Rule over Ming Dynasty

Concubine Jing?

Wang Yu couldn't help but widen his eyes when he learned that Su Qubing had this identity.

Although he had always known that there was indeed Concubine Jing in the palace, the harem of this dynasty was not allowed to interfere in politics, and all the concubines had no heirs, so he never cared much about Concubine Jing's family situation.

But I never expected that the weak-looking young master in front of me was actually the younger brother of Concubine Jing, the wife-brother of the current Holy Emperor.

Wang Yu suddenly thought of how Song Cheng knew Su Qubing's identity, and couldn't help but turned to look at Song Cheng in confusion.

Song Cheng ignored Wang Yu's gaze and went straight to the state of mind: "Master Su, I was summoned to the palace to see Your Majesty before leaving. Your Majesty mentioned your Su family, and he also has some feelings for you... You have high expectations, so you must not disappoint His Majesty."

"Your Majesty is the person I admire most, and I will do whatever it takes to live through fire and water!" Su Qubing reached out and patted his chest, appearing very loyal.

This guy!

The corner of Wang Yu's mouth twitched slightly, and he turned to look at Su Qubing, whose eyes were full of little stars, and found that this guy actually admired everyone he saw.

Song Cheng knew that as a traditional businessman, it would be difficult for the Su family to integrate into the Jiangnan official and gentry group, so he asked again: "Mr. Su, it's still the same question as before. I wonder which young man in Suzhou City suddenly became wealthy?"

"Master Song, I was classmates with Hou Haotian and his gang, but now they have all become rich!" Su Qubing poured tea for Song Cheng himself, looking very bitter.

The opening of the Southeast Sea was originally intended to benefit the entire Jiangnan, but the benefits contained here were too great, so a group of aristocratic families quickly established Jiangnan business houses.

Now almost all the profits from maritime trade fall into the hands of Jiangnan merchants. The young masters who used to live a tight life are now playing courtesans every day.

Song Cheng realized that his question was indeed inappropriate, so he asked in a different way: "I want to know who is getting rich, which is a bit unreasonable, especially since he has become particularly arrogant this year!"

"Today I'll take care of Sisi's Hou Haotian, and Li Xin, right?" Su Qubing pointed to the room upstairs and immediately gave the answer.

Song Cheng found that the candidates provided by Su Qubing were somewhat inconsistent with the direction of his investigation, so he picked up the tea cup and said seriously: "I would like to hear the details!"

After all, Wang Yu was an elite member of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and he already understood Song Cheng's true intentions.

"Hou Haotian's family background is average. His father was just the Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing. He used to borrow money from me from time to time in the Imperial College in Nanjing. He only went overseas last year, but his financial resources this year are very scary!" Su Qubing said angrily.

At this moment, the air in Chen Sisi's room was filled with an aphrodisiac fragrance.

If any man smells this kind of fragrance and sees the beauty who has returned to nature on the bed, I am afraid that no one can hold it anymore.

Hou Haotian didn't know that there was someone downstairs who hated him. He had already pulled off the quilt and jumped on the beauty, doing what many men dreamed of doing.

Soon, his back was wet with sweat. The cost of contracting the first prize of picking up the Moon Tower was indeed not small. Every time he felt it, it smelled like money.

Wang Yu had already seen clearly the virtues of Ming officials, but without even thinking about it, he said: "Maybe they are corrupt!"

Originally, he thought that as long as the court paid attention to anti-corruption, officials all over the world would not dare to be corrupt, but it turned out that this idea was actually wrong.

These corrupt officials are like weaklings who cannot be beaten to death. As long as they have room for rent-seeking, they will almost reach out to them.

When a locust plague occurred in Shandong last year, the imperial court distributed relief food to the affected prefectures and counties as before. As a result, history seemed to be repeating itself.

Even if these disaster relief grains are not corrupted at the prefecture level, they are often withheld at the county level, and then the magistrate will be filial. Few prefectures are truly clean.

Their procuratorate started investigating from the rice merchants, and soon followed the clues and arrested a group of officials who were corrupt and violated the law, and more than a dozen officials were killed.

"The anti-corruption efforts of the imperial court are very strong now, especially the investigation department of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. All of them are elite soldiers. How greedy do you have to be to compare with me in terms of financial resources? So I think the possibility of this is relatively low!" Su Qubing looked like It was like a different person, and he immediately analyzed it clearly and logically.

Wang Yu reached out and touched his nose. Although Su Qubing directly refuted his point of view, he couldn't help but feel secretly happy in his heart.

The Procuratorate and Inspection Offices are indeed everywhere. Although official corruption cannot be eliminated, large amounts of corruption will definitely be able to catch people out immediately.

