When night fell, two maids carried two lanterns to lead the way in front, the faint yellow light illuminated the stone road in the bushes, Zhang Huan looked around at Zhao Yan's official residence with his hands behind his back, the gable wall skin has been peeled off in large areas, and the beams and trees exposed in several places are also in a state of decay, indeed as Du Meizhi said, this mansion is very old, Zhang Huan glanced at Zhao Yan and his wife behind him, and asked with a smile: "Brother Yan has also been an official for eight or nine years, and he is a wealthy Huainan, he should have a little savings, why don't you want to buy a private house?" ”

Zhang Huan's sudden arrival made Zhao Yan and his wife quite nervous, although they were old friends in the past, but Zhang Huan's identity at this time virtually drew a huge generation gap between them, so that they could no longer talk freely as before, Zhao Yan saw that his wife wanted to speak, so he lightly touched her hand, signaling that these questions should be answered by himself, he groaned and said: "Don't hide it from my sick brother, I do have plans to buy a house recently, but not in Huainan, but in my hometown Taiyuan, I also know that I am sick, My parents' old house is really a little dilapidated, so buying a house in Taiyuan for them to live in first, and then buying a few acres of land for them to support the elderly, is also the end of my heart. ^UC eBook ^ Go see the latest"

"Uncle's health?" Zhang Huan smiled and asked again.

"The body is quite tough, but the year before last I broke my leg and walked a little inconvenient, so I let them come to Huainan to live several times, but he always said that it is difficult to leave the homeland, old man! It's really stubborn. ”

At this time, Qiaoqiao next to him finally couldn't help but interject: "Let's go eat first!" The wine and food are cold, "It's really troublesome for the eldest sister today." Zhang Huan arched his hand and smiled apologetically: "Next time I go to Chang'an, I will definitely invite you back once." ”

A few people quickly stepped into the small guest hall, which was not big and had simple decoration, but it was cleaned up. It looked very elegant, a small square table was placed with a pot of wine and a few plates of side dishes, the two sat down, Qiaoqiao poured a glass of wine for each of them and went to the kitchen to arrange dishes, Zhao Yan picked up the wine glass and said to Zhang Huan: "Your deeds are known to everyone in the world, you led the army to recover the Western Regions for my Tang Dynasty, let me admire it deeply, come!" I toast you. ”

Zhang Huan also picked up his wine glass and sighed: "Although I am in Longyou, I have also heard that there is an official in Huainan who is evaluated every year, and I am also a person from the officialdom. It's easy to do it once, but it's harder to do it for eight years in a row than to ascend to the sky, Brother Yan, I also toast you. ”

A touch of the wine glass. The two looked at each other and smiled, and both drank all the wine in the cup, Zhang Huan picked up the wine jug and filled him with a glass of wine and said with a smile: "Back then, you and Zheng Fatzi attacked Cui Xiong and were arrested, and I also took someone to hit the county office. It's still so exciting and unforgettable when I think about it now! ”

Zhao Yan also smiled slightly: "If I am arrested again today, will you still hit the county government?" ”

"Are you going to throw rocks again today?"

The two of them looked at each other, and they both laughed, "Come on!" Dry this one. ”

"!"

Under alcohol fumigation. The subtle generation gap between the two gradually disappeared. They seem to have returned to their former burning youth. returned to the place where I lived and studied in Taiyuan. Before I knew it, more than a dozen glasses of wine were in my stomach. Both of them had a hint of alcohol. Zhang Huan poured himself another glass of wine. The conversation slowly turned to business. "Tomorrow I plan to raise funds from the government and businessmen for disaster relief. I wonder what they think about this? ”

This Zhao Yan groaned. Last time, we raised money from businessmen and received nearly one million yuan. In addition, he got money and food from the Chu family. Zhang Huan also has at least four or five million yuan in his hands. Money shouldn't be very scarce. But he refused to let go of those officials and businessmen. Isn't it

A thought flashed through Zhao Yandi's heart. He suddenly asked, "I want to ask what is the real purpose of doing this?" ”

Then. Lin Qiaoqiao walked in with the last dish. smiled at Zhang Huan: "I cook these home-cooked side dishes by myself." Is it still to your taste? ”

