King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 429 Liu Xiang Wulian
Jia Zhen died, just before New Year's Eve.

Jia Rong and Youshi stood in front of Jia Zhen. Although they were crying heartbroken, they were trying to cover up their guilty conscience.

Ever since he was paralyzed after being beaten so hard by Zhu Jingchun and his two men, his health has been getting worse day by day, but he has not reached the point where he has run out of gas.

Today, something scandalous happened, so I became furious and died.

Looking up at the bed, Youshi was so frightened that she collapsed on the ground when she saw Jia Zhen's ferocious face looking directly at her.

"Look, Master, he..."

Seeing that her stepmother was frightened, Jia Rong knew that she had to stay calm, otherwise it might lead to disaster.

"Madam, the master is gone, he's already gone!" Jia Rong stepped forward to support Youshi.

There are other people around at this moment, and Jia Rong can't say some things directly, so she can only emphasize that Jia Zhen is dead and will not get up and point out their bad things.

But because of the guilt in her heart and because she was really frightened, Youshi fainted from crying.

So Jia Rong asked people to help Youshi away, complaining in her heart that women just can't get things done and panic when encountering the smallest things.

However, when he saw his father's ferocious face, he was frightened and his heart tightened, so he had someone bring white silk to cover him.

After waiting for about ten minutes, Jia She Jia Zheng and others rushed over.

Everyone looked solemn, not because of Jia Zhen's death, because he had been regarded as a dead person for a long time, and everyone could accept his sudden death.

However, he died at this time, which was really not the right time.

Just like Jia Zheng, Fang is also dissatisfied with Jia Zhen at this moment. Death on New Year's Eve may bring bad luck to the family. "

Although everyone has different thoughts, they are still arranging what should be done, but now that Youshi has fainted, it falls to Mrs. Xing to arrange the funeral arrangements.

Of course, Wang Xifeng, who was unwilling to remain calm, was not idle either. She followed her mother-in-law to make arrangements inside and outside.

The originally harmonious New Year's Eve was overshadowed by Jia Zhen's death.

Overnight, the red lanterns in Ning Rong's second house were removed and replaced with white lanterns used for funerals. Ning's house had no choice but to set up a mourning hall.

On the first day of the first lunar month of the 12th year of Zhengtong, the Jia family sent personnel to report the funeral to various prefectures.

But there were many sacrificial activities in the court that day, so no one came to pay homage to Jia Zhen. Even Jia She left the house to attend the court ceremony.

Only Jia Zheng asked for leave from his superiors and stayed in the house to receive friends and family friends who might come back. Unfortunately, he waited all day in vain.

As the legitimate son, Zhu Jinghong also went to worship heaven with the emperor. It was not until the afternoon that he returned to the mansion in a sedan chair, and then learned from Baochai that Jia Zhen was dead.

"Ok!"

After responding, Zhu Jinghong pointed to a dish on the table and said, "This dish is cooked well. I ordered someone to go to Shanglin Garden... to cook it for my fourteenth and fifteenth brothers!"

Baochai knew that Jia Zhen's maiming was the work of these two brothers. At this moment, Zhu Jinghong suddenly cared about Zhu Jingchun, and his intention was obvious.

"Do you want to send someone to Jia's house to say hello?" Baochai reminded.

In any case, the Jia family is Yuanchun's natal family, and Zhu Jinghong should also express his gratitude to the Buddha instead of looking at the monk's face.

"You arrange it!"

"it is good!"

The two continued to eat, and suddenly Zhu Jinghong said: "By the way, ask your brother to come tomorrow. I have something to tell him!"

"What order?"

Zhu Jinghong calmly replied: "Didn't I talk about making money the past two days? Of course it was for this matter!"

This made Baochai uneasy. If he went to do business in the Prince's Mansion, he would be laughed out of his mouth, not to mention that his family was not that poor.

"Aren't you kidding?"

Zhu Jinghong replied: "Of course I'm not joking!"

"What business do you plan to do? Tea? Silk? Porcelain? Antiques, calligraphy and painting, or..."

After all, the family is an imperial businessman, and Baochai speaks clearly and eloquently.

"Princess, the important thing is not what to sell, but where to sell to whom!"

Baochai then asked: "Oh...then where do you plan to sell it? And who do you want to sell it to?"

"Sell to the sea, to foreigners!" Zhu Jinghong replied.

It just so happened that among the Xue family's errands, there was trade with foreigners, but the scale was not too large.

At this time, Baochai reminded: "Doing sea trade requires the permission of the imperial court!"

