In Madame Guo's Mansion, Mingzhu walked around the long corridor and walked into the fragrant boudoir.
"Yao Niang."
"Shhh."
Yang Yuyao stood up, put on her clothes and walked out of the screen, took Mingzhu to the side room, and whispered: "This way, don't wake him up."
She felt it was interesting and couldn't help but laugh: "Don't wake up my brother."
"Yes." Mingzhu also found it funny and whispered, "It's Yang Zhao who came to give a gift."
"I don't have time to see him. If he asks for an official position in the future, just ask him to write the official position in the gift list to save the hassle."
Mingzhu agreed, turned around and was about to leave, when the sound of Xue Bai getting up was heard from behind the screen.
"Did you wake up Mr. Lang?"
"But Yang Zhao is here?" Xue Bai said, "I'll go see him."
The bed here is very comfortable. He had a good night's sleep and felt refreshed and relaxed when he got up. He seemed to be the man of this mansion.
After everything was done, Xue Bai went to the front hall to meet Yang Zhao, treating his guests like a host.
"Uncle Lao Guo, I've been waiting for a long time."
"Hey, I am the uncle of the country, and you are also the uncle of the country. Brothers should not be so polite."
Yang Zhao regained his old affection for Xue Bai, and even wanted to step forward and hold his hand, saying enthusiastically: "You must call me 'brother'. I have grown older, so I will call you 'Abai'." How are you?"
"Brother makes the decision."
After some cordial greetings, Yang Zhao sat down in the hall and actually came to see Xue Bai. He muttered: "There have been a lot of troubles in Chang'an City recently. I heard that the soldiers from Fan Yang were killing people everywhere..."
Among all the officials Xue Bai knew, Yang Zhao had the most free and easy attitude. He only valued benefits and didn't care much about whether the other party was the right minister, the East Palace or Yang Dang. At this time, since he said "kill people everywhere", he must have been blocked by An Lushan.
"Zahu is indeed a bit domineering." Xue Bai responded.
Yang Zhao's eyes lit up, and he became more sincere and said, "You stopped Zahu from recognizing his mother at the Mid-Autumn Festival Banquet. I'm afraid he will become jealous of you. You have to be careful in the future."
"Recently, I have only been preparing for the spring exam. These matters in the court are not something I can take care of in my body."
"You can't say that. You are so talented. It's not a problem to get a job. You can catch up with me soon after a few years of service." Yang Zhao said with a smile: "I have to make progress quickly." .”
Xue Bai followed his words and asked, "Brother, do you have any suggestions?"
"Pei Gong has made great contributions to the salt tax in Hedong, so he can be promoted to the official position of Guanglu. Wang Jie has been spying on the post of imperial censor for a long time, hoping to replace the red robe with purple robe. Coincidentally, I am very popular and have friendship with them all. , this matter is almost settled."
It can be seen that Pei Kuan is almost at the end of his official career. Although Xue Bai helped him unite with Yang Dang and made great achievements, when it came time to divide the profits, even Yang Dang was planning to make him hand over the real power of Yushitai and move him to a false position.
There was no other way. The more people expected Pei Kuan to serve as prime minister and speak out for Hedong in the court, the more the emperor feared and suppressed him.
At this point, it has nothing to do with ability or character, so it is impossible for this person to get ahead. There is still a way to survive if you take a false position and work hard to become an official. Otherwise, you may even lose your life when the foundation of Anlu Mountain becomes more solid.
Xue Bai sighed slightly, nodded, and said: "When the king wears the purple robe, brother, do you want to seek the position of censor Zhongcheng?"
"Yes." When Yang Zhao got up, his vulgarity showed up again, and he said: "At this moment, a bastard came out and wanted to grab the post of doctor censor."
"What a bastard." Xue Bai scolded, "Then his governor of the two towns will resign?"
"Of course it's a concurrent role. We've always only held power, how can we delegate it?"
This is how Li Longji employs people. He likes to centralize power and often lets his trusted ministers hold multiple positions. For example, Li Linfu and Wang He both held more than 20 positions.
Yang Zhao was not bad either. He held many positions within a year, changing from green robes, green robes, to light red robes, and now he also wants to change to dark red robes. This is also related to Xue Bai's help in Yang Zhao's fortune.
