Unexpectedly, Lao Tzu actually wanted to cut off his own son? The sweat on Yuan Xi's head suddenly flowed down.

Frustrated Professor hurriedly pulled Yuan Shao and said, "The lord is angry, and listen to what the second prince explains......"

Yuan Shao said: "Erection ears! It's just a wild talk. ”

Feng Ji sat aside and said slowly: "Lord, you might as well listen to what the second prince said, maybe it's really a good thing." ”

Yuan Shao sat down angrily and stared at Yuan Xi.

Yuan Xi said: "A few days ago, I heard from everyone that Gongsun Zhan was buying grain in Hebei to rush the army food. Now Hebei has a bumper harvest, and every household has surplus grain, and Youzhou has a poor harvest, and many large households have collected grain from farmers and sold it to Youzhou......"

Tian Feng interjected: "We have issued a decree prohibiting the resale of grain to the north. ”

Yuan Xi said: "How can this be stopped by a ban." Human nature is greedy, as long as there is a profit, there will be people running for it, if there is a fifty percent profit, there will be people who take risks. And if it increases to 10 percent......"

Everyone secretly took a breath, silently thinking about the temptation of ten percent of the gains.

"How's ten?" Yuan Shao turned his head and asked.

"He dares to kill people and set fires!" Yuan Xi said: "Gongsun Zhan wants to collect grain, and he will not buy it directly from farmers. But naturally there are people in the middle to gather food for him. Except for the last link with them, the rest of the people didn't know that the grain in their hands was sold to Youzhou, how could you convict him? ”

Tian Feng said: "What does the second son mean, this ban can't be banned?" ”

Yuan Xi nodded and said, "I can't help it." ”

Feng Ji said leisurely: "The second son is very considerate of Youzhou......"

This person is weird, it's really annoying, if Yuan Xi has a gun, he will definitely be the first to kill him.

Yuan Xi said: "I just thought of a clever plan to leave the grain in Hebei. ”

Yuan Shao opened his reddened eyes and asked, "What is the trick?" ”

Yuan Xi said: "Let's also buy grain." Now, because of the fire in the granary, a large amount of grain has been lost, and it is just taking this opportunity to buy the surplus grain of the farmers at a high price. ”

Everyone was stunned and frowned.

Guo Tu squinted his slender eyes and said, "This ...... Just levy grain again, so why buy it at a high price? ”

Xu You said: "Besides, our treasury is also empty, what money do you use to buy grain?" ”

The others also looked confused.

Yuan Xi secretly scolded the two pig heads again, and said with a smile: "Good question!" ”

He gestured for a moment and said, "Naturally, you can collect some grain, but instead of handing it all over to us, it is better to sell it to Gongsun Chan at a profit, and people can buy it for real money." ”

Feng Ji said: "Then let's place a ban......

"Idiot!" Yuan Xi couldn't help but shout, and immediately shook Feng Ji, and even his beard trembled.

"Didn't you just say that if there are interests, there are people who take risks. If we want to keep all the grain here, we only need to pay a higher price, as long as our price is three times higher than that of Gongsun Zhan, the grain will only flow to our side. ”

Tian Feng "coughed" twice, diverted everyone's embarrassment, and asked, "Then what do we use to buy it?" As I said earlier, the treasury is empty......"

In fact, the treasury is not empty, everyone knows it. It's just that Yuan Shao is going to keep the money to go south to conquer Cao Cao when the time comes, and if he really asks him to take it out to buy grain at a high price, it will definitely hurt a lot.

Everyone looked at Yuan Shao, and sure enough, Yuan Shao was silent.

Yuan Xi said: "If you don't have money, just borrow it." ”

"Borrow?"

