Wang Youling first entered the officialdom, and he was somewhat restrained on this occasion. "Lihuachun" is a geisha house, mainly engaged in tea art and qu art, selling art but not selling body; There are also a few geisha who sell themselves to special guests, and of course the conditions are very harsh.
In order to show the enthusiasm of the locality, the grain station official named Lihuachun's top girl to come out to receive her. Lihuachun's top girl is called Ru Xiang, born in an official family, because her father was sentenced for a crime, and she was fined for confiscating family property, she was sold to Lihuachun, known for her chess and qu skills.
Rue Xiang and others first played the two pieces "Xunyang Moon Night" and "Xingjie" with Jiangnan silk bamboo. Rue Xiang is best at pipa, and then plays "Midnight Song", whispering while playing, with water-like tenderness, showing a woman in the middle of the night as if to hear the low call of her lover, can't help but agree to the sky, very vivid and expressive: the night is silent, everything is silent, a full moon hangs in the sky, and the hazy cottages are like fairy mountains and qiongge in the faint fog, ethereal. Wang Youling listened a little fascinated, as if he felt the freshness of the spring night, smelled the faint fragrance of flowers, and heard the girl's sweet answer floating in the breeze. He didn't dare to gasp loudly, for fear of ruining this beautiful artistic conception.
The official of Huzhou grain station saw that Wang Youling was so emotional, and hurriedly asked Ru Xiang to come over and pour tea. Rue Xiang girl is not good at tea art, and usually does not pour tea for guests, and now so many officials are gathered here, which reminds her of her unfortunate experience. When she poured water for Wang Youling, her hand suddenly shook, and the boiling water suddenly spilled on his body. Wang Youling was looking at Rue Xiang blankly, recalling the softness and delicate of the Jiangnan woman, and was suddenly scalded by boiling water, and instinctively shouted "Oops".
The prefect of Huzhou shouted in annoyance: "Why are you so careless... Quickly apologize to Lord Wang! "
Wang Youling wanted to calm the situation, and quickly said: "Don't fight tightly, don't fight tightly." "
However, the Huzhou grain and Taiwan official did not adhere to it, feeling that this would damage his face. A girl was worried that Rue Xiang would suffer a loss, and hurriedly called out Hu Xueyan, who could speak well.
"Gentlemen, I'm really sorry for being offended," Hu Xueyan said as he walked over, "I'll make amends for the Ruxiang girl first." "
Wang Youling felt that the voice was very familiar, and when he looked at it, he suddenly froze: "Huh? Brother Xueyan..."
Hu Xueyan also recognized the official in front of him as Wang Youling. The two looked at each other, sad and joyful.
Xunjiang moonlit night
Afterwards, Wang Youling stayed behind to talk with Hu Xueyan alone. I learned that Hu Xueyan not only lost his job for the 500 taels of silver, but also was bullied and oppressed by Xinhe Qianzhuang, and he is still down. Wang Youling was so angry that he immediately decided to return to Hangzhou immediately, go to Qianzhuang to pay off the principal and interest, and export evil qi for Hu Xueyan by the way.
To Wang Youling's surprise, Hu Xueyan declined his kindness. Hu Xueyan said calmly: "You can't do everything too much, you have to spare people and spare people, after all, this matter is my broken rules first, besides, get along with them for so long, how much is emotional, why should I repay each other unjustly?" "
Seeing that Wang Youling was still puzzled, he continued: "The reason why I don't go to earn this face is very simple, if I go with you, it will definitely make the other party (Zhang Zhangpan) quite embarrassed, lose face, once the matter is publicized, it will not only seriously affect the reputation of Qianzhuang, but also related to their survival, I don't want others to end up in such a situation like myself!" "
Wang Youling admired Hu Xueyan even more when he heard this, and he said, "Okay, just listen to you, so what should I do?" "
Hu Xueyan said: "That's embarrassing for Brother Xuexuan. Not only do I not go with you, but I also want to trouble my brother to face me and not to say indignant, as if I had not seen me; At the same time, he also hoped that his brother Taiduoduo would say a few words to them, and nothing had happened. "
Hu Xueyan's practice made Wang Youling can't help but admire in his heart: This person has a benevolent heart. If you change to someone else, when you encounter this opportunity to raise your eyebrows, how can you easily give up? And he is actually willing to wronged himself, save the face of others, so magnanimous measurement!
