Li Xia planned to leave for Chongqing Mansion again.
In this year of Xinyou, Kublai Khan was conquering Hara and Lin in the north, and Li Xia was beginning to show his independence and had a rift with the Song Dynasty. It was the time to seize the opportunity to stabilize the Shu territory.
If he had time, he even wanted to go to Dali again, but unfortunately it was too far, so he could only meet Gao Changshou and talk to Nie Zhongyou in person later.
This time it is not a light horse, but a serious ceremonial horse.
He put on a show to let the local officials know that Prince Pingling was on patrol again, so he would be more cautious when collecting autumn taxes.
The accompanying family members and officials were mainly Zhang Hongdao, Zan Wanshou, Li Zeyi, etc., all of whom Li Xia wanted to entrust with important responsibilities in the future.
There are also people like Li Ye and Yan Yunyun who plan to go to Kuimen to inspect and set up commercial taxes.
Li Xia originally wanted to take all his family members with him, but Gao Mingyue was tied up by her child, and Zhang Wenjing was not allowed to go out again, lest she be delayed for several months on the road and have to rush with a big belly.
On the third day of October, the carriages and horses set off.
Han Qiao'er, who had just started her career, had her hair pulled up completely. She no longer had those silly bangs on her forehead, and her whole person looked a bit unusual. Her face was white and rosy, adding a lot of charm.
Han Qi'an went out to see her off. Seeing that her daughter finally looked more virtuous, she nodded with satisfaction. He frowned for a moment, dissatisfied with the fact that the girl was jumping around when walking.
"We are setting off, you must remember to feed the little fat guy! Grandpa, you must take care of yourself and come back to celebrate your birthday..."
When Han Qiaoer got on the carriage, she stuck her head out and waved. In the end, she ignored her father's increasingly ugly expression, and turned around to joke with Nian'er again, with the joy of a bride being doted on.
Over there, Han Qi'an dropped his sleeve and cursed to himself.
"To be pampered and pampered!"
He scolded him, but he also knew his daughter's character and knew that Li Xia had a sense of proportion. When he turned around and looked at the surrounding scenery, he sighed again: "What a good year, it will be good if this happens every year..."
~~
Jinghu North Road, Jiangling Mansion.
Jiangling Mansion is also known as Jingzhou City.
To the west is the Wushan Mountains, which separates Jinghu from Sichuan. Only the Yangtze River flows out of the Wushan Mountains and becomes an important transportation artery.
After reaching Xiangyang, the Han River flows south to a short distance north of Jiangling before turning eastward.
Therefore, the location of the thoroughfare of seven provinces in Jiangling is very important. It controls Bashu in the west, Xianghan in the north, borders Jianghu, and Wuyue on the arm. It is known as "the largest town on the left of Jiangsu, no better than Jingyang".
In today's world situation, Sichuan and Shaanxi have become vassal towns, and there is a hint of disobedience. As the key place in the Central Plains facing Bashu, Jiangling, an important town in the southeast, is even more important.
Unlike Sichuan and Sichuan, which were in decline, Jiangling City was extremely prosperous.
Looking from the top of Qujiang Tower, I could see a street with tiled roofs and houses everywhere. The babbling sounds made Jiang Fan feel as if he was in Lin'an.
"The citizen class of the Song Dynasty was very good, but unfortunately it didn't last long."
This was what Li Xia once said, and Jiang Fan could only say this. In short, it was just a sigh, which made him seem a little more profound.
A man went upstairs, closed the door, and said, "Secretary, we finally found out that the counterfeiting workshop is hidden in Qin Jiushao's mansion."
"Sure enough, I asked who has such ability."
When Jiang Fan walked to the desk, the spy had already spread out the drawings and started explaining them.
"The house is located by the North Lake, covering an area of more than forty acres. It is equipped with all pavilions and pavilions. The walls are nearly ten feet high. It is guarded by officers and soldiers, making it difficult to enter and inquire..."
"Hard to find out?"
"Yes, I bribed the servants in the house several times, but no news about it came out."
Jiang Fan was a little surprised.
Since he took over the Public Opinion Department, he has never encountered such a situation where he couldn't even get through the other party's door.
"Where are the counterfeit coupons?"
