Qiming 1158

Chapter 1311 New Xichun Building
According to the agreement, Lu You arrived at the Xichun Building on time.

Su Changsheng is a very sentimental person, and he is also very nostalgic, so after making a lot of money in Jiaxing Mansion, he entered Hangzhou, opened the Beiguolou branch, and returned to the place where he once fought.

In Hangzhou, after earning a lot of money and making a name for himself because Zhao Gou liked Kaifeng-flavored mutton, he quickly sold Xichunlou, which was once famous in Hangzhou but was on the verge of bankruptcy due to poor management.

Speaking of which, the reason why Xichunlou went bankrupt was also due to Su Yonglin's good deeds.

Because he let Sun Yuanqi, who was the chief minister of the Jinbei at the time, die in the Xichun Tower.

As a private high-end restaurant, it is very unfortunate that an official died in the restaurant. Many officials felt that the Xichun Tower was ominous, so they were reluctant to come.

For a time, Xichun Building lost a large number of high-quality customers, and ordinary civilian customers could not afford the high-end catering services of Xichun Building. In addition, the strong rise of Beiguo Building took away a large number of passengers, and the situation of Xichun Building was worsened.

After struggling for several years, the old shopkeeper of Xichun Building finally couldn't hold it anymore and died of internal and external troubles.

After he died, his unrealistic son, seeing that his family property was becoming scarcer and unable to support his high expenses, went around looking for someone to try to dispose of the negative assets of the Xichunlou family.

But Hangzhou colleagues are well aware of this, and no one is willing to buy this restaurant that is destined to lose its guests. They think that buying Xichunlou at this time is equivalent to doing charity.

This group of refined egoists will not do charity.

The son, who failed, was devastated, the price dropped again and again, and finally he was about to despair, and Su Changsheng finally appeared.

Of course, Su Changsheng didn't come to do charity, so he slashed his price severely, and sold the entire Xichun Building at a very low price.

After that, Su Changsheng spent some money to renovate the Xichun Building with the best materials from all over the world, and then he came up with many clever tricks.

The royal family of the Song Dynasty respected Taoism, so the people also preferred Taoism. The famous Taoist Huangfutan often visited the court and had a close relationship with the royal family. He had a great reputation in the whole Hangzhou government.

At that time, Su Changsheng took advantage of the opportunity that he often delivered meals to Zhao Gou to get to know Huangfu Tan in the Hangzhou Palace.

This time, Su Changsheng used his connections to invite Huangfu Tan to Xichun Tower to perform two grand rituals.

First, it was a sinister ritual, which was used to save the dead and recommend the Schering.

There will be another ritual of yang affairs, which is used to pray for blessings and misfortunes, and to eliminate misfortunes.

The two rituals were held for six consecutive days, and the momentum was so great that the entire Hangzhou was aware of the incident.

After the ceremony, Su Changsheng beat gongs, drums, set off firecrackers, and set up red flags to flutter the crowds of people. In the public eye, he unlocked the plaque of the Xichun Building written by Huangfu Tan himself, and then invited Huangfu Tan to enter the Xichun Building as the first distinguished guest of the new Xichun Building. Dining at Chun Lou.

Therefore, there is no doubt that Xichun Tower has resumed its former prosperity, and it is even better than the Xichun Tower in the past heyday. Countless high-ranking officials and dignitaries have flocked to show their love for Xichun Tower.

Although the dignitaries also like the rough northern flavor of Beiguolou because of Zhao Gou, as Jiangnan people who have grown up in the south for decades, of course, they are more suitable for the soft and delicious taste of the land of fish and rice.

After the recovery of Xichunlou, many chefs of Jiangnan cuisine were recruited, and many new dishes were created, which attracted the forefingers of dignitaries and nobles, and went to enjoy the food one after another. Su Changsheng made a lot of money for this.

After the turmoil of the Ming-Song War and the turmoil in Hangzhou, both the Beiguo Tower and the Xichun Tower stood firm by relying on the official relationship. Su Changsheng used the power in the dark and the official relationship on the bright surface to protect the basic plan of the restaurant.

After Zhang Shi became the privy envoy, it all became easier.

He relied on Zhang Shi's position to protect Beiguo Building and Xichun Building, making Beiguo Building and Xichun Building together as their important contact points, while making money for the activities of the Second Action Group of the Skynet Army and the Zhejiang Branch of the Revival Association. Funding, while providing important information.

