Snake Tale

Luo Yi's heart shuddered, but he was not dazed by the surprise that fell from the sky.He calmly held the teacup to his lips, slowly blew away some floating powder on the tea soup, and said with a smile: "Of course I know that Mr. Duanmu is a wealthy businessman, but this year the weather is not perfect, and the drought has continued since the beginning of spring. The warehouses in the middle of the country are empty, and there is no food to buy, where will the 80 shi grains come from?"

Duanmu Yong's expression remained unchanged, and he said: "There is no food in the country, so I will buy it from abroad."

"But at this juncture, there is no guarantee that foreign merchants will not claim to be exotic goods and ask for prices. I heard that in Song, Lu and other places, even corn of average quality has soared from ten baht per stone to thirty baht per stone..."

"He wants thirty baht and one stone, and I'll give him fifty baht. Not only is it better, but it's also faster. And I want to buy all of them from neighboring countries such as Song, Lu, Zheng, and Wei."

Luo Yi pondered and said, "Sir, do you want to buy up all the food hoarded by the officials and people of the neighboring countries before the enemy army buys food on the spot, so that the enemy army has no food to buy?"

"good."

Luo Yi laughed loudly, clasped his fists to Duanmu Yong, and said, "Mr. Duanmu's heroic deeds are really touching." He smiled lightly, "Please forgive Luo for his ignorance. At this juncture, I only know that the Duanmu family's family background is like this. It is so strong that it can compete with other countries."

Of course, Duanmu Yong could hear the needle in the needle, and said with a smile: "The general misunderstood. This matter is definitely not something that my Duanmu family can afford alone. In fact, the businessmen who are willing to contribute money do not know that the Duanmu family They are well aware of the truth that "there is no hair without the skin". For the country of their parents, they have a sense of sharing weal and woe. When the country is in crisis, of course they have to go bankrupt in order to repay it." Seeing Luo Yi's eyes moving slightly, he immediately Add a sentence: "The so-called 'doing good things don't want people to know', please don't worry about who these people are. As long as the general trusts me, what I promised will definitely be fulfilled."

Luo Yi said: "I heard that 'all the prosperity of the world is for profit, and all the chaos of the world is for profit', let alone a businessman who travels all over the world to chase after the last bit of profit? If Mr. Duanmu is so generous, he will never intend to treat him Luo won't take any money?"

Duanmuyong said: "General Luo's words are not bad at all. I do have some hopes for the general." He paused, then smiled and said: "May I ask the general, how beneficial is it to cultivate the fields?"

Luo Yi was startled, and Duanmuyong replied: "If you work all the year round, you can earn ten times the profit; if you travel to various countries, selling jewelry, gold and jade, you can earn a hundred times the profit—however, this is the most profitable business in the world. , but still..."

He leaned his upper body forward, his eyes were burning, and he said softly: "Support a lord of a country who is about to ascend to the Great Unification."

Luo Yi raised the corners of his lips, and said with a half smile but not a smile: "Mr. Duanmu put all his wealth on me?"

Duanmuyong smiled calmly: "I believe the general will not let me go home empty-handed."

Duanmuyong nakedly exposed his inner desire.It should be noted that although the merchants of Qi State are rich in the world, compared with their strong economic strength, their political status is very low.In the state of Qi, there is even a law expressly stipulating that the carriages of merchants must be covered with leather curtains and wooden eaves before they can pass through the court market, "because they can do nothing to the people of the country."Thinking about it carefully, it seems that there is nothing wrong with Duanmuyong deliberately choosing a camp at this juncture of reforming the old and reforming the old in order to obtain political rewards.Luo Yi let go of his worries, raised his head and agreed, "Since I'm a businessman who doesn't make money, I must make a profit to do this business. In this case, I'll ask Mr. Duanmu to do one more thing." Things—please set off today with a lot of gold and treasures, and lobby and bribe the royal families for me."

Duanmu Yong was taken aback, and said: "The general wants me to lobby the coalition forces of various countries and persuade them to withdraw their troops from Qi?"

