Scholar and old attack

Jingnan Xu's family, these words hit everyone's hearts like a heavy hammer.

This is not an ordinary family, but a well-known wealthy merchant in the capital. The Xu family is different from ordinary merchants. Their family specializes in maritime business, and it can be said that they are the overlord of the sea.

If a merchant wants to go smoothly at sea, he must greet the Xu family in advance, which shows how powerful the Xu family is.

Logically speaking, such wealthy businessmen should be arrogant and domineering in the capital, but the Xu family's family style has always been low-key, and no one comes out and walks around on weekdays.

Every time there is a famine, someone will come out to spread porridge, so the Xu family has a very good impression in the eyes of the people in Kyoto.

Suddenly one day their boss asked them to attack such a good family. To be honest, they couldn't accept it for a while.

Of course, Jiang Jingyuan didn't aim at the Xu family without hesitation. He has been collecting things about the Xu family in the month since he came back. On the surface, the Xu family is indeed spotless.

But in the capital city where fish and dragons are mixed, the cleanliness is the more suspicious. Ordinary people have some trivial matters, but this Xu family is like a fairyland located in the mortal world, without any mortal atmosphere.

Isn't it suspicious?

This is the biggest doubt. They have worked so hard to build such a reputation that they must be covering up something important.

Jiang Jingyuan's purpose is to dig out what they have hidden, so that the world can see what they think is what they think is like behind the virtuous family.

Especially the scandals that broke out from such an untainted family are even more controversial, aren't they?

Jiang Jingyuan curled his lips. He also knew that the Xu family must have solved almost all the tails that needed to be solved after so many years of operation. It must not be easy to dig out those old things.

But Jiang Jingyuan just likes to challenge difficult things.

"Of course I know that the Xu family has a very good reputation in the capital, so we should understand it deeply. If the Xu family is really a good family, of course we should report it. If the Xu family is a hypocritical family, we should report it even more. Newspaper officials, we should report all the injustices in the world for the people of the world, and make things clearer!"

Jiang Jingyuan's words were so passionate that the [-] newspaper officials who had just passed the assessment felt a burst of enthusiasm in their hearts. It turns out that they have such a great effect!

It turns out Mr. Jiang is such a good official for the country and the people!

Even Xu Shuizhou felt his heart welling up when he heard this, wishing he could immediately throw his head and sprinkle blood, and looked at Jiang Jingyuan with deep admiration.

But when his eyes touched A Yuan's eyes that fell into the ice cave, Xu Shuizhou's enthusiasm was instantly dispelled.

Ah Yuan is fooling people again today...

After appeasing the group of newspaper officials who were about to take office, Jiang Jingyuan assigned them all to Xu Shuizhou. He still had a lot of things to deal with in the household department, and he believed in Xu Shuizhou's ability.

Xu Shuizhou looked at Jiang Jingyuan's back as he went away, and then looked at the thirty newly appointed newspaper officials staring at him in front of him, a little awkwardly.

"Hi everyone, I will be your editor-in-chief from now on. Because the newspaper is not mature enough, for the sake of fairness, everyone is now unified as a Jiupin reporter, who is responsible for recording reports. If anyone gets more exclusive reports in the future, then Priority will be given to promotion. The salary is the same as that of all ninth-rank officials, six shi of grain and five taels of silver. I promise everyone here that if anyone can dig deep into a serious report, not only will he be promoted but he will also get an extra salary."

Xu Shuizhou's words were fairly well-behaved, he didn't stutter, and he didn't need to be too forceful. In short, he was so ordinary that he couldn't be more ordinary, but it was just such words that made them feel peaceful for no reason.

"Our official residence is located in a quiet house on the outskirts of Beijing, and we can get reimbursed for our expenses when we go out to work."

Xu Shuizhou led them to the newspaper office while introducing them to the newspaper office.

Chen Yiming was in a daze when he heard it. The lady of Shangshu said a lot of new words that they had never heard before, and asked boldly, "Madam, I don't know what you mean by reimbursement."

Xu Shuizhou smiled and patiently explained to him, "That is to say, you don't have to pay for all your expenses outside, and the newspaper will bear all of it. Of course, the reimbursement must be true, and it will not be reimbursed if it exceeds a certain range."

Now Chen Yiming and the others understood, and everyone felt that this newspaper office was pretty good, with easy work and good pay.

Xu Shuizhou was observing their expressions while speaking, seeing that they all settled down one by one, the corners of his mouth could not help but rise slightly.

