national surname chiming

Chapter 2 was forced to a dead end as soon as it came

After his father left, Shen Shuren was not in a hurry to do things.This body is just beginning to recover from a serious illness, and haste is not enough.

Under the service of the maid Qingzhi, he first finished dinner, washed and cleaned up, and changed into clean clothes from head to toe.

At the same time, seeing the stitches and needles, I went to Qingzhi to learn more about the current situation.

For example, since he recalled his father's identity just now, he had a question in his mind: since his father was the head of the household department, he was supposed to be a Beijing official, how could he be in his hometown in Suzhou?
If you are returning to your hometown because of a business, what is the specific reason?

Fortunately, Qingzhi was quite clear about her own affairs, so she said:
It turned out that Shen Tingyang gave the emperor another memorial last month, and the content was still suggesting that "water transportation should be changed to the sea".

Shen Tingyang has appeared several times for this kind of memorial, and it was originally blocked by Zhu Dadian, the governor of water transportation, saying that the wind and waves at sea were uncontrollable, and the food and clothing of millions of people in the water were so inconvenient that the emperor would not be able to force it.

However, recently, there have been thieves in the borders of Shandong, and the emperor had to consider the risk of the canal being cut off, so he approved Shen Tingyang to go back to his hometown to investigate and organize a small-scale pilot project.If it can be confirmed next year that the shipping effect is better and more cost-effective, it will be promoted on a large scale.

After Shen Shuren heard it, he was relieved as soon as he confirmed the knowledge of "Ming History" in his mind - there was indeed a matter of "cao transport changing to the sea" in the late Ming Dynasty.

It seems that Shen Tingyang's return to his hometown is indeed a normal household official business.

After eliminating this interference option, Shen Shuren had enough rest, and asked Qingzhi to lead him to the study.

And his new valet, Shen Fu, had already delivered the letter from the Guozijian to the young master's desk as instructed by the master.

There are also some recent imperial palace newspapers, which were also ordered by Shen Shuren just now, and they are all ready to be put together.

Shen Fu is the son of Shen Xiang, the old housekeeper in the house, and he was originally the shopkeeper of a shop dealing in North Korean medicinal materials.

After the accident happened to the young master, the old man was worried about the helpers around his son who were eating and drinking.

After Shen Shuren heard about this situation, he was also secretly happy: it happened that the new followers were not familiar with the young master before, and their style of behavior will change in the future, and they can't see any flaws.

While thinking about this, Shen Shuren kept on hand, opened the document and read it carefully.

Soon, he first captured an important piece of information from the "invitation letter" from the Guozijian:
"It turns out that the classmates who were invited to the prison this time, besides me, are Zhu Guangshi, the nephew of Zhu Dadian, the governor of water transport, and Zheng Sen, the eldest son of Zheng Zhilong...

The reason is that the levy of 'practice rates' will be launched this year, and it will be more difficult to transfer finances around the country.The imperial court gave preferential treatment to officials and children of gentry who contributed more to 'paying for the country's fortunes', hoping that all parties would work together for the country. "

Seeing this, Shen Shuren thought for a moment.

Everything in the letter should be true.

It is now the 12th year of Chongzhen, and the last straw of the three salaries in the late Ming Dynasty, "practice salaries", has indeed been levied since this year, with seven or eight million taels of silver per year.

Although Zhu Dadian, the governor of water transportation, did not do business in person, his family were all in business, and they specialized in contracting water transportation.

And the Shen family is also a wealthy businessman. There are more than [-] large sand boats in the Yellow Sea. Shen Tingyang bought an official and changed his career in the early years of Chongzhen - so he has been pushing for the "transformation of water transport to the sea".

Of course, "reforming water transport to the sea" can indeed save a lot of money for the imperial court, but at the same time it is also securing orders for its own fleet.Therefore, the contradiction between Zhu Dadian's family and Shen's family is irreconcilable.

As for Zheng Zhilong, everyone on earth knows that the East Asian waters south of the Yangtze River estuary belong to him, so there is no need to say more.

