When Qiyou arrived in Yangzhou, he began to travel around. This reassures people with ghosts in their hearts, but Chang Yongnian is very angry. He wrote a letter and sent it back to the capital, but Pan Shengyuan couldn't stop it.
Both the imperial envoy and the entourage can be directly accessed. So this booklet arrived in Qi Hao's hands a few days later.
After reading it, Qi Hao smiled and said to Yuan Bao: "You go to Baihuayuan, and tell the emperor and empress dowager that I will eat dinner in the evening."
In the afternoon, Qihao went to Baihuayuan and showed the zhezi to Yuxi. Seeing Yuxi looking at him, Qi Hao smiled and said, "Mother, this is a complaint written by an official who followed Qiyou to Jiangnan."
Yuxi took the Zhezi and said after reading it: "This method can only be used once."
Yun Qing didn't understand, and asked, "What does it mean to only use it once?"
"Qiyou travels around the mountains and water, if Bai Zhenghu really has a problem, you can feel relieved to see him like this. Once people lose their vigilance, they will easily show their feet." But if Qiyou finds out that Bai Zhenghu has a problem, everyone knows that this matter is spread out. He is not really a dude. In the future, when investigating the case, the officials did not dare to relax.
Qi Hao said: "Mother, Chang Yongnian said in the Zhezi that this Bai Zhenghu had a very simple life and that no one in the family was invited. He and Mrs. Bai did all the affairs of the family."
Yun Qing was originally not interested in this matter, but after listening to it, he was very surprised: "There are such poor officials in my court?"
Yuxi laughed after hearing this: "The prefect’s salary is sixty taels of silver, and it doesn’t cost much to buy a servant. You see, Nie Xin’s two-sleeved breeze is dedicated to the people, and his life is very simple. But even for him, there are three or four in the family. It's a subordinate." Nie Xin was admitted as an official after being admitted as a jinshi. At that time, he sought out the magistrate of a county in Yunnan.
When he was an official, he was diligent and honest and dedicated to the people, and Yuxi liked him very much. However, Yuxi did not promote him quickly, and it is not a good thing to be promoted too quickly at a young age. So even if Yuxi liked him very much, he didn't deliberately promote him. Today, he is still just a five-rank Zhizhou.
Nie Xin didn't know that Yuxi had been paying attention to him. He was promoted from county magistrate to prefecture within ten years without any background, and his promotion was considered very smooth.
Yun Qing understood the meaning of Yuxi's words: "Are you saying that his simplicity is pretended?"
Yuxi shook his head and said, "I can't say the same. Maybe it happens that the family encounters difficulties and needs a large amount of money, and he is unwilling to accept other people's funding, and then sell the valuable things in the family to pay back. And Qiyou, it just so happened. Visited him at this time."
"Of course, maybe it's pretending. It's easy to be suspicious just for a prefect to pretend to be poor." So Yuxi felt that pretending to be poor should be impossible.
Yun Qing asked: "That said, he may be unspeakable."
Yuxi smiled and said: "I'm not a god, how can I know if he is pretending or is unspeakable. This matter will be known after a while." After the case is cleared, it will be known.
Yun Qing turned to look at Qi Hao, and asked, "Ahao, this Bai Zhenghu really colluded with the salt merchant?"
Qi Hao shook his head and said, "Whether Bai Zhenghu is in collusion with the salt merchants is still uncertain. But there is indeed something wrong on the Jiangnan side. Not long ago, Lu Fei's men unintentionally found a boat of private salt." That's why when Zeng Xinde impeached Bai Zhenghu, Qi Hao ordered Qiyou to go to Jiangnan to investigate.
"Have you told Qiyou about this?"
Qi Hao shook his head and said, "No, I want to take this matter to temper Ayou."
When Yuxi heard this, he smiled and said, "Then you may have worn out." This kid is just as good as his abilities and wrists, but he is just too lazy. All day long thinking about eating, drinking and having fun, not a little self-motivated.
But as a prince, this is quite good. Too motivated, it is easy to breed ambition. So knowing that Qiyou was working as a messenger for three days and two days fishing, Yuxi never said about him, let him go. Others said it was useless.
Qi Hao smiled and said: "Don't worry, you can grind it slowly." Qiyou may have many shortcomings, but he respects his elder brother very much. Let him do something, even if he doesn't like it, he will do it well.
That evening, Qiyou was having dinner with Pan Shengyuan in the box, when suddenly Xiao Er brought a young girl holding a pipa.
Hearing that the girl was here to play music for them, Chang Yongnian looked directly at Qiyou.
Pan Shengyuan frowned and said to Xiao Er: "We don't want to play music." In some high-end restaurants in Beijing, there are also piano and music tunes for the purpose of enlivening the atmosphere.
Of course, some of these women do not sell themselves. Yes, selling art also sells oneself. However, most men just take it for fun, and won't really take it home. And Qiyou's reputation in the DPRK is not very good, it is just that he is not positive when he is a errand relative to him. In private life, Qiyou is famous for her self-cleansing, not to mention her concubine not even having a common room. Therefore, Pan Shengyuan was quite sure that this woman was not from Qiyou.
