On the day of the meeting, not long after the hour, Shang Cheng came to the Yamen of the Ministry of War.

He just walked into the yamen, and someone immediately told him that Zuo Xiang Tang Xing, who had not shown up for a long time, suddenly went to the yamen today, and Zeng Ao, the secretary of the military department, had just rushed to the prime minister's office, and might not come back soon; So today's meeting will most likely start later.

Tang Lao Xiangguo is in office?

Shang Cheng was stunned for a moment before he realized what had happened. Lao Xiangguo is back to work, which is a good thing! At present, the voices of the court openly opposing and suppressing land annexation are getting louder and louder, and the local authorities are also quite resistant to the imperial court's measures to investigate the hidden households in the treacherous fields, and the matter can hardly go on, and even with it, the ability and prestige of the right minister Zhang Pu are also greatly doubted and hit. At this time, it is indeed necessary for the old Xiangguo to stand up and preside over the affairs of the court! Moreover, Lao Xiangguo is impartial on the issue of "going south" or "going north", which is undoubtedly more acceptable than Zhang Pu, the leader of the southward faction!

He thought as he walked into the compound where the main hall of the military headquarters was located.

There were a dozen or so people in the courtyard. These are all here for today's meeting. Because the meeting was going to be postponed, everyone was reluctant to sit in the main hall and stare wide-eyed, so they simply went to the courtyard to chat and talk together. However, the number of people today is obviously much smaller than the last "enlarged meeting", except for Yang Du, Yan Gu and Gu Shi, the three Shangzhu States, the rest are Shangguan Rui and several senior generals in the Liyuan Forbidden Army.

Gu Shi happened to be talking to people about how to raise peonies at the small flower garden in front of the steps. He saw Shang Cheng at a glance, beckoned and said, "Zida, I came just in time, I have something I want to ask you for advice." The day before yesterday, I received a letter from Yan Jiu, mentioning what you told him last time about the soft sail or the hard sail......"

The man who was talking to Gu Shi smiled and nodded to Shang Cheng, confessed to Gu Shi again, and walked away.

“…… You said that hard sails are only suitable for small and medium-sized ships under 3,000 stones, and only for offshore sailing, and if you want to use large ships for ocean voyages, you still have to develop soft sails. But you only drew a few sketches for him, and the masters of the two shipyards in Leiden didn't know how to start it, and they didn't even know if they could make the masts. They all said that the sails had always been hard sails, and that they had never heard of soft sails. They also questioned Yan Jiu, if the mast was erected more than ten zhang high, the ship would not capsize? Although the man had already left, Gu Shi still said this sentence as if it were a pretext no matter how you look at it. He sent a letter asking me to help him ask you what to do with this soft sailing ship. ”

Shang Cheng opened his mouth and couldn't say a word. Did you tell Yan Jiu about the soft sail? How could he not be at all impressed; He also made sketches of sailboats? It's even more difficult to remember. He only remembered that he had talked to Yan Jiu about what kind of tactics and strategies should be adopted in Dongwei, but that was not his original intention, but Yan Jiu had to ask him to say a few words from a high position...... He grinned and said helplessly, "I don't know how to build a sailboat." However, his lack of knowledge of how to build ships is not the crux of the matter. Although no one will build a soft sailboat, isn't there still the first three investors? "You won't write to him and tell him that if you don't know how to build a sail warship, you will spend money to find out until we can build it ourselves! Anyway, it's not our own money! ”

Gu Shi smiled and said, "I guess you don't know how to build this soft sailboat, so I didn't ask you, and told him this directly in the letter." Anyway, it's the money of the three great monks who are smashed, why should we save it for him? ”

Shang Cheng laughed immediately. He asked Gu Shi in a low voice, "Have you heard?" ”

"You already knew?" Gu Shi looked at him in surprise, and then said, "I only heard about it the day before yesterday. ”

Shang Cheng didn't speak, and he acquiesced to Gu Shi's guess.

