Sima Qian said: "The hustle and bustle of the world is all for profit, and the hustle and bustle of the world is for profit."

It is true that those visible benefits are always attracted to people. For example, the goods worth nearly 700,000 taels in the warehouse of the Dongtai County Government not only made these thieves coveted by the Ouchi Sect, but also made some officials blush.

No, on 15 March, the receiving officials sent by the Nanjing Household Department rushed to Yangzhou, and dozens of large and small ships were moored at the canal wharf south of Yangzhou. If it weren't for the need to obtain documents from Xu Jin for the defense of the Qincha, the fleet would probably have sailed directly to Dongtai County to receive the goods.

The official sent by Nanjing this time is a five-grade household Langzhong, whose rank is the same as Xu Jin, but this person is not amazing, and his name is very ordinary, his name is Ma Huai, and his name is Shuchun, and he is also politely appointed in front of Xu Jin.

However, Ma Huai is obviously not the person who talks about this line, but the real person who is talking is Tang Shaozong, the commander of the Nanjing Jinyi Guard, who is in charge of security, and he led two thousand Jinyi Guards to come this time.

It is said that this Tang Shaozong has some origins, and he is the descendant of Tang He, the founding general of the Ming Dynasty. Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was ruthless, and after becoming the emperor, he successively eliminated the generals who followed him from birth to death, only Xinguo Gong Tang He was able to die well, but the Tang family was also quite unlucky, Tang He's eldest son Tang Ding hung up when he went out with the army, and the eldest grandson and great-grandson died young before they could inherit the title.

As a result, no one inherited the title of Duke Xinguo for more than 40 years, until Tang He's third grandson Tang Jie grew up, but Ming Yingzong, who was reigning at the time, refused Tang Jie's request to inherit Duke Xinguo, on the grounds that more than 40 years had passed, and the title of Duke Xinguo was directly abolished.

Fortunately, the later Emperor Xiaozong Hongzhi was more nostalgic, and he reused the descendants of the founding fathers, so Tang Shaozong, as the fourth grandson of the Tang family, was named the hereditary commander of Nanjing Jinyi Weidu, and later was awarded the title of Lingbi Marquis, which can be regarded as the continuation of the family's prominence.

This Tang Shaozong is nearly fifty years old, with fair skin and slender fingers, at first glance, he is a pampered guy, like a weak scholar, without the slightest breath of a military general, it is estimated that he has already lost all the riding and archery skills of his ancestors, and his steps are vain, his face is white and blue, and nine times out of ten he has been hollowed out by wine.

Tang Shaozong is a marquis after all, although Xu Jin is a Qincha, he is not easy to slacken, so he personally went out of the city to greet him, and also attended the reception banquet held by Jiangping, the prefect of Yangzhou. However, this Tang Shaozong did not appreciate it, and he did not give Xu Jin a good look during the whole process, but talked and laughed with Shi Haoran, the salt transport envoy, and Jiang Ping, the prefect.

Xu Jin didn't care, after all, he proposed to clear the Tianzhuang and presided over the Qingzhang land, which greatly damaged the interests of the nobles, and it is estimated that in the entire Ming Dynasty, there is no nobleman who does not gnash his teeth.

As the saying goes, don't speculate for more than half a sentence, Tang Shaozong doesn't like to deal with Xu Jin, and Xu Jin is even more lazy to take care of him, an outdated Hou Ye, so he casually said a few words and was ready to leave the table.

However, Xu Jin's "concession" made Tang Shaozong a little carried away, and this thing actually stood up and said loudly: "Lord Xu, slow down, Benhou has a sentence in his heart that he is not unhappy." ”

Xu Jin said quietly: "Master Hou, please speak." ”

Tang Shaozong stroked his beard for a long time: "I heard that Lord Xu and the military department used some means to Xia Yan in the matter, and confiscated a lot of silver from the hands of the gentry in Yangzhou Mansion, it is said that this silver is not a small number, should Lord Xu check the accounts with Ma Langzhong, and then hand them over to the Nanjing Household Department?" ”

As soon as Tang Shaozong said this, the expressions of the officials and gentry present instantly became wonderful, and they secretly applauded in their hearts, and their eyes invariably looked at Xu Jin.

