Hearing Li Yunrui talk about the endless tricks of profiteers in Quanzhou, Jin Qiude said that he was not surprised at all: "Many profiteers are traffic thieves, and businessmen have always been profit-oriented. ”

After seeing Huangshi today, even if Jin Qiude said anything bad, Huangshi refused to agree to restrict industry and commerce. Jin Qiude brought Li Yunrui and Zhang Zaidi to discuss, hoping that these two Huangshi's henchmen would help persuade them together, and after Zhang Zaidi arrived, Jin Qiude did not immediately cut to the chase, but complained: "How do you do this internal affairs for adults?" The silver I want is cut by 30% or 40% every time, and if I don't go all out to form an army now, what's the use of keeping the silver? ”

"Where is the silver?" After Yang Zhiyuan's death, Zhang Zaidi was promoted from deputy to chief steward: "Money is needed everywhere, Nanjing and Huguang collapsed all of a sudden, and they were attacked on all sides all at once, do you know how many troops to build?" How many forts do you need to build? Funing Town is okay. Last month, Guangxi urgently reported that they were in urgent need of 5 million taels of silver and 3 million stone of grain, and only then did the adults grant them 1 million taels of silver, and the grain had to be purchased from this money; after the loss of the southern part of Huguang, the entire northern border of Jiangxi and Guangdong had to set up a civilian training program, and they had to immediately buy guns, artillery, and ammunition and send them over, as well as military salaries and resettlement fees for the militia groups, and the money council could have paid them in advance, but the guns were all on credit, and they had to pay the profits before they were paid......

"Why not requisition?" Jin Qiude interrupted Zhang Zaidi's complaint.

"Your Excellency disagrees." Zhang Zaidi said helplessly.

After being silent for a while, Jin Qiude finally brought up the topic of the trip: "In fact, we can easily solve the current problem, as long as the adult nods, money and soldiers are not a problem." ”

……

Huangshi published the edict of the Hongguang Emperor and accepted the title of Duke of Qi to support the three-year-old crown prince of the Hongguang Emperor in Quanzhou. The crown prince immediately issued an edict after taking charge of the country, announcing that the Ming Dynasty was now in a crisis of survival, so let the Qi State open the shogunate, and the Qi State Mansion would take over all military and political powers, and would not prepare to establish a new cabinet. This Duke of Qi will reign until the prince of the state of Jian comes of age, or the emperor of the Northern Hunt returns to the capital.

The Duke of Qi immediately reported to his rule, announcing that the Ming army had achieved great victories in Zhejiang and southern Huguang, and had successfully contained the Shun army's tidal offensive, and Di Bao optimistically estimated that the Shun army would not be able to recover in the short term and launch a new offensive. Taking advantage of this spare time, the Duke of Qi sent a letter to the members of the council of Fujian Province, asking them to come to Quanzhou to meet the Duke of Qi.

As one of the members of the Fujian Council, Zhu Jiu also received an invitation letter.

"What does Qi Gong mean by this?" There were other council members who came to Zhu Jiu with invitations to discuss, and many people felt strange that there had never been such a precedent for convening council members on such a large scale.

"Alas, Duke Qi probably wants to persuade us to help." Zhu Jiu estimated that the Duke of Qi was nothing more than a persuasion, and Zhu Jiu had donated tens of thousands of silver in the past three years, but he was willing to donate at the beginning, and in the past two years, he has mostly apportioned.

The other council members had similar thoughts, and the person who came to visit Zhu Jiu was worried that if the Shun army won, he would retaliate against them, the merchants who supported Huangshi: "If the Duke of Qi can't keep Fujian, what will we do in the future?" ”

But Zhu Jiu was still determined to attend this meeting: "Duke Qi treats me well, money is something outside my body after all, if Duke Qi is in danger, I will avoid it, and I will be poked in the backbone in the future." ”

……

After arriving in Quanzhou, Zhu Jiu lived for less than two days before someone came to take him to see Qi Guogong, and he was led to a newly completed grand building, and after entering was a bright rotunda, the ground was sloping, hundreds of seats were fan-shaped, and all the chairs pointed to a stage-like platform at the lowest point of the hall, and behind this platform there was a high table—which was also the only seat in the entire hall.

"The Qi Kingdom Guild arrived on time in half an hour, since Boss Zhu arrived so early, let's sit down for a while."

There was no name in front of the chair, the person who led the way just took Zhu Jiu to this hall and turned around and left, Zhu Jiu looked around, and saw that there were already several people sitting together talking in this empty hall, these people Zhu Jiu all knew, all of them were famous businessmen in Fujian, and they were all well-known Huangshi supporters, one of them was the president of the Fujian Council and Zhu Jiu's friend.

