Chapter 534: Hypocritical!

In the most luxurious mansion in Bozhou, Huainan.

A group of ten young women slowly walked into the yard. Although these women had different looks and figures, they were all beautiful without exception. Each of them had her own beauty. When the ten of them stood together, it was really fascinating...
Xu Zhaojie, sitting on the armchair, was playing with a pair of top-quality five-sided lion heads in his hands, his eyes wandering wantonly over these beauties. Such a naked gaze immediately made these inexperienced girls very shy. They all lowered their heads shyly, not daring to look at Xu Zhaojie.

At this time, a tall, somewhat fat middle-aged man named Wang Daqi said respectfully to Xu Zhaojie:

"These women are presented to you by our Wang family, Sun family, and Liu family. Each of them is a virgin and they are willing to follow you and serve you in your daily life!"

Xu Zhaojie nodded with satisfaction and said:
"Very good! You guys are thoughtful!"

"In view of your kindness, it is not impossible for the grain business to continue to be handed over to you three. But I also have a request!"

Listening to Xu Zhaojie's words, Wang Daqi's face suddenly showed a hint of joy, and then he patted his chest and said:

"Thank you for your kindness, Lord. I will do it for you even if it means climbing mountains or descending into seas of fire!"

Xu Zhaojie glanced at him with a half-smile, then said calmly:
"Why do I need you to go through fire and water? You just need to provide me with one million taels of silver and one million dan of grain every year..."

Although Xu Zhaojie said this very calmly, as if he was talking about what to eat later, the two "one million" made Wang Daqi dumbfounded. He couldn't believe what he heard. Seeing him like this, Xu Zhaojie frowned slightly and said:
"Don't you dare to plant something you don't want to plant?"

Wang Daqi, who was almost at the age of 50, dared not speak out against Xu Zhaojie's insults, but for the sake of his family, he could only beg for mercy from Xu Zhaojie with a sad face:

"My Lord, the highest tax revenue in Bozhou in a year is only 150,000 taels of silver and 200,000 dan of grain. It is simply impossible to collect 1 million taels of silver and 1 million dan of grain every year!"

Xu Zhaojie snorted nonchalantly upon hearing this and then rebuked:

"Of course I know that Bozhou alone cannot do it, but what about Zhucheng, Yingzhou, Shunde, and Kangyin?"

Wang Daqi was stunned when he heard this. If he remembered correctly, Anqing under Xu Zhaojie only occupied Bozhou and Zhucheng in Huainan. The remaining Yingzhou, Shunde and Kangyin were still in the hands of Feng Keqin's Huai Army!

As if he had seen through what Wang Daqi was thinking, Xu Zhaojie said impatiently:
"I have ordered my men to capture Yingzhou. As for Shunde and Kangyin, they will soon be in Xu's hands. These five places make up most of Huainan. The grain business is all yours. You can do whatever you want. I want one million taels of silver and one million dan of grain every year!"

Hearing Xu Zhaojie's dismissal price, Wang Daqi, a businessman, gradually became interested. Huainan was a traditionally prosperous place in the Great Zhou Dynasty, a land of fish and rice, not much different from Jiangnan. Grain was a business closely related to people's livelihood, and there was a lot of money to be made...
Although Xu Zhaojie's huge demand is very scary, if Xu Zhaojie can really do as he said and hand over the grain industry of Bozhou, Zhucheng, Yingzhou, Shunde and Kangyin to himself, it is not impossible to squeeze so much profit from it. He can even make a fortune from it. It all depends on how hard he squeezes the people!
Thinking of this, Wang Daqi gradually made up his mind. He raised his head and said to Xu Zhaojie tentatively:

"My Lord, this one million taels of silver and one million dan of grain is really too much. Can you give me less?"

Hearing Wang Daqi's request, Xu Zhaojie's expression gradually turned unfriendly and he said coldly:
"I gave you this opportunity because of your gift. If you don't appreciate it, get out of here now!"

