The days passed like a stream, and it was almost the end of the month in a blink of an eye. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Wang Jin is busy taking care of his younger siblings at home every day, checking the growth of cotton, and at the same time, he is always thinking about the agreed meeting with Ye Qingmu, and has already forgotten the events of that night.

On the other end, Jiang Qingliu read the message from the flying pigeon just now, and the overall situation had been decided, so he instructed Qin Ziming to pack his luggage and prepare to leave for Jinling.

It turned out that on the second day of the Dragon Boat Festival, a very grand and lively opening ceremony was held in a new store opposite the rudder of the Cao Gang, firecrackers, lion dances, opera troupes, and even the small officials and officials of the Yangzhou Mansion were present, and the gongs and drums attracted half of the people of Yangzhou City to see the excitement. When the shop slowly unveiled the red silk on the plaque, everyone was even more surprised and excited, it turned out that this was the sail boat that made a splash in the dragon boat race yesterday. Yan Rui, as the only proprietor on the bright side, is very enthusiastic and generous to invite the lively people to visit the various types of ships owned by Fanshun, not only free tea and snacks are supplied, but also specially arranged people to explain in detail the characteristics and uses of each type of boat and the main business of Fanshun. The people who received such a hospitality, among them there are many merchants who came to visit, suddenly had a good impression of Fan Shun, and through its physical display of all kinds of large and small hulls to the strength of Fan Shun is very shocked, after returning home and friends and relatives and friends to describe and publicize, this visit lasted for three whole days, all of a sudden the reputation of Fan Shun spread to passers-by, even the tourists and businessmen who stopped in Yangzhou for a short time are famous.

Such a battle naturally attracted the attention of the Cao Gang, but at present, Fan Shun has not received scattered orders from some ordinary merchants, which has little impact on them, and Zhu Ming felt that he had not really figured out their details, so he did not act for the time being. Until a few days ago, a letter from the rudder of the capital was so startled that he knocked over the teacup on the table, almost thinking that he was dazzled.

It turned out that in the middle of the month, the three tribute fleets of the Cao Gang, which had been sailing at sea for nearly a month, finally entered the inland river from Tianjin Bay and arrived at the outskirts of the capital. The household officials and the eunuchs specially sent by the emperor to inspect the tribute were already waiting at the wharf, and Li Tai, the helmsman of the Cao Gang capital, also accompanied them. When the ship was close, everyone saw that the four-masted sand ship in the lead was extremely majestic, but the hull was painted with silver hooks and the four words of the sail boat number, followed by two tribute ships of the Cao Gang, and they couldn't help but have some doubts. Li Tai on the shore frowned slightly, and Fu Quan, the leader eunuch who was standing beside him with his back hand, raised his eyebrows and asked with a smile: "What's the matter, the Cao Gang has changed to a new ship this year?" Look at this style, the Cao Gang is extraordinary, but I don't understand the words on it, Fan Shun? Master Li, can you explain a thing or two for me? ”

Li Tai hurriedly replied respectfully: "Gonggong Fu smiled, this is not the boat of the Cao Gang. We had a tribute ship that had some problems on the way, and for fear of delaying the trip, we asked a passing ship to help transport it, and this sail must have been the passing ship. ”

Fu Quan nodded slightly when he heard this, and said to the man surnamed Liu beside him: "Lord Liu, I heard that the construction of this four-masted sand ship is extremely labor-intensive and material-intensive, and even if it is built, it needs to be a good sailor to control it. ”

The thirty-five-six-year-old Tobe Langzhong looked at the oncoming Fanshun, and said with satisfaction and appreciation: "Indeed, ordinary ships cannot bring such a great ship with such exquisite attainments. ”

Li Tai, who was on the side, listened to their conversation, his heart sank, and he couldn't help but secretly curse the steward who transported the tribute for being so careless and didn't know how to hide it.

After the ship stopped at the dock, a gangway was lowered on the high side of the ship, and Fang Mang took the money steward and others down the boat to meet the officials present. That Gonggong Fu and Liu Langzhong saw Fang Mang's eyes blazing, his tiger back and bear's waist, and his speech and actions were bold and free and polite, and they were even more impressed.

The money shopkeeper and Sun Jiaqi, who were shrunk behind with sallow faces, were even more restrained and cowering after feeling Li Tai's gloomy eyes, not looking like they were in charge at all, and no one paid attention to the two of them.

After a brief conversation, dozens of Cao Gang men brought by Li Tai got on the ship, unloaded the tributes they had transported, and loaded them onto the carriage. However, when the loading was over and everyone was ready to set off, Fang Mang hurriedly followed Xu Tianling with a few large boxes, and saluted Gonggong Fu and Liu Langzhong: "My lord, these boxes were also transported together, I don't know why they were left on the boat, I was afraid that I made a mistake and missed it in my busyness, so I moved over and asked my lord to take a look." ”

Gonggong Fu and Liu Langzhong glanced at each other, and there was some surprise in their eyes.

"In that case, let's open it and take a look, I have a list of tributes, yes or no, a pair will know." Liu Lang pointed to the boxes and ordered them to be opened. Li Tai on the side was already in a cold sweat, and he kept his composure, but his gaze staring at Fang Mang revealed a gloom of unknown meaning.

