At night, after the curfew in Beijing began, Xuanwumen Street, which was bustling and noisy during the day, became empty and silent.
Wang Wenyan, who was carrying a sign and regardless of the curfew, sat in his carriage and turned into Chunshu Hutong between Xuanwumen Street and Liulichang, and walked into the backyard of the silk and satin shop.
Liu Qiao and Zheng Haizhu were already waiting for him.
Wang Wenyan knew good etiquette, and first asked Liu Qiao's youngest son with concern about how he was quitting medication. When he learned that the crying frequency had decreased, he breathed a sigh of relief and walked to the cash box.
Liu Qiao did not put on airs and said frankly: "My knowledge is limited. I can only see that the quality of this silver is no worse than the salary silver from Xie Jing. Mr. Wang is more knowledgeable. Can you see other strange things about the silver?"
Wang Wenyan had already passed on Mr. Xu's doubts to Mr. Xu through his servants and Li Daniu. He did not go into details at this moment. He reached out and took out a piece of silver that was about five taels in size and had a plump appearance. He placed it under a bright candle and turned it slowly, carefully. observe.
"Made in the North." He made his first judgment.
"Can this be seen?" Zheng Haizhu and Liu Qiao asked at the same time.
Wang Wenyan curled his lips slightly, pointed to the pitted honeycomb marks on the surface of the silver nugget and said: "Whether it is a silver nugget or a silver ingot, with a fineness of more than 90%, under sunlight or candlelight, the surface between the pores will have a silvery glow. , turn sideways and look at the inner wall of the pores, there are faintly colorful neon lights, which dazzles people's eyes. But in silver, there is copper to some extent, and there are red copper and brass. Brass grows together, seven black, eight gray and nine Turning green, red and copper grow together, seven black, eight red and nine with white. The silver mines in the north have more red copper, and the silver mines in the south have more brass."
Zheng Haizhu took the silver nugget from Wang Wenyan, rubbed it for a moment, looked through several silver boxes, and said to Liu Qiao: "As Mr. Wang said, since the fineness of these silver has reached more than 90%, it is fine." In terms of appearance, it is white but not green, so it can be inferred that it was obtained by frying in the north. But Mr. Xu’s steward said that it was the silver they collected all the way from the south. Although silver was circulated from north to south on the trade road, it was The silver nuggets, which are a few thousand taels in size, are all white, and no green ones can be seen, which is very strange."
Isn't it too strange? Just like when a buyer from another province pays, the RMB they pay is all with consecutive numbers.
Wang Wenyan leaned over, grabbed a larger silver nugget, worth twenty or thirty taels, and continued to sip it under the lamp. His fingers slid back and forth on the surface, as if a warrior was carefully feeling the edge of a sword.
"Is there something important about touch?" Zheng Haizhu asked.
"No, it's the pattern." Wang Wenyan replied.
He simply asked his servants to carry the box to the table, added two more glazed lamps to illuminate it, and immersed himself in scratching in the box for a while. It took a while before he selected a few pieces and put them together.
A complicated expression appeared on Wang Wenyan's face.
"Look, you two, if you spell out the big guy with fifty taels, what do the patterns on it look like?"
Zheng and Liu came together to tell them apart.
"Flagpole? Still hanging the flag?" Liu Qiao asked confused.
"No, it's a weapon," Zheng Haizhu said. "Is it... the kind that generals use on horses, a broadsword?"
Liu Qiao's Jinyiwei investigated crimes and did not go to the battlefield. They used the Xiuchun Dao every day, which was a short weapon in the shape of a waist knife. Zheng Haizhu had seen Ma Xianglin and his subordinates' white-stemmed guns several times, and was very sensitive to long weapons. .
Wang Wenyan nodded: "It's a broadsword, and it's a broadsword with a provenance. It's the Qinglong Yanyue Sword of the Second Master Guan. The people who cast these silver coins used silver models with the pattern of the Qinglong Yanyue Sword engraved on them because they worshiped their Lord. The fellow with the word of righteousness, Mr. Guan Yu and Guan Er."
Liu Qiao was still grasping this information, but Zheng Haizhu, who had learned more about the previous situation, his eyes lit up and he said with awe: "Shanxi merchants?"
"That's right," Wang Wenyan sneered, "Originally I wouldn't have known it so thoroughly. Last year, Shanxi merchants competed with our Huizhou merchants for the location of the guild hall. I didn't disclose my identity and followed the Huizhou tour to find the dental shop. Theory, the dental shop was very proud and showed off the deposits sent by Shanxi merchants. They were of good quality and large in size. They used silver models of the same size. There was also a Qinglong Yanyue knife on the bottom of the models, indicating that they were Shanxi merchants and were protected by the Second Master Guan. , with the four words of 'loyalty, trust, benevolence and righteousness', he can defeat six generals at five levels and travel all over the world."
