When Shen Rui returned home from the Yang family, Shen Li, Shen Jin, and the third master Shen Run had already gathered in the study outside the Shen Mansion early.

Shen Rui went to the Xu family's side to ask for peace, and hurried over to the study.

Entering the door, without waiting for Shen Rui to open his mouth to report the news he got from going to Yang's house today, the third master first handed Zhang Dahong's post to him, and Shen Rui took it and saw that it was the post of Zhang Hui, the second grandson of the British father-in-law, and asked him to talk about the "Huanxi Sha" teahouse on the 26th.

Shen Rui's heart moved, he and Zhang Hui didn't have any friendship, but Zhang Hui was Brother Shou's personal guard, could it be ...... Brother Shou wants to see him?

Thinking about it, he was a little excited, and he had already made up his mind to maintain his relationship with Brother Shou. It's just that what does Brother Shou mean when he sees him at such a time?

Thinking of what Yang Tinghe said, Brother Shou had personally tried the case, so coming to see himself must be related to the case of Ning Fan and the Shen family, and Shen Rui's heart couldn't help but beat a little faster.

What should he say then? Brother Shou is extremely smart and suspicious, not the person who can easily fool the past with words.

Shen Rui subconsciously glanced at everyone in the room again, Shen Cang knew Brother Shou's identity, but he had never made it clear to him. He also never told his family that he knew Shou's identity. Now...... He thought about it again and again, but he didn't say anything at all.

The third master saw Shen Rui's thoughtful look, but when he also felt that this matter was abrupt, he couldn't help frowning and said, "This is the post just sent." Our family has never had any contact with the British government, but when Brother Jue went, the second son of Zhang came to mourn, so last month the British princess got married, and our family also prepared a congratulatory gift according to the routine. Second son Zhang, is it your friend? What is the purpose of looking for you at this time, do you know what you are doing? He was quite skeptical that the British government was involved behind this move.

Shen Rui said: "He is my friend's cousin, he has met a few times before, and he is quite bold." I don't know why, but after a few days, it's not a bad thing. "After that, my heart is moving again, September 24 is the Wanshou Holy Day, that is, the emperor's birthday, if Brother Twenty-six Shou also goes, he will have to go and turn over the things brought back by Songjiang in a while, and find a few exquisite things to make a birthday gift for Brother Shou.

Shen Li also read the post, but said with a calm face: "The British government has good skills, and it is clear that it has been investigated." As he spoke, he pushed the post in front of Shen Rui and clicked on the address on it.

Huanxi Sha is a word brand, Shen Ruiyuan didn't care, and when he saw Shen Li pointing out the address, he found out that this was actually the teahouse that was given to Shen Li by his biological mother Sun next to the Hanlin Academy, and Shen Li wanted to give it back to him.

The teahouse is not a prestigious place, the business is cold, only the price is cheap, and most of them are places where poor Hanlin goes, and it is impossible for noble children like Zhang Hui to come to the door.

Then there is only one explanation, Zhang Hui already knows that this is the Shen family's industry.

Although this is not a particularly important secret, it is difficult not to be regarded as a demonstration if someone finds out the bottom of it, and is placed in front of your eyes, and you are not a well-known person. Shen Li was naturally dissatisfied.

Is it difficult for the Emperor to know something? Shen Rui muttered in his heart, and had no choice but to say helplessly: "Zhang Hui...... It's Jinyiwei's. "It's Jinyiwei, if you want to check someone, it's not easy to be tight.

Shen Li's face was even more ugly.

For choosing such a location, Shen Rui also wondered in his heart, what does Brother Shou want to say? However, he could only explain to Shen Li according to his own understanding: "Although Zhang Hui is the second grandson of the Guogong Mansion, he is only a junior in the end, and he doesn't have any reliable property in his hands, so he chose this place for safety." ”

Shen Li only said: "Be careful." "But in the end, it's much more down-to-earth on your own home's turf.

Shen Rui responded, changed the topic, and talked about today's conversation with Yang Tinghe in the Yang Mansion. Of course, because of Shen Li's presence, he would not mention the selfishness of the three pavilion elders who did not want Wang Hua to enter the cabinet, and only said that Liu Jian and Wang Hua had always been at odds.

Speaking of Li Dongyang, he also said that Yang Tinghe kept himself silent about the affairs of the Yan family, which involved Shen Yuan, which was Shen Rui's "biological father" and "hidden for His Holiness".