If an official at the level of the Nanjing Minister of Household Affairs really dared to commit large-scale corruption, Hou Zan would definitely not escape their procuratorate. Therefore, the source of wealth of the Nanjing Minister of Household Affairs is indeed strange.

Song Cheng took a sip of tea thoughtfully, but he was not a person who liked to speculate without evidence: "Who is Li Xin?"

Wang Yu once had the opportunity to inherit the title from his grandfather, so he was very clear about the martial arts of the Ming Dynasty: "Li? Could it be that Li Xin is the queen of Qiyang?"

The military heroes living in Nanjing are usually the founding generals. Li Wenzhong, the king of Qiyang, is the third-ranking founding hero and also received the hereditary title of Cao Guogong.

Li Wenzhong joined the rebel army at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and was later adopted as an adopted son by Zhu Yuanzhang. He commanded the pro-army army at the age of nineteen, and then participated in the pacification of Jiangnan and the conquest of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, and made great military exploits.

It's just a tiger in the door, this is destined to be a good wish.

Li Wenzhong's son Li Jinglong was favored by Emperor Jianwen. Cao Guogong Li Jinglong led a large army to suppress the Yan army, but they suffered a huge defeat, causing the situation on both sides to quickly reverse.

Although Li Jinglong quickly rejoined Zhu Di and took the initiative to open the gates of Nanjing City to welcome Zhu Di into the city, he was eventually accused of rebellion.

The titles of Cao Guogong's line were taken away. Although emperors of all dynasties would arrange military positions for Cao Guogong's line, they were no longer as good as chickens.

In particular, the duplicity of Cao Guogong's lineage was neither accepted by the founding military generals nor recognized by the military officers who assisted Taizong. Therefore, the situation was very embarrassing. I am afraid that they were the ones who opened the gates of Nanjing again to welcome the Qing army into the city. one of the reasons.

"That's right! Although Li Xin's ancestors are very scary, it has been so many years since Jiejue. It was also because of his relationship with Zheng Jie, a classmate of the Nanjing Imperial College, that he was able to join the Jiangnan firm. But his recent desire to support the oiran is simply a big joke. ." Su Qubing nodded gently and explained the reason for his doubts.

Song Cheng's heart moved slightly, and he put down the teacup and said, "He supports the oiran? As far as I know, the oirans in Suzhou City spend a lot of money every year. If they don't have any financial resources, they can't do it, right?"

"I feel like he is bragging, but he has been a frequent visitor to Ruyi Building recently, so I'm not sure now!" Su Qubing also expressed his feelings.

Song Cheng knew that a declining martial artist was no better than a dog. He had not noticed Li Xin earlier, but now he nodded seriously and took note of it.

It's just that we can't act too hastily now. The Jiangnan government and gentry groups have joined together and formed a Jiangnan business house that is making money every day, so they can only start plotting slowly or gradually disintegrate.

Liu Qing pushed the door open and came in, holding a pot of fragrant wine in her hand.

Song Cheng didn't want to reveal his identity, so he ended the topic and said, "Brother Su, this matter is not suitable for publicity at the moment, so we must keep it confidential!"

"Okay!" Su Qubing knew what Song Cheng meant and immediately nodded seriously.

Because he came from a humble background and was not a good student, he suffered a lot of anger in his early years. Even though he is now the son of Concubine Jing, he is still ostracized by them, and even today he was provoked by Cheng Xin.

Even if he doesn't work for his emperor's brother-in-law, he still has to vent his anger for himself, so he is now very happy to help Song Cheng get rid of Jiangnan's gang.

"Song Da...Brother Song, Brother Wang, Suzhou wine is made from Qiaojiu, and Qiaojiu is made from Zhaiyuelou. Please try it!" Su Qubing saw that the wine had been delivered and introduced him enthusiastically. .

Liu Qing poured wine for the three people present, and also revealed a piece of news: "Just now I saw Cheng Xin leading others outside. I'm afraid I won't let it go. Why don't we let the steward arrange for you to leave through the back door?"

"If the two brothers don't give up, you can come back to Su Mansion with me to stay temporarily!" Su Qubing knew that Song Cheng didn't want to reveal his identity, so he also extended the invitation.

Since Song Cheng has decided to reveal his identity to Su Qubing, he is naturally willing to trust the Su family and hopes to use the Su family to find out the gold case for him.

Dang even decided to leave through the back door of Zhaiyue Tower and temporarily settled down in Su Mansion.

"Fortunately, the two brothers have just come to help. I'd like to toast you two!" Su Qubing was also a good-tempered person, so he immediately picked up the wine glass in his hand and said.

