lady, please calm down

Chapter 234
On July [-]th, the vanguard of Caizhou's left-behind division met the enemy and killed Xu Tong, the leader of the rebel army.

Having won the first battle, Fan Gongzhi and Zhang Chunxiao who stayed in Xinxi County couldn't help being excited, they finally saw the dawn of quelling the chaos in Huaibei.

nineteenth.

Chen Chu led his troops to the outside of Yingzhou City.

Since the entry of the rebel army in the middle of last month, the four gates of Yingzhou City have been closed tightly, and people are not allowed to enter unless necessary.

It has been more than a month, and the city gate finally opened again.

Liao Siyi, the prefect, Guo Tao'er, the governor of the capital, and a group of civil and military officials, gentry and elders greeted him from the city.

"Brother Chen, I miss you so much after leaving the capital. I never expected to see my brother again in such a situation. I'm ashamed, ashamed."

"Chen Dutong defeated the rebellious army twice before and after, and now he is here with his relatives. At last, more than [-] people in Yingzhou City were saved!"

After Guo Taoer and Liao Siyi complimented and greeted each other one after another, the latter approached Chen Chu, showing embarrassment: "Dutong, the city is cramped, and it may be inconvenient for the army to enter the city. Please stay outside the city temporarily. I am from Yingzhou." The city has its own food, grass, pigs and sheep to reward the army"

It is normal for Liao Siyi to have concerns, the military discipline of the guest army has always been hard to say, he is afraid that he is worried that after six thousand tigers and wolves enter the city, they will loot and cause trouble.

Chen Chu didn't intend to let the army enter the city. After all, Yingzhou is a war zone. If the soldiers enter the city in case of an emergency, it will be difficult to gather them, and it will be difficult to deploy them.

Shen time.

Chen Chu led two teams of personal soldiers into the city, and the city was besieged for more than a month. The garbage accumulated in the city in the past month was piled up on street corners and behind houses like hills.

Crowds of beggars were rummaging for food on the rubbish mountain. On both sides of the road, every three to five steps, there were parents who sold their sons and daughters, with emaciated figures and numb expressions.

Seeing Chen Chu couldn't help frowning and looking at him, Liao Siyi winked at Guo Tao'er, who whispered a few words to the accompanying sergeant, and after a while, a group of Yingzhou soldiers pushed and shoved the nearby The beggars and hungry people who watched' were driven to the far corners.

So as not to spoil Chen Dutong's first impression of Yingzhou.

At Shen Shizhong, Chen Chu and the Yingzhou civil and military officials went to the second hall of the government office. They thought it was a military and political meeting. Unexpectedly, exquisite wine and food had been prepared in the second hall, and the dancers were already in place.

"Chen Dutong, floods and troubled people have come one after another, the city is in dire straits, and there is no time to prepare delicate, rough tea and light wine in a hurry, please don't be disgusted by Dutong."

Liao Siyi said politely.

This 'coarse tea and light wine' is much more particular than when Chen Chu was in Caizhou on weekdays.

When the guest of honor was seated, an old man in his fifties wearing a black silk gown smiled and clapped his hands, and then a woman of about twenty-nine years old stepped out from the back hall, and walked gracefully in front of Chen Chu, bowing her head. With a graceful bow, "My family has seen General Chen"

The old man laughed and said: "General, Miss Zhirou is the head of the flower planting hall in my mansion. I and other vulgar people usually have difficulty seeing her, but the girl has been fascinated by the general for a long time. This time I heard that the general rushed to help us in Yingzhou. , take the initiative to come to serve, the general must not disappoint the love of the beauty."

There was a fit of laughter in the hall.

It not only made Chen Chu feel the envy of everyone, but also did not appear too frivolous.

Chen Chu's eyes stayed on Zhirou's face for a while, then turned to look at the old man who talked more than the magistrate, and asked with a smile: "Dare to ask?"

"Oh, don't blame the general. I was so excited when I saw the general that I forgot to tell the general. The old man's surname is Wu, and his first name is Degao. The main family is the Wu family in Yingchuan, and the old man is in charge of Yingzhou."

This Wu Degao was humble, but when he mentioned 'Yingchuan Wu', he subconsciously puffed up his chest.

