As the sun set, only the afterglow was in some parts of the Jingshi, and it looked like it was about to set. In a dark corner, there was a short, thickly dressed man hiding in shelter, looking down from time to time, apparently waiting for someone, as if he was still a little anxious.

After waiting for a while, finally came a person who was also dressed thickly, and there was no distinguishing feature from the outside. But when the waiting man saw it, he immediately rushed out and whispered, "This matter is too worrying, I want to add money!" ”

"What are you afraid of? The factory guards are all gang gangs, you are a ruffian, who cares about you! The visitor looked left and right, hid in a corner, and then replied in a low voice.

The short man followed up in the corner and argued: "But you asked me to speak ill of the emperor, and it also involved Shoufu and the commander of the East Factory, so I may be arrested by the factory guards." If you don't raise the price, I'll quit! ”

The man listened to him resolutely, and understood that he was still afraid. The old man thought that these words were almost passed on in the Jingshi, and it seemed that he could only agree to his request, so thinking so, he immediately threw out a small piece of broken silver and said: "The law is not responsible, do you understand?" Forget it, those involving Wen and Cao are temporarily counted, and the other words have to be passed down more, the risk is small, understand? ”

When the short man took the silver, he was already happy in his heart, and when he heard this, he suddenly became overjoyed, and hurriedly said with a flattering smile: "Don't worry, this is fine, the villain must talk about it more." I found out a long time ago, and those people wouldn't believe anything else. However, it is possible that the emperor likes the work of a mason, and many people really believe it! ”

When the visitor heard this, he left directly, and seemed unwilling to stay longer, and did not want to talk to the short man more, so as not to lose the price.

He turned around and turned to a dark corner far away, where someone was waiting for him, and after the same conversation he finally disappeared into the night.

In the study room in a high-walled compound, this man bowed down and told an old man about the situation.

"Well done!" The old man praised without emotion, and then ordered, "Don't worry about those people in the future, you can leave Jingshi and go back to Lijiazhuang after the next year!" ”

"Yes, sir!"

After watching him retreat, the old man turned his head to look in the direction of the imperial city and muttered to himself: "You can't resist head-on, if you don't use some means behind your back, you won't be able to remind you of us old ministers!" ”

At the same time, in the Forbidden City, Cao Huachun, the governor of Dongchang, also happened to inform the emperor of the public opinion dynamics of the Beijing Division. In the end, he said his thoughts: "Your Majesty, the slave maid feels that these remarks are by no means spontaneous by the people, and it seems that someone deliberately did it!" ”

"Huh?" Hu Guang snorted, thinking about this in his head.

He actually has an estimate of this situation, at this time in the late Ming Dynasty, there are too many pig teammates, and if the frontal attack cannot succeed, he will often secretly stumble and drag his feet, that is, the political struggle has reached the point where everything is used, and there is no longer a trace of the overall situation.

Cao Huachun could naturally see that the emperor was also thinking about this, so he continued to pray: "However, the people of Jingshi don't seem to believe it very much, and many people refute it after hearing it. Just one thing...... One thing ......"

Speaking of this, he was a little hesitant, after all, he was saying bad things about the emperor.

When Hu Guang heard this, his brows furrowed slightly: "If you have something to say, don't talk about it, I won't do anything to get convicted for my words!" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Cao Huachun heard this and hurriedly replied, "Say that the emperor, like the previous emperor, you may be addicted to masonry!" ”

"Hehe......" As soon as he heard this, Hu Guang smiled, he pointed at Cao Huachun and said, "Others don't know, don't you know what I've been doing in the past few days?" ”

When Cao Huachun heard this, he laughed together.

Hu Guang immediately waved his hand and said: "Let them talk about this, now the Loyal Martyr's Hall is working day and night, and part of the foundation can be dug tomorrow afternoon, and at that time, it is time to break this rumor." ”

"Your Majesty, this rumor is self-defeating, and everyone must be very grateful to Your Majesty!" Cao Huachun heard this, and immediately offered a sycophant.

Hu Guang smiled when he heard this, and waved his hand to let Cao Huachun retreat, but remembering something, he still ordered: "Daban check to see if there is someone behind this rumor, if there is really someone, find him out." ”

This kind of thing, in fact, is not very easy to check. Unless someone says who will arrest whom, and then put him in prison to serve well. But now many people outside are saying that under severe punishment, it is possible to bite indiscriminately, and it is likely to implicate a wide range of people.

If it were before, Cao Huachun wouldn't care. But he knew that the emperor he was serving would not allow him to do this. After all, the emperor said that he would rather let go of a corrupt official than wronged a good person.

This thing is a bit difficult to do, Cao Huachun thought in his heart and retreated.

Hu Guang watched him retreat, but he didn't really care much about this matter in his heart. Even, he felt a little happy, explaining that his recent series of measures had caught those people off guard, and under the combination of grace and power, no one dared to fool himself in person, so he could only use these subordinate methods.

This kind of thing, whatever they do, at most their reputation will be damaged, and they can bite themselves? Hu Guang thought so, so he put this matter behind him and remembered the business.

Changli's Qinwang army has already arrived in Beijing, and soon the Qinwang army in other places will arrive in Beijing. According to the news, that Ma Shilong also came. Hehe, just waiting for you to throw yourself into the net, I will arrest you, and as soon as the white pole army arrives, it is time to complete the second step of the task handed over by the system!

Now there are only 510,000 silver taels in the treasury of the household, which is the principal and cannot be moved. Cao Yubian's side, it is estimated that the results will be available in the next two days. However, there shouldn't be much cash left, it's just fixed assets and the like.

Thinking of this, Hu Guang focused his mind on what happened after King Qin's army arrived in Beijing. After all, this is the next major matter, which must be dealt with properly, and the preparation for the establishment of the new army must also be put on the agenda. And all of this requires money!

All the problems at the end of the Ming Dynasty are all about money in the final analysis! Thinking so, Hu Guang picked up a few small pieces of paper from the imperial case and looked at them. This is the new food stamp that Hu Zhengyan printed as quickly as possible.

The picture is a bunch of rice ears, and then the number of rice ears is used to represent the number, and the weight unit is divided by different colors. Of course, there are also Chinese characters on the side to explain it.

Hu Zhengyan said that because of the rush to work, more details have not been added, otherwise it will be more difficult to fake. Based on this, he dared to guarantee that no one could make this bright color of the ink.

After reading it again, Hu Guang was no longer worried, and immediately ordered to replace the simple food stamps that had been used before. Then, he took out seven or eight sketches that he had hidden, and it was time for Hu Zhengyan to print them.