Yuan Shao came to the spirit and immediately asked, "Who to borrow?" ”

Yuan Xi said: "The Cui family, the Fan family, they have money, even if they borrow it." ”

Feng Ji had just been refuted by Yuan Xi, and then seized the opportunity to "hum" twice, and said with a sneer: "Naive, who wants to lend it to you?" ”

Yuan Xi said: "When Gongsun Chan is defeated, he will repay it with eight points of interest." They simply change hands and they have an account, so why not? I'm sure they won't be able to afford to wait for months. And after we finish beating Gongsun Zhan, we will have money, and we won't have to spend a penny at that time. If Gongsun Zhan's money can't be repaid, he can still use the land to offset it, and then the land in Youzhou can be sold to these big families at a discount. ”

Several people were stunned by what he said, and they couldn't help but fall silent collectively, thinking about the feasibility.

In fact, Yuan Xi also has a calculation in this, borrowing the money of the wealthy family can also prevent them from secretly buying grain and selling it, when the time comes, the money is on the Yuan family's side, the grain is also on the Yuan family's side, and some small actions can't be used, so he will avoid trouble. Merchants in this era were mostly spot traders, and there was no concept of credit collateral. Sometimes they don't have any money, so they will use the ancient method of bartering. As a result, the flow of goods is very tight. In doing so, he continued to tighten the flow of goods, which was very suitable for wartime.

In addition, as soon as the price of grain was high, Gongsun Zhan had to continue to buy at a high price, and as soon as the price was raised, the money in Youzhou flowed into Jizhou, and then he borrowed it into his pocket. And Gongsun Chan couldn't even afford to pay the money, so he had to fight quickly.

Frustrated with calculations, he calculated in his heart, and muttered, "It makes sense...... I'm afraid that it will drag on for a long time, and it will be too late for various places to be notified, so that Gongsun Zhan's people will take advantage of the loophole. ”

At this time, it was time to express his position, Yuan Xi hurriedly arched his hand and said: "If my father can trust me, I am willing to make meritorious service and personally be responsible for collecting all this money and food." ”

Yuan Shao laughed without thinking about it: "Okay, sure enough, it is my Yuan Shao's son, dare to take responsibility, this matter will be handed over to you, take my warrant, and be sure to do it as soon as possible." "At this time, the grain was also burned, which has become a fact, even if the perpetrators are found, it is not enough to make up for it, and it is better to have a way than no way.

Yuan Shao is such a person, he can't wait to tear you up when he is angry, and he holds you up to the sky when he is happy.

However, the two of them glanced at each other, and they were a little vigilant in their hearts. In this way, the power in the hands of this second son is not small, and it involves the distribution of the interests of Youzhou after the war, and the two will not be able to interfere at all at that time. But if you are in a hurry, this kind of thing naturally cannot be put on the table.

Yuan Xi got the order, glanced at the thoughtful Yuan Shang, and withdrew from the chamber. It was still dark, and a cold wind was blowing outside, and I only felt cold on my back. Although he had no last resort and successfully persuaded Yuan Shao, he was still a little nervous when he remembered that he was almost pulled out and beheaded just now. This Yuan Shao is ruthless with a cold face, and he doesn't miss the relationship between father and son at all, so he still has to pay attention to it in the future.

He thought about it, called the man in charge of the horse in the house, brought a horse, and rode it with difficulty.

These days, I have nothing to do and learn to ride a horse. The horses of these three countries do not look tall, and they can go up by standing on a riding stone. But the saddle reins are very simple, just some empty shelves of hemp rope, and you have to rely on your own legs and feet, and you will have back pain after riding for a long time. Another day, I'll have to find a blacksmith to build a set of harnesses.

The horse left Yuan's mansion and galloped on the deserted streets of Yecheng, blowing a cold wind that was particularly comfortable. All the way to the vicinity of the burned granary.

By this time, soldiers and horses stationed outside the city had already entered the city to help draw water to extinguish the fire. I saw the ruins and broken walls all over the ground, the charred black masonry rubble, and the broken beams and pillars of charcoal, all of which constantly smelled of burning. At this time, most of the soldiers who put out the fire had returned to the camp, but many people were still guarding the scene. Seeing him coming on horseback, they stepped forward to stop him.

"Which battalion are you from?"

A small soldier said: "Captain Zhang He's troops." ”

Yuan Xi let out an "oh" and said, "I'm Yuan Xi, I want to go in and have a look." ”

As soon as they heard that it was Yuan Shao's second son, several small soldiers got out of the way.

