Chapter 209 Coincidence

May twenty-fifth.

Longevity King Yang Lin, who had had enough troubles in Fengri City, finally left. Before leaving, he said that he held a banquet in the restaurant to thank Fengri City for his hard work over the past few days. Almost all the top figures in Fengri City were treated Invitation, but only missing Shen Hao. For a while, the news that King Shou hated Shen Hao was confirmed.

In any case, it is not a good thing to be rejected by a dignified prince. The most obvious thing is that when Shen Hao was on business the next day, except for the people from the Black Flag Camp who still greeted him respectfully along the way, no one else took the initiative to talk to him, and they all avoided or pretended not to see him. .

Another reason is that Yang Lin came to Fengri City for such a circle and showed Wu Changhe and Xie Youlin's two big cards, and the rest of the little guys, no matter whether they chose to stand in line or not, would inevitably think that the area under the jurisdiction of Fengri City was actually close to King Shou up. Therefore, even if there is no conflict, it is best to keep a distance from people whom King Shou despises so as not to harm Chi Yu.

Even Shen Hao's adjutant Wang Yiming looked at Shen Hao with emotion in his eyes. He couldn't understand why his own Shangfeng was so good at making troubles, yet he could still be an official of a hundred households at a young age. According to common sense, this kind of person who makes enemies everywhere and even dares not give face to the prince should have been killed a hundred times long ago, right?

Shen Hao is the only one who doesn't care about being labeled as a "person whom the king of longevity despises", and is even complacent.

Looking at many things from another angle will lead to completely different conclusions.

For example, Shen Hao was rejected by King Shou and didn't know how to praise him. Looking at it from another angle, it might be interpreted as "defying power and sticking to principles".

Besides, Xuan Qingwei was originally His Majesty's personal soldier, and it would not be a good thing to get too close to these princes and princes.

After entering his private room, he heard a knock on the door as soon as he sat down after brewing herbal tea. It was Wang Yiming who came in, holding a copper bar in his hand.

"My lord, this is a top-secret note from the Black Banner Battalion in Licheng early in the morning."

Top secret, but not urgent. Shen Hao guessed that Zhang Liao was responsible for the matter, waved Wang Yiming away, and then opened the copper bar. Sure enough, it was about secretly investigating the progress of Xiaoshan Tieluzhuang.

There wasn't much content on the copper bar, so Shen Hao finished reading it soon. After digesting it in my mind, I spread it out and watched it a second time.

According to Zhang Liao's secret investigation in the past few days, it was found that Xiaoshan Tieluzhuang's embezzlement was blatantly done, and it was not concealed at all. More than a dozen blast furnaces on the mountain smelt ore non-stop day and night. Based on the output and time of each furnace, the approximate monthly output has exceeded 50% of the reported output.

The craftsmen in Zhuangzi pay according to their working hours, and they are eager to have work every day. Moreover, most craftsmen don’t even know how much Zhuangzi reported to the court. They always think that every catty of iron they smelt is handed over to the court. in hand. Therefore, most of the craftsmen have no opinion on the stewards and masters in Zhuangzili, because their wages have never been short in Zhuangzili.

It was only after finding out the person who made the report with his real name that he got some inside information about Xiaoshan Tieluzhuang.

The informant's name was Zhang Yue, who had studied and was an outsider who came to Licheng. He was good at counting, so when he worked as a piecework recorder in Xiaoshan Tieluzhuang, he sometimes helped the accountant calculate the wages.

There are very few scholars these days, and even fewer can settle accounts, so Tieluzhuang pays Zhang Yue a high salary. Thirty-five taels a month is considered a high salary, making it easy for Zhang Yue, a bachelor, to find a wife. To be precise, a matchmaker came to him and told him a girl from a foreign village.

Zhang Yue was young, and when he saw the girl from a distance, he couldn't walk. The dowry was given quickly, and within a few days, she was married and entered the bridal chamber.

But Zhang Yue's daughter-in-law is said to have amazed many people when she appeared in Zhuangzi, she is a beautiful woman. As a result, he was coveted by Zhuangzi's principal, and later used tricks to send Zhang Yue away, and then used force to ruin him. When Zhang Yue came back, the woman was still crying. He rushed out to find the chief officer to settle accounts but was beaten up. When he got home, his wife had disappeared. After searching around, he found her body in a well not far behind the house. .

Zhang Yue appealed everywhere, but he was either turned away or beaten up. Even Zhuangzi's boss said that Zhang Yue's life as a beggar would be worse than death. That night, Zhang Yue's house caught fire and burned down.

When Zhang Liao found Zhang Yue, the poor guy had been hungry for two days. His fingers had been broken, he couldn't calculate the books, he couldn't be a clerk, and he was suffering from the cold, so he was huddled in a rotten shed waiting to die.

It is conceivable how much hatred Zhang Yue would burst out after being found by Zhang Liao in such a situation. Zhang Liao said what he asked.

According to Zhang Yue's confession, Zhang Liao secretly checked the dispatching situation of Xiaoshan Tieluzhuang. It was found that the scheduling of carriages and horses is mainly in two directions, one is a pig iron warehouse in Tieluzhuang; the other is a warehouse outside Zhuangzi.

Needless to say, the warehouse inside the village is used to store the turned-in pig iron, while the warehouse outside the village is used to store the part that has been deducted.

In addition, the warehouse outside the village belongs to Hengshun Carriage Company, and Xiaoshan Tieluzhuang used the transport capacity of Hengshun Carriage Company when it shipped the goods.

Due to time constraints, the progress of Zhang Liao's secret investigation has come to this point. There are two things that are clear: First, there is indeed serious deduction and concealment in Xiaoshan Tieluzhuang. Second, the pig iron seized by Xiaoshan Tieluzhuang was transported to other places by Hengshun carriage.

According to the news from the previous investigation in the black market, the person who bought the goods in Xiaoshan Tieluzhuang was a person named "Ma San". It's very mysterious, only the name and appearance can be found, and the rest can't be found.

Shen Hao got up with the tea and walked to the window, thinking secretly, shaking his head from time to time.

Seeing that it was approaching noon, Shen Hao called Wang Yiming in, and then handed over a piece of his own name card, saying: "You send someone to take my name card to Hengshun Car and Horse Shop to find their owner. Liu Hengyi, just say that I will treat him to a drink at the newly opened Honghe Restaurant tonight."

Wang Yiming went down to make arrangements.

When Shen Hao's name card was delivered to Liu Hengyi, he was shocked. He had a fight with Shen Hao at the Blue Moon Meeting before, although he took the initiative to apologize and exposed the past, but there is no "friendship" at all, right? Why did you suddenly ask him to drink?

I'm afraid there will be no good banquet!

But it’s okay if you don’t want to go. So what if the business gets bigger? In the boundary of Fengri City, the word Shen Hao is still very evil. They dare not even give face to King Shou. If you still want to live a good life, you can only go to the banquet.

Liu Hengyi was a little ahead of time, but as soon as he arrived at the entrance of the restaurant, he saw two guards of Xuan Qingwei standing at the entrance. It seems that the whole restaurant has been booked down.

Entering the wing room, sat down after some courtesies, and after drinking for three rounds, Shen Hao put down his chopsticks and mentioned the purpose of tonight's treat: "I have something to ask Lao Liu for your help."