Feeling Xu Zhaojie's sharp eyes and hearing the rumors that Xu Zhaojie killed people without blinking an eye, Wang Daqi shuddered in fear. Seeing that he could not reduce Xu Zhaojie's demand, Wang Daqi was reluctant to give up the fat piece of meat of the five-land grain business, so he could only continue to ask Xu Zhaojie in fear:
"My Lord, you mean we can do whatever we want, right?"

“Do you have donkey hair stuffed in your ears? Do you want me to repeat what I said?” Xu Zhaojie’s impatience was already evident on his face as he held the lion head in his hand...

After receiving Xu Zhaojie's affirmative answer, Wang Daqi no longer wavered in his heart. He gritted his teeth and said:

"My Lord! I did it!"

Seeing that Wang Daqi finally accepted the job, Xu Zhaojie's face looked better and he said calmly:
"Very good, you finally made a rational choice! Go back and prepare to take over the grain business of these three places!"

Listening to Xu Zhaojie's words, Wang Daqi felt a little uneasy for some reason. He felt that he seemed to have fallen into a trap set by Xu Zhaojie. However, when he thought of the huge profits generated by the grain business in these five places, Wang Daqi also threw this uneasiness behind his mind and bowed to Xu Zhaojie and said:
"Yes! I'll go home and prepare now!"

After saying that, Wang Daqi thanked Xu Zhaojie profusely before turning around and leaving contentedly. Seeing Wang Daqi's happy look when he left, Xu Zhaojie's eyes were full of mockery. This bunch of profit-seeking unscrupulous businessmen didn't even realize they were about to die!
After successfully calculating Feng Keqin and Cao Changping and making himself the last fisherman to benefit from the conflict, Xu Zhaojie immediately headed towards the Huainan Imperial Army, wanting to seize as much territory as possible and recruit more troops before the Huai Army could react. To expand the army, he needed food and silver as support. In addition, Xu Zhaojie's own life was also very extravagant. Before the Luo'an Incident, he served as the commander of the Xuanwu Army and often spent money in luxury. One day's expenses were enough for a wealthy family to spend in a year. Later, because of the Luo'an Incident, the Xu family fell into decline. Xu Zhaojie could only restrain his temper, save his expenses and live frugally...
Although he holds real power in Anqing, Xu Zhaojie dares not act recklessly, as there are wolves in front and tigers behind. He spares no effort to use every penny of financial resources to expand the army and prepare for war. Now he has successfully outwitted Feng Keqin and invaded the prosperous Huainan. The situation is very good.

Xu Zhaojie, who loves luxury in his heart, also starts to become more active. He wants to build himself a big house with Jiangnan style, and live a life of luxury every day to make up for the hardships he has suffered before. Not only that, he also wants to keep dozens or even hundreds of young and beautiful singers for his own enjoyment!
And all of these things require a lot of money!
Although Huainan is rich, it is very difficult to obtain one million dan of grain and one million taels of silver every year by relying solely on the grain business in Bozhou, Yingzhou, Zhucheng, Shunde and Kangyin. The only way to achieve this goal is to raise the price of grain, monopolize the business and squeeze the last drop of oil out of the people!

This is also the reason why Xu Zhaojie asked Wang Daqi to do it instead of obtaining it through taxation. After doing so, public resentment would surely boil over and the people would be excited. That is why Xu Zhaojie would not let himself bear the infamy. He wanted Wang Daqi to take the blame!

And when the people's resentment reached its peak, that was the time for Xu Zhaojie to order the confiscation of Wang Daqi's property and the extermination of his clan. In this way, he would not only get the money and food he wanted, but also gain a lot of reputation among the people. Then, if he gave these people some small favors and pretended to be righteous and moral, they would surely be more loyal to him and grateful...
Thinking of this, Xu Zhaojie's eyes were full of pride, as if he had seen the scene of his fame and fortune. After a moment, Xu Zhaojie turned his gaze back to the beautiful ladies in front of him. Since the Luoan incident, whether in Sichuan or Anqing, for the revenge and ambition in his heart, he has been cautious and cautious. It has been a long time since he lingered in this gentle place. He is almost going crazy. And these beauties in front of him are the best targets for him to vent his anger!

