Hearing this official's words, Li Longji really wanted to cough up a mouthful of phlegm and spit it on his face. Whenever there was a problem, he would think of the Zhang Family and the Wang Family. He had just been impeaching them. How could a person change so quickly?
A few others who had just been impeached also voiced their agreement. Some even said that they should do what Shu Zhou had done and let Zhang Zhong think of a solution himself. That way, they would be able to see more of his capabilities.
To put it nicely, wasn't it just not asking the imperial court to fork out the money? Li Longji looked at this minor official from the Ministry of Revenue and thought to himself, When it comes to spending money, your heart aches. Why didn't you say that just now?
It was very easy to get the Zhang Family and the Wang Family to fork out the money. There was no need to issue any edict. All he had to do was write a letter to them and tell them that the people on both sides of the Yellow River did not have it easy. They would naturally be willing to fork out the money.
But if they really did fork out the money, what would happen to the people impeaching them in court today? Vermin, they were all vermin. They couldn't do good things, so they did such immoral things.
Li Longji's expression darkened and did not say anything. He just stared at the person who had just spoken. The pressure from his stare was too strong. The person who was being stared at regretted not stepping forward.
Zhang Shuo could also guess what the Emperor was thinking. Zhang Family and the Wang Family could fork out the money. Zhang Family and the Wang Family were also willing to fork out the money for the sake of the people. But once they fork out the money, none of the people who impeached Zhang Zhong in court today would have a good ending. Otherwise, how would they answer to Zhang Zhong?
Now, there were two choices. The first was to issue an imperial edict and order Zhang Zhong to fork out the money to repair the bridge. Then, everyone who impeached Zhang Zhong could go home and farm. The second was to have the impeached people think of a solution themselves and not let Zhang Zhong fork out the money.
Li Longji stared at this person for a while and asked, "Do you think that Zhang Zhong will be willing to fork out the money?"
"In reply to Your Majesty, this official feels that Zhang Zhong will definitely be willing. Everyone knows that he is good to the people. Moreover, he does not spend his money recklessly. Other than building two houses for the children in his family, he does not spend much money normally."
This person had been stared at for a long time and was confused. He opened his mouth and blurted it out. As soon as he said it, he knew it was over. Just now, he had been impeached, but now it changed. If it were anyone else, they would not be willing.
As expected, Li Longji spoke up. "Since that's the case, We will order you to speak to Zhang Zhong and persuade him to fork out the money. If he refuses to fork out the money, you will. Think of a way yourself."
It was not that Li Longji did not have the money to repair the bridge. In recent years, the royal court's revenue had been very good. This was especially true for San Shuixian, Lu Zhou, and the other places that were related to the Zhang Family and Wang Family.
Li Longji knew that this was not because the Zhang Family and Wang Family could not earn money faster. It was because they did not want to. Recently, he had done some research on economic knowledge. The methods used by the Zhang Family and Wang Family were very gentle. They were based on increasing productivity. It was not like the quasi-cash flow method they used to deal with Tubo, nor was it like the method they used to deal with the people from the Four Seas Academy in Boxin District.
Now, he understood that it was not that the Zhang Family did not know how to do it, but that they did not use it. Otherwise, the impact on Great Tang's economy would be too great. If they wanted to earn money, they had many methods. However, they would firmly suppress it. They would not do it themselves, and they would not allow their business partners to have crooked thoughts.
Therefore, in terms of finances, they were still quite rich. If they let the Zhang Family and Wang Family fork out the money, it would only be for the construction of the bridge. It could also stimulate the local economy. However, the return cycle was too long. If they let the Zhang Family and Wang Family fork out the money directly, they would use other methods to transfer the money to other areas.
It was a very mysterious method. At the same time, it could also stimulate the local industries. This was the most important thing. Of course, the Zhang Family and Wang Family had too much money. If they were not allowed to spend some money, they would be worried.
