Seduction

In Yuezhu, from spring to winter, several heavy snowfalls quietly covered the cracked land. The heavy snow seemed to be the savior of the victims and could be turned into a few sips of water in time, but in fact, the victims were just drinking poison to quench their thirst and died. More and more, the young and strong labor force has suffered serious losses, and it is even more difficult for the old, weak, sick and disabled to survive this winter.

If things go on like this, at the beginning of spring next year, if there is a plague, I am afraid that Yuezhu will collapse.

With snow on his shoulders, Zhan Xingruo unconsciously frowned with his pool-like eyes glued to fatigue.

"Report to the military division, all the victims in the north of the mountain have been dealt with." The deputy general reported.

"Okay." Zhan Xingruo replied softly, "We must deal with all the dead before spring to avoid the outbreak of plague.

In addition," he seemed to suddenly remember something, and changed his words, "Forget it, prepare the horse for me, and go back to the Prince's Mansion. "

"Military division... what about your horse...?" the lieutenant general said.

Zhan Xingruo suddenly remembered that the prince gave him a good horse, but he ran away day and night to waste it.Feeling a little guilty in my heart, I still said indifferently, "It's okay, just take a horse."

"Military Master, the guard at the palace gate said that Mr. Gu from Tianguan came to deliver something to you two days ago."

"I know."

"He said that his family has inherited horses from their ancestors, and he can recognize good or bad horses. Mr. Gu has a BMW for him to keep... I passed by last night, and he insisted on me bringing it to you..."

When Zhan Xingruo heard Gu Qing's horse, he felt disgusted, "Don't bother."

"The military division is busy with affairs now, and there is no good horse that can run...Military division, that is a hard-earned horse," the lieutenant said after a meal.

Zhan Xingruo glanced at him.

"Take it."

The reason why Gu Qing's horse is called Asura is because it is pure white, its fur is just shiny, and it is an aggressive and running girl. When Gu Qing was young, she listened to his mother chanting Buddhist scriptures, and occasionally told some Buddhist stories.

Asura women are beautiful.

When Gu Qing saw the horse, she immediately remembered what her mother had said.So Asura has such a name.

Ever since Asura came into Gu Qing's hands, he had never let go of running, and now his nature was liberated, and he carried Zhan Xingruo and flew away like a phantom.

The person Zhan Xingruo wants to meet is Prince Wu Zheng. The two grew up together, Wu Zheng is an upright person. Although he has not stepped on the throne of God, he has always cared about the world. It was snowing in the evening, and when Zhan Xingruo arrived at the Prince's mansion, it was just dark.

"Good horse." Zhan Xingruo patted Asura's neck, and arranged for the guards of the Prince's Mansion, "Let's take it to the manger, I'm sorry for the trouble."

Wuzheng received the news of Zhan Xingruo's return before he entered the gate, and went to pick him up personally with an umbrella.

"A Li, why did you come back suddenly today?"

As soon as the sky and the earth turned white, the prince still carried the residual incense of the censer on his body.Zhan Xingruo seemed relieved when he heard Wu Zheng's voice. As soon as he entered the room, he was instantly enveloped in warmth and exhausted.

"Come back and report the disaster situation." Zhan Xingruo said, "Shanbei is almost done, but the death toll is still rising."

"Hmm..." Wuzheng served Zhan Xingruowen tea, frowning and listening to him.

"Is there any food left?"

"I'm afraid it's not enough." Wu Zheng replied, "This year's severe drought, the national treasury is already empty, the food is at most only enough for emergency, large-scale distribution...doesn't work."

"What did the emperor say? Can you go to court recently?"

Wuzheng shook his head helplessly.The old emperor has been greedy for the art of immortality since he was old. A few years ago, because of a sudden migraine, he killed several imperial doctors. Later, Zhang Taiwei found a master who could refine elixir for the old emperor. The emperor He only devotes himself to cultivation, and rarely interferes with the government.

"This is Taiwei Zhang." Zhan Xingruo clenched his hands slightly, "Since he introduced taxation on the head, people's life has become more and more difficult. Once a severe drought breaks out, it will become tighter instead of looser." Wu Zheng heard Zhan Xingruo's words Anger, having grown up together for 20 years, Zhan Xingruo rarely gets angry.

"Children of that age also have to be counted as a tax. If this continues..." He took a long breath, "He must be pulled out."

"Unplugging him, I'm afraid it will take some time." Wu Zheng said, "Taiwei Zhang has many followers in the court, with our current strength..."

"I understand, but" Zhan Xingruo shook his head and said, "Wu Zheng, do you know that people in Shanbei will eat each other now, and the country will be destroyed, but the country will change hands. If we continue like this, the world will be destroyed."

The two stared at each other for a long time, and the hot air came out from the mouth of the teapot.Wuzheng nodded.

"The top priority is to let Yuezhu overcome the difficulties first, and I will find a way to force him to reform afterwards."

"That's the only way to go, but right now in Yuezhu, we can't open a storehouse to help the disaster, and there are no other feasible ways." Zhan Xingruo said.

"No, I have some new news." Wu Zheng said, waving his hand to the bodyguard beside him, who immediately showed a map.

Wu Zheng spread out the map, and there was a long red line on it, winding like a snake from Nantianguan to Yuezhu.

"This is?" Zhan Xingruo asked.

"A Li is busy dealing with the disaster area today, I'm afraid I haven't heard of it. Gu Chengyuan suddenly reduced the purchase of Jiangnan rice."