Luo Yi lightly shook the amber tea in his cup, and said with a smile: "The struggle among nations is never limited to the battlefield. With Mr. Duanmu's superb eloquence and businessman's sense of smell, he will definitely be able to win the battle for me, Fold over the feast."

Duanmu Yong smiled wryly and said: "Although it is said, it is easier said than done. Why did the general beat Duanmu so hard?"

Luo Yi laughed and said, "Mr. Duanmu might as well take a long-term view! You pay [-]% of the capital, and there is a [-]% risk; why don't you invest double the capital and let me return you a return with no risk at all? "

Duan Muyong pondered for a while, and said with a sigh: "The general is really good at negotiating prices. Okay, I promise you, but I have one condition, I need someone to accompany me on this trip—"

Luo Yi flatly refused, "No."

"..."

Duanmu Yong coughed lightly, and said in embarrassment: "General Luo, I haven't said who I want."

Luo Yi said coldly, "Unless the person you want is not Shen Yuzhu."

"Why is this?"

Luo Yi said irritably, "Shen Yuzhu is just a young scholar with no power to restrain himself. How could he withstand the long and bumpy journey, the tiring journey, and the troubles of those sinister and vicious politicians!"

"..." Duanmuyong said sadly: "General, to tell you the truth, I am also a scholar who has no strength to restrain a chicken..."

Luo Yi interrupted with an unquestionable gesture: "You don't need to say too much. I can give you everyone else, except Shen Yuzhu—"

Before the words were finished, the curtain was lifted, and someone stepped in and replied briefly: "I will go."

Duanmu Yong's expression was beaming with joy, but Luo Yi's brows were gloomy and his face was full of frost, he scolded coldly: "Shen Yuzhu, you don't understand the situation of each country, you can't take on this important task at all, so don't make trouble for Duanmu!"

Shen Yuzhu said lightly: "Whether Shen Yuzhu can take on this important task, the general will know once he tries it."

Luo Yi frowned, watched Shen Yuzhu come over, picked up the counting chips on the case, listed the directions of the countries before the case, and gestured to Luo Yi: "Let's assume that Wei Guo in the coalition army, if the general is Wei Jun, then What is the fundamental purpose of cooperating with Yan Guo to lead the army to attack Qi?"

"...According to Wei Guo's proclamation, the purpose of attacking Qi is to obtain the six counties of Jiaochi that were annexed by Qi State—"

"That's right, but that's just a superficial statement. The current Weijun Zhouxu is the concubine son of the previous Duke Weizhuang. He killed his brother Duke Huan and succeeded to the throne. The foundation of the country is not stable, but he hastily launched a war. His fundamental intention, on the one hand, is to incite the patriotic enthusiasm and hatred of the Chinese people, and divert domestic dissatisfaction with his superior; on the other hand, he wants to use the excuse of conscription to reorganize the army and completely control the domestic military power. Therefore, We want to attack its weak points, starting from the internal conflicts of the Wei Kingdom..."

Shen Yuzhu analyzed, pointed out and drew, and talked eloquently.Starting from the fundamental interests of the countries of the coalition forces, the two started a series of arguments and debates, from south to north, fighting side by side.Sitting aside, Duan Muyong saw the two confronting each other, you come and go, there are swords and swords between the lips and tongue, involuntarily following the ups and downs of the words, staring and sweating.Before he knew it, the incense burner had been turned off, Luo Yi finally had no words, he pushed away the money and lowered his eyes, obviously it was impossible to deny that Shen Yuzhu was the best candidate for this lobbying.

Duan Muyong was overjoyed, held Shen Yuzhu's hand and said with a smile: "I was worried that this trip would not be complete, but now that I have a senior brother traveling with me, I know we have a chance to win."

Luo Yi remained silent for a while, and said for a while: "Going deep into the enemy's country, there are too many variables, I will send a team of elite soldiers to escort you..."

Shen Yuzhu said: "No need. Now Duanmu and I are traveling in the name of merchants and people of the Qi State. Even if those dignitaries don't want to see us anymore, they will at most collect treasures and keep us out of the gate. But if the army holds the line, The other side is wary, and it may further intensify the conflict and turn into an irreparable bloodshed. Speaking of it, there is one thing that I really need to ask the general for help. This trip has passed through many countries and the distance is far away. In order to avoid delays in conveying military information , I need the general to write a letter by hand, asking Mrs. Luo to give a gift of a yielding horse, so as to reduce unnecessary travel by boat and carriage."

