The most unlucky crossing in history

"Ahem..." Zhong Qiyun lowered his head and coughed twice, touched his nose after a while, then picked up the teapot on the table to add some tea to Xie Wenyuan, and said with a smile: "Brother Xie just mentioned Go to the Zhang family. According to what Brother Xie said, the Zhang family is neither in the same sect as the second prince, nor in the same class as Wei Hechao, so there must be a third person. I am a little confused. I don’t know who this family relies on secretly and hides so well So deep, never heard of it?"

Seeing that Zhong Qiyun deliberately changed the subject and didn't dare to say more, Xie Wenyuan didn't hesitate to ask again, and took the tea from Zhong Qiyun with a smile, and replied: "Brother Zhong should know that Daqing has always been extremely strict with merchants when they become officials. , especially in the early days of the founding of the dynasty.”

The status of merchants in Daqing was quite similar to that of Tang Dynasty, continuing the tradition of noble farmers and cheap merchants.Especially in the early days of the founding of the dynasty □□Emperor Pingzhen 13th year made people to compile the "Six Laws of Dazhu" which continued the classification of the four types of people in the Tang Dynasty: scholars, farmers, workers, and merchants. Among them, the second volume of Hulu The Ten Articles wrote that "Households of industry and commerce shall not be pre-registered with scholars", and also ordered prefectures and counties to "create household registrations every three years, and counties are registered in the prefecture, and the Ministry of Households is in charge." "Who" among the "four people" makes each major and its profession not to be confused.It is even stated in the law that "all businessmen are those who specialize in their own business for profit", have a special hereditary household registration, and cannot change it into another category.These regulations restrained many wealthy merchant families and blocked their way to become officials and intervene in government affairs with money.

However, not too many years later, these regulations showed some signs of loosening. Among them, some merchants who had mastered the salt business of the Dazhang Dynasty controlled the salt and iron to a certain extent and also controlled the manpower in the past dynasties. OK.In order to curb these salt households, Emperor Gaozong established the Department of Salt Administration in the middle of the court, and it took more than ten years to recover the average number of salt households. Among them, the Pei family was the largest salt household at that time. In order to better control these other households, the Tian family A special case grants him the qualification to become an official, allowing him to enter the court under his nose so that he can control it.

A hundred years have passed, and now there is one and the only merchant in the Dazhang Dynasty who holds an official position and is controlled by the Tian family—the Pei family of Jincheng Salt Manufacturing.

The first emperor's reign was at the time when the business of the Daqing Dynasty was prosperous. In order to balance the dissatisfaction of the big merchants in the dynasty with their taxation and status inequality, and to allow the major families to generously contribute to the construction of water conservancy and the reconstruction of cities, etc., the first emperor decided to The household laws have been revised: for merchants who have not inherited the family business for two consecutive generations, their sons can participate in the township examination to obtain fame, and they can be registered in other countries.

.

But even so, the Huluzhong still tightly connects merchants with variegated, cheap, etc. together.For this reason, the North Korean Chinese speak extremely contemptuously when they mention merchants.

Zhong Qiyun gradually learned about these things after he started business.

"Everyone knows that the status of an official is much higher than that of a merchant, and the people in the court think that it is better to be a farmer than a merchant. The merchants have tried their best to become an official. But, Brother Zhong, you should have heard that the ancestors of the Zhang family were actually officials. , The official position is not small."

Zhong Qiyun nodded, "I heard that about 80 years ago, the ancestors of his family worshiped as the second grade official, and then gave up their official career somehow, and the whole family went into business. At that time, the laws were strict. In the eyes of others, this is really a natural phenomenon. Disregarding the younger generation by lowering the family status, becoming a last-class businessman and never recovering."

Although later, the Zhang family also became a wealthy family and became a well-known Confucian businessman and a scholarly family among merchants, Zhong Qiyun thought that if he was an ancient person, it would be really difficult for him to understand the choice of this family.

This is not like He Minqing's examination of a scholar. It is not a pity to go into business if you want to go into business. It is a second-rank official position, which is the same level as Xie Wenyuan's official position today. What is the need for such a position?

"It's unknown why the ancestors of the Zhang family made such a choice back then, but Zhang Sixue's dissatisfaction with the current status of a merchant is affirmative, he is reluctant to part with such a large family business, and also wants to be above the court," Xie Wenyuan shook his head and said with a smile: "It's not easy to be the second Pei family."

Zhong Qiyun agreed: "The Pei family is said to be a merchant, but it is more like the siblings of the imperial court. It is more appropriate to say that it is an official family. It's just that there has been such a Pei family in a hundred years. It's not easy to be the second one?"

"Therefore, Zhang Sixue must find a way to make a deal that will allow his Zhang family to gain more glory."

Zhong Qiyun pondered for a moment, and then he said after a long time: "The Zhang family is not close to any prince, not the prince, not the prime minister, not the second prince, and it is even less likely to be the third prince who has already been imprisoned, so who else? Is it possible? Is it Tan Yuanyi, the fourth prince who is only fifteen now?"

The fourth prince Tan Yuanyi and Zhong Qiyun have only heard rumors in the market. Although they are very intelligent, they are really playful and idle.

Such a young man already wanted to fight for power?However, after thinking about it, Zhong Qiyun also understood that the fight for power often depends not on whether he wants to or not, but on the forces behind him. If the powerful behind him want to compete, even if he is now If you are not yet one year old, you have to fight for it.

Xie Wenyuan shook his head: "It's not him, he doesn't have a strong enough family to rely on,

Even if the fourth prince has the strength but not enough, the few people standing in front of him can't shake him at present. Even if the Zhang family puts all their efforts and he is lucky enough to be in the position, he still doesn't have enough skills to deal with other families and give Zhang Sixue what he wants. Yes, it is naturally impossible for Zhang Sixue to help him. "

"Ah? Then... if it's not the case, who else can Zhang Sixue help? Could it be that he wants to rebel himself?" Although Zhong Qiyun didn't think that old fox could be so overconfident.

