The Lin family has a female named Qingyun [Red Mansion]

This day, Lin Qingyun was dressed in a neat and usual way, and took some people out to visit the places where foreign businessmen gathered, but was very lucky to meet a merchant ship that had just docked.

The ship came from Ceylon, which is famous for its gemstones. Lin Qingyun tried to send someone to inquire, and the goods they brought really included high-quality red sapphires and cat's eyes. She exchanged them with brocades and official kiln porcelain some.These things were sent by the prefect of Guangzhou, and also sent by the king of Nanjun after hearing the news. Although they were only collected once, the quantity was quite considerable.Following previous examples, she didn't intend to bring these things back to the capital, and directly exchanged local rituals or traded with foreign merchant ships.

Lin Qingjun picked two boxes of gemstones in total, both red and blue. The gemstones are large, rich and even in color, which is very rare.But these gems are nothing more than that. When Lin Ruhai got married, there were two boxes of gems in the dowry, most of which were red, and several were even the size of pigeon eggs. Those were rare and good things.Later, when she became a prince and concubine, she was honored by others and rewarded by the emperor and empress. She really had a lot of good things.She bought some more, mostly for Daiyu. Besides, the opals of Ceylon are very good, especially the batch brought by the shipowner of Ceylon this time is one of the best, which is higher than the opals she got in the past. up a notch.

These cat's eyes are golden green cat's eyes, but the best kind of cat's eye.

She ordered a box of opals in total, all honey-yellow, with thin and narrow eyeliner, the cat's eyes open and close flexibly with the light, they are the finest opals.She plans to use the cat's eyes to match some other beads, and make some bracelets as gifts for the sisters.After thinking about it, I chose another box. The cat’s eyes are very good, but the color is not limited to honey yellow. I chose light yellow-green, brown-yellow, green, and even very white yellow and very white green. A few, but these are for An Le.

Back at the post house, as usual, after entering the door, I would report today's harvest to Tu Yan.

"Guess what good things I bought today?" He opened the box and placed it in front of him. Inside was a box full of honey-yellow cat's eyes. She is still begging me for cat eyes, and wants to wear a bracelet. She is weird, the best in cat eyes is honey yellow, and I have better ones, but she doesn't want it, she must choose a variety of colors It’s said that it looks good when strung together.”

Tu Yan picked up the cat's eyes in the box and said with a smile: "She got the skewers a long time ago. Earlier, she asked the elder sister to ask for it, but the eldest sister didn't like the cat's eyes, so she gave them away. She went to look for you again, but you didn't have any. Later, when she went to beg her mother, she said that she was very pitiful, and her mother directly brought out many beads for her to choose. She was so weird that she specially made a purse for her mother, and her mother praised her for her filial piety. It was hard for her."

An Le's temperament is restless, how can she like to sit obediently and be a female celebrity?So her female celebrity is very poor, the eldest princess loves her, and she has such a disease since she was a child, so she was not forced to do it, and it took a lot of effort to make a purse for the queen, how could the queen not know.

Seeing that his expression was not the same as before, Lin Qingyun asked Bailu to take the box away, and asked him when it was gone.

Tu Yan handed her a piece of paper directly.

After checking it, it was the news from Beijing: "Jia Zheng is a student?"

In the original book, Jia Zheng's errand has always been Wailang, a member of the Ministry of Industry, and the only change was when he ordered a study abroad trip to Beijing, so she was very impressed.Without Jia Zheng at home, Baoyu became a wild horse with no one to control him. Since then, he had fun and wrote poems with his sisters in the Grand View Garden. It was the most carefree and happy time.When she was reading at that time, she wondered, following Jia Zheng as an official for many years without moving her position, how could it be possible to suddenly go to Beijing on a business trip?

Looking further down, a person appeared in the letter——Jia Yuanchun!

That's right, Jia Yuanchun is one of the concubines. She has been favored since the beginning of the year, and she is pregnant with a dragon heir. Although she had a miscarriage, it is different after all.The emperor didn't deal with Jia Yuanchun, not because he didn't want to, but because the Supreme Emperor had spoken, not only he couldn't punish him, but he had to appease him.After that, Jia Yuanchun often went to Shangyang Palace to pay his respects, and had more contacts with Concubine Zhengui than before.One must know that the Zhen and Jia families are old relatives, but when Jia Yuanchun first entered the palace, he was not as close as he was to Concubine Zhen Gui. Now this change does not arouse suspicion.

