"Finally back to the land of Yangzhou!" A young man with a face full of vicissitudes has finally landed on the land of Yangzhou. Standing on this land, he couldn't help feeling very emotional.
"My lord, let's hurry up and try to reach Shouchun as soon as possible!" Next to the young man was a man with scars all over his face. The ability to make a child cry.
"Forget it, don't worry!" The young man was excited, and now he wished to fly to Shouchun immediately, but for some reason, he slowed down under his feet.
"What's the matter, my lord? The military commander and the others will be overjoyed when they know we're back." Another man said the same thing.
"Yuanzhi and the others!" the young man muttered to himself.
"What's wrong with my husband? Why don't you leave?" A voice came from a carriage behind the man.
"Get off the horse, let's go back slowly!" The young man said to the bronze-skinned woman behind him.
"Oh!" The woman did not ask too much, but followed the young man's words and got out of the carriage.
"My lord, why don't we take the waterway?" If they took the waterway, they could reach Yangzhou faster, take the Lujiang River to Hefei and then go to Shouchun, or even go directly down the river, take the White Horse Lake and go directly to Shouchun, that way Fast and not too bumpy and tiring.
"Isn't it the same on land?" The young man also got out of the carriage and walked towards the nearest Yangzhou city with two strong men and a beautiful woman.
Xinye City, this county town that belongs to Jingzhou, has now become a bridgehead of Yangzhou. The original Xinye City is very prosperous and there are many merchants coming and going. Most of them are business exchanges between Yangzhou and Jingzhou. Yangzhou Among them, Jingzhou merchants can be given status, and Jingzhou can give Yangzhou merchants benefits. The combination of the two is very enjoyable. For a while, the prosperity of Xinye is not inferior to Xiangyang, the capital of Jingzhou.
But the prosperity did not last after all, as soon as Jingzhou and Yangzhou fell out, the vast commercial roads in Xinye were completely blocked.
The goods from Jingzhou could not be transported to Yangzhou, and the merchants from Yangzhou could not enter Jingzhou, so Xinye gradually declined.
But generally speaking, Xinye City is much better than when the young man came here.
"Let's go, let's enter the city!" It was getting late, and the young man and others were going to enter the city to rest for a while before making plans.
At the gate of the city, the young man and others were stopped.
"What's going on?" The young man frowned, seeing that it was not the time to close the city gate, why should he and others be intercepted.
"My lord, they won't let us enter the city!"
"Bold, you dare to block our master's frame!" The strong man with the scar on his side was about to step forward to argue, but was stopped by the young man.
"What's the matter with this military master? Why don't you let me wait to enter the city before it's dark enough to close the city gate at night?" Liu Mang went forward to ask the two gatekeepers of Xinye City.
"Do you want to enter the city?" The two gatekeepers of Xinye City looked at the young man and his party and asked.
'Exactly! I'm coming to Yangzhou to visit relatives. It's getting late, so I have to stay outside the city. I want to go to the city first and rest for a night, and then get up and start my journey tomorrow! "Liu Mang said to the two guards.
"I want to enter the city! Yes, pay the toll first!" The two soldiers looked at the young man and his party, and immediately looked at each other and said with a smile.
"Tolls?" The young man was stunned for a moment, and he understood after thinking about it. After all, this is an unspoken rule, and you basically can't avoid it. Need to stand guard to guard the city, relying on my own salary is naturally not enough, and the Yangzhou Army does not have any night shift subsidies or anything, so there is another unwritten rule for the soldiers guarding the city gate, then they can get a gift from the passing merchants. Generally speaking, the hard work fee is calculated according to the amount of the merchant's goods. A large cart is worth ten copper coins. In this way, relying on the traffic flow, they can also have very good extra money to subsidize their day and night guards.
..."Master, we are not merchants, we are just going to Yangzhou to visit relatives!" The young man explained to the two soldiers, they were only a carriage and two horses, what kind of merchants were they? ah.
"Not a merchant?" The two gatekeepers looked at each other and repeated.
"Yes, yes, we are not merchants, we just came to Yangzhou to visit relatives!" The young man continued to explain.
"Whether you are a merchant or not, it doesn't matter what you say!" Two guard soldiers pointed at the young man and said.