Luo Yi was silent for a while, and said: "I will write a letter to Wuxie now, and let him use Luo's strength to listen to you." Then he turned and sat down in front of the desk, picked up a pen and began to write the letter.

Shen Yuzhu paced over and leaned over beside him.Seeing that he hadn't written a few words, he hovered the ink pen and said in a low voice: "...If the other party is a reckless person, even if you have a good tongue, you can only play the piano to the cow—"

As if nothing had happened, Shen Yuzhu said with a soft smile: "Then I can only follow Lin Xiangru's example and use the blood in my neck to argue for it."

Luo Yi's pen tip trembled, and he looked up at him closely.Shen Yuzhu turned a blind eye, just looked at the letter written by him with lowered eyes, and said lazily in a voice that only Luo Yi could hear: "What? You are one step closer to your wish, aren't you happy?"

His hand resting on the table case caressed the little finger of Luo Yi's left hand carelessly, and said with a slight sarcasm, "Or are you just suspecting that I will mess up your big business?"

Luo Yi Jian frowned slightly, hiding the flash of anger in his eyes.Pressed the wet ink on the handwriting with wax paint, and "slapped" it on Shen Yuzhu's chest.

He stood up and said coldly: "I have other military affairs to deal with, so I can't let the two of you do it. Time doesn't wait for me, you can set off early tomorrow morning."

*Blood in the neck: According to "Historical Records: Biography of Lian Po Lin Xiangru", the Qin State was tyrannical, and the king of Zhao was invited to make an alliance in Mianchi, with the intention of invading the State of Zhao.Zhao Xianglin Xiangru accompanied Zhao Wang to the banquet.When the King of Qin drank happily, he said: "I heard that King Zhao likes music, please play the zither!" King Zhao played the zither.The official historian of the Qin State came forward and wrote: "On a certain day in a certain year and month, the King of Qin and the King of Zhao met for a drink and ordered the King of Zhao to play the harp." Music, please allow me to present the fou to the king of Qin, and ask the king of Qin to knock the fou to entertain each other!" The king of Qin was angry and refused to knock the fou.Lin Xiangru went forward, offered the fou, and knelt down to ask the king of Qin to hit it.The king of Qin refused to knock on the earthenware fou.Lin Xiangru said: "If the king refuses to knock the fou, I can splash the blood from my neck on the king within five steps!" The attendants around the king of Qin wanted to kill Lin Xiangru with knives, but Lin Xiangru stared at them and scolded them all. Get scared off.So the king of Qin was very upset, and he knocked on the tile fou for the king of Zhao.Lin Xiangru turned around and summoned the official historian of the State of Zhao to write: "On a certain day in a certain year and month, the King of Qin fought fou for the King of Zhao." Because of Lin Xiangru's toughness and bravery, until the end of the banquet, the King of Qin could not gain the upper hand in the State of Zhao.

That night Shen Yuzhu packed his bags alone in the room, when he heard the knock on the door, he opened the door, and saw those blue blue eyes that were depressed and displeased without any surprise.

Shen Yuzhu raised his eyebrows: "I thought the general was busy with military affairs—"

Luo Yi raised his face arrogantly: "Milk after dinner, let's take a walk along the way."

Shen Yuzhu couldn't help laughing, and said: "Sure enough, 'a horse has no night grass and is not fat', it's almost ugly, the general is really late for this meal." He invited him into the room sideways, and said: "When I'm young, I will Let's go, I really don't have time to receive you, please sit down as you please."

Having said that, as soon as I stepped into the room, I found that the floor was full of boxes and utensils, and there was almost no place to stay.Luo Yi turned around twice, went to sit down on the small couch, rested his chin and watched Shen Yuzhu pack his luggage back and forth.He took a longbow that he carried with him and compared the two wooden boxes. The smaller one was too full, and the larger one was too bulky, so he couldn't help being stunned for a while.Luo Yileng said suddenly, "Use the big one."

