May twenty-fifth.
King Shou Yang Lin, who had had enough troubles in Fengli City, finally left. Before leaving, he said that he wanted to thank everyone in Fengli City for their hard work over the past few days. He held a banquet in a restaurant to treat guests. Almost all the prominent figures in Fengli City were treated. Invited, but Shen Hao was missing. The news that King Shou disliked Shen Hao was confirmed.
No matter what, it is not a good thing to be rejected by a dignified prince. The most obvious thing is that when Shen Hao went to work the next day, except for the people in the Black Flag Battalion who still greeted him respectfully, no one else took the initiative to talk to him. They all avoided or pretended not to see him. .
Another reason is that Yang Lin came to Fengli City and showed off the two big names of Wu Changhe and Xie Youlin. Regardless of whether he chooses to side with him or not, the rest of the little guys will inevitably think that the area under the jurisdiction of Fengli City has actually moved towards Shou Wang. . Therefore, for people who are disliked by King Shou, even if there is no conflict, it is best to keep a distance to avoid causing harm to Chiyu.
Even Shen Hao's adjutant Wang Yiming looked at Shen Hao with emotion in his eyes. He couldn't figure out why his leader, who was so good at causing trouble, could still become an official of hundreds of households at such a young age. According to common sense, shouldn't this kind of person who makes enemies everywhere and even dares not to give face to the prince should have been killed a hundred times long ago?
Shen Hao is the only one who doesn't care about being labeled as "the person rejected by King Shou", and is even complacent about it.
Looking at many things from another angle will lead to completely different conclusions.
For example, Shen Hao was rejected by King Shou and did not know how to praise him. If you look at it from another angle, it might be interpreted as "not afraid of power and adhering to principles."
Besides, the Xuanqing Guards are His Majesty's personal soldiers, and it is not a good thing to get too close to these princes and princes.
Entering his apartment, he made herbal tea and just sat down when he heard a knock on the door. Wang Yiming came in, holding a copper bar in his hand.
"Sir, this is a note sent early in the morning by the Black Flag Camp in Licheng. It is top secret."
Top secret, but not an emergency report. Shen Hao estimated that Zhang Liao was responsible for the matter, so he waved Wang Yiming away, and then opened the copper bar. Sure enough, it was about the progress of the secret investigation of Xiaoshan Iron Furnace.
There was not much content on the copper strip, and Shen Hao finished reading it quickly. After digesting it in my mind, I spread it out and read it a second time.
According to Zhang Liao's secret investigation in the past few days, it was found that Xiaoshan Tielushuang's embezzlement behavior was blatant and did not cover it up at all. More than a dozen blast furnaces on the mountain are refining ore day and night. Based on the output and time of each furnace, its approximate monthly output has exceeded 50% of the reported output.
The craftsmen in Zhuangzi were paid according to the working hours, and they were eager to have work every day. Moreover, the average craftsman had no idea how much output Zhuangzi reported to the court. They always thought that every pound of iron they smelted was handed over to the court. in hand. Therefore, most craftsmen have no objections to the stewards and principals in Zhuangzi, because their wages have never been short-changed in Zhuangzi.
Later, after finding the person who reported the report with his real name, I got some inside information about Xiaoshan Iron Furnace.
The informant's name was Zhang Yue. He had read books and came to Licheng from outside. He was good at arithmetic, so when he worked as a piece-rate clerk at Xiaoshan Iron Furnace Mansion, he would sometimes help the accountant calculate wages.
There are very few scholars these days, and even fewer who know how to settle accounts, so Tieluzhuang offers Zhang Yue a very high salary. Thirty-five taels a month was considered a high salary, which made it easy for Zhang Yue, a bachelor, to find a wife. To be precise, a matchmaker came to him and told him about a girl from another village.
Zhang Yue was young, and after meeting the girl from a distance, he couldn't walk. The betrothal gift was quickly paid, and within a few days he was married and entered the bridal chamber.
But Zhang Yue's daughter-in-law is said to have surprised many people when she appeared in Zhuangzi. She is a very good-looking woman. As a result, he was coveted by Zhuangzi's boss. Later, he used tricks to send Zhang Yue away and then raped him. When Zhang Yue came back, the woman was still crying. He rushed out to settle the accounts with the chief officer but was beaten. When he returned home, his wife had disappeared. After searching around, he found her body in a well not far behind the house. .
Zhang Yue appealed everywhere, but he was either turned away or beaten. Even Zhuangzi's boss said that Zhang Yue should live as a beggar, which is worse than death. That night, Zhang Yue's house was completely on fire.
When Zhang Liao found this poor guy Zhang Yue, he had been hungry for two days. His fingers were broken and he couldn't do any accounting or work as a clerk. He also got cold and huddled in a rotten shed waiting to die.
One can imagine how much hatred Zhang Yue would burst into after being found by Zhang Liao. He said whatever Zhang Liao asked.
According to Zhang Yue's confession, Zhang Liao secretly checked the carriage and horse dispatching situation of Xiaoshan Iron Furnace Village. It was found that the dispatch of carriages and horses mainly went in two directions, one was a pig iron warehouse in Tieluzhuang; the other was a warehouse outside Zhuangzi.
Needless to say, the warehouse inside the village was used to store the turned-in pig iron, while the warehouse outside the village was used to store the withheld portion.
In addition, the warehouse outside the village belongs to Hengshun Horse Racing Company, and Xiaoshan Tieliangzhuang employs the transportation capacity of Hengshun Horse Racing Company when shipping goods.
Due to time constraints, the progress of Zhang Liao's secret investigation has ended here. There are two things that are clear: First, Xiaoshan Tieliangzhuang indeed committed serious deductions and concealments. Second, the pig iron seized by Xiaoshan Iron Furnace was transported to other places by Hengshun carriages and horses.
According to the information from the previous black market investigation, the person who purchased the items from Xiaoshan Iron Furnace Village was a person named "Ma San". It's very mysterious. I can only find out the name and appearance, but nothing else.
Shen Hao stood up with tea and walked to the window, thinking secretly in his mind, shaking his head from time to time.
Seeing that it was approaching noon, Shen Hao called Wang Yiming in, then took a name card of his and handed it over, saying: "Send someone to take my name card to Hengshun Car and Horse Racing to find their owner. Liu Hengyi, just say that I will treat him to a drink at the newly opened Honghe Restaurant tonight."
Wang Yiming took the order and went down to make arrangements.
When Shen Hao's name card was delivered to Liu Hengyi, he was shocked. He had an affair with Shen Hao before at the Blue Moon Meeting. Although he took the initiative to surrender and apologized, but there was no "friendship" at all, right? Why did you suddenly invite him to drink?
I'm afraid it won't be a good feast!
But it’s not okay if you don’t want to go. So what if the business becomes big? In the realm of Fengli City, the word "Shen Hao" is still very evil. They don't even dare to give you the face of the longevity king. If you still want to live a good life, you can only go to the banquet.
Liu Hengyi was a little ahead of schedule, but as soon as he arrived at the door of the restaurant, he saw two guards from Xuanqing Guard standing at the door. It seemed like the entire restaurant was booked.
Entering the side room, he took his seat after some polite greetings. After drinking for three rounds, Shen Hao put down his chopsticks and mentioned the purpose of tonight's treat: "I have something to ask you, Old Liu, for a favor."
