The husband's son-in-law

Letters from Zhejiang and Zhejiang.

The horse-riding courier carried a bamboo letter barrel all the way, and traveled day and night, and finally arrived in the middle of the capital. When he entered the gate of the capital, he did not dismount from his horse.

When the guard at the city gate heard it, he let it go immediately without inspection.

Because this person is wearing an official uniform, and secondly, he is wearing a waist badge when he speaks, which is a badge that can pass through the palace.Immediately let it go, and when the horse ran away, he muttered: "What kind of Yamen is this? Why haven't I heard of it?"

"I haven't heard of it, but the Liangzhe side—"

"Two Zhejiang?! That new yamen, the one where the number one scholar used to go."

The captain who asked the question at the beginning also remembered this incident and said, "Really come back? I remember how many years I have been there?" In fact, I can't remember it anymore. What does it have to do with their errands? , why remember this.

"Well, it seems to be in the autumn of five years."

The horse went straight to the Dali Palace, dismounted when it reached the Dingmen Gate, holding a waist card to see Mr. Gu, the guards guarding the palace gate were stricter than the city gate, asked for the register, checked the waist card, and checked the body after verifying that it was upright There are dangerous weapons, look at that bamboo tube——

The courier tore open the bucket cap, and poured out several letters, which were sealed and could not be opened.

"Come here all the way, for fear of spoiling the letter, please read it, my lords." Let the diabolo tube be inspected by the guard at the gate.

If you can't hide it, you have a weapon.

The messenger packed the letter, and hurried into the palace gate on foot this time. Naturally, there were guards leading the way, all the way to the cabinet in the apse of the Taiji Hall, and then stopped. The guards could not enter, and the eunuch at the gate entered the pass.

At the end of August at this time, the weather in Beijing is still autumn tiger, especially at noon.

Just after lunch, Gu Zhao was sitting on a chair and taking a nap, when he heard the eunuch's message, he suddenly became agitated, all sleepiness disappeared, he stood up and hurried out, "The sea ship is back?"

"Looking back, my lord, I don't know about this slave. I only know that the messengers from Zhejiang and Zhejiang are coming to deliver the letter, so they are waiting outside."

Gu Zhaosan had already reached the outer room in two steps. When the messenger saw him and wanted to greet him, Gu Zhaoxian said, "Not too polite, what about the letter? When did you come back?"

The courier handed over the letter bucket and said respectfully: "Looking back, my lord, the boat arrived at Liangzhe Haicheng Wharf ten days ago."

"Settle him down." Gu Zhao took the letter bucket without opening it, but walked outside the hall, and went to the Yongshuang hall to meet the Holy One.

The side hall of Yongshuang Hall can still hear the laughter of the little persimmon.

The father-in-law waiting outside saw Master Gu coming, and hurriedly came forward to say hello, and said, "Master Gu, it's hard work coming here on a hot day, and my servant will inform you, please wait in the cool place first."

"My father-in-law."

"Don't dare to be." The eunuch rushed into the inner hall, went to his master and said, "Master Gu is here, wait in the outer hall."

Gou Gui went to Tongchuan, let the disciples invite Mr. Gu to enter first.There is no need to think about it, but the Holy Majesty may ask Mr. Gu to wait for a while when he gets along with the empress - after all, he has to tidy up his appearance, and now that the prince is here, there is no need to wait.

Sure enough, when he went in and talked about it, the queen said first: "Come here at this time, it should be a serious matter."

"Please." Li Wubing said.

Gu Zhao had already arrived at the entrance of the inner hall, when the eunuch opened the curtain, a small figure rushed over and called, "Hello, Uncle."

"Hello, little persimmon." Gu Zhao said with a smile.

Li Wubing took a look and said to his brother: "What a great thing it is to be appointed."

It is indeed a great thing.Gu Zhao handed over the letter and said that the boat had returned. Rong Ye was also surprised when he heard it, and then he was pleasantly surprised, "It's been back? It's been almost four years, and I didn't expect it to come back."

As the time dragged on, Li Zhouzhou was the one who worried the most. Sometimes when he went to the palace to chat with Rong Ye, he would talk about the ship going out to sea. The goods were second to none. People had to be fine...

The letter was opened by Li Wubing. There were two letters in total, one was written by Li Jinyi and the other was written by Wang Jian.

Li Wubing took the one written by Wang Jian, took it apart and sat with his brother to read it, and Xiao Shizi came over and sat next to him to read it. The more the family of three looked at it, the more confused they became.In Gu Zhao's hand was Li Jinyi's letter, which was written in a general way, when he would come back, and what goods he brought——

He even brought someone with him, saying that this person was dark-skinned, strong and tall, and also had blond hair, blue eyes and snow-white skin.

