National color raw owl

Anguo Gongfu.

As the mansion of the most important minister of the empire, you would not feel how well-defended the mansion is from the outside of the mansion. Except for a few more guards outside the mansion gate, it is not much more heavily guarded than ordinary officials.

But those who know the details are very clear that the inside of this mansion can be called a trap every step of the way. Once anyone steps into this mansion, every step they take is completely under the supervision of the eyes of the mansion, and guess what? You can't tell how many pairs of eyes are staring at you in the dark, and you can't even guess how many crossbow arrows are pointing at your vitals.

Every big family will have family servants, not to mention Beijing officials, almost all have family guards, but when it comes to the strength of the guards, naturally there is no one like the mansion of An Guogong.

Very few people know that the guardian guard of An Guogong's mansion is not an ordinary character, Huang Tiandu is the commander of Wu Jingwei, the soldiers of Wu Jingwei, among the twelve guards on the left and right, he is the most powerful and the best equipped. In the Duke An's mansion, there are actually a lot of guards who are selected by Huang Tian from the Wujing Guards. They are all elite warriors, and they know the origins of these people well, and they are very loyal. In the Duke An's mansion, Even an ordinary domestic servant serving tea and water, don't underestimate his skill, let alone the security guard in charge of An Guogong's mansion.

"Is it Lang Wuxu's idea to borrow money to buy grain?" An Guogong Huang Ju held a wolf pen in his hand and wrote like a snake on the paper. Although he was nearly seventy years old and his face was covered with marks carved by the years, that A pair of eyes still have brilliance.

Huang Tiandu Dama Jindao sat on a chair next to him, while Hubu Shangshu Hu Bufan sat on the lower head with half of his buttocks, with a respectful expression and a straight back.

"Yes." Hu Bufan said cautiously: "Ouyang Zhi proposed that the Ministry of Households allocate money to buy grain with a lot of money, but the money in the treasury is too much to deal with. If the rice and grain in the Jianghuai area are collected, it will be a huge sum of money. For the huge amount, Lang Wuxu suggested that the Ministry of Households should come forward and ask the Department of Households of Jianghuai to issue an IOU to purchase grain."

An Guogong didn't look up either, he still splashed ink and painted with elegance, and asked: "Then what do you think should be done properly? Is it an IOU, or a transfer of money?"

Hu Bufan hesitated for a moment, and then said cautiously: "I think that if I can collect all the grain and grass with an IOU, that would be the best policy... However, I am not a blunt official, so I would like to ask the old man to give me some advice if I come here today. , the old duke is extremely wise, and you have always made up your mind, so the next official will have a bottom line in his mind."

An Guogong didn't answer immediately, he turned his wrist flexibly a few times, then gently put down the wolf hair brush, stroked his white beard, looked at his painting, raised his head and said to Hu Bufan: "Bufan, come and have a look, old man How about this painting?"

Huang Tian frowned, and said anxiously: "Father, what time is it, it's important to discuss the business...!" Before he finished speaking, An Guogong glanced at him sideways, and said with a frown: "If you want to plan, slow down. You are in your 40s, and you are still so impatient in doing things, how can you become a great weapon?" There was a bit of dissatisfaction between his brows, although Huang Tiandu is also a high-ranking figure in the empire, he still respects An Guogong very much When An Guogong said this, he didn't dare to say more.

Hu Bufan got up, walked over respectfully, carefully looked at the painting on the table, gave a thumbs up and said: "Okay, okay. The old man's painting is really a wonderful work."

"Oh?" An Guogong stroked his beard and smiled, "What's so good about it?"

Hu Bufan pointed to the painting and said: "The mountain is majestic, the trees are lingering, and the big river on the side of the mountain winds and flows. Well, the person carrying the water seems to be a monk. In the majestic momentum, he also has the ethereal spirit of a monk. Qi is beyond words, such a painting can only be drawn by the old man with a pen in the sky."

An Guogong looked calm, and still asked with a smile: "Other than that?"

"Besides that...!" Hu Bufan smiled awkwardly, and said, "I'm a blunt official, so I'd like to ask the old man to give me some pointers."

"Hidden Temple!" An Guogong said calmly: "You don't look at the watch when you look at the painting, you have to look at the meaning hidden in it. You only see mountains, you see water, and you see a monk carrying water. Have you ever seen a temple?"

Hu Bufan was stunned for a moment, looked at it a few more times, and finally understood: "There is no temple in the painting, but there are monks carrying water, which means that the temple is not far away, hidden among the deep mountains and forests."

An Guogong nodded with a smile, and said, "That's right. When some things come, don't just be confused by the appearance, throw away the appearance, and discover the opportunities and secrets hidden in it. This is the most important thing." Signaled Hu Bufan Sitting down, he himself sat down on the big nanmu chair, his expression became serious, and he asked, "Bufan, do you think I should issue an IOU to buy food?"

"This... I still need to ask the old man to give me some pointers!"

Huang Tiandu interjected, "Totally confused."

"Why?" An Guogong looked at Huang Tiandu.

Huang Tiandu sneered and said, "Tianmen's bandits and mobs, it's not difficult to put them down, but if it's really an excuse to buy food, I can say that the Jianghuai Rebellion must have more twists and turns, maybe it won't be put down every three or two years. "

Hu Bufan's forehead was sweating, and he hurriedly said: "What the second master said is true!"

