On March 22 of the sixth year of Qingli, it is said that it is auspicious, so the Lord Qincha patrolled the Inner Treasury Transit Division to make Fan Xian, and after arriving in Jiangnan, the first new chūn opening of the tender for the Inner Library was chosen on this day.

On this day, chūn is bright and bright, the breeze is warm, the sons and ladies in Suzhou City have gone to the outside of the city to go out, the grass has not grown on the wide official road, the warbler has not flown has been frightened, the green mountains outside the city, the green water silk, it has turned into a good place for men and women to hook up with each other, and the air is filled with a fresh and beautiful smell.

Suzhou city is another scene, from the Jiangnan Governor's Mansion to the south seventy-four zhang, is the Inner Treasury Transit Division resident in Suzhou Mansion, whether it is the Jiangnan Road Yamen or Suzhou Mansion Yamen are open in this place, it is the place where the official spirit gathers, Pingrì Li is heavily guarded, the first place to look at the defense, today rì only saw the sergeants wandering on the streets on both sides, each holding a spear in his hand, and there were also officials who beat the god of jīng, and in the chūn thick sleepiness jǐng ti watched the movements of all parties.

This large area has been tightly contained.

Every year, the inner library opens the door, it is this situation, one is that the giant merchants from all over the country have too much silver in their hands, and the other is the person who presides over the opening of the inner library, in addition to the officials of the transfer department and the eunuchs sent by the palace, the governor of Jiangnan Road will also be present to observe, and at this time, it is indispensable to the imperial historians who have nothing to do all day long. There is too much money and too many high-ranking officials gathered here today, so the issue of security has become a top priority.

Fortunately, Suzhou is deep on the bank of the river, Qingguo is strong, and no force dares to make any temptations, even the thieves in Suzhou City have long been expelled from the city.

It is a clear season to collect money.

............ As is customary, the Transit Division vacated a large mansion. This courtyard is extremely wide, along the main hall on both sides of a small compartment, it is said that the former dynasty in the Jiangnan area of the student examination room, later Qingguo Emperor south tour of the inner library, found that this pattern is somewhat suitable for bidding, so set here, formed a convention. The mansion was empty in the most exclusive area of Suzhou, and was loaned to the Governor's Mansion Yamen by the Transit Department to manage the accounts, but it was returned to the Yamen of the Transit Division in March.

It has been renovated and cleaned since ten days ago, and now the house is extremely bright and clean.

There are soldiers guarding the outside of the house, and there are several guards with ordinary faces standing next to the hall in the courtyard, and the light in the hall is a little dim, and only a row of four Taishi chairs can be vaguely seen, placed behind the table.

When the steamed buns at the Kyoto Breeze Pavilion Suzhou branch on South Street were sold out, the door to the house finally opened.

The giant businessmen from various states did not panic, and walked up the stairs in a very orderly manner, turning a blind eye to the soldiers around them, and for more than ten years, they had already understood this whole set of procedures.

Behind a merchant often represents a family, as well as the officialdom faction behind the family, and the matter of opening the door of the inner library is important, so the representatives who come here today are all the leading figures in the family, but the number is not large, and these merchants are carrying their own long-term entourage and the account keeper behind them, and they also carry boxes and account books and related tools.

Walking ahead of everyone is of course the representative of the Ming family.

Since last year, the Ming family has delegated most of the rights to the hands of Young Master Ming Lanshi, and Master Ming has rarely come out to show his face, but what shocked many giant businessmen is that today, that old man Ming Qingda, actually went to the mansion in person!

Ming Qingda squinted his tired eyes slightly, bowed to his colleagues, brushed his long beard under his chin, and proudly walked into the door.

Jiangnan merchants faintly took the Ming family as the leader, and hurriedly returned the salute to the old man, and followed him into the door, no one would feel a little uncomfortable, since it was the bidding of the inner library, of course, the Ming family went first. Everyone just didn't understand why the Ming family was so cautious today, and even the old man was invited out.

