Bian Liu fell down the canal with the wind, and when everyone scooped him up, he was already filled and frozen; And the red and black sticks flew here, the old man had already fainted and died, and the executioner still refused to stop.

There was a commotion on the dock, Li Chengshi's brows were twisted, he bowed his hand to Li Qingyi, and said angrily: "Since the transfer envoy is handling official business, we won't bother." ”

After that, he turned around and boarded the carriage and walked away, everyone followed and laughed and dispersed, Li Linfu's son-in-law Zhang Boji has been standing at the end of the crowd, he took the land route, just arrived in Yangzhou three days ago, Shicai has been watching coldly, seeing what his father-in-law said ruthlessly, Li Qing has it, the so-called means are just to start first, who wouldn't see? But he acted a little recklessly, beating and dismissing people without asking about the indiscriminate situation, and also pointing to the name of King Qing in public, these are all taboos in officialdom, his father-in-law, the dignified Xiangguo looked up to him so highly, Zhang Boji's eyes were a little disdainful, I am afraid that it is because he has always forbearance in the capital, and after arriving at the place, the emperor is far away, and he is proud for a while, and his original face is fully revealed.

"It must be so." Zhang Boji shook his head.

Li Qing saw that all the officials were almost gone, raised his hand, and stopped the execution, "Forget it, a few old bones, just spare him this time." ”

Several Cao officials ran up, picked up the Cao Yun judge, and quickly ran home to heal.

At this time, Zhang Boji slowly walked up, saluted Li Qingshi and said with a smile: "In the history of the governor of Xiayang, the surname is Zhang Boji, and Li Shilang's implementation of the salt law this time is to cooperate with the lower officials throughout the process. ”

Li Qing saw that the person who came was tall and elegant, and his face was white and fat, Zhang Boji, he was Li Linfu's eldest son-in-law.

"Oh! It turns out that you are Li Xiangguo's son-in-law, I have already heard of it, and I am disrespectful! Disrespectful! ”

Although Li Qing's tone was respectful, Zhang Boji felt displeased, the other party was respectful because of his father-in-law, not himself, fortunately, when he arrived at home, Zhang Boji only smiled faintly, "Li Shilang must have been tired all the way, first follow me to the accommodation for a night's rest, and then do business tomorrow." ”

Most of Li Qing's appointments are temporary positions, so there is no fixed official office in Yangzhou, but fortunately, Yangzhou is prosperous, and there are many idle mansions, Li Qing and his servants do not worry about placement, and his guards are also stationed in the adjacent air force battalion, so that they can be deployed at any time.

Li Qing followed Zhang Boji through several neighborhoods, at this time it was almost dusk, the street was still full of people, foreigners raised their eyes to see, the Japanese, Goryeo people are the majority, there are also a lot of big cannibals, not deserted at all, the city in ancient times is different from now, there are no high-rise buildings, the city is developing to the plane, so although the population is only hundreds of thousands, but the area is more than the current million people of the big city. Although there is no grandeur and breadth of Chang'an, Jiangdu County also covers a huge area, and Chengdu can be compared, everywhere you can see exquisite houses, white walls and black tiles, spires and thin eaves, than Chang'an has a little more of the beautiful style of the Wei, Jin and Southern Dynasties.

After walking for half a cup of tea, more than a dozen carriages came to a government office, Zhang Boji pointed to this office and said with a smile: "The former Prime Minister Pei Yaoqing lived here and did official business when he was the Jianghuai transfer envoy, and now it is still empty, there are many houses inside, there are servants to take care of it, and there are all kinds of food and accommodation, Li Shilang and his colleagues live here, if there is a shortage, you can send someone to inform me at any time." ”

He pulled Li Qing again, pointed to a bridge to the east, and said with an ambiguous smile: "Not far from that bridge is the famous fireworks flourishing place in Yangzhou, if you are interested, you might as well go to taste my Jiangnan people and see if Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao are still there?" ”

When men talk about wine, they will always shorten the distance between each other, as soon as Zhang Boji said this, everyone laughed knowingly, Li Qing thanked him and said: "There is Lao Zhang Changshi who arranged it so thoughtfully for me, and it is late today, Zhang Changshi, please go back!" We'll talk about it tomorrow. ”

.