"Not bad! Not bad! Zhang Huan put down the chopsticks and said sincerely: "The eldest sister's cooking skills are passed down from the master to his wife. UCTXT made me feel like I was a teenager all of a sudden. ”

Lin Qiaoqiao listened to Zhang Huan's praise. couldn't help but be overjoyed, she wiped her hands with her apron and smiled: "You eat slowly." I went first. ”

After just a few steps, she stopped and asked Zhang Huan quietly: "Pingping is okay in Chang'an!" ”

Zhang Huan's hand holding the wine glass suddenly stopped in mid-air, he slowly drank the wine, and said with a wry smile: "The eldest sister won't just ask about the current situation, right?" ”

"Eighteen Lang is really smart, and he can guess it." Lin Qiaoqiao smiled slyly: "Then tell me, when will you marry my family?" ”

"Come on!" Zhang Huan replied with some vagueness.

"When is it going to be soon, is it a day, a day, a day, or a month?" Lin Qiaoqiao asked reluctantly.

"Qiaoqiao!" Zhao Yan was a little angry, women are women, and they only care about these trivial things, he held back his anger and said, "We're talking about business!" Will you ask about your business later? ”

"Isn't a mediocre thing a serious thing?" Lin Qiaoqiao was also angry, she was talking to him well just now, why did she change her mind in a blink of an eye, which shows that her husband doesn't take her affairs to heart at all, she said with a calm face: "You still call you brother-in-law, and you don't even pay attention to her marriage, don't you feel ashamed?" ”

She threw her apron at Zhao Yan angrily, turned around and left angrily, Zhao Yan hurriedly got up and apologized to Zhang Huan: "Neiko is rude, I am spoiled, please don't take it to heart when you get sick." ”

Zhang Huan smiled, waved his hand to him, and motioned for him to sit down, "I was beaten by her when I was a child!" What is this little thing, in fact, it is also my fault, I have dragged on the mediocre matter for so long, no wonder she is in a hurry, and Zhang Huan doesn't know what to say about the mediocre matter.

The small guest hall was very quiet, the two of them drank glass by cup, each thinking about their own thoughts, and after being silent for a while, Zhao Yan returned to the topic just now, "Do you want to attack officials and businessmen when you go to illness?" ”

Zhang Huan nodded, "You guessed right, the disaster relief fundraising is just an excuse." My real purpose is to take the opportunity to rectify the officials and businessmen, the existence of officials and businessmen is really a big cancer in my Datang land, they monopolize all the money-making business, and the people for profit, not only do not pay a penny of taxes, so that the imperial court business taxes are seriously lost, and make money and go back to annex the land, and then reduce the number of homesteaders, in the long run, business is not business, agriculture is not agriculture, how can I Datang establish a country? ”

Zhao Yan didn't speak for a long time. He has been an official in Guangling for a long time, how can he not understand the harm of officials and businessmen, five years ago, when he was the commander of Jiangdu County, there were still 120 non-official and commercial shops with a capital of 100,000 yuan. But now there are only more than 30 left, and the fundamental reason is that they have been destroyed by various means by the government, and others don't say that Li Chenghong, the king of Guangwu, opened a Donglei tea house five years ago. In just five years, Guangling's long-famous Wangchun Tea House, Tianyu Tea House and other seven tea estates were squeezed by him with extremely disgraceful means, and it was time to suppress the arrogance of officials and businessmen, so a few days ago, as soon as he mentioned disaster relief and raising money, the spearhead of the businessmen was first aimed at the officials and businessmen, and it was really because the anger was too deep.

