Spring is blooming, Vientiane is renewed, and Xingji Qianzhuang has prepared cash silver for the purchase of raw silk that year.

During his tenure, he actively cracked down on the gentry and the strong, reported the inferior gentry and connived at the children of the family slaves to bully others, and the common people, in view of the many names of local enslavement, unfair burdens, and the disadvantages of the levy and distribution of goods and labor, summed up the "Lijia Uniform Law", and evolved the "Xing Shiduan Jin Law", and finally, launched the famous "One Whip Law", which naturally offended a lot of bureaucrats.

In the forty-fourth year of Jiajing, Pang Shangpeng was transferred to the capital to serve as the right Cheng of Dali Temple, and within a few days, he was transferred to the right of the imperial history of the capital, in charge of the salt affairs of Jiubiantun, he proposed a set of reform measures to rectify the salt law, hoping to dredge the salt and prohibit smuggling, which led to the extreme dissatisfaction of the imperial history of the household department supervising the salt administration, and the joint eunuch group, under the pretext that he was unqualified in the acceptance of the palace currency in Zhejiang, which caused the anger of the Jiajing Emperor on the sickbed, and reduced him to the people.

In this way, Pang Shangpeng, who knew the destiny of heaven, came to Jinling, and with his connections in the official and business worlds and his excellent financial management ability, he set up this unique Xingji money bank and personally served as the treasurer.

The silk weaving procurement at the turn of spring and summer every year is the top priority of the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau and the Yingtian Governor Yamen, who independently raise funds and are responsible for purchasing silk and cloth needed by the imperial court and the court; When it was handed over to the court, it was accepted by the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau stationed in Nanjing, and finally reported to the chief eunuch of the 24 yamen, and then allocated funds downward.

Cai Zhizhong's tenure as governor of Yingtian was precisely because of the serious embezzlement of ink in the silk weaving procurement, and he was found to have problems after leaving office, so Hai Rui was well aware of the disadvantages of government procurement.

Due to the limited financial resources of the governor's yamen, according to the past practice, the procurement quota could only be pressed down layer by layer, resulting in collusion between officials and businessmen, forcibly lowering the purchase price, and shoddy.

Hai Rui performed the post of governor of Yingtian, and at the beginning of getting off the car, he discussed with Pang Shangpeng of Xingji Qianzhuang, and the governor Yamen provided a guarantee, and the money village provided loans for private businessmen, and the officials of the yamen were only responsible for supervision, and within the scope of the imperial court appropriation, they were purchased in cash at market prices and handed over to the governor's yamen, and then accepted by the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau.

This reform measure put an end to the layers of exploitation of mulberry farmers and weavers; It can also revitalize the idle funds of the people through the money bank, reduce the pressure on the yamen in terms of taxation, and better ensure the quality of the purchase. Therefore, the common people of the ten prefectures and one prefecture under the rule of Tianfu have many expectations for this innovative measure, hoping that under the condition of the continuous depreciation of silver prices, there will be a good harvest this year.

Hai Rui's reform plan was reported to the cabinet and approved by the imperial court, but it made Huang Jin, the chief eunuch of the celebrant and the chief eunuch, grit their teeth with hatred.

Because Hai Rui has no desire to be rigid, from the heart, this "stunned Qing" who even the emperor dares to impeach, makes Huang Jin quite taboo, he originally hoped that without directly clashing with Hai Rui, Huang Bingwen would create an opportunity to drive him out of Yingtianfu, but his uncompetitive godson missed again and again, seeing that Qingming was coming, there was still no way to take Hai Rui and Pang Shangpeng.

Although Huang Jin, the chief eunuch of the ceremonial eunuch, was powerful and in charge of the East and West Second Factory, he knew very well that Emperor Longqing, who had been on the throne for less than a year, was in a worrying physical condition; And Feng Bao, the eunuch beside the little prince, with the support of the queen's mother, is eyeing the position of the celebrant and eunuch, and the undercurrent in the Forbidden City is turbulent.

As the saying goes, money can make ghosts grind, when Emperor Longqing was the prince, he still bribed the ministers Yan Song and his son, if there is no money in his hands, it is really difficult to move an inch, therefore, for Huang Jin, we must not miss the opportunity to make a fortune in silk weaving procurement this year!

