When Tang Shunzhi heard Shen Hong's words, he realized that the Shen family was very polite to him.
But when interests were really involved, at the critical moment, even a servant of his family dared to yell at him.
How arrogant!
However, Tang Shunzhi and Xu He had already anticipated this situation, but they didn't expect Shen Hong's words to be so naked.
He smiled slightly, crossed his hands and said, "Mr. Kuoyuan thinks this official is getting in the way!"
Some things cannot be said or done, and some things cannot be done.
Shen Hong may not take Tang Shunzhi seriously, but he must not tell it, otherwise the Shen family's reputation among scholars will be ruined.
He quickly stood up and said with a smile: "Mr. Jingchuan is joking. I'm afraid he doesn't like to hear these merchant affairs, so..."
Before he finished speaking, Tang Shunzhi smiled: "I am the magistrate of Huzhou, and most of you here are silk merchants under my rule in Huzhou. Even if I am not good at merchants, everyone is invited by me. It’s better to be there!”
"This..." Shen Hong was a little embarrassed now.
According to the original plan, his next action was to divide and win over each other, and then defeat them one by one.
The methods inside were disgraceful, even filthy. If Tang Shunzhi were present, the effect of his coercion and inducement would be greatly reduced.
But the arrow was already on the string and had to be fired.
He bowed his hand towards Tang Shunzhi.
Then he turned around and was about to speak to the silk merchants.
At this moment, the door suddenly opened.
Everyone looked toward the door, curious, hadn't all the guests invited by the Shen family arrived?
Why is there still someone coming at this time?
But when Shen Hong saw the person coming, his expression changed drastically and he turned to look at Tang Shunzhi.
Tang Shunzhi smiled slightly at him and said nothing.
As soon as the door opened, six eunuchs wearing plate-collared shirts came in.
After they stood still at the door, two more monks with lanterns led the way. After they stood still, a minister wearing a scarlet robe and python robe walked into the restaurant with an indifferent expression.
Being able to wear a python suit means that this eunuch's status in the palace is not low, at least similar to that of the eunuchs of the Si Li Supervisor.
Maybe others don't know the tall eunuch in front of him, with a slender figure and a calm expression.
But there was a huge wave in Shen Hong's heart.
"Eunuch Yao, what brought you here..."
It turns out that the person who just came in is the other godson of Wang Ji, the eunuch of the Bureau of Ceremonies... Yao Di, the eunuch of the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau.
The Wei Dynasty had three major weaving bureaus in Jiangnan, namely Jiangning Weaving Bureau (commonly known as the Northern Bureau), Suzhou Weaving Bureau (commonly known as the Southern Bureau) and Zhejiang Weaving Bureau (commonly known as the Zhejiang Bureau).
And Yao Di is the chief eunuch of Jiangning Weaving Bureau.
The three major bureaus are all subordinate departments under the Supervisor of Ceremonies and are responsible for the silk procurement business of the inner court in a place.
Later, Emperor Zhizheng loved to make money, so he used the name of the Weaving Bureau to actually do business with imperial merchants.
Speaking of why Shen Hong lost his composure when he saw Yao Di, we must first start with Yao Di's background.
The Weaving Bureau was subordinate to the Si Li Jian. In the Wei Dynasty, the Si Li Jian was one of the "Twelve Supervisors". At first, he did not have great power and had equal status with the other eleven supervisors.
But as time went by, because the emperor was lazy or the candidate to succeed the emperor was young, eunuchs who were in charge of rites were used to handle government affairs on his behalf.
As a result, the power of the ceremonial supervisor increased, and later gradually developed into the power of the internal supervisor.
The eunuch in charge of the ceremonial department is also called the internal minister.
Wang Ji is the current eunuch of the Chief of Ceremony, and is highly trusted by the Zheng Emperor. He is worthy of his name.
However, he is low-key, calm, and has a relatively harmonious relationship with civil servants, so the court has still rated him highly over the years.
In addition to him, the following are several eunuchs who are responsible for the ceremony.
There are now three eunuchs in Bingbi, namely He Xian, Wang Mian and You Xiao.
He Xian has not been heard of for a while, and news came out from the palace that this person is probably gone.
The specific reasons are kept secret.
Wang Mian is currently listening to Emperor Zhizheng.
But everyone who is familiar with the inner court knows that Wang Mian is not the same as Wang Ji, the eunuch who holds the seal, and he is not clever, so he is not taken seriously by everyone. However, he now controls the inner army and is considered to be the first echelon figure in the palace. .
The third person is particularly filial.
This one is a bit complicated.
This man is Wang Ji's godson, but a great eunuch like Wang Ji has a lot of godsons and grandchildren, and You Xiaoneng, who is in the position, is actually just a black glove.
He helped the palace deal with some shady matters, such as the last affair.
The emperor's smuggling of salt is a joke.
But Emperor Zhizheng wanted to make this kind of money, but didn't want to get his hands dirty. At this time, You Xiao's role came into play.
However, it is said that this person is not a smart person. He can do things well but his brain is not enough.
Except for a few big officials of the Supervisor of Ceremonies.
Now let’s talk about Yao Di.
Yao Di is also Wang Ji's godson.
He is a deep-tempered person and doesn't like to talk much. He has been working in the position of Jiangnan Weaving for five years.
In the past five years, needless to say, he has worked hard at his job, and the palace is very satisfied with him.
Secondly, he gets along well with civil servants.
This kind of harmony is not about getting together and living alone, but often privately subsidizing some poor scholars to study.
The reputation in Shilin is very good.
It is said that Wang Ji's favorite successor is Yao Di.
So, why did Yao Di, the supervising eunuch of Jiangning Weaving Bureau, come to Zhejiang?
This started from three days ago.
Shen Hong went to the government office to find Tang Shunzhi, and Xu He guessed the truth about the Japanese pirate incident.
Xu He discussed with Tang Shun that the Shen family dared to risk the disapproval of the world and lead the Japanese pirates to kill our people. How could they be allowed to do this?
Therefore, Tang Shunzhi accepted the gift list from Shen Hong in a hurry, and then wrote a letter directly, attaching the gifts on the gift list, and delivered it to the capital, to Wang Ji, and asked him to present it to Emperor Zheng.
Tang Shunzhi wanted to go through the normal process directly.
But Xu He persuaded him.
First, the Shen family was about to take action and there was no time.
If the gift cannot be delivered to Emperor Zheng's desk before the Shen family invites everyone.
No one can tell what will happen in the future.
The Shen family counterattacked, saying that Tang Shunzhi was opportunistic and handed over the gift only after the incident was exposed. Tang Shunzhi could not defend himself at all.
Secondly, the Shen family is very powerful. If we follow the normal process, I don’t know where problems will occur.
So Xu He came up with an idea, cut out part of the gift list, gave it to Wang Ji, and then asked Wang Ji to hand over the memorial.
Tang Shunzhi was not a pedantic person, and he eventually followed the path of good deeds.
Sure enough, Wang Ji was the one who accepted gifts, so he handed over Tang Shunzhi's coupon.
Not long after, Emperor Zhizheng summoned him into the palace. He did not mention the Shen family's problems throughout the process, but instead said something meaningful.
"Everyone has their own ideas. Master Shen has too many ideas. Don't worry about him. Just ask your godson Yao Di to come over!"