"Gu Chengyuan?" Zhan Xingruo was a little surprised when he heard the familiar name.

"It's him again."

"know?"

"Not counting." Zhan Xingruo shook his head, "Go on."

"Gu Chengyuan has always monopolized the rice exchange in the entire Tianguan. It is the largest channel for the grain trade between the north and the south of Tianguan. Now he has suddenly reduced the purchase of Nantianguan. There is so much rice in Nantianguan that there is no place to sell it."

"There is nowhere to sell rice, only to reduce the price." Zhan Xingruo said.

"That's right, the rice merchants in Nantianguan began to compete at low prices. Now the rice in Nantianguan is cheaper than the price that the government collects from the people. Maybe we can buy the rice in Nantianguan."

"But it doesn't make sense. Why did Gu Chengyuan do this? He wants to help us?" Zhan Xingruo said.

"Of course not." Wuzheng pointed to the line on the map, "This is the main trade route from Nantianguan to Yuezhu. I have sent people to investigate, and Gu Chengyuan has already blocked this place. If you want to send a caravan there, change If you don’t get the bank notes mortgaged by Gu’s house, you can’t even think about buying anything at Tianguan.”

"A businessman, still wanting to cover the sky with one hand?"

"It can't be said, it's almost the same. We can only follow the business path and keep secrets. I'm afraid we can't do it without him." Wuzheng sighed, "He did this to lure us to the door, and he probably wanted to take advantage of it. , kill us."

"If you stretch your hand so far, you will hit a wall sooner or later." Zhan Xingruo stared at the map, suppressing the dissatisfaction in his heart.

"At present, this is the only way to go. First, stabilize the disaster situation, and then implement reforms." Zhan Xingruo said, "Does the prince have any arrangements for this?"

"Well," Wuzheng nodded and said, "A Liruo also thinks it's feasible, so I'll send someone to discuss it immediately. If he intends to do our business, he shouldn't make it too difficult for us."

Zhan Xingruo looked at the map again. There were high mountains and mountains between the two places, so he blindly sent people there. The loss of this long journey was immeasurable, so he had to talk to Gu Chengyuan.

Zhan Xingruo thought about it and nodded.

And after thousands of calculations, no one has counted Gu Qing's "drunkard's intention is not to drink." Lu Wangyao finished arranging the affairs of the rice merchants in the south of the Yangtze River, and after a few days of leisure, he returned to the mansion. When he entered the door, he saw a The official-looking person left in a hurry.

"Yo, who is it?" He walked in and saw Gu Qing still sitting there with the tea still steaming.

Gu Qing smiled and poured a cup for Lu Wangyao, "Yuezhu's envoy is here."

"Awesome." Lu Wangyao sat down, and became interested, "Sure enough, I came to find Brother Qing, they moved very fast."

"Of course, the drought is severe, waiting to buy some food from me."

"Who was that person just now?"

"Let's talk about the price," Gu Qing picked up the tea, the tea was fragrant, and Gu Qing sniffed it.

"Price? What price?"

"The price of passing the customs. I didn't let go of the business. If I want to transport the rice from Nantianguan to Yuezhu, I can't do it without passing through me." After the sound, he took a sip.

"What about the official way? They can follow the official way."

"Oh? Let the neighboring country know that you are extremely poor and weak, and you still want to borrow rice?"

"That's right, it's the same as looking for a fight, so they can only follow the business path." Lu Wangyao was a little confused, and asked, "Since Brother Qing intends to help them, why bother to negotiate the price?"

Gu Qing put down the tea and said with a smile, "Help? I'm a businessman, and I never do business at a loss. Let alone help."

"Then?" Lu Wangyao was puzzled.

"Go out to sell something."

"What is it that takes so much trouble to sell?"

"Humanity." Gu Qing replied, "The envoy just now asked me how much it would cost to open up the business. I asked him to bring me a letter to Military Master Zhan. I think there will be a reply soon this time."

Gu Qing had the usual smile on her face, she was confident and able to do a job with ease.

Lu Wangyao smiled a little embarrassedly, "Brother Qing, do you still care about what happened last time? Is it okay for me to make mistakes? Why do you keep mentioning it?"

"You said it," Gu said with a smile, "Okay, go and rest, don't let your grandpa in the sky think that I treat you badly. What about the winter solstice? Let him take someone to clean up a room and come out."

"Ah, yes, clean up the house? What are you doing?"

"Receive the guests." Gu Qing said, "Hurry up, the guest's horse is ready, and it will be here soon."

Lu Wangyao nodded, but he still hadn't quite realized what Gu Qing's words meant. A few years ago, in the last few years of his grandfather's life, he often called Gu Qing out and talked with him alone. Wang Yao asked, but Gu Qing didn't say anything.

The word "Cheng Yuan" was given to Gu Qing by his grandfather when he was dying. At that time, Gu Qing was only in his teens, not yet at the age of the crown. His grandfather told him to accumulate water and form a deep pool so that dragons could be born.

Since then, Gu Qing has gradually revealed her true colors.

When his grandfather was still alive, Gu Qing completely played the image of a gentle elder brother. Since his grandfather passed away, Lu Wangyao gradually discovered that Gu Qing is a wolf in sheep's clothing, not to mention that he can't see him. Tou, I don't understand what I'm saying.

But being nice to himself hasn't changed. Lu Wang patted his clothes, no longer remembering, and got up to arrange the winter solstice.