Reincarnation of the powerful minister

Qingpingyuan yamen.Chief Yan Chang hugged his beloved teapot, lying on a wooden rocking chair, humming a little tune, and drinking from the spout.

A small official knocked on the door and came in, and said excitedly: "Yuchang, joy from heaven, joy from heaven!"

Yan Chang glared at him: "Hi! It's a place where we don't shit, how can we find gold?"

The little official knew that he had just been reprimanded by Lingwu Supervisor Wang Jianzheng two days ago, and he was unhappy, so he quickly explained: "It's Jin Zilong who came to the door, look, this is a door-knocking ceremony." He put an oiled paper bag on the table and untied the tied rope.

The packaging was very inconspicuous, and Yan Chang lacked interest, but he saw the little official peeled out a black lacquer carved wooden box with gilt painting from the paper, and carefully handed it to him.Just looking at the fine workmanship of the box, one can imagine the weight of the contents inside. As soon as the box lid is opened a gap, the fragrance of tea leaves comes out.Yan Chang took a deep breath and said intoxicated: "The best Songluo tea...just this box is worth a hundred taels of silver."

Usnea tea is green in color, rich and mellow in taste, and has a unique olive fragrance. It is one of the most popular tea varieties favored by dignitaries.In fact, this box of tea only weighs a catty. If it is placed in Huizhou, the place of origin, or even in the capital, even the best quality tea leaves can be sold for ten taels of silver per catty, which is already a high price.However, Pingliang Prefecture is remote and adjacent to the frontier fortress, so tea can be used as currency circulation, mainly because the northern barbarian tribes have a great demand for tea.

Because these nomads eat meat all the year round, they will get sick if they don’t drink tea, but there is no tea produced on the grassland, so they have to buy it from Daming, so tea and salt are almost equivalent to currency in the border areas.The imperial court has issued decrees repeatedly to prohibit private sales of private tea and salt, but astonishing profits have been the goal pursued by businessmen from ancient times to the present, so they have been banned repeatedly.

Although the quantity of this box of top-grade pineapple is small, if it is sold to some tea-loving and arty nobles of the grassland tribes, as a way to compare each other, it is estimated that it can be sold at a high price of one hundred taels, and it may even be exchanged directly with Beizhu. A windfall from the pen!Yan Chang's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately asked, "Who sent this tea?"

The little official replied: "It's a young master. He was just outside the gate of the garden and said he wanted to talk about a business with Yu Chang."

Yan Chang immediately jumped off the rocking chair, straightened his crooked hat, and said, "Hurry up and come in, see you in the hall."

In the hall, the host and guest take their seats after seeing the ceremony.Yan Chang saw that the son who came to the door was about sixteen or seventeen years old, with a handsome appearance and exquisite clothes, and he was accompanied by several powerful attendants. He looked like a rich man or a family member. He served tea with extra graciousness and asked: " How dare you ask this young master's name? What kind of business do you want to discuss with me?"

"My surname is Su, and I'm the third in the family. The chief can just call me Su Sanlang." Su Yan said with a smile, "The family is in the tea business, and because they plan to open up several new freight lines, they lack horses, so I'm here to buy them."

Yan Chang's face was cloudy when he heard this, "I'm afraid Mr. Su has found the wrong seller. My place is Qingpingyuan under the jurisdiction of the Lingwu Supervisor of Yuanma Temple. The horses are all official horses. How can I sell them privately?"

Su Yan smiled and said: "If no one gives advice, how dare you come to the prison temple to buy? I'm young and impatient, and I don't like to talk around circles, so I just say bluntly, I want five hundred horses."

Five hundred horses at a stretch?This is too generous!Yan Chang was almost stunned by the number, and asked in a daze, "Really?"

"It's absolutely true. Five hundred horses are needed first, and each horse is 30 taels of silver. But the horses must be inspected first, and they can only be accepted after passing the inspection. But don't worry, the boss, these horses are mainly used to transport goods, so there will be no requirements for their appearance. too high."

Yan Chang was enthusiastic when he heard the quantity, but hesitant when he heard the price: "Nowadays, even a low-grade horse can be sold for 50 taels in the border market..."

