Opposite the entrance hall

As soon as Qi Ran finished speaking, the wind blew up outside the house, and the whistling sound of the wind slapped against the doors and windows, like howling, one after another, the sound continued.

The two people in the room stood and sat one by one, leaned down and looked up, their eyes met, and their eyes were full of meanings that the other party could understand. Although they were speechless, they seemed like thousands of words.

Ji Si hooked her lips and smiled, "Ziheng is really smart, his intelligence is similar to mine, look, we two are born to be confidants."

The man's tone was full of jokes, Qi Ran's expression remained unchanged, and he asked another topic, "It is a felony to hide official food. As the governor of Xiangzhou, Dou Yuanliang's official position is not big but not small. The people in the village have a reputation of being clean and honest, and they are dedicated to their duties, Master Ji's words put a knife on Dou Yuanliang's head, and I don't know if this knife is going to fall?"

"Fall?" Ji Si said these three words in his mouth playfully, then shook his head, "You can't kill a chicken with a sledgehammer, I just want him to spit out the food by himself."

"How do you vomit?" Qi Ran asked back.

"Vit willingly." Ji Si replied.

After hearing the person's words, Qi Ran felt that he was a little clear, but also a little confused. He pursed his lips and thought for a moment, and then slowly said, "Since when did you doubt Dou Yuanliang?"

Ji Si didn't answer, and threw the question back, "Then when did you suspect Dou Yuanliang?"

Qi Ran didn't speak.

This kind of silent resistance was expected by Ji Si. He pushed back his dripping temple hair, exposing his cheeks flushed by the heat, slightly raised his chin, and said softly, "I know what you're thinking." , you think I belong to the prince, and what I say and do is ordered by the prince. No matter how good I pretend on the surface, I am really bad in my bones. With the help of the Weihan corpses of the people in Xiangzhou, maybe I want to use Xiangzhou If you have done meritorious service in this matter, and you will receive the award in front of the palace in Lin'an, all the officials will naturally think that the prince arranged to employ people like gods, and let the prince stand up and gain fame, which is beneficial and has no harm. , but I really don’t mean that, no matter we have an excuse, but at this time we are friends rather than enemies, you doubt Dou Yuanliang and I also doubt Dou Yuanliang, you want to save the people of Xiangzhou, I also want to save, this is clearly the same starting point, it should be possible Sit down, pour some hot tea, have a good chat, sort out the clues of each other, maybe some unclear things will become clear, but the current situation is, I trust you, but you can't trust me, How about I feel aggrieved if this is the case, first tell you what I know, and after listening, how about Ziheng judge for himself whether it is true or false?"

When he spoke, he spoke at an unhurried pace, his cheeks were flushed, his lips were stained with water, glowing under the candlelight, his collarbone was well lined, a drop of water slipped from his chin, slowly across his Adam's apple, neck, The collarbone, finally submerged in the water just before reaching the chest, mixed with the water in the tub.

It is obviously an extremely charming picture, but the expressions of the two are more serious than the other, just like what Ji Si said, Qi Ran can't trust him, he is the prince's man, the prince and Liang Wangrui have been partisan in recent years The dispute is becoming more and more fierce. If the Xiangzhou matter is resolved, there is no doubt who the biggest winner is. mixed into the mud.

Qi Ran thought clearly and carefully, even when Ji Si raised his eyes and looked over, he didn't waver at all.

"Believe it or not, I never intended to lie to you." Ji Si stared into his eyes and said.

Hearing this, Qi Ran looked at this man without making a sound for a long while, but looked very seriously, and after a while, he lightly opened his thin lips, "I have a friend who met King Liang outside the city when he returned to Beijing, and when the emperor sent you On the day the two of us went to Xiangzhou, he mentioned this matter to me. I didn’t worry too much at the time, but I remembered it in my heart. On the day we arrived in Xiangzhou, it was strange to see Wang Zhigui waiting outside the city early. The Zhongyi envoy sent the decree, but the first person to be held accountable for such a major event as the flood in Xiangzhou was the chief envoy of Longxi. The decree was also sent to Cui Hao, who would then deal with it. I went to borrow food, so the chief envoy arrived in Xiangzhou a few days later, a few days later than us, but Dou Yuanliang knew our whereabouts very well, it should be that someone had written to him in advance, and he came to a place The fourth-rank governor is ordered by others, and his rank cannot be low. Dou Yuanliang is a person who even you don’t know the details. Because of how flawless the scheme is, but because he feels that no one but him can calm the flood, and if he is right, Dou Yuanliang belongs to King Liang."

Ji Si'an listened quietly. He knew who the "one friend" Qi Ran was talking about. Qi Ran seemed cold-tempered, but in fact he was extremely crazy, so he didn't have many old friends. Pei Zhan was the only one who could be regarded as a good friend after so many years. One person, Pei Zhan led the order to Beijing the next day of the court meeting, and the triumphant drums of the Pei family resounded throughout Lin'an. Speaking of it now, the two of them met the day before, and returning to the capital without being summoned by a military general is a serious crime However, Qi Ran was still guarding himself.

