Qian Yiai came out of the Qi State Mansion and looked at the sky, it was already very late at this time, and he had been here with Tong Yangjia for two hours, and the bad effect was good, at least he persuaded Tong Yangjia to participate in his plan, but he didn't know what happened to the prince? The prince went to persuade Shoufu Ma Mingyuan.

Qian Yiai originally wanted to go to the East Palace to meet the prince, but now it is so late, the East Palace has already been locked, and he can only go home, so he has to talk about it tomorrow. Qian Yiai thought of this and got into his own sedan chair, and said to the sedan chair man to go to Shuntianfu and go home.

After Zhu Hai and Xia Wanchun left the East Palace, he also changed his clothes and prepared for it, and took the personal little eunuch Shuangxi out of the East Gate of the East Palace and went to Ma Mingyuan's house.

Ma Mingyuan's home is in Shiwangfu Street in Dongcheng, which is the famous Wangfujing in later generations, but there is no such title in the Ming Dynasty. The origin of the name of the Ten Wangfu Street is that there are ten royal mansions and three princess mansions on this street. The Ten Princes' Mansion is the residence left by Zhu Di for his children and grandchildren when Yongle rebuilt Beijing, Zhu Di imitated the regulations of the Tang Dynasty, built the palace of the prince next to the palace, and used it for those princes who have reached adulthood but have not become a vassal to live.

Zhu Di had a total of four sons, so there were only four palaces here at the beginning, until Ming Xianzong stuttered Emperor Zhu Jianshen gave birth to fourteen sons, of which eleven lived to adulthood, one Zhu Youzhu became the emperor, and the other ten lived here before the domain, so the name of the ten princes was handed down.

The future emperors of the Zhu family did not have a high desire to give birth, and the two sons of Xiaozong died early and became the emperor; Wu Zong had no children; Of the eight sons of Sejong who succeeded from foreign vassals, only two lived to adulthood, one was the emperor and the other was the king; Mu Zong's four sons, one is the emperor and the other is the king; Eight sons of Shenzong, one is the emperor and four are kings; Guangzong's five sons, one is the emperor and the other is the king, and later Zhu Youzhen, who was named the king of letters, also became the emperor, that is, the last emperor Chongzhen.

Due to the lack of prosperity and the fact that it is still a temporary temporary residence, the utilization rate of the Ten Princes in Beijing is really not high, and sometimes it is idle for more years, but its name and service are not abolished because of idleness.

After the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, it became the residence of the Manchu princes Baylor, Dolgon, Duoduo, and Azig all lived here, Zhu Hongsan gave the most luxurious Rui Prince Mansion to Ma Mingyuan after occupying Beijing, the largest Yu Prince Mansion was given to his favorite son Qin King Zhu Jiang, and Azig's Ying Prince Mansion was given to the third son Chu King Zhu Huai. The other two princes who have just come of age also live here, so except for Ma Mingyuan, the princes live on Shiwangfu Street.

As the crown prince, Zhu Hai was afraid of being seen by his brother, so he naturally had to be cautious, dressed as an ordinary literati, wearing a gray cloth gown, and sat in a small sedan chair for two people to the side door of Ma Mingyuan's mansion.

Ma Mingyuan, as the young master of the crown prince, the first assistant of the cabinet, and the first-class prince of Chu Guogong of the country, is naturally busy in front of the door, not to mention that there is such a big thing in the court today, and those core personnel of the Chu Party want to come and discuss with the boss what to do. The prince came to the door at this stall, so he naturally had to go through the side door.

The side door of Mafu was just a black lacquered door, and Zhu Hai's sedan chair stopped at the door, and Shuangxi stepped forward and knocked on the door. After a while, a member of the Mafu family opened the side door a crack, looked at Double Happiness, and then opened all the doors, and Zhu Hai's sedan chair was carried directly into the mansion.

