stubborn thief

Chapter 228
On Hongxue Street in Xining City, Liu Shizi was going to inspect the warehouse that King Han showed him.

Hongxue is the ancient name of the school, and at the end of this street are Confucianism Temple and Xiningwei Confucianism.

Those who study Confucianism are all students, not a place where basic education is popularized.

Because of this, this street is very empty. After the investigation by Hu Yuan, the steward sent by Han Fan earlier, it is very suitable to use it as a warehouse for King Liu.

When Liu Chengzong came over, Hu Yuan, the steward of the palace, was studying with several inkstones in his hands. He saw evasive actions on the street from a distance, and a row of brightly armored officers and soldiers passed through the streets in the city.

Immediately rushed to the front of King Liu, and reported: "Sir, Commander, there are 180 steps from east to west in Huangxue Street, guarding East Street and North Street, and the location is not bad. If the Commander wants, I can get the title deed." Come."

He was originally called Dawang, but when he saw Cao Huachun still following him, he changed his name to Dashuai.

Liu Chengzong looked at this place and guarded the East Street and North Street in the city. The southwest corner of this place is the main street entrance of Xining City.

Moreover, from East Street to Dongguan, Liu Chengzong saw the shops and houses along the way, which were very prosperous, so he only gave Hu Yuan 200 taels.

The original intention was to let Hu Yuan come over to look at the place and rent a warehouse, but he didn't think that this person planned to get the land deed directly.

"Is the land in Xining so cheap? You can get such a large piece of land for 200 taels?"

"Ah? How can it be so cheap!"

Hu Yuan was taken aback: "The prince gave me the 200 taels and I still keep it. The villain doesn't know how the marshal does things, so he dare not give the money without authorization."

Liu Chengzong probably looked at the place, and he was quite satisfied, so he simply said: "You go with me first, the school ground is in the southwest, first pull the team over, let my brother see the situation in Xining, you follow me on the way Tell me, how to get the land deed here."

"That would be great, I will lead the horse for the commander."

As soon as Hu Yuan finished speaking, the young man in red who led the horse in front of Liu Chengzong's horse said: "You can walk side by side with the commander. My name is Chen Shifo, and I will lead the way for the commander."

"also."

Chen Shifo is the younger brother of Chen Shiwen, the little chieftain of the Han nationality, and he introduced the situation along the way to Liu Chengzong.

They entered the city from Dongguan, and Chen Shifo was very familiar with every plant and tree in the city, and he could tell each open shop which chieftain was behind it.

Xining is a very strange acropolis. It may be the most commercially prosperous acropolis in the entire Ming Dynasty. There is no county in this place.

Therefore, all businesses in this city were monopolized by the guards and local officials, some monopolized cattle and horses, some monopolized fruits and vegetables, and some monopolized tassels.

Before Hu Yuan, Chen Shifo just mentioned pawnshops. There are more than 80 pawnshops in Xining City, and each pawnshop pays the imperial court a pawn tax deed of five taels of silver every year, and there are more than 400 taels.

In addition to regular grain and regular taxes, in most counties in the mainland, the addition of various miscellaneous taxes will not reach 2000 taels a year.

In the words of Chen Shifo, the chieftains in Xining are divided into three classes. The first class can build a big Buddha temple, and the living Buddha is transferred to their family from generation to generation. They have the final say on the price of goods; the third-class chieftain follows others.

Liu Chengzong asked: "Then what kind of business does your family monopolize?"

"What kind of business does the commander-in-chief think our family can monopolize? If my family can monopolize a business, how dare I tell the commander-in-chief about it?"

Chen Shifu laughed at himself and said: "My family doesn't even keep a pile of sheep and horse manure. We only open a small pawn shop and give out interest money to people. No one deposits money in our house, so there is no big money and we can't release it."

Liu Chengzong said: "How do you calculate the interest?"

"Borrowing money from outside is a monthly interest of three cents; receiving money from others is generally one cent and five cents a month." As he spoke, Chen Shifo had a complicated expression: "Little chieftain, no one goes to our pawnshop put money."

Liu Chengzong did the math, it's okay for them to put money in this pawn shop, and the interest is really not too high.

But this chieftain of the Chen family is really worrying: "They are all chieftains. Others monopolize the market and build temples extensively. Your family has been around for more than 200 years. How did you become like this? No one puts money into your house when you open a pawn shop." .”

"Then what should we do?"

Chen Shifo said: "Who is not a chieftain anymore? There are more than 40 commanding envoys in Xining. Our family has not given actual instruction for several generations. We sent troops to Huangzhong earlier, and it was not our turn to send troops. We couldn't even afford to hire a Mr. Juren." .”

Liu Chengzong wondered: "Isn't the chieftain's son able to enter Confucianism?"