"A batch is printed every half month, and different merchant ships enter Shu, and Jiangling seems to have a new coupon made in Shu. These people seem to have some skills in doing things... Commander, how about simply attacking by force? Find a way to get them in
Thunderbolt cannons are brought into the city, directly..."
"Shut up." Jiang Fan cursed and said: "We may be able to attack by force, but how will we go then? Can't we cross the Yangtze River in a small boat? Go and continue to investigate for me, and we will talk about it when you find an opportunity. Also, ask me to find out.
Qin Jiushao, I want to know his past."
"yes."
When the spy got off the teahouse, Jiang Fan immediately went to the window and looked. He found that there was no tail behind the spy, and he was a little relieved.
After a while, when another spy came from a distance, Jiang Fan's eyes suddenly became solemn. He raised his telescope and observed the two dealers carrying burdens further away.
"Idiot, you are being followed...but are these two really private salt dealers?"
Jiang Fan became more and more confused. This was the first time he had seen the government forcing private salt dealers.
He casually drew a cross on the table, reminded his men, rolled up his sleeves, turned around and left the teahouse, and then hid in another stronghold...
~~
North Lakeside, Jiangyuan.
This was originally the annex of Xu Yuanwai of Jiangling Prefecture. After Qin Jiushao took office, he obtained a series of criminal evidence against Xu Yuanwai in just three days.
For example, here in Jinghu, there is often the custom of killing people to sacrifice to ghosts and gods. Many members of the party have somehow become believers of the "Lengbiangui". Every year in a leap month, they send people to steal and kill children, disembowel their stomachs and remove their livers as sacrifices.
The obscene temple is called "collecting students", and occasionally officials and scholars are captured, thinking that one sacrifice of such smart people can be worth three.
During the Taiping period, Song Renzong didn't like this and investigated several major cases like this, and all were punished by Lingchi.
And the evidence against Xu Yuanwai is not limited to this.
Therefore, Qin Jiushao easily threatened to take over Jiangyuan and most of the Xu family's property.
When you get promoted in the future and then sell it, you will get another huge income.
What he did was indeed not a pretty job. The evidence was also forged, and every aspect was not taken care of. Except for bluffing the members, it was almost the same as robbery, leaving a lot of things to talk about.
It's not that he can't do better, it's just that he doesn't want to take more trouble.
In terms of public affairs, he urgently needs to establish himself early and spread his business; in terms of private affairs, he is already over 50 years old and may not have many years left to make money for the official, so how can he restrain his hands and feet?
How much money can you make by being greedy for ink?
He is a genius in arithmetic, and he can calculate clearly how to make money most efficiently.
He built a luxurious mansion in Jiangling, built a counterfeit certificate workshop directly there, mobilized a large number of officers and soldiers to protect him, and sent merchant ships to bring counterfeit certificates to Chongqing to redeem grain... At the same time, Qin Jiushao also ordered people to arrest a large number of private salt dealers in Jiangling Prefecture.
Later, his identity changed, and Tangtang Tongpan also became the largest private salt dealer.
Not only did he sell salt, he also sold wine, tea, iron, and lacquerware. In just two months, he opened a trade route that could complete Jia Sidao's errands and make money for himself.
Considering that Qiongzhou is a remote place, he could still make countless fortunes within a few months of taking office, let alone the famous capital of Jingchu?
…
It was the end of October, and Qin Jiushao was sitting in the hall drinking and having fun with more than ten beauties.
He is not like some common people in the world who only chase beauties and giggle. He is much more elegant, good at singing, dancing, and poetry.
In the early years, those who sang and sang poetry with Qin Jiushao were Liu Kezhuang and Zhou Mi, a great poet. Although everyone fell out later, it can be seen that his poetic talent is also top-notch.
The beauties also like to play with Qin Jiushao, who is proficient in dividing Cao Cao and shooting, throwing pots and guessing riddles. She is also powerful and rich, who doesn't like it...
"Qin Lang, are you dancing well?"
"Okay! Lingbo sings loudly near the lake and Zhuzhou, and the tender jade Wenluan sings and dances. Luo socks travel to the Wu Gorge clouds in the morning, and the beads are wet in the evening and high in the rain."
"Qin Lang has another drink..."
