The news of whether Horqin and Jianzhou had actually cut off contact had not yet come, but the news of the death of Ning Yuanbo Li Shizhong came first.
This was like a bolt from the blue, which stunned Li Xianzhong.
Although Li Shizhong did not listen to himself and stayed in Tieling to rest in peace.
The bumpy road back to Beijing aggravated his condition, but he wouldn't have died in just a month?
The truth of the matter will not be known for a while, but Ning Yuanbo's title is very important to the Li family.
Li Shizhong inherited the title of Uncle Ning Yuan, and commanded the Jinyi Guards to make Zhangnan Town Fusi.
Ning Yuanbo, who was awarded the title of Li Chengliang, was hereditary, so the next step involved the issue of succession.
In fact, the inheritance of the title of Ming Dynasty is the same as the inheritance of the throne, using the eldest son inheritance system.
Priority is given to the principle of "father dies and son succeeds". If there are no heirs to inherit, then the inheritance principle of "brother lasts until younger brother succeeds".
If neither of these two are available, there are also cases where the elders of the family inherit the title. This is an extremely special situation!
Of course, these principles are based on direct descendants. According to the provisions of the "Da Ming Law", the order of inheritance of the second direct son is prior to that of the eldest grandson.
Since Li Shizhong has no heirs, Li Xingzhong, who is also the direct grandson of Li Chengliang according to the principle of inheritance, will inherit the title of Ning Yuanbo.
As Li Chengliang's concubine, Li Xianzhong was not qualified to inherit this title at all, and his succession order was even behind Li Rubai's legitimate sons.
However, the inheritance of the title is not the inheritance of the throne after all. Generally, it does not need to be discussed in the court. Under normal circumstances, as long as the emperor approves and the court canonizes the title, the title can be inherited.
Therefore, Wanli has a great say in this matter.
From the perspective of the Li family, Li Xianzhong is undoubtedly the spokesperson of the Li family, and it is definitely in the best interest of the Li family for him to succeed Ning Yuanbo.
But although this is a family matter of the Li family, the Li family themselves have no say in this matter.
For unknown reasons in history, after Li Shizhong's death, Li Xingzhong, as the legal heir to the title, was not canonized by Emperor Wanli.
Uncle Ning Yuan of the Li family stopped attacking, and the Li family of Liaodong gradually disappeared from the Ming Dynasty's political arena.
Many of the Li family's children died fighting for the Ming Dynasty.
There were also some who chose to defect to the Manchus. For example, Li Huaizhong's son Li Maozu once served as the Manchu governor of Guangxi.
Another group chose to return to North Korea to observe the Ming Dynasty in this way.
There are only a few words about this incident in history.
The general meaning is that after Li Shizhong passed away, Wanli did not issue an edict to canonize him. Most of the courtiers hated the Li family and no one spoke for them.
However, due to the emergence of Li Xianzhong, the status of the Li family is still much higher than that of the same period in history. As for who Emperor Wanli will let to succeed Ning Yuanbo, Li Xianzhong is not sure.
But at this time, I must rush to the capital as soon as possible to attend the funeral, and at the same time, I can grasp the trend of this matter.
Now that Li Sanshun is almost equivalent to a "deputy commander" in Kaiyuan's army, Li Xianzhong naturally hands over Kaiyuan's defense to Li Sanshun.
With Mao Wenlong guarding Nanguan, there shouldn't be any big problems.
The only variable was that He Shixian became eager to perform meritoriously after joining Yuan Yingtai. Although the equipment of his army had been enhanced, Fushun Pass had become unstable.
Therefore, before leaving, Li Xianzhong transferred more than 10,000 miles of Pinglu guards to the front line of Pinglu Fort. Even if the Fushun Pass was lost, Pinglu Fort could be used to block Jianzhou's advance to Kaiyuan immediately.
After arranging Kaiyuan's defense, Li Xianzhong took Mao Yuanyi, Kong Youde and others to the capital for the funeral.
In fact, in addition to Ning Yuanbo's title, Li Shizhong, the commander of the Imperial Guards, held the position of Zhangnan Town Fusi, which was equally important.
Although the Nanzhen Fufu Division is only responsible for the law and military discipline of the guard, its status is far inferior to that of the North Town Fusi Division, which has its own prison.
