Chapter 177 Speech Business

Until noon, the rain gradually weakened, Zhou Jingran's face relaxed slightly, and he folded his palms and recited the Buddha.

Qingping and the distant mountains were covered with mud, and they rushed back like mud figures, turned off their horses, saluted, and reported with a smile:

"With the blessing of the master, it was finally withdrawn in time, and people from Jiebei Town and the neighboring Jieshi Township, Chen Wangzhuang and other places have withdrawn."

Zhou Jingran breathed a long sigh of relief, and hurriedly waved his hand to send the two away,

"Hurry down and wash it, wash it and then talk back carefully."

Qingping and Yuanshan agreed, exited and went to the shopkeeper to ask for hot water, hurriedly washed it, returned to the upper room, and reported carefully:

"Back to the master, the little ones went to Ru County, Huai County two places to pass the master's order, Runan Sun County order is taking people to inspect the embankment, got the master's order, let the county Cheng take people to Jieshi Township and Huai County to help evacuate people, Huai County Gao County order said that the master ordered, the embankment around Jiebei Town is the weakest, the small is the high county order found in Jiebei Town, Gao County order immediately followed the order of the lord, and took people to evacuate people from township to township, because the evacuation was early, ugly in front, people were withdrawn, when Yin Zheng broke the embankment, the area around Jiebei Town had already been evacuated, and the small one came back, I haven't heard any news of casualties. ”

Zhou Jingran and Cheng Ke breathed a long sigh of relief, such a break, it is definitely impossible for a person not to die, as long as most of the people are withdrawn, it is a blessing

In the evening, the sunset showed its face brilliantly, Zhou Jingran and Cheng Ke were completely relieved, the morning glow does not go out, the sunset travels thousands of miles, such a glow, it seems that the rain has really passed.

The two of them rested for one night, rushed to Jiebei Town early the next morning, and discussed with Sun County Commander and Gao County Commander to arrange the resettlement and relief of the people in more than a dozen nearby villages such as Jiebei Town, and stayed for two days before returning to the capital.

Zhou Jingran and Cheng Ke entered the palace to report the incident of the Nanhe embankment in detail, and asked for the guilt, but the emperor could not deny it, and only sent the two to go back to rest first.

Cheng Ke returned to the Runan Palace, and discussed with the King of Runan in the study for half an hour behind closed doors before he came out to the main courtyard to ask for peace, and hurried back to Qinglian Courtyard.

Li Xiaonuan was standing in the yard, directing a few little girls to put a few pots of chrysanthemums in the yard, and when she saw Cheng Ke coming in, she hurriedly greeted her, bent her knees to salute, and greeted Cheng Ke into the wing.

Cheng Ke went to bathe and wash first, changed into a plain white dark cloud pattern silk gown, stretched his body and sat on the couch, took the tea served by Li Xiaonuan, and drank a few sips before putting down the cup and sighing comfortably,

"It's still comfortable at home"

Li Xiaonuan pursed her lips and laughed, Cheng Ke pulled her to sit on the couch, waved her hand to rebuke the maiden waiting in the room, looked down at her, and said in a low voice:

"In the end, the Nanhe River still broke the embankment, and the area of Jiebei Town flooded more than a dozen townships, but fortunately, people have withdrawn, alas, most of them have withdrawn, and you also know that it is good that these people can be evacuated if the embankment breaks like this."

Cheng Ke sighed and said,

"What did the emperor say?"

Li Xiaonuan asked in a low voice, Cheng Ke laughed lightly, squeezed Li Xiaonuan's hand, and said in a low voice:

"The emperor didn't say anything, but I look at him like that, it doesn't seem like he is angry and annoyed, the emperor is old, he is a little tired over the years, and he is not willing to take care of everything, and he is getting longer and longer when he stays in Yuncui Palace, but his fatigue is tired, people are not confused at all, and he is like a mirror in his heart, where will he not know about Nanhe."

Cheng Ke paused, looked down at Li Xiaonuan, who was listening to him intently, lowered his voice, and then said:

"Over the years, King Cheng has raised troops every year, crusading against that, crusading against that, this army moves, it is a mountain of gold and silver, a mountain of rice and a mountain, and King Cheng is ......"

"yes, I know."

Li Xiaonuan said in a low voice, Cheng Ke's eyes were full of smiles, nodded, and continued:

"Over the years, the treasury has been tight, last year to govern the river, Prime Minister Yan stared at the household, the corners and corners were swept out, and there was not enough money to repair the river, Xiaojing and I can only focus on the worst, the most important places to repair, like Nanhe, it has not been able to turn on, the emperor understands in his heart, this matter, no silver, it is really no wonder who goes, alas, repairing the river and raising the army are the two most expensive things."

Li Xiaonuan listened carefully, sighed slowly, nodded, and said in a low voice:

"I was still strange a little ago, why did the emperor even remember the little silver in the teaching workshop, no wonder ......"

Cheng Ke nodded heavily, laughed, and said in a low voice:

"The Yuan Zheng Dynasty has always been light on taxes and thin labor, the emperor is a merciful one, in the fiftieth birthday, with the people to reduce taxes, and then refused to add it, these two years the tax does not increase but decreases, King Cheng's military spending is rising more and more year by year, last year there was a big war in the south, and there were several disasters, the emperor was exempted from taxes, and had to allocate silver to repair the river, the emperor, is really poor"

Cheng Ke said and laughed softly,

"The little silver in the teaching workshop is also in my eyes."

Li Xiaonuan also pursed her lips and laughed, squinting her eyes and sighing softly, this emperor turned out to be poor.