"When did you find out?"

"Half a month ago. It was the last discipline meeting. ”

"Chang Xiu told you?"

"Not ......"

"Li Dingyi? Isn't it the female doll of the Tian family? ”

"Neither." Shang Cheng said, "Don't guess. These people's mouths have been sewn shut, and no one has heard me a word about it until now. Lao Jiang told me. One by one, it's Jiang Luan! You know, he was working in the yamen of the Ministry of Industry, heard a few words, and heard that Zhen Huaichun went to Zhengzhou on a business trip for some reason, and as soon as the two sides contacted, he guessed seven or eight points. ”

Gu Shi didn't associate the matter of Zhenqian going to Zhengzhou with the matter of glass, and as soon as he was reminded by business, he understood it when he arrived. Now that the glass has been fired, the unfortunate ones are those who wrote the impeachment of the Ministry of Works, but the most humiliating ones are the Ministry of War. Everyone knows that the glass fell into the hands of the Ministry of Industry after the Ministry of War was unwilling to spend unjust money, and the one who made a "smart" decision for the Ministry of War was the left squire of the Ministry of War! When the Ministry of Industry kept throwing money into the black hole of the kiln, when Chang Xiu was anxious about the glass, everyone secretly praised Zhenxiang's foresight, and at the same time admired his selflessness One by one, it was not ordinary people who he refused, but his good friend Shang Cheng. But now? The glass has been successfully fired, and what kind of attitude should he have towards his colleagues and friends? Zhenqian really couldn't think of any way, so in the end he could only hide his face and run away, and went to Zhengzhou to avoid the limelight under the guise of a business trip.

Gu Shi shook his head, sighed softly and said, "It seems that Zhang Pu is about to do it." ”

Shang Cheng was speechless. He and Gu Shi have the same opinion, Zhang Pu's counterattack is just around the corner! In the past few days, there have been more and more impeachments against the Ministry of Industry and Chang Xiu, and the rhetoric in the notes has become more and more intense. Yesterday, some people even expanded the scope of impeachment to the military, saying that "the person who reads the first rampant glass is the former Yanshan Admiral Shang Cheng, who was originally a rogue in the market who lost his land on the border, and has no strengths, but is good at lying and exaggerating his achievements, impersonating his name and inviting merit, and then stealing the medal", and also mentioned that "the Shang clan of Cha Yi County is originally a household in the lower county, with no half an acre of land, and no valley every other day, but since the day of the Shang Cheng theft, less than four years, his family wealth will accumulate more than 10,000 yuan. "That's just too much! Shang Cheng estimated that in view of the fact that the current situation has faintly developed in an uncontrollable direction, Zhang Pu's counterattack should be launched soon, and this counterattack must be very fierce! No, the news of the glass that was tightly sealed by Zhang Pu reached Gu Shi's ears, and it was obvious that Zhang Pu was consciously spreading the news to the outside world, in order not to have some unexpected changes before and after the counterattack.

Shang Cheng didn't want to say more about the glass, so he brought up another topic: "I just heard that Tang Lao Xiangguo is back. ”

"It's back." Gu Shi said simply. Then there was a long sigh, and he said in a faint voice, "After the New Year, Lao Xiangguo will resign and return to his hometown." ”

The news was taken by surprise. He never thought that Lao Xiangguo would resign when he spoke! But when he thought about it, he wasn't surprised. The complicated state affairs are mixed with the competition for the crown prince of Ganquan Palace between the king of Jinan and the king of Chengdu, and the old Xiangguo's body is indeed unbearable.

He was silent for a while, and then asked, "Next, who will be the left minister?" ”

"Zhang Pu." Gu Shi said, "Tang Lao Xiangguo has recommended him to the Son of Heaven to take over as the left minister. One by one, he was recommended alone. ”

Shang Cheng didn't say anything more. Although he and Zhang Pu have contradictions of one kind or another, those are differences of opinion on official affairs, and he has no other views on Zhang Pu as a person. Anyway, the most suitable person to be the left minister at the moment can only be Zhang Pu, and there is no one else besides him......

