It was said to be noon, but less than two hours later, suddenly a group of government officials came over aggressively, drove everyone back to Li's Mansion, and sent someone to guard the carriages. Chu Mu and others were watching carefully in the Yingbin Building. Du Jie asked a little confused: "Why did the government send someone here? Is there some kind of lawsuit in the Li family?"
A smile appeared on Kong Miaozhi's little face. He looked at the government officials and said, "It's hard to say. Maybe the adults in the government office are also looking for excuses."
Several people looked at each other and were a little confused. Chu Mu finally asked: "What do you mean they are also looking for a reason? They sealed the Li Mansion without any reason? Lao Liu, what do you mean?"
Just when Kong Miaozhi was about to say something, Mu Yanbin's voice rushed outside the door.
"Is Young Master Chu here? Everyone, Mu Yanbin wants to see you!" His tone was urgent, as if something big had happened.
Chu Mu looked at Kong Miaozhi, and Kong Miaozhi muttered to himself: "It came quite quickly." After saying that, the door was pushed open from the outside.
Mu Yanbin hurriedly walked in and saw that everyone from the Tianji Sect was here. He hurriedly came over and said, "It's great that you are all here. The Li family is in trouble now. Please take care of your foster father." To save face, help Li Mansion!"
"Mr. Mu, what's going on? Don't worry, come sit down and talk slowly."
Chu Mu let Mu Yanbin into the room and poured him a cup of tea. Mu Yanbin had no intention of drinking tea. He took Chu Mu's hand and said, "Mr. Chu, the magistrate of Yongzhou suddenly sent someone to seal off all the business of the Li Mansion and the Li family. My second brother has been sent to prison."
"The second young master has been sent to prison? What's going on? Is there some kind of lawsuit that can't be settled?"
Mu Yanbin shook his head and continued: "How is it possible? Our Li family has always been a businessman, and the second brother is famous for his charity in Yongzhou City. The government sealed up the Li family without any charges. I just came back from the government office. , Those government officials who are familiar with me are avoiding me now, and the prefect will never see me now."
This was really unexpected. Chu Mu and others looked at each other, and finally turned their attention to Kong Miaozhi. Several people stared at her, wanting him to explain what was going on. Mu Yanbin looked at everyone looking at Kong Miaozhi and said with some uncertainty: "Brother Kong, is there anything you can do?"
At this time, Kong Miaozhi said to Mu Yanbin, "Does Mr. Mu usually go to the cabinet?"
"On the counter? You mean the Li family's business? At first, my adoptive father gave most of the business in Yongzhou City to my second brother. I rarely go there. Brother Kong, if you ask this, is it possible that the Li family's business is also out of stock? Question?" Mu Yanbin didn't know what Kong Miaozhi meant by asking this now.
Kong Miaozhi nodded and said: "Mr. Mu, Mr. Li, there should be nothing serious for the time being, but your family's business may be a little difficult now. I suggest you go take care of it first. We can discuss it here. If it doesn't work, Lao Qi will go If you take a walk around the prefect's Yamen, you will know what's going on."
Mu Yanbin finally heard what he wanted to hear. Originally, he came here to beg Chu Mu and them just because he felt that Little Du Gong was here, and as long as he came forward, the prefect would definitely give an explanation. But now, although Kong Miaozhi thought about it, he told him to go to the cabinet first.
Seeing that Mu Yanbin didn't move, Kong Miaozhi smiled again and said: "Mr. Mu, I'm not a businessman, but I also know that the Li family's business is great. Now there are some changes in the Li family. Don't make any mistakes in the business again. . If Mr. Li comes back and sees this, it will be hard for you to explain."
Mu Yanbin heard that Kong Miaozhi had other ideas. After thinking for a moment, he nodded and said to the Tianjimen people: "Okay, I will go to the cabinet now to check the situation. Please think of a solution. If there is anything new, For news, I’ll find a few more.”
After sending Mu Yanbin away, Chu Mu stopped asking any questions and drank tea and looked at the government servants outside the window. Chu Mu didn't ask, and the others watched patiently. However, Kong Miaozhi was anxious to show off, and said to Chu Mu uneasily, "Elder brother, why didn't you ask me what happened?"
Chu Mu took a sip of tea and said slowly, "Are you willing to say it?"
Kong Miaozhi knew that Chu Mu deliberately didn't ask him, so he chuckled and said, "Actually, it's not a difficult thing to guess. Li Mansion is one of the four major businessmen in the world. Does the senior brother know what kind of business Li Mansion Yongzhou City is mainly engaged in. "
"Selling grain?"
"That's right, they are selling grain. The Li family is a world-famous rice merchant. Eighty percent of the people in Yongzhou City depend on the rice from the Li family. The Li family wants to move to the Western Regions. Do you think the Yamen will agree or not? In this world There is no airtight wall at all. No matter whether the Li Mansion sells grain at a low price or closes the warehouse, the prefect's Yamen will not agree with them. Now that Yongzhou has just regained some vitality, if the Li Mansion is so messed up now, he, the prefect, will That’s the end of it.”
