Chapter 039: The Land of Shandong

"My lord, my subordinates traveled all over Jinling according to their orders, and then sent people to the nearest Shandong, and finally there was news."

Chen Cao has been working on handcuffs with John and others in the military camp recently, and is further developing artillery, so he has forgotten about what he arranged before.

Zhao Xin said and handed over a document: "This is the news sent by the Tiqi of Shandong, Shandong has experienced drought in recent years, except for the two banks of the canal, many places have no harvest, and there are many displaced people, so the fields are also vacant." ”

Chen Cao flipped through the paperwork, and then closed it: "Who is in the hands of the paddy fields?" ”

"The feudal palaces, the retired officials of Zhishi, and the Confucian family..."Zhao Xin arched his hand.

"The palace?" Chen Cao frowned: "How many Kong families are there?" ”

Zhao Xindao: "The Confucian family has lived in Qufu for generations, and all the fields in Qufu belong to the Confucian family, and there are all surrounding counties, at least more than 500,000 mu. As for the royal mansion, my lord, the princely palaces of the various feudal lords have been operating for generations, and there are many of them, mainly in the Lu Wangfu of Yanzhou Mansion, and the fields of the entire Yanzhou Mansion are under the name of Lu Wangfu. ”

"You mean that as long as the paddy fields and fertile fields are in the hands of these people, the fields left by the displaced people are difficult to cultivate?" Chen Cao frowned.

"Yes, my lord, it's true, our Tiqi in Shandong was caught by the Kong family when he was exploring the fields in Qufu and was seriously injured, fortunately he didn't say his identity, and now he has been sent to Jinling to recuperate."

Bang...

Chen Cao rarely slapped the table: "Sage Kong's family is really domineering..."

"Yan Sheng Gong has been precious for generations, and officials of Qufu are all surnamed Kong..."Zhao Xin said with envy.

Chen Cao squinted at him: "Why, do you also want to one day make all the officials of your Zhao family in a certain place surnamed Zhao?" ”

"The subordinates don't dare," Zhao Xin waved his hand again and again, and then said: "Besides, the subordinates don't have that blessing..."

"The current Kong family can't afford to mess with it, and I can't afford to mess with the vassal kings of Shandong," Chen Cao muttered, and then stared at Zhao Xin: "What do those displaced people say about the Tian Shandong?" ”

"None of them want," Zhao Xin said disapprovingly.

"Don't?"

Looking at Chen Cao's unbelievable eyes, Zhao Xin hahad: "My lord, all the good fields are in the hands of rich people, who is stupid to take those fields, and it is a loss to take them and plant them..."

After speaking, Zhao Xin saw that Chen Cao's eyes and expression were a little wanted to kill, and then he remembered what was going on with him going to explore the field, and immediately hugged his fists and apologized: "My subordinates don't choose what to say, please forgive me." ”

"Do you think I'm stupid and have a lot of money?"

"The subordinates don't dare..."

"Bastard thing..."Chen Cao kicked Zhao Xin's ass in the old way, and then said, "Let's talk about it carefully." ”

After being kicked out, on behalf of Chen Cao, Zhao Xin laughed again: "Those Tian Fan Wangfu and the Kong family don't want it, so they are all collected by the local county government, if you want to buy it, you can do it now." ”

"What's the explanation?"

"Hey..."Zhao Xin shook his hand: "My lord, what do you think, these ownerless fields are now owned by the imperial court, but after the displaced people come back, they have to be returned to others, and now they are very cheap to buy, but they have to go to the adults themselves." ”

"Why?" Chen Cao looked up.

"Although these fields are ownerless fields, they are all under the hands of local officials, and if you want these fields, you have to go to them in person, and then talk to these people and say..."

Zhao Xin had something to say, Chen Cao was not a fool, and he understood immediately: "What do you mean, if I want to buy land, I have to go to the Kong family and the princely mansions to say hello?" ”

"Your Excellency is wise..."

...

After Chen Cao arranged everything, he took a group of people to swagger along the canal on the warship of the Cao River Sailor Division and went to Shandong.

"At present, the Holy Duke of Yan is Kong Yinzhi, the first year of the Apocalypse, my lord, should we go to Yanzhou Capital City or Qufu County first?"

Chen Cao came back to Shandong to do business, as long as he has money and power in this year, it is equivalent to trading without capital, plus he has drought-tolerant potatoes and sweet potatoes in his hands, and he does not worry that he will lose money.