"Then who has the final say?" The young man continued to ask.
"Of course it's us, Mr. Jun! We say that you are a merchant and you are a merchant!" said the two soldiers, pointing at Liu Mang.
"Then it's the goods merchant, ten copper coins, right? We'll give it, we'll give it!" Although the young man was very dissatisfied with the two soldiers, he just glanced at them and looked at the scarred man behind him. The man waved his hand, and quickly took out ten copper coins from the scarred man's pocket and taught him, "Master, this is our toll fee!"
"Ten copper coins? Hehe, you are sending beggars!" The two soldiers didn't take over the ten big coins at all, but yelled and shouted with wide-eyed eyes.
"Then how much do you want, my lord?"
"At least this number." Two Yangzhou soldiers guarding the gate stretched out five fingers on one palm.
"Fifty big money?" Although fifty big money is five times more than ten big money, it is not too much, and ordinary merchants can still afford it.
"Fifty? Hehe, it's five thousand!" The two gatekeepers showed their faces.
It's not fifty as simple as the young man thought, but five thousand that has been multiplied a hundred times. How much is five thousand dollars? Converted to gold, it is only half gold, but this is just a carriage with two horses. If you are other merchants, how much will it cost
"Five thousand dollars? Why don't you go grab it." Another strong man said dissatisfiedly, "Even if we robbed you before, we couldn't grab you."
"Five thousand dollars, it's a bit too much for these two military masters." The young man wanted to continue mediating.
"Yes? I'll tell you that you can't lose a penny of five thousand dollars. If it's less, you can live outside the city tonight." The two city gate soldiers are very confident. Why, because they saw young men waiting for others. A carriage and two war horses, coming from the south and heading north, one can tell at a glance that he is not a local. Similarly, he is not a big businessman or a person with a lot of background, but just a passerby. Such a person does not kill him Who is to be slaughtered, in the words of the two gatekeepers, it is a foreign fool.
"You!" The strong man next to the young man couldn't help but was stopped by the young man.
"Five thousand dollars, okay, we'll give it." The young man still took out his pocket and took out half of the gold and threw it over. The eyes of the two city gate captains were moved, and then he let the young man and others leave.
Seeing that the 5,000 yuan was obtained so quickly, the soldiers guarding the gate were all smiling, but they still felt a little regretful when they saw the money bags put away by the strong man. If they knew it, they would have asked for more.
Watching them leave, a city gate soldier greedily said to Pao Ze next to him, "Although there are only four people, this is a lot of money."
"Why, you have taken a fancy to their money and want to keep it for yourself," asked Pao Ze beside him.
"Take it for yourself? I'm not that capable!" This group of people didn't say how much money they had on them, but just said that the few horses were worth a lot.
"So what do you mean?"
"What is the current price of this war horse!" The captain of the city gate counted with a smile.
"Forty gold!" Pao Ze next to him still knew a little about the market price.
…"You are talking about inferior horses, which can only be used to carry things." The captain smiled disdainfully, "These war horses must be worth a hundred gold. Hey, hey, help me take the lead , I’ll be back as soon as I go.”
"What do you want to do? You don't really have the idea of those war horses!"
"I don't do anything, even if I give this bunch of war horses, I would think it would be too hot." These war horses together are worth five or six hundred gold. How dare he swallow it as a little captain? Bi is guilty, he left not to act on his own to ask the young man to bring the horse into the city, but to report to a person.
"Is this true?" The captain of the city gate was reporting to a middle-aged man. Although the middle-aged man was already middle-aged, there was still a frivolous expression on his face, which did not look like a middle-aged man at all. steady.
"Every sentence is true, how dare the little one deceive the general, those horses are all tall horses, and they all look like incomparable gods. It makes Jean En envious of each other." The captain guarding the gate is reporting to one of his superiors.
This man is a ten thousand general in Xinye City. He is extremely greedy. What he defends is the direction of the south gate. War horses have always been something that a general can meet but can't ask for. Can a warlike horse save lives? It's a pity This person had never gotten any decent war horses, they were all bad horses or ordinary horses, and now he heard from his subordinates that several good war horses had appeared, so he was naturally moved.
"Do you know where they are!" Not only did he send out horses, but even his commander-in-chief, General Wei Yan, also lacked good horses. If it is true what the captain said, then these few horses are irrelevant. The boss, Wei Yan, turned his head.
