Imperial capital, Zhengyangmen.

The two cities inside and outside the capital are connected. The inner city is in the north, and the outer city is in the south, in a standard "convex" shape.

There are two gates on the north, east, and west sides of the inner city, but there are three gates on the south side, which are collectively called the nine gates. There are three gates in the south, Chongwen in the east and Xuanwu in the west. The south gate in the middle of this is the Zhengyang Gate.

Out of the south three gates of the inner city, it is the lower half of the "convex" character - the outer city.

The outer city was built in the 32nd year of Jiajing after I attacked Beijing. The east is the Guangqu Gate, the west is the Guangning Gate, the south is the Yongding Gate on the central axis and the left and right Anmen of the east and west.

In the outer city "convex" character in the lower half of the left and right corners of the two short horizontal strokes, that is, the people called the outer city root, but also opened two north-facing doors, called the east and west doors.

Therefore, the inner and outer cities of the capital division were combined, and there were fifteen city gates.

On this day, the scorching sun hung high over the imperial capital, and there were no clouds.

The small sedan chair that Yu Jie rode in the priest of the Ministry of Rites came out of the Zhengyangmen Urn City, turned left and right, and turned into a small street in the Dongbian Gate.

Yu Jie, who was dressed in civilian clothes, took out the copper and gave the sedan chair man an account, and saw the sedan chair walking away, and the pedestrians around him didn't pay attention, so he walked dozens of steps quickly and flashed into a secluded alley on the side of the street.

The alley was no more than five feet wide, and was lined with small low-slung doors. The further you go inside, the more the stench becomes.

The imperial court spent a lot of money, and there was a shortage of silver everywhere. It was common practice for the Kyoshi to clean the stinky ditch in March every year (Note 1) because the silver had stopped for several years. If you don't dig the stinky ditch, it will be filthy in summer and autumn.

Yu Jie covered his mouth and nose with his sleeves and walked all the way, and when he walked to the door of a dilapidated house, he lightly buttoned the door knocker.

The door opened, revealing a small courtyard. The green flowers and plants in the courtyard made Yu Jie, who was sweating profusely, suddenly feel cold.

The price of Beijing is expensive, and the most expensive thing is the house. Housing prices are expensive, and the inner city is far more expensive than the outer city.

Yu Jie concealed from his parents, wife and children, and quietly placed this small courtyard with his own inadequate eunuch bag, the purpose of which was not to speculate in the house, but to raise the child.

Seeing that the old man was free to come today, the little concubine was so happy that the willow branches shook gently, and she hurriedly asked the childish little girl ring to moisten the veil with cold well water and bring it to the old man to wipe. The lord is really hard, and he is still working hard for the important affairs of the court on a hot day. Look, this face is covered in sweat!

Yu Jie lay naked on the couch and didn't say a word.

It wasn't until the concubine wiped her whole body with a moistened handkerchief that he slowly turned over and sighed as he stared at a spider that was forming a web on the beam.

"Master, the affairs of the court cannot be done!"

The concubine carefully checked the fruits of her labor, and wiped away the traces of water left on the nose, and then gently hammered her legs for the old man.

"The sedan chair on this hot day opens the windows on all sides to breathe. If something goes wrong with the heat, the concubine will ...... in this life."

"This official doesn't want to provoke discussion......

"The concubine knows, and the master doesn't want to provoke the tigress!" The concubine pouted.

Women can't enter the door, not even a concubine, they can only be called concubines, so they are naturally angry.

Yu Jie understood in his heart, so he did not respond to the concubine's dissatisfaction.

He stared at the industrious spider blankly and said, "Besides, the sweat on this face, sir, I also deliberately kept it for people from the palace."

Master, I am not Donglin, I don't have their belly of righteousness, and I don't have the help of the Shimen Township Party. Master, I have only this body of stinky sweat!

Uh, that's weird! As soon as I move, sir, this sweat will flow straight down!

The fathers-in-law took a look, hey, Lord Yu is diligent and hardworking, and he doesn't say anything, he is a rare solid person today!

Maybe one day, these words will fall into the ears of the emperor, and my lord and I will come to work from time to time, and from then on, the official fortune will be prosperous, and the clouds will rise to the ......"

"Master, since you came back from Shudi, you have hit great luck! You see, from the outsider to the middle of the Lang, from the second to the top of the top, what a progress! ”

The concubine used the word "progress" instead of being promoted to make a fortune, which made Yu Jie laugh in her heart. Of course, this word was heard by him from Shu Shizi and came out of his mouth.

