Bozhou, Huainan, in the most luxurious mansion in the city.
A group of ten young women slowly walked into the courtyard. Although these women were different in appearance, fat and thin, without exception, they could all be called beauties, each with their own beauty. The ten of them stood together. Being together is really fascinating...
Xu Zhaojie, who was sitting on the Grand Master's chair, was playing with a pair of top-quality five-sided lion heads in his hands. His eyes wandered unscrupulously on these beauties. Such naked eyes immediately made these unruly girls very shy. All of them lowered their heads shyly, not daring to look at Xu Zhaojie.
At this moment, Wang Daqi, a tall and somewhat fat middle-aged man standing beside him, said respectfully to Xu Zhaojie:
"These girls from the Wang family, the Sun family, and the Liu family are all dedicated to you, Lord Marquis. Each of them is still a child, and they voluntarily follow you, Lord Marquis, and serve you in your daily life!"
Xu Zhaojie nodded with satisfaction and said:
"Very good! You are thoughtful!",
"Looking at your intentions, it is not impossible to continue to leave the food business to the three of you. But I also have a request!"
Listening to Xu Zhaojie's words, Wang Daqi's face suddenly showed a hint of joy, and then he quickly patted his chest and said:
"Thanks to the great kindness of Lord Marquis, I will do it for you even if you go up mountains and into seas of fire!"
Xu Zhaojie glanced at him with a half-smile, and then said lightly:
"Why do I want you to go up mountains of swords and seas of fire? You only need to provide me with one million taels of silver and one million stones of food every year..." "
Although Xu Zhaojie said these words very calmly, as if he was talking about what to eat for a while, when these two "one million" fell into Wang Daqi's ears, he was stunned. He couldn't believe what he heard. Seeing him like this Xu Zhaojie frowned slightly and said:
"Don't you dare to grow something you haven't planted yet?"
Regarding Xu Zhaojie's insults, Wang Daqi, who was almost aware of his destiny, dared to get angry and dare not say anything. However, for the sake of his family, he could only cry and beg Xu Zhaojie for mercy:
"When the annual tax of Bozhou, the Marquis, was the most, it was only 150,000 taels of silver and 200,000 shi of grain. It is really impossible to achieve one million taels of silver and one million shi of grain every year. !”
When Xu Zhaojie heard this, he snorted nonchalantly and then scolded:
"Of course I know that Bozhou alone can't do it, but what about Zhucheng, Yingzhou, Shunde, and Kangyin?"
When these words came out, Wang Daqi looked stunned. If he remembered correctly, Anqing under Xu Zhaojie now only occupies Bozhou and Zhucheng in Huainan, and the remaining three places are Yingzhou, Shunde and Kangyin. As of now, but It's still in the hands of Feng Keqin's Huai army!
Seemingly seeing what Wang Daqi was thinking, Xu Zhaojie said impatiently:
"I have ordered my men to capture Yingzhou. As for Shunde and Kangyin, they will soon become Xu's possessions. These five places make up most of Huainan. I will leave the grain business to you. , whatever you do, I will give you one million taels of silver and one million shi of food every year!"
Listening to the price tag of Xu Zhaojie's dismissal, Wang Daqi, a businessman, gradually became more active. Huainan is a traditionally prosperous land in the Zhou Dynasty, a land of fish and rice, which is not much different from Jiangnan. Food is a business closely related to people's livelihood. There is a lot of money to be made...
Although Xu Zhaojie's lion's mouth is very scary, if Xu Zhaojie can really hand over the grain industry of Bozhou, Zhucheng, Yingzhou, Shunde and Kangyin to himself as he said, squeeze out so much from it Profits are not impossible, and you can even make a lot of money from it, depending on how hard you squeeze the people!
Thinking of this, Wang Daqi gradually made a decision in his heart. He raised his head and tentatively said to Xu Zhaojie:
"Sir, this one million taels of silver and one million shi of grain are too much. Do you think it can be less?"
After hearing Wang Daqi's request, Xu Zhaojie's expression gradually turned evil and he said coldly:
'I gave you this opportunity because of your gift. If you don't appreciate me, get out of here now! '
Feeling Xu Zhaojie's sharp eyes and hearing rumors that Xu Zhaojie killed people without batting an eyelid, Wang Daqi was frightened and shuddered. Seeing that Xu Zhaojie's demand could not be reduced, Wang Daqi was reluctant to part with the fat and oily piece of food business in the five places. , could only continue to ask Xu Zhaojie fearfully:
"Master Hou, do you mean that we can do whatever we want?"
