A very empty mansion in the capital is very quiet, and there is a small vegetable patch in the corner of the backyard.

It was already May, and the weather was beginning to warm up, and a gray-haired old man was holding a water ladle and wearing a pair of worn cloth shoes, watering the vegetable patch with great interest, which was his preference for half his life, from selecting seeds to cultivating cabbage and turnips, he did it himself, and he had a very strange temper, although the whole mansion was his, but only this vegetable garden was a real forbidden place, and no one was allowed to come near without his permission.

Over the years, since the founding of the country, he has gone through several generations of emperors, from a small secretary, and finally became the secretary of the Ministry of Rites of the Great Chu Empire, this journey has been very difficult, but no one in the government and the opposition has doubted that he has relied on his own character and strength to get to this day.

As I get older, I can't do many things.

Although he has the title of the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, many things in recent years have only been ordered to be done by his officials.

Since ancient times, heroes have been like beauties, and they are not allowed to see white heads in the world.

Originally, he had already prepared to resign from the government, but when the first emperor was the first emperor, after the Qinhuai War, Lao Shangshu was not good at resigning and going into hiding between the wars, and he wanted to wait until the end of the war, the situation would be more stable, and he was asking the emperor to resign, who knew that the first emperor died suddenly and the new monarch ascended the throne.

The little emperor was a king for the first time, and it was even more difficult for Lao Shangshu to leave, so he could only continue to hold on.

The big wedding between the little emperor and the princess of Dongqi, Lao Shangshu personally handled it, and it was very thoughtful, which also comforted Lao Shangshu's heart, after the wedding, Lao Shangshu took care of fewer things, thinking about waiting for a while to really unload all the burdens in his hands.

There are not many old ministers who have gone through three dynasties in the court, once a son of heaven and a courtier, in public and private, Lao Shangshu feels that it is time to leave.

No matter how busy, he has to take a little time out every day to work in the vegetable garden, there are few things recently, and there is more time to stay in this garden, it is already dusk at this moment, looking at the garden full of greenery, Lao Shangshu is also in a good mood, put the water scoop in his hand into the bucket, and sit down on a bamboo chair on the edge of the vegetable garden.

He put his hand on his forehead and looked to the west, where the sun was setting and everything seemed peaceful and quiet.

At this moment, he saw two figures in the distance walking quickly towards this side, Lao Shangshu frowned, only waiting for the two to approach, Lao Shangshu's face was a little difficult to see.

Of course, he had clearly seen who was coming, his son and grandson, but without his permission, even the closest person came without permission, which made Lao Shangshu very unhappy.

Although the Yuan family is not a big family in Beijing, no one dares to underestimate the existence of this family, someone once said that the Yuan family represents the heart of the world's scholars, and every word Yuan Laoshangshu said is what the world's scholars want to say.

Qingliu scribes have always been in awe of the Yuan family, and because of this, the Yuan family also has an unusual status in the court.

Lao Shangshu sits in the Ministry of Rites, and his eldest son Yuan Moxian is now also in the Ministry of Rites, in fact, when the first emperor was there, the first emperor was ready to issue an order to promote Yuan Moxian as the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, but was resolutely opposed by Lao Shangshu, only saying that there are many talents in the Ministry of Rites, and Yuan Moxian's ability is not enough to take on the position of a waiter, because of this, Lao Shangshu's character is praised by the scholars.

Although the eldest grandson Yuan Rong has no official status, he has a wide range of friends, and he can be regarded as the number one person in the capital Shilin.

In fact, with Yuan Rong's talent, coupled with the background of the Yuan family, it is not difficult to get an official and a half-job, but this Yuan Dagongzi has a very strange temperament, and he does not want to embark on the road of official career, it is strange to say, Lao Shangshu does not care about this, sometimes Yuan Moxian is angry with Yuan Rong for this, Lao Shangshu comes forward to defend it, Yuan Moxian is in awe of Lao Shangshu, since Yuan Rong has Lao Shangshu behind him, Yuan Moxian will no longer care, as long as Yuan Rong does not make too much trouble, he will go with him.

However, Yuan Rong suddenly reined in a few years ago, and the imperial court wanted to set up the Haibo Division, Yuan Rong was very active in bringing in several major families in the south of the Yangtze River and raising 500,000 taels of silver, and the emperor soon made a decree to formally establish the Haibo Division Yamen, appointing Yuan Rong as the Admiral of the Haibo Division, and the affairs of the Haibo Division were fully handed over to Yuan Rong to manage.

There was not much disagreement from the court to this.

Since the founding of the country, I have never heard of any Haibo Division, for this new thing, the ministers are muttering in their hearts, no one knows what it can be made, and the court set up this yamen, and do not pay a tael of silver, it is all raised by Yuan Rong himself, in addition, the Yuan family has an excellent reputation, and now the eldest prince of Yuan is also serving the court, and the ministers will naturally not go to the Yuan family to embarrass it.

More importantly, at the beginning, the trade with overseas was almost all in the hands of the East China Sea family, although it was necessary to pay taxes to the household every year, but the taxes paid were only one tenth.

Therefore, after the establishment of the Haibo Division, the relevant yamen also actively cooperated.

