Wang Chengen was ordered to send Chang Yu out of the palace. The two largest eunuchs in the inner court congratulated each other. During the greetings, they arrived at Qianqing Gate. The two said goodbye. Chang Yu stood outside Qianqing Gate and took a long breath. He looked up at the bright moon in the sky, and everything was quiet. Quietly, the imperial city is majestic, shadowy, and no human voice is heard.
The office outside Qianqing Gate was empty, and there was no need to ask that the nobles on duty had gone to Caolanchang to gamble for money. Chang Yu chuckled and shook his head, facing south with his hands behind his back.
At this time, a person appeared next to him: "Kowtow to the factory master, little one."
Chang Yu took a closer look and saw that it was Fang San. He looked quite excited and was shivering from the cold, so he said, "San, what are you doing here?"
"Young Mr. Wen Changgong has been waiting here since he returned to Beijing. I haven't seen you for so many days. It's hard to miss him." Fang San sighed with a warm smile on his face. Chang Yu nodded slightly: "I miss you too," he said. She waved her hand for him to follow, and the two of them continued walking forward.
Chang Yu had something on his mind and kept silent. Fang San had a thousand words in his heart, but he didn't dare to say anything when he saw Chang Yu's expression. He just followed him honestly. The two of them walked in the palace, one behind the other, in silence.
After leaving Donghua Gate and entering the Nei Dongchang Yamen, I saw that it was very busy inside. It turned out that Wei Dahai and other leading eunuchs from the inner court Yamen were waiting for Chang Yu to congratulate the newly appointed eunuch Bingbi, the eunuch of the ceremony.
It was rare that these old eunuchs were still waiting for him so late. Chang Yu bowed his hands in greeting and chatted with everyone for a while, then said that there were still important things to deal with and they would meet up another day. Everyone left one by one knowing that they were interested.
From the moment I stepped into the capital, my ears had never been quiet, especially when I was chatting with Emperor Chongzhen and his son in the palace. They were accompanying you like a tiger and could not tolerate any sloppiness. They concentrated on dealing with it. At this time, I suddenly felt more tired than going into battle to kill the enemy.
Old Hu came over in a hurry: "Why don't you, Lord, go take a bath in the hall, and I can give you some massage?"
Chang Yu was yearning for it. Lao Hu's massage techniques were top-notch, but he didn't have the time yet, so he had to smile and shake his head: "We'll talk about it later." He took a few sips of tea and looked at the excitement on the faces of Chen Wangting and others in the hall. He said : "Is the imperial city big?"
"Big! It's too big. The humble position is an eye-opener..." Chen Wangtingye and the others never dreamed that one day they would be able to enter the capital or the imperial city. They only had Jiang Fa's experience in the world and saw a little bit of the world. As for him, At that time, he escaped from the murder and hid in the Balcony Palace Taoist Temple in Huagai Peak of Wangwu Mountain for many years. Later, he returned to the mountain den in Chenjiagou and never left the village.
As for Chen Suole, the two brothers Chen Ruxin have been climbing trees and catching birds in the ravines since they were young, and have never been to the city at all.
Now they went straight into the palace. Chunxiang led someone to take them around the palace. Their eyes were wide open as they looked at it. In the evening, they went out of the palace and strolled around the front door. They exclaimed, "The emperor's feet are really extraordinary!"
With my eyes opened, I felt even more proud in my heart. As a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, almost everyone can come to this country. It is not surprising. However, this Imperial City of the Ming Dynasty is not just for anyone to come to. If there is no summons from the emperor, it doesn’t matter whether you are a high-ranking official or a high official in the court. None of the emperor's relatives could even think of taking a step forward, and the same was true for the emperor's confidants, the Imperial Guards.
But they can come and go freely because they are from Dongchang!
This is the prerogative of the Secret Service.
While a few people were joking, the carriages and horses were ready outside, Chang Yu led everyone out of the palace, Chunxiang was waiting outside Dong'an Gate, the imperial city was locked at the end of the day, and no one could come in or out at will without an edict. This was his majestic Dongchang. Neither can his deputy.
Chunxiang got on the carriage and whispered in Chang Yu's ear: "Jiangmi Lane".
Chang Yu hummed, closed his eyes and fell asleep. He had been traveling under the stars for several days and hadn't had a solid sleep yet. He was already exhausted.
On the dark street, a carriage slowly drove towards Zhengyang Gate. Beside the carriage were guards such as Chen Wangting and other experts, and there were more than 20 guards from Dongchang's attendants in front and behind.
"Second uncle, do you think the assassin from outside the customs has really come to the capital?" Chen Ruxin looked solemnly and looked around at the dark streets, feeling a little nervous.
Chen Wangting snorted: "Maybe, but he definitely doesn't dare to do anything in the imperial city." He sneered and looked around: "If you really come today, don't leave."
Jiang Fa chuckled: "I really want him to come. Wuzhong always says that the human body is like a ghost above me. I don't accept it!"
