rebirth first official

Gao Zhanming's attitude made Liu Rukang tremble uncontrollably.All along, his attitude towards Gao Zhanming was not good, not to mention being polite, even the basic etiquette was lazy.However, Gao Zhanming was always polite in front of him, no matter how he neglected, he would never get angry, so he felt that Gao Zhanming was just a bullying idiot with no real talent at all.

However, Gao Zhanming's successive strategies in recent days have impressed him.Gao Zhanming is not only not a dandy, but also a deep-minded person.He couldn't help wondering whether the rumors he had heard were true or not.Such a person really climbed up under the cover of the Gao family?With his ability, he must be much more capable than those idiots in the Gao family who are rich in gold and jade.Even if he really cheated in the imperial examination, it's good to cheat. It's still worth the court's money for such a talent to be the No. [-] scholar for him.Liu Rukang has come into contact with many rookies and Jinshi, and his eyes are too high and his hands are too low. They all say that the imperial examination is fair, but the number of talents who can really be selected is very limited.How on earth was Gao Zhanming demoted from the capital by the imperial court that day?Did you really do something wrong when you were Hanlin?Could it be someone who framed him?Could it be my mother's Zhao family...

Liu Rukang was distracted when he suddenly heard Li Jingruo say: "Mr. Liu, you watch chess very carefully. You see that I am about to lose this game of chess. I wonder if you have a good idea to help me get back a move?"

Liu Rukang came back to his senses and glanced at the chessboard. Li Jingruo's situation was indeed not very good. The chess piece in the lower right corner was about to be killed by Gao Zhanming.

Liu Rukang thought for a moment, then honestly shook his head: "Don't ask me, I can't play chess."

Li Jingruo smiled, picked up a sunspot, and seemingly casually tapped it, but abandoned the lower right corner and went to attack the piece that Gao Zhanming had just worked on.

Gao Zhanming thought for a moment, and stopped attacking Li Jingruo violently, and went to save the part of himself that was attacked by Li Jingruo.The speed of the chess game between the two suddenly accelerated. You played chess with me. Li Jingruo seemed to be careless, but the offensive became more and more fierce. Gao Zhanming wanted to expand his power, so he had to send his son to rescue him. But the piece of his rescue was beheaded vigorously.The more Gao Zhanming saved, the more he died. Not long after, Li Jingruo also connected the area he was surrounded by, turning around the predicament.

Gao Zhanming cast his hand and sighed: "Siege the point to fight for aid, besiege Wei and rescue Zhao, brother Li's brilliant move, I'm ashamed of myself."

Li Jingruo said with a leisurely smile, "Thank you, thank you."

Gao Zhanming said: "It turns out that brother Li just let me go."

Liu Rukang couldn't help shrinking his neck.Gao Zhanming is scary, and Li Jingruo is even more terrifying. He has always pretended to be ignorant, seemingly approachable, but in fact he is very powerful.That's right, these two guys got together, and I offended them all in one breath that day. It's simply blind, digging my own grave!

Liu Rukang laughed twice: "I'll go back first, take my leave, take my leave."

Gao Zhanming said: "The matter of food..."

Liu Rukang said: "If you say you won't accept it, I won't accept it. I... I will listen to you. I have signed the military order. You have the final say!"

Gao Zhanming smiled slightly, got up and said, "I'll take you out."

Li Jingruo also stood up: "I have nothing else to do, I'll go with you and go for a stroll along the way."

Gao Zhanming and Li Jingruo have been in Jiazhou for a few months, and the Dudu Mansion has been vacant. It happens that there are too many locusts to pile up in the official mansion. Li Jingruo waved his hand and let the Dudu Mansion out. Li Jingruo lingered on Gao Zhanming's mansion with the excuse that he had no place to go.Gao Zhanming didn't chase him away, and asked someone to get him an upper bedroom, which was more luxurious and comfortable than his master bedroom.

Liu Rukang also didn't understand the relationship between Gao Zhanming and Li Jingruo.When Li Jingruo's identity was not exposed, it was rumored that Li Jingruo was brought by Gao Zhanming from the capital. Later, some people knew that Li Jingruo's official position was higher than that of Liu Rukang. The rumors changed and it became that Gao Zhanming was Li Jingruo's face. .Anyway, no matter who met who, it was a matter in their house, and everyone including Liu Rukang felt that Gao Zhanming and Li Jingruo must be having an affair.

