After sending Wu Sijing away, Ye Yongjia and Cai Xianqing also left the county office, the two were still wearing civilian clothes, and went to the inn to hide their names to live.

"Who is this inn, have you checked it?" Ye Yongjia asked while going to get the candle.

"Tinglong whispered," Cai Xianqing turned around and plugged the door latch tightly, "just in case." ”

Ye Yongjia nodded silently.

"Don't worry, even if this shop is really opened, he won't dare to do anything to us, just be cautious." Cai Xianqing sat down on the chair disapplausively.

Seeing that it was getting late, Ye Yongjia lit a candle in front of the table, and then said: "Today can be described as a fruitful harvest, thanks to Cai Lao's step-by-step action, he has put out all his words." You can see that the plan he came up with, but he has never discussed it with us, and it must be a plan set up in advance in secret with the merchants. I thought about it for a while, and I had all kinds of speculations about Wu Sijing's motives, but I really couldn't get an idea...... I want to discuss it with Cai Lao. ”

"Well, I have the same doubts in my heart," Cai Xianqing's face was solemn, "It's best to figure out a contingency tonight, and you can't be passive all the time." ”

"One thing I know very clearly is that Wu Sijing can make a profit on transporting timber. This man is mercenary, and if he hadn't done that, he would never have proposed it. Ye Yongjia said.

"But the timber has to be transported anyway, so why do we have to ask us to get it from the Ministry of Labor?"

"That's right, Ministry of Works...... Ministry of Industry ......"

Ye Yongjia furrowed his eyebrows, and kept repeating these two words, and he didn't know how many times he read them back and forth, but suddenly he was silent at a certain moment.

"What's wrong?" Cai Xianqing looked at him with concern, seeing his eyebrows slowly stretching, and his eyes also revealed excitement; In order to prevent it from being real, he lit another candle by the light of the fire - the outline of Ye Yongjia's entire face was clear.

"Elder Cai, this is most likely the result of their internal disagreements! If you buy timber by yourself, or travel by boat, it will cost a lot, so the merchants are unwilling to share the profits, so Wu Sijing turned to the imperial court. The merchants relieved their burden, and naturally they were willing to share the benefits with him. ”

Cai Xianqing couldn't help but slap his thigh a few times, and laughed: "Tinglong's words are really incisive!" The old man admires! ”

Ye Yongjia hurriedly said a few modest words, "How dare you", and then said: "This missionary has an improper heart, and he has always had dealings with the government, if he does not get rid of it, it will cause a big disaster sooner or later." Tomorrow, I will try him again, and if there is still no remorse, I should secretly ask the DPRK and the central government to send officials to take people. ”

Cai Xianqing persuaded: "Lord Ye should not be in a hurry. That group of fanshang and Wu Sijing are each other's inside, and if you arrest him, they will have no one to rely on, and they will be suspected of throwing rats. Besides, that strategy is not bad, and it can save some time at the border gates. For the sake of the current overall situation, just swallow your anger for the time being and turn a blind eye. ”

After hearing this, Ye Yongjia also felt impulsive to speak: "But we can't not stand still. Since there is such a gap that can be exploited, it is better to set up a plan to drive a discord and intensify the contradictions between the two sides. ”

"How?"

A cold wind blew outside the window, and Ye Yongjia covered the fire with his hand: "Wait, the camera acts." ”

Ye Yongjia finally followed Wu Sijing's suggestion and wrote a secret recital specially submitted to the Ministry of Industry, which was sent back to Beijing as soon as possible. Niu Yuan and others agreed that this proposal was feasible, and after only two days of discussion, the Ministry of Industry sent a reply to Ninghe.

Wu Sijing was overjoyed when he heard that the Ministry of Industry had approved, and although the four merchants were reluctant to leave, they still rushed to Ninghe together under his urging.

Ye Yongjia sat in the center of the second hall, looked around, and saw that everyone had already sat down, so he coughed, and slowly took out the approval of the Ministry of Industry from his arms: "A few days ago, Bishop Wu proposed to me, and the guests also told me, so I adopted the opinion of the people and asked the court. No, it did receive the approval of the Ministry of Industry. For the sake of fairness, I have not yet unsealed the official document, and I will hand it over to the dukes to open and read together. ”

Wu Sijing smiled and said, "It's still Lord Ye's wise ......."

"Come on, open the book!"

At the order of Ninghe Zhixian, a scrivener flashed in from outside the door, holding a lacquer plate in his hand, and then placed it on the table, tearing open the cover of the official document.

"You go from here to there," the prefectural order drew a circle, "and show the guests in turn." ”

"Yes." The secretary agreed, and then placed the official document in the middle of the lacquer plate, and first transferred it to Ye Yongjia and Cai Xianqing. The two of them didn't react much, but nodded in satisfaction; Turning to the bearded face again, his expression was a little distorted, and he pursed his lips and said nothing; In front of the fat businessman, he looked at both sides in dismay, and looked at the former for a long time.

After the other two had seen it, the secretary office honestly walked to the front of Wu Sijing. In view of the solemn reactions of the previous few people, Bishop Wu began to feel anxious when his mood was steep, his eyes didn't even dare to look down, and he handed it forward vigorously, then took a deep breath and muttered to read: "Ye Shilang said very much, but the Ministry of Industry has been depleted for several years, and if the warehouse is requisitioned, it will be impossible to deal with the urgent battle...... If the construction of the factory cannot be deferred, it must be purchased with money and silver, and it will be discussed with the merchants. At the end of the reading, his mind felt like a thunderbolt, and the whole person was stunned.

"Master Ye, we don't want to buy it, we want to pick it up empty-handed!" The beard complained.

Ye Yongjia said with an innocent face: "This is the conclusion of the imperial court, how can this official make a claim?" Unless you come to the capital to argue, I can show you the way. ”

Wu Sijing and the merchants looked at each other, looking at the two words 'must-be' used in this official document, knowing that the attitude of the imperial court was very tough, and they didn't dare to say anything even if they entered Beijing.

"I can't make the decision for you in the next matter," Cai Xianqing also echoed, "You discuss it internally, if you don't want to, just treat it as if nothing happened, you can do it according to the original plan." ”

Ye Yongjia immediately took out another official document, and when he opened it, it was a price list attached by the Ministry of Industry, on which the prices of masonry and wood had been listed one by one.

"Ah," Ye Yongjia pretended to be unaware, "The Ministry of Industry is also very considerate of your feelings, and has left a table for your reference." You see it in detail. ”

The merchants took the watch and saw that the purchase price was indeed not too expensive, and it would not lose much money, but they looked at Wu Sijing worriedly—obviously afraid that the latter would share the profits, and the burden would be great.