Chapter 243: Secret Meeting in Jinling (Part )

"Master Shen, what do you mean by that?"

Minister Jia's face changed, and he asked in a slightly unhappy tone, "Do you think the Prime Minister and I will harm you?"

Shen Dongshan was not angry, and shook his head calmly and said, "I don't mean that. Shen has been in business for decades and has traveled all over the country.

I have seen a bit of the world and understand a bit of the ways of the world. I know that you get what you pay for. All "compliments" must be for something, and all "bargains" must be strange. Over the past few decades, I have seen and heard that everyone who forgets himself and seeks bargains will suffer losses. All kinds of people, men and women, without exception! Even so, there are still many people who can't control themselves when faced with "bargains". They are not ignorant of this principle, but they knowingly commit crimes. Do you know why?"

"Why?" Minister Jia replied in a bad tone.

"One is greed. The other is luck." Shen Dongshan said with a smile, "When people live in the world and deal with people, they can't always rely on 'luck'. Anyone who encounters 'good luck' will inevitably encounter 'great disaster'. It is said that fortune is accompanied by misfortune, and misfortune is accompanied by fortune. This is exactly the truth. So when Shen does business with others, he would rather suffer a little loss than seek cheapness, and even deliberately give others a cheap price. It is because of this that the Dongshan Company is what it is today."

Minister Jia tapped the teacup lightly with his fingers, and said with a half-smile: "Master Shen can have the status he has today, self-cultivation and self-discipline are important, but they are only one of the things. In addition, Master Shen must not forget the second thing."

Shen Dongshan was not surprised by praise or criticism, and said calmly: "I would like to hear your advice!"

"Do you still remember your former best friend Tang Jin?" Minister Jia said contemptuously, "Master Shen, have you forgotten? Back then, the Tang family was the richest family in Jiangnan, and Tang Jin was young and promising, and should have had a bright future. But twenty-four years ago, the Tang Mansion was burned, killed and looted by twenty-five evil thieves. The once prosperous Tang family was reduced to ashes overnight. Among the sixty-four people in the Tang family, only Tang Jin's youngest son escaped by chance, and the rest all died tragically. Everyone knows that Shen Dongshan and Tang Jin are close friends. The youngest son of the Tang family is young and weak, so he had no choice but to seek refuge with you. He hoped that you could avenge the Tang family, but unexpectedly you deceived him. The young orphan of the Tang family not only did not sincerely help him, but also took the opportunity to cheat all the Tang family's shops and brands from him. The Tang family's 27 money houses, 31 silk shops, 15 rice shops, 17 restaurants, and two horse farms... all went into your pocket for free under the fingerprints of the illiterate young son of the Tang family. Therefore, there is the No. 1 business in the Song Dynasty that is famous all over the world today. Master Shen, if the Tang family had not suffered, if you had not used despicable means to deceive the orphan of the Tang family, then today's No. 1 business in the Song Dynasty would not be named "Shen", but "Tang"! "

When Minister Jia brought up the old matter again, the smile on Shen Dongshan's face gradually froze, and Feng Tianba, who was standing next to him, was also secretly surprised. When he looked at Shen Dongshan, a hint of contempt could not help but emerge in his eyes.

"Not only that." Minister Jia continued, "After you cheated the Tang family of everything, you became rich and powerful, but you cruelly poisoned the orphan of the Tang family, wanting to wipe out the whole family. To avoid being tracked down by the government, you poisoned the orphan and threw him on the street, leaving him to beg while waiting to die. Fortunately, there is always a way out. Before the orphan of the Tang family died of the poison, he was saved by a martial arts master. In the end, not only did he save his life, but he also mastered martial arts by chance."

At this moment, Feng Tianba could no longer resist his curiosity and asked, "Excuse me, sir, is the orphan of the Tang family you mentioned still alive?"

"Of course!" Minister Jia laughed, "But unfortunately, although the orphan of the Tang family survived, the poison had already seeped into his brain when he was rescued, so that after he recovered, his memory of the past became intermittent and extremely vague. The most interesting thing is... the orphan of the Tang family still can't remember the name his parents gave him in the past."

"Then what should we do?" Feng Tianba ignored Shen Dongshan's uncertain expression and continued to ask.

"Although he can't remember his real name, he clearly remembers that the Tang family used to call him by his nickname. So he used his nickname as his real name, and it has been used till now." Minister Jia stared at the embarrassed Shen Dongshan with interest and sneered, "As for his nickname, Master Shen still remembers it clearly. After all, he is a thorn in the side of Master Shen who makes him unable to sleep or eat. Haha..."

Facing Minister Jia's smiling face, Shen Dongshan clenched his right hand holding the teacup tighter and tighter, and his knuckles turned slightly white.

