Crown Tang emperor

If he can really take over the Dou family's property in Sichuan and use it completely for his own use, combined with the development here in Guanzhong, Li Tong feels that it may not take a few years for him to stand up completely, and no one is afraid!

Maybe it's not enough to be the master of the house, but whoever dares to tease him will definitely make you blush!

Chapter 0294

Dou Qi's confession included many secrets about the personnel and personnel of Jinye in Shuzhong, and it was not limited to ordinary property storage.

Such as the under-the-table transactions with the aboriginals in Central Shu, the private collection of official slaves in Yizhou, and even the issues of raw materials such as dyes and cocoon seeds, the content is extremely rich.

Even Li Tong, who doesn't understand this kind of handicraft, can feel that if he can completely control these joints, even if he can't completely control the Shuzhong Brocade Industry, he will definitely occupy an important position.

With such a clear explanation, Li Tong can probably guess what Dou Qi is thinking, and it is definitely not to give up everything just to survive.Doing this is nothing more than expressing frankness and selflessness, and it is to complicate the affairs to show his indispensable and important role in it, so that Li Tong has to rely on him.

This little calculation was very smooth, and Li Tong was indeed a little melancholy, and couldn't find a suitable person to take over all of this.

This information involves a series of links from manufacturing to sales. It can be said to be the essence of the Dou family's years of operation. No matter which link is given up, Li Tong is a little bit reluctant.

But right now, Li Tong really doesn't have a suitable candidate who can take care of these things.

Today, he still lacks talents who can stand on his own under his command, even including Liu Youqiu, who has experienced profound experience and gradually improved in recent years.Moreover, Liu Youqiu is now in Longshang, and the situation he is in charge of is much more important than this matter.

Some of the other old members either have official status and have many scruples, or they have partial talents and are not enough to take on important responsibilities.

In fact, if Dou Qi's quick-witted ghost had fewer bad ideas, Li Tong might consider keeping him.But now, if he really wants to use Dou Qi, he must arrange for someone who is also smart enough to watch over this guy and prevent him from betraying him.

After all, although his current career is gradually reaching a large scale, it is still basically in the category of seeing light and dying, and he really can't stand the big trouble.Moreover, there are more and more people who are closely related to him. Once exposed, the consequences will no longer be as simple as killing his family.

Dou Qi is really a ruthless character. Although Li Tong often made dangerous schemes in the past, such as crashing into Mingtang and hanging himself on the Ciwu Terrace, but it was just a thought, but Dou Qi was able to do it before the crisis happened. When the time comes, he directly kills himself, which shows that his character is not lacking in ruthlessness.

If Li Tong has a suitable candidate who can stare at him, why use him again?

Leaving aside the troubles about the candidate, it is better to make a preliminary determination of the credibility of this information. Of course, I should ask Yang Li, a Shu merchant woman, for advice on this aspect.

After Yang Li arrived, she took the paper scroll from the king, and after flipping through it, her face was full of surprises: "It's no wonder that the folk weaving patterns are dissatisfied. It turns out that the weaving is used! The red lion color is originally made of The Qiyuesha, what kind of material is this... I found it, it turns out that it is exclusively produced here..."

Those who do not have an in-depth understanding of the Shu brocade industry cannot appreciate the important value of Dou Qi's confession.Although Yang Li's family does not mainly deal in Shu brocade, but in Shu Township, of course they also dabble in brocade.

After flipping through it hastily, she couldn't hide the shock on her face, and sighed: "This record is really a precious book. If it is in the village, I don't know how many people will ask for it with all their wealth! Qianjin It's easy to accumulate, but it's hard to find magic tricks! Your Majesty can get this, it seems that the Dou family is already under the power of the king, it's really gratifying!"

While speaking, she looked at the king with joy, and she couldn't hide the admiration in her eyes.When she first entered Xijing, she had seen how the eyes of the Dou family were higher than the roof, and now she was subdued by the king without saying a word, and even presented this kind of family heirloom, her heart was naturally full of surprise and joy.

Li Tong didn't tell Yang Li the details, but just said with a smile: "It seems that there are a lot of skills that can be acquired in this, and it is worth examining it in depth. If this is the case, it should not be too late. Miss Yang, please send a message Family members, first store and collect the goods involved. The goods obtained will be temporarily stored in Chengdu for the remittance of flying money."

After Yang Li heard the words, she quickly said: "My family's apprentice is just a lowly countryman. Although it has the convenience of living on the surface for a long time, it is really difficult to use it for big things. I'd like to ask the king to send manpower, and my family's apprentice will lead us into the country to search..."

