Shen Yu, who was still in a trance, was awakened by Zhao Zheng and apologized to Zhao Gao: "I lost my temper for a moment and I was rude to you, sir. Please forgive me." Zhao Gao shook his head, and before he could say anything, Zhao Zheng joked: "Shen Yu, I see that you are more respectful to the teacher than to others." There were no outsiders here, and Zhao Zheng spoke much more casually than usual.
Shen Yu has served Zhao Zheng for many years and is well aware of his temperament. She was not embarrassed at the moment and said openly and openly: "Sir, I am the teacher of the king, and Mr. Zijing, the servant, also respects the king." Zhao Gao laughed when he heard this, and Zhao Zheng looked at him. She glanced at him and said, "You're the only one who talks a lot. Go quickly." At this moment, he seemed to have forgotten who made fun of him first.
Shen Yu smiled playfully, bowed slightly to them, and disappeared after a few steps. "Xiao Gao, tell me what method you proposed just now." After Shen Yu left, Zhao Zheng suppressed his joking and asked humbly.
Zhao Gao stopped talking nonsense and went directly to the topic: "The current method of implementing the Qin State's salt affairs is nothing more than official transportation and official sales of salt ponds in various places. Although this method can ensure a stable supply to the people and prevent merchants from maliciously raising prices, it must be mobilized on a large scale. The oxen and manpower serve. Whenever new salt is transferred, countless people and oxen die from exhaustion."
For Zhao Zheng, this is the most troublesome part. To prevent it from being exploited by interested parties, salt must be controlled by the government, but such control resulted in the innocent deaths of many people. In the past, it was the lesser of the two evils. In order to maintain the temporary stability of the Qin State, he could only choose to continue the previous system. But this matter has been a concern for him since he took office.
"My idea is that the officials can make a kind of lead as a voucher. This kind of lead can be used as an intermediate, and it is tentatively called a 'salt lead'. For example, each lead is priced at three hundred yuan, and merchants will pay for it every time. Once they buy it from the officials, they can go to the salt pond to exchange a hundred catties of salt, and they can sell the salt freely to earn the price difference."
When Zhao Zheng and Zhao Gao were alone together, they behaved much more casually. But before, he had held his hand in return, but now when he heard this, his expression changed and he unconsciously lowered his hand. When Shen Yu came in quietly carrying the chilled plum syrup as he ordered, he tilted his head just in time to see it, and calmly raised his hand to signal her to bring it to Zhao Gao first.
When he was about to talk, Zhao Gao didn't show any sign of impatience when he saw her coming over. Instead, he paused and said in a good-tempered way: "Thank you." Shen Yu thought: "It turns out that the king's teacher is such a gentle person." people. Previously, Shen Yu thought that the teacher who could control his own king must be a dignified and solemn gentleman, but now that he is like this, he actually has a good impression of him in his heart.
When Shen Yu left, Zhao Zheng was afraid that he would feel hot, so he said warmly: "Xiao Gao, take a sip of plum juice before we talk." Although Zhao Gao didn't finish his words, he was not in a hurry and nodded. He hadn't paid attention when Shen Yu brought it over before, but now he looked down and was a little surprised: This is...
Zhao Gao looked at the cup in front of him carefully and saw that it had an open mouth with flat lips, a sloping wall and a round bottom, a plain surface without any lines, and a simple and elegant appearance. It looked very similar to the drinking glasses of later generations. After a long while, he stretched out his hand and took it in his hand, feeling cold to the touch.
"What's wrong with Xiao Gao?" Zhao Zheng asked with concern when he saw that he was in a daze, just like when he saw the clay pot in Yueyang that day. Zhao Gao seemed not to have heard what Zhao Zheng said, and murmured to himself: "Is it... a crystal cup?" For a moment, he had the illusion that he had returned to the future.
No wonder Zhao Gao was like this, because when he saw such "modern" things during the Warring States Period more than 2,000 years ago, for a moment he thought he was wearing it again. Zhao Zheng was suspicious. It was hard to find this thing. There was only this pair in the entire palace. Even if there were other places, they were all kept by nobles. It was rare for outsiders to see them, but Xiao Gao looked at them as if they were very familiar. "Have you seen Xiao Gao?"
Zhao Gao came back to his senses, without shaking his head or nodding, and thought to himself: Those who have seen glass... He coughed lightly, and returned to his usual calm demeanor, calmly saying: "This cup reminds me of some past events, and I lost my composure for a moment. Please forgive me, Your Majesty." Zhao Zheng shook his head indifferently and said: "It doesn't matter."
Picking up the cup, Zhao Gao found that the liquid inside was brown with a hint of red, which complemented the crystal cup and had a clear feeling of gemstones. It looked really tempting. He took a sip curiously and found that it was actually iced sour plum soup.
It's just that the ice used to chill this cup of sour plum soup was taken from the cellar, the flavored sugar was sent from the south, and the container was also carved from a single piece of crystal. In the Warring States period when resources were relatively scarce, it was actually a very luxurious thing to drink a cup of sour plum soup like this in the hot summer.
Zhao Gao raised his glass and said, "Your Majesty, please."
Zhao Zheng responded with a smile: "Please, please."
After the two drank, they said in unison: "Refreshing." After saying this, they felt the tacit understanding between each other and looked at each other with a smile. After drinking, the heat from his body subsided, Zhao Gao continued what he had not said just now: "In this way, on the one hand, it will be easier for the officials to control and save the people from the suffering of salt service; on the other hand, the price of salt and taxation can be combined into one, which is simple and convenient Easy to do, it mobilizes merchants to actively market; third, it increases the revenue of the national treasury and fills it..."
