The original Pingnan Palace has not been repaired since it was burned down. Zhu Yongxing simply had a stage built on the open space, and built simple boxes and terraces for the common people... Every weekend, Pingnan Palace,
Well, now it has been converted into a paradise and will be open to the public on a limited basis. Zhu Yongxing paid for it and invited some theater troupes to perform. Officials and ordinary people can come and enjoy the performance. The limit for ordinary people is 400 people. Get tickets in advance until the number is full.
In this way, under the banner of having fun with the people, they also found a place for Mengzhu, Long'er and other family members to have fun. After listening to it twice, Mengzhu and Long'er became interested and used their private money to hire people.
We bought materials and added roofs to the stage and ordinary stands so that the performance can be performed even if it rains.
It is a rare thing for an official to pay for people to watch a play, not to mention that it is the number one person in the imperial court - His Highness King Min. This move has received rave reviews from the people, and the people all thought that they had heard "Min"
"His Royal Highness invites you to perform". Some people even said with certainty after returning that they had seen His Highness Min's true appearance and the two princesses who were as beautiful as gods.
In fact, Zhu Yongxing didn't like this kind of slow-paced entertainment. He occasionally accompanied his wife to listen for a while, but was either asked to leave by his subordinates or left with excuses. However, when Zhu Yongxing was there, Mengzhu and Longer were more interested in serving each other.
Happy.
Now Zhu Yongxing has returned to the palace, came to the confidential room in front of the palace, and sat down in his office. There is indeed something, Gu Yinghui and others hastened to Guangzhou. According to Zhu Yongxing's request and the rules of the Intelligence Bureau, they will report it immediately
, there was absolutely no talk of weekend rest. Chief Ye Hu immediately sent someone to invite Zhu Yongxing, who was waiting here with Gu Yinghui and others.
"Gu Yinghui——" Zhu Yongxing had a very good memory, so he called out the name directly and said with a smile: "It's been a full two years. I just want to come back safely. I did a good job in the north. This operation is a great achievement for the hard work!"
"Thank you, Your Highness, for remembering me. I am so ashamed of myself." Gu Yinghui bowed deeply, with excitement on her face.
"No need to be polite, sit down and talk." Zhu Yongxing waved his hand, lowered his head and looked through the relevant documents brought back by Gu Yinghui. He also whispered, "The Qing court is still the same, there is no progress! Well, open the subject.
Scholars, many southern scholars have given up taking the exam. This is because people's hearts have changed; Xiangyang Banner is about to change its ground, and no one can control it in Aobai. As for Sony, why don't you stand up..."
Ye Hu and Gu Yinghui held the fragrant tea served by the waiter. They drank and waited without making a sound. This was Zhu Yongxing's habit of picking out the doubtful areas in the document and then asking them one by one.
After a long while, after drinking two cups of tea, Zhu Yongxing raised his head, smiled faintly, and began to ask detailed questions one by one. The clerk on duty next to him was writing very quickly and recorded everything thoroughly.
Questions and answers. A long time passed unknowingly. Gu Yinghui was sweating on his forehead. He thought that his work in Beidi was going very well and he was fully prepared this time. However, Zhu Yongxing asked questions carefully and focused on the key points.
, which made him feel a little awkward.
Fortunately, Zhu Yongxing stopped in time. He said to himself: "The fire is still not there yet. The Qing government still has troops to mobilize in Xuanfu and Shanhaiguan. Well, if we light more fire in Shandong, we can probably mobilize them all."
Alright?"
Ye Hu pondered for a moment and said cautiously: "Although the capital still has the Eight Banners, which are forbidden to travel, the Qing government will not mobilize them easily. Even if it is mobilized, there will be troops to supplement the capital. If Shandong is in chaos, the Qing government will be weak in the north and south.
It will definitely be difficult to deal with it. However, when His Highness summoned him the day before yesterday, Yu Qi’s people are very bad at it, and the Shandong Station of the Intelligence Bureau also reported this. It would be possible to contain the Qing army, but it is unlikely to be a big deal."
"It still depends on whether Yu Qi has appeal among the people in Shandong. If we only rely on those figures in the world -" Zhu Yongxing shook his head, "It is good to inquire about information, but it is not good to fight in battle."
Coming south with Gu Yinghui and others this time were several backbones sent by Shandong Haoqiang Yu Qi. After they landed in Fuzhou, they rushed to Guangzhou on horseback, several days faster than Gu Yinghui and others. Originally, Zhu Yongxing intended to let Yu Qi
When the uprising broke out, he responded from the north and the south, making it difficult for the Qing government to deal with it. But after meeting these guys with strong charlatanism, he hesitated again.
