East District of Beijing, Niuhang Street, Yujia Compound.

Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, Yu has been engaged in the grain business at home, and has survived five generations of turbulent times.

After more than 100 years in the Great Song Dynasty, the Yu family has always been one of the top grain merchants in the Great Song Dynasty, and even before the clan forces represented by the Duke of Chu interfered in the grain store, the Yu family has always controlled the grain store.

How can such a merchant family be an ordinary merchant family.

At this time, in the Yu family meeting hall, Yu Jianshu, the head of the Yu family, sat on the upper seat, and the two core figures of the Yu family were seated on both sides, including two civil officials wearing green robes.

Yu Jianshu took a copy of the official notice of the three envoys, flipped through it and read it carefully many times, his brows furrowed tightly, and his expression was extremely solemn.

A big family like them, which has been inherited for hundreds of years, although it is mainly based on business, but the strict rules are no worse than those scholarly families, not to mention that Yu Jianshu is very strict in governing the family, the head of the family did not speak, and the meeting room was quiet, and no one dared to speak.

I don't know how long it took before Yu Jianshu sighed, handed the official notice to the person next to him, and said with a wry smile: "This bidding method seems to be a great opportunity for us, but there are also dangers...... If it is not handled well, I am afraid that it will bring disaster to our family. ”

A man in his thirties, wearing a green-robed official uniform, said suspiciously: "Uncle, it is very clear in the official document of the third division that as long as you win the bid, not to mention how much profit you make every year, the imperial court will also consider awarding officials as appropriate, and the little nephew really doesn't understand where this danger is?" ”

Yu Jianshu glanced at the man who spoke in disappointment, and snorted coldly: "Our Yu family has been able to inherit for more than two hundred years, and has always had a place in the grain store, in addition to being proficient in business and relying on the connections of many years of operation, it is because we have always followed the principle of low-key behavior. ”

Another young man in a green-robed official uniform asked suspiciously, "Father, isn't this better?" Let the world know the foundation of our Yu family, and change the world's view of my Yu family, my Yu family is not just a businessman's home. ”

Yu Jianshu's face was even more disappointed, and he shouted with some hatred: "How much money did I spend to send you two to the court as officials, but you two disappointed me too much." ”

The two green-robed officials hurriedly stood up, glanced at each other, and bowed down a little older and said, "Uncle, the little nephew is stupid, and I still don't understand what the uncle means." ”

In addition, the green-robed young man also looked at his father with a puzzled expression.

Yu Jianshu sighed and said, "Let me ask you, if the world suddenly knew that the butcher's house in the butcher shop on the street was buried with 100,000 taels of silver, what would happen to you?" ”

The young green-robed official immediately sneered: "If you don't have a matching status and status, but you have such a huge amount of money, it will naturally invite you to kill yourself and exterminate your clan......

Speaking of this, the green-robed young man suddenly couldn't speak, he finally understood what his father meant, their Yu family was like a little butcher with 100,000 taels of silver buried in the ground in the eyes of the Son of Heaven and the Prime Minister, as well as those real giant lords.

Now others don't know that there is so much silver buried in their house, but if they succeed in bidding, they will inevitably expose their own financial resources, even if they take out 100,000 yuan to bid for the right to transfer and buy all the way, but in the eyes of others, they will inevitably magnify ten times, or even dozens of times to guess their family's money.

The older green-robed official suddenly said: "This is also the reason why the uncle immediately gave up the position of head of the line to Mi Fatzi two years ago under the pressure of the Duke of Chu. ”

"Alas! It's all to blame that our Yu family has never been able to produce an official who can be on the stage, otherwise, for example, the Han family of Xiangzhou and the Han family of Lingzhou have become important ministers of the court in every generation, and even the prime minister, even if they have the financial resources of the rich country and hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land, no one dares to covet them, even if the emperor is short of money, he will not fight their ideas. ”

Yu Jianshu sighed with emotion, he has been the head of the family for more than 20 years, and has been selecting children who are good at reading from the young children in the clan, and inviting famous Confucian scholars as teachers, but there has never been a high school scholar in the Yu family, and now he just spends a lot of money, uses his connections, and seeks two petty officials for the two children, which is destined to be impossible to become a climate and difficult to become the pillar of the Yu family.

In fact, Yu Jianshu not only let his own children try to go to the scientific examination, but he also selected some young children from the children of the clan, funded them from an early age, invited good teachers, and let them study.

It is not without results, and now there are eleven people in the Yu family, all of whom are studying and preparing for the exam, preparing to participate in next year's imperial examination, and strive to become a jinshi.

Even if they can't get into the Jinshi, they can easily get a position as a clerk in the government if they have family connections and money.

Over the years, many yamen in the capital have officials who have gone out of their homes.

Although these people cannot be the pillars of the Yu family, they are the cornerstones, and they have made great contributions in finding out news, predicting risks, controlling the situation in the imperial court, and predicting blessings and disasters in advance.

After all, it was the Song Dynasty where civil officials were in charge of the country and the status of businessmen was low, and in these years, the giant businessmen funded the children of the trustworthy poor families to study, and it was not uncommon for them to become family helpers after they were named officials on the gold list, and the reason was actually what Yu Jianshu said just now.

"Father, then we won't participate in the bidding this time." The green-robed young man said with some regret.

Yu Jianshu shook his head and said: "The imperial court sent an official notice, it is not okay not to participate, and it is necessary to participate in the bidding appropriately, just set a ceiling on the amount of money." ”

At this time, there was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps outside the door, and then a person who looked like a housekeeper came in and reported: "Master, Sima Guang, a scholar from Longtuge University, went to our Yujiazheng store, and sent a message, let the master go to see him immediately!" ”

Yu Jianshu was stunned for a moment, stood up, and sighed: "See, in the eyes of officials like Sima Guang, we are just cheap businessmen who come and go, and when people come over, I don't dare to be a little lazy!" ”

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"Childe, Sima Guang went to Yujiazhengdian, the slave maid originally wanted to sneak in, but unexpectedly, there was a master in Sima Guang's entourage, the slave and maid did not dare to guarantee that they would not be discovered, and they were worried that they would startle the snake and spoil the child's big business, so they did not dare to sneak in and eavesdrop." In the study of Ru Linlang's mansion, the snake slave reported to Zhang Bin.

"The snake slave has worked hard, you have done a good job, there is no need to eavesdrop, I just need to know which one Sima Guang is looking for."

While Zhang Bin was talking, he stroked the silver fur of the little gold, and the little guy squinted comfortably and crawled in Zhang Bin's arms.

After a pause, Zhang Bin casually handed the little gold to the bamboo girl next to him, a touch of determination flashed in his eyes, and said: "Snake slave, after Sima Guang has seen Yu Jianshu, the master of the Yu family, you can find a way to get Jianshu directly to our house without knowing it, so as not to let people find out." ”

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