Su Yan pushed the froth with the lid of the teacup, and said calmly: "Yes, 50 taels per horse, then why don't I go to the border market to buy from those tribal tartars?"

Because those horses belong to their own family, and the horses in the prison temple belong to the official family.Yan Chang knew what he meant, selling the horses of the imperial court to earn his own money, even earning one or two dollars without capital, is nothing, why not sell them at a low price?

But a private sale of such a large amount, in case of being caught by the higher-ups...

Seeing that the other party hesitated, Su Yan smiled, put down his teacup and cupped his hands and said, "I'm making things difficult for others. It's all right, I'll go to Wan'an Garden again."

He made a gesture to get up, Yan Chang hurriedly called: "Wait!"

Seeing that the 5000 taels of snowflake silver that was about to be obtained, he was really unwilling to be snatched away by his colleagues in other courts. If such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is made once, he will have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of his life.Yan Chang decided to take the risk and take the deal, so he made a decision: "deal!"

Su Yan said with a smile: "That's it. You are a cheerful person at first glance. I love doing business with people like you. You are straightforward, and you should be a repeat customer."

Yan Chang said: "Young Master Su bought a lot, I need time to choose, how about two days?"

Su Yan shook his head: "The itinerary is quite tight, and we can't wait for two days. How about this, I will send twenty attendants to go with the chief to choose and save time."

Yan Chang saw that he was young, but he acted shrewdly. He asked his attendants to choose horses, obviously to prevent sellers from passing off inferior ones as good ones, and also saw that he had a strong net worth.Yan Chang took a peek at the four guards standing behind him with their knives on them—all of them are strong and full of energy. Although they are not outstanding in appearance, they are all Lianjiazi.Such a well-trained attendant, only a wealthy family can afford it, but he has brought twenty of them by his side, it really should not be underestimated.

Thinking of those sick horses and thin horses in this garden, I'm afraid they can't be fooled.

Because the officials of the temple supervisor often come to the garden to blackmail, borrow or resell horses at will, especially the immediate boss Wang Jianzheng, who just took away a few more horses two days ago, Yan Chang was very distressed, and secretly hid some of the better-looking horses. Yes, it finally came in handy today.

After ordering the attendants, Su Yan said to Yan Chang: "This is the first time I've come to the temple. I don't know what the scenery is like. Can you walk around?"

"Of course I can. I deserve to accompany you." Yan Chang said modestly, "Actually, it's just a few pastures where the herders raise horses and some cattle and sheep for their own use. There's not much scenery to speak of."

Su Yan smiled and said, "It's a new insight after all."

The two bowed to each other and walked out of the hall, riding to the pasture.

Yan Chang saw that Mr. Su sent all his attendants away and selected horses with the petty officials in the garden, and only brought one with him, and this one was obviously the best-looking among the attendants, he could be said to be the tallest among dwarfs, he couldn't help sighing secretly: These days, not only being an official depends on his appearance, but even being a servant is more popular if he is good-looking. No wonder I have been working for more than ten years, and I am still a chief without even a rank!

After a while came to the pasture, Su Yan saw that the place was flat and wide, with fertile water and grass, which was very suitable for grazing, but the horses in the grass were sparse.

Taking a closer look, the horses were either skinned or their spines were broken, or their bones were high and their hair was off. Nine out of ten were thin, and there was hardly a fat and strong horse. He couldn't help frowning, and asked in a deep voice: You won’t sell these horses to your subordinates, will you?”

Yan Chang was extremely embarrassed: "No, no! There are still some good ones inside. These are kept outside to deal with the superiors."

Su Yan pretended to be surprised: "In order to cope with the superiors? The superiors come to check, do they require the horses to be thin? What kind of new inspection standard is this in Guijian Temple?"

Yan Chang was embarrassed by his loss of face, reluctantly said: "I was afraid that the horse would still get in my eyes, so I forcibly took it away."

Su Yan guessed that the real reason should be more than that, but Yan Chang refused to say more. At this time, he was afraid that the question would arouse his suspicion, so he changed the subject, pointed to a dilapidated civil building that looked like a bunker in the distance, and asked: "What is that?" where?"

