Chapter 7: River Governance (3)

"This, Xiufeng, this kind of nonsense, how can you, how can you get it to my study! You, you are the head of my Great Zhou Wenchen!" Unexpectedly, Wang Jun had just finished pit the prince, and turned his head and bit Zheng Ziming again. Emperor Guo Wei of the Great Zhou Dynasty was so angry that his body shook and blurted out his rebuttals.

Whale oil is now very common in Bianliang City, and some less important places in the palace are often used as lamp oil for lighting at night. Although the taste is a little fishy, the light emitted is far brighter than that of a vegetable oil lamp. What's more, the price of whale oil is less than half of that of vegetable oil, which can save the royal family a lot of money.

For whale meat, Guo Wei is no stranger. The taste of this thing is extremely bad, and no matter how you cook it, you can't cover the natural fishy smell. But the price of marinated whale meat in Bianliang City is as frighteningly cheap as whale oil. The wealthy are reluctant to eat it, but for the poor people who can't even afford to drink a bowl of haggis soup all year round, it is a rare fishy meat. Spending a few copper coins to buy a large piece can make the whole family feast, and even salt and oil money can be a lot of money, which is really a triple win.

There are only whale bones, and Guo Wei really can't be interested in them. The texture is far inferior to ivory, and the carved objects are sold for as much as ivory. At present, a small half of the extravagant wind that is gradually blowing in Bianliang City is probably related to this thing. Especially those veterans who have been through a hundred battles, if they don't put a few whale ribs in front of their homes as decorations, they simply feel inferior. The thicker and longer the whalebone, the more expensive it is to sell, and after a certain length, it even reaches the point where the price is divided into cents, and it costs a penny. It is completely contrary to the call of the imperial court to advocate frugality!

But no matter how expensive the whalebone is, it has nothing to do with the lives of ordinary people. The door of ordinary people's homes is not so big, and they don't need whale ribs for decoration. The elders of ordinary people's families will not let their children waste their hard-won copper money in the future to sell the useless losers. As for the high-ranking families in Bianliang City, Zheng Ziming used whale ribs to make their money, so Guo Wei would not feel distressed. Anyway, even if the money is not spent on useless whale bones, it will be squandered elsewhere. It's better to be all earned by Zheng Ziming, so that some of it can be used on the Cangzhou army

"Your Majesty, this is not nonsense. Wang Juncai didn't care how much Guo Wei knew about the three new things that were popular in the Central Plains, such as kun oil, kun meat and kun bones, he stiffened his neck and emphasized loudly, "Zhuangzi has clouds: there are fish in the North Underworld, and its name is Kun." Turned into a bird, its name is Peng. Flying in anger, its wings are like clouds hanging from the sky. And the Buddhist scriptures also have clouds, Peng feeds on the dragon, the wings can separate the seawater, catch the dragon and eat its meat, and the dragon can eat 500 a day. And the dragon lord of the world's water, the East China Sea's juvenile kun were all killed by the Cangzhou water army, and the number of Peng birds will inevitably decrease. Without Peng Bird devouring the dragon of the river, the dragon will naturally wreak havoc. Therefore, this year, there was a earth dragon turned over, and then there was a torrential rain......"

"Poof!" Before Wang Jun could finish explaining the carefully fabricated reason, Zheng Renzhi, the Marquis of Hanjun, couldn't help but laugh out loud.

He was loyal and never wanted to get involved in the power struggle in the court. But what Wang Jun did today is too embarrassing. The dignified Zhou Privy Envoy, the head of a dynasty's civil servants. actually used rumors and Buddhist scripture stories to attack the envoy of Zhenji Jiedu, who had already voluntarily given up the power of soldiers and horses, I really don't know if this person is too confident or too stupid!

"What are you laughing at, Han Hou, could it be that you can vouch for it, then Zheng Ziming is really willing to be an unworthy envoy of the Zhenji Festival, and from now on he will always be loyal to His Majesty and the Great Zhou?" Wang Jun immediately turned his head like a wild dog that had been stepped on by its tail, and roared loudly at Zheng Renxue.

"Okay, Xiufeng, you don't have to yell at me, I understand your thoughts!" Zheng Renzhi is a kind person, but it doesn't mean that he will believe in spit and do it like Feng Dao, shook his head, and interrupted with a sneer, "It's just that I'm worried that after Zheng Ziming gets a lot of money, he will secretly expand the army and plot against him." But you're going to have to clean him up, and at least get some decent credentials. Putting the responsibility for the earthquake and the flood on his head is inevitable, and it is a bit too much, too unscrupulous. Once it spreads, you, Wang Jun, are not afraid of becoming the laughing stock of the world, the civil and military of the Manchu Dynasty, but you can't be poked in the backbone by the world with you!"

"Nonsense, you nonsense!" Wang Jun was so ashamed that his old face turned purple, waved his arms, and argued loudly, "You, how do you know that the flood must have nothing to do with his wanton culling of the giant kun! In all dynasties and dynasties, who drove a giant boat like him, and wantonly traveled in the sea? As the old saying goes, Kunpeng died and the princes died, and when he had just begun to go to sea to kill the young kun, Liu Chengyou immediately killed Shi Hongzhao, Yang Wei, and Wang Zhang...... in Bianliang."

