Zhang Fu came to the counter, the situation outside the store suddenly startled him, thousands of people outside were angry, surging, some people kept throwing stones at the store, and the guys were squatting on the ground with their heads in their hands, and their faces turned pale with fright.

"What the hell is going on? Where is the army? Zhang Fu yelled in a hurry.

"Steward, there's no army outside!"

The front desk shopkeeper said with a sad face: "Today, all of them are here to return rice, and none of them are here to buy rice." ”

Zhang Fu also realized that something was wrong, this was not a few people making trouble, but something was wrong, he was so anxious that he grabbed the shopkeeper's shirt and said, "What the hell is going on?" What's wrong with our rice? ”

"Steward, just look at this and you'll understand."

The two men brought a large dustpan full of white rice, at least four or five buckets of rice.

"This is the original return of five buckets of rice, which has a lot of white sand in it, and it is impossible to eat at all."

"White sand!"

Zhang Fu's mind was dizzy, how could he find out this.

He grabbed a handful of rice, spread it out on the palm of his hand, and after only a moment, he found a dozen grains of white sand from the rice, which were mixed with the rice, and it was difficult to distinguish them.

"Where's this rice?"

"It's the rice of the Zhao family in Gushu County, only their family provides husked rice, we sell twenty wen a bucket, and they are the ones who have accidents."

Zhang Fu's heart was in a mess, he stabilized his mind and said, "Is there a problem only on our side?" What about other grain stores? ”

"There are problems, all Zhang's grain shops have a trend of returning rice, and now everyone is afraid to buy our rice, the big steward, what should I do?"

"Retreat! Profiteer! Pay back my hard-earned money! ”

Outside, the angry crowd shouted loudly, bricks and stones were thrown into the shop, cabinets were smashed, 'Bang! Directly above the store, the plaque of 'Eat the World' written by Zhang Yaozuo was smashed into a big hole.

Zhang Fu saw that the situation was not good, and if he didn't return the rice, the people outside would set fire to the store, so he shouted in fright: "Return the money!" Give them back the money, all back! ”

........

In just two hours, the news of Zhang's grain shop selling mixed sand and inferior rice spread all over the city, the people who returned the rice rushed to Zhang's shop from all directions, many people obviously bought good rice, but the return was mixed with most of the mud and sand, not to return to yell and scream, smashed the shop, the rice return trend soon swept the whole city, located in the south of the city Zhuangyuan Bridge Zhang's grain shop was smashed, the stock of grain was looted.

In order to prevent the situation from escalating, the prefect Fan Ning sent 1,000 village soldiers to maintain order, and ordered Songcheng County to order Hou Wen to come to negotiate with Zhang's grain shop, and Zhang's grain shop finally accepted an unconditional return of grain within a month.

This grain return turmoil took a month to gradually subside, Zhang's grain shop suffered heavy losses, but if it is only the loss of money or secondary, the key is that Zhang's grain shop completely lost its credibility in this turmoil, and the number of store customers decreased sharply, and in the following six months, Zhang's grain shop closed one after another, from seventeen to three, struggling to maintain a dismal operation.

Affected by the turmoil of Songcheng County's rice withdrawal, Zhang's grain shops in other counties of Yingtianfu were also affected, although it was not as bleak as Songcheng County, but the market share also dropped from the initial forty percent to two percent, down by more than half, and even the share of tea shops around the country also fell below three percent.

The arrest of Zhao Qian and the contemporaneous rice return turmoil had a profound impact on the Zhang family's power in the Great Song Dynasty.

Ying Tianfu was just a starting point, and gradually spread to the capital and Jingdong Road state capitals, and the Zhang family's influence on the Great Song Dynasty began to decline, which will undoubtedly have an extremely adverse impact on Zhang Yaozuo's struggle for the right to inherit the throne.

........

Although the news of the grain refund turmoil in Yingtianfu quickly reached the ears of Zhang Yaozuo in the capital, Zhang Yaozuo could not care about the loss of money at this time, and he got the news today that Zhao Qian had been released to Dali Temple, ready to be dealt with after a strict trial.

Zhao Qian's weight is far greater than Zhu Yuanjun in Zhang Yaozuo's heart, not only is he an official and high-ranking official, but the key is that his family has a great influence, if he can't keep Zhao Qian, it will directly hit him Zhang Yaozuo's prestige, and many ministers who support him will retreat, especially now that the news that the Son of Heaven favors Zhao Zhongzhen has spread all over the government and the opposition, Zhang Yaozuo is even more anxious to maintain his prestige.

Staff member Yang Kai observed Zhang Yaozuo on the side, he obviously felt that Zhang Yaozuo's current thinking was chaotic, a hammer in the east, a hammer in the west, and he wanted to keep it, but in the end, he was unable to do it, but the gains outweighed the losses, in contrast, Zhao Zongshi's faction had a clear idea, pushing Zhao Zhongzhen internally, and seizing Ying Tianfu externally, plus the effective use of people, so the effect was obvious.

If Zhang Yaozuo does not change his strategy, the decline in the future will be even more obvious, and even fail in the end.

Yang Kai said cautiously: "Taishi needs a clear goal now!" ”

"A clear goal?"

