Chapter 235: The Cruel Official's Escape

Wangluo Garden, the headquarters of the Southeast Chamber of Commerce.

In the quiet room, many Chamber of Commerce members gathered together, everyone was in a panic.

Compared with the officials of various departments who have interests involved with the merchants, the merchants themselves are more afraid.

The judges still have the right to speak and defend themselves, but they don’t.

"How can he just kill the donkey after it has done its job?"

A key member of the Southeast Chamber of Commerce lamented that although he was not arrested, his son was.

"We have helped him so much in running the newspaper and the railway chamber of commerce. Could it be that he really has no ties to us at all?"

Another businessman snorted coldly, "He is an official, and we are civilians. What's the point of being sentimental? Haven't you figured it out after all these years?"

"In my opinion, it's not as good as ours..."

The businessman hadn't finished speaking yet.

Qian Guangyun interrupted directly, "He was sentimental, at least he didn't close down Wangluo Garden!"

After saying that, he looked at the businessman who had just proposed to cause trouble, and remembered the other party's appearance and name deeply.

This kind of person must be too deeply involved and wants to drag everyone down with him!

After this incident is over, I will have to give myself a good lesson!
"Even if we haven't sealed Wang Luo Garden, it's not far off. Apart from those literati, the people we captured today are ours!"

Another Chamber of Commerce leader, Shen Chengen, lamented, "How could it be like this? He was fine a few days ago and invited us to the Railway Chamber of Commerce to check the accounts."

He still hasn't figured it out. Others use knives on outsiders, but Zhou Tieyi only uses the knife on outsiders and not his own people.

Qian Guangyun thought for a while and sighed, "Because he doesn't owe us anything. From the beginning to the end, we were just doing business with him."

One sentence instantly woke everyone up.

Whether it is the newspaper or the Railway Chamber of Commerce.

Seeing that many of their chambers of commerce had invested a lot, Zhou Tieyi produced results in just two months and even began to give back.

Even from a business perspective, this is an extremely profitable deal. Of course, Zhou Tieyi does not owe the Chamber of Commerce a favor. It can even be said that Zhou Tieyi has helped them, the businessmen.

Even if they checked the accounts, their accounts and Zhou Tieyi's accounts were clear, so there was no friendship involved.

As Qian Guangyun spoke, his thoughts became clearer. "We have a clear account with him, but I'm afraid your accounts with the officials are not clear, right?"

When he said this, everyone's expression changed slightly.

A businessman was dissatisfied and sneered, "Gentlemen don't talk about profit, so they let us villains talk about profit. Where did they get the money for their cultivation all these years? They say they don't take money from the people, but that's because they want to protect their reputation. They let us do the dirty work of taking money, so we are unjust. It's only natural for them to take money from us unjust people. There's no such thing as unclear accounts, it's just that the world is too clear!"

This is a wise man.

Qian Guangyun thought in his heart.

"Why are you talking so much nonsense? What should we do now?"

A businessman interrupted and looked at Qian Guangyun, "Chairman Qian, you are familiar with him, why don't you go and sound him out? Let us know where we went wrong, so that we won't die unjustly!"

Qian Guangyun thought for a while and nodded to take the task.

He had just figured out some issues, but there were still some doubts that he really needed to ask Zhou Tieyi for clarification.

Moreover, he had a hunch that if he could answer these questions, he would have a chance to reach the upper third level.

Crisis, crisis, is both a danger and an opportunity.

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The God-Slaying Department.

Zhou Tieyi set up a tea table on the training ground and lit the lamps around it, so he could read documents while appreciating the moon and drinking tea.

Miaoyu, Wu Qian, Mei Juncang, Hao Ren, Shentu Yuan and others sat beside him.

Zhou Tieyi knocked on the table. The first batch of businessmen could not bear the pressure and had already written down how much tax they had evaded, but it was definitely not complete.

Zhou Tieyi didn't really want to investigate how much tax they evaded.

Compared to the taxes that were evaded in the past, what is important is how to collect taxes in the future.

What determines the fate of these businessmen is, first, their attitude today, and second, which side they stand on.

"Put a separate list of these people's names. I want to see it later."

Zhou Tieyi gave the order and Hao Ren went to do it immediately.

Zhou Tieyi stopped him and said, "By the way, how are the account books of Wangshu Tower, Linshui Pavilion, Tianbao Tower, and Sifang Casino?"

Hao Ren answered seriously, "It's definitely impossible to finish reading it in a short period of time, but the people below just took a look and found that most of them are account books on the surface."

Zhou Tieyi was not surprised by this and said with a smile, "We can also check the open account books. We are here to check taxes, not the secret accounts. I want to see how well they have done with the open accounts over the years. By then, those small managers will not be able to withstand the pressure and will definitely confess part of it. Combined with his open accounts, there must be many loopholes. We can check slowly, there is no rush."

Zhou Tieyi investigated these places to collect money, not to demolish these brothels. If he demolished them, where would he collect the money? So he stopped at the right time, just collect the taxes, no need to use the secret accounts. After all, there were so many officials that he couldn't kill them all at once. He had promised the emperor that there would be no chaos, so if they knew what was good for them, they could just get along openly.

But from now on, when you eat meat, I, Zhou Tieyi, will try it first!

After Hao Ren went downstairs to do his work, Zhou Tieyi looked at Shen Tu Yuan, picked up the tea and took a sip without saying anything.

