The fat man's smiling eyes saw Hong Chengchou glancing at him, this kind of businessman is the most clever, his eyes blinked and his eyebrows moved, and he immediately bent his waist, almost bent his body to ninety degrees, shook it deeply, his head was parallel to the ground, and shouted in his mouth: "Grass people Wang Tao, meet Hong Xiang!" ”

As the so-called stretch out his hand and don't hit the smiling face, although Hong Chengchou is not very cold to the businessman, but also slightly disgusted, but this is called Wang Tao's rice merchant is well-mannered, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the public court, in the private house, up and down to see each other, and do not kneel down to worship the big salute, even if the ordinary people see the high-ranking officials and dignitaries, they often make a hand to give up, Wang Tao has done this to the ground, but also extremely respectful.

Hong Chengchou took it, put down the paper in his hand, put the wolf on the pen stand, stretched out his hand casually, and said, "No need, get up and talk." ”

The fat man got up in response, thanked him, and stood in place in a regular manner, but his eyes secretly looked around with his spare eyes, as if he was very interested in the office of the scholar of the dynasty, and his eyes were rolling around.

Hong Chengchou has seen a lot of businessmen who are rich but have no political status despite being rich and rival the country, and he is in charge of the military and civilian affairs south of the Yangtze River, involving military affairs and people's livelihood, and he will inevitably have to deal with businessmen of all sizes.

Vulgar, vulgar, and philistine, this is Hong Chengchou's first impression of Wang Tao, a high-priced goods but a smirk on his face, respectful on the surface but looking around, looking at his appearance and his inside, Hong Chengchou, who has read countless people, concluded at a glance that this is another mercenary guy.

However, it seems that the merchant should be like this, and it would be strange if the merchant was not like this.

So Hong Chengchou also put a slight smile on his face, and asked kindly: "Boss Wang was introduced by Zuo Mengeng?" ”

"Exactly!" The fat man named Wang Tao replied: "The villain is a Huai'an man, perennial in Huaiyou business, the main business of rice and grain, cloth, cotton, etc. ”

"Oh?" Hong Chengchou still smiled, and continued to ask: "Although Zuo Mengeng has been drawn by the imperial court in recent years, there are only tens of thousands of people now, but it was an important town with 200,000 troops under his command back then, and those who can afford to supply food and grass for such a large-scale army must have considerable financial resources, I don't know how much Boss Wang is worth?" ”

Wang Tao's face was pale, a little proud, he bowed slightly, and replied: "Meng Hongxiang asked, the villain's family has been doing business for generations, and has been doing this rice and grain business for generations, and it has been passed to the hands of the villain, which has been the fifth generation, although there are twists and turns during the period, but on the whole it is stable, the rice and grain merchants in the area of Nanzhili, speaking of my family's Jufutang, no one knows that no one knows, the grain that passes through every year, millions of stones, in Nanzhili and Zhejiang, Fujian and other places, there are my family's warehouses and grain stores, to say that the ability of the family, the entire Jiangnan can be counted. ”

Hong Chengchou was slightly taken aback, a year over a million stone of grain, this is a lot of money, when Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty, the annual income of the national official warehouse was only 40 million stone grain, that was still the peak of the Ming Dynasty's national strength, harmless and disaster-free.

He nodded lightly, and seemed to say in an admiring tone: "Boss Wang's family has a long history, and he is indeed rich, no wonder Zuo Mengeng can highly recommend you." ”

He changed his words, as if asking casually: "I don't know when Boss Wang and Zuo Mengeng met?" ”

Wang Tao's face suddenly became uncomfortable, his embarrassed look rose half of his face, he secretly glanced at Hong Chengchou, but found that Hong Chengchou's eyes were like knives, so sharp that he wanted to peel off his heart, he couldn't help but have a fat on his face, and hurriedly bowed down and responded: "This, this, don't dare to hide from Hong Xiang, the villain and Zuo Shuai, was acquainted in the second year of Shunzhi, when Zuo Shuai was newly attached to the imperial court, had nothing to rely on, stationed along the way from Yangzhou to Huai'an, there were many people under his command, but there was a lack of food and salary, and he was about to mutiny and disperse." The villain transported the grain, and learned by chance that it was a good time to send charcoal in the snow at the moment, why not make a good fate, and there will be a response in the future, so he drove the grain car into the barracks on the spot, and offered a lot of grain and grass to Zuo Shuai, Zuo Shuai was overjoyed, and since then he has made friends with the villain. To talk about it in detail, fundamentally speaking, I have to thank the emperor and the court, if it weren't for the grace of heaven to make Zuo Shuai back, the villain would not have made such a plate with a trace of residual power. ”

Hong Chengchou narrowed his eyes, smiling rather than smiling: "Your business, Zuo Mengeng also has one foot in it, right?" ”

Wang Tao was even more embarrassed, and he couldn't speak clearly.

