On the third day of the first month of the seventy-first year of the Great Qiankang Dynasty, the time was Jiangbei Road, Yangzhou Mansion, Yangzhou City, Dajianglou.

Xu Ke sat in the famous Dajiang Tower in Yangzhou City, raising the wine in his glass and pouring himself a drink. This restaurant is built along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, leaning against the window and looking out, the Grand Canal outside meanders through, and on the river, several ships are flowing leisurely. The street downstairs is bustling, full of passing people, melons, fruits, snacks, jewelry department stores...... There are also a variety of vendors. This ancient city of Jiangdu, although it is not as magnificent as the capital Chang'an, but compared with the depressed Xuchang City, it is not much more prosperous......

Three days ago, he and Yao Zibei woke up after sleeping in the barren mountains, and after walking ten miles north, they found that the "Feeding Village" was actually not far away......

Xu Ke knocked on the door of the village and explained his intention to the housekeeper Zhu Hengfa, who naturally agreed. However, between his words, Zhu Hengfa always inadvertently revealed some sadness. Xu Ke inquired and found out that Steward Zhu was worried that there was not much grain in the village, and if the refugees from the surrounding ten miles and eight towns heard the news, it was estimated that they would not last long. Xu Ke smiled and comforted him, after he returned to Beijing, he wanted to ask someone to send money and food, and besides, the disaster relief funds from the imperial court would arrive soon, so he should not worry......

After Xu Ke entrusted Yao Zibei to Steward Zhu, he was in a hurry to catch up with Yangzhou, so he didn't stay long, turned around and left the village to get on the horse. Unexpectedly, Yao Zibei, who had just entered the village, ran out crying, and she reluctantly asked:

"Young Master Xu, can the slave family know where the young man lives? If the young man is busy with official business and has an urgent schedule, he can't take care of coming here to pick up ...... Slave ...... The slave family might as well find it by themselves......"

Xu Ke smiled and said: "Miss Yao, don't be a 'son', I, like you, was also born in a poor family, and I have no father and mother since I was a child...... Today is the first day, and it can be regarded as the New Year, counting it, I will be twenty-one years old today, I don't know ...... Miss Yao?"

Yao Zibei also replied with a smile: "The slave family was eighteen yesterday, and today, I will be nineteen years old......

Xu Ke said: "Okay! In the future, we will be commensurate with brother and sister, and the foolish brother's family will live in Liquanfang in the north of Chang'an City." Sister, don't worry, in the future, I, as an elder brother, will definitely protect you! It won't be long before the foolish brother will come to pick you up and take you back to Chang'an......"

After speaking, Xu Ke clamped the horse's belly between his legs, and the four hooves of the yellow hused horse under the seat took off, and he neighed for a long time, and ran south towards the morning glow...... Leaving Yao Zibei, Wu Zizi waved behind him and shouted: "Brother Xu, take care......! You must come and pick me up......" shouted as he couldn't help it, and his eyes were full of tears......

After that, Xu Ke did not dare to delay, and after three days of galloping, he finally arrived in Yangzhou City on the third day of the first month of January. After entering the city, he inquired everywhere about the news of the Qincha, but he never heard it, thinking that he was hungry, so he first came to this big river building and drank wine......

In this Yangzhou city, there are all kinds of goods, but there is a lack of famous wine. Xu Ke asked the shopkeeper for a long time, and the famous wine he asked for couldn't be taken out by the restaurant. Xu Ke had no choice but to drink a few jars of Shaoxing "Daughter Red" in the restaurant, but he felt that the wine tasted faint, and he drank it like water, but it was better than nothing......

At this time, I suddenly heard a table of guests in the distance, and someone whispered: "Have you heard of it? Today, dozens of wealthy businessmen in our Yangzhou Mansion have all been invited to the government by the prefect......

As soon as Xu Ke heard this, he immediately paid attention, and then used his ears to listen.

Another older voice said, "Don't you know where Governor Yang invited......?" I heard that this Qincha is a prince from the capital, right...... What the...... King Wei!"

"Chincha? Lord?...... He also invited all the wealthy businessmen from our Yangzhou Mansion! It seems that the prince from the capital is really generous! With so many rich businessmen, I'm afraid he will have more than a dozen tables, right?"

"You know what a fart! You Dao Qincha is really a treat! That's the Hongmen Banquet! It's for you to pay for the money! I heard that four provinces and 16 prefectures in Daqian and Lianghuai and Shandong have all suffered from a severe drought, and the famine is very troublesome! Even Chang'an City has refugees who have fled the famine! This Qincha came to our Yangzhou to raise funds for disaster relief on the orders of the Lord of Long Live Lord...... On the surface, this is a treat, but when the time comes, Lord Qincha stretches out his hand, and you don't donate the silver?...... "The older voice said again.

