A knife in love

Chapter 1162

It was quite unexpected for Li Qiufeng to hear Zhang Shi vomit bitterness.But I heard Zhang Shi go on to say: "To put it bluntly, since my father started the tea business, it's like being on a thief ship. From the small magistrate's yamen to the capital's sixth department, every yamen has to burn incense and kowtow. Respect Tan, I can't do anything less. The money is only in our hands, and it ends up in the hands of officials, big and small. It's just a business, and we can't help ourselves. My father once thought about stopping, but those officials But he refused and forced my father to continue to do the tea business for them, otherwise he would be charged with crimes and sent to prison for questioning. My father was only in his 50s when he died, and most of the reasons for his early death were these bastard officials. Get sick from fright."

Zhang Shi sighed and said: "Before my father passed away, he told me that I must get out as soon as possible, otherwise the bigger the business, the greater the crime. Once those officials lose power in the officialdom, disaster will inevitably happen. As for our Zhang family, when the nest is all over, how can there be any eggs? Who would have thought that after the death of my father, the tea business in the south of the Yangtze River will become more and more difficult. Not only the officials from the six ministries intervene in the tea business, but the 24 yamen in the palace have also sent people to the south of the Yangtze River to start the tea business Not to mention that the governors' offices in various places have monopolized the tea business in the area under their jurisdiction. But no matter how bad my business is, the money handed over to those officials is not only a penny, but it keeps increasing every year. In the end, I couldn't make ends meet. Seeing It's over.

"At this time, someone came to me and told me that doing business with Fusang people was very profitable. At first, I was taken aback, because Daming Sea is very strict, and it is a serious crime to be caught by the government if you associate with Fusang people. Therefore, although some I was tempted, but finally refused. But the man told me that these transactions are actually done by officials big and small, but they are not easy to show up, so they asked businessmen to do it, and they hid behind to provide advice and convenience. Said All bans and no bans are all to deal with ordinary businessmen who have no foundation in the officialdom. Behind the big businessmen are all officials, big and small, so why would anyone search them?

"After I heard this, I was very surprised. The man took me to do business twice. As he said, the government not only ignored it, but helped me a lot. Only then did I believe that the imperial court's laws suppressed only Common people. These officials are using the power of the court to kick the people away, but they themselves have made a fortune. How do you say it? Only the state officials are allowed to set fires, and the people are not allowed to light lamps!

"Later, my business with the Fusang people became bigger and bigger, and the money flowed into the pockets of those officials continuously, and I also gained a lot of benefits from it. But I know that this is just drinking poison to quench thirst, and one day it will be poisonous." Died. I thought it was for my children and grandchildren, and I have been thinking about how to get out as soon as possible. This time, Lao Hu and others approached me to do this business. I know there must be a lot of shameful things behind it. But I can’t care Yes! The current emperor succeeded the great rule with a vassal king. At the beginning, the foundation was unstable, and the officials of the court formed gangs, and party disputes continued. The emperor used the power of a group of officials from the south of the Yangtze River to fight against the veterans left by the previous emperor. Therefore, we businessmen in Ningbo Relying on the protection of officials from Zhejiang and Fujian in the imperial court, life is good. But the emperor's power has been firmly established, and he no longer needs to rely on officials from Jiangnan. After he has cleaned up several big shots in the cabinet, he will turn around and deal with them The Zhejiang Party and the Fujian Party. The few Beijing officials we originally regarded as our backers have already suffered great misfortune. They killed their heads and exiled them. There is not much time left for me to escape. Therefore, I have to earn a lot Pay a sum of money, and then leave early, and be a carefree rich man, keeping his children and grandchildren safe."

When Zhang Shi said this, he laughed a few times, and then said: "So this business, I am desperate, and I must make it."

Li Qiufeng said: "Zhang Yuanwai puts his heart in his heart, I will definitely do my best next time, and help Yuanwai is done."

Zhang Shi smiled and said, "Brother Zhu and I hit it off right away, that's why I told the whole story. If it were someone else, how would I dare to say these things casually? As long as this business is done, I will definitely not treat Brother Zhu badly." yes."

Li Qiufeng said: "Unexpectedly, the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River have such a difficult life. To be honest, I followed my father to do Shu brocade business in Sichuan, and was exploited by the government a lot. Not only the Chengdu prefect's yamen tried their best to make money from us, The Sixth Department of the capital and the 24th Yamen also sent people to Sichuan to buy our Shu brocade at a low price and sell it at a high price. The business became more and more difficult. Although we went out of Sichuan to sell the brocade this time, it was because of the disaster in the north and the backlog of Shu brocade. In fact, the government oppressed us. I can't breathe, and I want to try my luck in Jiangnan, but it is also one of the reasons."

