Chapter 370
Chapter 370: Xia Mingji
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"When the Great Prince killed Hu Ma, do you know how they invented the bronze wire with thorns they pulled?"
"Hmm? Isn't that iron?"
"The difference isn't that big . Do you know how?"
Honestly speaking, Northern Qi actually did not have this thing . The Northern Qi ruler and officials were the most interested in the military equipment the Third Workshop produced in the Qing Kingdom palace treasury . It was with great difficulty that the speaker voluntarily brought this up, so the girl of the other party naturally felt a thread of joy . She sincerely said, "I don't know . "
"Oh, copper wire is difficult to pull out," the gentle voice sighed and said . "I heard it was the Jiangnan merchants fighting for a piece of copper board and pulled it out through with sheer force . "
This joke was originally rather amusing . Coming from his mouth, it seemed rather cold .
The corners of the girl's mouth only twitched .
He asked again, "Do you know how the dike passage in Shazhou from Sha Lake into the river was dug?"
The girl shook her head . She didn't really want to play these games with him .
He waggled his head and said, "Because the Jiangnan merchants dropped a piece of copper into a mouse hole on the dike . "
…
…
Haitang looked at the joking Fan Xian . She silently stared at him for a while before saying, "I understand the two jokes . I don't understand what you are trying to say . "
Fan Xian rubbed the hair on his slightly itchy and sore neck . Sisi had not been in a good mood recently . Every day she was overly aggressive . She brushed his hair and pulled too hard at the back of his head, so there were little red spots . As he rubbed he said, "These two jokes tell us that for merchants, being miserly is always the virtue most worth praising while benefits is a temptation they can never defend against . "
These were two jokes he had heard about Jews in his previous life, and they seemed fitting to use it on the Jiangnan merchants .
He turned his body and pointed his back to Haitang . He had begun scratching an itch himself, but the area of the itch had rapidly grown and immediately run to the center of his back . Although Fan Xian's palm could easily reach there with little tricks, the sensation was not very good . So, he pointed to his back .
Haitang gave him a glare . Her hand had already extended out and gently scratched his back through the clothing .
Feeling the clever hands that could easily defeat the Second priest scratching on his itch with no ulterior motives, Fan Xian felt his whole body relax . He gave a groan of comfort before continuing to say, "Being miserly is part of a merchant's nature . It is a little unexpected that Ming Qingda was so willing to cut himself . Furthermore, relating to profits, next year, I'll have to comfort the Quanzhou Sun family and the other families who were empty-handed this year . I'll have to trouble you to let your Emperor know that at most next year I can maintain this year's portion . Any more will be very difficult .
Haitang hmm'ed in acknowledgement .
Closely following this she asked again, "How are you preparing to deal with the Ming family? It seems like you are very pleased with Ming Qingda's attitude . "
Fan Xian shook his head and said seriously, "His attitude cannot represent the attitude of the Ming family . The incident that night has not yet been wrapped, and I cannot pull back . Right now, all of the Ming family's injury is financial . In the next year, using just the goods shipped out of the palace treasury to block him, I can keep his family bleeding…but the Ming family as a whole is still pretty healthy . It is impossible to swallow them whole . So as long as I am in Jiangnan, I will go slice off a piece of meat every few days . "
The so-called nibbling away perhaps followed this logic . Only, Haitang could not help feeling sorrowful for Ming Qingda as she listened to this . That old Ming master had sufficiently lowered his position, but he was still unable to stop Fan Xian from carrying out his aggressive plan .
Seeming to guess what she was thinking, Fan Xian explained, "The Ming family won't be resigned to their fate . The problem is that the plan Xiao Yan set this time is not the same as defeating the Cui family . The methods of the Overwatch Council have to be completely above board . Everything I do must adhere to Qing laws . This isn't a shadowy plot, this an overt plot . Facing a difference in power, the Ming family will not carry out direct counterattacks . Don't think that Ming Qingda wants purely to keep the peace . He is also wasting time to wait for the situation in Jingdou to change . "
His tone became heavier . "For the Ming family, the situation has to change in Jingdou, otherwise they can only wait to be eaten by the court . "
Haitang continued quietly, "So you will not let them wait quietly and peacefully, rather, you will try your best to weaken them as much as possible before the situation in Jingdou changes . "
"Correct," Fan Xian said expressionlessly . "Everything has to be done by the rules . My only worry is that the Ming family's reputation is so good, it is difficult to understand . There are no problems at all in the palace treasury transport company accounts . The other party's ability to cover their tracks is too powerful…currently, there has been no other news from that island . It seems like someone is helping them cover it up . Faced with such a seemingly warm and virtuous large family like this, if I, or the Overwatch Council, pushed the Ming family too hard and they put on an overly pitiful appearance, there might be negative repercussions from the people of Jiangnan . "
"You are not one who cares about others' opinion," Haitang chuckled and said .
