Lu Ming

Chapter 418
In the evening, several carts walked slowly on the dirt road to the old school.On the leading car, a 27-eight-year-old man with a short beard and a square face and flat eyebrows was leaning on the pile of sacks, with his hands in his sleeves, his head bowed and his neck curled up, enduring the cold wind from the north.

Lu Shui is a small official in the Bingbei Dao Yamen.In the morning, when Master Kong, the boss of the yamen, came back from the water village, he first scolded Qiu Ba in the hall, and then gave orders to his subordinates: send two thousand silver "grain and fodder" to the old school.

Hearing the word "grain and fodder", combined with the attitude of the boss before, the subordinates immediately understood.Then in the evening, the prepared "grain and fodder" was delivered by the little official Lu Shui.

After wandering for half an hour in the cold wind, Lu Shui, who was sitting on the shaft of the car, saw the dilapidated old school yard from afar.

However, what made him sit up in the cold wind were the sailboats parked in the nearby river.

Before this, a sailboat that attracted much attention appeared on the Haihe River from time to time, and now everyone is used to seeing it, and they will no longer watch it.But today, when Lu Shui saw a row of such tall and beautiful soft sailing boats at close range, he still couldn't help being amazed.

As the convoy continued to move forward, the little official's attention was diverted - he saw some people who should not be here.

Lu Shui knew most of these people, and they were all in charge of wealthy businessmen in the Dazhigu area.

These stewards, dressed in furs and accompanied by servants, are queuing up at the moment, waiting respectfully in front of the gate of the old school field, all of them holding name cards, it seems that they are all waiting to see you.

"Who has such a big face?" Lu Shui was shocked at this moment.You must know that these accountants are all people on the scene, and they deal with high-rollers and big businessmen who come and go from south to north on weekdays, and people like Lu Shui can't get along with them at all.But today, this group of people gathered in front of the old school field, which made it very difficult for the little official to understand.

Lu Shui, who was muttering in his heart, jumped out of the carriage the next moment: "We're at the door."

After seeing the convoy, two soldiers in green coats, armed with daggers and daggers in front of the gate of the old school field, came over: "What are you doing?"

"Send food and fodder."

"Wait."

While Lu Shui was waiting, he saw those who were in charge of the account room respectfully handing over the name cards to the two masters in front of the school gate.

"Zhe is a southerner?" Lu Shui, who has spent half his life in the commercial city of Tianjin, felt a little bit of taste at this moment: "Maybe some news has been missed in the past two days? No, I have to inquire about it when I go back. The surname is Cao!"

At this moment, accompanied by several green-coated soldiers, a middle-aged man in long robes and looking like a tent came out from the gate of the school grounds, followed by a group of militiamen.

After the middle-aged man came out, he had a brief acquaintance with Lu Shui, and ordered the package to be opened for inspection without further ado.So the sacks on several carts were unloaded.

"What's the total?" The middle-aged man, surnamed Bai, spoke idiomatic Mandarin, grabbed the grain in the sack and began to inspect it. .

Although Lu Shui was a small official, he was a hereditary official in the Ming Dynasty yamen, and he was also a local snake in charge of military rations, with a humble and powerful position.So when he usually distributes grain and rice to Qiu Ba, it is very annoying.

However, what he saw at the gate of the camp just now made Lu Shui's attitude much better at the moment: "The total number of white tents is [-] dan, half of beans and wheat. Well, only half of them were shipped today, and tomorrow It needs to be transported again.”

After the white tent heard this, he didn't say a word. He first inspected the handful of black beans in his hand, and then took a look at the wheat in the sack.After checking them one by one like this, the tent patted the dust off his hands, and then checked the documents and receipts that Lu Shui handed over.

After reading the documents, he sneered and said to Lu Shui: "It's all two-year-old wheat, mixed with buckwheat. Not to mention the bran, black beans actually accounted for half of it. About Tianjin Wei's soldiers, Do you eat black beans every day?"

Speaking of this, the white tent laughed viciously: "It's a hard life for northerners? Hehe, in the land under my general's jurisdiction, bad rice and black beans are used to feed animals!"

Lu Shui couldn't help curling his lips in his heart: the southern barbarian is hypocritical.

Today, these soybeans and wheat are not only old grain, but also the wheat has not been peeled, and a lot of black beans have been sent, which is a bit humiliating in it.But why did he do this, Lu Shui thinks, Nan Bing must be a bit forced in his heart - your boss and my boss are arguing like that, and you still expect to eat white noodles?
However, Lu Shui did not take over the pot after all, but threw the pot out with a gentle attitude: "The total amount of these grains and wheat is quite a lot, enough for two thousand silver, but the grains are a bit old. As for the reason, I You are inferior, and you are just listening to it, do you think General Cao knows the reasons for coming here?"

"Huh, of course it is clear." The white tent sneered again: "Forget it, the horse feed of 2000 taels of silver is considered to be cleared. But if there is any deduction in the total, then don't blame my general's marching method!"