"The eldest son can, but my elder brother studies Confucianism over there. I can't, so I can only go to the temple to learn. In the temple, I also know my background. There are three, six, and nine grades. The children of rich families study every day, and the children of poor families do odd jobs every day. "

Chen Shifo said: "In fact, the people in the middle are more sad. I can't earn rewards with noble lamas like poor monks, but the offerings in the temple are not enough to eat and spend. It is difficult to study quietly, so I can only make a living by myself. .”

"Do a funeral for someone, come to the door on time to copy the scriptures, and earn some money to spend."

As he spoke, he didn't know what Chen Shifo was thinking of. He showed emotion and didn't say any more. He just pointed to the facade of the East Street and said, "You can open a pawn shop there. The capital is strong and profitable."

Liu Chengzong does business without capital, so he doesn't think much of this kind of business that requires capital, and he is not interested in such topics.

However, he was very curious about the two brothers of the Chen family. They seemed to have fallen into the trap of money, and they were thousands of miles away from the chieftain he imagined.

Immediately, he said to Hu Yuan who was walking beside him: "Tell me, you said you got the land deed here, and you said just now that you don't know how I do things. Does this have anything to do with buying the land deed?"

"Master, it's very important. It depends on how you want to pay."

After speaking, Hu Yuan glanced at Cao Huachun, and said to Liu Chengzong: "How about the commander-in-chief take me forward, it's not easy to talk about."

Liu Chengzong laughed, rode his horse forward, and walked a few steps in the team.

Hu Yuandao: "This place belongs to Xiningwei. Others want it, but the main one who can grab it from the commander in chief is Chieftain Li of Dongbo's Mansion. He can't take it, but he can file a complaint against the commander in Lanzhou. .”

"So I have three ideas. The first is to buy it by force. Let Sufan come forward and buy this land. It will cost about 8000 taels. The second is to occupy it by force, without paying a penny. The chieftain will definitely sue, but I don’t think the commander-in-chief is afraid.”

"The third is to bribe Chieftain Li and make this land into a warehouse together. The large area on the west of Hongxue Street is used as the warehouse of the general, and the east is the warehouse of Xiningwei. There are more than 1000 shops along the street in the east. The rent is calculated for Xiningwei, and the villain thinks that [-] taels is enough to bribe him."

Liu Chengzong felt that it was unnecessary to buy hard.

Sooner or later, everything in this city will belong to him, and no one should pay others to buy things from his own house.

But this city is not his yet, and it is not appropriate to occupy it by force. Although Chieftain Li's family has only three hundred chieftain soldiers, the chieftain has a strong mobilization force, and he manages [-] households. If you are in a hurry, two households will be fined. Scary, no need to fight over this.

As for bribes, Liu Chengzong shook his head and said, "I heard Chieftain Chen say two days ago that Chieftain Li does not accept bribes."

"Yes, he won't accept it. After all, he is a big chieftain. If he brings money there, wouldn't he be a brothel actor? I remember that the commander-in-chief has a younger brother. Chieftain Li likes inkstones. There are many inkstones in his village."

"The inkstone is easy to handle."

Liu Chengzong was amused when he heard it, and his people snatched a lot of good things, at least dozens of all kinds of expensive inkstones: "According to what you said, my brother will transport him a cart of inkstones, and the matter will be settled?"

"It's not an inkstone, Commander." Hu Yuan said, "It's silver, 1000 taels of silver."

Liu Chengzong frowned and said, "You talk upside down, what are you doing with the inkstone?"

Hu Yuan saw that Liu Chengzong was in a hurry, and he was also very worried. The commander-in-chief was not on the same channel as him, so he simply said: "Well, the commander-in-chief asked the third master to watch the inkstone with me for a few days, and took me to Dongbo's mansion. I can send 1000 taels in, and I can also negotiate the matter.”

"How to deliver?"

"The third master learned the quality of the inkstone. In the past, he only said that he would visit Li Tusi's collection. The third master would fall in love with an inkstone in his house. He couldn't put it down and insisted on buying it. He paid a huge sum of money to ask Li Tusi to part with it."

"Don't you just send the money in? I've seen a lot of people in Pingliang who say that they don't accept bribes, but the whole world knows what they like."

Hu Yuan spread his hands and said: "Of course we won't tell him that we want to occupy it forever. Why not use it as a warehouse while Eunuch Cao is here, and let the third master say that the commander-in-chief will use the west side to store things and the east side to store Rent by people."

"What the commander-in-chief wants is to enter the arena, but as long as he enters, someone can let the commander-in-chief out? In other words, even if he wants the commander-in-chief to go out, the uncle is also the commander of the Xining Guard. Who will have the final say at that time? .”

Liu Chengzong took a serious look at Hu Yuan, he was not to be judged by his appearance, he was quite honest, he said: "Stay with me, just in Xining, save time to deal with chieftains, Sufan and officials of Lanzhou."

"Thanks to the handsome man for looking up."