Song Cheng also took a sip of water, but suddenly his heart moved slightly: "Cheng Xin? Could it be that Cheng Xin and Cheng Si are brothers?"

"That's right! He has a strong brotherhood with Cheng Si, otherwise he wouldn't have openly targeted me!" Su Qubing only felt that his cheeks were still aching, and nodded seriously.

Wang Yu reached out and touched his waist, but he didn't expect that when he went to Jiangnan this time, he would meet Cheng Si's younger brother and found that the kick just now was too light.

When I was following Cheng Si, if I hadn't been lucky, I would have almost died due to Cheng Si's tricks. Even though I escaped, I still can't forget the pain of being stabbed in the back.

Even though Song Chengdang wanted to understand why Cheng Xin targeted Su Qubing, he suddenly asked seriously: "Did you do it just now because he arranged for Concubine Jing?"

"Exactly!" Su Qubing said, thinking of Cheng Xin's face just now, he suddenly lost his temper.

"The slave family can prove it!" Liu Qing was worried that Song Cheng wouldn't believe it, so she assured him from the side.

Song Cheng could feel that Su Qubing was very protective of his sister, so he asked seriously: "How does he arrange it?"

"I...I...the words are too unbearable, I won't say anything!" Su Qubing hesitated for a moment, but shook his head firmly. Too bad for words?

Wang Yu couldn't help but widen his eyes when he heard Su Qubing's words, and immediately realized that there was something interesting here.

Although the status of the imperial concubine of the Ming Dynasty has declined, and it is not said that Concubine Jing is particularly favored, she is still an unattainable imperial concubine and cannot be arranged at will by Cheng Xin and others.

Even if Concubine Jing is indeed from a business background, if someone dares to speak disrespectfully, he or she will be imprisoned, or at worst, they can be executed.

Song Cheng knew that Su Qubing had not realized his transcendent status, so he seriously advised him: "Speak! This matter is related to the emperor's face. If he really said something that he shouldn't have said, then the entire Cheng family would have to be buried with him! "

Su Qubing chose to believe Wang Yu, so he said Cheng Xin's disrespectful words just now, and also revealed that there were two young masters who could testify.

Wang Yu suddenly found that Jiangnan was quite unfamiliar, but he didn't know that they had already become lawless, or that they were all legally illiterate, yet they dared to say anything: "Should we deal with him first?"

"Forget it, it's not too early to alert the enemy!" Song Cheng had already secretly put Cheng Xin on the death list, but he had other plans and shook his head.

The spring rain was still falling outside, but the sky was getting dark.

Hou Haotian got up from the bed looking a little tired. He was different from ordinary yamen. Now he joined Jiangnan Company on behalf of his father and was one of the core members of Jiangnan Company.

Although his business ability is far from that of Zheng Xun of his generation, he has a strong political talent and has a clear position among Jiangnan companies.

When he came to the living room outside after being served by Sisi, several young men were already gathered at the wine table, led by the most steady Zheng Jie.

"You guys talk about your business. I'm just a martial artist anyway. Excuse me!" Li Xin saw the messy hair of the woman who appeared next, but walked over with red eyes.

Zheng Jie watched Li Xin holding Sisi's hand and walking inside, but gently shook his head, knowing that such a person was destined not to become a great person.

"The slave hasn't washed it yet!"

"It tastes better this way!"

……

A simple conversation came from inside, and then the big sturdy bed began to play music again.

Hou Haotian seemed to be used to this kind of thing, but he opened the painting fan and said, "The exact news just came from the capital!"

"What's going on in the court?" Zheng Jie knew it was a serious matter and immediately asked seriously.

Wang Yue was assassinated. This matter can be big or small. Now he takes the initiative to see the court's reaction. In fact, the best result is that the imperial court retreats when it sees the difficulty, but with the violent temper of the emperor today, I am afraid that he will not give up easily.

Wang Yanao and others knew that Hou Haotian had hooked up with a powerful figure in the capital, and they all looked at Hou Haotian curiously.

Hou Haotian faced everyone's curious gazes and revealed the latest intelligence report: "When the emperor learned that Mr. Wang Ge was assassinated, he immediately summoned his ministers to discuss it!"

"What did they say?" Wang Yanao asked curiously.

But as soon as the words came out, he realized that he had asked a stupid question. No matter how well-informed the news in the capital was, it was impossible to know the content of this meeting.

Hou Haotian smiled mysteriously, picked up the wine glass calmly and said: "The emperor was very angry, but he still heard Liu Mianhua's plan and asked Wang Yue to sit in Nanjing and command the governments to implement the administrative decree."

“What can others do in Nanjing?”

"The emperor thinks too highly of Wang Yue. Who cares about Wang Yue's decrees!"

