The commercial center of the Xisi area is located near the Xisi Archway and is called Xida City. After Yongle moved its capital to Beijing, in addition to the waterway through Chaoyang Gate in the east, goods from outside the city entered the city through the Chaoyang Gate in the east. The goods arriving from the northwest region by land entered the city through Xibian Gate in the west and gathered near Xizhimen and Zhuochengmen. This has created the prosperity of the Xisi Pailou commercial area.
During the Ming Dynasty, the pigs, cattle, sheep and other livestock used for daily dietary consumption by Beijing residents came from the northwest region, and were concentrated in the commercial district of Xida City. Over time, special mule and horse markets, sheep markets, and pig markets were formed. At the same time, most of the coal in the city is transported from Xishan, Beijing, and is also concentrated in Xida City for sale.
In addition, there are many theaters and brothels near Xisi Archway. The Brick Pagoda Hutong outside Xi'an Gate was the famous "Forest of Singing and Blowing" at that time. It was once the activity center of northern Zaju. It can be seen that the capital’s trade was prosperous at that time!
The reason why Liu Haojia went to Qipan Street was because Emperor Wanli left the palace! Moreover, he had been setting up there for nearly two years, so naturally he wanted to create a chance encounter so that he could get on the line with Emperor Wanli. Otherwise, Gu Ningbo's mansion would be too far away from Emperor Wanli, and it would be difficult for him to gain favor from Emperor Wanli.
When Liu Haojia first made this plan, he thought it was very difficult and might not succeed! But when he started, he discovered one thing. The palace looked extremely strict, but in fact it was as rotten as a sieve! As long as you pay enough money, you can get any information!
Especially those eunuchs at the bottom, their thirst for money has reached an extreme level! Some of the more normal news in the palace have clearly marked prices. As for the news that the masters require to keep strictly confidential, the prices are just different! They dare to sell even the emperor's news!
Of course, there is some information that these eunuchs dare not betray, the most important of which is the whereabouts of the emperor! Although they would never dare to betray the travel plans of the emperor and other important figures, they could sell their past travel routes and times!
In other words, Liu Haojia could get information from the eunuchs about the time, route, and accompanying personnel of the emperor's previous departure from the palace, and then he could reasonably deduce the approximate time period when he would leave the palace! Then send someone to wait outside the palace.
After all, the emperor's daily academic schedule is very full, and his rest time is limited, which leaves room for estimation. After all, there is no need to infer the exact day, just a rough time. As for the rest, it’s up to luck!
Moreover, Emperor Wanli did not leave the palace often. Because the palace ban may not restrict other people, but the restrictions on him are extremely large! So he cherishes every opportunity to leave the palace.
At the beginning, Emperor Wanli wanted to leave the palace to have a good time, so he only planned to take his personal eunuch Zhang Jia with him. For this reason, he specially ordered Zhang Jia to prepare the clothes of a young eunuch in order to try to sneak out. But he couldn't see the wry smile in Zhang Jia's eyes!
Emperor Wanli didn't know, but Zhang Jiake knew clearly how many people were around Emperor Wanli and how many pairs of eyes were staring at him! After all, it’s no joke that Emperor Wanli is connected to the destiny of the country! So when he left the palace for the first time, he happily thought that he had escaped from the palace, but he didn't know that almost all the people around him were good soldiers sent by the palace!
Even when he was preparing to sneak out of the palace, the news had already been reported to the Queen Mother! It's just that the Queen Mother took pity on his hard work in studying and wanted to give him a chance to play, otherwise he wouldn't be able to get out of the palace at all!
Later, the reason why Emperor Wanli was able to see through the fact that he was surrounded was because he got a little carried away when he went out for the first time and spent a little too much money! As a result, Zhang Jia spent all his monthly money, so Zhang Jia had to take money from the guards who followed him in casual clothes, and then the guards were exposed!
Although this discovery made Emperor Wanli a little frustrated, after he saw the facts clearly, he gave up the idea of going out on his own and resigned himself to leaving the palace with a large number of guards in civilian clothes. Although it’s not fun to play like this, it’s better than not playing at all!
Emperor Wanli, who came here in joy today, was dressed like a rich young man, while Zhang Jia beside him was wearing a green robe and a small hat, looking like a young man from a wealthy family. He got dressed under Zhang Jia's service, held his belt in his hands and asked, "What do you think of my outfit today?"
Zhang Jia took a step back and bowed and said: "Long live the Lord, he is naturally a dragon and a phoenix!"
Hearing the flattery, Emperor Wanli hummed proudly and said, "Then get ready to go! Also, do you have enough money with you today?"
He subconsciously touched his waist and said, "Long live my lord, don't worry, I brought more than a dozen taels of silver, it must be enough!"
After speaking, he complained in a low voice: "Long live my lord, you should buy less things when you go out! Those things on the market are not as exquisite as those in the palace! The objects in the palace are made by master craftsmen and are better than those outside. Thousands of times more! Also, the food eaten outside is not as delicious as the food cooked by the imperial chef!"
Emperor Wanli said: "What do you know? This is called fun!"
After finishing speaking, he lowered his head and let himself put on his hat and said, "Do you think that guy who bullied the market will come out too?"
He said to himself: "It's almost time to show up!"
Emperor Wanli raised his legs and walked out, saying as he walked: "That bastard bullies the people so much, why does the Shuntian Mansion not care about it?"
Zhang Jia followed Emperor Wanli as he walked around and said, "Is it because no one is going to sue the officials? What is important in this officialdom is that if the people do not promote the people, the officials will not investigate!"
Emperor Wanli said: "That's not right! It doesn't mean that a few people who imitated him have been talked to by Shuntian Mansion and their families, and they don't harm the people. Why don't they punish them? Is it possible that he is behind the scenes? Isn’t it very powerful?”
Zhang Jia shook his head and said: "I don't know about this slave! But I heard that his family is just a small Gu Ningbo's house. There is no big power! But I can't guess the reason!"
After hearing this, Emperor Wanli waved his hand in an imposing manner and said: "Since Shuntian Mansion can't control him, I will! If we run into this bastard today, I will take him down and hand him over to Shuntian Mansion for disposal! I would like to see him. How awesome is the backstage!”
Zhang Jiapai said with a smile: "No matter how tough his backstage is, it can't be as tough as Lord Long Live! It's just that I think there must be something fishy in this. Lord Long Live, it's better not to act rashly!"
Emperor Wanli said nonchalantly: "What's so rare about a small Earl's Mansion? I've never heard of his name! Today I'm going to do something heroic!"
At this time, Emperor Wanli and his two men had already left the palace gate, and there were fifty or sixty guards in cross-dress waiting outside the main hall. When they saw the little emperor coming out, they immediately bowed and saluted. Emperor Wanli waved his hand and said, "Forgive me, please follow me out of the palace to do some heroic deeds!"