To put it bluntly, the three mentioned in the letter were all "water transport logistics giants" at that time, and the imperial court expected them to do more.

but,

If Shen Shuren had read this letter first, he might have believed it.

But now he has witnessed Zheng Hongkui obstructing him from going to Nanjing. The matter is really so simple, why is the Zheng family nervous?
Therefore, this letter can only be believed in half.

The fact part can be trusted, the motive part cannot be trusted.

So what is the real motive?
Shen Shuren pondered for a while, and felt that this question could not be deduced directly based on the existing evidence alone.

However, it is possible to reverse some joints——

For example, it is easy for him to think that he and Zheng Sen were invited in this letter, which means that Zheng Zhilong is most likely not "preventing him from going to Nanjing", but wanting to "let the Shen family be the first to pretend to be sick and obey his orders. Then let Zheng Sen follow the trend and not go to Nanjing."

After all, Zheng Zhilong had no grievances with the Shen family, so he couldn't deal with a junior like him.Such painstaking efforts are most likely for his own son.

But why is Zheng Zhilong afraid to send his son to study?Shen Shuren became more and more puzzled.

Because he is familiar with the "History of the Ming Dynasty", he knows that Zheng Sen went to Nanjing Guozijian to study in the last years of Chongzhen, and he also worshipped Qian Qianyi.

Of course, it may not be that early—"History of the Ming Dynasty" did not directly write the year when Zheng Sen went to Nanjing, but Qian Qianyi was Liu Rushi who he met and married in Chongzhen 14 years ago. .

Therefore, Zheng Sen was able to learn from Qian Qianyi at least 14 years after Chongzhen.

Now, it is nothing more than two or three years ahead of schedule.

Could it be that Zheng Zhilong was afraid that his son would be held hostage by the imperial court?But why is he not afraid after three years?
……

Shen Shuren pulled the cocoon and felt that the solitary evidence was difficult to finalize.So I put the letter aside and prepared to browse through other documents first, trying to find more inspiration.

The better a person is at intelligence analysis, the more they know that full investigation is more important than rash deduction.

Reading the documents with questions and conjectures in mind, the efficiency is indeed very high, but with half a stick of incense, Shen Shuren has gained.

He saw two important national events from two recent imperial court newspapers:
"At the beginning of the month, Zhang Xianzhong went back and forth in Yunyang, and robbed Luo Rucai in Xiangyang, so the nine battalions turned against each other, and Huguang was eroded. Zuo Liangyu urgently sent troops to contain them, but Zhang Xianzhong defeated them."

"The imperial court ordered Yang Sichang, a senior member of the cabinet and minister of military affairs, to go south to supervise the division and quickly replace Xiong Wencan to coordinate the military affairs of the six provinces in the Central Plains."

In May of the 12th year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong and other thieves surrendered and turned back!
After recalling this important message, Shen Shuren immediately racked his brains and tried to connect it with Zheng Zhilong's anomaly, and then he really found a guess.

Of course, that's just speculation.

Therefore, Shen Shuren did not intend to conduct a rigorous verification in person, it would be a waste of time.

He took the newspaper and the letter and went straight to Shen Tingyang's study.

……

"It's so late, why don't you rest?"

Shen Tingyang was turning on the lamp to check the accounts of the water transportation over the years, and he was a little surprised to see his son begging to see him.

Shen Shuren didn't explain it, and directly cheated:
"Father, the Zheng family persuaded the boy not to go to Nanjing because he said he was ill, because he wanted our Shen family to take the lead in disobedience, and then the Zheng family would do a good job of not blaming the public, right? This way, he won't openly tear his face with the court, but also prevent his son from being detained. Being a hostage is a good deal.”

Shen Tingyang was stunned for a moment, staring at his son, the room was terribly quiet.

After a long time, he sighed in relief: "I have always underestimated you, but you have such a vision. Forget it, tell me, how did you see it."

As Shen Tingyang said, he got up and locked the study door.

