Lu Ming

After the master got off the sedan chair, he entered the mansion all the way under the greeting of the big housekeeper of Huang's mansion who came over after hearing the sound.Along the way, the stewards, servants, nurses, wives, servants, and maidservants in the mansion stood respectfully and solemnly in front of the door, waiting for the master to return to the mansion.

The main house of Huang's Mansion has three entrances, with seven or eight side courtyards on both sides, and two gardens, one large and one small, in the back house, which occupy a vast area and are of extraordinary style.

Master Huang didn't look sideways, followed by the butler, the chief entourage, and the servant, all the way across the three entrance gates, and returned to the study of the inner house.As soon as they entered the house, four or five maidservants dressed up like butterflies and began to serve the master to change clothes, wash, serve water and drink tea.

After washing his face, Huang Ping changed into a plain soft muslin robe and a pair of straw slippers. He went to the back room and tried to see if the water in the celadon tea bowl on the table was still hot, so he picked up some letters and name cards on the table, Take them apart one by one.

……

Huang Zhicheng has gradually adapted to the current life of being a master in the past six months after winning the examination.Just like those people who became popular overnight in later generations, suddenly your every move is watched... The feeling of suddenly living under the spotlight was not so easy to adapt to at first.

Fortunately, there is still a difference between the Ming Dynasty and later generations. Master Huang soon discovered that he didn't need to worry about anything: in his own house, he was the emperor, and he controlled the life and death of more than 100 servants in this house.

……

In the late Ming Dynasty, due to population growth, a large number of rural unemployed people entered the cities, and the social environment underwent drastic changes.In the Jiangnan area, even Hansu people are "ashamed to wear cloth", "the family has no rice, and the clothes are fresh".

At the same time, slavery became popular in society, and it was common for middle and lower classes to employ slaves, let alone the gentry.It is not uncommon for the rich and powerful families to spread their rice paddies across the fields, buy a lot of land, and have hundreds of servants in their families.

After Huang Zhicheng was elected, according to the order from the senior officials, he began to take root in Hangzhou step by step and establish his own contacts.

To take root, the first is the house.

Because Mr. Huang has many "friends" in three mountains and five mountains, all kinds of weird things are expected to happen in the future, so Mr. Huang's house must not be too small.Although theoretically these friends would not disturb him, one must always be prepared... In case the brothers want to open Hangzhou City one day, how can Master Huang's family also ambush a company, right?

In line with this principle, after Huang Zhicheng was elected, he began to officially meet the house in Hangzhou.Fortunately, at this time, the master no longer needs to be troubled by himself. The newly hired housekeeper and stewards gathered together and ran around the city. It took only a few days for Master Huang to buy the big house in Guliu Lane.

The house is in Shangcheng District, and it was sold from a senior official. It occupies a large area, which is suitable for Huang Zhicheng's requirements.After buying the house, he spent a lot of money to renovate the house, which also included some seemingly ordinary but profound changes.

After moving into the house, Huang Zhicheng hired more than 100 servants of various colors to show his appearance.In such a large house, more than 100 people are theoretically a bit shabby, but Mr. Huang's first wife died young, and the back house has no owner, so this number of people will be enough for now.

While purchasing real estate and increasing production, Huang Zhicheng's most important job was of course not left behind: making friends.

Mr. Huang, who is charged with spying on social intelligence in the Jiangnan area, puts a lot of energy into welcoming and sending off, making friends and socializing.Starting from the same year of the imperial examination, Mr. Huang used the original network of relationships that came with him after becoming a Juren to expand his network step by step.

The reason why he came back from outside today is because he went to the painting club early in the morning to socialize and socialize, and he will return in the evening.

……

Huang Zhicheng spent a cup of tea time, after reading the two letters and some famous posts on the table, he turned his head and told the servant girl to call the housekeeper in.

The housekeeper's surname is Wu Mingchi, and he is in his forties. He has a round face, and he looks happy when he looks at it.

Hangzhou, a big city in the Ming Dynasty with an extremely developed service industry, is just like New York in later generations. The high-end service industry market has long been formed.