Fan Xian also smiled, "That is true . However, although I don't care, that doesn't mean the Emperor doesn't care . He wants to leave his name in history and hold power forever . This was already a difficult matter . If it wasn't because of this, why hasn't the court moved against the Ming family and used one of their many methods to flatten them? It is because they are afraid of leaving the impression that the Emperor lacks grace and the court is shadowy and oppressive in the hearts of the people, which would leave a dishonorable mark on the history books . "
"Is the Qing Emperor this kind of person?" Haitang asked doubtfully .
"Believe me," Fan Xian smiled bitterly and said, "the Emperor is indeed someone who cares about their reputation . Otherwise, why would he be so determined not to fall short of your Emperor when the auspicious signs came from the heavens last time? This time, the Emperor sent me to Jiangnan because he hopes that I will be able to handle everything beautifully, both crush the Ming family and not end up with a bad reputation . If the Jiangnan people, or even all those under heaven, at that time are outraged by the injustice the Ming family has suffered…if the powers in Jingdou make another ruckus, then even if the Emperor is heartless enough to want me to be the black dog, he would still be forced to summon me back to the capital . "
"Since that is so, today is already the fourth day after the palace treasury bidding . Why have you done nothing?" Haitang asked .
Fan Xian smile and said, "Who said I haven't done anything? I have spent a great deal of effort on the Baoyue Brothel matter . "
Haitang felt it was a bit strange to bring up Baoyue Brothel . She sighed and said, "You borrowed silver from me to use in river works, and that is fine . But you are using the silver of the Northern Qi court…to open a brothel . If this news gets back to Shangjing, I'm afraid the Emperor is going to laugh himself to death at me . "
Fan Xian knew that this Northern Qi sage girl had always felt a bit uncomfortable with him running a brothel . He said seriously, "The river works are a good work, you know that . I am about to begin to arrange for refugees to work . That is also doing good works . But you don't understand, opening a brothel…is also doing good works . "
Haitang was doubtful . Brothels force women to do such pitiful things, how is that connected to doing good works at all?
"The two oldest professions of mankind are the assassin and the prostitute . " Fan Xian snapped his fingers and pointed to his back again to indicate for Haitang not to stop the scratching action . "You cannot change this . I cannot change it . Even my mother couldn't change it . Since it is, this profession will certainly always exist . Why don't we control this profession in our hands, set down some rules, and do our best to protect the interests of those poor women?"
First he said Gu Long's famous words, and then he repeated the words he used to persuade Shi Chanli . Fan Xian summarized seriously, "I run brothels to protect those prostitutes . Those who blindly wear virtuous hats and cover up their eyes to pretend there are not such things in this world, those are the people how truly have no humanity and don't consider those prostitutes as people . "
By the time Fan Xian talked about the specific "new rules" in Baoyue Brothel such as bringing in doctors, having monthly leave, and such, the hand Haitang had been using to scratch Fan Xian's back had stopped . She gazed with shock at the back of his head . It seemed she hadn't expected Fan Xian to have more than empty words .
By the time she had heard the last words, the admiration on Haitang's face had already been hidden . She quietly said, "What you say makes sense . "
"Hmm?" Fan Xian raised his head in surprise . He didn't think the other person would reply so seriously . This did not feel good at all, like Xu Ziling convincing a nun .
He shook his head and chased this sorrowful thought out of his mind . He said, out of the blue, "Duoduo, sorry . "
This time it was Haitang who hmm'ed in surprise .
Fan Xian said, "A few days ago, you and I had been distant . I thought about it afterward . It was mainly my fault . Of course, there is also your fault, but at the root, it is my fault . "
Although Haitang wasn't sure about what he wanted to say and did not understand this strange convoluted and verbose sentence structure . She still easily connected it to thoughts like that of standing beside the old road in Shangjing, Northern Qi, and this young man in front of her saying "morning sun, the world is yours and mine," and such things .
A faint smiled rose to the corner of her mouth .
Fan Xian clapped his hands and stared at her eyes . "I desire honesty between friends . I have not been honest enough with you, so that is my fault . Ever since you left Northern Qi and arrived in Jiangnan, you have been watching all that silver every day and worrying about how I am . You have too much pressure, and it is making it difficult for your state of mind to be calm . To not have acted earlier to successfully resolve this pressure is your fault . However, your pressure, my pressure, in the end, these pressures are both caused by me, so the fault is also mine . "
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