Ming Dynasty 1566

Chapter 8

It was prepared a long time ago, and the people standing next to each lantern hanging high on the corridor on the second floor immediately picked out those lanterns.The tall hall immediately went dark, only the candles held by those few people formed a circle of light in the center of the hall.

Under the light of the candle in his hand, Yang Jinshui's face became clearer, it was a typical eunuch's face.Holding a candle, he took the lead and walked towards the stairs in the middle.The merchants followed behind them, and a group of people approached the stairs holding candles and approached the silk.

Hu Zongxian sat down again among the row of empty chairs alone, and slowly closed his eyes.Standing at the entrance of the hall, the captain of the Governor's Department's personal soldiers walked over with a cloak on his arm, lightly covered Hu Zongxian with the cloak, and then stepped back lightly.

Yang Jinshui, Zheng Michang, and He Maocai led the merchants up the first few stairs along both sides of the silk. Immediately, two attendants pulled up the silk at the bottom of the stairs. Many were stretched off the rungs.

"Look." Yang Jinshui shone the candle in his hand, and several other people also shone the candle in his hand:

——The wings of a butterfly and the wings of a bee seem to be able to see the other side of the wing from one side of the wing. What's more rare is that the patterns and colors on each butterfly and each bee are different when you look closely, and Each wing, each wing's flying range is different, but they are all flying, flying around the flower buds that have not yet bloomed!
Several businessmen responded with a smile, but still reserved.

"Please look up." Yang Jinshui led the party up to the second step.

The two attendants downstairs took a step back, grabbing the two corners of the silk, and the second piece of silk was stretched off the steps again.

Several candles shone at the same time:

——The same butterflies, the same bees, the same flowers, the butterflies and bees are still flying around the flowers.

Several businessmen looked at each other, although they were still smiling, they showed some disapproval.

Yang Jinshui stopped smiling, and pointed her white and soft fingers like a woman to a flower in the middle: "Look at this flower first, and take a closer look."

Both the candlelight and the human head approached the silk.

You have to look closely, and you have to be an expert, to see that this flower is really different from the buds in the previous section-the petals have been slightly opened!

"Open!" This is what the dark-faced businessman blurted out. Obviously, this person often came to the Ming Dynasty to do business, and he could speak Chinese, but with a difficult Wu accent.

"You're good!" Yang Jinshui boasted with a smile, "According to your western clocks, the previous section was worn at seven o'clock in the morning, and the flowers were still flowers, so the butterflies and bees just flew around." Looking at the Chinese-speaking businessman.The businessman immediately translated Yang Jinshui's words to several other businessmen in another language.The businessmen immediately nodded knowingly.

Yang Jinshui continued: "This section is worn by your western clock at ten o'clock in the morning. The flowers have just opened, and the butterflies and bees are ready to eat pollen."

The Chinese-speaking businessman immediately translated it.

"Oh!" Several businessmen forgot to hold back at this moment, and exclaimed at the same time.

Both Zheng Michang and He Maocai had smug smiles on their faces, they glanced at each other, and then at Yang Jinshui.

"Please look up again!" Yang Jinshui smiled again at this time, not only proud, but more reserved, holding the candlestick and leading the group to climb up again.They were all soft-soled boots, and they stepped on a thick felt blanket. Suddenly, only Hu Zongxian's slight snoring could be heard in the hall.

The door of the Weaving Bureau was startled by a rush of horseshoes.

This is where the highest eunuch's yamen in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is located, and the regulations are very strict at ordinary times. Today, since the highest officials of the province are all inside, and the governor, chief envoy, and procuratorial envoy's personal troops are all on guard outside, it is even more so. strict.At this time, there was a horse team rushing towards this street, and a group of soldiers immediately ran in the direction of the sound of horseshoes.

A few horses appeared, and the team of soldiers recognized that Ma Ningyuan was sitting in the front. He was still hesitating whether to stop or not, but Ma Ningyuan galloped straight to the gate of the Yamen of the Weaving Bureau before reining in and stopping .

The captain of the Governor's Office also saw that it was Ma Ningyuan, and obviously knew him very well, and greeted him from the steps of the gate.

Ma Ningyuan got off his horse, threw the whip at the people behind him, and asked loudly to the captain of the guard, "Is the Lord in the hall?"