Occasionally, some people thought of the new envoy of the Inner Library, the Lord of the Imperial Mission, and thought of the young master of the Ming family secretly communicating with everyone this month, so he faintly guessed that today's Inner Library bidding would not be as smooth as in previous years, nor would it be as bright and pleasant as today's chūn light.

............ The two rows of rooms under the eaves have already been labeled with their names, and each family enters in turn, and the Ming family is lined up in the first big room on the left-hand side, and they bring the most people, bringing sixteen shopkeepers.

Although it was the government that opened the bid, they also knew that these rich people also had to greet well, and in the words that Fan Xian said with a smile after knowing the arrangements in previous years, if they want to kill pigs, of course, they must fatten the pigs first.

Ming Qingda sat firmly in the chair, his eyes narrowed slightly at the light sky scattered in the courtyard outside the door, before he was admitted to the hospital, he had eye contact with those businessmen, knowing that everyone's thoughts were extremely consistent, in front of interests, no one was willing to raise the price of each other, especially those merchants, they didn't dare to offend themselves at all.

Thinking of this, Ming Qingda's heart was a little relieved, and he asked in a low voice, "How long is it?"

Ming Lanshi stood beside his father in an orderly manner, lowered his body and said, "It's almost over." He stretched out his white hands and brought them to his father with tea, and they were so clean that they were as if they had never been stained with blood.

Ming Qingda nodded, since the imperial court is still an invention standard, and no one in this world has the financial resources to compete with him, there should not be much difference from previous years, but I don't know why, his lips are still a little dry, maybe the person's age is getting old, and his strength is always a little weak.

Thinking of this, the master of the Ming family felt a trace of inexplicable affection in his heart, his mother was already so old, why was her body still so healthy?

Ming Qingda subconsciously glanced at it with his eyes, and easily distinguished the families represented in those rooms, although he has rarely entered the mall in person over the years, but the friendship of the older generation is still there, and those who come to the family today are some second-generation descendants, and the other party also knows that the sixteen bids of the inner library, the share vacated by the Cui family can be grabbed, as for the eight items that the Ming family is destined to die, they can never move.

It's just that...... The door of the last room under the eaves on the opposite side was still closed, and I don't know which one handed the bid, but the person had not yet arrived.

Ming Qingda took a sip of tea, moistened his throat, frowned and said, "Who is Yiliu's house?

Ming Lanshi was stunned and couldn't answer, because he had obviously investigated in enough detail, why was that room still empty?

Ming Qingda's heart began to give birth to some kind of jǐng omen, after Fan Xian returned the 400,000 taels of silver tickets, he fell into silence, I don't know what the Lord Qincha was thinking, he glanced at his son, and said slightly: "You have to do things without leakage, and you haven't even checked out the people, what if something goes wrong for a while?"

Minglan Shimian was slightly embarrassed, so he had to admit his mistake, but he was a little unconvinced, these characters from wealthy families all had this kind of bad problem of inconsistency, and said tentatively: "Could it be a salt merchant...... They've always been weird, and maybe they're going to be greedy this time. ”

Ming Qingda shook his head with a look of dismay, and said, "It's not a salt merchant, one, they gave us a promise, and two, Lord Xue also made a promise to me. ”

The master of the Ming family looked at the empty room across from him, looked at the closed door, and looked at the chill that vaguely oozes from the glass window, and a strong uneasiness welled up in his heart.

―――――――――――――――――――――――― "It's a shame this time. In the study room of the Jiangnan Governor's Mansion, a master sighed: "The Cui family has vacated six items, but it is inconvenient for us to interfere, and it is a pity to see that so much silver has to be divided between the Ming family and those rich people in Jiangnan." ”

The official of the feudal territory, the governor of Jiangnan Road, and the master of the first product, Lord Xue Qing, smiled and said nothing.

