Fenghou

"Why is Taiwei Shi free to come over today?" Qin Hui asked with a smile.

"I have to ask Mr. Qin for some difficult matters."

At this moment, the maid came in to serve tea, Qin Hui took a sip of tea from the cup, and said calmly, "What difficulties did you encounter?"

Shi Guangping sighed and said: "In the past few days, many big customers have come to Baoji Cabinet to withdraw money, each time tens of thousands of coins. If this continues, Baoji Cabinet will have no money to pay."

Qin Hui frowned, "Aren't you keeping the customer's money? It's in the warehouse, and you won't touch it. What effect will it have if they take it away?"

"The Xiangguo doesn't know that gold, silver and other treasures are kept in the warehouse, but copper coins are different. If we sign an escrow agreement, then we can take out the copper coins for profit, and both parties will get half of the profit. Basically, merchants will sign escrow agreements, and now they are the ones who come to withdraw money, and the counters have to go to various places to collect accounts, but more and more people withdraw money, and the counters are about to fail."

"I'm afraid I can't help you with money!"

"Xiangguo, as long as Qiu Mingsi no longer pays attention to Baoji Cabinet, that will be the greatest help."

The Qiuming Division, which means Ming Chaqiu, was formed by Qin Hui last year by order. It is nominally owned by the Ministry of Household Affairs, but in fact it is controlled by Yushitai, which means it is controlled by Qin Hui.

At the beginning of the establishment of the Qiuming Division, it was mainly due to the collusion between officials Cha and the Prince Yong’s House that officials were strictly prohibited from buying properties in Jingzhao. However, Qin Hui had supervisory powers, so he would naturally expand his authority. From this year onwards, the Qiuming Division began to control ordinary dignitaries and businessmen to go to Jingzhao After buying a house, it is not only a checkpoint check, but also a monitoring of the money flow in the cabinet workshop.

Shi Guangping initially ordered Baoji Cabinet to fully cooperate with Qiu Mingsi, but today the big shopkeeper Wang Yan came to him with a sad face. There were too many merchants who came to withdraw money. The cabinet was withdrawn from 100 million copper coins in three days, and it was almost unbearable. Can be persuaded to cancel Qiu Mingsi's monitoring.

Shi Guangping was also in a hurry. Baoji Cabinet Shop was not owned by him alone, but by dozens of members of Song Xinghui. If something happened, he could not explain to the members. He could only come to beg Qin Hui to let Baoji Cabinet Shop go.

Qin Hui said indifferently: "Qiuming Division's monitoring of Baoji cabinet workshop is the emperor's intention. To cancel the monitoring, the emperor must agree. During this time, the emperor is in a bad mood and even fell ill. I can't say this. If you ask the emperor yourself , I have no objection!"

"Qin Xianggong, the counter shop is almost unable to support it. The total amount of money withdrawn within three days of the appointment exceeds 80 guan, but the copper coins in stock that the counter shop can use are only 30 guan."

Qin Hui smiled and said, "Are you trying to make Qiuming Si set a rule that if you want to withdraw more than [-] guan, you must get Qiu Mingsi's written consent. If so, it can be done."

"No! No! No!"

Shi Guangping waved his hands in fright, "If you do this, the cabinet shop will be completely ruined, and I have absolutely no intention of doing so."

Qin Hui took a sip of tea and said, "Even if you have a minor illness, you need to be recuperated for ten and a half months before you recover. Even if the emperor cancels the monitoring of the cabinet workshop, you think it will be effective within three days. The 80 yuan is enough to pay for it." Don’t you want to take it? I suggest you hurry up and solve the immediate urgent needs! Don’t waste your precious time with me.”

Shi Guangping felt dejected for a while, Qin Hui's words were also reasonable, the water in the distance could not quench the thirst, even if Qiu Mingsi stopped monitoring, he couldn't solve the imminent matter, he still had to find a way to raise money to solve the immediate crisis.

Self-inflicted can't live!

Shi Guangping hated his own stupidity to death. If he hadn't made this suggestion himself, Qin Hui would not have climbed up the pole.

Shi Guangping had no choice but to get up and leave. Qin Hui watched him walk away, and then he came back and said to his wife Wang, "Take out all the money that our family has stored in Baoji Cabinetry tomorrow morning!"