"Are you stuffed with donkey hair in your ears? Do you want me to say what I said again?" The impatience of Xu Zhaojie, the lion head in his hands, was already evident on his face... ···········
After receiving Xu Zhaojie's affirmative answer, Wang Daqi no longer wavered in his heart. He gritted his molars and said:
"Master Hou! I did this!"
Seeing that Wang Daqi finally accepted the job, Xu Zhaojie's face looked a little good and he said calmly:
"Very good, you finally made a rational choice! Go back and prepare to take over the food business from these three places!"
Listening to Xu Zhaojie's words, Wang Daqi felt a little uneasy for some reason. He felt that he seemed to have fallen into a trap set by Xu Zhaojie. However, when he thought of the huge profits generated by the grain business in these five places, Wang Daqi also put aside this uneasiness. Behind his head, he cupped his hands towards Xu Zhaojie and said:
"Yes! I'll go home and get ready!"
After saying that, Wang Daqi thanked Xu Zhaojie profusely, and then turned and left with satisfaction. Seeing Wang Daqi's happy appearance when he left, Xu Zhaojie's eyes were full of ridicule. This group of profit-seeking businessmen were not ready to die. Know yourself!
After successfully scheming Feng Keqin and Cao Changping to make himself the last fisherman to win in this snipe and clam fight, Xu Zhaojie moved non-stop towards the Huainan Forbidden Army, hoping to take advantage of the Huainan Army before it could react and capture as much as possible. Capture more territory and recruit more troops. If you want to expand your troops, you need food and money as support.
In addition, Xu Zhaojie's own life was also very extravagant. Before the Luo'an Incident, as the commander of the Xuanwu Army, he often spent a lot of money. One day's spending was enough to cover the expenses of a well-off family for a year. Later, due to the Luo'an Incident, The Xu family was in a state of decline. Xu Zhaojie could only restrain his temper and save his own expenses...
Although the party in power in Anqing holds real power, there are wolves in front and tigers in the back. Xu Zhaojie did not dare to be presumptuous when dancing with wolves. He tried his best to use every penny of his financial resources to expand the military and prepare for war. Now he has successfully plotted against Feng Keqin. , invaded the prosperous Huainan, and the situation was excellent.
Xu Zhaojie, who loves luxury at heart, is starting to feel alive in his heart. He wants to build himself a big house full of Jiangnan style, and he will have to make up for the hardships he has suffered in the past with fine clothes and fine food every day. Not only that, but he also has to support dozens of people. Hundreds of young and beautiful singers provide themselves with hidden pleasure!
And all these require a lot of money!
Although Huainan is rich, it is very difficult to obtain one million shi of grain and one million taels of silver every year just from the grain business in Bozhou, Yingzhou, Zhucheng, Shunde, and Kangyin. The only way to achieve this goal is to raise food prices and operate a monopoly to squeeze out the last drop of money from the people!
And this is why Xu Zhaojie asked Wang Daqi to do it instead of obtaining it through taxation. After doing this, public resentment will boil and the people will be excited, so Xu Zhaojie will not let himself bear this infamy. He wants Wang Daqi to go Take the blame!
And when the public dissatisfaction reached its peak, it was when Xu Zhaojie ordered Wang Daqi's family to be confiscated and exterminated. In this way, he not only got the money and food he wanted, but also gained a wave of reputation among the people. Then he would give these people Some small favors and small favors, pretending to be benevolent and moral, they will definitely be more devoted to themselves and grateful...
Thinking of this, Xu Zhaojie's eyes were full of pride, as if he had seen the scene where he would gain both fame and fortune. After a moment, Xu Zhaojie turned his attention back to these beauties in front of him. Since the Luo'an Incident, whether in Sichuan or Sichuan, , and it was still in Anqing. For the revenge and ambition in his heart, he was cautious and step-by-step. It had been a long time since he had been in this gentle town, and he was almost going crazy. And these beauties in front of him are the best people for him to vent his anger on King Y!
