Xi'an, the palace of the king of Qin.

Zhu Yixi, the king of Qin, was uneasy, the bud tip tea that had just been picked from the halfway up the mountain was also tasteless, the thieves in northern Shaanxi became more and more fierce, and the imperial court was basically helpless, I heard that even the soldiers of the guard station had joined the thieves, and the situation became more and more out of control.

Although the thieves did not threaten Xi'an City for the time being, such as Wang Jiayin, Dian Dengzi, Li Laochai, Yilong, Sweeping King, Red Army Friend, Ke Tianfei, Liu Daojiang, Chuang Wang, etc., they all gave themselves names, obviously did not take the imperial court in their eyes, let it develop, Xi'an, an important city in Shaanxi, will become the target of these thieves sooner or later.

Originally, under the suppression of military towns such as Guyuan and Yansui, the thieves still restrained themselves, and they never thought that the Tartars would enter the fortress, and the strong soldiers of the two towns rushed to King Qin, which made the thieves rampant again.

Zhu Yiluo sighed softly and fell into the chair in a dejected manner, it seems that the imperial court can't count on it for the time being!

In order to protect himself, he spared no money and bought thousands of catties of pig iron, preparing to build weapons and armor, no matter what, he also wanted to ensure that Xi'an City and Qin Wangfu were not lost.

Although the thieves had not yet harassed Xi'an, he had a gut feeling that the rich Xi'an must be targeted by the thieves, and it was only a matter of time before he made a move.

As the king of Qin, no matter life or death, without the will of the imperial court, he must not leave Xi'an, that is to say, he can not be like the officials of the imperial court, he can abandon the city and flee at the critical moment, once the city of Xi'an is broken, waiting for him can only be the death of the family, and from the first generation of the Qin king in Xi'an, guarding Xi'an is an important duty of the Qin Palace.

Although there are many county kings in Xi'an, these second-class princes, one by one, except for bullying men and women, drunk and dreaming of death, do not know anything, I don't know what they want to do.

He originally hoped to buy weapons and armor directly, and those waste officers in the military town who saw the money would definitely ask for it, but then denied it, such a target was too big, the one in the Forbidden City was said to be very suspicious, and once he was targeted by the brocade guard, he would not die or fade the skin.

Zhu Yiluo was anxious, with his meaning, he should discuss the defense method of Xi'an City with Wang Genzi, the guard general in the city, but he is the prince, he can't make friends with foreign ministers, and he can't interfere in the affairs of the city.

has the responsibility of defending the territory, and has no right to transfer troops, he is more helpless than a pig.

What's even worse is that his purchase of pig iron for self-protection has recently caused an uproar in the city, and some people with bad intentions have even slandered him for being disobedient.

Not to mention that he is over fifty years old, and he has long lost the sharpness of his youth, with the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, the wind and rain, that is, he was asked to go to Beijing to ascend the throne with a lantern, and he was not interested in taking over this hot potato.

In addition to thoroughly investigating the rumors, he is just waiting to see what happens, maybe after a while, the rumors will be self-defeating, after all, he has no idea of these random moves, let alone relevant actions.

"The way of this world, even self-preservation, is also very difficult!" Zhu Yiyi couldn't sit still, frowned and stood up, pacing in the room, but there was no good way, the rumor-mongers seemed to have evaporated from the world, and they didn't leave any message at all, "Maybe it was spread by the servants in the mansion and used by people with ulterior motives!" ”

"Lord Wang, the minion found this!" The chief housekeeper Zhu Erhe was in a hurry, looking around the room, and seeing that Zhu Yiluo was the only one, he took out a copper square waist card from his arms.

"Jin Yiwei?" Zhu Yiluo was taken aback in his heart, but there was no slight emotion on his face.

Although the status of Jinyiwei is not as good as before, since Chongzhen's ascension to the throne, almost no longer beautiful, but it is still the eyes and ears of the Son of Heaven, mainly to supervise officials and clans around the country, if it has a relationship with the palace, there is absolutely no good thing, in other words, if there is a good thing, it is definitely not Jinyiwei who comes to the door.

Zhu Yiluo just glanced at the waist card, then retracted his gaze and said lightly: "Where did this come from?" ”

"Lord Wang, this was picked up by the slave outside the courtyard on the east side of the palace," Zhu Erhe lowered his eyebrows, although he was in charge of the money and food in the palace, but in front of the main master, King Qin, he never dared to straighten his waist.

When he picked up the Jinyi Wei's waist card today, his heart "chuckled", and he didn't have time to think about it, so he quickly met the prince after a little processing.

"The east side of the courtyard?" Zhu Yiyi was startled, grabbed Zhu Erhe's collar, and wanted to scoop saliva and swallow him, "What are you talking about, how can there be a waist card of Jinyiwei in the palace?" ”

"Ahem...... cough ...... "Zhu Erhe was almost out of breath, the prince has always been steady, Mount Tai collapsed in front and did not change color, but today he is so out of shape, although he vaguely knew that this was not a trivial matter, but he didn't expect the prince to be so surprised, "The prince ...... The minions really don't know! ”

Zhu Yiluo hatefully loosened Zhu Erhe's collar and pushed him out, Zhu Erhe stumbled, almost tripping on the threshold, he staggered to his feet, shrank in the corner and didn't dare to say a word.

Zhu Yiluo paced back and forth in the room, sometimes frowning, sometimes moving his right hand backwards in front of him, unconsciously clenching his fists, sometimes shaking his head gently, and his whole body was obviously relaxed.