Shen Jin said with some guilt: "It's all because of me that I have such a ......."

Shen Li said unceremoniously: "Your father is confused, what does it have to do with you." ”

Shen Rui also persuaded: "Things have happened, it's useless to think too much, why should Brother Jin suffer himself." ”

The culprit Shen Yuan had no intention of repenting, but let Shen Jin suffer a lot and feel guilty, what is it.

Moreover, Shen Jin's guilt is still to come, even if Li Dongyang is not angry and retaliate, these people under him will give Shen Jin small shoes to wear in order to curry favor, and Shen Jin's life in Hanlin Academy is only afraid that it will not be easy.

As for Shen Jin's marriage, a person who offended Li Ge Lao is the champion of the new department, and his future is also limited, and he is afraid that the big families and even the middle-sized eunuchs will not come to recruit sons-in-law. And there is the matter of "regretting the marriage of the salt merchant as soon as he gets rich", and it is impossible for the family who cherishes his daughter to agree to marry. Therefore, what kind of people can come up in this situation, and how can such people be relatives.

Shen Jin's foundation is already thin, he has offended the big guy, and without the help of the Yue family, the future will be even more difficult.

Shen Jin also knew that his career was going to be bumpy, so he sighed: "Now, I just want to stay in the Hanlin Academy for a few years first, and when I find an opportunity, I can be more comfortable." ”

Shen Li said in a deep voice: "Where is the future accurate, who knows what the court situation will be like in three years, and there is no need to make this lamentation first." ”

Shen Jin said yes.

For Li Dongyang, there is nothing to say about a few people, they are high-ranking characters who can't reach them.

Shen Li had visited his father-in-law Xie Qian since he returned yesterday, and Xie Ge Lao only reassured him with two words to tell him not to worry too much, but he never said anything to protect the Shen family. The elders all have their own thoughts, and what can Shen Li say.

But for the He family who were running around, the third old man sneered: "At the beginning, He Dongsheng should have ordered me three things, but now I have only done one, and I have paid back 50,000 silver, but I still owe two." ”

said that He Dongsheng wanted to kill He Pingsheng at the beginning, and He Pingsheng made a plan to lead the water to the east, so that He Dongsheng thought that Shen Jin knew the inside story and did not dare to move him rashly.

Shen Jin didn't know what to do, so he came to Shangshu Mansion to find Shen Rui, and then he also got into Shangshu Mansion. It was the third master who came forward to negotiate with He Dongsheng, so that He Dongsheng promised to promise the third master three things. The first one was to take 50,000 taels of silver to the Sun's weaving factory that was deceived at the beginning, and the remaining two pieces of the third master said that he had not thought about it yet, and he wanted to "ask for it in the future".

Shen Rui said: "What is the third uncle going to ask him to promise?" I'm afraid that he turned his face and didn't admit it. ”

The third master said: "What is it that can make He Dongsheng attack a brother with a promising future?" ”

They had analyzed this matter at the beginning, but they didn't come up with a reason.

But if he knows about this matter now, it will undoubtedly be a big trick for He Dongsheng, and I am afraid that he will not dare to jump again.

"Is the third uncle going to cheat him again?" Shen Ruiqi said. But it won't backfire.

Shen Jin thought for a while and said, "Now that He Pingsheng is out of the county, he can't ask him for a while. Of course, he may not be willing to say. I think that when I went to visit He Pingsheng, I saw that He Beisheng seemed to be very protective of him, and I thought about it, He Beisheng Xu also knew something. ”

Shen Li said: "A few days after He Nansheng was taken away, He Beisheng served Mrs. He to go to Beijing, and now lives in He Dongsheng's mansion. ”

The third master also knew the news, so he nodded and said, "He Beisheng City Mansion is far worse than Brother Nai. ”

Shen Jin immediately volunteered: "I'll go to investigate, He Pingsheng and I also said something specious, if He Beisheng really knows, if I mention it, he is afraid that he will show his feet." ”

The third master nodded and said, "You should also be more careful, He Dongsheng is a ruthless master." After a pause, his face also showed a bit of ruthlessness, and he said coldly: "Even if you don't ask, you have to scare He Dongsheng and let him know that the Shen family is not calculated by their brothers!" ”

Except for dealing with the He family, the rest of them no longer took any action according to what Yang Tinghe said. Although the letters that Shen Ying sent to Shen Rui were useless, after Shen Rui discussed with the third master and Shen Li, he still prepared a thin gift for each person according to the list, and sent it in the name of Shen Ying's greetings, which could be regarded as maintaining interpersonal relationships.

