There was a faint sound of firecrackers in the distance, and the first day of the fifth year of Yongzheng brought Cao Song an unbearable hangover.

"Oops, oops......" Cao Song sat on the edge of the kang, rubbing his temples and moaning in a low voice.

Jinghui glanced at him angrily and funny, and said, "Okay, don't keep vigil, and pull the eldest brother to drink twice, isn't this self-inflicted?" ”

Cao Song raised his eyelids, glanced at his wife dissatisfiedly, and said: "It's not that I'm afraid that the eldest brother will have a tender face, and it is logical to think about letting him eat some wine, who would have thought that after all these years, the eldest brother's alcohol consumption is still so good." Drinking back and forth, the eldest brother drunk me. ”

Jing Hui snorted lightly and said, "Drunk and messing with surnames is just a man's excuse." If you are really drunk, where will there be flowers and intestines to make it bad. If the eldest brother really had that thought, he would have raised people a long time ago, and he would have waited until now? ”

Cao Song said with a little unwillingness: "Then forget it?" ”

Jing Hui was picking up the sobering soup, paused when she heard the words, and said, "Do you have to let the eldest brother scold the master, and the master is willing to be honest?" In other words, it was an early year, and maybe it was still possible. Now that the nephews and nieces are older, they are going to talk about marriage, so the eldest brother will not make the sister-in-law lose face because of his greed for beauty. The eldest brother is the one who pays the most attention to the rules. ”

Cao Song took the sobering soup in his wife's hand, raised his neck and drank it, and said weakly: "That's it, that's it, it's a pity that this Qin'e, although she is not a lowly citizen, is also a woman from a good family." I saw that she was honest and thought that she would fulfill her, but she met a hairpin like her eldest brother. ”

Listening to her husband's words with pity, Jinghui lowered her eyes, only to feel that her chest was clogged...... Since the second year of junior high school, there have been many banquets in the officialdom of Jiangning City.

Cao Song's surname is bold, and he has a good cousin as a backer, and in Jiangning officialdom, everyone sells him a little bit of face.

Now that Cao Hao, the main master, has arrived, there are many kinds of banquets.

Coupled with the two Huai salt merchants, they came to Jiangning one after another after the fifth day of the new year, and Cao Hao's son became a little busy.

Jiangnan needs to raise three million, which is not a big number for Jiangnan, which is full of huge wealth.

But Cao Hao didn't have much time to go to Jiangnan, and the time for bidding in Jiangning was also a little tighter, so Cao Hao was also a little worried.

Because there are many big families in the south of the Yangtze River, there are children in the capital, and they will participate in the bidding in the capital. is also because of the exploitation of Jiangnan officials for many years, so that everyone has a sense of precaution against the government.

There are two official words, and they don't believe that one day they will be able to take advantage of the government. The so-called bidding and the like, in their opinion, are just a means for the imperial court to collect money.

Li Wei is here.

Cao Hao's method of solving Wan Fu and others surprised Cao Hao: "Let Wan Fu participate in the sea trade bidding?!" ”

Li Wei nodded and said, "Since he is also a big salt merchant, he should serve the imperial court." ”

With such a loud thunder and a small raindrop, it doesn't seem like Li Wei's style.

"Your Majesty's ......," Cao Hao said with some hesitation.

"The emperor is lenient, where will he put a few thieves in his eyes? Besides, the young and strong of the Hongmen are hidden in the mountains, and they are only holding the old and weak women and children. Li Wei said.

Cao Hao was a little confused, Li Wei had the idea of turning big things into small ones, how could he still make trouble in front of the emperor, and he also got the title of "Prime Minister Jiangnan Anti-Thieves" and got the right to transfer troops.

In Li Wei's opinion, Cao Hao is also his own person, so he didn't hide it from him, and said: "The emperor is afraid that Jiangnan will be unstable, but he is not afraid of a few bandits, but he is afraid that those gentry and lords will be restless." Starting this year, the emperor will implement a new policy in Jiangnan. Just in case, he gave me the name of 'anti-bandit'. I forced Pangjia Village to help. Instead of going to a critical juncture, begging grandpa to tell grandma to beg for other people's soldiers, it is better to save some manpower yourself. ”

Li Wei's conditions seem to be relaxed, but in fact they are not easy.

First of all, the amount of silver to be tendered shall not be less than 500,000 taels; In fact, Wan Fu must come forward in person to participate in the bidding on the eighteenth day of the first month.

If you want money to talk about the next step, this is definitely a big test for Wanfu.

Cao Hao was not worried that Wanfu would choose not to come, since the Hongmen disciples boasted of their "loyalty", they would not really care about the villagers who were still in prison.

In addition, the method that this young man started was just to emulate the Huang family and join the government, Li Wei has given him a chance now, how could he be willing to let go?

In a blink of an eye, on the eighteenth day of the first month, the bidding for Jiangning Haimao arrived.

In addition to Cao Hao and Li Wei, who presided over the bidding, there were also the governor of Jiangsu and the new governor who had just come from the capital.

Due to the high threshold of maritime trade, there were not many gentry and businessmen who participated in the ranking, but there were only about 40 people.

It's coming.

In order to prevent tongue-in-cheek, Wan Fu did not come over with Cao Jia, but dressed like a rich boy and brought a few delicate entourage.

Wan Fu is in his twenties, tall, with a long face, full of righteousness, and a bit of loneliness between his eyebrows and eyes.