However, although Zhao Yan supported Zhang Huan's suppression of officials and businessmen, he did not approve of doing it now, he pondered for a while and said: "Many of the officials who do business in Guangling are court officials and clan magnates, and their interests are too deeply involved. I'm worried that going to the sick and doing it now will affect your plans in Chang'an. ”

"Well, I wish they all jumped out!" Zhang Huan smiled coldly, he immediately stood up, picked up the wine glass and said to Zhao Yan sincerely: "Maybe this is the last time we can drink so frankly, let's do this glass!" Let the years of the past remain in our hearts. ”

Early the next morning, the gates of Jiangdu City creaked open according to the old time. A group of vegetable farmers who had been waiting outside the city rushed in impatiently, and dozens of merchants who were waiting in the city were in a hurry to get there

It was a very ordinary morning, and every day was spent like this, but today no one realized that the soldiers defending the city had changed, in fact, except for the officialdom and some wealthy families. The change of the sky in Guangling Land has nothing to do with the people at the bottom. The days are still the same, and every day I think about firewood, rice, oil and salt. So after a while of the noise, everyone went their own way, and the gate of the city soon fell silent.

At this time, there was a sudden commotion at the city gate, the carriages and pedestrians who entered and exited the city gate dodged to both sides in horror, only to see a group of soldiers coming to the city gate, they were fully armed and murderous, and quickly ran into the city to control all the important places, many people in Jiangdu who were about to go out were frightened back to their homes and did not dare to go out, and the whole Jiangdu city was talking about it, and they didn't know what was going to happen.

At this moment, the largest Qionghua restaurant in Jiangdu City was full, and hundreds of major officials, merchants, shopkeepers and big account rooms gathered together to participate in the wine party held for them by King Yong, the Tang Dynasty Supervisor.

Of course, everyone knew that the drinking party was just an excuse to call them to a meeting, and His Royal Highness the Prison State really meant to ask them for money. A few days ago, those ordinary businessmen had been convened by the assassin for a meeting, and the heavenly secret was leaked in advance, but whether they could pay and how much money could not be paid, it was not up to them, the big soldiers who watched the shop, and many of them had already sent pigeon letters to ask the owner's wishes, whether to pay or not, and if so, how much?

The venue was very quiet, saying that it was a drinking party, but there was no glass of wine on the table, just a bowl of aged tea per person, and three people squeezed a table.

The old men leaned sideways and clung to each other, even raising their glasses and drinking tea in turns, and they really felt tired and uncomfortable, and almost felt suffocated in the dull air.

But the torture is not enough, the key is that the heavily armed soldiers standing around the venue, staring at them coldly, making their hairs stand on end, and they are frightened for a while.

Everyone drank tea silently, coughing one after another, and a quarter of an hour passed, and they sat for an hour, and their legs were numb, but His Highness the Prison State still did not appear, and just when they were almost in despair, suddenly there was a sound of footsteps outside the door. Dozens of armored sergeants walked into the lobby surrounded a high-ranking officer, who was in his thirties, dressed in iron armor, with a thin face and dark skin, and a pair of cold eyes under the iron helmet that were extremely serious.

There was a loud noise in the room. People who have never seen Zhang Huan think that he is Zhang Huan, he is not smiling, and it is estimated that he is not easy to speak, but those who have seen Zhang Huan find that the person who came is a strange officer, and they are even more worried in their hearts, what kind of meeting are they going to have today?

The officer was holding a thick booklet, and when he walked up to the stage, he said in a deep voice: "The governor of my family was unwell a few days ago and could not come to see you, so I will deal with you in the future." ”

Speaking of this, he glanced at everyone coldly. Everyone was frightened by his cold eyes! The ground jumped, only to hear him say loudly again: "Let me introduce first, my name is Li Guozhen, the general of the Xiliang Army." In the future, I will serve as the training envoy of the Yangzhou regiment and the tax supervisor of Huainan. ”

Tax Superintendent. Many people seem to have stepped on the air, and their hearts have fallen into the ice cave, especially those big account rooms, and their faces are even pale. They all realized that something big was coming.