Although he was not trusted, Ji Si was not angry, but just sighed, "I think there must be someone behind him, but I never thought it was King Liang."

"The king of Liang probably wants him to send us back to Beijing. When the flood subsides and the public is helpless, he will take action to turn the tide and save the people of Xiangzhou from the fire. Compared with a prince who is well-clothed and well-fed in the capital, he is gentle and gentle with the people of Xiangzhou, which is more in line with the reputation of a prince who is virtuous and talented, and loves the people like a son. He has both fame and recognition, which can be called smart."

"He made a lot of wishful thinking," Ji Si sneered twice, "This is to use the flood incident to create momentum and gain a reputation for serving the country, the people, morality and ability. King Liang has deep thoughts."

Qi Ran glanced at him, and continued: "Compared to King Liang, Master Ji's thoughts are not so shallow."

"I'm not very happy with that," Ji Si raised his eyebrows, leaned forward, relaxed his limbs, put his arms across the edge of the bathtub to support his chin, and the black hair behind him hung down in the air, Floating on the water, he looked at Qi Ran from bottom to top, "Why do I have deep thoughts."

"Master Ji has arranged one good show after another, which is very humanly capable." Qi Ran lowered his eyes, and saw the slightly arched back of the man in front of him, his complexion was like a cold moon with a faint red at this time, The downward undulating lines of the neck are smooth and beautiful, and slowly extend until they enter the water and cannot be seen clearly.

"Ziheng praised me like that, but I can't afford it," Ji Si moved his body and changed into a comfortable posture, and said softly, "I think about where to start, since the emperor doesn't plan to send food to Xiangzhou." Speaking of things, if there is no food in Lin'an, and there is no food in Xiangzhou, tens of thousands of people here can only starve to death. Even if food is distributed later, have those old and weak women and children waited for so long? If it is more serious Drinking sewage, cannibalism can be seen, this is obviously the Great Jin Dynasty of Heqing Haiyan, some people have high officials and rich salary, some people are rich in wine and meat, some people starve to death on the street, I just don't want to see this kind of scene, flood, then Dig ditches, introduce terraced fields, expand river channels; if there is no food, then try to find food, after all, there will be no shortage of people.”

"The matter of recruiting imperial merchants has something to do with you." Qi Ran used an affirmative sentence.

Ji Si hooked his lips, neither admitting nor denying, "How do you say that?"

"There are three types of food in Dajin, owned by the royal family, owned by the common people, and owned by merchants. If you want to recruit grain, the royal family can't do enough and the people are not enough. Only the grain in the hands of merchants can feed the people of Xiangzhou," Qi Ran said word by word, " The status of merchants is low, they are not allowed to ride in cars with silk, they are heavily rented and taxed to humiliate them, they are not allowed to be officials, and they are not allowed to be official. Through the ages, only the status of the Communist Party was improved in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, because there were imperial merchants at that time. In this way, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages for them to get the royal asylum. We know that thousands of merchants in the Jin Dynasty also know it, so if there is such a thing as recruiting imperial merchants, no matter whether it is true or not, they will give it a try. Am I right?"

"Ziheng said it was over there, right?"

Qi Ran frowned, "There's one thing I don't understand. The heads of various commercial firms have traveled far and wide and seen a lot of things in the world. Businessmen are very calculating, so they won't take a few casual words seriously. What did Master Ji say to make them believe that the court is in the middle of the world?" Regarding the matter of recruiting imperial merchants, I wonder if Mr. Ji would like to explain it to you?"

"I've never said anything about recruiting imperial merchants," Ji Si said innocently, "Before I left Beijing, I went shopping in the east and west cities of Lin'an. I looked carefully at the merchants one by one, and went to Wenxiang Pavilion at night to say no. The young girl accompanied me to eat flowers and wine, but after drinking for three rounds, she became drunk and confused, and said in a nonsensical manner: I am going to Xiangzhou to inspect, but there is one thing that I can't tell others. If this happens, Scholars, farmers, commerce and industry have to change the order. That’s all.”

"Master Ji is a good trick." After listening to it, Qi Ran understood the trick after thinking about it for a while.

The news of the place of the three religions and nine streams spreads quickly, especially the men in front of women, they can't control their mouths when they are drinking. This kind of self-deprecating words are more confusing than those blunt words. Is it true or false? Everyone couldn't tell the difference, but if you add the fact that this person went to the merchant when he was free earlier, then this matter is a bit interesting.

Ji Si knew that his guess was almost right, so he just smiled and continued to act like he didn't understand anything.

"Since the matter of recruiting imperial merchants is related to you, why do you think something is wrong with Dou Yuanliang?"

"As I said earlier, before I left Beijing, I went to various commercial companies, including Lianghao, of course, and found something interesting. There is a branch called Yuanliang Lianghao, which happens to be from Xiangzhou. I found this Lianghao carefully. It has not been established for a long time, and what's more coincidentally, it is exactly the same as Mr. Dou's working time in Xiangzhou." Ji Si stopped here.