But if Li Xianzhong takes charge of Nanzhen Fusi, he can use the resources of Jinyiwei to expand his intelligence department.
This time he brought Mao Yuanyi with him to establish a base for the Intelligence Department in the capital.
Now Li Xianzhong and the Donglin Party are basically incompatible with each other, and have become what they regard as "the demon concubine's followers."
Therefore, information is extremely important now. Not only the capital, but even the palace must have its own spies.
With a ready-made example like Li Shizhong in front of him, he did not dare to take Wanli's body lightly.
Once Emperor Wanli dies, he, a popular figure in front of His Majesty and the Imperial Concubine, will definitely be the target of the Donglin Party's counterattack and liquidation.
He sincerely hoped that Emperor Wanli could live a long life!
He is still confident that he can handle Wanli this time.
Wanli's lifeblood is money, and of course the way to send money is also very particular. After all, he is a high-ranking His Majesty, not an ordinary corrupt official.
It takes a lot of thinking to not only make Wanli accept the money, but also make him feel that this is a great reward for him, and also make Fang Congzhe and other officials of the "Qi, Chu, and Zhejiang" parties not obstruct this matter. .
The Donglin Party is naturally not within his scope of consideration. These people are criticizing the sky and the ground all day long. It is impossible for them not to criticize him.
Soon Li Xianzhong arrived at Uncle Ning Yuan's Mansion in the capital. This house on Dongcheng Street was very grand.
But the feng shui of this house seems not to be very good.
The previous owners had bad endings.
The earliest owner of the house was Shi Heng from the Yingzong era. After Shi Heng's decline, no one dared to live here anymore.
Later, Qiu Luan, the Marquis of Xianning, acquired this house. His end was even worse than Shi Heng's. He was beheaded and his family's property was lost.
Later, the owner of the house became Yan Song, and the ending of Yan Ge Lao was naturally not good.
And its current owner, Ning Yuanbo Li Shizhong, died young and had no children. If you say that the feng shui of this house is fine, Li Xianzhong doesn't believe it.
At this moment, the house was already a different scene. A white lantern was hung at the door. The big word "Dian" on the lantern showed that the house was undergoing a funeral.
Li Xingzhong, the deputy general of the Central Army of the Governor of Jiliao, presided over the funeral ceremony as Li Shizhong's brother.
This is also a matter of course. After all, according to the order of succession, he should succeed Uncle Ning Yuan next.
Naturally, Li Xianzhong would not argue with him. After all, status was not the only condition that determined who would inherit the title.
Li Xianzhong, who put on mourning clothes, quickly went to the mourning hall to offer incense and pay homage to his brother.
The guardian Li Xianzhong will not participate. After all, time is precious now. If Wanli's canonization edict comes down, it will be too late.
He immediately found his two best friends in the capital, Zheng Yangxing and Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo.
With Zhu Chunchen's lustful nature, he should have entertained these two people at Mianyue Tower.
But after all, Li Xianzhong's eldest brother had just passed away, so he still chose the location of Zuixian Building that he had just acquired.
The two of them also lamented that their prophecy came true. The two random sentences that Li Xianzhong made at the wedding banquet came true so quickly.
Zheng Yangxing said: "Before brother Xianzhong came, I had entrusted Eunuch Cui to inquire about it. My aunt is on the side of brother Xianzhong in this matter, and the title should be held by a virtuous person."
"It's not an exaggeration to be granted the title of earl based on my military exploits, let alone inheriting the title of my family."
"However, His Majesty still seems to be hesitant about this matter and has not made a statement. After the experience of being impeached by the imperial censors last time, my aunt can only stop at it and can't ask further questions."
Li Xianzhong said: "I really feel sorry for letting the imperial concubine bear the infamy for what happened to the general. I will punish myself first."
Even though he said that, Li Xianzhong wanted to scold his mother for a long time. If Concubine Zheng hadn't been able to control her well and the servants of Yikun Palace were talking nonsense outside, how could he be called a "devil concubine's party member" now?
It's not right to say a few nice words for yourself, otherwise your reputation will be in vain.
Only then did the two of them notice that today's dishes were very unusual. They were regular customers of Zuixianlou, but they had never seen a single dish.
