"Li Gong, Yang Gong, why are you here?" Seeing the people who came in to visit him, Wang Lun was also very surprised. I saw that it was Li Dongyang who came in, and next to him was a middle-aged man with a calm bearing, this person was Yang Tinghe, another important minister of the Ming Dynasty, the two of them were busy with government affairs, and their identities were too sensitive, so Wang Lun didn't expect the two of them to come to visit him, let alone the two of them still came together.

Li Dongyang was also very excited when he saw Wang Lun wearing prison clothes and beard, and saw him step forward to support Wang Lun and said in a trembling voice: "Brother Ruyan, I have made you suffer!" ”

"Thank you Li Gong for your concern, although Wang is in prison, but he has not suffered too much, but Li Gong is above the court, not only must be on guard against eunuchs at all times, but also try his best to protect us people, the suffering is very unbearable, compared with Li Gong, what is my suffering?" Wang Lun was also very excited.

Wang Lun said that these are not Li Dongyang's sycophants, but the truth, at the beginning of Liu Jin's dictatorship, Xie Qian and Liu Jian and a number of ministers were excluded from resigning and returning to their hometowns, but Li Dongyang stayed, which made many people not understand, and even thought that he was greedy for power, and even one of Li Dongyang's students drew a line with him later, it can be said that Li Dongyang was under pressure at that time. However, later events proved that Li Dongyang was burdened with humiliation, and with him in the court, he protected many officials from Liu Jin's persecution, which cleared the stain on Li Dongyang's body.

Then Li Dongyang and Wang Lun exchanged a few more pleasantries, and then sat down on the chair brought by the jailer to talk, and then Yang Tinghe also stepped forward to greet Wang Lun, and the two of them used to be officials in the same dynasty. Therefore, they all know each other. It's just that the friendship is not so deep.

After the three of them sat down. Li Dongyang asked Wang Lun a few more about the situation in prison, and how the situation at home is now, etc., and then suddenly changed the conversation, and said with a somewhat solemn expression: "Brother Ruyan, we have known each other for many years, and I will say some things directly, this time I came with my husband to visit you, and there are some things I want to ask you." ”

"Oh? Li Gong, please speak. But whoever knows the Tao must know everything! Wang Lun was not surprised to hear Li Dongyang's words, after all, Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe were both cabinet scholars, and in their identities they should have come to see him in prison, but now they came together very abnormally, which shows that there must be other reasons.

At this time, Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe glanced at each other, and then Li Dongyang continued to speak: "Brother Ruyan, what I want to ask this time is something about your prospective son-in-law Zhou Chong. ”

"Zhou Zhong?" Wang Lun was very surprised when he heard this, and his face also showed a somewhat puzzled expression, although Zhou Chong's Journey to the West had a great influence among readers. also initially made his own fame, but in the identity of Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe. How could you be interested in such a grass farmer as Zhou Chong?

"Yes, in fact, I have collected some information about Zhou Chong before, it is said that his father is related to smuggling, and he seems to be involved in smuggling now, I wonder if Lu Dao is true?" I saw Li Dongyang then asked. Many people in Shuangyu Port know the identity of Zhou Chong, and these people are from all over the Ming Dynasty, so it is not difficult for Li Dongyang to inquire about Zhou Chong's involvement in smuggling.

Wang Lun also knew this, so when he heard Li Dongyang ask this question, he didn't hide it at the moment, sighed and introduced the situation in Zhou Chong's family, and then pointed out that Zhou Chong was very dissatisfied with the eunuch party's government, so he had the idea of giving up being an official, and now he specializes in running the smuggling chamber of commerce at home.

Although smuggling is illegal, as early as the reign of Xiaozong, smuggling along the southern coast was almost always semi-open, not only some bold businessmen from the people participated in the smuggling, but also the family members of some officials, such as some southern officials headed by Xie Qian, who directly controlled the operation of the smuggling chamber of commerce behind the scenes.

Li Dongyang is a native of Changsha, Huguang, and Yang Tinghe is a native of Xindu, Sichuan, and they are also famous fish and rice towns, although the two of them are not directly involved in smuggling like Xie Qian, but their relatives often organize goods to be transported to overseas smuggling bases for trading, so they are also inextricably linked with smuggling, Wang Lun is no exception, and it is precisely this point that is known to him, so Wang Lun did not have any concealment when talking about Zhou Chong's involvement in smuggling.

After listening to Wang Lun's introduction of Zhou Chong's situation, Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe both nodded, and at the same time had a little more respect for Zhou Chong in their hearts, they had already shouldered the burden of the family at a young age, and even did a very good job, after writing such a sensational work as Journey to the West, they even took over the half-dead Chamber of Commerce at home, and once again carried forward the Chamber of Commerce, this kind of ability and charm is not something that ordinary people can have.