"What does the Supreme Emperor mean?" Lin Qingyun sighed, guessing the reason.

If Jia Yuanchun got close to Concubine Zhen Gui, and Concubine Zhen Gui pleaded with the Supreme Emperor, it would be a trivial matter for Jia Zheng to be sent by a certain expatriate according to the Supreme Emperor's love for him and the importance he attached to the Zhen family.And when he received the words from the Supreme Emperor, the emperor was neither willing nor able to object, he must have been extremely aggrieved, and must have been more eager to eradicate all those old nobles who were eating vegetarian food in their corpses!

After lighting the candle and burning the paper, what she thought about was Jia Yuanchun's actions.

I can't blame Tu Yan for saying that Jia Yuanchun is smart and stupid.

Jia Yuanchun was able to keep a distance from Concubine Zhengui when she first entered the palace, which shows that she was sensitively aware that the emperor did not like to be close to concubines and concubines of the Supreme Emperor. .At first she kept a low profile very well, even though the emperor didn't like her, he couldn't fault her, and even lamented that she was born in the wrong place.But now that she has had a miscarriage, she is close to Concubine Zhengui because she knows that the reason why the emperor doted on her back then was the emperor. Without the emperor's heir, she is old and basically has no way out. She can give up on herself, but she can't. For the entire Jia family, she entered the palace for the sake of the family. Now that the Jia family is like that, how can she watch the family continue to decline.

In desperation, she thought of the Supreme Emperor.

The Supreme Emperor Gu Nian, an old official, knew inside and outside the palace that Jia Yuanchun had another advantage. She was not only the daughter of the Jia family, but also the granddaughter of Jia Daishan.This is enough for Jia Yuanchun.

Knowing that the relationship between the emperor and the Supreme Emperor is tense, Jia Yuanchun's move is like quenching his thirst.Probably, Jia Yuanchun was deceived by the Taishanghuang's current health, thinking that the Taishanghuang still has a few years of age, but according to various hints in the book, the current improvement of the Taishanghuang seems to be "returning to the light".

It seems that not long after that, Bowling Marquis Shi Nai signed an appointment as an official from other provinces, so Xiangyun went to Jia's house again and was a permanent resident.

Can a Jia Yuanchun have such energy?No way!The only one who can do this and benefit from it is the Supreme Emperor.These are the two people mentioned in the book, and there are many others who have not been mentioned. The overlord's wanton promotion of officials born in Lao Xungui is not just meddling in the government, but like... a war against the emperor!

"What are you thinking about?" Tu Yan saw her in a daze.

"Just reading the news on paper, I think Jia Zheng's release is not a special case, and the emperor is probably in a bad situation." After all, the Supreme Emperor only dealt with the Emperor, but the Emperor had to deal with more than the Supreme Emperor.

"It's almost September." Tu Yan said with emotion, and suddenly said: "Originally, my father wanted me to return to Beijing at the end of the year, but I feel comfortable outside. Why don't you and I return to Beijing next year?"

"Do you dare to disobey the holy will?" Lin Qingyun smiled, but his heart was not moved.

"When the Guangzhou matter is settled, I'll ask Father for instructions." Tu Yan seemed to be full of confidence, obviously he had already made up his mind.

Lin Qingjun didn't ask when he saw this, but said: "If you don't go back, you will not only have to prepare for the Longevity Festival, but also have to prepare early for the New Year's ceremony. It is easy to buy foreign goods outside, but it is inconvenient to buy other things. Use foreign goods to deal with it. I have to think about what is in the mansion, buy some here, and then add some from the mansion."

"It's not September yet, it's early."

"It's still early, I'll take it slowly. How is your business?" Now she is quite at ease, wandering outside every day.

