In the afternoon of the next day, Cui Ming officially arrived at Shangyong. Yuan Sima came out to welcome him into the city and placed him in the hotel. After Cui Ming checked in, he counted the number of tributes in a leisurely manner, and there was no further movement.
When he went to the Kingdom of Fish, he did not go to the Kingdom of Kui and Qi to inspect the tributes, but instead waited for the arrival of Shen Douke.
Yuan Sima tried several times, but Cui Ming always talked about him. Even when Prince Qingyu visited him in person, he didn't tell the truth. In turn, Prince Qingyu praised him profusely, saying that he had the air of a famous scholar and the reputation of a wealthy family.
Qi, he is worthy of being a noble man from Linzi - even if he is in trouble again, he is still a noble man from Linzi in trouble.
Three days later, Shen Douke arrived at Shangyong. In the Chu State, the Four Kingdoms were supervised by Yangzhou. As the most powerful person in Yangzhou after Zhou Yin and Right Disciple, Shen Douke was responsible for supervising the Four Kingdoms. His arrival was definitely a sign of Yongzhou.
On the occasion of a major national event, Prince Qingyu and Prince Wushuang went out of the city together, bringing with them a group of officials to welcome Shen Douke into the post.
Shen Douke declined the banquet given by the young master Qingyu, shied away from the young master's hunting appointment in pairs, and talked with Cui Ming behind closed doors.
Cui Mingdao said: "I deliberately stayed in the realm of Chu and Yong for some time, and secretly sent people to investigate. Everything in Yongrentang is as usual."
"Yongrentang?"
"This is the alchemy hall opened by alchemist Shen Wu, just like Yunji's Yunkai Hall in Yutou City."
"Go on, did you meet him yesterday?"
"Congratulations to Zuo Tu!"
Shen Douke was very excited: "Oh? Shen Wu agreed?"
Cui Ming stroked his beard and smiled: "We're almost halfway done!"
Shen Douk thought: "Half? What conditions does he offer?"
Cui Ming talked eloquently: "I came into the city alone yesterday and sat down with him to talk. I just realized that Shen Wu actually has no loyalty. He just wants to sell for a price. If Zuo Tu agrees to worship him every month
For a sum of money and materials for alchemy, he agreed to invest it in Zuo disciple's disciples."
Shen Douke frowned: "As an alchemist, why do you still want to offer sacrifices to me? How can this make sense? When Yun Ji was under my sect, not only did he not want to offer sacrifices, he also had to hand over a batch of spiritual pills to me every year."
As he said that, he paced back and forth in the room and made quick calculations. He really wanted to recruit Wu Sheng, but Wu Sheng's conditions were really not in compliance with the rules.
The emperor enfeoffed the world, and the princes established the country with fiefdoms, and they had to pay tribute to the emperor every year; the princes also enfeoffed the ministers and officials in the country, either for mountains, forests, rivers, or for towns and fertile land, and the ministers had to pay tribute to the princes every year; the ministers collected retainers and paid tribute to them.
The retainers provide shelter or entrust them with errands, and there are ways to make money. The retainers must pay half of their income to the doctor. This is the rule.
There has always been a rule that only subordinates should make offerings to their superiors. How could there be any reason to receive money in turn?
If there are, they are a handful of impoverished dead men. The purpose of raising dead men like them is to serve in death. Is it Shen Wu? Obviously not! The rules cannot be broken. If you agree to Shen Wu, you will have dozens of disciples under your door.
How to raise it? Who can afford it?
Thinking of this, Shen Douke shook his head: "It's against the rules. Is there anything else?"
Cui Ming hurriedly said: "Shen Wu also said that if this left disciple cannot agree, he can change it to another one. After he arrives in Yangzhou, he will ask his left disciple for help and hand over the alchemy business in Yangzhou to him."
Shen Douke shook his head: "No!"
Cui Mingdao said: "If Zuo Tu is in trouble, he agrees to do the next best thing and ask Zuo Tu for a buyout fee." At that moment, he told Shen Douke what he understood about the buyout fee.
After hearing this, Shen Douke's face turned dark. Without him, the buyout fee was at least five hundred gold. How could he afford it?
"This person is too greedy. How can he get into my door with such character? He needs to be beaten!" Shen Douke made a decision.
"Then" Cui Ming asked about the next step.
Shen Douke sneered: "Since you don't know how to praise, let's test his elixir!"
Cui Ming wiped the cold sweat from his forehead as he watched Shen Douk walk away.