……

At the same time when Shi Guangping visited Qin Hui, Hu Yun also came to visit Xu Xiantu by order of King Yong.

Xu Xiantu just came back from Yangzhou yesterday, and the fiasco in Haizhou made him seem ten years older overnight.

Of course, Haizhou's fiasco was not his responsibility. According to his previous plan, if Haizhou was difficult to capture, the Song army should turn to attack Pi and the eastern half of Xuzhou, and then attack Yizhou, forcing the Haizhou defenders to come. rescue.

But Liu Qi told him that the successive orders issued by the emperor were to take Haizhou at all costs, which completely deviated from the original plan.

Xu Xiantu was speechless. The root cause of the fiasco was found, but the emperor would not take responsibility, and he had to stand up and take responsibility.

"It was only after I returned that I found out that after I went to Yangzhou to supervise the battle, Zhu Shengfei and the emperor discussed and decided the entire Haizhou campaign. The messengers they sent bypassed Yangzhou and directly ordered Liu Kai and others to seize it at all costs. Haizhou, the former enemy generals have to listen, the most hateful thing is that after the entire Song army was wiped out, Zhu Shengfei was the first to jump out and demand severe punishment for the former enemy commander, that is to punish me, how could he be so shameless!"

The more Xu Xiantu talked, the more angry he became, his chest heaved violently, obviously his shameless hatred for Zhu Shengfei reached the extreme.

Hu Yun smiled and said nothing, of course he was very clear that Zhu Shengfei did not jump out by himself, but the emperor ordered Zhu Shengfei to jump out, clarified the responsibility, and put the shit basin on Xu Xiantu's head first.

I believe Xu Xiantu also understands, but he doesn't want to add hatred to the emperor.

Hu Yun waited for his anger to calm down, and then slowly said: "I came to see Xu Xiangguo on the order of His Royal Highness King Yong, and there is one thing that may be beneficial to Xu Xianggong."

"what's up?"

"The Western Army has captured Haizhou, and rescued [-] Song Army prisoners of war in the process of intercepting the Jin soldiers. His Royal Highness King Yong said that the [-] prisoners of war, and even Haizhou, can only be handed over to Xu Xiangguo."

Xu Xiantu immediately understood that it was Chen Qing who gave him the credit to keep the position of Xiangguo.

He sighed a long time, "I appreciate His Royal Highness King Yong's kindness, but this time, I'm afraid he will indeed be dismissed, so let me tell His Majesty first!"

-------------Chapter Dividing Line---------------

In the palace, Emperor Zhao Gou listened to Xu Xiantu's report while lying on his sickbed.

Xu Xiantu knelt on the ground and cried: "Haizhou was defeated. As the envoy of Huaibei, I have an unshirkable responsibility. It is my incompetence that has dragged down your majesty and affected your reputation. All the responsibilities rest with me. Bear it, let His Majesty dispose of it, I will never complain!"

Zhao Gou watched Xu Xiantu silently. Of course he knew the reason for the disastrous defeat. It was easy to punish Xu Xiantu. He just dismissed him because he didn't understand military affairs and was ineffective in command.

But Zhao Gou didn't want to dismiss Xu Xiantu. Xu Xiantu was his confidant, someone who could really do things for him, unlike Zhu Shengfei, who did more than fail.

He originally wanted Xu Xiantu to take the responsibility, but now he didn't want to.

After a moment of silence, Zhao Gou said slowly: "I have never understood the real reason for this defeat, can Mr. Xu tell me?"

Xu Xiantu was taken aback, what did the Son of Heaven mean by this?

Let yourself find the real responsibility for the defeat of the army. Could it be that the emperor doesn't want himself to bear this responsibility?

He thought for a while and said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, I also think that the strategy of attacking Haizhou is not wrong. If you don't capture Haizhou and go north to Yizhou, you will be cut off by the enemy in Haizhou, and the logistics and food will be cut off. If the enemy attack from north to south again, our army will die! Therefore, taking Haizhou is an inevitable strategy, but we may have made mistakes in the details."

"What mistake did you make in detail?"

"Your Majesty, our information is wrong."

Zhao Gou regained his energy immediately. If he made a mistake from the beginning, no matter how wise his decision-making later was, it would not be able to change the defeat.

"Where is the information wrong?"

"Your Majesty, we may face more than 5 golden soldiers, possibly 10. It's just that the golden soldiers concealed the real number, which caused our intelligence to be wrong, sent too few troops, and their strength was far inferior to the opponent's. defeat."