The only pity is that these are not very cute. They will cry if you touch them a little. I have to find some wives to give them a frost in a few days!
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Just when Xu Zhaojie was planning how to take over Huainan, Ye Mingsheng, who was far away in Yijing, received another piece of top-secret information.

"Sir, Qian Bai, who is lurking in the Luobi royal court, has sent back news that Luobi will have a large-scale mobilization in the near future. More than 100,000 troops will be mobilized to assemble in Yuyang and Shanggu of our army!" Huo San came to Ye Mingsheng's study and reported directly to Ye Mingsheng:

After hearing this news, Ye Mingsheng seemed to remember something and asked Huo San:

"I remember Xuecheng told me last time that the Ma family's third strategy is to find the Luobei people to cause trouble on the border?"

Huo San nodded and said:

"Yes, sir. The Ma family has always had a very close relationship with the Luobi people. Luobi Khan's favorite concubine, Song Yanzhi, was specially selected and sent by the Ma family. The Ma family has been supplying a large amount of silk, clothing, jewelry and other luxury goods to the Luobi upper class all year round. In addition to these, according to the latest investigation by our Coordination Office, we also found that the recorded mining quantity of some iron mines in Youyan is inconsistent with the actual mining quantity!"

“The iron ore actually mined is generally 10% to 30% more than the recorded amount of iron ore mined, and the extra iron ore was bought by the Ma family at a price higher than the market price by bribing the mine management. The Ma family secretly supported a bandit leader named Da Dao Liu in Dai County. They used the bandit leader’s stronghold as an underground iron smelting plant, and further processed the iron ore purchased at a high price in this factory…”

"The purpose of the Ma family doing this is to transport the iron to Luobi and exchange it for good quality horses from the Luobi people, making huge profits from it. According to our incomplete statistics, the income that the Ma family gets from this item every year is at least 150,000 taels of silver!"

A cold light flashed in Ye Mingsheng's eyes when he heard this. Just like the Luobi people were forbidden to sell war horses to Da Zhou, Da Zhou also strictly prohibited the sale of iron products to grassland nomads such as Luobi. Even daily necessities such as iron pots were not allowed, because they were worried that the Luobi people would make these iron products into weapons to shoot and kill Da Zhou's soldiers and civilians.

The Ma family manipulated prices and monopolized the market, making life miserable for the common people. Every year, they earned more than one million taels of silver from the Great Zhou, which was enough for the family to spend in several lifetimes. Yet they still did such unscrupulous things for the sake of money. It is really true that killing them is the only way to appease the public's anger!

Noticing the change in Ye Mingsheng's expression, Huo San hesitated for a moment and continued cautiously:

“My lord, according to the intelligence sent back by Qian Bai, although the Luobi people only dispatched more than 100,000 people this time, trying to intimidate our army and ask us not to attack the Ma family on the grounds of affecting trade, but because of the existence of the Cumans in the west, they will not really attack us in full force. Only the Luobi general Bujiha will lead 10,000 cavalry to attack in the direction of Yuyang…”

At the end, Huo San seemed to emphasize his tone intentionally or unintentionally, as if he wanted to remind Ye Mingsheng of something. Ye Mingsheng also noticed this, and a gleam of light flashed in his eyes. He said to Huo San:

"You are the director of the Coordination Office. If you have any information, just tell us directly. Don't dither like a woman!

Huo San was scolded by Ye Mingsheng. He was also a teacher. He considered his words and said:

"Sir, up to now we have no evidence to prove that the Gu family is involved in the recent series of conspiracies of the Ma family. However, given that the Gu family and the Ma family have previously transferred a lot of benefits, and the Ma family and the Luobi people have such a close relationship, and the Luobi people chose Yuyang as a breakthrough point at this critical moment, I think we have reason to increase monitoring of the Gu family. In addition, we also need to be prepared for General Gu!"

After listening to Huo San's idea, Ye Mingsheng thought about it and felt that it made some sense, so he immediately ordered:

"I agree with your idea of ​​increasing surveillance on the Gu family. As for Gu Shouting, don't act rashly. I believe he is a smart man and he won't seek his own death..."

(To prevent some of the keywords from being wrong, I have used pinyin and typos instead. I hope you readers can understand. Good night!)

(End of this chapter)