So, Huang Jin brought his godson Huang Bingwen in, and the two conspired seriously and formulated a set of action plans, first finding a wealthy family to come forward to support Nanjing's Xinglong Qianzhuang, compete with Xingji Qianzhuang, and find every opportunity to attack Pang Shangpeng and completely collapse Xingji Qianzhuang; At the same time, he continued to arrest Xuande Zhenren, Chen Yuanhua, Tang Jing, Wu Xiang and others by any means, snatched back the two "Japanese robbers" who were imprisoned in the Yamen of Yingtian Governor's Yamen, controlled them, created a complete chain of evidence, and impeached Hai Jui for conniving at lawbreakers to collude with the Japanese and cause trouble along the southern coast.

If these actions still do not work, they will secretly unite with the officials, businessmen and gentry of the ten prefectures and one prefecture of Yingtian, and collectively impeach Hai Rui, in short, they will not give up if they do not drive him out of Jinling.

For this reason, Huang Jin made full preparations, and under the pretext of continuing to investigate Yan Shifan's huge wealth shipped overseas, he sent Huang Bingwen south to Jinling, reported to the imperial court, and obtained the approval of Emperor Longqing.

This time in the south of the Yangtze River, the East Factory sent more than ten servants to Huang Bingwen, and at the same time he also brought a wealthy Yang Gongzi, ready to take Xinglong Qianzhuang in his name, so this time he did not live in the three lanes, nor did he dare to go to Cuihualou easily, but together with this Yang Gongzi, quietly lived in the "Yang Ji Qianzhuang" outside the Chaotian Palace, and established contact with Liu Gonggong of the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau through Huang Jin's introduction.

Fanfu, also known as Fanzi, is actually the East Factory detectives, arrest and torture officers, although they are all extraordinary, but in Nanjing they are not familiar with life, Huang Bingwen secretly summoned the scoundrels to help.

During the time when Huang Bingwen left Nanjing, the governor Yamen began to investigate Shen Qi's case, and he was still looking for Tie Niu everywhere, so he kept hiding and did not dare to show his face easily.

Because Tie Niu put the death of his sister Yue'er on Tang Jing and Wu Xiang, he secretly instructed his subordinates to be a scoundrel, shouting every day to find revenge for the two of them, from the sting to the spring equinox in the half month, Tang Jing hid at home and did not dare to go out easily, looking forward to Wu Xiang's letter every day, hoping to cheat out the huge amount of money in Wu Lian's hands.

The reason why he didn't use the loan of Xingji Money Village for a long time, Tang Jing was waiting for this money, because when he bought this mansion, Wu Xiang released his pigeons, which he already owed him, if he could get this money, he not only wanted to open a weaving workshop, but also wanted to run a money bank, but this damn Wu Xiang didn't have a letter, but every time he asked someone to bring a message, he asked Tang Jing if he had to help him propose.

Now that Qingming is approaching, Tang Jing is also very anxious, if the weaving mill is not opened, it will miss the season of silk procurement; At the same time, he was also worried that Miss Shen would give it to others and would end up with Wu Xiang's complaints in the future, so Tang Jing decided to go out and go to Shen Mansion to help Wu Xiang propose his relatives first.

On this day, Tang Jing prepared the bride price, accompanied by Zhu Hui and Song He, the group came to the three alleys.

Old man Shen naturally knew the background of the Tang family, and when he saw Tang Jing, he came forward to give a deep salute, pouted his white beard and said: "The sinner Shen is sincerely afraid, and he visited the Tang official, and the king of Xiangwu Dongou came to the cold house, which really made the cold house shine......

Tang Jing hurriedly replied with a smile: "Outside of Old Man Shen, you're welcome, I'm here to say hello to you!" ”

Since Shen Qi surrendered, although the governor yamen did not trouble the Shen family, but Shen Lao has never slept peacefully, maybe one day the government will have to come to raid the house, and the Shen family will have to be filled with military distribution, and may even be full of slaughter, and they are worried every day, and they even have the heart to hang themselves.

Finding that Tang Jing was carrying a not thin gift, Shen Lao didn't know why, so he hurriedly ordered the family to take the gift box, looking at a loss, and held back for a long time before asking, "May I ask Tang Daguan why is this?" It's really old, please go to the cold house to talk about it. ”

Entering the Shen family's compound, Tang Jing sighed: "The Shen Mansion is like a fairyland on earth, and it really lives up to its reputation, compared to this place, hehe, it's really too far behind!" In my opinion, only the Egret Island East Park may be able to compare with it. ”

The flower hall of the Shen family has already prepared all kinds of fruit plates, and when all the guests are seated, the servants offer fragrant tea, and Tang Jing is not polite, tastes tea, smacks the taste, and speaks straightforwardly:

"Old man, first of all, I will give you the first joy, I heard that your eldest son has committed an accident, I used all the connections of the old prince of my ancestors, gave up this old face, and went to the yamen to find Lord Hai to intercede, hehe, it's okay! Lord Hai gave me a face, and he won't pursue your Shen family. ”

Old man Shen's eyes widened more and more, his head was dizzy and almost fell, he was supported by the maids on the left and right, trembling in front of Tang Jing, crying and kneeling on the ground, and said: "Tang Daguan is really the life-saving benefactor of my Shen family, it is all the dog Shen Qi was confused for a while, and fell into the bad guy's hands, but the old man knows, with his little guts, how dare he collude with pirates......"

"Alright, alright." Tang Jing interrupted him and continued: "Lord Hai is Bao Zheng alive, Di Renjie is reborn, a rare Qingtian lord in the world, you can burn high incense, and then give you a second happy ......"

Shen Laowai thought that this second joy was to release his son, so he quickly knelt down and kowtowed, wept with joy, rubbed the tears in the corners of his eyes, and whimpered and said: "I've caused trouble to Tang Daguan and Hai Daren, and when Qi'er comes back, I still have a family law to deal with it......"

"Shen Qi can't come back for the time being, this has to wait for Lord Hai to catch Daoist Niu and let him confront Shen Qi face to face, so as to determine whether your son is guilty or not." Tang Jing preached.

Old man Shen asked in wonder, "So, where does this joy come from?" ”

Tang Jing thought to himself, this old thing must be old and confused, you don't want to think about it, what gift can I give you if it's okay?

Old Madam Shen saw the problem, and everyone in Jinling City knew that in the years when Tang Jing left home, Xu Kun occupied his wife He, and now Xu Kun is missing, not only did the government not deal with Tang Jing, but he was favored in front of the new governor Hai Rui, presumably he wanted to divorce the He family and come to Shen Mansion to propose marriage.

Thinking of this, Old Madam Shen was moved, if she could climb such a high branch, why worry that the descendants of the Shen family would not be able to become officials in the future?

Waiting for the maid to help the old man to the Taishi chair, at this time, Mrs. Shen smiled slightly, got up and said a thousand blessings, and said: "Tang Xianggong, the old body has an old daughter, she had a dream last night, saying that it was the old man Yue took the red rope, and took her away, in the middle of the night three more crying, the old body went to comfort her, early this morning, and met the magpie Yingmen, no wonder recently, the old body always does not jump in the left eye and the right eye jumps, oops, it turned out to be this happy event, the Tang officials of the Xiangwu Dongou Wangfu came to the cold house to mention the relatives! ”

Although the old lady didn't say directly, who did this Tang Daguan propose to him, but Tang Jing heard it, but he had an idea, Mo Dao is they thinking that I am proposing to myself? So, he suddenly thought about it, and he was ready to accept it......

Previously, when Cai Dezhong was the governor of Yingtian, Miss Shen and the governor's brother-in-law Wu Xiang were engaged, and the house where Tang Jing lives now was also built by Wu Xiang in order to marry Miss Shen.

The Shen family is really rich, if they can marry the young lady of the Shen family, even if they let her be a concubine, I am afraid that the old couple will not dare not agree, not to mention, I have long heard that the young lady of the Shen family and Shen Yueying are really beautiful, sinking fish and geese, shy flowers and closing the moon, excellent demeanor, and captivating the city and the country......

Tang Jing went through all the good words he could think of in his mind, and he couldn't wait to monopolize the Oiran, at this moment, he blushed and said roughly: "Hehe, please rest assured, the old lady, after entering the mansion, Xiao Xu will definitely not treat Miss Yueying slowly." ”

"It seems that the little girl has the life to live in that big house, congratulations ......"

When Mrs. Shen was about to say, "Congratulations to my uncle", Zhu Hui couldn't stand it anymore, so she hurriedly bowed down and said, "Wait!" Please listen to me. ”

"This son, please have something to say." Old man Shen hurriedly replied.

"My uncle is here to give my eldest brother Wu Gongzi and Wu Xiang a kiss."

When Old Man Shen heard this, he immediately fainted......

"This little brother is really happy, Wu Gongzi sold that big mansion to Tang Xianggong, he, he, he ......" Old Madam Shen couldn't believe it, shook her head and shouted several times in a row, and then wanted to say that he Wu Xiang was not worthy at all, and suddenly a flash of inspiration felt that there must be something strange in it.

