As agreed, Lu You arrived at Xichun Tower on time.
Su Changsheng is a very sentimental person and also very nostalgic, so after making a lot of money in Jiaxing Mansion, he moved to Hangzhou and opened the Beiguolou branch, returning to the place where he once fought.
In Hangzhou, after Zhao Gou made a lot of money and became famous because of his love for Kaifeng-style mutton, he quickly bought the Xichun Building, which was once famous in Hangzhou but was on the verge of bankruptcy due to poor management.
Speaking of which, the reason why Xichun Tower went bankrupt was because of Su Yonglin's good deeds.
Because he let Sun Yuanqi, who was the doctor of Jinbusi at that time, die in Xichun Tower.
As a private high-end restaurant, it would be very unlucky for an official to die in the restaurant. Many officials felt that Xichun Tower was ominous and were unwilling to come.
For a time, Xichun Tower lost a large number of high-quality customers, and ordinary civilian customers could not afford Xichun Tower's high-end catering services. In addition, the strong rise of Beiguo Tower diverted a large number of customers, and the situation in Xichun Tower became even worse.
After struggling for several years, the old shopkeeper of Xichun Tower finally couldn't hold on any longer and died of internal and external troubles.
After his death, his useless son saw that the family property was becoming increasingly scarce and could not support his high expenses, so he looked for people everywhere to try to sell off the negative assets of the family, Xichun Tower.
But colleagues in Hangzhou are all well aware of this, and no one is willing to buy this restaurant that is destined to lose its customers. They think that buying Xichun Restaurant at this time is tantamount to doing charity.
This group of refined egoists don’t do charity.
The incompetent son was very worried. The price dropped again and again, and finally he was almost desperate. Su Changsheng finally appeared.
Of course, Su Changsheng was not here to do charity, so he slashed his price and bought the entire Xichun Building at a very low price.
After that, Su Changsheng spent some money to renovate the entire Xichun Building using the best materials from various places, and then came up with many wonderful tricks.
The royal family of the Song Dynasty believed in Taoism, so the people also preferred Taoism. The famous Taoist priest Huangfutan often visited the court and had a close relationship with the royal family. He had a great reputation throughout Hangzhou.
At that time, Su Changsheng took advantage of the opportunity that he often delivered meals to Zhao Gou to get acquainted with Huangfu Tan in the Hangzhou Palace. He gave him gifts and invited guests to dinner many times, and established a good relationship with him.
This time, Su Changsheng used his connections to invite Huangfu Tan to Xichun Tower to perform two grand rituals.
First, there is a shady ritual, which is used to save the dead and recommend the ancestors.
Another yang ceremony is performed to pray for blessings and avoid disasters.
The two rituals were held for six consecutive days, with so much momentum and so much manpower and material resources mobilized that the whole of Hangzhou knew about it.
After the ritual, Su Changsheng beat gongs, drums and set off firecrackers, waving red flags and a huge crowd of people. Under the attention of everyone, he untied the Xichun Tower plaque written by Huangfu Tan himself, and then invited Huangfu Tan to enter the Xichun Tower as the first distinguished guest of the new Xichun Tower. Dining at Spring House.
So there is no doubt that Xichun Tower has returned to its former business prosperity, and is even better than the Xichun Tower in its heyday. Countless dignitaries came here one after another and spent huge sums of money to show their pursuit of Xichun Tower.
Although dignitaries also like the rough northern flavor of Beiguolou because of Zhao Gou, as Jiangnan people who have grown up in the south for decades, they are of course more accustomed to the soft and delicious taste of the land of plenty.
After Xichun Tower recovered, it recruited many Jiangnan cuisine chefs and created many new dishes, which attracted dignitaries and dignitaries to enjoy the delicious food. Su Changsheng made a lot of money from this.
After the turmoil of the Ming and Song Dynasty wars and several turmoils in Hangzhou, Beiguo Tower and Xichun Tower relied on official connections to remain standing. Su Changsheng used his power behind the scenes and official connections on the surface to protect the restaurant's foundation.
After Zhang Shi became the Privy Councilor, everything became simpler.
He relied on Zhang Shi's power and position to protect Beiguo Tower and Xichun Tower, making Beiguo Tower and Xichun Tower their important contact points, while making money for the activities of the Tianwang Army's second action group and the two Zhejiang branches of the Renaissance Society funds while providing important information.
Win-win.
Lu You usually meets Su Changsheng in the private room on the third floor of Xichun Building.