If it is normal, he only hopes that his son will study hard and not be contaminated by these conspiracies and tricks.

But he has been a little bit overwhelmed recently, and he is afraid that he will not be able to complete his mission and cannot explain to Yang Ge, so he is a little ill and goes to the doctor.

When my son woke up today, he was surprised twice in a row.He finally decided to give him a chance to have a frank exchange behind closed doors.

Seeing that he guessed correctly, Shen Shuren spoke with more confidence:

"At the beginning of the month, Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, etc. went back and forth, and these traitors were Xiong Wencan who advocated Zhao'an. Now the imperial court has let Yang Sichang replace Xiong Wencan to supervise the six provinces. Although it has not yet clearly stated how to deal with Xiong Wencan, it is based on His Majesty's 'hatred of hatred', Most of them are going to go to jail and ask for beheading.

And Xiong Wencan was able to rise from Fujian governor Gao to supervising six provinces, relying on the success of Zheng Zhilong's success in Fujian.It's a pity that success is also ordered, and defeat is also ordered. He wanted to eat fresh food all over the sky, and finally planted it in Zhang Xianzhong's hands.

Once Xiong Wencan is imprisoned, other warlords and thieves who have been recruited by him will inevitably be in danger, fearing that they will be identified as his henchmen.

Therefore, the court hopes that these warlords will send their sons and nephews to Beijing as a pledge to prevent mutual suspicion and jumping over the wall.Zheng Zhilong also saw this, afraid that his son would be detained, so he tried every means to avoid the cusp. "

Shen Shuren finished the reasoning in one go.

Shen Tingyang's face changed, and the more he listened, the more exciting his expression became, and finally he couldn't help but admire:

"That's right, you can guess about [-]% to [-]% of the time. However, it's not that the 'Imperial Court' public opinion is to detain the general's protons - this is what Yang Ge has assigned in private.

Alas, His Majesty couldn't rub the sand in his eyes. He couldn't think of the question of 'Will people feel panic if he asks Xiong Wencan to blame?'.

Yang Ge was helpless, and the military affairs of the six provinces to suppress thieves were all on him.He was afraid that a new thief would reappear, so he would rather be in vain than indulge. If he could pull one more warlord to hand over the hostages, he would try to pull as many as possible.

On the sixth day after you fell ill, Zheng Hongkui rushed to our house to investigate the truth, because they also received the invitation letter from the Imperial College, and suspected that it was just a cover-they really did not suspect wrong.

Today, Daming Shipping has the Zheng family in the south and the Shen family in the north.When the two families invited them together, the Zheng family was not easily alerted.But my Shen family is loyal to Daming and never mercenaries, so you will not be regarded as a hostage if you go to Nanjing.The real hostage is only Zheng Sen.Of course, there may be other descendants of descendants in the future. "

When Shen Shuren heard this, he completely understood Yang Sichang's situation.

To put it bluntly, let's compare "Let the Bullets Fly". Yang Sichang used the Shen family and the Zheng family to be equally famous, made up an excuse to deceive them, used the Shen family as "Huang Silang" to cover up, and took the Zheng family as the "two big families in the south of the city".

It is a common practice in the rivers and lakes, "As much as Huang Silang pays, the two major families in the south of the city must also pay. The more you pay, the more you earn."

After the matter was completed, the hostages of the Shen family were returned in full, and the court divided the hostages of the Zheng family.

It's a pity that Yang Sichang's strategy is sloppy, and Zheng Zhilong is not a vegetarian.With his natural paranoia and alertness, he still smelled danger.

And the Shen family's delay also has a certain responsibility - Yang Sichang wanted to take advantage of the information asymmetry and make a time difference, and before the Zheng family knew that Xiong Wencan was about to fall, he tricked Zheng Sen into the road and cooked rice with raw rice.

But Shen Shuren's illness has wasted these few days of information in vain.

If the Shen family doesn't make amends, they may be worn by Yang Ge's old shoes.

