Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 462 Brand Crisis
When Zhang Fu came to the counter, he was startled by the situation outside the shop. Thousands of people outside were furious and violent. Someone kept throwing stones at the shop. His face turned pale.

"What's going on? Where is the army?" Zhang Fu yelled anxiously.

"Sir, there are no troops outside!"

The shopkeeper at the front desk said with a mournful face: "Today, all of them came to return rice, and none of them came to buy rice."

Zhang Fu also realized that something was wrong. This was not caused by a few people, but something serious happened. He anxiously grabbed the shopkeeper's lapel and said, "What's going on? What happened to our rice?"

"Sir, you can understand after reading this."

Two guys brought a big dustpan, which was full of white rice, at least four or five buckets of rice.

"This is the five buckets of rice that were returned at the beginning. There is a lot of white sand in it, and it is not edible at all."

"White sand!"

Zhang Fu felt dizzy for a while, how could he find out.

He grabbed a handful of rice and spread it on the palm of his hand. After a while, he found more than a dozen grains of white sand mixed with the rice, making it difficult to distinguish.

"Where is this rice?"

"It's the rice from Zhao's family in Gushu County. They are the only ones who provide hulled rice. We sell it for twenty cents a bucket. They are the ones who got into trouble."

Zhang Fu's heart was in a mess, he calmed down and said, "Is it only our side that has the problem? Where are the other grain shops?"

"There is a problem. All Zhang's grain stores have a trend of withdrawing rice. Now everyone is afraid to buy our rice. What should I do, Chief Manager?"

"Return the rice! A profiteer! Return my hard-earned money!"

The angry crowd shouted up and down like thunder, bricks and stones were thrown into the shop, cabinets were smashed, 'Bang! A big hole was smashed into the plaque of "Shize Tianxia" written by Zhang Yaozuo directly above the shop.

Zhang Fu saw that the situation was not good, and if he didn’t return the rice, people outside would set fire to the store. He was so frightened that he shouted: “Refund! Give them all the money back!”

In just two hours, the news that Zhang's Grain Shop sold low-quality rice mixed with sand spread throughout the city. People who returned rice came to Zhang's shop from all directions. Many people obviously bought good rice, but returned It was soil rice mixed with more than half of the sand. If they didn’t give it back, they yelled and smashed the shops. The wave of rice refunds quickly swept across the city. The Zhang’s grain shop located at Zhuangyuan Bridge in the south of the city was smashed, and the grain in stock was looted. .

In order to prevent the situation from expanding, the prefect Fan Ning sent a thousand township soldiers to maintain order, and ordered Hou Wen, the county magistrate of Songcheng, to negotiate with Zhang's Grain Shop. Zhang's Grain Shop finally accepted an unconditional refund within one month.

It took a full month for this turmoil to subside. Zhang's Grain Shop suffered heavy losses, but if it was only the loss of money, it was secondary. The number of customers dropped sharply. In the following six months, Zhang's grain shops closed down one after another, from seventeen to three, struggling to maintain a dismal operation.

Affected by the rice withdrawal incident in Songcheng County, Zhang's grain stores in other Yingtianfu counties were also affected. Although it was not as bleak as Songcheng County, the market share also dropped from the initial [-]% to [-]%. More than half, and even the share of tea shops in various places has fallen to less than [-]%.

The incident of Zhao Qian's arrest and the incident of withdrawing rice at the same time had a profound impact on the power of the Zhang family in the Song Dynasty.

Ying Tian Mansion was just a starting point, and gradually spread to the capital and the state capitals on Jingdong Road. The Zhang family's influence on the Song Dynasty began to decline from then on. This will undoubtedly have a very negative impact on Zhang Yaozuo's struggle for the succession to the throne.

Although the news of Yingtian Mansion's food withdrawal turmoil quickly reached the ears of Zhang Yaozuo in the capital, Zhang Yaozuo couldn't care about a little money loss at this time. He got the news today that Zhao Qian had been released to Dali Temple, and he was going to be held after a strict trial. deal with.

Zhao Qian's weight in Zhang Yaozuo's heart is far greater than Zhu Yuanjun's. Not only is he a high-ranking official, but the key is that his family has a great influence. If Zhao Qian cannot be kept, Zhang Yaozuo's prestige will be directly hit, and many ministers who support him will retreat, especially now The news that the emperor favors Zhao Zhongzhen has spread throughout the government and the public, and Zhang Yaozuo is even more eager to maintain his prestige.

Staff member Yang Kai was watching Zhang Yaozuo from the sidelines. He clearly felt that Zhang Yaozuo's thoughts were in confusion. He tried to keep it with a hammer and a hammer, but in the end he couldn't do it, and the gain outweighed the loss. In contrast, Zhao Zongshi's faction had a clear mind , pushing Zhao Zhongzhen internally, and capturing Ying Tianfu externally, coupled with the effective use of people, the effect is obvious.

If Zhang Yaozuo doesn't change his strategy, the decline will be more obvious in the future, and he will even fail in the end.