After thinking about it, Li Tong nodded and said, "That's fine, I've arranged a group of soldiers to stand by at the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains, and they will enter Sichuan with your family in the near future."

After Qinling Warriors were drawn out, a group of new members were added to maintain the business path.But now that the flying money business is about to start, and there are gold and silver everywhere in Sichuan, the trade routes in Qinling Mountains are relatively less important.

In particular, the Dou family property is related to the main road through the Qinling Mountains. At this time, it is of little significance to maintain the winding path opened by the Guyishe.

It's not that he can't trust Yang Li, after all, there is still a relationship with Yang Xianzong, and they are already very close.But right now it is limited to this pair of Yang brothers and sisters. As for whether the family members in their hometown can really entrust them with a lot of money, I still have reservations about this point.Yang Li also knew how to measure this, so she didn't respond directly.

Originally, Li Tong planned to transport a sum of goods to central Sichuan in the near future for the initial development of Feiqian business, but now it saves effort.Dou's accumulated wealth over the years, even if only in central Sichuan, is an astonishing amount, even if only a part of it can be collected, it is more than enough to deal with the initial Feiqian business.

The goods are temporarily used for this purpose, but Li Tong doesn't care much about the intertwined interest relationship formed between the Dou family and those Shu businessmen for many years.With the Feiqian business in hand, as long as it can be successfully operated, those people will naturally make judgments that are beneficial to themselves, and they will not worry about it being disintegrated.

In addition, there is the issue of private use by officials and slaves.There are a large number of brocade households in central Shu, and quite a few of them have been occupied by powerful families by various means and used for private use.

This is actually a common phenomenon nowadays. For example, Wang Bo, the fourth son of the early Tang Dynasty, killed and killed an official slave because of his private possession. While he was convicted, he also implicated his father and caused Wang Bo's untimely death.

These official-slave brocade households are different from the private slaves of the Dou family, so it is really not easy to take them over directly.After all, Li Tong didn't have the in-depth management of the Dou family in the officialdom of Sichuan.

And Yang Li and her family's commendable relationship in the officialdom, that is, a relative served as a member of the state army, is not qualified to cover up this matter, and even Li Tong can't accept it as a political achievement.

It is still necessary to send someone to Shuzhong to stand in the officialdom. Without official protection, Li Tong is also worried that no matter how many arrangements are made, it will not be safe.

Obviously, this matter cannot be done in Xijing, so he can only return to Shendu City to see if he can win one or two positions, otherwise it will not be possible to talk about digesting all the operations of the Dou family in Sichuan.

Li Tong changed his mind a bit, then smiled at Yang Li: "Ms. Yang has lived in the village for a long time, I wonder if I have heard of any villager Shaoyan who can be called?"

After Yang Li heard the words, she smiled wryly: "The Han family is just from Jia's humble family, and most of their contacts are from this kind of family. For example, the second brother of my family is already a candidate who is eagerly awaited by the family, and now it is only fortunate that the king will not give up. As for A talented man from the countryside, my concubine is really... However, I heard that there is one candidate. My uncle served the state school in the past, and he was often praised. His name is Cui Mian, and he is a son of the Cui family, a well-known northern clan leader. , living in Chengdu with my widowed mother..."

"Cui Mian?"

Li Tong also just asked casually, not wanting to really get something out of the question. He had an impression of Cui Mian because some people in later generations argued that he might be the real author of "Humble Room Inscription".Li Tong didn't know whether it was true or not, and he didn't know much about it, but he remembered the name of the person.Being able to leave a name behind should also be remarkable.

Li Tong asked a few more questions about Cui Mian, but Yang Li didn't know much about it. She just heard a few words from her family. If it wasn't for the king's inquiry and rummaging, she really couldn't remember it. limited.

"How about this, please add a letter from Mrs. Yang, please tell Uncle Ling, if that Cui Mian is interested in something, you can guide him to go north to Liangjing to see me."

Li Tong is also thirsty for talents, and he doesn't want to miss this point of personnel affairs, which is better than nothing, anyway, he just casually says a word.If that Cui Mian is really useful, it can also be said that it is beneficial but not costly.

He is already suffering from a headache due to the lack of talents here, and he doesn't want to have trouble coming to the door next time.After preliminarily arranging things, he went back to his room to take a nap for a while to catch up on sleep, but not long after falling asleep, Yang Sixu came to tell him in a hurry: "Your Majesty, it's not good. Captain Shi County was ambushed by a strongman in the west of Beijing, and he was wounded and entered Beijing!"

When Li Tong heard this, his drowsiness disappeared immediately, and he got up and asked anxiously, "How is his injury? Is his life in danger? Was he deliberately targeted, or was it something else?"