"Don't dare, ten is enough!" Lu Shui's heart trembled at this moment: Logically speaking, no matter which army or horse is given food and grass on weekdays, there is always a [-]% discount according to the rules.However, today's fodder, regardless of its quality, is sufficient in terms of the market price.

What does this mean?Lu Shui thought: Master Kong, don't you dare to go too far?
The next moment, Lu Shuifu, who had gone through everything he saw and heard today in his mind like lightning, made the most important action in his life.

I saw him arching his hands, with a dissatisfied expression on his face: "Oh, to be honest, Brother Bai, my lord has really gone too far. They are all soldiers who are going to battle, and they don't even have a good meal, alas!"

"Oh?" Hearing what Lu Shui said, the white tent raised his eyebrows with interest.

Lu Shui then smiled, and then stretched out two fingers: "I have two thousand catties of high-quality fine noodles, all of which are new wheat this year. If General Cao is interested, I would like to sell at [-]% of the market price. "

Hearing this, the white tent looked at Lu Shui with his hands behind his back, and then asked with a half-smile, "Maybe it's also the military supplies in the official treasury?"

"Hehe, Brother Bai is a sensible person." Lu Shui laughed dryly and then said, "Brother Bai please keep quiet about this matter. I have a low official position, and I only have two thousand catties to call."

"I will report this matter to my superiors." Bai Zhangfang's attitude softened a lot at this moment: "Well, I understand friend Lu's kindness, and we will get closer in the future."

"That's for sure, for sure!"

Lu Shui left the old school in this way, and used his accumulated authority in exchange for some illusory good intentions, and he didn't know whether he was gaining or losing.

But the problem was soon cleared up.After Lu Shui came home at night, he told his retired father about today's incident, and then the father and son went out to find someone.

The Lu family is an old aborigine in Acropolis, so it was quick to inquire about something.What's more, this matter has begun to spread. After all, so many big companies are taking action, and interested people are asking.

So that night, the Lu family's father and son figured out one thing: all the "pretty goods" that have been transited through Tianjin in recent years were all written by General Cao.

"Hahahaha." Lu Shui, who found out what happened, patted his legs and laughed loudly at home: "It turns out that the God of Wealth has arrived, no wonder, no wonder!"

Lu's father, who was over 50 years old, also clapped his hands aside: "Master Kong has hit the iron plate, you can't be messed up, tomorrow is a good time to curry favor with errands, our old Lu family may have a fortune!"

"I know, I know!"

Early the next morning, Lu Shui energetically organized his servants to start loading the cars.On this trip, he not only packed all the soybeans and wheat that he pulled yesterday, but also packed two thousand catties of high-quality flour that he had worked so hard to replace little by little with moldy rice and rotten wheat, and transported them all to the old school yard.

He didn't want to wait until he got to the Ziya River to find that the early birds were everywhere.

Along the long river bank, the cargo ships at the end of the title are connected in a line, all of which are piled up with rice and grain.Along the river, there are not only grain ships, but also those who transport live pigs and sheep, cabbage and pickled vegetables.

Lu Shui usually messed around in the grain piles, and he could tell at a glance whose cargo flags on the bows belonged to which firm; even by looking at the sacks, he could guess what kind of goods were inside.

So he walked all the way, his eyelids kept twitching: These ships are almost all private ships of the big businessmen who came to post yesterday.It not only has polished rice from the south, but also expensive Taicang white grain. In addition, it also has refined noodles from the north, which are of the same grade as the ones on his cart.

"It's a pity that Master Kong still wants to make a fuss about food and grass." Lu Shui sighed and rushed to the old school field.

When approaching the door, the scene of queuing up yesterday reappeared, but the queuing was replaced by the big businessmen themselves.

All of these wealthy merchants are prominent figures in Dazhigu.At this moment, these elders are sitting firmly in their carriages, holding the stove in their hands, and beside them are the "insulated pots" and teacups shipped from the south, waiting patiently to enter the old school yard.

After seeing this scene, Lu Shui no longer had any doubts, and happily sent all the food and fodder he brought to the old school yard.

Then when he entered the old school grounds, he found that the dilapidated school grounds were already in full swing.

Many craftsmen were repairing the schoolyard wall with their apprentices and small workers. The ground was filled with green bricks and cement at some point.

There are also some craftsmen who are digging the foundation, obviously planning to build a new house.And outside the school yard wall, on the mud flat to the west, teams of militiamen are pushing earth and rocks with small carts to pad the ground, it seems that they intend to raise this useless low-lying land.

"It's really rich that can turn ghosts!" Lu Shui sighed, and delivered the goods with the white tent.

What he didn't expect was that not only did the white tent not take advantage of him afterwards, but also gave him the full amount of money to buy the noodles according to the normal market price.

That's not all.When Lu Shui received the money, he was led to a line in front of a dilapidated house on the school grounds.

This made Lu Shui very flattered - at this moment, there were wealthy businessmen lined up in front of and behind him.

After a while, Lu Shui was put into the house by the green-coated soldiers holding firecrackers.

Then he saw two tall, fair, businessman-like middle-aged men sitting side by side behind the table.

(End of this chapter)