Nowadays, maritime trade is managed by several municipal shipping departments. Without the permission of the imperial court, the shipping department will not allow you to enter the port, and business cannot be done at all.

As for smuggling, the imperial navy may not be good at combat, but it is more than enough to check smuggling ships.

Even if they can avoid the court's inspection, the pirates will not have an easy time, so sea trade is really not that easy.

"It's easy for the imperial court to grant permission. I just need the old man to approve it!" Zhu Jinghong said nonchalantly.

As for convincing the emperor, as long as he wanted to make money, it was not a problem at all.

In Zhu Jinghong's plan, making money from sea trade was secondary. His fundamental purpose was to let the court see that the benefits of sea trade were greater than they imagined, and not a little bit greater.

Today's maritime trade market has a trade volume of 600 to [-] million taels at most, and including smuggling ships, the trade volume is only [-] million taels.

But if the trade volume is 2000 million to 3000 million, or even more... then the situation will be different.

Everyone in the world is interested in profit. As long as the ocean proves to be profitable, then with a little guidance, naval power will develop.

It's just that Zhu Jinghong and Baochai couldn't explain these clearly, so they just stopped there.

Let's talk about the Xue family. When night falls, Xue Pan is in the study, making out with the maid.

Now that he is the head of the household department, he is busy with corresponding matters every day, so he is only free at night these days.

But before he could go straight in, there was a knock on the door outside the study.

"Who... didn't see me busy!" Xue Pan scolded.

"Uncle, someone from the palace...is here, please come over!"

These words were more effective than cold water, making Xue Pan calm down immediately, and all the things in his mind were washed away.

Pushing the girl away from his arms, Xue Pan picked up his pants, tied his belt, and hurried out of the study.

Along the way, he was adjusting his clothes and thinking about how to deal with it. Sweat broke out on his forehead in the cold weather.

When he came to the front living room, he saw an old eunuch drinking tea. Xue Pan smiled and welcomed him in.

"My father-in-law came here at night, it's really hard work!" Xue Pan said with a smile.

"Uncle Xue, you're welcome. There's no hard work for us as slaves. We just want to be able to do the master's errands well, and we'll be satisfied!"

Xue Pan was very polite, and the eunuch who delivered the message was even more polite. After all, the man in front of him was the princess's brother.

"I wonder what important business your father-in-law has here?"

The old eunuch replied: "The princess ordered the servant to send a message, please come to the house at midnight tomorrow. The prince has something to tell you!"

Taking out a silver ingot, Xue Pan put it into the old eunuch's hand and asked with a smile: "But I don't know why?"

"This... old slave doesn't dare to make random guesses!"

Nodding, Xue Pan took another ingot of silver and said with a smile: "Father, please think about it again!"

The old eunuch laughed dryly, and then said: "Old slave, I really don't know. I just heard the princess mentioned sea trade, and I think it has something to do with it!"

"What are the details? I really don't know!"

Xue Pan bowed his hand and thanked him. He knew that the old eunuch was dishonest and had to use money to pry open his mouth.

After the old eunuch left, Aunt Xue ordered someone to invite Xue Pan again, just to ask what the situation was.

Knowing that the summons was from Prince Xiang's Mansion, Aunt Xue warned her son and asked him to deal with it well.

The 12th year of Orthodoxy, the second day of the first lunar month.

The sun was shining brightly today and the weather was quite good. It was very lively outside Prince Xiang's Mansion. There were more than a dozen carriages parked. Judging by their decorations, one could tell that they were dignitaries in the capital.

The owner of the carriage was a high-ranking lady in the capital. They came to pay homage to Princess Baochai. The same situation was happening in Prince Rui's Mansion, and the scale and momentum there were even greater.

At this moment, Liu Xianglian arrived outside Prince Xiang's Mansion.

After tying his horse to a stake on the roadside, Liu Xianglian crossed a row of luxury cars and servants and arrived at the gate of Prince Xiang's Mansion.

Of course he couldn't get in through the main entrance, so he walked to the side entrance on the left, which was also where the palace went in and out daily.

Before he could get close, he was stopped by the guards. Fortunately, he had a note from the palace, so he entered through the side door smoothly.

After entering the palace gate and expressing his intention, a eunuch led the way and took him into the depths of the palace.

After passing through the many courtyard walls, Liu Xianglian was taken outside the Cunxin Hall, but saw another person waiting outside the hall, it was Xue Pan who had arrived in advance.

They didn't know each other, but Xue Pan was very fond of this handsome man, and he couldn't forget Liu Xianglian after just one glance.