"I don't know, he just sent his servant to sue, and he is currently in Chang'an County."

Yang Sixu shook his head and said.

Li Tong put on his clothes and got up, and said in a loud voice: "Get your horse ready, I'm going to take a look for myself."

He was a little impatient, worried about Shi Sizhen's situation, and wondered if there was any conspiracy against him.

Nowadays, there are quite a few old members of his sect, but not many who are really able to make things happen. Shi Sizhen, the second-generation Hu official, is one of them. Although he served as the Jingxi county captain for only a short time, he has already provided a great deal for the activities of the old clothing club. s help.If there is any mistake for this subordinate operator, it will be a big setback in his career, and it will inevitably be emotionally sad.

Since he came to Xijing, he himself has been making small moves, first Wu Youyi, then Dou's family, now that his own people have encountered this kind of thing, of course he will inevitably speculate about conspiracy.

Yang Sixu saw that the king was like this, so he didn't dare to be negligent, he hurriedly went out to gather the guards in the mansion, escorted the king to leave Quchifang, and hurried to Chang'an County in the west of the city.

Chapter 0295

When Li Tong and his entourage came to Chang'an County, which is located in Changshoufang in the west of the city, Fang Rong, the county magistrate, led a group of government officials to greet them in a hurry.

Fang Rong is the county magistrate of Jing County, and his official position is not low. Even if distinguished guests come to visit, he will not be so condescending.

But not to mention that the young king won the holy family again, and he was as prominent as before. Shan Fangrong's relationship with himself was sent in the God City, saying that because of the young king, His Majesty the Holy Emperor admired him a lot, and even the Ministry of Heavenly Officials had already included him in the list. He was recalled to the inspection list in the province, and if things went well, he would most likely return to Shendu as the Southern Provincial Langguan after the exam was over.

So for this far-fetched cousin, Fang Rong was also full of enthusiasm, and immediately went out to greet him after getting the news, which gave him enough face.

Li Tong was in an impatient mood at the moment, so he was not so polite. After dismounting, he said in a loud voice: "How is Shi County Captain?"

"Lieutenant Shi Xian was injured on duty, fortunately there is no fear of his life, and he is currently being arranged in the Yamen House, and his humble position will immediately invite the king to visit him."

Fang Rong stepped forward to take the whip from the Young King's hand, turned around and handed it to the yamen servant behind him, and then led the young king and his party into the county yamen, bypassing the front hall and official hall and turning to the side back corridor, and said as he walked: "I heard that Shi County It was only a short time for Wei to serve in the palace of the Great King, but the King still heard that the police were in a hurry, so he came to visit immediately, this kind of harmony between the two is really enviable."

"Human love is long, how can it be broken because of something."

Li Tong replied casually, and he was also in a bad mood at the moment, otherwise he might add that there is no need to be envious, and I will do the same to you when you suffer in the future.

When he arrived outside the verandah where Shi Sizhen was settled, Li Tong realized that he had fallen asleep after the diagnosis. He fell from a startled horse and had minor fractures of muscles and bones, but there was no obvious injury from a sword.As for his entourage, the situation is similar. There is only one unlucky one whose ribs are broken and the inner poke hurts the internal organs, and it is still being treated.

After realizing that Shi Sizhen's injury was not serious, Li Tong breathed a sigh of relief, and was no longer in a hurry to disturb Shi Sizhen's rest. Said: "What's going on? Why did Shi Xianwei be in danger on the ground?"

Since there is no serious problem with the person, it is necessary to investigate the cause of the incident.On the way, Li Tong was also wondering if someone was targeting him, but he had no clue. Now that Xijing is the most malicious towards him, Dou's is the first choice, but their family is still busy burying their relatives and did not come back.

Even if there was any retaliation, it would be meaningless against Shi Sizhen.After all, as Fang Rong said, Shi Sizhen didn't work in his mansion for a long time, and the depth of his friendship is unpredictable.If he knew what he ordered Shi Sizhen to do, it would undoubtedly be much better to stab Shi Sizhen up, and it would also bring greater harm to the young king.

"Chang'an County is also to blame for this matter. After careful calculation, Shi Xianwei is also suffering on behalf of others this time..."

Hearing the young king's question, Fang Rong didn't hide anything, and directly told the whole story.

It turned out that Chang'an County discovered that a rich family had privately owned slaves and maidservants, but an accident occurred when they were arrested, and they were fled to Shiping County in the west of Beijing. Fortunately, they did not escape far and were arrested in Shiping County.

