Taiping Inn

Shangguan Wan had been to the Imperial Capital, but that was a long time ago. At that time, she was still young, and the emperor in power was not Emperor Tianbao, but Emperor Muzong.

To be fair, Emperor Muzong was still very capable. The key was to know how to appoint the right people to the right positions and know how to let the right people do the right things. If Emperor Muzong had not died early, the current situation might be very different. Not to mention changing fate, at least it would not be a problem to extend his life for a few decades, and the empire would not have weakened so quickly.

In the blink of an eye, ten years passed quickly, and the Imperial Capital changed.

Shangguan Wan needed an external identity. This identity must have an obvious intersection with Li Ru, and must have enough status to make friends with the powerful, and even enter the mansions of some people without being abrupt. Before Shangguan Wan came, the inn had already made preparations in this regard.

Because of Xu Wugui's special status, the Qi Wang Mansion has always had a very special status. Everyone thought that the Qi Wang was dead, but the royal family knew that the Qi Wang was not dead. When Xu Wugui faked his death, it was actually a compromise between him and Emperor Shizong, and each of them gave in. In this case, even if Xu Wugui had no offspring, the court did not abolish the Qi Wang Mansion, and many Qi Wang side branches still relied on the Qi Wang Mansion for their lives. Although none of these Qi Wang side branches could inherit the throne, they also got rid of the control of the clan house to a certain extent and became the most special branch among the many clans.

The identity arranged for Shangguan Wan by the inn was a Qi Wang side branch, named "Xu Wan".

In fact, this name was not made up out of thin air, but the name Xu Wugui gave Shangguan Wan that year, and reported it to the clan house and registered it in the jade book of the clan house.

It was just because the Qi Wang had "died", Xu Wan could not be recorded under the name of the Qi Wang, but only under the name of a Qi Wang side branch, and was regarded as the niece of the Qi Wang. In terms of seniority, Xu Wan was of the same generation as Emperor Muzong and Princess Xuanzhen, and was the aunt of Emperor Tianbao. However, in terms of title, Xu Wan was only a county lady, while Yuying was a princess. The daughter of the emperor was given the title of princess, the daughter of the prince was given the title of county lady, and the daughter of the county king was given the title of county lady. Xu Wan was recorded under the name of the side branch of the King of Qi. A county lady was already a special title given by grace, because the King of Qi's fiefdom was in Qizhou, so a place was chosen from the counties in Qizhou as the title, which was "Qixia County Lady". If it was a county lady, a place would be chosen from the various prefectures in Qizhou as the title. On the contrary, the princess was not named after a state like the prince, but was named after two words with beautiful meanings.

Because of this, the guests of the King of Qi all respectfully called Shangguan Wan "Miss". From this aspect, Xu Wugui regarded Shangguan Wan as an adopted daughter.

Over the years, Shangguan Wan has almost never used the name "Xu Wan", but walked the rivers and lakes with her real name Shangguan Wan. Therefore, few people know the key to this. Even the clan government does not know that the famous Jiumingguan Shangguan Wan is the same person as Qixia County Lord Xu Wan.

For Shangguan Wan, she did not reject this arrangement. After all, she is Xu Wan, and Xu Wan is Shangguan Wan, just like Li Xuandu is known as "Zifuke" and Qin Su is known as "Baijuan". With Shangguan Wan's understanding of this identity, coupled with Xu Da's arrangement at the Qi Wang Mansion, it must be seamless.

The identity of Qixia County Lord alone is high, but it has nothing to do with Li Rushi's "He Yun" identity, so the inn arranged a second identity for Xu Wan, and she is also one of the owners of Taiping Money House. The big owner of Taiping Money House is naturally Taiping Sect. In addition to Taiping Sect, there are many small owners, most of whom are local tyrants. With the escort of these local snakes, Taiping Money House can spread its money business all over the world. With Li Xuandu's identity, it was easy to arrange an identity of a small owner of Taiping Money House for Shangguan Wan, and this matter was handled by Madam Lu, so it was difficult for even the Taiping Sect to find any flaws, let alone outsiders.

As for the royal family doing business, although it was not in accordance with the etiquette, it was also justified.

Since the "death" of the King of Qi, although the court did not abolish the Qi Palace, it also stopped the salary rice. According to regulations, a prince must provide 50,000 stones of rice, 25,000 taels of silver, 40 pieces of brocade, 300 pieces of silk, 500 pieces of silk, 1,000 pieces of gauze, 1,000 pieces of winter cloth, and 1,000 pieces of summer cloth every year. Without this income, the Qi Palace itself was not affected much, but many of the Qi Wang's side branches lost their livelihoods and could only find their own way out. Especially after the Qingyang Rebellion, when the court lost control of Qizhou, the lives of these former nobles became increasingly difficult, and it was reasonable to do some business. In fact, it was considered respectable to invest in Taiping Money House. After all, all the major money houses in the imperial capital also had the background of various powerful families. There were also many impoverished clans who sold their ancestral lands and invested the money in the fleet of Qingwei Sect to do some business in Liaodong and Fenglinzhou, which was no different from merchants.

In this way, Shangguan Wan's identity was determined. Xu Wan, the Princess of Qixia County, who was born in the side branch of the Qi Wang Mansion, was also one of the small owners of Taiping Money House. She came to the imperial capital because there was a problem with the business of Taiping Money House.

In addition to doing money business, Taiping Money House also involved in many other businesses, but Taiping Money House did not operate directly, but handed it over to a special shopkeeper, and then reconciled the accounts on time.

