Became a feudal lord in the late Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 105 Adding Money
  In the eyes of Zhao Mingcheng and his wife, the owner of the fur shop was eccentric in every aspect, but in Chen Dong's eyes, Liu Ling gave him the feeling that he had no loss in big details and no small details.

Liu Ling took the braised chicken wrapped in lotus leaves from him, patted Chen Dong on the shoulder and asked him to write quickly.

"What do you want to write?"

Chen Dong took the brush angrily. The clerk was already sharpening the ink beside him, and Liu Ling began to give instructions unceremoniously.

When they smelled the aroma of braised chicken, several people around them swallowed their saliva in unison.

While the three of them were writing, Liu Ling stood leaning against the door frame. His strong figure made some women passing by couldn't help but take a few more glances, their reluctant eyes seeming to be stringing in the air.

The two waiters he sent out to buy wine and food never came back. Liu Ling was eating the braised chicken brought by Chen Dong. The aroma of the braised chicken reverberated between his lips and teeth. He spit out the chicken bones before he saw one of the waiters panicking. He ran back in a panic, carrying some wine and food in his hands.

Without waiting for Liu Ling to ask questions, he said anxiously: "Sir, something happened on the other side of the street. When two members of the party were eating in the restaurant's private room, they said they walked in with their front legs and the waiter went to deliver the food. He died inside, oh, the waiter was so scared."

"So, you just kept watching?"

"The main thing I'm looking at is the lady in charge of the store, her figure, tsk." When the waiter said this, he couldn't help but want to continue describing, but Liu Ling stretched out his hand and flicked it hard on his forehead, and he covered it in pain. His forehead was filled with tears.

"You are not a lady, hurry up and arrange the food and drinks. I'm going to treat you later, so be careful."

".Okay sir."

"By the way, where's another one?" Liu Ling remembered that he sent out two people.

"He'll be right behind him." The clerk hurried in. When Chen Dong saw Liu Ling looking outside, he threw down his pen and moved closer to Zhao Mingcheng and his wife to watch them paint, gradually showing a look of surprise.

Liu Ling sent the waiters in to serve the food and start the meal. He stood outside and watched for a while. It seemed that the two dead people were quite famous. Not only did a large group of soldiers pass by Liu Ling, he even saw a small group of Imperial City Division personnel. .

The place where the death occurred was a restaurant. After what happened, it is estimated that business will be impossible for a few days. Not only did people from the Forbidden Army Ban Zhi and the Imperial City Division enter, Liu Ling also caught a glimpse of two people wearing blue official robes from a distance. Yes, I don’t know what grade of official he is.

The restaurant was not far from Liu Ling's fur shop, so he even saw the "lady in charge" of the restaurant as mentioned by the waiter walking out, crying so hard that her chest trembled slightly with her body movements.

Well, there is no need to doubt Liu Ling's vision, after all, he is a marksman.

Immediately afterwards, after those Imperial City Department personnel walked around the restaurant, they separated from the crowd and walked straight towards Liu Ling.

Liu Ling: "."

The people headed by the Imperial City Secretary were wearing standard clothes and came over menacingly. Liu Ling was too lazy to cause trouble and threw a waist card directly at them before they could ask questions.

"Think it through before asking."

"What are you thinking about?" The man slapped his hand and knocked down the waistband with a handsome gesture. The waistband fell to the ground with a crisp sound. Seeing this scene, Liu Ling frowned slightly.

However, it was not that this person was deliberately being unruly. In fact, the two dead people were closely related. One of them was a relative of the then Minister of Household Affairs. He was in charge of a business in Beijing and had several shops under his control.

The minister of household affairs was named Han Mulu, who was Cai Quan's brother-in-law, and the latter was Cai Jing's youngest son.

As a result, the matter suddenly became extremely complicated, and the current power minister was vaguely involved. Even the Imperial City Secretary wanted to take care of the matter quickly.

"What's your surname, your place of origin, are you a fellow here, and who is your master? Tell me quickly!"

The middle-aged man saw Liu Ling's face becoming more and more joking, and immediately took a deep breath and said angrily: "To tell you the truth, someone just saw a man in black walking straight towards the backyard of your shop. If you don't hide it now, don't report it." , if you find out when the time comes, don’t regret it!”