It seems that these three words have brought him great glory.

Chen Chu had also heard from Chen Jing'an that the Wu family was also a big family in Yingchuan, but compared to the famous and powerless Yingchuan Chen family, the Wu family was a well-known and powerful family.

Today's Wu Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment comes from this clan. Not only are there many descendants of the clan who are officials in Daqi, but the long history of King Hailing's palace in the Kingdom of Jin is also served by his Wu family.

It is the top official family of Daqi.

It's no wonder that a steward in the family is like a half-master in the government office.

After a while, let's open the table.

In the second hall of the government office, there was a moment of singing and dancing, and there was a staggering exchange of wine and chips.

In a trance, it was like a peaceful and prosperous age.

That Zhirou girl is also winking, she will send a few admiring glances from time to time, and she will specially pick some military affairs to chat about.

Chen Chu was perfunctory, and after drinking for three rounds, it was Wu Degao who looked for the opportunity to say: "General Chen, last month when thieves entered the country, my family's Jiaoyin shop and silk shop in Linquan County were looted by the rebels. The loss is not worth mentioning." Not heavy. I also heard that after the general defeated the bandits in Xiaojialing at the end of June, he seized a large amount of gold, silver and cloth."

"Mr. Wu, what do you want to say?" Chen Chu dropped the chopsticks in his hand and made a 'click' on the table.

The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became much colder.

However, none of the officials in Yingzhou came out to smooth things over.

The rebellious army has been raging in the territory for a month, and no one's property has lost any property. They want to see if Mr. Wu, who is backed by the Wu family's mountain, can get back some money.

If Mr. Wu can, they naturally have a chance too.

Wu Degao didn't expect that the young general would shake his face when he said it, and he felt a little unhappy. The bandit Wu Kaiyin's troops have no city foundation, and every time a city is broken, the huge amount of looted goods can only be transported with the army.

At the end of June, during the battle of Xiaojialing, the rebel army retreated, and the thieves were in a panic to save their lives, so they didn't care about the heavy belongings.

In short, after the war, more than [-] ox carts full of gold, silver and cloth were missing.

Who has the ability to swallow this treasure?

Besides Chen Dutong in front of him, who else could it be!
Wu Degao didn't intend to get it all back, but you, Chen Dutong, will make up for [-]% to [-]% of the loss of Wu's shop, right?
After all, you, Caizhou left-behind department, snatched back the property, so why don't you take the lion's share?

At this moment, it seemed that Chen Chu was a bit indifferent, so Wu Degao said bluntly: "The property seized by the general in Xiaojialing is accumulated by everyone for many years, if the general gets it."

"No capture. Xiaojialing only got [-] heads of the thief in the first battle. Should Guan Wu be in charge?"

This time Chen Chu didn't wait for Wu Degao to finish, so he interrupted: "Besides, our army owes you? If you want, why didn't you organize soldiers to snatch back when the thieves went west? I led my brothers to fight to death Come to rescue you Yingzhou, and ask me for money when we meet? Pooh, I don’t owe you.”

Seeing Chen Chu being aggressive, everyone in the hall made eye contact with each other, but no one spoke.

This is unreasonable. If we had the ability to ask the rebels for it, how could we let them snatch it away?We and you, Chen Chu, are both officials of Qi. No matter how you say it, we can be considered our own.

We ask you to return a little loss, is it too much?
It's too much!
Anyway, Chen Chu felt that it was too much. These cowards didn't dare to bark their teeth at the rebel army, but reached out to the friendly army immediately.

Why?

Just because your Wu family has a high official?

Not to mention Wu Degao, Wu Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice came personally, and Chen Chu also said the same thing: There is no separation!
The goods that Lao Tzu handed over will be used to reward brothers and make up for the huge shortfalls of Sihai Commercial Bank and Luliuxu Agricultural Reclamation due to supporting disaster relief and sending troops.

After chatting to this extent, naturally there is nothing left to say.

"Brother Chen, stay here, brother."

In Guo Tao'er's call, Chen Chu left the table and strode away.

Everyone in the hall looked at each other in blank dismay.

"Hey, forget it, the money went into the pockets of this class of soldiers, how can we get it back, let's admit it."

Someone sighed.