Li Xiaonuan thought for a moment, turned his head to look at Cheng Ke, and said with a smile:

"The area around Jiebei Town has been affected, although the people are fine, the land and the house have really been washed with water, I thought, why don't I let Chaoyun arrange for someone to go to that area to pre-harvest next year's harvest."

Cheng Ke straightened up, looked at Li Xiaonuan with raised eyebrows, and laughed,

"Tell me about it."

"Do you think, the area around Jiebei Town is flooded at this time, from this autumn to next spring, there is a winter in the middle, and there will be a New Year, it is not easy to get through, it is close to the capital, the emperor ...... is a compassionate person again, no matter what, he can't watch it and not save it, but the emperor even wants to save the little silver in the teaching workshop, and this silver is ......."

Li Xiaonuan dragged out her voice, Cheng Ke looked at her, laughed, and nodded again and again,

"That's a very good thing"

Li Xiaonuan smiled and continued:

"Let's talk about business, anyway, Yuwei Zhai and Zhuyun Pavilion, as well as you and King Jing's Defu Building, always have to buy grains to use, but to buy them in advance, first pay them cash, so that they have money to spend the autumn and winter for the New Year, can support the harvest until next summer, and then use grain to offset the silver, in us, it's just to pay the silver first to buy things."

Cheng Ke sat up straight, looked down at Li Xiaonuan, stayed for a moment, and said in a low voice:

"This is a good idea, Ru County and Huai County are big counties, although the area around this Jiebei Town is a prosperous place, there are only a few thousand households, and if you buy rice and grain in advance, it will not cost much silver."

Li Xiaonuan said with a smile,

"Let's just do our best, anyway, our silver will be collected in vain, so we should earn some blessings."

Cheng Ke looked at Li Xiaonuan and laughed, nodded again and again and said:

"You arrange for someone to go, I'll let Yuanshan run and say hello to Sun County Ling and Gao County Ling."

Li Xiaonuan nodded again and again,

"I'll ask Chaoyun to arrange it, go back and ask her to make a sample of the contract, and send it to the two county magistrates for preparation, so as not to have any trouble in the future."

Cheng Ke laughed,

"Don't worry, with me and Xiaojing as your guarantor, no one can rely on your money, I'll go to King Jing's Mansion and talk to Xiaojing about this."

Li Xiaonuan got up and sent Cheng Ke out, called Yu Buckle in with a smile, and told her to let Lan Chu go and call Chaoyun in, and instructed carefully,

“…… Although it is a pre-purchase, it can't be too cheap, first pay silver at this year's market price, at the price of medium-quality rice grain, and when it comes to receiving things next year, if the market price is high, or the rice grain is of high quality, we will make up the difference to them, if it is low, forget it. ”

Chaoyun smiled and shook his head,

"The young lady's business is done at a loss."

"No, well, only next year, the year after that, it will be more refunded and less compensated, if the market price is low, or the quality is poor, we have to return the money or give us more food, and also, at most, buy in advance for two years."

Chaoyun nodded again and again,

"That's pretty much it"

The two discussed for a while, Li Xiaonuan instructed Lan Chu to take 50,000 taels of silver tickets and give them to Chaoyun, Chaoyun got up and retreated, went back to arrange a few shopkeepers' tents, and rushed to Jiebei Town overnight to collect grain in advance.

Cheng Ke went out of the second door, first went to the inner study to report to his father, went out, and went to King Jing's mansion.

The two were lying in the water pavilion in the back garden, Zhou Jingran listened attentively to Cheng Ke's words, and sighed leisurely,

"This girl is still a rich lord."

Cheng Ke shook the rocking chair, shook the folding fan in his hand leisurely, and did not answer, Zhou Jingran was sullen for a while, turned his head to look at Cheng Ke and said:

"Xiao Nuan is right, this business, I'm just afraid that someone with a heart will want to go elsewhere, so prepare a copy of the contract with the two county orders, and make it clear."

Cheng Ke nodded,

"I told my father about this, and my father's meaning was to do it in the name of Defu Lou, and Yuwei Zhai was not as good as Defu Lou, and I think so."

Zhou Jingran turned his head to look at Cheng Ke, and only laughed after a while, Cheng Ke shook his fan and said slowly:

"Xiao Nuan only needs silver, and she doesn't care about anything else, this favor, you don't remember it, it doesn't matter if you don't remember it, she doesn't care, I don't care."

Zhou Jingran laughed and pointed at Cheng Ke,

"You don't care, what do you say it's doing?"

Cheng Ke squinted his eyes and smiled, shook for a while, as if he remembered something, straightened up, turned his head to look at Zhou Jingran, leaned over, and asked in a low voice:

"Let me ask you, do you have any good ways to prevent women from getting pregnant?"

Zhou Jingran looked at Cheng Ke in amazement, suddenly jumped up, pointed at Cheng Ke, and was speechless in surprise.

"Who are you going to take?"

Cheng Ke also jumped up, pointed at Zhou Jingran with red eyes and shouted:

"What nonsense are you talking about, how dare I ...... It's a little warm."

Zhou Jingran looked at Cheng Ke suspiciously, Cheng Ke coughed lightly twice, pulled Zhou Jingran, and said in his ear:

"Xiao Nuan is only fifteen years old this year, fifteen years old is too young, in case she is pregnant with a child...... That's not good, it's better to be two years late, do you have any good ideas? I can't take medicine, I asked the doctor, those medicines are all hurtful, you can't give Xiao Nuan to eat"

Whew, I finally caught up, alas, next time, no matter what, I can't be in such a hurry, I'm tired and idle