It has been several days since the Winter Solstice Day Meeting, and the haze over the Jindu has dissipated, and everything seems to have returned to calm.

However, the gossip continued to be passed on in Xinjiang City, all the way to the Weiguo Pavilion located in the east of the city.

The first thing that caused a sensation was Jin Qing Zhao's "ban on martyrdom".

Everyone knows that in the Jin Kingdom, the Zhao family loves to be martyred at funerals. However, there is such a little gentleman of the Zhao family, who announced the ban of "stopping death" in the territory under his control, and was recognized by the head of the Zhao family and promulgated and implemented it in the form of family law.

In this regard, the well-informed businessmen in the Weiguo Pavilion talked a lot.

The first monarch of the country was Uncle Wei Kang, and the first fief was "Yinxu", that is, the area around Chaoge, the former commercial capital of Dayi.

Therefore, Weiguo has followed a lot of Yin Shang etiquette, which naturally includes martyrs. There are still many remnants of Yin Shang in the territory under the jurisdiction of the Wei State, and the title of the profession of "merchant" was originally named after the descendants of the Yin Shang who were relocated by the Ju clan had to engage in the profession of selling goods after losing their aristocratic status.

Initially, the Zhou Dynasty implemented the policy of "industrial and commercial food officials", which was subject to the ritual law of the Zhou Dynasty, and the merchants had no personal freedom. It was not until after King Ping moved eastward that the world was in turmoil, Wang Gang was sluggish, and the industrial and commercial food official system initially collapsed, and only then did separate merchants appear, such as the famous cattle dealer Xiangao in Zheng Guo.

In order to reduce the risk, the merchants slowly began to cooperate in groups, and the commercial houses in Puyang, Caoguo, Taoyi and other places were formed. And those speculators who fought alone and eventually grew stronger became the giants of Qi and Zheng who depended on the princes, and they specialized in fishing for salt, dansha, copper and tin, and some of them were even rich to rival the state.

Therefore, under the influence of the customs of Yin merchants, Weiguo is also a country where the custom of martyrdom is prevalent, and among the merchants of Weiguo, there are many who specialize in selling subordinate concubines to nobles as funeral companions.

Several slave traders in the building objected to the decree, fearing that their business would be affected from then on.

However, a young descendant applauded the Zhao gentleman's move in front of them.

The young businessman's name was Duanmu Ci, and he came from the Duanmu family, which had several lower doctors, but now he was already in the middle of the road. His name was given, and the word Zigong was taken by his master in Lu Guobai.

The slave traders were surprised, so they denounced Duanmu Ci as a patriot, and he was also a merchant in the hall, but his elbow turned outward.

However, although Duanmu Ci was young, he did not let it go at all, and he argued with reason: "Collecting money by selling martyred slaves is equivalent to killing people with a sword, but he said that it was a sword that killed people, not me; Thou art not my fellow believers, and thou hast done unrighteousness, like an enemy, and the boy can beat the drum and attack it! ”

Some merchants retorted that only when the business could not be sustained, they were forced to sell slaves, and you Duanmuci could guarantee that they would never do this kind of trade in the future?

Duanmu Ci took the case: "The master said that wealth and nobility are what people want, and if they don't get it by their way, they can't get it!" ”

Everyone went into battle one by one, but all of them were robbed by the clever Duanmu Ci, and they were all defeated.

Duanmu Ci finally said in public: "Although Ci is reckless and loves money, he never takes ill-gotten wealth and does not practice unrighteous ways!" I only rely on the four words of benevolence, righteousness, faith, and etiquette, and he will be rich and rival the country one day, and he will be able to fight against the princes, but he will win a thousand times more than you! ”

The merchants scoffed at this and ridiculed it, although their ability to earn money was really not as good as that of Duanmuci. This time when he came to the Jin Kingdom, Wei Shang all lost money, but Duanmu Ci estimated the goods that might be lacking here due to the weather, so that the Duanmu family made a small profit.

Duanmu Ci then praised the Zhao family's gentleman's move in line with the benevolence of the sage, and should not only be implemented in the Zhao clan's territory, but also promoted throughout the world, and when the time comes, the real royal paradise can be built.

The slave merchants were already familiar with Duanmu Ci's habit of preaching the benevolence and righteousness of his master of the Lu Kingdom, but they couldn't say anything about him, so they could only give up angrily.

