Li Shaojin was sipping tea leisurely, when he heard Xie Bing's shout from afar, he couldn't help but angrily said: "Stop him!"

The guards guarding the door responded and stepped forward to stop Xie Bing, one of them scolded: "Bold! Trespassing into the prince's place without notification!"

Xie Bing was so anxious that he didn't even care about the sweat on his head. Thinking that he knew the state well, he didn't even bother to call someone to inform him after receiving the letter, and ran all the way here, which was enough to show the urgency of the situation.

He raised his voice and shouted: "Fourth Prince, Fourth Prince, please forgive me! It's just that the Tatars came up and asked to see the Fourth Prince and a few businessmen by name."

Xie Bing said this very loudly, and Li Shaojin, sitting in the room, could hear him clearly.His face turned pale immediately, he strode out, and walked up to Xie Bing: "What did you say?"

Xie Bing quickly presented the letterhead in his hand to Li Shaojin, and said: "The Tatars said that the cotton wool was caught in the cotton clothes that the fourth prince exchanged for the first time you presided over the trade. The ginseng was soaked in medicine, and some people in their tribe almost died of illness because of this ginseng."

Li Shaojin panicked, and subconsciously wanted to separate the relationship: "Who said it was exchanged from the market? I think those Tatars deliberately framed it."

How did Xie Bing know this? Ever since Li Shaojin came, Guo Zhan'an has kept himself safe and never got involved with Tatar-related matters. He, Xie Bing, has also followed suit.What's more, Li Shaojin didn't want others to tell him what to do, and never thought of inviting Xie Bing or Guo Zhan'an to discuss it. Now all the regulations are discussed behind closed doors by him and two staff members.

He understood that Li Shaojin was determined to get rid of the relationship, no matter what the truth was, he would never take responsibility.

However, the Tatars are now gathering at the border to ask for an explanation. If Li Shaojin does not come forward, the Tatars will become more and more emotional and eventually get out of hand.

If something goes wrong, he, Xie Bing, will definitely be implicated.Therefore, even if Li Shaojingui was the fourth prince, he, Xie Bing, would still offend the prince because of the black hat.

"Fourth prince, let's not talk about how they concluded that the padded coat and ginseng were bought from the market. Now the Tatar people are very emotional, saying that we are deceiving them. Please also invite the fourth prince to come forward and talk to Tatar The patriarchs of those tribes discussed countermeasures, so as not to hurt the peace of both parties because of this incident."

Li Shaojin said displeasedly: "Since I didn't get it from the market, what does it have to do with me? Just leave this matter to you and the Northwest Army Camp. I will get up and return to Beijing the day after tomorrow. The next thing about the market will be Leave it to you to deal with, this matter is just for you to practice your skills."

Xie Bing was very depressed, he didn't want to take this hot potato at all, he smiled wryly and persuaded: "Fourth prince, how can people like me as a small official? Let the fourth prince look at it for the sake of the people of Xuzhou Come forward and discuss countermeasures with the chiefs of the Tatar tribe."

Li Shaojin was in a panic, how could he agree?Immediately said: "I let you go to discuss, you go. Come, please thank you for going out."

The guards on both sides leaned over and forced Xie Bing out of the courtyard.

Li Shaojin sent Xie Bing away, and said to the servant beside him, "Two gentlemen, and the deputy general of the Habayashi Army, please come over."

The servant took the order.After a while, he brought the three people to the study.

Li Shaojin waved his hand to let the servant go out, and then said to the deputy general of the Habayashi Army: "General, just now Xie Bing came to report that there are Tatars gathered at the border, and the intention is unknown. I am worried that they want to arrest me so as to threaten the royal father. .Of course, my life is worthless, but if the emperor makes concessions to Tatar because of this, I will be a sinner in history. Therefore, the general has to work hard in the past few days to strengthen the guard."

The deputy general of the Yulin Army was a taciturn middle-aged man. Li Shaojin chattered a lot, but he just nodded, replied "yes", and took the order to go out.