Sometimes Xue Bai thinks about it, except for gaining a little fame, connections, holy family, and the status of the imperial concubine's step-brother, he is still just a white man. After all the hard work, he has not won as much as Yang Zhao.
"Zahu is too greedy. He ate from the pot and reached into the bowls of Wang Zhi and Brother Brother?"
"That's right." Yang Zhao slapped his knee and said angrily: "Zha Hu bullies you and my brother like this, so we should give him some color! A Bai, you have a lot of information. Do you know the details of Fan Yang Jinzu's murder case?"
"This matter is not trivial, so it is best not to get involved."
Xue Bai still acted like it had nothing to do with him and leaned back, but he was a little wary in his heart.
Zhang Ting, Yang Hui, and Yang Zhao all came to him one after another to ask questions, indicating that he had done a poor job of "staying out of the matter" and it was obvious that he was involved in the matter.
On the one hand, he was indeed too pushy, and on the other hand, some people suspected that he was Xue Xi's son and that he had hidden power behind him.
Sure enough, Yang Zhao was convinced that he knew something, so he came closer and whispered: "You still can't trust me as a brother? If I know something, if it comes out of your mouth or enters my ears, I will never let others hear it."
"Brother, why do you think I know something?"
"If not, why did you ask Sanniang to stop Zahu from recognizing his bride last night?"
"Okay." Xue Bai had no choice but to tell the truth, "In April, I made a huge stone cannon and presented it to Wang Zhongsi, the military governor of the four towns. We had talked about Zahu, and Wang Zhongsi thought that Zahu's shape had been reversed. If there are too many evils in the liver and gallbladder, chaos will arise sooner or later."
"Really?" Yang Zhao had indeed gone to get to know An Lushan and said, "Zhang Jiuling also said so."
"In any case, there is no harmony between the two border town generals. Zahu must be extremely afraid of General Wang."
Yang Zhao suddenly understood and said: "No wonder Zahu killed the Huihe people under Donggong's command as soon as he arrived in Chang'an. It turned out to be to deal with Wang Zhongsi."
"Yes, Shuofang is the closest to Uighur. Genu will use this matter to frame Wang Zhongsi."
"A'bai is worthy of being the brains of the Yang family. I know that I will make no mistake in coming here today." Yang Zhao laughed and said thoughtfully: "Wang Zhongcheng has the responsibility of supervising all officials. How can he not monitor the miscellaneous people who harbor evil intentions?"
"This matter has nothing to do with us, and Wang Zhi is also a disciple of Ge Nu. How can he take action against An Lushan?" Xue Bai shook his head and said: "We can't control it, so it's better not to cause trouble."
Yang Zhao only focused on getting promoted and didn't care about anything else. He rolled his eyes and planned to let Wang Fei sue An Lushan.
And because they are both under the right prime minister, complaining is useful. He has thought about his words well, "How can we let a shameless fat pig climb on Wang Zhongcheng's head?"
~~
After seeing off the guests, Xue Bai sat alone in the hall and thought for a while.
An Lushan will be in the court for at least another month or two, during which time he and the East Palace will be at odds with each other. Now with the two troublemakers Wang Zhi and Yang Zhao, they are evenly matched.
He didn't care at all who won or lost, he only wanted to protect Pei Kuan and Wang Zhongsi.
Regardless of selfishness, Pei Kuan is the most likely person among the big families in Hedong to worship the prime minister. Even if his future is ruined, he should not be forced too much. It is really unnecessary to deliberately intensify local conflicts just because of the bad atmosphere in the court; Wang Zhongsi is attacking Shibao City, which involves the situation in the entire northwest, and he is still the person who is best able to control Anlu Mountain. It is even more inappropriate to rashly eliminate him, destroy the Great Wall, and cut off his arms.
Sometimes he didn't know what Li Longji was thinking. If he was really worried, he shouldn't have tied the power of the Jiedushi of the four towns to one person. As a result, he was given power and allowed Li Linfu and An Lushan to go crazy against Wang Zhongsi.
To put it bluntly, they are superstitious about centralization. They treat their subordinates like women. They dote on them when they like them, but they turn against them and are ruthless when they are tired of them. Trample the system, do whatever you want, and everything depends on one person's preference.
Xue Bai had no choice. He had tried his best but could only treat the symptoms but not the root cause. He had done too many intrigues and it was time to restrain himself.