So, she hurriedly swallowed back what she wanted to say, and looked Zhu Hui up and down, as if she had heard that Wu Xiang was her eldest brother just now, as if she remembered that this Wu Xiang had only one sister, and she had married Cai Dezhong, the former governor of Yingtian, but she saw that this young man was wearing a flying fish brocade coat and an embroidered spring knife on his waist, he should be a chief flag officer of the brocade guard, Mo Dao is Cai Dezhong's death, Wu Xiang's sister remarried him?

At this time, Zhu Hui felt the need to knock and knock on the old couple, glanced at the golden flower hall, and said with emotion: "The Shen family is really a rich country, no wonder Huang Bingwen will fall in love with your Shen family." ”

At the mention of Huang Bingwen, Shen and the old lady suddenly changed their faces, and at the same time collapsed on the Taishi's chair, becoming at a loss.

Zhu Hui stepped forward and bowed and said: "Two old people, Shibei three days, when you look at each other, please believe me, Wu Gongzi has already changed his mind, repented and reformed, and is now hanging in Qixia Mountain, ready to participate in the township test next year." ”

Tang Jing originally proposed to Wu Xiang, just now after listening to the old lady's words, he thought about it, and he was moved, if he really accepted Miss Shen as a concubine, not to mention anything else, this dowry alone is indispensable, and in the future, with the Shen family hiding a cornucopia as a backing, why bother to go through Wu Xiang and worry about Wu Lian's money?

Thinking of this, Tang Jing glared at Zhu Hui viciously, and scolded in his heart: You kid is really my fucking nemesis!

"What is the name of this son?" Old man Shen asked.

So, Zhu Hui took out the waist card of Jinyiwei, approached the two old men, bowed down, and replied: "Under Zhu Hui, the general banner of Fusi in Jinyi Weibei Town, please don't be nervous, I believe that Shen Qi's case, Lord Hai will definitely handle it impartially, and I will also assist Lord Hai to re-investigate those cases, and when the time comes, please also ask the second elder to cooperate, thank you!" ”

Zhu Hui said, bowed deeply, and sat back in his seat.

Old man Shen opened his mouth and stammered, but he didn't expect Shen Qi to get acquainted with Huang Bingwen and live in his own yard for them for several months, not only did not bring any benefits to the Shen family, but also caused this big trouble, so he shook his head and sighed.

At this time, Mrs. Shen found that Tang Jing's face was full of embarrassment, and she became blushing and thick-necked, and she didn't seem to dare to refute the young man beside him.

Thinking of this, Old Madam Shen asked: "May I ask Gongzi Zhu, our Shen clan has original sin, the descendants of the family, even if they are high school scholars, they can't become officials, since Wu Gongzi is working hard and striving to improve, aren't you afraid of being dragged down by us?" Or Childe, do you have any good ways to help your eldest brother? ”

Zhu Hui understood that her implication was to test herself, of course, she also knew what Wu Xiang was, so she smiled slightly and replied: "As far as I know, even if Wu Gongzi is a scholar and a first, he may not be willing to become an official. ”

Old Man Shen stretched out his head, his eyes widened, and he asked puzzledly, "What, why is this?" ”

"Hehe, my eldest brother's heart is higher than the sky, and he hopes to leave a name in history in the future in terms of calligraphy and articles."

Tang Jing took over the conversation in a timely manner and said: "Since it is for Wu Gongzi to propose marriage, for the sake of my Tang Jing's face, please accept it from the second elder, Wu Gongzi is talented and is writing a magnificent book, let Wu Gongzi bring a masterpiece to invite the second elder to appreciate it another day." ”

Old man Shen nodded seriously, stroked his gray beard and smiled slightly: "The old man doesn't dare to say how good his vision is, if it weren't for the fact that he dislikes others and doesn't do his job, why did he withdraw from the marriage in the first place?" ”

Old Madam Shen glanced at the old man, and said solemnly: "The old man has long said that Mo Dao is a poor young man, no matter how Wu Gongzi was before, just looking at that handy little man, who can compare with us in Jinling City?" ”

At this time, Tang Jingqiang endured a wicked smile and nodded in praise: "Wu Gongzi's magnificent book, written by a great official of Ximen, is really a legend through the ages, and it will be passed on to future generations." Please remember that the sons and young masters of the Shen family should study Wu Gongzi's masterpiece and learn from the Ximen officials in the book. ”

"Of course, of course! Please rest assured that the great work of the good son-in-law, all the Shen family must read and read it carefully......"