Li Shaojin and the others left, and then he let out a cry: "What!"

The aides persuaded: "The fourth prince does not need to be as knowledgeable as him, but he is just a deputy general of the Xiaobalin Army."

Li Shaojin snorted, and said: "If it wasn't for the fact that he was sent by the emperor, I wouldn't be able to get angry, or I would have dragged him out to feed the dogs a long time ago!"

The staff had no choice but to persuade: "Fourth Prince calm down, this person has such a temperament. He is His Majesty's confidant, and His Majesty sent him to protect His Highness, isn't it just because of His Highness's performance?"

Only then did Li Shaojin feel better: "What kind of protection? It's not watching me. The emperor is the same. He really thought that I wouldn't dare to act if he sent some Habayashi soldiers? By the way, you should watch those babies for me, don't Let other people find out."

Li Shaojin is not worried that he will be reported for accepting bribes from businessmen.Firstly, most of these merchants came alone, so they were not easy to attract attention; secondly, these merchants came to discuss business with Li Shaojin in name, even if they were found out, they could still get over in front of the emperor.

It is these treasures, you have to be careful, and you must not let others know.

Li Shaojin got angry, and then explained the situation clearly to the two staff members, and blamed him: "Didn't you all check the goods? How could such a thing happen?"

The two staff members also had troubles and couldn't explain clearly. They wanted Li Shaojin and the Tatars to discuss the charter. Whether it was the candidates to participate in the trade, or the goods, location, and time, they had all negotiated and signed the contract before starting.

But Li Shaojin refused to say anything, and insisted on following his own ideas.So they thought again, Li Shaojin has already explained to these businessmen, and there must be no such thing as shoddy goods, they have carefully checked again, and eliminated a group of people, and the rest should put away those low-level thoughts .

They couldn't tell Li Shaojin that it was Li Shaojin who thought things too simply and made such a thing happen.The two of them could only accept their mistakes bitterly, and said: "The most urgent thing is not to talk about this, Your Highness, what should we do next?"

Li Shaojin glanced at the two people: "What should I do? I should be the one who asked you what to do! Don't you guys have great ideas, huh?"

The staff members looked at each other, and finally one of them reluctantly said: "Your Highness, let us discuss for a while."

Li Shaojin said impatiently: "I have decided, I will leave tomorrow. You must come up with a solution for me today. If my father finds out about this matter, I think you know the consequences better than me. "

Besides, Xie Bing, after he was dragged out of the courtyard by Li Shaojin's guards, he was so angry that he gritted his teeth.Think of him as the magistrate of Xuzhou, at least he is a frontier official, but he was kicked out by several guards and beggars alone!This tells him how to behave in the future?

Although Xie Bing is not ranked high in the capital, but he can become the magistrate of the state, there is always a strong side.It's ridiculous that Li Shaojin has lived in the capital for more than ten years, and he became like a frog in a well, and he offended a party official just like that.

Xie Bing returned to his study, got a copy of the letter, and recruited his confidants, and ordered: "Go to Shen County for me to send a letter to Mr. Guo, saying that the situation is urgent, and I can't do anything. Please, Mr. Guo Think about it. If he wants to ask you anything, you'll know."

The confidant received the secret letter, chose a fast horse, and rushed to Shen County with the whip.

"Have the Tatars come to make trouble?" Guo Zhan'an read the secret letter and asked, "Has Ning Guhan come?"

The person who sent the letter replied: "My lord, the person who came to report did not mention this person."

Guo Zhan'an nodded, and asked again: "The fourth prince will leave in three days, are you packing up now?"

The person who sent the letter thought about it carefully, and replied: "There is no movement yet."

Guo Zhanan thought for a while and said, "Thank you for your hard work. The room has been cleaned. You should eat first and rest for a night before leaving."

