Zhu Hao returned to Beijing.

Zhu Si was holding back his strength to do something big, but in fact, with his ability, as well as the absolute control of the court situation by Yang Tinghe and other civilian factions, it was difficult for even the emperor to do anything.

On the third day after Zhu Hao returned to Beijing, he went to the Hanlin Academy to perform his duties.

He wasn't going to stay too long in the Hanlin Academy, and he had to meet Su Xigui that day.

The current Su Xigui can be said to be a busy man, there seems to be no one in the capital who doesn't know his identity as a broker, he is generous, and he is never ambiguous in giving people silver, giving people the impression that he wants to roast Huang Zan on the fire.

Even Sun Jiao kindly reminded Zhu Hao to let Su Xigui keep a low profile.

But there are also benefits to being high-profile.

Yang Tinghe wants to take this opportunity to make a move on Huang Zhan?

Since Zhu Si ascended the throne, Yang Tinghe has been holding back his strength to pull Huang Zan off the horse.

Could it be that if Su Xigui didn't give gifts, Yang Tinghe wouldn't have the idea of rectifying Huang Zhan?

On the contrary, because of Su Xigui's high profile, the dignitaries in the capital realized that Huang Zan was not only able to collect money for the imperial court, but even his subordinates were veterans of Hui merchants, and their financial resources were really not comparable to ordinary people.

Although many officials boast of being clear-minded, some people stuff silver into their pockets, or a lot of silver, which is much more than the money they get from the imperial court, and they don't have to take the risk of being corrupt and bending the law, who doesn't want to accept something?

The Ming Dynasty is very strict about the crime of corruption, but it is not very strict about bribery, which is mainly "receiving stolen goods".

As long as the law is not perverted, nominally the punishment of cane and exile is used as punishment, but in actual implementation, as long as there is no actual evidence of the stolen goods and the perversion of the law, basically the court will not pursue it, and the cane punishment can also be atonement with silver.

It is equivalent to saying that after accepting a bribe, as long as you act secretly and do not let people notice that your bending of the law is related to the bribery, then the law's punishment for you can be completely eliminated.

And Su Xigui came to the capital to send silver, the purpose was just to accumulate fame for Huang Zhan, and it didn't involve the law at all.

This made it so that even if he went to the mansions of many officials and delivered the silver to the throne, he did not ask for anything, and others saw that the silver came easily and directly...... The silver ticket target is small and you can redeem the silver at any time in the capital, you don't have to carry the silver box everywhere, and you don't have to bend the law to help Huang Zan do things......

This kind of silver, except for a few timid and afraid or those who don't care about their reputation, will be in the pocket nine times out of ten.

Huang Zan really encountered something, the officials who received the gift were still willing to come out to help, after all, there are two gifts once, as long as Huang Zan does not fall, then he will be grateful for his kindness, and he will definitely be more generous, and he can also feel at ease when he receives gifts.

After all, who is afraid of having more money?

……

……

Zhu Hao went to the Hanlin Academy and met Yang Shen.

This time Zhu Hao returned to Beijing, although Yang Shen had heard about it, he never thought of visiting, and deliberately showed a sense of alienation, as if he intended to draw a line with Zhu Hao.

Of course, Yang Shen was still very polite when they met, and took the initiative to move a chair to sit opposite Zhu Hao's desk, and introduced the situation in the capital in the past two months, especially the Hanlin Academy, and then asked Zhu Hao about his situation.

Zhu Hao told him about his general experience in the mine, and Yang Shen listened to it and finished it, without exploring the details.

Zhu Hao was exiled, because of Yang Shen, Yang Shen may have apologized in his heart, some words are not easy to say, pretending to be concerned and asking about Zhu Hao's physical condition, so he stopped the topic and restarted a new topic.

"I heard that recently, in the Huangbu Hall of the Southern Household Department, there is a cronie in the capital who wanders around, I remember...... You know him, don't you?"

Yang Shen took the initiative to meet with Zhu Hao, and sure enough, he had other purposes.

Zhu Hao nodded: "I know, I have a lot of contact when I was in Anlu."

Yang Shen said: "He has visited many official residences recently, and he has also visited a lot of private residences, but he has not seen any generous gifts, I heard that he has been generous every time, do you know this?"

Zhu Hao smiled and shook his head: "I just returned to Jingshi, and he won't see me in the future, where do I know where to go?"

"Then you should go and meet him, and maybe he will give you a great gift." Yang Shen said

。

"Oh?"

Zhu Hao pretended to be surprised.

But in fact, he wanted to say, even if you don't say it, I will go to see him in the afternoon.

"Such people, who set off storms and waves in the capital, are absolutely uneasy about their good intentions, and the order of the Ming officialdom is corrupted by this kind of person! Go and find out how he has done wrongdoing, and ......turn back."

Yang Shen almost wanted to say, you go undercover, probe that person's tone, let us know the evidence of his crime, and then bring him to justice.

Zhu Hao shook his head: "This is inappropriate, right?"

Yang Shen frowned, lowered his face and asked, "Aren't you upholding justice?"

Zhu Hao shook his head: "Justice or something, naturally it must be maintained, but I am very familiar with this businessman surnamed Su, if I am asked to go for a physical examination, wouldn't it be a ...... Selling friends for glory?"

"You treat him as a friend?"

Yang Shen's eyes were full of disappointment with Zhu Hao.

"yes."

Zhu Hao didn't have any vague meaning at all, "I have known him for many years, and when our family was in the official salt business, I had a lot of contact with him, and it can be said that we met him in Weimo. Now, as a friend, I ask him about his situation, and use this to make him confess his sins, I am afraid, it will be contrary to justice."

You still want to use me as a gunman?

You Yang Yongxiu is really shameless.