"Boss Liu," Zhu Jiu sat down beside this group of people and said in a greeting, "It's so early." ”

"I thought that the Qi Guild would meet us one by one," President Liu was the first to arrive today, as the president and one of the top businessmen in Fujian, he immediately spoke out to advise: "Ninth Master, no matter how much money you have, you have to donate some after all, Master Hou...... No, Gong Qi has treated us well all these years. ”

A few years ago, Chairman Liu encouraged the Council to assume a considerable part of the supply of arms for the New Army, which also received a positive response, but the war dragged on for a long time, and the people's morale gradually weakened. Then the main force of the new army was destroyed in Shanxi, and the Shun army Bingfeng pointed directly at Fujian, and everyone was more worried about the results of their own family after the defeat of Huangshi.

"This is not for Boss Liu to say," Zhu Jiu should be indignant: "I have already brought the silver and stored it in the inn, and after a while, Boss Liu took the lead, and I immediately got up to respond." ”

A few people discussed and began to talk about trading and business opportunities, during which people continued to arrive, and when they saw someone from Boss Liu's side, they came around to say hello, and soon there was a big circle around.

"How is Gong Qi going to entertain us?" Everyone began to look around this hall in surprise, originally the process of the pledging meeting was mostly to invite everyone to drink tea, and then set up a banquet and hospitality, but in this hall there were chairs and chairs, and there was not even a tea table in front of it. After waiting for half an hour, someone complained dissatisfiedly: "I'm thirsty, why don't I have any tea?" ”

Zhu Jiu also observed this hall curiously: "Is it that Duke Qi wants to invite us to watch a play?" ”

"With such a small stage, can you act?" As soon as Zhu Jiu's words came out, someone retorted, and the others immediately echoed and said, "That's it, this stage is so small that you can't even put down instrumental music, and what about the curtain?" ”

There were more and more people in the hall, and gradually everyone's topic focused on the question of what this hall was for, Zhu Jiu pondered for a while, and suddenly patted his head and suddenly realized: "Duke Qi is going to invite us to listen to books." ”

After speaking, Zhu Jiu ran to the front in three steps and two steps, walked behind the big table, and shouted proudly: "Isn't it?" There's a piece of shocking wood here. ”

Sitting down on the chair behind the table, Zhu Jiu stretched out his hand and picked up the piece of startling wood and slapped it heavily on the table: "Guest officers, listen carefully!" ”

It's okay not to shoot, but under this beat, the whole hall suddenly thundered, and Zhu Jiu's words were particularly clear and loud, and even the people sitting in the back row could hear it very clearly.

The hall was designed with echo in mind, with the elliptical shape of the venue being able to focus the sound, and the walls on all four sides being very thick, making the sound insulation very ideal.

Although I don't know why Gong Qi built such a big house for listening to books, Zhu Jiu's discovery made everyone interested, many people gathered at the table to look curiously, and some people found that the sound effect of speaking on the platform standing in front of the table was better.

"But where do you put the tea?" After guessing how Gong Qi was going to entertain everyone, someone began to circle around the seat: "There are melon seeds and fruits, you can't all hold them in your hands, right?" ”

More and more people came, and gradually more than half of the seats in the hall were already occupied.

When Lu Yufan and Cai Yunnan walked into the hall side by side, the latter still looked a little nervous.

"Boss Cai, don't scare yourself," Lu Yufan cheered up his companion and said: "Gong Qi is not clairvoyant who knows everything, and if he knew, he wouldn't have invited us here, and there would be soldiers coming to the door directly." ”

"yes." Boss Cai looked for a remote corner and pulled Lu Yufan: "Let's sit over there." ”

"Okay."

After the two sat down, Lu Yufan muttered to Boss Cai again: "When we persuade donates for a while, we have to donate some." ”

"Got it, Boss Lu is really instigating."

Two soldiers of the Funing Army walked into the hall carrying a tall wooden podium and placed it on the platform in front of the table, which was more than half a person high, and there was no pattern on it, only three incomprehensible words: Qing Yuan.

"Qing?" Zhu Jiu couldn't figure out the meaning of the words, but he knew that this was definitely not about himself, Qing was an honorific title for the pillars of the country, and it could only be used on scholars.

Then there was a gong, and someone at the entrance of the hall shouted, "Qi Guogong has arrived." ”

Almost all of them got up in an instant, and the front of them was about to kneel, but they were all blocked by the chairs in front of them, and there was no room to kneel.

"Gentlemen, please take a seat."

A loud voice came from behind Zhu Jiu, and he hurriedly turned around and saw Huang Shi striding down the stairs from the door where he had entered, heading straight for the front row.