He put his face close to Liu Ling's and lowered his voice:
  "Tell you, two people died in Xinfeng Tower!"

"Oh."

Liu Ling nodded, with a calm attitude, as if he just heard two eggs breaking.

He stretched out a finger and poked the man's chest, causing him to take a step back. Then he pointed at the waist tag on the ground: "I don't care what difficulties you have or what reasons you have, pick it up within three breaths." Get up, kneel and hand it to me, and I will let you go. Otherwise, I will ask King Yun to come over and explain to you in person, okay?"

When he heard the word "King Yun", the middle-aged man's expression immediately changed. He looked Liu Ling up and down. For a moment, he didn't dare to say anything. The obedient subordinate next to him took the initiative to pick up the waist badge. He only glanced at it and said hurriedly: "Liu Dalang is the king's brand."

Coincidentally, this middle-aged man also has the surname Liu.

The expression on Liu Dalang's face suddenly wrinkled into a chrysanthemum, uglier than crying. He turned around and looked at Liu Ling, who was about to say something. Liu Ling took the waist badge from the Imperial City officer, without even looking at him, and said casually. He ordered:
  "kneel."

"Who is this?"

"This man's name is Han Er. He is one of my staff. If the king has something to say, it doesn't matter. There is no need to pay attention to him."

King Yun glanced at Han Fang with suspicion and began to tell.

The two merchants who died in Xinfeng Tower were both grain merchants, and one of them had a close relationship with the Cai family. Recently, Northland merchants have been working hard to collect grain in the capital. These two people are the leaders among the Beijing merchants who have called for a joint boycott of Northland merchants.

In other words, Liu Ling, as the "master" of the merchants in the North, naturally had his dissatisfaction.

"Brother Liu, don't worry, some people must be deliberately slandering this matter!"

King Yun looked grim and said in a deep voice: "What's more, Brother Liu doesn't know that there are some people in the capital who want to persuade the officials to detain you in the capital. But don't worry, I will definitely take care of this matter for you!" "

After King Yun said goodbye and left, Liu Ling sat down and frowned, thinking. After a while, he asked: "Once those two people die, will no one in the capital dare to resist our harvest of grain?"

"good."

Han Fang nodded and asked: "Commander, how long do we have to stay in the capital?"

"I will ask again tomorrow. The people of Song Dynasty should also want to finish things as soon as possible. However, the conferring of officials, titles, and princesses are relatively complicated and cannot be completed in a few days."

What happened tonight was too hasty. Liu Ling originally planned to have a drink with Chen Dong and Zhao Mingcheng. Who knew what happened, so he had to send the waiter to send them back first. In addition to fur clothes and other things, there were also Two additional ancient paintings from the Tang Dynasty were given as gifts. After Zhao Mingcheng and his wife returned home, they looked at the gifts as if they were waking up from a dream.

Liu Ling thought for a while and then ordered: "Let people collect the food as soon as possible, no matter the price."

Han Fang nodded silently and looked at Liu Ling.

"what happened?"

"Actually, I have another plan that can give the commander a chance to return to Yandi immediately without having to stay here."

"What's the plan?"

Han Fang replied: "Send people back to Yan immediately and let Zhen Wuchen and others make some noise. The Song people will definitely keep everything simple and let the commander go back quickly."

"That's a way." Liu Ling pushed the pen and paper in front of him, "You write it now and I'll send someone out overnight."

Outside the shop, the entire street was cleared. A small group of Imperial City Division personnel were kneeling on their hands and knees outside, surrounded by their colleagues. When King Yun came out, he gave the leader Liu Dalang a hard kick. The latter was kicked over and quickly got up.

King Yun leaned down and whispered in his ear: "Who told you to do what happened tonight?"

Liu Dalang trembled all over, but then he felt cruel and replied: "Your Majesty, what happened tonight is probably no accident. It's just because of the identities of those two grain merchants."

"Snapped!"

King Yun raised his hand and slapped him, then stretched out his hand to rub Liu Dalang's red cheeks, and said gently: "Don't talk nonsense."