For a professional manager like Wu Chi who is capable of managing a large house, as soon as Huang Zhicheng won the exam that day, seven or eight came to him.There are self-recommended wild roads, and there are regular soldiers holding a letter recommended by a certain master-the triennial rural examination is also a carnival in the service industry market. Establishing a household, recruiting soldiers and buying horses, and setting up a full set of subordinates-the so-called give me a recruit, and I can create a family...

Butler Wu is such a professional manager.He is a native of Hangzhou, his father and brother are housekeepers, that is to say, the whole Wu family are housekeepers, the so-called profound family knowledge... This is a bit of a mouthful.In fact, Butler Wu used to work in a big family in Suzhou Mansion, and later encountered a career ceiling - but any smarter family would not arrange for his younger brother to be the butler of the outer house when his elder brother was the head of the house.

Butler Wu competed for the butler of the outer house and failed.Of course, this is a non-war crime, and the host family also wrote a letter of recommendation for him to find a job.

After investigating the background of Butler Wu, the newly released Huang Xiaolian felt that this person is very suitable for the current situation: Mr. Huang is different from the other dicks who won the election. What is missing is contacts.

People like housekeepers and Master Shaoxing belong to the same concept, and they belong to an important link between the past and the future. A local snake from a housekeeper family like Butler Wu is exactly what Master Huang needs, so Butler Wu is on the line.

……

"Those country folks haven't left yet?" Butler Wu asked the master face to face before he had time to salute after entering the back room.

"Master, I haven't left yet, I'm nestling in the locker room." Butler Wu straightened his expression at this moment, and stood up to return.

The reason why the time-traveling people chose Huang Ping, a poor scholar, to replace him was because Huang Xiucai's family was dead and he had no relatives.However, when Mr. Huang was elected, the news of the victory came back to Taizhou, and people from the poor villages under Tiantai Mountain began to come to Hangzhou—all kinds of so-called relatives, all kinds of so-called friends, and all kinds of so-called fellow villagers. ...

Mr. Huang, who originally had ghosts in his heart, naturally would not meet these people who came to fight the autumn wind.It’s not that he’s afraid of showing flaws in his appearance: in this era of wrinkled faces at the age of 30, Huang Ping, who has been away from home for more than ten years, will not be recognized by these so-called old villagers even if he passes by.

What Huang Ping was afraid of was some other uncertain factors, such as accidentally misrepresenting the identity and seniority of some family members back then.Besides, is it necessary for Mr. Huang to come into contact with these mud legs?Master Juren's face is so easy to see?

Butler Wu knew his master's attitude towards these neighbors.As far as he privately guessed, it was about when the master left his hometown, he had some trouble with these folks... It is said that after the master buried his forgotten wife, he sold the land on the spot and never returned to his hometown.

"Now the retribution is coming, you bastards!" Butler Wu stood in the room at this moment, seemingly expressionless, but in fact he was secretly happy.From his point of view, his master's attitude towards the village is the best... what if the second fool from Taizhou came to him one day and became the master's confidant?

"Well, let's do it according to the old rules. It's better to assign the person to Manager Zhao." After thinking about it, Huang Zhicheng still couldn't find a good solution.These dog-skin plasters cannot be killed or scolded, and if they are driven away, they are afraid of ruining their reputation and affecting the "personality" that they have worked so hard to build, so they can only be handed over to Manager Zhao.

Steward Zhao is Zhao Wutian, the Pingfeng Mountain bandit back then, and now an inconspicuous steward in the Huang Mansion.

Guanshi Zhao is the only one in Huang's mansion who knows the true identity of the master.As the bridge connecting Huang Zhicheng and Hangzhou Station, Zhao Wutian shouldered a heavy responsibility. It was inconvenient for Mr. Huang to come forward for all matters related to crossing. On weekdays, Zhao Wutian would come forward to handle it.

Chapter 155

The legendary place of Pingfeng Village, the starting point of all stories, has now disappeared in a sense.

After Zhou Tong decided to go down the mountain to rebel, he began to liquidate his assets.Including the villagers of Hengtang Village at the foot of the mountain, all the old and weak were sent away one after another.These people were first shunted to Tangzhuang and Moyun Temple, and finally most of them were sent to the senior officials for resettlement.