*

After sending Shen Li and Shen Jin away, Shen Ruicai told the third master about the attitude of several pavilion elders towards Wang Hua.

The third master could only sigh.

Shen Rui couldn't help mentioning the matter of salt introduction, because the third master analyzed the cause of Shen Luo's death with him, and suspected that it had something to do with Zhang Yanling, so Shen Rui paid special attention to the Zhang family.

In front of Yang Tinghe, it was not good to ask more about the Zhang family, Shen Rui asked the third master what was going on with this salt introduction, he had paid too much attention to this matter in the court before, but the salt quotation in all dynasties and dynasties was profitable, and there was no way to get it, so it was also a way for high-ranking officials and nobles to get rich.

The third old man said: "The first emperor was merciful, and in the sixteenth and seventeenth years of Hongzhi, several nobles were allowed to beg for salt. I don't want Xun Qi to taste the sweetness and get worse, this is still before the death of the first emperor, the salt of Qingyun Marquis Zhou Shou and Shouning Marquis Zhang Heling attracted 170,000 yuan, which attracted impeachment from the court. At the beginning of September, the head of the household department Shangshu Han Wenyan said that this generation was called buying and supplementing the residual salt, and it was really encroaching on the main lesson, and the book asked to depose the salt that was given out. The emperor only said that the first emperor Xu Zhi, and he had not yet spoken. This time it has also been a lot of bullets. ”

Shen Rui frowned and said, "How much salt is attracted in the world!" The northwest is still fighting a fierce war, and salt is still needed to exchange grain, this group of imperial relatives and relatives ignore these, how can the princes of the court not care! ”

The third master sighed and said: "The Zhou and Zhang families have been in power for a long time. And the first emperor was too modest, which raised their hearts. It was the Zhang family who came to ask for it, and the Zhou family saw the benefits, so they also came, and the first emperor was afraid that it was not good for the Zhang family not to give the Zhou family. The first emperor still wanted to rectify the salt administration......"

This Zhou family is the maiden family of the former Empress Dowager Zhou, a veteran relative of the three dynasties.

The Empress Dowager Zhou, like Empress Zhang, has two younger brothers, both of whom have been knighted, one is Zhou Shou, the Marquis of Qingyun, and the other is Zhou Yu, the Bo of Changning.

The Empress Dowager of Zhou is the concubine of the Yingzong Dynasty, the biological mother of Emperor Xianzong, and has raised Emperor Hongzhi of Xiaozong for many years, both Emperor Xianzong and Emperor Hongzhi serve the Zhou family to filial piety, and the Zhou family itself is also extremely powerful and domineering, so the Chenghua and Hongzhi dynasties, the Zhou family is powerful, and it can be said that the Zhou brothers are not inferior to the Zhang brothers in terms of prestige and unscrupulousness.

In the inner palace, the Empress Dowager Zhou has never looked down on her granddaughter-in-law, Empress Zhang, and whether it is seniority or means, Empress Zhang is far worse than the old Empress Dowager.

You know, as soon as Zhou was promoted to the queen mother, she began to try to replace the status of the queen, and after being blocked by the courtiers, she was able to make a trick, so that Queen Qian and Yingzong were not in the same mausoleum, a few zhang away, and filled the earth to bury the tunnel, leaving a blank for her to be buried with Yingzong - until she died in the seventeenth year of Hongzhi, and Emperor Hongzhi did not find out about this when he was buried, but because Mr. Feng Shui said that it was not suitable to break the ground again, in the end it was her old man who was buried with Yingzong.

Such a ruthless character, and he is deeply loved by Emperor Hongzhi, Empress Zhang is no longer dissatisfied with this mother-in-law, Rao is that she has the emperor's favor, and the matter involves the Empress Dowager, Emperor Hongzhi, who puts filial piety first, will immediately show his unhappiness, and Empress Zhang has to endure it.

Outside the palace, the two families fought constantly, and once gathered to fight, and the capital was in an uproar. But with the Empress Dowager here, the Zhou family still faintly pressed the Zhang family.

Therefore, in the matter of salt introduction, since Emperor Hongzhi promised the Zhang family, it was not good to refuse the Zhou family again.

