After the First World War of Gaoyouhu, the captured Praetorian Guards, including Suo Etu, did not have a good life, because the captured were all the children of Manchurian nobles, and almost all the princes and auxiliary ministers had relatives and friends, so the Empress Dowager also pardoned them for the unity of the Manchurian Eight Banners. ※※However, the loss of a glorious future is undoubtedly a heavy blow to ambitious people such as Suo Etu, and after being removed from the sequence of imperial guards, he and Aobai's nephew, Kupilon's son-in-law and others borrow wine every day to drown their sorrows, and they have completely lost their previous spirit.

Today, when a few brothers and sisters were drinking happily, suddenly someone behind them shouted, and then I saw a boy coming over and greeting the children of these auxiliary ministers with a smile. Suo Etu glanced at the person, vaguely remembering that he had seen this person, but it didn't seem to be from the two yellow flags. The person who came reported his family turned out to be surnamed Niu Colu, and his father Niyahana was still a Barutu.

"Oh, remember to remember." Although he was a little drunk, Suo Etu immediately remembered that the other party was a person with a red flag, and he was the official of the white flag.

The other party must invite a few former imperial guards of the Zhenghuang Banner to drink, and they are not easy to refuse, this Zhenghongqi surnamed Niu Colu is tall, delicate, and eloquent, which makes the atmosphere at the banquet very warm. According to this person who is a button, since the original Praetorian Guards were expelled after the First Battle of Gaoyou Lake, the Eight Banners of the Forbidden Brigade have now become unbearable - this is not entirely flattery, it is true that the officers originally selected are the best of the Eight Banners of the Beijing Battalion. In the First Battle of Gaoyou Lake, before Shunzhi was killed, the morale of the Praetorian Guards was always maintained, which was very good for a young army that was almost always on the battlefield for the first time. And the Eight Banners of the Forbidden Brigade that followed Prince Kang to Shandong, although its name remains unchanged, it is already an army with a broken backbone, and it was originally filled with the losers who were originally not qualified to enter the Praetorian Guard, and they also lost their confidence in victory.

After getting acquainted, Niu Colu began to knock on the side, asking about Cao Yun, these people had the opportunity to meet the auxiliary ministers, so Niu Colu asked them if they had heard of transporting grain by sea, and what were the plans of the auxiliary ministers, especially Sonny and Aobai, about this.

In the past few days, Suo Etu has indeed heard his father talk about the Cao Zhuhai several times, and not long ago he talked about it with his brother and sister, everyone is a person who knows the inside story, even if they talk a few words in private, it is nothing. However, this button Cobalt Lu didn't have a chance to know this kind of high-level secret, although Suo Etu drank a lot, but when he heard this, he was stunned, and he was going to shake his head and say that he didn't know.

But before Suo Etu could speak, Aobai's nephew preemptively said: "Alas, did my brother also hear the rumor? This luck is to recruit Anmin thieves to transport, what a thief! In order to pay for errands, even the food is willing to help us transport. ”

Suo Etu has always thought that things are not so simple, and last time Deng Ming's casual "Kangxi" killed the auxiliary ministers, so after hearing about it from his father this time, Suo Etu firmly believed that it was a conspiracy. And Sony privately told his family that he also thought that Deng Ming was likely to know and acquiesce to Mu Tan to facilitate the matter, but as long as Cao Yun was not completely cut off, the court would be jealous. If Deng Ming's purpose was to use Cao Yun to whet the appetite of the Qing court, so that they could not be ruthless and scattered, then Deng Ming had succeeded, and now no one in the court dared to advocate a big fight, and if he lost again, the consequences would be very strict - since the money and grain could still be transported to Tianjin, it seemed that the court could wait for a better time, and the southeast seemed to be still basically in the hands of the Qing court.

"That is to say, did the imperial court agree to transport the thieves?" Niu Colu toasted with another glass of wine.

"I don't know." Guerjia (Aobai's surname) raised his glass and drank it down, letting out a long sigh of contentment after putting the empty glass down.

Niu Colu hurriedly filled the empty cup, and Guerjia did not shirk, and poured it into his mouth with his neck tilted. After the empty cup was slapped on the table, Niu Cobalt Lu was filled again, like three.

"My uncle seems to be going to mention this matter to the Empress Dowager today." Guerjia was drunk, and laughed again before falling on the table: "The thief who sees the money." ”

The others were almost drunk, and Niu Colu saluted Suo Etu with another glass of wine, the latter had not touched the wine glass for a long time, he glanced down, stared at the wine glass for a while, and saw that the hands holding it were calm and powerful, and there was not a single ripple on the surface of the clear wine.

Raising his eyes, Suo Etu looked at the person opposite, only to see that the other party's face was still calm as usual, and he didn't look nervous at all because of the sneer on his face.

"Let's go have a cup of tea." Suo Etu's words were clear, and there was no drunkenness in his tone.

"Okay." Niu Colu summoned the coats who were waiting outside to come in and let them take their respective masters home.