It is better to take advantage of this dog-eat-dog time to do something of your own that will help to change the long-standing shortcomings of the country in the future.
…
"Huh? My cousin really came to see you?" Yang Yuyao turned to the hall and said with a smile, "Is it because you revealed something big again?"
"Even the third sister said that." Xue Bai said: "He just wanted to seek an official position and asked me for advice. After all, I am now the Yang family's think tank."
"Third sister, you are tall, and there are no outsiders here. I want to see how much stuff you have in your brain tank."
Joking aside, Yang Yuyao also had something serious to say, and added: "Yuhuan sent someone here just now to praise you specifically. It is said that there are few men in the Yang family, and the brothers are not good enough. I will need more help from you in the future."
"With the honor and favor of the Yang family today, why do we need help? I have received too much protection from my sisters." Xue Bai said: "In the future, if I can make some long-term plans for the Yang family, then I can repay my kindness."
"That's sweet." Yang Yuyao whispered in his ear: "It's a reward for treating me well."
"If I have something serious to say to Third Sister, how about we start a business again?"
"Is there any good industry? Let's not talk about the salt law, just talk about the profit sharing of Fengwei House for a year. Now in the fight for wealth in Chang'an City, few people can beat me."
Yang Yuyao is indeed greedy for money. Not only does she have property and filial piety, but she also extorts money by acting as a matchmaker for the princes and princesses. She is also lustful, which is why she is obsessed with Xue Bai.
When she talked about these things with this beautiful young man who made money for her, her eyes couldn't help but light up and she was so happy.
"I also gave Yuhuan 10% of the proceeds from Fengwei House as makeup money. Otherwise, do you think she is so lighthearted as to recognize you as her adopted brother?"
Xue Bai said: "The profit from this property is not money, but stability in the future."
"Um?"
"To put it simply, we can set up a bookshop, make paper, publish and print, and sell the monkey story first, and later sell some imperial examination books."
"You want to open a bookshop, what's the big deal? Just open it." Yang Yuyao knew as soon as she heard that it was not a very profitable business, and she lacked interest. What was rare was that she knew Xue Bai's intention in saying this, and said: "If If you need capital, ask Manager Deng to ask for it, and still do it in the name of Madam Guo's Mansion, let's see who dares to cause trouble for you."
She was worthy of being called a "male fox" and she agreed boldly, saving Xue Bai a lot of trouble.
"Then I'll do it."
"Huh?" Yang Yuyao snorted, "Why don't you do something else first?"
"Third sister, our relationship is different now, so it's better for both of us to respect ourselves."
Seeing his serious appearance, Yang Yuyao felt amused. She reached over and asked, "What a monster, is this your self-respect?"
"Respect yourself in your heart."
Yang Yuyao found it even more funny, but she didn't expect that after a while of commotion, Xue Bai seemed to take last night's sworn relationship seriously. She couldn't help but become anxious, worried that she would lose money by helping him.
"Stop making trouble."
"It's time for Third Sister to stop making trouble. There are no rules between siblings."
"Okay." Yang Yuyao bit her lip reluctantly, leaned into Xue Bai's ear and whispered softly: "Please stop making trouble, okay? Good brother."
"..."
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the moon seems to be rounder.
~~
Three or two days later, Xue Bai returned to Du's house.
What happened at the Mid-Autumn Festival Royal Banquet has spread among officials. Although the specific impact is unknown, it can be felt from some small things.
For example, Lu Fengniang became more enthusiastic about being a matchmaker.
"Fortunately for this child, my brother and sister-in-law came here to apologize, saying that they misunderstood the rumors and misunderstood you. Now they still want to marry their daughter to you, it all depends on your wishes."
"My nephew is very grateful for my aunt's kindness. But my sworn sisters have all said that they want to arrange a marriage for me, so I'm afraid it won't be possible to talk about a kiss without permission."
Lu Fengniang regretted not being able to get closer to Xue Bai. Now that things had come to this, she could only scold her brother and sister-in-law for not living up to expectations and losing such a good son-in-law.
In addition, although I wanted to ask whether the relationship between Xue Bai and Mrs. Guo Guo was innocent, it was difficult to ask such a thing. What's even harder to say is that the two daughters still like to run into Xue Bai's house.
…
"Bookstore?"
After hearing Xue Bai's plan, Du Jin frowned slightly at first.