The thatched pavilion that was originally used as the "Si Su Ling" is now burned beyond recognition, but fortunately, the file was taken away by him and survived.

He sighed, and the grain in a granary was burned to the ground, and no one could be happy.

He went to the open space in the middle of several warehouses and looked closely at the wreckage, which, though he had a torch, was still not very real.

At this moment, there was a sudden sound of footsteps, and he saw a tall and burly figure coming towards him, followed by many soldiers.

"Zhang He, see the second son." Someone came and gave a salute.

Yuan Xi looked up, looked at him, and said, "Oh? It's Captain Zhang, and I haven't gone back so late. ”

Under the firelight, Zhang He still looked cold and indifferent, and he didn't seem to be affected by the residual hot air around him at all.

"I happened to be near this when the fire started, so I arrived just in time. Unfortunately, the fire was too big to be extinguished. ”

Yuan Xi thought that Zhang He was afraid that he would be punished, so he comforted him and said: "Just do your best, you can't blame Captain Zhang for this matter, I will tell my father the truth." ”

Zhang He said: "But when I was on patrol, I caught a suspicious person and brought it to the second son to see!" ”

As soon as he clapped his hands, two strong soldiers behind him lifted up a man with a disheveled hair like a chicken, and as soon as he let go, the man knelt directly in front of them.

Zhang He said sharply: "Raise your head." ”

"Raise your head!"

A soldier grabbed the man's long hair and pulled it down with all his might. The man snorted, then looked up. The firelight made his eyes narrow. Then the hair on his face was also pulled away by Zhang He.

"I don't know if the second son recognizes this person?"

Yuan Xi reached out and wiped a handful on the man's face, wiping the blood off his face.

The man had a square face, twisted violently from pain, and his throat made a "ho-ho" sound, and his whole body was shaking. He was dressed in pitch black, and if you looked at it at night, it was still very hidden. was caught by Zhang He in such a suit, no wonder he was considered a suspect in arson.

"I don't know if the second son recognizes this person?"

Zhang He asked again, his tone was neither hurried nor slow, purely like a friend greeting him and asking if he had eaten. But at this time, Yuan Xi's heartbeat suddenly accelerated.

Yuan Xi touched the person's face and asked in a deep voice, "Open your eyes and tell Captain Zhang, do you recognize me?" ”

Zhang He was stunned, but he didn't expect him to ask like this, so he looked at that person, that is, one of Yuan Xi's latest subordinates, Lu Fang.

This scholar, who was once asked about his "ideals" and once made a lot of nonsense to conquer the border passes and make immortal achievements, is now shaking like a piece of meat on the chopping board, at the mercy of others.

His eyes opened a slit and he looked at Yuan Xi's dark face with the firelight on his back.

Zhang He said: "Do you recognize him?" ”

Lu Fang closed his eyes again and said, "The villain doesn't recognize him......"

Yuan Xi breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhang He inadvertently glanced at Yuan Xi and frowned.

Yuan Xi said slowly: "But I know him." ”

Lu Fang on the ground suddenly trembled.

"This person is a subordinate of the Yuan Mansion, cowardly and incompetent, and usually doesn't even dare to kill a chicken. Captain Zhang, tell me, would such a person run into the granary and set it on fire? ”

Zhang He was stared at by him, and the muscles on his face twitched.

Yuan Xi said: "Although he is just a subordinate, he is also a member of the Yuan Mansion, so Captain Zhang might as well sell me face and let me handle this matter." ”

Zhang He stared at him for a moment, seemed to have made a decision, and said in a deep voice: "The second son has to take a good look at the next person, if something happens, it is easy to set himself on fire." He waved his hand and asked his subordinates to let Lu Fang go, and then left with everyone without saying a word.

Torches fluttered in the darkness, and only two people remained. Lu Fang pounced, hugged Yuan Xi's legs, and cried bitterly: "Thank you for saving ......."

Yuan Xi looked at the favorability on the head of the departing Zhang He, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"It's safe, let's go back......"