It's just that Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe didn't just come to understand Zhou Chong himself, but after Li Dongyang listened, he then asked: "Ruyan, Zhou Chong is indeed a rare talent, but I want to ask again, what do you know more about the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce of the Zhou family?" ”

Wang Lun was even more surprised when he heard this, and couldn't understand how Li Dongyang could be interested in a small smuggler chamber of commerce? However, he still replied: "Qi Li Gong, the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce was created by Zhou Chong's father Zhou Hai, although it has only been established for more than ten years, but it has developed rapidly, and now it is one of the four major chambers of commerce in Shuangyu Port, mainly taking the sea route around the Nanyang area, but last year Zhou Hai went to sea with the fleet and never returned, everyone thought that they had encountered a shipwreck, which also caused the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce to be hit hard, and almost split into several small chambers of commerce, fortunately, Zhou gravity turned the tide, and then reintegrated the chamber of commerce. ”

Wang Lun briefly introduced the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce that he knew about the Dao, but what he said was obviously not what Li Dongyang wanted to hear, I saw Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe look at each other, and then Yang Tinghe asked: "Brother Ruyan, Yang has also heard about smuggling, as far as I know, many smugglers have other people behind them, such as Yuyao Xie Gong's family There are people involved in smuggling, since the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce can develop so rapidly, then Brother Ru Yan knows who is behind the Zhou family?" ”

I heard Yang Tinghe ask if there is anyone behind the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce? Wang Lun couldn't help but be stunned, and then shook his head with a wry smile and said: "Don't hide it from my husband, brother, although I have known Zhou Chong's father Zhou Hai for many years, but mainly when I didn't get fame, my father was sick at home, and I spent a lot of money to treat my father. ”

When he said this, Wang Lun paused for a moment, and then said: "However, I have been friends with Xu Guan, the prefect of Songjiang, for many years, and Xu Guan and the Xie family, who are also smugglers, are each other's brothers-in-law, according to him, the Xie family has always guessed that there is someone behind Zhou Hai's support, but as for who this person is, they have never found out!" ”

Hearing that the person behind the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce was so mysterious, Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe glanced at each other again, and their eyes showed an expression that was really so. Next, they asked some detailed questions about the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, and then said goodbye to Wang Lun, and they didn't explain to Wang Lun that they were asking these questions during the whole process, and Wang Lun didn't ask more, got up and sent the other party out of the cell, and then sat down again to guess the intention of Li Dongyang and the two to ask these words?

After Li Dongyang and the others got out of the prison of the Criminal Department, they immediately got into a carriage, and then Yang Tinghe finally couldn't help but speak: "Gong Li, do you think the person behind Zhou Zhong is the King of Anhua?" ”

Li Dongyang was silent for a moment after hearing this, and then he spoke: "Judging from the situation you explained just now, there must be a big man behind the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce to support him, and Zhou Chongyuan is overseas, but he expects that something big will happen in the court this month, so I estimate that he is likely to know about the rebellion of King Anhua in advance, so that even if the person behind him is not King Anhua, he must have a deep connection with King Anhua!" ”

It turned out that Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe had misunderstood Zhou Chong, Zhou Chong told him that he must delay until April in order to exonerate Wang Lun, Li Dongyang didn't believe it very much, but he didn't expect the situation to develop so quickly, and now he can be sure that Zhou Chong's prediction is correct, if nothing else, Wang Lun is indeed not guilty, but also will have great achievements.

But in this way, Li Dongyang has an unsolvable doubt in his heart, that is, why did Zhou Zhong know that King Anhua would rebel? This question made Li Dongyang unable to understand it no matter what, and after the end, he told Yang Tinghe about the incident, and then the two secretly investigated Zhou Chong, and found that Zhou Chong was likely to have someone behind him, otherwise how could he, a teenager, control a big chamber of commerce, and make the chamber of commerce impressive?

It is precisely because of this understanding that Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe both suspect that the person behind Zhou Chong is likely to be King Anhua, and only in this way can they explain why Zhou Chong knew in advance about King Anhua's rebellion. So today, the two of them went to the prison of the Criminal Department to see Wang Lun, in order to confirm their conjecture, but unfortunately they did not get any conclusive evidence, but further proved that their conjecture was very probable.

"Huh? Wrong! At this time, Yang Tinghe suddenly thought of another thing, and turned his head to Li Dongyang in confusion at the moment, "Gong Li, even if the person behind Zhou Chong is the King of Anhua, but the rebellion of the King of Anhua cannot directly exonerate Wang Lun, but the matter of our conspiracy can make Wang Lun innocent and meritorious, could it be that he already knew about our conspiracy in advance?" (To be continued......)