Li Qiucheng saw Xu Dayong's expression and knew that the other party had misunderstood, so he sighed deeply and said: "Mr. Xu, as the saying goes, don't slap someone in the face if you hit him, and don't expose someone's shortcomings if you tell them off. The ancestors said that there are three types of unfilial piety, and no one is unfilial. Afterwards, if people from outside the family reveal the shortcomings of our eunuchs, we will scold him for not being a cannibal. For people like us, just being stabbed once is already very miserable, and other difficulties are even greater."
"Mr. Xu, since the Ming Dynasty, most of the eunuchs in the palace came from the Gyeonggi region of Zhili. Do you know why?"
Xu Dayong shook his head, thinking how could I know this.
Li Qiucheng took a sip of tea and continued: "Like my hometown, which is close to the Ziya River. The terrain is low-lying. It is flooded nine times out of ten years. When there is a lot of rain in summer, there is no harvest. To use the dialect there, Toads will produce water when they urinate. Those who have the strength will go out to find Qiu'er, oh, they even go out to do part-time work, and those who are older can only hang themselves. Also, the village is full of saline-alkali land, and nothing can be grown. , Country people are suffering..."
Xu Da spent these years traveling around the country and met many poor people of all kinds, and he had long developed a hard-hearted heart. Selling sons and daughters is not a bad thing. You must know that during the severe drought in Henan in the 50th year of Qianlong's reign, he had encountered cannibalism.
The reason why he has worked tirelessly for Beihai Town in these years is to remember what Zhao Xin said to him: "Da Yong, after overthrowing the Manchu Qing Dynasty, there will no longer be people who sell children, sell women, and eat people." matter."
However, Li Qiucheng poured bitter water for a long time, and Xu Dayong understood what he meant. It's just that eunuchs are all poor people. People outside the palace look at the scenery, but in fact they don't earn much money. When they get old, the masters will abandon them as old shoes and give them one tael of silver in pension money. Everyone is trying their best to climb up for no other reason than to avoid being oppressed and get rich.
Of course, the eunuchs also sought spiritual sustenance through belief in Buddhism. Li Qiucheng means a two-pronged approach, both spiritual and material, so that the effect will be better.
Regarding this phenomenon, Zhao Xin once specifically talked about this phenomenon in a training class of the North Naval Intelligence Bureau, called the "over-compensation mechanism." It is nothing more than that a person, due to his own physical defects and inferiority complex, as well as the shadow brought about by family poverty since childhood, often uses materials to satisfy his psychological needs to make up for his defects.
In the end, Xu Dayong gritted his teeth and decided to agree to the other party's request. He got up first and went out to find Guisheng to get 20,000 taels of silver notes. These banknotes were all issued by Chang's bank in Yuci, and they were redeemable on sight. It is said that the Chang family has a great business. In the past few years, they have been secretly doing leather goods and ginseng business with Beihai Town, and their banknotes have a good reputation.
Xu Dayong told Li Qiucheng that he would leave the palace to pick up the remaining 30,000 taels of silver notes from Shopkeeper Dong in one month. As for the land deed, there is no rush. We have to wait for Beihai Town to complete the procedures. It will take two or three months to see it.
Li Qiucheng solemnly put away the banknote, and asked again before leaving: "Mr. Xu, can you give me an accurate answer as to when King Zhao will send troops to enter the pass?"
"It's only been a few years." Xu Dayong smiled and patted the other party's shoulder. This feeling was very helpful to Li Qiucheng, confirming once again that the other party really did not despise him.
After meeting two of the three people, Xu Dayong felt a lot more relaxed, but he still warned himself not to be careless, because the last person was really important.
In the early morning two days later, three mule carts were parked by the moat between Chaoyangmen and Chongwenmen. One of them was an ordinary mule cart on the street, while the other two were painted with chestnut shell paint and clear tung oil. From the appearance of the noodles, you can tell from the appearance that they are not from ordinary people. Because it started raining heavily in Beijing in the middle of the night and never stopped, there were very few pedestrians on the road. The only ones that came and went were water and soy milk trucks, firewood and coal trucks, earth-burning trucks, and radish trucks. This was We must enter the city early through Chongwenmen.
