Bachelor

Chapter 296 New Year's Eve (V)

Seeing Bi Yun shaking his head, Sun Hao understood, knowing that Bi Yun was unwilling to reveal his identity.

In Sun Hao's view, Dongchang is an unimaginably mysterious place, even more terrifying than the Palace of the King of Hell.He immediately shut his mouth and invited Bi Yun over tremblingly: "Please, Mr. Gong."

Reluctantly, the seat had been taken by Guo Hong, and Sun Hao looked at Bi Yun in fear.

Fortunately, Bi Yunben came to see Sun Dan in secret, and didn't want to cause trouble, so he smiled gently, said "excuse me", and sat next to Guo Hong.

He also imitated Guo Hong's appearance, raising Erlang's legs in a big way.

This seat belonged to Guo Pu, but now it was taken by Bi Yun, so Guo Pu could only sit angrily under him.

Guo Hong was already used to being arrogant, seeing a lowly businessman sitting next to him, he was already displeased in his heart.Seeing that Bi Yun's body was covered in mud spots, he frowned in disgust.

It's just that Guo Hong respects his status, and feels that he is a dignified young master, talking nonsense with a small businessman, which is degrading his status.

After all, Bi Yun was a member of the core decision-making hierarchy of the Ming Dynasty. He ranked fourth among the three major cabinet ministers of the emperor and the four chief ministers, second only to the emperor, Yang Tinghe, and Huang Jin. All trembling.He has been in the top position for a long time, and he naturally has an aura, or an aura that cannot be ignored.

He sat next to Guo Hong, straightened his waist, and swept across everyone in the hall with piercing eyes. Although it was only for a moment, everyone in the hall felt that he stared at him fiercely, and there was a shudder in his heart. sudden.

Although Bi Yun was wearing an ordinary cotton robe with mud spots on it, he looked like an old man in his fifties, but the temperament he carried was more expensive than that of a prince, which made people feel like he was lowering his head down.

In comparison, even though Guo Hong around him is dressed more gorgeously, his flamboyant and dandy temperament is much paled by the contrast of Bi Yun, just like a grass chicken standing next to a peacock.

Everyone said in their hearts: "This businessman is so majestic!"

As soon as Bi Yun sat next to Guo Hong, Guo Hong immediately felt an inexplicable pressure. He couldn't help but glance at the old man beside him, moved his lips, and snorted, but couldn't remember what he should say next. , He couldn't bear it and closed his mouth.

There is boredom in my heart, but also anger.

Bi Yun's sudden appearance made the room suddenly quiet.

Bi Yun probably also realized that something was wrong with the atmosphere, and smiled softly, "Don't you all want to discuss politics and review Mr. Sun's gains and losses in politics after he came to Fangshan? Why don't you talk?"

Guo Hong came to his senses now, cleared his throat, and subconsciously said, "Yes, everyone, tell me what disaster Sun Jingyuan did to the country and the people after he came to Fangshan."

As soon as he said the words, he felt that something was wrong in his heart, and he continued to say what Bi Yun said, did he seem to be a subordinate of the family?The momentum has been overwhelmed.

A small raw silk merchant who looks like a mustard seed, a lowly character, actually stole the limelight from me, Mr. Guo Xiaohou.

Interrupted by Bi Yun, all the Fangshan gentry didn't know what to say.Although they all secretly hated Sun Dan for instigating the peasants attached to them to withdraw their land, Sun Dan was also Fangshan's parent official, the county magistrate who confiscated his family, and the magistrate who exterminated his family. Although the Guo family was noble, it was far away in the capital.The mountain is high and the emperor is far away. Although Sun Dan can't fight against the Guo family, it is easy to deal with them.No one is willing to be the first to speak if the first child dies first.

Seeing that everyone was hesitating, Guo Hong felt displeased, so he took another look at Bi Yun and then at Guo Pu.

Guo Pu understood, coughed and cleared his throat: "Since everyone is silent, let me say something first. Since Sun Dan came to Fangshan, he has been encouraging the people to withdraw their land, which has caused huge losses to Fangshan gentry like us. Rent-free face tax book It's the preferential treatment that the imperial court gave me and other scholars, isn't Sun Dan ignoring the king's law by doing this?"

