The first thing that surprised King Xiang was that he entered the palace to meet the Queen Mother, wearing princely clothes, and then came to the Tianlou, and he didn't have time to change his clothes.

But when I entered the building, I didn't attract much attention and didn't get special care.

Jietianlou treats every guest equally.

The building was so crowded that there wasn't even a single vacant seat. King Xiang even used a large ingot of gold to buy an empty seat from a diner.

Of course, the gold did not have white flowers, and King Xiang got the best position on the first floor.

As soon as King Xiang sat down, he turned back to his henchman and smiled bitterly: "No wonder I said that this is the first floor of the Beijing Division, so I rushed to the scene in front of me, and I made 100,000 taels of silver a year." ”

When the henchman heard this, he really counted it with his fingers, and then replied: "That's more than that, if you earn 100,000 taels a year, you can earn less than 300 taels every day."

How is that possible, judging by this man's overcrowding scene, he believes that he earns three thousand taels a day. ”

When King Xiang heard this, he was speechless: "One restaurant in this district can earn hundreds of thousands of taels a year?" Is this faster than robbing money? ”

The diners at the same table laughed when they heard this.

One of the diners said with a smile: "Although this highness is joking, for these meals and tea ordered by the villain, if you sit in the heavenly tower for an afternoon, it will cost at least thirty or fifty taels of silver."

This is still the first floor, and if you go further upstairs, it will be more expensive. ”

When King Xiang heard this, he smiled and nodded in response, but his heart was even more puzzled. He was dressed in princely clothes, and the diners recognized him, but everyone still talked and laughed freely, and was not afraid of his identity.

Could it be that the prince is so worthless in the eyes of the wealthy family in the capital?

The diner seemed to be able to perceive people's hearts, and without waiting for King Xiang to ask, he took the initiative to explain: "Your Highness should be here for the first time, don't blame me for being rude, but the Tianlou has already set a rule, as long as you enter the building, you don't care about the official rank and title, and the diners will treat each other equally."

If you leave this building, we will kowtow to you.

But in this heavenly tower, there are countless dignitaries and dignitaries who come in and out every day, and if you insist on etiquette, then this restaurant will not be able to open.

Now that you have a prince come in, all the guests have come and kowtow to you; A country will come again, and a horse will come again, everyone has to come and kowtow, then it's all a mess, how to eat?

Therefore, please bear with me, Your Highness. ”

King Xiang nodded: "What Mr. said is, I can understand. Dare to ask what is the name of the gentleman? ”

The diner bowed his hand: "I'm ashamed, I'm ashamed, in front of Your Highness, I don't dare to be called a gentleman." The villain Wang Shan is a businessman in Baoding Mansion who does small business. This time I went to Beijing to try my luck and see if I could find some ways to make money. ”

When King Xiang heard this, shouldn't he be serious, can a person who can sit in the heavenly tower for an afternoon be a small business?

King Xiang kindly greeted the diners at the same table, and then asked the question he wanted to ask: "What do the gentlemen think of His Majesty and the Queen Mother's edict?" ”

A diner surnamed Li replied indignantly: "The saint is wronged, the villain has lived in the capital for a long time, and he knows this too well."

The 500,000 Ming army in Tumubao was destroyed, and the 80,000 army was menacing, and the people in the capital were panicked at that time, and few people would think that the city of Beijing could be defended.

Whether it is a wealthy businessman or a dignitary, they all hurriedly packed up their belongings and prepared to flee to Jiangnan.

If you want me to say, it's just a little bit, and our Ming Dynasty will follow in the footsteps of the Southern Song Dynasty.

It is today's saint who turned the tide, hit Warat hard, and rescued Daming by force. It also preserved the wealth and net worth of the people of Beijing.

Tell me what the saint is guilty of, and it has only been repelled for less than two months, and a group of young people in the court have forced the saint to condemn himself.

It is really eye-opening to be a human being who can unload the grind and kill the donkey and be ungrateful to this extent. ”

The others also nodded their heads in succession, expressing their sympathy for the emperor.

King Xiang's heart was even colder, but he was still unwilling, so he continued to ask: "Your Majesty's guilty edict only tells the beginning and end of defending the Jingshi in the past six months, but there is no substantive self-blame.

Emperor Taishang was originally the orthodox emperor, and Emperor Jingtai was originally the temporary throne. After the emperor returned to Beijing, His Majesty retired as a prince, and it was still restored by the emperor, which is also the place of etiquette. ”

When everyone heard this, they all shook their heads again and again.