Night falls, the night of Yangzhou is more prosperous and gorgeous, lively and colorful, Li Qing's people go out to hang out, only the fifth Qi and Liu Yan were ordered to come to Li Qing's room to discuss tomorrow's affairs, the fifth Qi is Li Qing's deputy, but it is okay, but Liu Yan is just a small official from the eighth grade, but he is reused by this, so he is very moved, Liu Yan became famous very early, when he was young, he was famous for being a prodigy, he was received by Li Longji, after becoming a * person, he was well-read and strong, especially good at salt and iron, and he was assigned to the household department as an official after Jinshi.

In Liu Yan's view, Li Qing's monopoly method of starting the salt administration is indeed a method with low investment and quick results, which can quickly increase financial revenue, arouse the emperor's confidence, and lay a solid foundation for the next step of reform.

The two came to the waiter's room, Li Qing beckoned them to sit first, and a personal soldier served tea to the two, thinking for a while, Li Qing smiled and said: "What did you see in the scene on the dock today?" ”

The two glanced at each other, and the fifth Qi said first: "If I guessed correctly, the squire on the dock beat people, which was the foolish trick that the squire told me on the boat to show weakness." ”

Li Qing nodded, "Then what do you see?" ”

Fifth Qi said with a smile: "This method is done by people, if Wei Shilang does it, he has been in the officialdom for a long time, calm and cautious, others will definitely not believe it, with Li Chengshi, an old and refined official, he will see through it at a glance, but if Li Shilang does it, they will believe it." ”

"Why?"

Fifth Qi was a little embarrassed, and said with a wry smile: "I said it, don't be angry, in fact, with the speed of the waiter's promotion, most of our old officials are not convinced, at the end of last year, Li Shilang was dismissed as the governor of Shazhou, and even I have returned the Prime Minister's Qing, in our opinion, Li Shilang has no merit and no qualifications, and it is not like Yang Guozhong is the emperor's relative, only made a small contribution, but won the title, and even many people are wondering whether Li Shilang is the emperor.

Li Qing said abruptly: "The emperor's male pet is not?" ”

"I don't think like this now, the emperor's male favorite will at most dismiss the official and the high-ranking lord, and will never seal the real official, I get along with Li Shilang these days, and I really think that Li Shilang has real skills."

Li Qing smiled slightly: "You don't need to pat yourself on the back, let's get to the point, how can Li Chengshi believe it?" Am I notorious and known locally? ”

"Exactly!"

Fifth Qi nodded, "Maybe Li Chengshi can't see it on the surface, but the contempt of those officials under him is obvious, and he actually dares to laugh at the adults, which shows that they don't take the adults in their eyes. :.Letter. ”

Fifth Qi breathed a sigh of relief, and said with a smile: "Since the plan of the arrogant soldiers has been accomplished, the adults might as well play a deeper role and let them come to the door by themselves.

"Bring you into the urn!" Liu Yan next to him said with a smile.

"Yes!" The three of them clapped their hands and laughed.

Li Qing looked at Liu Yan, "Then what is Director Liu's opinion?" ”

Liu Yan hurriedly got up and saluted Li Qingshi: "The lower officials are soft-spoken, and they don't dare to call the word 'high', and the lower officials are afraid of adults when they see that Liu Suifeng, if he has an old relationship with adults, it is a breakthrough." ”

"Your eyes are poisonous, that Liu Suifeng did offend me in the past, I didn't take him to heart, I heard you say this, but I can't let him go."

Li Qing picked up the teacup, took a sip, and said with a smile: "I already have a plan in my heart, according to Brother Yu Gui's method, we will divide the troops into three ways, I will play a courtier who is looking for flowers and asking willows, and the specific salt affairs will be done by Brother Yu Gui." ”

"What about the third way?" Fifth Qi and Liu Yan asked in unison.

