The news of whether Horqin and Jianzhou have actually severed contact has not yet come, but the news of the death of Ning Yuanbo Li Shizhong has come first.

This was like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, which stunned Li Xianzhong.

Although Li Shizhong did not listen to his own words, he stayed in Tieling to recuperate in peace.

The bumpy road back to Beijing aggravated the condition, but it didn't die in just a month?

Now the truth of the matter will not be known for a while, but the title of Earl Ning Yuan is very important to the Li family.

Li Shizhong inherited the title of Ning Yuanbo, and Jinyiwei commanded the commander of the Nanzhen Fusi.

Li Chengliang's Ning Yuanbo was hereditary, so the next question of succession was involved.

In fact, the succession to the title of Daming is the same as the succession to the throne, and the primogeniture inheritance system is adopted.

The principle of "succession between father and son" is preferred, and if there are no heirs to inherit, then the principle of "brother to brother" is adopted.

If there are no of these two things, there are also cases where the elders of the family inherit the knighthood, which is an extremely special situation!

Of course, these principles are based on the descendants of the line, and according to the provisions of the "Da Ming Law", the succession order of the second son is given priority to the eldest grandson.

Since Li Shizhong has no heirs, Li Xingzhong, who is also the grandson of Li Chengliang according to the principle of inheritance, will inherit the title of Earl Ning Yuan.

As the grandson of Li Chengliang, Li Xianzhong is not qualified to inherit this title at all, and his succession order is even ranked after Li Rubai's sons-in-law.

However, the succession to the title is not the succession to the throne after all, and it is generally not necessary to discuss it with the court.

Therefore, Wanli has a great say in this matter.

From the perspective of the Li family, Li Xianzhong is undoubtedly the spokesperson of the Li family now, and it is definitely in the interests of the Li family for him to inherit Ning Yuanbo.

But although this is a family matter of the Li family, the Li family itself has no say in this matter.

For unknown reasons in history, after Li Shizhong's death, Li Xingzhong, as the legal heir to the title, did not receive the canonization of the Wanli Emperor.

Ning Yuanbo of the Li family has since broken off, and the Li family in Liaodong has gradually disappeared from the political arena of the Ming Dynasty.

Many of the children of the Li family died in the battle for the Ming Dynasty.

There were also some who chose to take refuge in the Manchus, such as Li Huaizhong's son Li Maozu, who once served as the Manchu governor of Guangxi.

Another group chose to return to North Korea and observe the festival for Daming in this way.

There are only a few historical accounts of this event.

Roughly speaking, after Li Shizhong's death, Wanli did not issue a decree to canonize him, and most of the courtiers hated the Li family, and no one spoke for him.

However, now due to the emergence of Li Xianzhong, the status of the Li family is still much higher than that of the same period in history, and as for who Emperor Wanli will let inherit Ning Yuanbo, Li Xianzhong is not sure.

However, at this time, we must rush to the capital as soon as possible to go to the funeral, and by the way, we can grasp the trend of this matter.

Now Li Sanshun is almost equivalent to the existence of "deputy marshal" in the Kaiyuan army, and Li Xianzhong naturally handed over the defense of Kaiyuan to Li Sanshun.

With Mao Wenlong guarding Nanguan, there shouldn't be a big problem.

The only variable is that He Shixian became eager to perform meritorious service after taking refuge in Yuan Yingtai, although the equipment of his army was enhanced, Fushunguan became unstable instead.

Therefore, before leaving, Li Xianzhong transferred Yu Wanli's Pingyu Wei to the front line of Pingyu Fort, even if Fushun Pass was lost, he could use Pingyu Fort to block Jianzhou from advancing to Kaiyuan as soon as possible.

After arranging the defense of Kaiyuan, Li Xianzhong took Mao Yuanyi, Kong Youde and others to Beijing to mourn.

In fact, in addition to the title of Earl Ning Yuan, Li Shizhong, the commander of the Jinyi Guard, is also equally important.

Although the Nanzhen Fufu Division is only responsible for the law and military discipline of the guard, its status is far inferior to the Beizhen Fusi, which has its own edict.

But if Li Xianzhong is in charge of the Nanzhen Fu Division, he can use Jinyiwei's resources to expand his intelligence department.

