Liu Mingzhi stopped in deep thought and looked at the source of the sound. An old man with an imposing figure stood on the pavilion with his hands behind his back and a plain robe, looking at him with a faint smile.
"This junior is a willow tree from the south of the Yangtze River. May I ask who you are, Governor Gu?"
"It's me. Mr. Liu, please come up and have a chat. Sit down and drink two glasses of wine!"
"Thank you, Lord Governor, for your kindness. I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
"please!"
Gu Zhiheng sat in the front seat and nodded to his servants: "Pour some wine for the two gentlemen."
Liu Mingzhi Qinglian hurriedly picked up the wine glass to receive the drink, lowering her posture to the lowest level, and kicked her nose and face without anyone else giving her any respect.
"The two junior brothers would like to have a drink with you and thank you for your hospitality."
Gu Zhiheng sighed melancholy: "It's a troubled time in the city, and I don't want to drink. But I'm a guest from afar, so I can't be rude. I'll give you tea instead of wine to express my feelings, please!"
"Your Majesty, please excuse me."
While drinking, Liu Mingzhi glanced at Gu Zhiheng opposite, who looked normal and didn't look like he was drinking. He glanced at the wine glass on the table and Tong and Wu below, and Liu Mingzhi frowned.
What kind of dragon gate formation is there?
Liu Mingzhi put down his wine glass and sat down with a slight smile.
Gu Zhiheng put down the tea cup: "I already know Mr. Liu's purpose of coming. Qingzhou still has a lot of tea in stock. However, Qingzhou is located in a barren area, and the tea leaves mostly have a bitter taste. I wonder if Mr. Liu might be interested in it?"
"Your Excellency, you are overly worried. Although the tea from Qingzhou has a bitter taste when you first taste it, it leaves you with an endless aftertaste and a fragrance that lingers on your lips and teeth. It is a rare and good tea, but some people don't understand the taste. My father
I like Qingzhou’s tea very much, otherwise I wouldn’t let my juniors travel thousands of miles to Qingzhou to buy tea!”
Gu Zhiheng nodded understandingly: "My father is a unique person. To be honest with Mr. Liu, the tea in Qingzhou is just as you said just now. It is indeed the case. It is a pity that many tea people do not understand the secrets."
"Most of the people in this world are arty people. Don't worry, Mr. Gu. This junior has prepared two or three hundred thousand silver to buy up all the tea in Qingzhou. I wonder if there is so much tea?"
"Three hundred thousand? Mr. Liu, all the tea in Qingzhou is only worth eighty thousand taels of silver. Three hundred thousand taels is really not that much!"
Liu Mingzhi pretended to hesitate and thought for a while: "It doesn't matter, as much as you have, you can't go in vain. Fortunately, I asked my subordinates to buy some tea leaves in Dingzhou Prefecture. As long as the leakage is not too big, it should be fine.
Question. This is the deposit for this junior! The banknote is 20,000 taels. I will make up the remaining 60,000 taels with the tea."
Gu Zhiheng played with the teacup without looking at the 20,000 banknotes on the table. His eyes occasionally drifted to Tong and Wu playing in the courtyard.
"What? Do you think the deposit is too low? If it's not enough, you can add another ten thousand taels, but the tea must be shipped out within ten days."
"Ten days? Isn't it too hasty?"
"There is no way. Once the Northern Xinjiang trade route is opened, the difference will be thousands of miles away if we take less time. I have to hurry!"
Gu Zhiheng pondered for a while: "Mr. Liu, I have a presumptuous request. I wonder if Mr. Liu can agree to it?"
"Sir, please speak. I'd better listen to your thoughts first!"
Not knowing what kind of medicine Gu Zhiheng was selling in his gourd, Liu Mingzhi could only figure it out cleverly.
"Well, I wonder if Mr. Liu can use grain instead of paying for the tea. I hope Mr. Liu will understand my difficulties."
"Sir Gu, Jiangnan is almost hundreds of miles away from Qingzhou. The time, material and manpower consumed to settle the bill with grains is too great. Can I take the liberty to ask you why you want to settle the bill with grains?"
Gu Zhiheng sighed melancholy: "Master Liu must also know that the locust plague in Qingzhou is serious and the people are short of food and clothing. Although banknotes are convenient, it will take an unknown amount of time to buy food. The people cannot afford to wait.
ah."
With the wine glass in his hand, Liu Mingzhi's mind became more and more confused. It seemed that everyone in Qingzhou Prefecture was concealing the locust plague, but Gu Zhiheng told him so bluntly.
This is really far from what He Qi, Qiao Changjing and others said.
"Master Gu, it's not that I'm unwilling to help. This food bill can be consumed from Jiangnan to Qingzhou at most 50,000 taels of food. The key is that my family's business in Shanhaiguan Mutual Market is urgent. It's not that I'm unwilling to help. It's really powerless.
Ah. Besides, even if there is a locust plague, the imperial court has disaster relief officials and the state capital has food in the treasury. Even if you live frugally and eat less, it won’t be a big problem, right?"
After chatting for so long, Liu Mingzhi had to change the topic to the grain depot. The purpose of coming to the Governor's Mansion today was to find out whether there was any news about the grain depot.
"This" Gu Zhiheng glanced in Tong Hewu's direction covertly: "Master Liu, please forgive me for being a bit embarrassed to tell you. If you can't pay the bill with food, please forgive me for not being able to do anything."
Liu Mingzhi glanced gently in the direction of Tong Hewu. Gu Zhiheng seemed to be afraid of Tong Hewu.
Although Tong Hewu is Gu Zhiheng's superior officer, the things they hold are different, and the governor's office cannot interfere in the internal affairs of the prefectures and counties under its jurisdiction without authorization.
Recorders, counselors, etc. are all positions that supervise local officials.
Logically speaking, Gu Zhiheng shouldn't be so afraid of Tong Hewu.
The governor's office obeys orders from the governor's office, which come from the six ministries. Whether it is reasonable or not to obey private orders depends on the states' own discretion at this time.
"Gu Governor, I'm tired from playing. I'll arrange a private room immediately. I'm going to rest with the little beauties."
"Yes, yes, I will ask someone to prepare it right away. Sir, please wait a moment."
A dozen women pretended to be happy and went to the backyard, leaving Tong and Wu alone to come over wiping their sweat.
Tong Hewu sat down and drank a large bottle of wine: "How are things going for the victims? Didn't any turmoil happen?"
"Don't worry, sir, the Yamen has built a large number of porridge sheds and is giving out porridge."
"Well, that's good. We must prevent the victims from taking the opportunity to cause trouble. A group of people who don't have enough to eat can do anything."
"My lord is saying that your subordinates will definitely be careful. It's just that the recent rice grains are almost exhausted. Sir, are you trying to divert some grain?"
"It's up to you! The governor has gone to rest!"
"Yes, congratulations, sir!"
Before leaving, Tong and Wu glanced meaningfully at Liu Mingzhi, then at Gu Zhiheng, who followed the servant to the side room with his hands behind his back.
Liu Mingzhi looked at Tong and Wu Yuan's back and played with the wine glass in his hand: "Mr. Gu, this Lord Governor is doing his duty faithfully and always paying attention to the disaster situation in Qingzhou Mansion!"
Gu Zhiheng hesitated to speak and looked at Liu Mingzhi: "Master Liu is right, Governor Tong is indeed the Qingtian Master of the official side."