"The top spot, that is, the top spot of the Ritual Department, and not the top spot of the Ministry of Officials, what kind of progress is that!" Yu Jie pretended not to think so.

"It doesn't matter, it's there! Maybe one day the people above will fall. At that time, sir, you have your rank, your qualifications, and your saints...... Maybe you can be a university scholar! ”

The concubine's sweet words made Yu Jie very useful. However, thinking that entering the cabinet had to go through the election of the courtiers, and the current first assistant Zhou Yanru was the leader of Donglin, Yu Jie's face turned cold.

"Is the soap sold out?" Yu Jie asked in a low voice with a gloomy face.

"Almost! Listening to the shopkeeper Huang, now the epidemic in Beijing is fierce, and the spring and autumn days are the peak of the disease. He wanted to cover up the goods again and sell them for a better price in the fall! Also, this year is another big drought, I heard that the canal is short of water, most of the boats are blocked on the jams, and the boats carrying soap can't pass......"

The shopkeeper Huang is the cousin of the concubine who came out of five suits, and opened a small grocery store in Guangqumen. The soap that was shipped to Jingshi last time, whether it was under the name of Huitong Qianzhuang or under the name of Yu Jie, totaled more than 10,000 catties, and it was sold through this grocery store.

With such an expensive and in-demand commodity as soap, the grocery store was suddenly worth a hundred times more. Hunger marketing, such a method of driving up the market price, is not learned; With the aura of a plague-avoiding artifact, it's hard not to be popular.

The news spread faster than the horse. The cow ghost and snake god immediately came to the door.

The twenty-four prisons, the six departments and the nine qing, the pro-noble lords and the Daxing County of Shuntianfu have inconspicuous inferior goods, and they come to the door to find fault, but they don't want to kick the iron plate of the celebrant and the East Factory.

It turned out that the patron of this shop was Wang Dehua, who was known as the second prince!

Of course, Wang Dehua gave face, and Yu Jie was indispensable to give money. With such a large profit, the benefits of tens of thousands of taels cannot be less. There are money owners like Huitong Money Village hiding behind their backs, and Yu Jie is also generous when he dots up and down.

"Alright. Let the shopkeeper Huang handle the business matters, don't talk too much, and don't show your head at will! As long as the second prince continues to take care of the shopkeeper, our benefits will not be less! Did you get the money you sold? ”

"Got it all! The goods of the Shizi Award were not sold, and the shopkeeper of Xiaoqiu, who was in Huitong Money Village, settled all the payments in advance, a total of 15,000 taels!

The shopkeeper Huang helped the concubine calculate, and Huitong Qianzhuang was calculated at a price of fifteen taels per catty, which was two taels higher than the current market price!

In addition, the shopkeeper Huang gave us benefits according to the previous rules: six dollars of silver per catty of sales fees, and half of him and the master.

The yellow shopkeeper is now developed and has not forgotten his roots! Every time he saw a concubine, he had to thank him a thousand times. According to the master's previous instructions, he will go to Tianjin Wei recently to help the master exchange the semi-annual draft cashed by Tianjin Weihuitong Bank. Someday......"

"Atmosphere! The Shu Wangfu is rich in the world, and the breadth of this shot is really different from the shabby of today! ”

Yu Jie turned over sourly, grabbed the concubine's white and smooth jade feet and kneaded them, and sighed:

"If you follow the atmosphere, you should be more atmospheric, and the above will think that you have courage; If you follow a stingy person, you have to be stingy, and the top will think that you are calculating.

I've been thinking about it for a few days, but now I've changed my mind!

You go to the shopkeeper and get the silver money back! Then when you saw the shopkeeper of Xiao Qiu, you told him:

Although this official is a court official in Beijing, he is also a disciple of the saint and an official of the Ming Dynasty!

This official is also willing to make a modest contribution to the great cause of protecting the country and the people and the peace of the world!

Therefore, I asked him to take all the 15,000 taels of silver to buy stocks on behalf of the official. Remember, buy shares of Sichuan Machinery Bureau! ”

The silver that was so easy to get was gone out again with a word, and the concubine was very disappointed.

But where did she dare to refute, so she pretended not to understand and asked, "Master, what is a stock?" ”

"Stocks are shares! Recently, someone from the household department in Nanjing said that the stock of the Sichuan Machinery Bureau fell sharply some time ago, and now is a good opportunity to buy. This machine bureau produces weapons for the Protector Army...... Think about it, in these chaotic years, can the shops that produce weapons not make money? Doujin every day! ”

It turns out that the master wants to use money to make money and make more money!