"Yeah, he doesn't even give Mr. Wu face, we are nothing to him."

Someone also secretly responded to Wu Degao.

Just now that kid actually called him 'Wu Guanshi', although he is indeed a steward, but in the boundary of Yingzhou, whoever saw him would not respectfully call him 'Mr. Wu, Wu Yuanwai'.

Wu Degao's face was cloudy and uncertain.

When Chen Chu left the government office, it was just Youshi, which was still early.

He was only half full, and originally planned to go out of the city and return to the camp, but changed his mind temporarily.

Yingzhou Yulin Lane.

In the spare time before dinner, Chang Dechang sat chatting with several neighbors under an elm tree outside the courtyard.

"Uncle Chang, you often boast that you had a drink with Chen Dutong at the Tongshan Watermelon Festival last year, and this time you led the army to help us in Yingzhou. Why don't you visit Chen Dutong in the barracks?"

A younger neighbor said with a smile.

Judging by that expression, I don't know whether to believe the old bragging.

"What do you know?"

Chang Dechang tapped the boy's head with his cattail leaf fan and said, "Master Dutong is busy with everything, how could I go ahead and bother him without knowing what's going on?"

"Hey, Old Chang, I'm afraid you can't even enter the gate of the barracks. If you know this high official, I'll eat dung tonight!"

Another neighbor scoffed.

Yulin Lane used to live in small businessmen, although they were not rich, they could be considered well-to-do, and everyone was pretty much the same.

But last year, Chang Dechang went to Tongshan, and then took out all his savings and borrowed some loan sharks to sell Tongshan watermelon, mouth fat, soap, and buy shares of Sihai Commercial Bank.
At that time, many people were waiting to see his jokes.

But he didn't want to, Lao Chang actually took advantage of this to soar into the sky.

This year, it even opened a directly-operated store of the Four Seas Commercial Bank in the city in the form of a joint venture.

In just a few months, he became a prominent figure in Yingzhou city.

Behind him, the neighbors call him the richest man in Yulin Lane
Some people admire, others are jealous.

But Lao Chang's business is getting bigger and bigger, so naturally there is nothing wrong with it, so some people often make fun of him by saying that he has had a drink with Chen Dutong.

Hearing the neighbor's sarcasm, Chang Dechang didn't explain, just laughed.

Next to him, there was a neighbor who looked quite stable. He sighed and said, "Now that the army has come and the siege of Yingzhou has been solved, I think the sky-high food prices should have come down."

When Chang Dechang heard the words, he also sighed for a while, because the joy of Yingzhou's rescue suddenly faded a lot.

The young neighbor said in a low voice: "But the city guards still don't allow us to leave the city today."

"So what if we go out of the city? The outside of the city was soaked in big water for half a month, and it was plowed several times by the rebel army. The outside of the city is not as good as the inside of the city. If the Wu family doesn't plunder our entire city, how can we lower the price of food?"

"Hush! You don't want to die, you dare to say anything"

While the few people were discussing in low voices, a large group of sergeants suddenly turned into the alley and walked towards the direction where the few people gathered.

The neighbor who said something bad about Wu's family just now was frightened out of his wits, thinking that the other party has a thousand li ears and sent someone to arrest him.

Chang Dechang, who was sitting under the elm tree, naturally noticed the person coming.

I took a look, it looks a little familiar
Rubbing his eyes quickly, his face became more familiar.

Chang Dechang didn't believe it, and subconsciously moved forward to meet him, wanting to see clearly.

"Old Chang! What are you doing?" When the neighbor saw this, he couldn't help but shouted in a low voice.

However, the general riding a red-maned horse in front of the sergeant suddenly laughed and said loudly: "Brother Chang, we said goodbye last year and haven't seen each other for more than a year. I miss you very much."

"Ah! You are really Lord Tutong! The wind has brought you here, hahaha."

"."

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Under the elm tree, all the neighbors were dumbfounded.

This old man actually knows Dutong!

Although Chang Dechang didn't know Chen Chu's purpose, he was very happy at this moment.

Back then, when he went to Tongshan to sell melons, Langshan charged him an outrageous heavy tax on the way.

Afterwards, Chen Chu helped him get it back, but he didn't even eat a glass of water and wine from him.