Zheng Haizhu felt a little ironic as he listened.
Guan Erye really values the word righteousness the most.
But whether the Shanxi merchants in the late Ming Dynasty had the righteousness of their family and country, at least it was not clear from the eight major families who took refuge in Houjin and sought glory and profit.
At this moment, Zheng Haizhu held the silver nugget that vaguely showed half of the Yanyue knife, gently moved it on the table, and deduced: "If the person named Xu sells high-quality Cantonese embroidery Cantonese cloth, and sells it to Shanxi people, one or two votes will be enough." A thousand taels of silver is not unusual, but with the showmanship he showed when he invited me to dinner that day, why did he hide his association with the wealthy business gangs in Shanxi? But the rogue who was looking for bad luck for me at Fahua Temple that day, went There are also people from Shanxi in that house in Xique Hutong. Therefore, the turmoil in Fahua Temple was played by Mr. Xu. He saved lives once and rescued emergencies twice. I have never seen him before. He seemed to have fallen from the sky. Still trying so hard to please me, what does he want from me? Does he want me to help him sell goods?"
When Liu Qiao heard the last sentence, he clearly heard the sarcasm in it. He laughed, but quickly put away his smile and said seriously: "Mr. Bo is also from Shanxi. You said he wanted to have soldiers under my old Liu's command, and he was The emperor's personal army, so for you, could it be that you are also interested in your ability to enter and exit the imperial city..."
Wang Wenyan, who was listening on the sidelines, interjected: "Wenhua Palace and Inner Court lectures can only bring one or two assistants, and the inspection is strict. These people may be in the same group, and they should be more useful things in the hands of Mrs. Covet." "
When Zheng Haizhu heard Wang Wenyan talk about "more useful things", his heart suddenly felt like an electric shock.
She raised her head and looked at Wang Wenyan: "The really useful ones in my hands are the firearms factory in Songjiang and the navy and battalions in Chongming. The latter is still young, but the former has some weight. That person named Xu, I want to ask Should I buy a firearm?”
Wang Wenyan said: "There is no need to 'buy'. If they are really a group, their behavior towards Governor Liu's family and their behavior towards his wife are obviously not the same. Mr. Xu looks like he wants to marry his wife As a result of the marriage, the property and soldiers in the hands of the wife will also bear the surname Xu?"
After all, Liu Qiao was the spy chief. Once he got enough clues, his thoughts would flow like a river that opened its gates, and his imagination would open a little wider. He abruptly interjected: "Then they want to kill the king and rebel? It's not the case. Open an escort agency?"
Zheng Haizhu stared at him: "In today's world, who might be seeking the emperor's life and the Ming Dynasty?"
As Donglin's counselor, Wang Wenyan blurted out: "Concubine Zheng and Prince Fu Zhu Changxun."
"There is also Jiannu," Zheng Haizhu said with a solemn expression, "Just now when we mentioned the firearms factory, I remembered that when Jiannu's spies found Songjiang, they targeted my firearms factory and wanted to kidnap me to Hetuala. . Furthermore, Shanxi merchants took root in the border trade area of Zhangjiakou and monopolized the mutual trade with the Mongolian tribes. It is not impossible for the Jiannu to make peace with the Mongolian tribes and be introduced to Shanxi merchants by the Mongols for bulk purchases. With the cunning and good deeds of Nurhachi and his son Conspiracy, how did you know that they would not secretly communicate with those Shanxi merchants?"
Wang Wenyan thought it made sense: "Madam, are you guessing that Mr. Xu is also a spy for establishing slaves?"
Zheng Haizhu caught a glimpse of Liu Qiao's eyes suddenly becoming strange, raised his head to meet him, and said bluntly: "What did Governor Liu think of?"
"Thinking about the late summer, there have been rumors inside and outside the capital that the imperial seal has reappeared, and I also thought about the clues that my wife saw in our prison," Liu Qiao said in a deep voice, "So, those who want to regicide and usurp the country should still There is a third kind of person.”
When Zheng Haizhu heard this, she did not show any excitement in agreeing with the crime, although she and Liu Qiao had the same answer.
She felt that in a brief moment, she seemed to be divided into two people. One was still standing at the table, discussing the division of labor with Wang Wenyan and Liu Qiao to continue the investigation, while the other sat in the corner.
While bowing his head and thinking quietly, Zheng Haizhu felt an indescribable chill spreading all over his body when he thought of Mr. Xu's generosity in claiming that his ancestors were from Nanjing, and also thought about Wang Wenyan's words, "He seems to be marrying his wife."
She decided to accompany Wang An tomorrow to handle another urgent matter in the inner court, and then go to Shanhaiguan to find Ma Xianglin.