After the old and the weak were sent away, the last group of young adults who stayed behind followed the instructions and gave the Pingfeng Village and Hengtang Village to the local squire Hu; at this time, Zhou Tong had already taken the top spot in the Hangzhou Beggar Gang.

After Hu Xiangshen heard the news, he didn't renege on his debt - he knew that his mountain products would be sold on Zhou Tong's site in the future.

This liquidation method of killing chickens and taking eggs has effectively changed the predicament of the short-staffed forces in the early days.The manpower of Pingfeng Mountain is either in the town of Beggars, or in the town of Moyunguan, or in the town of Dayuan. In short, the brothers are very strong.

After Huang Zhicheng was elected, he urgently needed someone of his own. Zhao Wutian was selected under such circumstances to serve as Master Huang's liaison officer.

Zhao Wutian, who had a steady personality and acted appropriately, changed his name to Zhao Liu after a few days of emergency training in Tangzhuang, and went to the Yellow House to take a job as a casual manager, responsible for internal and external connections.

……

So when Mr. Huang asked to hand over the people who came to beat the autumn wind to Mr. Zhao, Mr. Wu agreed without batting an eyelid.He knew that this seemingly dull Manager Zhao was actually a confidant of the master. The Taizhou mud legs who came to beg for shelter in the past few waves, after being handed over to this Manager Zhao, there was no news... It can be seen that this guy is usually in What a job they do outside.

……

After Mr. Huang gave orders to beat the autumn wind, he asked again: "How is the repair of that shop going?"

"Oh, [-]% of the work has been completed, and it should be finished in a few days."

"Well, then send someone to Du Xing's capital tomorrow to post a post and make an appointment."

"Understood, sir."

"What else is there today?"

"Cough...well, Mrs. Ma and Mrs. Yan came running again. They kept arguing and refused to leave if they didn't see the master. They sent them away after paying two handfuls of money."

"Oh..." Master Huang rolled his eyes fiercely when he heard this.

The wives came to make matchmaking.

Mr. Huang's original partner died early, and now he is a Juren, and his family business has swelled like a pig's urine bubble. In one night, Mr. Huang became a favorite.

Getting promoted, getting rich and killing your wife is the highest level of dreams.This is regardless of dynasties, even in later generations, Master Huang is now the living version of "Dream of the Ming Dynasty", a model of men in the Ming Dynasty.

So since the master won the election, matchmakers flocked to him.

However, Mr. Huang doesn't want to continue, without it, there are too many girls.

If it were any of the time-traveling crowds, they probably wouldn't want to continue.Think about it, every night there are tender girls who are sixteen or seventeen to accompany you to sleep, and they can be exchanged, and they will not be jealous, and they will not refuse various positions. It is okay if there are more people, and they all want to give birth to monkeys for you... …

Mr. Huang, who traveled through future generations, truly feels that life is ten thousand times better than before time-traveling. He doesn't want to find some old woman to take charge of the back house. Isn't it good to be so dissolute now...

However, reality does not allow it.

A new imperial examination candidate does not continue his strings. He can do it at the beginning, but after a long time, he will be classified as "heterogeneous" by the scholar-bureaucrat class.This is inconsistent with Huang Zhicheng's personality. He needs to use the appearance of an elite scholar-bureaucrat to integrate into the Jiangnan gentry circle. People who don't even have a wife at home will attract unnecessary discussions and negative comments.

The officials will not agree either.

In the previous discussion about the continuation, the secret letter from the big office has already given several opinions.

Article [-]: The wife must marry.

Article [-]: It is not recommended to deal with high-ranking officials and officials, and they may not necessarily look up to a Juren.Even if she gets married, there is a high probability that she will be a concubine, and there are not many benefits. If the master Wang lands in the future, if these reactionaries resist stubbornly, they will sit down.

Article [-]: It is best not to marry someone with small feet.At present, the political trend of the big officials is that all parties are unanimous in resolutely banning the little feet. A friendly reminder: You are already very enviable, don't make trouble for yourself.

