From a son-in-law to a favorite of the empress

Chapter 550

Zhou Yuan was really educated.

The Lord Lu Zhili in front of him seemed to be glowing. He was like a wise man, speaking his own twisted theories that he didn't know where they came from, and he was proud of it.

This was the first time he met such a theoretical warrior, so he couldn't find a reason to refute it for a while.

"The Bai family has been in charge of Shandong's salt."

Lu Zhili said indifferently: "They cooperate with us very happily. I have no reason to replace them with you, so you need to convince me in this regard."

He looked at Zhou Yuan with a burning gaze and chuckled: "Lord Li Zhaolu was previously the chief of the Zhejiang Provincial Criminal Court, but he made great contributions in the Liangjiang Rebellion and was directly promoted to the Governor of Zhejiang."

"He has a close relationship with our current Duke Weiguo. First of all, he is a classmate of Zhao Cheng, the father-in-law of the Duke Weiguo. Secondly, during the Liangjiang Rebellion, the two cooperated with each other and established a relatively deep friendship."

"I believe that the Duke Weiguo must know a lot of inside information when he went south this time, and this inside information has led to your coming here to sell salt. Am I right?"

Sitting in this position, he is naturally well-informed and has his own judgment of the situation.

It seems that he has to take the path of confession.

Zhou Yuan nodded and said, "Not only does my mentor have a close relationship with Duke Weiguo, but in fact, our Shen family also has a very close relationship with Duke Weiguo. After all, Zhao Cheng is my grandfather's student."

Lu Zhili said, "Yes, Duke Qiaoshan is a respected scholar in our Great Jin Dynasty. His performance in the Liangjiang Rebellion was praised by the world. He also specially invited Duke Weiguo to attend the poetry meeting in the capital some time ago. This is not an ordinary ability."

Zhou Yuan said, "So... In fact, we know very well the purpose of Duke Weiguo's going south, which is that he is short of money."

Lu Zhili raised his head and asked in confusion, "Lack of money?"

Zhou Yuan nodded and said, "Duke Weiguo is a soldier, promoted from Jinyiwei to Wuchengbing He was promoted from the commander of the horse army to the commander of the five military camps, and finally to the governor of the Beijing camp. He likes fighting and doesn't like being a civil servant. "

"But after all, he was made a duke at a young age, with a prominent title, and he just married two wives... To be honest, his family has a lot of expenses, but he doesn't have a relatively stable income..."

Lu Zhili laughed and nodded, "Yes, he is already a duke, and he must live up to his title in everything he does. He still has to show the pomp and show the interpersonal relationships. Only God knows how much money this costs."

He obviously has huge expenses in this regard, so he understands the difficulties of the Duke of Weiguo very well.

Zhou Yuan continued, "Yes, it is said that he didn't even have the money for the wedding before, and it was Zhao Cheng who helped him to collect it."

Lu Zhili laughed and said, "I have heard about this matter too, haha, Zhao Cheng has always been an honest official, although he is smooth and smart, but he often does not accept money."

"But just last year, he actually accepted money from the salt merchant, which confused us for a while, and we don't know what his attitude is."

"After all this time, it turns out that his son-in-law needs money!"

Zhou Yuan's smile was already very awkward, but he still said stiffly, "This is one. "

"There is another thing. At present, the Duke of Weiguo is still the supervisor of the Military Equipment Bureau. It is said that he specializes in muskets and cannons. After all, last year, due to well-known reasons, the Duke of Weiguo suffered a loss in Xiangzhou from the Portuguese. "

Lu Zhili said seriously: "This is the truth. The importance of firearms is related to the future of Dajin. The Duke of Weiguo made a very clever move."

Zhou Yuan said: "But it is said that the treasury can't allocate much silver. Money is needed. That's why he went south to inspect the salt and wanted to make a fortune."

"It is said that at least 8 million taels are needed."

Lu Zhili Squinting his eyes, he said, "Mr. Shen, do you only know this much? I mean, the Bai family..."

Zhou Yuan smiled and said, "Lord Lu is indeed a top scholar. To be honest, the target of the Duke of Wei's trip to the south this time is the Bai and Song families. These two families are the last of the eight major salt merchants in Yangzhou, and the Duke of Wei wants to take them for money."

"First of all, the money from these two families is enough for the Duke of Wei to eat his fill. Secondly, the relationship between these two families is not that strong, so it is easy to eat them without much backlash."

"It was precisely because I knew that the Bai family was going to collapse that I came to Shandong to find an opportunity to sell salt. Establish a new cooperative relationship with the adults."

"Lord Lu, it's not that I want to replace the Bai family, but the Duke of Wei has set his sights on the Bai family!"

Hearing this, Lu Zhili let out a long breath and nodded: "So that's it, no wonder he wants to go incognito and not make a big fuss, it turns out that his appetite is limited."

"According to my current intelligence... it seems that..."

He stopped, looked at Zhou Yuan, and said slowly: "Mr. Shen, I will accept the banknotes. I understand what you mean. It's no problem to transport the salt here and sell it within three months."

"If these 400,000 kilograms of salt are sold smoothly according to the rules, it can prove that you have the ability to sell salt. "

"If something goes wrong in the middle, it is not that I don't give you face, it is your own ability problem."

"At that time, I will have to find other salt merchants to take over the salt market in Shandong."

Zhou Yuan stood up, bowed, and said solemnly: "Don't worry, Lord Lu, I will do my homework during this period to ensure that there will be no mistakes."

"In this case, I wish us all the best."

He also stood up and picked up the tea on the table.

The two smiled at each other and clinked their glasses.

...

After leaving the Governor's Office, Zhou Yuan immediately met up with Zhuang Xuansu and others.

He looked serious and said in a deep voice: "Lu Zhili, that old fox, refused to give the voucher no matter what, he is too cautious."

"But the advantage of being cautious is that he will definitely exchange the silver bills for cash as quickly as possible, and then store them, or exchange them for new silver bills again. ”

“The Inner Court Department has kept an eye on him for a while, including the people around him. There must be your people in Datong Silver House, always paying attention to the exchange of large-value silver bills.”

Zhuang Xuansu nodded and said, “That’s no problem. We have quite a few people in Jinan Prefecture, and they are closely infiltrated. We can monitor the specific movements of the other party at any time.”

“So… now we are leaving Jinan Prefecture and heading south to Huai’an?”

Zhou Yuan said, “Yes, the next stop is the Governor’s Mansion of the Canal Transport, and then we will go directly to the Bai family to close the net.”

“As long as this step is done, the trip to Jiangnan will be a good start. Even if it is more difficult next time, we will not be helpless.”

Li Yu’an came over and whispered, “Someone noticed us.”

Zhou Yuan looked at her with a puzzled look.

Li Yu’an said, “Yes, that’s right. Someone noticed us and was spying in the dark. The other party is very professional, and we can’t tell who it is. "

Zhou Yuan said: "It is very likely that they are Lu Zhili's people. It is normal that they cannot completely trust us."

"How about this, stay in Jinan Prefecture for another day. As a rich young man, I will go out to have fun. This is in line with my character."

Li Yu'an looked at him in surprise and asked in confusion: "You are not saying this on purpose because you want to have fun. I remember that you used to like going to brothels very much."

I swear to God, I have been there only a few times, and I didn't go there for fun.

But when he saw Li Yu'an's teasing expression, he realized that this girl was teasing him again.