Once, I ran into a concubine of Nan'an County King in a foreign goods store on the street.The concubine was probably hired here, she spoke Mandarin with a Cantonese accent, she was charming, and she was talking to two women.Those two women looked like daughters-in-law who were doing business, and they were well dressed, their clothes and jewelry were all in Beijing style, and their voices were also authentic Jingzhong Mandarin.She didn't go in, and only asked Bai Ling to listen. It turned out that the concubine was sent by Nan'an Taifei.

Of course, Bai Ling not only heard this, but also heard a complaint from the concubine inadvertently.

The king of Nan'an unexpectedly took in a Western woman with fair hair, blue eyes and white skin, who was the younger sister of a certain merchant ship owner.

Lin Qingyun was secretly surprised, and told Tu Yan about this.

Tu Yan was also very surprised, and inquired secretly, but there was no news outside, or he didn't say what he knew.This kind of thing is no longer a simple romantic affair, because of their different identities, they are a little more sensitive, not to mention that the king of Nan'an County holds a heavy army and controls Xihai Yanzi.For some reason, Lin Qingyun was very concerned about this matter, and wanted to ask Scarlett about it. They were all foreign businessmen, and there would be some news circulating among them.It's a pity that Lawrence's merchant ship has already loaded its cargo, and the husband and wife have already returned home with the ship.

In desperation, Lin Qingyun prepared to make friends with foreign businessmen here as he did in Quanzhou.

When Tu Yan saw her asking about Guangzhou, he shook his head slightly: "It doesn't look like a problem."

It's just that there are no problems that make it difficult. How can Prince Nan'an be so peaceful?

The weather was cool these two days. Seeing that the matter had not progressed, Tu Yan simply ignored it and invited Lin Qingyun to go shopping after nightfall.The two of them changed into their regular clothes with ease, and went out through the back door of the hotel, accompanied by Bai Lu Hong Ling and Gao Yang Li Li as usual.

Guangzhou at night was still lively, Xu Shi was worried, but Tu Yan walked towards the port without knowing it.

Lin Qingyun couldn't help comforting: "I'm not in a hurry, so I don't have to be so worried..." Suddenly, a pleasantly surprised female voice interrupted her.Lin Qingyun's French is only limited to a few spoken words, and she learned it from a French girl in Quanzhou. The feeling of her tongue spinning is still fresh in her memory, so she immediately recognized the country of the other party, and with that familiar voice, Guess the identity of the other party.Sure enough, when he saw a young foreign girl in a blue satin lace tutu skirt walking quickly with a smile on his face, he called out her name.

"Louise?"

"Good evening, Your Royal Highness." Louise lifted her skirt and saluted, and saw Tu Yan standing next to Lin Qingyun, dressed in a temperament different from those of the guards, so she guessed the other party's identity, and hurriedly saluted again: "Good evening, Your Royal Highness .”

Louise's Chinese was newly learned after coming to the East. She knew very little and her pronunciation was very blunt, but she was a passionate and beautiful French girl. It is unrestrained and generous.This is why Lin Qingjun liked her at the beginning. Louise has all the advantages of the French, warm and cheerful, beautiful and romantic, and yearning for freedom. Chatting with Louise is a kind of enjoyment.Of course, they can only talk in English. Louise’s family is engaged in maritime trade, and they didn’t just come to the East. In the early days, their family has been traveling between European countries. Louise can speak several languages ​​and is very intelligent.

At this time, another young man came, decent and handsome. Under the introduction of Louise, the two sides knew each other.It turned out that he was Louise's fiancé, Bruce. The two got engaged at the beginning of the year, and they came to the East together to experience different cultural customs.

Louise was very considerate, and when she saw the couple going out together, she offered to resign without disturbing them too much.

Lin Qingyun suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly called her: "Louis, I just have something to ask you. I heard that the sister of a ship owner followed a prince here. Do you know about this?"

Unexpectedly, Louise realized immediately: "Lisa."

"Who?"

Although Louise didn't know what she was asking about, but thinking that a prince was involved, and Lin Qingyun's husband was also a prince, she thought it was an internal family matter, so she didn't ask. "Her name is Lisa, Lisa de Lorraine, at least that's what she said to the outside world, she was a nobleman. I know people in the Lorraine family, there is absolutely no Lisa de Lorraine .” At the end, I added a very ironic sentence: “Unless she is an illegitimate daughter who has not been recognized by the family.”

