A dazzling white light enveloped the small golden sword on the table. Immediately after, an explosion was heard, and white smoke billowed out.

Xiao Jinyan lay upright on the ground.

After a long time, he got up, and then looked at the table, there were only three of the seven small swords left, and Zhao Lanjiang asked, "What's wrong with you?"

Xiao Jinyan glanced at Mr. Hai, and saw that his hair was like a bird's nest, his face was blackened by thick smoke, and his white beard was also black and white, and his appearance was very embarrassing.

Xiao Jinyan said, "He thundered me." ”

Mr. Hai smiled, "I'm sorry, I added too much white phosphorus, and I didn't control the proportion." ”

"What about my sword, why are there only three left?"

Mr. Hai said, "These are your seven little swords. ”

"Are you bullying me for not being able to count?"

Mr. Hai laughed, raised his head proudly, and said, "Don't underestimate these three swords, after my spell strengthening, those seven swords have been combined into three, and they are no longer mortal swords." Don't worry, even if Wang Banxian comes in person, he will be amazed by this masterpiece of mine!"

Zhao Lanjiang said, "Don't say something mysterious, just say what are the uses of these three swords." ”

Mr. Hai said, "You can subdue demons, you can eliminate demons, you can shake mountains, you can pour the sea!" He paused for a moment, and then said, "More importantly, if you encounter an opponent whose realm is higher than yours, these three swords can drop the chain at a critical moment." ”

"What?"

"Oh, no, it can be of great help!" said Mr. Hymers, "what does it mean that you heard that thunder during the day, thunder during the day?"

"I don't know. ”

"It means that there are demons here, but don't worry, with the blessing of these three swords, not to mention demons, even if the demon king comes again, I can't help you. Alright, let's go. I live in the Chengtou Guandi Temple, if you have anything, you can come to me at any time. ”

Xiao Jinyan had a calm face, "Are you stupid for the three of us?" Hurry up and return my sword to me, otherwise, don't blame me for beating the elderly." ”

Mr. Hai insisted that these three swords were the previous seven, and said a mysterious and mysterious truth, and finally came, "You think I rarely help you, but Li Chuntie spent a lot of money to beg me to come." ”

Xiao Jinyan was skeptical, "Do you know my senior brother?"

Mr. Hai deliberately showed a panicked look, and changed his words, "What Li Chuntie, I just said, I don't know him." ”

Xiao Jinyan secretly thought, this fortune teller spoke Shendao, Wang Banxian for a while, Li Chuntie for a while, most of them are also masters in the rivers and lakes, so I believe him for the time being.

He retrieved the three swords, thanked him, and left with Zhao Lanjiang and Li Chengcheng.

When the three of them walked away and disappeared into the street, Mr. Hai breathed a sigh of relief, he took out four small swords from his arms, looked at them carefully, and put them back. "Fortunately, Lao Tzu is fast, and he almost got out of the way. ”

He collected the hexagram stall and returned to the Guandi Temple.

The thunder just now almost destroyed the main hall of Guandi Temple, and there were already a lot of people gathered around to watch the excitement, he ignored it and paced up the bell tower.

Inside the bell tower, a young man stared at a calligraphy painting, which was the picture of the fish leaping thunder pond that Zhao Lanjiang gave to Leijiazhuang before, but for some reason, it appeared here.

The young man's expression was very solemn, and when he saw Mr. Hai, he said respectfully, "Master, you are back." ”

Mr. Hai snorted, "How did you make such a big move?"

The young man said, "The people of the Ghost King Sect are looking for people everywhere, and Uncle Shi's painting can't trap her anymore." ”

Mr. Hai said: "Senior brother's painting has trapped her in the city for ten years, and if it were you, she would never be reconciled." As long as the painting is still there, let alone the Ghost King Sect, even if it is the Eight Sects of the Demon Gate, they don't want to take her out of the Sword Gate. However, the stakes are very high, and no matter what, she must not be allowed to fall into the hands of the Ghost King Sect. ”

"Got it. ”

Mr. Hai took out four golden swords from his arms and threw them to the young man, "There have been many places to spend money recently, you take it first, and I will find a way if it is not enough." ”

The young man's eyes lit up, and he said happily, "Master, where did you get so much gold?"

Mr. Hai smiled, "Tricked." ”

He stood on the bell tower, looked at the Guandi Temple that collapsed under his feet, glanced at the Jianmen Pass again, sighed, and said, "Wang Banxian, Wang Banxian, you killed my senior brother and threw the problem to me, this is sincerely not to let us Langya Pavilion have a good time." ”

The young man said, "Then you still promised him?"

Mr. Hai shook his head, "This is also a last resort. I've seen Xiao Jinyan, this kid has a tiger head and a tiger brain, and his martial arts are far inferior to you, I really don't understand why Li Chuntie and Wang Banxian put the treasure on this kid. ”

The young man said, "Maybe Dean Li and they have something else to think about." ”

"I hope so. ”

......

Leijiazhuang in the east of the city and Yujiabao in the west of the city are the two largest families in Jianmen today. Ten years ago, Yujiabao was just an inconspicuous family here, with a total of 15 or 6 households, barely making ends meet on dozens of acres of thin fields in the west of the city.

Ten years ago, Zhang Guan, a thousand households of the Sword Gate guard, was stationed in Jianmen, and when he first arrived, he was struggling in Jianmen, and was squeezed out by a number of wealthy families in the city with the help of connections, and the situation was very embarrassing.

At this moment, Yu Zhang, the big house in Yujiabao, saw the opportunity and married his sister to Zhang Guan, and almost bet the family's assets on Zhang Guan.

