Glaring at Cui Fu, Xu De said angrily: "Don't talk nonsense, ask you how your things came from, our family tells you Cui Fu, if the case is cleared this time, it's fine, if you can't find out, you will have to be Ling Chi." ”

Cui Fu's body softened when he heard this, and he hurriedly said: "Father-in-law Xu, Father-in-law Xu, this is someone else who gave it to the slave!" ”

"Who gave it to you?" Xu De looked at Cui Fu and asked loudly again.

Cui Fu had a stiff expression on his face at this time, and he didn't say his name directly, which made Xu De's eyes glaze out, and he saw that there was something going on here! Turning his head to look at the little eunuch beside him, Xu De said with a smile: "Call Zhao Laofu to our family." ”

The little eunuch nodded and went out, but Cui Fu was confused, what was this going to do?

It didn't take long for the little eunuch to come back, followed by two people, and the two behind him were nothing special, and at a glance they knew that they were guards. But the little old man walking in front looked quite unusual.

Let's talk about the old man, in fact, he is not old, he looks like he is in his fifties, he is carrying a big box on his back, and he looks like Lang Zhong.

The little eyes were squinted, with a smile on his face, and he didn't look at Cui Fu after coming in, and the respectful Xu De saluted: "Zhao Laofu has seen his father-in-law." ”

Xu De nodded, put down the teacup for drinking, pointed to Cui Fu on the ground and said: "Take it down and go through it, our family has something to ask, our family knows your methods, don't kill our family, the rest is up to you." ”

"Our family has only one request, and the next time our family asks, we need him to know everything and say everything."

When Zhao Laofu heard this, he immediately laughed: "Father-in-law, look at it!" As he spoke, he instructed the two people behind him: "Take it down, let's take care of this father-in-law." ”

Cui Fu was frightened at this time, he was not stupid, this was going to punish himself!

It was too ruthless, didn't he hesitate for a moment, hurriedly climbed a few steps forward, and said loudly: "Father-in-law, I am willing to confess!" I'm willing to confess! As he spoke, he kowtowed to Xu De.

Xu De was unmoved by Cui Fu's pleas, and he didn't believe Cui Fu now.

It's not okay to dare to hide it from yourself, if Cui Fu is willing to confess just now, then he can still let him go for the sake of everyone being a eunuch. But now it's not going to work, what I want to get is the truth.

The wording of the emperor's secret decree is very harsh, and even the words "acting cheaply" come out.

I have been on an errand for the emperor for so many years, and I have never had such a holy decree, and the most is all kinds of restrictions and requirements, whether it is for the East Factory or his own internal factory, which Xu De feels.

But this time it was different, this time the emperor's decree was not only harshly worded, but also full of anger between the lines.

If this errand goes wrong, it is estimated that his fate will not be too good. Although his position seems to be stable, if he wants to take it out, it is a matter of one sentence, and there is no one else in the inner factory who can take over him.

Xu Decai won't waste time for a Cui Fu, and if the first gap can't be opened, it won't be able to get it later.

Zhao Laofu didn't care about Cui Fu's struggle and shouting, and seeing that Xu De didn't speak, he directly ordered: "Plug your mouth, this yelling is not good, and you can't speak if your voice is hoarse." Seeing that Cui Fu was pressed down by the two people behind him, Zhao Laofu smiled and saluted Xu De: "The little one retires!" With that, he bowed and walked out.

When Zhao Laofu left, the expression on Xu De's face became serious.

Originally, Xu De thought that Cui Fu would not have a problem here, and he could say that if he asked, it was really not good, it was a matter of scare, but he didn't expect it to be quite complicated. Turning his head and glancing at the little eunuch, Xu De commanded: "Summons the people of Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang, Fujian, Guangxi, and Guangdong. ”

"Give our family a good check on this Fushou Ointment, our family needs to know all the things about this Fushou Ointment as soon as possible."

"Where it was produced, who produced it, who resold it, where it was resold, tell them that if anyone doesn't care about this matter, the family law will deal with it. If anyone does a good job, our family will be rewarded. ”

The little eunuch hurriedly agreed: "Yes, father-in-law, the slave and maid will give an order." ”

When the little eunuch left, Xu De once again picked up the teacup and drank tea, and the emperor asked him to check the matter, so it must be investigated.

The order soon spread out, and the inner factory in Jiangnan suddenly jumped up, and everyone began to investigate the news about Fushou cream. No one wanted to make meritorious contributions, and no one wanted to be punished, so the internal factory began to mobilize in full force.

