After Su Jin and Lang Shaodong agreed on a secret communication method, they left 1. Welcome to reading
Lang Shaodong returned to the hall and sat down slowly, as if he had had a dream, and was in a trance. Looking at the packages wrapped with gold and silver on the table, Lang Shaodong felt his heart tightening and his body tightening.
He felt chills for a while, cursing himself why he had so vaguely agreed to Su Jin to help him.
Su Jin said it nicely. It was to give him a clear path, but in fact he just wanted to be an undercover agent. Lang Shaodong frowned and carefully recalled all the conversations he had just had with Su Jin. Suddenly, he discovered the loopholes in Su Jin's words.
There are actually quite a few. Maybe I was panicking or scared just now, but I didn’t have time to think about it carefully, so I didn’t notice it.
It's hard to get off the horse now. If what Su Jin said is true, it means that the imperial court has indeed sent people to investigate the crimes of Zhu Shiyong and others. At this time, it is naturally a wise move for him to stand in the same camp as Su Jin to save his life and make merit; but
If what Su Jin said was untrue, it would be fine if he could not defeat Zhu Shiyong. He would no longer have a foothold in Luzhou from now on. How could Zhu Shiyong and others in the Chamber of Commerce tolerate him? No one knew their methods better than he did.
Lang Shaodong remembered that his father had talked to him about Tang Jiyuan's methods before he died. He said that after Tang Jiyuan used despicable methods to anger Su Moran, the former president of the Chamber of Commerce, he began to force merchants to join the Chamber of Commerce. Anyone who did not listen to the Chamber of Commerce
The merchant who instigated this was either imprisoned for no apparent reason, or was forced to sell his shop and property and leave his hometown. He asked Lang Shaodong to obey the wishes of Tang Jiyuan, so that he could keep his ancestral business and establish himself in Luzhou.
Lang Shaodong followed his father's instructions and followed Tang Jiyuan's footsteps. Tang Jiyuan did not make things too difficult for him. Lang Shaodong was given a small share of every industry in the city that was monopolized by him. Other small businesses were not so lucky.
After they joined the Chamber of Commerce, Tang Jiyuan forcibly allocated the business industries. Profitable industries such as rice, oil and cloth shops were monopolized by four or five large households, and the remaining merchants could only survive by doing small businesses with meager profits; although Tang Jiyuan would do so every year
Some symbolic bonuses are given to appease these merchants, but compared to the profits obtained, this little money is not enough to put a dent in the teeth.
There is a reason for Lang Shaodong's hesitation. He could have taken a closer relationship with Tang Jiyuan, but four years ago he lost the battle for the position of vice president. Tang Jiyuan chose the resourceful Liu Ji and his financial strength.
Lang Shaodong was hit hard by Huang Ji, who was more powerful in his own family, as his right-hand man.
Lang Shaodong didn't think there was much difference between the two of them, especially Vice President Liu, whose clothes were treacherous and sinister. He was not a local businessman in Luzhou, but moved to Luzhou from another state more than ten years ago.
of outsiders.
Lang Shaodong's dissatisfaction was reflected in his words to the two vice-presidents on weekdays. They had many falling outs, and every time they had a falling out, Lang Shaodong would curse without any nose or face, making everyone very embarrassed; over time,
, Tang Jiyuan has also gradually alienated him, and even now, he has been criticized by the prefect, and several presidents have not even farted, and have not even thought of coming to see him. (.)
What makes Lang Yongping even more heartbroken is that Tang Jiyuan and others knew that this time they had to sell food, but they did not say hello to him beforehand, but allowed him to make trouble with the prefect, making it clear that it was for his own sake.
It’s a joke. It’s not so much the fault of the magistrate as it is thanks to Tang Jiyuan and others.
After thinking about it, Lang Yongping finally made a decision. The Chamber of Commerce is unreliable, and Su Jin is unreliable. He can't fall for it in a daze. Everything depends on himself. The first thing he needs to do now is to verify Su Jin.
The authenticity of what he said; if what Su Jin said is true, then he must make a decisive decision and immediately draw a clear line with Zhu Shiyong and others from the Chamber of Commerce; Su Jin will help if he can, but he must not risk his life.
Thinking of this, Lang Yongping said loudly to the young man standing by: "Go and call the old housekeeper, and saddle up the carriage and wait at the door."
After a while, Ma Laosan, the old housekeeper of the Lang family, hurried over with the hem of his robe, and Lang Yongping ordered: "Steward Ma, I heard that you have a good relationship with Team Leader Zhao of the government office. You two have had flower wine together many times.
The friendship should be quite deep."
Housekeeper Ma was shocked. The Shaodong family actually found out about this. All the money was deducted from the government's expenses on a daily basis. He wanted to please Bantou Zhao to leave a way out for himself. The Shaodong family were mean people.
Things were particularly unsatisfactory for him here. If the government office was to be reorganized and the police were recruited, Team Leader Zhao promised to contribute.
However, the young master's family suddenly mentioned this matter, and I'm afraid it will be bad today.
But he didn't expect that Lang Shaodong didn't get angry and said in a calm voice: "Ask him to help me investigate something. If it is found out, I will reward you. If you find it, come back and report it immediately."
Butler Ma hurriedly asked: "What do the young masters want to investigate?"
Lang Yongping said: "Go and ask Squad Leader Zhao where a messenger named Chen Laogen in the Yamen is now. If he is not in Luzhou, ask him when he left Luzhou and what errand he was doing.
went."
