All Heavens and Worlds Modified History System

Chapter 121 Madam, you can’t go out, there are bandits outside!

Rongguo Mansion, Mengpo Zhai.

"Your dear." Jia Yucun put down his wine glass, looked at Jia Zheng and said with emotion, "My nephew has wasted decades, and has never seen a man as talented as Zihou."

"Brother Yucun is right." Jia Zheng looked at Chen Ran and said with a smile, "Zihou is a man of great talent, comparable to Guan Zhong and Xiao He."

Guan Zhong, the prime minister of Qi, was good at economics.

He engaged in industry and commerce, fishing, salt smelting, iron smelting, and the classification of heaven and earth, and even creatively founded Qinlou and Chuguan, which revitalized the economy of Qi State, and from then on he became rich and dominated the world.

His famous saying, "When the granaries are full, people know etiquette; when they have enough food and clothing, they know honor and disgrace." is a perfect example of the importance of money.

Xiao He, the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, worked hard to develop Guanzhong, providing a steady supply of money and food to support Liu Tingchang in defeating the unparalleled overlord and establishing the Han Dynasty's 400-year rule.

Both of them are good at economics, in short, they are good at making money.

'Yes, I am that awesome.'

Chen Ran raised his glass and said seriously, "Thank you, thank you~~~"

Jia Yucun gave a look, and all the guests kept by Jia Zheng quickly got into the play.

Some stood in awe, some praised repeatedly, and some expressed their admiration like the endless waves of the Yellow River~~~
Unfortunately, Chen Ran had already seen through their tricks and remained unmoved.

Jia Yucun was obviously a little disappointed, so he could only nod and continue to flatter, "The royal relatives, nobles and wealthy families who were interested in farming the taxes had already privately agreed to cooperate and offer the lowest price together. When the news reached His Majesty, he got really angry."

"Guess what?" He was quite good at storytelling, and even pretended to be suspenseful to attract everyone's attention. "Zihou arrived at the imperial study, and with just a few words, His Majesty was very pleased."

Chen Ran smiled on his face, but in his heart he wanted to kick him.

"Just a few words from a god damn person made the emperor laugh. I am a capable minister, not a sycophantic minister! Damn it!"

Jia Zheng, who knew the reason in advance, played the role of the supporting actor very well, and asked curiously, "How did you deal with it?"

Jia Yucun slammed the table and shouted, "It's a stroke of genius! Zihou said that we can use a secret bid!"

"Don't the big guys negotiate the price privately? All right, then let's bid secretly. Write down your bid and hand it in, and we'll make the final decision!"

"As a result, the so-called trust between the wealthy families immediately collapsed. After all, this is a matter of tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. If someone else writes an extra tael of silver, then the meat will be eaten by others, and you won't even get a sip of soup."

"Who dares to bargain privately? Who dares to believe what others say? If you get cheated, it will cost you hundreds of thousands of taels of silver~~~"

A Qing guest named Zhan Guang immediately responded with emotion, "Brother Yucun is right. Any friendship is ridiculous in the face of hundreds of thousands of taels of silver."

Shan Pinren also added, "Not only do families lose trust in each other, but even relatives are suspicious of each other, fearing that someone else will pay more money and snatch the tax package away."

In the end, it was Jia Yucun who concluded, "Zihou's move of cutting off the firewood from under the cauldron is comparable to Yan Zi's killing three warriors with two peaches."

In order to get the benefits promised by Jia Zhen, he was willing to sacrifice his reputation and flatter Chen Ran to his heart's content.

"Overrated, overrated."

Chen Ran, with a smile on his face, remained unmoved. "It's not that I have any talent, it's just that the wealthy are too greedy."

After another round of flattery, which made Jia Yucun's throat itchy, he finally turned to the main topic.

"Zihou, you have a close relationship with the Jia family. Could you help me?"

Here comes the drama.

Chen Ran remained calm, raised his glass and took a sip. "How can I help you? Do you want me to do something behind the scenes so that they can win the bid at a low price?"

"How can this be possible?" Jia Yucun waved his hands quickly. "If this is the case, this is not helping you, it is clearly harming you."

He lowered his voice and said, "I just want you to reveal some information so that we can see what the bottom price is for the competitors."

"For this kind of thing." Chen Ran looked at him with a half-smile, "It is best for you, the governor, to do it. After all, you are the one in charge of this matter."

When mentioning this matter, Jia Yucun felt suffocated and uncomfortable.

The tax package issue involves too many things and offends too many people.

Over the past few days, I have lost count of the number of people who have come to me to ask for favors, to pass on messages, and even to make direct threats.

If he had known this earlier, he would definitely not have taken up this position as the acting governor of Shuntian Prefecture!

"No, no." Jia Yucun waved his hands repeatedly, "I can't do this. If people know about it, I'm afraid I won't be able to save my head."

Having said this, he suddenly woke up.

Sure enough, Chen Ran sneered, "You can't do it, but I can? You can't save your head, but I can? Brother Yucun, I treat you as a friend, but you want to cheat me?"

Jia Yucun repeatedly explained and apologized, saying that he was just bewildered for a moment.

Chen Ran ignored it, thinking in his heart, "Has the modification of him changed after not contacting him for a long time?"

Naturally, this banquet ended in a bad mood.

When Jia Zhen, Jia She and others found Jia Yucun and asked him about the outcome, they were scolded by him.