In this way, the sound of rain covered up the conversation in the car.
"Master Xu is really good at picking dates." Liu Quan, who was sitting cross-legged, picked up the teacup and made a gesture of invitation to Xu Dayong opposite. Although he had a smile on his face, he was beating a drum in his heart.
Xu Dayong, who had just gotten on the car, wiped the rain off his body with a towel, and took the opportunity to look around at the furnishings in the car. He thought to himself that he would really enjoy it, and it was all made possible by people's wealth.
This mule cart looks spacious from the outside, but it's something special inside. The paulownia wood paneling, painted with varnished tung oil, is as clear as amber, with large glass sedan windows on both sides, hung with blue tassels and velvet curtains. There was a small mahogany kang table between Liu Quan and him. Sitting under his buttocks was a silk muff, as soft and loose as a thick mattress. There is a bright lantern on the table, a pot of tea and four snacks.
He wiped off the rainwater on his body, put the towel on the table, picked up the tea cup and took a sip: "Thank you, Mr. Liu, it's just a coincidence. We adults often say that when you go out, safety comes first."
Liu Quan chuckled and said, "Safety first." Who was the one who pretended to be a guard and went to Chaoyin Temple? If my master hadn't let him go, the grass on the grave would be three feet high now.
He gradually lost his smile, put the tea cup back on the Kang table, and said straight to the point: "Mr. Xu, I wonder why you are so anxious to see Liu? In order to see you, Master Zhongtang asked me to rush back from Rehe overnight. Old Bones can't help but tossing things like this. What's more, you can actually send a letter to my house in the middle of the night, you are really brave!"
Seven days ago, when Liu Quan's eldest son Liu Yin suddenly appeared in Rehe, he eagerly reported that a letter had been dropped into his home on Xinghua Temple Street in the middle of the night. When he opened it, he found that it was from Beihai Town. He asked to see Liu Quan by name, saying that he had something very important, and agreed on a time.
This news shocked both Liu Quan and He Shen. At the beginning of June, He Shen clearly asked his younger brother He Lin to send someone to Jeju Island to contact Beihai Town. Why did the person named Zhao bypass the contact person and come directly to the door? Coming?
The master and servant thought about it for a long time, but they were still confused. However, out of fear of Beihai Town and Zhao Xin, He Shen still asked Liu Quan to return to the capital in a hurry on the grounds of family matters.
Xu Dayong said with a smile: "Who does the Beihai Navy need to worry about when doing things?"
Liu Quan almost got angry and yelled, "Xinghua Temple Street is right on the shore of Shichahai. It's right under the Imperial City. How many eyes are staring at it!"
"Aren't you afraid that I will have you taken away and sent to the infantry commander's yamen?"
"Come on. Manager Liu, you have made a lot of money from Beihai Town over the years. Does this count as treason and treason? Do you dare to take me? Do you believe that the Beihai Navy can break into Beijing in less than ten days?" ! Stop playing nonsense!"
Liu Quanxin said how come this guy is like a piece of shit, even more stupid than I was back then. I heard Xu Dayong say again: "Xu is just an errand boy. You are not guilty of getting angry with me. King Zhao has a destiny. Let alone coming to Beijing, I have to break into the dragon's den and the tiger's den!"
"Okay, okay," Liu Quan lost his temper. He was a sixty-year-old man and couldn't afford to compete with a young man. "What do you want from me?"
Xu Dayong smiled and took out a letter from his arms. Different from the previous letters to Ruan Yuan and Li Qiucheng, the envelope was sealed with wax and had a seal with a five-pointed star in a circle.
Liu Quan looked at Xu Dayong with confusion and said: "This..."
"Your Excellency just asked me to forward the letter to you. As for what is said in it, Xu has no idea."
