Back to Daming to be a genius

Chapter 66

(PS: The second update will be delivered.)
Brothers Wei Liangqing and Fu Yingxing didn't know what happened at Tongzhou Wharf until the afternoon—these two biggest yamen lords in the Ming Dynasty usually slept until the sun was in the west, and they were called to Shiba Wharf early today by Wei Zhongxian He got on the boat and fell asleep after getting on the boat. Not only did he know nothing about what happened at Tongzhou Wharf, he even didn't know about Zhang Weixian's young son Zhang Qing getting on the boat.However, after Xiao Chuan, Chen Jianhuang and others finished talking about what happened on the river at Tongzhou Wharf, the two masters immediately jumped three feet high and shouted, "You are so brave, you even dare to collide with the boat of the imperial court and imperial envoys, eat it!" The leopard is daring?!" "Turn around, all the boats turn around, and go back to Tongzhou to settle accounts with that bastard surnamed Li!"

"Brother Wei, Brother Fu, forget it." The young master Zhang who had calmed down persuaded: "We are here on business, not out to fight, and we have a fight with others within a day of leaving Beijing. Good looking. If you want to take revenge, don’t worry, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future.” Speaking of this, Young Master Zhang added sinisterly, “I heard that Li Jiaguo’s family is as rich as an enemy, if it can be used as military pay, it can relieve the treasury of the Ming Dynasty. A lot of pressure."

Seeing Young Master Zhang's sinister and vicious appearance, Wei Liangqing and Fu Yingxing shivered at the same time, thinking: "Why does this guy look like an uncle (uncle) so much?"

When it was completely dark, a fast boat from Dongchang caught up and brought a message from Wei Zhongxian. In the message, Wei Zhongxian told Young Master Zhang that he already knew about the Tongzhou Wharf and praised Young Master Zhang for taking care of the overall situation. The decision to bear the burden of humiliation was right, and he comforted Young Master Zhang, saying that this place, East Factory, would come back sooner or later.At the same time, Wei Zhongxian warned Young Master Zhang, saying that Dongchang had received a secret report, and that Li Jiaguo had also gone south, probably to prevent Young Master Zhang from raising funds for disaster relief, so Wei Zhongxian suggested that Young Master Zhang should not park in Yangzhou, the hometown of the Li brothers Instead, they should go to Nanjing first, find Li Shi, the eunuch of weaving in Jiangnan and chief tax supervisor of Jiangnan, and learn about the actual situation in Jiangnan from him, and then it will not be too late to raise funds.After explaining these things, the Dongchang fan servant rushed back to the capital overnight.

With Wei Zhongxian's instructions, Young Master Zhang and his party were much more cautious on the road. The fleet would try not to dock if they could, and they ate and slept on the boat. Even when they arrived at Linqing Wharf, Young Master Zhang didn't get off the boat to go home. Take a look—in fact, Young Master Zhang was afraid that Song Jin, Xiao Chuan and others would hear the notoriety of the former Young Master Zhang in Linqing, so he reasoned that his official duties were important, and he wanted to learn from the ancient sages and sages to pass through the house and not enter the house, so he just ordered to continue Hurrying, Song Jin, Xiao Chuan and others admired him.At the same time, the person who made Young Master Zhang feel very strange was Zhang Qing. This kid hid in the cabin with four servants all day long since he got on the ship. He and Fu Yingxing invited Master Zhang to play ice, fire and poisonous dragon drills on their boat. Master Zhang kindly invited Zhang Qing to go with him, but after explaining what ice and fire are and poisonous dragons at the cabin door, several teacups flew out of the cabin, almost breaking Zhang Da. The young master's handsome nose bridge made him so angry that young master Zhang never took the initiative to speak to Zhang Qing again.

The advantage of traveling day and night is that it is fast. It took only ten days to set off from Beijing on May 29. On the evening of May [-], Master Zhang’s fleet arrived at the first destination of the trip - Nanjing. !The five official ships had just berthed at the official wharf. Jiangnan weaving eunuch Li Shi, Governor Yingtian Mao Yilu, and censor Xu Ji led a large group of officials from Nanzhili to greet them. Wei Zhongxian's biggest confidant in Jiangnan, Li Shi In fact, it was better. Other officials shouted at Tanhua Langchang, Tanhua Gongshort, and the imperial envoy from afar. Pan Ruzhen, the governor of Zhejiang, was even more enthusiastic. Welcome the imperial envoy to Nanjing!"