Just because you were fined, let me fill the mine for two months, you didn't even say a word of apology, and now you want me to betray my friends? It's really your righteousness that is righteousness, and other people's righteousness is bullshit!

Yang Shen stared at Zhu Hao for a long time.

There are many words to reprimand or preach in the chest and abdomen, but when the words come to the mouth, they cannot be spoken.

Even Yang Shen has a sense of politeness, righteousness and shame, thinking that it may be that Zhu Hao has been used by him since he entered the Hanlin Academy, and he also felt a little embarrassed in his heart.

"Brother Xiu, there is another thing, my mother's health has not been good recently, I want to take a few days off and take care of my mother at home." Zhu Hao said.

Yang Shen said: "Don't care about the previous things, since you return to Hanyuan, you should do things well, so as not to live up to the expectations of the imperial court."

"No, no, I just want to do my filial piety, not to excuse myself." Zhu Hao said.

Yang Shen thought for a moment. sighed: "I haven't been promoted yet, and even if I do, don't ask me about it...... Go find Master Li and see if he will arrange it for you."

You asked me to go to Lee Ting-sang?

Zhu Hao took advantage of the situation: "Okay, then I'll go now!"

"Wait."

Yang Shen said, "If you have time, you should go and meet the person surnamed Su to see what the hell he is doing. I always feel that he has something to hold back, and if I don't ask you to ask, I should probe his details."

……

……

Yang Shen changed his method and wanted to use Zhu Hao to help him spy on Su Xigui's depths.

Maybe he felt that as long as Zhu Hao asked, then he would have a way to get something out of Zhu Hao's mouth, and start to show off his cleverness again.

Zhu Hao received Yang Shen's order to meet Su Xigui.

When we met again, Su Xigui looked much older than when he was in Nanjing, probably because he had been walking around the north and south recently, even going to the northwest, and he looked like he was a traveling merchant with a lot of vicissitudes of life, and he became much more stable as a person, and his voice was somewhat deep.

「…… The little master, a little meaning, not a respect."

In the past, Su Xigui gave gifts to people, and he always carried boxes full of silver and gold, but now it is simpler, and he directly stuffs silver tickets.

The silver account opened by his own family, the silver can be exchanged casually, of course, these silver are all deposited by him in advance, after all, all the accounts have to go through Zhu Hao's hands, and he can't fill his own pocket.

"Thirty thousand taels."

Su Xigui said with a smile.

Zhu Hao said, "You are very generous with this move."

There are 30,000 taels for nothing, and anyone who changes it will think that Su Xigui's family is a silver mine.

Su Xigui sighed: "To others, contemptible people will never reveal their hearts, but to you, the little master, of course...... Speak well

。」

didn't mention the matter of silver, as if it was a matter of course for him to give Zhu Hao 30,000 taels.

Su Xigui wandered around the capital, and no matter who could help, he would give a few hundred taels of silver, and giving Zhu Hao one person was equivalent to giving a hundred or even hundreds of people, because Su Xigui knew that Zhu Hao could help him more than those people combined.

Zhu Hao was not polite at all, and directly stuffed the 30,000 taels of silver ticket into his arms.

Su Xigui saw that Zhu Hao had received the money, and he instantly relieved himself.

Zhu Hao smiled bitterly, "You know, I've been short of money lately."

"Really? I'll give you more ...... later."

Su Xigui took a look, this iron rooster Zhu Xiao, who used to treat money as dung, but never pulled out a dime, is now actually starting to cry poor?

For Su Xigui, this is great news.

I'm not afraid that you are upright, but I'm afraid that you don't need it. But if you open your mouth, it will be enough.

Zhu Hao smiled: "I want to open both a mine and a shipyard...... Recently, I have been building a train again, which you should know, not to take the silver from the household, but to go out alone, even if the gold and silver mountains are not enough to consume...... I have decided that when the train is opened in the future, I will collect the toll from the imperial court......

When Su Xigui heard this, his eyes widened.

Good guy, you built a train for the imperial court, and as a result, you are going to use it to make a profit?

Zhu Hao said: "Let's put it this way, the tens of thousands of taels of silver I have earned in the past few years have basically been invested, and it is still a drop in the bucket."

Su Xigui asked curiously, "You only earned tens of thousands of taels? Even...... Far more than that, right?"

Zhu Hao smiled and said, "Some of the silver, which can be seen on the bright side, is the actual account, and some of the silver does not go into my pocket at all, such as the silver number, and the surplus goes directly into the inner mansion...... In addition, many of the cloth and other items I sold to the imperial court could not be settled until the autumn grain was put into storage...... But now that I am familiar with the head of the household, I don't think I will be able to repay the debt."

Su Xigui kindly reminded: "Then you have to be careful, what if the imperial court can't make ends meet? Wait a minute...... Look at my brain, when you just swipe the pen, the money will be in your pocket...... Contemptible fool!"

Su Xigui suddenly realized.

What Sun Jiao is his own person, that's a disguise.

Zhu Hao dared to sell the cloth of the imperial court, and there must be a way to get the silver back.

Zhu Hao said: "This is all a thousand accumulations, there are a lot of them in the past, the northwest is like this, last autumn, I was embarrassed to reach out to the court to ask for silver. That's tens of thousands of taels ......."

Su Xigui took a cool breath.

Hearing this, Zhu Hao's expenses are really large.

In order to ensure the operation of the imperial court, Zhu Hao's hidden appearance is also to share the worries of the imperial court as much as possible.

Su Xigui said: "Actually, when you buy those cloths from you, tens of thousands of taels of silver, if the imperial court purchases them from outside, I am afraid that you will not be able to take down 100,000 taels of silver, and I am afraid that the clothes of the soldiers in the northwest for the winter are all supplied by you." The little master has made a great contribution to the stability of the northwest of the Ming Dynasty!"