Later, he was trapped in the county town with Miao Kui, a businessman from Lin'an, because of the chaos of Tongshan by the sharp army, and he witnessed the defense of Tongshan all the way.

Now, he has earned a lot of money by doing business with Tongshan, and he has a special deep affection for Chen Chu and Tongshan in his heart.

Seeing Chen Chu's visit at this moment, he couldn't help but feel a sense of intimacy as a 'guest from his hometown', and he wanted to entertain him even if he wanted to.

"Haha, you don't have to hold on to me, brother. I'm here just to eat at my brother's house. I won't leave until I'm full."

"Hahaha, Dutong can come to my house, it's a villain's blessing, but it's a pity that Yingzhou doesn't have the blue bird beer that Dutong likes to eat"

Chang Dechang didn't let go of Chen Chu's hand, as if he was afraid that the latter would run away.

"No problem. I prepared some small gifts when I came, and I will visit your father and Ling Tang first."

"Haha, it's fine."

Seeing that Chen Chu has already become the governor of a prefecture, he is still courteous and thoughtful, just like he was the governor in Tongshan back then, and he is not at all neglected by the huge difference between the two, Chang Dechang laughed like a chrysanthemum.

When passing by the elm tree in front of the door, Chen Chu smiled and casually bowed his hands to the petrified neighbors.

Only then did the neighbors come to their senses, and hurriedly returned the salute and sang.

"Look, I just said that Brother Chang has been supported by a noble person!"

"That's right! Old Brother Chang really knows Chen Dutong! He said it back then, but you still didn't believe it!"

"Hey! Old Li, who said just now that brother Chang, if he knows Dutong, will eat dung tonight?"

"."

"Lao Li, my cesspit has long been overflowing. Shall I take you to taste the saltiness?"

"Hahaha"

Chen Chuyi paid homage to Chang Dechang's parents, and then the two sat in the backyard to eat and drink.

When Chen Chu asked why there were so many families selling their sons and daughters in the city, Chang Dechang hesitated for a moment before explaining in detail.

"The floods came suddenly and the people had no time to collect grain, so the government closed the city gate. All the grain in the city was in the government treasury and in the hands of several grain shops. On the day of the city closure, Wu Degao contacted several grain merchants to form a temporary guild. Grain is stockpiled and not sold.

Ten days after the closure of the city, most of the surplus food in the households of the common people ran out.The various grain shops have just started selling grain to the outside world, asking for thirty cents a catty."

"Thirty Wen a catty?"

Chen Chu said in astonishment.

In June and July, the summer grain has just been harvested and put into storage, which is said to be the lowest grain price of the year.

At this time in previous years, a catty would only cost around ten coins.

This year, due to floods, the price of grain has risen sharply, and the price of grain shops in Caizhou has also soared to [-] cents per catty.

Unexpectedly, this Yingzhou is even more ruthless, thirty cents a catty
Chang Dechang sighed, and said again: "That was only the price of grain when the city was closed for ten days. In the first ten days of this month, it has risen to seventy yuan per catty. When my wife went to buy grain the day before yesterday, the price of grain had already exceeded Hundred.
Even though my family has some savings, I still feel that I can't afford the outrageous price of food.Not to mention the poor households in the city. Even the family of Zhonghu can only pawn the fields outside the city in exchange for life rations, and then sell the houses in the city. When the fields and houses are sold out, they can only pawn their children.”

"paralysis."

Chen Chu couldn't hold it back, and immediately asked, "These people's fields, houses, and children were all bought by grain merchants like the Wu family."

"Yes. The price they offered was extremely low, but in order to keep their lives alive, the common people could only sell it to them at [-] to [-] percent of the market price."

Chang Dechang didn't want to say more about the Wu family to avoid getting into trouble, but Chen Chu came here today with full sincerity and finally said the truth: "After this flood and military disaster are over, half of the houses in Yingzhou City and the large tracts of fertile farmland outside the city will be destroyed." It will be owned by their family. I once heard that since the victory of the capital at Xiaojialing, Wu Degao's family had an all-night banquet."

Chen Chu was furious. With such insects, Huaibei would be considered a ghost if it was safe and sound!

I am not protecting these things!

(End of this chapter)