Jiang Jingyuan was not idle when he returned to the Ministry of Household Affairs. If he wanted to pay off the debts accumulated by Daming over the years, he still needed to add a lot of income to the court.

Counting the income of the milk powder, although the milk powder was robbed by the people as soon as it was shipped to the Ming Dynasty, it also needs money to make vacuum machines and dryers, and the money earned is almost just offset by the money for the machinery. Use the state of loss.

Entering autumn, it’s time to collect agricultural taxes, and the Ministry of Households will soon receive another income. Open the booklets compiled by the Ministry of Accounts. The Ministry of War has changed new clothes and shoes this year, but these are secondary, armor weapons It also needs to be replaced.

Jiang Jingyuan did the math, the Ming Dynasty had a total of 120 million soldiers, if all of them needed to be replaced, each of them would have two taels of silver, that would be 240 million silver.

Looking at the taxes collected last year, it was only 600 million taels in total, and after taking into account the salaries of the officials of the Ming Dynasty and the cost of building bridges and paving roads, it was simply beyond the means.

The newly appointed Minister of the Household Department is Ning Yushu, who was dispatched by the Ministry of Officials. He is a relatively upright Confucian scholar in his 40s.

Seeing that Jiang Jingyuan was worried, he suggested, "Master Jiang, why don't you wait for this year's tax revenue to come up before changing the army's weapons and armor."

Jiang Jingyuan shook his head, and vetoed it, "No, this year I made a move on the grassland, and the grassland will definitely not let it go. This year's autumn harvest will definitely come to the border to harvest grass valleys. We have to make preparations in advance."

As soon as Jiang Jingyuan's words fell, Yuan Changjian, Minister of the Ministry of War who came in to discuss matters with him, felt very relieved when he heard his words.

It seems that Jiang Jingyuan is not a reckless person. Although he disgusted the grassland tribes in the grassland, he also brought hidden dangers to Daming.

Grassland people are famous for their vengeance. Although they are disgusting and they have a sense of accomplishment, they will also anger them.

The Ministry of War originally didn't want to ask the court for anything more this year, the military salary was also paid, and new clothes were made, but after Jiang Jingyuan made such a fuss, these things seemed a little unimportant.

"Master Jiang is right. There have been spies from the frontier sending a message that the grassland tribes have sent an army to go north to attack the grasslands of the people."

Because of what Jiang Jingyuan said just now, Yuan Changjian's attitude towards Jiang Jingyuan was much better, and his tone was not as sharp as when he was above the court.

"Master Yuan." Seeing Yuan Changjian coming, Ning Yushu quickly got up and saluted.

Minister of the Ministry of War, Yuan Changjian, has an evil spirit on his body. People who walk out of the sea of ​​corpses and blood have different eyes from ordinary people. Therefore, there are many people in the court who are afraid of him, and Ning Yushu is no exception.

Compared with Jiang Jingyuan's black-bellied methods, he is more afraid of this kind of person who shouts and kills at the slightest disagreement, pointing swords at each other.

"Ah."

Yuan Changjian just replied softly, without giving him any face.

Jiang Jingyuan sat still, nodding his head as a gesture.

Yuan Changjian, "I know that your household department can't make ends meet, so our military department will come up with a plan on its own, and it depends on whether your household department can agree."

Jiang Jing Yuanhuan raised his head, "Master Yuan, come and listen."

"At least [-] sets of armor and weapons must be equipped for the soldiers fighting in the front line, and it doesn't matter if they arrive one after another."

After repeated discussions with the people in the Ministry of War, Yuan Changjian lowered the value to [-] at the lowest, and it couldn't be lower than [-].

Jiang Jingyuan took a look at the booklet from the household department, and there was still 50 taels in the account, and [-] sets of armor and weapons were still available.

But Jiang Jingyuan didn't want to be equipped with the same weapons as before. The armor needed to be improved, and so did the weapons.

It's not that Ming can't practice fine steel, but it's rarely used on soldiers. Ordinary soldiers still use the same old hand-made swords, which are not only inefficient, but also have low edge sharpness.

Besides, the prairie people are ferocious, without excellent weapons and equipment, they may not be able to win the opponent.

"Since Master Yuan has spoken, the Household Department will naturally follow Yuan University's wishes."

After Jiang Jingyuan thought about it, he still didn't speak too harshly.

"In this way, I would like to thank Mr. Jiang for your generosity on behalf of the officers and men below." Yuan Changjian thought that Jiang Jingyuan would push back like other household ministers, but he didn't expect Jiang Jingyuan to be so easy-going.

