The next day at noon, Hou Shikai was invited to Su Songbo's house for a drink again.
Today, there are not only Su Songbo and Su Henian, but also Yang Huizhou.
The few of them did not eat in the main house of Su Songbo's mansion, but in the pavilion in the back garden. It was obvious that they were discussing something.
"My dear nephew, let me introduce you. This is Lord Yang Huizhou, the Secretary of the Crown Prince's Mansion!"
Su Songbo introduced Hou Shikai with a smile.
"I have met Lord Yang."
Hou Shikai quickly saluted Yang Huizhou.
"Hou Shikai, do you admit your guilt?"
Yang Huizhou looked at Hou Shikai coldly with an unfriendly expression.
Do you know your sin?
...
...
The first words Yang Huizhou said confused Hou Shikai.
Hou Shikai was bewildered, "Forgive my ignorance, I don't know what Lord Yang is referring to?"
"Since you want to act crazy and stupid, I will remind you."
Yang Huizhou stared at Hou Shikai coldly, "Sugar!"
White sugar?
A hint of enlightenment flashed across Hou Shikai's eyes.
knew.
They are here for the sugar!
This is really God’s help!
Hou Shikai laughed in his heart, but he glanced at Su Songbo calmly and smiled: "Master Yang, I don't think I violated any laws of the court by selling sugar, right?"
“It’s definitely not against the law.”
Yang Huizhou nodded, "However, I suspect that your sugar is not obtained from legitimate sources! I suspect that you are colluding with people in the court to steal sugar and sell it!"
"Does your Excellency have any evidence?" Hou Shikai looked fearless.
"Evidence? What evidence do you think this requires?"
Yang Huizhou stared at Hou Shikai coldly: "This white sugar is exclusively for the royal family. The white sugar produced by the white sugar workshop every month belongs to the Imperial Palace Internal Affairs Department Treasury. No one else can get it! If you didn't collude with those people in the palace, how could you get white sugar to sell?"
"Your Excellency is making up a false accusation!"
Hou Shikai said angrily, "I got the sugar from a different source! It was definitely not from the palace! If you don't believe me, you can ask the palace to check the treasury to see if the sugar has been reduced!"
"I don't need to investigate!" Yang Huizhou snorted coldly: "Since you dare to steal and sell sugar from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, you must know how to keep accounts! The sugar in your hand is the best evidence! If you don't tell the truth, be careful that I will send you to the county government and punish you severely!"
For a veteran official like Yang Huizhou, it was too easy to intimidate Hou Shikai.
So what if you accuse me of a crime?
As long as Hou Shikai can't explain where the sugar came from, the sugar in his hands is stolen!
If Hou Shikai could explain the origin of the sugar, it would just confirm his guess.
As expected, when Hou Shikai heard Yang Huizhou say that he would be severely punished, he panicked, but he still said stubbornly: "I got this sugar legitimately! I didn't collude with anyone in the palace!"
"It seems that you won't cry until you see the coffin!"
Yang Huizhou was too lazy to talk any more and shouted, "Someone come!"
As Yang Huizhou spoke, his two guards immediately stepped forward.
Seeing this, Hou Shikai became even more flustered.
"My dear nephew, it's already this time, don't be stubborn!"
Su Songbo stepped forward to act as a good guy, "Lord Yang is not an unreasonable person. As long as you explain the origin of the sugar and prove that you did not collude with the people in the palace to steal and sell the sugar, this matter will be over."
Looking at Su Songbo's hypocritical appearance, Hou Shikai couldn't help but curse in his heart.
This old man, is he pretending to be a good guy again at this time?
good!
Since you, an old man, want to harm me, don't blame me for being cruel!
Seeing that Hou Shikai didn't seem to be ready to speak, Yang Huizhou immediately waved his hand and said, "Take him away!"
"yes!"
The two guards took the order and immediately stepped forward to arrest Hou Shikai.
Hou Shikai panicked, hesitated for a moment, and then shouted: "Sir, I...I will tell you! I will tell you!"
Seeing that Hou Shikai had surrendered, Yang Huizhou signaled the guards to let him go.
"Speak!"
Yang Huizhou has great official authority.
"this……"
Hou Shikai hesitated for a moment and asked tentatively, "Sir, how about we talk for a moment?"
Yang Huizhou nodded and walked away with Hou Shikai.
This time, Hou Shikai confessed the truth.
All of this sugar came from Shuobei and was sold to him by Pang Lushan.
Pang Lushan is in charge of all the workshops in Shuobei, including the white sugar workshop.
Therefore, Pang Lushan secretly withheld a lot of sugar.
But Pang Lushan didn't dare to sell sugar openly, so he decided to sell the sugar to himself.
The reason why he refused to reveal where the sugar came from was because he was afraid that Yun Zheng would know about it.
If Yun Zheng knew about this, both he and Pang Lushan would be dead!
After saying this, Hou Shikai took out a thousand taels of silver and stuffed it into Yang Huizhou's pocket, begging, "Please keep this a secret, my Lord. If the King of Jingbei knows about this, I will be dead!"
Yang Huizhou pushed the banknote back, but was thinking silently in his heart.
Just as I thought!
Pang Lushan!
He had heard this man's name from Zhang Xu.
Moreover, what Hou Shikai said is consistent with what Zhang Xu said.
Pang Lushan is indeed in charge of the workshops in Shuobei.
Now, Pang Lushan has something in his hands!
If Pang Lushan can be developed into the prince's man, he will definitely provide great help to the prince!
After thinking for a while, Yang Huizhou asked again: "How much sugar has Pang Lushan sold to you so far?"
"Just what I have in my bag."
Hou Shikai replied uneasily: "That little bit of sugar was actually given to me by Pang Lushan."
Is that so?
Yang Huizhou thought for a moment and asked again: "How much sugar does Pang Lushan have?"
"About ten pounds!"
Hou Shikai replied.
How much more?
Yang Huizhou suspected that he had heard it wrong.
Ten pounds?
"You're still not honest, are you?"
Yang Huizhou looked at Hou Shikai with a sullen face, "Do you think I'm a fool? You asked Su Songbo to borrow 100,000 taels of silver for 10 kilograms of sugar? What? Are you afraid that I'll give you a share?"
"I dare not!"
Hou Shikai quickly shook his head and explained: "It really doesn't cost much money to buy sugar, but what I'm interested in is Pang Lushan's method of making sugar!"
No wonder!
Yang Huizhou suddenly realized what was going on and asked, "How much did he offer?"
"Two million taels of silver!"
"How many?"
In a short period of time, Yang Huizhou suspected for the second time that he had heard wrongly.
A method of making white sugar is worth two million taels of silver?
Is Hou Shikai a fool?
"Is there anything special about his method?"
Yang Huizhou snorted coldly: "How dare you ask for two million taels of silver?"
"I don't know either!"
Hou Shikai panicked: "He just promised me that for every five catties of brown sugar, one catty of white sugar will be produced!"
What?
Yang Huizhou's face changed drastically.
Can five kilograms of brown sugar produce one kilogram of white sugar?
The prices of brown sugar and white sugar are very different!
If we buy brown sugar and make it into white sugar, how much money can we make?
At this moment, even Yang Huizhou became jealous.
If I could get this method, I would make a fortune!
The key is that he can also help the prince incite Pang Lushan to rebel!
This is simply killing two birds with one stone!
In an instant, Yang Huizhou no longer felt attracted by the one thousand taels of silver...
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