Chapter 43 Corrupt Official Deng Zang

At the end of winter, it is a busy time for every household to prepare New Year's goods and plan to celebrate the Spring Festival.

The city of Guanping is prosperous, and there are red scenes everywhere. Although it has not yet reached the Spring Festival, the city is already crowded, and people are busy running for New Year's goods.

At the end of the year, whether it is a poor family or a rich family, the Spring Festival will still be prosperous and lively!

There are a lot more people shopping on the street, and in all kinds of shops, there is a lot of people, and the guys in the shops are busy one by one, and the shopkeepers are smiling one by one, because it is time to make a lot of money. At the end of the year, I am counting on the fact that the business is booming in the past few days, relying on the good period at the end of the year.

If it is usual, there are a few people, and they will really be willing to spend some money and buy a lot!

The shops are like this, and all kinds of hotels and restaurants are also full of business every day, and the daily flowing water banquets are continuous. After the end of the year, there are more people visiting relatives and friends, and more people staying in hotels to drink and eat. And most people, for the sake of face, are still willing to spend money. Therefore, during this period, it is also a good opportunity to increase prices, almost every family.

Qingfeng Building in the east of the city, and so. Nowadays, the number of drinks and food has tripled compared to usual. And the store is a big bully, if you wear poorly, you may not even be able to enter the door.

On this day, when it was close to noon, in Qingfeng Building, in a private room on the second floor by the street, there were several people sitting at a table drinking and talking.

One of them, an obese middle-aged man in a high hat, was sitting on the main seat, squinting at two thief's small eyes, listening with interest to what a junior had to say.

When he hears something happy, he nods his head, with the posture of a high-ranking bureaucrat.

If that unlucky bangs were here at the moment, he would definitely scold this fat guy, because he was the culprit who caused Liu Hai to be dismissed and fall to the Li family's iron mine, Deng Zang, the official of the grain depot in Pingcheng, Guan.

It is said that this Deng Zang made a large windfall because of the grain and grass in the grain depot, and later honored Li Tengfei a lot of silver taels, which made Li Tengfei happy and promoted him. Now he is named the grain official of Guanping City, and is in charge of the grain and grass in the grain depot, and the cloth and salt in the city...... and so on, all the materials for logistical support are up to him.

So now, he is making more and more big profits, and the silver is soft, and the daily banquet has never stopped. The people who are looking for him to do things are also coming and going in groups. At the beginning, Deng Zang still didn't refuse to come, and he was endlessly happy, but every day like this, he was tired and annoyed. Later, he watched people do things, if you are really rich and powerful, he will help you do things, if you are an ordinary person, even if you have a relationship, it is useless.

For example, today's posteriors who invited him to drink, Deng Zang looked like a rich master through his previous experience.

"Lord Deng, this is my son-in-law, we are from Wangjiazhuang, a hundred miles away from the east of the city, because of this year's drought, the harvest is not good, and the New Year is approaching, so I want to do some New Year's goods. The young descendant sitting at the bottom carefully poured wine for Deng Zang.

Deng Zang drank the wine that he poured after drinking, moved his fat body so that he could sit more comfortably, and said with some disdain: "How big is your Wangjiazhuang and how many people are there?"

The latter said: "Lord Qiyu, our Wangjiazhuang covers an area of 10,000 hectares, has thousands of acres of fertile land, countless cattle and sheep in the village, and has a large population, and this daily expenditure is also large. To tell you the truth, I have to eat and drink nearly fifty taels of silver every day..."

"What, you use so much in one day?" Deng Zang was taken aback, and he couldn't calm down anymore. Although Rao himself is a high-ranking official in a city, a month's salary is only more than ten taels of silver, which is already the top of the sky. But a small manor has to use up fifty taels of silver a day, so you can imagine how many people have to eat, drink, and Lazar?

"Yes, my lord, that's why we want to go into the city to buy some grain and grass, so that we can go back for the New Year, otherwise we really can't sustain it!" Hou Sheng waved his hand after speaking, with a helpless expression.

Deng Zang looked at the two well-dressed young students in front of him, nodded, and said seriously: "Since you were introduced by Lord Yan, the guard of Dongcheng, the official will also say it directly, now that it is the New Year and the prices are high, how much grain, grass and cloth do you plan to purchase?"

When Hou Sheng heard this, he was overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "My lord, the price is not a problem, as long as you can buy it, prepare enough thirty carriages, and make do with this Spring Festival." ”

"Thirty wagons... That's a lot, isn't it?" Deng Zang listened, and fell into deep thought. He didn't know if he was thinking about what to do with so much, or if he was thinking about how to calculate the price.

"My lord, the market price of a cart of grain is fifty taels of silver, and we are willing to buy it at ten taels higher than the market price, what do you think?"

"It's ten taels higher, which is a bit low! Now that the grain depot is strictly controlled, it is impossible to get a grain of grain at all..." Deng Zang looked embarrassed and said his bitterness.

"My lord, we can't help it in the village, otherwise we will add five taels more..."

