Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

Chapter 220 4.16 The business of Beidi Branch must be arranged in advance

Volume Four

4.16 Northland branch business must be arranged in advance

June 27, Xiwuying Hotel in Beijing.

"I've seen Mr. Zhou!" At this time, people were crowded together in the backyard of the hotel. The total number was over half a hundred. All the shopkeepers of the Xuezihao in the Gyeonggi area were present, and a few were from the larger county towns. The person in charge was headed by Zhang Dehui, but this time the situation was a bit special, because standing side by side with him in front was Yang Xin, the old shopkeeper of Wuying Tavern.

"The main reason for calling you together today must have been guessed by you." Zhou Yang did not arrange such procedures as "sit down". Even if these people stood for a long time, they were already sweating profusely in the hot June. At the end of this month or the beginning of August, I will take up my post in Xiangbei Province. The business of the northern branch must be arranged in advance.

Today, I will also say something ugly in front of you. Most of you are old people of Xue Zihao, and many of you have followed your father-in-law. Logically speaking, you should take care of some, but the Xue family has the final say in the business of Xue Zihao, you guys. If you do a good job, you will naturally be rewarded; but if you stretch your hand too long, don't blame me for interrupting it! "

"I don't dare!" Everyone in front of them knelt down in an uproar.

"Huh, don't you dare?" Zhou Yang smiled coldly, causing many people below to break into cold sweats, "Shop Manager Zhao of Baoding Prefecture, why was nearly [-]% of the income missing from last month's accounts? I specifically asked the Jinmen branch No., the quantity you purchased last month not only did not decrease, but even increased by nearly [-]%, I wonder what you have to explain?"

"Master Zhou, this slave has been wronged!" Shopkeeper Zhao said with a pale face and kept kowtowing, "The markets in Baoding Prefecture and Cangzhou Prefecture are already chaotic, with many gangs and gangs. If I don't give up part of my business, where is the Snow Brand?" The road will be blocked, not to mention the gang war in the city last month, the largest gang."

"Okay!" Zhou Yang nodded, indicating that he didn't need to say any more, "If you are honest, you only ate less than 500 taels in private, so I will spare you this time, and I will pay twice as much to Manager Zhang later. I'll fine you a silver and get another twenty bucks, and I'll spare your life, but I won't do it again, do you understand me?"

"Thank you Lord Zhou, thank you Lord Zhou!" Shopkeeper Zhao couldn't help kowtowing, so much that his forehead bled, but Zhou Yang just waved his hand and asked him to go out to receive the punishment.

"Just now it was Baoding Mansion, Shopkeeper Luo of Cangzhou Mansion, do you have any explanation?" Zhou Yang sneered and looked at the other shopkeeper who was trembling all over, "Cangzhou Mansion's income this year has been declining, but Jinmen The shipment record of the semicolon has been rising, I wonder if you have found someone who can save your life?"

"Lord Zhou, please spare my life. I have no choice but to do this. Cangzhou has a folk custom since ancient times."

"Shopkeeper Yang, tell me." Zhou Yang interrupted him with a cold snort, and said directly to Yang Xin, the shopkeeper of Wuying Hotel.

"Back to the young master, the Cangzhou branch has been hooking up with the envoy of Prince Zhongshun for half a year. He secretly changed hands of some goods and ate a lot of the difference. Then he deliberately falsely reported the loss when doing the accounting and took a large amount of money. I don't know the details. No, but based on the Jinmen branch shipment volume and Cangzhou market price comparison, at least more than 1 taels of revenue have been hacked in the past six months." Yang Xin replied respectfully.

"Okay, please take a few people to Cangzhou Mansion and check the accounts there from beginning to end. I want to be accurate down to every copper penny." Zhou Yang said in a cold tone, "Also, when I leave, Let Li Hu follow you, and you will recruit ten young people from Shilipu. Don't accidentally hurt others.