"It turns out that Qi Gong wants to have fun with the people." As soon as Zhu Jiu popped up this thought, he saw that someone was already struggling to squeeze out a position in the direction of Qi Guogong and knelt down, and immediately Zhu Jiu ignored Qi Guogong's order, and pushed and knelt down to pay homage to the people around him.

Seeing that Huang Shi walked all the way to the front row but did not stop, but went straight to the small stage, Zhu Jiu was suddenly shocked: "It turns out that the seat is for Qi Gong, this is a shame, just now I took the lead to sit down, wouldn't it be arrogant." ”

But Huang Shi didn't go behind the table, but stopped beside the wooden podium, turned to face the crowd in front of him, stretched out his arms and pressed down: "Gentlemen, please take a seat." ”

Zhu Jiu got up and sat down, looked at Qi Guogong condescendingly, and suddenly felt that something was wrong for a while, but if he stood up, he would be even taller than Qi Guogong, which seemed even worse.

When Zhu Jiuru sat on pins and needles and writhed uneasily in his seat, Huang Shi behind the podium turned his head to scan the crowd and asked loudly, "President Liu?" Where is President Liu? ”

"The villain is here." Boss Liu hurriedly stood up, and was about to kneel down again: "Villain......"

"President Liu, please come forward."

The chairman of the council bent down and walked in front of Qi Guogong, saluted again: "The villain asked the Kuomintang Jin'an. ”

"President Liu, please sit up," Huang Shi reached out and grabbed the arm of the chairman of the council, dragged him behind the large table, and pressed him to sit down in the chair, "President sit here." ”

"This is a shocking wood for President Liu," Huang Shi pointed to the ringing wood and motioned for President Liu to pick it up and try the feel: "The rule of this venue is: only the person standing behind the podium is allowed to speak, or one!" Only one person sitting on the top asked the person behind the podium a question after receiving permission, and if someone made a noise, interrupted the speech, or stood up without permission to ask a question, Chairman Liu slapped the startling wood vigorously and shouted: 'Silence! Does President Liu understand? ”

"This ......"

Huang Shi repeated it again, smiled and asked, "Does President Liu understand?" ”

"The villain understands, but ......"

"It's good to understand." Huang Shi encouraged him with a smile again, turned around and walked to the podium to start talking.

"Guogong!" Chairman Liu found that he was sitting in a higher position than him on the side of Huangshi, and the other party didn't even have a chair, so he immediately jumped up: "The villain is a capital crime." ”

"President Liu, please take a seat." Huang Shi looked back and smiled, and after Boss Liu sat down tremblingly, Huang Shi looked back at the silent scene:

"I don't know when it began, there are always people who say that businessmen are the most mercenary, the most unscrupulous Xiaoxiao, even the bandits who do all kinds of evil in the Water Margin, when they take human flesh to make buns and sell, and don't know how many innocents they have killed, they dare to despise businessmen, saying that if they read people pass under the mountain, don't harm their lives, if they are farmers and fishermen, don't be embarrassed by them, but the businessmen who trek thousands of mountains and rivers and do not shelter from the wind and rain to earn hard-earned money, the bandits must seek money and kill their lives, and they are ashamed to say that killing merchants is to do the right thing for heaven, It is to get rid of a traitor in the world, which is really shameless! ”

"Guogong said it well."

"Guogong is really insightful."

"The prince of the country wants to make decisions for the small people."

There were some voices of approval from the audience, and there may even be pretended moving whimpering.

Huang Shi did not signal everyone to be silent, but looked back at Boss Liu:

"President Liu." Yellowstone shouted softly as he gestured to him.

"What do you command?" Boss Liu bounced up from his seat, then came to his senses, snatched the shocking wood in his hand, and slapped it viciously on the table, and at the same time let out a loud roar: "Silence! ”

After the filming, Boss Liu asked in a low voice: "Guogong, did the villain do the right thing?" ”

"President Liu has done a great job." Huang Shi smiled and nodded, turned around and was about to start speaking, when he suddenly turned back to Boss Liu again, and ordered gently: "President Liu, please take a seat, in addition to the person who speaks and the person who asks questions, there should not be a third person standing in this room." ”

"Speaking of integrity, when the first emperor was martyred, he struck the Jingyang bell, and no scholar went to escort him; The emperor hunted in the north, and the generals surrendered for fear of scrambling; The crown prince of the prison state intended to hold the imperial examination, but no one came to take the examination; But ......" Huang Shi said in an aggravated tone: "Although I know that the consequences are unpredictable, more than eighty percent of the bosses of the council have come to this hall, and the monarchs will not abandon Huang because he is alone. ”

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