"My lord, there's a guest outside the door asking to see you."

The porter sent someone to send a message that made Nam so Won, who was handling official documents in his mansion, distracted.

"What is the identity of the visitor?"

"He himself said that he was a merchant from Anhui, and his surname was Xiang Yuzheng."

"Xiang Yuzheng?"

Listening to some familiar voices, Nam so Won thought about it carefully, but he remembered where he passed the name.

"Invite him in."

Nam so Won waved his hand and motioned for his subordinates to prepare.

"Isn't he in the grain business? How can you find yourself? ”

In order to suppress grain prices before, Nan Zhuyuan had already dealt with most of the grain merchants in Suzhou, and even businessmen from other provinces like Xiang Yuzheng were not left behind.

However, what is the effect, the reality has been verified, and it is indeed a bit surprising that a grain merchant like Xiang Yuzheng has already left a bad impression in the heart of the prefect of Nan Suyuan, and his sudden visit today is indeed a bit surprising.

"Meet your lord!"

Although Xiang Yuzheng is not young, he is much more energetic than Nan Suyuan, who is in his old age, but his expression is respectful, and people can't grasp anything wrong.

"Let's do it, serve tea!"

After a pleasantry, Xiang Yuzheng slowly said his intentions soon after.

"I heard that the master under the command of the lord is inquiring about the heroes on the sea, I don't know if the lord knows?"

Meaning to point out, Xiang Yuzheng's words suddenly shouted that Nam so Yuan was vigilant, but then quietly covered up the past.

"Oh, is there such a thing?"

As if he had just learned about this, Nam so Won asked in surprise.

"The private affairs of the people below, I, as the proprietor, are not easy to ask, as long as what he does does not violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty, it is not good for this official to interfere too much."

"But now the imperial court attaches great importance to the matter of coastal defense, and since you have reacted, the official will also ask a question or two, so you can rest assured that the shopkeeper is very reassured."

"Your Excellency misunderstood, the grass folk just want to recommend a partner to the adult, and he has a good reputation among the sea high rollers."

Xiang Yuzheng hurriedly explained.

"Oh, then the shopkeeper should go to Mr. Han, not the official, right?"

Although he figured out the other party's intentions, Nam so Won would not show his flaws so easily.

"It's the grass people who are abrupt, and in addition, the grass people actually have one more thing, and they want to make a deal with adults."

Xiang Yuzheng used the smuggler's clues as bait, and it wasn't until this time that he really got to the point.

"Deal?"

At this time, Nam so Won, who thought he had figured out Xiang Yu's intentions, was once again a little confused.

"As the prefect of Suzhou, I really can't think of any place that can make Xiang Shopkeeper look in."

Nam so Yuan seems to be polite to Xiang Yu Zheng, but judging from the information he has gathered, this Xiang Yu Zheng's own family is not rich, except for a little keen business sense, the rest of the basic strength is not in the eyes of Nam Su Yuan, a civil official of the fourth grade.

"The adults laughed, it was not so much a deal as a mutual benefit."

Xiang Yu Zheng clearly saw the contempt in Nan Suyuan's expression, but he continued disappreciatively: "My lord, do you know that the current Suzhou Mansion is like hot oil in that pot, which may burst and scatter at any time and hurt people? ”

"Hehe, alarmist!"

Naturally, Nam-so Won will not admit it.

"I'm afraid not!"

Xiang Yuzheng showed the facts: "This is some of the things that the grass people collected in addition to doing business in Suzhou Mansion in the early days. ”

"For example, this morning, the Torture House Chronicle hired a corpse transport team to bring a total of fifteen corpses of people who died of hunger and cold last night and buried them in mass graves outside the city."

"The price of grain in the city continues to rise, and I am not afraid to tell the truth to my lord, and then the price of grain will rise as spring ploughing begins, and many grain merchants led by the Shen grain shop in the city are now condensed into one, and it is not something that scattered merchants such as me can stop."

"The number of unemployed workers in the city exceeds 5,000, and the total number of their families together is tens of thousands, and now the family is almost exhausted; And if they want to survive until the autumn harvest of the next year, or wait until the factories and workshops in the city are up and running, they may have a way to live. ”

"As for the rest of the industry in the city, it's even more of a depression, so there's no need to repeat it here, right?"

“……”

"With all that, what the hell are you trying to say?"

Listening to a mere businessman and his opinion on the quality of the Suzhou Mansion under his governance, Nan Zhuyuan felt bad in his heart, and the anger rising in his heart gradually rose, but under his deep city government, Xiang Yuzheng seemed to be very calm.

"My lord is angry, there is no other malicious intent in the words of the grass people, I just want to remind my lord that there is a dark tide surging under Suzhou Mansion, and I have to guard against it!"

Xiang Yu Zheng has a kind heart and thinks about Nam so Won.

"The official has his own plan for this matter, so you don't have to bother with it."

Although the other party seemed to have good intentions, it sounded harsh to Nam so Won.

"Adults are naturally far-sighted, but the grass people are also kind."

Xiang Yuzheng was not worried that he would be angry, and what he said next was that he could really rely on the other party: "It's just that adults know that there are remnants of Hongmen in the city, and at this time they are colluding with Anzhou at the bottom of the city, trying to cause another riot!" ”

If the person who knows Xiang Yuzheng's true identity hears the other party's words at this time, he is afraid that he will be shocked by his eyes, who will tell him what he is planning to the person he wants to deal with.

"What? Is this true? ”

As soon as Nam so Won heard the word Hongmen, he began to panic in his heart.

Although Suzhou did not have the opportunity to fight against the Hongmen, it did not mean that the Southern Vocational Institute had the slightest contempt for the opponents they had to deal with in the Ming Dynasty.

It is only because of the good terrain that Suzhou Prefecture is not adjacent to the Yellow River battle line and has no influence of the coastal defense line that the entire battlefield has been cut off from the people of Suzhou Prefecture from the beginning of the war to the present.

However, although the foundation that Hongmen operated in Suzhou Mansion back then, although it was purged by the Ming Dynasty again and again, there were still countless dark lines operating in it.

Even if he didn't report it to Yu Zheng, in fact, Nam so Won himself suspected that the riot that ruined his reputation in the first place was the presence of Hongmen.

In reality, after the break between Hongmen and the Ming Dynasty, the Ming court cleaned up the foundation on the surface of Hongmen, and the impact was felt by them in Nanzhuyuan, Suzhou Prefecture, and the commercial tax of Suzhou Mansion was reduced by almost 20%.

Not to mention the impact after that, it has not been eliminated until now, and the closure of a large number of factories and workshops, if you dig deeper, isn't it because Hongmen blocked the channels of maritime trade!