At dusk, Li Daniu and Wang Wenyan's two servants returned to the warehouse one after another.
Li Daniu has been squatting near the patrol camp's campus these days. What he discovered is that there are many more soldiers with Hebei accents. The madam near the school grounds also confirmed his judgment on the accent.
The old madam was very warm to Li Daniu, who had ordered the girl to drink and rewarded her generously. He talked freely like beans poured from a bamboo tube.
"Master Li, most of the father-in-laws in the palace are from Hebei. Isn't Admiral Cui's brother also from Hebei? Admiral Cui naturally chooses that place when he recruits new soldiers. Oh my, these young military men are very happy. They have chosen our girl. If you make a mandarin duck, you won’t even pay back the price. It’s a pity that business was booming only in the first two days, and I won’t come in these days.”
After listening to Li Daniu's story, Zheng Haizhu asked, "What's going on with the private nest in the east of the city?"
Li Daniu said: "Drink wine, play clappers and sing songs. It's two or three coins for an ordinary person. If it's just a fight, even if it's not Sister Hong, the money for the pillow will be seven or eight coins."
Zheng Haizhu frowned: "The patrol camp is also a camp, and the salary for recruiting soldiers is not much higher than that of the frontier army, right? A few taels of silver per month for rations is a lot of money. Even if you come to Beijing with a settlement allowance of 2 taels of silver, it won't be too much." As for being so wealthy."
She turned to Wang Wenyan's two servants: "Tell Mr. Wang this section."
Wang's servant nodded in agreement.
The information they brought was similar to what Zheng Haizhu had predicted.
The few men in brown clothes who committed the murder at Fahua Temple but came back defeated had lunch at a small restaurant near Piaogan Hutong. They continued to wander around Fahua Temple for an hour before heading north and entering Xique Hutong outside Chongwenmen. A compound deep inside.
"Madam, we two brothers asked about it, and the soy and vinegar seller at the alley said that the people in the courtyard and the boys seemed to have Shanxi accents, but the young master of the house didn't like pasta. He often went to the rice store to deliver rice to that family. . We didn’t dare to ask too detailed questions, so we squatted at the entrance of the alley for a while, but we withdrew when we didn’t see the well-dressed young man coming out.”
Zheng Haizhu said warmly: "The two of you are already very good at keeping track. You really can't use too much force the first time."
She rewarded Wang's servants with money and asked Li Daniu to take out the map of the capital's city squares given by Wang Wenyan. She stared at the area between "Zhengdongfang" and "Chongbeifang", pondered for a moment, and asked several of her subordinates to come over. listen.
"There are two respectable Eunuch Wei in the palace right now. One is Wei Jinzhong, who serves the eldest son of the emperor, and the other is Wei Chao, who serves Long Live Lord. The guest nun who tripped me up was originally a rival of Wei Chao, but she just Recently, she had a falling out with the Wei Dynasty and fell in love with Wei Jinzhong. Among the internal officials of the Wei Dynasty, her rank was not low, and she was disliked by a nanny who liked the new and disliked the old. On the grounds of coming of age, Hakka will be sent out of the palace."
The information Zheng Haizhu said was not entirely from the God's perspective of a later time traveler, but also came from Wang An's new news.
After the turmoil in the Wenhua Palace that day, Wang An took a chance and told Zheng Haizhu to beware of Hakka's new best friend Wei Jinzhong, also known as Wei Zhongxian, from taking revenge on her.
At this moment, Li Daniu listened to the whole story and pondered: "So, could it be this Wei Jinzhong's thug who lied about being sent by the Wei Dynasty?"
Zheng Haizhu shook his head and said: "It seems that it won't happen now. Wei Jinzhong is from Hebei, how can he use a boy from Shanxi? Even if he recruits a boy from Shanxi, where does the young master in the house come from? More importantly, these For the high-ranking father-in-law, most of the villas outside the palace are near Jinggongfang in the north, because it is convenient to go to the various supervisory bureaus in the inner court."