"I invite you to come to the meeting today, mainly for two things, one is to raise funds for disaster relief and relief of the people of the Central Plains who have suffered from war. I think that even if you are generous enough to give money like them, you will not be left behind, and I will now announce that each family should make a voluntary donation to the land. ”

Li Guozhen unfolded the booklet and read aloud: "Donglei Tea House, you should voluntarily donate 500,000 yuan

Bang! With a bang, the big shopkeeper of Donglei Tea House, who was sitting in the second row, fainted to the sky. The tea bowl in his hand fell to the ground and shattered, and the big account room next to him also crumbled, and was held by someone, and he muttered in his mouth, "It's over!" Finished! 500,000 guan, how much money is earned this year. ”

Li Guozhen turned a blind eye, and he continued to read: "Wu Yuetang, you should voluntarily donate 450,000 yuan to Jinxiutang." A voluntary donation of 400,000 yuan should be made

Li Guozhen read unhurriedly. None of the 250 shops escaped, as few as 70,000 or 80,000. More than 300,000 or 400,000 yuan, all of which are terrifying huge sums of money, every time he reports a number, almost a group of people feel like they are going to die, and at the end, there is a death-like silence in the venue, Li Guozhen put the booklet away, glanced at everyone, and said coldly: "We are all soldiers, the style of the military is to make an order, there is no bargaining, I also know that you can't be the master, so I will give you a month to ask the owner, but during this period, all the shops involved in donations will be closed, in addition, On the orders of the Governor of my family, all shops will be inspected for a retrospective period of five years, and all shops that evade taxes will not only have to make up the tax owed, but also be punished by three times the amount of tax evasion, and when the taxes and fines are paid will be opened! ”

At this moment, almost all eyes were on the beams of the roof.

At noon, the whole Jiangdu city was boiling, the main commercial square located in the south of the city was almost already the world of soldiers, the sergeants entered the official and commercial shops according to the map, sealed the account books, froze the money and goods, dismissed the men, arrested the account room, and finally pasted the army seal on the gate, and the seal was written with two big words, check the tax.

At the same time, the army hung red flowers on the doors of the ordinary shops that had donated money as a sign of encouragement, and by the afternoon the situation had gradually become clear, almost all the official and commercial shops had been sealed, and the army had begun to withdraw from the commercial districts, and even a ten-year-old child could see the strange things that were happening in the city, let alone the merchants who were known for their shrewdness.

Not long after the troops withdrew from the commercial area, the entire south of Jiangdu City was filled with the earth-shattering sound of firecrackers, and countless merchants ran into the streets to cheer and beat gongs and drums.

Soon, after the frenzy, shrewd merchants began to snatch the commercial space left after the closure of official and commercial stores, and the major cabinets in Jiangdu were crowded with merchants who came to withdraw money.

Although the Jiangdu store closure incident could not completely cut off the existence of officials and businessmen, it was a strong gesture that showed Zhang Huan's determination to govern the country with an iron fist.

In the Donglei Tea House, which has been sealed, the big shopkeeper Liu Heng looked at the mess in the store with a dull gaze, the counter was smashed, the tea cans were broken, the ground was sprinkled with pieces of tea balls, the door and the door of the warehouse were sealed, and the 10,000 yuan of living money stored in the account room was also taken away as tax guarantee money, and all the account books and all the account rooms were taken away.

The room was quiet, the men had been dismissed, the tea house had become deserted, and there was only one shopkeeper in the huge shop, and he sat there like a statue, motionless for two hours, and the sunlight that had shone through the crack in the door was fading, and it was almost dark outside.

Bang dang! The black cat that was keeping a mouse in the store knocked over a tea can under his feet, and several tea balls wrapped in paper rolled out of the can, which woke Liu Heng up at once.

He sighed, bent down to pick up the tea balls on the ground, wiped the dust off them with heartache, and put them back into the tea cans one by one, when it was already dark, and the shop was even darker, he lit the lamp, took out a thin pen, and wrote a simple letter on a roll of silk paper, and then carefully rolled it up and stuffed it into a bamboo tube.

He walked quickly to the backyard with a bamboo pipe, a group of pigeons in the pigeon cage in the yard were cooing, Liu Heng found the strongest one from the pigeon, tied the bamboo pipe to its legs, and then threw the pigeon into the sky, the pigeon spread its wings and flew towards the distant Chang'an.

Liu Heng stared blankly at the pigeon flying away, but he didn't know that his letter would set off a political storm in Chang'an that completely changed the fate of the Tang Dynasty. (Until the last moment, Lao Gao will never give up, the war drums are beating, and Lao Gao asks for a monthly pass!) ）