Shentu Yuan's heart tightened.

We arrested people in four places today, and he killed the most.

Although he knew that Zhou Tieyi wanted to use him to do some shameful things, such as what happened at Sima Mansion that night.

But he was not sure whether he was doing the right thing or whether he met Zhou Tieyi's standards.

After all, Zhou Tieyi’s thoughts are too hard to guess now. He may be smiling at you one moment and slashing you with a knife the next.

The key point is that after Zhou Tieyi did this, it is difficult for everyone to say that Zhou Tieyi did something wrong.

Who can guarantee that he is not the one abandoned by Zhou Tieyi?

"Now do you know what to worry about?"

Zhou Tieyi chuckled.

Shen Tuyuan relaxed and said, "General, I'm not very good at doing delicate work."

Zhou Tieyi is now the director of the Inspection Institute, but Shentu Yuan emphasized Zhou Tieyi's identity as the general flag bearer, and you are still my direct superior.

"It's not scary to kill people, and it's not scary to be a madman."

Zhou Tieyi said calmly.

Everyone has his own opportunities. Since Shentu Yuan is willing to take this path, and he is the one leading him on this path and will need to use him in the future, Zhou Tieyi has to speak frankly in advance, lest Shentu Yuan blames him for not teaching and then killing him in the future.

He pointed at Wu Qian next to him and said, "He had just returned from the Simin Mansion and was getting carried away, so I gave him a word of advice."

"I brought you up, so I'll give you a word of advice today."

Shen Tuyuan hurriedly said, "Please give me some advice, sir."

Zhou Tieyi controlled the chessboard, isolating the inside and outside, "The biggest difficulty of being a cruel official is that you have to be cruel enough, but you need to find someone more cruel than yourself to take the blame. People will only remember the cruelest person, not the second cruelest person. But when you find someone more cruel than yourself, it means that you should change your path. Don't go down this path to the end, there is no hope."

Shen Tuyuan saw that Zhou Tieyi really wanted to remind him, so he hurriedly asked, "Sir, if I am not the most ruthless, then even if the most ruthless person is trained by me, I am afraid he will kill me. How should I change this path?"

Zhou Tieyi pointed to his brain and said, "You still want to train cruel officials yourself, do you have the brain for it?"

Shentu Yuan suddenly realized that if Zhou Tieyi had chosen the path of a cruel official, he would probably have been the scapegoat.

Without waiting for Shen Tuyuan to continue asking, Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "You don't need to train, someone will naturally come to you. By then, you will be at most half a cruel official. Remember not to covet the power of a cruel official. When the time is right, give him all your power. Take the other gains you have made as a cruel official and turn to this path, away from the government. I will help you contain him, and he will naturally not touch you, his 'defeated general'."

Shen Tu Yuan was sincerely convinced and said gratefully, "Thank you for your advice, sir."

Zhou Tieyi waved his hand casually, "It's just a suggestion, but whether you can get out of this situation smoothly, there are too many details that you need to control by yourself. No one else can help you. Just don't blame me in the future."

Zhou Tieyi tells the story of Lai Junchen and Zhou Xing.

Lai Junchen was doomed to die, but why was Zhou Xing pardoned by Wu Zetian and exiled instead?

It is because Zhou Xing is only the second most ruthless person and Lai Junchen is the most ruthless person, so even though Zhou Xing is also guilty of a capital crime, he can live in the emperor's heart because he works for the emperor.

However, no one helped Zhou Xing at the critical moment, and he was killed by his enemies on the way to exile.

Zhou Tieyi had just finished advising Shen Tuyuan and lifted the internal and external restrictions when a clerk came up and said, "Sir, Qian Guangyun, the president of the Southeast Chamber of Commerce, wants to see you."

Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "It's not too late, bring him here."

After a while, Qian Guangyun, wearing a cloud gauze dress, followed the clerk carefully and came over. He greeted him and said, "Greetings, Mr. Zhou."

Zhou Tieyi pointed to the place where Hao Ren left and said, "Sit down."

Qian Guangyun had just sat down and was still thinking about how to start the conversation when Zhou Tieyi spoke first, "Someone from the Chamber of Commerce is instigating you to raise prices tomorrow. Did you embarrass me?"

Qian Guangyun was so frightened by these words that he broke out in a cold sweat and quickly stood up, "Sir..."

Zhou Tieyi reached out his hand to stop Qian Guangyun and continued, "Most of the people in your Chamber of Commerce have followers. On normal days, they would definitely not dare to raise prices, but the people behind them are fighting with me now. If I give a slight hint, there will always be idiots who will do something stupid."

Then Zhou Tieyi asked Qian Guangyun with a smile, "Do you think businessmen have the ability to drive up prices?"

Qian Guangyun swallowed and for a moment didn't know how to answer this life-threatening question.

"Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it. I don't care what others do, but from tomorrow to the day after tomorrow, the prices of grain and cloth in Tianjing cannot be changed. If they are changed, I will question you."

Qian Guangyun said with difficulty, "I'm afraid I can't control so many people. Many of them are from other chambers of commerce, not our Southeast Chamber of Commerce."

Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "If you can't control them, then that's easy. If you take over all their shops, won't you be able to control them?"

"President Qian, have you ever heard of the terms hostile takeover and monopoly?"

(End of this chapter)