Gu Chi said: "He didn't go to see anyone."
This answer exceeded Shen Tang’s expectations.
Raised his eyebrows with some interest: "Didn't see anyone? This is interesting. Is there any problem with this person's identity and background?"
How can there be so many coincidences in the world?
Find a place where you can stay, where there happens to be someone who knows all the answers? Someone must be pulling the strings!
Gu Chi whispered: "Although this tea guest has never been seen before, his identity does have some connections. He should be a broker."
“A broker? A pimp?”
Gu Chi nodded lightly: "Yes, a broker."
There is more than one broker who plays a similar game.
They specially stayed at the inn to guard the merchants from other places, and even coaxed the merchants to go to Qujianghu to find the flower boat, give them a sign, and then use the first sign to borrow so-called official debts from secretly local high-ranking officials.
"These people are interesting. The phrase 'there are policies above and countermeasures below' makes them understand." Shen Tang's eyes were filled with cold and murderous intent, and he smiled angrily, "I prohibit officials from doing business, they The idea was to let the tribe’s henchmen take charge. If I blocked their way, they would immediately play tricks on me. Official debt, haha, official debt! Nine out and thirteen returns..."
Everyone's life will hit a low point, and it is normal to borrow money to tide over the difficulties. When the borrower gets through the hard times, the creditor can also earn some interest. People lend money to others just for interest. If you don't pay interest, why should people lend you money?
It is not illegal to lend money out to earn some interest.
It is neither in the scope of business nor corruption.
It is a businessman who has difficulty doing business and lacks capital, and takes the initiative to ask for help, rather than officials taking the initiative to ask for bribes. The interest earned is also the return of the principal. Do you really want to say what's wrong with this behavior? Hahaha, the only problem is that the interest rate is too high.
This high interest rate is voluntarily provided by merchants.
You are in love with me, what can outsiders say?
Shen Tang crushed the tea cup. She calmly watched the broken pieces flow out from her fingers and sneered: "It's not too late to fix the problem. Now that a problem has been discovered, it must be solved. Come back to the meeting and write a memorial. Come on, let's kill the chicken and scare the monkeys. Use this incident to close this loophole. If anyone tries again in the future, I will rip off the heads of his entire family!"
Let the Yushitai stir up troubles and then legislate from the ground up.
By the way, I can also give a few blows to the officials.
They probably haven't had time to get involved with the official debt issue yet.
After all, Fengluo is her base camp, with the Seven Guards and Four Leaders at her disposal, and Gu Chi at the Yushitai, any disturbances cannot be hidden for long. Even Gu Chi didn't know it, which meant that the trend of official debt was still only in the local area, which was a blessing in misfortune.
Gu Chi looked at the looming light on his lord's palm and sighed in his heart - this is the fifth year, and these people in this place haven't learned their lesson yet? Then I thought about it, people are inherently greedy. I know rationally that I can't do it, but I can't control my behavior.
Where else could there be so many corrupt officials?
Which corrupt official would not understand these principles?
Knowing and doing it are two different things.
Shen Tang puffed up his sleeves and blew up the breeze, blowing all the ashes of the tea cup out of the window. Gu Chi was about to surrender, but she raised her hand to stop him: "Wait, watch the tide, the broker continues to stare."
Gu Chi: "The Lord suspects that he has another identity?"
Shen Tang took off the fork pole, lowered the window, and watched the moonlight pouring on the ground cut in half: "I do have this worry. The content he knows seems to be beyond the scope of a broker. If the broker has a rank, he should be a broker Got the broker."
Gu Chi cupped his hands and accepted the order: "I retire."
Shen Tang said: "Pay attention to safety."
Even though the country of Kang has become more and more prosperous in the past two years, and on the surface it seems to be singing and dancing, there are undercurrents surging under the calm, and discordant movements occur from time to time in various places.
It has only been more than a year since Kunzhou was completely recovered. A little chaos is understandable, but it would be wrong to see movement in other places. This means that the people who are secretly unhappy with Shen Tang have never disappeared. They are like poisonous snakes lurking in the dark, waiting for the opportunity to kill with one strike. Shen Tang was on patrol for three months every year, and the Seven Guards and Four led secretly suppressed assassinations no less than a thousand times.
“The leader of the country is really not a human being!”
She was the only one left in the room, so she kicked him down.
The short one was kicked around by her until it fell apart.
Looking at Gaoji's body, the wave of anger boiling in her heart was barely suppressed. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths for several cycles, then said to the beam: "Bring a new one."
Shen Tang turned around to carry the unfinished items.
When I came back, the place was as new as ever.
As if the "evidence" of her willful venting never existed.