"That's Liu Chengyou's own stupidity and cruelty, how can he have a relationship with Zheng Ziming to kill whales?" Zheng Renyu smiled and interrupted with a pout, "If Kunpeng dies, there will be princes." That Zheng Ziming last winter and this spring, there were twenty or thirty whale skeletons sold to Bianliang City alone. Why didn't we see that all the princes who supported the army and respected themselves all died one after another, saving the imperial court a lot of trouble? As for the theory that Kunpeng hunted and ate the dragon, it was even more nonsense! If Kunpeng fed on dragons, then Zheng Ziming's slaughter of the young Kun was precisely avenging the dragon. The dragon in the world should be grateful to him too late, how can it rain indiscriminately and make the people miserable?"

A few words, not too loudly. But it is true, with the spear of the son, and the shield of the son. When he refuted Wang Jun, he couldn't find half a word to respond. An old face turned from red to purple, from purple to black, gritted his teeth and was stunned for a long time before he added with difficulty: "You, you are simply messing around." You, you only saw Zheng Ziming, he handed over the land of Sanzhou and the power of the soldiers and horses of Sanzhou, but he didn't know at all how strong the Cangzhou army was now! If His Majesty continues to raise tigers, sooner or later, sooner or later, he will be eaten by it!"

"Your Majesty, speak with evidence. A total of 5,000 sailors and 10,000 horse infantry soldiers, can you tell me, how can the imperial court raise tigers as a way to trouble?" Zheng Renzhi originally didn't want to be too serious with Wang Jun, but he really couldn't stand this person's words, so he pursed his lips again and asked with a sneer.

Do you know that two months ago, Zheng Ziming's henchman Pan Mei led soldiers and horses to inspect Zhangshui, and was encountering a certain Youzhou army going south to fight the grass valley?" Wang Jun's eyes suddenly lit up, and he stood up straight, looking at the eagle in anticipation.

"Of course, there is a letter of victory sent to the Privy Council. Pan Mei led the crowd to meet the battle, broke it, chased it to the other side of the Zhangshui River for thirty miles, and returned with triumph. Zheng Renzhi didn't know what Wang Jun meant when he suddenly asked about this, thought about it, and responded truthfully.

"It says in the victory document that how many enemy soldiers are captured alive and how many people are killed?" Wang Jun's gaze suddenly became sharper, like two tangible knives, stabbing each other in the heart.

Zheng Renyu was slightly stunned by the question, pondered for a moment, and responded in a low voice, "Capture alive, capture seventy alive, kill it, kill three hundred." The number is indeed less, but chasing across the other side of the Zhangshui River is genuine. ”

"Of course, it's the real deal. The old man didn't worry about Zheng Ziming lying about the military situation at all, but, rather, he didn't expect Pan Mei to be able to beat the Youzhou army and flee when there was such a huge disparity in the number of enemies and me!"

"Oh, the disparity between the crowds, Pan Mei brought more Cangzhou troops with him at that time?" Hearing this, not only Zheng Renzhi was a little shocked, but Guo Wei also turned his head and asked with a confused face.

When the Cangzhou army sent the good news, no one took this battle too seriously. It has long been found out that the Liao Emperor Yelu Ruan died in civil strife last autumn, and now several nobles in the Liao State are fighting for the throne. Elite soldiers and strong generals, countless casualties. In a short period of time, the Liao army was simply unable to invade south. Therefore, the war between the Youzhou army and the Cangzhou army can only be regarded as a small fight on the border, and it is not worthy of excessive attention of the imperial court at all.

"Do you know that Pan Mei had soldiers and horses around him that day?" Seeing that he had finally succeeded in attracting Guo Wei's attention, Wang Jun shook his spirits and continued to ask loudly.

It's not that he is jealous of his ability and is bent on making trouble for Zheng Ziming. It's rather, but this son has grown too fast. In case it continues to grow bigger, and colludes with the prince inside and outside. When Guo Weixi goes to Guo Weixi, how will he and his old brothers be accommodated?

"Soldiers and horses, since Xiufeng is in his mouth, he can say two words of great disparity. I must know the specific number!" Guo Wei took Wang Jun's words and said hesitantly.

Zheng Ziming didn't tell the truth at all on the good news. Your Majesty!" Wang Jun's eyes suddenly turned red, as if he had been greatly wronged, and he added in a dumb voice, "Others are lying about their military exploits, but he is doing the opposite. According to rumors from the Hebei side. On that day, Pan Mei only led a team of 100 people to do a routine inspection along the riverbank, which happened to coincide with the fact that more than 3,000 Youzhou troops had already crossed the pontoon bridge and were lining up to reorganize the army. And that Pan Mei was immediately overjoyed, and led a hundred brothers to ride their horses and swoop down on his handsome banner. Break it, kill ten of its generals, behead hundreds, the Youzhou army tramples on each other, and there are countless people who fall into the water and die!"