The person who sent the letter knew that Guo Zhanan was sympathetic to him, so he didn't dare to disturb Guo Zhanan, so he left quickly.

After the messenger left, Huo Yu came out from the back room, sat next to Guo Zhanan, reached out and rubbed Guo Zhanan's temples: "Are we going back?"

"In a few days, wait for the fourth prince to leave before going back."

Huo Yu was a little elusive about Guo Zhanan's thoughts, and asked: "The Fourth Prince made it clear that he made a temporary decision to leave in three days, and he wanted to leave the mess to his brother. If my brother doesn't go back to stop him now, isn't that following the Fourth Prince's wishes? "

Guo Zhan'an had another plan, and analyzed it carefully for Huo Yu: "Think about it, how important is it to do business with Tatar, why don't I fight for the third prince, but try my best to get out of this matter?"

Huo Yu tilted his head slightly to the right and thought for a while, then replied, "Because the risk is too great? No, if the risk is too great, why did brother make an appointment with Ning Guhan in the first place?"

Guo Zhanan nodded and said: "If the management is done properly, there will be no troubles. Besides, how can there be anything perfect in this world? No matter whether it is a native or a Tatar, as long as they treat each other equally and handle it properly, it will be regarded as shoddy." It will not affect the operation of the whole trade."

Huo Yu realized a little, and said: "That is to say, the fourth prince is to blame, he did not do the right thing at the beginning, and he made a wrong step."

"Exactly," Guo Zhan'an pinched Huo Yu's face, and said, "He is used to domineering in the capital, did he think that the Tatars would care about his status as the fourth prince? If you advocate changing the group of merchants participating in the market, that’s fine. But these merchants who are unfamiliar to the Tatars have deceived them. You said that if they don’t settle accounts with the Fourth Prince, who will they settle accounts with?”

Huo Yu was a little strange: "Didn't the fourth prince inspect the goods of these merchants at the beginning? I remember that my brother would send people to inspect the goods of those merchants every time before the market."

Guo Zhanan shook his head with a smile, and said: "This is just for show, everyone wants it. I am not in business, how can I understand the twists and turns in it? Even if someone is sent to investigate, why are the pieces of clothing still taken away?" Take it apart and look at it? Think about it, what do the businessmen I'm looking for have in common?"

Huo Yu thought about it carefully, and said, "They are all local merchants in Xuzhou, and they have been operating in Xuzhou for more than ten years."

"That's right," Guo Zhan'an nodded and said, "These people are rooted in Xuzhou, and they wouldn't take such a big risk to ruin their reputation for a small profit. If you earn less money, you can earn it back; if your reputation is gone, then The business is ruined."

Huo Yu couldn't help but interjected, "But the merchants brought by the fourth prince this time are all from other places. Even if Xuzhou's reputation is ruined, they can go back and continue to do business."

"He's grown up after all," Guo Zhanan leaned over and tapped the tip of Huo Yu's nose, "The fourth prince must have received some benefits for taking them there, and he didn't dare to make a big deal out of it. It's all over."

Huo Yu clapped his hands and said, "Sure enough, my brother is smart and clever."

"Come on, pretend I don't know you? I just know you're flattering me. We'll start preparing tomorrow. As soon as the Fourth Prince leaves, we'll rush back to Xuzhou."

"Tomorrow?" Huo Yu was taken aback, "Didn't he say to leave in three days?"

"Hehe, he must be panicking now, and wish he could get away from Xuzhou immediately. I don't know who is so unlucky this time, and he pushed him out to be a scapegoat."

Things really happened as Guo Zhan'an expected, the next night, Guo Zhan'an received a letter - the fourth prince Li Shaojin left early in the morning, leaving only one gentleman, saying that this gentleman would handle the matter.

After reading it, Guo Zhan'an burned the letterhead and couldn't help but said: "Sometimes I really don't understand how Liu Yuanheng endured this idiot all these years. At this time, he left his confidant and fled back to the capital to let him Is your helper chilling?"