Zhu Chunchen said: "Did the Zuixian Tower change its cook?"
Li Xianzhong said with a smile: "My little brother has already bought this Zuixianlou, and I specially asked my two brothers to come here to try the dishes today!"
Then he pointed at these dishes and said: "Brother Zhu, try this boiled cabbage first!"
Zhu Chunchen thought to himself that I had never tasted any delicacies from mountains and seas, yet he actually asked me to eat cabbage.
But when he put the cabbage in his mouth, he was shocked. What he was eating was clearly just a piece of cabbage, but his mouth was actually full of texture and meaty taste. This taste was very strange. The refreshing taste of cabbage, coupled with the The unique meaty taste is much better than eating meat directly.
He carefully looked at the clear soup in the cabbage. It was very clear and without impurities, but the taste was much richer than ordinary soup stock?
He asked in surprise: "How is this done?"
Li Xianzhong said: "Chinese cabbage is just an ordinary cabbage. It costs a few cents a piece and you pick the tenderest part of the cabbage. However, this boiling water is very particular. It requires a whole chicken, duck, ham, pig's trotters and other ingredients to be boiled. Filter again and again.”
Zhu Chunchen said: "No wonder the taste of this cabbage is so special. Just the processed ingredients can serve as a banquet, right?"
Li Xianzhong smiled and said: "This boiled cabbage is worth ten taels of silver!"
Next, he introduced to the two of them: beggar's chicken, braised silver carp head, three sets of duck, crab meat lion head, West Lake vinegar fish, Longjing shrimp, Buddha Jumps over the Wall, Nine-turn Large Intestine, Eight Treasure Gourd Duck, etc. Dishes not available in Beijing.
Li Xianzhong was a foodie in his previous life. He often browsed Douyin to see how to cook these dishes. Although he had never tried it, he could still talk about it.
Since he decided to open a restaurant as the base of the Intelligence Department, he recruited chefs from the Jiangnan area. After repeated experiments, he finally copied these dishes. Of course, affected by the ingredients, condiments and kitchen utensils, the taste must still be the same. different.
No one has ever eaten the genuine version anyway, so it can still be used to deal with dignitaries like Ming Dynasty.
After the last piece of duck was served, Zhu Chunchen and Zheng Yangxing burped and finished their meal with satisfaction.
Zheng Yangxing said: "Brother Li's dishes, I'm afraid even the imperial chef in the palace can't make them. If this restaurant opens, it will definitely be the number one restaurant in the capital!"
Soon a pair of ivory mahjong tiles on the table attracted their attention.
Originally, Li Xianzhong was afraid that Haqia would be too lonely alone in Beijing, so he ordered several mahjong tiles to be specially made so that she and Hai Lanzhu could have a tool to kill time.
However, Mao Yuanyi felt that mahjong could be used to find out information.
This thing is easy to get into, and some dignitaries can easily talk about some confidential things during the card game, so that the servants serving tea and water will have the opportunity to collect useful information.
After his reminder, Li Xianzhong decided to build a large-scale leisure and entertainment club similar to that of later generations among the powerful circles of the capital.
It integrates the functions of catering, footbath, mahjong and brothel.
Let this place become a gathering place for the powerful, so that you can earn money from them, and secondly, you can get all kinds of information here.
In addition, some spies from the Intelligence Department can also get to know various powerful people here to conduct undercover activities.
For this reason, Mao Yuanyi specially sent people to recruit many "Yangzhou thin horses" from Jiangnan, and selected some suitable people among them to serve as spies for the Intelligence Department.
In addition, Li Xianzhong also set up an orphanage in Kaiyuan City to train those orphans from childhood to become spies of the Intelligence Department.
Especially those orphans with good looks, whether they are boys or girls, are the key training targets of the Intelligence Department.
If he hadn't taken Hai Lanzhu as his concubine, the sisters would have planned to train them to become female spies of the Intelligence Department and then send them to Jianzhou to work as undercover agents.
At this time Li Xianzhong said: "Two eldest brothers, I will introduce you to a brand new game."
In fact, horse tags have been popular since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, but the gameplay is still somewhat different from mahjong.
