The Reborn Duke of Ming Dynasty

"Zhang Fan has something serious to discuss with his father-in-law," Zhang Fan said solemnly, looking at Liu Shan.

"Our family knows that today is Mrs. Zhang's wedding day. There is a beautiful woman waiting in the room, but she came to bring our father-in-law to share the same room. Naturally, there is something to talk about. , " Liu Shan said as a matter of course, he didn't care at all to make fun of his special body, of course, this is only what he can say about himself, if it is someone else, even if the other party is also a eunuch, then he will definitely not be happy.

Listening to his words, Zhang Fan also felt a little interesting. It seems that the trick of asking his uncle Zhang Yufang to give alms today, and then telling Liu Shan that he did it to earn fame is very useful. Now the relationship between Liu Shan and himself can be regarded as It’s much closer than before, no, just now he was joking about his identity like that, that’s a good example, but to be honest, Zhang Fan still felt a little disgusted after hearing what Liu Shan said just now, especially When the words "together in the same room" were uttered, Zhang Fan felt that he almost couldn't help but spit them out.

"Eunuch Liu, let's not gossip, let's talk about the business, and the business is the most important thing," Zhang Fan said, "Before, Eunuch Liu promised me that even if I don't need to arrest the person behind the case this time, I can complete it." Your Majesty's order, I have to ask Eunuch Liu whether this matter has been settled."

"Since Mr. Zhang asked this question, then our family will tell the truth. After all, our family is now standing with you, Mr. Zhang. The so-called prosperity and mutual loss, our family will never use those good-sounding nonsense. Let's deal with the adults, after all, this matter is directly related to our family's worth and life." Although Liu Shan said it seriously, his tone was leisurely, and there was no taste of life and death at all. "This matter There is progress, but it is not fast. Mr. Zhang must know that our family is persuading these dozen people to surrender in the capital, or even die. If we can't explain to them, in case these guys can't stand the punishment No matter what is recruited, no matter it is for our family or Mr. Zhang, it will not be of any benefit, "

"Hmph, I understand this truth." Zhang Fan expressed some dissatisfaction slightly, but he didn't overdo it. "But Eunuch Liu has to work harder. This matter is of great importance. I still can't figure out those people, but don't blame me, Zhang Fan, for being cruel and ruthless. After all, this matter is also related to His Majesty's trust in me. Although I, Zhang Fan, like yellow and white things very much, but compared to Your Majesty These things are just bullshit and worthless things, I can still see clearly which is more important," Zhang Fan said as if there was no room for it at all, as if he was not afraid of his own What kind of overreaction would arouse Liu Shan's words.

Sure enough, when Liu Shan heard what Zhang Fan said, instead of showing any worried expression, he smiled again. Zhang Fan can say that, which means that he really thought about cooperating with Liu Shan, and With all kinds of possibilities, if Zhang Fan just agreed to Liu Shan's conditions without asking anything, it would be a strange thing, and Liu Shan would be vigilant because of this. After all, this cooperation should be regarded as Liu Shan's first approach. Zhang Fan's, and throwing out all kinds of bait to lure Zhang Fan. Speaking of which, Liu Shan took a great risk in doing so, and his various views on Zhang Fan were just his own guesses. There was no real evidence, but the situation at that time had reached the point of urgency. He threw out a request to Zhang Fan. Either Liu Shan would be arrested by Zhang Fan on the spot and escorted back to Beijing for questioning; or Zhang Fan accepted his request. Then he can never be interfered by the court. Even if something happens in the future, Zhang Fan will cover him. This seems fair. One will die immediately, but the other can live happily. It's just a [-]-[-] split, Liu Shan really can't guarantee what Zhang Fan thinks.

But there is another possibility, that is, Liu Shan didn't say anything, and since he concealed the secrets of his group so well, Zhang Fan probably wouldn't be able to find out anything, but by then he A few people will inevitably be arrested and go back to be scapegoated. There are more than [-]% officials in the three places of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian who are involved with Liu Shan again. The people in [-]% of the people, then when the time comes, the Beijing-China Joint Trial, above the criminal law, their names will definitely be confessed, and by that time, Liu Shan will have no way of life. As for the idea of ​​​​escaping, Liu Shan even thought about it. It never occurred to him that although he had never worked in the East Factory, as a eunuch, how could he not have heard of the names of the East Factory and Jinyiwei, especially the Jinyiwei under Zhang Fan.