"I thought she was the captain's sister?" Lin Qingyun frowned, her expression becoming serious.

Louise shook her head: "No, no, Your Royal Highness, she just knew the owner of the ship, or the owner, Mr. Matthew, was once one of her suitors. I only know her name, claiming to be a nobleman, and it is said that she was born in Paris , and others do not understand."

"Thank you Louise, if you have any other news about her, please let me know, it is very important to me." Lin Qingyun solemnly asked.

"Of course, I am willing to help. I don't like Lisa." Louise is very straightforward. There are two aspects to this dislike. One is that Mr. Matthew and Louise's family are in a competitive relationship, and the other is that Lisa His behavior is very unpleasant.

Saying goodbye to Louise, the two of them didn't have the mood to continue wandering, so they went back to the post house.Tu Yan had been studying English for a while, but Lin Qingjun and Louise spoke very quickly, and he only guessed roughly by listening.Lin Qingyun relayed Louise's words, and Tu Yan also realized that the king of Nan'an County had a lot of inside information about supporting a foreign woman.

Lin Qingyun always felt that she had overlooked something. The key was to find out Lisa's identity. If she didn't have a certain background, so what if she got involved with the King of Nanjun?Aren't you afraid of offending Matthew, the owner of the ship, if you dump him?Unless Lisa doesn't plan to return to China for the rest of her life.Or, did Matthew benefit from it?

Tu Yan suddenly said, "Perhaps we can get in touch with that captain named Matthew."

Having said that, it is not easy. Even if we create a chance encounter, how can we get the desired news from the other party?The two of them can speak English, but they are not suitable to appear in person, and none of the others is suitable.As a result, she was worrying, and the next day Louise came to visit and gave her a present, which surprised her greatly.

"Gun!" To be precise, it is a flintlock gun. The wooden butt has a warm luster and smooth lines. The wrought iron parts have a metallic luminescence and are carved with exquisite patterns.

Lin Qingyun also noticed that there was a small round badge engraved on the iron plate, with a flower in the center and a capital letter "v" in the stamen.She knew right away that it was supposed to be the family crest, but Louise's surname was Robert, which didn't start with a V, as if her fiancé's last name was Vincent.

Seeing her staring at the family crest, Louise said apologetically, "Your Highness, please forgive me, this is a gun custom-made by the Bruce family, and the gun has their family crest on it. Last time, the princess said that she likes small guns, Bruce. He happened to have a new one, and he was willing to give it to the princess." He said with pride: "The Bruce family is an aristocrat, and their family can customize the best gun in the country. After trying it, the princess will know that I am definitely not lying to you."

Lin Qingyun picked up the gun and lowered his hands slightly, inevitably excited for a while.This was the first time she touched a gun.

"Louise, I like it very much. This is a great gift." Lin Qingyun admired, and suddenly a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, and asked her: "Louise, is there any control over gun ownership in your country?"

Louise shook her head: "As far as I know, most European countries have no restrictions, as long as you have money, you can afford a gun. Of course, the price of a gun is not low, and ordinary people can't afford it, and good guns Craftsmen are limited, and only nobles have the priority to order guns."

Therefore, although there are no restrictions on gun ownership in Europe, civilians still cannot own guns. Even businessmen are limited to big businessmen who have money and access to get guns.Like Louise's family, their merchant ships were equipped with firearms, otherwise they would not be able to resist the elusive pirates at sea. Being able to assemble the force of a large ocean-going ship not only means that their family has financial resources, but also has certain connections in the authorities.

After sending Louise away, Lin Qingyun immediately came to Tuyan's courtyard with suspicion in his heart.

"My lord, look what this is." Lin Qingyun handed over the wooden box in his hand.

Tu Yan only thought that the French girl gave him some beautiful jewelry, but he was stunned when he opened the box, it turned out to be a fistful!Tu Yan had seen the guns worn by the owners of foreign merchant ships before, and had never paid much attention to them because he had never seen the power of those guns before his eyes. But now this gun is obviously different, and the workmanship is exquisite.Tu Yan felt itchy, and immediately ordered someone to fetch the gun, and aimed at a tree in the courtyard to pull the trigger.

