Chapter 68 Instigation
Chapter 68 Instigation
Pei Baihu, who is about to become rich, suppresses his somewhat inflated mentality.
Then, he shifted his attention and looked up his “wandering half life”.
It seemed that Zhang Cong was addicted to the glamorous world of Yangzhou. Since entering Yangzhou, he had no intention of continuing to move south.
Pei Yuan looked through the past records and looked at the little red dot circling around Yangzhou with understanding.
You are in middle age now. You have studied for half your life. What's wrong with enjoying yourself?
Just don’t delay your becoming the Prime Minister.
Brothers, we are all depending on you to back us up!
Pei Yuan has already decided that when he passes by Yangzhou this time, he must make a special trip to find Zhang Cong and improve his friendship with him.
Afterwards, Pei Yuan searched for Song Chunniang's location as usual.
Then my heart skipped a beat.
Song Chunniang seemed to have entered Yingtian Prefecture. Judging from the distance, she was almost on the same map as herself.
Is this ten miles or twenty miles?
Pei Yuan couldn't make an accurate judgment for the time being.
What is she here for?
A thought flashed through Pei Yuan's mind. Could it be that he was going to come to Qinhuai River to commit a crime again?
Pei Yuan was a little distracted, and at this moment, he also noticed the quietness in the flower hall.
Looking up, Duan Min was drinking slowly with his head down, and Cheng Leixiang neither said a word nor looked around, trying hard to reduce his presence.
And myself...
Well, I was lost in thought just now.
He let go of Er Liang Zi and ignored the others. He asked the aggrieved girl who was busy tidying up her clothes, "In the past, if your manager Sun had something urgent to do to find your boss, how long would it take for him to come back?"
The girl knew that Pei Yuan could not afford to offend her, so she replied in a low voice, "Usually he will be back in half an hour."
Pei Yuan was so absorbed in looking at the map and busy thinking about some follow-up matters that he didn't really notice how much time had passed.
Clink your glasses, the wine inside is cold.
The two girls hurriedly said, "I'll have someone bring the wine down and heat it up."
Just as he finished speaking, he heard the sound of a barge approaching.
Then someone hurriedly boarded the boat, and the deck was pounding with the sound of footsteps.
Pei Yuan looked outside and saw Sun Keding leading the butler walking in with big strides.
Even though they were far apart, as soon as their eyes met, a smile appeared on Sun Keding's face, without the slightest sign of unhappiness at being summoned and dismissed at will.
Pei Yuan thought to himself that this man was indeed a smart man. Since he had already decided to lower his posture, he might as well do it to the end.
Pei Yuan stood up and showed his attitude, calling out from a distance, "Brother Sun, I have something to ask of you again."
Sun Keding came over with a smile on his face. "No way. We are all like-minded people who admire Eunuch Gu. Why don't you discuss something with me? Do you think I'm an outsider?"
Pei Yuan laughed and said, "That's exactly what you said."
After saying this, he left the table and pulled Sun Keding to sit next to him.
After Sun Keding sat down, he noticed Duan Min. He had seen the two of them sitting together from a distance before and thought that Chen Toutie had returned, so he spoke to them without any scruples.
He asked Pei Yuan hesitantly, "Brother, what is this?"
Pei Yuan introduced to Sun Keding, "This is General Duan, the confidant of Han Qianhu of Qianhu Division." He also introduced to Duan Min, "He was the father and mother official of Jingjiang County before, but now he is out of luck and is temporarily dormant. Now Brother Sun and I are both disciples of Eunuch Gu, and it will only be a common thing for him to soar to the sky in the future."
Duan Min then smiled and stood up, looked around for a few times, and greeted Sun Keding, "I can't be called a confidant of the thousand households, I just do some chores for you. Sun Xianzun is a literary star who came from the imperial examination. It's a great honor for me to look up to me."
Seeing that Duan Min was not very happy to speak, Sun Keding knew that the two were not on the same side, so he just said a few perfunctory words to him.
Duan Min spoke in a sarcastic tone, but what he said was indeed the truth.
Sun Keding was a distinguished Jinshi, and was willing to make friends with him, a general, which was really giving him face.
Something shameless to the face.
After Sun Keding sat down, he smiled again and asked Pei Yuan, "I have something to ask you, brother. Is it convenient for you to talk now?"
Sun Keding obviously wanted to know whether to avoid Duan Min in the next communication.
He was afraid that Pei Yuan would lose face on both sides, so he took the matter over himself.
There was no need for Pei Yuan to hide what he was going to do from Duan Min. Although he disliked this guy, he did not want to offend him.
He smiled and said, "Brother Sun, if you have anything to do, anywhere is convenient."
It seemed like he was giving Sun Keding face, but in fact he was sending a signal. There was nothing wrong in talking about things in front of this person.
Sun Keding nodded, glanced at the table, and turned back to instruct the butler.
"Re-arrange the dishes and bring me a glass."
Butler Sun quickly ordered people to remove the dishes from the table, first replacing them with some cold dishes, and then asked someone to get a glass of warm wine.
Sun Keding took a look at the cold dishes and told the steward Sun, "Have someone prepare them first. I'll call you over later and serve them."
After that, he said to the girls who were serving drinks, "You guys go down first. I have something to discuss with this brother."
The singing girls who were playing various instruments stood up, bowed, and left the hall.
Although Manager Sun was Sun Keding's confidant, he sensibly left and went to guard outside the door.
Sun Keding then looked at Pei Yuan and said, "My dear brother, you asked me to come here, so I guess you have something important to tell me."
Pei Yuan looked at Sun Keding and said seriously, "It's still about escorting the tax silver."
Sun Keding thought about it for a while, and then said slowly, "But I need to go to the governor of Suzhou to help me get things sorted out."
Pei Yuan shook his head. "He has no choice. It's useless to look for him."
After that, he didn't beat around the bush with Sun Keding and said directly, "I have my own ideas about that matter. Let's not rush to deal with them. This time, the target of escorting the tax silver to the north is too conspicuous and it is easy for people to calculate. I have discussed with Han Qianhu and plan to bring a group of merchants with us, maybe it will have the effect of mixing the real with the fake."
It is true that they are trying to pass off fakes as genuine, but the real target they want to hide is Han Qianhu's group of secret men.
Sun Keding was speechless after hearing this. "Which merchant who is not afraid of death dares to walk with you? Don't you want to live?"
Pei Yuan smiled, but was very confident.
"Merchants are profit-driven. As long as there is enough benefit, they don't care about the risk." He added, "The more risky the business is, the more people will do it."
"Now that Jining has been destroyed, the grain transport is stretched to its limits, and many of the bulk materials carried on board the ships have been burned. Prices in the north are rising right now, and you can get double the profit by just selling some silk and porcelain. It's just that the merchants who are greedy for these benefits are not united and dare not act rashly. As long as we raise our arms and call for action, there may be many people who are willing to follow the officers and soldiers of the Jinyiwei."
Sun Ke thought to himself, indeed, the best business in Jiangnan is smuggling salt, and everyone is scrambling to do it.
(End of this chapter)