The concubine understood, but she still wanted to leave a little silver to compensate for her efforts. So she twisted the body in the man's arms and said:

"Look, sir, in the alley outside the concubine, there are all rough shrews. It's easy for the lord to come here, and all I smell is the smell of sewage......"

The concubine's words were immediately interrupted by Yu Jie:

"Thinking about changing the big garden? To tell you the truth, if it weren't for this official skin, I would have wanted to live here, sir!

Think about it, you live in the outer city, although you are in the company of the peddlers and pawns, and accompanied by the flow of feces, urine and smelly water, but you are at ease!

If you live in the inner city, you will be watched by the factory guards all the time. Whenever the situation changes abruptly, there is no hurry to escape!

Master, I asked you to change the bill of exchange of the Tianjin branch before, and now I let you buy the stocks of Shudi, what is it for? ”

It turns out that the master is absconding under the guise of abandoning the official!

The concubine finally understood. She looked up at Yu Jie's face, and felt that the master was serious, so she couldn't help but worry:

"Master, this god is going to change his face?"

"What do you want to change your face? It's changed! ”

Yu Jie sat up suddenly, pointed to the tip of the concubine's delicate and charming nose and said:

"Do you know, Hong Chengchou lowered the Tartars! The emperor ordered the establishment of sixteen altars for sacrifice, and personally wrote the sacrificial text. Master, I just sacrificed to the ninth altar, and I recited the sacrificial text nine times, and the official can recite it even with his eyes closed-

…… After Wen Qing was executed, he was unyielding, unkempt, and scolded.

The car went north, and the day was close to the court, looking back at the south from time to time, and crying loudly.

After chasing into Shenyang, he went on a hunger strike. The captive chief tried every means to lure him, but he didn't move.

The delicacies are listed on a few, and the sun is closed and ignored; Yan Ji stood in front of the couch, and Qing Wei turned her back and scolded angrily.

The ancients said: It is easy to die generously, but it is difficult to be righteous calmly. Generosity and calmness, both in hand!

Wen Qing went on a hunger strike for several days, his breath was dying, and he couldn't rejuvenate his illness, so he drummed up his spare strength, sat up, knelt in the south, and called His Majesty! Your Majesty......"

Look, the delicacies are listed, the glamorous Ji is standing, not eating or looking, and unkempt and scolding!

Fuck, is that still human?

Every time I think of this, my lord, my eyes are full of pain and tears......

Haha, this is good, Hong Chengchou has actually dropped!

Where does the emperor's old face go?

Originally, the emperor was going to come to worship in person, but fortunately, the lord and I went on the fold and persuaded the emperor to go back. Otherwise, according to the saint's narrow temperament, he will definitely take people out of anger - this official, the sacrificial official, was killed by Hong Chengchou! ”

Yu Jie sat on the bed and danced and scolded as much as he could, scolding both Hong Chengchou and the emperor, and making his little concubine laugh.

It was easy to wait until Yu Jie finished speaking, and the concubine comforted him and said:

"As long as you're okay, sir! The altar is smashed! Master, you'd better go to the Tao again, just say that the people know that Hong Chengchou has descended to the Qing, and they are very resentful, throwing stones and bricks at the altar, spitting and......"

"Hey, you've got a great idea! What a great idea! In this way, the emperor thought that the popularity of the people was available. His sullenness will naturally dissipate, and my life will be peaceful! The silver saved by the altar...... Haha, you are the female Zhuge of this official, I want to reward you heavily! ”

Yu Jie, who was excited, said this, and quickly turned over on his horse, put a big mouth with a goatee on the concubine's erect chest and gnawed and bitten.

The little concubine struggled for a few days, and when she waited for this moment, she hurriedly rushed up, raised her jade feet, and firmly sandwiched the man's ass between her legs. However, the concubine was just emotional, but Yu Jie suddenly pushed her away and jumped to the ground naked.

"Damn, patronizing Yan Ji lingeringly, I almost missed the right thing!"

Yu Jie said, and groped in the coat on the hanger. A short time later, a folded piece of silk paper appeared in his hand.

"You go to Huitong Money Village now and give this to the shopkeeper of Xiao Qiu. Remember, the old rule can only be handed over to Xiao Qiu's shopkeeper by hand! ”

"When is it? The shopkeeper of Xiaoqiu must be taking a nap! It's the trivial things you inquired about, sir, and I'm going to disturb ...... at this time."