"How do you know that the opponent has more than 5 troops?"

"Your Majesty, I have talked with Han Shizhong. He said that there are 5000 Jin soldiers on Donghai Island. In addition, when the Western Army took the opportunity to capture Haizhou, they also captured nearly 2 people. This is already 5000 people. , In addition, when the Song army retreated, they were chased by the Jurchen cavalry. There were at least 2 troops. This should be an army that went south from Yizhou. This number exceeded [-] troops. This is obviously because our information is wrong. If we If we had known that the other party had hidden their troops, we would not have sent only one hundred thousand troops northward, this is what the humble official said, and it was wrong from the very beginning."

"What does Ai Qing mean to say that the real reason for our defeat was lack of preparation?"

"Exactly!"

Xu Xiantu said calmly: "According to what I know, the Western Army has been preparing for the attack on Shandong Road for nearly two years. Counting from the year before last when Bianliang was captured and the Jin soldiers retreated eastward, it has been exactly two years since they launched the attack. Offensive, food and supplies, soldier training, all kinds of intelligence, the Yellow River navy, etc. are all prepared before sending out troops, so they can seize Donghai Island in one fell swoop, and then they will come out to take advantage of the situation when we and the Jinbing are both defeated. State, Your Majesty, if we are well-prepared, we won’t have a supporting army.”

Zhao Gou also sighed and said, "I am responsible for this matter. I shouldn't be too eager for the Northern Expedition!"

Unknowingly, the two reached a consensus that the defeat had nothing to do with command, but lack of preparation. Almost all temples were responsible, and that was the responsibility of the imperial court.

Xu Xiantu said again: "Yesterday Hu Yun came to look for Weichen, and he conveyed to Weichen a message from King Yong, saying that when the Western Army intercepted the Jin soldiers, they rescued our [-] captured soldiers. Chen Qing asked Weichen to go north and lead the captured soldiers back Come back, if we are sincere enough, he can even give us Haizhou."

Of course, Chen Qing promised to let Haizhou just make a gesture, even if he gave Zhao Gou for free, he would not want it again, not to mention showing enough sincerity, Zhao Gou doesn't have much sincerity now, but there are still [-] Song in the place This really surprised and delighted Zhao Gou.

Of course, Zhao Gou was pleasantly surprised. If he added the 6000 men who returned from the defeat, and the [-] more men who were recruited one after another, then they would have [-] troops. There were more than [-] wounded soldiers in the rear, so they actually died in battle, only more than [-] people, more than half of them died in battle.

One is called annihilation and fiasco of the whole army, and the other is called withdrawal of troops due to excessive casualties. The meanings are completely different.

Although he was a bit self-deceiving, Zhao Gou finally found a reason to get rid of the shame. He sat up and asked anxiously, "When does Chen Qing ask you to lead someone?"

"anytime!"

"Then Aiqing will go north immediately and bring back [-] troops, and I will give him the north of Haizhou and Huaihe River." Zhao Gou said generously.

This condition is indeed too 'sincere', thanks to him being able to say it.

Xu Xiantu smiled wryly and said: "I will go first. During the negotiation process, I will send pigeon letters to report to His Majesty for instructions!"

"Yes!" Zhao Gou readily agreed.

……

Xu Xiantu set off by boat with several officials and hundreds of guard soldiers that day.

The day after Xu Xiantu's departure, Hu Yun and Zheng Tongquan also came to Pingjiang Mansion. Hu Yun came to visit Liu's family and Gao Qiu under the order of King Yong. The members of Song Xinghui were all the targets that Chen Qing wanted to win over.

Zheng Tongquan is for the cabinet shop. He had already talked with the Qian family two days ago. Coincidentally, several major families in Jiangnan are also planning to jointly establish Jiangnan cabinet shop. Zheng Tongquan has a background in Sichuan and Shaanxi, and he is the target of the Jiangnan family. The two hit it off immediately, and Zheng Tongquan paid 20 yuan to join Jiangnan Cabinet.

But to Zheng Tongquan's disappointment, the other party only gave him [-]% of the shares, which was far from the [-]% of Zheng Tongquan's own request.

