Smuggling Daming

Since Zhou Zhong decided to give up the post of governor and go to the capital, and it was proposed by Zhengde, Zhou Zhong took his whole family to the capital when he left. After all, after he went to the capital this time, he might not He will come back again, so his family will naturally go to the capital with him. For this reason, Zhou Zhong specially prepared a big boat and several other boats to guard him.

Originally Jinxuan did not agree with Zhou Zhong going to the capital, but when Zhou Zhong explained to her the reason for going to the capital in detail, and he also assured Jinxuan that he would never let his son live in the palace in the future. Let Jinxuan finally agree.

In the spring of the 11th year of Zhengde, Zhou Zhong and his family sailed north. Several large ships set off from the newly built Shanghai Port and headed north.With the development of Daming's maritime trade, the ports along the coast of Daming slowly began to recover. Although there are not as many ports in the north as the ports in the south, and the scale is not as large as that in the south, there are ports in several important places. For example, Tianjin Wei near Beijing opened a new port called Tianjin Port, which has now become one of the few large ports in the north. Zhou Zhong will arrive in Tianjin by boat this time, and then go to the capital.

Zhou Zhong's big ship went all the way north. Speaking of it, this is the third time Zhou Zhong has taken this northward route. The first time was the first time he went to the capital to meet Zhengde, and the second time was to go to Weihaiwei to secretly manipulate North Korea. Compared with the previous two times, this third voyage made Zhou Zhong find that the entire route was busier than before. There was an endless flow of merchant ships along the way, and each ship had a very deep draft. the goods.

When passing Weihaiwei on the way, Zhou Zhong ordered the fleet to stay there for two days. Now Weihaiwei is no longer the guardhouse that sneaked through the sea ban before, but has developed into one of the largest ports in the north. There is also a very famous special product, that is the sea intestine powder discovered by Zhou Zhong. This kind of sea intestine powder that can make food delicious is now monopolized by Zhou Zhong and Heng Wang Zhu Youzhen. promotion of.Not affected by each other, the sea intestine powder alone has brought them tens of thousands of taels of income in the past few years.

For Zhou Zhong, the income of sea intestine powder is not a big deal, after all, it is only the annual income of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce.It is not comparable to a small sea intestine powder, not to mention that Zhou Zhong has more businesses, such as soap, shipyards, etc., but in comparison, His Majesty King Heng, who is Zhou Zhong's uncle, wants to It's much shabby, at least for him, sea intestine powder has become one of the most important financial revenues of Heng Wangfu. He even wrote a letter to Zhengde two years ago, moving the palace from Jinan to Weihai, personally guarding the most important thing of sea intestine powder. important source of income.

Zhou Zhong and Heng Wang are business partners.And in terms of family relationship, King Heng is still his uncle. Although King Heng himself didn't know it, Zhou Zhong did, so he had to go to the mansion to pay a visit no matter what.As a result, the entertainment-loving King Heng also welcomed Zhou Zhong very much, and asked him to inquire about the scenery in Nanyang, and even said that if the emperor allowed him, he would go to Nanyang for a visit.

After paying a visit to Queen Heng, Zhou Zhong visited Weihai Port again. Speaking of which, this was originally Daming's guard, but because of the advantages of the port.So now it has been promoted to Weihai, and the government is in Weihai, but because they are used to it, most people like to call it Weihaiwei.

A few days later, Zhou Zhong's fleet left Weihai and entered the Bohai Sea.Soon came to Tianjin Port, which, like Weihaiwei, also promoted the guard to a mansion, and Tianjin was no longer the dilapidated appearance before, and the entire port was extremely prosperous.In particular, merchant ships from the south and other places come and go frequently. The goods on these merchant ships are all transported to the capital. In the past, they needed to go by land, which was very inconvenient. Now they go directly to Tianjin by sea, and then transfer from Tianjin to Beijing.

It is not the first time for Zhou Zhong to come to the city of Tianjin. When he left the capital last time, the convoy passed by Tianjin Wei. However, Tianjin had not established a port at that time, and because Tianjin was too close to the capital, the sea ban here was also limited. It was very strict, and it was impossible to take a boat from here. In the end, Zhou Zhong had to go around half of Shandong and take a sea boat from Weihaiwei again.

After he landed in Tianjin, the people sent by Zhengde to escort him quickly contacted the local officials, and within a day he prepared the chariots and horses, and spent another day or two unloading the contents of the ship into the chariots. Only then did Zhou Zhong set off again, and after less than two days, he finally arrived in Beijing again.

Zhou Zhong's visit to Beijing was not publicized too much. Except for the people in Songjiang and King Heng whom he visited in Weihaiwei, the others didn't even know that Zhou Zhong left his governor's mansion and came to the capital.However, Zhengde has already made preparations, even Zhou Zhong's mansion has been prepared. It is the Nine Thousand Years Mansion built by Liu Jin in the palace. , and occupies a huge area, and the carved beams and painted buildings in the mansion are so beautiful that there is no other mansion in the capital that can be compared with it. The mansion was renovated and given to Zhou Zhong. In the future when his identity is revealed, this will be Zhou Zhong's mansion.