Next, they talked about the grain harvest. When Wang Youling first entered the officialdom, he encountered such a tricky thing, which can really be described as "it is difficult for officials to do well." Zhejiang is a major grain province, and storage and transportation were originally not difficult, but the problem is that the current Taiping Army controls the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the grain originally transported from the Grand Canal to Beijing has been intercepted, and the canal has silted up in many places. Therefore, the imperial court decreed that river transportation be changed to sea transportation. Jiangsu and Zhejiang grain was transported from Shanghai Port, north along the coast, into Bohai Bay to Tianjin Wei, and then sent to Beijing. However, even by sea, grain must be transported to sea. It's now August, and the preparations for the transportation are complicated, and according to the routine, even if everything goes well, it will not be possible to complete the task on time. Now it is a time of war again, the transportation of rice can not be delayed in the slightest, and the imperial court has already issued an edict, if it is delayed, it will be severely punished.
Qing Dynasty Zhuoyun
Hu Xueyan firmly believes that he can come up with a feasible plan. At Wang Youling's invitation, he decided to go to the Shipping Bureau to help Wang Youling, that is, as a staff officer. Due to official rules, in public, Hu Xueyan changed his name to Wang Youling as "Duke of Xue".
After returning to Hangzhou, Wang Youling was very excited, he first went to see Lin Gui, saying that Futai had already said that the difference would be advanced by the fanku first, and how to send more Xincao Zhong this year (Xianfeng 2nd year) to make up for this amount, and then a method would be determined. Then he went to meet Futai, and Huang Zonghan said that as long as things can be done as soon as possible, it doesn't matter if he spends more money. He also took out two edicts to Wang Youling, one was that there were as many as 150,000 soldiers in the Eight Banners and Beijing, which must be strictly trained, and the arrears should be cleared, and the provinces should be sent to quickly transport rice and silver taels for requisition; The other is to reduce the "maintenance" silver of the Minister of Culture and Military Affairs to replenish the military salary. The imperial court had difficulties in arranging grain and salaries, and if it could be transported to the capital as soon as possible, Huang Zonghan promised to keep King Mi to be promoted to the rank of prince.
After Hu Xueyan hurriedly saw his family in Hangzhou, he got busy with the shipping of grain. Three or four days later, Hu Xueyan explained his plan to Wang Youling: "Regarding the shipping of grain by sea, I have considered it for several days and nights. To transport hundreds of thousands of stone grain from Zhejiang to Shanghai, it is bound to mobilize the masses and consume a lot of manpower and material resources. Brother Xuexuan, can we change our method and transport Zhejiang grain to Beijing without bringing a grain of rice to Shanghai? "
When Wang Youling heard this, he felt inexplicable, what kind of errand did he not bring grain to? How to conjure 390,000 loads of grain out of thin air in Shanghai?
Hu Xueyan continued: "You think, once you change the sea transportation, Caoding will have nothing to eat, so the matter of shipping the rice to Shanghai and then transferring it to the sea is something they can't do!" You are in a hurry, but they are not in a hurry, just waiting to see your liveliness! "
Wang Youling panicked all of a sudden, and said urgently: "So, the rice must not be shipped out?" "
"Exactly! That's why I said I wouldn't take a grain of rice to Shanghai, but it would be a risk. "
"Take what risk?" Wang Youling asked impatiently.
"Rice is rice, it's the same everywhere!" Hu Xueyan had something to say, but Wang Youling still didn't understand, so he continued, "The imperial court only wants rice, and the rice in Shanghai and Zhejiang are the same." Zhejiang's rice can't be shipped out, we just need to bring enough silver tickets, go to Shanghai to buy rice, and ship it directly to the sea, or it's over! "
A word woke up the dreamer, Wang Youling was very excited, and praised in a loud voice: "Brother Xueyan, what a brilliant plan!" "
Wang Youling pondered for a while, and then became more worried: "I think.... Going to Shanghai from Hangzhou without a grain of rice is too risky! If you can't buy rice in Shanghai, you will miss the big silver taels, and I will try to raise it on your behalf all the way. There are many of my friends along the way, and they have business contacts. "
"That's good." Hu Xueyan's expression was grim, and he said, "However, I have to remind you that the matter I am talking to you about today was explained by Lord Zhongcheng, and it must not leak the slightest!" During the period of military chaos, it is easier to break into trouble, don't talk about me, even Lord Wang can't save you, the official is not merciful, when the time comes, Futai will send troops to seal the letter and the door, you don't blame me. "No problem, in a word!"
