In April of 1631, even during the Little Ice Age, spring finally arrived outside the capital city. The willows on the banks of the Tudi River were newly green, the peach and apricot trees were blooming one after another, and the delicate flowers were swaying in the slightly cold spring breeze. The earth turned green again.
, the peasants who survived the war and famine were still busy in the fields, even though they had plenty of food and a lot of knots in their clothes.
The Qing army's first invasion of the fortress, or the "Ji Si Change", ended last year. In October of the third year of Chongzhen, all the troops of the Hou Jin Dynasty that entered the pass returned to Shenyang. Zunhua, which had originally left troops in the pass,
The four cities were also recovered by the Ming army one after another. The burned houses have not been rebuilt, and the bones of those who died in the war were seen on the roadside from time to time. However, due to the entry of the Jin Dynasty, the prefectures and counties of Beizhili, which were in turmoil and devastated, finally finally
I breathed a sigh of relief - it seems that Ming Dynasty will usher in another spring just like this land.
However, many bureaucrats in the capital, no matter what their political stance, as long as they have a little bit of foresight, know that Ming Dynasty is already ill, and the illness is not serious. However, at this time, no one can predict the future of Ming Dynasty.
Not much.
What the officials and scholars in the capital talked about the most was Hou Jin, who had gradually become a serious problem for the court. As for the rogue bandits in Shaanxi, She'an in Guizhou, and the bandits in Qiongzhou... some people mentioned it, but no one cared. Although.
He Rubin's entire army was wiped out in Qiongzhou. He suffered heavy losses, but it did not cause much sensation. Compared with the Ming court's loss of governors and general officials during the She'an Rebellion, after all, the highest-ranking official killed in the Qiongzhou battle was only the general.
.So far, no prefectures or counties have been lost.
The spring wind in Beijing is strong. The spring breeze from the Taiwan Plateau is mixed with wind and sand, blowing people until their skin is chapped. The streets are covered with yellow sand. There has just been a spring rain, and the streets are muddy. In this mud
, a two-person sedan chair was hobbling along, and the two bearers were covered in specks of yellow mud.
Behind the sedan are burdens carried by about a dozen porters, all tightly bundled with reed mats.
A gap was quietly opened in the sedan curtain, and someone glanced at the street outside through the gap. If someone could get close enough, they could hear the person letting out an almost imperceptible contemptuous sneer.
The people in the sedan were Leng Ningyun who was sent to the capital to carry out work.
Leng Ningyun was engaged in finance and trust work in the old time and space, and is familiar with financial history, IPOs and derivatives. He has a bachelor's degree in management. He is proficient in English, can communicate simply in Japanese, and can also speak a few words in French. He is a member of the financial department of the group.
There is a lot of strength, but the jobs that can be done in the financial department are too simple - a large number of financial industry professionals can only be accountants.
Leng Ningyun was extremely bored, so he had the idea of stationing abroad. After signing up for training at the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, his financial background attracted the attention of Jiang Shan and others. Eventually, he was sent to Beijing to serve as the chief and dean of the Beijing Station.
President of Kuala Lumpur Bank Beijing Branch.
The Beijing Station is different from other foreign stations in that it does not require commercial or industrial activities in the local area. The main content of its activities is to collect intelligence and absorb the officials of the Beijing Bureau. Therefore, the Beijing Station mainly focuses on financial activities. Let a professional
It’s perfect for someone in finance to be responsible.
It is easy to enter Beijing, but it is not easy to carry out activities in Beijing. Especially Leng Ningyun's main task is to absorb deposits - how can Delong, who has no foundation in Beijing, gain the trust of corrupt officials? Rest assured
Boldly deposit your money in Delong Bank, this is a very testing place for Leng Ningyun.
What Leng Ningyun wanted to see now was Eunuch Yang, a key figure since he arrived in Beijing.
Eunuch Yang was a great supporter in the capital. When Wei Zhongxian was in power, he once planned to build a shrine in Guangzhou to celebrate the ninth thousand years of his life. However, this did not happen and Eunuch Yang escaped. After the fall of Wei Zhongxian,
, Eunuch Yang was a blessing in disguise and was not implicated. He quickly curried favor with Wang Dehua, spent tens of thousands of silver and many high-profile "Australian goods", and was able to set up the Clock Bell and Drum Division. It was like a salted fish reborn.
Eunuch Yang, who has returned to power, is much more cautious than before. After all, he is not an old member of the Xinwang Fandi. When he was nine thousand years old, he did not have a "firm attitude and clear stance." At best, he is just a fence-sitter. So he rarely does it now.
He was involved in too many things in the palace and never said a word except for his own duties.
Although it was spring, it was still very cold. Leng Ningyun shrank his neck, thinking about what to say after seeing this great eunuch.
Except when watching movies and TV shows in the old time and space, Leng Ningyun had never seen the image of a eunuch - of course, the eunuchs in movies and TV shows were also fake. What a real eunuch is like and what kind of heart he has. This is very interesting.