"My Excellency, Xue Pan, is the head of the Xue family in Jinling. I am now the head of the Household Department!" After hearing Xue Pan's self-introduction, Liu Xianglian was really surprised. The person in front of her was actually King Xiang's uncle, but she didn't know why she dared to do so. Stand outside.

This person cannot be neglected...

Thinking of this, Liu Xianglian cupped her fists and said, "I'm here, Liu Xianglian!"

As for other news about herself, Liu Xianglian had no intention of revealing it. Firstly, homeless people really had nothing to say, and secondly, he didn't like to talk to others casually.

Of course, the so-called homeless person is a self-effacing person.

Ever since Liu Xianglian rescued Zhu Jinghong during a deadly battle with the White Lotus Cult, his life had turned around.

After observing him for several months, Zhu Jinghong finally determined that he had good character and was fairly upright.

Therefore, after being granted the title, Liu Xianglian was used by Zhu Jinghong, and is now responsible for more than a dozen shops in the palace.

Now that she is a regular student, Liu Xianglian can receive more than 30 taels of monthly salary, which is much better than when she sang in opera.

He got the news yesterday afternoon, asking him to come to the palace to give instructions, but he didn't know anything about it.

"It turns out to be Brother Liu. Seeing how tender-faced he is, how old is he?"

Good guy, Xue Pan really didn't regard himself as an outsider and started asking people about their age directly.

"In one month, we'll be twenty!" Liu Xianglian's tone had turned cold, and she obviously didn't want to say more to Xue Pan.

In fact, Liu Xianglian was not that stingy, and she didn't get angry when others asked more questions. It was mainly Xue Pan's tone and eyes when asking questions that made Liu Xianglian feel offended.

Liu Xianglian had encountered this kind of "sexy" attitude a lot in the past few years. If he hadn't taken Xue Pan's identity into account, he would have greeted her with his fists.

Xue Pan took another step closer, touched Liu Xianglian's shoulder and said, "Then you are a few months older than me, so I have to call you Brother Liu!"

"I'm so ashamed that I can't bear it!"

The two people were chatting outside, but at this moment in Cunxin Palace, Zhu Jinghong was meeting Jia Yun.

Up to now, Jia Yun is definitely his right-hand man, and he has managed the Shanglinyuan Workshop in an orderly manner. The key is that he has produced remarkable research results.

Today, after conducting more experiments on the fire gun and having a more stable control over its performance, Zhu Jinghong finally plans to report it to the emperor.

So now, he wants to learn about the situation from Jia Yun again and ask her to write a memorial for him to forward to the emperor.

That's right, Zhu Jinghong would not write the memorial himself, because it would have too strong a sense of claiming credit. It would be better to let his subordinates take credit.

"In just a few days, you can hand over the booklet and I will help you forward it to the emperor!" Zhu Jinghong sat behind the desk and looked at Jia Yun, who was standing in front of him with a bow.

His words made Jia Yun a little shocked.

If you perform it yourself, wouldn’t the credit fall on you?
This...this is heaven-shaking wealth!
"Your Majesty, you have supported everything in the workshop so that we can achieve today's great results. I am just an errand boy. How dare you..."

"There is no need to say more about this matter. This is both a reward and a spur for you... just do good things in the future and repay the emperor's kindness!" Zhu Jinghong said simply.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Jia Yun knelt on the ground again and thanked Zhu Jinghong for his kindness.

After signaling Jia Yun to stand up, Zhu Jinghong said: "If you have nothing to do, just go back... There is a funeral in Rongguo Mansion, so don't forget the due etiquette!"

"I understand, I will sort it out carefully and write down the situation after I go back!" Jia Yun said with great seriousness. Only the Jia family's funeral was not mentioned.

As a distant branch of the Jia family, Jia Yun has not received much favor from the Jia family, so there is no strong sense of belonging.

Now that he has a great future in front of him, he can't care about Jia Zhen's funeral. Anyway, having him in the house is not too much, and having him without him will not make him feel less.

"I can rest assured that you are doing things, go back!"

"Yes...the villain is leaving!"

Jia Yun exited the hall. Zhu Jinghong took a sip of tea first, then turned to Yu Hai and asked, "Are they all here?"

"We're all here, wait outside the palace!"

"Let them in!"

"Yes!"

Here Jia Yun came out of the main hall and saw Xue Pan and Liu Xianglian.

"Uncle Xue, happy New Year...Why are you here too!" Jia Yun stepped forward to greet him.

