Although many people did not sleep well this night, many people were busy, and some people even did not fall asleep all night, and such a big event happened in Suzhou City, but the second day of the Spring Festival bidding in Neiku It still arrived as scheduled.
This is the rule, this is the rule of the imperial court in the past.
So even if Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng demanded that the Transshipment Department postpone the bidding date for a few days on the grounds of the strict ban on Suzhou City and Xia Qifei's assassination, Fan Xian still insisted that the bidding must start on time and not be postponed for a moment. .
The Ming family has won a whole night, if they are given more time to react, who knows what will happen
Fan Xian rubbed his sore brows, forcibly concealed the tiredness on his face, and looked at the businessmen who filed in. He found that although the expressions of these Jiangnan tycoons were still calm, there was still a strange emotion hidden in their eyes. It seemed that the assassination of Xia Qifei last night had also brought them great trouble. Fan Xian just couldn't judge for the time being whether this change was good or... bad for his plan.
The father and son of the Ming family were the penultimate group of people who walked into the mansion of the inner treasury, followed by the chief entourage of the clan and Mr. Accountant, who looked around with gentle faces and saluted. The officials and businessmen looked away after a little perfunctory He didn't dare to show too much affection with the Ming family in front of Fan Xian.
When the father and son of the Ming family saluted in front of the main hall, Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng treated each other warmly, obviously expressing their support for each other. Fan Xian looked at him coldly, nodded with a smile, and waved his hand to let the other person sit down—Ming Qingda's eyes were strange and calm, it seemed that the other party didn't know why, and he wasn't very afraid of what happened to Xia Qifei's assassination last night retaliation carried out.
Before the gate was closed, people from Jiangnan Water Village also arrived.
Behind Xia Qifei, apart from the veteran household officials sent by Fan Xian, there were only three personal guards left, and the rest of the brothers had already been buried on the long street last night.
Today's Xia Qifei's face was pale, it seems that there is no way to recover from the serious injury, but today's matter is very important, so he insisted on coming over.
Compared with the bandages on his body, the white bandage on his forehead is particularly dazzling and bright, and the subordinates behind him also wear white cloth bandages on their heads. In this spring, there is a chill like ice and snow.
Dai Xiao entered Neikumen, this was the first time in decades.
All eyes in the courtyard were cast on the bandits of the fourth house who wore filial piety and carried a murderous aura. The merchants headed by the Xiong family in Lingnan and the Sun family in Quanzhou walked out of the room, greeted Xia Qifei, and comforted him softly.
With the support of his subordinates, Xia Qifei walked slowly to the front of the main hall, without even glancing at the Ming family father and son in the first room, he said softly, "Xia is still here."
Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng had strange expressions on their faces.
The corners of Fan Xian's eyes twitched, and he immediately returned to normal. He spread his right hand calmly, and said calmly and firmly, "As long as you come, there is a place for you here."
Everyone understood the meaning of Fan Xian's words, but it was impossible for Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng to accuse Fan Xian of anything based on these words. Today, Jiangnan Governor Xue Qing said that he was ill, and now in the mansion, there is nothing. It was Fan Xian who had the highest official position, and it was obvious that Xue Qing was letting Fan Xian do things freely.
But the backers of the Ming family would not see the whole situation being controlled by Fan Xian. Eunuch Huang said after a moment of contemplation: "Mr. Xia, I heard that there was another fight in the river and lake in Suzhou City last night, and your family lost a lot... However, Dai Xiao is admitted to the hospital, which is not suitable for etiquette."
After all, Xia Qifei's background is not glorious, that's why the old lady of the Ming family dared to invite the masters of the Junshan Society to do the job of sniping. After all, if Xia Qifei can be killed, it can solve too many problems, and it can be pushed to In the chaos of the rivers and lakes.
Eunuch Huang's statement at this time is nothing more than wanting to confirm this point.