As for this scoundrel, you all happen to be here today, and I will also set an 'example' for you - Li Xiong, lead people to drag him out, kill him with a stick, and throw the body into a mass grave to feed the dogs; when he came, he was not With your son?Father and son will go on the road together! "

"Yes, uncle!" Li Xiong responded, and immediately came forward to drag him away.

"Master Zhou, Master Zhou, please spare your life -" Shopkeeper Luo screamed extremely miserably, but found that it was of no use at all, and immediately changed his face, "Master Zhou, you just heard that the relationship between this servant and Liu Changshi of the Zhongshun Prince's Palace is irreversible. I have earned a lot of money for the palace in the past six months. If you touch me, the palace will not do it."

"What are you doing standing still? Didn't you hear what I just said?" Seeing Li Xiong stop, Zhou Yang sneered and waved his hand for him to continue, and added a few words, "Shopkeeper Yang, when you went to Cangzhou Mansion, you came from Shili If the shop recruits ten more people, I will give you half of the original twenty soldiers. In addition to checking the accounts, don't forget to reunite Shopkeeper Luo's family!"

"Yes, Master!" Shopkeeper Yang's voice was obviously trembling.

"As for you, I won't name you one by one. I don't care whether you are dishonest in private. You don't need to explain. Shopkeeper Yang has finished investigating the Cangzhou Prefecture branch and will come to your place one by one. Take a trip." Zhou Yang said coldly, "Manager Zhang, don't forget to arrange the manpower to take over in Cangzhou Mansion."

"I understand!" Zhang Dehui replied with a cold sweat on his face. At the same time, the screams and beatings outside the gate reached everyone's ears. Everyone knew that the Luo family and his son were finished.

"You can also try to escape. I won't mention any rules about runaway slaves." Zhou Yang looked at the shopkeepers and continued, "Even if you don't know how much silver Xue Zihao has, you can guess some. There are people in the world. How many people have nothing but a sword and a life? You also understand that as long as I set a reward, you can all figure out the outcome. Is there any problem?"

"Master Zhou, have mercy on me!" At least one-third of the shopkeepers all started kowtow. "Very good!" Zhou Yang's tone was cold, but he deliberately gave Zhang Dehui a wink, "It seems that you are really tired of living. Today I will go on a killing spree to let the remaining people..."

"Ahem, sir, calm down!" After finishing killing the chicken to scare the monkeys and singing "Black Face, White Face, White Face," it was natural for someone to come out and sing the red face. Zhang Dehui said with a nervous look, "All the shopkeepers are old people at home, although their hands are not clean this time. , but after all, after working for so many years, there is hard work without credit, right? If you dare, please ask me for a small punishment or a big warning."

"Oh?" Zhou Yang interrupted him coldly, "I wonder what kind of punishment Manager Zhang thinks should be used, huh?"

"Why don't we fine each family a thousand taels of silver and give them twenty slaps?" Zhang Dehui said carefully, "Master, you must know that the slaves are dishonest, so it's enough to kill one or two. If you really want to kill a dozen or even more at a time, Dozens of them, once word gets out, not to mention what outsiders will say, the uncle’s reputation will be ruined.”

"Huh?" Zhou Yang frowned, obviously thinking about it. He didn't speak, and no one else at the scene had the courage to open their mouths. For a moment, the only sound left in the yard was the sound of the Luo family's father and son wailing outside the gate.

"Uncle?" Zhang Dehui whispered after half a cup of tea.

"Do as you say, handle the matter cleanly, and get lost!" Zhou Yang snorted with a dissatisfied look on his face, but still chose to "keep things in peace", "Come back - I was going to explain to you what happened after I left, but I was almost beaten a few times You are such a stupid slave that you have forgotten that from now on, Manager Zhang will be in charge of the business in Beidi and Shopkeeper Yang will be responsible for supervising the accounts. Did you hear everything clearly?"

"Yes, Master Zhou!"

