Emperor's Grace

In late January, the weather that had been snowing and windy finally cleared up. Zhu Yunjing stood by the window with her son in her arms, patted the drowsy baby in her arms, and looked at the scenery outside the window, absent-minded.

The early spring flowers that have just been planted in the yard are blooming, adding a bit of gorgeous color to the monotonous spring scene in the yard.Zhu Yunjing's thoughts were wandering, and she was in a daze when a young servant came in from outside and happily came to report: "Master, Master Hou is back."

"Really?" Zhu Yunjing had some surprises. When He Huailing came here for the first time, to establish his prestige and gain a firm foothold, he would naturally have to eat snacks. Even if he was close, he would almost always stay in the barracks to eat and live with his subordinates. Every five days I will only come back once, but today is a day earlier.

"Isn't that right? He's already in the front yard, right in the front room."

Without much hesitation, Zhu Yunjing handed her son to the nanny and went out.

After walking to the front yard, he heard the loud voice of He Huailing's subordinate named Jiang Yan. Zhu Yunjing stopped and wanted to turn around and go back, but what Jiang Yan was talking about was his marriage with He Huailing: "I'm here When people in the army heard that General, you were going to get married, they thought it was a rumor, but it turned out to be true, how could it be so sudden that you want to marry a man?"

He Huailing said: "It was my grandfather's arrangement. I was afraid that I would delay getting married here, so he decided to help me make a marriage arrangement."

Jiang Yan slapped his hands: "I remember, is it the young man who had verbally agreed on the marriage when you were in Jingzhou? I didn't expect that after so many years, it would actually happen."

He Huailing: "..."

Jiang Yan was his father's subordinate in the early years, and he followed him all the time, and he knew something about his past, but since he misunderstood, he didn't explain it, and it would be easier to cover up Zhu Yunjing's identity if it really spread. It's better.

The corner of Zhu Yunjing's mouth twitched outside the door, and she turned and left.

When He Huailing entered the door, Zhu Yunjing was lying on the side of the couch, teasing her son with a small rattle in her hand, Yuan Bao's eyeballs squeaked and danced with his movements, he looked clever.

He Huailing stood aside and watched for a while, then smiled and said, "Your Highness is very interested."

Zhu Yunjing sat up straight and said calmly, "Why are you back today?"

"Tomorrow is the day when the largest market in Huyang City opens. Didn't you say you wanted to go and have a look? Are you going?"

Naturally, He Huailing bent down, leaned closer to Zhu Yunjing and asked him, "Que'er, who upset you again?"

Zhu Yunjing glanced at him lightly: "Think for yourself."

The next morning, before dawn, the two of them went out, He Huailing asked someone to prepare a carriage, but Zhu Yunjing said that he wanted to ride a horse: "I'm afraid I won't be able to get there until dark in the carriage, so let's ride a horse."

"Your body..."

"I gave birth to a child, and it's not that I'm terminally ill. I'm not that delicate." Zhu Yunjing turned on his horse neatly, and the black veil in front of the veiled hat was blown away by the wind, revealing his beautiful face, "Go or not? ?”

He Huailing got on the horse and followed: "Let's go."

They didn't take anyone else with them, just the two of them, hurriedly, before noon, they arrived at the gate of Huyang City, the largest city on the border.

The city gate was wide open, and besides the Dayan people, there were also many businessmen dressed in northern Yi clothing, and there were also many foreigners with high noses and deep eyes. He Huailing whispered to Zhu Yunjing: "This is the case here , There are people everywhere, and those who come to Huyang City are all for money."

"Is it possible that there is still money to be picked up here?"

"Not really, but it's close."

After entering the city, He Huailing took Zhu Yunjing straight to the busiest commercial street in the city. He had already inquired about it before coming. This is the center of the entire Huyang City. The name of the street is Golden Street. Today is Huyang City once a month. The day when the bazaar opens.

At the corner of the street, he entrusted the horse to a specially circled stable, and He Huailing embraced Zhu Yunjing, and followed the crowd into the bustling market.

There are various shops on both sides of the street, and there are small merchants who set up stalls in the middle. Merchants and horse teams from all over the world gather here, speaking the languages ​​of various ethnic groups and making gestures, selling silk, tea, porcelain... Horses, cattle and sheep, furs outside the customs... This kind of trade has been carried out on this land for nearly a hundred years, even a few years ago when the war between Dayan and Beiyi Cangrong was the most intense, the people here No trade has been suspended.

Zhu Yunjing stopped in front of a stall set up by barbarians, and picked up a small tiger-skin felt hat on the stall, with a few pieces of very bright feathers sewn into the brim, it was very interesting to look at, and the stall The master quoted a price in half-baked Chinese, Zhu Yunjing didn't bargain, just threw the broken silver over, raised his hat and motioned for He Huailing to look at it: "It's for Yuanbao, does it look good?"

He Huailing nodded with a smile: "It's fine if you like it."

Walking along the way, Zhu Yunjing found seven or eight more things in his hands, all of which were bought for his son to wear, use and play. Although they were not worth a lot of money, the things outside the pass looked strange.