This time, he took Mao Yuanyi with him to lay a stronghold of the Intelligence Division in Beijing.

Now Li Xianzhong and the Donglin Party are basically incompatible, and they have become the "demon concubines" in their eyes.

So now intelligence is extremely important, not only the Jingshi, but even the palace must have its own eyeliner.

With such a ready-made example as Li Shizhong in front of him, he didn't dare to take Wanli's body lightly.

Once Emperor Wanli hangs up, he, the red man in front of His Majesty and the noble concubine, will definitely be the target of the Donglin Party's counterattack and liquidation.

He sincerely hopes that Emperor Wanli can live a long life!

He is still full of confidence in getting Wanli this time.

Wanli's lifeblood is silver, of course, the way to send silver is also very particular, after all, he is a high Majesty, not an ordinary corrupt official.

It is indeed necessary to let Wanli accept the silver, but also to make him feel that this is a great reward for himself, and to let Fang Congzhe, the officials of the three parties of "Qi, Chu, and Zhejiang", not obstruct this matter, which is indeed a matter of some brains.

Naturally, the Donglin Party was not in the scope of his consideration, and these people were scolding the air all day long, and it was impossible for them not to scare themselves.

Soon Li Xianzhong came to the Ningyuan Bofu in the capital, which was located on Dongcheng Street and was very large-scale.

But the feng shui of this house doesn't seem to be very good.

The previous masters did not end well.

The earliest owner of the house was Shi Heng in the Yingzong era, and after Shi Heng fell, no one dared to live here anymore.

Later, Xianning Hou Qiuluan got this mansion, and his ending was worse than Shi Heng, he was beheaded, and his family wealth was confiscated.

After that, the owner of the house became Yan Song, and Yan Ge's ending was naturally not good.

And its current owner, Ning Yuanbo, Li Shizhong, died young and had no children under his knees, if you want to say that the feng shui of this house is fine, Li Xianzhong doesn't believe it.

At this moment, the house is already a different scene, the door is hung with a white lantern, and the big word "lay" on the lantern shows that the house is in mourning.

Li Xingzhong, the lieutenant general of the Chinese army of the governor of Jiliao, presided over the funeral as Li Shizhong's younger brother.

This is also a logical thing, after all, according to the order of succession, he should succeed Ning Yuanbo next.

Li Xianzhong naturally won't fight with him, after all, identity is not the only condition for determining who inherits the title.

Li Xianzhong, who changed into mourning clothes, soon went to the mourning hall to offer incense to his brother.

The guardian Li Xianzhong did not participate, after all, time is precious now, in case Wanli's canonization edict comes down, it will be too late.

He immediately found his two sworn friends in Beijing, Zheng Yangxing and Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo.

With Zhu Chunchen's lustful temperament, he should have entertained these two in Mianyue Tower.

But after all, Li Xianzhong's eldest brother had just passed away, so he still chose the location in the Zuixian Building that he had just acquired.

The two also sighed that their words became prophecies, and the two casual nonsense sentences at Li Xianzhong's wedding banquet before were fulfilled so quickly.

Zheng Yangxing said: "Before Brother Xianzhong came, I had already entrusted Gonggong Cui to investigate. In this matter, my aunt is on the side of the loyal brother, and the title should be lived by the virtuous. ”

"It's not an exaggeration to be crowned an earl with my brother's military exploits, let alone just inherit the title of the family."

However, His Majesty still seems to be hesitant about this matter and has not made a statement. With the experience of being impeached by those imperial historians last time, my aunt can only point to the end, and cannot ask questions. ”

Li Xianzhong said: "For the sake of the last general, let the concubine Niangniang bear the infamy, the little brother is really sorry, I will punish myself first." ”

Although he said that, Li Xianzhong had long wanted to scold his mother in his heart, if it weren't for the fact that Concubine Zheng Guifei had no way to control him, and the slaves and maids of Yikun Palace were talking nonsense outside, how could he be infamous as a "demon concubine" now?

It's not right to say two good words for yourself, otherwise your infamy will not be in vain.

At this time, the two of them noticed that today's dishes were very unusual, they were frequent customers of the Drunken Immortal Building, but they had never seen a single dish.