Fan Xian didn't bother to argue with the other party about these nominal things at all, but after hearing Eunuch Huang say "Dai Xiao was admitted to the hospital, it's not in accordance with the etiquette", his anger gradually rose, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he said softly: "Eunuch Huang, don't force yourself The officer is angry."
Although these words were spoken softly, the sound seemed to be blown out from the cracks in the icebergs, or burst out from the abyss in the ground... It was so cold and cold that it made the hearers shudder.
Don't force me to get angry!
This sentence got into Huang Gonggong's ears, and the old eunuch shuddered uncontrollably, and quickly shut up—don't get angry with this goddamn bitch, let him go, anyway, the Ming family He had already prepared all night, and as long as he stared at him for a while, nothing would go wrong. If Fan Xian took the opportunity to make a fuss at this time, who could stop him? It's not good if it's broken.
Guo Zheng, who was about to speak at the side, also felt a chill in his heart, and quickly choked back what he was going to say. Last night, they all thought that Fan Xian would act recklessly while being furious, so they had already written memorials and made preparations for each other, and they were ready to seize Fan Xian's handle... Unexpectedly, Fan Xian remained calm all the time , let him and Eunuch Huang be disappointed, but they also knew that the evil fire in Fan Xian's heart had been simmering, and he didn't know when it would erupt.
Thinking of the ministers who fell under Fan Xian's hands, Guo Zheng also retreated. The eldest princess wanted to protect the Ming family's share, not the Ming family's face.
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There was another cannon blast, and paper scraps flew around outside the inner library mansion, and the smoke gradually disappeared.
Fan Xian squinted his eyes, looked at this somewhat familiar scene, somehow thought of last year, the day he left Beiqi to go to Beijing, the moment he heard the news of Zhuang Mohan's death, that day he saw him off outside the gate of Shangjing The firecrackers also seemed to be seeing everyone off.
Today's firecrackers are sending off those who died last night
Xia Qifei led his subordinates back to Room B in silence, took off the leucorrhea tied around his head, and laid it on the table carefully in a straight line, and the brothers behind him also took off the leucorrhea and spread it straight , One by one, strong and powerful.
Fan Xian frowned imperceptibly, wondering what he was thinking.
The officials in charge of singing the ceremony of the Neiku stood on the stone steps again, and the opening of the bids for the second day of the Neiku officially began.
A total of five bids were released yesterday, and there were a total of sixteen bids in the inner library. Except for the last two points tied to eight bids, there were three remaining bids, which were sung at the beginning.
The Ming family still followed the agreement among the merchants in the south of the Yangtze River and did not raise the price. On the contrary, Xia Qifei seemed not to be disturbed by what happened last night, and calmly began to bid, and won one of the bids.
The remaining two bids were won by the Xiong family in Lingnan and the Chen family in Hangzhou. This was probably a matter of discussion at Jiangnanju last night.
The bid that Xia Qifei won was still the route going north. After Fan Xian got the quotation from the flower hall, he confirmed that Xia Qifei had won the bid, and couldn't help but secretly nodded. Xia Qifei didn't act impulsively, which he appreciated very much.
These three bids were carried out in an unremarkable way, and the prices were basically the same as in previous years. In the back, it is in the last eight bids that the Ming family is bound to win.
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"There are four bids in total for the goods in Erfang on Dongdongnan Road and Hailu Road. The book will be published. The one with the highest price will get..."
The official of the Internal Treasury Transshipment Department stood on the stone steps and shouted expressionlessly. He did not know how many years he had shouted this sentence. Going to grab it with the Ming family, so shouting is tasteless and boring.
However, this year is different.
After singing the salute, the first one to open the door and hand out the kraft paper to seal it was the second room!
There was a buzzing sound in the house, and there were countless discussions. Xia Qifei, the seventh young master who was rumored to be abandoned by the Ming family, finally started to attack the Ming family.
