Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 418 The Secret Meeting
"Nowadays in the Southern Tang Dynasty, it is impossible for a big merchant family like my Liu family to not understand it. Otherwise, you don't know when disaster will strike. Therefore, in this world, there must be money, but there must be an official in the family, otherwise Too much money can only lead to the disaster of killing and exterminating the family. At the beginning of the year, the Zhu family, a great salt merchant, was an example. It has been a wealthy merchant family that has been passed down for hundreds of years. Guan, the family members have all gone to the Jiaofang Division. Oh, speaking of which, the 17-year-old girl of Zhu’s family is really slick, and she is also a talented woman. Now she is very popular in Jiaofang Division! It’s just that the price for one night in the Spring Festival is too expensive. It’s actually 100 taels of silver for one night.”

"Really! When I have collected enough money, I will try it."

The name of the person hosting the banquet and poetry meeting at the Xiangyue Tower tonight is Liu Linxuan, the son of Liu Jinyu, the Minister of the Household Department of the Southern Tang Dynasty, but he was born as a Jinshi, and now works in the Ministry of Officials. Five products.

Although the poetry meeting he held was not as large as Liu Fang's poetry meeting, it still attracted a lot of staff and talents who could not even get official status. After all, the Liu family, dominated by Liu Jinyu, was a scholarly family. The power and influence in the official circles of the Southern Tang Dynasty is not small. There are four officials above the seventh rank alone, not to mention that most of the marriage networks formed with the Liu family through marriages and other methods over the years are mostly people in the official circles.And this was also the main reason why Lou Yanming couldn't use force even though he had some doubts about Liu Jinyu's identity.

This Liu Linxuan is the most talented and the most promising member of the younger generation of the Liu family. He is good at poetry and has extensive contacts.Although the banquet and poetry meeting tonight was just a temporary idea, there were quite a few people who came to the meeting, and most of them were famous and talented scholars.

For example, at the Liu Fang poetry meeting a few days ago, if Ye Chen's "Night Mooring of the Qinhuai River" hadn't appeared, the poem "Evening View of the Qinhuai River" would have won the first place in the poetry meeting that night. Well, I heard what Liu Zongyang said just now, and I also came here today.

At this time, they arrived at Xiangyue Tower, the two got out of the car, looked at the figure in front of them, and happened to see Fu Ruojin who was talking with someone.When walking over, Fu Ruojin also saw them, with an inexplicable look in his eyes, then he just cupped his hands and greeted Liu Zongyang, but deliberately left Ye Chen cold.Ye Chen was too lazy to pay attention to this kind of boredom, looked up at Xiangyue Tower, and nodded in satisfaction.He naturally knew that Xiangyue Tower was a secret stronghold of the Huaxia Weifu Intelligence Department.

Fu Ruojin ignored Ye Chen. Unexpectedly, the latter looked indifferent, which made Fu Ruojin feel even more uncomfortable, but he didn't say anything, but he had already made up his mind that he would make the other party look ugly, and even ruin his reputation.

When the three arrived at the door, there were more people in front of them. At this moment, they heard some movement from behind. The two turned their heads. On the side of the street, someone stopped their car and came towards this side.In front of and behind him, many people have already arched their hands to meet them. Although most of them are literati at this time, they are restrained, but they can still make people feel the heat, and the status of the visitors is not low.Amidst the noisy voices, Ye Chen could only faintly see a young man coming over there.

"Who is that?" Ye Chen said to himself, and then someone behind him said, "Please let me go." Ye Chen, Liu Zongyang, and Fu Ruojin avoided the side, and a young man greeted him from the Xiangyue Tower. It was Liu Zongyang's soft introduction, and Ye Chen knew that the one who came out was Liu Linxuan, the organizer of today's poetry meeting.

Fu Ruojin watched the figure greet him, and then he relaxed his brows in thought, and patted the folding fan in his hand: "Oh! That's Prime Minister Han Xizai Han Wenbo, the son of Han Xianggong, unexpectedly he came today."

After nightfall, there are light spots near and far, and several rivers in the city are like belts, extending in the city one by one.Where the light is brighter, the water belt is also crystal clear, and beside the street where the light is darker, the water light is silent in the darkness, only occasionally there are ships with lights on, slowly passing by in the field of vision.

The inside and outside of Xiangyue Building are brightly lit, and the three buildings hung on the eaves and corridors decorate the street beautifully. On the nearby streets, passers-by can't help but look over here, staring and pointing, and inside the building are A warm atmosphere of toasting.Today in the Xiangyue Building, there are both literary meetings and performances. At this time, the banquet in the building has not stopped, and several popular courtesans in Xiangyue Building have already started to sing lyrics and music on stage.