There was a bang, and with a puff of black smoke, the bullet missed and passed the edge of the tree.

"There is no crosshair." Lin Qingyun said casually when he saw that he was not accurate.

But Tu Yan looked back at her, and asked puzzledly, "What is the sight? The basis for aiming?" Lin Qingyun didn't know how to explain this. Fortunately, Tu Yan only thought that foreign guns had this kind of configuration, so he didn't suspect it. The flintlock in the middle sighed and said: "This gun is already very good. I saw it at the father's place. It seems to be a tribute from England. It was the third year when the father had just ascended the throne. It is better than this one. But it’s far behind. It’s only been ten years.”

"Without firearms, how to cross the ocean." It was precisely because of the rise of maritime trade that Europe flourished and its ambitions swelled.China in history missed this opportunity.

"How far is the shooting range?" Tu Yan asked.

"Probably between thirty and sixty feet." Lin Qingyun calculated the data of meters and feet in his heart.

Tu Yan's eyes lit up again.

Seeing this, Lin Qingyun said with a half teasing smile: "How about this flintlock gun? Can it catch the eyes of the prince? How about giving it to the prince as a gift for the Double Ninth Festival?"

Tu Yan couldn't put it down, but finally said: "I really like it, but I plan to present this flintlock as a gift for the Longevity Day."

"Alright." Lin Qingyun knew what he meant and didn't object. "Almost forgot, I have something to tell you. Louise said that there are no restrictions on guns in their country, but it doesn't mean that everyone can have a gun, and this kind of top-quality flintlock gun must be owned by the rich. You can only get an order from a master gunmaker with a background. Louise’s fiancé is an aristocrat, and their family has an order. Do you think that mysterious Lisa is really related to an aristocrat?”

"You mean, the King of Nan'an bought guns privately through her?" If this is the case, the problem will be serious. If Prince Annan trains a small team equipped with flintlock guns, although it will be difficult to compete with the army, it will definitely be a sharp weapon as a surprise attack .

"It's just my random guess." Lin Qingyun wasn't sure, after all, even if Lisa herself was a nobleman, would she have the right to get the order from the family?After all, what the prince of Nan'an wants is not just a few guns, but at least dozens of them.

"If he did it, there must be traces. Besides, if you want to buy a gun from a foreign country, you have to use a boat, and they will definitely use Matthew's boat to carry it." Guangzhou is the territory of the prince of Nan'an, and Matthew's boat is safe Arriving, no one will find out that there is something wrong with his boat.

With the direction, it is much easier to check. In a few days, Tu Yan found out that Matthew's ship will arrive at the port in ten days according to the schedule.If the guess is true, then Matthew's boat could not be sure that there were flintlock guns, and Tu Yan was unwilling to let those guns fall into the hands of Prince Nan'an.

Lin Qingjun knew what he was thinking, but he was worried: "Matthew's ship is an ocean-going ship, and the firearms on board are very powerful. They can repel pirates, but robbing the ship is absolutely impossible. Besides, you don't know whether there must be guns on board." , and a few more guns. If you want to find those guns after arriving in Hong Kong, it will alarm the king of Nan'an County, so..."

"So we still have to stand still and let the king of Nan'an take those guns away smoothly." Tu Yan was helpless and aggrieved.

Lin Qingjun pondered for a while, and asked him back: "Do you think the king of Nan'an County will personally pick up those guns?"

"No. Even if outsiders know that there is a foreign woman by his side, they absolutely cannot admit it on the surface, let alone appearing together at the port openly." Tu Yan glanced at her with a smile on his face: "What's your idea?" ?”

"I guess, Lisa must be the one to pick up the ship, and she has entrusted 'brother' with the belongings from her hometown. The Prince of Nan'an will send someone to escort him secretly, but there are mixed people at the port, and it is quite a distance to go to the prince of Nan'an. There are many opportunities to create accidents. Of course, the best accident is to destroy those guns and make Prince Nan'an transfer his anger to others."

Tu Yan was thoughtful.