With annoyance and questions, Lu Zhen left the Zhu family's mansion, and the two sides failed to reach an agreement after all. It is impossible for him to be so confused that he will help Zhu Xuan sell the land deeds of the people in the city to the other party at a low price for the sake of food, because that means that these people will have no livelihood in the future, and they will completely become tenants of the Zhu family, and there is no possibility of turning over.

At the same time, he also had a lot of suspicions about Zhu Xuan's identity. This man is definitely not as simple as an ordinary businessman as he seems on the surface. Ordinary grain merchants are not so bold, they don't take the local government seriously, and they don't have such a big appetite, they want to swallow the land of the entire county, even if he has ambitions, I'm afraid he doesn't have such a big belly to digest.

Although today, a hundred years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the situation of land annexation in various parts of the Ming Dynasty has become more and more serious, but it is rare to see someone as blatant as Zhu Xuan and such an ugly appearance. And he dared to do this, obviously relying on something, but not just because the government now has to rely on them to help feed.

It seems that you have to find someone in the county government to knock on the side and find out the details of the other party first. When Lu Zhen returned to the county office, he had already made a decision. But before he could think about who to find out the news, a person came to him and said, "Master Zheng, my son-in-law wants to invite you to come over and discuss." ”

"Oh?" Lu Zhen glanced at the other party carefully, and then recognized that he was the person next to Yin Xiang, so he nodded and said, "Okay, please lead the way." ”

Because of the need to help many people in this county, Lu Zhen and Yin Xiang acted separately, but they hadn't seen each other for several days. I didn't expect him to be in a hurry to find himself today, which made Lu Zhen feel a little strange.

Soon, the two met in Sanyali, a room arranged by the government for Yin Xiang. Although the house is still a little damaged, because it has been carefully cleaned, the environment is good, and Yin Xiang even put a stove teapot there, slowly boiling fragrant tea, giving people a tranquil feeling.

Seeing Lu Jin's arrival, he put down the work in his hand and stepped forward with a smile: "Brother Zheng has worked hard recently, let's come first to have a cup of tea to moisten my throat." ”

"In this way, it is better to be respectful than to obey your fate." Lu Zhen was not polite, and entered the house according to his words and sat on a chair. Afterwards, Yin Xiang took a cup of emerald green tea soup and put it in front of him: "Brother Zheng, please try this tea." This is produced in Jiangsu, because the aroma is extremely strong, and it is called a frightening fragrance by the locals. ”

Lu Jin hurriedly stretched out his hand to take the tea bowl, and sure enough, he asked, a refreshing fragrance of tea came to his face, and after taking a deep breath from his nose, his spirit was lifted. And after listening to the other party's introduction, he knew what kind of tea this was, it was the famous Biluochun in later generations. It's just that the name of the tea should not have been taken out yet, so it is still used in this kind of local name.

He took a sip of the teacup slowly, tasted the taste with his tongue, and then nodded, "It's really good tea." Could it be that Yin Gongzi, you are also from Jiangnan? ”

"Not really." The other party shook his head slightly, but he didn't tell his origin as he spoke, but quickly changed the topic and said: "There have been a lot of victims in our respective porridge sheds in the past two days, and I'm afraid the food we transported won't last long, right?" ”

"yes." Hearing this, Lu Jinyan really put aside the previous question, frowned and said: "After all, you and I are just businessmen and not officials, and our ability is limited after all." According to the consumption of food in these days, one month is almost the limit. ”

"Then Boss Zheng, has you thought about what we should do in a month?" Yin Xiang held the teacup, looked at Lu Zhen and asked. But without waiting for his answer, he continued: "Of course, you and I actually have a clear conscience, after all, the victims here have no relatives and no reason for us, and it is our benevolence and duty to help them eat food for a month. Even if we were to leave at that point, no one would be able to accuse us. It's just that in this way, these victims have suffered. ”

"Save people to the end, send Buddha to the west. We have to think about what is the best way to do it. Lu Zhen had his own opinion and said casually.

"Yes, in fact, I think so too, but there are really limited ways. Even if we still have some silver taels in our hands, it is not easy to buy grain in this Henan territory. As for asking people to go elsewhere to buy food, it takes too long, and they may not be able to buy enough food. Yin Xiang's eyes flickered slightly: "So this matter is difficult." However, compared to us, the actions of some people in this county are too shameless. Brother Zheng should have already learned it just now, right? ”

Lu Zhen smiled bitterly when he heard this: "So, you also went to deal with that Zhu Xuan?" ”

"No, I was looking for that palace dust, but it turned out that he only wanted land, not silver!" Yin Xiang said hatefully: "Obviously, this is something that the two of them have already discussed, that is, they saw the opportunity to take advantage of the food shortage after this flood to rob it." Even if I doubled the price, he wouldn't let go. ”