If the remedy is beautiful, then report the twists and turns, and the completion is more beautiful than expected, and you will be able to reap a big favor from the old man.

Thinking of this, Shen Shuren was naturally a little worried, so he couldn't help but use the prophet of the traveler to take the risk and suggest to his father:

"Father, since this matter was urged by Mr. Yang Ge, let's take a gamble, ignore the persuasion of the Zheng family, and continue to force me to Nanjing. I heard that Zheng Zhilong only wants to dominate the sea, and he does not separate one's territory. Most of the ambitions do not dare to rebel.”

This is the easiest and most straightforward solution to think of - Shen Shuren knew that Zheng Zhilong did not rebel in history, so he dared to bet.

But Shen Tingyang frowned, disapproving of his son's vision:
"It's too impulsive! Before the Zheng family spoke, it was nothing to do. Now that the Zheng family has spoken, we don't give face, the Zheng family won't worry about 'could it be that the imperial court really wants to deal with us, so the Shen family has gotten wind of it and has to clear the relationship, Wouldn't you like to help even this little thing? Wouldn't this be fueling the fire?

I, Shen Tingyang, are loyal to Daming wholeheartedly. I am not worried about the Zheng family's revenge against the Shen family.Although the Zheng family is not afraid, but now that there are so many rebels raising troops at the same time, the southeast is rich in chaos!

Even if this can't be done, as long as Zheng Zhilong is willing to stay calm in the future, it will be fine if he doesn't send protons.It's nothing more than that I was complained by Yang Ge, and I didn't get promoted in the future.But Gouli Daming Jiangshan, my career is nothing! "

Speaking of this, Shen Shuren could only be silent for a while.

Indeed, as long as he can't say "I know history" directly, Shen Tingyang's cautious attitude will be difficult to reverse.

Moreover, this caution is not entirely unreasonable.

Inspired by this, Shen Shuren suddenly realized the butterfly effect he brought:
In history, Zheng Zhilong did not rebel, and indeed it took three years to send his son as a hostage.

But in history, there is no intervention from him, Shen Shuren!

Maybe this body died of heatstroke in the 12th year of Chongzhen.Then it was over, and Yang Sichang didn't care about it any more, and got over it with the mud.

But now that Shen Shuren is still alive, the Shen family will forcefully send him to Nanjing after arguing with the Zheng family, and the nature will be different. Maybe it will become the last straw to force against Zheng Zhilong.

So, really can't bet.

Thinking of this, Shen Shuren also broke into a cold sweat.

Relying on having read the "History of the Ming Dynasty", it is somewhat rigid and dogmatic to look at issues in haste.

In the future, when there is ample time for decision-making, we can no longer blindly believe in history books, but should seek truth from facts and deduce the changes in the situation.

Shen Shuren also changed his mind when he knew he was wrong, and immediately expressed his position: "That being the case, let's go back and think of a way slowly, as long as it doesn't irritate the Zheng family and can find an excuse to go to Nanjing, that's fine, right?"

Shen Tingyang nodded in relief: "That's the case, but it's hard to find. It's enough that you have this heart, so let's get better first."

Shen Shuren bowed and said goodbye, then turned around and went back to the house, comforting himself in his heart:
If the matter this time is not done well, although Yang Sichang will complain, there will be no guilt on the bright side.

After all, this is an errand assigned in secret, not an official mission from the imperial court.

Moreover, in history, Yang Sichang would be framed by Zhang Xianzhong with a plan to attack and kill the vassal king two years later, and he died of fear.At that time, the private accounts on his "little books" will disappear.

Therefore, regardless of Yang Sichang's favor or complaints, there is only a "two-year shelf life".

Of course, it has only been four and a half years since Chongzhen was hanged, and he has to seize every opportunity to quickly build up his power and lay out for the great cause of saving the Han people in the future.

At such a critical juncture, two years are very precious.So as long as there is a first-line opportunity, we must do our best to accomplish it.

-

During the period of the new book, ask for recommendation tickets and various kinds of tickets.

(End of this chapter)