The diner surnamed Li was still the first to refute: "How can it be done, the heavenly position has been decided, how can the Sheji artifact be allowed to come and go."

Besides, the position of the Son of Heaven has always been advanced and retreated. If the saint really retires as a prince today, how can that family have a whole life? ”

When King Xiang heard this, he was quite surprised. Can this kind of thing be talked about openly?

The diner surnamed Li didn't care, and continued: "Besides, the saint is the son of Queen Hu that day, and he is a descendant and reigns over the world, why not?" ”

Hearing this, King Xiang was even more surprised, but when he saw the people at the same table, their faces were as usual.

Wang Shan observed his face and knew where King Xiang was puzzled, so he took the initiative to explain: "The master behind the heavenly tower is very big, and it can be said that his hands and eyes reach the sky.

We, the diners, as long as we have paid for the meal, can say whatever we want in this building, as long as we do not incite rebellion or openly insult the Holy One.

Whether it is Jinyiwei, Shuntianfu, or the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses, they will not meddle in their affairs. ”

King Xiang nodded, and continued to ask the diner surnamed Li: "Then Your Majesty was originally born to the concubine, and it was passed on to Queen Hu, how can it be said that it is a lineage?" ”

The diner surnamed Li asked rhetorically: "Then when the Emperor Taishang was born, the Empress Dowager Sun was still the concubine of the first emperor, and the Emperor Taishang was born as a real concubine, why can he be called orthodox and claim to be a descendant?"

Since after killing his wife with a concubine, the concubine can call himself a concubine, then why is it not a concubine when the saint is upright and upright to marry the wife of the first emperor?

And even in the people, as long as it is a successor, its descendants are judged according to the identity of the mother after the succession. This has long been a conventional etiquette. ”

King Xiang nodded, and then looked at the others. Unexpectedly, everyone else nodded in agreement.

Although a few people at the same table do not represent the thoughts of all the people in the capital. However, the sympathy of the people of the capital for Empress Hu is still much stronger than King Xiang imagined.

Twenty years have passed since Empress Hu was deposed, but in the hearts of the people of the capital, they still identify with Empress Hu and do not recognize Empress Dowager Sun. Especially recently, the case of Princess Shunde being poisoned by her own horse broke out, and the sympathy of the people of the capital for Queen Hu has even deepened.

King Xiang endured the unhappiness in his heart and asked a lot of questions. stayed in the building until it was dark, then said goodbye to everyone and returned to the palace.

Lying in bed at night, King Xiang couldn't fall asleep, and the more he thought about it, the more scared he became. How come it has only been half a year that the thoughts of the people in the capital have become like this?

Although the few diners I met today cannot represent all the people of the capital, I can see the leopard in the tube.

Poor King Xiang, after a thousand calculations, could not have imagined that there was still the concept of 'childcare' in the first restaurant in the dignified capital.

In addition to the serious diners in the Jietianlou, there are also some 'nurseries' specially inserted by Zhu Qiyu to guide public opinion.

This really doesn't blame King Xiang, in people's inertial thinking, the emperor's eyes and ears are Dongchang and Jinyiwei, no one would have thought that Zhu Qiyu would play this kind of 'master in the folk' trick.

During the Battle of Beijing, Zhu Qiyu recruited 3,000 loyal and brave soldiers from the people of the capital to assist the imperial army in attacking Warat at night. Later, most of these people were inserted by Zhu Qiyu into the Shenji Battalion, the Four Guards of the Imperial Horse Prison and the Tiance Guard.

There are also some people who are unwilling to be restrained by the military camp, but they were given heavy rewards by Zhu Qiyu and accepted as eyeliner. These people are all heroic people, who have a wide range of friends and are well-informed on weekdays, and effectively act as Zhu Qiyu's eyes and ears.

In the evening, every word that King Xiang said in the Yinghua Palace, and every word he said in the Heavenly Tower, were all written and sent to Zhu Qiyu.

Zhu Qiyu read it word by word, and smiled at the favorite concubines: "Our Royal Highness King Xiang, my heart has been hurt a lot today, and I am afraid that I will have trouble sleeping at night." ”

Lin Xiangyu smiled when he heard this: "Since King Xiang plans to leave Beijing tomorrow, should the husband send him a few women to express his feelings, so as not to make King Xiang's journey lonely, and it can be regarded as the husband's nephew's affection for the emperor's uncle." ”

(End of chapter)