When everyone's eyes were focused on Yang Xuan, Yang Xuan felt embarrassed for no reason. After all, his current external identity was as a staff member of Prince Qiong's Mansion. Lu Jinliang said that he was the boss behind the scenes, which was too high a praise for him.
Sure enough, the people at the main table didn't take him seriously at all, and just glanced at him briefly. Yang Xuan quickly drank the wine in his glass, and these people immediately turned around and talked about their own affairs.
Obviously, this was done perfunctorily for Lu Jingliang's sake.
Although Yang Xuan needed to get acquainted with these officials, it was definitely not in the presence of everyone.
However, Lu Jingliang has such a character. He is not a bad person, but his emotional intelligence is a bit low.
At the main table, Yang Xuan has the lowest status and is also the youngest. He has to offer a toast regardless of emotion or reason. The most distinguished person at this table, besides the two brothers and sisters from Prince Shao's Mansion, is the prefect of Yuezhou Mansion.
The prefect's surname was Lin. When Yang Xuan raised the cup in front of him, he didn't even raise his eyelids. He just said lightly: "I am already too drunk. Mr. Yang, please help yourself."
It's obvious that this Magistrate Lin looks down on Yang Xuan. You are just a staff member of the palace, and you may not have a high status as a housekeeper. Can you be as high as a third-rank official in Magistrate Lin?
But Yang Xuan didn't mind this at all, and directly ignored him and went to toast the next official. After such a round of toasts, everyone except Magistrate Lin, at least for Lu Jingliang's sake, drank Yang Xuan's toast.
Magistrate Lin didn't look very good at that time. He just wanted to take advantage of me. I ignored you because of the disparity in status. You, a mere businessman, dared to ignore me.
After toasting, Yang Xuan went to the side where the merchants were entertained. In contrast, Yang Xuan needed to establish good relations with these local merchants. As for Magistrate Lin, he really didn't take it seriously.
It's not like I've never been a third-grade official.
…
The wealth of the people in Guangzhou City exceeded Yang Xuan's imagination. The goods prepared before the opening were almost sold out quickly, so another batch of goods was mobilized to Xu Bancheng.
But what I didn't expect was that after a few days, the goods were not delivered, but I received a letter from Xu Bancheng, saying that the goods had been robbed by bandits.
Yang Xuan was stunned at that time. The goods of Shengfa Department Store were all transported by Shengfa Logistics, and Shengfa Logistics was jointly operated with the post station. This was equivalent to a state-owned enterprise, and ordinary bandits would not dare to provoke it.
The goods sent from Yingtian Prefecture to Zhanjiang Prefecture have never been robbed. Now, the journey from Zhanjiang Prefecture to Guangzhou is still robbed by bandits?
Yang Xuan reported to the official immediately, and the person who received him was naturally Lord Zhizhou Sun.
Master Sun frowned immediately when he heard that bandits were robbing merchants.
When Yang Xuan saw Master Sun not asking about the case, but instead frowning and saying nothing, he realized that Master Sun might know something inside.
"Master Sun, bandits have robbed merchants and caused heavy losses to our merchants. Please ask Master Sun to make decisions for the common people."
Yang Xuan said as he took out the banknote and stuffed it into it.
Mr. Sun stood up in a loud voice and refused repeatedly: "This is impossible. It is my duty to protect the country and the people. How can I accept bribes for this?"
"Master Sun has a good demeanor and is admired by the common people. However, this bandit dares to rob goods from Shengfa Logistics. I am afraid this group of bandits is unusual. Please ask Master Sun to give some guidance to the common people." Yang Xuan stuffed the banknotes again.
passed.
Wise people naturally speak to the point. What Yang Xuan means is that I know you have difficulties, and I am just asking you to provide some information to benefit you.
This time Master Sun did not refuse anymore and accepted the banknote: "Mr. Yang, please come and sit in the inner hall for a while."
Even in the inner hall, Master Sun still lowered his voice: "There is a Xiuyun Mountain in the south of Guangzhou. The bandits who robbed the goods are probably them."
Yang Xuan was a little surprised: "Since Mr. Sun knew that there were bandits in Xiuyun Mountain, why didn't he eliminate them?"
Mr. Sun shook his head: "First of all, Xiuyun Mountain has a steep terrain, and the village where the bandits are located is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Just sending the government officials there is no match for the bandits. But if we mobilize the Guangzhou Guards
Soldiers and bandits can always get the news in advance and run away."
"this……"
Yang Xuan understood that these bandits had internal contacts in the government.
"Master Sun, does he know who is colluding with the bandits?"
"I don't know." Mr. Sun waved his hands repeatedly and said loudly, but his eyes were glanced upward.
Yang Xuan immediately understood and saluted: "Thank you, Lord Sun."
After coming out of the government office, Yang Xuan frowned. Although Mr. Sun didn't say it explicitly, his hint showed that the other party's official position was still above his.
In Guangzhou Prefecture, there are only a limited number of people whose official positions are higher than Lord Sun, the magistrate of the state.
Moreover, Xu Bancheng did not deliver goods to Guangzhou City only once or twice. He had not been targeted by bandits before, so why was he targeted this time?
So he should be one of the officials present at the celebration banquet. Yang Xuan asked himself that he had not offended anyone. At most, he did not give face to Magistrate Lin, and it was you, Magistrate Lin, who wanted to take Qiao.
However, there must be other interests involved. Magistrate Lin could reach this position in the officialdom, so naturally he would not cause such a big thing out of anger.
It's just that Yang Xuan is a new arrival in Guangzhou City, and his eyesight is dark. If he wants to find out the situation, he still has to find local people.
The only person I met in Guangzhou was Lu Han.
So Yang Xuan posted a post according to etiquette, inviting Lu Han and Qi Yuanjing to dinner.
"Mr. Yang, that's too polite. We are all so familiar with each other. If anything happens, we can just say no. Why should we be so solemn about it?"
Lu Han's character is a bit bold, but his husband has a look of resentment on his face.
Yang Xuan bowed his hands and bowed with sufficient etiquette. He did not want to offend this melancholy prince.
"Today I invite you, a distinguished couple. We have important matters to discuss. Please sit down, both of you."
Originally, the fewer people who knew about this kind of thing, the better, but in order to avoid suspicion, he had to invite Qi Yuanjing together. After all, even if he wasn't invited, he would probably follow.
After entering the box and sitting down, Lu Han asked: "What is it that is so solemn?"
"Princess, the goods shipped from Zhanjiang Prefecture were robbed by bandits."
"ah?"
Lu Han was startled, and then became furious: "These bandits are so bold, they even dare to rob my goods."
When Yang Xuan heard this, he quickly asked: "Does the princess know the details of these bandits?"
Lu Han said: "The details are not very clear. I only know that they are entrenched in the Makouling area, oppressing nearby villagers and collecting monthly money."
Yang Xuan sighed and said: "I heard that there are people in the government who collude with them. Whenever the officers and soldiers want to arrest them, they can always get wind of it in advance and avoid it."
Lu Han nodded: "I have heard about this, but I don't know who is colluding with him."
Yang Xuan leaned over and said softly: "My personal analysis is that every time the Guangzhou Guards want to send troops to encircle and suppress, they can get the news in advance, which shows that this person has a high official position."