Gao Zhanming and Li Jingruo sent Liu Rukang out of the house together. Liu Rukang got into the carriage and looked back. Gao Zhanming and Li Jingruo stood side by side. The scene was really... as bright as a jade tree before the wind, heroic and suave...Pan An Songyu Reincarnation...Of course, Liu Rukang, who is a vulgar person, didn't expect these good words and sentences. Only four words popped into his mind - adulterer and adulterer!

Liu Rukang shrank his neck, quickly got into the carriage, and told the driver: "Quick, go back!"

As soon as Liu Rukang entered the gate of the prefect's mansion, he saw his wife standing in the yard with a feather duster, waiting for him with a sneer.

Liu Rukang was startled, turned around in fright and wanted to run away, but his wife grabbed her ears and dragged her into the room: "Well, you are a low-minded guy, what did my old lady tell you that day, that Gao Judge and Li Dudu is not a mortal, you want to offend them, and you still sign a military order with them? My mother sees that you are impatient!"

Liu Rukang was shocked, and turned to look at Jiacheng: "You betrayed me?!"

In the past two days, a group of merchants rushed to the prefect's mansion to ask for food. Madam was overjoyed. Seeing that the clouds guarded by his lord had opened to see the bright moon, Jiacheng was so happy that he talked quickly, so he gave Liu Rukang and Gao Zhanming the signing of the military order. Shake it out.

Fearing that the flames of war would spread to him, Jiacheng immediately pretended not to hear, turned his head and ran away.

The prefect's wife dragged Liu Rukang back to the room, and everyone heard a scream coming from the room. After a while, Liu Rukang was kicked out again and threw two knee pads from the room. I sewed it for you, kneeling and rotten legs, no one to serve you!"

With a bang, the door was closed, and Liu Rukang was hit in the nose, picked up the knee pads and left.

There are two flowers blooming, one for each.

It is said that Gao Zhanming and Li Jingruo left the mansion and were wandering on the road when they suddenly saw a red and gold sedan chair carried by four people coming in front of them.Jiazhou is a small place, of course it can't be compared with the capital city, where there are many rich gentry and bureaucrats, but here in Jiazhou, if you have a family fortune of tens of thousands of taels of silver, you can be regarded as a local tyrant.The sedan chair was very luxuriously decorated, and the servants who carried the sedan chair all looked arrogant and shouted at the passers-by on the road. Looking at the battle, Gao Zhanming and Li Jingruo could roughly guess which master was sitting in the sedan chair. up.

as expected.The servant carrying the sedan chair was yelling at pedestrians to make way, when he saw Gao Zhanming and Li Jingruo standing in front of him, he was startled and stopped the sedan chair.Gao Zhanming has been in the limelight recently, and the common people know that he has vigorously promoted a series of disaster control policies, so when they see him, they always call Gao Qingtian affectionately.The bearers also knew Gao Zhanming.

However, Li Jingruo's identity is not known to many people, after all he is a third-rank governor, and it is impolite to live in Gao Zhanming's residence.The common people only know that Jiazhou has come to a capable governor who is close to the people, but they don't know that he is the flirtatious boy who always makes love with Gao Zhanming.

As soon as the sedan chair stopped, the master in the sedan chair opened the curtain and came out, shouting angrily, "Why did it stop?!" He saw Gao Zhanming and Li Jingruo startled slightly.

The person sitting in the sedan chair was named Yang Fang, the richest man in Jiazhou, but although he was a gentry, he didn't have any official position, and he bowed his head when he saw a small official, let alone Gao Zhanming.He reluctantly got off the sedan chair, and made a perfunctory salute: "Master Gao."

Li Jingruo stood aside and watched, Gao Zhanming said indifferently: "There is no need to be too polite."

Yang Fang raised his head and gave Gao Zhanming a fierce look.

As Liu Rukang said, the low-priced grain on the market was bought by Yang Fang, the richest man in Jiazhou Prefecture, and Gong Erqian, a big grain merchant from a neighboring county. Run away.Yang Fang and Gong Erqian were originally the two major culprits in collecting grain.Since the beginning of the famine in Jiazhou Prefecture last summer, the two of them have started to stockpile food on a large scale, waiting for the outbreak of the disaster to take advantage of the situation and make a lot of money.Seeing the locust plague, Jiazhou was short of food, and the people were in dire straits, so they began to sell the food collected at low prices at high prices. In just a few months, their net worth had doubled.However, I didn't expect Gao Zhanming and Li Jingruo to come from the capital all of a sudden. They were able to deal with the disaster well, and even used tricks to make Jiazhou's food prices drop sharply. Naturally, they were not happy about it.In order to raise the price of grain, they had to buy grain on a large scale. Unexpectedly, there were too many merchants who came to Jiazhou to sell grain. The food, the amount of food, is enough for the people of Jiazhou Prefecture to survive for another year or two. In order to eat more, they almost lost all the money they had earned before, and had to pay back.Fortunately, food prices were finally stabilized by them.

