Sitting in the elegant seat of the lakeside tea house, sipping the green and elegant tea, the ears heard the soft words of the guests downstairs to the tea man: "The tea is collected, and when I finish selling today's vegetables, I will come back to eat a pot of water." ”

I also heard the tea lady respond: "Passing by Yuhuātai to help me look at the chrysanthemum huā, I don't have time to go over this year, and I am going to miss the huā period." ”

"I'll come back to the well and tell you." After the greengrocer should come down, the downstairs will be quiet again.

The corners of Shen Mo's mouth not only hung a smile, but his heart said: "The real dealer's pawn has six dynasties of smoke and water, and it is not bad at all" A heart became more and more calm, sitting there quietly reading a book, and occasionally twisting a piece of soft fragrant cake and sending it to the mouth to taste slowly.

He enjoyed the rare leisure like this, until Hu Yong's footsteps sounded at the stairs: "My lord, he is here." ”

"Hmm." Shen Mo nodded and put down the book: "Let him come up." ”

Suddenly, a tall, handsome, well-dressed middle-aged man bowed to him with a respectful face: "Shao Fang, a grass citizen, greets your lord." ”

"No need to be polite." Shen Mo said lightly: "Today I am in casual clothes, you can be casual, sit down." ”

Although Shao Fang was uninhibited, how dare he be presumptuous in front of this ancestor, he still stood there obediently: "In front of adults, villains are like sitting on pins and needles, and it is better to stand." ”

"I don't want to look up to you." Silently picked up the teacup and took a sip.

Shao Fang put his ass on the chair in a panic, but he still didn't dare to breathe, he was not the kind of cramped man who couldn't get on the stage, all these years under the care of silence, he also called the governor brothers, drank wine and ate tea in the governor's mansion, and even occasionally sailed with Wei Guogong Qinhuai, together, "prostitution." But he is obviously much more cramped than when he first saw the silence, because the more he sees the world, the more he knows some secrets that ordinary people cannot touch...... The man in front of him, who was still very young, had "far more power than his status as a cabinet elder." government, military, academia, industry and commerce...... The major important areas in the southeast of the Ming Dynasty "all show his strong influence, don't look at those big families who don't buy the accounts of the imperial court, but they have to rely on his snort, Shao Fang even faintly feels that his influence in the southeast has surpassed that of the Beijing imperial court.

Of course, this was just a vague feeling of his supernormal spiritual sense, and there was no evidence, and it might even be a delusion. But what Shao Fang can be sure of is that his fortunes and misfortunes rise and fall are all in his thoughts.

"Boss Shao's business has been good lately?" Look at him a little cramped," he laughed softly.

"Thanks to you, everything is fine." Shao Fanggan said with a smile. Now everyone in Jiangnan talks about business, and Shao Daxia is naturally not exempt from vulgarity, but he is the kind of person who cannot be restrained, and he did not follow the trend to open a textile workshop that makes people work hard; He was not qualified to participate in maritime transportation, so he started the idea of opening a mulberry garden.

His vision is really good, the rapid growth of the textile industry, especially the Suzhou Research Institute, after the invention of the twisting device, "the demand for raw material tenon is explosive growth, however, the population in the south of the Yangtze River is dense, the land is tight, even if it has been "in the field in front of the house, all the mulberry cotton is planted" but the gap is still only increasing, driving the price of raw silk and cotton to skyrocket year after year, and it is still in short supply.

Shao Fang jumped out of Jiangxi, "bought mulberry gardens in Sichuan, Jiangxi, and Huguang provinces, and then reeled silk on the spot, sold raw silk back to Jiangnan for sale, and in a few years, he has made a lot of money" and became the owner of a large mulberry garden in the southeast.

Silence knows that this is in, and changing rice to mulberry "is not an isolated case, but a trend, which will inevitably further exacerbate the food problem, which is almost a fatal blow to an agricultural kingdom." But he does not intend to intervene in the matter, "but intends to solve it in a different way, not now, but at some point in the future."

This time, Shen Mo came to Shao Fang, "I didn't want to ask about his business, I just started a conversation", and the two sides knew this. Shao Fang took the initiative to ask: "The adults are looking for grass people, but for the sake of the prisoners?" ”

"Not bad." Shen Mo said: "I heard that you are their solidarity leader?" ”

"The adults laughed...... Shao Fangqiang said with a smile: "Some friends in the business field begged me to come here, and we couldn't refuse it, so we could only reluctantly walk around for them......,..."