Xiao Er said respectfully: "It was ordered by the guest in the next room, so please listen." It was also the guest next to him who gave him a reward of ten taels of silver. Such high-profile guests are rare. After consulting the shopkeeper, he brought people here. But if these guests don't want them, he will take them away.
Qiyou asked the woman: "Mountains and rivers, ambushes on all sides, autumn moon in the Han Palace, and Yuzhou Singing Night, which one of these famous songs would you like?"
The woman hugged the pipa for a blessing, and said: "The slaves can play..." The voice seemed like a clear spring, which made people uncomfortable to hear.
"Then you can play a song of mountains and flowing water to listen to."
Although Qiyou didn't learn melody, he often listened to Liuer and Huang Siling playing the piano. Under the influence of ears and eyes, there is also a certain ability to distinguish. So after listening to this girl's song, Qiyou found it very interesting, and asked, "I've been playing very well, haven't you learned it for many years?" With such a level, it is impossible to be a singing girl in such a restaurant. The guest next door is intriguing.
The woman got up and gave a blessing: "The Nujia has been learning the pipa since she was three years old."
"No wonder." Such a level cannot be reached in more than a decade.
After finishing speaking, Qiyou waved his hand and said: "Go down!" If her second sister sees her, her temperament will probably help her. However, he didn't have this interest anymore.
Pipa Girl glanced at Qiyou, then lowered her head and said, "Yes, guest officer." She was a little nervous when she got the order today, but she didn't expect that nobles would not even look at her.
Xiao Er also quit wittily.
Pan Shengyuan asked, "Master, do you want to see the guest next door?" See what purpose this person has.
Qiyou laughed and said, "I'm tired, so I have to go back to the inn to rest earlier."
Since childhood, the number of compliments to him is countless. There are even many big businessmen who give him money. A joke, would he be short of money. Not to mention that the annual income of his three shops is very impressive, but that the farms and other things that his parents reward him are enough to give him a lifetime of good food and clothing.
Sitting in the next room is Rong Tongji, the richest salt merchant in Yangzhou.
When Qiyou left the restaurant, a stout man pushed aside and walked into the box next door: "Brother, they are gone."
Rong Tongji smiled and said: "You Wang is a nobleman of Tianhuang, how can he see me because of a singer. That would be too much of his status as a prince."
Yan Simao didn't understand, and asked, "Big Brother, why should I send a singer over if I know I won't see you?"
"I just wanted to test the reaction of King You." At this point, Rong Tongji smiled and said: "King You, it doesn't look like a difficult lord." King You speaks well, which is a good thing for them.
"Big brother, you are too cautious. But you are a hairy boy. You can only become the servant of the Xing Department with a good background. There is no real ability." Like his big brother, he has spent half his life fighting for a good day today.
Rong Tongji said, "Be careful not to make a big mistake." There are some things he didn't say, and that person also specially sent a message to let them converge in the recent period, and no more changes are allowed.
Yan Simao is a straight boy. He doesn't understand the twists and turns of this. He directly asked: "Big brother, what should we do next?"
Rong Tongji said: "Wait." If you can win this master, there will be no worries. However, there must be enough guarantees to act. Otherwise, everyone who is careless will have to fold in.
As soon as Qiyou returned to the inn and sat down, he heard the guard say outside: "Master Chang, please see me."
Qiyou was a little impatient: "I'm tired, if there is something for him to report back tomorrow."
Chang Yongnian originally wanted to talk about today's affairs, but when he saw Qiyou not seeing him, he could only go back in awe.
After the bath, Qiyou spread his hands and feet on the bed.
Zhao Qian handed over a booklet: "Master, Ning Yi sent some things back." Ning Yi was one of the guards who disappeared after going ashore. His ancestral home in Yangzhou can speak Yangzhou dialect, so Qiyou sent him to inquire about the news.
Zhao Qian shook his head and said, "Yes."
Qiyou immediately got up when he heard this, and took the pamphlet from Zhao Qian. This booklet not only records the life backgrounds of Yangzhou prefects, Tongzhi and other officials, as well as the top ten wealthy businessmen. Among the ten wealthy merchants, salt merchants accounted for five.
After reading the booklet carefully, Qiyou's eyes fell on the name Rong Tongji. I will pay special attention to this person because this person came to Yangzhou eight years ago. When he came, he was just an ordinary merchant. The other four salt merchants were more or less related to the local noble family or the former governor-general. Of the remaining five wealthy businessmen, four are local, and their wealth is accumulated by two or three generations; the last wealthy businessman is a business genius, known to the people of Yangzhou, and is still talked about by many people today.
In other words, only Rong Tongji, without relying on anyone, took eight years to become the top ten wealthy businessman in Yangzhou from an ordinary merchant. In the meantime, Qiyou didn't believe it without a mess.
After a while, Qiyou said to Zhao Qian: "Tell Ning Yi, let him investigate this Rong Tongji thoroughly." He felt that a gap would be found in this person.
Zhao Qian nodded and asked, "Master, how did they find out about Bai Zhenghu?"
Qiyou shook his head and said, "We haven't found any problems with Bai Zhenghu yet." Maybe it's an upright official, maybe it's hidden deeply. However, he will figure it out.