Dou'er was quietly warming wine by the small fire, the autumn sun shining on her body, accompanied by a few yellowing leaves falling from the trees beside her from time to time, quiet and peaceful.

Xu Ping and his father Xu Zheng sat opposite each other in the pavilion in the courtyard and did not speak for a long time.

The father is visibly old.

After getting the news of Zhang Tianrui in Baisha Town, Xu Ping rushed to the capital the next day, for fear that his father would be angry again because of this incident. Unexpectedly, when I entered the house, I found that my father was living a very leisurely life, and he didn't look angry at all. Speaking of the sugar shop, Xu Zheng just let Xu Ping take the idea, and he made up his mind to be a shopkeeper, and he no longer had the sharpness of last year.

After being silent for a while, Xu Ping asked: "The imperial court wants to accept the sugar shop, what does Daddy think?" ”

Xu Zheng smiled: "It's okay to accept it, how much worry has been saved!" However, the method of making white sugar is in Da Lang's mind, so you can ask for more benefits! ”

"That's nearly 100,000 yuan a year!"

Xu Ping didn't expect his father to accept it calmly this time, and reminded him in an aggravated tone.

Xu Zheng sighed: "So what? When is there enough money? We have now settled down in the capital, and Zhongmu's grange has been cleaned up, and there are nearly 10,000 yuan of close accounts, and the prince is richer. I originally came to the capital to sell wine because I couldn't survive in my hometown, but at this point, I am content with this life. ”

Xu Ping saw that his father was very sincere, and he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart and asked him, "It's good that Daddy can think like this." By the way, if you transfer the sugar shop, where will you and your mother live in the future? ”

Xu Zheng looked up and looked around, and said, "Isn't this house good?" Your mother and I will live here in our old age. In the year after tomorrow, you and Su Niang became relatives and gave birth to a son and a half daughter. ”

"If only you could think like that."

Since his father could think about it, Xu Ping put his mind at ease. If you don't do the sugar business, you won't do it, with an income of nearly 100,000 yuan a year, and he doesn't know how to spend so much money, so he still has his own country estate with peace of mind. Since this year, the number of sheep raised in the farm has been approaching 10,000, and with other income, the farm can also have an income of more than 10,000 yuan a year, which is still one of the few people in Tokyo.

talked to her father, and at noon, Zhang Sanniang nagged again, saying that many acquaintances had told her that this time Xu Ping gave up the method of making white sugar, and she could ask the court for an official body. If you handle it well, maybe you can be a Beijing official directly.

Xu Ping just smiled and didn't talk. For many low-level candidates, Beijing officials are a watershed, and only when they embark on this step can they really look like officials. Many people who have no background have tossed around for a lifetime, but they can't take this step, and they are stumbling to death at the bottom. How many years did Shi Yannian work at the bottom, until he came out of Jinxiang County, and then changed to Taichang Temple Taizhu, who was the second-to-last official in Beijing, you can imagine how difficult it is. The reason why the Jinshi background is respected is because the career of a slightly higher rank starts from Beijing and wins at the starting line.

But for Xu Ping, knowing that there was no future for such a miscellaneous official in this era, he never took it to heart. To put it bluntly, it's better not to do this kind of official, except for some official fans in this era, no one wants to be an official in this way. If you want to be an official, you should honestly take the Jinshi exam, and you can raise your head wherever you go. Although most of the Jinshi, especially the Jinshi at the bottom of the ranks, have actually been at the bottom for a lifetime, their identity is there, and everyone respects them.

After touching the bottom of his parents, Xu Ping also knew how to talk to Sansi in his heart.

On the third day after coming to the capital, someone from the third division came and informed Xu Ping to go to the yamen of the third division to talk about things.

Xu Ping is a person who holds the technology of making white sugar, only the third division begs him, there is no reason for him to ask the third division, just prevaricate, even called two or three times, Xu Ping deduced that his health is not good, but he does not go to the third division.

On the tenth day, the people of the third division finally couldn't hold it anymore and came directly to Xu Ping's house.

Hearing that Sansi was coming, Xu Ping hurriedly asked Dou'er to get some ginger water for himself and apply it to his face, and then he was helped by Zhang Sanniang to the living room.

Several soldiers and officials stood outside the door, and on the main seat in the living room sat a middle-aged official with a slightly dark face, of medium stature and a heavy face.

Xu Ping is not familiar with the official system of this era, and he can't tell that this official is a few officials. But it seems that he should be a person who can speak in the third division, so he hurriedly came up to salute.