"Don't ask me...... I don't have any money anyway! I want a hundred thousand taels, I'll give a fucking ...... One hundred thousand taels!" said the first voice.

"You kid don't be reckless, you don't have 100,000 taels, but what about 1,000 taels? Brothers all know, when it comes to net worth, you are ......still rich here," another hoarse voice laughed.

"What is the use of these millions of victims? If you want to donate, you have to let those dozens of big households donate, and each of them can earn more than 50,000 taels a year!" said the man again.

"Ahem! I heard that this time the Qincha is not simple, everyone in the capital calls him the 'Iron Mask King'! The Iron Mask is ruthless in doing things! Today, these more than 40 salt merchants entered the Nahongmen banquet, and each of them did not put tens of thousands of taels of silver blood, I am afraid that they will not be able to come out!" The older voice took a sip of wine and said slowly.

"Hahaha! It's none of our business! When it's time to bleed, don't we have to let some blood...... Come on, let's drink...... Drink!"

......

Xu Ke heard this section, he also had no intention of eating wine, he said in his heart that if this matter is true, the king of Wei will be in the Yangzhou Mansion, Xu Ke did not dare to delay at the moment, so he hurriedly paid the wine bill, hurriedly went downstairs, inquired about the location of the palace yamen, rode on a horse and rushed over......

The Dajiang Tower was quite close to the prefect's yamen, and after only half a moment, Xu Ke had already rushed to the door of the prefect's yamen. This Yangzhou is the largest city in the whole Jiangbei Province, a prosperous place since ancient times, and the prefect's yamen is also very magnificent, and from a distance, it is at least twice as large as the ordinary government. Xu Ke dismounted in front of a huge lion stone beast at the gate of the town, and explained his intention to the officials guarding the gate. Seeing that he was dressed in green clothes and had a black iron lion card in his hand, the official immediately respectfully led Xu Ke through the main hall and into the backyard.

Xu Ke saw that the backyard of this mansion was very spacious, and now, there were more than a dozen long tables in the entire backyard, and in front of the tables stood tall and fat and thin people, all wearing mink hats and leather jackets, brocade shirts and gorgeous clothes......

At this time, these dozens of wealthy businessmen stood bent down, one by one bowing their heads speechless, all listening intently to the words of the man in the middle of the hall:

“...... Yangzhou is a good place! Not only salt, tea, but also silk cloth...... Yangzhou people can do business again, since ancient times, this Jiangdu city is rich and oily! My father and emperor have gone south to this Jiangdu city seven times, Yangzhou is a good place, not only the scenery is beautiful, Yangzhou people are also hospitable, abide by the etiquette law, and be anxious for justice...... At present, I have a great drought in Shandong, Shannan, Huaiyang, and Huainan provinces, and 16 prefectures, and the people are displaced, and the victims are waiting to be fed! The disaster situation is urgent, and we can't wait for a day! My father and emperor specially ordered me to go south to Jiangbei and Jiangnan to raise money and grain for disaster relief, and now, my first stop is in Yangzhou...... All of you here are all big salt merchants in Yangzhou, and I heard that you are usually good people who are kind and well-known in the township...... The king believes that when this disaster is urgent and the treasury is in difficulty, you will be able to give generously to relieve the urgent needs of the court and the hardships of the people......"

It was none other than the fourth prince of the current emperor, Li Jin, the king of Wei who was crowned Prince of Qizhu. Seeing that Qin Cha was here, Xu Ke hurriedly stepped forward and bowed down and said, "Humble Xu Ke, see His Royal Highness the King of Wei!" Li Zhen couldn't help but be slightly stunned when he saw Xu Ke appear in this Yangzhou mansion, and then asked:

"What are you going to do?"

"On the orders of Governor Shen, hurry up and come to protect His Highness, and ......accompany him all the way," Xu Ke replied.

"Hmm...... Is this sword the Kunwu sword that your father gave you?" Li Jin's face did not move, but he seemed to be paying special attention to the sword Xu Ke carried......

"Exactly!" Xu Ke saw the intention in Li Jin's eyes, so he untied the Kunwu sword on his body and handed it over to the King of Wei. Li Zhen pulled out half of the Kunwu sword, only to see that the blade of the sword was cold, and the blue light on the blade was shining, and he couldn't help sighing: "Good sword!" At this time, Li Jin seemed to have a thought, so he shouted: "Xue Tao, take the sword!"

