"Old Master, I have something important to report." Fan Chengsi ran in.
"Bastard, who let you in? Are there any rules anymore?" The head of the Fan family was furious when he saw Fan Chengsi barging in. He is discussing matters with the heads of the other seven families. This is the top secret of the business group. No one is allowed to enter without the permission of the eight family heads.
Fan Chengsi is Mr. Fan's personal servant. He is usually the best at figuring out the old man's thoughts, so he is very favored. If others want to see the old man, they have to go through his method. Even Fan Yongdou, the most popular junior among the Fan family, has to accompany Smile.
But at this time, breaking in showed that the servants of the Fan family were very unruly and uncultured. What was lost was the Fan family’s face. It is said that nobles are raised in three generations. Under the influence of the eight major business groups' 250 years of history, they have paid great attention to etiquette and rules. There are special things to pay attention to when talking and doing things, and even about food, clothing, housing and transportation.
Fan Sicheng immediately apologized. The most important thing at this time was the host's face.
"Well, what's the matter?" Seeing that he immediately admitted his mistake, the old man calmed down, took a sip of tea from the bowl, put the tea cup on the table and asked slowly and logically.
He knew very well that Fan Sicheng was not ignorant of importance. If you break in at this time, something big must have happened. However, the eight business groups are not aristocrats, they are better than aristocrats, which are commonly known as Sufeng. They are no different from nobles and princes in Shanxi.
In their view, the biggest difference between them and those nouveau riche families is that they pay attention to tolerance.
Mount Tai collapsed in front of him, but his face did not change. This kind of Qi-nurturing skill is not something that ordinary families can have.
"After dark tonight, many mysterious figures appeared in the ruins of eight of our shops and houses. They all have skills and are digging something with shovels and picks."
As soon as these words came out, the heads of the eight families immediately broke their skills, and all their damn qi-raising skills disappeared. Immediately, the old men jumped up as if they had a red-hot iron stuck under their buttocks.
Today, it was too late to arrive here, so we had to set up camp first. The ruins of each house have not yet been dealt with. Moreover, Yang Fan had already made arrangements. In addition to the personnel attached to the Chinese army's tent, the fort was filled with civilian officials, factory guards, and officials and censors who came with the army. No one else is allowed into the city.
However, leaving the people from these eight business groups in the city means letting them handle their own affairs. When several family heads discussed the follow-up plan just now, they still admired Yang Fan.
Although, they did not have access to Uncle Dingyuan and could not find him to do business in front of him. However, Mr. Zhang will definitely give Uncle Yuan a share of this money. After Uncle Dingyuan collected the money, he immediately set off. Just do the work after receiving the money, without any sloppiness. Credit is definitely strong.
Moreover, they had known Uncle Dingyuan for a long time. Anyone who had dealt with Uncle Dingyuan in Beijing and Zunhua would praise him. Although Uncle Dingyuan was not a gentleman, he always paid attention to trustworthiness and cherished feathers. As long as he agrees to something, he will definitely give you an explanation.
This was one of the reasons why they readily paid Mr. Zhang. When doing things with Uncle Dingyuan, you are afraid that he will not accept your money. You don't have to worry that he will not do things after taking the money, or that he will do things badly. Uncle Dingyuan is well-known for his beautiful work.
If they hadn't approached Mr. Zhang, Uncle Dingyuan would definitely not have accepted the money given by others. So, in Ming Dynasty, you have to find the right way to give gifts, otherwise you won’t be able to send them out even if they are gold and silver. These people are all old thieves, naturally clean.
"Whose people want to dig out our background? What do they want to do?" the head of the Wang family asked anxiously.
"It can't be Uncle Dingyuan's people. The army spends money like water on the expedition, and they want to make some extravagant wealth secretly." said the head of the Jin family.
"Impossible, who is Uncle Dingyuan? How could he do such a shameful thing? What a proud temper he has. As long as he is a proud person, he will not do anything. I will never look at these eyes. Wrong person." The old man of the Liang family said firmly.
"Could it be Mr. Zhang's personal soldier? Mr. Zhang's appetite, hey! That's just a pit." Old Mrs. Huang complained. To this day, he still feels pain about the 600,000 taels of silver. This is really a good price for dragging the emperor's soldiers to do private work.
"No, although Mr. Zhang is greedy, he can still do things well. Besides, he is so ugly, and he is embarrassing Uncle Dingyuan. After all, he is just a middleman, and it is Uncle Dingyuan who really does things. What he does is not Have you put Uncle Dingyuan in it?"
"Aside from the soldiers they have in this fort, the only ones left are the civil servants." Mrs. Wang said, stroking his beard. "They are all like weaklings. Apart from a few attendants, they don't have much manpower."
"Go and check if anyone from outside the city has come in today." Mr. Fan immediately ordered.
"Here!" Fan Chengsi immediately turned around and went out.
After entering the city, they set up spies inside and outside the east gate and south gate, and soon found out the clues.
Fan Chengsi and Fan Chenggong came in to report, "Today after dark, someone from the censor's camp left the city from the east gate. A quarter of an hour later, five hundred civilians were brought in."
"Where are these civilians from, and the officials leading the team are from that prefecture and county." Old Mrs. Liang asked.
"The young one, after checking it out, is from Yangzhou Prefecture." Fan Chenggong replied. "This time, 20,000 of the 100,000 civilians came from Southern Zhili. They brought grain to Beijing last year and did not leave. They were directly left by the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Governor's Office of Water Transport. Because of the disaster in the north, farmers fled in large numbers, or because of The people are so weak from hunger that they have difficulty raising money.”
The eyelids of several house owners jumped when they heard this. Understood.
These six officials and censors are not just weak civil servants. They also brought manpower. These human hands are hidden among the people.
No one is a fool. Since last year, the party struggle in the court has once again begun to intensify. Last year, all parties united to overthrow the eunuch party. Duke Wei was completely defeated and became a Shaojiajiao (pronounced Qiao) son.
Starting this year, various factions began to carve up the power vacuum through the liquidation of the eunuchs. The eunuchs were hit and suffered heavy losses, but they were not wiped out. After all, the backers behind them, Mrs. Zheng and Prince Fu, are still very powerful and have deep roots. The eunuchs simply went on the defensive.
Mrs. Zheng was a mature woman, sophisticated and scheming. She took the initiative to give up a lot of benefits. In fact, I just want to test the value of the alliance between the parties. Take a step back and feel it out. Then according to the actual situation, we can prescribe the right medicine.
As a result, these ineffective sects immediately started to fight each other.
In order to fill the power vacuum left by the eunuchs in the court. Immediately people's brains turned out to be dogs' brains. Mrs. Zheng immediately tried out the depth. It turns out that it is a plastic relationship, and the boat of friendship can capsize at any time.
The heads of the family are all old thieves who have lived for many years. They are all human beings who have lived to this age. The changes in the court are like watching fire. They all lamented that ginger is still spicy when old.
With this move, retreat is the way to advance. The anti-eunuch alliance was immediately disintegrated. Now the main conflict in the court has shifted. Now, all parties are united to fight against the Donglin Party.
Mrs. Zheng became more and more stable.