Yang Kai said cautiously: "The grand master needs a clear goal now!"

"Clear objectives?"

Zhang Yaozuo was puzzled, "Isn't my current goal still clear?"

"No! I feel that the Grand Master is thinking about Ying Tianfu's power struggle, and how to rescue Zhao Qian. These two things are not easy to do. If the Grand Master is distracted, he may lose both ends!"

Zhang Yaozuo was caught by the rumor, and he wanted to rescue Zhao Qian, but Ying Tianfu was not reconciled, his face became hot, and he asked, "What do you think, sir?"

"Humble job means to give up Ying Tianfu and try my best to rescue Zhao Qian."

Yang Kai then added: "The Yingtian Mansion is nothing more than the two major powers of the military and the government. The Forbidden Army is the territory of the meritorious family, and it is basically impossible to attack. However, Fan Ning of the Yingtian Mansion is already firmly established, and Wang Anshi is assisting him. As for the pacification envoy, since the emperor appointed Fan Ning to concurrently serve, I feel that Fan Ning is likely to take the actual post, after all, he is in Kunzhou to catch all the military and government affairs."

"Why can't we fight for it again? Fan Ning doesn't have much qualifications, why would the emperor entrust him with the job of appeasement envoy?"

What Zhang Yaozuo is not reconciled to is that after Zhao Qian, the person appointed as the comfort envoy of Jingdong Road is selected. He still wants to fight for it. On balance, it is impossible to hand over all the military and political power of Yingtianfu to Zhao Zongshi's faction.

Yang Kai understood Zhang Yaozuo's thoughts, shook his head slightly, and said, "Did the grand master forget? Before that, the military and political power of Yingtian Mansion was in our hands, and the officials didn't pay attention to balance. If the officials really want to talk about balance, he won't move for the time being." Zhao Qian, the reason why Fan Ning secretly arrested Zhao Qian was actually to give him the official position of appeasement envoy, otherwise Linghu Jin would just have to do it, why bother taking risks?"

The expression on Zhang Yaozuo's face fluctuated, he didn't express his opinion lightly, and asked again: "Then how sure are you of saving Zhao Qian?"

"That depends on the grand master's efforts. It is definitely impossible to restore official Zhao Qian to his original post. It is even unlikely that he will be appointed another official post. After all, the official ordered the arrest, which means he is guilty. I think The best result is to be demoted to a commoner, followed by one year of exile, and the worst is ten years of exile, I believe all officials understand that Zhao Qian's dismissal to become a commoner is the grand master's greatest effort."

Zhang Yaozuo agreed with Yang Kai's analysis of Zhao Qian's prospects. He pondered for a while and said, "How likely is it that Mr. Zhao Qian will be dismissed?"

Yang Kai smiled slightly, "I think I'm [-]% sure!"

Zhang Yaozuo cheered up, and he was [-]% sure. He hurriedly said, "Sir, why not explain it in detail!"

Yang Kai nodded and said: "Zhao Qian has three culpable culpability, the first trespass, the second tax evasion, and the third Zhuang Ding's militaryization. The first two are not a big problem here. The trespass can be said to be improperly built. I didn't know the guide hall at the beginning He didn’t take this into consideration, as long as the ancestral hall was demolished and rebuilt, the second tax evasion was not a big problem, there were many rich and powerful families who evaded taxes, just paying taxes was enough, and these two things had nothing to do with Zhao Qian himself, It was his family's work. The key is that the third clause is more serious in nature. It is impossible to say that Zhao Qian knew nothing. He must know, but he didn't care about it. One thing is certain, Zhao Qian's crime will be light."

"Although the crime is negligible, he is still guilty after all, isn't he?"

Yang Kai smiled and said: "The misdemeanor of a lowly position is exile for one year, but if you can make a fuss in the Privy Council, give Zhao Qian some credit, and make a merit and demerit offset, the crime of exile can be avoided. If the Zhao family can pay taxes in time, and the officials consider the Zhao family's contribution to the founding of the country, this matter will definitely be handled lightly. Zhao Qian can still hang up a idle job for the elderly, and the grand master is actively running behind, and the ministers will see it Here, if you lose this game, you still have a chance in the next game.”

Zhang Yaozuo sighed softly, "I'm afraid Zeng Gongliang, the Privy Councilor, won't buy it!"

"Grand Master, don't worry. Zeng Gongliang is very good at balance. He helped Han Qi dismiss Yang Du last time. I believe that this time he will give the Grand Master a favor and give Zhao Qian some credit. Then the Grand Master will go again. Look for Jia Changchao, ask Jia Changchao to intercede with Zhao Qian, and then ask the Zhao family to disband the Zhuang Ding, demolish the ancestral hall, and pay the land tax, then the matter will be resolved satisfactorily."

Zhang Yaozuo nodded, "Then follow the master's instructions, give up the fight for Ying Tianfu for the time being, and try my best to rescue Zhao Qian. I will go to Zeng Gongliang now."

(End of this chapter)