A general in golden armor immediately ran next to him, and I saw that he was burly, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and a bearded face, which was Xue Tao, the general of Lin Wei, who was the official worship of the fourth rank of the right feather Lin Wei. Xue Tao took the Kunwu sword in King Wei's hand, stepped forward and patted Xu Ke's shoulder, and laughed: "Brother Wu, why did you come?"

"Disease-free on the road...... It's a little delayed, Brother Xue!" Xu Ke clenched his fists and replied curtly. He remembered the experience along the way, and suddenly the appearance of Yao Zibei in the human market flashed in his mind, but for no reason, he blushed for a while......

Xue Tao was about to catch up with Xu Ke, when he saw Li Zhen coughing, he hurriedly let go of Xu Ke's hand, held the Kunwu sword, and stood aside. I only heard Li Jin's awe-inspiring voice sound again:

"Ladies and gentlemen...... This king has been in Yangzhou for three days, and you have donated some silver before, but it's a pity...... The more than 40 squires present together donated less than 10,000 taels of silver...... This bit of silver is just a drop in the bucket for disaster relief, and when the king returns to the capital, he can't pay the difference......"

But no matter how Li Zhen spoke above, no one answered in the entire courtyard, and the atmosphere fell into an extremely embarrassing situation for a while......

These forty or so big salt merchants stood solemnly with their hands down, without saying a word, and invariably embraced the same thought: "I have also donated money, and my heart has arrived, as for donating more and donating less, isn't it voluntary for me? Even if you King Wei are big, you can't force you to donate......"

Li Zhen paced back and forth in the middle of the courtyard a few times, and when he saw that no one on the field responded, he had to wave his hand first and said, "Please sit down first...... Today, you are all the king's guests, no matter what, this landlord's friendship will still be fulfilled by this king......"

When everyone heard Qincha's order, they finally breathed a sigh of relief and sat down one after another. These wealthy businessmen, who have been standing for a long time today, all feel back pain, and at this time they are finally able to sit down, and they all move their muscles and bones, and some of them even rub their old waists......

"Come! This king will first toast you with a glass of water and wine!" Li Zhen picked up his wine glass and said.

The dozens of squires who had just sat down hurriedly stood up again, picked up their respective wine glasses, and took a sip, but they felt that their mouths were slightly cold, what kind of wine was this! It was clearly just a glass of water......

"Before the great calamity, all the people were simple! Today, this king can only replace wine with water...... Everyone, please use it slowly!" Li Jin's cold face actually showed some smiles, but this smile was also fleeting, followed by a cold expression.

These dozens of people sat down one after another, drank a few sips of water in the cup, and a few of them were uncomfortably cold in their mouths, and just wanted to spit out a mouthful of water, but after thinking about it, they swallowed it back.

At this time, there is a wine glass and a pair of chopsticks in front of everyone's table, but other than that, the table is empty......

"You can't have wine without food! When you go back, you have to say that this king is not sincere enough...... Next, let this king serve you a dish!" After that, Li Zhen nodded at Xue Tao, and Xue Tao understood, so he strode to the gate of the courtyard and shouted outside:

"Bring it on!"

Immediately, two pro-soldiers walked in with a middle-aged man wearing a five-rank official uniform, and the pro-soldier threw the five-rank official to the ground in the middle of the courtyard, and the man immediately fell to the ground, and even the black yarn on his head fell to the ground, revealing unkempt hair......

"Lord Yang......"

"Isn't this Governor Yang's ?......?"

"Why was Lord Yang arrested?......

When everyone in this courtyard saw the man wearing a five-grade official uniform, they couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion, and they started to talk about it......

Li Zhen waved his hand to stop the noise, only to hear him say coldly:

"That's right! This is your parent official, Yang Weitong, the prefect of Yangzhou. After a pause, Li Zhen asked Yang Weitong underground:

"Yang Weitong, are you guilty?"

The prefect of Yangzhou trembled, prostrated on the ground, and kept kowtowing:

"Lord Qincha, Wei ...... His Royal Highness the King of Wei, Your Majesty ...... I don't know what crime I have committed?"

Li Zhen said again:

"When the king first arrived in Yangzhou, he issued two warrants, and you pushed Tang for no reason, and it was long overdue, and you said that the king came in person on the first day, and made a special trip to congratulate you on the New Year with the prefect of Yangzhou?"

Yang Weitong replied in a trembling voice:

"Back to ...... His Royal Highness Hui Qincha, the lower official...... The lower official is because the uncle of His Royal Highness the King of Chu came to Yangzhou in person and wants to ...... Prepare for the princess...... Under...... The lower officials are slightly satisfied with the friendship of the landlords, is ...... It's a step too late...... Xia Guan thought...... Thinking that His Royal Highness the King of Chu is Lord Qincha...... Big ......"

