Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

Chapter 96 3.3 Princess Yongchang’s actual position

Volume Three

3.3 Princess Yongchang’s actual position

"This." Zhou Yang glanced at Princess Yongchang speechlessly, and then quickly lowered his head, because in this era, looking directly at the royal person was enough to be charged with "disrespect", "Your Highness, please forgive me, this is your Majesty's fault. It’s really not convenient for me to discuss my personal issues with the princess.”

"Okay, it's okay if you don't answer." Princess Yongchang waved her hand obediently, stood up and walked to him, forcing him to stand up and lower his head. Fortunately, the topic changed, "I am from my father. The emperor learned from Zhen Yingjia that the second room of the Xue family had obtained a very powerful firearm. You should know what happened, right?"

"Huh?" Zhou Yang suddenly raised his head and looked at Princess Yongchang in surprise. He didn't know if the two were standing close to each other, but he could smell the obvious smell of alcohol. As for the question just now, it's not that he couldn't answer it. It should not be Her Royal Highness who asked the question.

"Can't say it, or don't want to say it?" Princess Yongchang's tone was obviously dissatisfied.

"None of them." Zhou Yang frowned, feeling that the smell of alcohol was even more obvious. After thinking about it, he decided to save his life, "Please forgive me for arrogating!"

"Okay!" Princess Yongchang waved her hand impatiently, "You just said you hated rules and etiquette, why are you 'transgressing' again now? Just treat today's matter as a private chat, and you won't leave this room. Just ask the next question directly. I forgive you, right?"

"According to the law of the country, if you hide one firearm privately, you will be killed; if you conceal three firearms privately, you will be killed; if you conceal ten firearms privately, you will be punished!" Zhou Yang said lightly, "So, if Your Highness is asking the minister as a princess, , Wei Chen’s answer was only one sentence, the Zhen family’s accusation is purely false, the so-called ‘firearms’ thing is all fabricated, it was made up by the Zhen family!”

"I have already told you, I forgive you!" Princess Yongchang said angrily, "According to Zhen Yingjia's information."

"Your Highness!" Zhou Yang interrupted her rudely, and then said seriously in the face of Princess Yongchang's dissatisfied expression, "Compared with this trivial matter, Wei Chen is more worried about another point. As a princess, Your Highness But it seems unusual to get such news from the Supreme Emperor.”

"The harem is involved in politics, right?" Princess Yongchang glanced at him and interrupted him in a calm tone, "I have had the best relationship with the emperor's brother since childhood. Since the emperor's brother ascended the throne in the 45th year of Longwu, all kinds of things in this dynasty have changed. There have never been fewer rumors, but so what? I have always been too lazy to care, but it does not mean that I don't mind. If the next sentence is spread, I want your head, do you hear it clearly? "

"Your Highness, forgive me!" Zhou Yang quickly bowed and saluted.

"After my father issued the imperial edict to the Zen throne, because my brother's ascension to the throne was sudden and his foundation was shallow, some people had inappropriate thoughts." Princess Yongchang waved her hand for him to sit down, "Every veteran in the court also There are some people who are waiting and watching, especially after the father recovers, there are not just one or two people who want to take the opportunity to make something happen.

Therefore, the emperor specially summoned those old ministers to help comfort and comfort the emperor, and also helped the emperor gradually stabilize the government. Today, most of the major affairs of the court are decided by the emperor's brother, but those who are dishonest Things, from time to time, deliberately make some rebellious remarks, hoping to take advantage of the chaos. "

"." Zhou Yang looked at Princess Yongchang speechlessly. He opened his mouth but didn't know where to start. There were so many flaws that he couldn't even talk about it. Let's not discuss anything else. Do you believe this? ?

"Some private matters will be reported to the imperial brother." Princess Yongchang glanced at him and looked away. She was obviously aware of the problem and changed the subject in time, but it also made Zhou Yang understand that she was The two emperors acted as "messengers and lubrication" between them. "As the servants of the royal family, it is normal for the Zhen family to report some things. But just to see what you mean, there seems to be another reason?"

"I will only tell His Highness the following words. I will not acknowledge you once I leave the house." Zhou Yang and Princess Yongchang looked at each other, putting their titles and self-identifications on an equal footing, and said in a serious tone, "The Zhen family has been known as the 'Jiangnan No. [-]' in recent years. "A family" is no longer what the Emperor once let it go. The Xue family does have the so-called "firearms" they reported.

Because we have been doing business at sea, it is inevitable to bring some weapons with us for protection. The sea is not land. If we encounter pirates, it is very likely that all the people on the ship will be buried in the belly of the fish, and not even a messenger will be left. Therefore, when going to sea, "carrying business with a sword" is the basic principle, and those who don't take it seriously are gone. "You mean, the Xue family has firearms?" "Princess Yongchang's expression sank, obviously she was very dissatisfied with Zhou Yang's answer.

