Jiangnan is good, but the richest is Suzhou and Hangzhou!
On the edge of the beautiful West Lake, the north is already full of withered yellow, but here you can occasionally see some green that is struggling tenaciously in winter!
Every morning, you can still see some small ice floes around the lake. The dilapidated Leifeng Pagoda in the distance seems to tell the thousand-year human history here!
The West Lake in this era did not look like the metropolis of later generations at all. The urban area enclosed by the city wall was to the east. During the Taiping Rebellion a few years ago, the city wall was destroyed and repaired, and repaired and destroyed again!
After the imperial court's victory, the local government resumed imperial control. The first thing the frightened local officials had to do was to rebuild the city wall to defend against thieves!
Today's Hangzhou city wall is stronger than before the war. Surrounded by large areas of farmland, hills, and mountains, it is as beautiful as a landscape painting!
In peacetime, rich people actually still like to live in houses beside the West Lake outside the city. No matter the size, even a three-room house will be decorated with elegance under the skillful hands of literati!
In this picturesque scenery, in a simple thatched house courtyard by the lake, a black homing pigeon flew over!
In the dry landscape-style courtyard, a young man ran over wearing wooden clogs. The carrier pigeon was domesticated by humans and naturally was not afraid of people. He let the young man hold him and untied the bamboo tubes on his feet.
The carrier pigeon was stuffed back into the pigeon cage, and a handful of rice was sprinkled as a reward!
"Sir... news from the north..." The young man knelt on the tatami. In front of him, a middle-aged man was sitting in meditation. His eyes were slightly closed for a long time before he opened them.
"North? Not a telegraph?"
"Hai...it's a carrier pigeon that delivers the message, not a telegram..."
The man in zazen opened his eyes, and his eyes were full of energy. He crushed the wax seal and took out the silk, read it ten lines at a time, and burst out laughing after reading it.
"Kusanagi monk...your business is here again! There is a big customer in the north, and I want you to do the math..."
There were footsteps behind the curtain, and Monk Kusanagi came around. "Lord Ito... Is there good news so early? I said that my baby was restless last night. You still don't believe me when I say that there is good news..."
Hirobumi Ito and Monk Kusanagi are the two most important retainers under the Chinese Crown Prince's shogunate, and this exquisite Japanese-style Soro is actually a annex of the Crown Prince's mansion in Hangzhou!
The main task of these two coming to Jiangnan is to serve as a frontline for the prince's study tour! The head of state did not want Fu Yin'er to be a child locked in the palace. He ordered Fu Yin'er to have a study tour mission every summer and winter vacation!
In fact, the so-called study tour is to let him see the vastness of the world, read thousands of books and travel thousands of miles!
Of course, it is no small matter for a Chinese prince to study abroad. He must have his own manor in various places, and the prince's subordinate officials must make plans in advance and visit places. Therefore, there are four private villas belonging to Fu Yin'er in Hangzhou.
This dry landscape is the smallest among the four villas, but it is also the most simple and elegant. Naturally, it became the temporary residence of Hirobumi Ito, Monk Kusanagi and others!
The letter from the flying pigeon I received this morning was naturally written by the Sixth Prisoner of Xiling. The pigeon was certainly not the original one. During the thousands of miles of flight, there were a total of six pigeons.
He flew southward from secret strongholds one after another, just to bring this top-secret news.
Sometimes the traditional ones are the best. Although telegraph lines are good, they may not guarantee confidentiality. The old homing pigeon system is rarely used by people anymore, but it can keep secrets!
"Guizi Liu is going to have a showdown! He wants you to calculate whether there will be a serious famine in the Qing Dynasty next year, and if so, where will it happen?"
Monk Kusanagi thought for a while, "This speculation is very difficult! The art of divination becomes more difficult the longer it takes, because the longer the time, the greater the variables..."
"I can tell with 100% success whether the next guest will walk into the house with his left or right foot. I can also tell whether the fishing boats on the West Lake will have a good harvest or a bad harvest today!"
"Because the time is short, all the opportunities have come together to mature! In Buddhism, it is called retribution, and the fruits are already ripe. It is of course very simple to speculate!"
"But if you ask me to predict next year at once, it still has to be so accurate... Do you know how many changes there are? It's difficult, it's really difficult!"
Ito Hirobumi smiled, "Haha... Kusanagi, you are so obsessed. Who told you to be accurate?"
"Do I need it? Do you need it? Or does Prince Gong need it? He, Guiziliu, just wants to take action but lacks a little confidence. Wouldn't it be over if you just give it to him?"
Monk Kusanagi was silent for a moment. "With just a few lines, you can guess that Prince Gong is going to rebel?"
"Haha... Yes, I can guess it! We Fusang scholars have understood one truth from childhood to adulthood. We must learn from China's experience and learn from China's history!"
"As long as you study thoroughly, you will naturally understand that contemporary things are actually just copies of ancient things!"
"China's civil unrest has been caused by famines since ancient times. This country is a very large and very stable agricultural country... If you want to make your rebellion more successful, you must use civil unrest!"
"And what is the most critical aspect of the civil uprising? It is famine!"
"Guiziliu hopes that there will be a # disaster next year, and he will take this opportunity to instigate the refugees to rebel. At least he can attack the emperor's moral unworthiness!"
"You don't have to worry about whether it's accurate or not...just tell him that it will definitely happen next year! Give him a little confidence and give him a push!"
Monk Kusanagi also laughed, "It's easy this way... It's really not easy. Let's take the long term and tease him slowly, and this Devil Six finally took the bait!"
"For Mrs. Tiger, for the prince's career...it's really not easy!"
Ito Hirobumi sneered, "We don't support him in vain! We want to use his hand to eliminate our major troubles!"
"The Empress Dowager Ci'an, the Fucha family, and the Fuqing family must be eradicated by the hands of Prince Gong!"
"Get Fuhui's last family backer so that she will never become our enemy... and Guiziliu will always have leverage in our hands!"
"In the future, whether it is the head of state or the prince, he will be ready to deal with the Manchus. This is all Prince Gong's black material and a trump card to overthrow him!"
Hahaha... Both of them laughed, "Let's let Prince Gong be an emperor and enjoy the emperor's addiction!"
Monk Kusanagi asked, "What's the plan?"
Ito Hirobumi sneered, "The Chinese grain merchants have sold too much grain to the Qing Dynasty in recent years... Should they reduce it a little next year?"
"Boss Mi Fu and Niu, don't you always give gifts to the prince to please him?"
"The opportunity has come... let them control the merchants to obey orders and work together for the prince!"