"What do you mean?" Qi Ran frowned.

"Dou Yuanliang served as governor of Xiangzhou for ten years. He stored grain for power and money. This grain cannot be stored for ten years. If so, then we must find a way to solve the private grain. The transportation is difficult and the distance is long, and it is perishable for a long time. , then there is only selling, but it is not easy to sell tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dans of grain at one go, but what if it is a grain number?"

If it is a grain number, then everything is taken for granted and logical.

Ji Si continued: "Taking Lin'an as an example, a bucket of rice costs [-] qian, a bushel costs [-] qian, and a load costs [-] qian. Dou Yuanliang earns money from the Yuanliang Grain Company, so naturally he won't release the grain. He is waiting According to the arrangement of the court, if Lin'an sends money, he can use the money to buy food in Yuanliang. If Lin'an sends food, he can still gain a good reputation of integrity, but Cui Hao came, not only did he come, he also borrowed food , messed up the original development, Dou Yuanliang panicked and could only destroy the warehouse, forced the problem back to the right track, and forced us to return to Beijing to report. As for Cui Hao and Du Heng, it would be better if they were killed, and it would not be a problem if they were not killed."

Qi Ran narrowed his eyes, "Why are you so sure that Cang Ren was destroyed by Dou Yuanliang?"

"It's as if you are sure that the group of people was arranged by Dou Yuanliang to sing the play "Natural Disasters, Ruthless, and Love in the World."

The man's words were so unclear, Qi Ran naturally didn't believe it, he lowered his eyes and thought for a while before uttering a sentence, "Cut off the ditch, go to the temple to sacrifice, the rainstorm is coming."

"Zi Heng is really smart. I only said a few words, but you can guess almost the same," Ji Si laughed, "It's hard to say about natural disasters, but there must be some kind of wages. I knew that people's hearts are much more terrifying than ghosts and gods." , ghosts and gods hurt different kinds, but people kill each other."

"Then are you a human or a ghost?" Qi Ran asked.

"I……"

This question stopped Ji Si, he opened his mouth but didn't know what to say.

Qi Ran didn't mind that he didn't answer, and slowly walked forward and stood within a fist's distance of the tub, leaning slightly closer to him, the two of them were very close, their breaths were intertwined, a little ambiguous, their respective figures Imprinted in the eyes of the other party, suddenly the slightly cool water began to become hot, making people confused whether it was the water that scalded the limbs or the body, or the body.

Ji Si was a little flustered, but still tilted his head up. He couldn't move his eyes away from Qi Ran, and couldn't even perform a simple action like blinking. He kept staring, and only after a long time did he hear Qi Ran ask again: "Who are you?" Ghosts turned into people? Or people turned into ghosts? Or neither?"

What he said was in the clouds, Ji Si felt that he seemed to understand, but he seemed to be in a daze and didn't understand. In the end, he just stood up from the water suddenly, and his movements were too large, splashing a large amount of water and getting wet It touched the ground, and also wet Qi Ran's hair and clothes.

The latter took a step back in shock from the sudden shock, and the drops of water slid down the end of his eyes, like a tear, fleeting. He stared at Ji Si, who hadn't seen anything, and asked, "What are you doing?"

Ji Si's thoughts were a little confused, and she subconsciously said: "The water is freezing."

Qi Ran glanced up and down blankly, then looked away, lowered his eyes and said in a deep voice: "It's getting late, Master Ji should rest earlier."

"Ah... oh..." Ji Si replied in a daze.

After the people left, Ji Si looked down at the water in the bucket, the water lines undulating back and forth blurred his face, he suddenly couldn't tell whether he was Ji Si or Li Si.

After a while, Ji Si's expression suddenly changed, did he walk the bird in front of Qi Ran just now?

The author has something to say:

small theater:

Reader cutie: [Shocked face] I thought Lord Ji was going shopping!

Handsome author: [tsundere face] Humph!

Reader cutie: [Shocked face] I thought Master Ji simply went to a brothel to fuck people.

Handsome author: [tsundere face] Humph!

Cute reader: [Indifferent face] I thought Shisan was a fool.

Handsome author: [tsundere face] Humph!

Reader cutie: [rolls eyes] You are an artificial intelligence!

Tips:

The people of Jia were not allowed to ride in carriages with silk clothes, and paid heavy rents and taxes to embarrass them.

"Historical Records.Book of Pinghuai

In the Tang Dynasty, one bucket is equal to 6.25 catties, one dendrobium is equal to ten buckets, and one load is equal to ten dendrobium.

During the reign of Zhenguang in the Tang Dynasty, a bucket of rice cost about four coins. The background in the article was not as stable as that of the reign of Zhenguan. In addition, Lin'an was the capital, so a bucket of rice was more expensive.

ps: My aunt is still coding when I come here today so that I don’t eat mustard live!