Zhang Yaozuo was puzzled: "Isn't my goal clear now?" ”

"Nope! He felt that the Taishi was thinking about the power struggle in Tianfu again, and how to rescue Zhao Qian, these two things were not easy to do, if the Taishi was distracted, it was likely that he would fail at both ends! ”

Zhang Yaozuo was said to be in his mind, and he wanted to rescue Zhao Qian, but Ying Tianfu was unwilling, his face was hot, and he asked, "What does Mr. think?" ”

"Despicability means giving up Ying Tianfu and going all out to rescue Zhao Qian."

Yang Kai then added: "Ying Tianfu's side is nothing more than the military and political powers, the forbidden army is the territory of the meritorious family, basically can't be attacked, and Ying Tianfu Fan Ning has already sat firmly, and Wang Anshi assists, there is not much hope, as for the pacification of the envoy, since the Son of Heaven appointed Fan Ning to serve concurrently, he feels that Fan Ning is likely to take up the post, after all, he is in Kunzhou to grasp all the military and political affairs." ”

"Why can't you fight for it again? Fanning has no qualifications, so why would the Son of Heaven give him the post of pacification envoy? ”

Zhang Yaozuo's unwillingness is that in the appointment of the Jingdong Road pacification envoy after Zhao Qian, he still wants to fight again, even if his own people can't get this position, then he can let the people recommended by Jia Changchao go up, he has always thought that the Son of Heaven should pay attention to balance, and it is impossible to hand over the military and political power of Ying Tianfu to Zhao Zongshi's faction.

Yang Kai understood Zhang Yaozuo's thoughts, shook his head slightly, and said, "Did the Taishi forget?" Before, the military and political power of Ying Tianfu was in our hands, and the official family did not pay attention to any balance, if the official family really wanted to talk about balance, he would not move Zhao Qian for the time being, the reason why Fan Ning secretly arrested Zhao Qian was actually to hand over the official position of the pacification envoy to him, otherwise let Ling Hu Jin make a move, why take the risk of doing more? . ”

The expression on Zhang Yaozuo's face changed, he didn't express his position easily, and asked again: "How sure is it to rescue Zhao Qian?" ”

"Then it depends on the efforts of the Taishi, if Zhao Qianguan is reinstated, it will definitely be impossible, and even another official position is not very likely, after all, the official family ordered the arrest, which shows that he is guilty, I think the best result is to be demoted to the common people, followed by exile for one year, and the worst is to be exiled for ten years, in this regard, I believe that all officials understand that Zhao Qian can be removed from office and serve as the people, which is the greatest effort of the Taishi."

Zhang Yaozuo was quite satisfied with Yang Kai's analysis of Zhao Qian's prospects, and he pondered for a while: "How likely does Mr. think Zhao Qian will be relieved?" ”

Yang Kai smiled slightly, "I think I'm sixty percent sure!" ”

Zhang Yaozuo's spirits perked up, and he was actually sixty percent sure, and he hurriedly said: "Sir, you might as well tell me in detail!" ”

Yang Kai nodded and said: "Zhao Qian's guilt is three, the first is arrogance, the second is tax evasion, and the third Zhuang Ding is militarized, there are no big problems in front of the two here, the encroachment can be said to be a misconstruction, I didn't know the height of the Guide Hall at the beginning, and I didn't take this into account, as long as the ancestral hall is demolished and rebuilt, the second tax evasion, the problem is even bigger, there are many tax evasion families, and these two items have nothing to do with Zhao Qian himself, they are his family's doing, the key is that the third article is more serious in nature, and it is impossible to say that Zhao Qian knows nothing." , he must know, but he didn't care about this matter, but he shouldn't be primarily responsible, as long as this point can be determined, Zhao Qian's crime will be light. ”

"Although the sin can be said to be light, he is still guilty after all, isn't he?"

Yang Kai smiled and said: "The misdemeanor mentioned by the humble position is exile for one year, but if you can make a fuss in the Privy Council, give Zhao Qian some credit, and make a merit offset, the crime of exile can be avoided, if the Zhao family can make up taxes in time, and the official family takes into account the founding of the Zhao family, this matter will inevitably be held high, Zhao Qian can still hang an idle post for the elderly, and the Taishi is actively running behind him, and the minister will see it, if this game is lost, then there is still a chance in the next game." ”

Zhang Yaozuo sighed softly, "I'm afraid that the privy envoy Zeng Gongliang won't buy it!" ”

"Taishi don't worry, Zeng Gongliang is very good at balancing, last time he helped Han Qi remove Yang Du, I believe that this time he will definitely give Taishi a favor and find some credit for Zhao Qian, and then Taishi will go to find Jia Changchao again, ask Jia Changchao to intercede for Zhao Qian, and then let the Zhao family quickly dissolve Zhuang Ding, dismantle the ancestral hall, and pay the field tax, then the matter will be resolved satisfactorily."

Zhang Yaozuo nodded, "Then follow Mr.'s instructions, temporarily give up the battle for Ying Tianfu, and go all out to rescue Zhao Qian, and I'll go to Zeng Gongliang now." ”

.。 m.