"So much?" Li Wubing asked his brother with a letter, "After all, it's more than our private treasury?"

Rong Ye said, "Hundreds of times more."

After exchanging letters, Gu Zhao saw that Wang Jianxin counted the gold coins and jewelry brought back. If they were converted into the zeros at the end of modern bank cards, they might be dazed.

"...Let me see, Seed Seed, really brought it back."

The letter said that I brought several kinds of seeds, some of which were pungent and pungent, with a crescent moon and a sharp point——isn’t this Chaotian pepper?

In Yong Shuang Hall, the monarchs and ministers stared at each other happily.

There is a foundation in the Dali calendar, which was saved during the Kangjing period, but not much, and the later period of Emperor Kangjing was also a bit extravagant. After all, the Haiyan River has been clean for a long time, and the world is peaceful. Hey, he made a fortune, it was Li Wubing's turn to take the position, he was really crowded when he fought a few years ago.

Liang Zizhi was in charge of the household department. At that time, he went out to take out food, grass and silver during the war. For a while, he avoided Gu Zhao. Later, it was Rong Ye who opened the emperor's private treasury and took out the private treasury of the previous emperors. More than half of it.

…In those few years, Gu Zhao didn’t say anything, but actually the entire Dali warehouse was tight.

The emperor's private treasury was also empty, and after conquering the Hui and Fan kingdoms, it was filled a bit, but it was not as good as before. After all, all the things saved by the emperors were sold off.

now--

Haha rich.

This is treasury money.Naturally, there were private merchants who invested when they went to sea before, and Rong Ye also invested some at that time, but the big one was the government, even these private ones, now the benefits are a huge sum of money, which shows that this time they are back.

Li Wubing laughed while carrying a persimmon and said, "Your father earns a lot, we are prosperous."

If the historian looked at it, he would definitely make a note, how could he look like an upstart emperor.Although Gu Zhao thought so, he also laughed heartily. With the money in Dali, there are more things he can do, such as people's livelihood, infrastructure, etc. It just so happens that the foundation of the four-year war has slowed down. Now that the east wind has arrived, he can Open hands and feet.

Jingli did not see the grand event. Hundreds of large ships arrived at the pier, and boxes of gold coins were carried down. It is said that all kinds of jugs, tables and chairs were made of gold, and there were some unrecognizable things, but they were expensive.

Four years ago, the Ministry of Maritime and Commerce made Dali officials laugh at it. Four years later, it became famous in one fell swoop and became a fat vacancy for Dali officials. manage.

"Master Li really hides his secrets. This official of the sixth rank is even more powerful than those of the second and third ranks in Beijing."

"That's true, who would have thought that this department is actually managed by the Holy One."

It is said that the disciples of the emperor, good guy, there are also the emperor's yamen, that is, the pure ministers, the pure emperor's people.Although the official is small, the future is unlimited.

"Actually, from what I've heard, Mr. Li is just superficial. In fact, the Ministry of Commerce is in charge of Mrs. Gu Ge's wife. Even the big merchants who go to sea are also Mrs. Gu's people."

"true and false?"

"It's true. Go and find out. Madam Gu went to and from Zhaozhou on business back then, and negotiated business with those business partners who were in partnership. There were orders signed in Madam Gu's name. I didn't know that at that time I know, it turns out to be the famous boss Shangli from Zhaozhou."

"I know Mrs. Gu's surname is Li, but this boss Li in Zhaozhou is actually Mrs. Gu?"

"It can't be true anymore, and it's not what I said. Ask those merchants who went overseas to invest, and see who signed the form at the beginning. Next to the seal of the Ministry of Maritime Commerce, is the first name Li Zhousanzi? Mr. Li's name is still behind, and the deed is there, I have read it."

"Then why—" The man was so startled that he couldn't find his tongue, and he said after a while, "Then why didn't you say it at the time, it's such a big credit."

"What did you say at the time? Boss Li is a brother, a husband, and Mrs. Gu Ge's wife. Who can believe it? When it spread, those officials should not scold Mr. Gu Ge. Gu Ge always works for the people. A good official of the country, those merchants actually believe in the name of the boss Shangli in Zhaozhou, otherwise—"

"Let me tell you the truth. Mr. Li was the number one scholar at the time, but he was just a sixth-rank official and a new yamen. Those merchants are so shrewd. It’s fine to just fool around with the errands, how could it be possible to give so much of your money? Running around without complaint, and pulling other people?”

"It's all on the face of Boss Li in Zhaozhou."

This is true, the merchants were shrewd, the Ministry of Commerce at that time was not the well-known Ministry of Commerce at that time, no one cared about it at that time, even the yamen was a small courtyard, not a serious yamen.

From this point of view, what this person said is true.

"I didn't expect that a brother could have such a great ability."

