"Please forgive me, Your Majesty, I really don't know." Wang Chengen was so frightened that he quickly knelt on the ground.
Accompanying a king is like accompanying a tiger. He only felt that the emperor in front of him was becoming more and more difficult to serve.
Chongzhen sighed softly and said: "The imperial court needs money, but it's a pity that I can't get it out. The money I sent to Shanhaiguan last time is the last bit I can get out. It's a pity that the money has only left the capital." Soon, I was kidnapped by a group of bandits and bandits. In order to save the capital, I had to speak to my ministers."
As he spoke, he looked ashamed.
As an emperor, he asked for money from his ministers, which made him feel guilty.
"I have been following the emperor for many years, and I have saved some personal money, and I am willing to use it to defend the capital." Wang Chengen knew that at this time, instead of waiting for the emperor to ask for it, it was better to take the initiative himself.
Hearing this, Chongzhen's eyes lit up and he said, "Why are you still kneeling? Get up quickly."
As he spoke, he reached out his hand to help the person up personally.
Wang Chengen, who was kneeling on the ground, could not really let Chongzhen help him. He hurriedly got up from the ground and stood aside with his hands down respectfully.
Chongzhen was just showing off, but when he saw Wang Chengen getting up on his own, he retracted his arms and asked at the same time: "How much body money are you going to give, the eldest companion?"
"Five, eight hundred taels."
Wang Chengen originally wanted to say fifty taels, but seeing Chongzhen's sudden frown, he hurriedly changed his words and called out a number of eight hundred taels.
Of course, he can take out no matter how much money he has, but there are some seals that cannot be taken out.
"I didn't expect that Daban has saved a lot of money over the years. It's really beyond my expectation." Chongzhen looked at Wang Chengen with a smile and said.
When Wang Chengen heard this, he immediately realized that he had paid too much.
But at this time, he could no longer change his mind. He could only bite the bullet and explain: "My servant lives in the palace on weekdays and has no expenses. I slowly saved up this money."
"I didn't expect that I would be so thrifty and save so much money." Chongzhen withdrew his gaze and said immediately, "As long as it's not money from unknown sources, I won't blame you."
"My servants are always with you, the emperor. There is always food in the palace. There is nothing that requires money. There is no place to spend the money. There is no need to reach out randomly." Wang Chengen explained for himself.
Chongzhen nodded and said, "Send the money tomorrow!"
"Slave, take note." Wang Chengen secretly breathed a sigh of relief, the matter was finally over.
As for the eight hundred taels of silver, it was just a drop in the bucket to him.
As an old man next to Emperor Chongzhen, even if he did not ask for bribes openly, he would receive a lot of money from others on his own initiative. Some people in the palace and the outer court came to him to do things, but the money was always received mercilessly.
However, he knew very well that he could not let Chongzhen know about this kind of thing.
Based on his understanding of serving Chongzhen for so many years, if Chongzhen really knew about the benefits he had received over the years, even if he was an old man who came out of Prince Xin's Mansion, his end would be extremely miserable.
At the time when black and white were intersecting, An Xiangbo's side door was opened.
"Master, master, master!"
In a concubine's yard in Uncle Anxiang's house, Uncle Anxiang's housekeeper stood outside the door and called softly into the house.
"Master, someone seems to be calling you outside."
The concubine who was lying in Uncle An Xiang's arms was woken up. After listening carefully to the noise outside, she pushed the sleeping Uncle An Xiang with her hand.
"Don't move, sir, let me sleep a little longer." Uncle An Xiang turned over and continued to sleep.
However, the calls outside the house became more and more urgent, and the concubine had no choice but to push Uncle An again with her hand, her red lips pressed to her ear and said: "Master, master, don't sleep. It sounds like the voice of the housekeeper."
Uncle An Xiang was in a bad mood when he was woken up again. He complained: "If it's not important, I'll give him a discount on his legs."
As he spoke, he sat up from the bed.
The concubine stood up with him and put on his coat.
Uncle An Xiang put on the shoes beside the bed, stood up unsteadily and walked towards the door of the room.
The room is a suite with an inside and outside, and the sleeping place is in the inner room. The outer room is usually where the dowry maid sleeps. However, tonight, the concubine is sleeping with Uncle An, and there is no dowry maid, so the bed in the outer room is empty.
After wandering to the door of the house, Uncle An Xiang reached out and opened the door, and at a glance he saw the housekeeper waiting outside the door.
"Sir, the British government sent someone here and sent a message saying that it's time for you to hit the road. Everything is ready at the city gate."
Snapped!
Uncle An Xiang waved his hand and slapped the housekeeper in front of him on the head, and cursed: "Who is going to go on the road? I think you are going on the road, and your whole family is going on the road."
Bang!
The door was closed forcefully by Uncle An Xiang.
The housekeeper looked at the door that was closed again with a confused look on his face. He covered the place where he had been slapped with one hand and said in an aggrieved tone: "Young man is just a messenger. The one who sent you on your way is the British." People from the government."
After a while, Uncle An Xiang walked out of the room again after changing his clothes.
"What are you still standing here for?" Uncle An Xiang frowned subconsciously when he saw the housekeeper outside the door.
The housekeeper bowed and said, "I'm afraid that the master will have any orders later, so I'm waiting here specially."
"Go prepare the sedan chair. Do you need me to take care of this?" Uncle An Xiang glared at the butler, feeling that he was not a smart butler at all.
"Yes, yes, yes, I will make arrangements right now." The housekeeper ran away.
As soon as the housekeeper left, Uncle An Xiang looked up at the sky above his head and murmured to himself: "You didn't ask me to ask Your Majesty for money and food at the court meeting, but why did you suddenly ask me to go to Yuquan Mountain again?"
Although he didn't understand why the British Duke did this, he thought it was a good thing. At least he didn't need to offend those turbans in court by asking for money and food.
Uncle Anxiang's house has several sedan bearers specially kept, and the sedan chairs are also kept ready for a long time.
After a while, the bearers were called up and the sedans were ready.
After arranging all this, the housekeeper invited Uncle An Xiang over.
Because it was still dark, the main gate was not opened, so the bearers carried the sedan out of Anxiang Bo's Mansion through the side door and headed all the way to the outer city.
Arriving at the agreed city gate, the sedan was stopped.
The city gate is guarded by a force of soldiers and horses from the Beijing camp, and the guard is a Qianhu.
"Let your person in charge come here." Uncle An Xiang opened the curtain on one side of the sedan and said to an officer and soldier from the Beijing camp who stopped the sedan.
The person who went out in the sedan was naturally not an ordinary person, and the officers and soldiers in the Beijing camp hurried to report it.
It didn't take long for Qianhu, who was guarding the city, to rush over from the city wall.
"It's you, Ma Qianhu." Uncle An Xiang recognized the city gate guard who came outside the sedan at a glance.
"I have met Uncle Zhang in my humble position." Ma Qianhu bowed and said hello.
Uncle Anxiang said: "Are you guarding this place? Is there anyone else?"
"Just one person, Ji Zhi." Ma Qianhu replied, and then said, "Uncle, I got off the sedan chair and came with Ji Zhi. Ji Zhi has already made arrangements."
Upon hearing this, Uncle An Xiang immediately understood that the other party was arranged by the British father.
