Nanjing City.

Zheng Zhilong walked on the refreshing long stone street, looking at the lively shops along the street, as well as those elegant and beautiful courtyards, and the small courtyard doors next to each other were where the girls in the old courtyard were. Turning around a fragrant powder shop, he saw a beautiful small building, Zheng Zhilong asked the pedestrians on the road, and after confirming that it was correct, he walked into the half-open and half-closed small door.

In front of the bright and dark hall, a pure white and flawless cat lies on the stone steps, looking at the sky leisurely.

"Someone, just go inside!" A slightly mean woman's voice suddenly came from the hall, and then a half-old walked out, she was still holding the melon seed skin in her hand, seeing that Zheng Zhilong only brought a few entourage, she scolded: "Where did you come from, you are so short-sighted, even this Meixianglou dares to break in?" ”

Zheng Zhilong looked at the middle-aged woman who was a little fat, smiled disdainfully, and walked straight to the hall, the cat blocked the door, was kicked by Zheng Zhilong, meowed, and jumped into the flowers.

The woman was displeased: "What a big dog, do you know whose cat this is?" Ten of you can't compare to one of its paws. ”

Zheng Zhilong sat directly on the chair in the hall and asked, "This is Meixiang Building, is Miss Li Xiang still there?" ”

The middle-aged woman raised her eyebrows: "Hey, I really didn't look at the yellow calendar when I went out, and I came to entertain the old lady." Don't you know that Miss Liu was kidnapped by gangsters some time ago? Even the people of Yujing Dao also suffered from the seedlings, no one in Nanjing City knows about this, do you still come to make fun of the old lady? ”

Zheng Zhilong nodded slightly, he didn't know that there was such a thing, he sneaked into Nanjing this time.

In the past, when Zheng Sen was studying in Nanjing, the letter mentioned that Liu Ru, the new wife of his mentor Qian Qianyi, was friends with Li Xiangjun, the owner of Meixianglou, Zheng Zhilong arrived in Nanjing, and originally wanted to visit Qian Qianyi directly to explore the meaning of the imperial court, but he never thought that Qian Qianyi was an official at the door, many of whom spoke with a Liaodi accent, Zheng Zhilong was afraid that the Wu family would know, so he found Meixianglou.

His plan was to find Liu Ruis through Li Xiangjun and see Qian Qianyi again, who would have thought that Li Xiangjun had been kidnapped.

"Since your girl has suffered, what should you do as an old bustard?" Zheng Zhilong tapped the teacup with the lid of the teacup and asked lightly.

The old bustard's face was even more ugly: "You Fujian guy really don't know death, do you know what is the relationship between today's university scholar, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and my girl?" His wife is commensurate with my sister Xiangjun.

Not to mention that Miss Xiangjun is only temporarily missing, even if the person is gone, as long as Mrs. Qian says a word, this courtyard has to be kept.

Leave it to the cat ........ ”

At the end, the bustard pointed to the Persian cat that appeared at the door, and said proudly.

Zheng Zhilong smiled and said, "Since no one can find it, how about selling this house to me, I will pay three thousand taels of silver." ”

"Don't sell, don't sell, where is there so much gossip, if you dare to shout, the old lady can find a yamen at will, and she can arrest you." The old bustard said.

As soon as Zheng Zhilong stretched out his hand, the entourage handed him a silver ticket, Zheng Zhilong slapped it on the table, and said, "Old bustard, look at it, this is five hundred taels of silver, not a deposit, it is a reward for you." You go to Lord Qian's mansion and inform Mrs. Qian that I want to buy Meixianglou, and this silver ticket is yours. ”

When the old bustard saw the silver ticket, he carefully checked it and found that it was true, so he immediately put it in his sleeve, beckoned the servant to serve tea to Zheng Zhilong, and said, "Oh, this lord, you are here to walk the door, good eyesight, come to me." I have more to take care of than the men of the Qian Mansion, as long as the price is right, Mrs. Qian will help you blow the pillow wind and ensure that you get an errand in the state capital. ”

Obviously, the old bustard regarded Zheng Zhilong as an official gentry who walked through the back door.