Since she took up the position of ruler of the country through meditation, she sleeps later than a dog, wakes up earlier than a chicken, and does more work than a donkey... She works so hard, but there are still a bunch of villains holding her back and trying to kill her. On the other hand, Zheng Qiao is comfortable as the leader of the country. Anyone who dares to displease him will displease his ancestors for eighteen generations.
The candles in the house were never extinguished.
Until late midnight—
A bodyguard suddenly appeared.
She did not look at the king who was reviewing the memorials. Instead, she stepped behind the screen, knelt down on one knee, and bowed her head in obedience.
Behind the screen was a couch for the imperial concubine.
There is a figure sleeping unrestrainedly on the imperial concubine's couch.
This figure is also Shen Tang, or the real person. She woke up when the bodyguard appeared: "How is it?"
“There is news from Prime Minister Gu.”
The name Gu Xiang in the mouth of the guards also refers to Gu Chi.
On the surface, he is her imperial censor, but secretly he also manages a group of personal guards for her, and has the right to dispatch and command. This personal guard is lean, but absolutely trustworthy. Some matters that are inconvenient to deal with openly are handled secretly by them.
Chhu Yao and the others turned a blind eye to this matter.
Shen Tang turned over and sat up: "How do you say it?"
The man they sent stared at the broker for a long time.
There was no problem during the whole day and the first half of the night. In the second half of the night, he got up secretly, put on his clothes alone, and touched a piece of wasteland outside the institution. It's said to be a wasteland, but it's actually a mass grave. All the eyes could see here were graves. The broker looked around and finally stopped in front of an abandoned grave for about a quarter of an hour, talking about a lot of trivial matters to the grave.
Shen Tang raised his eyebrows: "What did you say?"
The guards responded truthfully.
When Shen Tang heard this, his brows not only did not relax, but instead furrowed even more tightly. Judging from the content relayed by the personal guard, the person buried under the grave was just a broker friend, and the content they talked about was trivial, worthless, and had nothing to do with the two major cases.
The broker talked for a long time before going back to sleep.
Behavior and behavior look more like sleepwalking.
“Besides, are there any other changes?”
The guard said: "There are still will-o'-the-wisps."
Shen Tang sat up straight: "Will-o'-the-wisp?"
When they followed the mass graves, they saw several green and eerie flames floating in the air, but when they looked closer, there were no traces. Shen Tang lost interest after hearing this: "With the current weather and the numerous mass graves in cemeteries, it is normal for will-o'-the-wisps to appear. I'm afraid someone is just pretending to be a ghost..."
The so-called will-o'-the-wisp is nothing but phosphorus fire.
Shen Tang carefully smoothed out the clues in his hand.
As his brows relaxed, the corners of his lips also raised into a sneer, and he waved his hand: "No need to keep an eye on the broker, evacuate the people."
A small broker who knows how to play hard to get.
She would like to see—
Who is pretending to be a ghost behind the scenes?
The guard clasped his fists and said: "Follow your orders."
Shen Tang rubbed his swollen temples, hugged the quilt and leaned back to the imperial concubine's bed, ready to continue the unfinished dream.
The second day, the rivers and lakes, the shore.
She was sitting on a horse, with her elbows on her knees. His eyes never left Qu Jianghu.
Just when she was getting impatient, a vague outline finally appeared on the lake - the weather was not very good today, the sky was gloomy and the lake was very foggy. The flower boat got closer, and everyone could barely see the true face of the flower boat in Lushan.
This flower boat is quite impressive, with five floors.
The carved beams and painted buildings are magnificent.
The bright red flag flutters with the wind on the lake, and from time to time you can see slender figures appearing and disappearing. Just looking at this picture, you can smell the rich fragrance of powder. With her excellent hearing, she could also hear the music and laughter on the flower boat.
As the flower boat docked, Shen Tang and others also stepped forward to greet it.
Several strong men with martial aura around them came to stop him.
One person looked Shen Tang up and down, and said in a tone that could not be refused: "Please come back, Madam. We don't accept female guests here."
Because Zhechong Mansion often engages in fishing and law enforcement, Huachuan is very resistant to female guests who appear suddenly.
Shen Tang smiled and said, "I have an invitation."
The person who spoke looked at his companion.
He asked: "Where is the invitation?"
Chu Yao took out the grain quotation documents he had prepared from his sleeve. There were no restrictions on merchants doing business in their native areas, but if they wanted to do business across regions, they needed to report to the government and go through official channels to obtain permission. This document bears the seals of both places.
Shen Tang said softly and softly: "Yesterday at the inn, I received advice from an expert and said there was a way here, so I came here to try my luck."
Several people checked the documents back and forth.