After that, Zhang Guan of thousands of households gained a firm foothold in the city with the help of the Yu family, and the Yu family also used Zhang Guan's power to suppress the business of other families, taking the opportunity to seize their land and property, and became the largest household second to none.

Shuzhong is geographically convenient, and there is an endless stream of grain teams going back and forth between Shuzhong and Yinyang, and it has become the main grain supply area of Yinyang over the years. Now that the war in the west is about to break out, the grain prices in the Nineteen Cities of Yinyang remain high, and the rice is 900 Wen, how can Yu Jiabao, as the number one grain merchant in Shuzhong, be indifferent? If he wants to become bigger, he must reduce his competitors and control the grain source of Yinyang City, and Jianmen has become a key link.

As long as the food supply is cut off, the price of grain in Hidden Yang City will continue to soar, and he will not sit idly by and watch other grain merchants transport goods to Hidden Yang, so after consulting with the Thousand Households, he made the move to close the city.

In this way, more than a dozen grain merchants in Shu are trapped in the Jianmen Pass, every day of delay, their losses will be one more point, half a month, he sent representatives to negotiate with those people, several have been unable to withstand the pressure, the grain sold to Yujiabao at a discount, but most of the people have a wait-and-see attitude.

As for Yu Jiaxue, it was just part of his plan. Ghost King Sect Lady Qi, although it is widely spread in the Sword Gate, is just a legend after all, and has been extinct in the rivers and lakes for many years.

"Everything is under control!" Yu Zhang thought, sitting in the study.

In the study, there are also the chief steward of Yujiabao, the account room, and Zhang Qianhu's most relied on chief Xibin Yang Dushen.

Yang Dushen was born in Jiangnan, before taking refuge in Zhang Guan, he was a down-and-out talent, and he failed to pass the imperial examination four times, but the lord of the castle did not dare to underestimate this staff member, and the control of the grain road and the closure of the city this time were all from the handwriting of this staff.

"Of the eleven grain merchants outside the city, seven or eight of them have borrowed money, and after delaying for half a month, they have lost the least nearly 10,000 taels, and as long as it drags on for another ten days and a half months, I am afraid they will not be able to hold on. So said the bookkeeper.

The chief steward was a little worried and asked, "Several of them are also quite influential in the government, and we stopped their goods for fear that they would make trouble." ”

Yang Dushen said, "We closed the city to investigate the spies, even if the Chengdu prefect comes, we are afraid of what they will do? I have already sent people to Yinyang City to spread rumors, saying that in recent months, the food supply will become less and less, and strive to speculate the price of grain to more than 1,000 yuan, and then it will be a profit of more than 100,000 taels." Lord Yu still thinks that there is a lot of money?"

Lord Yu asked the lord of the fort, "Yang Xixi, will we accept the grain outside the city or not?"

Yang Dushen said, "It is not the key whether they sell or not, the key is not to let their grain out of the customs, and from now on, we must also reduce the food supply." That's how we can raise food prices!"

Lord Yu laughed, "Yang Xixi has a unique vision, such a genius, it's a pity not to be an official!"

Yang Dushen's eyes showed a look of dissatisfaction, he failed to pass the imperial examination four times, it was the pain in his heart, Yu Zhang said it to his face, which made him very happy, but this expression was fleeting.

Lord Yu was still a little worried, "If we are in a hurry, they will jump over the wall in a hurry, and they will really cause trouble, I am afraid of causing trouble to Lord Zhang." ”

Yang Dushen said lightly, "No." ”

Yang Dushen knows very well that these people are businessmen after all, with land and business, and rarely do radical things unless they reach a dead end. In a sense, they are profit-seeking gamblers who don't do anything to the extreme.

There are only two ways for a person to embark on the road of rebellion. One is that people who don't have enough to eat and have nothing are the most terrible, and in order to survive, they are forced to a dead end; the other is that when they have enough money, they begin to pursue higher pursuits, but this kind of people are very few in the long history.

At this time, a family member said outside, "What's going on!"

Hearing this, the chief manager walked out, and after a while, he came in and said, "Master, there are two more outside the city that can't hold on, and they say that they want to talk to you about purchasing grain." ”

Lord Yu Bao said, "I won't go, you go and talk to them, it's still the same price as before, two hundred wen, one more, I won't come out!"

Yang Dushen interrupted, "One hundred and ninety-five wen, give them a little word, starting tomorrow, for every day of delay, the price of grain will drop by one penny, we can afford it, they can't afford to wait." ”

The chief steward glanced at Yu Zhang, cast an inquiring look, and waved his hand to the lord of the fort, "Just do it according to Yang Xixi's words." ”

Yang Dushen got up and said goodbye.

The chief steward said, "Master, this Yang Xixi is not simple, sometimes even Zhang Qianhu, he doesn't pay attention to it." Once I went to Mr. Zhang's house and saw Mr. Zhang serving him tea and pouring water. ”

Lord Yu Bao said, "He is the servant of the Governor of Yuwen, compared to him, Lord Zhang is an outsider after all!

The chief steward said in a low voice, "I'm still unconscious, I found a few doctors to see, and they couldn't say anything wrong." ”

Lord Yu nodded, signaling that he understood.

Everyone exited the study, and the lord of the fort glanced at the direction of the Guandi Temple, and then looked at the broken statue of Guandi in the courtyard, and couldn't help but be afraid.

If it weren't for this statue of Emperor Guan to help block it, the thunder at noon would probably not only have fallen into a large hall.