After entering the mansion, Zhu Hai got off the sedan chair, and the family had already found Ma Fu, the housekeeper of the Ma Mansion, Ma Fu saw that it was the prince, and quickly knelt down to kowtow, Zhu Hai had the kung fu to do what etiquette here, and asked: "Get up, where is the uncle of the palace?" ”

"Back to the prince's words, the lord is in the study in the front yard, Wang Ge Lao and Chen Shangshu are here, and the lord is meeting guests!"

Wang Ge Lao? It should be Wang Yunchang and Chen Zilong who are here, Zhu Hai thought for a while and said to Ma Fu: "You first find a room for the palace to rest, and then go and tell the uncle of the palace, just say that the palace came to discuss important matters with him, by the way, don't let others know, do you hear clearly?" ”

Zhu Hai didn't want people to know that he came to Ma Mingyuan, although those in the front yard were Ma Mingyuan's henchmen, but it was better to be careful about this kind of thing.

Ma Fu heard Zhu Hai say this, and quickly agreed, stood up and led Zhu Hai into the backyard.

This is already the back house of Ma Mansion, and the children of Ma Mingyuan's concubines live there, but Zhu Hai is Ma Mingyuan's son-in-law, and he is not an outsider.

Ma Fu took Zhu Hai to turn left and right, and came to a small courtyard in the depths of the back house, this courtyard is in a bamboo forest, and there is a two-story building in the courtyard, which is very secluded.

When he came to the gate of the courtyard, Ma Fu turned around and said: "Prince, this is the mansion reserved for the young lady, and the young lady lives here every time she goes back to the province!" ”

It turned out to be the residence of the crown princess Ma Ning'er, Zhu Hai nodded, this is also his own home. Shuangxi pushed open the door and went in, it was already late autumn, and the bamboo leaves in the courtyard fell to the ground, Ma Fu said a little embarrassedly: "Prince, you also know that Miss doesn't like people to enter her residence at will, so no one has been cleaning here, or the old slave will send a few people to clean it first!" ”

Zhu Hai knew that his wife was very hypocritical, and said disapprerovitically: "No need, you go to the front yard, by the way, get some food for the palace!" Ma Fu bowed and retreated.

Double Happiness went into the house to clean out a room, Zhu Hai went in to rest, and soon Ma Fu sent someone to bring some snacks and tea, Zhu Hai* didn't eat at noon for today's incident, just to satisfy hunger.

Zhu Hai knew that Ma Mingyuan would be a guest today, and he would not be available for a while, so he rested on the soft collapse for a while after eating. Zhu Hai used his brain too much today and was very tired, he slept for a long time this night, and it was already dark when he woke up.

Zhu Hai got up and asked, "Double happiness, hasn't Uncle Bengong come yet?" ”

"Back to the master, Shoufu hasn't come yet, but the housekeeper came just now and said that Shoufu is still meeting guests, please wait a while!"

Zhu Hai is the prince and the legal successor of the state, and in the entire Ming Dynasty, except for the emperor Zhu Hongsan, his status is the most valuable. Now that Ma Mingyuan dared to make Zhu Hai wait for such a long time, Zhu Hai couldn't help but feel a little unhappy in his heart.

Zhu Hai thought in his heart: This Ma Mingyuan is so rude, if his father is here today, will he dare to do this? It seems that it is not unreasonable for the father to suppress the cabinet, and it will be the same when the palace ascends the throne in the future!

Zhu Hai was unhappy in his heart, but what could he do? Now that he is only the crown prince, he still has to rely on Ma Mingyuan to secure this position, and Zhu Hai has no choice but to wait anxiously in the house.

Zhu Hai waited for more than an hour, and it was already two o'clock outside, that is, at half past seven in the evening, before Ma Fu appeared at the door again.

Ma Fu saw Zhu Hai and hurriedly said: "Prince, the lord has finally sent all the guests away, please come over!" ”

Zhu Hai nodded, got up and followed Ma Fu out. However, Ma Fu did not take Zhu Hai to the front yard, but came to the front of the small study in the backyard.

