As soon as it was dawn, Zhang Boji came to invite Li Qing, and after a while, the fifth Qi came out and smiled at Zhang Boji: "The fifth Qi of the Wailang, a member of the subordinate of the Ministry of Household Affairs, is the deputy of Li Shilang, and Li Shilang saddled his horse and tired, so he ordered me to go with Zhang Changshi to settle the account." ”

Zhang Boji's history as governor of Shangzhou is the fifth grade, and the fifth Qi is only a subordinate product, but the fifth Qi is a Beijing official, and he is an official in a key financial department such as the Du Zhi Division, so Zhang Boji did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly laughed and said: "It's me who is wrong, Li Shilang is a righteous envoy, how can he be allowed to do practice, and the lower officials often see the approval of the fifth brother. ”

Fifth Qi also smiled: "I have long heard that Zhang Changshi has a good reputation as an official, and the report is rigorous and standardized, which can be a model for various states, and saves me a lot of trouble, so I will stick it on the wall as a model." ”

The two glanced at each other, and they both laughed, this is where Fifth Qi is old and sophisticated, starting from the details to exaggerate Boji's ability, but without mentioning his background, Zhang Boji listened very happily.

Zhang Boji grabbed the fifth Qi with one hand and smiled affectionately: "Go!" Brother Yu Gui sat in my carriage. ”

The carriage galloped towards the state ya, and on the carriage, Zhang Boji was silent for a while, and asked tentatively: "The salt law covers a wide range, I don't know which piece Brother Yu Gui wants to start with?" ”

Fifth Qi smiled and said: "Since I am a member of the branch of the Wailang, naturally start with the account books of the old bank, and Zhang Changshi will take me to take over the accounts first!" ”

Zhang Boji nodded secretly, Li Chengshi sent someone to Sihu Cao last night to be busy all night. I guess I have already moved my hands and feet, so I don't have to say much.

Soon, the carriage stopped in front of a huge local government office, where the state government was located, and when he heard that the man who had taken over the salt tent had come, Si Hu Cao joined the army and personally moved out the old tents that had accumulated for decades in bundles, many of which were yellow, old, and broken, but there was something strange. That is, most of them are dust-free.

Sihu Cao's military surname is Cai, a native of Hongxiang, about forty years old, with broad shoulders and fat body, pig's head and pig brains, he has a simple appearance, but his eyes show a treacherous look from time to time. He saw that the fifth Qi had a puzzled look in his eyes, obviously because he found that there was no dust on the old tent and became suspicious, he hurriedly put out the prepared rhetoric: "Lord Hui, these account books used to be put together with tea and rice, and a few days ago, the new salt law was introduced, and his subordinates specially sorted them out one by one. ”

"I see, I want to praise you for cleaning your books all the time!"

Fifth Qi said, casually picked up the thinnest red book and looked at it, only to see that it was densely packed with the names of each salt pan. Below are the names of the salt supervisors and salt supervisors to which each salt field belongs.

"My lord, this is just the general ledger. The balance of income and expenditure is recorded in the annual ledger. Cai Senjun pointed to several large bundles of account books.

The fifth Qi closed the account book and asked, "This is just Guan Yantian." The imperial court also has records, but what about the private salt fields? Where is its ledger? ”

This is where the problem lies, in the early days of the Tang Dynasty, the salt government and the people benefited together, divided the people into two and divided the officials, and then taxed the people's salt, but the imperial court and the local tax were not clear, and the officials and the people were difficult to argue, resulting in its loopholes. King Qing, King Yong and other powerful people took the opportunity to buy people's salt, pretending to be official salt to evade taxes and resell it to make huge profits. Li Qing's new salt law is aimed at the chaos of the tax system and circulation, one size fits all, and plugs the loopholes at the source.

Cai Senjun squeaked, and said for a long time: "Originally, the imperial court did not make a request, and the private salt field only recorded some sporadically, which may not be complete." He picked up a few books from the ledger for a while, handed them over, and said, "That's all." ”

Fifth Qi flipped through it casually, but there were only a few ledgers that recorded the trading place, but the general ledger that recorded the location of the salt pans did not.