According to Yao Chong and Bi Gou, the money earned by the Zhang Family and Wang Family would be used in other areas according to a certain proportion. They would not keep so much money in hand. Earning money seemed to be the simplest thing for the Zhang Family and Wang Family. Therefore, they did not care how much they spent. They only cared about whether it was worth it or not.
Thinking about this matter, Li Longji did not care about the people below who were so scared that they were kneeling and trembling. He whispered to Gao Lishi again, "What do you think is worth spending the money on and what is not?"
This time, Gao Lishi did not react. The main reason was that Li Longji's train of thought jumped too far. The reason was all because of Xiao Bao and Cuckoo. When they did things, their train of thought jumped even more. No one knew what they were thinking. The matter was clearly in front of them, but in the end, it was different from what they thought.
Gao Lishi knew that he did not catch up, so he could only say, "Your Majesty, I think that if Your Majesty says it is worth it, then it is worth it. I also agree to let the Zhang Family and Wang Family fork out the money to build the bridge on the Yellow River. Last time, Xiao Bao wrote to me that he and Cuckoo prepared 200,000 strings of cash and asked if there was anything the court needed.
They don't need this money now and want to use it on the country's infrastructure before spring is too far away. They said that as a son, he should give face to his father. "
Speaking of this, Gao Lishi's emotions fluctuated. He did not acknowledge this son for nothing. He had just acknowledged him for less than three months, and the other side was immediately willing to take out 200,000 strings of cash. He was clear that this money was not given for free. It was specially made for him.
Li Longji was very surprised. He looked at Gao Lishi. If he did not feel that Gao Lishi was loyal, he would have snatched his son away. Why would Xiao Bao take out 200,000 strings of cash for no reason? With his means, he could use this 200,000 strings of cash to earn more money in a short period of time. He actually took it out just to give face to Gao Lishi.
After thinking for a moment, Li Longji continued to ignore the person kneeling there and saying a bunch of nonsense begging for forgiveness. He said to Gao Lishi, "These 200,000 strings of cash cannot be used. It is not easy for Xiao Bao and Cuckoo to earn money unless they are allowed to go to other countries to earn money. In Great Tang, what they earn is their capital.
Just now, I asked you whether it is worth it for the Zhang Family and Wang Family to spend money. It is not about how much it can bring to the family, but whether it can make the lives of the commoners better. Most of the time, the family is the one who is spending money. What do you think should be done with these two families? "
Gao Lishi's train of thought finally caught up. So that was the case. That was easy to handle. He said, "Your Majesty, Zhang Family and Wang Family cannot be promoted anymore. Zhang Zhong will probably enter the capital next year. Xiao Bao and Cuckoo will only be promoted to a rank seven official at most. If they enter the capital, they can be suppressed to rank eight. It is not like the other places where they will be promoted to rank seven.
Zhang Family and Wang Family will not ask for any monetary rewards. Their family does not lack money. Why don't we look at other aspects? Wang Qiaoer's family is doing well now, but they are a little too free. Isn't that right … "
"That's fine. Let's do it this way." Li Longji immediately understood. He needed to find the person who was released because of the slanderous words of the crowd and make some arrangements. He nodded and agreed.
At this time, the official from the Ministry of Revenue was still kneeling. His forehead was red. It seemed that he had just kowtowed. It was not easy. In this imperial court, there were not many officials who would kneel and kowtow. Just because of an order, he became like this.
Li Longji was very satisfied. He did not say that it was because someone else impeached Zhang Zhong. Instead, it was because he rode a hot air balloon into the sky. Of course, impeaching Zhang Zhong should not be done. It could be done, but it could not be done based on the wealth and ability of the Zhang Family and Wang Family. For example, they could be accused of corruption.
If it had to be about money, then it could not be done. Not only did the Zhang Family and Wang Family use their money to help the imperial court, but more importantly, they had received benefits from the Zhang Family and Wang Family. If they were to target this matter, then wouldn't that mean that they were not satisfied with the imperial court even after receiving benefits from the imperial court?