"Yes." The captain of the guards continued, "It's so urgent, what's going on?"

Ma Ningyuan: "It's a rebellion! Japanese thieves have incited thousands of unruly people, and they've all gone to the governor's office!" He said as he walked towards the gate.

The captain of the bodyguard hurriedly led him into the gate.

Going inside from the gate, you can see how deep the hall of the Weaving Bureau is. Ma Ningyuan was led by the captain of the personal army, and he passed through many gates guarded by heavy soldiers before he saw the gate of the hall.Instead, there are no soldiers here, only two eunuchs standing outside the hall door.

At this time, Ma Ningyuan had left the captain of the personal army behind, and went straight to the hall door to enter.

"Hey! I said Master Ma, when did you just rush in?" The two eunuchs guarding the door joined together to block him. Although their voices were very low, their tone was very firm.

Ma Ningyuan, who was full of vigor all the way, had no choice but to lie down when he arrived here, and forced a smile: "There is something urgent, I have to see Mr. Butang and several other adults immediately."

"No matter how urgent it is, you can't go in now. Take a look." One of the eunuchs pointed to the hall in a low voice.

Ma Ning looked in from a distance—there were shadows all around the huge hall, only the candlelight on the stairs. Yang Jinshui, Zheng Michang, and He Maocai seemed to be floating in mid-air, laughing and looking at the silk with the businessmen.

Ma Ningyuan swallowed and lowered his voice: "It's a rebellion! You have to report it immediately."

"Rebellion?" The two eunuchs looked at each other, and immediately showed nervousness.

A eunuch: "Where is it? How many people are there?"

Ma Ningyuan: "The people and horses are still out of the question. Thousands of thugs flocked to the gate of the governor's office."

The two eunuchs breathed in their throats just now, and immediately relaxed, and looked at each other.

One of the eunuchs: "We thought that soldiers and horses were coming here. Then we'll wait, just for a while."

The captain of the personal army answered: "You two father-in-laws, Mr. Butang hasn't looked at the silk at the moment, I'll take him to see the department hall first."

Ma Ningyuan quickly continued: "Yes. I don't bother Eunuch Yang and the others to watch their tricks, but just report to the Lord Ministry."

The two eunuchs hesitated for a moment, then looked at each other again.

Obviously it is not easy to stop Hu Zongxian's captain, an eunuch looked at him and said, "Is there something wrong with you?"

Captain of the personal army: "Don't worry, nothing will happen."

Another eunuch: "Then quietly, you know Eunuch Yang's temper."

Ma Ningyuan hurriedly replied: "I know."

A eunuch: "Go."

The captain of the personal army led Ma Ningyuan to Hu Zongxian with light steps, and a few steps away from him, the captain of the personal soldier stretched out his hand to stop Ma Ningyuan.

In the peripheral light of the candle, they saw Hu Zongxian sitting there with the cloak covered, his body still maintained the posture of sitting upright, but he was already snoring slightly.

The captain of the personal army hesitated looking at Hu Zongxian's thin face, and then looked at Ma Ningyuan.Ma Ningyuan also hesitated, and stopped there. From his expression, it can be seen that he was not afraid, but couldn't bear to call him, so he turned his anxious eyes to the candlelight on the stairs that illuminated Yang Jinshui and the others.

On the stairs, Yang Jinshui led a group to the steps close to the woman.

The two attendants standing at the bottom of the stairs took another step back, and the five-foot-long piece of silk was completely stretched.

Several candles illuminated the last piece of silk at the same time:
——It seems that there are butterflies, and it seems that there are bees, but they are no longer butterflies and bees, but falling petals!
Yang Jinshui: "This is for evening wear, according to your Western habits, that is, evening wear."

The Chinese-speaking businessman translated his words again.At this time, all the businessmen expressed their appreciation sincerely, and one of them asked a few words in a whisper.

The Chinese-speaking businessman immediately translated to Yang Jinshui: "He doesn't understand why such a change is designed for the same pattern."

Yang Jinshui smiled more reservedly: "A real nobleman doesn't want others to notice when he changes his clothes. If you look carefully, you will know that you have changed clothes four times a day. This is a nobleman."

As soon as this sentence was translated, several businessmen spoke to the Chinese-speaking businessman.

