The carriage was spacious, covered with a thick blanket, and a stove was placed in the middle, making it warm and comfortable.
Li Qing and Zhu Zhanji sat opposite each other, one holding black stones and the other holding white stones. Li Qing placed a pile of golden beans in front of him, and they could hardly put them down anymore.
After 218 moves, Zhu Zhanji sighed helplessly: "I lost."
"Get the money!"
"..." Zhu Zhanji was speechless: "I have no money, and I have lost all my golden beans to you."
Li Qing was very dissatisfied, "You continue to do this without money. It's such a waste of emotion."
"I thought I could make a comeback..." Zhu Zhanji said angrily, "Okay, okay, let's talk about business."
"Okay." Li Qing pulled the golden beans on the table into his palm and put them into his pocket, "You say."
Zhu Zhanji watched helplessly as all the golden beans were taken away by Li Qing, his face was full of pain. Calculating carefully, the gold he had lost to Li Qing over the years was no less than a thousand taels of gold.
That's it, this doesn't count the gold that was tricked.
If all were counted, there would be at least three thousand taels of gold.
The more he thought about it, the more distressed he became, and he said angrily: "You tell me."
Li Qing was in a good mood after winning the money, and he didn't have the same experience as him. "The real power of the Six Ministries in Nanjing is not great, and if we start from the Six Ministries, it will be easy to alert the snake. Let's start with the local officials."
“Where exactly do you start?”
"Let's go to Suzhou!" Li Qing said, "There is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below. Let's start with these two richest places."
Zhu Zhanji asked: "Where is the vassal king? I remember that you went to Jiangnan two years ago to detect maritime smuggling. Prince Ning was involved in it and took the majority of it."
"You want to touch the feudal king now?" Li Qing was surprised.
"Otherwise, I'm just here for fun?" Zhu Zhanji snorted, "Just cleaning up the local officials, or the Six Ministries in Nanjing, will only treat the symptoms but not the root cause. We must start from the root."
Li Qing weighed the pros and cons and confirmed: "Do you really want to touch the feudal king?"
"Do you think they can change the world?" Zhu Zhanji asked back, and then hummed, "Now that the sea transportation has just begun, they have not grown up yet, so it is a good opportunity to make a move. If we let it go, when they want to move in the future, they will become
The climate problem should be solved as soon as possible.”
Li Qing thought so too.
Zhu Zhanji's words are reasonable. It is definitely better to start before the sea opens than after the sea opens. Moreover, more than half of the vassal kings in various places cannot participate in sea transportation.
It's not that they don't want to, but because of geographical reasons, they can't participate. Maybe they can participate indirectly in the future, but they can only get a small amount.
As the saying goes, worry not about scarcity but inequality;
If the court does this, not only will it not offend the feudal kings, but it will also bring them psychological balance.
"In that case, let's go directly to Nanjing." Li Qing said, "When we get there, find out the feudal princes involved in smuggling, and then ask them to come and open the skylight and speak frankly."
"This is a good idea, but the question is...are they willing to come?" Zhu Zhanji frowned and said, "If my father comes, it's just a matter of words. I... am just the prince!"
Not talking about other people, just talking about Prince Ning, Zhu Zhanji would have to call out: "Seventeenth Master" when he saw him.
The prince's status is respected, but he is not the emperor after all.
Li Qing smiled: "In fact, it's not difficult. Since you, the prince, are useless, then find someone who is."
"Who said that I am useless as a prince?" Zhu Zhanji protested angrily and asked, "What is useful?"
"Taizu!"
"Taizudu..." Zhu Zhanji was startled, "You mean...let them come in the name of ancestor worship?"
"Yes," Li Qing said with a smile, "the vassal kings who can participate in maritime trade are all vassal kings from the south. It is reasonable to ask them to come to pay homage to Xiaoling Mausoleum. After all, you are also doing so under the guise of paying homage to Xiaoling Mausoleum.
Came to Nanjing."
"High, really high." Zhu Zhanji nodded his head and said with a smile: "Then let's do it."
…
The prince's honor guard was quite luxurious, so the journey was not fast. It took more than half a month for the group to arrive in Nanjing.
This was not a private visit incognito, so officials from the six ministries were notified in advance.
As soon as he arrived at the place, officials from various ministries came to pay homage to him.
The next day.
Everyone came to welcome the prince and wash away his dust, and the banquet was very lively.
Zhu Zhanji is very familiar with this kind of situation and treats people very decently.
It seems that they are not here to do business, but to have fun.
Zhu Zhanji's explanation for coming to Nanjing this time was to pay homage to Xiaoling Mausoleum, take a look at the grand opening of the sea, and appreciate the scenery of Jiangnan.
A group of people feel relieved and are all smiling. After the imperial court opened the sea for trade, these people who are "retirement" have also followed the rising tide, and there is a lot of money. How can they not be happy?
During the banquet, everyone was singing praises to the current emperor, which made Zhu Zhanji feel numb.
Li Qing was not very popular. During the banquet, almost no one interacted with him. He also enjoyed his leisure time. After eating and drinking, he left the banquet early and went to Cao Guogong's mansion.
…
Li Jinglong also used crutches, the same style as Li Qing, but the style was more refined and still sexy.
"I knew you would come." Li Jinglong sniffed his nose, "Where did you drink this?"