The fact that Zheng Tongquan wanted [-]% was not because he wanted to dominate the family, but because there were also [-]% members of King Yong, who were under the trusteeship of the Zheng family. In fact, the Zheng family only had [-]% members.

Arriving at Gusu City by boat, and then heading west again, Zheng Tongquan said in surprise, "I've been in Lin'an for so many years, and it's the first time I've heard of Song Xinghui, but I knew it when you mentioned Fengle Tower, I knew It was built by a partnership of more than a dozen dignitaries, and the representative is Shi Guangping. I also approached Shi Guangping and wanted to vote for some members. Shi Guangping said that I was not a member of them and refused. It turned out that the members he mentioned were Song Xinghui, so the Huyan family should be too! "

Hu Yun nodded, "The Liu family, the Cao family, the Xiang family, the Shi family, the Huyan family, the Gao family, these are all, but now they have internal conflicts. The Shi family and the Xiang family have taken refuge in the emperor and have been reused. They are afraid of other families. He was also highly valued, so he spent a lot of money to buy people around the emperor, and kept slandering in the ears of the emperor, which caused the emperor to be very indifferent to the members of the Song Xinghui in Pingjiang Mansion, and almost sent troops to arrest Gao Qiu. Later, because of Xu Xiantu's persuasion, he arrested The matter of arrest is over."

"Does the special envoy think they want to set up a counter shop?" Zheng Tongquan asked worriedly.

Hu Yun smiled slightly, "It depends on how you talk."

While speaking, the boat arrived at a mansion surrounded by rivers, this is the Liu family's Baiyun Villa.

-------------Chapter Dividing Line---------------

Hearing that King Yong's special envoy had arrived, Liu Xianchen went out to greet him personally, and invited Hu Yun and Zheng Tongquan to the guest room. Hu Yun proposed to meet Gao Qiu together, and Liu Xianchen immediately sent a boat to invite Gao Qiu over.

The two parties sat down as guests and hosts in the guest room, and Hu Yun introduced Zheng Tongquan to Liu Xianchen. Liu Xianchen smiled and said, "So it's Uncle Zheng Guo, who has been famous for a long time."

Of course Liu Xianchen knew about Zheng Tongquan. Zheng Ping's father, who was in command of the Western Army, had a deep relationship with King Yong. King Yong publicly protected Zheng Tongquan in newspapers, forcing the court to give up the persecution of Zheng's family.

It is said that King Yong's private wealth originated from the Zheng family's property at the earliest.

Zheng Tongquan clasped his fists and said with a smile: "This time I came to visit Liu's house to discuss other matters. I want to open a counter shop in Lin'an to break the monopoly of Baoji counter shop. I want to find some like-minded people to cooperate with."

How old-fashioned Liu Xianchen is, with the word 'like-minded', he immediately realized that this was an opportunity to build a relationship with King Yong.

He hurriedly said: "It can be discussed. My eldest son is responsible for the development of the industry. How about asking Uncle Zheng Guo to discuss with my eldest son in detail how to cooperate."

Zheng Tongquan said happily: "It's absolutely fine, I will discuss it with your son in detail!"

Liu Xianchen immediately asked the eldest son Liu Wei to invite Zheng Tongquan to the inner hall for a detailed discussion. After a while, Gao Qiu was also invited, the two parties met and Liu Xiancheng again served tea.

Hu Yun looked at Gao Qiu carefully, it was really him, when Hu Yun was a student in Bianliang, Tokyo, he saw Gao Qiu who was in power for a while, he did not expect to become an old man now, but after counting Gao Qiu Not yet 70 years old, but the hunchback is so bad that it looks old.

"I'm not trying to provoke the Song Xinghui's internal relations, but with all due respect, Shi Guangping has been holding Qin Hui's thigh for the past two years. It is well known in the civil and military courts. As the leader of the Song Xinghui, his attitude is too clear. I'm afraid it will be detrimental to everyone in the Song Xinghui."

Of course, Hu Yun’s visit to Pingjiang Mansion this time also has a theme. Shi Guangping has already shown his hostility towards Jingzhao. The members of the Song Xinghui can draw a clear line with Shi Guangping and don't be affected by it, and the Liu family is his breakthrough.

Liu Xianchen and Gao Qiu glanced at each other. They knew exactly what Hu Yun meant by being too clear-cut, that is, being hostile to Jingzhao and King Yong. It must be the matter of Baoji Guifang colluding with Qiu Mingsi. In other respects, Shi Guangping It's not obvious.