She is too busy, Fengwei Building is expanding rapidly.
However, Xue Bai had already thought about it and asked, "How about leaving the affairs of the bookstore to Madam?"
Du Wei felt a little panicked every time she heard him call him that, especially in front of her sister. But as far as business was concerned, she was very interested in the bookshop.
"That's fine." Du Jin said, "I can take care of Fengwei Building. If the bookstore is just started, I can ask Da Xi to help eldest sister."
Afterwards, Xue Bai expressed his thoughts on the matter.
"We are not seeking to make money in this matter, and it doesn't matter if we even lose money. What is important is to improve papermaking and printing techniques and reduce the cost of education. The benefits may not be seen in the short term. My long-term goal is to gradually control public opinion. In addition, there will be More students from poor families will benefit from this, and studying is no longer the privilege of aristocratic families. Over time, these scholars from poor families can become a new force..."
Du Jin was vaguely aware of the seriousness of this matter, but at this time he didn't think much about it. She just felt that he was so noble.
Du Wei didn't think much about it. She listened carefully to what Xue Bai said and asked, "How about I go to Dongshi tomorrow to inquire about and buy a few bookstores and paper mills directly?"
She looks gentle and gentle, but in fact she has always been in charge of the accounts of Fengwei Building. She has a lot of money under her hands. When she really does things, she is quite courageous.
Only then did Xue Bai look at it with admiration and said: "Okay, I have some experience in craftsmanship. Next, I will point out ways to improve craftsmanship..."
After agreeing on the outline of the plan, the Du sisters went back to their room. It was night, but they did not come back.
But only at noon the next day, Du Wei actually had a clue about the bookshop.
"I asked people in Dongshi to find out that people who can open bookstores often have a good background, but there happens to be a businessman who plans to sell the store. How about we go and have a look?"
"Did you find out so quickly?"
"Er Niang sent a food box yesterday evening for Da Xi to send someone to inquire."
Du Wei led Xue Bai into the carriage and spoke carefully all the way.
"This businessman's name is Jiang Cheng. He is from Sichuan. He started his business in papermaking. He opened a shop in Dongshi and had a workshop in the backyard. He originally supplied the white rattan paper needed for official documents of the imperial court. In recent years, the imperial court has reduced the cost of paper several times. His business plummeted, so he decided to sell off his Chang'an property..."
Saying this, the carriage jolted. The two of them were sitting close to each other. Du Wei fell into Xue Bai's arms, and he hugged her.
She was wearing men's clothing today, but it was just for the convenience of traveling. It was obvious that she was a gentle and beautiful woman, with a faint fragrance on her body. Because she was not used to being so close in the daytime, she lowered her head.
"Why didn't you come last night?"
"Don't talk about this." Du Wei panicked and wanted to hide away, but hesitated for a moment, but leaned into Xue Bai's arms and said softly: "I didn't come to you just for fun, it's because... I have you in my heart. .”
Since they met, she had only said this love word, but she expressed her feelings very clearly. In short, she did not want to make him too tired, and hoped to help him more.
After that, she straightened her clothes a little, held Xue Bai's hand, and continued talking.
"The reason why the imperial court reduces paper expenses every year is because official documents and edicts only use white rattan paper. Ancient vines are cut down in paper mills. The rarer the raw materials, the higher the price, so there is a shortage of paper. Nowadays, they mostly use white rattan paper as tribute from Yingzhou, Hangzhou and other places. The price of twist, row twist and rattan paper is still high. However, the people mostly use jute paper, kudzu paper and bamboo paper."
"Is there already bamboo paper?" Xue Bai asked doubtfully, "I don't often see it."
"Yes, but the bamboo paper is too poor to be considered elegant. If you want to print books, you still have to choose expensive white rattan paper..."
As the two of them talked, the carriage drove into the East Market and turned towards the winding alley where books were sold.
Xue Bai opened the curtain and looked around. Almost everyone who came to buy books was a high-ranking disciple with maids and servants. These days, even poor families can't afford to study, let alone ordinary people.
It’s time to start changing little by little. The process will be slow and gentle, but everything in the world requires a lot of patience.
It’s the transitional and foreshadowing chapters again, so I write them slowly. It's late again today, I'm still writing the second chapter, it won't be that fast, you don't have to wait~~
(End of chapter)