"Manager Zhang and Shopkeeper Yang stay, and the rest get out!" Zhou Yang waved his hand impatiently, and only when there were only three people left in the yard did he smile, "Okay, you two were pretty good just now. In the future, the business in the North will be hard for you?"

"I don't dare!" Zhang Dehui and Yang Xin quickly knelt down and kowtowed obsequiously.

Of course, what happened just now was "acting" with a purpose. In fact, it was not all acting. At least the two people from Baoding and Cangzhou Prefecture were really handled by Zhou Yang. The others were just hunting rabbits. The best one could be caught. I also asked them to be more honest, and I didn't expect them all to be clean. After all, adults all understand the rule of "when the water is clear, there will be no fish."

Most of the reason why he was able to deal with the problem so neatly was because of his change in status, because he was now a member of the imperial court, which completely opened the gap between him and these shopkeepers and businessmen, making them completely lose the courage to resist; If it had all depended on the Xue family's face before, it would have been able to scare him at most, but there would never be the intensity of killing him on the spot like today.

"Uncle, although the man surnamed Luo deserves to die, he has contact with Prince Zhongshun after all. Prince Zhongshun is in charge of the affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Xue family still has the status of imperial merchant. If anything happens, we will see what happens." Finished, Yang Xin said worriedly.

"Prince Zhongshun is His Majesty's confidant. It is absolutely impossible for him to fall out for a little money, but he must be careful." This was the first time Zhou Yang heard about the "large background plate" whose name was left in the original work. ", "Manager Zhang, we should have given Prince Zhongshun a sum of money for peace in previous years, right?"

"Sir, it's usually delivered once every quarter, 1 taels each time. The person in charge of reception over there is the Ambassador Liu just mentioned." Zhang Dehui quickly replied, "Just in time, at the end of this month or the beginning of next month, we will have another delivery. It should be delivered."

"Let's do this. You send it as usual this time, but double it, just for this one thing." Zhou Yang couldn't afford to offend opponents with royal backgrounds for the time being. "I'll ask for a famous post from His Highness Yongchang in two days, and you give me the money." We will take him with us when we arrive and have a chat with Ambassador Liu. I think Prince Zhongshun must still give him this little bit of face."

"Yes, sir!" Zhang Dehui heaved a sigh of relief, "But, why not use the relationship with Duke Qi?"

"Because the Chen family cannot be controlled." Zhou Yang sighed softly.

"I understand, little one!" Zhang Dehui's expression changed and he bowed respectfully.

Prince Zhongshun was considered the number one person in the royal family at the time, but he had a tendency to like masculine things. Originally, such "elegant matters" were not a problem in private, but during a court dispute in the Longwu Dynasty, he was dismissed by the then Rong. Duke Jia Daishan pointed him out on the spot, which directly caused his reputation to be ruined. In the end, the emperor gave up on his son.

From then on, Prince Zhongshun fought against Ning Rong and the Second Mansion, and also indirectly faced off against the four princes and eight princes. Over the years, the two sides have been going back and forth, and overall they are evenly matched. This is also Prince Zhongshun's biggest role in front of Emperor Yonghe, and he has a strong influence on the emperor. For the emperor, "balance" is the most important criterion for the court, so the loyal and obedient prince is naturally a "confidant".

Fortunately, the main enemy of the Zhongshun Palace is the Ningrong Palace. They just "don't deal with" the Four Kings and Eight Dukes camp, but there is no need to fight to the death. Just like the Snow Brand is now being protected by the Chen family, there is no need to fight against it. Seeing Prince Zhongshun revoke the Xue family's imperial merchant title, this is the most basic "tacit understanding" of a politician.

But if the famous post of the Duke of Qi is really used to point out the relationship between the Chen family, it will completely add fuel to the fire. For the sake of face, the Zhongshun Palace can only do its best to take action, then it is crazy!

(End of this chapter)