When he was convinced that this was a real guy, he put his hand down.
“Female gentleman, please come forward.”
Shen Tang said: "Thank you very much."
This flower boat was very understanding of the world and did not stop Shen Tang's "accounting servants", but let them get on the flower boat. It is better to say that it is a flower boat than a duplex mansion. As soon as she went up, a beautiful maid came forward to guide her.
We were led all the way to the Flower Boat Flower Hall.
There are more than a dozen food tables placed in the flower hall.
There were strange faces dressed in brocade and gorgeous clothes, and a flower girl was leaning next to them. The clothes on both sides looked complete, but their hands under the pile of clothes were not honest, they were laughing and joking, and their gestures were intimate. The air in the hall was warm and restless, with an ambiguous atmosphere floating around.
Shen Tang was speechless.
I want to tell Captain Zhechong later that she didn’t crack down hard enough and he was still carrying on his old business under her nose.
Shen Tang and the others are out of tune with the atmosphere here. Someone has noticed them for a long time. Seeing that the leader is a "beautiful widow" with light makeup, they cast curious and wary glances from time to time. Shen Tang ignored them and went directly to the madam to nod.
The old bustard said: "The number one here is a very good person."
“What kind of extraordinary person?”
The old bustard smiled and said, "See her and ask for money."
Shen Tang nodded: "I have money."
Yes, but not much.
After four or five years of frugality, he finally paid off the huge loan Xun Zhen owed last time. Even though she was debt-free and light-hearted, she did not dare to relax. There will be many opportunities to fight in the future, and Xun Zhen's money will be indispensable. When he shows off his power, Shen Tang will spend real money.
She is now working hard to save money.
The old bustard twisted a gaudy-colored handkerchief in his hand, covered his mouth, and kept giggling: "Money alone is not enough."
Shen Tang wondered: "What else do you need?"
The Madam glanced at the men brought over by Shen Tang, and gestured with her eyes to give her a step to speak: "I don't know something, but the path you want to ask for has a rule - you have to bring enough money, and you have to follow us. The number one spring night once."
Shen Tang: “…”
Chhu Yao and others: “…”
Shen Tang suppressed his twitching brows: "I am a woman."
The old bustard said: "Our flower boat has also received female guests in the past. It's okay if you don't understand, but our flower lady understands."
“Why are there such strange rules?”
The old bustard smiled and said: "Of course it's just to get on a boat and tie a rope. Since the lady is here to find a way out, she should know that this matter cannot be publicized to the outside world, and she needs a 'signature certificate'."
The so-called "voting for a name certificate" is "self-defeating".
Leave a handle that is neither too big nor too small.
It can also be regarded as a test.
After passing the test and crossing the threshold, everyone is relieved.
Shen Tang looked embarrassed and stuffed money into the old madam's hand: "To be honest, this man of mine has just died two months ago. His bones are still cold, so it's not appropriate for me and Hua Niang..."
The old bustard was shocked: "The lady lost her husband?"
She knew that "widow makeup" was very popular in the outside world, especially Wangdu Fengluo, but those people were not real widows. There are flower girls on the flower boats who also dress up like this, but it’s just for fun.
I never expected that I would meet a real widow today.
Shen Tang opened a pair of innocent and moist almond eyes: "So... please be accommodating, money is not a problem."
The madam stared at Shen Tang's appearance carefully.
Weighed the amount of money Shen Tang pushed over in his hand.
After weighing the matter, he said: "I can only give you a message, but whether it works or not depends on what happens over there."
“Thank you!”
The madam looked at the people she had brought.
In my heart, I don’t quite believe Shen Tang’s explanation of her husband’s new death.
Tell him something to test: "Actually, these guys can do it too."
Chu Yao said: "No."
The madam became more vigilant: "Why?"
Chu Yao said: "I am sick."
Other colleagues were shocked: "!!"
Lao Bustard: “…”
Among the group of people, she liked Chu Yao the most. When she heard Chu Yao say "I have a disease," her face darkened instantly. She twisted her waist and walked up to the second floor of the flower boat. She deliberately made a lot of noise and said: He gritted his teeth angrily and cursed: "Looking like a human-like person, but he is useless, and he is also sick, which is really unlucky..."
After a while, the madam came down.
The attitude is obviously much colder.
“Go up, you’re lucky today.”
Shen Tang and others were led to the private room on the third floor of Huachuan.
The furnishings in the private room are exquisite and elegant, and the air is filled with sandalwood.
The oiran raised his hand to push aside the pearl curtain, revealing his true appearance.
“I don’t know, how much principal does the lady need to borrow?”
Shen Tang asked back: "How much can I borrow to ensure that my business is safe?"
|ω`)
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