After Zhu Hai entered the study, he saw Ma Mingyuan wearing a foreign suit and sitting on the Taishi chair in the room.

Although Zhu Hai was not very satisfied with Ma Mingyuan's attitude, he didn't dare to bring it out on his face, and when he saw Ma Mingyuan, Zhu Hai hurriedly stepped forward and saluted and said, "Uncle, nephew Zhu Hai is here!" "In this world, apart from Lao Tzu Zhu Hongsan, the person who can make Zhu Hai so low is this Ma Mingyuan.

Ma Mingyuan didn't get up to greet the prince, but pointed to the seat in the room and said, "The prince sits, the old man has a lot of things to do today, so you have to wait for a long time." ”

Zhu Hai was unhappy when he heard that Ma Mingyuan didn't use an honorific title, but he had no choice but to sit down under Ma Mingyuan.

Ma Mingyuan twisted his beard with his hand and asked, "Is there anything wrong with the prince coming to see the old man today?" ”

"Uncle, such a big event happened in the court today, I don't know what my uncle can do?"

Ma Mingyuan sighed and said: "I discussed with them for a long time just now, and I still don't have any safe ideas, so I have to let the ministers go to the book tomorrow!" ”

After Ma Mingyuan finished speaking, he scolded hatefully: "It's all that Fang Fengnian, the old man was kind enough to take them in back then, but I didn't expect to be beaten by them today, if it weren't for their oil and vinegar, it's just that the old man Qu Shiyun can still deal with it!" ”

Zhu Hai heard that Ma Mingyuan did not find the reason from himself, but resented Fang Fengnian, Zhu Hai asked: "Uncle, did you really occupy the imperial tomb in your hometown in Huguang?" ”

Ma Mingyuan heard Zhu Hai ask this and said angrily: "Prince, you are the nephew of the old man, the son-in-law of the old man, and the person that the old man trusts the most, why don't you still believe the old man?" ”

"But uncle, since Fang Fengnian dares to say something, there must be some evidence, if it weren't for Fang Fengnian's caution, it would definitely be impossible to say it so conclusively!"

Ma Mingyuan sighed and said: "The old man is also worried about this, the old man has more than 100,000 acres of land in Huguang, who knows if he has really encroached on the imperial tomb." Ma Mingyuan is also telling the truth, his industry is so big, in addition to real estate, there are also banks, manufacturing, textiles, transportation, etc., which are similar to those giant state-owned enterprises in later generations, where can they know their own industries clearly?

Zhu Hai thought for a while and said, "Uncle, my nephew has a plan to keep my uncle safe!" ”

Ma Mingyuan analyzed with his henchmen just now, and he really wants to stop if he can't get it this time, so Ma Mingyuan wants to listen to any suggestions, after all, is it a straw! Now that Zhu Hai has an idea, he hurriedly asked, "What idea, let's hear it!" ”

"Uncle, now that the government is like this, relying on the ministers of the DPRK and China alone to write is no longer effective, why doesn't my uncle consider foreign aid?"

Foreign aid? Ma Mingyuan thought of everything he could think of, and he really didn't know what this foreign aid Zhu Hai was talking about!

"What kind of foreign aid, you talk about it, if it is reasonable, the old man can consider it!"

"Uncle, now that the war in Fujian has been dragging on for a long time, why don't you think of a way to use the pressure to force your father to submit to the war in Fujian?"

Who is Ma Mingyuan, an old politician and an old fritter, as soon as he heard Zhu Hai say this, he knew that he must have come into contact with Tong Yangjia, Ma Mingyuan asked: "Did you go to find Tong Yangjia?" What do they say? In fact, Ma Mingyuan also thought about the path of alliance Tong Yangjia, but he was afraid that Tong Yangjia would not agree.

Zhu Hai hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Qian Yiai went to persuade Tong Yangjia, and the conditions offered were. . . It's Shousuke! ”