"Forget it, let's hand over the official Yantian first." He no longer pursued it, but only ordered someone to count the account books one by one and make friends with Sihu Cao.

Fifth Qi turned back to Zhang Boji and smiled: "In the afternoon, I will go to the salt warehouse with you to take a look, count the inventory, and in a few days, I will go to the field to check the salt field. ”

Zhang Boji was surprised and delighted, and said with a smile: "It was my luck to be able to deal with Brother Yu Gui." ”

.

Not to mention that the fifth Qi received the account inventory in the state government, just said that Li Qing, after waking up, he only felt energetic and refreshed, so he took more than a dozen personal soldiers to wander around Yangzhou City.

Li Qing smiled: "Li Tingshi, but something came to me?" ”

Seeing Li Qing's high spirits, Qian staff couldn't help but be surprised: "My envoy heard that Li Shilang was sick, and he wanted to visit him in person, but he was busy with official business and couldn't get out of his body, so he ordered me to come and have a look, and invited a famous doctor to come for treatment." ”

Li Qing raised his head and smiled, "What kind of illness will I have, it's just lazy!" I have heard for a long time that Yangzhou is a prosperous place, so I want to go out for a walk, and I have my own deputy to worry about official affairs, please tell the envoy, thank you for his concern. ”

Qian staff did not move, hesitated for a moment and then smiled: "I am from Jiangdu, and I am familiar with every grass and tree in this city, so it is better for me to be a guide for the waiter." ”

"That's the best, I don't know the way, so I'll trouble Mr. Qian."

Li Qing turned over and got on his horse, "Let's go slowly all the way, let's do it!" ”

Staff Qian also rode a horse and said with a smile: "The city is quite big, if you really can't walk around." ”

The group crossed the small bridge, and the noise immediately came to their faces, but they saw that the taverns were lined up, the flags were displayed, and the warblers and warblers in front of the Qinglou were smiling and looking forward to it.

Seeing this, Li Qing unconsciously turned around and laughed in a low voice: "Yangzhou Jiaojiao is a little more subtle than the rich girl of Chang'an, I don't know who is the most famous?" ”

Qian staff liked this tune the most, and when he heard Li Qing's question, his spirit doubled, and he said itchyly: "In fact, the most famous prostitute in Yangzhou now is from Chang'an, and he is also a famous prostitute in Chang'an. ”

Li Qing stroked his palms and smiled: "The three famous prostitutes in Chang'an, the unparalleled slaves in song; Liu Guorong, who can't tolerate the concubine; Li Wa, who laughs at the heartthrob, which one is it? ”

"Definitely! Definitely! ”

Qian staff smiled mysteriously: "Bees and butterflies are with you, who is the unparalleled national color?" ”

Li Qing was surprised: "Could it be Miss Lianxiang?" ”

"Yes, it is Chu Lianxiang, she came to Yangzhou after the Yuan Festival, and there is an endless stream of people who admire her name, but there are only a dozen guests who enter the scene."

Speaking of this, Qian staff shook his head again and again with hatred, he only felt that his lips were dry, he swallowed his saliva unconsciously, and said with an ambiguous smile: "Tonight, the envoy is in the jade building for Lord Shilang to catch the wind, and Lord Shilang is very likely to kiss Fangze!" ”

Li Qing smiled slightly, "I've heard of it for a long time, so I want to take a good look at it tonight." ”

The two of them watched the flowers, and the Qian staff were all familiar with the stories of all parts of Yangzhou, and the language was witty and humorous, and they spoke wittily, and before they knew it, they went out of the city.

.

Soon after Li Qing went to visit Yangzhou, his staff Gao Shi went out of the gate accompanied by the Lifei brothers and went straight to the West Market, which, like Chang'an, was also divided into the West City and the East City, and the East City was the pearl

, the fine silk pen and ink are located, and the West Market is paper, candles, cloth and linen and other ordinary goods.