Before everyone could speak, Bi Yun, who was sandwiched between Guo Pu and Guo Hong, suddenly smiled softly: "Although the imperial court has preferential treatment for tax exemption for scholars, this is just the emperor's kindness. You are also reading sage books. , received the favor of the imperial court, instead of serving the imperial court, but thinking about amassing the land of the population, resulting in a large loss of national wealth and taxation. Where have you read your books? Are you worthy of the imperial court and His Majesty the Emperor? What are you doing? What do you want to do, do you want to close the door and form a system, and learn from the tyranny of the Han Dynasty? In my opinion, you have money, land and people, but now you lack an army."

Bi Yun's big hat was pressed down, and everyone was so shocked that they couldn't speak, and some people's faces began to turn pale.

Mu Shouli, who was on the left in the main seat, frowned slightly: "The boss of the palace is a bit alarmist." The more he looked at Bi Yun, the more he disliked him, but because he was invited by Sun Dan, it was not easy to shout He goes out.

Guo Pu couldn't bear it any longer, and turned his head to stare at Bi Yun: "Gong Er, what is your status, adults talk, although it's your turn, a lowly villain, to intervene?"

Seeing Guo Pu's rudeness, Sun Hao, who was waiting next to him, trembled in his heart, and thought: This Guo Pu is afraid that things will get worse, even the owner of the East Factory dares to offend, are you impatient?

Sun Hao is the only person in the hall who knows Bi Yun's identity. Since Eunuch Bi sat down, he has stood beside him respectfully and served him.Even though he knew that Bi Yun was Sun Dan's friend, the chill in Sun Hao's heart still surged up one by one.

Contrary to Sun Hao's expectation, Bi Yun was not angry, but said flatly: "Gong Er is just an ordinary businessman. If you want to talk on this occasion, you can tell me, just pretend that I have never been here. Old man, I Just wait here for Sun Zhixian to come back, you can continue."

Bi Yun didn't want to let Guo Pu go, in fact, he had already put Guo Pu on his mind.Guo Hong is Lao Guo's son, so it's not easy to deal with him, but it's not a piece of cake to deal with Guo Pu.

It's just that Bi Yun's visit to Fangshan was a secret, and he didn't want to make trouble to reveal his identity.

Seeing that Bi Yun finally stopped making trouble, Guo Pu thought he had given in, and snorted: "Forget your sense, if you talk nonsense, my lord will beat you out."

Bi Yun said "Oh", but his waist was still straight: "The little old man is a little scared."

After Bi Yun put down his big hat, there was a bit of silence in the hall.

Guo Hong yelled several times: "Let's discuss it." But no one spoke.

Guo Hong is just a young man, and he has never experienced this kind of situation before, so he didn't know what to do for a while, so he had to turn his attention to Guo Pu for help.

Bi Yun looked at it funny and thought to himself: Lao Guo is also pitiful, he gave birth to such a useless son, and there are only a few dozen people here, so he can't control the hall.Seeing the micro-knowledge, I think the future achievements of this Guo Hong are also very limited.

Seeing that his nephew really had no choice, Guo Pu had no choice but to offer Mu Shouli a compliment.Mu Shouli is the prime minister of Fangshan County, and he was supposed to preside over this political discussion.

Mu Shouli glanced at the crowd, shouted a few times, but still no one spoke, so he had to call names: "Tong Weng, your family has lost the most land this month, and more than half of the population has lost, and you are the oldest person in the county. , highly respected, you speak first."

The squire named Tong by him was an old talent in the Jingtai period. He is over 70 years old this year. He is timid by nature and is the weakest among the squires in Fangshan.Because of this, he has the most to lose.Moreover, this person had been a teacher before, and he was the leader of the Fangshan School of Reading, so it would be best for him to take the lead.The first time a scholar speaks, the direction of public opinion will naturally develop in a direction that is beneficial to everyone.

Hearing Mu Shouli call his name, Tong Weng shook his body, as if waking up from a dream, and stuttered, "Say... say... what?"

Guo Hong knocked on the table angrily: "Tong Weng, let me tell you about Sun Dan."