Zhu Chunchen said: "Could it be that this drunken immortal building has changed cooks?" ”

Li Xianzhong said with a smile: "The younger brother has already ordered this drunken immortal building, and today I specially asked the two brothers to come to try the dishes!" ”

So he pointed to these dishes and said, "Brother Zhu try this boiling cabbage first!" ”

Zhu Chunchen thought to himself that Lao Tzu had never tasted any delicacies from the mountains and seas, so he actually let me eat cabbage.

But when the cabbage was put in his mouth, he was stunned, what he ate was clearly just a cabbage, and his mouth was actually full of gelatinous texture and meat taste, this taste was very peculiar, the freshness of the cabbage, with a unique meat taste, was much cooler than eating meat directly.

He took a closer look at the clear soup in the cabbage, it was very clear and free of impurities, but the taste was much richer than that of ordinary broth?

Surprised, he asked, "How is this done?" ”

Li Xianzhong said: "Cabbage is just ordinary cabbage, a few pennies a piece, pick the most tender cabbage heart; However, this boiling water is very particular, and it needs to be boiled and filtered repeatedly with a bunch of ingredients such as whole chicken, duck, ham, and pig's trotters. ”

Zhu Chunchen said: "No wonder the taste of this cabbage is so special, just the processed accessories can be placed on a banquet?" ”

Li Xianzhong said with a smile: "This boiling cabbage is worth ten taels of silver!" ”

Next, he introduced to the two: called flower chicken, braised silver carp head, three sets of duck, crab roe lion head, West Lake vinegar fish, Longjing shrimp, Buddha jumping over the wall, nine turns of the large intestine, eight treasure gourd duck and other dishes that are not available in the capital in this era.

Li Xianzhong was a foodie in his previous life, and he often brushed Douyin to watch these dishes, although he never did it, but he could also say anything.

Ever since he decided to open a restaurant as a base for the Intelligence Division, he recruited chefs from the Gangnam area, and after trial and error, he was able to replicate these dishes, but of course, the taste was definitely different due to the influence of the ingredients, condiments, and kitchenware.

Anyway, no one has ever eaten the genuine one, and it is still okay to deal with these dignitaries and nobles in the Ming Dynasty.

After the last dish of duck came up, Zhu Chunchen and Zheng Yangxing hiccuped and finished the meal with satisfaction.

Zheng Yangxing said: "Brother Li, these dishes, I'm afraid that the imperial chef in the palace can't make them, if this restaurant is opened, it will definitely be the first restaurant in Beijing!" ”

Soon a deck of ivory mahjong tiles on the table caught their attention.

Originally, Li Xianzhong was afraid that Hazia would be too lonely in Beijing alone, so he ordered someone to make a few mahjong tiles, so that she and Hai Lanzhu could have a tool to kill time.

However, Mao Yuanyi felt that mahjong could be used to find out the news.

This thing is very easy to get started, and some dignitaries can easily talk about some confidential things in the process of playing cards, so that the subordinates who are in charge of serving tea and water on the side will have the opportunity to gather useful information.

After his reminder, Li Xianzhong decided to build a large-scale leisure and entertainment club similar to that of later generations in the elite circle of Jingshi.

It integrates the functions of catering, foot soaking, mahjong and green building.

Let this place be a gathering place for the powerful, so that they can earn their silver, and secondly, they can find out all kinds of news through here.

In addition, some spies of the Intelligence Department can also get acquainted with various powerful people through this place to carry out undercover activities.

For this reason, Mao Yuanyi specially sent people to recruit a lot of "Yangzhou Thin Horses" from Jiangnan, and selected some suitable people among them as spies for the Intelligence Department.

In addition, Li Xianzhong also built an orphanage in Kaiyuan City, and trained those orphans to become spies of the Intelligence Department from an early age.

In particular, good-looking orphans, both boys and girls, are the focus of the Intelligence Division.

If she hadn't taken Hai Lanzhu as a concubine, the two sisters were originally going to train them to be female spies in the Intelligence Department, and then send them to Jianzhou to go undercover.

At this time, Li Xianzhong said: "Two eldest brothers, the younger brother will introduce you to a brand new game. ”

In fact, in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, horse tags have become popular, but there are still some differences between the gameplay and mahjong.

Zhu Chunchen and Zheng Yangxing are no strangers to horse hanging, and after some introduction of the rules, they soon learned from each other on the basis of the "international mahjong" rules of the later generations.