"Is this the third way?" Li Qing touched his chin and said with a smile: "Naturally, my staff and private family members will do it." ”

.

Li Chengshi's mansion is about three miles away from Li Qing's residence, and the bright moon is in the sky, Li Chengshi walks around the room with his hands behind his back, and a few staff members sit down, looking at the assassin history with anxiety.

As the fifth Qi said, Li Qing's deeds Li Chengshi has long heard of it, last year Shangyuan Night was promoted to Taisheren, I heard that it was related to the recommendation of the concubine, but in just over a year, he first went to Nanzhao, and served for more than half a year as the assassin of Shazhou, and then transferred back to Beijing to be the head of the household, as if the change of the marquee, according to the news from King Qing, this person is still Zhang Qiu and Qiong's henchman.

King Qing's tone looked down on Li Qing, and he just asked himself to clean him up, but Li Chengshi understood King Qing, didn't he look down on Li Linfu too? He couldn't believe his words, but Li Qing's performance today made him a little confused, where is this like a court official, it is clearly the appearance of a villain.

"Today's events, you have also seen them, tell me, which book is this Li Qing talking about?"

The chief of staff stood up first, this person's surname is Qian, about fifty years old, since he is sitting in the chief, he will naturally speak first, he stroked the beautiful beard that is longer than the abdomen, and has a confident meaning, and said with a smile: "Li Qinglu is reckless, not enough to worry about the teeth, so that the king please be relieved, according to what his subordinates see, the emperor's meaning is also thunderous and rainy, coming to Yangzhou to check the salt will inevitably move the interests of King Qing and King Yong, how can the emperor not understand, adults just think about it, how did Wei Jian solve the tens of thousands of stone salt seized a few years ago, don't you understand?" ”

"I don't agree with Qian Zhongweng's words!"

The next person stood up again, dark-skinned, five short figures, about forty years old, this person's surname is Bao, sitting in the second seat of Li Chengshi's staff, he shook his head again and again and said: "Qian Zhongweng's words must be deeply mistaken to make the king, King Qing's letter also clearly said, this new salt law is Li Qing introduced, he came to Yangzhou in person, how can he return to the mountain empty-handed, subordinates think that the person who can come up with this method is by no means so frivolous and ignorant of his appearance." ”

"You know!"

Qian staff lost face in the assassination of Lord Shi, and couldn't help but be annoyed and angry, and reprimanded in a foul voice: "Do you think this new salt law is what this person thinks?" This must be Zhang Qiu and Qiong's new official to take office three fires, but for fear of offending the clan elites, he pushed this out to resist the arrows, that Zhang Qiu and Qiong have been officials in Shu for a long time, how can you not know the pros and cons of the salt administration, you only know one and don't know the other, so you are alarmist, so you can't sit in the chief. ”

The rest of the staff praised Chief Qian for seeing deeply and seeing through, Bao Staff's face was flushed, because his face was black, he couldn't see it, he was just about to refute, but he was gently pulled by the people around him, only to find that Li Tingshi's face was slow, and he was looking at Qian Zhongweng with appreciation, Bao Staff woke up slightly, presumably Li Tingshi's heart was like this, Qian Staff did what he liked, no wonder he could be the chief. He sighed secretly, and only listened to the pleasant words, this kind of staff did it was also breathtaking, he shook his head, and then said no more, and sat down.

Li Chengshi saw that the staff members all agreed on the same opinion, and he also made up his mind, and he said to the Bao staff: "You help me send a post, and I will pick up Li Shilang in the Jade Tower tomorrow night." ”

He turned back to Qian and said, "Mr. Hard, one more night, check those accounts again, so that they can't see the clues, and the 200,000 stone salt that has not been sent out must be hidden." ”

Where is Chief Qian willing to do this kind of troublesome thing, he glanced at the Bao staff, got up and said with a smile: "Why don't I go and deliver the post, those miscellaneous subordinates are all arranged by me, maybe I can bring some news back to the envoy." ”

Li Chengshi woke up and said with a smile: "In this way, you can change it!" ”