However, with the aging of the Empress Dowager Zhou, the Zhou family is now also showing a bit of decline.

This can be glimpsed from a marriage - the concubine of the eldest princess of Chongqing married Zhang Yanling's nephew.

The eldest princess of Chongqing is the only daughter of the Empress Dowager Zhou, and later married the concubine Zhou Jing, although the surname of the concubine is Zhou, but it has nothing to do with the Empress Dowager Zhou's maiden family. Zhou Jing was also deeply loved by Emperor Xianzong and was in charge of the Zongren Mansion. This couple is also a prominent couple in the Chenghua and Hongzhi years, and the eldest princess passed away in the eighth year of Hongzhi and the eldest princess passed away in the twelfth year of Hongzhi. Now the head of the Zhou Mansion is Zhou Xian, the eldest son of the eldest princess, and he has sealed the Jinyi Guard to command the affairs.

Zhou Xian's sister-in-law married Zhang Yanling's nephew immediately after she finished her mother's filial piety.

Although it is not from the princess, but in the end, it is the daughter of the Horse Mansion, and Zhang Yanling's nephew is just the son of a squire, with such a disparity in identity, and if you talk about it carefully, there is still a difference in generation, and it has also achieved marriage! This marriage was not widely publicized, but the upper echelons of Beijing also knew about it. Many people ridiculed Zhou Xian's stuttering posture for being too ugly, and of course, there were also secretly worried that the Zhou family's vein was declining, and they had to start bowing to the Zhang family.

After the death of the Empress Dowager and the first emperor of Zhou, the little emperor is about to ascend the throne, and the relatives of the Zhou family are getting farther and farther apart, and the Zhang family is the emperor's maternal uncle, which is a foregone conclusion.

When Shen Rui and the third master talked about the Horse Mansion from the Zhou family, they would naturally mention the Zhou Mao who killed Shen Luozhi, who was the concubine of the Horse Mansion. The third master only learned about Zhou Zhang's marriage during the national funeral, and he specially went to check that the concubine who married into the Zhang family was the same mother as Zhou Mao.

It was Zhou Mao who competed that day, but it was Zhang Yanling who set up the banquet.

Afterwards, Zhou Xian personally came to apologize, and expelled his brother Zhou Mao in the name of "unfilial piety", but not long after, Zhou Mao was "drunk and fell into the water and died", I am afraid that it is to kill his mouth and cover up the truth for some people.

The third master's face became more and more ugly, and his fists were clenched.

Shen Luo, who fell from a horse and died, was the only heir of the three brothers in the second room, and was a child under the care of the three brothers together, a sixteen-year-old boy. If there were no changes back then, Shen Luo would have already responded to the spring festival, and he would not have been able to set up the door.

But if it is really the Zhang family, now that the Zhang family is in full swing, it is a fool's dream to want revenge and justice.

Shen Rui was also silent when he heard it, the Zhang family was a whole Zhengde Dynasty that was very happy, and it was not repaired until the Jiajing Dynasty.

Shen Rui pondered for a moment, and then asked: "In the matter of salt introduction, do these two families have the same interests, or are they actually fighting openly and secretly?" ”

The third master said: "Originally, I was afraid that my own family would be less than that family, but now, I am afraid that I will join forces with the cabinet ministers." However, there are also side things that these two families do not deal with, and now the palace is electing for the emperor. ”

Shen Rui said: "It's not that the Zhang family took the girls from relatives to train early, could it be that the Zhou family also had this idea?" ”

The third old man sneered: "They are all relatives on the throne, this road is familiar, the Zhou family has been beautiful for two dynasties, how can it make the Zhang family 'specialize in beauty'." ”

Shen Rui frowned, and suddenly sympathized with Brother Shou in his heart.

The third old man said coldly: "My Ming Dynasty is not as good as the previous dynasty, this harem is all selected from the people, and the elders will never allow a family of relatives to do it for a long time." The strength of the relatives is a hidden danger in the court. It is not yet known what this salt introduction is aimed at. ”

*

At this time, in the Forbidden City, there were also people talking about this salt introduction, but it was Brother Shou who was sympathized with by Shen Rui, and sitting opposite him was his mother, Empress Dowager Zhang, and his grandmother, Mrs. Jin.

Next week or Monday and Thursday more, ^_^

(End of chapter)