The criminals in Chang'an County, of course, have to be brought into custody for trial in Chang'an County, but the city of Chang'an has not been peaceful recently, not to mention the robbing of the IKEA property of Wang Wuyou of Jian'an, and the recent homicide in Dou's Gaomen. It is stable, but there are really few people to use it, so we can only entrust Shiping County to escort the criminal back to Chang'an. Shi Sizhen is in charge of this matter, but an accident happened on the way.

Although the case was very clear, Li Tong still had doubts, and continued to ask: "Is there any mystery about the criminal's life experience and relationship?"

This time Fang Rong simply asked someone to fetch the relevant files and asked Young Wang to check it himself.This is of course against the rules, but since it was the order of the county magistrate, the subordinates did not dare to say anything.

Li Tong took the file and read it carefully, but found no doubts.It is nothing more than a rich family keeping slaves, but this slave has not been naturalized at the township, county or city supervisor, and has no certificate of sale, so it is privately kidnapped as a slave.Then the owner of this household sold his slaves to others, but turned around and fell ill and died suddenly. The buyer felt that he had lost money and sued the Chang'an County Government, which led to such a case.

If there is anything special, it is that the slaves involved in the case are not natives of Guanzhong, but barbarian households in the Bazhong area of ​​Lingnan.

But this doesn't yield any special information. There are many mountain barbarians in the Bazhong area. These people live scattered among the mountains and are not the same as the outside world.There are often strong people who roam the mountains, arrest these people and sell them as slaves.

When the brave warriors wiped out the bee thieves in the Qinling Mountains, they rescued many such mountain barbarians, who could not understand the language and were not easy to train, so they simply stayed in some pastoral industries of the old clothes club for forced labor.

This kind of thing basically belongs to the category of people not raising officials and not investigating, which is not a big mistake.However, in a big city like Chang'an, there are strict regulations on registered households. If this is the case, the consequences can be big or small.Especially now that the atmosphere in Chang'an City is already tense, if it is really punished, decapitation is possible.

"Your Majesty, Lieutenant Shi Xian has woken up."

Hearing the doorman's report, Li Tong got up and walked into the room, and then saw Shi Sizhen was trying to get up, he quickly waved his hands and said: "Don't force it, there is no need to add injury to injury."

"I'm really ashamed of my lowly position. I was surprised by the thieves in the wild. Not only did I hurt myself, but I also ruined my official business and disturbed the king. It is a serious crime."

Shi Sizhen's face was pale with guilt.

Li Tong waved his hand to drive away the other idlers, and then asked: "What clues can you see on the thieves?"

Shi Sizhen closed her eyes and thought about it, then shook her head after a while and said: "The thieves were lying in the grass, and when I led the team to pass by, they rushed out and beat them with sticks and drove them away. They should be habitual bandits. There are seventeen or nineteen disciples. That’s right. When one thief seized the horse, his legs were stiff and he was not used to the nature of horses. But there were two or three bandits who were skilled in riding horses. Also, Also, one of the thieves has a sword-shaped tattoo on his neck..."

"Not from the road?"

Li Tong asked again after hearing the words.

After hearing the words, Shi Sizhen shook her head and said, "It's odd because they are skilled in coordination, not improvised... Maybe there are other shapes and characteristics, but the situation was chaotic at the time, and if I think about it, I might still be able to..."

"It's better to pay attention to your own recuperation first, and don't worry too much. This matter will be handled by the Chang'an County Government."

Li Tong comforted Shi Sizhen first, but his brows were furrowed and did not relax.According to what I know now, it is basically certain that this matter has nothing to do with me directly, but it also involves Shi Sizhen, but it cannot be said that it has nothing to do with it.

Although the case belonged to Chang'an County, the culprit was robbed while Shi Sizhen was being escorted, which was also a crime of dereliction of duty.Xijing has been troubled recently, and it is still unknown how Wei Yuanzhong, who is about to take office, will open up the situation. It cannot be ruled out that his new official will make an example of others. He will take this as a model and severely punish Shi Sizhen.

If Shi Sizhen is dismissed from his current official position, it will be very detrimental to the layout and development of the Old Clothes Club, so it is best to remedy the matter before Wei Yuanzhong arrives.

After pondering for a while, Li Tong asked Fang Rong to come over again and said, "This incident happened unexpectedly. I wonder if we can postpone the report for a few days? If it can be remedied, Chang'an County will also be able to save money." trouble."

After Fang Rong heard the words, he nodded and said: "I feel guilty for inflicting the county captain Shi. It would be great if it can be remedied. In the next few days, I will send someone to investigate this matter strictly. Report to the king."