"They have gone into the city, they should be staying at an inn!" The city gate captain reported.
"Looking for an inn?" The middle-aged man muttered to himself and repeated, "Okay, you go and keep an eye on them, I'll be right there."
The young man and his party entered Xinye City and moved away from the south gate of Xinye City. The strong man next to the young man immediately complained, "My lord, you are too kind to them. Five thousand dollars, go through the city gate." It’s only five thousand dollars, why don’t they grab it? If I tell you, I should have killed them just now, these greedy villains.” The strong man was very dissatisfied.
"Be safe, don't be impatient, be safe and don't be impatient." The young man was reassuring everyone. It was easy to kill those city gate guards, but once something happened, it was difficult to deal with it quickly, and the villain was easy to deal with, but this I don't know who is behind the villain, how to deal with it.
The young men entered the city in the name of visiting their relatives, and they asked for half a gold. If other people entered the city, would it be more? In fact, the young men thought too much. If it weren't for the fact that Liu Mang and the others were few and unfamiliar faces, some other big merchants would not dare to charge five thousand dollars for a carriage even if they gave the city gate soldiers ten courage. figure.
"It's getting late, let's find a place to stay first!" Liu Mang led the horse and walked ahead.
"Guests!" Soon the young man and others found a place to stay. A hotel called Bafang Inn was opening. Seeing the young man and others with strange faces and horses, they immediately greeted them.
"There are four of us, please arrange three rooms for us." The young man said to the waiter.
"Okay! Three upper rooms! Guest officer, please come inside!"
Just when the young man and others were about to teach the child the war horse and let him take it into the horses in the backyard to treat him well, something suddenly flew out from the Bafang Inn.
"My lord, be careful! There are hidden weapons!" The strong man next to him immediately ran to the young man's side to protect him. The young man didn't stop him either, who could hurt himself in front of him.
…The young man took a closer look. It turned out that the hidden weapon in front of him was not something else, but a person, a living person, moaning in pain on the ground.
"What's going on?" The young man asked frowning when he saw the pain of the man lying on the ground.
"Let me tell you, Liu Wu, that your package is on our side. Either you take the money to redeem it, or you get out of here! What the hell, you don't pay for staying in the hotel.!" A man who looked like a butler With a few servants behind him, he said disdainfully to the man who was thrown outside.
"Poor, pitiful! Wan Guan's family wealth has been wiped out all at once." Xiaoer next to him couldn't help shaking his head when he saw the man who fell on the ground in front of him.
"What's the matter?" The young man seemed to be a little interested and asked.
"My lord, the one who was thrown out was named Liu Wu. He was a mediocre man. He was originally a rich businessman. You said that he didn't take it with him, but he was deceived by the lard and brought it with him. All the wealth came to us!"
"Have you been fooled by lard?" The young man beside him frowned even more. This kind of people who bring all their wealth to Yangzhou to develop are encouraged. Not only the tax is halved, but also the title of government and businessmen will be given, so that they have enough rights to be on an equal footing with others, instead of blindly becoming the most Lowly businessman.
"He thought the same way, so he offended Master Guo's family in Xinye!" The interests of the family were not divided, but because it made Xinye more stable, Liu Qi, the prefect of Xinye, took measures to appease the Guo family, making the Guo family stronger.
The Guo family also has a few people who work in the government of Xinye City.
How did this Liu Wu come to such a field, that is because he Liu Wu really thought that the merchants in Yangzhou had returned home to be the masters, and thought that there was no need for the gentry to bow their heads and avoid going away.
Therefore, in these few business competitions, Liu Wu, a person without a background, contradicted the Guo family several times, and even didn't give the Guo family any face. Originally, because Xinye had just entered Yangzhou, the Guo family could be regarded as a low-key person. It's a lot of chatter with this Liu Wu, but some time ago, after the prefect of Xinye disappeared for a long time, the Guo family finally showed his fangs.
Liu Wu's Wanguan net worth was immediately confiscated by the Guo family.
The Guo family used various means to test Yangzhou's attitude towards businessmen at first, but after seeing Yangzhou's lack of response, it became the same as before.