"A hero is a hero, barely move around" The corner of Shen Mo's mouth pulled up a smile and said: "You can say that the six Shangshu will take turns to come forward, if you get serious, will the king of heaven and Lao Tzu go down to help them speak?" In the past few days, several ministers in Nanjing have gone to the mansion to pay respects, and in addition to greeting the cold and warmth, and getting closer to each other, they have also expressed their concern for the rebellion of the prisoners. Not only that, but they also focused on exaggerating the harm of abolishing the number of dishes, hoping that Shen Mo would take the lead in writing a letter calling on the imperial court to restore the old system.

Shen Mo was so annoyed that a genius came out to relax, and by the way, he called Shao Fang over for questioning.

"The villain has been wronged." Seeing that Shen Mo blamed himself for the blame, Shao Fang hurriedly explained: "You are too much to look down on villains, those who are really capable are those big families, I just passed a word to them." ”

"What's the word?"

"They want to be caught between inside and outside," Shao Fang smiled bitterly, "restore the privilege of the dish name." ”

"Inside and outside?" The smile on Shen Mo's face gradually disappeared, and his eyes turned cold.

"Yes." Shao Fang did not deceive, and said honestly: "On the one hand, they hope to use the relationship of officialdom to let the officials of the two capitals help speak; On the other hand, he secretly instructed the prisoners to go on a hunger strike in order to urge the imperial court to give in as soon as possible. ”

"Aren't you afraid that your child will have three strengths and two weaknesses?" Shen Mo frowned.

"Hey, my lord, you are too kind, those real children of everyone are all locked up in a separate number, eating and drinking, and they will be released in a few days." Shao Fang gritted his teeth and smiled: "At that time, even the case record will be erased, and the exam will continue after three years." ”

"So sure?" Shen Mo sneered.

"My lord, don't say that I said it" Shao Fang didn't know what psychology it was, and even broke the news: "They bought off Qian Jingshan, and this matter can be described as nine out of ten." "Jingshan is the number of Qian Bangyan, the secretary of the Nanjing Criminal Department.

Shen Mo looked at Shao Fang and played with taste: "Why do you want to tell me?" ”

"The adults have asked" Shao Fang said calmly: "Even if there is a loss of righteousness in the rivers and lakes, the villain will not dare to hide it." ”

"Oh......" Shen Mo didn't bother to guess his motives, nodded and stopped dwelling on the matter, and said, "What are the main ones behind this?" ”

"There are nine big people, there are Jin merchants, micro-merchants, Fujian, Zhejiang and maritime merchants, ......" Shao Fang said with a wry smile: "It can be seen that the cancellation of the dish name" is really difficult for them to accept. “”

You just said, "They are also active in Beijing?" Shen Mo asked slowly.

"Yes, and it's the main direction of attack." Shao Fang nodded and said, "It's just because of the relationship between Inspector Geng and adults, so no one has dared to tell you." ”

"It seems that everyone thinks that canceling the number of dishes is not my idea." Shen Mo stood up, stood by the window with his hands in his hands, and said, "It also has my approval." "There is no way, if Israel is in harmony, it is inevitable that each will have a ghost, and you can't expect a family as big as someone else, so you are at the mercy of yourself.

Shao Fang hurriedly got up and said with a smile: "My lord" They didn't dare to come forward in person because they were afraid of making you angry. ”

"......" looked silently at the mist on Mochou Lake and ignored him.

Shao Fang had no choice but to stop her mouth and stand there a little apprehensively.

After a long time, I heard a silent and emotionless voice say: "Tell them that if there is still me silent in their eyes, they will all come to see me within three days!" ”

"Yes." Shao Fang hurriedly responded, paused and asked, "Where is it?" After speaking, he slapped himself lightly and said, "The villain will arrange it." ”

"Go ahead." Shen Mo nodded, unwilling to let these intrigues "desecrate this picturesque Mochou Lake."

The autumn night sky is blue, the waning moon is like a hook, the clouds are like dyeing, and the Qinhuai River is cold and fragrant.