Seeing the official kneeling and kowtowing, Li Longji did not have any pity for him. He knew that if he let the official off this time, then he would be disheartening the Zhang Family and Wang Family. In that case, he might not be able to take out good things in the future.
Thus, Li Longji said to the people below, "This matter is settled. You take this imperial decree and look for Zhang Zhong."
After saying that, he no longer cared about this matter and started to talk about other matters. The officials acted as if nothing had happened and started to talk about other matters.
*****
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan did not know that their families had to fork out money again. In the end, the people who would benefit from it would not be their families, but their mother's family from the Zhang Family and Wang Juan's family.
The two of them did not know. In fact, it did not matter even if they knew. This was because their plan was progressing very smoothly. As long as they did not obstruct their plan, the matter of money was a small matter.
"Xiao Bao, are you really going to make a move on Tubo? Tubo is still quite obedient now, "Wang Juan asked when she saw Zhang Xiaobao preparing to send the letter to Tubo.
"Of course, I know that they are obedient. They want to be dishonest, but they can't win against you. Their economy is also not good, so they can only bear with it. I will not give them any chance. I will deal with them as much as I can. Otherwise, the people I sent out for so long will be wasted.
You killed their people because they made a move on the people of Wangjiang. I took care of their economy because they actually dared to take the initiative to play economic war with me. I have to teach them well. Their methods are still too soft. I have to let them know what economic war is like when it really starts. "
Zhang Xiaobao did not stop writing. There was also a coded comparison book beside him. This time, the letter could not be written out directly to prevent others from stopping it. It had to be written as a secret letter.
Wang Juan really did not know Zhang Xiaobao's specific plan. She also did not know to what extent Zhang Xiaobao was going to deal with Tubo. The main reason was that once Zhang Xiaobao started to move, the steps of doing things were unpredictable.
"Xiao Bao, tell me the truth. What is your ultimate goal?" Wang Juan could not think of anything, so she asked.
"It's nothing much. I just want to slightly impact Tubo's financial situation so that they won't know what's valuable and what's not. Since I want to fight an economic war, I naturally won't target a certain region in Tubo. That wouldn't be called an economic war. The real war is against countries. For example, America against Japan a long time ago, and they against Russia.
For example, against the British pound, against the Thai baht, against the Hong Kong dollar, against the Korean won, against … "
"I know. Don't say anymore. You are too ruthless. Also, when you targeted the Hong Kong dollar, he failed miserably. You just want to mess up Tubo's financial system, don't you? You want to make them unable to recover within ten years, right?"
Wang Juan did not wait for Zhang Xiaobao to finish explaining and continued. At that time, there were not many people who knew about finance, so they could not handle it. But when it came to Zhang Xiaobao and her era, there were very few people who could continue to stir up trouble like Zhang Xiaobao.
That required more difficult skills, and the way of jumping was even more extraordinary. It was not something that could be imitated by just finding an example. Any kind of method, once exposed, would be immediately known by others. Zhang Xiaobao had never repeated his methods. It made people gnash their teeth in hatred, but there was nothing they could do. After all, every time was different, and they could not find any pattern.
If there was a pattern, it would be that before Zhang Xiaobao made a move, he would definitely use other methods to lay the groundwork. However, there were too few people who could see the groundwork. There were so few that there were only one or two people with the same ambition as Zhang Xiaobao, and they were his partners.
Zhang Xiaobao was still writing, and at the same time, he said, "It is not ten years. I will make them unable to recover. I will provide Li Longji with a reason to invade. Oh, no, it is a reason to maintain peace. Just wait. This time, I will completely destroy Tubo. I am not willing to argue with them. I don't have the time."
"Then I will wait and see what kind of methods you have. Your father is coming. You have to think of how to welcome him." Wang Juan did not ask this time. She hoped that she could guess Zhang Xiaobao's methods. She did not believe that Zhang Xiaobao could be so arrogant that no one could compare to him.
"Don't keep talking about your father. He is your father-in-law. If you don't listen to him, he will teach you a lesson." Zhang Xiaobao was in a good mood, and he casually joked with Wang Juan.