Who is his Guo family? He is a gentry. What is your Liu Wu? You are just a lowly businessman. How can Liu Wu's wealth be compared with the suppression of these gentry? Soon Liu Wu's family business will collapse Lost.
Most of them were annexed by the Guo family, which is why Liu Wu is so miserable.
"Shouldn't this Liu Wu be an official businessman? How dare this Guo family do anything to Liu Wu?" Those who brought all their wealth to Yangzhou will be rewarded by the Yangzhou government, and the government businessman is one of them.
"Official businessman? Hehe, there is no real name. This official businessman's quota has long been occupied by the Guo family! How can it be Liu Wu's turn!" The government businessman given by Yangzhou also has a quota, which is to encourage businessmen from other states to come. To develop Yangzhou's business in Yangzhou, as long as the business is developed, it will naturally drive Yangzhou's economy, and investors will have greater market returns.
But now Xinye's government and business quotas, those tax-free quotas and beneficial things are all occupied by the Guo family. They not only took the government and business quotas, but also used their own interests to deal with businessmen from other states. , These individuals were originally attracted by Yangzhou's policies. They wanted to make a big splash, but they didn't expect to be cheated of their family property by the means of the Guo family's gentry, or use strong methods, or Come secretly.
…This group of businessmen who came to Yangzhou could only suffer unspeakably, because they all brought all their wealth, but they did not expect that this was a road of no return.
"Guo family?" The young man read the name several times. He remembered the Guo family.
"My lord? That Liu Wu?" The burly man next to him asked the young man, as if he wanted to ask if he could help this Liu Wu. The young man waved his hand. More things are worse than less things. Now is not a good time for disputes.
"Son, please take our war horses to the backyard to feed them with good fodder. The money will be counted in our account books." The young man asked the strong man to take out another piece of gold and gave it to the child. .
"You don't need to be so troublesome!" A carefree voice sounded behind Liu Mang, "I will take care of these war horses for you, General."
"En?" Liu Mang turned his head, he saw an acquaintance, wasn't it the captain who was guarding the gate before.
The captain at the gate was standing beside the man on the horse, looking at the man on the horse, he seemed to be a school captain.
"The Guo family is here!" Xiaoer next to him said cautiously in a low voice.
"The Guo family?" The young man frowned even deeper.
"Who are you?" The young man asked the general of the Yangzhou Army riding on the horse.
"I am Guo Yi, the garrison general of Xinye City!" General Guo quickly announced his name.
"So it's General Guo. I don't know if General Guo has something important to do with us?" The young man stepped forward and asked.
"Where are you from?" Guo Yi asked the young man.
"Report to the general that we are from Jingzhou!"
"Are you visiting relatives?"
"Yes!"
"What do your relatives do?" Guo Yi asked the young man as if checking his household registration.
"My uncle just settled down in Shouchun's house, and we came to look for him after we got the news."
"Oh that's good!" Guo Yi nodded.
"General, what do you mean?"
"It's nothing, it's just because some of my war horses were lost and I came here to search for them. Look, I found them!" Guo Yi is not a fool. If he was a fool, he wouldn't have said so much to the young man in the first place. He said so much because he was visiting the bottom of the young man. Now that he knew that this man was from Jingzhou, Guo Yi would be nervous if he came from other places, but Jingzhou didn't need to be like this.
Now Jingzhou and Yangzhou are enemies. His former old club and his current old club are no longer alliances, but enemies. The Jingzhou navy was completely wiped out by the Yangzhou navy, so Jingzhou There is no big threat to Yangzhou. This person is still here to visit relatives. His relatives do not have much status in Yangzhou. It seems that at most they are just ordinary people who have settled in Yangzhou.
"Fart! This is obviously our war horse!" The grim-faced man next to him immediately spoke angrily. They rode these war horses all the way here. How could they be Guo Yi's war horses? "We were riding them just now!"
"You said you have ridden these war horses?" Guo Yi asked the man with the scar on his face with a smile.
'yes! We rode him into town! "The man with the scar on his face explained.
"Then it's the best! As soon as I lost my horse, you rode on it. Now that I have all the stolen goods, what do you want to say!" Guo Yi said to the young men below. A treacherous smile appeared on the corner of the man's mouth. "Someone get them for me!" r1152