"Brother is the one who takes the lead in going out to sea, but he is very majestic and has managed more than 1 people. I see people who disembark mention it with admiration and respect. It seems that they are almost dead after several adventures. It is Wang Da. Shang brought them back."

There were too many things and heavy things, so Jingzhong dispatched General Zhennan Gongmeng with tens of thousands of soldiers to escort them.

Li Zhouzhou went first and had to check the account books. Those who should be divided among the merchants should be divided first...

According to the surrounding people, it took more than a month to move a lot of things from the boat to the ground, not to mention packing and transporting them.

How much does it cost?

Of course I don't know.

Guangwu ninth year, early December.

General Meng, the Duke of Zhennan, escorted the sea goods into Beijing, and the leader was Li Zhouzhou, Mrs. Gu Ge's wife, followed by Mr. Li Jinyi from the Ministry of Commerce, Wang Jian, a great merchant who went to sea, and others.

I walked on this road for more than two months, and I didn't dare to stop all the way, mainly because there were too many things.Fortunately, the cement road on the main road of Dali has been repaired. The entire caravan is made of rubber tires. The horses are tall horses. They have good endurance and can carry heavy loads. There have been rainy and snowy days all the way north. Fortunately, the cement road is good. Walk without bumps and mud.

On December [-], arrived in Beijing.

The people in the capital lined the road to welcome and watch the excitement, the guards guarded each other, and they didn't stop along the way. They walked all the way to Ping'an Main Street and entered the palace.

In the square in front of the Tai Chi Hall, hundreds of officials waited for a long time.

Those things entered the palace, and the soldiers unloaded them. Li Zhouzhou, Li Jinyi and Wang Jian went forward and handed over the list of goods to the Holy One. There were ten bills alone.

"All of you are free of courtesy, you are Da Li and my great hero." Li did not let him kneel without illness.

The three thanked the Holy Majesty, and first reported the total amount, gold coins and silver coins, the gold coins alone were 3000 million taels, and the silver coins were as high as [-] million...

Baiguan:! ! !

His eyes almost popped out.

Could it be that this box is full of gold and silver?

Later, official historians recorded all kinds of events on this day in detail, using the words "the number of hundreds of officials heard was huge and disrespectful", "the uproar in front of the Tai Chi Hall lasted for a long time", "the Holy One was very happy and rewarded"...

"Min Li Zhou Zhou is willing to exchange merit for a request."

"Boss Li, please tell me." Li Wubing actually already knew something, but seeing Boss Li like this, he couldn't help being moved.

Li Zhouzhou said solemnly: "I don't want anything, I only hope that my son Li Zhaoxi can enter the imperial examination and become an official."

Now all the officials were in an uproar, and some people objected at first.

Dishonesty, no way, how can my brother enter the imperial examination, etc. all came out. Just now I heard that the amount of money was huge and the figure was disrespectful in front of the palace.

Gu Zhao took off his hat and stepped forward, saying: "I beg the Holy Majesty to allow Li Zhaoxi to enter the imperial examination."

"I implore the Holy Majesty to allow Li Zhaoxi to enter the imperial examination." Meng Jianyun came out.

This time, he stabbed the speaker's nest, as if he had grasped the handle of Mr. Gu Ge and General Meng, and began to say that Gu Zhao and Meng Jianyun's actions were to blackmail the Holy Majesty——

"There's no threat, I'm sure." Li Wubing looked at the officials, pointed to the box in front of the Tai Chi Hall, "Open it and let these people see, you don't let me be promoted to an official position, don't you just think I'm incompetent No talent is too much to use, but these money, even if you sell your whole family, you can't get it in exchange."

"Is this money?"

"This is the future prosperity of Dali and the foundation for the people to live in peace and contentment."

"Everyone of you, what else can you say other than what you can't do? Hit the pillars, right?" Li Wubing sneered, "Bump into that box, it's stained with the blood and money of your critics, and it's a great good for the common people to use. .”

"Bump it."

Now those officials who jumped out fell silent, because no one stopped them from speaking, and they really hit the box and died. They were not loyal ministers who gave advice to death, but villains who framed meritorious officials.

Who wants to bear such a stigma?

Later, this day was recorded in the annals of history, and it had a great impact on future generations. From then on, my brother can be admitted to an official position, but the premise is that the family must have contributed to the calendar, or three guarantors, whether it is a squire or a juren , Officials can be qualified for the imperial examination.

Although it is more restrictive than men's imperial examinations, it is the first step.

At the small court meeting on the tenth day, Emperor Guangwu issued three imperial decrees in succession. One of his elder brothers could be admitted to the imperial examination. The decree was promulgated and the calendar was announced.Second, Wang Jian was named Zhao Haibo.Third, make the prince Li Tianshi the crown prince.

This time, everyone in Dali was in an uproar.