It would not matter if he only regarded Yu Qi as a disposable chess piece, but Zhu Yongxing did not want to cause Shandong's anti-Qing forces to suffer a heavy blow because of this idea, so that they would lose support in the Northern Expedition in the future.
"By the way." Zhu Yongxing suddenly looked at Gu Yinghui and asked: "On the list of personnel for this operation, there is a pair of Shandong brothers and sisters. Are they familiar with the situation in Shandong? Do they know the reputation of Qi among the people?"
"Back to Your Highness, they fled to Beijing from Shandong. They were originally from Jiaodong, so they may know something about it." Gu Yinghui hesitated and said, "It's just that they are a little rude and do not understand etiquette. They may have offended Your Highness."
"I'm just talking about the scenery of Shandong, what's the point of conflict?" Zhu Yongxing smiled nonchalantly and said: "Send someone to call them. How to deal with Shandong? It's difficult for the committee to decide. Listen more and ask more questions.
, there is always some use.”
Ye Hu nodded at Gu Yinghui, and then said to Zhu Yongxing: "Dare you ask Your Highness to call a few guards to protect you, or to change places."
"Are you a little too cautious?" Zhu Yongxing didn't take it seriously.
"His Royal Highness has a body worth millions of dollars and cannot tolerate any mistakes." Ye Hu insisted stubbornly.
"Okay, I'll just listen to you. As for the place, there's no need to change it!" Zhu Yongxing smiled bitterly and accepted the advice fluently.
……………
After entering Guangzhou, Brother Li Maolin was sent to the inn by Gu Yinghui. He had to report to the Intelligence Bureau first and then report on his duties.
After settling down at the inn, Li Yingmei took her brother out to take a look. Because she saw that her brother was not in a high mood, she wanted to distract her attention with other things and relax.
Li Maolin naturally knew his sister's kindness. Looking at her apologetic eyes, he knew that if he didn't agree, she would probably feel even more sorry, so he forced himself to smile and walked out of the inn with his sister and wandered on the street.
It has been a year since Guangzhou was recovered and it has opened up sea trade. Naturally, it is no more astonishing than Dian Province, which is inland and has inconvenient transportation. Although the Li brothers and sisters were not familiar with the roads and only walked around the streets around the post house,
But compared to the corruption in the north and the poverty of the people, they were also extremely surprised. The brother and sister even saw the Xiyi people swaggering through the market, and their eyes were so wide open that they almost dropped to the ground.
One year was enough time for people in the Guangfu District to grow their hair again, which made Li Maolin, who had his head wrapped in a cloth, feel ashamed. The tall man actually shrank a little. Gu Yinghui left in a hurry and forgot to leave room for the two of them.
After spending some money, they couldn't spend the broken silver and copper plates they brought from the north. From time to time, smelling the fragrance coming from nowhere, the brothers felt even hungrier and hurried back to the inn. They wanted to have a free meal first.
Let’s talk about dinner.
"Where did you two go?" At the door of the post house, one of Gu Yinghui's men, who was sweating profusely with anxiety, came up and complained, "Quick, follow me, His Highness wants to see you."
Ah, brother and sister Li Maolin were shocked. They were dumbfounded for a moment, as if they were dumbfounded.
"Ah, what, come with me quickly." Gu Yinghui's men impatiently pointed to the carriage next to them. "Get in the carriage, get in the carriage. You are so blessed that you have been so blessed in your lifetime to be summoned by His Highness. Well,
Mr. Gu, please tell me, when you meet His Highness, please be honest and don’t rush into His Highness. If it happens like last time, Mr. Gu will have to be troubled by you again..."
Along the way, the staff of the Intelligence Bureau did not stop talking, talking about etiquette and precautions. Brother and sister Li Maolin nodded their heads, trying desperately to remember it in their hearts, but their nervous minds could not move.
As if in a dream, I arrived at the place in a daze, handed over my weapons in a daze, and was searched in a daze. I entered Zhu Yongxing's spacious office in a daze.
"I haven't paid my respects to His Highness Chitose yet." Gu Yinghui reminded the confused brother and sister with some helplessness.
"Come on, the common people pay homage to Your Highness." Li Maolin was shaken and quickly knelt down and bowed, "Your Highness is a thousand years old, a thousand years old. A thousand years old."
Li Yingmei also knelt down and kowtowed, but she was too nervous to speak.
"No courtesy, please give me a seat." Zhu Yongxing gave the order briefly, and then laughed and joked to Gu Yinghui: "I'm nervous. The people you sent must have frightened them because they didn't explain clearly."
