He chuckled and said, "My lord, the shipping envoy, is unaware that the waterway from Andong County to Fengyang, the central capital, is hundreds of miles long. The ship travels day and night and takes more than twenty days to arrive. In addition, the weather is now cold and the north wind is howling. The ship cannot reach the destination."

I can't walk fast at all, so there are many delays on the way, and I'm only a few days late. Please forgive me."

"Stop making excuses for me. How come other people miss the time when they don't realize it's a long way?"

"Your Majesty, what you said is true. It's just that there was some mistake in the autumn grain collection in Andong County, which delayed some time. Otherwise, it wouldn't have arrived so late. Please forgive me, considering that we have no credit but hard work."

Wait." Lin Dong said, taking out a piece of silver from his sleeve and quietly putting it into Li Sen's hand.

Li Sen quietly weighed the weight of the silver in his hand, which was at least ten taels. He was overjoyed. As an official like him was only responsible for putting autumn grain into the warehouse, he didn't have much oil and water on weekdays. In addition, the grain manager was a hard job. Most people just wanted to complete the work.

The task required a lot of money, so there was no money left to bribe him as the carrier. Naturally, I was overjoyed when I received such a large ingot of silver this time.

He immediately changed the topic and said: "That's what you said. In that case, I will be accommodating. You should put the autumn grain into the warehouse as required as soon as possible."

Lin Dong said with a face of embarrassment: "Your Excellency, the shipping envoy, is unaware that the journey from Andong County to Zhongdu is a long one. People eat horses' chews along the way. Thousands of tons of autumn grain have been consumed. I have just arrived in Zhongdu."

, I haven’t had time to replenish the consumed autumn grain, so I hope the shipping envoy will give me a few days of grace.”

As he said this, Lin Dong took out a banknote again and quietly stuffed it into Li Sen's hand.

Li Sen secretly glanced at the face value of the bank note, which turned out to be two hundred taels. This was the first time for a low-ranking official like him to receive such a large bribe, and he immediately said with a smile: "

What's the matter with me? Since your Andong County autumn grain has not yet been replenished, it is not appropriate to put it into the warehouse according to regulations. I will report it to the person in charge and give you a few days until you can make up for the fall grain shortage and put it into the warehouse. I just don't know how much you need.

How long will it take to replenish the autumn grain?"

"One month at most..." Lin Dong raised a finger and said.

Li Sen shook his head and said: "One month is too long. Let's do this. I'll give you half a month at most."

Lin Dong's heart tightened. From now on to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month in the eighth year of Chongzhen's reign, there are still about twenty days. No matter what, it will be delayed until that time.

Thinking of this, Lin Dong hurriedly took out another ingot of silver and stuffed it into Li Sen's hand and said: "Now that the new year is approaching, it will be difficult to purchase a large amount of grain. Please be accommodating, and I will definitely deliver the autumn grain before the Lantern Festival next year.

"

Quietly putting away the money in his hand, Li Sen said cheerfully: "Since you are so good at getting into trouble, I will give you a few days of grace, but we must make it clear. If you can't deliver the autumn grain on the Lantern Festival next year,

Then don’t blame me for doing business."

Lin Dong was overjoyed and thanked him repeatedly. He had already made careful arrangements for this matter. If he could not survive until the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, all his efforts would be in vain.

After leaving the granary, Lin Dong went straight to a nearby teahouse. In this era, the best places to inquire about information were teahouses and restaurants. There was a mix of good and bad people here, and it was easy to inquire about anything.

But what surprised him was that just when he had just sat down in the teahouse, preparing to serve a pot of good tea and find someone to make some inquiries, there was a sudden noise in the street, and the guests in the teahouse suddenly became excited and started talking.

He ran desperately towards the street, and some of the fast runners squeezed into the crowd and disappeared without even paying for their tea, leaving only the teahouse owner with a headache.

I wonder what happened in Fengyang City to cause such a big sensation.

Lin Dong was curious and hurriedly grabbed a young man dressed as a scholar who was passing by and asked: "Brother, who are you?"

The young master looked him over from head to toe and saw that he was dressed like a scholar and covered in dust. He said suspiciously, "You must not be a local, right?"

Lin Dong frowned slightly and said, "I have indeed just arrived in your area, but this seems to have nothing to do with whether I am a local or not."

"I know, who among the locals doesn't know about the little dancing girl in Wangjiang Tower?" the man asked back, leaving Lin Dong speechless.

"Who is the little dancing girl?"

"You didn't know this, but she is the most promising person in Wangjiang Tower to become the oiran."

"Oiran?"

Lin Dong was stunned for a few seconds before he came to his senses. Star chasing was a term that flashed through Lin Dong's mind, but he didn't expect it.

"The ancients were so crazy about chasing stars. It seems that crazy fans are not unique to the new century!"

Lin Dong secretly smiled in his heart, he had no feelings for the little dancing girl. He came to Fengyang this time not just for fun.

Lin Dong looked at the teahouse that was completely empty in the blink of an eye, shook his head helplessly and left.

Apart from the teahouse, he couldn't think of any other place better to get information.

By the way, why not find a local snake and ask.

Thinking of this, Lin Dong immediately walked towards the street.