The official looked at Xu Ping carefully and said in a deep voice: "You are Xu Ping?" ”

Xu Ping saw that his face was not good, and he didn't dare to be presumptuous, so he replied carefully: "The little one is Xu Ping." Since I came to the capital, I have been infected with the wind and cold, and I have not seen any improvement, and I have not visited the officials, and I hope to forgive my sins! ”

The official waved his hand, did not dwell on these, and introduced himself: "This official Li Shi is the current third envoy." I came to the door today and I have some things to discuss with you. ”

Xu Ping was taken aback, he didn't expect that the third envoy would come forward to talk directly, and he thought that he would only be sent casually by a petty official. You must know that the three envoys are considered to be in a position that is much worse than the ruling minister, although they are much worse than the prime minister, but they are not much different from the governors and privy envoys, and they are one of the most core officials of the Great Song Dynasty.

Xu Ping hurriedly stepped forward to greet him again, and Xu Zheng and Zhang Sanniang, who were sitting with him on the side, were also startled and stood up tremblingly.

"The purpose of my visit today, I think you already know in your hearts, that is, for the sake of the sugar business, you want to collect the official matter." Speaking of this, Li Shi sighed, "These matters were originally to be handled by the deputy envoy and the judge of Yantie, but now they are all vacant, so I have to come." ”

Xu Ping didn't dare to answer. He had also heard about this, and the imperial court asked Sun Zheng and Xia Zhu to reconsider the tea law, and abolished the sticking method formulated by Li Shi. After the abolition of the tea law, the imperial court held them accountable, and the deputy envoy of Yantie and the judge of Yantie, as the leaders of the direct authorities, were demoted and released, and some of the officials who were specifically responsible were even exiled to Salmon Island, and the punishment of the relevant personnel of the three divisions was quite harsh. Even the third envoy Li Zhi himself was impeached, and he didn't know when he would be picked up. He is so active in white sugar, but he is afraid that he also has a mind to atone for his sins, so that the turmoil of the tea law will pass as soon as possible.

The three divisions are the collective names of the three departments of salt and iron, degree branch, and household department, with the three envoys and deputy envoys in general, and each other department has deputy envoys and judges as the officials in charge. The three envoys are in charge of the three departments, and each department no longer has a chief envoy, with the deputy envoy as the chief. The monopoly of various items is basically under the Ministry of Salt and Iron, and of course they will be held accountable first if there is a problem with the tea law, and at this time the old official has been dismissed, but the new official has not yet taken office.

In order to Chen tea, Xu Ping accidentally mixed into the whirlpool of the tea method, and after listening to Li Shi's words, where did he dare to pinch his tiger whiskers, so he had to say carefully: "If there is anything, the minister should give orders." ”

Li Shi had a calm face, his fingers tapped rhythmically on the table, and he didn't speak for a long time.

After a long time, Li Zhicai said: "White sugar monopoly, I have made up my mind and reported it to the imperial court, and no one objected, just let me refer to it." Let's put it bluntly, now that the country is in difficulty, such a financial road must be received from the three divisions, what do you have to say? ”

Xu Zheng looked at Xu Ping and silently took two steps back. Since the last incident, Xu Zheng decided to leave everything he had to do with the government to his son, and he didn't have to worry about it.

Xu Ping took a step forward, pondered for a while, and said to Li Shi: "We are all doing business legally, and the court will accept it when it says it will be accepted, so you must give us some compensation, right?" ”

Li Shi said lightly: "What compensation do you want?" ”

Without waiting for Xu Ping to answer, Li Shi added: "I'll go and say the other one that is in partnership with you, you don't have to pay attention, just say your own words." ”

This was a time when the price was sky-high, Xu Ping thought about it carefully before answering: "Not to mention the white sugar shop, only I know how to make white sugar, and it is useless for the court to accept the shop." ”

"Of course I do, otherwise what would I do with you?" Li Zhi's face was expressionless, "You just have to say, how can you be willing to sacrifice the white sugar recipe?" ”

Xu Ping knew that it was not interesting to talk about it, so he asked directly: "I never thought of giving it away, I just wanted to rely on this recipe to enjoy a lifetime of wealth." Xianggong should know that the sugar shop makes a lot of money in a year, which is enough for our family to be rich for a lifetime. If you cut off our financial route, I don't know what the court will use as compensation? ”

"What do you want?" Li Shi's face was flat and did not make waves.

Xu Ping was not fooled, but just asked: "What is the court willing to give us, why don't you say it, let us consider it carefully." ”

Li Shi sneered: "Consider? What do you want to consider? I came to the door to ask, it is already a great grace, as long as your request is not too excessive, I will try to meet it. If you are insatiable, I will naturally find another way, and the three divisions will not just buy this way from you. ”

This is a bit of a naked threat. But this is also the truth, the Sansi Yamen is in charge of most of the affairs of the imperial court, especially those related to money, everything, and there are endless ways to deal with a merchant like the Xu family. You can't get a penny, and you cry and shout to obediently offer the recipe. Of course, for the sake of the face of the court and his own reputation, Li Shi hoped that Xu Ping would take the initiative to give it himself, but he couldn't open his mouth. In fact, there are not many people who have taken the initiative to offer this kind of secret recipe to the imperial court in these years, and the method of offering the stone in the Zhenzong Dynasty has failed, but some people in the south of the Yangtze River have been successful in offering copper immersion to the imperial court in recent years, that is, the use of iron sheets to replace copper from the copper sulfate solution, so that the copper production has increased a lot. That family was sealed as the official in charge of the copper mine, and it didn't take long for it.

