Gao Yan, the head of the Gao family.
During He Ruohuaikuo's tenure, he was very fascinated by Gao Yan, who was of noble birth and beautiful appearance. Gao Yan showed her true nature as a woman and invited He Ruohuaikuo to visit the mountains and rivers from time to time. I also asked He Ruohuaikuo to take care of the Gao family, but I just refused to let him sleep with him... However, just seeing that he couldn't get it made He Ruohuaikuo fascinated. Every time, he thought it was just a small difference, but he was finished. I can’t eat Gao Yan yet. It was He Ruohuaikuo's careful care that the Gao family not only maintained its position as the first family in Dunhuang, but also grew stronger.
This matter is not a secret in the Dunhuang aristocratic circle, so Gao Yan instinctively thought that Yang Ji was targeting him and the Gao family.
"He relies on the power of governor and general manager to force us hard. We have no power. What else can we do except obey?"
"Really?" Yang Ji was not afraid of someone answering, but he was afraid of being a one-man show. When he saw Gao Yan answering, he said, "According to what you said, my power is greater than that of He Ruohuaikuo. I will force you hard. You can only obey and please me?"
Gao Yan glanced at Yang Ji and said, "We abide by the law, why should we please His Highness?"
"Then what does He Ruohuaikuo say?" Yang Ji asked.
Gao Yan bowed and said, "Because he is extremely vicious and His Highness is the Prince of the Sui Dynasty, so we are not worried about His Highness being corrupt and bending the law."
Yang Ji took a serious look at Gao Yan and found that she was not only pretty, but also very good at dressing up. Although she was wearing simple and elegant clothes, she often interacted with my mother, Xiao Wan, Xiao Ying, Gao Ling, Zhang Chuchen, Liu Rumei and others. Unlike the toga that she wore to cover her figure, her plain shirt was tight and close-fitting, making her plump and soft figure look very attractive.
Seeing Yang Ji looking at her, Gao Yan straightened her body unconsciously, and the exposed lower half of her towering chest shone brightly in the sunset, which was extremely attractive. However, Yang Ji frowned and said, "Does Auntie bully good and fear evil?"
"..." Gao Yan was so angry that she almost lost her composure after being hit hard. She was known as the most beautiful woman in Dunhuang. Men all over the city coveted her beauty, figure, and status, and she was also proud of it.
She had the desire to repeat her old tricks today and dressed herself up so attractively. However, what she never imagined in her wildest dreams was that she was just an old and lustful 'aunt' here in Yang Ji.
This is really not something Yang Ji did intentionally, but he grew up in the Daxing Palace where beauties abound, and he is unimaginably picky about beauties that ordinary people cannot match. There are no beauties who can make him lose his temper, but there are not. many.
In fact, most of the direct descendants of top families are so picky, and Yang Ji is by no means an exception. Even if there are people who are jealous and fight in the brothel, it is mostly a matter of temperament and has little to do with the "beauty" itself.
For this kind of people, it is difficult for honey traps and money offensives to achieve miraculous results; the beauty that one force has tried its best to find may not be as good-looking and talented as a firewood-chopping slave girl; the beauty trap may not be as effective as a firewood slave. An ancient sword, a guqin, a bronze tripod, a famous calligraphy and painting, and an ancient tortoise shell.
And a top-notch young woman like Gao Yan is indeed a stunning beauty in the eyes of the general public, but in Yang Ji's eyes, it is barely enough to be evaluated as a middle-aged woman, and now such an "ugly monster" is complacent in front of his eyes. Can he show off his figure without feeling disgusted?
"I know that you are dissatisfied with the Sui Dynasty, so when the imperial court recruited troops, they were secretly restricting them." Yang Ji glanced at Gao Yan and said slowly.
The head of the Chen family, Chen Shuwu, stood up suddenly, cupped his hands and said, "Your Highness, King Wei, if you have evidence that we are secretly restricting you, please show it."
He is the concubine of Emperor Chen Xu, Chen Xu, and the half-brother of Chen Shubao. He is only thirty-seven years old this year. He is unknown and inconspicuous among Chen Xu's more than 40 sons; The red face is very handsome, and the pair of red and phoenix eyes are very lively.
"In terms of recruiting soldiers, I have no conclusive evidence, and it is difficult to find evidence, but you are Chen Shubao's younger brother, the head of the Gao family is Gao Wei's niece, the head of the Yuwen family is a direct descendant of Yuwen, and Cui, Yuan, and Xu are standing behind your three families... ... Based on this alone, I can kill all of you now, and then label you as colluding with the Western Turks, Tuyuhun, and plotting restoration. Who do you think dares to speak for you?"