Liu Xianchen said slowly: "Although everyone paid for the establishment of Baoji Cabinet, the Shi family accounted for [-]% of the shares. The big shopkeeper and the big tent were appointed by Shi's family. We couldn't interfere with Baoji Cabinet five years ago. Shi Guangping basically has the final say on the operation of the workshop, we just wait for the dividends to be distributed every year.

But since the year before last, he has not distributed profits for two consecutive years. As far as we know, he donated all the profits from Baoji Cabinet and Fengle Building to the imperial court in his own name, and thus he was named Duke of Yue. , Taiwei, and Minister of the Ministry of War, we are extremely angry about this incident. I just want to say that although Shi Guangping is the leader of the Song Xinghui, his actions only represent himself, not us! "

Gao Qiu coughed lightly and said in an old voice: "Song Xinghui has actually split. The Cao family and Huyan's family found me a few days ago and made it clear that they will withdraw from Song Xinghui. Not only them, but also me and Liu The Shi family and the Wang family, the sixteen families of our Pingjiang Mansion will withdraw at the annual meeting of the Song Xinghui this fall, and then the Song Xinghui will only be left with the Shi family and his supporters, a total of seven families, Baoji Cabinet Square and Fengle Building We will also withdraw at the same time and draw a clear line with Shi Guangping."

Hu Yun smiled slightly and said, "The Cao family and Hu Yan's family are in Lin'an!"

Gao Qiu also said with a smile: "It doesn't matter where they live, the key is their position. Cao De is the magistrate of Taiyuan now, the Cao family is now very biased towards Jingzhao, and so is the Huyan family, so the two of them took the lead in leaving Song Xinghui, which aroused everyone's concern." response."

Hu Yun nodded and said: "His Royal Highness Yong also asked me to say hello to you. Jingzhao implements a height limit order. Your idea of ​​building Fengle Building in Jingzhao may not be realized. It can only be two ordinary buildings. restaurant."

Liu Xianchen said with a smile: "It is Shi Guangping who is lost, not us, what we wish for, and once we are divided, the two restaurants will not be built as one, and each will be operated by itself."

At this time, after Zheng Tongquan finished talking, Hu Yun stood up and said goodbye. He had to rush back to Lin'an overnight, so he declined the banquet from the Liu family.

Liu Xianchen and Gao Qiu sent them to the boat and watched their boat go away. Liu Xianchen smiled and asked the eldest son Liu Wei next to him, "How is the matter of the cabinet going?"

He asked in front of Gao Qiu, because he was afraid that Gao Qiu would misunderstand that the Liu family wanted to eat alone.

Liu Wei hurriedly said: "Basically, a consensus has been reached. Zheng Tongquan wants half of the members. He hinted to me that the Zheng family actually only has [-]%, and the other [-]% of the Zheng family is just a proxy. The real investor is someone else."

"Did he say for whom to hold it?" Liu Xianchen asked anxiously.

"Hai'er asked specifically. He just said that we all know it well, and there are some things that cannot be revealed."

Liu Xianchen immediately understood that it must be King Yong, and only King Yong can't tell.

At this time, Gao Qiu smiled and said, "The Gao family of the new cabinet shop also needs to be a part of it, no problem!"

Liu Xianchen laughed and said, "Did the Taiwei guess it too?"

Gao Qiu chuckled, "Zheng Tongquan has made it very clear, can't you guess it?"

"Okay! Our two families have one member, and the remaining three members are shared equally by other families."

Gao Qiu nodded, "That's it!"

……

On the passenger ship, Hu Yun and Zheng Tongquan were also talking about the counter shop. Zheng Tongquan said with a smile: "We all agreed that the main store of the new counter shop will not be located in Lin'an, but in Pingjiang Mansion. Lin'an is just a branch store. The cabinet shop is very interested, maybe they are too disappointed in Bao Kee cabinet shop.”

Hu Yun smiled slightly: "Did you tell them? There will be two members of King Yong in Xinguifang."

Zheng Tongquan shook his head, "I didn't say it explicitly, but I gave them a hint. They are all smart people. I believe they understand what I mean."

"That's right! The cabinet workshop is a very good bond. Bind them with us, and let them exert influence. Nearly half of the old officials in Song Dynasty will turn to support King Yong."