"Yes, but they are all on the boat. This is not just the Xue family, but everyone in the south of the Yangtze River, including the Zhen family themselves!" Zhou Yang decided to change his words, because he was sure that the Zhen family would never say everything, "It is very difficult to protect yourself at sea." It is important, but on land, there are not so many problems. Most of the time, a water and fire stick can basically solve the problem. It does not deserve the reputation of "intentional evil", but to say that it does not, is nonsense!
On the other hand, the Zhen family made a deal with them last time for 2 taels. The second son of the Zhen family, Zhen Lang, contacted them personally. Originally, the second uncle Xue respected the status of the Zhen family, so he personally came forward to do the deal. He didn't want the second son to have no integrity. It can be said that they wanted to do some "empty glove white wolf" deeds, so the two sides clashed and injured several people, but Zhen Lang finally gave the money. "

"Your words are much more reliable than Zhen Yingjia's slave." Princess Yongchang breathed a sigh of relief and nodded in approval of Zhou Yang's words, "The Zhen family has repeatedly suffered losses in recent years, and the backlog has been no less than one million taels. Privately It’s not strange to use some means to get money, but I accidentally knocked it out of the Xue family’s hands.”

"If you dare, Wei Chen, can you ask President Zhen how he reported this matter?" Zhou Yang asked curiously, "Of course, if it is inappropriate."

"It's not inappropriate at all." Princess Yongchang said speechlessly, "Zhen Yingjia said in the booklet that the Xue family, relying on their good family background, forcibly distributed defective products to Zhen Lang in the business, causing the Zhen family to lose nearly 5 yuan. Wanliang, we demand that the Xue family be confiscated immediately to make up for the damage caused!"

"What the hell?" Zhou Yang thought for a long time but didn't think of it. The Zhen family actually reported the news to the Supreme Emperor that even a fool could not fool. "If nothing else is said, the Zhen family would not think that the Supreme Emperor just let their family go in Jiangnan." A slave, right?"

"You know a lot." Princess Yongchang's tone suddenly turned cold.

"Your Highness, forgive me, Wei Chen said too much!" Zhou Yang quickly bowed to apologize. The royal family has its own spies. This is an "open but unspeakable secret". "There are just some things, Wei Chen thinks it is better to make it clear."

"For example, you didn't say just now that the Zhen family and the Xue family are engaged in a private salt business." Princess Yongchang said angrily, "Or maybe the Xue family's shipment volume this time is not large, and it is better than that of Yangzhou. The things that don't know how to die are much better, so my father just scolded Zhen Yingjia, but he didn't say which one he wanted to chop - also, where are the firearms I just asked about?"

Zhou Yang's heart suddenly moved, and he immediately realized that Princess Yongchang's actual position was that she might have both sides, but she was biased towards the Supreme Emperor, or rather the Supreme Emperor's side, because the Yangzhou salt merchants later even dared to directly destroy the Lin family of the Salt Patrol Censor, and ruined their lives. The successive salt patrol censors must be the emperor's cronies. If we talk about the backer behind the Yangzhou salt merchants, it can only be another force that can compete.

She called the Yangzhou salt merchants "the ones who don't know how to die", which is often used as a scornful term for slaves. She was obviously taking the position of the Supreme Emperor, because Zhou Yang had already known through Xue Xun and Wang Shuying that the Supreme Emperor had turned from martial arts to extravagance. Soon the money could not keep up. Only the first two of the six southern tours were made by the imperial court, but they were "borrowed" from the Ministry of Household Affairs in the name of the Zhen family.

The problem is that the imperial court is not a fool. In the last four times, they always said "no money", so they had no choice but to find another way. Two of them were through the Zhen family to get the salt merchants to pay, which added up to the so-called "Zhen family". "Four pick-ups", and the other two were once by the Wang family and once by the Jia family. The former relied on the "King of Jinling" family to support most of it, and asked salt merchants to "sponsor" part of it. The latter asked salt merchants to "sponsor" most of it, and then went to the Ministry of Household Affairs The "borrowed" part!
In other words, the so-called "Eight Major Salt Merchants in Yangzhou" are just the money bags of the major forces. Of course, each family may also secretly hand over to other forces in the DPRK and China. The most typical ones are the Civil Service Group and Jiangnan Salt Merchants and big families. collusion with each other, but this cannot be explained clearly in one or two sentences.

"Firearms are purchased from Western merchant ships!" Zhou Yang did not hesitate to blame the problem on "imports." "Many Westerners even have artillery on their ships, but it's a pity that they don't sell them. However, as for the guns, although the asking price is very high. , but sold very quickly; it’s just that Weichen grew up in Nanyang, and knows a little bit more, such as these are firearms that are activated by ignition, but they have long since been eliminated by Westerners.”

"Firearms don't rely on ignition, so how to activate them?" It is obvious that the Zhou Dynasty has seriously lagged behind in weapons research and development, and its understanding of firearms is very limited.

"Your Highness, according to what Westerners say, the ignited fire blunderbuss we commonly use can be translated as a 'matchlock', but the one they use themselves is fired with flint, which can be called a 'flintlock gun'. The difference between the two is It's not too big, but the effect can be called 'epoch-making' or even 'natural.'" Zhou Yang began to explain various types of black powder firearms in detail.

"Is that so?" After listening to Zhou Yang's explanation, Princess Yongchang's expression became more and more solemn, and finally she couldn't help but ask.

(End of this chapter)