However, the more foolish Li Shaojin was, the more beneficial it would be for Guo Zhanan.

The Tatars did not get any response for a long time, and their emotions became more and more agitated. One or two tribes had gathered all the warriors and wandered around the border on horseback brandishing weapons.

The northwest military camp got the news, and immediately sent troops to the frontier, seeing that a fierce battle was about to start.

The unlucky ghosts who were left behind also panicked, and wanted to arrest those merchants and hand them over to the Tatars, but the people they sent were in vain, only to realize that those merchants had already got the news and left Xuzhou the day before .

When the aide found out, he beat his chest with hatred and couldn't help complaining why Li Shaojin didn't act decisively. If he acted earlier and handed over these black sheep, they would be able to explain whether it was to Tatar or the emperor.

This way didn't work, so he could only change another way, to ask Xie Bingxian to allocate some from Xuzhou's tax revenue this year, as compensation for Tatar.

Xie Bing flatly refused.He Xie Bing is not a fool, these taxes have to be handed over to the Ministry of Households, if they can't afford it at that time, Xie Bing and Guo Zhan'an will take the lead, not the fourth prince Li Shaojin.

After Guo Zhanan came back, he heard about this method. He was silent for a while, and said to Xie Bing: "Master Xie, the situation is urgent now. If we don't compensate these Tatars, we may really start a war. For the current plan, We can only allocate some from the taxation to buy ginseng and cotton clothes, and exchange those inferior products in the hands of the Tatars.”

Xie Bing still didn't agree: "Whether it's ginseng or cotton-padded clothes, they are all in high demand now, and the asking price is extremely high. Moreover, this is clearly a basket made by the fourth prince, so why should it cost the money of the people of Xuzhou? "

Guo Zhan'an said in relief: "Of course this matter is not so simple to solve. Isn't the fourth prince's husband still like this? The fourth prince explained before leaving that this matter will be resolved by this gentleman. Since you want to borrow Xuzhou's For taxes, how about just writing an IOU, stating the amount and reason, and the date of repayment?"

The last sentence was addressed to Li Shaojin's staff at the side.

The staff couldn't afford the money by themselves, and the IOU was in the name of the Fourth Prince, so of course he would not agree: "Master Xie, Lord Guo, please do me both, let's solve this urgent need first."

Guo Zhan'an said kindly and honestly: "Didn't we agree? As long as the husband writes an IOU, specifying the amount, reason and return date, the money will be taken out immediately."

Xie Bing also thought about it at this time, nodded and said: "Master Guo is right, as long as there is an IOU and Mr.'s fingerprint, we will immediately take out the money."

The staff thought about it carefully, and felt that after the Tatars were sent away, he went back to the capital to meet Li Shaojin, and told the ins and outs of the matter. It is impossible for the majestic fourth prince to be stingy with such a small amount of money.

With that in mind, he agreed.

The IOU was in triplicate, one was kept by Xie Bing, one by the staff, and the remaining one was put into the file and sealed.

Xie Bing immediately sent someone to take out the amount written on the IOU from the tax collected, and ordered the people to quickly purchase five ginseng roots and sixty cotton-padded clothes.

When the purchaser came back, he brought back the remaining two taels of silver.Xie Bing took the money with a smile, and handed it over to the staff: "Mister's estimate is good, there are only two taels of silver left. This money will be handed over to the gentleman first, and will be handed over to the fourth prince for us."

The aide took it with a smile on his face, and said with his last breath: "I will take these things to the Tatars tomorrow and give them to them."

"We have to exchange those inferior products back." Guo Zhan'an reminded him, "Tata is strong, but he doesn't listen to reason. It's easy to lose money if you go alone. Tomorrow, we will send some people to accompany you there. If there is a conflict , can also protect Mr.

The staff was almost coughing with anger, and had to say falsely: "Thank you, Mr. Guo, for your trouble."

Guo Zhanan smiled triumphantly: "You're welcome."

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