Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 59 Going through the back door

After waiting for a few days, Hong Chengchou finally came back, and Xu Yilong took Lin Hai to the Haidao Yamen to ask for an audience.

In ancient government offices, there were front halls and back bedrooms. The front yard was the office space, and the back yard was the residence of the officials. Naturally, things like donating officials went straight to the back house, which is commonly known as the back door.

Xu Yilong stuffed a door bag into the concierge, handed the greeting card in, and then waited outside the door with Lin Hai.

After waiting for a long time, Hong Chengchou's close aide Xie Sixin came out to greet him.Xu Yilong took the opportunity to ask: "Old Master, does Hong Daozun know Wansheng's purpose?"

In fact, Xie Sixin is not very old, but people in the Ming Dynasty respected the elderly, and people with high positions or high moral prestige were often given the title "Lao" or "Weng".So much so that there is a proverb at that time: "Officials, regardless of their superiority or inferiority, are all called an old man. No matter how big or small a person is, they are all called an old man."

For example, the most respectful title for a Beijing official is Mr. Lao, and the most respectful title for a local official is Lao Gongzu. Regardless of whether he is a Beijing official or a foreign official, he can be called Lao Weng.In the previous generation, the word "adult" in the general title seemed too light, which often made the person being addressed unhappy.

This Xie Sixin was only about 40 years old and was from Xin'an County, Huizhou. In his early years, he worked as a court servant in a pawnshop in Quanzhou. At that time, Hong Chengchou was still a poor scholar in Quanzhou Prefecture and often relied on pawnbroking to support his career.Xie Sixin's insightful eyes determined that this child was not an object in the pool after all, and often provided him with some conveniences.

Later, when Hong Chengchou became a Jinshi official and became an official in the court, he summoned Xie Sixin into the palace. His pawnshop also served as a debt collector and he knew the officialdom well. Now he has become Hong Chengchou's number one confidant. He is responsible for communicating with Xu Yilong on weekdays.However, he didn't dare to specialize in donating officials. He had to wait for Hong Chengchou to come back and make up his mind.

"I know, Xie has just reported it." Xie Sixin said, turning to Lin Haida, "Is this the shopkeeper Lin?"

The last time Xu Yilong came to see him, Xie Sixin heard that Lin Hai was a Haojing maritime merchant, so he asked him to remember to bring Lin Hai next time, saying that Hong Chengchou would probably want to meet him.So this time Xu Yilong prepared two greeting cards, one for himself and one for Lin Hai.

"I'm Lin Hai, I've met the old master." Lin Hai bent down to give Gong'er a kiss, but he still didn't straighten up.

"Shopkeeper Lin, please get up quickly. Hong Daozun invites you in." Xie Sixin stepped forward to help him, but felt his hand heavy. He knew it must be silver, so he put it into his wide sleeves with ease.

Lin Hai straightened up and heard Xie Sixin smile and say: "Shopkeeper Lin is too polite. We will deal with him more often in the future, so there is no need to be so polite."

Lin Hai knew that these words implied Hong Chengchou's attitude towards donating an official position, and a stone had already fallen to the ground in his heart.He followed Xie Sixin into the back house and came to a study room. He saw a person sitting on the official hat chair behind the desk. He thought to himself that this was the traitor Hong Chengchou.

Without having time to take a closer look, Lin Hai quickly came to the desk with small steps. In front of the future traitor, he knelt down with a plop and said loudly: "Lin Hai, a common man, come and see me."

Then, he knocked his head to the ground, cursing this evil old society in his heart. The people I kneel on are all dead people from 400 years ago, and I just treat them as visiting their graves.

Xu Yilong had a great reputation, but he just bent down and bowed his head, saying loudly: "Xu Yilong was born late, and I paid my respects to my husband."

"We meet in the back house, there is no need to be formal, please take a seat, please." A powerful voice came. Lin Hai quickly thanked him and stood up. While looking for a chair to sit down, he glanced at Hong Chengchou furtively.

This was the first time he had seen such a famous historical figure since he came to this time and space, and he couldn't help but take a closer look.I saw that this traitor was wearing a uniform. He looked to be no more than thirty years old. He had thin lips, sharp eyes, and a hooked nose that was as protruding as a hump. From his appearance, he looked like a sinister and fierce character.No wonder this person later arrived in northern Shaanxi. Under the pressure of Yang He, the governor of the three sides, he refused to implement the soft policy of his immediate superiors, insisted on exterminating the peasant army to the end, and massacred the prisoners indiscriminately, leaving them behind in a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood. Enough political capital.