The other master sitting next to him also showed pity on his face and said, "Yang Jimei came here a few days ago, and I don't expect the adults to help him talk in front of Lord Xiao Fan...... His family has been making salt for generations, and now he is also hungry when he looks at the fat meat in Neiku. ”

Yang Jimei was the largest salt merchant of the Lianghuai generation, or a smuggler of salt, and had always been careful about the Governor's Palace.

After Xue Qing thought about it, he said with a smile: "Who is not greedy? Yang Jimei is an old killer...... Such a good Huayuan, I asked him for it, but he didn't give it, this time I had to give it to Fan Xian as a residence through my hand, what did he think, didn't the official know?

As the governor of Jiangnan, he is in charge of one-seventh of the soldiers and horses in the world, and his strength is extremely strong, and he naturally has many ears and eyes...... He didn't have much of a chance. ”

The master asked curiously, "What does Lord Qincha think?" Who is he going to hand over the six items that have been vacated?"

The smile on Xue Qing's face gradually faded, and he said: "Actually, you don't need to ask, since Your Majesty sent him to Jiangnan, these six items are naturally prepared for him to get by himself." ”

He then sneered: "Don't talk about these six, I think the Ming family's own eight items, if you want to keep them today, I'm afraid it will be very difficult." ”

The master frowned deeply and said, "I don't know which one Lord Xiao Fan chose this time." ”

Xue Qing sneered, he commanded a place south of the Yangtze River, of course he knew some of Fan Xian's tricks, and said with a smile: "That candidate, I'm afraid that none of you can think of it, this Lord Qincha is also very powerful, he doesn't choose a spokesperson among the businessmen, but poachs people in the recklessness, if that guy dares to swagger into Su City, the official is only afraid that he will be imprisoned, and ask for some benefits." ”

The master didn't know the inside story, so he laughed dryly, but he was still a little reluctant in his heart, and asked tentatively: "Regarding the opening of the inner library, Lord Qincha...... Didn't I tell you?"

According to the practice of officialdom, such a big piece of fat as Neiku cannot be swallowed by officials of one faction, especially Xue Qing's transcendent status and deep roots in Jiangnan, no matter how arrogant Fan Xian is, he must always mean to the Governor's Mansion.

Xue Qing frowned slightly, shook his head and said: "Lord Xiao Fan has naturally mentioned this matter, don't look at his age, but he acts in a very harmonious manner, Fan Shangshu and Dean Chen taught well...... It's just that this official had no choice but to refuse the kindness of Lord Xiao Fan this time. ”

"Huh?" the master exclaimed in surprise, politely refusing the kindness? As long as Fan Xian opened his mouth, this small kindness, I am afraid that there will be at least a share of more than 100,000 taels of silver, when did the Governor become so honest and self-controlled? Could it be that he has learned to change his face?

Xue Qing laughed at himself, stood up, and said: "Although it is close, let's go first, Lord Xiao Fan is waiting in the mansion, and Guo Zheng's old white face, the father-in-law in the palace also came with a will, let's not be too slow." ”

He didn't explain to his masters, who were closer than his wife, why he politely rejected Fan Xian's kindness, because Xue Qing understood that Neiku seemed to be just a contest between Fan Xian and the eldest princess, but in fact, there was a deeper meaning behind it, and how to sort those princes had begun to become an extremely thorny problem.

Xue Qing's identity did not allow him to stand in line too early, otherwise His Majesty would be very angry, so it was inconvenient for him to share the feast of Neku.

Under the guard of the guard, he walked out of the main gate of the Jiangnan Governor's Mansion, Xue Qing subconsciously turned his head, looked at the plaque in front of the mansion, and was shaken by the newborn sun, and his heart swelled with strong uneasiness...... It's weird, everyone in the world is looking at Kyoto, speculating about the future pattern, but this kind of turmoil is definitely not a good thing for the imperial court of Qingguo.