Entered the gate of the West City, only to see the crowd of people, the bustle is better than Chang'an, the West City covers an area similar to the West City of Chang'an, the main road is more than 20 zhang wide, straight and square, all kinds of goods are placed in partitions, and the planning is neat.

Gao Shi turned a few corners, asked where the place where the sugar was sold, and then walked to the southernmost side of the market with the Lifei brothers, he came here to find an old friend of Li Qing, who only knew the surname Lin, and a merchant who specialized in selling cane sugar.

Yangzhou is the largest producer of cane sugar, there are seven or eight shops in the West Market, a large amount of cane sugar is batched from here to the whole country every day, Gao Shi asked one by one, and soon found Lin Ji Sugar Store on the very edge.

The proprietor of this Lin Ji sugar shop was the Yangzhou merchant Lin Shopkeeper who sold the shop to Li Qing in Chengdu (see Volume 2 Serial Scheme), Li Qing used his sugar when he made slush, and he continued to supply Li Qing after returning to Yangzhou.

At this moment, he was playing with Sun in the store, and suddenly someone was looking for him at the door, so Lin Dongzhu took Sun out, but he didn't know Gao Shi.

"Is there something wrong with me?"

Gao Shi hesitated, arched his hand to him, and said with a bitter face: "I am sent by the proprietor of Chengdu Wangjiang Restaurant, does the shopkeeper Lin still have an impression?" ”

The Li Fei brothers behind him looked at each other, and they didn't know who this Li proprietor was?

Lin Dongzhu was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized, and said in a panic: "I know!" Know! Is Xiao Li also in Yangzhou? ”

"Yes! It was he who commanded me to come to you. ”

Gao Shi took out a contract from his side again. He smiled and said, "This is a watch." ”

Lin Dongzhu took it and recognized that it was the land transfer contract he signed with Li Qing back then, and couldn't help laughing: "Xiao Li is too fussy, do you need any notes to find me?" ”

At this time, Li Fei Yuanli in the back couldn't help it, and leaned into Gao Shi's ear and whispered: "This Xiao Li, is it . .

Suddenly, the other side said, 'Wow! With a bang, Lin Dong's main hand Sun was frightened by Li Fei Yuanli's appearance and cried. Lin Dongzhu hurriedly carried Sun Xian back to the house.

"I don't know who this Xiao Li is, you don't have to talk too much!" Gao Shi glared at him hatefully, and Lifei Yuanli had to retreat depressedly.

'Xiao Li! He read it twice, and suddenly couldn't help laughing, and was slapped hard by Li Fei Shouyu beside him, and Li Fei Yuanli's laughter gradually stopped.

Moment. When proprietor Lin came out, Gao Shi smiled again: "proprietor Li asked you to meet at Huaiyang Restaurant at noon tomorrow, and there is something important to discuss." ”

Lin Dongzhu looked at the contract in his hand again, nodded and said, "Please tell your owner, I will definitely come." ”

.

When night falls, Yangzhou Qunyulou is full of people, Qunyulou is the largest Qinglou in Yangzhou, is the asset of King Qing, but it is not only Qinglou, but also a bit equivalent to the 'heaven and earth' of later generations. Consumption here is also a symbol of status, and many dignitaries and nobles also entertain guests here. Today, the most luxurious third floor of the jade building was chartered by Li Chengshi, the assassin of Yangzhou, for Li Qing, the household servant who made a special trip to Yangzhou to supervise the salt administration and Cao Yun.

The third floor is very large. Enough to sit hundreds of people is still not too crowded, Li Qing's servant; Yangzhou officials at the state and county levels; More than 200 people sat in Yangzhou's celebrities, wealthy businessmen, etc., and groups of maids and beautiful women shuttled between the wine tables like flowers and butterflies, diligently persuading wine and cloth dishes.