Xie Wenyuan's eyes darkened slightly. He had some doubts about which faction the Zhang family belonged to, but this morning Linghu Qing came to him quietly and asked him why he spied on Tan Yuanjin at this time, and whether he had leaked anything, he was sure, Zhang Jiading is not Tan Yuanyong's hands and feet.

Hehe, this Zhang Sixue really hides his secrets, and he can't detect anything on weekdays, but he rarely 'leaks' a trace of respect for the prince in his language, which has confused people for 18 years. Even Jinshang and Wei Hechao I was also deceived by him, if it wasn't for yesterday's accident...

Xie Wenyuan's eyebrows and eyes were crooked, his eyes full of inexplicable chill and interest, he said: "Help a person who has paved the way for many years and secretly cultivated power but lacks cover and money... "

The second day after finding the body of Ding Pei's family, the body was so rotten that the stench was unbearable, so Zhong Qiyun went to Pei Yan's place to discuss with him, and another day later, someone from Pei's family came to check the body carefully, which is worth remembering After finding out all the facts, the Pei family asked the fleet to land and help burn the two bodies and bury them on the spot.

The murderer was not found after all, but Zhong Qiyun still asked Jiang Sicheng to step up the investigation, and even the boatmen's daily life and rest were in his hands.

For these boatmen, Zhong Qiyun trusts them all, almost all of them are his brothers who were born and died at sea, but Zhong Qiyun also clearly understands that the boatmen are just ordinary people after all, and ordinary people have seven emotions and six desires. Now that the situation is complicated and the crew on board is chaotic, Zhong Qiyun cannot guarantee that there will be no one among them. Someone will be driven by profit to stab him in the end.

What's more... Thinking of what Xie Wenyuan said, "Wei Hechao wants me to die more than wanting his life", Zhong Qiyun didn't dare to take it lightly.

Zhong Qiyun secretly found out that three new boatmen had accepted money from the Pei family. Zhong Qiyun ordered Jiang Si to tie up the two in the name of stealing and throw them into the cabin in front of everyone. Although they did not break up with the Pei family. Shameless, but does anyone on board know that this is not stealing?He just took the opportunity to tell the Pei family that Zhong Qiyun knew their tricks, and also took the opportunity to beat the other boatmen on board.

In private, Liu Wangcai spoke earnestly to the boatmen: "Zhong

Brother treats everyone as brothers, and has never treated everyone badly since he started sailing. May I ask where can I find such a boss? May I ask that your family can all get benefits?Those who can come to foreign countries with the owner are all carefully selected friends from our Zhong family's fleet, and they are also trusted by the owner. Do you know how much benefit you will get when you go back this time?You heard how much bonus you got for going to the Sangha with your boss last time?Don't let the owner down again. "

"That's right, compared to the red money given by the master, the ones the Pei family took are really ugly," Yang Xiangdong also said beside him, "And have you ever wondered why the master can't help everyone buy certain items in foreign countries and sell them back to the court?" ? Have you ever met such a boss?"

After these words, many boatmen followed suit and scolded those who betrayed their employers.This trouble made the boatmen who were already on the side of Zhong Qiyun even more grateful, and the accidents made the friendship between many boatmen a lot.

On January [-]th, the sky was slightly gray, but there was no sign of rain. On this day, the fleet that had been at sea for two months arrived at Buck, the largest seaport in the eastern part of Shendu Kingdom, exactly ten days earlier than the scheduled seventy days. Bull is also the nearest seaport to the city of Gna, the capital of the Shendu Kingdom.

Compared with Zhancheng, which is more influenced by the customs of Dazhu, Shendu is indeed a country full of exotic customs. Whether it is customs, architecture, clothing, people's behavior, etc., they are fundamentally different from Dazhu, and there is no similarity.

And Bakpur, where the fleet docked, is also the largest seaport Zhong Qiyun has seen so far, even worse than the several big ports in Daqing.There are so many ships calling at the port, so many large ships, and the prosperity of the maritime trade, that the people on board are momentarily amazed and stare at each other, dumbfounded.

"This, this is Shendu?" Pei Yan stood on the deck and looked towards the shore of the harbor. The bustle of the harbor was not as he imagined. He often had contact with merchants from the Shendu Kingdom. Surprised again and again, he repeatedly mentioned that Shendu did not have such a scene. He originally thought that Shendu was too big, but how did he know it was like this?This harbor is much bigger than the one in Hangzhou!

"Most of the Shendu Kingdom is near the sea, and they value maritime business, so the prosperity of maritime trade is indeed not comparable to that of Daqing today." Linghu Qing sighed slightly. He has been in the position of Shui Sicheng for a year, and he knows a lot about these things than in previous years. In the Great Late Dynasty, merchants were afraid of the sea, and most of them traded on land. Therefore, the land was extremely prosperous and lively, and the sea was indeed lacking.

Speaking of this, he looked at Zhong Qiyun who was about to disembark, and suddenly felt a little emotional, maybe there is still such a thing in Daqing.

Is it a good thing for ordinary people to be around?

Xie Wenyuan looked around the harbor, and after noticing a dark ship docked in the distance, he walked to Zhong Qiyun's side, motioned Zhong Qiyun to look there, and said, "The black ship that Jiang Sicheng investigated last time It should be Shendu's ship."

Zhong Qiyun naturally noticed it too, and said with a smile, "Now that the sky is blue and the sun is bright, it docks so blatantly. It seems that black is just a favorite coloring of ships here, not pirates."

"Brother Zhong, you should be more careful."

"......it is good."