For these, how could Yang Fang not hate Gao Zhanming?

Gao Zhanming said: "Master Yang, I haven't been to the market for a long time, so I don't know what the price of rice is?"

It's fine if he doesn't ask, but when he asks, Yang Fang can't wait to pounce on him and tear him apart.Although the price of food has stabilized, it is much worse than the high price he had worked so hard to drive up before, and Jiazhou City originally belonged to him. Gao Zhanming recruited countless merchants to share profits with him in one fell swoop. He had to To spend a lot of money to swallow more grain, for this reason he had to transfer almost all the cash in his hand to buy grain.Now the food in his hands has exceeded his load, and the price of food can no longer be raised to the previous position. At most, he can take back the original profit and earn a small profit. His dream of wantonly expanding the family business has been killed by Gao Zhanming.

Yang Fang sneered and said, "Then please invite Master Gao to go to the market to have a look."

Gao Zhanming smiled slightly and said, "I heard that the price of rice has rebounded recently."

Yang Fang smiled bluntly: "Really, I may not go to the market for a long time, I don't know."

He is now making food, which is a bit difficult to ride a tiger.He had to go on, or all his grain would rot in the warehouse.It's not that he didn't have the opportunity to stop before, but he didn't want to make a small loss-making business, so he swallowed more and more.Now that Gao Zhanming won't let his ambition succeed, he will never let Gao Zhanming and the officials in the government have a good time!It's none of his business that the common people starve to death and are injured, as long as the goods in his hands can make money, he doesn't care about anything else.

Gao Zhanming said: "If there is a chance, Mr. Yang should visit the market more. As a merchant, it is very important to play by ear and accept what you see."

Yang Fang sneered: "Definitely. As an official, you should also relax your mind and know the direction of the wind. Does Mr. Gao think so?" Which county officials in the past did not respect him as the richest man in Jiazhou Prefecture?To promulgate the decree, you have to look at his face before you dare to act. Once Gao Zhanming comes, he dares to trip him up!As the saying goes, a strong dragon does not overwhelm a snake.So what if Gao Zhanming is from the capital, when he arrives in Jiazhou, it will be Yang Fang's world!Now even if he desperately breathed his last breath, he would not let Gao Zhanming get his wish!

Gao Zhanming glanced at him and said, "Farewell."

Yang Fang cupped his hands: "Farewell." He got into the sedan chair, and the servants lifted the sedan chair and continued to move forward.A servant leaned over to the edge of the sedan chair curtain and whispered, "Master, what should I do?"

Yang Fang gritted his teeth and said, "What should I do? Continue collecting food! He Gao Zhanming and Liu Rukang don't believe that I can eat, so I will show them. The first one will starve to death, these sons of bitch bureaucrats!"

Gao Zhanming and Li Jingruo continued to walk forward, Li Jingruo saw Gao Zhanming's calm face, and smiled knowingly: "You must be full of bad water again."

Gao Zhanming curled his lips: "Brother Li really wronged me. I am a kind person."

Li Jingruo stopped suddenly, turned Gao Zhanming's face away, leaned forward to take a closer look, his nose and lips almost touched his face.Gao Zhanming was taken aback by him, but he was used to his frivolity, so he didn't resist: "What are you doing?"

Li Jingruo smiled and said, "I want to see how kind you are."

Gao Zhanming asked back: "Where am I not good?"

Li Jingruo tapped his nose lightly: "There is a bad character written here."

Not to be outdone, Gao Zhanming also touched Li Jingruo's nose. Unexpectedly, when Li Jingruo raised his head, his finger stuck to Li Jingruo's lips.Gao Zhanming withdrew his hand calmly: "You have written a traitor here."

Li Jingruo laughed loudly: "Then the two of us are a perfect match?"

Gao Zhanming laughed.

Unknowingly, the two walked outside the prison, and saw several jailers carrying a dead body going out.

Gao Zhanming stopped him: "This is..."

Those jailers hurriedly saluted the two: "Captain, judge, this guy was originally a gangster of the Hammer Gang. Because the Hammer Gang rebelled in the den, this guy escaped with serious injuries and was caught by us. He was just put in prison." Within two days, he died."

Li Jingruo said, "How did you die?"

The jailer said: "He was seriously injured, he was only breathless when he was locked in the prison..."

Gao Zhanming interrupted: "The plague."

"What?" The jailer was taken aback, and looked at Gao Zhanming in confusion.