Zheng Zhilong also didn't say anything, and said: "I am an old friend with Mrs. Qian, you can take this wrench and show it to her, just say that I am from Fujian, and she will understand." ”

As soon as the old bustard heard the two words, his face immediately turned ugly: "Master, I can remind you that if the girl marries Lord Qian now, she may be the wife of the Shoufu family in the future. ”

"Haha, when I met Hedongjun, she was already married to Mr. Qian, so it's okay. Mr. Qian also knows me, maybe he will come with Hedongjun. ”

The old bustard was relieved, and his heart was not Mrs. Qian's old lover.

She immediately arranged refreshments, and sent someone to invite a cook, buy supplies, and arrange everything, before hurrying to the Qian Mansion.

Qian Fu.

Nowadays, the capital is treacherous, and various political forces are fighting endlessly, Qian Qianyi is the one in this wave.

After several months of slapping and covert deals, the forces of all parties have basically reached an agreement.

The Jiangnan gentry represented by Qian Qianyi, the bureaucrats represented by Shi Kefa, and the Wu family, who had the merit of supporting the establishment, finally reached an agreement with the four towns of Jiangbei and the town of Chu.

At the request of the towns, they were given silver and true colors, and Wu Xiang and Zuo Liangyu were named the princes of the country, and the commanders of the four towns were marquises. The four towns were given the right to exploit land, the right to govern the people, the right to levy taxes, and the right to transfer troops, and each town became a vassal state.

In this way, the main military forces of the Ming Dynasty reached an agreement to jointly support the Lujian State as the emperor.

Immediately, the coach of the four towns in Jiangbei and Zuo Mengeng, the son of Zuo Liangyu, came to the capital one after another to participate in the support.

On the surface, Zheng Zhilong was also regarded as a member of this group, and he was also named a marquis, asking to be incorporated into Beijing, but Zheng Zhilong felt that something was wrong, all towns had no dealings with him, and Fujian was gaining power, which seemed to be because Qian Qianyi was fighting for it, Zheng Zhilong did not dare not come, so he sneaked into Nanjing to listen to the reality.

But Qian Qianyi is not busy with this matter now, now King Lu is preparing to ascend the throne, and after ascending the throne, he will determine the distribution of power in the court, and the warlords have already completed the distribution, but the court has not. Not to mention anything else, in the court of the Lu Jian State, Qian Qianyi and Shi Kefa participated in the support.

Ma Shiying had the support of the five towns, and there was also Shen Youlong, the governor of Jiliao, who was leading the troops outside.

These four people are all qualified to compete for the position of the first assistant of the new dynasty, of course, this is only theoretical, in fact, only Qian Qianyi and Shi Kefa are fighting. Qian Qianyi has been busy contacting gentry officials and installing people these days, hoping to win the position of the first leader.

At this time, Qian Qianyi pinched the corners of his forehead in the study, thinking about the people he saw today, Liu Ru knocked on the door and came in, and said, "Xianggong, Zheng Zhilong is here." ”

"Him?" Qian Qianyi immediately got up, and the expression on his face changed constantly.

In the process of his struggle for power, Zheng Zhilong has been listed as a victim. Because of King Lu's support, Zheng Zhilong was set to die from the very beginning.

Up to now, there are more than a dozen Fanzi guards around Lu Jianguo, named Guards, who are actually dead soldiers of the Oriental Trading Company, accompanied by Wang Jia, according to the agreement, only the imperial court cleaned up Zheng Zhilong, and this group of people withdrew.

In fact, these Fanzi guards were not Li Zhaoji's subordinates, but the Wu family's father and son pretended to control King Lu in the name of Li Zhaoji.

After the success of the support, Qian Qianyi also wanted to rebel, after all, there was an army outside to support it, so that he could sit firmly in the court, but Wu Xiang proposed that if Zheng Zhilong was not done, then the Wu family would support Shi Kefa as the first assistant, and Qian Qianyi could only follow the original plan and continue to deceive Zheng Zhilong and lure him to Beijing.

"Hedongjun, you have also seen it, there are a lot of things on my side, you go to Meixianglou first, entertain you, don't let people know about his arrival. You have to remind carefully that the dark tide in Nanjing is surging, and the Wu family and the towns have elite soldiers near Nanjing, and there may be bad intentions. Qian Qianyi said.

He calculated Zheng Zhilong, and he didn't have the face to see him, and how to clean up Zheng Zhilong still needs to be discussed with the Wu family's father and son.