"what is his name……"

"Hey!" Without waiting for Feng Tianba to ask, Kui Qi suddenly looked fierce and shouted coldly, "Don't ask about things you shouldn't ask about!"

"Nonsense!" Feng Tianba was also a hot-tempered person, and he got angry easily. He immediately said, "I didn't ask you anything, why are you yelling?"

"Tianba." Minister Jia spoke before Kui Qi could refute him, "This is Master Shen's territory, you must not be rude! Master Shen, when the orphan of the Tang family came to the government office to seek justice, if it weren't for the Prime Minister who helped you suppress the matter, how could you live such a carefree life today?"

Suddenly, Shen Dongshan, whose face was livid, laughed loudly and unrestrainedly, with a bit of unruly tone in his laughter.

Seeing this, Minister Jia was slightly stunned and asked suspiciously, "Why is Mr. Shen laughing?"

"No problem! No problem!" Shen Dongshan waved his hand and laughed, "I am just laughing at these trivial matters. Lord Jia is so obsessed with them that he even reminds me from time to time. Thank you! Thank you! Haha..."

After that, Shen Dongshan cast his strange eyes straight at Feng Tianba and said jokingly: "This matter is known to everyone in the world. Doesn't Guard Feng know it? The orphan of the Tang Clan mentioned by Lord Jia, his nickname is...Afu!"

"Afu?" Feng Tianba was slightly stunned and muttered to himself, "Afu? Afu... Tang Jin? Tang Afu? Tang..."

At this point, Feng Tianba's face suddenly changed, and a deep shock instantly welled up in his eyes. He subconsciously exclaimed: "Tang Afu? The orphan of the Tang family turned out to be the 'ruthless swordsman' Tang Afu?"

"That's the man." Shen Dongshan said frankly, "But Ah Fu has some misunderstandings about me. I didn't want to seize his family business back then. I was just worried that he was young and ignorant and would be deceived by others. Tang Jin and I are close friends, so I helped him look after the business. I told Ah Fu a long time ago that as long as he is willing to come back to me, I can hand over all of Dongshan Company to him now, so that he can understand my good intentions. People always like to make malicious assumptions, so they make up some absurd rumors to ruin my reputation. But Shen is innocent and has nothing to fear. Let them say whatever they want, and I have a clear conscience."

Feng Tianba sneered at Shen Dongshan's explanation. He knew very well that people like Shen Dongshan could not tell right from wrong and always confused black and white. In short, it was hard for him to tell the truth.

"Whether it's true or not," Minister Jia said solemnly, "I said all this just to remind Mr. Shen that the Prime Minister and I are your friends. We have always been helping you and have never harmed you. So we also hope that Mr. Shen can stand up and generously help when the court is in danger."

The reason why Minister Jia brought up the matter of Tang Afu again was not to embarrass Shen Dongshan on purpose, but to deliberately remind Shen Dongshan that he had the leverage over him.

Minister Jia wants Shen Dongshan to understand clearly who is the master and who is the follower between him and the court.
This kind of thing should be stopped at the right time, as too much is as bad as too little. Minister Jia is well aware of this, so he did not expose Shen Dongshan's "self-justification" and even helped him to make up for it.

During negotiations, if you only have favor but no power, your opponent will certainly push you further. However, if you only have power but no favor, it is hard to guarantee that things will backfire. It takes a shrewd person like Minister Jia to strike the right balance.

"If I didn't consider the Prime Minister and Lord Jia as my friends, why would I send a letter to Lin'an as soon as I received the news from Luo Tianjin and Jin Fuyu?" As expected, Shen Dongshan's words became much softer than before. Although Shen Dongshan was dissatisfied with the "threat" of Minister Jia, he did not dare to be an enemy of the court. So he changed his attitude, took the initiative to lower his posture, and pleaded: "Lord Jia, since you have helped me so many times, why don't you lend a hand again today? Make a decision for me."

"I wonder how Mr. Shen wants me to help him?" Minister Jia asked.

"In the mind of the Prime Minister, does he want me to help Luo Tianjin? Or does he want me to help Jin Fuyu?" Shen Dongshan said frankly, "This matter concerns many decisions in the future, so please be honest with me, Lord Jia!"

Facing Shen Dongshan's repeated questioning, Minister Jia hesitated again and again, and stared at him for a long time before he sighed and said faintly: "Forget it! The Prime Minister's intention... is actually more inclined to the Xianwang Mansion."

"Luo Tianjin?" Shen Dongshan seemed to have expected this and nodded slowly, "In this case, we must try to let Luo Tianjin take the initiative in this dispute."

"The Prime Minister does not want to see fighting and quarreling," Jia added, "but he also does not want to see this matter end in vain."

"What do you mean?" Shen Dongshan's eyes changed and he asked, "What do you mean by dying without illness?"

