The Grand Canal, the blood of the Ming Dynasty that communicates the north and the south, passes through Yangzhou and is slowly flowing, which is the last reliance on the survival of this old empire.

At this time, Liu Wenzheng was reading a book and taking a break in the study of the back house of the Yangzhou Government Office, putting down the Analects, Liu Wenzheng was leaning on his back and closing his eyes to recuperate, and the two thirteen or fourteen-year-old maids beside him were waiting.

Thinking of these two maids with ordinary appearance, ordinary figure, and ordinary eyesight, Liu Wenzheng had a chill on his body, his own Hedong lioness would never let a beautiful maid appear next to him, no matter how old or young.

Liu Wenzheng is forty and six this year, his face is white, gentle and elegant, which makes people feel good at the slightest contact.

The current Imperial Procuratorate supervises the imperial history of the two Huai salt industry, based in Yangzhou, Liu Wenzheng is extremely satisfied with this fat difference, although the grade is not high, but the real power is in hand, for the two Huai salt merchants, the two Huai patrol salt imperial history is absolutely necessary to make good friends and not offend.

Of course, Liu Wenzheng also took a lot of effort to get this official position. He was originally a member of Donglin, but since Wei Gelding liquidated Donglin, Liu Yuzheng also alienated Donglin, and took refuge in Shi Fenglai, who was befriended by Wei Gelding, before he was sent by the Imperial History of Salt Patrol.

Although there are many people in Shilin who have been eviled so far, Wei Eunuch is in the middle of the family, Shi Fenglai is also a high power, and Liu Wenzheng is also proud of the spring breeze, not to mention that in the peak of the Spring and Autumn Period, Liu Wenzheng can't take care of a lot of Shilin's foul language.

"My lord, Lord Huang Mingyuan of Yangzhou, Lord Luo Donghui sent people to pay homage, and asked if they could have free time in the afternoon, they wanted to see your lord." The housekeeper Hu Zhong came in and knelt down.

"Tell them that the official has something to do in the afternoon, and I will talk about it in the house after dinner." Liu Wenzheng groaned slightly, and said unhurriedly.

"The little one will talk back." Hu Zhong paused slightly.

"Well, what's the matter?" Liu Wenzheng raised his eyes.

"Master, Meng Guangshan has been waiting outside the mansion for a long time." Hu Zhong bowed and said.

"Well," Liu Wenzheng frowned, "then let him continue to wait." I really don't know how to move forward. ”

Hu Zhong bowed and left.

Liu Wenzheng got up and walked around a few times in square steps, looking very leisurely. In fact, his heart is not as calm as it appears on his face, but the qi cultivation skills he has cultivated over the years make him look no different from usual.

Liu Wenzheng was actually very happy in his heart, because the two big salt merchants finally couldn't bear it anymore, and tonight, Liu Wenzheng was looking forward to the handwriting presented by the two.

For the sake of the heavy gifts presented by the two and the face of the Luo family, Liu Wenzheng has suppressed the Meng family a little in the past few months, and mentioned a few words to the officials of the Lianghuai Salt Transportation Division, which led to a decrease in the number of salt introductions from the Meng family, and at the same time politely refused the Meng family's request to see him.

After all, the Luo family is involved, and the Meng family is no longer in its consideration, and the Meng family also has help in the officialdom, but it is all money exchanges, without the support of relatives.

It's just that Liu Wenzheng is not very satisfied with the bid of the Luo and Huang families, waiting for their final hole cards, and now this is a good thing that the two can't stand it.

Liu Wenzheng took a sip of fragrant tea comfortably, picked up the pen and wrote down the famous sentence of picking chrysanthemums and looking at Nanshan leisurely under the east fence, and looked at the Song style characters that he had practiced for decades and nodded with satisfaction, of course, Liu Wenzheng already had his own opinions on the meaning of this word, and such a leisurely life must also be supported by money, he did not believe that Tao Yuanming drank wind and water to make such a high statement.

When he was young and learned that the Donglin princes who were teachers and shouted out that they cared about such righteous and awe-inspiring words as family affairs and state affairs were hiding acres of fields, buying farms and houses, and raising domestic slaves, many of the words of the Four Books and Five Classics were meaningless, just a ladder to advance.

The Cheng brothers' yearning for high-ranking officials is well known, whether its purpose is fame or profit, its career heart makes the Cheng brothers' words of destroying people's desires extremely hypocritical, as the so-called do not want to do to others.

Liu Wenzheng's current writing of praise for these Confucian words of the past dynasties is just an officialdom precedent, and most of the people in Shilin know its hypocrisy, but they still need to follow it, because this is where the Ming Dynasty is from top to bottom, and it cannot be subverted.

Meng Guangshan and his younger brother Meng Qingshan waited at the door.

It was the end of winter and the beginning of spring, and I didn't feel anything when I first went outside, but I still felt this chill after staying outside for a long time.

The Meng brothers have been waiting outside the door for an hour, the prayer post has already been sent in, and there has been no movement inside, Meng Guangshan decided to wait, maybe there can be a miracle, although it is too ethereal.