Liu Quan had no choice but to take the letter, break the wax seal, take out the letter paper and see that there were three pages in total, with dense writing on them. He lowered his head and took out a pair of trousers from a small bag on his belt, put them on, and then started looking at the lantern. However, when he looked at it for less than a minute under the light of the lantern, his expression suddenly changed, and the hand holding the letter began to tremble involuntarily. After reading the entire three-page letter, Liu Quan's face turned pale.
When Xu Dayong saw the other party's expression, he couldn't help but be very curious. He wanted to know what was written in the letter, so that he could actually scare the chief manager of the Hefu to this extent.
After reading it, Liu Quan was stunned for a while, then put the letter away and carefully put it into his arms as if it were a treasure.
"Mr. Xu, that's it for today. It's raining outside, and Liu, with his old arms and legs, won't give it to you."
Xu Dayong nodded, then bowed his hands to say goodbye and got out of the car. Without holding an umbrella, he boarded his mule cart in a few steps and headed east. All his tasks had been completed, and there was no point in staying in the capital any longer, so he saw that Liu Quan had already said goodbye to shopkeeper Dong, and Guisheng and one of his subordinates had also gone to Tongzhou first, and the two agreed to meet at the Tongzhou Canal Wharf.
Liu Quan opened the glass window and watched Xu Dayong's mule cart disappear in the heavy rain. The cool breeze blew in through the window with raindrops, blowing the open curtains, like a deep sigh. . Although it was already past Chenzheng (eight o'clock), the sky became increasingly gloomy, with bright flashes in the sky one after another, followed by a series of rolling thunder across the sky.
Liu Yin got out of his car with an umbrella, walked to the window and asked, "Dad, let's go back?"
"No! Go back to Rehe immediately!"
"But today, we have to wait until the rain stops before leaving, right?"
"What? My words are useless!"
Liu Quan said categorically, looking at his son with a chill in his eyes. Liu Yin shrank in fear and quickly sent his men back to Xinghua Temple Street to give instructions to his family. After burning incense, the two mule carts sped along the road outside the city in the direction of Rehe. The big mushroom-headed iron-nailed wheels rolled up streaks of muddy water on the muddy road.
In fact, Xu Dayong was not the only one who was curious about the content of the letter. Chen Qingsong was also full of curiosity about the reaction of the Manchus after hearing about it from Zhao Xin.
The two of them met in Heilongjiang City. Chen Qingsong brought a group of his men to inspect the resettlement situation of immigrant villages around Heilongjiang City and the construction of farmland water conservancy facilities. After Zhao Xin returned from Outer Mongolia, he took a boat from Khabarovsk and walked all the way, inspecting from towns to villages one by one. Not only the immigrants, but also the border residents of all ethnic groups wanted to chat with them when they met him. , so walking very slowly.
"Do you think He Shen will listen to you?"
"Let them decide what to do! The three directions of east, north and south are basically blocked by us. If the Manchus and Qing Dynasties want to escape, they can only go to Qinghai or Sichuan. For such a big thing as the Gurkha invasion, Qinghai and Tibet are Bian actually dared to negotiate peace in private. In addition, the relationship between the lamas and nobles is very messy, and Qianlong has always wanted to rectify it. Isn't this a chance?"
Chen Qingsong nodded and said: "According to this, you plan to let Qianlong live for a few more years?"
"Is he just a dying emperor? Is that important? After the Battle of Outer Mongolia, I plan to retire the first four regiments. This will solve a lot of the shortage of cadres and workers." Zhao Xin began to count his fingers. Chen Qingsong muttered one after another.
"Should Urumqi and Yili be resolved? We need to open up a base in Jiaodong and introduce large-scale population, right? Although Deng Fei and the others have made some progress, there are still too few Chinese in Batavia, and there are not enough people in Cam Ranh Bay. We have to recruit people from the coast of Guangdong.”
