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Chapter 816 Secret Work 2
"Hehehe, I'm Wang Er, doing a little business, a little business... bothering you, bothering you..."

At the same time as the Jinyiwei arrived, the astronaut also came back, followed by a man in silk and satin and a melon-shaped hat. After getting in the car, he saw Tan Mingming and immediately smiled and greeted him with a bow.

"Pa...Gee..." As soon as the door closed, the coachman swung the whip with a crisp sound, turned the carriage around and drove towards Chaoyang Gate.

"Take this gentleman to Qipan Street first!" The astronaut winked at Tan Mingming and knocked on the carriage to give instructions to the driver.

To outsiders, a small accident happening in front of the tram terminal was not very surprising. Since the establishment of this terminal, a large number of people and goods have been delivered every day at noon, and there is an endless stream of horse-drawn carriages coming to the station. The horses would be stimulated by various factors and would inevitably be frightened.

But in fact, this was not an accident, but a play performed by the astronauts, Tan Mingming and the drivers of the two carriages. It was intended to cause chaos, attract the attention of the Jinyiwei, and take the man in the leather hat away naturally.

When they received the warning, the astronauts and Tan Mingming were not prepared in advance and could not distinguish who was the stalker among the many passengers and vendors. Naturally, they could not use their power to surround the place and check one by one, which would be equivalent to exposing the identity of the man in the leather hat.

However, these two spy chiefs still have the necessary skills to do their job. With a simple accident, they can pick up the person without attracting attention. No matter where the person is sent, it is under the control of the General Staff and the Statistics Department, which makes the operation much easier.

As for the businessman brought back by the astronauts, he was just a passerby. When the two carriages arrived at the station gate, no one picked them up or sent them off. They caused a horse-scaring accident and left. It was inevitable that someone with ulterior motives would notice the mistake.

So he randomly found a passenger at the station entrance, chatted with him for a few words, and after asking him his destination, he insisted that they were going the same way, and enthusiastically offered to give him a ride for free. Of course, being able to find someone who likes to take advantage of others in a short period of time with just your eyes is also a test of basic skills.

"Thirty-eight, this place is absolutely safe. Tell me, why did you suddenly return, and why did you raise the alarm in public?"

After a walk around Qipan Street, the carriage quickly entered the back door of Dongcheng Bingmasi, and then we easily met the man in the leather hat in a separate room.

At this time, only Tan Mingming was asking questions. Although the astronauts were responsible for intelligence work in the General Staff, the Statistics Department was not entirely under the control of the General Staff. Some work was directly ordered by the emperor, so they could not listen casually without permission.

"It's a long story. I arrived in Ningbo on a sailing ship carrying goods, and then went north along the canal under the pretext of looking for the source of goods. There were two people around me who might be from the Yijinfu of Korea, and they were keeping a close eye on me, so I had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure. Director Tan, I need to see His Majesty as soon as possible. There is an emergency to report!"

The fur hat had been taken off, revealing a young but old-fashioned face. If you look closely, you will find that this person looks a little different from the Han Chinese, and more like a Korean.

Jin Gui is back. Five years have passed since he went to Seoul with Joseon's Minister of Rites under the pseudonym Wang Gui in the 1615th year of Jingyang (). He has never returned to Ming during this period, but he suddenly showed up today, and the first thing he did was to present his case to the emperor.

"I'll find you a Jinyiwei uniform, and follow the patrol team out the side door... Did something big happen in North Korea? Or do you think your identity has been exposed?" Tan Mingming heard Jin Gui's request, and without hesitation, he turned around and went out to make arrangements. But when he reached the door, he couldn't suppress his inner guess and couldn't help asking.

"...Well, my identity is safe for now. They just want to find out my specific background. Big things may happen, but it depends on the will of His Majesty." Jin Gui had already started to take off his clothes. He was stunned when he heard it, and nodded as a positive answer, but still did not reveal any details.

In the main hall of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, two copper furnaces more than half a person's height were heated by honeycomb briquettes pressed by high-quality coal, emitting bursts of hot air, which warmed up the already small room. Even if it was cold and snowy outside, the emperor could still meet with ministers in a single layer of clothes.

But the copper stove was not only used for heating. The emperor also liked to put corn, sweet potatoes and sliced ​​steamed buns on it and roast them until they were browned and then eat them with his hands. A copper pot filled with cocoa tea was also placed on it, which was probably the emperor's breakfast, lunch or even dinner.

Ever since the daughter of Nguyen of Annan entered the palace and was conferred the title of noble lady, the emperor began to appear less and less in the Cining Palace, always staying in the courtyard of the Yangxin Palace on the pretext of having state affairs to deal with.

In fact, he was not that busy. The emperor would often lean on the sofa and stare at the ceiling in a daze. When he had time, he would go fishing by the lake. It was obvious that he was intentionally avoiding someone in the harem.

Who could make the emperor avoid her intentionally? Wang Chengen knew it very well. It was Concubine Ruan. So what was she capable of scaring the emperor? Two words: age. The emperor said it himself, she was too young to be touched! Let the queen teach her for two years first, and let her body grow.

Indeed, Lady Ruan looked a little small, not only in age, but also in body. But Wang Chengen thought that was not the point, the point was that they did not arouse the emperor's interest.

On the other hand, when Oyani, the general manager of the Sun and Moon Bank, entered the palace, the emperor's eyes would flash with a strange light, especially when they were swimming together, everything from his eyes to his body was very different.

From this point of view, there was definitely nothing wrong with the emperor's health, but Wang Chengen couldn't understand why it was only a glance and a thought, and had never been put into practice.

Even if he didn't want to cause a stir in the court, he could still find a Western woman who was more satisfactory than Oyani through the Portuguese and the Dutch. As the emperor of the Ming Empire, it was easy to do this.

Even if the emperor was embarrassed to come in person, Yuan Keli and Yuan Yingtai would definitely be willing to share the country's worries. Although they were not summoned to the palace during this period, they did not forget to find ways to ask the eunuchs about the emperor's daily life. The intention was obvious, they were all concerned about the stomachs of the concubines in the harem.

But today the emperor suddenly went against his usual practice and summoned all the military ministers. The instigator was the man sitting in the corner. He entered the palace early in the morning, muttered for a long time, and wrote and drew on paper for a long time.

At this time, the two pieces of paper were hanging next to the large map. There were many names and positions on them, even including the king and queen, but they did not look like official positions in the Ming Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)