"Oh, let's talk about Mr. Sun." Tong Weng stroked his beard, and said, "I don't know much about Sun Dan. I'm just a teacher. I don't know or see through many things. I don't know." What to say."

Guo Hong was still angry, Mu Shouli hurriedly said: "Tong Weng, just say what you think."

Tong Weng just slapped the table and made a look of fury: "Speaking of Mr. Sun, it's... really too much... Didn't he write some kind of "Rizhilu" some time ago? It seems that the paper is full of failures, and the whole article is absurd. What he said, "witnessing the trend of the world, you will know the key to ordering chaos, must be in people's customs." According to his argument, the decline of customs is the source of chaos, and extravagance and pomp It's a sign of the country's demise. Isn't it full of nonsense? My Ming Dynasty is now rich and the people are strong, and my life in the sea is a scene of prosperity. The people eat better and dress better, shouldn't it? He doesn't like it, saying that the country will perish Well, this is the fallacy of that school. Moreover, in my opinion, after Mr. Sun came to Fangshan, he changed farming into mulberry and encouraged business, which is not the same as extravagant and flashy. Such a difference in knowledge and deeds, But a hypocrite."

As soon as he opened the chatterbox, he talked on and on, citing scriptures, Confucius passed by, Mencius came, Guo Hong's head became dizzy when he heard it, and he wished to strangle this blowfly to death before he was reconciled.

Bi Yun finally couldn't help laughing out loud: "Tong Weng is really a great talent, I admire him."

Tong Weng was very proud, stroked his white beard and smiled, "Thank you, thank you. The sage has a saying..."

Mu Shouli also knew that it was not an option to let Tong Weng continue talking, and if he let it go like this, this review meeting would soon turn into an academic seminar.He coughed: "Okay, what Tong Weng said is right, just take a rest."

Tong Weng also said that he was excited, not only coughed, but his face was flushed, and he was very unhappy when Mu Shouli interrupted: "I haven't finished talking yet, this Sun Dan..."

Guo Hong finally couldn't bear it anymore, and slammed the table: "Old man Tong, you've finished talking, you have to let someone else talk about it."

Guo Hong said it rudely, Tong Weng was hurt, and kept shaking his white head angrily: "Don't be a son of man, don't be a son of man."

Guo Hong pointed to another squire who looked younger: "Now it's your turn to tell, tell me, tell me what outrageous things Sun Dan has done."

Mu Shouli named that person at the right time: "Kuang Xiucai, tell me."

That scholar surnamed Kuang is also a wealthy man in Fangshan. Because he is young and quick-witted, he had hoarded more than a dozen yards in advance before the Beijing real estate speculators entered Fangshan. large sum.Counting it down, the harvest of more than a month is worth 20 years of income in his own manor.Therefore, I don't care much about the loss of my own land and people.

Precisely because he didn't care about the loss of land and people, he also ranked among the top losses among the squires.

Mu Shouli also named him because of this, hoping that he, a victim, could tell a painful story about the history of the revolutionary family.

But Kuang Xiucai, as the leader of the Fangshan real estate speculators group, dared not offend Sun Dan.It really annoyed the county magistrate, the next time he was ordered to prohibit real estate speculation, or to increase the real estate transaction tax, he Kuang Xiucai had no place to cry.

But Mu Shouli couldn't afford to offend him. After being called by Mu Xiancheng, Kuang Xiucai had to stand up with a painful expression on his face, and said a few times, "This Mr. Sun is really outrageous. Look at the current situation." What is Fangshan like? The streets are full of excrement and urine, and the smell is so bad that people can barely open their eyes. It’s okay that it’s cold now, but if it’s hot, I’m afraid there will be a plague.”

"That's right, that's right, it really stinks." Most of the squires who came here today were soy saucers, and they didn't want to be the young ones, so they echoed Kuang Xiucai, pretending to be angry, Shouted: "Master Sun is really too much, you see him doing this county magistrate, turning a Fangshan into a big latrine, doesn't he think it smells bad?"

"Also, I took a closer look when I came here just now, and the sewers are already clogged. Will there be no floods when the snow melts in spring?"

"By the way, there is a shop selling dry tobacco next to my house in the city. There are people smoking there all day long. It really caused a fire. How can Master Sun not care?" In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Hebei Seed tobacco has already begun, and this novelty has begun to become popular in the society.