It's an elusive thing. However, it goes without saying that all the eunuchs who can become famous in the palace are human beings. You have to work hard to deal with it. After all, this eunuch's attitude towards Beijing
It has a great bearing on the future development of the site.
He had already inquired about the location of Eunuch Yang's private residence in advance, and knew that the master would come back from the palace to rest tonight. When he arrived at the door, the servant sent the greeting card and the eight lines held high in the door. Not long after, the young man who answered the door came.
The eunuch then spread the word and asked him to come in and meet him.
When it comes to meeting a eunuch and flattering him, Leng Ningyun is of course reluctant. In his mind, eunuchs are a group of insidious, cunning and greedy people, and he has a kind of contempt and disgust in his heart.
However, Leng Ningyun knew very well that in this competition on the intelligence and commercial fronts in Beijing, the help of this great eunuch was indispensable.
When he saw the young eunuch who answered the door coming out with a greeting card, Leng Ningyun signaled, and his servant immediately took out a couple of silver coins from his arms and stuffed it over, while taking back the message. Only then did he decide.
God, step forward and walk inside.
According to the court system, eunuchs, as the emperor's personal attendants, generally had to live in the palace unless they were sent to other places to perform missions. However, wealthy and powerful eunuchs like Eunuch Yang all had private residences outside.
Residence. It is said that Wei Zhongxian's private residence in Beijing was extremely luxurious and luxurious, comparable to the imperial palace. Of course, Eunuch Yang's house is far from comparable to Wei Zhongxian's. However, just based on the light of the lamps under the eaves and the wing room, it can be roughly
Looking around, Leng Ningyun already felt that this house was not only tall, but must also be quite deep. The architecture and layout were also very sophisticated. It was obvious that a lot of money was spent on building it.
As the meeting approached, he instinctively became nervous. He began to focus more closely on his mission, and developed a new uneasiness and expectation.
The young eunuch introduced him into a hall. After waiting in the hall for a while, with the sound of steady and calm footsteps, Eunuch Yang walked out from behind the screen. Following the etiquette, Leng Ningyun stood up to greet him and made a gesture.
Be respectful and respectful.
Looking out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the eunuch was a strong man in his fifties. His neatly combed temple hair was obviously white, his bald chin was as usual without a beard, and he had a pampered and wide face.
Although her red, thick lips were smiling as usual, doubts and inquiry were clearly visible in her squinting eyes.
The two sides saluted each other. As a measure to protect the personal safety of the intelligence agents and to facilitate their activities, Li Yan gave each intelligence agent who went to the Ming-controlled area a Guangdong household registration, and tried to give them a certain amount of money.
Some of the fame and honors are obtained by being born in the officialdom, some are born as epiphyses, and some are born in the so-called Imperial College. In any case, they all come from the government movements in Guangdong and Guangxi with money.
Since he felt that the purpose of his visit could not be explained clearly in a few words, and since they were strangers to each other, in order to reduce the trouble of relaying it, Leng Ningyun did not say much and took out a secret letter that he had prepared in advance from his arms.
Along with the gift list, he handed it over with both hands: "This is handed over to you by the students of the high official, please Yang Gong to see it."
"Oh." Eunuch Yang was not surprised - he had learned about Leng Ningyun's visit from Gao Zhou's letter a few days ago. He glanced at the guest and then took the letter: "Sir, please sit down!"
While giving way, he sat down on the chair and began to open the letter.
The content of this secret letter was very simple. Gao Ju told him in the letter that Leng Ningyun was a member of Dongzhu Guo and that he came to the capital to open a bank and plan business.
Gao Ju has never told Eunuch Yang about Guo Yi's background. This is not because Gao Ju deliberately wants to deceive him, but because Eunuch Yang doesn't want to know so clearly. Although he somewhat understands that Guo Yi has an unusual relationship with the Kun thieves, or Australians.
Maybe he is a thief. But he has no intention of revealing this - the business with the thief brings him a lot of benefits every year, and he would rather pretend to be deaf and dumb.
If he knew about it, if the imperial court wanted to investigate Kun Thief for something he "shouldn't have done" in the future, he would be able to shirk the blame completely.
Needless to say, the Leng Ningyun in front of him is also a figure under the Kun thief. Eunuch Yang thought, and was surprised by the young man. For a scholar, he was not young, but he had to stand alone against a man.
A businessman, the visitors are too young.
He then opened the gift list. The gifts were very expensive: they were all Australian treasures that were in high demand on the market. One of them, a half-length glass mirror, was very valuable. Obviously, the other party was very knowledgeable.
Out of caution, Gao Zhi's letter was written very briefly, only briefly mentioning the incident. As for the specific statements and plans, Leng Ningyun himself was responsible for explaining. So from the beginning, Leng Ningyun paid attention to his master's expression and reaction, hoping to formally
Before talking, try to understand the other person's thoughts as much as possible.