The businessman immediately smiled at Yang Jinshui: "They said that the nobles there must like this kind of silk. They, and I, each want [-] pieces this time. Ask Tianchao if there are so many goods."

Yang Jinshui hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Yes! Yes! You can have as many as you want." Having said this, he raised his voice: "Show the sky!"

The hall gradually became brighter—it turned out that every window on the second floor was tightly covered with curtains that were slowly pulled back, and the sunlight outside the window shone in at this moment, and it was actually colorful!

It turns out that there is still a wing of silk with various colors and patterns hanging on each window, and the sunlight shines in through these silks!

At this time, the sound of drums, flute, qin, se and gong all sounded softly.

Hu Zongxian's eyes opened suddenly, and he saw Yang Jinshui and his party laughing excitedly coming down the steps.

The captain of the personal army hurriedly and lightly lifted the cloak on his body. When Hu Zongxian stood up slowly, he found Ma Ningyuan next to him.The relationship between Ma Ningyuan and Hu Zongxian had obviously reached the level of "informality", and it was too late to salute at this time, so he immediately leaned close to his ear and hurriedly said.

I don't know if it's an official's position, the word "quietness" is inevitable, or he has already foreseen that this kind of thing will come sooner or later. Hu Zongxian didn't respond to Ma Ningyuan's report at this time, and his eyes were still With a tired smile, he looked at Yang Jinshui and his party who were gradually approaching.

Talking and laughing, Yang Jinshui and his party approached Hu Zongxian.

"This time they want a total of 50 horses!" Yang Jinshui said loudly to Hu Zongxian with a smile, "50 horses is 750 million taels of silver! Lord Minister, it's all up to you."

Although Zheng Michang and He Maocai also smiled, they did not dare to show Yang Jinshui's excitement in their eyes when looking at Hu Zongxian.Because although Hu Zongxian forced a tired smile in his eyes, the corners of his mouth were tightly closed.

Several foreign businessmen muttered a few more words.The Chinese-speaking businessman said to Yang Jinshui again: "Mr. Sahari and the others said, how many women do you have here who wears silk? Can you sell them a few together with the silk?"

Yang Jinshui smiled: "I don't care about this, I have to ask them." Talking and laughing, he looked at Hu Zongxian, Zheng Michang, and He Maocai.

Zheng Michang and He Maocai just smiled and looked at Hu Zongxian.

Hu Zongxian put away the smile in his eyes at this time: "My dynasty has silk, tea, and porcelain. But I don't sell people."

There was no need for translation, the businessmen had already seen the meaning from his expression, and all of them suppressed their smiles.

"Let's send a few merchants to the post house to rest first." Hu Zongxian stopped talking about this topic and looked at Yang Jinshui.

Only then did Yang Jinshui, Zheng Michang, and He Maocai discover Ma Ningyuan standing beside Hu Zongxian with an urgent expression on his face.Ma Ningyuan's urgent eyes were also looking at them at this moment.Of course Yang Jinshui and Zheng Michang knew that something must have happened, so they met their eyes.

A trace of displeasure flitted across Yang Jinshui's face, but he immediately turned to the businessmen and laughed: "There is heaven above, and Suzhou and Hangzhou below. This team was specially invited from Suzhou for them. A big ship has been arranged , Let a few of you go to the West Lake today and listen to Kunqu opera. We will talk about business tomorrow."

Once this sentence was translated, the businessmen were overjoyed immediately.

Yang Jinshui clapped his palms.

Immediately, several eunuchs came over and led some merchants out with a smile.

"Let's go to the governor's office." Hu Zongxian only said this to Yang Jinshui, Zheng Michang, and He Maocai, and then walked to the entrance of the hall first.

Yang Jinshui, Zheng Michang and He Maocai stared at Ma Ningyuan almost at the same time, and then walked towards the entrance of the hall.Ma Ningyuan followed closely.

According to regulations, the Daping outside the governor's office is four mu square, which coincides with the meaning of "the imperial court rules the four directions".Usually, a three-foot-long flagpole with a bucket stands high in the middle of Daping, facing the gate and the two huge stone lions on both sides of the stone steps, showing its majesty by its spaciousness.

But now Daping, together with the paved official road leading to the gate, is full of people from Chun'an kneeling in darkness, all of them kneeling quietly, only the southeast wind blows the flag on the bucket. Hunting sounded.