Soon, he locked the target. In fact, it was wrong. It should be said that he was quickly targeted.

The person who targeted him was dressed in rags, but his clothes were clean and he seemed to be in good spirits.

When the man saw him looking around, he immediately came up to him and said, "Is this young master looking for someone?"

Lin Dong looked at the stranger in confusion: "What do you call your Excellency?"

The younger one’s name is Cheng San. He grew up in Fengyang City and is very familiar with Fengyang City. There is no one in Fengyang City that I can’t find. If you want to find someone, I can do it for you.

"How did you know I was looking for someone?"

"Looking at your travels, you must have come from out of town. Moreover, if you were a local, you would have followed the crowd there a long time ago, so why are you here to look around?"

The man pointed in the direction of the crowds of people and started talking, analyzing everything in an orderly manner, with no confusion at all.

"I'm sorry, you got it wrong. I'm not looking for anyone." Lin Dong shook his head. Lin Dong didn't want to be led by such a second-rate guy.

"Sir, there is no need to worry. I grew up in Fengyang City and know the situation in Fengyang City very well. If you want to find out information, I can do it for you," the young man said with a smile.

"Do you know about Fengyang City Guard General Zhu Guoxiang?" Lin Dong looked at the young man with bright eyes.

"General Zhu?" The young man's face froze. Zhu Guoxiang was staying in the central capital. How could he, a commoner, know Zhu Guoxiang?

"Not bad!" Lin Dong nodded slowly. Seeing the young man's expression, he knew that this man was bragging, so he turned around and left.

"Sir, wait a minute." Seeing that Lin Dong was about to leave, the young man said anxiously.

"Anything else to say?"

"Sir, please give me a night, and I will get the answer you want tomorrow morning," the young man said.

"Oh, I can afford to wait overnight. Well, since you are so confident, I will give you a chance. Just go to the dock to find me tomorrow morning. As for the things I want to inquire about..." Lin Dong

He waved to the young man and told him what he wanted to know.

The young man's expression changed several times, but he finally nodded in agreement.

Lin Dong left the street and looked for the address left by Shang Ba. Shang Ba had promised to take him to find the ear rake before. When he came to Fengyang this time, the craftsmen who needed to make firearms were also a top priority.

.

However, when he came to the store Shang Ba mentioned, it was already closed and locked, and it seemed that work had been completed.

Lin Dong shook his head helplessly and could only wait until tomorrow.

Li Yanze also got off the ship after Lin Dong left. Long before he came to Fengyang, the county magistrate Liu Jingzhong gave him a letter, ordering him to go to see the prefect immediately as soon as he arrived in Fengyang and hand the letter to him.

Leave it to the prefect Yan Rongxuan, and Li Yan doesn't have to worry about what happens next.

When Lin Dong returned to the boat, someone came to report that Li Yan had gone to see Magistrate Yan.

Lin Dong didn't care about this. He had already made up his mind to put the autumn grain on the boat first, and then store the autumn grain in the warehouse after he had purchased enough autumn grain.

In fact, how did he know that before he left Andong County, he had already fallen into the plan of the county magistrate Liu Jingzhong. Although Lin Dong had already planned it at this time, Liu Jingzhong was so insidious that he let the clan members go before Lin Dong left.

The elder wrote a letter to Li Yan in advance, asking him to hand it to the prefect Yan Rongxuan after arriving in Fengyang, so that Lin Dong could not deliver the autumn grain to the warehouse.

This elder of the Liu Jingzhong clan was quite powerful in the court. Even though Yan Rongxuan was the prefect of Fengyang, he must not have dared not give him face.

It is said that after the man named Cheng San left Lin Dong, he quickly walked towards a dilapidated house at the end of the street.

At this time, an old man in the house was catching lice on his body. When he heard the footsteps, he said without raising his head: "Are you back?"

This old man was brought back by Cheng from outside three months ago. He didn't know what he did originally. He was covered in injuries. It was a miracle that he survived. Since he was seriously injured and hadn't been around for several days,

After eating, he was almost starving. At that time, Cheng San felt compassion and gave him a piece of steamed bun and brought him back.

Unexpectedly, after eating the steamed buns, the old man stayed with Cheng San from then on.

Cheng San was reluctant at first, but after some things happened, he discovered that the old man had some unusual abilities, so he did not drive the old man away, but raised him. He would always go to the old man for anything.

Discussion. With the guidance of the old man, Cheng San did things much more smoothly, so he gradually became respectful to the old man and was willing to discuss things with him.

"Yes!"

"How was your harvest today?"

"I didn't gain much, but today I met a strange person. This person didn't seem to be dressed luxuriously, but his temperament was very outstanding.

Although his clothes were very simple, he looked majestic when he stood there.

And he is still looking for someone, and the most important thing is that the person he is looking for is not simple."

"Oh, tell me, why is it not a simple method?" The old man was intrigued by him and asked immediately.

Cheng San didn't dare to hide anything, so he recounted what happened to Lin Dong today in a few words.

"Oh, there is something else?" The old man seemed a little surprised, and continued after a moment of silence: "You mean this person is from out of town, and he wants to find Zhu Guoxiang?"
Chapter completed!