Chu Mu thought carefully about Kong Miaozhi's words, and then he said uncertainly: "If the people also know it, then there should be a large number of people going to buy food in Li's rice store now. If the matter is serious, there may be Robbery. No wonder you asked Mu Yanbin to go to the cabinet first to check the situation."
Kong Miaozhi continued at this time: "This is the first, and the second is the troublesome thing."
"oh?"
"The four major merchants all have their own territories. This land in the northwest has been run by the Li family for so long, and there is no way for others to get involved. Now that the Li family is going to retreat, I don't think it will take long. The other three families will take action. . It would be fine if we just simply grabbed the place left by the Li family, but if we still want to do something a little trickier and add insult to injury, this northwest land may turn into a business war!"
"Trade War?"
"That's right, senior brother, you can't just leave if you want to be in the position of the Li family. As the saying goes, people can't help themselves when they are in the world. The same is true for businessmen, the interests are too great. The more central the interests are, the more important they are. Asking for stability.”
"Lao Liu, have you thought of this a long time ago?"
"I thought of it this morning when I heard that Second Young Master Li was leaving here for the Western Regions. But compared to these, I still want to know what happened to Second Young Master Li, and how did he persuade others to agree with his idea?"
Du Jie said smoothly: "He didn't mean to get news about Mr. Li."
Kong Miaozhi shook his head: "Do you believe what he said? I don't believe it anyway. And it's such a coincidence. We just met the leader of the Three Tribulations Sect yesterday, and today he is going to the Western Regions with his family. This is a bit What a coincidence. I don’t know if Third Senior Brother has received any news. I’m afraid only he can know the mystery of all this after he comes back.”
While several people were talking, a servant ran over in a panic and shouted outside the door: "Few distinguished guests, the magistrate of Yongzhou wants to see you."
Chu Mu looked at Kong Miaozhi and whispered: "It seems that you really talked about it." Then he said toward the door: "Okay." As soon as he finished speaking, a hearty laughter came from outside the door. Then a man who looked like a civil servant walked in surrounded by others.
"Everyone, I'm being rude." After saying that, he looked at the people in the room. When he saw Du Jie, he walked over with a smile in his eyes: "This is Wu'an Gong, General Du. I'm polite." ." After saying that, he fell to the ground and bowed.
Du Jie hurriedly went up and pulled the man up. Ever since he became Lord Wu An, other people would kneel down when they saw him, which made Du Jie feel a little troublesome. When the magistrate saw Du Jie coming to help him, he took Du Jie's hand and said, "Mr. Wu An, I haven't seen you for several years. I miss you so much."
The name of the magistrate of Yongzhou is Qu Zhishui. He was the same person when Marshal Du was stationed here. We are half acquaintances with Du Jie.
Du Jie said a few polite words, and then everyone sat down.
Magistrate Qu said straight to the point: "Mr. Wu An, everyone, although I know that you have been here in Yongzhou for a few days, there are so many informants in Yongzhou City now that other people would gossip, so they did not come to visit. I hope that Mr. Wu An will atone for his sins. But now I can’t do it if I don’t come.”
Du Jie looked at Chu Mu, Chu Mu nodded, and then Du Jie said, "Is it because of the affairs of the Li family?"
Magistrate Qu nodded and said: "Dong Wu An also knows? It's no wonder. You guys live in Li Mansion. This matter may be known earlier than I do, but you may not know something. Now because Li Mansion is moving his family to In the Western Region, chaos has begun in many places in Yongzhou City. Li's business is spread all over Yongzhou, and now that the market is turbulent, some bad guys took advantage of this opportunity to do some shameful things."
"Is it already this serious?"
"In the morning, it was just about grabbing food. The Li family released the news that food was half price, and everyone was buying it. Many families even spent all their family funds to buy food, but this caused the remaining problems."
"What?"
"Some people noticed something was wrong and started taking their banknotes to the Li family bank to exchange money. It was okay at first. Although there were many people, the Li family had a great cause. These people would not shake the foundation of the Li family at all, but an hour ago , three people from the Li Mansion's bank went to exchange it with huge amounts of silver notes. The Li Mansion couldn't come up with so much cash at once. When the people saw that the Li Mansion couldn't cash it out, more people ran on it. Nowadays, in addition to Rice stores, banks, and other places have begun to squeeze goods to varying degrees. If this continues, Yongzhou City will be in chaos."
None of them expected that Yongzhou City would turn into this after just one morning. Chu Mu thought for a moment and said, "Sir, I just heard that you have sent officials to seal down all the shops in Li Mansion."
"Yes, I am now in a dilemma. The seal is sealed, but there is no reasonable reason now. Once this matter is heard by heaven, it will be the end of my term as the prefect. But if I don't seal it, I'm afraid something will happen to Yongzhou City. riot."
The prefect is now gambling with his own future. If he handles this matter properly, there is a high probability that he will be promoted to an official position. If he handles it improperly, I am afraid that as he said, he has finished his position as Yongzhou prefect. .
Du Jie took over the words and asked, "Is Mr. Qu coming here now?"