Housekeeper Ma said, "What does the young master ask Chen Laogen for?"
Lang Yongping paused and said: "This man owes me a large sum of copper coins. I haven't seen him come to repay the money at the end of the year. I want to confirm whether he ran away to hide from the debt. If he is still working in the Yamen, don't disturb him. He has not escaped.
It’ll be fine.”
Butler Ma cupped his hands and said, "This is an easy thing to handle. I'll go ask Squad Leader Zhao now."
Lang Yongping said: "Go to the counter and pay five hundred coins, buy some pastries and go to Team Leader Zhao. It's not easy to leave empty-handed during the festival. I'll be waiting here. You can go back as soon as possible."
Housekeeper Ma was relieved and went out quickly. Lang Yongping sat in the hall and waited. Seeing the sun gradually rising, it was already past the hour. Just as he was pacing anxiously, Housekeeper Ma came back panting.
"How? Did you find him?"
"I found it. I went to Zhao Bantou's house to find out. After asking, I found out that everyone in the yamen went to Zhu Zhifu's house to pay New Year's greetings today. So I rushed to Zhu's house in Yuanma Bridge to finally ask for help.
I called out Team Leader Zhao and asked him thoroughly."
"Is Chen Laogen in Luzhou?" Lang Yongping asked anxiously.
Butler Ma thought to himself: Look at this, his eyes are about to pop out, this Chen Laogen must owe a lot of money to his young master.
"Reporting to Shaodong's house, there is indeed a man named Chen Laogen in the Yamen, but this person is no longer alive1,."
"What?" Lang Yongping exclaimed.
"Team leader Zhao said that on the eighth day of the eleventh month of the previous year, Chen Laogen was sent to deliver official documents to the Suzhou government office. However, this man was not very smart and did not know how to take detours. There were bandits in Bagong Mountain, so he chose to go wherever he wanted.
As a result, he was caught and killed by bandits."
Lang Yongping hurriedly asked: "How did they know that Chen Laogen was dead?"
Ma Guanjia said: "Team leader Zhao said it, the prefect said it himself. He also said that someone in Shouzhou saw his death. The obituary was published in the government office. Even the copper coins for stroking his beard were sent to the Chen family by Prefect Zhu himself.
Where is Chen Laogen’s blind mother?”
Lang Yongping opened his mouth and couldn't make a sound for a long time, his mind was in chaos.
"Young master, how much does this guy owe you?" Housekeeper Ma asked with concern. Looking at the situation of the young master, I'm afraid it's a lot of money.
"Step back." Lang Yongping waved his hand.
Housekeeper Ma lingered and refused to leave. Lang Yongping promised to give him a reward after the work was done, but now he didn't say a word about it.
"Why don't you back down?"
"Young master...the reward..."
"Bonus for your mother's legs." Lang Yongping was upset, and this guy was still making trouble here. He kicked the housekeeper Ma and kicked him, causing him to gnaw on the mud and curse: "You think I don't know that you usually live in the world?"
Are you deducting the expenses of the house? Where did you get the money to go to the brothels, drink wine and pretend to be a master? You little slave, if you don’t get out, I will beat you until you have teeth all over the floor."
Housekeeper Ma hurriedly turned around and ran out of the hall, cursing him like 'a bastard' and 'a son of a bitch' in his heart.
Lang Yongping paced the hall quickly, thinking about whose words were true. Now it seems that Chen Laogen's letter has been confirmed. Su Jin and Zhu Shiyong both said so, so there is no doubt that 1.
Zhu Shiyong said that Chen Laogen was dead, and Su Jin said that Chen Laogen was alive. This is difficult to judge.
If Chen Laogen was really dead, why did Su Jin reveal to Zhu Shiyong that Chen Laogen was alive?
If Zhu Shiyong really got the exact news of Chen Laogen's death, how could he believe the news?
If Zhu Shiyong doesn't believe it, isn't Su Jin doing useless work?
Many questions came one after another, making it difficult for Lang Yongping to make a decision. Suddenly Lang Yongping remembered one thing. Leader Zhao said that Chen Laogen went to Suzhou to deliver official documents on the eighth day of November. Wasn't that the day when the Imperial Army was transporting grain out of the city? After that,
More than ten days after Su Jin wiped out the Bagong Mountain bandits, according to Bantou Zhao, Chen Laogen had already died in the hands of the bandits. How could Su Jin know Chen Laogen's name after that? How could he know Chen Laogen?
Is Gen going to deliver a letter?
Things have become very clear, Zhu Shiyong is lying! In fact, he does not know Chen Laogen's life or death, or he would rather Chen Laogen was dead; the reason why he issued an obituary and sent pension money is to cause Chen Laogen's death.
Even if Chen Laogen is not dead, as long as it falls into his hands, he will still let Chen Laogen really die, because what he sent Chen Laogen to deliver was not an official document at all.
"Come here, prepare the car!" Lang Yongping shouted.
"Young master, the car has been prepared." The young man came in from the door and reported back.
"Take the gifts on the table and let's go out to pay New Year greetings."
"Whose house are you going to? President Tang?"
"Go to the magistrate's house in Yuemaqiao. President Tang and the others will definitely be there as well, which saves me and my whole family from running away."
The boy agreed, picked up the heavy package on the table and stuffed it into the carriage. Lang Yongping had long forgotten the pain in his buttocks and quickly got into the carriage; he raised his whip on the handlebar and hit the void with a clear whip sound.
, the mule cart buzzed, and quickly disappeared behind a light green willow tree at the corner of the street.dd