This time, when Lu You arrived, Su Changsheng had already bought his favorite food and drinks and invited him to eat more.
Lu You was not polite, he sat down with a smile, picked up his chopsticks and ate happily, and then talked about Zhang Shi's hope that Su Changsheng could cooperate with him this time.
"In other words, Comrade Jingfu needs us to act on occasion and put on a play together for Shen Gai and Zhou Linzhi to watch?"
"Yes, Comrade Jingfu said that if this operation is successful, it will help him to obtain military power in Hangzhou in an honest and fair manner. In this way, when the army moves south, he will be able to assist the army and successfully control the entire Hangzhou and all the high-ranking officials of the court. End this."
Lu You swallowed a piece of mutton and said with a smile: "Jingfu has been waiting for this day for a long time, so Comrade Changsheng, no matter what, please help me to be accommodating, let this drama continue, so that the comrades in the army can Do not be angry."
"I'm not an army commander, so I can't control the affairs of the army."
Su Changsheng smiled and said: "But I can report to Kaifeng for this, and ask the chairman to order cooperation in Kaifeng. Don't worry, the whole process will not take a long time, and the results will be available in about ten days, and then... …Did you eat a little too much, Comrade Wu Guan?"
Su Changsheng found it funny to see Lu You devouring Xichunlou's special dish - Jiangnan style braised mutton.
This dish is a joint creation of the Jiangnan chef in the building and the northern chef in the Beiguo Building after the reopening of Xichun Building. It combines the roughness of northern cuisine with the sophistication of southern cuisine. It is known as a dish that brings out the deliciousness of mutton to the extreme. , became the main dish of Xichun Tower.
There are almost no dignitaries in Hangzhou who have never tasted this dish. There are also many dignitaries who are very obsessed with this dish. Even if they don’t have time to eat it, they still come to Xichunlou to order takeout every month. Have to eat several times.
Lu You was not a high-ranking official, but after being entertained by Su Changsheng and eating it once, he became deeply obsessed with this dish.
"Every time I eat it, I feel that this dish is extremely delicious. Lamb is really the most wonderful meat in the world... It's just too expensive. With my current salary, I can only eat it once a month, and then the whole family will eat it this month." It’s time to drink the northwest wind, why don’t you take this opportunity to eat more?”
"Really? Your salary is so low now?"
Su Changsheng smiled and said: "The finances of Xichun Building and Beiguo Building are calculated independently, and the income must be used to support the activities of the Skynet Army and the Renaissance Association. Although I am in charge, I cannot eat and drink with public funds in private, so this table of dishes I have to spend the money to settle the bill, and I plan to ask you for food money."
"ah?"
Lu You was stunned. The chopsticks holding a piece of mutton were loosened, and the piece of mutton fell directly into the bowl.
Seeing his stunned look, Su Changsheng couldn't help laughing.
"Come on, let me treat you to dinner. It has been so many times. Which time did I not pay to settle the bill? But you have to understand that I also rely on my salary to live."
"It doesn't matter whether my family has dozens of acres of thin farmland. I want to be an official in Zhongdu in the future. If my family goes there, Zhongdu will also allocate land. I don't worry about this."
Lu You felt relieved and shook his head: "Besides, Ming's salary has always been very real. With your position, the salary will be low? I am the worst off. The salary is still enough to cover the expenses. After the previous war, the salary will be low." You can’t blame me for the sudden drop, right?”
"I really can't blame you."
Su Changsheng smiled and nodded.
As far as he knew, after the nominal collapse of the Southern Song Dynasty, that is, after the end of the second Ming-Song War, the Hangzhou court faced great financial difficulties.
On the one hand, the losses caused by the war needed to be compensated, and on the other hand, the state capital of the Ming Dynasty moved southward to control high-quality commercial resources in the south of the Yangtze River and control sea trade routes, so that the finances of the Hangzhou court were almost exhausted and unsustainable.
It all depends on the money from selling salt.
Feeling that life would be difficult if things continued like this, the Hangzhou court, which had almost exhausted its finances, had to reduce the salaries of officials to survive. Starting with the restitution of the leader, the salaries of all officials fell collectively.
However, this decline is very characteristic of the Song Dynasty.
The decline rate for senior officials is relatively small. For Shen Gai and others, the decrease is only about 10%. The higher the official position, the smaller the decrease, and the lower the official position, the higher the decrease. It is said that the salary of officials in Hangzhou has generally dropped by 60%. about.
This is very fatal.