"It's all for the people of Ming Dynasty, Master Yuan doesn't need to say thank you." Jiang Jingyuan waved his hand, not caring.

As soon as Yuan Changjian left, Ning Yushu said hesitantly, "In this way, we have to allocate 10 taels of silver, but the Ministry of Households also needs to allocate funds for other places, such as the reconstruction of tea mountains, the expansion of official roads, and the post houses in various places also need to be added. establish."

"These can all be postponed. Focusing on national affairs, allocate 25 taels of silver to the Ministry of War, and buy them as refined steel." Jiang Jingyuan calculated that these things are not too urgent. If the grassland really snatches the salt lake back , that loss is really big.

"25 million taels?"

Ning Yushu felt that Yazi, whose Master Shangshu was not very smart, had only heard of Master Shangshu who saved money for his family, but never heard of Master Shangshu who increased his expenses.

"Well, find someone who can speak well and go to the armory to talk to them. We must forge what I need within a month."

Jiang Jingyuan glanced at Ning Yushu coldly, and after looking away, his tone softened again, after all, it was because his household secretary was not good enough.

If there is a lot of money left in the account of the household department, why worry about this little money.

But like the opportunity to make quick money last time, it cannot be used again. The projects he invested in will not be profitable until next year. Where can he make quick money?

Just when Jiang Jingyuan was worried, it was Xu Shuizhou who came out to solve the problem.

The initial opening of the newspaper was not complicated, it could even be said that it couldn't be more rudimentary, but because of Xu Shuizhou's various promises, these people were still working hard.

It is said that it is a deep excavation, so it is natural not to startle the snake. At first, it was difficult for them to investigate.

Because the Xu family has a very good reputation, they can't find anything on the surface. They can only use some clumsy means - tracking, and carefully record the comings and goings of the Xu family's people every day.

Even the people that the servants come into contact with must be carefully investigated, from vegetable merchants, cloth merchants, to gold and silver jewelry shops.

In this way, even the most deeply hidden person will reveal clues.

Sure enough, the emperor paid off. When everyone thought the Xu family was really innocent, Chen Yiming discovered that there was something wrong with the Xu family and a gold and silver shop.

Have you ever seen buckets of gold and silver carried to the gold and silver shop?

Even if the Xu family has earned money overseas, a small gold and silver shop doesn't need hundreds of big buckets to carry it in.

The key point is that these things are transported in a very concealed way. Every night, they are transported to the swill shop in the backyard of the gold and silver shop by transporting swill.

At first, no one would notice that there was anything tricky about it, until one night, because Chen Yiming stayed up for several nights in a row, he fell asleep sitting in someone's wine stall.

The owner of the wine shop regarded Chen Yiming as a drunken man, so he ignored him and let him sleep in the shop.

Chen Yiming woke up in the middle of the night, vaguely remembering that he was going home, passing by the swill shop behind the gold and silver shop, and seeing them carrying slop, he didn't care at all.

But I don't know if the person who lifted it was slippery, or I didn't expect someone to be watching, so I was careless, and there was a slight sound of iron knocking inside the barrel.

Ding~

With just one sound, Chen Yiming thought he heard it wrong at first. He rubbed his eyes and took a closer look and found that these swill buckets were covered with wooden lids, and the people carrying them were not stained with any dirty water.

Just when Chen Yiming became suspicious and hid his body in the darkness under the moonlight, he discovered that the owner of the gold and silver shop had brought all his staff to the swill shop secretly.

After entering the yard, he couldn't hear the voices inside, but Chen Yiming, adhering to the principle of finding out the truth, squatted outside the swill shop every day.

Occasionally at night, one or two sounds of striking iron objects could be heard, but they were not very clear and were only hazy. If it weren't for Chen Yiming's good hearing, he could still hear it every day, and he would not have noticed any problems.

When a gold and silver shop makes jewelry, it is inevitable that there will be a sound of knocking, but it is like this every night, so how much gold and silver jewelry does it have to make?

Moreover, Chen Yiming also visited and inquired that the jewelry made in this gold and silver shop is not very fine, only ordinary people in the capital city, or not very rich people in the suburbs of Beijing will go to this shop to buy jewelry.

How can a family like the Xu family who are not short of money value things made in this kind of shop.

Doubts piled up one after another, and Chen Yiming couldn't do it all by himself, so he had to go back to find Xu Shuizhou and tell him all the doubts about the matter.