A pair of wrongdoers from the past raised their hands and gave them high fives.
Hu Xueyan seemed to have the victory in hand: "You don't have to worry about this, I have repeatedly inquired: Shanghai's grain is concentrated in Songjiang, and there has been a lot of backlog recently, and the price of rice there is very low." But this matter must be kept absolutely secret, and from my experience in the grain business in the past few months, if you buy in large quantities somewhere, it will inevitably cause the price of rice to rise sharply and increase unnecessary costs. If we quietly purchase in Shanghai at the price of rice from Zhejiang, it will not only save time and effort, but also reduce the cost of transportation. As long as you plan carefully, it is very possible to earn a large sum. "
Hu Xueyan
Wang Youling nodded again and again when he listened, and had to admire Hu Xueyan's shrewd business acumen, but he still reminded: "Brother Xueyan, your idea is really daring... Be careful about this. "
"Things are a little troublesome, but businessmen for profit, as long as it is profitable, the blood on the knife edge must also be licked, the risk is always willing to be carried, the most important thing is that there must be a guarantee."
Having made up his mind, Wang Youling immediately crossed the level to report the matter to Huang Hanzong. The reason why he dared to do this was because he had understood from Huang Zonghan's several conversations and hints that Huang Zonghan wanted to put the disobedient lord Lingui on the top. After listening to his report, Huang Zonghan also felt that this matter was too risky, but now there was no other way, and there had already been a human life before. The time is urgent, and the most important thing is to be able to make a difference. Besides, in case something happens, there is Wang Youling as a substitute for the dead ghost in Xia, and He Guiqing in Shanghe to help carry it, He Guiqing probably won't watch the person he recommended be unfavorable and lose in one fell swoop.
After receiving Huang Zonghan's approval, Wang Youling's confidence increased. The priority is to raise silver tickets. Now don't say that the clan has only rice and no cash, even if there is cash, they will definitely not come up with such a large amount of money to do risky things. What to do? This layer of Hu Xueyan has long been considered - using the money house to turnover. At the beginning, when Wang Youling was about to go to Xinhe Qianzhuang to vent for Hu Xueyan, Hu Xueyan showed the broad-mindedness of turning enemies into friends, and at this critical moment, isn't there a path that can be walked?
Hu Xueyan and Wang Youling discussed and decided to go to Xinhe Qianzhuang in the name of repaying the debt. According to his relationship with those old colleagues, Hu Xueyan prepared a gift for each person, and they all liked it. Then he hired a porter and went to the money estate with this burden. Wang Youling also deliberately changed into civilian clothes and changed the official sedan into a small palanquin to come to Xinhe.
Qing Dynasty Qianzhuang
Hearing that Wang Youling came to pay off the debt after he got an official, Qianzhuang's Zhang Palm Pan suddenly became nervous, because Xinhe regarded the 500 taels of silver as a dead account that could not be recovered, so he did not take the IOU written by Wang Youling seriously at all, and they didn't know where to throw it, and they searched everywhere and didn't find it. After Zhang Zhangpan told the truth, Wang Youling said: "This is not tight, find it later, and destroy it." "Immediately took out the 550 taels of silver with interest, and only asked Qianzhuang to write a receipt that had been paid off.
Hu Xueyan also said some self-blame and self-guilt words, and according to the gift of the guy, he gave Ding Treasurer a silver birthday peach wrapped in red silk, because the day after tomorrow is Ding Treasurer's birthday. This made Ding very moved.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Hu Xueyan lifted a heavy weight and deliberately understated his intentions: "I have been on an errand under Lord Wang of the Zhejiang Shipping Bureau. Recently, on the orders of Lord Zhongcheng, we will go to Shanghai and Songjiang to purchase a batch of grain and transport it to Beijing by 'sea'. For safety reasons, we don't want to bring cash, we want to bring the silver ticket of the money bank to Shanghai. This business is very reliable, I wonder if the treasurer is interested? "