Wang Juan wanted to refute, but she suddenly became silent. She did not say anything and just looked at Zhang Xiaobao.
Zhang Xiaobao was a little surprised. Under normal circumstances, Wang Juan should be fighting back. He stopped writing and turned to look at Wang Juan, asking, "Why? Since you have admitted your identity, then be more obedient."
Wang Juan still did not say anything. She just looked at Zhang Xiaobao until he could not continue writing. She then said, "Don't play tricks with me. Did you think that I did not learn psychology before? You are the best. Hmph! "
"You are the best. I will get someone to find some mountain vegetables. I will make a box for you to eat at noon. What soup do you want to go with it?" Zhang Xiaobao saw that Wang Juan did not fall for his trick, and he could only change his strategy.
"I will eat whatever you eat. Also, my family is coming. Hurry up and write. Let's go and welcome them. I will be staying with my mother tonight. I will not be staying with you."
Wang Juan had already received the news that Zhang Zhong was bringing his family into the county. She needed to go and welcome them. She also remembered that she had not seen her family for a long time. She really missed them.
"Who cares about you? I will tell Little Yuan a story tonight. I won't be accompanying you. "Zhang Xiaobao wrote another two words. He finally finished writing a secret letter.
"You are not allowed to tell ghost stories. If you dare to scare him, I will not let you off." Wang Juan said as she helped Zhang Xiaobao put the letter into the envelope.
"If you don't want to tell me, then don't. I will tell him something else. Come with me to meet the people from the Four Seas Academy. They came to invite us today. I don't know what they are planning. We did not collect all of their ores this time, right?"
Zhang Xiaobao said as he rubbed his wrist that was sore from writing.
"We did not collect all of their ores, but there was no one else who collected the rest of the ores. They can't sell them. I was wondering why you said that you were not in a hurry. So they already had this plan. Why can't they sell their ores? Could it be because we collected them before?"
Wang Juan asked in confusion as she followed Zhang Xiaobao out. She felt that things were definitely not that simple.
Zhang Xiaobao walked at the very front. This time, the people from the Four Seas Academy set the meeting place at the Fengwu Pavilion. He said as he walked, "Actually, it's nothing much. It's very simple. It's because we did not refine the silver after we received it. Other people did not know about this and thought that the refinement was not successful, so they were afraid of being fooled.
Moreover, the local infrastructure is currently being built. Other than a portion of people who did not follow us, the other merchants have all taken out their money to invest. How would they have any spare money to buy ores? And the portion of people who did not follow us did not want to, but lacked capital. They were the people who followed us to speculate on the price of silver.
Actually, I really hoped that there would be outsiders who would come and interfere. At that time, I would be able to relax a lot. As long as other people have conflicts in certain areas, I would be able to take advantage of them. Unfortunately, this county is still not enough. Other people simply did not come. "
"That's not it. What do you mean not coming? Other people clearly know that they can obtain benefits here, yet they still don't come. Do you think that other people are idiots? It's because you and I are here that other people are worried that if they really come, they will be schemed against by the two of us. The one they are most worried about is actually me. They are afraid that I will directly steal all of their money, and they can't beat me."
Wang Juan said to Zhang Xiaobao.
The two of them talked as they walked, all the way until they arrived at the Fengwu Pavilion. When they entered, a worker immediately came over and told them which room the people from the Four Seas Academy were in.
As soon as the two of them entered the room, a group of people inside stood up. Yes, a group of people. It was as if they felt that if there were fewer people, there would be no imposing manner. The people from the Four Seas Academy did not come any less this time. Yamamoto stood at the very front and very politely said to Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan,
"Why didn't you call someone to come over first? We would have waited to welcome you." The other people also followed behind in a low voice.
Zhang Xiaobao was not willing to talk nonsense with others at all. He directly said, "Tell me, why did you call us here this time? If you want to take advantage of us, then don't. It's not that I look down on you, but with your methods, it is completely useless."
