Chapter 370 Let Prince Jing come to see me
“I won’t gamble anymore!”
Haitang crossed his arms and snorted coldly. His face looked like a cartoon character angry, and he turned 40 or 50 degrees. Angle raised his head.
The teardrop mole in the corner of the eye becomes more and more conspicuous.
"Haha, let's bet a month's salary, that's okay." Zhao Duan joked, joking with female colleagues should be done in moderation.
The trip was too hard and there was constant fighting and killing, so he deliberately teased Menzi to ease his tension.
“It’s a deal,” Haitang sighed, “Rather than this, go out and take a look at your two weird guards. Do you understand what it means to win people’s hearts? I see they are also injured. "
"I understand." Zhao Duan smiled and walked back to the deck.
With a quick glance, he locked his eyes on a corner of the deck where a warrior and a warlock were sitting adjusting their breath.
Lang Shiba's hands were cracked, and he was filling a pottery bowl with strong wine, spilling it on the wound and grinning.
Ji Yue, the fearful person next to her, was squatting on the ground, holding her knees with her hands, huddled up, her dark hair flowing down, covering her entire face.
"How is the injury?" Zhao Duan walked over with a smile and squatted on the ground.
Lang Shiba was a little surprised. On his thin face full of stubble, he forced a smile:
"Trauma can be recovered after a few days of rest. It will not delay the protection of adults. "Itinerary."
Ji Yue raised her head slightly from hugging her knees, revealing her faint eyebrows under her wet black hair, and said softly: "It's okay."
The old lady was scared.
"Prepared for you." Zhao Duan turned over his hand and took out a wooden box, in which he placed two pills, one red and one white.
Give the red one to Lang Shiba and say: "It covers the wounds."
The Northland Swordsman, who was once a general in Jubei City but has now become anonymous, accepted the pill calmly and The medicine was poured into the green-skin gourd and turned into medicinal wine: "Thank you, sir."
Zhao Duan nodded and motioned Ji Yue to take the white one: "Bao Warlock's magic power has been restored."
< br>
"Thank you..."
Ji Yue spat out two words like a mosquito, and then carefully stretched out his pale hand, but found nothing.
Zhao Duan suddenly moved the box away, then handed it over, and said with a smile: "I am curious, there are no pupils in your eyes, can you see people clearly?"
< br>"...Okay." Jiyue replied dryly, and then stretched out her hand with a scar on the wrist for the second time, and grabbed nothing.
Ji Yue: "..."
Zhao Duan suddenly moved the box away for the second time and said with a smile: "There is another problem, your clothes are wet, there is no need to change. Is there something to do in the cabin?”
Jiyue: “No need.”
Then she saw the young official in front of her with two white eyes and said “oh”. , and handed over the box containing the elixir.
Ji Yue behaved well and did not dare to reach out.
"Here you go, I won't tease you anymore." Zhao Duan laughed, handed the box to her, stood up, patted his butt and left.
These two guards are both people with great stories. Different from ordinary foot soldiers, how can they easily win people's hearts?
At this stage, it is nothing more than enhancing familiarity.
Ji Yue held the elixir in both hands blankly, and carefully looked at Zhao Duan who was leaving several times.
After making sure that he was not looking at himself, he quickly swallowed it in one gulp, like a little beast that was afraid of having its food taken away. As a result, he ate too quickly and choked and rolled his eyes...
"Here. ." Next to him, Lang Shiba handed over a bowl of medicinal wine, as cold as a killer.
"..." Jiyue picked up the medicinal wine, drank the elixir down her stomach, and handed it back: "Thank you..."
However, she saw that Lang Shiba ignored her at all and turned aside. Went drinking alone.
Jiyue hugged her knees silently, her black hair covering her face.
……
……
Not long after, the official ship sailed into Huting Pier smoothly.
When Zhao Duan and his party stepped off the ship, they saw that the pier was under martial law, and a group of civil servants in official robes were looking forward to it.
Among them there are many important figures in charge of the area such as the Huai River Chief Envoy.
However, what is surprising is that the person standing at the front of the queue of officials is not a few crimson robes, but a green robe.
"Master Zhao! I have been waiting for many days, and finally you are here!"
The first middle-aged man who looked familiar came up with a smile.
“Feng Ju?” Zhao Duan was slightly startled and looked surprised: “Of course it’s you, Chief Feng.”
The middle-aged civil servant in front of him was an old acquaintance, the head of the Ministry of Civil Affairs Feng Ju.
At the beginning of the time travel, Zhao Duan pretended to be powerful and tricked Chief Feng into falsely accusing Li Yanfu and pulled him into the "Imperial Party" camp.
Later, when Princess Yunyang and Marquis Xia Jiang dealt with Zhao Duan, they kidnapped Feng Ju's family and threatened them.
Zhao Duan offered a helping hand, and the relationship between the two deepened. In the next few months, there was much less contact. However, Feng Ju would send gifts to Zhao's house during holidays.
On the way here this time, he looked through the list of officials at Huting and saw Feng Ju's name, but thought it was the same name.
"Haha, Mr. Zhao is busy with family and national affairs. Maybe he didn't pay attention to the official transfer orders." Feng Ju smiled brightly:
"The imperial court set up a special store for the opening of the market. "Si Yamen, my Majesty has favored me to be promoted to the Merchant Department and be appointed as the fifth-rank doctor. This time I will preside over the opening of the market on behalf of the imperial court. From now on, many matters related to the imperial merchants will also be handled by my fifth-rank doctor..." Just looking at the official position, it is really not high.