Yan Chang replied: "It's the horse camp castle. The shepherd's barracks and stables are all in it. If Mr. Su wants to go in and have a look, you'd better bring all the guards with you."

"Oh, why?"

"Mu Jun is unruly and ignorant, afraid of offending the young master."

Yan Chang glanced at this Mr. Su with indescribable eyes, and some words are not easy to say face to face: half of them are sent to the army to be sent to the army. Such a young man with red lips and white teeth, if he doesn't have enough force to deter him, he won't tear you alive like a pack of wolves rushing at sheep!

Su Yan had previously eavesdropped on Wang Jianzheng's conversation with his subordinates, and knew that more than half of Mu Jun had fled, and the prison temple was suffering from no one to raise horses, so he had to ask the court to allocate manpower, and the Ministry of Punishment dispatched serious criminals.

I also remembered that when he was kidnapped to the bandit village in Yingzui Mountain, Wang Chen had personally confessed that his elder brother Wang Wu was once a member of the Mujun Army. Because the war horse he raised with care was poisoned and killed, he had to run away for fear of being held accountable. .

"He doesn't want to be a deserter, but the Mujun is not much better than the Mahu! I heard that many official horses in the prison garden have been stolen and sold, and the pastures have also been occupied by many tyrants. Those officials are also corrupt. Official horses They have no one to take care of them, they are all sick and thin, and the frontier soldiers raise private horses and sell them to the government. The official horse that my brother raised with care was suddenly poisoned to death one night. He was afraid of losing his head, so he had no choice but to escape. , fall into the grass with us."

Wang Chen's words were still in his ears, Su Yan frowned and thought, I'm afraid I really have to go in and have a look at the Horse Camp Castle.According to the beheading order of the barracks, deserters were the first to be beheaded. What was the situation of this group of herdsmen, and why they would rather risk their heads than flee and become refugees.

Yan Chang accompanied him to stroll around for a while, when a petty official came on horseback and said, "Zhang Qianhu from Ningxia Wei has come to demand the horses needed by the barracks."

After hearing this, Su Yan asked intentionally, "This...will our deal affect the transportation of war horses to the barracks?"

"No, no!" Yan Changsheng patted his chest in fear of losing money, "The most important thing in life is honesty. Since I have agreed to Mr. Su, I will guarantee our deal first. As for the military camp, I will think about it differently." Way." He turned his attention to the thin horses on the prairie who could hardly stand up.

"I'll deal with it first, Mr. Su..."

"It's okay, I'll go shopping again, please do what you want."

Yan Chang explained again: "Don't enter the castle without authorization." Then he hurried away with the little official.

Su Yan waited for him to ride away, and blinked at Jing Hong who was beside him: "Where there is a warning of 'do not enter', people will often break into it. This is called rebellious psychology."

Jing Hong asked: "What happened after breaking in?"

"Either poke a big basket, or discover a big secret, it will never come back without success."

"So my lord is going into the castle?"

Su Yan smiled: "The chief said that you should bring all the guards with you. Look, you are the only one now, tsk."

Jing Hong refused to accept: "One of them is more than twenty of them."

Just as Su Yan was about to make some more jokes, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a figure leading a horse in the distance, which seemed familiar.He squinted his eyes and stared at the back of the man. The more he looked at it, the more strange he felt, and suddenly he shouted: "Hey—that mighty and majestic man with the horse!"

The man turned his head subconsciously, his eyebrows were clearly seen by Jing Hong.Jing Hongzhui asked in surprise, "Was it Wang Wu... or Wang Liu?"

Su Yan believed in Jing Hong's extraordinary eyesight, and was a little puzzled: "Didn't these two brothers escape from Yan'an after robbing the prison, and were hunted down by the guard cavalry, how could they appear here?"

When the man looked back, he seemed to be in a daze for a second, then immediately got on his horse and galloped towards the depths of the grassland.

"If you run away when you meet, you must be guilty. Maybe something will happen again." Su Yan made a decisive decision, raised his whip and urged the horse, "Chasing! Take it down first and then talk about it."