The officials took turns to persuade Li Qing to drink, he drank dozens of glasses in a row, the wine on his face, turned red, he asked Li Chengshi drunkenly: "I heard that Chu Lianxiang, a famous prostitute in Chang'an, is also here." But really? ”

Li Chengshi smiled and made a gesture to the little guy at the door. Immediately the sound of the piano sounded, the two teams of delicate dancers with blue flowers flew out, the hands were lightly raised, the petals cut into silk flew in the air, the faint fragrance floated with the petals, the figure of the dancer flowed, turned into a thousand postures, the neon clothes were as frivolous as flowing clouds, the wide sleeves were in the air, and the rainbow was formed.

Suddenly the rainbow shattered, from the flowing clouds flying sleeves appeared a white dress, so white that it was not stained with a little earthly breath, in the tulle light, the wonderful figure loomed, her face was crystal transparent, without a trace of powder, she showed her eyebrows, her eyes were longing, the long hair on her head was draped like a black waterfall, like a fairy out of the bath, her eyes rolled, and it seemed that all of them felt that she was looking at herself.

There was silence in the hall, and even the sound of breathing could not be heard, Rao is Li Qing was pretending to be a merchant, still shocked by her land Qingli, and suddenly felt like she was born, but it seemed familiar.

I saw her lightly open her lips, and the voice of heaven sounded softly in the hall,

There are beautiful women in the north. Peerless and **.

One look at the city, and then look at the country.

Rather than know the city and the country?

It's hard to get a beautiful woman!

Spit out the last word 'de', she has already walked in front of Li Qing, Ying Ying gave a salute, the strong fragrance of the branch flowers rushed to her face, Li Qing hurriedly stood up, he suddenly remembered Li Jingyan, yes! Déjà vu is that she is a bit like Li Jingyan, and she is as beautiful and beautiful as a fairy, but Li Jingyan is a real immortal, ice is clear and jade, and every move, smile and smile are natural; And this Chu Lianxiang is just her own professional, deliberately acting and pleasing to people, the two of them made a judgment, Li Qing's amazing heart was immediately there, and there was even a sense of pride.

He smiled slightly, and bowed to her in return, pretending to be drunk and praising him: "Miss Chu looks good and sings well, Li Qing has forgotten where she is?" ”

Chu Lianxiang has read countless people, she saw through Li Qing at a glance, although Li Qing said lightly, but his eyes were clear, and there was no trace of intimidation, which showed that he was not moved by himself at all.

Chu Lianxiang was slightly disappointed, this was the first time she had seen a man with this kind of look since her debut, which man hadn't forgotten the east, west, north and south when he saw her, and the corner of her eyes swept around again, all of them were confused, but Li Qing in front of her didn't take her seriously.

She had already heard the name of Li Qing, the head of the three hundred warriors of Nanzhao, killed the enemy chieftain for thousands of miles, and bravely captured Shibao City, and now she is the Tang Dynasty Household Squire, beauty loves heroes, her heart has been yearning, and today she sees him is even more young and chic, and his heart of admiration has already been full of ten.

Chu Lianxiang pursed her lips and smiled, stretched out her slender jade hand to pour Li Qing a glass of wine, and brought the wine glass to Li Qing with a pair of mutton fat-like hands.

He said in a low voice: "The concubine has admired the general's courage for a long time, and I am fortunate to meet today, a little heart, please drink it to the general." ”

Li Chengshi next to him also laughed and said: "I hope that Miss Lianxiang's glass of wine will make our Li Shilang drunk, and I will serve him well tonight!" ”

Li Qing laughed and took the wine glass, "I can't be blessed with the grace of a beauty, won't this glass of wine make me lose my life." ”

He was about to drink it, when a chuckle suddenly came from the staircase: "Li Lang, how about I drink this glass of wine for you?" ”

Wine glasses' bang! When the ground landed, Li Qing was dumbfounded, pointed to the person who came up at the staircase, and stammered: "Surprised!" Y-When did you come? ”