"Ying Wangfu? How could it be the Ying Palace? Zhao Xiu couldn't help but exclaim, "I thought it was the Zhu family of the former dynasty!" ”

Zhang's eyes stared at his granddaughter, and Zhao Xiu hurriedly explained to her: "When I went to Sanfang to congratulate her earlier, I met Sister Qing, and she mentioned to me that when she returned to Songjiang Province with Jing's sister-in-law, she met the in-laws of the Shanghai prefect at the banquet, which was the family that sheltered the foreign merchant Matt. I learned from the daughter that the sister of the prefect of Shanghai was married to Zhu Lifei's brother, and the two families were in-laws, and the family was ready to wait for the daughter to be twelve years old, and then send them to the palace to be the side concubine of the sixth prince. The granddaughter thought to herself, Matt is attached to this family, and he said that he can be protected by the nobles in Beijing, and he is so arrogant, most of them have climbed to Zhu Lifei's maiden house, right? Because there is a prince here, he will not take the six servants in his eyes. But now there is a letter from the General's Mansion, and it says that this Matt went to King Ying's Mansion, which seems to be somewhat inconsistent with the previous news......"

Zhang was silent for a moment before he said, "Who knows? It is not known whether he stammered with the Ying Wangfu and the Zhu family at the same time. You don't have to mention this outside, and even your brother doesn't have to sue him, and he will talk about it after reading the letter. Zhao Xiu hurriedly agreed, and the grandfather and grandson continued to read the letter.

The old lady of General Zhuguo mentioned in the letter that this foreigner named Matt went in and out of King Ying's mansion and presented a very precious thing to King Ying, as well as a number of rare Western toys, a number of Western gems, a number of precious spices and materials, which won the favor of King Ying. Taking advantage of the momentum of King Ying's mansion, he did a lot of foreign business in Beijing, and the price was very high. At first, the dignitaries in the capital just looked at it freshly. Most people have no intention of buying Western goods that cost millions of taels of silver, that is, they buy some strange gadgets, and only a few people who have more money and have nowhere to use are willing to spend a lot of money to buy those things that they don't know whether they are useful.

That year, the emperor had a long life, and King Ying presented a bonsai with gold carvings and jade, and the flowers made of pearls and jade on it were the same as real flowers. It can also emit a strong floral fragrance, and different flowers emit different fragrances. What's even more amazing is that the bonsai has organic brackets, and those flowers made of pearls and jade can be manipulated by the brackets, either closed or opened. You can enjoy the fragrance of the flowers after they bloom. It can even be made to bloom only one kind of flower, which kind of fragrance it emits, or several flowers open together, the fragrance is mixed together, more fragrant and charming, and its subtlety makes the Imperial Palace Ouchi vibrate.

Among them, Zhu Lifei liked several fragrances on the flower, and King Ying's side concubine Tian offered a few bottles of perfume. It is said to be a potpourri made by the French court, which corresponds to those aromas. Zhu Lifei was very happy. Every day, a different perfume is applied, and it is said that the dragon face is happy. It was also rumored that the gold and jade bonsai was made by foreign craftsmen, and even the various precious gems used on it were brought by foreign merchants from abroad, plus the name of the secret perfume of the French court, which was the favorite of the inner palace.

However, because Namat sells foreign goods, the price is extremely high, and the dignitaries and nobles do not hesitate to spend thousands of gold in order to buy what they like. After listening to the advice of the imperial historians and civil officials, the emperor ordered the internal affairs office not to purchase foreign goods, and advised the princes and nobles not to buy those things. The emperor's face still has to be given, so everyone is a little more restrained, but everyone also knows in their hearts that this emperor has soft ears, and when Yushi speaks, he listens and persuades everyone, but it is impossible to strictly ban those extravagant things. For example, he dotes on Zhu Lifei, Zhu Lifei likes to spray foreign perfume, he didn't stop it, and he likes it very much; The pot of gold and jade bonsai offered by King Ying, he also placed it in the palace to watch day and night; In the first month of the second year, Zhu Li's concubine and her family bought an extremely elaborate gilded Western bell of flowers and birds and placed it in the bedroom, and the emperor also praised it.

Up and down, even if the princes and magnates in the capital say that foreign goods are not good, no one will stop their families from buying foreign goods. At this time, Matt sold all the goods in his hand, made a lot of money, and left Beijing happily, continued to go back to the south to do foreign goods business, and was impatient to return to China to buy, he opened a trading house, sent people to squat in the major ports, and waited for other foreign merchants to bring goods to the shore, he paid to buy the goods from others, and then went to the capital to sell at a high price. His business is very profitable, but no one dares to move, because he still has a share of the Zhu family in his capital, and this share is said to be Zhu Lifei's fat powder money. Even if the position has been decided, her son can't be the crown prince, and he can't ascend the throne as the emperor in the future, he is still a golden branch and jade leaf, and she is still favored now, and others dare not go against her.

As for whether there is still a share of the capital of King Ying's Mansion in Namat's business, no one knows. There are rumors in Beijing that every time Matt transports goods to the capital, he always picks them first from the Ying Wangfu and then the Zhu family. Because of this, many people who thought that their noble status was comparable to the Ying Wangfu and the Zhu family gambled in their hearts, and they didn't want to buy others and pick the rest, so they looked for foreign businessmen. Seeing that it was profitable, other foreign merchants sold goods into Beijing one after another.