I have to say that Zheng Yangxing and Zhu Chunchen are still quite talented in playing cards, and they began to get started after a few laps.

Among them, Zhu Chunchen likes to engage in "seven pairs" very much, while Zheng Yangxing is good at doing "door clearing", and the two soon found their own means to defeat the enemy.

However, in front of a math master like Mao Yuanyi and Li Xianzhong, an "old mahjong" in his previous life, it is still difficult for them to take advantage.

But the novice aura of these two is really strong, and Zhu Chunchen actually blossomed with a pair of styles; And Zheng Yangxing has a pair of "Eighteen Arhats" self-touching.

made Li Xianzhong and Mao Yuanyi directly dumbfounded!

After that, the two of them actually had the card types of "Thirteen Units" and "Big Three Yuan", which frightened Li Xianzhong and quickly lit the small cards to Mao Yuanyi directly to prevent their big cards from forming.

Mahjong is so good that it is said that it will only play four rounds, but the result is that it is added one round after another.

However, under Li Xianzhong's continuous release of water, he still kept the two of them only losing a few dozen taels of silver.

Zhu Chunchen keenly found that this was a good thing to give and ask for bribes.

If you want the people below to honor you in the future, you just need to let them accompany you to play a few rounds of mahjong; On the other hand, if you want to pay a bribe, you can do it directly at the table without a trace.

He said: "Brother Xianzhong, this mahjong is a good thing, we must promote it among our friends"

Li Xianzhong said: "Don't worry, you two don't worry, soon, you will definitely have card friends all over the world." ”

"After playing cards for so long, everyone must be tired, and it's time to relax!"

With a gesture from Mao Yuanyi, several steaming foot-washing buckets were soon served.

Several people began to enjoy this foot soaking service, and after playing such mahjong, they were already a little uncomfortable.

As your feet are placed in the footwash, a stream of hot air rushes from the springs on the soles of your feet to your whole body, making you feel comfortable all over your body.

Coupled with the fact that these herbs make people smell and have a refreshing effect.

Several gentle and lovely female technicians used their slender jade hands to massage the feet and heads of several people at the same time, which made them feel extremely comfortable up and down.

It's an amazing feeling!

Zheng Yangxing said: "Presumably, this is the medicinal bath for your Majesty, right?" ”

"According to my aunt, this thing has the effect of prolonging life, and now Your Majesty has to soak your feet every day!"

Since Li Xianzhong presented this "medicinal bath foot soak" to Wanli, this atmosphere of foot soaking has gradually spread in the noble circle in the capital, and even many people have asked for this "foot soaking prescription" at a high price.

But after all, it is related to His Majesty's safety, and Cui Wensheng still kept the bottom line this time.

If the prescription is leaked, it is likely that people will know about Wanli's condition, which Zheng Guifei cannot tolerate.

In fact, ordinary people can also use hot water bubbles to relieve fatigue, and medicated baths are not suitable for everyone.

Li Xianzhong used some medicinal neutralizing drugs to make a medicine bag to make a gimmick of "soaking feet in a medicinal bath".

Of course, the nobles in the capital are rich, and it is no problem for them to soak their feet with things like ginseng and He Shou Wu, so Li Xianzhong used several price packs for people to choose from.

They are 5 taels of silver for a "living meridian dredging bag", 10 taels of silver for a "perfect supplement package" and 50 taels of silver for a "longevity package".

Coupled with these gentle and lovely female technicians, as well as the blessing of Wanli's "bath bucket foot soaking prescription", he has no business at all.

At this time, Li Xianzhong asked: "Two brothers, I don't know how your experience is today?" ”

Zheng Yangxing said: "The dishes of Xianzhong Brothers' Restaurant are really an eye-opener for Zheng. There are not only the Buddha jumping over the wall composed of delicacies from the mountains and seas, but also the boiling water cabbage that looks simple but extremely luxurious. Zheng is afraid that the dishes made by his own chef will be difficult to swallow in the future. ”

Zhu Chunchen said: "Not only the innovation of dishes, but also the improvement of existing dishes, I have eaten roast duck for decades, and these duck meats are a little stuffy. ”

"This way of eating duck with sliced skin is very interesting, I never thought of slicing duck skin alone and eating it with other things!"