Lin Hai was a little distracted when he saw the traitor at first. It wasn't until Xu Yilong coughed that he realized that it was really rude for a commoner to stare at the Fourth Grade Supervisor like this.

He quickly gathered his thoughts, followed Xu Yilong's example and lowered his eyebrows, moved most of his buttocks out of the chair, and sat almost in a stance, as a sign of respect to the future superior officer.

Hong Chengchou just thought that Lin Hai was nervous when meeting an official for the first time, and couldn't help but secretly laugh. However, he quite enjoyed the feeling of being awed, so he deliberately said with a straight face: "I heard that shopkeeper Lin is doing business in Taixi. He just came back recently." To my hometown?”

"Returning to my ancestors, my ancestor was a soldier in Zhoushan. He went to the West with the eunuch Sanbao and unfortunately lived overseas. He was taught by his father and ancestors since he was a child, and he also read a few books. He has been caring about his hometown since he was a child. My former father passed away, and after my filial piety period expired, I sold my property and moved to Haojing, and recently returned to Zhejiang."

Considering the inextricable connection between the Shanyin Wu family and Zhejiang officialdom, Lin Hai did not dare to be careful and continued his usual rhetoric.

Hong Chengchou asked again: "Has shopkeeper Lin ever been to the countries of Folangji and Helan in Western Thailand?"

Lin Hai said without thinking: "Back to my ancestors, I have been to Franji, but I have never been to the Netherlands. When I was in Haojing, I became sworn brother. He was a maritime merchant from Pingdo in the Japanese country. His father and shopkeeper Xu from Quanzhou We are sworn brothers, and last year we were sent by Lord Nan Du of Fujian to retreat from the Red Barbarians in Penghu."

Hong Chengchou nodded after hearing this. Li Dan was appointed by Nan Juyi, the governor of Fujian, to persuade the Hongyi to retreat to Penghu. He knew this.

The reason why he wanted to meet Lin Hai was mainly to test whether Lin Hai and Hongyi were related. After all, the red-haired ghost had caused a stir in the coastal areas of Fujian in the past few years, and it would be troublesome if he was lured to Zhejiang.As for Japanese pirates and so on, to be honest, he, Mr. Hong, didn't take them seriously.

Hong Chengchou was still conceited about this. For ordinary officials, if they knew Xu Xinsu's relationship with the Japanese country, they would probably not dare to let him engage in smuggling in their own territory.

He saw that Lin Hai answered calmly, and that this person went to Haojing first instead of Fujian after returning to China. Fo Langji and Helan were enemies, so he was already convinced.

Tapping his knuckles on the table, Hong Chengchou continued: "I have heard that Helan people have strong ships and powerful guns, and have long wanted to know the details of that country. Although shopkeeper Lin has never been to Helan, he has been doing business in Western Europe for a long time, and he has a lot of knowledge about Helan. Does the country understand?"

Lin Haidao: "Going back to my ancestors, the land of Western Europe is quite large. The country where the villain is located is called the United States. There are still three thousand miles of sea routes with France, the Netherlands and other countries. The Netherlands is a country of pirates, and ordinary merchants will never do it. Those who dare to go, even that little Frankie has only been there a few times, so he doesn’t know much about the Netherlands.”

"It's a pity." Naturally, Hong Chengchou had never heard of the United States and was too lazy to test it further. He turned to Xie Sixin and said, "I heard that Shopkeeper Lin returned to his hometown this time. Do you want to go back to his place of origin?"

Xie Sixin bowed slightly and replied: "What Dong Weng said is true. Shopkeeper Lin's ancestral tomb is still in Zhoushan, so he wants to return to his place of origin."

Hong Chengchou nodded and said: "Shopkeeper Lin is filial, which is human nature. Moreover, the imperial court has its own laws. Since shopkeeper Lin's ancestors were military households in Zhoushan, now that he has returned to his hometown, he should be registered in the military yellow roll. Mr. Xie, please look back on this matter. Go to Dinghaiwei and ask Qian Shu, who is in charge of the Qing army, to take care of it."

(End of this chapter)