Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

Chapter 263 4.59 I hope they have more iron sand than Lao Tzu

Volume Four

4.59 I hope they have more iron sand than I do

"Old slave, I've seen Mr. Zhou!" As soon as Zhou Yang returned to his residence in the camp, Liu Chenggong, the shopkeeper of Daye Branch of Xue Brand, quickly knelt down and saluted.

It's quite interesting to say that when Zhou Yang was in the capital, headed by Zhang Dehui, the general person in charge of the Northland branch, most of the Xue people, or the servants of the Xue family's main house, called him "Uncle" or "Uncle" "Uncle", before he was awarded an official, there were others, such as "Master Zhou (Martial Arts Examiner)" or "Zhou Jinshi", but after he was awarded an official, there were no exceptions.

After arriving in Daye, the people of Nanfang Xue family, or the slaves of the second room of the Xue family, called him according to his official position, usually "Master Zhou" or "Zhou Qianhu", which is actually a close relationship. From afar, he is the uncle of the eldest brother of the Xue family, but he doesn't have much to do with the second eldest brother of the Xue family.

"Shopkeeper Liu, get up!" Zhou Yang waved his hand, took a seat in the main seat of the living room, and motioned for Zhao Yanling to get a small bench and put it down, "Don't be anxious, sit down and say, what is going on? I remember that as soon as I took office, let People let the relationship between me and Xue Zihao go out, how can there be people who don't have a good eye?"

"Back to the adults, the villain can't tell." Liu Cheng was very anxious, but also very at a loss, "This time it happened very suddenly. There was no sign yesterday. Everything in the shops is normal. Starting this morning, First, at the main office, the front desk clerk had a conflict with the guest, and soon he started to take action.

At first, the villain didn't take it seriously. He just thought it was an accident. The guest was obviously causing trouble, so he arranged for someone to beat him out. Not long after, he actually brought more than [-] people and smashed the main hall. He even said on the spot that anyone who dared to come to Xuezihao again would be the enemy of the Ye family! "

"Oh? Ye family?" Zhou Yang's expression turned cold, "That's awesome, are there any more?"

"At this point, the villain didn't actually pay much attention. He thought it was because the original guest had a big reputation and was tough, so he got angry and took revenge." Liu Cheng said puzzledly, "The villain was planning to inquire about it later. , and then find a matchmaker to match the situation, whether it is retaliation and compensation or giving money to settle matters, that's it anyway.

I didn't want to wait for the villain to clean up, but someone from the store below came to report that the storefront over there was also smashed. However, just after the hour, more than half of the semi-colons came to report, saying that they encountered troublemakers. , when the villain was still thinking about settling the matter and looking for the right person, someone from the newly built workshop actually sent someone to report that he was under siege. Fortunately, there were many people there and there was no loss. "

"Interesting!" Zhou Yang's expression was cold. If he couldn't guess that he was being plotted against, his life would be in vain. "Does Shopkeeper Liu know what the Ye family is?"

"Brother Zhou, the Ye family is the largest family in Daye. Even if you look at Wuchang Prefecture, it is ranked in the top five. If the previous Daye County magistrates cannot get the support of the Ye family, it will be difficult for the government orders to be passed smoothly." Without waiting. When Liu Cheng spoke, Zhao Qiying took over, "It stands to reason that the Ye family is not stupid, and they shouldn't be in trouble with us."

"What tricks are behind the Ye family?" Zhou Yang immediately thought that he had offended some powerful force.

"No way!" Zhao Qiying frowned and shook her head, "Although the Ye family has been running the local business for several generations, they have not heard of any big shots, but the population is quite prosperous - I wonder what news Shopkeeper Liu knows? "

"Shouldn't it?" Liu Cheng said blankly, "It's not been a day since Xuezihao has offended the Ye family? If there is really something to offend, they won't delay doing it until now!"

"Brother Zhou, what Shopkeeper Liu said is right." Zhao Qiying said immediately, "The Ye family is extremely powerful in Daye. As the saying goes, 'A strong dragon does not suppress the local snake'. For many years, no one has dared to provoke them, and they have also raised their fierce and domineering ones. As long as there is any conflict, they will not delay, nor will they pay attention to any middlemen or officials, but will eliminate it in the shortest possible time."

"What kind of business does the Ye family run?" Seeing that he couldn't touch the door, Zhou Yang was also a little impatient.

"Mainly mines and iron goods." Liu Cheng's expression changed, and he soon showed a look of realization. "You know, I know. In the past, Xue Zihao usually only collected some iron ore or iron ingots from here. This is equivalent to Sending money to the Ye family will naturally lead to peace of mind; starting from the end of last month, various branches have been selling iron goods and ironware."

"That's it!" Zhou Yang nodded, "The Ye family thinks that they are competing for business with them; also, the ironware you sell are all high-quality products shipped back from overseas. Whether it is quality or price, they should be the best." Is it more popular than the Ye family? No wonder they jumped over the wall and took action. It seems that the business of the shop is good these days? "

"That's true!" Liu Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, "My lord, please forgive me. As soon as I heard that the Ye family had taken action, I was so frightened that I lost my sense of control. This caused you trouble. In fact, as long as you understand the reason, this matter will not matter. Difficult to solve.”

"Oh?" This time it was Zhou Yang's turn to be surprised, "I wonder how Shopkeeper Liu plans to solve it?"

"The Ye family's action is just because they think we are stealing business." Liu Cheng said with a smile, "Then let's clear up the misunderstanding - the villain has received goods from the family's fleet three times and knows that the quality of our own ironware is better. However, the price is even lower. As long as we deliver it to the Ye family directly according to the market price after shipment, there will be no problem. Our cost is low, even if we ship according to the market price, we can still make a lot of profit; since we have returned We should take a step forward in exchange for the Ye family to give up some benefits. For example, Jinling has been asking me to collect more iron ore here, and there is no upper limit. We can take this opportunity to ask the Ye family to increase the supply, and even lower it. price."