Li Qiufeng didn't know anything about the Shu brocade business, but when he was in Chengdu, he heard Zhu Shishi talk about it, and now he was learning and selling, Zhang Shi believed even more that he was a merchant of Shu brocade, and he had no doubts in his heart.I only heard Zhang Shi say: "Brother Zhu, we are all the same people. Therefore, we must work together to earn more money. Those bastards are vampires, and we will have no good fruit to eat with them!"

While the two were talking, the big ship sailed eastward along the river and finally arrived at the mouth of the sea.There is only a vast ocean in front of me, and there is no shadow of mountains and plains.Shopkeeper Hu and others also walked out of the cabin, and stood chatting by the side of the boat in twos and threes.Seeing the crowd coming out, Zhang Shi hurriedly changed the topic and only talked about anecdotes and strange things.Li Qiufeng echoed, naturally no one suspected that the two had other plans.

After the big ship left the mouth of the sea, Qin Laowu asked the boatman to turn the sails, and the big ship sailed slowly northward.Zhang Shi had said to Li Qiufeng before that even though there were officials from the Shibosi Yamen and Ningbo Zhifu Yamen to help, they had to show themselves so as not to give others an excuse.Therefore, after the big ship goes out to sea, it should go northward first. If it encounters interrogation by the navy at sea, it can only go to Shandong according to the customs and defense issued by the Yamen of the Municipal Shipping Department.Therefore, it is not surprising that everyone saw the big ship turning its bow.

The big ship is driving on the sea, surrounded by vast ocean, if you don't look at the compass, you don't know where you are going.Li Qiufeng stood at the bow of the boat at the beginning, looking at the endless sea, he felt quite novel.It's just that after watching it for more than half an hour, I feel boring.At the end, my eyes hurt faintly, and my heart was restless, so I had to go back to the cabin to rest.Near noon, Qin Laowu ordered the boatman to bring steamed buns, pickles and water to everyone for lunch.Li Qiufeng's chest is disgusting, how can he have the appetite to eat?I only drank a few sips of water, but the steamed buns and pickles remained intact.It's just that the pain in the chest and abdomen became more and more uncomfortable, and in the end, it was like overwhelming the river.Li Qiufeng knew that the ship was bumpy, which made him feel so uncomfortable.I had to sit cross-legged in the cabin, exhale and practice Qi, and fight against the aversion in my chest and abdomen.Genuine Qi slowly wandered through the seven meridians and eight meridians, and for a moment, he was distracted, completely forgetting where he was, and the aversion in his chest and abdomen gradually disappeared.

I don't know how long it took, Li Qiufeng suddenly felt a shock in his body, and then the big ship shook violently.Li Qiufeng hurriedly opened his eyes, but saw that the cabin had already darkened.He put his right hand on the board of the boat, and bounced up with his body.It's just that his feet just stepped on the ground, but he felt that his feet were floating, and he almost fell to the ground.He knew that he had sat in the swaying cabin for too long, so he stood up suddenly, which made his feet unsteady.Therefore, he took a deep breath, performed a "jack fall", and firmly nailed his feet to the ground, so that he could stand firm.

When Li Qiufeng walked out of the cabin, he saw that it was already dark outside.Although the endless sea can still see shadows, it is hazy and unclear.The boatman hung wind lanterns on the three masts, and also lit several large lanterns around the cabin, illuminating the boat quite brightly.Zhang Shi and Shopkeeper Hu were already standing at the bow of the boat, talking softly with Qin Laowu.The rest of the shopkeepers also hurried out, all with nervous expressions on their faces.Shopkeeper Yin and Shopkeeper Song were even more ashen-faced, walking staggeringly, almost bumping into Li Qiufeng.

Knowing that something must have happened, Li Qiufeng hurried to the bow of the boat, only to see a large black boat appearing tens of feet ahead.The lights on the boat were brightly lit, and there were many people standing there in shadows.Although this big boat was traveling in the same direction as the big boat that Li Qiufeng and others were on, but the speed was not fast, and the distance between the two big boats was getting closer and closer.

Li Qiufeng said to Zhang Shi: "Is there anything weird about this boat?"

Zhang Shi fixed his eyes on the boat, and said in a deep voice, "It's a Navy warship. It just rushed in front of us and asked us to stop the boat and wait for orders."

(End of this chapter)