Anguo Mansion.

As the mansion of the first important minister of the empire, just looking at it from the outside of the mansion, you will not feel how tightly guarded this mansion is, except for a few more guards outside the palace gate, it is not much more heavily guarded than ordinary officials.

But those who know the details know very well that the inside of this mansion can be called a step-by-step trap, as long as anyone steps into this mansion, every step is completely under the surveillance of the eyes in the mansion, and you can't guess how many pairs of eyes are staring at you, let alone how many crossbow arrows are aimed at you.

But all large families will have family servants, not to mention the Beijing officials, almost all of them have family homes, but when it comes to the strength of the homes, there is naturally no one out of the Anguo Mansion.

Very few people know that the Jiading Nursing Home of the Anguo Mansion is not an ordinary character, Huang Tiandu is the commander of Wu Jingwei, the soldiers of Wu Jingwei, in the left and right twelve guards, that is the strongest combat effectiveness and the best equipment, the Jiading Nursing Home in the Anguo Mansion, in fact, there are many Huang Tiandu selected from Wu Jingwei, the top one is a fierce warrior, and he knows the origin of these people, and he is very loyal, in the Anguo Mansion, even if he is an ordinary domestic servant who serves tea and water, he should not underestimate his skills, Not to mention the guards who are responsible for the security of the Anguo Mansion.

"IOU to buy grain, is it a method that Lang Wuxuan came up with?" An Guogong Huang Ju held a wolf hair, and walked the dragon and snake on the paper, although he was nearly seventy years old, his face was covered with traces carved by the years, but his eyes still had brilliance.

Huang Tiandu sat on a chair next to him, while Hu Bufan, the head of the household book, sat on the bottom with half of his buttocks, his expression was respectful, and even his back was straight.

"Yes." Hu Bufan said cautiously: "Ouyang Zhi proposed that the household department allocate silver and buy grain with a lot of money, but the silver in the treasury has too many aspects, if the rice and grain in the Jianghuai land are collected, it will be an extremely large amount. ”

An Guogong didn't look up, still splashing ink and painting with grace, and asked, "Then what do you think should be done?" Is it an IOU, or is it a bank? ”

Hu Bufan hesitated for a moment before he said cautiously: "The lower official thinks that if you can use an IOU to collect all the grain and grass, it will be the best policy...... However, but the lower official is blunt, come here today, or implore the old man to take an idea, the old man is extremely wise, focus on the overall situation, you always take the idea, the next official will have the bottom. ”

An Guogong didn't answer immediately, his wrist turned a few times flexibly, and then he gently put down the wolf brush, stroked his white beard, looked at his paintings, and looked up to Hu Bufan and said: "Bufan, come and take a look, how is the old man's painting?" ”

Huang Tiandu frowned, and said hurriedly: "Father, when is this, it is important to discuss the matter...... Before he finished speaking, An Guogong glanced at him with slanted eyes, frowned, and said: "If you want to slow down, you are in your forties, and you are still so anxious to do things, how can you become a big thing?" There was a little dissatisfaction between his eyebrows, although Huang Tiandu was also a high-ranking figure in the empire, he was still very in awe of An Guogong, and when An Guogong said this, he didn't dare to say more.

Hu Bufan got up, walked over respectfully, looked carefully at the painting on the table, and gave a thumbs up: "Okay, good." This painting of Lao Guogong is really a wonderful work. ”

"Oh?" An Guogong stroked his beard and smiled: "What's good?" ”

Hu Bufan pointed to the painting and said: "The mountain is majestic, the forest is still around, and the big river on the side of the mountain flows through the zigzags. ”

An Guogong's expression was calm, and he still asked with a smile: "What about other than that?" ”

"Other than that......!" Hu Bufan smiled a little embarrassed, and said: "The lower official is dull, and I also ask the old man for guidance." ”

"Hidden Temple!" An Guo said quietly: "Look at the painting or not the watch, you have to look at the meaning of the hidden, you only see the mountain, see the water, see a monk carrying water, have you ever seen the temple?" ”

Hu Bufan was stunned for a moment, looked at it a few more times, and finally understood: "There is no temple in the painting, but there is a monk carrying water, which means that the temple is not far away, hidden in the deep mountains and forests." ”

An Guogong smiled and nodded, "Not bad." When some things come, don't just be deceived by appearances, throw away the appearances, and discover the opportunities and secrets hidden in them, which is the most important thing. Motioning for Hu Bufan to sit down, he himself sat down on the Nanmu chair, his expression became serious, and asked, "Bufan, do you think you should issue an IOU to buy grain?" ”

"This ...... I also want to ask the old man for advice! ”

Huang Tiandu interjected: "It's confused. ”

"Why?" An Guogong looked at Huang Tiandu.

Huang Tiandu sneered: "Tianmen bandits, rabble, it is not difficult to pacify, but if it is really an IOU to buy grain, I can assert that the Jianghuai Rebellion must have greater twists and turns, and it may not be able to be pacified in three or two years." ”

Hu Bufan's forehead was sweating, and he hurriedly said: "What the second master said is true!" ”

An Guo Gongsheng has three sons, Huang Tiandu ranks second, the Huang family is from Anyi, the eldest son is now an official in Anyi, although the third son is an official in the court, but his ability is limited, one is a gentleman, the third son, the most powerful is the second son Huang Tiandu, in private, many officials call Huang Tiandu the second master, and it can also be seen that the status of the Huang family in the Great Qin Empire.