"Governor of Zhejiang? He doesn't work in the Yamen of Hangzhou, what is he doing in Yingtian Mansion?" Young Master Zhang was taken aback, and subconsciously muttered.Li Shi who was next to him replied slowly: "Don't blame the imperial envoy, Mr. Pan is a very enthusiastic person. He heard that the imperial envoy, you are the person who personally protects the tour at nine thousand years old, and he was in a hurry to meet the imperial envoy, so he came directly. Ying Tianfu came to pay his respects to the imperial envoy. But please rest assured, the imperial envoy, Ying Tianfu is only two days away from Hangzhou, Pan Daren will not miss the official business."

"It's Lu Wanling again." Young Master Zhang murmured in his heart, and then turned to look at Li Shi, wanting to see what Li Shi, the number one lackey of Wei Zhongxian and the number one eunuch in the south of the Yangtze River, who was scolded by the Donglin Party members as the number one lackey of Wei Zhongxian and the number one eunuch in the south of the Yangtze River, looked like with a green face and long teeth. After looking at it, Young Master Zhang couldn't help being a little dazed.If our Young Master Zhang is a handsome young man, then Li Shi is definitely a middle-aged handsome man with outstanding charm. Wu Wu - Young Master Zhang even had such a thought in his mind, "Fortunately, this guy is a eunuch, otherwise, if we walk with him, the girls and daughters-in-law on the street might just peek at him and not me."

At this time, Wei Liangqing, Fu Yingxing and others also disembarked one after another. Jiangnan officials headed by Pan Ruzhen, Mao Yilu and Xu Ji immediately threw away Young Master Zhang, and jumped on him like flies seeing blood, greeting each other, kowtowing, It completely exposed the ugly face of welcoming Wei Zhongxian's nephew under the banner of the so-called imperial envoy.Only Li Shi didn't move at all, just bowed slightly to Young Master Zhang, and said calmly: "I'm going to weave Li Shi in the south of the Yangtze River, and welcome the imperial envoy Master Zhang to come to Yingtian."

"Eunuch Li, please don't be polite." Eldest Young Master Zhang returned the gift, trying to put on an elegant appearance, and said with a smile: "This time, I will go to the south of the Yangtze River to raise funds for disaster relief, and I still need Eunuch Li's great assistance. From now on, Please also take care of Eunuch Li."

"Master Imperial Envoy, you are welcome, this is what our family should do." Li Shi agreed without being humble or overbearing, and then greeted Song Jin who had just disembarked: "Eunuch Song, I haven't seen you for many years, and you have gained weight again. I am really happy to congratulate you." Song Jin laughed and said there, hand in hand, and Li Shi stood aside to say goodbye to each other, but left our imperial envoy, Young Master Zhang, alone to the side.At this time, Zhang Qing, who was wearing a square crown and a small hat, led four servants off the official boat, tilted his head and sneered at Young Master Zhang: "Congratulations, Mr. Imperial Envoy, it's time to arrive, but the people here seem to be Don't pay much attention to you?"

"Do you think I like those courtesies? Since you like it, then I will let you taste the feeling of being surrounded by people." Young Master Zhang snorted coldly, pointed at Zhang Qing and said loudly: "My lords, please look this way, this way Look, this Mr. Zhang Qingzhang is the younger son of Mr. Zhang, the British Duke of the Ming Dynasty. This time he will go to the south of the Yangtze River with this imperial envoy, and please take care of him."

"Young Master of the British Lord?" All the officials in the south of the Yangtze River were dumbfounded at first, and then they suddenly shouted, and a large group of people rushed towards Zhang Qing like flies seeing blood, and surrounded Zhang Qing tightly in an instant. The young master took the opportunity to lead Lu Wanling and Zhang Shitou away.Zhang Qing was so angry that he yelled in the crowd, "Zhang Haogu, you dare to play tricks on me, remember, I can't spare you!"

After finally finishing the courtesies, Yingtian Governor Mao Yilu immediately invited Master Zhang and his party to his governor's office for dinner, and hoped that Master Zhang and his party could stay in his governor's office, and Master Zhang readily agreed.At the moment, everyone got on their horses and rushed to the Governor's Yamen together.When he arrived at the destination, Mao Yilu had already entertained him with a sumptuous banquet in the Governor's Yamen, and naturally there was another hypocritical, intimate and boring ceremony, so we skipped it.It was not until the banquet was over that Young Master Zhang seized the opportunity to talk to Li Shi, hoping to have a private conversation with Li Shi for a while, Li Shi nodded slightly in agreement, leaving Mao Yilu to entertain guests in the hall, and led Young Master Zhang to the A room in the back hall.