An Guogong had three sons, Huang Tiandu was the second. The Huang family came from Anyi. The eldest son is now an official in Anyi. Although the third son is an official in the court, his ability is limited. He is a dude. The most important thing is the second son, Huang Tiandu. In private, many officials call Huang Tiandu the second master, which also shows the status of the Huang clan in the Great Qin Empire.

An Guogong stared at Huang Tiandu and asked, "Why did you say that?"

Huang Tian was also very happy, and said: "Father, we used to be powerful in Anyi. You know one thing very well. In our eyes, the so-called borrowing by the government has never been different from robbing. You also said back then that we The Huang family used to be the richest man in Anyi County, and they seemed to have a lot of prestige, but there was no pressure from the officials. It was called borrowing, and if there was a loan, it was repaid, and the IOUs were left to us in a serious manner, but those IOUs later rotted. It turned into powder, and I don’t see half of the repayment from the government.”

Hu Bufan said with some embarrassment: "Second Master, our household department will issue an IOU, it won't be like that!"

"You won't, but the Jianghuai clan will believe it?" Huang Tian shook his head and said, "They won't believe it, they will only think that you are taking advantage of the fire to rob them and rob them of food in disguise."

Huang Tian was born in a powerful family, so he naturally knows the thoughts of the local powerful people best.

Hu Bufan showed nervousness.

"I can conclude that if it is true to borrow money to buy grain, there must be many powerful figures in Jianghuai who will part ways with the imperial court." At this time, there were only three people in the study, and Huang Tian didn't have any scruples about talking here: "If I am now He is a clan of the Jianghuai family. He has a large amount of food in his hands, but the government wants to borrow money to buy food. I am the first to refuse to accept it. Even if I don’t really wave the flag to rebel, I will definitely give the government some color in secret. They want food? I would rather go and fight Tianmendao negotiated and sold them grain at a low price, and Tianmendao was also short of grain, so I don’t believe they don’t want grain.”

"Shut up!" An Guogong shouted coldly.

Huang Tian stopped talking a little bit unconvinced.

Hu Bufan said embarrassingly: "The meaning of the second master, I understand. Let's let go of this matter of borrowing money to buy grain. I will try to find another way. If it doesn't work, I will allocate a sum of money and ask the Jianghuai Household Department to send someone to deal with it. All the grain merchants and gentry should discuss carefully, and the price should not be too high, neither embarrassing the court nor making them lose money."

An Guogong asked calmly: "Are you going to ask the Ministry of Households to pay for the purchase of grain?"

Hu Bufan hurriedly said: "What the second master said makes sense. The lower official was confused before and couldn't figure it out. After the second master gave advice, the lower official suddenly understood, so...!"

"He is confused, and you are also confused?" An Guogong did not wait for Hu Bufan to finish speaking, and said calmly: "Just now I let you look at this painting, and thought you understood something, but now it seems that you are still ignorant."

Hu Bufan's mind was a little confused, he opened his mouth, but couldn't speak.

An Guogong took a look at Huang Tiandu, and said calmly: "Are you so anxious to let the Jianghuai Rebellion be put down quickly?"

Huang Tian was stunned, and said puzzledly: "Father, does Jianghuai still want to let it go into chaos? Jianghuai is the Great Qin's granary, if the Tianmen's rebellion can't be quelled quickly, the state treasury's granary will definitely be empty. In [-], there must be a food crisis in the empire.” After a pause, he continued: “As far as I know, not only Jianghuai, but also Donghai and Jinling have Tianmen Daoist activities. Let the Tianmen Dao gain power, and the Tianmen Daoists in Donghai and Jinling may not be too long to revolt. The Jianghuai Rebellion is a fire, and the court must extinguish the fire before it burns, or wait until the fire burns. It is getting more and more prosperous, and the consequences are really unimaginable...!"

An Guogong leaned back on the chair, quietly waiting for Huang Tian to finish speaking, and then asked lightly: "Are you finished?" He stroked his beard and said: "Don't look at the chaos in the Jianghuai area, mobs, it can't make a big climate, but the chaos in the Jianghuai area, But it’s a great opportunity.”

"Opportunity?" Hu Bufan wondered, "Old Duke, where do you start with this?"

An Guogong said calmly: "I hope that the Jianghuai fire will burn more vigorously. Now the governor of Jianghuai, Liu Shengkui and Cheng Song, can control the situation. It's just that if this fire burns a little longer, even the East China Sea will be burned in. Then Just relying on Liu Shengkui's ability and the others, I'm afraid it will be difficult to sustain the overall situation."

Huang Tiandu and Hu Bufan glanced at each other, they were both a little dazed, they couldn't figure out the meaning of An Guogong's words at all.

Duke An naturally saw the confusion of the two of them, he just smiled lightly, and said: "They can't hold on, the imperial court will always send people to clean up the mess...!" He paused, thoughtful, but didn't follow Let’s talk about this topic directly, but like Hu Bufan said: "Bufan, when you go back tonight, you will draft a brochure overnight and submit it to the provincial government, um... In this way, let Lang Wuxu wait for a few important members of the household department to draft together. The papers come up, not to mention anything else, just to suggest that the imperial court borrow a loan to buy grain!"

Huang Tian opened his eyes wide and said, "Father, you... are you really going to do this?"

An Guogong caressed his beard and said: "This old man decided to do this."

"Why is this so?" Huang Tian was puzzled, he had clearly seen the danger in it, it would only make the fire of Jianghuai chaos burn more and more, but why did An Guogong not choose to put out the fire with water, but to use fire instead? Add oil.