"Zihou and I are close friends, and you are bullying me?! Get lost!"

He regretted it so much that he had no intention of helping these idiots.

Seeing that the bidding was about to begin, the wealth they had collected could never be compared with that of others.

The opportunity to take a shortcut was now blocked, and both of their eyes turned red.

"What should I do?" Jia She was clueless, running around like a headless fly, and could only keep muttering, "You borrowed so much money, and you even mortgaged the Ningguo Mansion's farm. If this thing doesn't work out, the interest alone will be..."

"okay!"

Jia Zhen growled, his heavy breathing like a wild animal. "There is really no other way, so we can only take a risky move." Jia She looked at him in astonishment. "What do you want to do?"

"Kidnapped his wife!"

"what?!"

Jia She was horrified. "Are you crazy?!"

"I'm fine." Jia Zhen retorted unhappily, "The tax-farming profits of several hundred thousand taels of silver are right before your eyes. Do you want to do it?"

"Of course I do."

"Since you want to, let's tie up Chen Ran's wife and force him to do something and give me the tax package of Suzhou Prefecture."

Jia She was also a reckless person. Faced with the huge profit temptation of Suzhou Prefecture's tax package, he gritted his teeth and said, "Let's do it!"

Immediately, he asked, "How do we tie him up? His house is not an ordinary residence. And we don't have enough manpower."

"You are stupid." Jia Zhen was furious. "How can you use people from your own house? Of course we should find someone from outside. Even if he knows it was us who did it, he won't be able to find any evidence against us."

"Okay." Jia She's eyes glowed red. "For the sake of money, let's do it!"

Jia Zhen was different. In addition to money, he also wanted women.

He had coveted Qin Keqing for a long time, but unfortunately she was snatched away by Chen Ran.

If we kidnap someone this time, we will definitely enjoy him well.

As for Chen Ran’s revenge, his face is already torn, so what is there to be afraid of?
"I just found out about this recently." Jia Zhen sneered, "My wife's sister is actually working as a maid in his house. I can use this relationship to invite her out and take action on the way."

"Okay, I'll do whatever you say. But hurry up, the bid opening will be in a few days."

"Are you teaching me what to do?"

The two of them now have money in their hands, so it is not difficult to hire some desperadoes.

As for Youshi, Jia Zhen only said that she wanted to bid for the tax-farming business of Suzhou Prefecture and wanted to build a relationship with Chen Ran, who was in charge of this matter, so that she could go the route of becoming a lady.

This kind of thing was simply normal in that era, and Youshi didn't think much about it and went to visit him under the pretext of visiting her sister.

With deliberate flattery, the two quickly became familiar with each other.

That day, Youshi took the initiative to invite Qin Keqing to go to the temple outside the city to burn incense the next day, and the girl happily agreed.

In this era, women in seclusion had few activities to do and stayed at home all day long. They were naturally happy to be able to go out and play.

During dinner in the evening, Qin Keqing mentioned this matter to Chen Ran.

"Okay." Chen Ran didn't think much about it and casually instructed, "Take He Zhu and the others with you."

After moving to a new house, Chen Ran found a group of maids and servants through a pawnbroker.

They are not the children born in wealthy families, but hired as contract workers.

There are maids, old women, grooms, gardeners and security guards.

He Zhu is the head of the security guards. He used to work for an escort company, but he couldn't continue working after a failed escort mission, so he had to change his career and become a security guard.

The next morning, the carriage set out and headed straight for the temple outside the city.

He Zhu led five or six bodyguards who were also former escorts to escort them all the way.

When they arrived at the popular temple, Youshi, who had been waiting for a long time, and Qin Keqing entered the temple to burn incense, surrounded by many maids and old women.

The drivers went to take care of the horses, while He Zhu and others looked around vigilantly.

"Brother He." A guard stepped forward and whispered to He Zhu, "Something is wrong. There are bandits in this temple!"

They all started out as bodyguards, and the people they dealt with the most and were most familiar with were naturally bandits.

There are many pilgrims in the temple, but for these experienced bodyguards, it is easy to tell the difference between ordinary pilgrims and bandits.

He Zhu's heart tightened, and he immediately observed according to the instructions.

"It's really bandits, at least a dozen of them!"

Although he didn't know who these bandits were targeting, his mistress would definitely be in danger while burning incense in the temple.

As for these bandits, maybe they came to burn incense.
It's so funny. Even if the bandits wanted to worship, they would worship Guan Erye.

"Hurry up." He Zhu hurriedly instructed the guard, "Ask the driver to untie the horse for you, and quickly return to the city to find the master!"

My master is the chancellor of Shuntian Prefecture and can mobilize three shifts of yamen runners.

Anyone who mobilizes more than ten soldiers without an imperial decree will be treated as a treasonous person.

But if we mobilize three shifts of yamen runners, even if we mobilize a hundred people, it will be no problem.

After sending away the guard who went to report the news, He Zhu led the remaining people into the hall and guarded the surroundings tightly.

This is not like escorting a caravan.

His master is the chancellor of Shuntian Prefecture. If something really happens to his mistress under his nose, they, the guards, will definitely not have the chance to change their careers.

I burned incense to fulfill my vow, drew lots and donated incense money to the host.

After finishing all these, Qin Keqing and Youshi planned to go back.

But He Zhu led his men forward to stop them, "Madam, you can't go out, there are bandits outside!"

(End of this chapter)