Xu Shuizhou stood up immediately, called back most of the people who had gone out, and assigned Chen Yiming to act as a helper to follow up and investigate bit by bit.

They found that the people in the swill shop would transport the swill buckets out of the city every day, but they did not transport the swill buckets to the place where the livestock were fed after leaving the city, but went all the way east, and then shipped them away by the river.

It's not the boat of the Xu family, but there are people from the Xu family!

Chen Yiming didn't dare to board the boat, so he could only pretend to be a foreigner and ask the people at the dock. The people at the dock also talked in a daze.

After all, once a boat enters the river, it is completely unknown where it is going, and it is easier to be found by following a boat.

Xu Shuizhou had no choice but to come to Jiang Jingyuan to get a charter.

"Send someone to quietly go to various docks to watch. Since we are going to walk through the waterway, we must find places to supply supplies along the way. As long as we find out where they are going in that direction, we can find out their purpose."

Jiang Jingyuan just thought for a while, and then gave a solution. Looking up, Xu Shuizhou was still frowning when he came. Jiang Jingyuan remembered that there are only 30 people in the newspaper office now, and there are so many docks, how could it be possible to be busy.

He wanted to let the people from the household department go, but Jiang Jingyuan tapped on the table with his slender fingers. If he really used the power of the household department, he might startle the snake.

After all, no one knows if there is any eyeliner planted by the Xu family in the household department.

In this way, the manpower of the other six departments cannot be transferred. Since the Xu family has an eyeliner in the household department, there should be people in the other departments...

No, no, no, Jiang Jingyuan's eyes widened suddenly. The Xu family had the guts to make small moves in the capital and manage their reputation so well, there must be someone behind the scenes to help.

And this person's position is not low, otherwise how could he easily get out of the city and transport the goods from the river with ease.

"Ah Zhou, this is on hold for now, you go home and rest first, I will assign you the follow-up work."

Jiang Jingyuan thought for a while, but he didn't dare to let Xu Shuizhou and the others act rashly again. Since the Xu family's roots in the capital are so deeply buried, they might have discovered Azhou and the others a long time ago.

I can't let Ah Zhou get stuck in it anymore. If something happens, I will really regret it.

Xu Shuizhou felt a little reconciled, "Just...forget it?"

"Everyone has been suffering for so long, you should also give them a few days off and let them relax for a few days. I will let the Ministry of Household follow up on the next thing. You have done a good job this time. Change some Reward I will not treat them badly."

Jiang Jingyuan tried to speak lazily, so that Xu Shuizhou could put down his guard.

Xu Shuizhou frowned slightly, always feeling that something was wrong, but he still walked out of the household department obediently.

Minister of the Ministry of War Yuan Changjian came to Jiang Jingyuan again to ask for something. According to the time Jiang Jingyuan agreed, it should be the time for him to deliver the goods, but after waiting for two or three days, the goods did not arrive. He was very upset.

Could it be that the dignified Household Minister still wants to break his promise?

As soon as he went out, he bumped into Xu Shuizhou and frowned deeply.

"Master Jiang is very elegant, and he was still talking about love during Shangmao, but don't forget that the people at the border are still waiting for things from your household department to save their lives."

Yuan Changjian's words fell into Xu Shuizhou's ears, his face suddenly turned pale, he bit his lip secretly, he didn't even make an excuse, and left quickly.

"Master Yuan should not be so leisurely, and I have to trouble Master Yuan to come over for such a trivial matter. It seems that there is no one in the Ministry of War." Jiang Jingyuan saw Xu Shuizhou's body tremble unconsciously when he went out, and found him a place. "My wife and I have never talked about each other in the office. Could it be that my wife came to report to me, and Mr. Yuan should take care of me now?"

"Jiang Jingyuan, you actually let the backyard participate in politics, you don't want to live anymore?" Yuan Changjian was even more shocked after hearing Jiang Jingyuan's words.

Since ancient times, the backyard did not participate in politics, Jiang Jingyuan so blatantly asked his wife to work for him, if this was reported to the emperor, he would still have a way to survive.

"This is not something Mr. Yuan should care about." Jiang Jingyuan lowered his eyelashes, his eyes were deep.

"As for what I want, Mr. Jiang won't forget everything he promised me before."

Yuan Changjian refused to budge an inch. He has always been straightforward. He saw Jiang Jingyuan's willingness to agree before, so he really thought Jiang Jingyuan was a straightforward person.