An Guogong stared at Huang Tiandu and asked, "Why do you say this?" ”

Huang Tiandu was also happy, and said: "Father, we used to be the gate valve of Anyi, one thing you know very well is that the so-called borrowing of the government has never been the same as robbery in our eyes." You also said back then, our Huang family was the richest man in Anyi County, and it looked majestic, but where was it less oppressed by the officials, it was called borrowing, borrowing and repaying, and the IOUs were left to us in a serious manner, but those IOUs later rotted into powder, and the government did not see half of the repayment. ”

Hu Bufan was a little embarrassed and said: "Second master, our household department will issue an IOU, it won't be like that!" ”

"You won't, but the JAC Gate Valve will believe it?" Huang Tiandu shook his head and said: "They won't believe it, they will only think that you are taking advantage of the fire to rob and rob their food in disguise." ”

Huang Tiandu was born in the door valve, so he naturally knows the mind of the local gate valve best.

Hu Bufan showed nervousness.

"I can conclude that if the grain is really purchased by IOU, there must be many gate lords in Jianghuai who will part ways with the imperial court." At this time, there were only three people in the study, and Huang Tiandu had no scruples when he spoke here: "If I am now a Jianghuai gate valve, and I have a large amount of grain in stock, but the government wants to borrow a note to buy grain, Lao Tzu will not accept it first, even if I don't really wave the flag and rebel, I will definitely give the government a little color." They want food? Lao Tzu would rather go to discuss with Tianmen Dao and sell them grain at a low price, Tianmen Dao is also short of food, Lao Tzu does not believe that they don't want food. ”

"Shut up!" An Guogong snorted coldly.

Huang Tiandu stopped talking a little unconvinced.

Hu Bufan said embarrassedly: "The second master's meaning, the lower official understands." This IOU for the purchase of grain was stopped, and the lower officials tried another way, but it really didn't work, so they allocated a sum of silver and asked the Jianghuai Household Department to send people to discuss with the grain merchants and gentry, and the price should not be too high, so that the court could neither embarrass nor make them lose. ”

An Guogong asked quietly: "Are you going to let the household department buy grain?" ”

Hu Bufan hurriedly said: "What the second master said makes sense, the lower official was confused before and couldn't figure it out, the second master advised, and the lower official suddenly came clearly, so ......!" ”

"He's confused, and you're confused too?" An Guogong didn't wait for Hu Bufan to finish speaking, and said lightly: "I just asked you to look at this painting, and I thought you understood something, but now it seems that you are still ignorant." ”

Hu Bufan's mind was a little confused, and he opened his mouth, but he couldn't speak.

An Guogong glanced at Huang Tiandu and said lightly: "Are you so anxious to let the Jianghuai Rebellion be pacified?" ”

Huang Tiandu was stunned and puzzled: "Father, does Jianghuai still want to let it mess up?" Jianghuai is the granary of Daqin, if the Tianmen bandits cannot be pacified quickly, the granary of the treasury will be empty, if it is really troubled by Tianmen Dao for a year or two, there will be a crisis in the empire's grain. After a pause, he said: "And as far as I know, not only Jianghuai, but also Donghai and Jinling also have Tianmen Dao activities, and now Jianghuai Tianmen Dao people are rebelling, if they don't give a heavy blow and let Tianmen Dao gain power, then it won't take long for the Tianmen Daoists in Donghai and Jinling to rise up in chaos." The Jianghuai Rebellion is a fire, and the imperial court must extinguish it before this fire burns big, otherwise when this fire burns more and more, the consequences will be really unimaginable......! ”

An Guogong leaned back in his chair and quietly finished speaking, before he asked lightly, "Are you finished?" Fu Xu said: "Don't look at the chaos in Jianghuai, the rabble can't become a big climate, but the Jianghuai rebellion is a great opportunity." ”

"Opportunity?" Hu Bufanqi said: "Old Guogong, where do you start with this?" ”

An Guo said fairly: "The old man hopes that the fire of Jianghuai will burn more vigorously, and now the governor of Jianghuai, Liu Shengkui and Cheng Song, can still control the situation, but this fire will burn more, and even the East China Sea will burn in, so with Liu Shengkui's ability, I am afraid that it will be difficult to support the overall situation." ”

Huang Tiandu and Hu Bufan glanced at each other, both of them were a little dazed, and they couldn't figure out what An Guogong's words meant.

An Guogong naturally saw the confusion of the two, just smiled faintly, and said: "They can't hold on, the imperial court will always send someone to clean up the mess ......!" After a pause, thoughtful, he didn't go straight to this topic, but said like Hu Bufan: "Bufan, if you go back tonight, you will prepare an excerpt overnight and submit it to Menxia Province, hmm...... In this way, let Lang Wuxu wait for a few important members of the household department to come up with a fold, if nothing else, it is recommended that the imperial court buy grain with an IOU! ”

Huang Tiandu's eyes widened and said, "Father, you ...... Are you really ready to do that? ”

An Guogong stroked his beard and said: "The old man just decided to do this. ”

"Why do you have to do that?" Huang Tiandu was puzzled, he had already seen the danger, and it would only make the fire of Jianghuai's self-chaos burn bigger and bigger, but why An Guogong didn't choose to extinguish the fire with water, but added fuel to the fire.