But this is a real "little position and weight", which can be seen just by looking at Feng Ju standing in front of the Huai River Chief Envoy.
This is similar to a governor who left the capital. He is only a seventh-grade governor, but he can act on behalf of the emperor. His real power is so great that it cannot be measured at the commodity level.
"In this case, I should congratulate Dr. Feng on his promotion." Zhao Duan smiled.
Feng Ju did not dare to be ashamed. He was extremely humble and said he did not dare.
When it comes to political parties, Feng Ju should be regarded as a member of the imperial party promoted by Zhao Duan. His current status depends on Zhao Duan for his nine successes.
Feng Ju even suspected that the core reason why the empress placed him in this position was his relationship with Zhao Duan.
He secretly made up his mind that when Zhao Duan arrives, everything here will only follow Mr. Zhao's lead.
"My lord, you have worked hard all the way, and the lower officials have prepared a place to stay."
Feng Ju warmly invited everyone to get on the carriage and arrived at a private garden called the "Humble Administrator's Garden" .
According to him, it was the private residence of a local "imperial businessman" in Huting, and it was specially set aside for Zhao Duan to stay.
The garden style of the private house is full of Jiangnan charm, with small bridges and flowing water, white walls and black tiles, rockery and flower ponds... Although it is late autumn, because the place is close to the south, there is still a lot of greenery.
Surrounded by a group of officials, Zhao Duan entered the main hall of the garden and exchanged pleasantries.
He also learned about the current situation in Huting from Feng Ju.
……
“Your Majesty,”
In the main hall, Feng Ju, who was left alone, raised his hands and said:
"The opening of the market is approaching, and now almost all the forces invited to come have arrived. This is the list."
< br>He held a large book in his hands.
Zhao Duan weighed the roster and did not rush to look through it. He placed it on the coffee table and said with a smile:
"Please tell me briefly first, the general situation is But."
"Yes," Feng Ju responded, thought for a while, and said:
"Now Huting is roughly divided into three parties, one is the imperial court, and the established imperial merchants. , these are all those who have joined us in the past few months. In accordance with the requirements from above, half of the quotas have been reserved for small and medium-sized merchants, and the remaining half are for some local aristocratic families who took the lead in joining the imperial court and actively accepted the New Deal. "
"The second force is the merchants and local families to which the seven kings belong.
Except for Prince Jing who came in person, the other seven princes did not come in person, but they all appointed their cronies to come and keep an eye on them secretly. Those under their jurisdiction should prevent them from defecting to the imperial court."
Zhao Duan raised his eyebrows and interrupted: "You mean the Seven Kings?"
Feng Ju nodded and said in a serious tone:
"The King of Huai'an is special. Different from the clear opposition positions of the seven princes, the King of Huai'an has an ambiguous and wavering attitude. He belongs to the neutral faction. In fact, except for the King of Huai'an, , there are many people in the neutral faction, among which the number of local aristocratic families is the largest."
Zhao Duan was not surprised and said lightly:
"The new policy itself is to deal with these aristocratic families. They resisted in their hearts, but they did not dare to openly oppose the imperial court and get close to those princes, so their attitude was wavering, as it should be. "
Feng Ju nodded in agreement and said hesitantly:
"Xiaguan has been watching these days and found that Prince Jing and others are secretly contacting these neutral factions, trying to win over and unite to oppose the opening of the market. If these people really join forces, then even if the court forces the market to open, they can still block it under the joint efforts of these people. , I am afraid that commodity trade will also be difficult to implement.”
The implementation of any policy cannot be avoided.
Even merchants who have obtained the qualification of imperial merchants will find it difficult to do business if they are blocked and squeezed by major forces during the business process.
Zhao Duan said seriously: "So, the neutral faction is very important?"
"Yes," Feng Ju said seriously:
"We can't win over the nobles who follow King Jing, King Mu and others wholeheartedly, but the neutral faction swinging in the middle can be won over. We don't need them to turn to us, as long as we keep these people from falling to the Seven Kings. It’s half done.”
“Half done is not enough,” Zhao Duan said with a frown.
Through Feng Ju's narration, he also realized the difficulty of the Huting matter, and he was immediately glad that he came in person.
Otherwise, no one will be watching here, and Prince Jing and others will really interfere. The government’s finances will not be relieved, and it will be a big trouble next year.
“I understand, I will find a way to do this.”
Zhao Duan said lightly:
“But before that, I need to meet with our "
Not to mention the neutral faction, at least he needs to keep a close eye on the imperial merchants to prevent anyone from rebelling.
Only when he saw this group of his own people in person, and through his own interviews, and allowed these people to stand in line and express their stance in public, could he feel relieved.
Feng Ju stood up, smiled and nodded:
"Okay, I will make arrangements now. In fact, these people are ready to come and visit you. They are all waiting outside."
Zhao Duan smiled. He came to Huting this time and said There is no official title.
But everyone knows that Ambassador Zhao from the capital is the one who really calls the shots and represents the empress.
"By the way, where does Prince Jing live?"
Zhao Duan suddenly rubbed his chin, with a smile in his eyes:
"I'm going to meet you, please help. I handed over a message saying that I would like to ask Prince Jing to come over and talk about it.”
(End of this chapter)