The Ming Dynasty has a history of nearly 200 years since the founding of the country. Since the establishment of the Jinyiwei, there is no one who can escape their pursuit. There is no one else in the world when there is a Jianwen Emperor, and Liu Shan will never be stupid. To compare with a person who was an emperor, even if Emperor Jianwen was cowardly and courageous, at least there were a large group of people around him to help him, and Liu Shan himself, apart from money, those who listened to him on weekdays It's just because they have something to talk about. If it really comes to that time, they probably won't be able to take care of themselves, and they won't have time to care about Liu Shan's life and death.

So Liu Shan has no other choice but to ask for Zhang Fan's cooperation, and judging from the current situation, Liu Shan feels that he is successful, but even so, he still can't be completely at ease, just like Zhang Fan As just said, he can go back on his word at any time and arrest Liu Shan, so Liu Shan has to test him carefully to prevent any changes. Performance is fine.

Of course, Liu Shan still won't show his old background right now, especially those account books that are related to his life, which are his amulets. If there is any change at that time, as long as Zhang Fan can't find For these things, he may not necessarily die. After all, he knows Long Qing's extravagant lifestyle. As long as he has not found the money, then Liu Shan will not be in danger of his life. It is much better to lose his life. For Liu Shan, he felt that he had already suffered the cruelest punishment in the world.

"Master Zhang, please rest assured," Liu Shan said again, but his attitude was even better, "Just like what our family said just now, this matter is related to our family's wealth and life. I won’t make jokes about it, and, as Master Zhang said, our family is now caught in Master Zhang’s fishing net. If Master Zhang has any dissatisfaction, even if our family has a knife, our family’s There is nowhere to hide, "

"Okay, Eunuch Liu is really straightforward," Zhang Fan also said happily, "I like to make friends with people like Eunuch Liu, and tell the good and the bad, so that we can convince people with reasoning, and don't resort to deception. , that would be a hypocrite, I would rather be a villain than a hypocrite,"

"It's good to say 'I'd rather be a real villain than a hypocrite'," Liu Shan said loudly, raising the teapot to fill Zhang Fan and himself with tea, raising the tea bowl and saying to Zhang Fan, "Our family uses tea instead of wine. Let’s offer a cup to Mr. Zhang as a token of respect.”

"Okay," Zhang Fan also called out, and raised the tea bowl in front of him with both hands to signal to Liu Shan, then raised his head and drank it.

The two looked at the empty teacup in each other's hands and smiled at each other, but they didn't know how much hypocrisy was contained in this smile.

"Now that we've finished talking about the major issues, can Eunuch Liu talk to Zhang Fan about the prize," Zhang Fan said, "The things sent by Eunuch Liu must be of great value, but they may also be accumulated by Eunuch Liu. , I want to give Zhang Fan a good start, Zhang Fan wants to know how much I can get every year in the future, "

After listening to Zhang Fan's words, Liu Shan thought about it in his heart, and felt that it would be okay to tell Zhang Fan about it, and then he said: "Master Zhang misunderstood, our family was appointed as the guard of Yangzhou the year before last, and the year before last Since our family is not very familiar with the operation of this, the following people have swallowed a lot of money in vain, and we have to spend some money to appease people's hearts, saying that the newly appointed person in our family has no selfish intentions. There is not much left.

"And last year, our family was familiar with all the things in it, including some of the tricks. Mr. Zhang didn't know it. This group of people are greedy. Even though our family has their handles, they still rush in." Our family played tricks, so the amount last year was very generous. The amount handed over to the court was more than 200 million taels, and what we collected here was not much different from this amount. Make it impossible for those merchants to get off the goods on the ship. At that time, they will have to pay taxes as usual, but their goods may be confiscated. In this way, they will be working in vain for half a year at sea, and they will have to pay a large sum of money. Tax money, so most of them are willing to spend money to eliminate disasters, and even if they have to pay twice the tax money, it’s not a big deal to them, and they are all willing to pay, "

Zhang Fan also gasped in his heart when he heard that, this group of people actually collected twice as much tax money from the merchants, which is really nothing to those merchants, but to those officials, it is not so generous You know, officials of the Ming Dynasty, even those of Xiang Zhang Juzheng's level, would only earn more than 100 taels of silver each year if they didn't receive extra rewards from the emperor.

Seeing the somewhat surprised expression on Zhang Fan's face, Liu Shan was very proud, and continued: "The guys under our family have made a total of it. In the future, Mr. Zhang will be the most credited, and he should share more. Every year, out of the money, Twenty percent is for Mr. Zhang." After saying this, Liu Shan smiled and looked at Zhang Fan who was even more surprised. He was very satisfied with Zhang Fan's expression now.