Hong Chengchou waved his hand and snorted: "I don't have the heart to ask about the tricks under the table of the two of you, so let's stop it, but since your business house is quite capable, you can use it, I wonder if Boss Wang is willing to do some business for the imperial court?" ”

Wang Tao's eyes lit up, and he suddenly became energetic, his fat face was full of smiles again, rubbing his hands and raising his head and smiling: "Willing, willing, it is my duty to do things for the court, and I will not hesitate to go to the soup and fire!" ”

Hong Chengchou also smiled, patted the table gently, and said slowly: "There is no need for this, as long as you do your old job well." ”

…….

After a long time, Zu Tianci, now called Wang Tao, walked out of the palace with small steps, with a smile on his face, as happy as if he had received an incomparably great reward, and the attendant who sent him out took him to the door, got a silver ticket he handed out from his sleeve, and waved goodbye to him with a smile on his face.

Turning his face, Zu Tianci walked away quickly, and got into a carriage that had been parked outside the palace for a long time, and as soon as the door curtain was closed, the smile on his face disappeared, and it was replaced by a calm and cold face.

He touched the non-existent beard on his chin, thought solemnly, stared at the roof of the carriage with his eyes fixed, and did not speak for a long time.

After half a ring, his eyes blinked, and there were faint tears flashing.

……

In the building, Hong Fu, who had sent Wang Tao away, returned to Hong Chengchou's side, holding a stack of papers in his hand and gently placing it on Hong Chengchou's table.

Hong Chengchou, who was closing his eyes and recuperating, opened his eyes slightly, glanced at them, closed his eyelids again, and continued to pretend to sleep.

Hong Fu said respectfully: "It's all here, a total of eighteen big businessmen, their backgrounds and net worth, are all written on it." ”

The stack of paper was placed on the table, but Hong Chengchou didn't reach out to move, just closed his eyes and didn't speak, and Hong Fu was silent, standing quietly, as if he suddenly became dumb after saying the above sentence.

There was silence in the room, the wind blew from the window, bringing a little coolness, Nanjing was already a little hot in summer, and the breeze was blowing, but it was very pleasant.

Hong Chengchou raised his head, feeling the smell of the wind, and after a long time, he slowly opened his eyes, as if asking the wind: "Chengcheng ..... and the old lady, where are they now?" ”

Hong Fu lowered his head and replied softly: "The second master and the old lady live on a painting boat, live with the waves, someone takes care of it, and it is on the edge of the Yangtze River." ”

The wind was a little stronger, blowing the paper on the table with some "whoosh" movements, Hong Chengchou ignored it, he stood up, paced to the other side of the table, and looked out the window, showing a rare depressed look.

"Hong Fu...... Tell me, me and Cheng Ji, who did it wrong? Is it him, or me? At this moment, Hong Chengchou is extremely old, and the temperament of the person who corrects the superior is gone, his back is a little hunched, and his body is actually a little rickety.

Hong Fu still lowered his head, his brows were slightly furrowed, and he was also a little surprised.

"This ......" Hong Fu hesitated, not daring to answer.

Hong Chengchou smiled, a little desolate: "It's hard for you to say, aren't you?" I don't blame you, I don't blame you. ”

He looked out the window, the layers of roofs could not be seen in his eyes, the palace with red walls and yellow tiles was magnificent, and the Wenlou was already tall, standing here, as if the entire Forbidden City was at his feet.

"The Eight Banners are withdrawing, they are good, they will leave when they leave, leave me here to take care of the situation, and raise military rations for them, the war in Shanxi is tight, and the military rations must be transferred from this side, otherwise there will be no need for so many rice merchants." He said to himself, as if he was saying it to Hongfu, and as if he was saying it to himself: "It's good to be Chengji, he looks down on me, and says that he will never set foot on the Qing soil from now on, and he will live on a boat for the rest of his life, he has integrity, unlike me, although he is my younger brother, he is better than me." ”

"Integrity." He repeated: "Integrity, but...... What is the use of the temperament? I was defeated, and even the emperor wrote me an elegy, so I cut off the way back to Daming alive, what is the use of gas energy? If it weren't for me protecting Cheng Ji, he and the old lady would have been killed by the Qing court a long time ago, would they save them? Can you? ”

As he spoke, Hong Chengchou's tone gradually increased, and when he said the last two words, his voice was already roaring, and the guards downstairs looked up, turned around, and leaned into the distance.

"Master, the matter has come to this, you should focus on the present." Hong Fu lowered his head and said.

"Yes, yes, look at the front, look at the front." Hong Chengchou let out a long breath and smiled self-deprecatingly: "Although Shanxi is chaotic, it is not out of control, the south is not alarmed, and it is peaceful. The regent personally went out to fight, and it was reliable to think about it, no matter how fierce Jiang Hao and Wang Huan were, they couldn't be as fierce as the Tartars, oh, wrong, it was the imperial court. It's been so long, and I can't change it, and I always say it's wrong. ”

He reached out and patted his cheek as if he had slapped himself, put his hand down, held the window frame, and stared at the roof in the distance.

It was almost evening, and the golden roof under the sunset shone brightly in the sunlight, blending with the entire Forbidden City.

The light reflected in Hong Chengchou's eyes, mixed with the black pupils, changed into countless colors, complex and profound, just like his heart, extremely contradictory.

(End of chapter)