When Suo Etu's coat came, the son of the chief auxiliary minister, who had been in power for twenty years in Deng Ming's previous life, waved his hand, and asked them to follow him from a distance, and walked towards a familiar teahouse. And Niu Colu is one position behind Suo Etu, and the two are still talking and laughing on the road, like a pair of friends who have not seen each other for many years - in Deng Ming's previous life, this Niu Colu had a great-grandson named Chang Bao, who was later renamed He Shen.

"Why are you looking into this?" The other party's good appearance left a very good impression on Suo Etu, and it didn't seem that the other party was a fine work serving the Ming army, and it seemed that he was just trying to know if this matter could be done, and he didn't show any intention of lobbying, which also made Suo Etu's suspicions about him a lot.

"Sony-sama's son, he really knows everything." Niu Colu replaced the wine with tea, saluted Suo Etu, and then said as it was: "Someone did ask the younger brother to inquire about the news, you must know whether this matter can be done or not, as long as you can know the official will of the imperial court three days ago, the younger brother can get five hundred taels of silver, if it is two days in advance, it will be two hundred taels, if it is only one day, it will only be fifty taels." The younger brother has been talking about this matter, and today I heard from a friend in the household department that the three auxiliary political lords went to visit Lafayette with this matter, and they must be able to believe it soon. Today, the little brother just wants to come and get acquainted, and he will continue to listen tomorrow. ”

After hearing that there was a reward of five hundred taels three days in advance, Suo Etu was horrified in his heart, even fifty taels of silver one day in advance, which was also many times more than the monthly money when Suo Etu was a royal guard. Suo Etu, who no longer suspected that the other party was inquiring for the Ming army, became suspicious after hearing this number.

"Don't say dark words in front of you," Niu Colu stretched out a finger at Suo Etu after finishing speaking: "As long as the elder brother can give his younger brother a letter, then this reward will be added to two and one to five, how about it?" ”

"Whose money is this? Sichuan thief's? If it's a thief's money, I don't dare to ask for it. As he said the last few words, Suo Etu's gaze sharpened.

The murderous aura that suddenly gushed out from Suo Etu's body made Niu Colu, who had always been very calm, pause, and his face changed slightly, and then suddenly laughed and said, "What are you talking about, brother?" The younger brother is not a heartless brute, and he is incompatible with the Deng thief. ”

The sudden sharp Suo Etu made Niu Colu feel a little uncomfortable, he coughed, and explained further: "This is what a few Huguang businessmen asked his younger brother to inquire...... Has dude ever heard of the word 'fund'? ”

"Nope."

"What about 'stocks'?"

"Not either."

"Then the younger brother will start from the beginning."

According to Niu Baolu, the reform of Cao Yun, which Beijing regarded as a top secret, had already spread in Huguang, and Wuchang had also set up a stock exchange to raise Cao Yin.

"Raise money?" Suo Etu asked confusedly.

"Yes, Huguang's quota for Caoyin this year is 3.8 million taels. The elder brother must also know that this silver must be ...... by Sichuan merchants first Well, it was first sent to Tianjin by Mu Tan's slaves under the banner of Sichuan merchants, and then Wuchang added three percent...... No, he added fifty percent of the silver to pay to the Sichuan merchants, that is, those Mu Tan's house slaves. Huguang's silver will be divided into ten batches, each time 380,000 taels, the imperial court approved a batch, released the first batch, and so on outside the mouth of Dagu silver ships will drive in another batch, a dial of pressure, if the court breaks the contract, or refuses to give the receipt, then the Sichuan merchant will lose a batch of silver, about 400,000 taels. Huguang, Liangjiang, and Zhejiang are all handled in this way. "Speaking of the transportation plan of the Sichuan merchants, Niu Colu seems to know more clearly than the auxiliary minister's father of Suo Etu.

"Half a month ago, Sichuan merchants set up a fund in Wuchang, named 'Chu Cao Loan', which is to raise 3.8 million taels of silver from the wealthy families in Huguang, and the silver transported to Tianjin is this 'Chu Cao Loan', if the court breaks the contract, then this fund will lose 38 taels, and every person who buys 10 taels of silver loses 1 tael. If the imperial court approves and the matter is done, then the news will be transmitted back to Wuchang, and the Yamen, the governor of Huguang, will pay the silver to the Sichuan merchants, and then the Sichuan merchants will immediately repay the money - plus a dividend of one to five to the rich who borrowed the silver. A month of one percent of the profit, cash, many people are staring at to buy, many people, this is a gamble, winning is a five-percent profit, losing is a loss. Niu Colu told Suo Etu that this fund was not selling very well, because many people felt that the Qing court would not agree to be escorted by the Sichuan army and the Zhoushan army, so they were still waiting: "But as long as the news of the court's consent spreads, this fund will definitely rise wildly, and the property of those who know first can double in a blink of an eye, at least by five or sixty percent." ”

"Just one Huguang has a dividend of almost 600,000 taels of silver a month." Suo Etu also gasped after figuring it out, and also understood why someone would be willing to pay a few hundred taels to find out the news, but he didn't think much of Niu Colu's words: "Isn't it just a profit of five percent?" It's high, but it's not doubled. ”

"Have you ever heard of 'security deposit'?"

"I don't know."

"That brother starts from the beginning, this 'Chu Cao dismantling' fund has a five-percent margin rule, by the way, has my brother heard of 'percentage'?"