"Shut up!" Li Zhen said angrily:

In the past few days, you have been waiting in the Yingxian Tower, singing songs every day, drinking and carnivaling, and traveling at night with prostitutes, and the expenses for one night alone are 2,000 taels of silver! Where did this silver come from? It is not the people's fat and ointment that you have looted over the years! You have also gone to the people market in Huainan Province behind your back, bought hundreds of girls, picked up dozens of them, and sent them to the capital, and enjoyed the rest by yourself...... You are so bullying and reckless, even if you are the eldest brother of this king, I will never spare you if I know it!"

His Royal Highness the King of Wei ...... The lower officials are guilty, and the lower officials are guilty! The lower officials will no longer dare! I beg His Highness to be gracious! I beg His Highness to be gracious! Please read it in the face of the King of Chu...... Spare the lower officials this time......" Yang Wei kept kneeling and kowtowing, crying and begging.

"A corrupt dog official like you, what's the use of keeping you!" After that, Li Zhen waved his hand at Xue Tao, Xue Tao stepped forward, his sword fell, and under the flash of white light, the Yangzhou prefect only felt a cold on his neck, and Yang Weitong's head had already flown to a table next to him...... The four wealthy merchants who were sitting around the table were so frightened that they immediately stood up. The person closest to him was even more frightened, and his legs trembled, just because Yang Weitong's eyes were staring at him at the same time......

"Good sword, good sword!" Xue Tao blew away a few drops of blood from the blade, put the sword back into the sheath, and exclaimed in his mouth. Then Xue Tao raised the sword high again and shouted:

"So that you can know that this is the Kunwu sword given by the emperor, but if I am an official below the fifth grade, those who hold this sword can cut it first and then play!"

A dignified Zhengwupin prefect, the parent official of the entire Yangzhou Mansion, Yang Weitong, who is known as the "Mansion Zun" and "Taiye" on weekdays, was killed on the spot by the casual words of King Qincha Wei...... At this scene, the eyes of everyone present were bright, and they could see it clearly. Now that everyone heard that Xue Tao still had a Shang Fang sword in his hand, they were even more frightened......

"You kill a five-grade official is like killing a chicken, you can cut it first and then play, then we people, although the family has a little money, but we don't even have any official position, if we die under your sword today, isn't it no different from stepping on an ant to death......?"

"Don't panic, don't panic...... Although this Yang Weitong is innocent, everyone here ...... But they are all law-abiding and good citizens of my great work...... Today's events have nothing to do with you, everyone sit down, let's all sit down......" At this time, Li Jin, the king of Qincha Wei, changed his friendly face, and said warmly:

"Baoyingzhi County Du Weimin ?......"

"Xiaguan is here!" A slender middle-aged man wearing a light green seven-grade official mansion walked out of the side column and bowed to King Wei.

"This king has ordered you to temporarily take the post of prefect of Yangzhou and have full authority to handle the matter of raising food for disaster relief!" Li Zhen commanded.

"The official obeys the order!" Du Weimin saluted again.

This Du Weimin has served as Baoying Zhi County for ten years, is an honest official, known as a clear name, just because he does not want to be sycophant, he has been condescending to Qipinzhi County, and has not been promoted. Now, after receiving the special order of the Qincha, he received the title of prefect, and the first thing he did was to persuade more than 40 salt merchants present to donate silver as much as possible......

Du Zhixian is indeed a parent official for ten years, and he has several friends with more than half of the rich people present. He naturally grasped the thoughts of these people just right...... Under Du Weimin's hard work and persuasion, within a while, the richest man in Baoying County was the first to pledge, and the fat rich man actually donated 20,000 taels of silver in one go!

"Zhang Wanbao of Baoying County pledged 20,000 taels of silver!" Na Du Zhixian shouted, then picked up the pledge booklet prepared in advance, and asked the rich man to sign his name......

"He Shen of Gaoyou County pledged 20,000 taels of silver!"

......

Since someone has started, the rest will be easy to do, at the moment, the gentry in the courtyard are scrambling to donate silver, the most pledged is 20,000, and the least donated is 16,000 taels of silver......

Li Zhen looked at these "enthusiastic and bold wealthy businessmen" in the prefect's compound, and couldn't help but show a knowing smile......

Xu Ke witnessed the whole process from the sidelines, and couldn't help but be convinced by King Wei's clear judgment of knowing people, his strategy in handling things, and his decisiveness in killing......

But after half a moment's work, everyone has already pledged to donate, and after Du Zhixian summed it up, the results came out quickly, only to hear him read aloud:

"Forty-six good gentlemen and good households in Yangzhou Mansion donated a total of 828,000 taels of silver because of the urgency of the court and the danger of the victims!"