But now it's time for delivery, not to mention the goods, there is not even a shadow of the goods, it seems that Jiang Jingyuan is talking casually, so Yuan Changjian also came here today with a cavity of anger.

"It will be delivered to you on time tomorrow."

Jiang Jingyuan raised his eyes and looked at Yuan Changjian, both of them had a bloody look in their eyes, and no one would let the other half.

"I hope Mr. Jiang will do what he said. This is the last time I trust you. Otherwise, I will have to ask His Majesty to get a charter for this matter."

In the end, Yuan Changjian was the first to show weakness, flicked his sleeves, and was destined to go out.

"Wait, Master Yuan, I have something to ask you, I wonder if Master Yuan can stop for a moment."

Just when Yuan Changjian was about to walk out of Jiang Jingyuan's gate, Jiang Jingyuan suddenly stopped him.

"What's the matter?"

Yuan Changjian paused.

……

The sun sets, the evening glow dissipates, and enters the darkness without light.

Jiang Jingyuan sat in the office of Hubu quietly watching the bright moon rise, watched the street outside Hubu light up and the lanterns of the night market went out, until the streets were less crowded, Jiang Jingyuan's legs were numb and trembling Stand up majestically.

Step by step, he slowly walked out of the office of the Ministry of Household Affairs, just like a young man who is strolling in the garden, admiring the flowers and the moon, enjoying a leisurely mood.

It's just that Jiang Jingyuan didn't notice the small figure who had been squatting at the door of the household. After seeing him come out, his eyes brightened up, shining like thousands of stars in the dark night.

……

The Xu family's old house is as dark as a ghost house at the moment, all the lights of the houses are extinguished, except for Xu Changming, the head of the Xu family, whose room is still lit with candles.

"Reporting to the Patriarch, a secret guard discovered that someone was inquiring about the swill at the pier."

A man in black knelt in front of a potbellied man, and replied respectfully.

"Have you found out who they are?" Xu Changming was born fair and fat, but his narrow eyes, which were too long to see the eyeballs, always had a bit of sinister color, which was similar to His Mira Buddha-like face did not fit.

"They speak foreign dialects, but the subordinates can still hear the accents of people from the capital, and they are all scholars. It seems that they are some newspaper officials newly made by the household department."

This subordinate said very eloquently.

Xu Changming grabbed the flame on the candle with his hand and smothered it fiercely. The room soon became dark, and only his extremely vicious voice came, "It's Jiang Jingyuan again!"

"Pass down the order to move things quickly tonight, and tomorrow the swill shop will become a real swill shop. In addition, keep an eye on Jiang Jingyuan, and keep an eye on his every move. This time it is your omission."

Xu Changming's voice was like a poisonous snake in the darkness, sticking out its tongue rustlingly, as if looking for prey.

"Yes."

Jiang Jingyuan was like a wanderer, wandering casually on the street, for an unknown amount of time, a group of people came out from the darkness and surrounded the swill shop.

"Search for me!"

It was Yuan Changjian's voice.

Jiang Jingyuan, who was just wandering around, rushed to the swill shop as fast as he could, and joined Yuan Changjian.

The people who had been following Jiang Jingyuan behind him were suddenly anxious. Of course they knew the importance of that shop, but this time they were really caught off guard.

As soon as the men in black made eye contact, one of them was immediately sent back to report to the master.

Xu Shuizhou has been following Jiang Jingyuan's back, and he knows that A Yuan has something to hide from him. The two have been together for three years, and Jiang Jingyuan's every move can't escape his palm. The more relaxed, the more Xu Shuizhou felt something was wrong.

Sure enough, he hadn't come out of the office yet, so something must have happened. When he finally saw A Yuan come out in the middle of the night, he found a few black shadows behind him.

Xu Shuizhou, who wanted to call someone, swallowed his voice immediately, and followed them silently. He didn't dare to take it lightly, for fear of alarming these people.

When Ah Yuan was running, he saw a man in black who wanted to run back, and without thinking about it, he gave the man in black a sap, and wanted to report back, but there was no door!

Seeing the man in black lying on the ground, Xu Shuizhou moved his wrist. He knew how to knock this sap very well.

The author has something to say: Thank you for the little angel who voted for me or irrigated the nutrient solution~

Thanks to the little angel who cast [Mine]: Ocean 1;

Thanks to the little angel who irrigated [nutrient solution]:

柚子Yoki,攒一ロ袋°20瓶；七月10瓶；茶凉不过片刻5瓶；云沁儿2瓶；球球1瓶；

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!