Seeing that more and more foreign merchants entered Beijing, Jingzhao Yamen wrote to the emperor after the spring of this year, requesting an edict to restrict foreigners from entering Beijing, it is best to completely prohibit it, foreign goods business can be represented by domestic merchants, foreign merchants do not know the details, even if they commit a crime, it is not convenient to deal with it, if people flee back to their own country, the imperial court is helpless to take him, so people without scruples rashly enter and leave the imperial capital, enter and exit the homes of hundreds of officials and princes, and walk in the inner city where nobles live, if there are people who want to do wrong, the consequences will be unimaginable. The emperor once again listened to the words of his courtiers, and ordered the local government to prohibit foreign merchants from entering Beijing, and the purchase and sale of foreign goods could be represented by domestic merchants.

Therefore, the old lady of the General Mansion of Zhuguo told the Zhang family in the letter that the foreign goods business was very profitable, and their family was very interested, and they were willing to invite the Zhao family to do it together, but it was best to find a local businessman as an agent, both of them were kind-hearted families, and they would not let the English widow suffer, but she and her husband's relatives did not have to enter Beijing. For specific affairs, the old family sent by her can take charge of it, and the Zhao family also has a representative. It just so happened that the old man of her family had an old ministry during his lifetime. Now serving as the general of Caoyun, one of the two Caoyun generals in Nanjing is also from her family, she has asked her son to write a letter to say hello, and they have to take care of the transportation of goods, so there is no need to worry.

The old lady of the General Zhuguo Mansion then said in the letter that the Shanghai Seaside Dam has been repaired, and the will has gone down. It will be presided over by the prefect of Shanghai and the officials of the surrounding prefectures, and the Ministry of Industry will send people to supervise it, and the construction will start after the Mid-Autumn Festival. The restriction will be completed before the beginning of spring, and after the first month of next year, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will personally go to Shanghai for acceptance. This is the first official trip of the newly appointed crown prince after sitting on the throne. Both the government and the opposition attach great importance to it. At that time, there will be high-ranking military generals who will personally escort the crown prince. And there are currently two candidates for this general, one is Cao Taihe, the general of Zhuguo, and the other is not a stranger, it is Hong Wencheng, who used to be the old department of Zhao Jungong.

When the old lady of the General Mansion of Zhuguo mentioned Hong Wencheng, she said that he was an unlucky person, he used to be the commander of the Bannerman Guard, and he was a military attache of the third grade. Although it is comfortable to be on an errand in front of the emperor, there are few opportunities for meritorious service. He has been depressed, finally got the opportunity, transferred to the Liaodong Command Department to command the same knowledge, the work is also good, and promoted, I didn't expect that the winter before last somehow, the Liaodong front military exposed a corruption scandal, several officials in charge of logistics were cut, this Hong Wencheng was not found to have a problem, but he was affected, almost lost his official position, fortunately, the emperor remembered that he had meritorious service in the past, and he was lightly dismissed, so he was demoted three levels in a row, transferred back to Beijing, at first only in the Beijing camp as an idle post, and was transferred to the left-behind division last autumn to listen to it, Just in time for the emperor to hunt in distress, he made a meritorious service, and was promoted to the position of the deputy of the third grade, and now I heard that the emperor plans to promote his official again, whether it is to enter the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies or somewhere else, I don't know for the time being, I heard that there are many people in the court who oppose his promotion for no reason, so the situation is deadlocked. The emperor somehow attached great importance to him, and intended to give him a chance to make meritorious contributions, hoping that Mingchun would follow the prince south, as long as the prince returned to Beijing after accepting the dam, his merit would be implemented, and no one could stop the emperor from promoting him.

The old lady of the General Mansion of Zhuguo told the Zhang family about this matter, because she wanted to tell her that when the prince went south next spring, no matter which general around him was in charge of the guard, he would have an old friendship with the Zhao family. If it is Cao Taihe, the general of the Zhuguo Kingdom, who is going south at that time, he will definitely remind the prince to come to visit the Zhang family, hoping that the Zhang family will make some preparations, let the grandson show his face, leave a good impression on the prince, and wait until the prince returns to Beijing and mentions the title to the emperor, why worry that the grandson can't attack the title? Even if it was Hong Wencheng who came, with Zhao Jungong's grace to him, he would do the same.

Zhang put down the letter, feeling a little uneasy.

Title? She doesn't count on it anymore, but now that the old sister sues her, is there still a chance?

Zhao Xiu was happy: "Grandmother, this is a great thing!" Didn't we say earlier that we wanted to find a chance to meet the prince? At that time, it was also expected that the prince would go south after the dam was repaired and accepted, just like the king of Guangping at the beginning. Now that General Cao or this Lord Hong can travel south with the prince, it is a good thing to remind the prince to come to see you, or to remind the prince to send someone to invite you, we don't have to worry about anything else, just wait for the news! ”

Zhang sighed and nodded in a daze: "Indeed, ......"

Zhao Xiu's attention turned back to another thing that Old Madam Cao said: "I didn't expect that the General Zhuguo Mansion would have the old department working in Caoyun Yamen, there is more than one, now that there are connections in his family, Gwyneth's foreign goods business will not be a problem, Old Madam Cao also let our family work together, she is really a kind person." "If it were someone else, seeing such a lucrative business, it would definitely be monopolized. If the Zhao family was still when the old county prince was alive, of course this would be nothing unusual, but the current Zhao family no longer has that confidence, and the Cao family doesn't have to take them to play together, but the old lady Cao still opened this mouth, which is really rare. This old girlfriend made by my grandmother is really more reliable than her relatives!

However, Gwyneth can't enter Beijing, this is another troublesome matter, whether Matt's backer is Zhu Lifei or Ying Wangfu, they are not all the way to the Zhao family, and the Zhuguo General's Mansion does not seem to intend to offend these two forces for her, so Mrs. Cao only mentioned business in the letter, not anything else, only told Gwyneth not to enter Beijing. So what about Gwyneth's side? (To be continued......)

PS: (Whispering sorry with the lid on the pot, it's late again...... Because I came home late...... ）