"I'm exhausted, but I don't want him to disturb my dreams." The lazily voice of the young eunuch came from the car, and everyone laughed and stuck out their tongues in silence.
When the car arrived at Jiangmi Lane outside Daming Gate, there was no one on the street and everything was pitch black. After all, it was just a grain market, not a red light district. No one hung up lanterns to attract customers in the middle of the night.
But it seems that there really is such a family. The car was more than a hundred paces away, and the lanterns were high in front of the Octopus Chamber of Commerce. Several figures came in a hurry, came to the car and saluted, and whispered: "I have seen you, sir!"
But it was Song Siyang and Wu Mengming.
Chang Yu got out of the car and waved his hand: "Let's talk inside."
Everyone hurried into the backyard.
Stove, hot tea, some stewed vegetables, and a glass of wine.
Although Chongzhen gave a banquet, which seemed to be the ultimate honor, Chang Yu didn't want to eat with the emperor for the second time. He couldn't swallow the food. He was actually hungry as soon as he left Qianqingmen, so he happened to come to Song Siyang for a late-night snack.
There were only a few people in the hall, and almost all the twelve eunuchs were out of the capital on business. Only Song Siyang and Wang Haichuan were left in charge. As for why Wu Mengming was here?
He is the major shareholder of the Octopus Chamber of Commerce, and all his wealth is invested in it. Chang Yu is not in the capital these days, and Lao Wu secretly contributes to the obstacles the chamber of commerce encounters.
"The food stored in the capital has been exhausted. Except for the governor's 10,000 shi, the rest were sent to the southern route. 30,000 shi were sent to Baoding Mansion. Mr. Shi has already received them. There are still more than 20,000 on the way. Therefore, the bandit army is surrounding the city and dare not approach... Fang Ba and Yang Tianwu have gone south to Suzhou and Hangzhou..." Song Siyang reported one by one. Chang Yu lowered his head to eat and listened carefully without saying a word.
"Boss Jiang has gone further..." Song Siyang said and glanced at Wu Mengming.
Wu Mengming coughed slightly and took over the conversation: "The humble post has sent people to coordinate with Jiang Yiping to go to Fujian to contact Zheng Zhilong, who you are talking about."
After Chang Yu heard this, he paused with his chopsticks: "In whose name?"
Wu Mengming hurried over and said, "Didn't your Excellency say that this matter can only be done quietly, and neither the name of the court nor the name of the emperor can be used, and the humble position can be done in the name of Dongchang."
If you want to be rich, take the sea route!
There will be man-made disasters tomorrow, and money will be needed for disaster relief and war, but where will the money come from if the national treasury is empty? It is impossible to levy and expropriate excessive amounts of money. How can we command and inspire the people to rebel on a larger scale and rely on Octopus to earn money from the court? The imperial court is so poor! By plundering the homes of profiteers and corrupt officials, or by defrauding the vassal king's property? That can only relieve the temporary emergency. If you want to keep the water flowing and enrich the national treasury, in addition to collecting commercial taxes and tea taxes, you must also engage in big business and overseas trade. The money will come quickly and in large quantities.
But if you want to engage in maritime trade these days, it's hard to get approval from the court. Zheng Zhilong, the governor of Fujian Province, nodded. Why is this first-level official so stupid?
Because he is Zheng Chenggong’s father, because he is the great pirate, sea merchant, and the world’s number one shipping king!
Chang Yu wanted to make money by sea trade. Even if the court agreed and Zheng Zhilong nodded, there would be no ship, no one, no experience, and no market. It would be strange to lose everything.
So he wants to embrace Zheng Zhilong and cooperate in the maritime trade business in the name of Dongchang. He believes that Zheng Zhilong is absolutely willing, not to mention the dark stock of Jin Yiwei. As long as Zheng Zhilong is not an idiot, he will know who is behind these two shareholders. who?
As a surrendered big pirate, the overlord of the sea, even the Ming Emperor has to give him some face. It's okay to help you fight and defend the country, but if you want to ask for money from me with nothing, you must not do it. But what if we cooperate? , this is excellent.
But why did Chongzhen not engage in a business that could make him rich?
In the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He implemented a maritime ban after his voyages to the West. This is one of them.
Secondly, the royal family couldn't lose face and cooperated with a big pirate in business, not to mention that there was a maritime ban ahead.
Third, there is no one who can represent the royal family to do this.
Now Chang Yu has become the first person to eat crabs. Emperor Chongzhen does not know about this, but Chang Yu believes that even if he knew, he would pretend not to know!
Turn a blind eye and just give me money. This is the current Emperor Chongzhen. Don't talk to me about so many useless things. Make me money, fight for me, save my face, you can say anything!
Therefore, Jiang Yiping, the leader of the Twelve Taibao, together with the people from Dongchang and Jinyiwei, took the sea route to Fujian to find Zheng Zhilong. Chang Yu believed that the trip would be successful, because there were two famous escorts from Dongchang and Jinyiwei, no matter what Whether it was official or private contact, Zheng Zhilong had no reason or necessity to refuse.