Meng Guangshan didn't want to pin all his hopes on Zhao Lie, although his subordinate Du Li had promised to do his best to deal with this matter, but what if, after all, Meng Guangshan was the first time to deal with Du Li, and he really had no bottom in his heart.

With a sound, the door of Liu's Mansion slowly opened, and Hu Zhong, the housekeeper of Liu's Mansion, walked out slowly, Meng Guangshan was overjoyed, and he was about to step forward, but he saw Hu Zhong walking towards the two people waiting on the other side.

"My family said, let your two families, Master Huang, Master Luo come over at night." Hu Zhong commanded proudly, completely without the appearance of bowing inside.

The two men hurriedly nodded in thanks, and turned to leave.

Meng Guangshan heard that his body was trembling, and when it was over, he let Huang Luo and the others in, but he was closed.

His body was like a deflated ball, and he softened, and he stumbled under his feet. Meng Qingshan beside him hurriedly supported his eldest brother.

Hu Zhong watched coldly, pursed his lips, and turned back to the mansion.

With a creak, the vermilion door closed, leaving only the cold-hearted Meng brothers and their servants.

"Let's go back." Meng Guangshan muttered to himself. Although I have been prepared in my heart, when I really face this moment, the grievances in my heart are simply indescribable. Half a lifetime of hard work is about to be wiped out.

At the end of Shen Shi, Luo Donghui had tea and talked with Huang Mingyuan in the mansion, and the two were about to leave for Liu Yushi's mansion in a short time.

"Brother Huang, tonight we have prepared a generous gift of 30,000 taels each, Lord Liu doesn't know if he can be satisfied." The thin Luo Donghui asked with a smile.

"Of course, Mrs. Liu, I waited for Mrs. to present 10,000 taels of silver on our behalf," Huang Mingyuan, whose face was sallow and slightly fat, twitched on his face, obviously very distressed. "Lord Liu has always been afraid of guilt, and this time I have presented tens of thousands of taels of silver, Lord Liu should no longer shirk it this time."

"It's hard to say, Brother Huang still needs to be more wary of people in the officialdom, it is a common thing to say or not do it in the Ming officialdom." Luo Donghui took a sip of tea and said leisurely.

"Brother Luo, isn't there still Brother Luo here, I don't dare to do too much if I think Lord Liu wants to come." Huang Mingyuan said with a smile.

"Brother Huang has said, he has said, Luofu is just a family of merchants, insignificant, insignificant." Luo Donghui said humbly.

"Too modest, Brother Luo is too modest, the Luo family is also well-known in Jiangnan, not only with strong financial resources, but also from the home of the scholarly eunuchs." Huang Mingyuan complimented.

"It's all my uncle's work, and my younger generations are all enjoying it." Although he was humble in his mouth, Luo Donghui still had a beautiful face this time.

After all, his uncle, his uncle served in the Ministry of Officials and Rites in Nanjing, one was the right waiter, the other was Langzhong, and he was quite popular in Jiangnan, and Luo Donghui also became a giant businessman in Yangzhou.

"Having said that, this Lord Liu is also too greedy, and he completely disregards the decency of a scholar." Huang Mingyuan pursed his lips disdainfully. Liu Wenzheng is both greedy and decent, which makes Huang Mingyuan also despised.

"Brother Huang still doesn't see it deeply," Luo Donghui shook the paper fan lightly, "The officials of the past dynasties, only the officials in the former Song Dynasty were very high, and the other thousands of years, when can the officials be used, however, since ancient times, officials have widely purchased good land mansions and raised concubines, where does the money come from?" ”

Luo Donghui pointed out that everyone knows the secrets of this officialdom, so there is no need to talk about it in detail.

"They are all hypocrites, how difficult it is for us businessmen to travel around and work hard, and you adults just talk and laugh to win back the gold and silver mountains." Huang Mingyuan said hatefully.

"There is a golden house in the book, and there is Yan Ruyu in the book, this way of praise through the ages, Brother Huang still needs to be cautious." Luo Donghui said with a smile.

He slandered in his heart, you Huang Mingyuan have always befriended the government, and how many large and small businesses have been annexed by the government, and how many people have been ruined, Liu Wenzheng and others are of course brazen hypocrites, and you are just a real villain with a ruthless heart, if my Luo family didn't have another arm at home, you would have already been involved.

However, Luo Donghui is also really interested in the Meng family's share in various places, otherwise he would not cooperate with Huang Mingyuan. Luo Donghui's idea was to use the fame of his family to secretly collect benefits and let Huang Mingyuan charge ahead. Therefore, this is also the reason why he agreed to cooperate although he despised Huang Mingyuan's personality.

The evening visit was extremely successful, Huang Mingyuan and Luo Donghui got the promise of Lord Liu, Meng Ji was not long in coming, and Liu Wenzheng got the money he cared about the most, which can be described as a great joy.

The two left Liu's Mansion satisfied, and returned to the mansion separately.

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