At this time, on the Qinhuai River, her beauty was really shown...... The lanterns reflect the water, the painting boat is bō, the silk and bamboo are leisurely, and the singing is Yiyi, which is a place of bliss in the world. There are very few painting boats on the dock, "The big and small huā boats have already been on the ten miles of Qinhuai, and the Spring Festival is worth a thousand gold, who is willing to miss a point?"

But there was a lonely, two-storey boat leaning there, and there were no other ships around, and it seemed to be huge, "and it was very wide inside, and could accommodate thirty or fifty people." This boat is almost the most luxurious one on the Qinhuai River, the furniture inside is all mahogany, and the table and chair back are all embedded with cold jade jade surface. The panes of huā pear wood are meticulously carved, and each one is expensive. The pane is not Korean paper, but red and blue Western glass, "The light shines through the glass, and from the outside, it looks like a dream, like a fairy boat in the Yao Pond, which has come to the Qinhuai River."

At this moment, "there were already more than 20 people sitting in the cabin, all of them well-dressed and extraordinary, obviously not ordinary people...... If anyone knows all of them, they will exclaim, this must be the most valuable boatload of people in the world at the top of a round table on the left, is Wang Yao, president of the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce, this old gentleman is the father of Wang Chonggu, the governor of the three times, and the uncle of Wang Chongyi, the great leader of Rishenglong. And itself, he is one of the top salt merchants in Yangzhou City, building bridges and paving roads and donating money to support education on weekdays. Over the past few decades, more than 100 students have been sponsored by him, and there are 60 or 70 students who have been admitted to the examination. This investment not only brought him endless officialdom help, but also accumulated a high reputation for him, and he is also a well-known businessman in Yangzhou.

Next to Wang Yao, there is an old man who is a little rich and has white hair, which is Ruan Bi, the president of the Weizhou Chamber of Commerce. Among the merchants of Huizhou, he can be said to be full of words and respected. Now that I'm getting older, I've rarely seen it in recent years.

The rest of the people at this table were not inferior, including Qi Yuanhua of Longyou, Shen Mingyi of Ningbō, Xue Zhijing of Dongting, and other seven or eight, all of whom were leaders of the local merchant gang...... And because of the strong commercial atmosphere in these areas, the children are not ashamed of their business, and most of them are the most famous people in the local area. The commercial competition in the southeast is becoming more and more fierce, and the role of the merchant gang is huge, and it is not an exaggeration to say that they are all in the local area.

But compared to the middle table, it is a big deal. The number of people sitting around the round table, there is no need to introduce them one by one, just point their surnames, in order, Wu, Yan, Wang, Zheng, Lu, Zhou, Xie, Feng, Zhao "is the people of the nine families in the southeast, these nine family eunuchs for a hundred years, the prime minister's book is endless, and its protégés are all over the world.

Its economic strength is also strong, and the three most profitable businesses of the Ming Dynasty, silk, tea and porcelain, they all control more than half of the share, whether it is upstream material suppliers or downstream buyers, they need to rely on their noses.

Therefore, these nine families give people the impression that they have always been high, even if there are important occasions, at most one or two leading figures attend, like this Nine family heads gathered, I am afraid that even the face of the emperor's southern tour will not be invited.

The guests at the table on the right were relatively low-key, because they were from Fujian and Guangdong, and their hometown was too far away from Nanjing, so the heads of the family could not arrive in time, so they could only let the juniors in Nanjing City Hanxuan participate............ The specifications are one level behind, so it is naturally very low-key.

But no one dares to underestimate them, with the lifting of the sea ban by the Ming Dynasty, the rapid rise of Fujian-Guangzhou maritime merchants, less than ten years of effort, became the main force of maritime trade. Moreover, their iron smelting and shipbuilding industries are also second to none in the country...... In the eyes of the southeastern merchants, a consensus has long been formed that whoever can dominate the maritime trade routes will be the next strongest merchant gang. Obviously, Fujian, Guangzhou, and maritime merchants are likely to become next.

Within a small painting boat, the old and new forces in the southeast of the Ming Dynasty gathered. It's a miracle in itself that these people can be brought together, and what's even more incredible is that they, as guests, have already reached half an hour, and the guy who invited them hasn't even appeared. There was not the slightest dissatisfaction on the faces of these big men, not even impatience, but they talked softly, and kept three points of attention outside the ship, lest they snub the slow guy.