"Take our Suzhou government as an example. Will anyone implement Wang Yue's decree?"

……

Although I didn't understand how Hou Haotian found out about such a secret meeting, after learning about the court's plan, they all laughed at it.

Even if Wang Yue really goes to the local area, he may not be able to implement the decree. Now that Wang Yue wants to accomplish this in Nanjing City, it is simply a dream.

Hou Haotian knew that the abolition of silver order was almost impossible to implement, and then released another piece of news: "Interestingly, the emperor actually wants to go to Jiangnan!"

"The emperor wants to go to Jiangnan?" Zheng Jie didn't think in this direction at all, and was stunned when he heard this.

Huh?

The eyes of Wang Yanao and others suddenly lit up, but they realized that this might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Li Xin had finished his work and was walking out with his trousers lifted and said: "If he really goes to Jiangnan, then all the problems will be solved. Haven't the adults in your family thought of that for a long time?"

Wang Yanao's attention turned to Li Xin, but he noticed that the eyes of Aunt Sisi who followed him were full of resentment. This Li Xin was indeed a famous fast shooter.

He said the most arrogant words, but he didn't last more than three seconds, and he really lost the man's face.

"Is it likely that the emperor will go to Jiangnan?" Zheng Jie was already excited, but he asked seriously.

Wang Yanao shook his head gently and said with great certainty: "This matter is still unclear! But if the emperor really comes down, I will receive the news as soon as possible!"

"I hope he really comes down, then everyone's problems will be solved!" Li Xin expressed his resentment as he thought about his family being abandoned by the Zhu family.

Although Zheng Jie and others did not say anything, they still agreed with Li Xin's idea.

Although they are now able to stop the imperial court's order to abolish silver, if they really want to end it once and for all, especially if they want to restore usury finance and abolish the Kaizhong Law, they actually have to deal with the one in the Forbidden City.

Hou Haotian took a sip of wine and continued to report: "In addition to guarding against Xu Hong, the prefect of Songjiang, and Qian Sen, the prefect of Hangzhou, we must also pay attention to Song Cheng, who is about to take office!"

"That Song Qingtian in the capital?"

"What Qingtian, I think he is just a person who is seeking fame and reputation!"

"He has no chance to be greedy in the capital. Now when gold, silver and beauties are pushed to his side, I don't believe he won't accept them!"

……

After learning that the famous Shuntian Prefecture Yin Song Cheng was sent down, the young masters present did not take it seriously at all, and even said it with contempt.

Aju!

Song Cheng only drank two glasses of wine and chose to leave. But when he walked to the backyard, he suddenly sneezed heavily, but he didn't know who was cursing him.

As soon as the carriage left the street, Wang Yu suddenly said warily: "Cheng Xin is following us!"

Song Cheng's eyes were still closed, but he calmly ordered: "Go and drive!"

Wang Yu immediately replaced the horseman at Zhaiyuelou, then changed the driving route, whipping the horses in the other direction, and let the carriage run through the green brick streets under the spring rain.

Because it was a rainy day, there were very few people on the street, so the carriage was not slow. The carriage just threw away a group of thugs behind it, but was still bitten by Cheng Xin on horseback.

"Boy, why don't you ask me, who dares to mess with me in Suzhou City? You really don't know how to write the word "death"!" Cheng Xin blocked the carriage in an alley and shouted with great pride.

Wang Yu had already gotten off the carriage, but he turned to look at Song Cheng inside the carriage in confusion: "Did you do this on purpose?"

"Su Qubing arranged for two of his entourage to pretend to be us and get into the carriage with him. They also deliberately covered their faces tightly. It is clear that there is no three hundred taels of silver here. Cheng Xin is not a fool. He naturally knew that the two of us would leave through the back door!" Song Cheng jumped off the carriage and nodded gently.

Wang Yu saw that his men had blocked the alley, but he looked at Song Cheng in confusion and said, "Is it too early for us to start now?"

"Who are you?" Cheng Xin suddenly realized that his men were not following him. He immediately realized that the other party was not a good person and asked in panic.

Wang Yu did not forget the revenge of the sword, but said calmly: "Take down the person who wants your life!"

Cheng Xin realized that he had kicked the iron plate, and he immediately rode on his horse to escape from here. Then he turned around and his vision went dark, and then he fell heavily to the ground.

"I just rethought the assassination process of Wangge Lao. I'm afraid Jiangnan and the capital are very close, so we have to cut the knot quickly. Maybe we can make a gradual breakthrough from Cheng Xin!" Song Cheng saw Cheng Xin lying on the ground. , then answered Wang Yu’s question. (End of chapter)