The messages were quickly summarized and sent to Nanjing City like the wind.

That night, Xu De saw Cui Fu again, compared to the last time, Cui Fu sat on the ground with a pale face, and the whole person seemed to have been fished out of the water. My body trembled and I was frightened.

Seeing this scene, Xu De turned his head to look at Zhao Laofu, frowned and said, "Zhao Laofu, are you stupid?" ”

Zhao Laofu hurriedly said: "Father-in-law, this is not to blame the little one, the small one didn't punish him, and as soon as the posture was opened, he was scared and urinated, and the whole person hit the pendulum and fainted several times." ”

Glancing at Cui Fu, Xu De couldn't help but scold: "Useless things." ”

When Cui Fu heard this scolding, he raised his head suddenly, and saw Xu De at a glance, as if he had seen a savior. Crawled over on his knees and hugged Xu De's thigh, and said bitterly: "Father-in-law Xu, spare your life!" I'm willing to say anything! ”

Glancing at Cui Fu, Xu De sneered and said, "Our family asks you, where did your Fushou paste come from?" ”

Cui Fu hurriedly said: "It was given to the slave by the He family, and it was from the He family." ”

Xu De was stunned, where did I say where did I come from, you said where did you come from? Teasing our family, is it not just about to turn his face and see the little eunuch next to him look at him again and again, Xu De was stunned for a moment, and then reacted, this should be a family surnamed He.

Glancing at Xu Fu with a little embarrassment, Xu De continued to ask, "What is the origin of this family?" ”

Cui Fu didn't dare to hide it this time, and hurriedly said: "Back to my father-in-law, this He family is a big family in the south of the Yangtze River, and there are buying and selling shops in many places, and the silk restaurant does everything in business, and there is a Chunfeng Building in Nanjing City that is the business of the He family." ”

Big Guys?

Xu De sneered, a big family is the best, and if it's not a big family, it's not worth our family's personal action.

"Let's talk about you and this He family!" Xu De said lightly: "Starting from the beginning, you can't hide it in the slightest, otherwise your fate will definitely be worse, and you won't be so good next time." ”

"Yes, yes!" Cui Fu nodded again and again, telling the story as if pouring beans from a bamboo tube.

The position of town guard eunuch has been around for a long time, and when it was first established, they did not have such power, and their main responsibilities were not what they are now. The whole process of the town guard eunuch is the town guard and the eunuch army, and the original intention of the establishment is to monitor the local army.

Among the town guards and eunuchs in various places, the town guards and eunuchs in Nanjing are naturally the top priority.

This is the capital, and there are so many garrisons, although the Duke of Wei is a hereditary prince who has guarded Nanjing for generations, but the imperial court has always been the heaviest surveillance here. This also makes the power and responsibility of the eunuchs in Nanjing very large and respected.

It's just that with the passage of time, the local guard office has been eroded, and there has been no rebellion in various places, and the duties of the town guards and eunuchs have changed.

Coupled with the intensification of the struggle between the emperor and the civil officials, the eunuchs in various places became the continuation of the imperial power in various places. In addition to the duty of building the army, he also had the duty of monitoring and probing the place, which once again greatly increased the power of the eunuchs.

In these years, the treasury was empty, the emperor's expenses were also severely reduced, and the eunuchs had new responsibilities, collecting treasures and silver for the emperor.

The appearance of this duty made the town guard eunuchs notorious, after all, these people are basically clever and robbing, plus enriching their own pockets, they do too many bad things. It's just that under the banner of the emperor, the local people can't be provoked, and the stammering of people with hearts makes them even more arrogant.

In the Jiajing generation, the prestige of the eunuchs in the town increased greatly, and they collected countless treasures for the Jiajing Emperor, and countless auspicious and alchemy things entered the palace.

In this there is Fushou ointment, which is deeply loved by Emperor Jiajing.

After Cui Fu learned that there was Fushou paste in Nanjing, how could he not be interested, he became interested in it instantly, so he began to look for merchants who sold Fushou paste. Since he was a eunuch in Nanjing, and he had a lot of businessmen who befriended him, this kind of thing didn't take much effort at all.

Soon someone came to Cui Fu to provide Fushou ointment, and this person was the He family.

The conditions proposed by the He family were very generous, not only giving Cui Fu Fushou paste for nothing, but also promising Cui Fu to sell Fushou paste with them. Through Cui Fu's hands to expand their sales channels of Fushou Cream, this time to Zhu Yijun to pay tribute to Fushou Cream, in addition to Cui Fu's solid pet, but also to open up sales.