Yang Ji glanced at Chen Shuwu coldly and said calmly: "The important thing is that you have annexed thousands of families' fertile land and annexed thousands of families' property over the years. Will there be less dirty things happening in this? As long as I If we examine them one by one, you won’t have enough heads to chop off.”
These words made everyone tremble with fear and chills. As Yang Ji said, even if they put aside the relationship of descendants of the previous dynasty, they would not be able to withstand the investigation. All families that have survived until now are full of stains. The blood of losers.
Yang Ji saw Gao Yan and Chen Shuwu's eyes flickering, as if they were planning something, so he added: "What you did to He Ruohuaikuo means nothing to me, because my family's money is more than you imagined." I want more; the maids at home are more beautiful than the immortals you imagined... Your methods of forcing me to become governor are of no use to me, just because the emperor is my uncle and the prince is my cousin."
Everyone: "..."
"What conditions does King Wei have? Just tell me!" Yang Ji's words restored Gao Yan's confidence in her appearance. She thought to herself that it wasn't that I was ugly, but that there were too many beauties around Yang Ji.
"Aunt Gao is still smart!" Yang Ji raised his finger and praised, and continued with Gao Yan's strong smile: "I don't have a big appetite. Each of your households only needs to return 60% of the fertile land and 60% of the slaves to the government; the land is It is for the army to farm. In order to facilitate unified management, I will have people add up the acres of all of you, and then take 60% of the total on both sides of the sweet spring water. As for who has more and who has less, I don’t care. You can just get compensation from each other privately; as for the slaves, you have to give them to each household, not to the old, weak, sick and disabled. If anyone is impatient, you can play tricks on the number of acres and the number of people, I will be happy to get it. Your entire family fortune."
Mai Tiezhang's eyes narrowed with joy, and he grinned almost to the top of his ears. In the afternoon, he also said that he would open up wasteland to build military camps. However, in the evening, he got the fertile fields on both sides of the sweet spring water for free. Not only did he not need to open up the land, but he even There is no need to worry about irrigation water; and after 60% of the slaves settled in the Guazhou government, it became a source of tax revenue and a source of soldiers for army expansion.
However, all the family heads were filled with hatred, especially the six family heads Gao Yan and Chen Shuwu who wanted to devour Yang Ji alive.
Who has more fertile land? Many slaves? Naturally, they are the six major families. Although everyone is 60%, their base of fertile land and slaves is large. Can 60% of ten be compared with 60% of ten thousand?
Moreover, almost all the fertile land on both sides of Ganquanshui belongs to them. Even if other families compensate them from other places afterwards, it will not be as good as here. Therefore, they will not only lose 60% of the fertile land on the surface, but also their long future.
The key is that after Yang Ji demarcated the land so easily, the government didn't care who compensated whom or how. Without the government's central control, everyone would definitely be in trouble, and maybe even turn against each other because of it.
"The imperial court heard that there are more and more horse thieves and sand thieves around Dunhuang City, so it is expanding the army to protect you. Is it reasonable for you to donate food enthusiastically? If you refuse to donate food, then I will have to withdraw the Dunhuang garrison to Ganzhou overnight." While all the family heads secretly gritted their teeth in hatred, but had to fake a smile, Yang Ji said leisurely: "If you have any shortcomings, don't blame me for not warning you in advance."
Gao Yan cursed "horse thieves, sand thieves, bandits" in his heart, and said with a fake smile through gritted teeth: "The imperial court recruits soldiers to protect us. It is reasonable for us to provide some food. Our Gao family is very considerate of the difficulties of the imperial court in transporting food, and is willing to donate Fifty thousand dan of food will be used to share the worries of the court and His Highness."
She knew that if she didn't take the initiative to report the amount, she would lose more. However, compared with the fields, slaves, and food, she was more worried about the fact that Yang Ji, a horse thief, had just withdrawn the army in the middle of the night, and later in the night he massacred the Gao family as a horse thief.
"The tall aunt is more masculine than the men... she is grand."
"The Chen family donated 50,000 dan of food to alleviate the worries of the court and His Highness."
"The Yuwen family donated 50,000 shi of food..."
"The Cui family donated 50,000 dan of food..."
"Xu family..."
"Yuan family..."
Each of the six major families pledged 50,000 shi, and the remaining small and medium-sized families did not dare to resist. They pledged as appropriate according to the standards of the six major families, ranging from as much as 10,000 shi to as little as 1,000 dan. A Hongmen Banquet attended by more than a hundred people ended in less than a moment.
"Okay, okay, okay! You family heads are so generous and kind, and the army will definitely protect you."
Yang Ji took out his dagger and cut a piece of frozen barbecue, and ate it with relish. Seeing that no one had done anything, he said, "Eat them all? Don't you want to give me face?"
Everyone had no choice but to regard the barbecue as Yangji and gnawed it hatefully.