Zheng Haizhu paused and pointed to the map: "Xique Hutong is in the south. It's too far to go to the 12th Prison of the Fourth Division, Eighth Bureau and North of the Imperial City. But, what a coincidence, right outside the Chongwen Gate is the Shanxi Guild Hall. Mr. Wang told me that Shanxi merchants have become very wealthy in recent years. They paid a high price to snatch this geomantic treasure land from Huizhou merchants."
Wang Wenyan's servant, who was also from Huizhou, nodded and said: "Yes, yes, I remembered. Our master once said that the man who built the Shanxi Guild Hall was named Fan. His name was Fan, Fan..."
Another servant continued: "My name is Fan Yongdou."
Zheng Haizhu's hand froze.
Fan Yongdou......
The Fan family, one of the eight famous Shanxi merchants, together with seven other Shanxi merchants, put self-interest first in Zhangjiakou, a large dock connecting Mongolia, Manchu and Han Dynasties in the late Ming Dynasty. They changed hands with the Mongols or directly smuggled them. , transported military supplies and daily necessities to the Nurhachi regime of Houjin, which greatly enhanced the national power of Houjin.
After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, in order to express gratitude to these "traitors of the late Ming Dynasty", the rulers issued an edict saying: The kings of Jin, Jin, Fan, Wang, Liang, Tian, Zhai and Huang, from this dynasty, Longxing Liaozuo, sent people to Those who changed the mouth and market were all the heads of these eight families, and they were named the eight imperial merchants who were affiliated with the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Among them, Fan Yongdou was appointed by the Aixinjueluo family to preside over the empire's trade affairs.
"Madam, wasn't the person who drugged Liu Qiao and Governor Liu's baby also a Shanxi doctor?" Li Daniu said with a warning tone.
"That's right." Zheng Haizhu looked away from the map and looked at Wang Wenyan's two servants. "You all report to Mr. Wang what happened today. In the next few days, Mr. Wang will also be asked to change his face. Go to Magpie Alley and keep an eye on the young master who loves rice. I will ask Governor Liu to check whether the owner of the house is a father-in-law or a Shanxi merchant. "
…
At sunset, when the carriage passed the South Patrol Hall, Fan Wencheng raised the curtain and looked around.
He thought of Fushun a few years ago, and of the sounds of fighting and screams coming from the direction of the Confucian Temple while he was reading at night by candlelight.
That night, the Fushun defenders massacred the Jurchens who had sneaked in disguised as merchants, which was just a prelude to the Ming army's hearty victory the next day.
Fan Wencheng clearly remembered that twelve hours later, outside Fushun City, Ming troops with different origins and numbers counted the heads of the Tatars and recorded their military merits, and then began to celebrate with wine and meat.
No, he should no longer use the title "Tatar" now.
Because the Tatars have become his masters.
Fan Wencheng's gaze began to lose focus as he stared at the Beijing street scene.
If he hadn't failed in the examination hall in Shenyang soon, how could he, Fan Wencheng, a descendant of Fan Zhongyan, a famous official of the Song Dynasty, have invested in Hou Jin?
Fan Wencheng, who made an impulsive choice under the bewitchment of those secret solicitors of Hou Jin, no longer regretted his choice when he came to Nurhaci and Huang Taiji.
It doesn’t matter if they are Han people, nor does it matter if they are descendants of Han people’s virtuous ministers.
The Ming Empire could not give him the glory and wealth that the foreign Ming Lord could give him.
Isn’t it all about “Ming”?
Since ancient times, scholars have learned literature and martial arts, and their products have been transferred to the emperor's family, regardless of whether he is the emperor of the Han people or the emperor of the Jurchens.
A smile of sarcasm or excitement appeared on the corner of Fan Wencheng's mouth.
He lowered the car curtain, took off his soft straight jacket, and changed into common clothes and trousers common among traffickers and footmen in the capital.
The carriage turned around the Fahua Temple, and Fan Wencheng got out of the carriage, lowered his head, and walked quickly into the alley.
"Your Highness, the ten thousand taels of silver from the Jin Dynasty have arrived in the capital. Master Sibeile has said that they will all be given to Your Highness for your reward." Fan Wencheng said to the man who was sipping blue snow tea.
Zhu Qianyu smiled: "You set aside a thousand taels first, and you have to reward others, right? Besides, my men often want to live in your yard and bother you to feed them."