Yuan Rong personally went to the East China Sea, let people build merchant ships, but also to establish a trade transit station, this sea Bo Division is easy to say, but if you really want to do it, it is a lot of things, several major merchants in the south of the Yangtze River and the Tian family are responsible for supplying goods, but other things, but Yuan Rong still has to lead people step by step.

Because of his busy affairs, Lao Shangshu often can't see his grandson for ten days and half a month, and at this moment, he saw Yuan Moxian's father and son coming, although he was a little unhappy without his permission, but after all, his grandson came over, and his face softened.

Yuan Moxian's father and son stepped forward, Lao Shangshu observed the words, and saw that the faces of the two of them were a little ugly, so they knew that there was trouble, but they were also calm.

"Father!"

Yuan Moxian arched his hand, Yuan Rong also bowed to the old Shangshu in the back, the scholarly family, etiquette is important, even if there are no others, the Yuan family will not lose the courtesy.

Lao Shangshu bowed his head slightly, glanced at Yuan Rong, and then said, "Is something wrong with Haibo Division?" ”

Yuan Rong hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Grandpa, not only did something happen, but also ..... Still a big deal! ”

"Big deal?" Lao Shangshu raised his hand and stroked his beard and said: "When the Haibo Division was first established, I told you, either you don't do it, since you do it, you will always encounter a lot of trouble, so you have to know the difficulties and solve them one by one." ”

Yuan Rong smiled bitterly: "Grandpa, if you want to say that it is completely the business of the Haibo Division, it is actually not counted, but it is just a little involved with the Haibo Division." Glancing at Yuan Moxian, Yuan Moxian's expression was grim, and he said, "Just tell your grandfather what you know, don't hide it." ”

"Yes!" Yuan Rong groaned slightly, and then said: "Grandpa, this Haibosi court has not allocated money, you know about this." ”

"Hmm." Lao Shangshu bowed slightly: "Didn't you raise the silver taels by yourself?" Could it be that there is not enough silver? ”

"It's not that there's not enough money." Yuan Rong approached Lao Shangshu's side: "The silver raised is naturally more than enough. Since last year, the merchant ships have been built, the Jiang family used to conduct overseas trade, and there was already a fleet, and the Governor of Xin Dadu was not bad, and those merchant ships had already been classified as the East China Sea Division, but the Governor of Xin still transferred two from it and handed them over to our Haibo Division, and the new ships built were also in accordance with the style of the previous merchant ships. In addition, many things such as shipping routes and sailors have been completed, and the first batch of trade preparations will begin in August and September. ”

Lao Shangshu said: "Since everything is ready, what's the problem?" ”

"Tian Family Pharmacy." Yuan Rong said in a low voice: "Huguo Gong explained at the beginning, this Tian family medicine store has a share in the Haibo Division, all kinds of medicinal materials have to walk from Tian family medicine, Tian family medicine store has been prepared, many medicinal materials should be transported to the East China Sea in the past two days, before leaving, I am ready to check the accounts with Tian family medicine store, after all, she is the person who protects the country, and it is related to the Tian family's affairs, I am ..... do it myself!" After a slight pause, he lowered his voice and said, "But now I only know that the owner of the Tian family's medicine store has been imprisoned!" ”

"In prison?" Lao Shangshu was also stunned: "Then what happened?" ”

"I heard that something happened at the hospital." Yuan Rong said: "The medicinal materials of the Tai Hospital have always been supplied by the Tian family medicine store, but two days ago, the Tai Hospital said that the Tian family medicine store was shoddy and fake, and this matter was handed over to the Kyoto Prefecture for disposal, and the Kyoto Prefecture Tie Zheng sent someone to put the Tian Dongjia in prison early this morning. ”

Lao Shangshu stroked his beard and said: "The Tai Hospital is for the diagnosis and treatment of people in the palace, and those medicinal materials are also used by the nobles in the palace. ”

Yuan Rong said: "Grandpa, even the peddlers and pawns know that the Tai Hospital is for the nobles to see the sick, so doesn't the Tian family medicine store know this truth?" Although the doctors in the Tai Hospital are not all masters of Xinglin, there will always be no problem in identifying medicinal materials. No matter how stupid the Tian family is, they won't make such a mistake, right? ”

"Father, Rong'er's words are not unreasonable." Yuan Moxian finally said: "This case is always a little weird. ”

"Tian Dong's family is related to Kaibo Division, and if something like this happens, I wanted to go to Kyoto Prefecture to find Tie Zheng to understand." Yuan Rong said: "However, the child is worried that if he acts rashly, he may get involved in some things that should not be involved, and the Tian family medicine store has a deep relationship with the Jinyi Qi family, so the child thought about it, and it seems better to tell the Jinyi Qi family about this matter first, so that the Jinyi Qi family can come forward." ”

Yuan Moxian nodded slightly and said, "You are not stupid in this matter, you know that you can't come out easily." ”

"But before I got to the Protector's Mansion, the child was stopped at the street." Yuan Rong's expression became grim, and he said in a low voice: "The people of the Criminal Department are ambushed around the Protector Mansion, and every street leading to the Protector Mansion is infested by people from the Criminal Department, they ask where the child is going, and as soon as the child says the Protector Mansion, they let the child leave quickly." ”

Lao Shangshu's face tightened, and he frowned: "You mean...... The Protectorate Mansion is being targeted by the people of the Criminal Department? ”