In fact, there is another thing that Li Shi can't explain. Since he put forward the proposal of white sugar monopoly, although no one in the Asari objected, and no one dared to oppose it, there were still some small episodes. Governor Lu Yijian hinted at the relationship between the Xu family and Li Yonghe to Li Shi in an extremely covert way, reminding him of Li Yonghe's identity. No one dared to verify this kind of thing, but Li Shi couldn't take it as if he didn't know, so he took the initiative to go to the door of the Xu family. If it weren't for this relationship, where would Xu Ping be allowed to pretend to be sick and not go to the Sansi Yamen, Li Shi sent two public servants to go.

Xu Ping carefully figured out the price code that Sansi could give, and knew in his heart that it was best not to ask for money directly, but try to exchange it for other things that made Sansi feel uncomfortable.

Looking at Li Shi, Xu Ping said carefully: "Our family has a restaurant in Baisha Town, and the wine brewed is also famous in the capital, but because we can't sell wine in the capital——"

Li Shi looked at Xu Ping and smiled slightly: "After the sugar monopoly, your family is allowed to sell wine in the capital, with a limit of 1,000 liters per day, and no additional taxes will be levied except for the koji money!" ”

Now that he knew that the Xu family opened a restaurant, Li Zhi was sure that they would propose this article, and he had already prepared preferential conditions. In fact, Qu Qian was collected and allowed the Xu family to sell wine in the capital, which only infringed on the interests of other wine merchants in the capital, and the court did not pay any price.

Seeing that he answered happily, Xu Ping hurriedly increased: "Our family also has a grange in Zhongmu, which turned out to be a wasteland where Chunze supervised the grazing horses, and it was difficult to reclaim, and the money and grain will be collected in two years——"

"Exempt you from paying taxes in the Grange for twenty years, so I will be more generous, and set aside another 2,000 hectares of horse grazing land from the current Qiji Courtyard to you, as long as the law is cultivated, we will be exempted from money and grain for twenty years!" Anything else? ”

"It's gone, it's gone!"

Xu Ping was overjoyed, he didn't expect Li Shi to be so interesting, his Zhuangzi could be expanded several times at once, and there was no tax for 20 years, which could really catch up with the profits of the sugar shop.

In fact, for Li Shi, Chunzejian's land has not been sold for several years, and it is there in vain, and it costs the three divisions to recruit people and cultivate seeds, and it doesn't matter if it is assigned to the Xu family. I don't know how much wasteland there is in the hands of the three divisions on Jingxi Road and Kaifeng Mansion, and they are so desolate that they are all worried, and they are willing to give seeds for nothing.

Seeing that Xu Ping was still familiar with current affairs, Li Shi's complexion also softened, and said to Xu Ping: "Since you said yes, then you can raise your body for two days, and then go to the Sansi Yamen to pass down the method of making sugar." ”

Xu Ping was just about to agree, but when he turned around, he saw his father Xu Zheng's expression a little gloomy, knowing that he was still reluctant to give up this business, his heart moved, and he said to Li Shi: "Xianggong, what I just said is all about the benefit of our family, in fact, there is no need for the court to pay anything." Offering secret recipes to the court, doesn't the court reward the officials? I wonder if we have one at home? ”

Li Shi looked at Xu Ping and asked, "What, you still want an official body?" It's not that hard, but you're still young, less than twenty, but not the age of Quanxu. ”

At this time, the promotion of ordinary officials mainly depends on grinding, except for special circumstances, it is generally required that the official should start from the age of 20, that is, he can only be an official when he is an adult, and Xu Ping is still a few years away.

After listening to Li Shi's words, Xu Ping hurriedly said: "The prime minister misunderstood, I am asking for an official body for my father." He has worked hard all his life, the court has accepted the sugar shop, and Daddy has nothing to do. As for the subordinates, if you want to be an official, you will naturally participate in the imperial examination, and you don't need to do so. ”

Li Shi listened, turned to look at Xu Zheng, thought for a while, and then nodded, "Okay." But first of all, I can give you a farewell, as for what kind of real position you want to take, I can't control it, it's up to you to create it yourself. How is it? ”

Xu Ping hurriedly nodded yes.

The secret recipe for offering to the court was adopted, in addition to the reward, basically an official would be rewarded, which was expected by Li Zheng, but he didn't expect Xu Ping to ask for his father Xu Zheng. Filial piety was originally advocated by the imperial court, and this change was actually a good thing, and Li Shi happily accepted it.