Inside, there is a spacious nave. What Su Ziheng saw at a glance was the wide board wall, a paper window opened behind the board wall, and a little sunlight penetrated in, making the whole hall much brighter. In front of the board wall, there is a vermilion lacquer long case, in front of which is a square table of four immortals, and the left and right sides are equipped with sandalwood Taishi chairs.

Directly above the wall hangs a pear blossom wooden plaque, on which the three big characters of [Jingde Hall] are written. Below the plaque is a landscape painting with a couplet carved on the pillars on either side.

Shanglian is: the ancient road shines on people, and filial piety is passed down from generation to generation; The next link is: Xining is a pioneer, and surrogacy is loyal.

On both sides of the hall, several mahogany beams support the roof of the beams. On either side of the main hall, there are eight seats on the left and right. The entire hall can accommodate nearly 18 people to participate in the meeting, which shows the huge strength of Zhao's firm.

Although Zhao Chengwen is the owner of the Zhao Mansion and the initiator of the disaster relief fundraising charity sale, the identity of the person present is still respected by Xu Xiuping, so the first seat is given to Xu Xiuping, and he sits on the Taishi chair on the right hand.

Su Ziheng stood behind Zhao Chengwen as a well-behaved person, and the other stewards of various families who sat down according to their status and status were also standing behind them were the juniors they wanted to promote.

Xu Xiuping looked up at Su Ziheng sideways, his eyes flashed, and he asked with a smile: "Brother Chengwen, presumably this descendant behind you is your fast son-in-law, right?" ”

Zhao Chengwen smiled, "Don't allow adults to praise you." Virtuous nephew, I came forward to see Xu Zhizhou, Lord Xu. ”

Su Ziheng stood up from behind Zhao Chengwen, came to Zhao Chengwen, bowed and saluted: "Student Su Zhe, I have seen Lord Xu of Zhizhou. ”

Xu Xiuping got up and helped Su Ziheng up, and praised: "Sure enough, you are a talent, I heard that you are still the youngest talent in Xining, not bad, I hope you will continue to work hard and not live up to the expectations of the court and the official." ”

Su Ziheng arched his hand and said: "Thank you Lord Xu for your praise, the students will definitely work hard and never live up to the expectations of the imperial court." "As for your expectations, that's really hehe.

Xu Xiuping didn't care, his face was still smiling, but his eyes were coldly looking at Su Ziheng, and he said in his heart: "This son seems to be very cold to himself, could it be that he knows something?" If that's the case, I'll have to prepare my plan in advance. ”

After Su Ziheng retired, the stewards of other families introduced the juniors behind him for Xu Xiuping, hoping to get Xu Xiuping's support.

After a long time, after everyone finished the ceremony, Xu Xiuping said: "I don't know how the princess plans to carry out the disaster relief bazaar?" ”

Zhao Chengwen forcibly endured the tingling of his throat, picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea, so that he could not cough out loud as much as possible. He said slowly: "Lord Xu, Zhao thinks about it like this, now it is a hot summer, there is no need to think too much about clothing, the most important thing is food." ”

"Zhao heard that the Zhongjia army under the Duke of Xiliang had been assembled and was ready to go to the front line to expel the Mengxi coalition army. Presumably, under the command of Xiliang Gong, the lost territory will soon be recovered, and the displaced people outside the city will also be able to return to their hometowns. ”

"All we need to do is to provide food to the displaced people during the period when the Zhong family army has regained the lost territory, so that they can survive this difficult time. Even when they go back, you can give them seeds to prepare for the next year's production. ”

Xu Xiuping nodded while listening, and appeased the displaced people, which was nothing more than to let them eat well, and then have hope for their future life, so that there would be no trouble. Whether it is still or everyone here, he has never thought about what to do if the Zhong Jiajun can't recover the lost ground?

It can even be said that in the minds of everyone in Xining City, the Zhongjia army is an invincible and invincible army of a hundred battles, and a little Mengxi alliance army is not worth mentioning at all.

Three years ago, Zhong Qinghan, who was just starting out, was able to lead 20,000 defenders to repel 100,000 Mengxi coalition troops, not to mention the 50,000 Zhong family army now, and he was able to defeat them.

Xu Xiuping said solemnly: "Thank you so much." If there is a need for what the official can do, just mention it. ”

Zhao Chengwen thought for a while and said, "Lord Xu, when it comes to fundraising, we can find a way to raise food." However, when the disaster relief porridge is given, it is still necessary for the officials to come forward to maintain order, otherwise Zhao is worried that there will be robbery. ”

Xu Xiuping felt a pang in his heart, this is indeed a serious problem. If a man is very hungry, he can do anything. If there is looting in the process of disaster relief, it is very likely to cause civil unrest, and then good things will become bad things.

"This matter is entrusted to the officer. When the time comes, after setting up a porridge shed outside the city, the official will ask the head of the official team to find Brother Chengwen. If it really can't be maintained, the officer can also ask the city patrol to help. ”

Zhao Chengwen was overjoyed and said: "In this way, please entrust Lord Xu." ”

Although Zhao Chengwen wanted to take the opportunity to secretly Chen Cang, after all, he had lived in Xining for a lot of time. Before leaving, he was still very happy to be able to do something for the people of Xining Mansion.

After arranging all the things, the next step was to hold a fundraiser and charity sale. Unexpectedly, Xu Xiuping suddenly asked: "Brother Chengwen, this official heard that your Zhao family firm was occupied by the Meng Yuan army in the salt mine near Chuanfu County, I don't know if your salt can be supplied this year?" ”

Zhao Chengwen's face changed when he heard this, this Xu Xiuping seemed to be well-intentioned and caring, but in fact he had bad intentions. In Great Xia, salt and iron have always been government commodities. If a private person wants to participate in the operation, he must obtain the approval of the government. Otherwise, once discovered, it will be regarded as smuggling, and the end will be extremely miserable, with the family raided, exiled, and even killed.

The main reason why Zhao's firm can develop so much is that it has obtained the right to operate salt. Every year, a large part of the salt is obtained from the government, not only from Xining Prefecture, but even from the entire Great Xia.

The salt quotation is not only a voucher for the purchase and sale of salt, but also a proof of paying taxes to the imperial court. The Great Xia Imperial Court ordered that merchants who obtained salt citations must provide sufficient amount of salt, but they must not exceed the share of salt quotations.

If the excess amount is exceeded, it will be regarded as smuggling and will be severely fined by the government. If the part is not enough for the salt introduction, it will also be severely fined by the imperial court, and even the qualification to obtain the salt introduction in the second year will be cancelled.

This is because the salt introduced by the imperial court every year has been carefully calculated by the household department, and it is afraid that the salt will flow to Mengyuan, the Western Regions and other countries, causing capital enemies. Less is not enough for the people of the country to eat.

Therefore, the amount of salt mined by the merchants who get the salt introduction every year is based on the amount of salt introduced. Once the amount of salt mines under his name is insufficient to extract enough salt, he has to find a way to sell the salt in his hand. But in this way, it will be impossible to get so much salt from the government in the second year.

Because of this regulation, the only way to obtain salt from other salt merchants is to use the salt in their own hands to buy it, or to buy salt mines to mine the salt themselves.

And the salt mine is the foundation of a salt merchant, and no one is willing to sell the salt mine until he is cornered, which is tantamount to killing chickens and taking eggs.

Xu Xiuping's sudden revelation of the news was nothing more than an attempt to incite the principals of the salt mines in the families present to attack the Zhao firm. But Zhao Chengwen couldn't refute him, after all, Xu Xiuping, as the governor of Xining Prefecture, cared about the business under his rule, which was understandable.