After the box was opened, Liu Langzhong checked it according to the list, frowned and said: "Some of the things in these boxes are on the tribute list, but some are not, how can they be separated when they are mixed together?" He turned his head to Li Tai and asked in a deep voice, "That's how the Cao Gang does things?" If there is a lack of tribute and it damages the royal face, can you afford it?! ”

Cold sweat trickled down Li Tai's forehead, and he hurriedly knelt down and saluted, explaining: "The grass people should die, they didn't make proper arrangements, and they caused such a misunderstanding. Because it is about to be the birthday of the Queen Mother, the contents of these boxes are all gifts for the birthday of the Queen Mother in memory of the royal kindness. I wanted to serve it separately after today, but I didn't want this Brother Fang to carry these things out without knowing the situation. It's really negligence on the part of the grass people! ”

Gonggong Fu on the side smiled and helped him up, and said comfortingly: "Master Li Helm doesn't have to be so nervous, since it is a congratulatory gift to the Queen Mother and her old man, how can we blame you." It's just that your Cao Gang's ability to pick up congratulatory gifts is not very good, and many of them are originally in the tribute, how can they make people shine? He glanced at the nearest box beside him, shook his head and sighed, "It's a good thing, I'm afraid it cost a lot of silver, but it's a pity." ”

Liu Langzhong said with a smile: "Father-in-law's words are not right, you see, just these few small leaf rosewood carvings and this two-foot-high red coral are worth a fortune, and the Cao Gang is very big in picking gifts!" ”

When Gonggong Fu heard this, he hurriedly went to the box he pointed to and took a look, and sure enough, as he said, these things were better than the ones he had seen in the palace, and he immediately laughed at himself: "I didn't expect that I have reached the age of old and dizzy, and I can't recognize such a treasure in front of me." ”

He patted Li Tai on the shoulder and said, "This gift is well chosen, I don't think you should send it on another day, let's send it for you today, and it will save you a lot of trouble when you enter the palace." ”

Liu Langzhong, who was about to leave, suddenly caught a glimpse of a dazzling golden light in a box. Although gold is valuable, it is far from qualifying as a tribute. He crouched down, picked up the corner of the golden light, and pulled out a gilded envelope.

Li Tai, who was thanking Gong Fu, saw this scene, his eyes widened in disbelief, and the green tendons on his forehead jumped, Fu Gonggong glanced back suspiciously, and saw Liu Langzhong holding a letter in his hand and looking more and more solemn. His heart fluttered slightly, and he could almost guess what it was.

The money shopkeeper hiding behind everyone also looked incredulous, he covered his chest, the letter hidden all the way was obviously still there at the moment, how could it be... Yet he could not say a word, nor did he dare to say it.

A few days later, the Yangzhou and Guangzhou branches of the Cao Gang received the news that they were relieved of the task of transporting military salaries for the imperial court on suspicion of collusion between officials and businessmen, malicious suppression of competitors, and misappropriation of imperial court funds without permission. In fact, this punishment is light, and even the salt introduction did not move the Jianghuai area. Because when discussing this matter, the officials of the Manchu Dynasty found that the Cao fortune of the whole country was tied to the Cao Gang family, and even if they wanted to impose heavy penalties, they had to consider not affecting the people's livelihood. It's just that in this way, the emperor and officials are aware of the harm of this monopoly, and subconsciously want to cultivate some powerful Caoyun ships. So, under the recommendation of the relevant officials, the newly emerging sail got cheap by the way, and took over the imperial task of transporting military salaries, including the grain allocation in the capital, as well as the salt introduction in Huguang and other provinces, which was an extremely lucrative business!

This is what Jiang Qingliu said in the message he received. The nerves that had been tense recently could finally be relaxed, and looking at the people who were packing their belongings outside the courtyard, he was not happy at all, he only felt that his chest was stuffy, and he was a little excited.

At this time, Qin Ziming suddenly rushed in, and said eagerly and excitedly: "Childe, do you remember that you told me to pay attention to Miss Chen's movements before?" Seeing Jiang Qingliu bowing slightly, he continued: "The person I sent to keep an eye on reported that Miss Chen sent someone to Qingshui Village in the west of the city today to invite a Wang girl to come to the cyclamen tomorrow to gather!" ”

Jiang Qingliu frowned and said, "She went to invite Miss Wang to get together?" ”

Qin Ziming nodded again and again, and said suspiciously: "Speaking of which, Miss Chen and Miss Wang don't have any friendship, and I don't know what is going on with this year's treat." ”

Not to mention him, even Wang Jian didn't react until now, stared at the invitation in his hand for a long time, and finally came to the conclusion: Miss Chen must have thought that her sweetheart's friend was her friend so enthusiastically invited her to dinner and watch the play, so let's go. Besides, can you not go, your father is a dignified prefect, and if you don't go, you will be unlucky!

So the next day, Wang Jin, according to Chen Huilan's request, put on her best silk dress, sat in the carriage that had come to pick her up, and went to the cyclamen.