Hu Yuan cupped his hands in a very formulaic way: "But the villain can't decide this matter. If the prince says the villain stays here, then the villain will stay here. If the prince tells the villain to go back, the villain has to go back."

"Okay, I'll tell him..."

At this moment, while Liu Chengzong was talking, he saw a light from the corner of the corner of the eye upstairs on North Street, which made him feel alarmed.

Immediately there was the sound of a broken string, he instinctively hid in the belly of the horse, a sharp arrow pierced through the air, rubbed the helmet and nailed it to the ground.

Behind him, Fan Sanlang pulled out the fire blunderbuss, bit the blunderbuss away, and without igniting the matchlock, held the blunderbuss in one hand and pressed the fire blunderbuss on the fire door with the other, and slammed the blunderbuss towards the upstairs.

A man upstairs lost his bow, held a sword and shield shortly, just dodged the gun, jumped on the railing of the building and jumped down, shouting: "Return General Li's order!"

Because of Liu Chengzong's conversation with Hu Yuan, the team spread out for more than ten steps, and there was no one on the left or right. As soon as the words fell, the person jumped down from the upstairs.

For a moment the troops were in chaos, the front guards retreated to help, the Jing army behind also protected Cao Huachun and retreated, while the cavalry galloped forward.

Liu Chengzong got up from his horse and saw that there was only one assassin, he frowned and drew his sword to kill him.

The man jumped to the side, just in time for Liu Shizi to swing his knife. First he raised his shield to block it, but Hong Qi opened his mouth and dragged him to the side. Then he raised his knife to block it, and Liu Chengzong scolded: "Where did the thief come from!"

“Xining Marco!”

As soon as he finished shouting, Fan Sanlang hit him with a pistol, and Ma Ke quickly raised his shield.

Liu Chengzong couldn't remember who this person was. Seeing that he was about to come up again, he loosened his stirrup and kicked on the shield, swung his knife and forced him back. Then he remembered that Ma Ke was Li Bei's subordinate, and said: "Li Bei Humble is not dead!"

For a moment, Ma Ke's movements froze. At this moment, the guards in front had already returned, and they were about to shoot him to death with random arrows. Liu Chengzong raised his arms to stop him and said, "Wait a minute!"

Then he said to Ma Ke: "Li Bei is not dead, put down your weapon, I will let you see him."

Ma Ke stood in a daze for a moment, and looked at Liu Chengzong with a very complicated expression on his face. Although he didn't drop the sword and shield, he was immediately tied up and thrown behind by the soldiers.

He had already forgotten about Li Bei, and he even became a thief once in Yulin, raising enough rations and travel expenses to go home, and then ran all the way back to Xining along the Great Wall.

Before returning home, I sent a letter, asking my family to try to find a relationship. Can I be transferred back to Xining? Yulin is too miserable.

Unexpectedly, because of the time difference when returning home, he did not receive the news of his father's death, and there was no one at home when he came back.

Suddenly, I felt that I could neither be loyal to the emperor nor be filial to my father. I usually thought that I was a person, but when I turned around, I found that I was actually an unfaithful and unfilial person.

At this time, I suddenly heard that Liu Chengzong was coming to Xining, so I thought of ambush.

In essence, it is right to avenge Li Bei, but to a large extent, he chooses revenge because life is boring.

After all, anyone with a little brain knows that even if an ambush position is preset, relying on him alone is courting death.

The ambush of Liu Chengzong may have two results, either the ambush succeeds or the ambush fails.

But he was dead anyway.

It's just that at this time, he suddenly heard that Li Bei was still alive, and suddenly realized that he was not only disloyal and filial, but also a fool... his mind was stunned.

The army continued to advance, and Liu Chengzong lost the desire to chat with others, so he only praised Fan Sanlang, who was holding a broken pistol: "It's okay, I will let the work post fix it for you later... What is this thing, I followed it from northern Shaanxi to Xining .”

On the other hand, Chen Shifo, who was leading the horse, was busy avoiding Ma Ke just now, and when he ran back, he just heard this sentence, and then said: "Marshal, he is from Xining. Son, I was hungry and went home last month."

"Oh, you're from Xining? Hey, it's not a bad thing. Marko helped me a lot."

Liu Chengzong shook his head and smiled, then turned his head and said to Fan Sanlang: "Sanlang, you go to the front to find Wei Qian'er, ask him to pass the message, and drive all the troops into the city. Street, ask Dai Daozi to take Tang Qi to block the school grounds in the southwest of the city."

Liu Chengzong looked back at Cao Huachun, who was still in shock, and said to Fan Sanlang: "Tell them, if you encounter obstacles on the road, just say a word, there are people in the city who assassinate angels, and the lion camp is ordered to search for the rest of the thieves. We know it well, we want to take over the city defense, it's best to catch me a few thieves and the rest of the party."

　Good evening!It's late to go home, and today's chapter is posted relatively late.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)