At this time, Shangguan Rui walked over.

As soon as he came, Shang Cheng and Gu Shi couldn't say anything important, the three of them stood by the flower garden and talked about it, and Gu Shi was dragged to the side to talk by a commander of the Yamen of the Plains General.

Looking at the anxious look on the commander's face, as well as the anxious appearance of grinning teeth, Shangguan Rui said with a smile: "Dog thief! Lao Bao is in trouble this time. ”

Shang Cheng also knew the commander surnamed Bao, but he was not very familiar with it, so he asked, "How do you know that he is in trouble?" ”

"His daughter is the princess of Ding." Shangguan Rui said.

Only then did Shang Cheng know that this old Bao was actually the father-in-law of Chen Can, the king of Dingzhou. However, Chen Can is so honest that he can't even speak, Lao Bao doesn't look like a troublemaker no matter how he looks at it, one of these two people is the prince and the other is a powerful general with a heavy army in Nine Cities, both of them are precious and extraordinary, who dares to make trouble for them after eating the bear's heart leopard?

Shangguan Rui knows some details. Speaking of which, Shang Cheng is inseparable from this matter, all of which are caused by the "loan from the Eastern Wa Kingdom". It turns out that Lao Bao's daughter is very shrewd and can live a good life, so although Chen Can is not favored by Emperor Dongyuan, the pomp and circumstance of Dingwangfu is not much worse than that of other princes' mansions. But the bad thing is that Lao Bao's daughter is too shrewd. When she knew that the old county king of Qinghe had made a loan from Dongwei, when others were still suspicious and undecided, she felt that this matter was a sure thing, and she took the lead in admitting 80,000 yuan, and then successively took out 20,000 yuan to make up a whole number, and finally dragged her father Lao Bao and the uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters at home all the money they could bring in, and in the name of Dingwang Chen Can, out 250,000 yuan. This 250,000 yuan is not a decimal, and it is impossible for the old Bao family and the Dingwang Mansion to get so much cash, her original plan was to let everyone sell the land and exchange it for copper coins, after all, the harvest in the land and the interest from the loan of Dongwei are one underground and one in the sky, and it is impossible to compare at all. To be honest, her calculations were good, but things didn't go the way she thought. Since she can see that the money in the loan is huge, and others are not much more stupid than her, she is far from the only one who plans to sell the land for cash and then lend it to the East Wa Kingdom. As a result, you also sold land, and I also sold land, and the clans involved in the loan of the Dongwei took their relatives with them, and everyone sold the land together at the same time, and the government did not issue a notice to reassure the people, so ordinary people did not know what was going on, and even frightened and freaked to sell the land, and the result was that the price of the land around Shangjing fell again and again, and in previous years, it was impossible to buy an acre of land for 100 yuan, but now there are people willing to sell it for only 60 yuan, and some of the remote places where the roads are not smooth a little further away from the capital, and the land is even cheaper to 30 or 40 yuan per acre. Now Jiangnan, Jiangbei, Jingxiang, Chengdu, Chang'an...... News has been received from all directions, and people everywhere have brought copper coins for the whole vehicle to Beijing, all thinking of coming here to pick up the cheapest.

The more Shang Cheng listened, the more he didn't understand. Since someone comes to buy land with money, there is no problem with selling the land at a lower price, and the land is naturally exchanged for copper money, why does Lao Bao still talk to Gu Shi with a sad face?