"Sure enough, it's what businessmen do." Zhou Yang made a quick observation and found that the Zhao sisters also agreed. He could only shake his head helplessly, "You guys, haven't you thought about what the Ye family will do if they don't agree? Even if they agree, this kind of compromise The way to make concessions is, what if they try to use tricks in the future to lower the price of iron and raise the price of ore than you?"

"How could it be? The Ye family is also in business, aren't they afraid of being ridiculed by their peers?" Liu Cheng blurted out, but after finishing speaking, he shut up dumbfounded.

"Brother Zhou, I'm sorry, my little sister was thinking about that just now." Zhao Qiying looked ashamed, "Yes, the Ye family started out as a mining company and truly became recognized as the first family in Daye. I'm afraid it didn't even last ten years. There were many rivals before. , but they all got rid of them one after another, there must be a lot of bloodshed, I'm afraid if I expect them to follow the rules."

"If they had followed the rules, they wouldn't have besieged and smashed the store." Zhou Yang smiled coldly, "If you can do mining for decades and defeat all your opponents one after another, how can the Ye family be clean? Shopkeeper Liu , I remember the imperial court regulations, it is not the common people's turn to interfere in iron ore mining, right?"

"It's natural. The iron ore mining in Daye Mountain has been going on for thousands of years, and it has always been private mining. The imperial court doesn't know about it." Liu Cheng shook his head without hesitation, "The Ye family has always been mining privately. It’s just that the Ye family, most of the mines here are mined by local big families, and they will never be handled by the imperial court.”

"Not to mention paying taxes to the court." Zhou Yang smiled coldly, "That's easy!"

"What are you going to do, sir?" For some reason, Liu Cheng always felt cold.

"How to do it? Is it a stolen mine or an iron mine? The mined ore will not be piled up to rust, right? It must be smelted privately." Zhou Yang's expression was cold, "Salt and iron are exclusively for the imperial court, this is iron Law, the Ye family knowingly committed the crime, even if they did not have any evil intentions, who would dare to say that the iron ingots and iron tools they produced would not fall into the hands of lawless people?
Such a crime, as a member of a thousand households in the imperial court, I have the responsibility to protect the land, so naturally I cannot just watch it. The Ye family is so arrogant and domineering in the fish and meat village. It is simply not enough for the people to be angry if they are not killed, and it is not enough to uphold the law of the country if they are not killed. Shopkeeper Liu, you are so stupid Having lived in Daye for many years, I must have known a lot of the Ye family's illegal activities. Wouldn't it be difficult to find a few perpetrators to come forward? "

"Brother Zhou, I'm afraid it's hard to say." Before Liu Cheng, who was in a cold sweat, could speak, Zhao Qiying shook her head, "The Ye family has always been ruthless, but it's not just the Ye family. , but I know that private mines and other businesses have always liked to cut grass and roots, and everything will be fine if you win, and you will lose if you lose."

"Yes, yes!" Liu Cheng nodded like a chicken pecking rice, "The Ye family has many enemies, but there are not many living people. Even if the villain tries his best to find a few, they probably won't have the courage to come forward to testify. It's troublesome. It doesn’t matter, just in case I miss your business.”

"You can go find it and don't worry about me." Zhou Yang said coldly, "Tell those suffering people when they heard the news about the destruction of the Ye family and when they need to come forward to testify. There will never be any trouble!"

"Ah?" Liu Cheng's face turned pale with fright.

"Go, get things done as soon as possible, and don't miss my plan." Zhou Yang waved his hand to let him go, then turned to Zhao Qiying and said, "I forgot to ask just now, the Ye family has nothing to do with it up there. Right? Are there any clan members who are officials in the imperial court?"

"No!" Zhao Qiying shook her head simply, "There should be some members of the Ye family who are officials outside, but their positions will not be too high. Otherwise, the temper of the Ye family would have spread throughout the city; however, the Ye family is here This has been rooted for hundreds of years, and has been passed down for more than ten generations. It has already flourished, and there are probably more than a thousand members of the clan."

"I hope they have more iron sand than I do." Zhou Yang smiled coldly, "You can inquire about the whereabouts of the main characters of the Ye family, and the whole family should be in order, so that no one left behind can cause us trouble again; Also, Liu Cheng is timid, and even if he doesn’t dare to go to Ye’s house to report the news, I’m afraid he’ll do what I just said, so you can arrange for a few people to urge him.”

"There is no need to investigate." Zhao Qiying shook her head and said, "Although my little sister can't find out too much information now, the Ye family has always been domineering. They want the whole world to know what they have done. They even promote their own power in every possible way. I think it is to scare people. A foreigner, the current head of the Ye family."

"It's not important." Zhou Yang waved his hand to interrupt him, "Just tell me about the Ye family's position, power and possible helpers; also, if they can run rampant in the countryside like this, they must have a way in the county government or even the government government. , we must solve it quickly to prevent problems such as beating a snake and not dying."

"The Ye Family Courtyard is located in Ye Family Fort, which is less than ten miles south of the county. The main clan members are also there." Zhao Qiying said softly, "As long as we can solve this problem, even if a few lucky people escape, the original enemies of the Ye Family will also be there." I won’t let them go, let alone any helpers; as for Shopkeeper Liu, my little sister will make arrangements for herself.”

"That's easy!" Zhou Yang smiled coldly, "Village bandits, village tyrants, gangs involved in gangs, huh!"

(End of this chapter)