It is said that Xu Jin used a trick to capture the old man, but he made the gentry of Yangzhou Mansion miserable, not only gave Xu Jin more than 100,000 taels of silver in vain, but also threw himself into the net, and the family's fields were cleared by the first batch, which was the words of suffering. Now, if Tang Shaozong can take away the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver from Xu Jin's hands, it will undoubtedly be equivalent to giving everyone a bad breath.

Xu Jin sneered in his heart, since the other party didn't know how to lift, then he naturally didn't know how to raise it, so he said lightly: "The confiscated silver taels will be used as the expenses of the Qincha patrol according to the two places in Zhejiang, in addition, there will be some of them will be used for the expansion of the camp of the five hundred battalions, and all the accounts will be handed over to the household department for verification after the official returns to Beijing, so don't bother the Hou Ye." ”

Tang Shaozong said hesitantly: "Accounts can be falsified, do you know if anyone secretly fills their own pockets?" Therefore, Lord Xu should hand over this amount of money to the Nanjing Household Department first, and as for the expenses of the Qin Mission, it will be properly verified and allocated after the Nanjing Household Department is approved, so as not to be settled in the melon fields and plums. Lord Xu, what do you say? ”

"The silver is in the hands of the official, you can spend it as much as you like, it's your business, and if you are verbose, the official will directly transport the goods in Dongtai County back to the capital." Xu Jin said lightly.

Suddenly......

There was a deathly silence in the audience, obviously no one expected Xu Jin to answer so singlely, it was too hardcore!

Tang Shaozong's triumphant expression froze instantly, his face turned from red to white, and then from white to blue, as if a crowing rooster was suddenly grabbed by the neck, and he couldn't say a word for a long time.

Xu Jin ignored Tang Shaozong anymore, and left the hall with Zhao Datou and Xie Sangun. When the line came out of the patio, Xie Sangun, the kid, finally couldn't hold back his laughter, and Zhao Datou also grinned: "His grandmother's, Lao Tzu has long seen that the goods surnamed Tang are not pleasing to the eye, and the hundreds of thousands of taels of goods in Dongtai County were all exchanged for the blood of our brothers in the 500 battalions, and now they are transported away for nothing, and they dare to talk about it endlessly." ”

In the hall, Tang Shaozong finally came to his senses at this time, listening to Xie Sangun's laughter outside, he couldn't help but break a wine glass in annoyance, slammed the table and scolded: "Zhuzi'an dares to insult me, how can it be reasonable, Ben Hou wants to join him, wait, Ben Hou will not just count it like this." ”

Yan Yun made Shi Haoran's eyes roll and said with a smile: "Master Hou is angry, hehe...... If this person is young and ambitious, he will inevitably be frivolous, why should Hou Ye be generally knowledgeable, come on, everyone toast Hou Ye with a cup. ”

Everyone raised their glasses to toast Tang Shaozong, who finally gradually suppressed his anger and sat down again, but his face was still gloomy, and he whispered to Hubu Langzhong Ma Huai to find Xu Jin to ask for the defense documents, obviously worried that Xu Jin would really change his mind and transport the goods from Dongtai County directly back to the capital, then his trip would be in vain.

Ma Langzhong secretly complained, it was the gods who fought, and the little ghost suffered, so he had to leave the table hard, and chased out the door to find Xu Jin to ask for documents, without Xu Jin's documents, Dongtai County would not let him go.

Shi Haoran glanced at the Jiang prefect's mansion, and the latter immediately picked up a full cup and said with a smile: "Anyway, Hou Ye is here at the right time, the Oiran Competition will be held in the afternoon, the opportunity is rare, why don't Hou Ye watch the Oiran Competition and then set off for Dongtai County?" Anyway, it's not bad for half a day. Hey, this year's Oiran Contest is as beautiful as a cloud, especially Wang Cuiqiao, who has won two consecutive Oirans, is simply a country and a city. ”

Tang Shaozong was originally a womanizer, and his wife and concubines had passed double digits, so he couldn't help but be moved when he heard this, and nodded and said, "It's okay." ”