The two of them sat down, the maid served the fragrant tea and immediately stepped back, Young Master Zhang, who had drunk a lot of wine, felt his mouth was dry, and he wanted to pour down the teacup.Li Shi over there shouted: "Tan Hualang, wait a minute." As he spoke, Li Shi took out an unusually delicate silver needle from his sleeve, stirred it a few times in Young Master Zhang's teacup, and observed that the silver needle did not change color. Li Shi tried again that his teacup was not poisonous, and then he put the silver needle back into his sleeve with a calm expression, picked up the teacup and said lightly, "Tanhualang, please use it."

"Eunuch Li, you must be too careful." Eldest Young Master Zhang also picked up his teacup and said with a smile, "This is the governor's office, and someone will poison our tea?"

"Our family went to Yingtian to take office in the first year of Tianqi. In the past five years, our family has been assassinated 93 times, with an average of more than one and a half times a month." Li Shi said lightly: "One of them was that the assassin paid off The cook of our family poisoned our food. Fortunately, our family had a bad appetite that day and gave the food to Xiao Yuzi, the personal eunuch. As a result, Xiao Yuzi died, and our family also developed this habit. Even At the banquet, our family never eats food and wine that no one has touched."

"So dangerous? Who is behind the scenes? Have you found out?" Young Master Zhang was really taken aback.Li Shi said calmly: "What our family does in Jiangnan is to offend others. The giant merchants and mine owners in Jiangnan and the people in their hands are all enemies of our family and are also the masterminds behind the assassination of our family. There is no way to check." Speaking of this, Li Shi glanced at Young Master Zhang, and added with a smile: "Tan Hualang, my family advises you, it is best to learn from our family's habit in the future."

Young Master Zhang, who also had many enemies, shivered, nodded subconsciously, and said with a wry smile: "Eunuch Li, thank you for your hard work." Li Shi shook his head and said slowly: "Our family is not suffering, our family is the emperor, It’s a dog sent to Jiangnan by Nine Thousand Years, and our family has to take care of this family. If anyone from Jiangnan wants to evade every penny of the imperial court’s taxes, they have to go through our family first.”

"It's no wonder that so many eunuchs in the palace want to snatch Jiangnan Tax Inspector, the world's most fat servant, and they can't take it away. Just because of his loyalty to the court, if I were the emperor or Wei Zhongxian, I would not be willing to change him." Zhang Da The young master suddenly had a feeling of awe towards Li Shi - if it were changed to ask the young master Zhang to say that he is Wei Zhongxian's dog in front of other people, the young master Zhang would definitely not be able to do it; but Li Shi can speak so calmly, So natural, Young Master Zhang couldn't do it.

After thinking for a while, Young Master Zhang asked Li Shi: "Eunuch Li, the next official came to Jiangnan to raise funds for disaster relief. Nine thousand years old told me that I should ask you to understand the actual situation in Jiangnan before starting to raise funds. Now take the Taking this opportunity, I would like to ask Eunuch Li to advise me on how to start raising funds for my trip to the south of the Yangtze River?"

"Tanhualang, please forgive our family's blunt words, your errand is difficult." Li Shi also confessed, and said directly: "To tell you the truth, Tanhualang, I came to our house early and received the news that you are coming to Jiangnan to raise funds for disaster relief. At that time, our family thought that you were young and energetic, and you only cared about meritorious deeds without knowing the hardships of the world, and you were doomed to fail. For this reason, our family sent a letter to Jiuqian, urging him to say that talents are rare, It's better to let you stay in the capital and serve the court directly. Don't let you come to the south of the Yangtze River and return without success. A young man who only knows how to brag may really be able to handle this impossible job well, so we need our family to fully cooperate with you."

"Thank you for the praise from Nine Thousand Years, and thank you, Eunuch Li, for your kindness." Young Master Zhang said in a deep voice, "Zhang Haogu has made up his mind, for the sake of Nine Thousand Years, for the court, and for the disaster-stricken fathers and villagers in his hometown, no matter how difficult this job is No matter how much you offend someone, Zhang Haogu must insist on doing it, and do it well!"

Li Shi stared at Young Master Zhang, and found that Young Master Zhang's eyes were full of firmness, unwavering, as if he had made up his mind.Only then did Li Shi sigh, and said: "Okay, then our family can only do our best. Tanhualang, don't you want to know the actual situation in Jiangnan? Then our family can tell you that Jiangnan is rich, with hundreds of thousands of dollars. There are quite a few merchants and mines in the Wanshen family. Even ordinary people live a much better life than other provinces. Even poor people with no land and no land can easily live in mines and tea mountains as long as they have hands and feet. , Find a job in various workshops and chambers of commerce that can support your family. It is reasonable to say that 50 taels of silver will be shared among tens of millions of people in the south of the Yangtze River. In fact, it is very light! But the problem is, you How can we get the common people to donate money?"