"The king of the Shandong territory is naturally the largest king of Lu, followed by the king of De; Do you think it's appropriate for us to visit Yan Shenggong first and then visit King Lu? Chen Cao said disapprerovingly.

Zhao Xin also felt that it made sense, so he went down and ordered the sailors to dock at Yanzhou City.

Ziyang County, the west gate of Yanzhou Mansion is the canal waterway, the prosperity is abnormal, the city is high and the wall is large, because it is the fief of the Lu kings of the past dynasties, so there is the title of 'Lu City' in private here.

Chen Cao's official boat was parked on the shore, and the soldiers on the boat were not allowed to get off the boat, so he only took Zhao Xin, Xu Kaixian and a dozen brocade guards in disguise.

After all, it is a private matter, and Chen Cao should keep a low profile, so as not to fall into the hands of others.

"Zhao Xin, you take my name card to King Lu's Mansion to submit it."

"It's my lord..."

Lu Wangfu Shandong is the richest, that is clear to everyone, this is why at the end of the year, there is still a name for the prison country, that is the title of the money smashed.

Zhu Shouhong was eight years old when he attacked the lord, and now he has been the king of Lu for twenty-two years, and the age is exactly thirty, the reason why the emperor of the Zhu family does not live long is because they advocate pills, and they died early after taking drugs, and there are no heirs after death.

"Lord Wang..."The chief of the palace came to the backyard with Chen Cao's name card, and Zhu Shouhong was playing with his new concubine in the nineteenth room: "Lord Wang, the commander of the Fusi of Jinyi Weinan Town, the same knowledge Chen Cao, asks to see." ”

"Jin Yiwei?" Zhu Shouhong was a little shocked: "Our palace has caused trouble?" ”

Changshi comforted: "The prince is too worried, the name sticker says visit, not a driver's post, and besides, they are not from Beizhen Fusi, don't worry." ”

"Since that's the case, then don't see..."Zhu Shouhong was handed down all the way by the first King of Lu, as long as he didn't commit any crimes, even if he came to Jinyiwei, he was not afraid: "If there is anything you go to talk to him, do you really think that the king's mansion is so easy to enter?" ”

"Wechen commands..."

The palace of King Lu is very large, because of the money and the reward of the emperors of the past dynasties, the palace city also set up eight gates, occupying half of the position of the entire Ziyang County.

There are four hundred households guarded by the palace, which is directly commanded by the palace, and it is also one of the few guards of the palace of the feudal princes.

The office of the chief of the palace is in the courtyard on the left side of the main gate of the palace, this courtyard alone is larger than Chen Cao's home, and the gorgeous decoration makes Chen Cao feel that his yard is more than ten years behind in the countryside.

"Lord Chen, I'm embarrassed, my lord has been eating fasting and chanting Buddha recently, and he can't talk about any official business." Changshi Wenliang said a little arrogantly.

Dignitaries and dignitaries are still like this, not to mention the palace, Chen Cao said to Wen Liang with a smile on his face: "Wen Changshi is polite, since the prince is not a guest, Chen will also make his intention clear to you," and said: "Recently, there has been a drought in Shandong, and many displaced people have fled their homeland, leaving a lot of ownerless wasteland. ”

As he spoke, Chen Cao took out a thousand taels of silver ticket from his arms and handed it over respectfully.

Money is a good thing, Wen Changshi looked at the face of the money, gave a little smile, and then said with a businesslike look: "I know what Lord Chen means, but the barren fields in Yanzhou are too far away, every field..."

Chen Cao has an urge to kill Wen Liang, this kind of person is in charge of the foreign affairs of the palace, which belongs to the behavior of inserting green onions in the pig's nose, but it is not good to offend him, so he smiled and said: "Chen understands, so he came to visit the prince, and bothered Wen Changshi to bring a message to the palace. ”

Wen Liang heard Chen Cao say this, and immediately became satisfied, and then said: "Okay, Lord Chen is really knowledgeable, and he is worthy of the name of Jinling Nalan Rongruo." ”

"Wen Changshi knows Chen?"

