"Fourth brother, your place is nice. It's elegant, quiet, and unique. It's nice. My little brother looked at it, but he liked it so much. Ha, it's a pity. If I had known earlier, I should have come to support you a few years ago." The two brothers. They entered the private room on the second floor, and the guests and hosts had just sat down. While the servants were making tea, Xiao Wei looked around the room, clapped his hands without any scruples, and started laughing and joking.
Support? Robbery is more like it. As soon as these words came out, even though Xiao Ruyi had a strong psychological endurance, he was choked and couldn't help but have the urge to curse. It was just that he was impulsive. Xiao Ruyi was not shallow enough to have a fit on the spot. He could only pretend to cough a few times, then changed the subject and said: "Xiaojiu, I heard that Mr. Shu has returned to his hometown, is this something?"
"It's true, haha, Mr. Shu was thinking about his wife so much that he hurried back." When Xiao Wei remembered that Mr. Shu had pranked him before leaving, he felt a little jealous. He was so angry that he just gave Mr. Shu a random reason to return home. Hearing this, Xiao Ruyi couldn't laugh or cry - Mr. Shu is already in his seventies, how can he be so carefree, let alone Mr. Shu's wife He is a first-level person. Not to mention that he is now in his seventies or eighty, even when he was young, his appearance was not very good. The combination of the two was the result of a finger-to-tip marriage. The relationship between the old couple has always been very indifferent. Everyone in the capital knew this, but when he came to Xiao Wei's place, his behavior changed as soon as he started talking about it. Xiao Ruyi really didn't know what to say.
"Hey, you Xiaojiu, even Mr. Shu dares to arrange it. It's really yours. Come on, let's be honest, what do you want to do when you come to my brother's place today?" Xiao Ruyi is not a very powerful person in the city. I really didn't want to continue to beat around the bush with Xiao Wei, so I smiled and simply spoke openly.[
"Fourth brother is still happy, haha, that's interesting! Hmm..." Xiao Wei laughed, praised Xiao Ruyi, and shook the folding fan in his hand, but did not say anything about it. His eyes wandered towards the waiter Zai Ya. A group of servants in the room.
"You guys, please step back." When Xiao Ruyi saw Xiao Wei's mysterious look, he really couldn't figure out what he was trying to do. He was stunned for a moment, then waved his hand to signal everyone to leave. Then he looked at Xiao Wei with a smile and said: "Xiao Jiu, now we are the only brothers left, can we talk about it?"
"Aha, that's what happened. I've been short of money recently and I'm planning to find a way to make money. I didn't know how to make money for a while, so I thought about joining forces with my brothers. After some calculations, I still feel that Fourth Brother is reliable. This No, we're here." The servants all left, but Xiao Wei was still laughing and joking in an awkward manner, which made Xiao Ruyi so bored that his brows almost wrinkled into a capital "Chuan".
"Oh? Is there any way to make money? It's interesting. Tell me, is there any brother who can help?" Xiao Ruyi didn't believe that Xiao Wei, who had always been a playboy, could have any big plans to make money, and he was thinking about it in his heart. I was wondering if this kid was doing something bad again, but he still replied calmly.
"Okay, let me tell you, among all the brothers, the fourth brother is the one with the most energy, otherwise the younger brother wouldn't have come to the fourth brother as soon as he made up his mind. Hey, the fourth brother is better." Xiao Wei raised his eyebrows. With his thumb, he slapped Xiao Ruyi's ass hard, then mysteriously leaned to Xiao Ruyi's side, pretending to lower his voice and said: "Fourth brother, do you know how the horse market is doing now?"
"Horse market?" When Xiao Ruyi heard this, he was immediately stunned. He looked at Xiao Wei with a puzzled face. He couldn't figure out which muscle this kid had miswired and asked.
Here comes such a sensitive issue - Speaking of which, there is no shortage of racecourses within the territory of the Dayin Dynasty, but all the racecourses are controlled by the eight feudal lords. As for the imperial court, haha, it is ridiculous to say that, every year on the horse administration
It cost a lot of money, but I didn't get many horse hairs. It's not that there are no horses in the Central Plains, but most of them are rogue horses used to pull goods. They are also extremely expensive - an ox only costs more than two taels.
Silver, but a mediocre horse costs at least thirty taels. As for the war horses that can go into battle, there are very few, and the price is also ridiculously expensive. If you don't have more than three hundred taels of silver, you can't buy it at all.
It would be even more extraordinary to be able to make a well-bred horse, which cost more than three thousand taels at least, and there was no place to buy it. This was one of the reasons why the seemingly powerful court always had no choice but to do nothing about the eight feudal clans.
"What? Fourth brother, don't you know about the horse market? Well, it seems that my trip was in vain." Seeing that Xiao Ruyi didn't come back to his senses for a long time, Xiao Wei sighed half-seriously and said
He looked very disappointed.
"Haha, look what Ninth Brother said, brother, am I so unbearable?" Although Xiao Ruyi still couldn't guess what kind of "medicine" was sold in Xiao Wei's gourd, his interest was aroused, and he smiled and dismissed it.
He started to say: "In the Central Plains, horses are expensive and cows are cheap. One horse and ten cows are all children know this. Of course, my brother also knows it. I wonder where the ninth brother said this?"
Yes, I took the bait! When Xiao Wei saw that Xiao Ruyi's expression had changed, he felt very happy, but he didn't bring it to his face. Instead, he sighed and said: "Ma is a good thing. Alas, what if
When my father had a large cavalry army at his disposal, how could he let those villains like Liu Tietao retreat calmly? What a pity, what a pity!"