On the two horoscope walls on both sides of the stone lions at the gate, there is a row of soldiers with knives standing in front of each wall.

Tan Lun, who was wearing military uniform, was standing quietly on the stone steps in front of the gate.

The kneeling crowd was still silent, and the soldiers carrying knives were also tensely silent.

In the distance, the guards escorted Hu Zongxian and his party's sedan chairs.Across the street was the dark crowd in Daping, Yamen. Horses and sedan chairs could not enter Daping, so they stopped there.Hu Zongxian, Yang Jinshui, Zheng Michang, and He Maocai all walked out of the sedan chair, all looking gloomyly at the Governor's Office that couldn't be entered, at the gate, and at Tan Lun standing there.

But Tan Lun's eyes were only looking at one pair of eyes - looking at Hu Zongxian's eyes, and Hu Zongxian's eyes were also looking at him at this moment.Both pairs of eyes were melancholy and heavy, but Tan Lun's eyes were obviously full of expectation, while Hu Zongxian's eyes were only melancholy and heavy.

Everyone else followed Tan Lun's gaze and turned to Hu Zongxian.At this time, Hu Zongxian had shifted his gaze to the sky above the eaves of the yamen.

Ma Ningyuan hurried over and pointed at Tan Lun in front of the gate: "The grown-ups can see clearly that this man and Qi Jiguang did good deeds!"

"Their accounts will be settled later." He Maocai, the inspector in charge of a province's criminal name, immediately expressed his opinion, "Arrest people first. After arresting people, they will be investigated one by one. What should be dealt with should be reported to the imperial court today."

Several people were waiting for Hu Zongxian to make a statement.

Hu Zongxian: "So many people, who should be arrested?"

He Maocai: "This is the governor's office..."

"It can't be demolished." Hu Zongxian interrupted him, "If it is really demolished, I will be dismissed and return to my hometown. Let's go in through the back door." After saying this, he stopped getting on the sedan chair, turned around and walked to the other side of the street on foot.

Everyone was startled at first.Seeing that he was gone, Zheng Michang and He Maocai had no choice but to follow him.

Yang Jinshui was unwilling to walk, and walked towards the sedan door with a gloomy face.An eunuch quickly opened the curtain of the sedan chair to let Yang Jinshui get in, and the sedan chair followed Hu Zongxian and the others.

Only Ma Ningyuan was still frozen there in a daze, and it took him a while to recover, and when he strode to follow, he turned his head and glared at Tan Lun in the distance.

Tan Lun still stood there quietly.

Entering through the back door into the back hall of the Zhezhi Governor's Office, all the people sat down, and all the people were silent, waiting, waiting for Hu Zongxian's personal army captain to call Tan Lun.

Tan Lun appeared at the gate, but also remained silent, walked to the vacant seat under the big case on the right side of the lobby and sat down.

With a bang, Tan Lun had just sat down when Ma Ningyuan, who was sitting opposite him, threw his gauze cap on the table in front of him: "We are working hard in the front, and others are tearing things up in the back! Simply put, the imperial court changed rice fields into mulberry fields." Do we need people to implement the national policy? If we want to do it like this, we can't do it!"

All eyes were on Hu Zongxian.Hu Zongxian looked out the door with his eyes tightly shut.

Except for Hu Zongxian, Zheng Bichang, the chief envoy who actually manages the government affairs of Zhejiang Province, has the highest position, and everyone looks at him again.

"I don't understand why today's incident happened." Of course, Zheng Michang had to speak, "Four months have passed, and the imperial court asked us to replant less than 50% of the mulberry fields. The cabinet will send it urgently every few days Asking us, this is why Ma Zhifu and the others are rushing to do it. We are all present at the Weaving Bureau to discuss business today. [-] pieces of silk must be delivered by the end of the year, but we in Zhejiang can’t produce so much silk. This kind of trouble, I’m afraid when the time comes It won’t be just the cabinet’s questioning. Eunuch Yang and the others can’t pay the errands with Eunuch Lu, and Eunuch Lu can’t pay the errands with the emperor. After the accounts are settled all the way, I’m afraid we can settle the matter if we just withdraw our errands.”

(End of this chapter)