After that, the more Zhao Zheng listened, the brighter his eyes became. He asked a few questions during the pauses in Zhao Gao's words, and Zhao Gao patiently answered them one by one. When he finally finished speaking, he fell silent. Zhao Gao knew that he needed to digest it, so he did not rush him to express his position.
After a while, Zhao Zheng came back to his senses, his face was filled with uncontrollable joy, and he laughed loudly: "I think Xiao Gao's method is feasible, but I have to put it aside for a while." Zhao Gao understood: "I don't know what happened to Mr. Chang Ping in the near future. It turns out that before this, the king was afraid that if the minister brought it up, he would interfere with it?"
Zhao Zheng nodded and said: "Yes, Cheng Jiao will be back in the next two days. The situation in Chu State is already in chaos, and this matter cannot be delayed. Those who support Xiong Qi must be more anxious than Cheng Jiao, and I am afraid that they have already The news was sent to Xiong Qi. It will only take a few days for Xiong Qi to make the final decision."
After finishing speaking, Zhao Zheng paused and then thought of something and added: "Also, salt introduction is a major matter and must be decided through the court meeting. At that time, Xiao Gao will have no choice but to explain to them again." Zhao Gao Knowing that this is a procedure, no matter how good the relationship between Zhao Zheng and himself is, it is impossible to skip this section and decide everything alone, so he said calmly: "I understand."
The two chatted for a while. Zhao Zheng looked at the sky and guessed that it was time for the evening meal. He was about to tell Shen Yu to get it and eat it here, but he heard someone outside announcing: "Young Master Chengjiao Hall is asking for an audience." "The opportunity to be alone with Xiao Gao just disappeared. He was a little helpless, but he sent him out to do things. Who is to blame?
"Let him in."
When Zhao Gao heard that Cheng Jiao was coming, he stood up calmly out of etiquette. Zhao Zheng didn't want him to do this, but because he lost the opportunity to be alone, he felt "miserable" and forgot about it for a moment. Prevent.
After receiving the permission, Chengjiao walked in carelessly. He caught a glimpse of a white figure from the corner of his eye and said a strange "Huh". Then he turned around and looked at it carefully. After a long time, he turned his head with an ambiguous expression and asked bluntly: "Brother Wang, what are you doing?" Have you ever changed your attitude?"
At the right time, a gust of wind blew in from one side of the hall and blew out from the opposite side. All the surrounding sounds seemed to be taken away by the gust of wind, and the hall was silent.
Immediately afterwards...
Zhao Zheng's face turned dark.
Zhao Gao's expression froze.
Then Cheng Jiao... regretted it.
He swore that he regretted it so much that his intestines turned green.
At this time, Zhao Gao himself couldn't tell what he was feeling. After two lifetimes of living together for several decades, one day he was suddenly classified as one of the men's favorites. Even though he had never been surprised when things happened in the past, he was still a little stunned and unable to react now.
Moreover... the other person is none other than his student who he has taught for five or six years, and his current eldest son. Although he has never been against same-sex love and can generally understand it, he has been gay for so many years and it still feels weird when he thinks about it being mentioned so casually.
Fortunately, Zhao Gao's tranquility was not in vain. He quickly came to his senses, suppressed the strangeness in his heart, and saluted Cheng Jiao with a calm expression: "Zhao Gao has met the young master." Hearing the words "Zhao Gao" At this word, Cheng Jiao's face turned red and white. Only then did he remember the rumors he had heard before leaving, and secretly cursed himself for forgetting everything.
He laughed dryly twice, then put on a flattering smile, stood up straight, saluted and said: "Cheng Jiao Meng Lang, I offended Sir, I apologize to Sir." As he spoke, his eyes carefully moved to Zhao Zheng. Seeing his brother Wang looking at him with a serious smile, he thought to himself: It's over!
Sure enough, the next moment Zhao Zheng said pitifully: "I think you have an itch. If you don't mind taking your sword and going out, I'll scratch it for you."
When Chengjiao said that just now, Zhao Zheng actually felt a little guilty for no reason, so he glanced at Zhao Gao unconsciously. Fortunately, Zhao Gao quickly relaxed his expression, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief. However, when I think about Xiao Gao being called a villain by Cheng Jiao without hesitation, I can't help but feel bad for him.
Now it's not like Zhao Zheng was new to swordsmanship when he was a child. If the two of them had a sword fight, Cheng Jiao would definitely lose. Knowing that his brother Wang would never show mercy, Cheng Jiao looked at him hurriedly, with a resentful expression that showed how aggrieved he was. Zhao Gao was amused in his heart, and Youyou excused him: "Young master, it was unintentional. Don't blame me, my lord."
Sure enough, Zhao Gao's one sentence was worth ten. Zhao Zheng was also afraid that if he continued talking about this topic, he would offend Zhao Gao, so he turned to talk about something else: "I have received all the news you sent, and I have done a good job. I plan to let you rest for a few days, but it seems that you don’t like it now. You will be late for the meeting tomorrow, and we will settle the old and new accounts together. "
My brother Wang has something to say, Chengjiao dares to say "no"? However, over the years, he had also experienced Zhao Zheng's temper thoroughly, and knew that he was actually very easy to be soft-hearted. He smiled and said: "Brother Wang, I have been hungry all day in order to travel..." Looking at his greedy look, Zhao Zheng Also a little helpless.
It happened that Shen Yu came in and reported: "Your Majesty, the evening meal is ready." Cheng Jiao looked at his brother Wang with burning eyes. Zhao Zheng had a headache from looking at him, and after a while he said angrily: "Okay, you can stay too. "