After a long time, he raised his head, his eyes were full of gloom, "Immediately investigate thoroughly in the mansion, who has ever seen Jinyiwei enter the mansion." ”

"Lord Wang, the slave has made a preliminary inquiry, and no one in the palace has seen Jinyiwei," Zhu Erhe "is only afraid of ......"

"What are you afraid of? Say! Zhu Yiluo was a little irritable, and he lost his previous calmness, and his tone was obviously not good.

Zhu Erhe has served in the palace for most of his life, especially after becoming the chief housekeeper, his relationship with the prince has become more intimate, and he doesn't care about the prince's annoyance, knowing that he is irritable, "Prince, the slave thinks about it, I am afraid that there are two possibilities, one is that someone deliberately warns, and the other possibility is that Jinyiwei entered the palace to investigate and accidentally fell ......."

The last glimmer of hope in Zhu Yixi's heart was shattered, no matter which possibility it was, it showed that the palace was targeted by Jinyiwei, although the results of Zhu Er's analysis were extremely unfavorable to the palace, but it was the most reasonable.

He first glanced at Zhu Erhe, and then looked out the window, in the empty backyard, as far as the eye could see, there were only a few dead trees swaying in the wind, helplessly being played by the spring breeze.

"Jin Yiwei must have listened to the rumors, these fools!"

"Lord ......"

"Such an important waist card, how can it be lost at will," Zhu Yiluo retracted his gaze and fell on the chair in a daze, "There must be someone to warn!" ”

"Lord Wang, do you want to check with the commander?"

"Don't bother with that, how will they admit it?" Zhu Yiluo shook his head, a look of helplessness appeared on his face, and the wrinkles on his forehead became more profound, as if he had aged ten years all of a sudden, "However, I'm afraid the information has already reached the Jingshi." ”

"Lord Wang, what now?"

Zhu Yiluo said resolutely: "Let the prince let out the news in the city, there is pig iron for sale in the palace, but the price is thirty percent higher than the market." ”

"Lord Wang, at such a price, I'm afraid it's difficult to sell, right?"

Zhu Yiluo smiled mysteriously and said: "This is to let the wind go to the outside world, and when it is time to sell, the price will be negotiated temporarily, and the action must be fast, and it will be known to the whole city." ”

He has his own calculations, the prince of the Ming Dynasty, because he can't leave the fiefdom, can't make friends with foreign ministers, can't engage in any work, but they have the right to live, in their own fiefdom, do anything, rob the people's daughters, bend the law for bribes, resell goods, etc., as long as they don't participate in the rebellion, the fief is an independent kingdom, earn some silver to live a decent life, it's not a big deal at all.

With the increase in the population of the palace, but the amount of rice remains the same, the livelihood of the palace will also be difficult, so each palace will try to get some silver to make up for it, as long as it is not too out of line, the court is generally blind and closed, and there are not many unsightly ministers who can't get along with these princes.

The Qin Wangfu hoarded the pig iron, and then sold it at a price of 30%, clearly for the silver, even if the Jinyi guard got the information in front of the emperor, it was just a few words of light reprimand, which was not a big deal.

"Lord Wang, the slave understands, and the slave will go to inform the son."

"Erhe, keep an eye on the buyer, even if it is sold to the Mongols, don't sell it to the thieves in the north."

"Yes, Lord Wang!" Zhu Erhe respectfully kowtowed to Zhu Yiluo before getting up and leaving.

In an inconspicuous tavern in Xicheng, Wu Ermao was dining with his brothers, and when he heard about the sale of pig iron in the palace, he immediately grinned, "Brother Shangguan, it's really a good means." ”

"The head of the house has won the award," Shangguan Siyu spit out the mutton in his mouth and said with a smile: "Brother has no other ability, this matter of climbing over the wall and penetrating the courtyard is a master!" ”

"Go back this time, I'm afraid that the eldest brother will have to break the bank again, come, brother respects you!"

"You're welcome!" Shangguan Siyu smothered half of the old wine, blinked, and said, "It's all the credit of the brothers, I'm just running errands under the command of the master!" ”

"Brother Shangguan don't have to be polite, today's matter, you are the first merit," Wu Ermao said in a low voice: "Lord Mu has arrived in Xi'an, there is nothing for us to do, we just drink!" He summoned the meat that was being gulped, like a black egg that had not been eaten in a hundred years, "You can send a message to the eldest brother: the fish has taken the bait." ”

"Yes, sir!" The black egg rushed to gnaw the meat and bones clean, and licked the meat juice stuck to his hands #net, and then reluctantly went out.

Pig iron is a strategic material, in order to prevent a large amount of inflow into Mongolia, the imperial court has always forbidden the private to buy and sell, but with the profound heritage of the Qin Palace, there is still a way to get rid of it, the trade went very smoothly, less than half a day, thousands of catties of pig iron, was snapped up.

Zhu Erhe immediately reported to Zhu Yiluo, "Lord Wang, there are a total of five people who bought pig iron, and they were transported to Chengdu, Hanzhong, Luoyang, Taiyuan and Xining, probably because they were worried that the road was unsafe, and there was no pig iron flowing to the north. ”

"That's good," Zhu Yiluo put his hands behind his back and turned his back to Zhu Erhe, "Are there any strange buyers?" ”

Zhu Erhe said carefully: "No, they are all familiar faces who have shops in Xi'an City and have been in business for many years.