"There are many ways to turn hostility into friendship. 'Reconciliation' may not be the best choice." Minister Jia said meaningfully, "The Prime Minister means that since the martial arts sects have come to this point, it is a 'disaster', but it is also a rare 'good opportunity'. Everything is just as Master Shen said just now, blessing is accompanied by disaster, and disaster is accompanied by blessing. The Prime Minister wants Master Shen to take this opportunity to use a trick to destroy the State of Guo and strive for..."

"How about trying for it?" Shen Dongshan's heart sank and he asked hurriedly.

"We will try to use this incident to allow Luo Tianjin to...unify the martial arts world and completely put an end to the division between the north and the south of the martial arts world." Minister Jia said bluntly.

"hiss!"

Hearing this, Shen Dongshan couldn't help but take a breath of cold air and said in surprise: "The Prime Minister means to get rid of Jin..."

"Master Shen!" Before Shen Dongshan could finish his words, Minister Jia suddenly interrupted, "You should understand what the Prime Minister means. There is no need to say more, lest there are ears."

"But..." Shen Dongshan frowned and asked suspiciously, "The Prime Minister has always wanted to recruit all the martial arts sects to serve the court in the future. If Luo Tianjin is allowed to unify the martial arts world, he will be a thousand times more arrogant than he is today. To be disrespectful, by then, Luo Tianjin will be the local emperor of the Central Plains martial arts world. How can he be willing to be inferior to others? How can he accept the court's recruitment? In this way, it is better to separate the north and the south, let them suspect each other, and restrain each other. In this way, the court will still have some weight in their hearts..."

"Don't worry about this matter, Mr. Shen." Minister Jia said seriously, "The Prime Minister has his own opinions, so how can we allow you and me to speculate at will?"

"Could it be that... the Prime Minister has another trick up his sleeve?" Shen Dongshan muttered to himself, "Can he force Luo Tianjin to accept the imperial court's offer of amnesty in the future?"

"Master Shen!" Minister Jia's face darkened and he said angrily, "There are some things that the less you know, the better. What you should consider now is how to make Luo Tianjin 'popular' without triggering a fight in the martial arts world."

"This..." Shen Dongshan was speechless for a moment, scratching his head repeatedly, "Golden Sword Dock and the four great families are not pushovers. It is already very difficult to get them to resolve the conflict with the six major sects. Now we want them to submit to Luo Tianjin, I am afraid... it is as difficult as ascending to heaven!"

"It is precisely because it is not easy that we have to ask Master Shen to help!" Minister Jia laughed sinisterly, "Master Shen, I have told you what the Prime Minister is thinking. I hope you can take care of yourself and don't let the court down!"

Shen Dongshan looked miserable and smiled bitterly: "Master Jia, you know that Shen has always been timid and cowardly. This time you really want to force me to death..."

"Master Shen, if this matter cannot be resolved smoothly, not only will your future be in jeopardy, but even I, the Prime Minister, and even the Song Dynasty court will be implicated." Minister Jia sighed helplessly, "Only those who are timid and fearful can find a way to survive in troubled times. If you are not afraid, you will only be brave for a while, and I am afraid that in the end you will not even know how you died. Haha..."

"I am grateful to the Prime Minister and Lord Jia for thinking highly of me. Even if I have to sacrifice my life, I will definitely be loyal to the court." Shen Dongshan seemed to be thinking about something and pondered, "But if we want to make this happen, I am afraid that I alone may not be enough..."

"How do you say this?"

"I drew a fortune in front of the Buddha today, and the fortune said 'Su Qin hangs up the seal'. Now I think it has come true." Shen Dongshan said self-deprecatingly, "With his eloquent tongue, I can do my best to test him. But the premise is... Can Lord Jia give me a 'big seal'?"

"The seal?" Minister Jia was stunned and asked, "Does Mr. Shen want to be an official?"

"No!" Shen Dongshan waved his hand and smiled, "I have no intention of being an official, but if I want to make this happen, I must use both kindness and power. 'Kindness' mostly refers to 'profit'. I have plenty of gold, silver and jewelry, so I dare not trouble you. But 'power' cannot be fully displayed without 'authority', so I need some... official power now."

"Official authority?" Lord Jia was confused and asked suspiciously, "What is official authority?"

"I have come up with a plan that may be effective against the people in the martial arts world. But..." At this point, Shen Dongshan hesitated, staring at Minister Jia with a meaningful look, and said with a smile, "But I need to borrow something from you first."

"what?"

Hearing this, Shen Dongshan suddenly stood up, bowed respectfully to the bewildered Minister Jia, and said solemnly: "I would like to borrow Lord Jia's official seal temporarily in case of emergency!"

……

(End of this chapter)