The concubine's clothes were scattered, her temples were scattered, and she refused to get up on the couch, and was pulled by the anxious Yu Jie.

"It's not a trivial matter! That's a big deal! ”

"Then master, tell the concubine first, what's the big deal?"

"There are too many things, so I'll pick a few strange things to talk about.

The first thing, Tian Guifei is no good, and the people in the palace estimate that she may not survive this month! ”

"The emperor's concubine is no longer good, and the happy is naturally the main palace, what does this have to do with Shudi?" The concubine pursed her mouth and said, "Master, you say the second thing." ”

"Zuo Liangyu was defeated in Zhuxian Town, and the reinforcement army is over!

Ding Qirui, Yang Wenyue and Zuo Liangyu jointly played, saying that Yang Dezheng led the army to flee first, disrupting the army's position!

When the official heard the news, Zuo Liangyu led the army to run first, leaving Ding Qirui and Yang Wenyue behind.

There was a general soldier named Wen Ruzhen in Sichuan, who was loyal and brave, and even led thousands of people to attack the old camp of thieves at night. It's a pity, Zuo Liangyu ran away, and they fell short......"

Yu Jie said lively, but the concubine interrupted with disdain: "Zuo Liangyu was defeated, and even the country lady who sold cabbage in the alley knew about it!" Everyone said that except for the Qin army that had the rest of Sun Chuanting in Shaanxi, the soldiers of the imperial court were gone! ”

"The third thing, Fang Shiliang, who is in the limelight, drank wine in Zuixianglou a few days ago, and read the seal in front of his colleagues in front of Shangguan and colleagues, impeaching Liu Chao, who is going to be the chief soldier of Baoding, colluded with Yuan Shizhong, a thief who returned to Germany, and said that the soldiers plotted against ......"

"Impeachment? That Fang Shiliang didn't know how much silver he had received! Those Qingliu officials are all idle wretches all day long, and they can't do anything but impeach this and that. An impeachment that had not yet been issued was read out in public in a stupid manner. If the concubine is that Liu Chao, it will be true when she gets the news...... Master, what kind of strange thing is yours? ”

A woman's contempt instinctively stirs up a man's self-esteem.

"Good! Then the last two things are big deals! ”

As Yu Jie spoke, he opened the silk paper layer by layer, stared at the dense small characters on it, and read softly:

"First of all, Chen Xinjia wrote a letter to defend himself and negotiate with the Tartars, and spoke about the emperor's private will. The emperor was furious, and Chen Xinjia's life was in danger!

The latter, last night, Ma Wenke, the eunuch of the Qianqing Palace, suddenly returned from Shu, and the emperor secretly summoned him to the West Pavilion. According to reliable news in the palace, Ma Wenke did not get off the horse for several days, and the two strands of red were carried into the palace by two eunuchs with door panels.

When Ma Wenke saw the emperor, he cried bitterly and lost his voice, and he tried to show the great sins of the prince of the Shu Domain:

violated the rules and killed the ministers of Zongfan;

colluding with barbarians, smuggling tea horses and smuggling tobacco;

Arbitrarily changed the official system, the military system, the tax system, the money law, the salt law, and even the law of the imperial examination, and took scholars privately in the name of the so-called Shu examination, etc.

Sichuan Governor Liao Daheng, Sichuan Governor Liu Zhibo, Sichuan Political Secretary Chen Qichi, Shu Wangfu Right Governor Shi Zheng Anmin and other Shu officials accepted private gifts from the prince of Shu and colluded with them!

In the name of the false righteous army, they organized and trained private troops, used the whole army as an excuse to eliminate the guards, killed the gentry for the crime of rebellion, raised the banner of benevolence and righteousness to recruit homeless people, and took advantage of the opportunity to suppress thieves to occupy people's land.

The sergeants of Shu discussed the government in vain, and even slandered the holy virtues and insulted the famous religion;

The people of Shu are all willing to be minions, and they only know the son of the world, but they don't know the son of heaven; I only know the Shu Palace, but I don't know the Forbidden City!

All of this proves one point: although the anti-flag of Shu has not been erected, the people's hearts have been opposed!

Ma Wenke also impeached the first assistant Zhou Yanru, saying that he colluded with thieves, misled the country and the king, and was an unforgivable crime! ”

Note 1: The practice of digging ditches in spring and March every year continued from the Ming Dynasty to the Manchu Qing Dynasty.