"Shandong is also close to Nanzhili, who doesn't know Nalan Rongruo?" Wen Liang said and said, "I don't know if Lord Chen can give Xia Guan a copy of your new one... Hehe, is that the book written with Bai Mengsheng? ”

Chen Cao frowned, and immediately reacted that this guy wanted a yellow book, so he nodded with a smile: "This is easy to say, after I go back, I will order someone to send it to Changshi, and I will ask Changshi to help me with the matter of buying land in Chen." ”

Wen Liang stroked his palms with great satisfaction, and then said: "Lord Chen, don't worry, this will issue the documents of the palace, you can go to the west of Yanzhou Mansion to buy it." ”

Chen Cao felt that there was a reason why King Lu was unfavorable in supervising the country, and a long history could be greedy like this, and he didn't know what other palace officials were like.

"How's it going, sir?" Zhao Xin followed Chen Cao and left in the car.

"Changshi Wenliang, that old dog is insatiable, buying a field is a trivial matter for the palace, they don't want the field, after I buy it, I have to give them two percent of the profit for each acre of land." Chen Cao showed a murderous look in his eyes as he spoke.

"There are six counties west of Jining Prefecture that have vacant land, at least 100,000 mu, these fields are not paddy fields, according to the Tiqi newspaper over there, according to the price of Yanzhou Prefecture, each mu of dry land is bid two yuan of silver, if it is a paddy field, it is seven yuan, if it is a fertile field, it is 20,000 taels of silver, if it is added to the two cents of the royal government, it is 4,000 taels of silver; This is not counting the fact that you have to buy land in the local county government and have to go up and down, how can this 100,000 mu of land cost you 30,000 taels of silver. ”

Chen Cao frowned and looked at Zhao Xin and said, "You kid is pretty good at math." ”

"My lord, what is math?" Zhao Xin said with a smile: "My subordinates have been in the market for a long time, and their arithmetic is not bad." ”

"Thirty thousand taels is not much for me, but if it is a benefit, those local county officials must have gained a lot, and the Lu Wangfu family has a big business, he doesn't care about our field, but I don't know what Qufu says." Chen Cao said with some worry.

"My lord, Qufu is very xenophobic, if you go to check the acres of land, you will definitely be driven away, but if you don't buy Qufu's fields, and cooperate with him instead, I believe that the Yansheng family will definitely be willing." Zhao Xin answered.

"Nonsense..."Chen Cao glanced at him: "These people's mouths must still be very dark, unlike Wen Liang's thousands of taels who were sent away." ”

Chen Cao booked a room in Lixianglou, the largest brothel in Fucheng, and drank with Zhao Xin and Xu Kaixian in it, preparing to eat and drink enough to play with women.

"My lord," a lieutenant gently pushed open the door, "someone asks to see you." ”

Chen Cao compares himself to Jiang Long, knows how not to cause trouble, and he came to Yanzhou in civilian clothes, so the one who can know his identity must be the identity of the official family: "Let him in." ”

The person who came was in his thirties, polite and polite, holding a boy fan in his hand, staring at Chen Cao and others very arrogantly after entering the room, and then arched his hand obliquely towards Chen Cao and said: "I am Kong Tianxi, the third housekeeper of the Yan Shenggong Mansion, and I am here today to visit Lord Chen Cao, the Fusi of Jinyi Weinan Town, I don't know which one is Lord Chen." ”

Chen Cao came to beg for help, although he was very unhappy with Kong Tianxi's appearance, but he also stood up and arched his hand and said: "This official is Chen Cao, Kong is in charge, fortunately..."

Kong Tianxi saw that Chen Cao was so polite, so he also put away a little arrogance, and then sat directly opposite Chen Cao: "I won't be polite with Lord Chen anymore, I don't know what kind of business Lord Chen came to Yanzhou this time?" ”

Chen Cao is afraid that he understands a little, the last time Jin Yiwei went to Qufu to see the field, it must have attracted the attention of the Kong family, the largest family in the world has some forces, thinking that the court has some intentions: "Steward Kong, rest assured, Chen came to Yanzhou this time, in fact, he came to buy land." ”

"Buying a field?" Kong Tianxi frowned: "Nanzhili and Zhejiang don't buy so many fertile fields, but I come to Shandong to buy them, but Lord Chen doesn't know that Shandong has been in drought in recent years?" ”

To dare is to doubt yourself

Chen Cao said with a smile: "Steward Kong misunderstood, Nanzhili's field is too expensive, Chen's belongings can't afford it, so he can only come to nearby Shandong to see, this time he really came to buy land, so he is preparing to go to Qufu tomorrow to visit Yan Shenggong, please Yan Shenggong give it a convenience, let Chen buy some ownerless wasteland east of Yanzhou Mansion and plant some crops." ”

Kong Tianxi thought for a while, and said: "Let's put it this way, you can buy it if you want, those dry fields are at least 200,000 mu, and the price per mu is one tael, plus five cents of land profits, if Lord Chen is willing, I will go back and report to Yansheng Gong." ”

"You guys are too dark..."Zhao Xin was anxious at the moment.