At noon, the two found a restaurant and went in for lunch. They asked for an undisturbed private room and sat down at a table by the window. He Huailing poured tea for Zhu Yunjing and asked him casually: "What do you think of this place?" ?”

Zhu Yunjing took a sip of tea, then glanced at the bustling street outside the window, and said pertinently: "It's really beyond imagination, but to say it's more prosperous than the capital city is an exaggeration."

"Indeed, it's very rare for a border city to have something like this."

"The mansions on the street behind belong to those merchants?"

He Huailing followed Zhu Yunjing's line of sight. They were on the third floor of the restaurant. Standing tall, they could see far away. Behind the golden street were neatly planned houses, although they were not high-end courtyards. It is also really stylish.

"That's right. It's said that even the bowls of the merchants here are made of gold, and there are gold and silver hidden everywhere in the house, which can't be used up in a few lifetimes."

Zhu Yunjing raised her eyebrows: "Doing business here, can you actually make money like this?"

He Huailing shook his head: "It's just that the things sold in the market outside are profitable, but they don't make them rich. The merchants here have set up a chamber of commerce, and they have connections with all the tribes of Beiyi. In addition to selling them Ordinary items such as silk and tea, and privately traded grain, private salt, and even ironware with them."

Zhu Yunjing's eyes widened slightly: "How dare they?"

"Why don't you dare," He Huailing drank tea calmly, "The sky is high and the emperor is far away, who can control them here, even the magistrate of Huyang City is their own."

"...how do you know this?"

"There are quite a few people who know about these things here, as well as the Lin family, the wife of King Qi. I have had people investigate them in the south of the Yangtze River for a long time, and found that they also colluded with the chamber of commerce here. The previous private salt case , They should have been implicated too, but they had heard that the rumors were wrong, they abandoned the car to protect the handsome man, and selling illegal salt may be just an added bonus to them. I suspect that what they are really doing is refining ironware, Jing Huyang The hands of the chamber of commerce are sold to the barbarians, taking ill-gotten gains."

Zhu Yunjing's expression turned cold: "They are so courageous! Selling privately smelted ironware to barbarians is any different from collaborating with the enemy and treason?"

For so many years, there have been constant wars on the border. The poor people living here have suffered from the wars.

He Huailing sighed: "It's a pity that I don't have any solid evidence in my hand now. In order not to startle the snake, I can only hold back for the time being and look again. After searching for so long, I feel that there may be a relationship between King Qi and Zhu Yunxun. No accomplice was reached. Before, I thought that the evidence that I was able to quickly find out the illegal salt case in Jiangnan was led by the king of Qi, but now that I think about it, this may not be the case. The Lin family also participated in the illegal salt case. Although they escaped by luck in the end, But it’s also a heavy loss, if one accidentally gets involved in these things in the north, it’s a big deal, King Qi shouldn’t risk exposing the Lin family to do this, otherwise he won’t go out of his way to assassinate you.”

Zhu Yunjing said: "That's what Zhu Yunxun did by himself? He is a prince who studies in the palace all day, how can he have such great skills to intervene in Jiangnan's affairs?"

He Huailing coughed lightly: "He can't, but my grandfather and second uncle can..."

Zhu Yunjing: "..."

That's right, He Huailing sent someone to Jiangnan to find evidence. Zhu Yunxun already knew that if the He family had seen the memorial that Du Zhifu was stopped before, they would naturally help behind the scenes. Even without He Huailing, they would arrange for others The people presented the evidence to the emperor.

Zhu Yunjing glared at He Huailing angrily: "So you're sure it wasn't your He family who did the assassination of me?"

"That shouldn't be the case." He Huailing shook his head slightly, "They don't have the guts."

"If it wasn't for Zhu Yunxun, why would the King of Qi want to assassinate me? What good would he do if I died? He wouldn't be able to take the throne no matter what?"

"I don't know."

Zhu Yunjing didn't bother to talk anymore, all the dishes he ordered were ready, he buried his head and started to eat, He Huailing picked up some food for him, and lowered his voice: "Que'er, I have separated from the He family, they are them, I it's me."

"Okay, I know," Zhu Yunjing interrupted him, "Don't talk about these things."

After he finished speaking, he suddenly frowned: "Is Zongbing Qian's death also related to these things? Isn't Vice President Chen getting close to the people in Huyang City? Maybe Zongbing Qian found out about their collusion with the enemy and treason and is going to report to the court , Vice President Chen silenced him?"

He Huailing said: "It's not impossible."

"Your Majesty secretly ordered you to investigate the case, where are you going to start?"

"Let's go meet the merchants of those chambers of commerce first."

Zhu Yunjing was puzzled: "How?"

"I heard that tomorrow is the president of the chamber of commerce. That big businessman from Jin Province Zeng Jinnan's mother's [-]th birthday has a big banquet at home. Let's find a way to get in."

"How do you get in without an invitation?"

He Huailing smiled and said, "Just go and steal one."

Zhu Yunjing: "..."

steal?