Zhu Chunchen and Zheng Yangxing were no strangers to mahjong. After an introduction to the rules, they soon began to compete based on the "International Mahjong" rules of later generations.
I have to say that Zheng Yangxing and Zhu Chunchen are quite talented in playing cards, and they gradually started to get started after a few laps.
Among them, Zhu Chunchen liked to engage in "seven pairs" very much, while Zheng Yangxing was good at "menqing". The two quickly found their own means to defeat the enemy.
However, it is still difficult for them to take advantage in front of Mao Yuanyi, a master of mathematics, and Li Xianzhong, an "old mahjong player" in his previous life.
But the halo of these two newbies is really strong. Zhu Chunchen actually got along well with Feng Yise, while Zheng Yangxing had the self-touch of "Eighteen Arhats".
Li Xianzhong and Mao Yuanyi were stunned!
Afterwards, the two of them actually had the "Thirteen Yao" and "Big Three Yuan" cards, which frightened Li Xianzhong and fired directly at Mao Yuanyi's small cards to prevent their big cards from taking shape.
Mahjong is too advanced. I promised to play only four rounds, but ended up adding another round after another.
However, despite Li Xianzhong's continuous efforts, the two of them still lost only a few dozen taels of silver.
Zhu Chunchen keenly discovered that this was a good thing for offering bribes and demanding bribes.
If I want the people below to respect me in the future, I just need to ask them to play a few rounds of mahjong with me; on the other hand, if I want to bribe, I can do it directly at the card table without leaving any trace.
He said: "Brother Xianzhong, this mahjong is a good thing. We must promote it among our friends."
Li Xianzhong said: "Don't worry, you two. Soon, you will have poker friends all over the world."
"After playing cards for so long, everyone must be tired. It's time to relax!"
Following Mao Yuanyi's gesture, several steaming foot-washing buckets were quickly brought up.
Several people began to enjoy the foot soaking service. After playing mahjong for so long, they already felt a little uncomfortable.
As the feet are put into the foot-washing bucket, a stream of hot air flows from the Yongquan point on the soles of the feet to the whole body, making people feel very comfortable all over the body.
In addition, the smell of these herbs has a refreshing effect on people.
Several gentle and pleasant female technicians used their delicate hands to perform acupoint massage on the feet and heads of several people at the same time, making them feel extremely comfortable all over.
This feeling is so amazing!
Zheng Yangxing said: "Presumably this is the medicinal foot bath that Brother Xianzhong presented to His Majesty, right?"
"According to my aunt, this thing has the effect of prolonging life. Now Your Majesty has to soak your feet every day!"
Since Li Xianzhong presented this "medicated foot bath" to Wanli, this kind of foot bath atmosphere gradually spread among the elite circles in the capital, and many people even paid a high price for this "foot soak prescription".
But after all, His Majesty's safety was at stake, so Cui Wensheng still maintained the bottom line this time.
If the prescription is leaked, it is likely that people will know about Wanli's condition, which Concubine Zheng cannot tolerate.
In fact, ordinary people can also use hot water bubbles to relieve fatigue. Medicinal baths are not suitable for everyone.
Li Xianzhong used some neutralizing medicine to make a medicine pack to create a "medicated foot bath" gimmick.
Of course, the nobles in the capital had money, so it was no problem if they were willing to use ginseng, Polygonum multiflorum and other things to soak their feet, so Li Xianzhong made several medicinal kits in several price ranges for people to choose from.
They are the "Living Meridians and Luo Bao" for 5 taels of silver each, the "Shiquan Dabu Bao" for 10 taels of silver each, and the "Extension and Longevity Pack" of 50 taels of silver.
Coupled with these gentle and pleasant female technicians and the blessing of Wanli's "bathtub foot soaking prescription", he has no worries about running out of business.
At this time, Li Xianzhong asked: "Brothers, how was your experience today?"
Zheng Yangxing said: "The dishes at Xianzhong Brothers Restaurant are really an eye-opener for Zheng. There are the Buddha jumping over the wall composed of delicacies from the mountains and seas, and the boiled cabbage that looks simple but extremely luxurious. Zheng is afraid that his own chef will cook it in the future The food is hard to swallow.”