"It's really big enough." Shen Yuzhu said to himself, "This is enough to hold you." The scene of himself stuffing Luo Yi into a box and taking it away came to his mind, and he couldn't help laughing out loud.

Luo Yi looked at him inexplicably, paused, and said, "I'd better send two teams of soldiers disguised as bodyguards to go with you."

"No need. The Duanmu family also has reliable guards. The general's soldiers who are skilled in bows and arrows are more effective on the battlefield."

Luo Yi was silent for a while, and then said in a low voice: "Due to the backlash of the medicine these days... There are many inconveniences at night, so I strengthened the guard..."

Shen Yuzhu looked up at him from behind the edge of the box, and said with a smile: "Oh, I guessed that too. It's impossible to deliberately avoid it because you are worried that I will feel distressed when I see you suffering so much. Just don't see it."

"..." Luo Yi said indifferently, "You don't need to feel sorry for me, I'm the one to blame."

Shen Yuzhu folded a fur coat slowly, and said with a slight smile, "That's right. Seeking benevolence and gaining benevolence, what can I say? All the golden and jade words in the world can't match the three words 'I am willing'."

Shen Yuzhu's calm and composed style of Luo Yi has been seen a lot, but tonight it looks especially artificial and hateful.However, he saw that the fur coat he folded was quite old, but he couldn't help but irritatedly said: "Is that a robe handed down in the year of the monkey? Throw it away quickly, and take a silver fox fur belt from me."

Shen Yuzhu said with a smile: "The general doesn't know, I hunted the bark deer and made it myself. Although it looks ugly, it is unique in the world." He caressed the soft suede, lowered his eyes and smiled softly: "I have such a quirk that if a thing belongs to me alone, I think it is the best in the world. Except——"

He stopped abruptly.Luo Yi stared at him, and slowly asked, "Except for what?"

Shen Yuzhu sighed lightly, raised his eyes and smiled at him tenderly and helplessly: "Except you."

You are not mine, but I still think you are the best in the world.

Luo Yi's expression didn't change much, but his gaze changed obviously, becoming subtle and mellow, like the beautiful jade in Lantian warmed by the sun.He walked to the bed, kicked the box open, and leaned down to kiss him.Shen Yuzhu catered to him casually, and suddenly felt a pang of pity in his heart.Because Luo Yi seldom treats him so lovingly and tenderly, somehow, it gave him a feeling of being pitied.He knew that if he took advantage of the situation to make a request, Luo Yi would definitely obey.However, was it because he really wanted to get close to him, or because he finally had a substantial benefit to his ambition?

He heard himself say: "General Luo, there are still 21 people on this mission. If you reward me like this, I'm afraid it will be too late tomorrow morning." As soon as the words came out, Luo Yi's body froze instantly.Luo Yi was too startled to get angry, but raised his eyes and looked at him dazedly, but he said indifferently:

"I'm going to leave early in the morning, so I won't send the general off, please feel free."

Luo Yi calmly said "Take care all the way", stood up and looked at Shen Yuzhu carefully - then raised his hand and slapped him hard on the face.

Duanmu's caravan set off immediately.Duanmu took a few steps ahead, took out the bronze mirror from his arms, and secretly looked at Shen Yuzhu behind him.He closed his eyes sleepily, and slowly walked forward with Huang Pui under his crotch, the bright red palm marks on his cheeks were really eye-catching.After a while, Shen Yuzhu, who closed his eyes for a nap, finally couldn't help complaining to Duan Muyong in front of him: "Junior brother! If you want to see it, you should look at it openly, and hold a mirror in front of you for a long time, shaking my horse to walk. The word 'zhi' is gone."

Duanmuyong laughed loudly, rode his horse to his side, and asked in a pretentious way: "Did brother rest well last night? Oh, look at this posture, I'm afraid you did something beastly?"

Shen Yuzhu said lazily: "You are wrong - I did something worse than a beast."

He pressed the bridle and looked back at the towering city wall behind him.The sapphire blue morning light faintly outlines a vague figure on the city wall looking far away.He couldn't help smiling, shook the reins, and rode the horse away without looking back.