When Zhao Xin said this, his frown suddenly showed, and he smiled at Chen Qingsong and said: "By the way, there is one more thing. Deng Fei sent me a telegram yesterday. Guess what? The Governor-General of French India sent I sent a special envoy to Batavia to see him and want to ask us for a favor."
"what?"
"Who is the name of their local governor? Camille Charles Leclerc. Leclerc came up with a sum of money to hire the Thor and our people to go to France to rescue Louis XVI and the Queen."
"Pfft!" Chen Qingsong didn't hold a mouthful of water in his mouth, and immediately spurted it out. Fortunately, Zhao Xin was prepared in advance and quickly dodged without touching a drop.
"Why are they looking for us? Can't they fight back on their own?"
"Our ship is fast. I guess the French who govern the local area got the news from Ruan Phuc Anh." Zhao Xin continued after explaining: "I haven't finished yet. The governor's wife is also a noble family, and now she is also They were caught. They will all be beheaded when Robespierre comes to power."
More than a month ago, members of the Bourbon royal family who had been under house arrest in the Tuileries Palace escaped collectively in the middle of the night. Unexpectedly, Louis XVI not only did not hide his whereabouts along the way, but actually got out of the car many times to chat with the farmers. This guy thought he was deeply loved by his subjects, so he acted like a king going to the countryside to inspect.
Originally, Louis XVI escaped two hours later than his younger brother, the Count of Provence. As a result, this guy still procrastinated and dilly-dallyed. When he arrived at Chalon in northern France, he was already three hours later than originally planned. The cavalry who were scheduled to greet the king outside the city were even more bizarre. They suspected that the king had failed to escape Paris, so most of them withdrew. If it were Qianlong, they would all be beheaded.
Later, when Louis XVI and his family arrived in Varennes, the local city council sent out the National Guard to intercept them. The king's family failed to escape and were escorted back to Paris.
In addition, Louis XVI did something very nonsense before escaping. He left a statement condemning the Constituent Assembly for depriving the royal family of diplomatic, military and local administrative powers, and announced that in June 1789 he All decrees approved after the 23rd are invalid.
You said that even if you wanted to issue a statement, wouldn't you wait until you fled to Brussels? The result of what he did was to provide European countries with an excuse to send troops to intervene.
The French people, especially the citizens of Paris, felt "deeply troubled" by the king's escape. The king would betray them. People such as George Danton and Marat began to think about establishing a social system without a king. At the same time, this incident also became the trigger for the king's family to lose their heads two years later.
Chen Qingsong stared at Zhao Xin for a while and said meaningfully: "You are ready to make a move again, aren't you? Don't go!"
"Go, why not go? I'm still thinking of getting Louisiana. I need to establish a good relationship with Napoleon in advance."
I'll do it! Chen Qingsong's eyes suddenly widened. He didn't expect that Zhao Xin was still thinking about the American continent. With his limited knowledge of world history, he remembered that Louisiana seemed to have been purchased by the Americans from Napoleon, so he asked, "What is Napoleon doing now?"
Zhao Xindao: "Probably, he was a colonel in Corsica. It's still early for him to make his debut!"
“How much did the Americans pay for the Louisiana Purchase?”
"Twelve million dollars."
"Are you planning to cut off your beard?"
"Yeah, I have this idea."
"You are planning to trick the Americans to death!" Chen Qingsong pursed his lips, but when he thought that the United States would only be able to stick to the Atlantic Ocean in the future, he suddenly felt relieved that "you have today too". He thought for a while and then said: "Are you really planning to rescue Louis XVI's family?"
"His son was only ten years old when he died," Zhao Xin shook his head, then nodded and said, "It depends on the situation, I haven't thought about it yet."
Chen Qingsong put away his smile and said to Zhao Xin with a serious face: "I advise you to think carefully before making a decision. If you interfere in France's affairs, the entire European history may be messed up."
After hearing this, Zhao Xin didn't speak for a long time. He wandered around the room for a while, squinted his eyes and said: "The whole of East Asia has been changed beyond recognition by us, and we don't care about one more Europe."
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