Zhu Chunchen said: "It's not just the innovation of dishes, but also the improvement of existing dishes. I have been eating roast duck for decades, and the duck meat is a bit stuffy."
"The way to eat this kind of duck skin is very interesting. I never thought of cutting the duck skin separately and eating it with other things before!"
"Even the imperial chef at Ouchi doesn't have such skills. It's hard for this restaurant to be prosperous!"
Mr. Li Xian said: "You two brothers are well-informed. If you all say so, I will feel relieved."
"I wonder if you two are interested in working together?"
These dishes by Li Xianzhong are definitely the shit of a scorpion in the capital - one (poisonous) portion!
Letting them join the stock market is obviously giving away money, how can they not be happy?
The two of them hurriedly said with a smile: "In this way, we have taken advantage of Brother Xianzhong!"
Li Xianzhong said: "I plan to turn this restaurant into a gathering place in our capital circle, open only to people with a certain status."
"Either a descendant of a noble clan with a title, or a second-grade or above civil and military official of the imperial court or his descendant. I call him a 'membership system'."
"I will rename Zuixian Building 'Heaven and Earth'. There are 5 floors here. The first floor is the dining hall, open to everyone. The second to fifth floors require a membership card to enter."
"The second floor is a private room for dining, providing private rooms for members."
"The third floor is the foot bath floor, which provides members with foot massage services."
"The fourth floor is the mahjong floor, where members can show off their skills by paying a table fee."
"The fifth floor is the real heaven and earth. They are all 'Yangzhou thin horses' that I spent a lot of money to find from the south of the Yangtze River. They all have unique skills."
Then Li Xianzhong said: "Please keep your membership cards, you are my gold medal members in heaven and earth."
Li Xianzhong waved his hand, and soon the waiter brought a plate with two exquisitely crafted small gold medals on it. One was engraved with a picture of the sun, moon, mountains and rivers on the front, and the other was engraved with the seven words "Heaven and Earth Membership Card" on the back. "
In fact, there is a small number "001" printed on it, but only Li Xianzhong himself can understand this number.
Li Xianzhong asked: "Do you think this business is successful?"
Zhu Chunchen's eyes lit up when he heard the four words "Heaven and Earth", and he said with a lewd smile: "Of course I'm going to do it. I'm going to go to the Heaven and Earth on the 5th floor to experience Yangzhou Shou Ma."
Li Xian added: "They are not selling their bodies but their art!"
Zhu Chunchen, who looked disappointed, said: "Why do the top brothels like to do this, so what's the point?"
Li Xianzhong said: "I'm not joking with you, Brother Zhu. There are both prostitutes and prostitutes. It's just that the two best ones don't prostitute themselves. Don't ruin your own business."
Zheng Yangxing said: "Brother Xianzhong's investment in heaven and earth should be quite large. I wonder how much equity the two of us will invest?"
Li Xianzhong said: "It's not too much. It is estimated that the initial investment is about 70,000 to 80,000 taels, and it still needs to be renovated. It will be much better if there is income after opening."
"My younger brother relies on his two eldest brothers to lead the way in the elite circles in the capital. This business in heaven and earth needs more care from the two of them. There is no need to pay out the stock money. I will give each of you 20% of the dividend every year. If you have money, we can make it together." ?"
Zhu Chunchen said: "That's not possible. One code is one code. Brother Zheng and I will give you 20,000 taels of silver each as our share capital."
Li Xianzhong said: "Brother Zhu and Brother Zheng don't have to be polite. This time my younger brother succeeds Uncle Ning Yuan. There is a lot of resistance from the court. We still need the two of them to mobilize the power of the court and the harem to support me. With 20% of the shares, the two of you will definitely succeed." You deserve it!”
Zhu Chunchen said: "In terms of influence, the British Duke Zhang Weixian is the well-deserved leader of the honours. Let's do this. Brother Zheng and I will each get 15% of the shares, and you will also give the British Duke's son Zhang Zhiji 15%. In this way, the entire circle of nobles will definitely fall in favor of Brother Xianzhong, and with the support of Concubine Zheng and His Majesty, the position of Uncle Ning Yuan belongs to none other than our brother!"
Zheng Yangxing also said: "My aunt should speak up for Brother Li to ensure that nothing goes wrong!"
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