Ming Qingda's face in the first room remained unchanged, as if he had expected this situation. In the past few years, because of his family's strength and the fact that the eldest princess was watching after the trial, none of the merchants in Jiangnan dared to bid with him. So the Ming family in the last eight bids is the same as the Cui family in the first six bids, they are all singing one-man shows.
If you sing this kind of drama for a long time, you will eventually get tired of it. Today, there is finally someone to compete with the Ming family. Ming Qingda feels a little bit of excitement while feeling a little wary.
He smiled and said to his son beside him, "Duo Er, suppress him."
Ming Lanshi was shocked. What did his father mean that the first round of asking price was 20% more than last year's fixed price? Then if Xia Qifei really has enough money in the second round later and continues to follow, how can he stand up to it
Ming Qingda picked up the teacup beside him, took a sip of tea, and said slowly, "The extra 20% is not Xia Qifei, but someone else."
Ming Lanshi was puzzled, thinking that in today's inner treasury, apart from Xia Qifei who is backed by the imperial envoy, who else would dare to compete with himself for these two big bids? In the heart of this young master of the Ming family, he still firmly believes that Xia Qifei's confidence comes from the money that Fan Xian transferred privately from the household department, while the rest of the people do not have this strength at all.
Ming Qingda didn't say anything, but his heart was like a mirror. Fan Xian asked Xia Qifei to sweep around the goods yesterday. He wanted to turn the rest of the merchants in the south of the Yangtze River into hungry wolves, and a hungry wolf would dare to eat its meat. Take two bites.
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When the two kraft paper envelopes were handed into the flower hall, all the businessmen and officials who were paying attention to the matter dropped their buttocks back to their seats and let out a breath of foul air, knowing that the good show was officially staged.
But it seems that many people have not guessed where the drama is going.
The door of Room B No. 1 was also slowly pushed open, and a letter of kraft paper was handed out and sealed in the hands of the officials in front of the door.
Quanzhou Sun Family!
There was an uproar in the courtyard, no one thought that the Sun family in Quanzhou would come to grab this hot cup of soup when the two tigers were fighting!
"The Sun family!" Ming Lanshi looked at his father in shock and said, "Where did their family get so much money?"
Ming Qingda's face remained unchanged, and he said: "The Sun family is not enough, can't they make up a few? Don't you think that old man Xiong Bailing has become too quiet today? There are still a few who have been staring at our side The family you look at, if you don’t have ghosts in your heart, what are you doing watching for so long? There are no flowers growing on the old man’s face!”
Above the main hall, the officials sitting in the three grand master chairs also had their own thoughts in their hearts. Fan Xian had anticipated this development, so he wasn't too surprised, but Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng were gnashing their teeth, thinking that the Quanzhou Sun family was too courageous to come out to make trouble at this time!
While everyone was watching nervously, the results of the first round of bidding came out. Fan Xian took the quotation comparison list from the flower hall, and couldn't help but sighed in his heart, secretly thinking that it was not unreasonable for the Ming family to be able to spend so many years in the south of the Yangtze River.
In Fan Xian's plan, the last four bids are the moment when he and the Ming family will desperately compete for the price, because although the amount of money transferred from the Northern Qi is huge, the turnover requires a long route, and there is still an upper limit after all, and Xia Qifei Even after winning five bids, he also paid a huge amount of money.
If there is no limit to the fake charge, Xia Qifei can call the price empty-handed, causing the Ming family to vomit blood one after another. The problem is that Fan Xian has always been unable to understand Ming Qingda, the nominal master of the Ming family, who seems to be not only as simple as in name, Fan Xian can't judge that if he really made a fake charge, Ming Qing Will Da Hui disregard the eldest princess's strict orders and kill his hands with great wisdom!
With the silver taels in Fan Xian's current hands, if he used it to bid up the price, he could only be sure that he would seriously injure Ming Jia in the second four consecutive bids.