"Yes, yes. With Young Master Zhang taking action, it is naturally impossible for us to take advantage of you. Today, we didn't call the two of you here to take advantage of you, especially when it comes to Miss Wang. We have no intention of taking advantage of her at all." A person next to Yamamoto who also looked like he came from Japan did not seem to be willing to lose his imposing manner and said to Zhang Xiaobao.
The others did not expect him to speak like this. Imposing manner was not important. What was important was how to get benefits. Hearing him say this, they knew that things were going to be bad.
Sure enough, what Zhang Xiaobao hated the most was people talking about women. When he heard this person's words, he kicked out and hit this person's manhood. This person screamed and fell to the ground. Zhang Xiaobao did not take a second look and said to the others,
"When I came here today, I was in a good mood. But because of him, I am very unhappy. So when I discussed things with you, the first thing I said was that there will be no room for negotiation. If there is anyone who is not satisfied, you can leave immediately. I promise that within five days, the Four Seas Academy will be closed. If you are not satisfied, you can try."
The scene suddenly fell into a deadlock. While everyone was lamenting that Zhang Xiaobao was not easy to talk to, most of them were complaining about the people lying on the ground who had not yet gotten up. Of all things to say, why did they have to mention Wang Juan? Wasn't this courting death?
Wang Juan also spoke at this time, "Even if Xiao Bao closes the Four Seas Academy, as long as we are not satisfied with your methods, I promise that within half a month, we will organize a war fleet and go to your place to take a look."
This was power. People with power would never say anything to others. When did the Great Tang need to show goodwill to other small countries? Especially in the current situation.
Everyone sighed inwardly. There was no other way. Who asked these two people to be so powerful? Even if there were only two of them, they did not dare to make a move.
The people of the Great Tang did not dare to make a move because they were afraid that their families would be finished. The Japanese did not dare to make a move because they were afraid that the Great Tang would attack their own country. All of them revealed helpless smiles.
Fortunately, Yamamoto had good self-control. After hearing what Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan said, he still had the same smile as before and replied, "Of course. We just came to discuss something with the two of you. We will definitely deal with the people who offended the two of you. Do the two of you agree?"
"That is your problem. If you want to deal with them, then deal with them. If you don't want to deal with them, it has nothing to do with us. Tell us, why did you come to find us this time?"
Zhang Xiaobao did not treat the other party as someone who could sit on the same level as him. He appeared very arrogant.
However, it was precisely because of his arrogance that made the other party feel more comfortable. They were afraid that Zhang Xiaobao would be polite to them. If that was the case, it would not be easy to talk. Looking at Wang Juan, Wang Juan's expression was as calm as water. She did not smile.
"It's easy. It's easy."
Yamamoto called the waiter of the restaurant and casually ordered a few dishes. He did not let Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan order anymore. He knew the identity of the two people. If he really let them order casually, they would not be able to eat today.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan directly sat at the head of the table and on the left side of the table. They did not care whether they ordered or not. After ordering, Yamamoto smiled and asked Zhang Xiaobao, "I wonder if Childe Zhang wants to buy more ore? I can help Childe Zhang find a place. "
"It doesn't matter whether you buy it or not. The place you find can only be your country. If you are willing to sell it, I will buy it at a low price. If you are not willing to sell it, you can keep it. I am going to write a memorial and send it to the court, asking the court to restrict the things that Japan needs."
Zhang Xiaobao was still as arrogant and casual as before.
Yamamoto's expression also changed. His eyes narrowed. After a few breaths, he returned to his original state and asked, "Is there any misunderstanding between us, Childe Zhang?"
"There's no misunderstanding. I just don't like you guys. Let's talk about what we can talk about today. If we can't talk about it, go back and think about it carefully. Where should we get involved and where should we not? Don't think that you can achieve your goal by gathering people from a certain place and saying some lies. It's useless.
Zhang Xiaobao's negotiation method today was like this, tough, because he did not intend to negotiate at all. He just came here to play.
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