"Yes, yes, yes, Ninth Brother, don't try to be sleazy with me. If you have anything to say, just say it directly." Seeing Xiao Wei acting like this, Xiao Ruyi felt itchy, and he couldn't speak very politely.
"Hey, fourth brother, here's the thing. As for my younger brother, I plan to dedicate the entire trading company to selling horses. Do you think it's feasible, brother?" Xiao Wei saw that Xiao Ruyi was getting a little hairy, so he stopped trying to make excuses and settled the matter.
He straightened his clothes and asked with a serious face.
"Huh? This..." Xiao Ruyi was stunned for a moment and looked at Xiao Wei doubtfully. Seeing that he didn't look like he was joking, his frown suddenly deepened and he asked hesitantly:
"Where do Ninth Brother plan to sell horses from? And how do he plan to sell horses?"
"That's a good question, Fourth Brother. Although I'm not talented, I have some connections. It's not difficult to get some horses, but..." Xiao Wei stopped mid-sentence and looked at Xiao Ruyi with a troubled look.
"Oh? Ninth Brother, is there any difficulty? Let's talk about it." In Xiao Ruyi's impression, although Xiao Wei is a mischievous master, he is somewhat reliable in handling things. This sounds like
Xiao Wei said so confidently that Xiao Ruyi really became interested, so he asked with a smile.
Xiao Wei chuckled, closed the folding fan, weighed it in his hand, and explained with a smile: "Okay, haha, since the fourth brother asked, it's not a good thing if the younger brother doesn't tell me, right? La, that's what happened.
As for my little brother, we can bring some silk powder and other goods from the south of the Yangtze River and ship them to Yanxi. It won’t be difficult to find my grandfather to exchange for some horses, but there are a few things that are not easy to handle. Is this the first one, little brother?
Money was a little tight, and I thought it was not good to go it alone, so I decided to join forces with my fourth brother. If we had money, everyone could make money. Secondly, Chen Taipuqing should be in charge of the Horse Administration Department, and my younger brother and Chen Taipu Siqing were in charge.
I'm afraid my son has some minor misunderstandings. Haha, it's not nice to see him. He has to step forward to clear the way and get a note or something. Then things will be easier to handle. What do you think, fourth brother?"
A small misunderstanding? Oh, Xiao Wei said it so lightly that Xiao Ruyi almost laughed out loud - as far as Xiao Ruyi knew, Xiao Wei had a dispute with Chen Baitao, the second son of Chen Mingyuan, the minister of Taipu Temple, for some reason.
, the two sides fought so hard that Chen Baitao had to lie in bed for a whole month before he could get off the ground. However, Xiao Wei said it turned into a "little misunderstanding". As for what Xiao Wei said about asking Liu Xiaoquan to buy a horse, it was even more disturbing.
Xiao Ruyi's original enthusiasm was completely lost - it was true that all the eight feudal lords had horse farms, and they would occasionally trade well-bred horses with each other for breeding purposes. However, once it was the court's turn to ask for horses, the eight feudal lords would not even take the horse's hair.
Not only that, even the private sale of horses is very strictly controlled. As long as a horse smuggler is caught, he will be beheaded regardless of the reason. Don't look at Liu Xiao, he is Xiao Wei's grandfather, and he has the world in his hands.
The largest horse farms have too many horses to count, but once Xiao Wei goes to ask for horses, there is no chance. At least in Xiao Ruyi's view, there is not even a slight possibility of this matter. Does it make sense?
It seems very simple. The eight feudal lords defended the imperial court just like they guarded against thieves. If the imperial court had built a cavalry army, how could it be as good as the eight feudal lords? On this point, the eight feudal lords' attitudes were completely consistent, and the imperial court's was not.
It has never been tried. In fact, in order to build a cavalry army, what method should the court try that it has not tried? If it really succeeds, will it be the turn of someone like Xiao Wei to come forward?
"What Ninth Brother said is not a trivial matter. Brother can't decide for a while. Why don't we discuss it another day?" At this moment, Xiao Ruyi was already interested, but it was hard to reprimand Xiao Wei in person for talking nonsense.
I just managed it reluctantly by saying haha.
"In that case, I'll just wait for the fourth brother's confirmation. Haha, I won some silver coins today, so let's treat it as my brother's investment. We, my brothers, will settle the accounts and count it as my brother's 20% share. Haha, farewell, farewell!
"Xiao Wei has already said what he should say. As for Xiao Ruyi's belief or disbelief, he doesn't care. Anyway, after winning money, it's not bad to be a favor.
"It's easy to say, it's easy to say, haha, Ninth Brother, please go slowly, brother won't see you off." Xiao Ruyi wished that Xiao Wei would leave quickly. When he heard that Xiao Wei was leaving, he immediately stood up to see the guest off without any intention of trying to persuade him to stay.
He didn't care, he laughed, walked out of the private room on his own, waving the folding fan, and strolled downstairs.[
As soon as Xiao Wei left, a secret door in the private room opened silently, and several people walked out slowly from the secret room. The first one was none other than the second prince Xiao Rutao. Seeing this, Xiao Ruyi took a few strides to greet him.
He walked over and said angrily, "Second brother, you heard everything. That boy..."
"Hmm." Xiao Rutao said softly, waved his hand noncommittally, interrupted Xiao Ruyi's words, and then silently walked to a few seats behind the middle of the elegant room, sat down with an expression on his face, and gently held his hand
Twisting a string of jade rosary beads, she frowned in thought, and said nothing for a long time, except for the flash of light in her eyes from time to time...