Gao Zhanming said, "He died of the plague."

The jailers looked at each other, still not quite understanding.

Gao Zhanming waved his hand: "We can't let the epidemic spread, take his body out and burn it."

The jailers responded blankly, and carried the corpse away.

As soon as the jailer left, Li Jingruo raised his eyebrows and said with a smile, "Plague? You're using a more ruthless plan. Do you still dare to say that you are a kind person?"

Gao Zhanming said: "Brother Li doesn't think he is treacherous, why can't I think I am kind?"

Li Jingruo said nothing, suddenly raised his hand, and gently plucked a plum blossom from Gao Zhanming's head.It turned out that there happened to be a few plum trees beside the place where they were standing, and when the wind blew, the petals fell on Gao Zhanming's head.

Gao Zhanming stared blankly at the plum blossom in Li Jingruo's hand, and said, "Thank you, Brother Li."

Li Jingruo put the plum blossom in his hand up to his nose and smelled it with a smile, and said: "As the head of the high judge, it is only natural for me to serve Mr. Gao, why should I say thank you?"

Gao Zhanming smiled.This Li Jingruo didn't know what to say about his good temper or what. He wasn't angry when others said he was a face-to-face, and he was even proud of it. He used it to make fun of himself and Gao Zhanming from time to time.Gao Zhanming has gotten used to it.He glanced at Li Jingruo and thought, wouldn't it be a great blessing if he really had such a face?He was taken aback by his own thoughts, facing Li Jingruo's inquiring gaze, he quickly turned his gaze away.

Gao Zhanming thought again, this brother from the Li family is really strange, the emperor is a small-minded person, and when others speak well, he thinks he is mocking himself, has a grudge in his heart, and secretly wants to trip someone up.As for Li Jingruo, he didn't take what others said about him seriously, and when his subordinate slapped the table at him, he thought he was joking, so he didn't take it seriously.It would be a good thing if the two could switch. Only when the emperor has a broad mind can he benefit the world. Being too small-minded is not a good thing.

A few days later, Jiazhou Mansion burned several more corpses one after another. Although the officials in the government were flickering, the news of the plague in Jiazhou Mansion had already spread among the people.

The common people closed their doors and did not dare to eat meat. If a family died, they immediately carried the body to the wilderness and burned it, for fear that they would be infected by the plague, and people panicked for a while.

And the most anxious ones are Yang Fang and Gong Erqian who are stockpiling grain.

Although there are not many living people who have been infected and fell ill by the plague, the news of the plague in Jiazhou has spread, and I don't know who released the news, saying that someone saw several rats running out of the granary. The common people would rather eat locusts at home than buy their food anymore.

Moreover, the news of the plague in Jiazhou is known to the nearby prefectures and counties. Even if they transport the grain to other prefectures and counties where the locust plague has spread, who would dare to accept the grain sent by the Jiazhou government? !Even if they eat by themselves, tens of millions of stones of grain, they can't finish it if they are rotten!

Seeing that a lot of grain collected at a high price was about to rot in the granary, the two families could no longer sit still.

Gong Erqian was the first to fail.Rumors were spreading outside, even if he doubted it in his heart, he would rather believe something as horrible as the plague, not to mention that he came from a neighboring county, rushing home to avoid disasters during the New Year, transporting food Going back, not to mention that you can’t sell it, the transportation fee is another expense.What's more, the rest of the merchants who still had food in their hands were also worried. The price of food plummeted instantly, and it was even cheaper than when there was no disaster!

After Gong Erqian thought about it, there were only three ways left—the first way, to sell the grain at a low price, and run away quickly; the second way, to burn the grain, and go home for the New Year.These two roads will make him lose all his money, not to mention, because his reputation has long since been ruined when he hoarded grain, and he is a profiteer that everyone despises.There is only one last way left—to exchange food for a good reputation.

So Gong Erqian went to the prefect's mansion again.

When Liu Rukang saw Gong Erqian, before Gong Erqian could open his mouth, he waved his hand smartly: "I don't accept food!"

Gong Erqian's face twitched fiercely, endured the pain in his heart, and forced a smile: "Master Taishou..."

Liu Rukang said: "See off the guests!"

The guards of the prefect's mansion rushed forward and were about to drive Gong Erqian out. Gong Erqian hurriedly shouted: "I will send food! Send food!"

Surprised, Liu Rukang waved his hand, and everyone retreated.

Jiazhou Mansion is indeed short of food, and even the salaries of officials cannot be released. Liu Rukang was just putting on airs on purpose just now, trying to kill the prestige of this profiteer first, and the price can be lowered for a while. I didn't expect Gong Erqian to say give it away. grain? !Food delivery? !No money? !