Lu Zhen sighed: "It's normal for me to go to find that Zhu Xuan today, they are completely iron-hearted, even if they don't save them when they die, they will get a lot of land in this county." ”

"It's really not greedy!" Yin Xiang said with disgust: "And with the hearts of these two people, once they really get their hands on it, I'm afraid that the people of Xingze County will be even more sad in the future, and they will all have to live on their snorts." Moreover, maybe they will have another use for the land they want, and the situation of the people in this county will become more and more difficult. Brother Zheng, can you and I just watch them kill the innocent people in the local area? ”

Lu Zhen glanced at the other party with some puzzlement: "Then according to Yin Gongzi's meaning, what should I do?" ”

"Isn't it the bread in their hands that they rely on? Why don't we just take the grain from the bottom of the kettle? ”

"You mean...... Straight snatching? Lu Jin asked hesitantly.

"Exactly. I can't think of a better way to do that. You can't bear to watch the people starve to death or take away the land on which their families depended in such despicable ways, do you? Yin Xiang said, a strange light flashed in his eyes, and he seemed to be a little excited.

Lu Jin fell into silence, and only looked up at the other party after a moment: "Do you know that these two have actually been connected with the government for a long time?" And if they dare to do so, they must be on guard, and we can really snatch food out of their hands? Finally, and most importantly, this is a violation of the law of the land......"

"I've heard about the relationship between them and the government, but it's just a mutual benefit, not a big problem. As long as he can get his hands on the grain, the government naturally doesn't have to be afraid of him anymore. Of course, I heard that they have another backer on the Kaifeng Mansion, maybe this will be more troublesome. As for their protection of food, a county town is just a rich man, can he really come up with any decent manpower? With the skills of those good players around you, Brother Zheng, it should be enough to deal with them. Yin Xiang obviously had an idea, and immediately gave answers to a few questions raised by Lu Jin: "As for violating the law of the country, the matter has come to this point, you and I are for the sake of the local people, as long as it is done, the court will not be able to punish us, right?" ”

"It's hard to say." Lu Jin was not as optimistic as him, shook his head and said: "The imperial court has its own laws, even if we are indeed motivated by good intentions, we can't come nonsense!" What's more, if it is true, it is not illegal for his two families to hoard grain and not sell it, even if they take the lawsuit to Beijing, we will not take care of it. "Things in this world are sometimes so helpless, the right ones are not necessarily legal, and the wrong ones are not necessarily illegal.

When Yin Xiang heard this, his face suddenly sank: "Is this matter just settled?" Does Brother Zheng really plan to abandon these victims in a month? ”

"Of course I wouldn't. But this matter has to be considered in the long run, and a more appropriate solution must be found. Lu Zhen gave his attitude very clearly. After all, he is an official, so naturally it is impossible to follow his own temperament. Then, he softened his tone: "Brother Yin, I can understand your heart for the victims, but I hope you don't get impatient, things haven't reached the point where we need to ignore the law of the country, we can wait and see, maybe there will be a turnaround." ”

"Turnaround? Wait for the imperial court to send ministers to bring grain? Yin Xiang snorted: "If the imperial court is really willing to do this, there is no need for businessmen like you and me to pay for disaster relief." If you want me to see it, this is clearly the collusion of officials and businessmen, and they are complicit! ”

Seeing that the other party also had such a deep prejudice against the imperial court, Lu Zhen really didn't know how to persuade him. Because he knows very well that the more persuasion he is, it will only add fuel to the fire and make the other party have an opinion of himself. In the end, I had to say: "Please press it for a while, I think there is always a way." So saying, he did not linger any longer, but stood up and took his leave.

Until Lu Zhen left, Yin Xiang's expression, which was still angry, calmed down again, and looked thoughtfully at his vacant seat: "What kind of person are you, why are you becoming more and more incomprehensible?" ”

Lu Zhen also had doubts, he didn't realize it just now, but after returning to his residence and calming down a little, he felt something strange: "This Yin Xiang's words today are too sudden, and he came over just in time after I ran into a wall with Zhu Xuan, which always makes people feel a little too deliberate." Do you say ......"

Just when he was suspicious of something, Yao Gan also opened his mouth on the side: "My lord, in fact, those two businessmen are nothing. Even if they really have any backers in Kaifeng, can they still compare to our Jinyiwei? It's better for the adults to reveal their identities, directly convict them, and then copy his entire family, and distribute food to the people. ”

Lu Zhen smiled when he heard this: "It's better not to do this kind of thing unless you have to." Moreover, we hide our identities in order to find out the truth about the previous embankment, so even if we want to do this, we must find out the inside story first! ”