"Also, things are too expensive these days, and I don't have enough money to spend. Sun Dan doesn't try to find a way to stabilize prices. We're okay. Ordinary people haven't eaten meat for a long time. Pork has risen to twenty cents a catty. , It’s the New Year’s Eve, so I just gritted my teeth and cut off two catties to take home.”

"Prices are too high, no matter how unsteady we are, how can we survive this day!"

……

It's not that Sun Dan was scolded by everyone, it can be said that the crowd was raging, but what they said were all trivial things.

Mu Shouli, Guo Pu, and Guo Hong didn't expect things to turn out like this. You look at me and I look at you, and they are all dumbfounded.

Bi Yun couldn't help laughing loudly: "This Mr. Sun is really a stupid official. He made a mess in the local area. He deserves to be beaten. Your review meeting is very meaningful, and you should continue to discuss it. Thirty is interesting."

Hearing Bi Yun's sarcastic laughter, Guo Pu next to him looked at Bi Yun viciously: "Gong Er, this is Fangshan, you want to make a voice here, don't think that we can't do anything about you if you rely on Sun Dan , Fangshan is not the world of his grandson alone, we should get closer in the future!" He had already hated Bi Yun.

Bi Yun seemed to have heard something funny, so he raised his head and smiled sharply: "Okay, okay, since you want to get close to the little old man, I'd rather be obedient than respectful."

He had long known through Dongchang's intelligence network that Guo Pu had caused Sun Dan a lot of trouble in Fangshan, although he wanted to help Sun Dan get rid of future troubles.But first, Sun Dan is also a face-saving person. If he helps him himself, Sun Dan may not appreciate it;It's good now, people take the initiative to provoke, if I, Bi Yun, don't accept the move, I'm afraid I will be looked down upon by Huang Jin.

Lao Guo, Lao Guo, our family will help you clean up the scum of your Guo family, and correct your family style of Marquis Wu Ding.

Guo Hong couldn't bear it any longer, stood up abruptly, and shouted with a livid face, "Be quiet, it's useless to talk."

Seeing the little marquis getting angry, everyone quieted down again.

Only then did Guo Hong shout: "I understand everyone's meaning. Do you mean that Sun Dan encourages business in Fangshan, causing local chaos?"

Mu Shouli also continued: "In my opinion, the transformation of agriculture into mulberry has made Fangshan's prices skyrocket and people's livelihood is difficult. This evil law is absolutely unfeasible. Farming is the foundation of the country. Commerce does not bring real wealth, so it should be banned."

Before he finished speaking, a loud laugh came from the door: "Master Mu is not right."

Everyone turned their heads to look over, only to see Sun Dan walking in with a large group of businessmen.

Although everyone had a lot of opinions on Sun Dan, they still stepped forward to salute: "I have met Mr. Sun."

"Hello, Mr. Sun."

"Hi, everyone." Sun Dan greeted each one with a smile, and it took a long time to walk to the main seat, ignoring Mu Shouli, and sat down straight away.

As soon as he sat down, he found Bi Yun and was taken aback.

Bi Yun hurriedly cupped his hands: "Suzhou silk merchant Gong Er has met Mr. Sun."

Seeing that he kept his name anonymous, Sun Dan knew that Bi Yun had something urgent to do, so he didn't say much, just nodded to show that he knew.

Calling the merchants to do the job, Sun Dan sat down and said loudly: "I heard what you said just now, and it boils down to three aspects: first, the price issue; second, the health issue; third, whether to encourage business. Here, I will explain clearly to you one by one.”

"First of all, let me talk about the prices. The prices have been really high recently." Sun Dan said: "That's because there are too many migrants in Fangshan recently, and because it is winter, there is no output in the fields, so the prices are so high." Ridiculously high. However, it is not impossible to solve."

He smiled and pointed to the large group of businessmen who were already sitting: "We have invited these bosses from all over the world, and most of them are silk merchants, not to mention more. There are also a considerable number of groceries. Vendors, I have already asked them to bring a large amount of goods to Fangshan, and the goods are cheap, as long as the shortage of goods in the market is resolved, the prices should drop in a short time."

(End of this chapter)