"The official is hosting a banquet for the prince, so I have to go." Li Qing explained, feeling as if he had been caught stealing someone behind his wife's back.
"It seems that we can't drink this wine today." Li Jinglong curled his lips, "Come here, serve tea!"
Jinling has a pleasant climate. It was only the end of the first month, and the temperature was already 17 or 18 degrees Celsius. The fruit trees in the courtyard were sprouting buds, filled with the breath of spring.
The two of them sat around the table, basking in the sun and drinking tea. There was not much intimacy between old friends, it was just plain, but warm.
"Are you feeling well?"
"It's nothing compared to back then, but it's okay." Li Jinglong sighed, feeling a little lonely and sad: "Time flies so fast. In the blink of an eye, Lan Yu has been gone for almost seven years, and we are all old.
"
"Yes, time flies so fast." Li Qing sighed.
"It's time for you to retire, right?" Li Jinglong said with a smile, "Hurry up, or just stay here this time. With your contribution to the Ming Dynasty, it is not a problem to continue living in the Yongqinghou Mansion here. When the time comes, we two brothers will drink
How nice it is to drink wine, listen to music, and bask in the sun like this!"
"Let's wait another two years." Li Qing said with a smile, "There are still a lot of things to do. I will come back when things happen in the DPRK."
"Are you still waiting?" Li Jinglong's face was full of disappointment, and he said resentfully: "I'm not telling you, you just take yourself too seriously. Although you are very good, it may not be bad without you;
Listen to my brother's advice, in this life, you have to think about yourself, right?
Even if you work hard to death, in the end you will become nothing more than a handful of loess?
Besides, how long can you do this?" Li Jinglong snorted, "Listen to me and don't leave this time. Oh my God, it's great to be here!"
Li Qing smiled and nodded: "I understand the truth, but..."
He said seriously: "It's just two years. When the maritime trade gets back on track and some hidden dangers are dealt with, I will come back. There has to be a beginning and an end, right?"
Li Jinglong was a little annoyed: "It's up to you, don't die of exhaustion in Shuntian by then."
Li Qing: "...Don't worry, I'm still alive."
After arguing for a while, Li Qing brought the topic down to business: "Brother, I want to ask you something."
"I knew you wouldn't come here if there was no business, right?" Li Jinglong tapped his cane and said angrily, "No, I won't say anything unless you can retire where you are."
"Look at you." Li Qing said speechlessly, "Can't you just let me finish?"
Li Jinglong hummed: "Needless to say, I know what you are thinking, isn't it just about smuggling?
Now that the imperial court is fully open to the sea, why are we still investigating this?"
"You are indeed right." Li Qing nodded, "This is indeed the case. You, my brother, are trustworthy. I tell you the truth. It is true that the imperial court allows private trade, but it does not want to trade with nobles and vassals;
Especially for the vassal king, once you let it grow bigger, the consequences... you know."
Jingnan has only lasted more than 20 years, and Li Jinglong has experienced it personally, so how could he not understand?
However, he still felt that it was a bit of a fuss, "At this time and at that time, the influence of the current nobles in the army is not great, and the vassal king is different from the vassal king more than 20 years ago. He does not even have a bodyguard.
What can happen?"
"You can't say that," Li Qing shook his head and said, "Although it is like this for the time being, it will be hard to say in the future. The vassal kings are no better than ordinary wealthy gentry. Their surname is Zhu, and they are relatives of the royal family. Once they gain power, they will win over the high officials in the court.
, it is not impossible to restore the three guards."
Li Jinglong was silent.
Seeing this, Li Qing frowned: "Brother, are you also involved in smuggling?"
"Fart, the imperial court has opened the sea, do I call that smuggling?" Li Jinglong cursed: "I am aboveboard, okay?"
"So did you pay your taxes?"
"Uh..." Li Jinglong paused and said sarcastically, "The relative law hasn't come out yet."
Li Qing glared at him and said teasingly: "The tax law has not been finalized yet, but the Municipal Shipping Department has already announced it. Have you reported it?"
"No, I didn't smuggle directly... Oh, come on, come on, you can catch me now." Li Jinglong was furious, "Damn it, you are here to stab my brother!"
Li Qing rolled his eyes: "That's not what I meant, I meant..."
After a pause, "So, do you know everything about the people involved in maritime trade?"
"Ang." Li Jinglong nodded, and then said cautiously: "You guys, you won't let me be a traitor again, will you?"
"Ahaha..." Li Qing laughed, "This is called abandoning darkness and embracing light."
Li Jinglong sneered: "Don't expect to get any information from me. I, Li Jinglong, will never be considered a traitor."
…
"Let me tell you, not long after you left, Prince Ning started to go back to his old business!"
"real?"
Li Jinglong hummed: "How can I lie to you? Not only did he continue to smuggle, the scale was even larger than before;
However, it is relatively more secretive, less arrogant, and has attracted many people to join the group."
"Are you there?"
"Yes." Li Jinglong admitted very bachelorly, "But I don't care about the specific matters of smuggling. I just invest and get dividends."
"I see." Li Qing suddenly realized and said with a smile, "Don't worry, it's not a crime for you. With your achievements in the Jingnan..."
"I'm not guilty at all." Li Jinglong shouted.
"Ah, yes, yes, you are right." Li Qing nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, and diligently gave him a cup of tea, "Who are they specifically?"