... Well, with these few rules, the choice of Mr. Huang's future wife is already very small.It must be the daughter of a small and medium-sized official's family, and it can't be a little foot. This is a bit difficult, but the forest is big, and there are all kinds of birds, so you can always find it.

"It seems that we have to make a decision." Mr. Huang, who has been subconsciously not active in this matter, finally realized today that he can't go on - a creature like a matchmaker won't stop until it achieves its goal. It has been half a year. , If you continue to quarrel, it will not affect the effect.

"Let them make preparations tomorrow, and I'll see you when I come back from drinking tea." Once Huang Zhicheng thought it through clearly, he didn't procrastinate.

"Yes." Butler Wu answered with a bow.At this moment, the fat on his face couldn't help twitching slightly: he knew that from this moment on, the countdown to the hostess' entry into the house had already entered.

After dismissing the butler, Mr. Huang sat in a chair and thought for a while, and then began to have dinner served by the maid.After the meal, Mr. Huang insisted on reading for a while—the Four Books and Five Classics were the homework he had to make up for, and the knowledge of ancient prose before crossing must not be enough, so he has been studying for the past six months, otherwise, someday the ancients will throw out some memes, If you can't catch it, you'll be ashamed.

Shaking his head and shaking his head, it means that Mr. Huang's spirit of living and learning from time to time immediately moved the girl who came to make her red sleeves more fragrant.

Mr. Huang is as good as good, so he lit the cold incense and warm incense and the second maidservant to accompany him, and blowing the lamp will nourish his vitality...

……

After one night, a new day for the scholar-bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty began.

Master Huang got up early and had a meal. He studied classics and history for a while. Seeing that it was the end of the morning, he got up and changed his clothes.The master didn't get up in the sedan chair today, but instead walked in the car, walked out of the house leisurely, and headed eastward all the way.

Go out of Guliu Lane and you will find Shiban Street. After you go out of the intersection, you will find a bustling vegetable market.The scale of this vegetable market is small, and its main function is to deliver high-end vegetables to the nearby rich families, so it usually does not hold some popular beheading shows.

The group of people walked not far, and when they reached an alley not far from Caishikou, they turned in. There was a teahouse called "Xigaotang" in the alley, and this was where Master Huang used to drink tea.

The teahouse "Xigaotang" was opened at the same time as Huang's Mansion.Originally, this place was a herbal medicine shop called He Tai Tang. Since the shop is not facing the street, although it is not far from the vegetable market, the business has always been mediocre;

After Mr. Huang entered the door, the shopkeeper of the teahouse greeted him with a smile.In fact, this shopkeeper and Chairman Cao are old acquaintances: this person's surname is Lu, and his name is Lu Wenwen. He was originally a wandering Taoist priest, and later he joined Pingfengzhai.

Now that the Taoist priest has gone down the mountain to become the shopkeeper of the teahouse, Lu Tent has a good appearance.Seeing Mr. Huang enter the door, he politely greeted him to the second floor, and asked the waiter to serve tea and snacks to the companions sitting downstairs.

Master Huang and Shopkeeper Lu are old acquaintances now, they went up to the second floor, and came to the regular tea room where Master Huang usually drinks tea.This box is specially decorated, and the plywood walls made of different materials can ensure that the partition wall has no ears.

When Master Huang pushed open the door of the box, there was already a monk sitting inside, a monk in green robes.

The monk has big ears and a short and fat body, much like the monk in charge of cooking in Xiangji Kitchen.

After Mr. Huang entered the box, he sat down on the chair as if he didn't see the monk. At this moment, Lu Wenwen gently closed the door.

At this moment, while pouring tea for Mr. Huang, the monk took out a mobile phone from his pocket and handed it over.

"Look at the latest instructions first, we have already read them."

Huang Zhicheng took the phone casually, entered a string of public passwords, and then retrieved several documents from his exclusive folder.

When he saw that the recipient of the document was codenamed "Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism", he couldn't help being a little excited - Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism is the code name for the three-person group in Hangzhou Station, and usually such a document appears, which means that the three of them are in need The big things that have been done together have to be done.

At this moment, after a few rhythmic knocks on the door of the private room, the owner of Tangzhuang, Sea Merchant Xiong Dao, also walked in slowly.