Early the next morning, Shen Douke and Cui Ming rushed to the Sikong Treasury. The elixirs, spiritual materials and rice from Yongguo Maogong were piled on the car, and they were shipped to Yangzhou only after Shen Douke nodded.
Cui Ming has already counted the quantity. There is no need to check it now. What needs to be reviewed is the quality. After entering the warehouse, several customers brought by Shen Douke immediately began to check and compare. Young Master Qingyu, Yuan Sima and Lu Sikong were nearby.
Accompany with caution.
The first thing to produce results is rice. This is easier to review, while spiritual materials are more difficult. However, Shen Douke brought some of his customers who are good at weapon refining. After comparing the market conditions in Yangzhou Fang City and checking each piece, he concluded that
He came to the conclusion that the total price of the more than twenty kinds of spiritual materials handed over by Yongguo, totaling eighty kilograms, slightly exceeded the prescribed total amount of tribute.
It would not be difficult for Shen Dou Ke to manipulate this level. He could just find faults at will. Therefore, Young Master Qingyu was a little worried about this. He did not understand the purpose of Shen Dou Ke's personal review and did not do it.
Prepared for "If there are any deficiencies in the inspection, they will be resubmitted separately".
But Shen Douke obviously had no intention of causing trouble with the spiritual materials. He approved it with a stroke of his pen. The young master and Sima both breathed a sigh of relief.
Just when they thought they would pass the review reliably, Lingdan's side inspected it very carefully.
The retainer who inspected the elixir took out an elixir furnace, opened a bottle of black ginseng pills, put one of the black ginseng pills into the furnace, lit a fire underneath, and at the same time inserted a long jasper ruler into the furnace.
None of the monarchs and ministers of the Yong Kingdom had ever seen such an inspection method. Lu Sikong stepped forward and asked, "Shen Zuotu, what does this mean?"
Shen Douke smiled and said: "My disciple is good at refining elixirs. This jade ruler is a high-grade magic weapon that can be used to check the effect and quality of the elixir. Today, he will verify it. I invite you all to take a look at it."
The doorman explained: "Young Master, you two Sikong, my magical weapon is called Moyu Lingdan Ruler. I bought it from Linzi with a lot of money. It was made by Panshi, the master craftsman of the Academy. It looks like jasper to you, but it is not actually a magic pill.
The true color of the ruler is black. Because the elixir was tested before, it turned into a green color. The elixir tested was the elixir that was used during the Putai meeting last year. If tested today, the color of the ruler has changed.
, it can be proved that the effect of the elixir is different from that of the similar elixir. The better the elixir is, the darker the color of the elixir is. The worse the elixir is, the lighter the color of the elixir is."
Shen Douke added: "There is another one. If the old elixir that is about to expire is used as a tribute, this jade ruler can also detect it."
The doorman nodded: "Exactly, there is usually no worry about the failure of medium-grade and above elixirs. They can be taken after being stored for more than ten years, decades, or even a hundred years. However, low-grade elixirs cannot last for five or six years.
It will be ineffective immediately.”
Opening the furnace to test the elixir is not elixir refining. It does not take half an hour, but an hour. It only takes a cup of tea, and the elixir is fragrant, and the work is done without compromising the effect of the elixir. After the alchemist checked the jade ruler, he shook his head slightly towards Shen Douke.
After shaking their heads, everyone looked at the alchemy ruler, and found that the color of the jasper had not changed.
The monarchs and ministers of the Yong Kingdom took a deep breath, and just smiled when they heard Shen Douke say again: "Check again."
The doorman took back the verified black ginseng pills from the elixir furnace and put it back into the elixir bottle. He opened a new bottle of elixir, took out one and put it into the elixir furnace. The monarchs and ministers of the Yong Kingdom immediately surrounded them again, each one bending over and pouting.
Buttocks, carefully observe the color changes of the jade ruler.
After drinking tea, the sound of "huh" breathing was heard, and the king and ministers of Yongguo stood up straight with smiles on their faces.
"Test again!" Shen Douk looked very unhappy.
The doorman takes the elixir and puts it into the furnace
The monarch and ministers of the mediocre country leaned over and stuck their butts out
After drinking a cup of tea, "call".
"Test again."
Bend over, stick your butt out
"call"
"Test again."
Thank you Yi Zhijian for the large reward, and kowtow! Thank you to Taoist priest Xinxitang and Tianming for the reward, and thank you fellow Taoists for your monthly tickets and recommended tickets.