"Your Highness is famous far and wide. It is said in the north that you have three heads and six arms, and that the God of War descends to earth. They are naturally afraid." Gu Yinghui replied jokingly and complimentarily. She turned to the two brothers and sisters and said: "Get up. Please answer your questions properly."
.”
The brother and sister kowtowed again, then stood up awkwardly, followed the position of Gu Yinghui's fingers, and carefully sat down halfway, lowering their heads and waiting for questions.
Zhu Yongxing is used to it, but he is also helpless. The people around him are okay. Those who meet him for the first time, let alone ordinary people, even the officials who are about to take office, all look trembling. This feudal hierarchy concept has already
It is deeply rooted in people's hearts and cannot be changed by him acting casually and friendly.
"Well, there's nothing else." Zhu Yongxing pondered for a moment and then said: "I just want to ask you about the situation in Shandong. Also, do you know Yu Qi from Shandong? If you know, tell me your impressions of him.
.”
Li Maolin turned his head slightly, whether he was thinking or wanting to see the girl.
"First of all, tell me about the suffering you suffered in Shandong and how you escaped to Beijing." Gu Yinghui said from the side: "Your Highness is tolerant, tell the truth and don't be afraid."
After another pause, Li Maolin began to speak, slowly becoming more and more clear.
After the rulers of the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, in order to satisfy the greed of the Manchu nobles for land and to win over the Eight Banners soldiers, they sent officials to enclosure the land, which led to three raids. The enclosure lasted for decades, mainly in Zhili, and to a small extent
In places such as Taiyuan and Luzhou in Shanxi, Dezhou and Xuzhou in Shandong, this kind of barbaric looting left more than a million people bankrupt, unemployed and homeless.
The Manchu nobles and the village heads who were in charge of them even forced the peasants who had lost their land to serve as slaves in the name of surrender. Those who were forced to surrender were unwilling to become slaves and fled one after another. A large number of slaves brought by Manchurian officers and soldiers from outside the customs also
Unwilling to endure oppression and eager to miss their families, they fled in large numbers after entering the Pass with the Qing army. As a result, the Qing government promulgated a strict "Fugitive Law".
Enclosing land, surrendering people, fleeing people, occupying houses, shaving hair, and changing clothes, these were the six most harmful policies in the early Qing Dynasty. Although Zhu Yongxing and others knew about it, they couldn't help but feel saddened by Li Maolin's story.
"How can he rule the world with such cruelty and shamelessness?" Zhu Yongxing sighed deeply, feeling deeply pained by history and angry at the injustice of God.
"Your Highness, in accordance with the destiny of Heaven, will rescue all the people from hanging upside down as soon as possible and destroy the cruel and unscrupulous Tartars." Ye Hu said with cupped hands.
Gu Yinghui nodded in agreement, and then asked Li Maolin brother and sister: "By the way, there is also Yu Qi, do you know?"
"Yu Qi, a famous Shandong tycoon." Li Maolin said with some contempt: "More than ten years ago, Yu Qi once raised an uprising flag in Jiaodong Mountain and conquered Ninghai Prefecture. But it was a start to the end, and the Manchus gave it a try.
The general surrendered again."
"What is his reputation among the people? Do the people in Shandong like him?" Zhu Yongxing tried his best to ask in plain language.
Li Maolin thought for a while and said: "He has recruited many people from the world. He has also opened martial arts schools and casinos all over Jiaodong. There are many things where he bullies the weak and the good."
"Did he do it, or did his disciples and friends in the world do it?" Gu Yinghui asked.
"Then, ordinary people don't know." Li Maolin really didn't know much about it, and he wasn't sure.
The good and the bad are mixed and difficult to manage. Zhu Yongxing finally came to the final conclusion, lowered his head and fell into deep thought. The room also became quiet.
Gululu, an unusual noise could be clearly heard in the silence. Zhu Yongxing raised his head and glanced in astonishment, and his eyes stopped on Li Yingmei. But he saw that the girl's head was so low that it almost touched her legs, and her ears were almost red.
"dinner is about to start, let's eat here before leaving!" Zhu Yongxing suppressed his laughter and said, "I'm so anxious that I'll make you hungry to answer."
Li Maolin was also a little dumbfounded, wondering why this girl was always in trouble. Her stomach wouldn't growl sooner or later, but she would do it in front of His Highness. Really——
Li Yingmei was extremely embarrassed. She was originally nervous and excited about being summoned by His Highness, but now she had no idea at all and just wanted to leave as soon as possible.