In case the Ming family really plays ruthlessly in the third round, let go of the four consecutive bids... Xia Qifei's price is too high, there are only two possible outcomes. One kind can't afford 40% of the fixed silver at all, and the other is that after successfully winning the first four consecutive bids, there is no more energy to spare, and the Ming family won the next four consecutive bids without any effort.
The second ending is not what Fan Xian wants. He has no way to control the transportation route to Dongyi City, so the four consecutive bids that are indispensable in the eyes of the Ming family are tasteless to him. He doesn't want to Xia Qifei really won this bid, but if he watched the Ming family win the next four consecutive bids so easily, Fan Xian... would not be able to swallow this breath.
As for the first possibility... If the price really explodes, under the watchful eyes of Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng, and under the eyes of so many people, the matter of the internal treasury will really come to naught, and Xia Qifei may not There is no way out.
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To sum up, in Fan Xian's pre-drawn plan, the first four consecutive bids were to let the Sun family in Quanzhou come out to set off cannons, while Xia Qifei's asking price was just a feint, and he didn't intend to fight for his life.
But looking at the price list handed over by the flower hall, Fan Xian knew that the old man of the Ming family had already guessed his arrangement, so the first round of bidding unexpectedly reached such a terrifying amount!
The Sun family dared to make a move today because of the information he passed on through Shi Chanli last night.
But facing the Ming family's overwhelming offensive, and thinking of the Ming family brazenly sending people to assassinate Xia Qifei last night, the fire of civil and military attacks... Fan Xian began to worry that the Sun family might be scared by this round of bidding Don't dare to raise the price.
The development of the situation really turned into a situation that Fan Xian didn't want to see. When the officials who sang the ceremony called out the Ming family's quotation of up to 3.8 million taels of silver, there was an uproar in the courtyard.
The door of No. B No. 1 room has never been opened since then, and the Sun family was really frightened.
Fan Xian squinted his eyes slightly, looked at the two Ming family men in Room A, and began to wonder whether the two men were really not involved in the assassination incident last night, as the Overwatch Council's investigation found. It is Mrs. Ming.
Assassinating Xia Qifei may seem reckless, but combined with today's ferocious quotation, it can scare away many enemies who want to take advantage of the chaos for the Ming family.
If Ming Qingda is really such a person who can take advantage of the situation, even his own mother would use it, Fan Xian feels that it is necessary to re-examine the other party. As soon as the first round of quotations came out, Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng stroked their beards and smiled, but Eunuch Huang didn't have a beard under his chin, so it seemed a little funny, but at least it can be seen that these two people were very concerned about the Ming family's attack and everyone's attention. The response was quite satisfactory.
Room B and No. 4 was quiet. Through the window lattice, Xia Qifei looked at Fan Xian with a questioning look.
Fan Xian sighed helplessly, and smoothed the flying hair on his forehead with the palms of both hands. This signal meant to let Xia Qifei draw it slowly. Since the Sun family has withdrawn, Xia Qifei must continue to bid, but the bid must be measured. good.
It is necessary to make the Ming family suffer without being too ruthless, and it is also necessary for the other party to take over the first four consecutive bids with satisfaction, without suddenly giving up and throwing the four consecutive bids to themselves.
This is a very difficult situation, even if Xia Qifei has a few veteran household officials behind him to help, it will be difficult to handle it seamlessly.
The officials who sang the ceremony stood on the stone steps again, repeating the same thing twice. The fierce family fight between the boss of the Ming family and the seventh brother that people expected did not happen. The robbers in the fourth room of the second house completely lost the ferocity of yesterday, and made their bids extremely cautiously.
However, despite being cautious, the price of the first four consecutive bids was still slowly raised to a jaw-dropping level!
One reason for this is of course that the Ming family's first bidding price was 20% higher than last year's bidding price, and the other reason is that the second and fourth houses entangled each other like brown sugar.
In the end, the bid was successful... Sure enough, it was the Ming family. The result was the same as it has been for so many years, but the price marked has changed a lot from previous years.
Five hundred and twelve thousand taels!