In addition to urging Chang'an County, Li Tong also planned to mobilize the eyes and ears of the Old Clothes Club. Seeing that the injured Shi Sizhen looked sluggish, and the county government's residence and care were not good, he simply asked his family to prepare a bullock cart and send Shi Sizhen to the Rehabilitation at home.

Not to mention the intensified search of Chang'an County and the disciples of the former Yiyi, there are more than [-] people sitting on the ground on a weedy plateau in the outskirts of Chang'an.

Sitting in the middle is a man in his prime, in his thirties, who is the leader of this group of people.He was wearing a cavalry robe, with a square face that was heroic and majestic, and he didn't look like a gangster. There was a sword-shaped tattoo behind the root of his left ear.

There was also a slightly obese middle-aged man in the crowd, wearing a cloth prison uniform with disheveled hair, and was thanking the leader repeatedly: "Thank you Guo Dalang for saving me. If it wasn't for Brother Guo, my life would be in danger this time..."

After the leader heard the words, he just snorted coldly, and gave him a sharp look, as if disdainful to talk.

On the side, someone pointed at the middle-aged man and said angrily: "You idiot, you are not thorough in your actions, you are greedy for goods and sell sick slaves to others, it is a small crime for you, I am afraid that you will be involved if you don't keep your mouth shut. Involving my family's husband and ruining the future, be careful of your family's life!"

The middle-aged man nodded again and again to apologize, and then said with a bitter expression: "Although he escaped the sentence this time, the traces of the crime will not be eradicated, and it is difficult to return home..."

The leader's face sank immediately after hearing the words: "Saving your life is already a favor beyond the event. Who cares about your funeral? Knowing that the homeland is already difficult to hide, why don't you hurry up and flee? Your family has already been taken away." When you reach the east of Shiping County, just go west, if you dare to look back, the sword in my hand was sharpened for you!"

As he said that, he stood up again and said to the middle-aged man: "When I was picking up your family, I saw that your son's hands and feet are strong and can be cultivated. I will keep him by my side in the future, and I will take care of you more."

The middle-aged man's expression turned pale when he heard the words, and he hurriedly knelt on the ground and said in a trembling voice, "I beg Dalang to be sympathetic to the only heir of my family..."

"Shut up, you don't know where you are going to live in the future. Even if you bring your son by your side, it will be tiring for him. After following me, there is a place to take refuge. If you remember the lesson this time, you will be better off in the coming year." See you soon. If you are still in the old way, it will be difficult to live for a long time. In this way, the horse is led away from the slope, and the money for the horse has been deducted from your family property. If you continue to entangle, the money for buying the horse will become a pit digging money."

The middle-aged man knew that the leader would do what he said, so he didn't dare to say anything more after hearing what he said, so he prostrated himself on the ground and bowed to the leader again: "The dog will be entrusted to Dalang. If you don't die, you will be rewarded!"

After the middle-aged man left, someone from the side stepped forward and said, "Master, shall we return?"

The leader shook his head after hearing the words, turned and patted his waist: "There are still official matters, how can we turn back. It's a pity, if we come a month earlier, we can still enjoy the teasing event created by the King of Hedong. This time when I visit the residence, I have to take a closer look to see if that great king really has the unrivaled elegance that is widely rumored in the world."

Chapter 0296

On the next day, Li Tong was looking through the miscellaneous affairs sent by the former clothing store in Leyouyuan in the east of the city. Tian Shaoan came in hastily, with a joyful expression on his face, and said in a loud voice when he entered the room: "Report to Your Majesty, I have harmed Lieutenant Shi County on the way." The thief has been captured!"

"So fast?"

Li Tong was also a little surprised when he heard the words, he put down his pen and asked again: "Did Chang'an County arrest them, or was it my former righteous disciples?"

"It's not, it's not, it was the Fuzhong who captured it with his own body."

Tian Shaoan said with a strange expression.

When Li Tong heard this, his face changed, and then he said coldly: "Where is the thief, so bold, dare to directly provoke the king's mansion?"

The three kings in his mansion have a total of more than [-] people. They travel and follow, stay at home, and naturally they will not go elsewhere. Since they are arrested by themselves, the culprits are naturally only nearby.

"The culprit is really, really a bit strange. Alas, the king can still see clearly when he goes to check. Right now the culprit is being detained in the king's residence, and the king of Guanghan asked me to come and report."

Tian Shaoan replied again.

When Li Tong heard this, he was also a little curious, and ordered Yang Sixu to properly put away the relevant books, and then went out and mounted his horse, and returned to the king's residence in Chongrenfang.

When he got home, Li Tong raised his eyes and saw his elder brother Li Guangshun standing in the vestibule with a somewhat anxious expression.