"Also, there are the two couples he sent back." Liu Dalang closed his eyes and said in a hoarse voice: "If it's not the one inside, then, it must be them. Yes, the younger one sent someone." After checking, we found that these two people are members of the Yuanyou Party, so this matter must be related to them!"

"A member of the Yuanyou party." King Yun stood up and subconsciously rubbed his fingers, thinking about the benefits to himself.

Liu Ling meant a lot to him. Not to mention anything else, the monthly income of 20,000 yuan was enough for King Yun to take the initiative to do many things for him. Therefore, Zhao Kai did not want to offend Liu Ling at all unless necessary, but when it came to Yuanyou Party members, it was a little different.

In November of the fifth year of Xuanhe last year, Zhao Guan's family paid a private visit to Prime Minister Wang Fu's house incognito. They went to the residences of Liang Shicheng and Wang Fu one night, and got very drunk. They missed five minutes before opening Longde. Gongfu walked back to the palace through the small gate. Along the way, there were servants with weapons to escort him. Banzhi imperial troops from all over the place gathered in the school grounds to prevent accidents.

The courtiers said that Zhao Guan's family was very drunk that night and only sobered up in the afternoon of the next day, so people's hearts gradually calmed down.

In fact, there were remnants of the Yuanyou Party who hid in Wang Fu's mansion that night and were kept as slaves incognito. When they saw Zhao Guan's house, the two remnants wanted to assassinate them, but they were immediately captured and killed. Later, I found out some details and found out that the two slaves were gifts from a relative of Cai Jing. Cai Jing went to the palace that day to apologize, but Zhao Guan's family did not have an attack at that time and told Cai Jing that nothing happened.

It's just that the relationship between the relative and Cai Jing was not very close, so he was naturally killed on other charges, and the matter was completely buried, so not many people knew about it.

After King Yun got on the carriage, his eyes suddenly opened.

He remembered that Cai Jing seemed to support the prince, right?
  The next few days were uneventful. Liu Ling went to the morning court again this time. Witnessed by many "dressed beasts" in the court hall, he listened to a lot of nonsense before hearing the main topic.

"The defense of Zhuozhou greatly comforts me because Liu Linggong is loyal to the country. Therefore, I am promoting the Zhenyuan Army as a military envoy and granting the title of Founding Marquis of Guangyang County!"

In addition, there seems to be a title of Taiwei. Apart from the title, most of the other matters are actually handled according to the old practice of awarding Medicine Master Guo before, followed by a marriage grant. Anyway, it is a whole series of eloquent of diction.

Next, although the wedding was carried out according to Shang Diji's ceremony, everything was kept simple, except that Liu Ling added a consort to his official title.

Everything seemed rushed.

After Liu Ling returned to the post house, Han Fang hurriedly greeted him.

"The messenger I sent is back?" Liu Ling was a little confused. It had only been a few days, and there was a thousand miles between Yandi and Bianjing. How could he have come back?

But what happened today also made him smell it immediately - something might have happened in Yandi, otherwise Song people's character would not be so straightforward.

"The Lord of Liao led his army to invade Wuzhou. Guo Yaoshi led his lone army out of the Great Wall to the north, detoured all the way, joined forces with the Lord of Liao, and defeated the Jin general Zaima's tribe; the Xia people raised their troops to invade Shuozhou; the Jin people sent envoys He entered the Xuanfu Division in Hebei and demanded the 200,000 shi of grain agreed upon by the two sides during the peace talks in the fourth year of Xuanhe. It seems that the Song people refused, and they are marching to the Yan area."

Liu Ling had already arranged for informants everywhere, and the merchants under him had slowly spread the business. He used these merchants to convey the news fairly quickly.

The news that Han Fang read was passed on by merchants.

Liao, Jin, Xixia.

The three parties once again started to stir up trouble around Yanshan Mansion and Yunzhong Mansion.

"The previous suggestions made by the servant to the commander-in-chief seemed to be superfluous, but since something happened to Yan Yun, the Song Dynasty court must hope that the commander-in-chief will return to take charge of the overall situation. In this way, when you leave, you can still Ask for more money, food, and goods from the Song people." Han Fang's eyes were a little excited, and he encouraged Liu Ling to chop the Song people again.