Everyone opened their mouths wide. Listening to the price, they thought that if the bidding rules of the inner library were five rounds, Xia Qifei from the fourth room of B and Ming Qingda from the first room of A would raise the price to twice the price last year. go!
This price is already a bit outrageous.
But Fan Xian knows that this can only show that in the past few years, under the management of the eldest princess, the price of the marketing rights of the internal treasury was ridiculously low. At this price, the Ming family will not lose money, and they may still make a lot of money—of course, It must be that the Ming family still dared to engage in pirate business, and still dared to smuggle to Dongyi City under Fan Xian's nose.
So Fan Xian smiled, very satisfied with the result. The Ming family will wait to spend money on this bid this year.
"A room, Ming family, 5.12 million taels, get it!"
The officials of the Transshipment Department of the Neiku, who had always been a little downhearted, reported the largest bid in the past ten years since the opening of the Neiku, and finally seemed to be energetic. No, without delay, it seemed extremely straightforward.
Regardless of their attitude towards the Ming family, the merchants also felt a little excitement and cheered for this number.
On the contrary, the father and son of the Ming family in Room A No. 1 had no joy on their faces, especially Ming Qingda with a slight worry on his brows.
What he thought was the same as what Fan Xian thought, if there were no shady means to help, the four consecutive bids... would be lost.
And the most important thing is that Xia Qifei seems to have the help of an expert in asking the price, and he is extremely well-balanced. With this bid of 5.12 million taels of silver, there will be more than 2 million taels of silver left in a short while... What's more, the other party's real desperate bid must be at the end.
Last night, Mingyuan raised money overnight, and Liufang only raised a total of six hundred thousand taels, which was far less than the 1.35 million taels set by the old matriarch Ming. Ming Qingda's psychological budget is too much, what should I do next
There is still half of the silver supply in Taiping Bank, but no one knows what will happen next. Ming Qingda lightly pressed his hands on the wooden box beside him, thoughtfully.
Ming Lanshi glanced at his tired father, feeling extremely distressed. He knew that his father hadn't slept all night, and went to several big banks in Suzhou City overnight to transfer money. It was not until early in the morning that he finally got the assured amount. , What was released was the cash ticket that China Merchants Bank issued urgently.
"Tell me, will the imperial envoy still want the four consecutive bids?" Ming Qingda sighed wearily.
Ming Lanshi didn't know how to speak.
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The day has moved to the middle of the day, and the bidding for the internal treasury has come to an end temporarily. The servants of the Suzhou government and the transshipment department have brought in meals for the adults and merchants to eat. Although the meals provided by the government are not as exquisite as the meals in the homes of these wealthy people , but these merchants still ate with relish, huddled beside the slumped-faced Quanzhou Sun's family, inquiring about what was going on.
People are looking forward to the afternoon, which is the final decisive battle. In the morning, a terrifying amount of five million taels of silver has been paid out. How dazzling is the afternoon
No one noticed that Ming Qingda walked up to the main hall silently, and came to the side hall where several important figures had dinner, and he did not avoid suspicion, and said with a smile: "I have met Huang Gonggong, Guo Yushi, I have something to report to the imperial envoy. My lord, I would like to ask the two adults to make it easier for you."
Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng were taken aback, thinking what kind of game was this? Could it be that the Ming family wanted to fall on Fan Xian in front of him? But it's impossible to be so upright... Ming Qingda held the Ming family for a long time, and had a lot of contacts with the high officials in the court, so he had a majesty in his chest. Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng looked at each other, convinced him, and then walked away He went out, leaving room for him to talk to Fan Xian.
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There was no one in the hall, Ming Qingda lifted his front with some difficulty, knelt down in front of Fan Xian, and did not speak.
Holding the bowl in one hand and the chopsticks in the other, Fan Xian was looking for something delicious to eat between the meals, without glancing over there, he just said, "I'm... still going to snatch the four consecutive marks in the back."