Helping Xue Pan settle down in the orthodox ten years was the turning point in Jia Yun's fate. Now he would be more respectful when meeting Xue Pan, not to mention that this was Zhu Jinghong's uncle.

"It turns out to be Brother Yun. I haven't seen you for a while. Come to my house for a drink when you have time!" Xue Pan said cheerfully.

He and Jia Yun are on separate terms. Xue Pan is the elder in the Jia family, and outside they treat each other as brothers.

"I'm just afraid of disturbing Master Xue, so I don't dare to come rashly!"

"You and I, brothers, are heretics when you say these things!"

The two were chatting when they saw a eunuch walking out of the palace and asking Xue Pan and Liu Xianglian to enter.

When these two people entered the palace, Jia Yun left. He also had a strong sense of urgency to complete the errands assigned by Zhu Jinghong.

Besides, when Xue and Pan entered the palace, Zhu Jinghong first asked about the Xue family's business, and then asked about some things about Haimao. During this period, Liu Xianglian also listened attentively.

Liu Xianglian knew very well that there must be a reason why she was asked to listen to Xue Pan's questions at this moment. He didn't dare to be careless about matters related to his future.

In the past, he gave up because he saw no hope. Now that Prince Xiang is willing to support him, how can Liu Xianglian not seize the opportunity? He also has the idea of ​​​​reviving his family.

After Xue Pan finished speaking, Zhu Jinghong mentioned the matter of sea trade and made it clear that Liu Xianglian would be responsible for this matter, and that the Xue family would send some people to assist.

Sea trade, of course, has a high technical content, so Zhu Jinghong would use the Xue family.

The scale will definitely not be too big at the beginning. From one ship to five or ten, everything will have to develop slowly.

When the imperial navy gains momentum and eventually dominates the Pacific Ocean, the maritime trade business will become even better.

After finishing speaking, Zhu Jinghong asked solemnly: "Xianglian, can you handle the errand entrusted to you?"

"Even if I die, I still have to get things done for the prince!"

"Okay!" Zhu Jinghong nodded with satisfaction.

"Xue Pan..."

"I'm here!" Xue Pan replied with his waist raised, looking extremely humble.

He now has the title of head of the household department, so he can call himself a minister.

And his humble movements and expressions also opened the eyes of Liu Xianglian on the side.

If this was not the case, he would really suspect that Xue Pan was not the uncle of King Xiang, but a servant in the palace.

"Did you hear what you said just now?"

"I heard it!" Xue Pan replied carefully.

"You two can talk more after we get down, and we must try our best to cooperate with Xianglian to complete the errands. Don't shirk and prevaricate!"

"Yes!"

"You go down first!"

"Yes!"

Xue Pan wanted to leave for a long time, and he felt uncomfortable staying here for a moment longer.

After Xue Pan left, Liu Xianglian was the only one left in the room.

After staring at Liu Xianglian for a few seconds, Zhu Jinghong finally said, "Xianglian is a bad name. How about I change it for you?"

If you want to change someone's name, you must either be a close relative or the owner.

Of course, Zhu Jinghong is not his elder, so Liu Xianglian’s name needs to be changed here to emphasize the dependence relationship in life.

To put it simply, this is an obedience test, and Liu Xianglian's attitude is required.

After a while of silence, Liu Xianglian finally replied: "Thank you very much, Thirteenth Master, for your kindness. I am very grateful!"

"There is a word 'Lotus' in your name. Lotus and poor pity have the same pronunciation. It is really unlucky, so just remove it!"

After saying this, Zhu Jinghong said calmly: "From now on, your name will be Liu Xiang!"

Liu Xianglian thought that there would be major changes, and he was ready to accept it, but he did not expect that Zhu Jinghong would make such changes, so of course he was willing.

The dignified prince Zhu Jinghong cares about the honor of this unknown person. How can he not be grateful for such a favor?

"Little man Liu Xiang, thank you for your love, Your Majesty!" Liu Xianglian bowed solemnly, and of course he would be called Liu Xiang from now on.

After signaling him to stand up, Zhu Jinghong continued: "From today on, you will live a new life. The previous downfall is a thing of the past. In the future, you must cherish the opportunity and revive the lintel of your Liu family!"

"Your Majesty's teachings, I should remember them carefully!"

"The approval document for going to sea will come out soon, and someone will be sent to notify you then. Be sure to work hard!"

"Even if I risk my life, I will never let Master Thirteen down!" Liu Xiang made a promise and made an oath in his heart.

(End of this chapter)