The most lucrative businesses in the world are tea, salt, and iron, all of which are in the hands of the court. Tea permits and salt permits are issued by the court, and those who control them are all wealthy merchants with strong backgrounds, also known as imperial merchants. Most of the salt business is concentrated in the Jiangnan and Huaibei areas, while tea and iron are mostly concentrated in Yuguan and Jinzhou. Especially tea, which is mainly sold to the Golden Horde. Whether it is the nobles of the Golden Horde or ordinary herdsmen, they mainly eat meat and milk, not rice and flour, and they especially need tea to eliminate greasiness. In addition, the hostile situation between the Central Plains and the grasslands, so this pound of tea bricks is only twenty or thirty coins in the cheapest place in Guanli. When you get to the grassland, you can exchange it for two sheep, and three or four pieces can be exchanged for a horse, and the price difference is exactly a hundred times. The further north you go, the higher the price of this tea will be, which can be said to be a huge profit.

Taiping Money House is also involved in it, but it does not come forward directly, but joins the business of an imperial merchant in the form of equity participation. In theory, the imperial merchants are not short of money, but they need to take care of many aspects, from the dignitaries, officials, eunuchs to the petty officials, all of whom need money. In addition, a big tree attracts the wind, and it is normal to be extorted. No matter how rich the family is, in such a situation, even if there is a gold mountain, it will be hollowed out. Moreover, although the tea business is lucrative, there are also considerable risks. Sometimes it is inevitable that both people and money will be lost. Therefore, even the imperial merchants have times when they are unable to turn over money, and they have to deal with money houses. So Taiping Money House took this opportunity to participate in it.

Taiping Money House holds 30% of the shares in this imperial merchant's business, which is not much, but not little. The apparent reason for Shangguan Wan's visit was that there was a problem with the accounts of this imperial merchant. What was even more strange was that a shopkeeper sent by Taiping Inn died of a sudden illness, which was very strange and suspicious. So she came to the imperial capital to check the accounts as the owner of Taiping Money House, and Li Rushi, as a businessman who had a close relationship with Taiping Money House, was involved in it, and even took the initiative to come to visit, which became reasonable.

The imperial merchant had already heard about Shangguan Wan's arrival, and was naturally very nervous. It was not easy to take the money from Taiping Money House, because Taiping Money House was involved with Taiping Sect, and Taiping Sect was involved with Mr. Qingping, and Mr. Qingping was involved with the Qin family in Liaodong. In the current situation of Liaodong's great power, everyone had to consider the way out and dared not do things to the extreme. What's more, Shangguan Wan's identity was also unusual. A county lord, or a county lord from the lineage of King Qi, was not some cat or dog that could die of illness at will.

Shangguan Wan stayed in Tangquan Villa for a day. His statement to the outside world was naturally to wash away the dust of the world. In fact, he had a secret investigation with Li Rushi and learned about the current situation of the imperial capital from Li Rushi.

The imperial capital today is complicated and simple. It is roughly divided into three groups, civil officials, eunuchs, and royal family. Among them, the civil officials are headed by the newly appointed cabinet chief Zhao Lianggeng and the cabinet deputy Mei Shenglin, the eunuchs are headed by the chief seal of the Silijian Yang Lu and the chief pen of the Silijian Liu Yi, and the royal family is headed by the King of Jin and the King of Yan.

These three forces fought but did not break, like the Three Kingdoms. The eunuchs' power is attached to the imperial power, that is, the current Queen Mother Xie Zhi, and the Queen Mother is also the most noble person in the royal family. Because of this, the eunuchs and the royal family actually formed an alliance, especially when there are foreign enemies. However, there are also differences between the two sides, that is, Emperor Tianbao. In any case, Xie Zhi was a person of a different surname, not Xu. In order to prevent the recurrence of the incident in which the female emperor seized the throne from her son, the clan advocated that the emperor should rule the country himself, which again involved the civil officials.

Behind the civil officials stood the Confucian school. The Confucian school emphasized the heaven, earth, monarch, parents and teachers. The monarch was the father and ruler of the people of the world. The monarch was the leader of the ministers, the father was the leader of the sons, and the husband was the leader of the wife. The Confucian school naturally did not allow the queen mother to be regent, which would disrupt the social order. They repeatedly asked the queen mother Xie Zhi to return the power to Emperor Tianbao. As it was a matter of power, Xie Zhi naturally refused. However, with the support of the Taoist school in Liaodong, Xie Zhi could not do without the support of the Confucian school. The Confucian school also did not want to force Xie Zhi too much, in case Xie Zhi simply turned to the Taoist school.

So the situation between the three families often changed. Sometimes the queen mother joined the clan to counter the civil officials, and sometimes the civil officials and the clan forced the queen mother to return the power to Emperor Tianbao. Sometimes the queen mother and the civil officials joined forces to suppress the clan. However, when facing Liaodong, the three families were able to stand together quickly and oppose Liaodong. But this opposition was not firm. Imagine that one day, Liaodong really entered the pass. I think there would be very few people willing to die for their country. Most people would choose to save their lives, either escape or surrender.

After Shangguan Wan roughly understood the current situation in the Imperial Capital, she prepared to enter the city. Her trip to the Imperial Capital this time was a heavy responsibility. She had to meet at least four people. Li Rushi was only the first one, and there were Xu Shisan, Murong Hua, and Master Yuying.