If he had known his details, no one would have thought that he was the current "master" of Hongmen, a bandit wanted by the government.

Cao Hao just glanced at him more, and did not meet in private.

It was Li Wei who called Wan Fu to the side.

I don't know how to say it, when Na Wan Fu reappeared in front of people, his expression remained the same, but his whole body was full of joy.

Cao Hao thought about it for a while and guessed the reason.

For a young man who is full of ambition and wants to get ahead, what can move his heart is nothing more than power and money.

Li Wei squeezed his money, which would only make him feel distressed, where would he be like a spring breeze now; The rest is the right, but I don't know how many products I promised.

The bidding went on for less than an hour, and most of the time it was quiet.

Except for the Cheng family, who spent 300,000 yuan to invest in three-point shares, everyone else began to wait and see.

Everyone knows that the Cheng family has an old relationship with the Cao family, and it is not surprising that Li Wei is willing to bid so happily.

In the eyes of the Cheng family, the weight of these 300,000 taels of silver is really nothing; The wealth of the Cheng family is unspeakable.

But for other gentry and merchants, this 100,000 taels is indeed not a small amount.

In recent years, land prices in Jiangnan have risen. Rao is like this, ten taels of silver can buy an acre of paddy field, and 100,000 taels of silver is 10,000 acres of fertile land.

10,000 acres of fertile land, the annual income can also be several thousand.

Although the sea trade sounds tempting, the government is involved, and who knows if the imperial court will "unload the mill and kill the donkey". After all, for the likes of merchants, they did not receive any favors from the imperial court, but had to endure all kinds of exploitation.

The scene was a little deserted, Li Wei couldn't help frowning when he saw this, called a small servant, and whispered a few words.

Before he left, he saw someone bidding at the top of his voice.

Li Wei turned his head and glanced at Cao Hao, admiring him more and more.

In less than a cup of tea, five families have settled.

These five are names that they have never heard of, which makes everyone quiet down and wonder who these people are.

Before everyone could figure out something, Wan Fu, who had been quiet for a long time, began to make a splash, auctioning five cents at a price of 500,000 yuan.

Those old guys who usually boast that they are similar to the Cheng family almost lost their hair.

Cheng Jiazhuyu can be changed to a hairy boy with a new face, how can everyone be convinced.

Annoyance is annoyance, those who can be the head of the family or the elite children of the clan are not stupid, and a few will really keep their anger in their hearts.

Their faces were indignant, but their hearts were full of turmoil.

So many people robbed it, if you miss it, will you lose too much...... * Beijing, the official warehouse of the household department.

Tianyou and Hengsheng followed the side of the Thirteenth Master and witnessed the bidding of Hubu Maritime Trade.

Compared with the stuck shell in Jiangning, the bidding in the capital went smoothly beyond people's imagination.

Forty tenths, four million taels of silver, that's all.

It took less than a cup of tea to divide up the forty shares.

The preparations of Tianyou and Hengsheng were useless at all.

"It's too easy, what the hell is going on?" Both brothers were puzzled.

The sixteenth elder brother was in a good mood, and said: "I don't know the place next to me, these powerful people in the capital have a pair of rich eyes." Over the years, your father has repeatedly innovated, and this time the household department invited bids, so that your father's reputation as a good wealth boy was restored. ”

The little brothers heard it, it was not that the household signboard was hard, but Cao Hao's means of collecting money over the years, which made these people heartbroken.

Hengsheng breathed a sigh of relief, since so many people are optimistic about sea trade, maybe his father doesn't have to be so worried.

Tianyou looked stunned, but he didn't see ease. I bought my father's account here in the capital, but what about Jiangning?

*Jiangning, Bidding Office.

Seeing the list in his hand, Cao Hao couldn't help frowning.

Thirty shares, only fifteen points have been auctioned.

In addition to the Cheng family and another family with an old relationship with the Cao family, the remaining eleven have five shares of Wan Fu and three points of Wei Ren.

Other retail investors only collected 300,000 taels of silver, which was too little for Cao Hao, a dignified household secretary.

Cao Hao was a little depressed.

Li Wei persuaded him a few words and took Wan Fu back to the post station.

The two brothers, Cao Hao and Cao Song, returned to the General Military Mansion.

Cao Hao's return to Beijing was finally put in front of the stage.

"Now is the time for the cold spring, and the eldest brother is too hasty to return home at this time, and he will suffer again along the way. Or wait for the dragon to raise its head before setting off? Cao Song said.

Cao Hao shook his head and said, "My grandmother will be funeral at the end of the month, and I'm my grandson, so it's better to go back." ”

Because of the involvement of the elders, Cao Song is not good at saying anything.

Before leaving Jiangning, Cao Hao was a little hesitant to dig up the ring in the Weaving Mansion and give it to Cao Jia for placement.

After thinking about it, he still gave up this dismissal.

It's not just because of being entrusted with loyalty, but also because the relationship between the ring and the Cao family is still secret.

On the nineteenth day of the first month, Cao Hao sent someone to pick up Wei Wenying.

Wen Ying heard that Cao Hao was going back to Beijing, and was embarrassed to mention if she could ask her to help bring some things north.

This is naturally no problem, Jinghui has also prepared a lot of gifts, let Cao Hao bring them back to Beijing, and put Wei Wenying's gift with those prepared by Jinghui in one place......*

(To be continued)