Da Song Private Investigator

The pig iron business is very profitable, but not everyone can do it. To do this business, you must have a very strong backer, and these backers must be high officials in the court and must be approved by the emperor.

Pig iron is related to whether the war can be won, and most of the pig iron sales are regulated, how can it be done without the emperor's consent?

Moreover, the sale of pig iron is only applicable in military camps. In any other place, pig iron is not allowed to be bought and sold in large quantities.

After listening to Tong Zhuo's words, Hwarang nodded slightly, and then asked: "Then who are the backers behind these three pig iron businessmen?"

"Their backers all have a lot of background. The backer of the Cheng family is Cheng Qi. This Cheng family has a lot of status in the court, and Cheng Qi is the minister of the Ministry of War. He knows everything about wars and other needs. So after a few years A while ago, he applied to the emperor to open a pig iron business in this border area. At that time, the relationship between the Song Dynasty and Xixia was very bad, and the court desperately needed pig iron to supplement the weapons needed by the soldiers, so he agreed. Of course, this matter also It doesn’t mean that he agrees. Although the emperor agrees with Cheng Qi to sell pig iron in this place, 80.00% of the selling price of the pig iron must be turned over to the imperial court. Return 80.00% of the money obtained to the court.”

"In this way, will the Cheng family still make money?"

Tong Zhuo smiled: "Of course there is some money to be made. Although the mining of pig iron is very troublesome, most of it is done by the imperial court soldiers. Not many people from the Cheng family are sent there. It can be said that it is worthless trade."

Hwarang nodded slightly, and then asked Tong Zhuo to talk about the other two families.

"The backer of the Pang family is Pang Ji, who is now the Grand Master of the Song Dynasty. His status is noble, so it is natural to sell pig iron. The rules are similar to the Cheng family."

"The rest of the family, the Zhao family, is a big deal. This is a pig iron business run by the royal family. Now it is a prince of my Song Dynasty who is in charge of all this. His name is Song Qingyu, who is the current emperor's cousin. Being crowned Qing King, all the profits from the Zhao family’s pig iron business belong to the royal family and belong to the emperor himself.”

"Then how is this King Qing?"

"My lord, of course a little arrogance is inevitable, but I heard that this lord has a very good relationship with the emperor, and sometimes he enters the palace, so there is no need to report it at all."

Hwarang was silent for a while, and asked: "These people's backers are not here now, are they?"

"Of course, they are all noble people, how could they come to this kind of place, and this place is too close to the frontier, it is very dangerous, maybe when the Xixia soldiers rush over, they will all be finished, all of them Pig iron shops are all entrusted to trustworthy people. The Cheng family and the Pang family entrusted their servants and cronies, but the Zhao family has found a businessman who is very good at doing business, who seems to be called Zheng Kai. , this Mr. Zheng is a legend in the business world. He is now in his 50s and has a lot of experience. One of his sons has already been entered into the Hanlin Academy by the emperor."

Hwarang finished asking what he wanted to ask, and after Tong Zhuo finished speaking, he finally found something weird, so he boldly asked: "Huagong, why did you suddenly ask about pig iron?"

Hwarang smiled: "Yesterday there was a big battle in the barracks. Although I, Song Dynasty, forced the Xixia soldiers back, the battle situation is not optimistic, so I want to know something about this."

Tong Zhuo nodded again and again, and then suddenly said: "Actually, it's normal for Mr. Playboy to want to know about these situations. It's just that I heard that the business of pig iron has been very poor in the past two years."

"Very bad? How do you say it?"

Tong Zhuo smiled: "Hua Gongzi is a smart person, and he should be very familiar with the current situation. In the past two years, there have been many civil strife in Xixia, and their wolf master is still young, and he has no experience in fighting my Song Dynasty. As for me in the Song Dynasty, there are often incidents of eating out, and there are not so many soldiers in the barracks, so the weapons are naturally enough, and since the weapons are enough, there is no need to buy pig iron."

Hwarang was startled, he didn't think about it, but now that Tong Zhuo brought it up, Hwarang found out that this problem is very serious. Those who do business in war naturally hope for war, if there is no war, they will not be able to survive , Then in order to see the war, will they deliberately provoke the war, for example, sell the pig iron to the enemy, let them provoke the Song Dynasty?

Thinking of this, Hwarang couldn't help cursing: "Damn businessman!"

Not all businessmen are hateful, but those who start wars for their own business are too hateful, so hateful that Hwarang wants to kill him immediately.

It must be one or several of these three families who sold the pig iron to the Xixia Kingdom, but who of these three families would it be?

The Zhao family is a member of the royal family, so it is unlikely that he would betray his country and let others beat him up bitterly, right?

Cheng Qi is the minister of the Ministry of War. If he is defeated at the border, he will not be able to get better there. Then only Pang Ji is left. This Pang Ji is a villain in the later novels. Against these people, is it possible for such a person to betray the country for personal gain?

After thinking for a while, Hwarang made a decision. He planned to hold a banquet in Linxi City for the people from these three families, and Hwarang took the opportunity to conduct some investigation.

This matter was done as soon as it was said, and everyone from the three families came that night. After all, Hwarang's face is not small, and they were embarrassed not to give it.

At the place where Hwarang lived, they held a big banquet. They ate all the signature dishes in the Ziqi Donglai Inn before. People here have never eaten it. After inviting these people into the mansion, Hwarang Talking and chatting with these people has been going on for a long time, and Hwarang is testing them intentionally or unintentionally. As a result, during this testing, Hwarang finds that the people of the Pang family are really suspicious. He dodged Hwarang's question several times, and left in a hurry halfway.

After the banquet was over, Hwarang became suspicious of Pang's family. This banquet was a surprise, but Hwarang didn't regret it. .

Of course, there are also disadvantages, such as making the enemy prepared.

Therefore, Hwarang sent people to pay close attention to every move of the Pang family.