"Even Ouchi's imperial chef doesn't have such skills, it's hard for this restaurant not to be prosperous!"

Mr. Li Xian said: "The two brothers are well-informed, if you all say so, I will be relieved." ”

"I wonder if the two of you are interested in working together?"

Li Xianzhong: These dishes are definitely scorpion in the capital - one (poisonous) portion!

Letting them join together is obviously giving silver, how can the two not be happy?

The two hurriedly smiled and said, "In this way, we have taken advantage of the loyal brothers!" ”

Li Xianzhong said: "I plan to turn this restaurant into a meeting place in our capital honorable circle, which is only open to people with a certain status. ”

"Either the children of the noble clan with the title, or the children of the civil and military officials above the second rank of the imperial court, I call him the 'membership system'."

"I will change the name of the Drunken Immortal Building to 'Heaven and Earth', there are a total of 5 floors here. On the ground floor is the dining lobby, which is open to all. The second to fifth floors require a membership badge to enter. ”

"The second floor is a private room for eating, and a private room is provided for members."

"The third floor is the foot soaking floor, which provides foot massage services for members."

"The fourth floor is the mahjong floor, which allows members to show their card skills and pay the table fee according to the table."

"The fifth floor is the real heaven and earth, and it is all the 'Yangzhou Thin Horse' that the younger brother found from Jiangnan with a lot of money, each with unique skills."

Then Li Xianzhong said: "Please put away your membership cards, you are my gold medal members in heaven and earth." ”

Li Xianzhong waved his hand, and soon the man brought a plate with two small gold medals with exquisite workmanship, one of which was engraved with a picture of the sun, moon, mountains and rivers on the front, and the other was engraved with the words 'Heaven and Earth Member Card' on the back. ”

In fact, there is a small number "001" printed on it, but this number can only be understood by Li Xianzhong himself.

Li Xianzhong asked: "Do you think this business is going to be a head?" ”

Zhu Chunchen's eyes lit up when he heard the words "heaven and earth", and said with a lewd smile: "Of course there is a head, I am going to go to the heaven and earth on the 5th floor to experience the Yangzhou thin horse." ”

Li Xian added: "They don't sell their bodies! ”

Zhu Chunchen, who looked disappointed, said: "Why do the top brands of Qinglou like to engage in this set, so what's the point?" ”

Li Xianzhong said: "Don't joke with Brother Zhu, there are both artists and bodies." It's just that the best two don't sell themselves, so don't spoil your business. ”

Zheng Yangxing said: "This heaven and earth of the loyal brothers should cost a lot of money, I don't know how much share capital the two of us have to invest?" ”

Li Xianzhong said: "It's not too much, it is estimated that the initial investment is about 70,000 or 80,000 taels, and it needs to be renovated. ”

"The younger brother in the capital's noble circle is all guided by the two eldest brothers, and the business in the heavens and the earth needs to be taken care of by the two of them, so the shares don't have to come out, I give the two of them a dividend of 20% every year, do you have money to earn together?"

Zhu Chunchen said: "That's not good, one yard is one yard, Brother Zheng and I will give you 20,000 taels of silver as our share capital." ”

Li Xianzhong said: "Brother Zhu and Brother Zheng don't have to be polite, this time the younger brother inherited Ning Yuanbo, the resistance of the court is not small, and the two of them need to mobilize the forces of the same harem in the court to support the younger brother, 2 into the dry shares, the two of them are definitely deserved!" ”

Zhu Chunchen said: "If the British Duke Zhang Weixian is a well-deserved head of the nobles, so let's do it, Brother Zheng and I will each take 1 into 5 dry shares, and you will give Zhang Zhiji, the son of the British Gong, 1 into 5 dry shares." In this way, the entire circle of honors and nobles will definitely fall to the loyal brothers, and with the support of Concubine Zheng and His Majesty, this Ning Yuanbo's position is none other than brothers! ”

Zheng Yangxing also said: "My aunt is there to speak for Brother Li and ensure that nothing goes wrong!" ”

New books are on the shelves, ask for recommendation tickets, monthly pass subscriptions, reviews, and reward support!

Thanks to the monthly ticket support of "What You See", "20210824072629748", "Fushui Xinghe", and "Scavenging Little Scholars".

Thank you very much brothers for your daily subscription support!

(End of chapter)