After hearing a report from a servant, Qin Jiushao stood up with a pot in hand, drank heavily as he walked, left the warm hall, and went to the front yard to meet the guests.
As the cold wind blew, he looked around and his eyes became more wary.
In the side hall, several leaders of private salt dealers were waiting there.
"In the past few days, I have been tracking some people through the Internet. They were all snooping around, but I lost them all..."
"It doesn't matter if you lost me. Jiangling Mansion is not big. Please tell me carefully and I will calculate it again."
Qin Jiushao was already a little tipsy. He walked to the case, listened to the report, and marked the map of Jiangling Fucheng with a pen.
He drew a few lines based on these clues, spread out the "Jiangling Prefecture Chronicle" and compared it with the household registration book, and murmured.
Finally, he picked up his pen and circled it casually.
When doing this, he seemed to be doodling.
"The person in charge is hiding nearby, and arranged for our people to keep an eye on them and pay more attention to foreign accents..."
"yes."
Just after the arrangements were made, someone over there said: "Mr. Yu is here."
"Invite him in, and you should step back first..."
~~
Yu Desheng walked into the side hall and said as soon as he saw Qin Jiushao: "Those private salt dealers you arranged can't keep an eye on Li Ni's people."
Qin Jiushao was sitting there, not knowing whether he was sleeping or thinking. He responded slowly: "Of course private salt dealers can't keep an eye on spies."
Yu Desheng was stagnant.
"We forged the Sichuan-Shaanxi coupons and guessed that Li Ni would definitely send people to destroy them. Mr. Yu also said that Li Xia's army had powerful thunder cannons." Qin Jiushao said: "So, we were very defensive and ordered the city gate to be tightened.
Searches and strictly prohibiting ordnance and firearms from entering the city, isn’t that all.”
Yu Desheng originally thought that if someone came to Jiangling with a firearm, he would just take it down and avoid hiding in this compound every day.
I didn’t expect the other party to be so calm."
"What do you mean? Are you planning to hide like this?"
"Why not? We are here to create a bond, not to capture the fine work. There is no way to catch the fine work."
"Now that I know Li Ni has sent people here, I must take it down."
Qin Jiushao seemed to have guessed what Yu Desheng would say. Although he didn't agree with it, he still handed over the map he had marked and said: "I have calculated that the opponent's stronghold is likely to be near here. I will dispatch the Jingmen Army to capture it.
"
"Do we need to mobilize troops? If the trouble gets bigger, it will be like Chongqing..." Yu Desheng stopped mid-sentence.
"Mr. Yu doesn't want to mobilize troops, but I can wait until I find them slowly."
Yu Desheng said: "I have a plan. You will take out a batch of counterfeit coins and trick the other party into taking the bait?"
"No. The other party is a veteran and won't take the bait."
Qin Jiushao didn't even bother with Desheng's machinations.
"The scope is still large, but even if two hundred people are deployed to search the other party carefully, they can't escape. I have already calculated it, so there will be no mistake..."
Although Yu Desheng hated Qin Jiushao, he had to admit that apart from official career and communication, Qin Jiushao was better than most people in any talent.
Only the next day, he had deployed troops to block Jiang Fan...
~~
"Damn it, I underestimated Qin Jiushao!"
"Commander, what should we do? We're going to check it out soon."
"He has found all our footholds, retreat immediately!"
"Walk."
"The street in front is blocked. We are checking our accent and household registration."
"Find a place where you can hide, are there any officials living nearby?
"There are several families over there who are officials. They seem to hate Qin Jiushao very much. I have heard them mourning Qin Jiushao..."
Several people whispered quickly and hurriedly turned into a remote alley.
Jiang Fan thought that this time it was a complete failure.
At the beginning, he made a big mistake. Because he heard about a book called "Shu Shu Jiu Zhang", he thought Qin Jiushao was a scholar like Li Ye.
Only now have I truly realized how big the gap is between ordinary people and geniuses.
However, the shouts of the Jingmen soldiers from the rear came over. The courtyard door in front had been opened. Someone said angrily: "What evil is Qin Jiushao doing again?!"
Jiang Fan suddenly had a thought in his mind.
If you can't compete with your opponent in terms of intelligence, can you compete with your character this time?