Shangguan Rui smiled bitterly and said, "These people are here to buy land, it's true. But these rich people, they are more shrewd than Lao Bao's daughter! At present, the money raised by the sale of land is the second loan of Dongwei, which is only 1.2 million yuan, but the third loan at the end of the year is 2.4 million yuan. He glanced at Lao Bao, lowered his voice and said, "I guess Lao Bao wants to borrow money from Gu Shi to survive the famine." They had known each other since their early years. Lao Bao's daughter married King Ding, and she was still a matchmaker made by Gu Shi. Although it is the meaning of the Son of Heaven, it is also a great favor anyway, not ......"

Shang Cheng nodded. This is indeed a personal favor; It is not only Gu Shi's favor but also Lao Bao's favor, after all, Chen Can, the king of Ding...... How to put this well, in short, it's a bit too honest. However, he didn't think that Lao Bao could be of any use in looking for Gu Shi. If you don't count land and real estate, Gu Poyang is almost a poor egg now. At least he heard Yue'er and Erya say that Gu Xiaocian once asked them if they were willing to buy a few pieces of land from the Gu family, it was definitely a good and good land, and the price must be fair.

He suddenly felt that Shangguan Rui ran over inexplicably, said so many things to himself, and exposed Lao Bao's bottom, could it be that he had something to say to himself?

He asked Shangguan Rui: "I said, you won't be involved in it, right?" Is this going to borrow money from me? ”

Shangguan Rui laughed and said, "If I really want to borrow money, I will definitely look for you." Don't look at the courtyard in this courtyard, either the Pillar Country or the Pillar Country, either the Duke or the Prince, but I dare to say, I'm afraid there are few people who can be richer than you. You Yan Shanwei have broken Blackwater City! That's a place that has been run by the Turks for 200 years, and is it still so rich that it can fart and run oil? But let's take a look at what was written in the battle report that Sun Zhongshan reported back? It's not tents or felt blankets, cattle, sheep, horses, or weapons, pig iron, but what about the gold, silver, and goods that the Turks loot and plunder? I flipped through a few pages of the battle report and looked at it again, but I didn't see it. ”

"It must have been written, I remember seeing it in the war report!" Shang Cheng said with a serious face.

"Yes, it is written! But more than 1,000 catties of silver ingots, 200 catties of gold ingots, and more than 8,000 pieces of money, this is also called rich and oily? Shangguan Rui said disdainfully, "I have seen those seized copper coins, they are all Kaiyuan Tongbao in the late Tang Dynasty, the flesh is blackened, I don't know how much lead was poured into it when the money was minted, and it would be good if three of them could top one Dongyuan Tongbao." There is only this little thing in a huge Blackwater City, who will believe it? ”

Shang Cheng smiled and did not speak, let alone argue. Because what Shangguan Rui said was originally the truth. Yes, Shangguan Rui is not wrong, Sun Zhongshan defeated Heishui City, Yan Shanwei from generals to soldiers, and even some civil officials, it is true that everyone has made a small fortune. He believed that the imperial court must have known about it. But so what? They deserve it! What is the purpose of being a soldier and eating food, isn't it just to get promoted and get rich? Who can blame them for anything while they nibble on black flour cakes that are harder than stones, drink well water that can't get rid of the smell of sheep and horse urine, sleep in cold tents, pin their heads to their trouser belts, and fight hard with the Tuqi people to win the battle and grab some loot?

Shangguan Rui suddenly fell silent as he spoke, not knowing what he was thinking. After a while, he smacked his lips and said enviously: "Regret not being at the beginning!" Originally, he taught me to go to Yanshan to be a big Sima, but I ...... Hai, I should have kicked Guo Biao aside and went to Yanshan to be this big Sima! If it was really in the past, now no matter how you say it, you will be a famous general! ”

Shang Cheng made a fierce expression on his face, looked around viciously, and whispered, "Who dares to say that you are not a famous general?" Tell me your name, and I'll go over and chop him up for you!" One by one, even if you are finally willing to send that pile of stones to my house, thank you! ”

Shangguan Rui smiled and said in the same low voice: "It's just a pile of broken stones, what can you say about thanks?" If you have a heart, do me a little favor."