"Tanhualang, don't forget, why is our family being scolded and beaten like rats crossing the street in Jiangnan? It's because our family collects taxes and money from them!" Li Shi took a sip of tea gracefully , Continued to say slowly: "The prosperity of the world, everyone is famous, and the prosperity of the world is all for profit. Whether it is an official gentry, a businessman or a shopkeeper, or an ordinary person, if the money is in their pockets, who will return it?" Are you willing to pay out for no reason? Our family collects taxes for the imperial court in the south of the Yangtze River, and they still try to sneak away, inciting the miners and common people to riot against taxes, strike and protest, and now you come to call for donations and disaster relief, what do they have? To give you money for free? What good will it do them?"

Speaking of this, Li Shi sighed again, and said calmly: "Our family really can't figure out, what method can you use to get the gentry and people in Jiangnan to donate money? And you have to donate a full 50 taels of silver." What our family is worried about now is that as soon as you posted the notice calling on common people and gentry to donate for disaster relief, Tanhualang, there were rumors that [-]% of the money you raised went into your own pocket, and [-]% went to all levels of handlers Most of the officials are under the leadership of the officials, and the last half will be sent to the disaster area - our family collects taxes in the south of the Yangtze River, and the people say so about our family. Well, the general situation has already been said by our family You can ask me anytime if you don't understand something specific about Tanhualang."

"Thank you, Eunuch Li, for your guidance. I am very grateful." First Young Master Zhang thanked Li Shi first, and then said solemnly: "To tell you the truth, Eunuch Li, the situation you mentioned was already anticipated before coming here. That's right, my lord The officials called on the people and gentry to donate money for disaster relief, and they took money from them for no reason. Everyone has selfishness and would be reluctant; in addition, the Jiangnan area is the old nest of the Donglin traitor party. Once they incite the people to create public opinion and spread rumors, If you say that the purpose of calling for donations is to fill your own pockets, then the job of the subordinate will only be more difficult—not to mention 50 taels of silver, even 5000 taels of silver will be difficult to raise."

"Then you are still so confident? What are you going to do?" Li Shi asked calmly.Young Master Zhang suddenly bared his teeth and smirked, and leaned into Li Shi's ear and whispered softly, "Eunuch Li, I have carefully considered the situation, and the disaster is like a fire. If the fundraising is all over the south of the Yangtze River, when the money is collected, there will be starvation everywhere in the disaster area. Therefore, the officials only plan to raise donations in Nanjing, Songjiang (Shanghai), Yangzhou, Suzhou and Hangzhou, the five wealthiest cities in the world. , use this method to raise donations..."

After finally waiting for Young Master Zhang to finish speaking, Li Shi, who was neither emotional nor angry, widened his eyes and opened his mouth wide. After a while, he came back to his senses and exclaimed: "Absolute! It's absolutely amazing! No wonder nine thousand years old You are so optimistic about Tanhualang! Tanhualang, you really convinced our family to come up with such a brilliant idea! Maybe you can really raise the 50 taels!"

"Eunuch Li has won the award." Young Master Zhang said modestly, and then said seriously: "In fact, Zhang Haogu believes that if this method can be operated well, it may become a fixed source of income for the imperial court, whether it is disaster relief or Liao pay. , can be raised by this method.”

"Maybe, you have to try it once before you know." Li Shi was noncommittal, and asked again: "But if you do this, Donglin's gang of traitors will definitely impeach you, even though there are nine thousand years to protect you Don't be afraid. But if they continue to spread rumors and cause trouble in these five prefectural cities, it will still be difficult for you to raise 50 taels, so how are you going to deal with it?"

"Eunuch Li, don't worry, this is already expected by the lower officials." Young Master Zhang said with a smile: "So the lower officials are going to do it in the open and in the dark at the same time, and they will be caught off guard by killing Donglin's traitors! In Mingli, the lower officials use the old method , put up notices everywhere calling on the gentry and common people to donate actively, so that the traitors of Donglin will target Xiaguan Ming's move, let Xiaguan use this as a shield, and let them have no energy to take care of other things. As for the secret, it is necessary to work hard And all the adults in Jiangnan, when we suddenly use this trick, even if the Donglin traitors want to destroy it, it will be too late." Speaking of this, Young Master Zhang added, "Of course, after it is done, the first contribution will be Li Your father-in-law."

Li Shi remained calm, and after a long time of calculation, he slowly said: "The first contribution is nine thousand years old. Seeing your determination to help the victims, our family will do our best to help you sing this play to perfection."

(End of this chapter)