The only pity is that these are not tasty enough, and they will cry when you mess with them even a little bit. I will still have to find some rice wives to taste them in a few days!
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Just as Xu Zhaojie was planning to capture Huainan, Ye Mingsheng, who was far away in Yijing, received another piece of top-secret information.
"Sir, Qianbai who is lurking in the Royal Court of Luo Bei has sent back news that there will be large-scale mobilization in Luo Bei in the near future. More than 100,000 troops will be mobilized to assemble on the front line of our army in Yuyang and Shanggu!" came Ye Mingsheng. In his study, Huo San reported directly to Ye Mingsheng:
After hearing the news, Ye Mingsheng seemed to remember something and asked Huo San:
"I remember Xuecheng told me last time that the Ma family's third strategy is to bring in Luobi people to cause trouble on the border?"
Huo San nodded and said:
"Yes, sir, the relationship between the Ma family and the Luobi people has always been very close. Luobi Khan's favorite concubine Song Rouge was specially selected and sent by the Ma family. The Ma family has been sending large amounts of silk, clothing, jewelry, etc. to the upper class of Luobi all year round. Luxury goods, in addition to these, according to the latest investigation by our Coordination Office, we also found that the recorded mining quantities of some iron ore mines in Youyan are not consistent with the actual mining quantities!"
"The actual mined iron ore is generally 10 to 30% more than the recorded mined iron ore, and the extra iron ore was bought by the Ma family at a price higher than the market price by bribing the mine management. left, and the Ma family secretly supported a bandit leader named Dadao Liu in Dai County. They used the bandit leader's cottage as an underground iron smelting plant, and used the iron ore purchased at high prices to further process it in the factory. Processing···················"
"The purpose of the Ma family is to transport the iron to Luobei, exchange it for high-quality horses from the Luobi people, and make huge profits from it. According to our incomplete statistics, the Ma family earns this item every year. The income is at least 150,000 taels of silver!"
Ye Mingsheng's eyes flashed with a cold light when he heard this. Just like the Luo Bei people forbade the sale of war horses to Dazhou, Da Zhou also strictly prohibited the sale of iron products to Luo Bei and other grassland nomads. Even daily necessities such as iron pots were prohibited. They are all not allowed because they are worried that the Luobi people will make these iron products into weapons to shoot the soldiers and civilians of the Zhou Dynasty.
The Ma family manipulates the price monopoly market to make the common people miserable. They earn more than one million taels of silver from Dazhou every year. They make so much money that the family can't spend it all in a few lifetimes, but they still do such shameless things for the money. The bottom line is that if you don’t kill, the people will not be angry!
Noticing the change in Ye Mingsheng's expression, Huo San hesitated for a moment and then continued cautiously:
"Based on the information sent back by Qianbai, your Excellency, although the Luobi people only sent out more than 100,000 people this time, they tried to intimidate our army and asked our army not to touch the Ma family on the grounds of affecting trade, but because of the Kipchaks in the west, existence, they will not really attack them all, only Bujiha, the general of Luo Bei, will lead 10,000 cavalry to attack in the direction of Yuyang..."
At the end, Huo San seemed to increase his tone intentionally or unintentionally, as if he wanted to remind Ye Mingsheng of something. Of course, Ye Mingsheng also noticed this and said to Huo San with a flash of light in his eyes:
"You are the director of the Coordination Office. If you have any information, just tell me directly. Don't be like a bitch!
After being scolded by Ye Mingsheng, Huo San was also a teacher. He considered his words and said:
"Sir, as of now, we have no evidence to prove that the Gu family has participated in some of the recent conspiracies of the Ma family. However, given that there has been a large amount of interest transfer between the Gu family and the Ma family before, and the Ma family has such a close relationship with the Luobei people, the Luobei people At this critical moment, the humble people chose Yuyang as a breakthrough point to attack, so I think we have reason to increase the monitoring of the Gu family. In addition, General Gu also needs to be just in case!"
After hearing Huo San's idea, Ye Mingsheng thought about it and felt that it made some sense and immediately ordered:
"I agree with your idea of increasing surveillance on the Gu family. As for Gu Shouting, please don't act rashly. I believe he is a smart man and will not seek death... ····”
(To prevent mythical beasts, some keywords are replaced with pinyin and typos. I hope all readers can understand. Good night!)