"You don't need to tell me this, I understand."

While he was talking, someone knocked on the door outside. Han Fang walked over and opened the door and saw that it was Han Shizhong.

After Han Shizhong saw Liu Ling, he immediately said: "Commander, a servant sent a letter, asking the commander to save their master and wife."

"I don't know anyone in the capital. Wait, what's the surname of their owner?"

Han Shizhong replied: "It is said that his surname is Zhao."

"Tsk." Liu Ling suddenly frowned.

The imperial court gave them what they asked for. Anyway, they were visibly urging Liu Ling to leave Beijing and go to Yandi.

King Yun really didn't want to meet Liu Ling again at this time. As soon as he sat down, he urged: "Brother Liu, if you have anything to say, please tell me quickly. I'm very busy."

"Ten thousand guan a month."

"What?" Zhao Kai was stunned for a moment and quickly realized what Liu Ling meant.

"Didn't you say twenty thousand dollars a month?"

"Your Majesty." Liu Ling waved to him. Zhao Kai was stunned for a moment and leaned his head over. Liu Ling whispered in his ear: "I will give you money and you will do something for me. We both know what we are doing." trade."

"Yes, I'll help you settle that matter." Zhao Kai sounded a little confused.

"No, you got my friend."

Zhao Kai's eyes flashed and he realized who Liu Ling was talking about, "They are members of the Yuanyou Party. The water here is very deep. Don't get involved."

"Five thousand guan a month."

Liu Ling didn't care what he said at all, he replied lazily, and looking at Zhao Kai's face, he added: "Next, I can give you not a cent, or I can give you tens of thousands of dollars a month. This is the first thing I want you to do, Your Majesty, don’t let me down.”

"Also, before I leave the capital, I have to meet with the officials. Your Majesty, you don't want the officials to know that you have such a dirty relationship with me, right?"

Zhao Kai took a breath of air: "Are you threatening me?"

Liu Ling smiled and said nothing.

"I can promise you other things, but this is the only thing." Zhao Kai finally decided to speak more openly, "I want to use them to bring down someone."

"Cai?" Liu Ling spit out one word.

Zhao Kai didn't answer, just nodded silently.

"Then it won't be a problem." Liu Ling stood up, put his hand on King Yun's shoulder, and whispered: "Cai Jing, his son, the Minister of Household Affairs and others will undoubtedly fall this year. If you do it at this time, If you interfere, you are seeking death, do you understand?"

Historically, Cai Jing was forced to resign and become an official in the sixth year of Xuanhe, which was about this time. But King Yun Zhao Kai definitely didn't know. He just raised his head and looked at Liu Ling blankly, with a look of surprise and uncertainty on his face.

"Be good, let him go."

"Liu Ling, who do you think I am?! The Yuanyou Party members have ulterior motives. How can I be the one who is threatened? I will never do this once in a day." Zhao Kai's angry voice suddenly broke out Stopping, he saw Liu Ling put up three fingers.

"One month, thirty thousand guan."

"make a deal."

Liu Ling nodded, with a calm look that made Zhao Kai feel envious and jealous.

The imperial court officially allocated a small amount of money and food to Yandi. The remaining items, including dowries for the Zhenyuan Army, Liao princesses, converted money and food, and various miscellaneous rewards, added up to at least hundreds of thousands. Through.

What's more, Tong Guanzhen brought up the matter of building the Shanhaiguan Great Wall to the court. Now the court was divided into two factions, who were arguing. However, the prime minister resisted all opinions and asked the officials for permission, and then used a sum of money and food as "building the Great Wall". The expenses were allocated to Liu Ling.

Therefore, in fact, the 30,000 yuan given to Zhao Kai did not even require Liu Ling to pay for it himself.

Zhao Kai didn't know the twists and turns of this, so he rubbed Liu Ling's hand on his shoulder and said sternly: "Brother, I have already persuaded my father. When the situation in Yandi is calm, I will send my sister to you as soon as possible." .”

　I've had a fever for the past two days, and tonight I have a severe fever, and my thoughts are very confused. That's all. There are nearly 5,000 words in one chapter tonight, which is considered two updates.

　　On New Year's Day, I wish everyone good health and good night.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)