"You are in urgent need of the village, then you should add more, you can come to the official, you should know the market..."Deng Zang took a sip of hot wine and smiled.

This person is worthy of being an insatiable human spirit, shouting prices all over the sky, seeing that the other party is rich and rich, he thinks that he will not slaughter for nothing.

Wang Gongzi, who was sitting next to Hou Sheng, didn't speak, and at this time, he suddenly asked, "In that case, then my lord, can you give me a clear explanation?"

"Haha... Or Wang Gongzi is refreshing, then it is thirty taels higher, what do you think?" Deng Zang touched his fleshy chin and smiled happily.

"Deal..."Wang Gongzi heard it, and he no longer hesitated, and made a final decision.

Then, they discussed how to trade and how to move the ...... and other matters, according to Deng Zang's meaning, is to let them go to the back door of the grain depot at night and wait for the arrangement.

When everything was negotiated, the few of them chatted casually for a while, and then dispersed. Before leaving, Wang Gongzi gave Deng Zang a gold ingot of twenty taels as a deposit. In this way, it is bad to make a Deng Zang, and the transaction cannot be successful, and the gold is in hand anyway.

In the evening, the weather gets colder and colder, and the streets are empty.

Wang Gongzi took his servants and dozens of people to drive the carriage to the back door of the granary. Because it was a big deal, on such a cold night, Deng Zang didn't go home to enjoy the gentle township, but waited inside, and when he saw them arrive, he ordered his subordinates to open the door and let Wang Gongzi and them in.

Looking at his subordinates, carrying grain back and forth and loading the truck, Wang Gongzi proposed to go to a nearby winery to eat and drink hot wine to pass the time. Deng Zang was already waiting for hunger and cold, but when he heard him say this, he happily went with him.

When they arrived at the winery, they picked a warm private room, and all kinds of delicious dishes were put on the table like flowing water, and the wine was hot, and they began to chat and brag while eating and drinking.

Deng Zang is also very happy today, can this trade without capital and profit make people happy? A wagon of grain is 80 taels of snowflake silver, plus a wagon of cloth, 60 taels, and kapok fur, 50 taels a cart...... and other materials, a total of more than 50 cars need to be loaded.

And he himself just made a small effort, and he could earn him four or five thousand taels of silver for no reason.

Those grain, cloth and other materials are put in the granary, waiting for them to become moldy and smelly, and they are worthless. But in the past, the buyers Deng Zang met were all petty traders, and they couldn't afford to pay a high price.

After three rounds of drinking, Deng Zang took advantage of the joy to talk about some things in Guanping City to Wang Gongzi and Na Housheng. He said that the people in the city have been having a hard time lately, because there is an axe hall, which refers to the opening of the new gang they have formed.

It is said that the rabble in this axe hall are really lawless lords. It is customary for them to kill people in the streets, not only do all the bad things, but they also generally do all the bad things. As long as it is something they like, whether it is people or property, it will be robbed, and the people all over the city will be panicked and cannot live all day.

Except for the City Lord's Mansion and a few wealthy families, because they are too rich and powerful, they dare not provoke existence, there is nothing they dare not bully, and even the guards in the city dare not speak out about it.

Many brothels, restaurants, casinos, ...... Nine out of ten of the places where the money was sold were forcibly occupied by them and kept for themselves. First, it is good for them to collect money, and second, it is also for them to play happily. And those ordinary people were bullied, but they could only swallow their anger and make a living.

This Deng Zang is also worthy of being the grain official of Guanping City, and he is quite familiar with the sufferings of the people, but there is a little joke in his words, but he does not have half sympathy.

"City Lord's Mansion, just ignore it?" Wang Gongzi was a little surprised.

"The lord of the city is a backer for them, who dares to take care of them! Besides, they are so numerous that no one can do anything about them. Deng Zang drank warm wine and ate braised pork.

"Then we will transport the grain back, it will be fine, right?" Wang Gongzi's follower was a little worried when he heard it.

"It doesn't matter, on such a cold day, those grandsons don't know where to cover the bed, and besides, we are just asking for money. Deng Zang was a little dismissive, and said that he was very disgusted with the people of this Axe Palace.

He also said that in his family, there was originally a concubine who was as beautiful as a flower, but when she went out to buy rouge gouache, she was tied up by the people of the Axe Palace. Deng Zang had no choice but to send someone to ransom people with silver taels.

However, when she was brought back, the concubine had been humiliated to death by the animals.

"These people are really hurtful!" Wang Gongzi couldn't help but be a little angry when he heard Deng Zang finish speaking sadly.

These words obviously went to Deng Zang's heart, which made him feel sad and angry, and he gritted his teeth and said: "These beasts are very harmful... It's just that now the City Lord's Mansion doesn't care about it, and there's no way..."

Seeing that he was in a depressed mood, Wang Gongzi didn't say much, but kept persuading him to drink, so that he could comfort the sad man with wine.

In this way, Deng Zang, who was happy just now, became less happy at this time.

When the wine came to his mouth, he opened his mouth and swallowed it, drank and drank, and it was not long before he fell asleep in a daze.