Chen Cao waved his hand to stop Zhao Xin, and then smiled: "Can it be cheaper?" ”

Kong Tianxi opened the folding fan and shook his head: "It's this price now, if Lord Chen is unwilling, if he comes back in the future, I'm afraid the price will increase." ”

"Okay," Chen Cao also made up his mind: "Tian, you keep it and bury it, the official won't buy it, come and send off guests..."

"You..." Kong Tianxi looked at Chen Cao angrily, then stood up and sneered: "Lord Chen is so good-tempered, hahaha..."

Kong Tianxi shook his fan and left angrily, Chen Cao sat on the bench, holding a piece of beef, thought for a long time and felt that it was inappropriate, so he said: "Go find the local detective in Qufu and check this guy." ”

"I can't go..."Zhao Xin looked embarrassed.

Chen Cao raised his eyebrows: "What do you mean?" ”

Zhao Xindao: "Since the attack of the Holy Duke of Yan, there have been no spies of Jinyiwei in Qufu, and there are only Fucheng in the entire Yanzhou, and Qufu will be followed by the local people as soon as they go to life, my lord, have you forgotten the last time our Tiqi was seriously injured?" ”

"Isn't there a Jinyi guard in the vassal palace?" Chen Cao frowned.

Zhao Xin felt that Chen Cao was a little stupid, but he didn't dare to say it, that expression: "There is no vassal king in Qufu..."

"Whew..."Chen Cao breathed a sigh of relief: "You guy is a barb..."

Zhao Xin didn't understand what he meant, thinking that Chen Cao praised him: "Hehe, my lord, Yan Shenggong is the vane of the great tomorrow's soldiers, if you offend him, it will be more serious than offending the vassal king." ”

Chen Cao put down his chopsticks: "Go, find a detective in the city, inquire about the address of that guy, and you will personally go to disgust him tonight." ”

Zhao Xin said carefully: "My lord, is the nausea poured on the feces or carried out this time?" ”

"Arbitrary..."

The next morning, Chen Cao went downstairs from the stairs to the outside, and heard the turtle and the old bustard next to him laugh and said: "Erniang, don't you know, the third housekeeper of the Confucian sage family was drugged and carried on the side of the Changle Street overpass last night, wearing only a crotch cloth, and being splashed with feces all over his body, that guy stinks... Hahaha..."

The old bustard also smiled: "Hurry up, carefully speaking, what kind of crotch cloth?" ”

Turtle Gong said: "It's the kind of kind that sends a rope around his waist, and there is only a white cloth in front and back, and the housekeeper wakes up and is ridiculed by people passing by, and when he runs, the piece of cloth floats up and even his butt can be seen clearly..."

"Hahaha..."

Chen Cao couldn't help it, and then interjected: "This old brother, is your ass white?" ”

Turtle Gong arched his hand towards Chen Cao: "Objective and insightful, that ass is very white..."

"Hahaha..."The three laughed in unison.

"The Changle Street overpass is the most lively place in Fucheng, and now he is famous..."The old bustard leaned back and forth with a smile covering his mouth.

After laughing, the turtle man became serious: "I don't know which hero did such a thing, although it is very happy, but ah... Hey..."

Chen Cao arched his hand: "Brother, what do you mean?" ”

"That's someone from the Yansheng family, how dare you offend such a person?"

...

"Your Excellency..."

Zhao Xin ran into the room and was about to report to Chen Cao, Chen Cao waved his hand: "I know, you can carry people out, and you poured dung on people." ”

Zhao Xin smiled and touched his head: "Didn't the adults say casual..."

There was laughter here, and there was a commotion from downstairs, followed by screaming.