If the emperor likes the Fushou ointment, it will inevitably spread in the capital.

Once it spreads in the capital, the magnates in the capital will inevitably flock to the Fushou ointment, and the He family will definitely be able to make a fortune at that time. Now the Fushou paste on the market is very expensive, one or two Fushou paste and one or two gold.

This is not fiction, but true, a tael of Fushou paste costs a tael of gold.

Hearing this price, the corners of Xu De's mouth twitched, good guy, it's so expensive! It is conceivable how much profit there is, it is really a good business, but Xu De also knows that this business is about to come to an end.

Glancing at Cui Fu, Xu De put down the tea bowl in his hand and said with a light smile: "No wonder you don't say it, it turns out that this is the case!" ”

If he hadn't been frightened by Xu De, Cui Fu would not have said these words if he was killed, and he offered treasures to the emperor not to please him, but to sell goods. But now that he doesn't say it, he can't do it, Cui Fu can see that if he doesn't tell the truth, this Xu De will have to kill himself.

"Our family asks you, who is the person who mentioned the Fushou ointment to you?" Xu De lowered his head and stared at Cui Fu with burning eyes.

Cui Fu was stunned, he didn't expect that Xu De was not asking about the He family, but about this matter, of course he would not forget it. After pondering for a while, Cui Fu spoke: "It's Zhao Lian, the waiter of the Nanjing Ministry of Industry." ”

"The slave maid remembered that at a banquet, Zhao Lian took out the Fushou paste and asked the slave maid to try it."

Glancing at Cui Fu with pity, Xu De said lightly: "You also used Fushou ointment?" ”

A flash of fear flashed in Cui Fu's eyes, as if he had thought of something, and said in fear: "Use, use." ”

After hearing this, Xu De understood that Cui Fu was frightened by Zhao Laofu, but was addicted to drugs. The emperor explained to himself in detail the disadvantages of Fushou cream, once you smoke it, you will soon become addicted.

After every addiction, if you don't take it, the whole person will suffer like never before, and eventually become inhuman. After becoming addicted, as long as he doesn't smoke, he wants to smoke, and in that case, he is willing to pay anything in exchange for a little Fushou ointment.

It can be said that at that point, the whole person is like a crazy demon.

Originally, Xu De didn't believe it very much, but seeing this scene, Xu De believed it.

"Zhao Lian, the waiter of the Nanjing Ministry of Industry!"

Xu De banged on the table, the expression on his face was cloudy, this was not good news for him.

If it only involves merchants, or if it involves the gentry, it's not a big deal. But when it comes to incumbent officials, this is not easy to do. Now Xu De wants to think about how big this case is, once it gets big, it will be a big case.

Since the Hongwu period, the imperial court has not set off any major cases, and once a big case is set off, then things will be troublesome.

If you want to arrest Zhao Lian, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, you must tell about the plot to assassinate the emperor, otherwise it is basically impossible for you to move the squire of the Ministry of Industry in Nanjing. But once this case is determined, it will be a major case of rebellion.

When the time comes, the people involved in it will be the ones who have been robbed of the family and exterminated, and the army has been picked up.

But Xu De also knows that these people have the intention of flattering and petting and doing business, but they are afraid that they have no intention of assassinating the emperor. Once a big case is set off, I can't help myself at that time.

This put Xu De in a dilemma, and Xu De still couldn't make up his mind for a while.

After thinking about it, Xu De felt that he should find this Zhao Lian and talk about it first!

Turning his head to look at the little eunuch, Xu De opened his mouth and said: "Go and invite this Ministry of Works, Zhao Lian, remember, it is invited, don't alarm others." ”

"It's my father-in-law!" The little eunuch agreed, turned around and ran out quickly.

Although Nanjing is not Beijing, there are still six yamen here, acting for half of the southern part of the country. Although Nanjing's six departments are far inferior to Beijing in terms of status, they are more comfortable here, suitable for retirement, and also suitable for accumulating strength.

In many cases, the imperial court regarded Nanjing as a retirement place for officials, and also as a training place for reserve officials.

Zhao Lian is a young and ambitious official, he is forty-six years old this year, and he is still very young for an official. Now that he is the waiter of Nanjing's Ministry of Works, it can be said that he has a bright future, and once he is transferred to the capital, he will be able to make great achievements immediately.