Gu Yinghui smiled bitterly, it was so unexpected. This Li Yingmei had to cause some trouble when she spoke. How could she make people speechless even if she didn't say a word?
Ye Hu smiled slightly, changed the subject, and said, "The people from Shandong have been talking about their martial arts skills and Yu's boxing for the past two days. I heard that your brother and sister are also martial arts practitioners. What comments do you have?"
Li Maolin thought for a while and said: "I have seen it before. Maybe that person can't get good at practice and wants to cause trouble, but he has never even beaten his roommate. But there are so many people in the martial arts hall that my roommate and I can't offend him.
I got up and left that night."
"What kind of Kung Fu do you practice?" Zhu Yongxing asked casually, waiting for the food to be served.
"Caomin practices Cha Quan, which emphasizes strength and coherence." Li Maolin talked about martial arts and spoke more fluently, "Caomin also practiced large guns, rode horses, and was able to see clearly."
"Well, Li Yingmei, what are you good at?" Zhu Yongxing showed some interest in the Shandong girl who was so hungry that she was growling. Perhaps he said it casually, hoping to reduce the girl's embarrassment.
When Li Yingmei heard that she was called, she stupidly raised her head and looked directly at Zhu Yongxing. This was very rude and bold, and Li Maolin winked anxiously.
"Can you see it clearly?" Zhu Yongxing smiled nonchalantly, "See if I have three heads and six arms, a strong back and a strong waist, and my eyes are as big as copper bells?"
Seeing Zhu Yongxing's peaceful expression, Li Yingmei felt relieved. She lowered her head and said calmly: "It is said in the north that His Highness is blessed by God to live a thousand years old. He can calculate Yin and Yang by pinching his fingers, and he can predict the future. He is even more powerful than Zhuge Liang. There are few people who say such scary things.
.”
"Haha, that's how you talk. Gu is not that scary." Zhu Yongxing said with a smile: "You are also a child of the world. You have a free and generous temperament. Just follow your heart and don't imitate others. Gu is not just for you.
I also say the same thing to my subordinate officials. In the big dye vat of officialdom, if you follow the power of the officialdom, lose the edge, and only act based on the face of the superior, you will become a muddle-headed person. In Gu's opinion, this is
How can such officials be of great use?"
"Your Highness is wise, I will keep this in mind." Ye Hu and Gu Yinghui straightened their faces, stood up and saluted respectfully.
"You two are very good." Zhu Yongxing stretched out his hand and nodded, praising: "You are sincere in your work and conscientious in your work. I see it in my eyes and remember it in my heart."
"This is the duty of a subordinate." Ye Hu felt warm in his heart and bowed again.
If rewards were given based on merit, the titles of Ye Hu and other Intelligence Bureau personnel would not be what they are now. But the Intelligence Bureau is a special department. Zhu Yongxing used this to tell Ye Hu and others not to just look at what is in front of them. He has not forgotten the merits of these people.
Rewards are a matter of time.
Zhu Yongxing stretched out his hand and pressed the button, indicating that Ye Hu and Gu Yinghui should sit down. Then he pointed at Li Maolin and his sister, and said: "I have said so much, you two should sit down quickly! Such a big person can only sit on the side.
, Aren’t you tired? When it comes to respect, it’s not just superficial. There are not many people who are respectful in front of you, but scold and dig behind your back.”
"Common people, common people only have respect for His Highness Chitose in their hearts." Li Maolin sat down a little more firmly.
However, Li Yingmei sat down seriously and comfortably, exhaled a long breath, raised her head curiously to peek at Zhu Yongxing, and met Zhu Yongxing's smiling face.
"Shandong girl, not bad." Zhu Yongxing stretched out his hand and nodded, jokingly: "If the army officers knew that Shandong girls are good-looking and generous, they would all rush to attack Shandong so that they can marry a Shandong wife."
Ye Hu and Gu Yinghui laughed in amusement, but Li Yingmei blushed with embarrassment, but she couldn't help but secretly take a look at this unusual senior official.
……………
It was already dark, and after a simple meal, the Li brothers and sisters were taken away by themselves, but Ye Hu and Gu Yinghui stayed behind to accept Zhu Yongxing's new arrangement.
"Shandong's intelligence work needs to be strengthened, and we must take advantage of the seven departments." Zhu Yongxing sipped fragrant tea and said slowly: "There are three religions and six streams. It is probably not possible to fight, but it is good to gather information.
"
"Yu Qi's reputation in Shandong doesn't seem to be very good, or maybe it's because of his subordinates." Ye Hu thought for a while and said, "If he were to start a cause, I'm afraid he wouldn't have enough influence." (To be continued.)