Gong Erqian's heart was also bleeding.He really planned to sell the grain to the government at a low price, but the price is also cheap anyway, selling it to the common people is better than selling it to the officials, at least as a favor, he never thought that Liu Rukang would drive people away before he even said a word, he was driving ducks to the shelves , with nowhere to go.

Because of heartache, Gong Erqian really shed honest tears: "The villain knows that the locust plague has spread in Jiazhou in recent years, and the people are suffering unspeakably. It's a taste, so the villain of the folks sees the disaster in his eyes and hurts in his heart. The villain has been cared for by the prefect and the villagers for many years. Today, he is fortunate to have accumulated a few small fortunes. He has always wanted to serve the court, but there is no way to serve the country. It just so happens that in recent years the people have been short of food and clothing, so the villain has spent all his wealth and hoarded some food, and is willing to use it to help his fathers and villagers."

Liu Rukang spit out his scolding in his heart, and after hearing his hypocritical words, he wanted to slap his head like a table.But he is here to deliver food, so it's good to give him face.So he asked, "How much food do you have?"

Gong Erqian said: "Eight thousand stones."

Liu Rukang was startled and almost fell off the chair.Hey, he originally thought that if he could buy a few thousand shi of grain at a low price, he would be able to solve his urgent needs, but now someone sent [-] shi of grain?In his heart, he was so impressed by Gao Zhanming!

Gong Erqian said in a trembling voice while wiping his tears: "The villain doesn't ask for anything else. After all, half of his life savings have been lost. At least let the fathers and villagers say hello to me, and ask the adults to open a warehouse in the name of the villain. .”

Liu Rukang thought to himself, eight thousand stones of grain, in exchange for a good reputation, Jiazhou government has made a lot of money from this transaction.Besides, Gong Erqian, who had been stabbed in the back because of the speculation of grain prices, is now desperate and turned to the dark.

So Liu Rukang said: "Okay, you still have a conscience." He told Jiacheng, "You go and ask someone to write a pass for him. After that, he will not have to pay taxes for a business within three years, and his family will be exempted from a quota of corvees."

Gong Erqian smiled and raised two palms to bargain - ten years!

Liu Rukang slapped the table vigorously: "Five years! It's a bit of money for you. If you talk nonsense, I'll get the hell out of here immediately!"

Gong Erqian had no choice but to leave sadly.

Five thousand shi of grain was quickly sent to Jiazhou Mansion, and Gong Erqian immediately packed up the food and went home to take refuge.

As soon as Gong Erqian was withdrawn, Yang Fang's situation immediately became worse.Businessmen are all about opportunism. Gao Zhanming reminded Yang Fang that day, Yang Fang didn't listen, but Gong Erqian understood better than him.He knew that the business had failed this time, so he hurriedly withdrew to recover as much as possible. At least he could get a tax-free privilege and earn some losses.As soon as Gong Erqian's grain is released, there will be no shortage of grain in Jiazhou Mansion. After a few more months, I am afraid that the imperial court's relief grain will also arrive, and Yang Fang's grain will be stored in the warehouse. Even if it is not rotten, it is impossible What a good price to sell.What's more, there is still a panic plague. Even if he is willing to deliver food on the street, no one will dare to ask for it.

Yang Fang was so angry that he fell ill that night. He fell ill immediately. Because of his depression, he almost died. He spent a lot of money to ask the doctor to take medicine, and then he was rescued from the gate of hell.

The first thing Yang Fang did after getting out of bed was to order someone to burn food.Now the grain he hoarded cannot be sold, not to mention the risk of contracting the plague. Although he also suspected that the so-called plague was a good show by Gao Zhanming, he dared to sell the grain to the common people, but I dare not eat by myself.

Yang Fang burned nearly a hundred shi of grain in one day. On the second day, Gao Zhanming asked someone to open a warehouse to release the grain. He and the prefect Liu Rukang released the grain in person, and ate it while cooking, clarifying that the so-called plague was just a folk rumor and there was no such thing. thing.The common people saw that the prefect and the high judge had personally dispatched, and the fear of the plague was also dispelled a lot.

After a few days, no one showed any symptoms of the plague, and the rumors gradually subsided. The common people lined up to get food from the government, and praised Gao Zhanming.

Yang Fang was so angry that he vomited blood when he heard about this, and lay back on the bed sick for several days.He had some strength, and the slaves went to bring him the soup, but he threw the medicine bowl on the ground, gritted his teeth and said: "Gao Zhanming, I will never live with you!"