In fact, for merchants who had lived in one place for a long time, Zhao's decree was nothing more than a matter of importance. Since the Zhao family is not allowed to be martyred, then go to other territories and states to sell, the world is so big, the minister and doctor will die more than a dozen every year, will there be a price?

Duanmu Ci's concept did not resonate with others, and while he was disappointed, he also began to silently record this matter on the slip, he felt that the master who was in the Lu country would definitely agree with the Zhao gentleman's approach.

But soon, the matter was forgotten by everyone, because there was even more shocking news.

Originally, on the day of the winter solstice, the envoy of the Song State, Dasicheng Leqi, was arrested by the Marquis of Jin at the Great Dynasty Meeting, and he is still imprisoned in the Yuqi Palace and has not yet been released.

What's more, some people rumored that they saw Jin Qing Zhao once gathered troops in the lower palace, preparing to merge with Fan and Zhongxing, but in the end they died down.

When the merchants heard about it, they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, glad that they didn't fight, and that business encountered war, and once they got involved, it was a bloody business.

The Weiguo commercial banks had just experienced a painful defeat, and were defeated by the more shrewd giants of Qi and Zheng in the Xinjiang market, and could only sell their goods in exchange for some Jin specialties to protect their capital.

Merchants were also preparing to leave Xinjiang, fearing the sudden outbreak of war, and partly because it was no longer a place to stay as the depths of winter approached.

So today, in the Weiguo Pavilion, the Weiguo merchants are putting on the hitches for the horses, setting up the wheels, and preparing to set off.

Before leaving, an old merchant shouted loudly in the building: "Zigong, Zigong! Hurry up, it's time to get in the car and go home! ”

"This is coming, this is coming!" The young Duanmu wrote the last word on the slip with a pen, sealed it in a wooden box with beeswax, and carefully tied it with thick twine.

He was going to ask his colleagues who went to Lu to bring this letter to his master, which contained the political affairs of the Jin State that he had heard about in the past month or so, as well as the Zhao family's decree of "stopping death", and he was sure that the master would be interested in it......

……

Compared with the prosperity and extravagance of Linzi, the capital of Qi, and the majestic atmosphere of Xinjiang, the capital of Ludu Qufu is much narrower and more embarrassing, and it has some of the small family spirit of the Lu people. But it is also the most well-planned city with the most polite people.

It is no wonder that when Ji Zha, the prince of Wu State, visited Zhuxia, he admired after watching the elegance of the countries: "Zhou Li, all in Lu!" ”

Almost every alley in the city was built according to the rules of Zhou etiquette: eight houses were made into wells, four wells were opened, and eight houses were divided, and the wells were dug in the middle.

Early that morning, beside a deep ancient well in a remote alley in the east of the city, a young student was sitting.

He has straight eyebrows and broad eyes, a simple and amiable expression, and wears an old Confucian robe that looks a little thinner in winter, and a pair of tattered linen shoes at his feet. Although it is dilapidated and dusty, it makes people feel that he is extremely clean from body to heart.

The latter holds a roll of bamboo slips in his left hand and a wooden scoop in his right hand, and when he has nothing to do, he reads in the light of the day, and when he is tired, he rests less, and when he is thirsty, he holds a scoop of water to drink, even though he is covered with dust, but his face is happy.

His name is Yan Hui, and his name is Ziyuan.

A spoonful of food, a scoop of drink, in the alleys, people are unbearable, and they will not change their pleasures.

This is what the Master said about him.

It wasn't until an early riser came to the well to fetch water that Yan Hui stood up with a smile, dusted off his body, tied the wooden scoop to his waist, and carefully hid the bamboo roll in his jacket. With his hands in his sleeves, he bowed respectfully to the people who came, and then walked slowly into the alley.

The master's house is deep in the alley, facing south and north, the courtyard is not large, and the loess is the wall, which shows the poverty of the master.

When Yan returned, he happened to see a clothed and embroidered Bahu soap Li blocking the door, holding some silk cloths and gifts, and several soldiers of the Jisun family in armor and wearing a warrior in front of him.

The soap Li pointed to the door and scolded angrily: "The ruling party sent me to invite Kong Qiu out to be an official three times and five times, but he dared not go out to greet him in person? Still let you stop it? ”

Several people pushed and grabbed it, wanting to push open the chai door and force it in, but they couldn't get in an inch, just because there was a man standing proudly inside the door.

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