Xu Kai walked into the room first: "My lord, a group of officials have come in and are coming upstairs, and it seems that they are rushing at us." ”

Chen Cao stopped smiling, then frowned and waited, sure enough, more than a dozen catchers with water and fire sticks came to the door of Chen Cao's room, and there were more than a dozen captains standing outside the door, all of them in civilian clothes, and the leading catcher walked out with a knife, and shouted: "Which family are you from, or a wealthy businessman passing by, this catcher has received a report, you wait for the crowd to commit a crime, call your leader out, and follow us back to the yamen for questioning." ”

Zhao Xin opened the door, Chen Cao sat facing the door, and then cocked Erlang's legs and whistled: "I'm here, what do you want to do?" ”

The school captains outside were all straddling embroidered spring knives, catching heads and not knowing the goods, thinking that they were the guards of a wealthy businessman, and seeing that these people were not simple, they said again: "Okay, all of them are holding knives, it must not be a good way, come here, go to the yamen to report the news, and let the inspection department send troops." ”

A catcher ran quickly across the knife, and Chen Cao beckoned to the catcher: "If you have the guts, come in, otherwise you will go back to eat your breakfast." ”

Although the head catcher does not know the goods, he knows the current affairs, seeing that everyone on Chen Cao's side has a knife, and he is not afraid of official errands, he believes that there is help behind him, but the origin behind him is not small, and he is not stunned at the moment, and sneered: "Let you go crazy now, you will know later." ”

After a while, the hustle and bustle outside the building was even worse, and there were more and more onlookers, and Li Tong, the inspector of the Ziyang County Inspection Division, walked into the Lixiang Building with fifty or sixty soldiers with a menacing attitude, and went straight upstairs to Chen Cao's door.

As soon as the two sides confronted each other, before they could speak, the old bustard came and sneered: "I don't care what the two of you are, but you have to pay attention, if you destroy my Lixiang Building, the price is not simple, and behind my Lixiang Building is the Lu Palace." ”

After finishing speaking, he left, and the catcher looked at the inspection that came: "Lord Li, it's the guy inside, who gathers people with weapons to make trouble, and resists arrest. ”

"Come on, take these people down, get off their swords, dare to resist, and kill them on the spot with a loud horse thief..."

Bang bang ...

More than a dozen lieutenants immediately drew their embroidered spring knives and crossed in front of the soldiers, frightening the gang to take a few steps back.

When a small flag who had seen the world came to Li Tong's side: "My lord, I'm afraid they are Jinyi Wei..."

Li Tong jumped, then lowered his head and said, "How do you know." ”

The little flag replied: "The last time I drank, I drank with the local brocade guards in the city, and I saw their sabers, and the embroidered spring knives were exactly the same as the knives in their hands now. ”

"Really?" Li Tong's eyebrows jumped, if the person in front of him was Jinyiwei, then what he encountered this time was hard stubble, and the key was that no one told him that the other party was Jinyiwei before he came.

"My lord, why don't we ask about the situation first, if they are really Jinyiwei, let's take the lead in going to Jinyiwei, I'm afraid we won't be able to avoid a dead word."

Xiaoqi's words completely woke up Li Tong, and immediately put back the waist knife, and then arched his hand towards Chen Cao, who was drinking tea: "Xiaguan Yanzhou Mansion Ziyang County inspects Li Tong, I don't know which adult is in person?" ”

Chen Cao would not talk to such a small character, Zhao Xin stepped forward, crossed his waist with one hand and said: "Inspector Li, do you know each other, are you literate?" ”

"Xiaguan is literate..."Li Tong was asked by Zhao Xin, and immediately knew that these people in front of him were really not good at stubble.

Zhao Xin immediately handed over his waist card.

The waist cards of the Nanzhen Fu envoy are gilded, Li Tong took it with both hands, and what caught his eye was the three big characters of 'Jinyi Wei', and he was so frightened that his hands were soft, and the reverse side of the card was engraved with the words "Nanzhen Fu Envoy Zhao".

"Greatly.. Greatly... I've seen adults..."Li said a little unfavorably.

When the catcher saw this, he immediately knew that he had encountered a hard bone this time, just as the so-called gods fought, mortals suffered, and this time he would definitely be used as a punching bag: "The little one has seen the adult." ”

"My lord, the lower officials don't know Mount Tai with their eyes, please forgive me..."

"The inspection of the inspection department is also an official from Jiupin, but it's a pity that you are a military general..."Chen Cao put down the teacup and said coldly: "Give you two ways, first, say who asked you to come, and second, come back with us to the Yamen of the Zhenfu Division." ”

Li Tong's legs were weak and trembling all over, and then he realized that he had stabbed the big basket: "My lord's life... Spare your life..."