When Liu Ru heard this, he was dumbfounded: "Xianggong, what you said is true?" Are those lords going to be bad for the Zheng family? ”

Qian Qianyi nodded: "Not only the Zheng family, you can find that there are also sentinels around our house to monitor." Recently, Wu Xiang has been rectifying the Beijing camp, and the army under his command doesn't look like 3,000 people. ”

Liu Ru knew this, when the three families of Qian, Shi and Wu conspired to support it, it was agreed that the Wu family would send 3,000 troops, and the rest of the families would not send troops, but Wu Xiang brought 10,000 people at once, although he pretended to be 3,000, and later he couldn't pretend to be able to do it, and said 5,000, but this matter could not be concealed for too long.

After Liu Ru left, Qian Qianyi immediately said: "Prepare a sedan chair and go to the Liaoguo Mansion." ”

Half an hour later, Qian Qianyi appeared in front of Wu Xiang, and the two entered the study and discussed secretly.

"Mei Xianglou, this Zheng Zhilong is very cunning, sneaking into Nanjing." Wu Xiang said with a smile.

"Duke Liao, but I want to take this guy." Qian Qianyi asked.

Wu Xiang shook his head: "Don't act rashly, now Zheng Zhilong is also the Marquis of the Ming Dynasty, and he will take the whole body." The nobles are all in the capital, and if the other five towns misunderstand that we are eliminating dissidents, they will inevitably die and be sad.

These five towns already have a conspiracy, and if they attack together at this time, the situation will not be able to be cleaned up. ”

Qian Qianyi also thinks so, even if he wins Zheng Zhilong, he has to think of an impeccable reason.

And Wu Xiang's words just made sense, but they were not what he really thought.

When they first cooperated with Li Zhaoji, the Wu family father and son did not hesitate to clean up Zheng Zhilong, and at that time, they didn't even know what the Zheng family was. Later, Wu Xiang supported King Lilu, and after understanding the various forces in the south, his ambitions became greater.

According to Wu Xiang and Wu Sangui's latest ideas, it is okay to clean up Zheng Zhilong, but the Wu family must maximize their interests. Of course, inheriting the Zheng family's maritime empire in the China Sea, the Wu family is a group of landlubbers who don't think they have this ability, but the Wu family wants to control Fujian's military affairs.

When the time comes, both the capital and the local government will have mastery, and an egg will be avoided in one basket.

Therefore, the latest plan of the Wu family and his son is to clean up Zheng Zhilong and annex Fujian Town.

Prior to this, Wu Xiang had already made preparations, first letting Zheng Hongkui leave Zhenjiang, a separate town, and had already transferred out the two thousand elites of the Zheng family. At this time, Zheng Zhilong was in Beijing, and it was nothing to take him down, but the Zheng family still had people like Zheng Sen and Shi Fu who had huge influence in Fujian, so they should be dispatched out of Fujian as much as possible and wiped out.

What's more critical is that taking over Fujian's military affairs still needs soldiers and horses, and Wu Xiang's 10,000 men are not enough, so he wants to transfer another 5,000, and this part of the soldiers and horses has already arrived on Jeju Island.

"If Zheng Zhilong is guilty, it must be the crime of rebellion." Wu Xiang said.

Qian Qianyi squinted his eyes and said, "But he didn't mean it." ”

Wu Xiang said: "Then create evidence of rebellion." Nowadays, the nobles of each town have brought their own soldiers into Beijing, or five hundred, or eight hundred. Zheng Zhilong is not allowed to bring it, so let's allow him to lead troops, and scare him again, saying that someone in the capital may harm him.

What do you think will happen to him? ”

"Let Zheng Hongkui help." Qian Qianyi said immediately.

Wu Xiang nodded: "But Zheng Hongkui only has 2,000 soldiers, not an opponent, you immediately tell Zheng Hongkui and allow him to expand the army, he will definitely let Zheng Zhilong transfer troops from Fujian to him."

Zheng Zhilong will also make plans, as long as Zheng Zhilong moves troops, it will be a rebellion. ”

Qian Qianyi secretly said in his heart that Wu Xiang was vicious, but when things came to this point, he had no way back. And Wu Xiang said: "Let's just clean up Zheng Zhilong and take back the salary of Fujian Town, then Zheng Hongkui doesn't have to move, I heard that the fourth master of the Zheng family has a lot of dealings with Mr. Qian, in the future, you can let him clean up the mess of the Zheng family and be taken out of the town by Jiangnan." ”

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