People's hearts are uncertain, how can officials deal with themselves?

What are you thinking?

――――――――――――――――――――――――― the inner library opened the door, and the merchants who came to bid were already sitting in their rooms waiting. And Fan Xian, who presided over the matter, was still drinking tea leisurely at this time, and the person who drank tea and talked to him was a eunuch from Kyoto.

The inner library is the property of the royal family, according to the rules, it must be jointly supervised by the Taichang Temple and the inner court, because Fan Xian himself is the Shaoqing of the Taichang Temple, so now the Taichang Temple has no trouble to send people to Suzhou, and it also reduces a lot of trouble for him.

But a big eunuch came, and at the same time it was a big trouble.

"What Huang Gonggong said is reasonable. Fan Xian put the tea bowl on the table and said with a smile: "The official also thinks that it is better to be quiet than to move, and it is good to handle it according to the rules of the year." ”

This great eunuch from the palace has a very high rank, otherwise he would not have been entrusted with such an important task. The fat head and big ears of this life, the fat on both cheeks are piled up in one place, at this time, listening to Fan Xian's words, Pi Xiaorou said without smiling: "My lord is presiding over this matter, our family is at ease." ”

This eunuch has always been deep in the inner palace, although he knows Fan Xian's name very well, but he thinks that he has a holy order, but he is not very afraid of the other party, on the contrary, he came to Suzhou for a few days, but Fan Xian did not invite him to come over to talk about it, this fact that was ignored made Huang Gonggong's heart a little uncomfortable.

In the previous conversation, this Huang Gonggong brought a very bad news to Fan Xian, to be precise, it was to pass on the old man's message from the Queen Mother, and let Fan Xian preside over the affairs of the Inner Treasury, as long as the rules of the year are still the same, don't mess around.

Don't mess around?

Fan Xian sneered in his heart, this naturally means that the Ming family will return to the Ming family, and the rest will be tossed slowly by herself, it seems that after the eldest princess returned to Beijing, the queen mother felt sorry for this young girl, and actually stretched her face and used such a big face!

He knew in his heart that the Queen Mother was telling herself that she should not go too far, and always leave some living money for the members of the royal family, thinking of this, Fan Xian couldn't help but want to laugh, thinking that his emperor Lao Tzu is known as a generation of emperors, why has he been living more and more over the years?

Of course, he knew that the emperor was not a simple person, but he became more and more confused about what the emperor had created such a turbulent situation.

"yù Dazhi, must be chaotic first?" he said with a subconscious frown.

"What?" asked Grandpa Huang, who was beside him, curiously.

"Nothing. Fan Xian smiled and said, "Hard work father-in-law to pass on the decree. ”

Huang Gonggong coughed twice, and said with a slight pride: "It is also the old man of the Queen Mother who can trust us as a slave, of course, I also want to thank Lord Xiao Fan for selling our family's face." ”

Fan Xian didn't answer, just looked at Huang Gonggong's pig-like face with a smile, and said after a while: "Your face?"

Huang Gonggong was stunned.

Fan Xian smiled and said: "Gonggong Huang, in front of this official, you'd better put away that set, Lao Yao and Lao Hou...... It's a little bit better than you're a man. ”

Gonggong Huang was furious, but he was shocked again, the three people mentioned by Fan Xian are all powerful eunuchs in the palace, although Lao Dai has long lost power now, but in addition to the eunuch Hong Zhu, the leader who was recently transferred to the East Palace, Lao Yao and Lao Hou ...... Fan Xian said this, naturally he said, even Father-in-law Yao has to be respectful in front of him, what are you doing?

Huang Gonggong's city was quite deep, and he put away his anger, but responded with a smile: "What the lord said is true." In his heart, he looked down on Fan Xian, such a young minister who made enemies everywhere, he was afraid that it would not be possible to last long. And after all, he is a close friend of the Queen Mother, and his identity is somewhat special.