Confucianism is Huang Zhicheng himself.Shi, is the monk in front of him, the station master of Hangzhou station.Dao is the owner of Tangzhuang, brother Xiong Dao. The combination of "Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism" are the only three traversers of a certain force in Hangzhou. They shoulder the important mission of maintaining the operation of Hangzhou Station.

……

The monk's surname is Lu, and his name is Lu Cheng.Before time travel, this guy was engaged in underground work - selling pirated copies.Discs, self-made Zhonghua, self-brewed Moutai, Kang Shuaifu, Piaorou... In short, whoever is popular will be sold, and whoever has a good reputation will be sold.

During those years of burning passion, Comrade Lu Cheng accumulated rich experience in underground work and formed a strong fighting group in the process of fighting with various departments such as industry and commerce, taxation, quality inspection, sanitation, fire protection, culture, tobacco monopoly and anti-counterfeiting office. , In an extremely complex market environment where the enemy and the enemy are stubborn, Comrade Lu Cheng relied on his strong underground network to fight without death and death without rigidity, which has become a good story in the industry.

Of course, the glory has become a thing of the past, and now Comrade Lu Cheng has come to a new combat position.

Not counting Huang Zhicheng's exclusive customized version, both Lu Cheng and Xiong Dao were spy war emperors who stayed at the Hangzhou station by their own ability before they traveled through the large armies and sailed as senior officers.

When selecting personnel, in addition to his longing for spy work, Lu Cheng's rich experience in organizing underground networks and his short stature were also the key factors for him to become the head of the Hangzhou station - being able to operate a network in later generations. The short and fat man of the underground copycat sales network is absolutely capable of being the stationmaster of Hangzhou Station in the extremely slow-paced 17th century.

It is rare for the three of them to drink tea together at Xigaotang... Today they met because they had an important matter to discuss and couldn't make it clear on the phone.

Chapter 156 Card Position

The "Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism" trio has a clear division of labor.Lu Cheng, the head of the Hangzhou Station, is responsible for remote control of the Beggar Gang, managing Moyun Temple, maintaining the collection channels for refugees, and establishing an underground intelligence network. The tasks are the most arduous.

Xiong Dao, the businessman, is the only character among the three who is in the sun.Right now he looks inconspicuous, just an overseas sea merchant who buys grain and rice every day, but soon his identity will be known to more people.

As for Master Huang... I won't mention this, he is a master, and his main job has always been to be a good master.

……

The document sent by the main office is very long, with analysis suggestions, requirements, and some appendices on historical background.

When Huang Zhicheng read the document carefully, Xiong Dao and Lu Cheng had already had two cups of tea.After that, Mr. Huang thought for a while, and then opened his eyes suddenly: "I'll go. If you say that, maybe I have to go to Fujian?"

"Why, can't you bear the chick at home?" Monk Lu joked while rubbing his bald head with a smile, "It's okay, I'll buy it when I go to Fuzhou. I've been to Fuzhou, and the girls have good skin."

"I see this broken station pill!" Without waiting for Huang Zhicheng to explain anything, Xiong Dao laughed and cursed: "I haven't written my horoscope yet, I'm thinking about the girl from Fuzhou first! Everyone doesn't think about how to complete the task, just think about these things There are none!"

"Okay, okay, let's analyze and analyze the task, who will come first?" Lu Cheng said after the three of them chatted and had a cup of tea with a smile.

……

The documents in the big office are aimed at Xiong Wencan.

Xiong Wencan, a native of Sichuan, was a Jinshi during the Wanli period.

Xiong Wencan in history will start to inspect Fujian this month, and then he will recruit Zheng Zhilong, support Zheng Zhilong, provide Zheng Zhilong with a lot of government resources, and become Zheng Zhilong's strong backing to wipe out other Fujian and Guangdong pirates.It is no exaggeration to say that the reason why the Zheng family can dominate the southeast sea in the future is all thanks to Xiong Wencan.

As for the time-traveling forces that have begun to gradually expand outwards, the most important external matter in 1628 was to settle the obstacles in front of them, the ultimate victor in history: Zheng Zhilong.