After Zhou Zhong's family entered Beijing, they immediately lived in this Nine Thousand Years Mansion, but there is no plaque on the gate of the mansion. Some well-informed people know that there are people living in this mansion, but they don't know exactly who lives in it. Who is it, and even if they inquire hard, they can't find the slightest news.

After Zhou Zhong settled his family in the mansion, he immediately brought Jinxuan and his children into the palace. The last time Empress Dowager Zhang only saw a granddaughter like Xia Xia, who hadn't seen her for several years, Zhou Zhong gave him two big fats. Grandson, this made Empress Dowager Zhang, who wanted to hold her grandson wholeheartedly, also excited, so as soon as Zhou Zhong entered the capital, he saw the confidants sent by Empress Dowager Zhang, asking them to enter the palace quickly, and she wanted to hug her grandson with her own hands.

Regarding the request of his biological mother, Zhou Zhong will naturally not refuse. Although he has no relationship with Queen Mother Zhang, he can still understand the other party's feelings for an old man who has lost his children several times. He can't get close to Queen Mother Zhang in his heart, but as long as it can make Queen Mother Zhang happy, he is also very willing to do something.

Zhou Zhong accompanied his wife and children into the palace. Although he had also entered the palace last time when he came to the capital, he only went to the Leopard Room where Zhengde lived, and did not enter the real palace. However, it was not the first time he came to the palace. , in later generations, he once visited the Forbidden City, but the Forbidden City was rebuilt by the Qing Dynasty at that time, and it was quite different from the Ming Palace. Can't overlap.

In the mid-Ming Dynasty, the empress dowagers of the Qing Dynasty generally lived in the Cining Palace, but the Cining Palace was built by the later Emperor Jiajing. There is no such palace in the imperial palace now. The palace where the Empress Dowager Zhang lives is called Renshou Palace. Behind the Kunning Palace where the queen lives, although the entire palace is not as grand as the Kunning Palace, it is also very luxurious.

When Zhou Zhong brought his family to the Palace of Compassion and Ning, he saw both Empress Dowager Zhang and Zhengde here. Besides, beside Empress Dowager Zhang, there was a young woman with a beautiful appearance but a very serious expression. There is a seat in front of Empress Dowager Zhang, so of course there is only Zhengde's Empress Xia. I just heard that Zhengde has a bad relationship with this Empress Xia. This is just to see that Zhengde would rather live in the Leopard Room than stay You can guess one or two in the palace.

Seeing her granddaughter and grandson entering the hall, Empress Dowager Zhang hurriedly greeted her, holding Xia Xia and the two little sweethearts and screaming non-stop. Speaking of which, Empress Dowager Zhang was really pitiful. In this deep palace, Zhengde couldn't give him a few grandchildren, and he didn't even want to live in the palace. As a result, Queen Mother Zhang lived in this cold palace every day, and she couldn't even find anyone to talk to. Now that I see my grandchildren, I am naturally very close.

When Zhengde saw his mother's appearance, he was bitter and relieved. Although he usually messed around and seemed to have a bad relationship with Queen Mother Zhang, she was his biological mother after all, and he knew that his mother usually lived very lonely. , I really want to have a grandchild by my side, but he has no way to meet his mother's request. This is why he dare not see Queen Mother Zhang at ordinary times, because he always feels very guilty when facing his mother. Now With my nieces and nephews, my mother's life will be much easier in the future.

In contrast, Empress Xia behind Empress Dowager Zhang was full of displeasure. After all, she was the master of the harem. Originally, her child with Zhengde should be Empress Dowager Zhang's darling, but because Zhengde was barren, the entire palace Not only did she have no children, but the other concubines also had no children, and now she was robbed of the limelight by the emperor brother who came out of nowhere, and even the other party's child might inherit the throne of Ming Dynasty in the future, which made Empress Xia feel very sad. feel bad.

After finally waiting for Queen Mother Zhang to be intimate with the three children, Zhou Zhong and Jinxuan stepped forward to salute Queen Mother Zhang and Zhengde and his wife. Zhengde also valued this capable younger brother very much, so he personally helped Zhou Zhong Get up, and then Xia Xia and her two younger brothers also stepped forward to salute.

After the ceremony was over, Empress Dowager Zhang asked Zhou Zhong about their itinerary, and Zhou Zhong answered them one by one. Afterwards, Jinxuan and the three children accompanied Empress Zhang to chat, while Zhou Zhong Being pulled aside by Zheng Zheng, he began to ask him about the situation in Nanyang area. Although Zhou Zhong often wrote memorials to him, after all, he didn't listen to Zhou Zhong's personal account in detail.