Win-win.

Lu You usually met with Su Changsheng in the private room on the third floor of Xichun Building.

This time, when Lu You arrived, Su Changsheng had already ordered his favorite food and drink and invited him to eat more.

Lu You was not polite, he sat down with a smile, picked up his chopsticks and ate his food, and then talked about what Zhang Shi hoped that Su Changsheng would cooperate with him this time.

"That is to say, Comrade Jingfu needs us to play a show together and play a show together for Shen Gai and Zhou Linzhi's group to watch?"

"Yes, Comrade Jingfu said that if this operation is successful, it will help him to gain the military power of Hangzhou in a fair and open manner. In this way, when the army moves south, he can assist the army and smoothly control the whole of Hangzhou and all the high-ranking officials of the imperial court. end it all."

Lu You swallowed a piece of mutton and said with a smile: "Jingfu has been waiting for this day for a long time, so Comrade Changsheng, no matter what, please help me to accommodate, let this play go on, and let the comrades in the army work. Do not be angry."

"I'm not the commander of the army, so I can't control the affairs of the army."

Su Changsheng smiled and said, "But I can list Kaifeng for this, and ask the chairman to order cooperation in Kaifeng. Don't worry, the whole process won't take long, there will be results in about ten days, and then... ...Did you eat a little too much? Comrade Wuguan?"

Seeing Lu You gulps down the special dish of Xichun Lou, Jiangnan-style Braised Lamb, Su Changsheng felt amused.

This dish is the joint creation of the Jiangnan chef in the building and the northern chef in the Beiguolou after the reopening of Xichunlou. It combines the roughness of northern cuisine and the fineness of southern cuisine. It is known as the dish that brings the deliciousness of mutton to the extreme. , has become the town hall dish of Xichunlou.

Few of the dignitaries in the city of Hangzhou have never eaten this dish, and there are many dignitaries who are very fond of and obsessed with this dish. Even if they don’t have time to eat, they have to come to Xichun Lou to order takeout every month. Have to eat several times.

Lu You was not considered a dignitary, but after being served by Su Changsheng once, he became deeply infatuated with this dish.

"Every time I eat it, I feel that this dish is delicious. Lamb is the most wonderful meat in the world... It's just too expensive. With my current salary, I can only eat it once a month, and then the whole family will eat it this month. I want to drink the northwest wind, so why not take this opportunity to eat more?"

"Really? Your salary is so low now?"

Su Changsheng smiled and said, "The finances of Xichun Tower and Beiguo Tower are calculated independently, and the income will be used to support the activities of the Skynet Army and the Revival Society. Although I am in charge, I can't eat and drink with public funds in private, so this table is a dish. I have to spend the money to settle the bill, and I plan to ask you for money for the meal."

"what?"

Lu You was stunned for a moment, the chopsticks holding a piece of mutton loosened, and the piece of mutton fell directly into the bowl.

Seeing his stunned expression, Su Changsheng couldn't help laughing.

"Come on, let me treat you to eat. So many times, which time did I not pay for the balance? But you have to be clear, I also live on my salary."

"Is my family's dozens of acres of thin fields all the same? After that, I want to go to Zhongdu to become an official. If my family goes, Zhongdu will also allocate land. I don't worry about that."

Lu You was relieved, shook his head and said, "Besides, Daming's salary has always been very real. With your position, the salary will be low? I am the worst. You can't blame me for that, can you?"

"I really can't blame you."

Su Changsheng smiled and nodded.

As far as he knew, after the nominal collapse of the Southern Song Dynasty, that is, after the end of the Second Ming-Song War, the Hangzhou court faced great financial difficulties.

On the one hand, the losses caused by the war need to be made up, on the other hand, the state capital of the Ming Dynasty went south to control the high-quality commercial resources in the south of the Yangtze River and control the sea trade routes, so that the finances of the Hangzhou court were almost depleted and unsustainable.

It is all supported by the money from selling salt.

Feeling that it would be difficult to live like this, the Hangzhou court, whose finances were almost depleted, had to reduce the salaries of officials to get by. Starting with the head of Shen Kai, the salaries of all officials dropped collectively.

However, this decline is very characteristic of the Song Dynasty.

The rate of decline for senior officials is relatively small. Shen Gai and others only decreased by about 60.00%.

This is fatal.

(End of this chapter)