Fan Xian said with a smile: "Gonggong Huang, you'd better be honest with me in Suzhou City." ”

Gonggong Huang lowered his face and responded, "What are you talking about?"

"Speaking Kyoto dialect. Fan Xian yīn Shen said: "This official hates people to use the queen to press me, others are afraid of you three points, but not including me, you can go around after you return to Beijing, and what kind of pattern is it when you see it." ”

Gonggong Huang raised his head in anger, a courtier dared to be so disrespectful to the Queen Mother!

Fan Xian said this, he had his own reason, he flicked his face, flicked his sleeves, turned the side corridor and walked to the main hall of the house, and dropped the last sentence: "Find out your own identity, you are not surnamed Hong!"

In addition to the old husband Hong, in that Liangqin palace, what else is there to be afraid of?

............ Fan Xian stood indifferently on the stone steps in front of the main hall, and the merchants in the rooms under the eaves on both sides hurriedly walked out and bowed to him.

He stared straight at the front door, not even looking at the father and son of the Ming family in the A room closest to him.

The door creaked open.

A column of silent people walked in slowly, and this group of people did not have the smell of wealth and nobility common to businessmen, nor did they smell of officials, but were filled with a reckless feeling of bloody killing.

When the group stood in the courtyard, it was like a few wolves suddenly coming from a flock of sheep, and a deer's tail resting on the pastry, which looked out of place and abrupt.

The leader is the commander of Jiangnan Water Village, Xia Qifei.

Today, Xia Qifei was wearing a light green washed silk, but he still did not hide the iron-blooded aura on his body, although his face was calm, his slightly narrowed eyes still showed a trace of excitement and nervousness.

Xia Qifei clenched his fists, saluted Fan Xian and said, "My lord, the grass people are late." ”

"It's not too late. Fan Xian said indifferently: "As long as you come, it's fine." ”

............ The giant businessmen in Jiangnan often have some shady business, and they also have many places that rely on the reckless power of the local area, and Xia Qifei, as the big boss of the Jiangnan Water Village, actually secretly has some dealings with these businessmen and even with the Ming family.

So there are also some people who have seen Xia Qifei's true face, and now he led his brothers to stand in the courtyard, and immediately someone with sharp eyes recognized him, and the whispering gradually rose, and gradually turned into countless exclamations!

The water bandits also came to the inner library to bid for bids!

The giant businessmen looked at Xia Qifei in the courtyard with panic on their faces, and couldn't help but glance at Fan Xian standing on the stone steps, and they didn't understand this matter no matter how they thought about it.

What do we businessmen do? Do we want to be bandits? This world is ...... Ever since Lord Fan became famous, it seems to have become a bit bizarre and elusive. Moreover, these Jiangnan businessmen are even more curious, even if Xia Qifei robs everywhere, where can he raise so much silver? But since these people from Jiangnan Water Village have already entered the inner library gate, they must have at least paid the deposit...... When a bandit can make so much money, then he still needs to work hard to do business?

Ming Qingda, who was standing at the door of the room closest to the stone steps, squinted his eyes, looked at the person who was the last to be admitted to the hospital, and said softly, "Who is this person?"

"It should be Xia Qifei. Ming Lanshi attached to his father's ear and said personally: "The big boss of Jiangnan Water Village, there have been some contacts in the past, but I haven't seen me, I don't know what's going on, he also came to join in the fun today." ”

Ming Qingda's eyes narrowed more and more, and he was about to lose sight of the cold eyes inside, so he only heard him say faintly: "It seems that ...... This person is the pawn planted by Lord Chincha in advance. ”

At this moment, Xia Qifei slowly turned his head, met the gaze cast by the contemporary master of the Ming family, and smiled slightly, and the smile was extremely sincere...... Infinite hostility and blood-devouring hope.

The seventh young master of Ming, who was robbed of his mother by his mother, finally had a chance to stand on the table for revenge with the help of Fan Xian.