Xiangyue Building has become one of the top brothels in Jinling in just over half a year, and the girls in the building are naturally very good at performing arts.After a few performances.The atmosphere in the hall has become more and more lively.Some people made poems and passed them on for appreciation.

Today's gathering, although there is also an atmosphere of a literary society, but in general.Because the arrival of Han Wenbo, the prime minister's son, is somewhat different from the Wenhui in the general sense.Liu Linxuan was an official, so it was impossible for the people he interacted with to be just literati, and even a few good military generals also participated in it.over the party.It is impossible to have any rules that are too compulsive, and the host or someone who wants to show off can only try to arouse the interest in writing poems and lyrics.Therefore, at the beginning of the banquet, some people walked around chatting and saying hello with wine glasses, and it was also the time when the situation was lively.

There are many people and lively.Beside a banquet on the second floor, something is happening right now.The scholar with the wine glass waved his hand, turned around and walked forward, and bumped into the man next to him unexpectedly.

"Watch out."

"Hey"

bang, bang
What happened was not serious. The scholar did not knock over the table, but accidentally knocked over the sauce dish next to him on his clothes. He just staggered and stood still, but the sauce on his clothes always There are traces left, which will not be wiped off for a while.The scholar spread his hands in distress, and the person next to him greeted him a few words, and then someone from Xiangyuelou came to check, and then arranged the room for him to clean up under the order of the shopkeeper.

After greeting Liu Zongyang who came not far away, he went up to the third floor under the guidance of the servant.

The first and second floors of Xiangyue Tower are now used as a banquet hall, and the third floor is also lit, but there are no people.The scholar entered the room where the oil lamp had just been lit, changed his clothes, and then looked out of the window. The night wind was blowing, and the lamp was shaking, giving it a slight coolness.

"My lord! Madam is safe and sound in the palace. The fetus in Madam's womb is expected to be born in the next few days. Do you want to give the young master or miss a name and let your subordinates pass it on to Kaifeng?"

If someone is also in this room at this time, they may hear the subtle conversation going on in this space.

"Name! I don't know if Ke'er's baby is a boy or a girl. I've already thought about the name these days. If it's a boy, I'll call it Ye Yu, if it's a girl, I'll call it Ye Chan. Let Ke'er choose the baby name, and you can choose whatever you like. All right, as long as she is happy. As for the words, let His Majesty give them a word!"

"Yes! My lord. The subordinates wrote it down."

"In the past few days, people from the Holy Church should have gone to Suzhou to investigate Chen Qing's details. Yi Sansheng, the big shopkeeper of Jiangnan Commercial Bank in Jinling, has also asked me to meet at his house the day after tomorrow, probably to win me over. I will then He can handle it. However, this Yi Sansheng is actually not the real principal of the Jiangnan Commercial Bank like that old Zheng. At present, only Liu Jinyu is one of the real principals of the Jiangnan Commercial Firm and the Jiangnan Bank. So , Our main target is still Liu Jinyu, I will follow the previous plan and find a way to approach him step by step, and you must cooperate well when the time is right."

"Don't worry, my lord, there are already people from us in Liu Jinyu's house. As long as your lord gives a secret signal, we will cooperate with you."

"Has there been any changes in Jiangnan Commercial Bank and Jiangnan Bank recently?"

"This subordinate is about to report to your lord. According to the secret report from our spies in the Jiangnan Commercial Bank and the Jiangnan Bank, these days, both the Jiangnan Commercial Bank and the Jiangnan Bank are mobilizing and raising cash on a large scale. But what is the purpose? The ordinary shopkeepers don’t even know about it, and our people are trying to figure it out.”

"Oh! Raise cash, how much cash?"

"It adds up to more than 200 million taels."

"They must have made a big move in raising so much cash. Take the time to find out. In addition, send a message to Wuyue Bank and Taiping Bank to ask them to also pay attention to inquire about various unusual things in the business world and take precautions."

"Yes! Your lord."

Ye Chen and Hu Sanguang, deputy envoy of the Huaxia Weifu Intelligence Department, were talking secretly here at this time.This meeting was not a previous plan, but just now when Ye Chen was on his way to Xiangyue Tower, he saw someone on the boat making a gesture, and temporarily knew that Hu Sanguang had something important to report in Xiangyue Tower.In other words, this was Hu Sanguang's plan based on Ye Chen's whereabouts.

After talking with Hu Sanguang about this, Ye Chen went downstairs, the hall was still lively, but he could hear "Qinhuai Night Mooring" on the stage, but it was Bi Qiaoer, the oiran of Yuexiang Tower, who was singing: "See you on the terrace!" In the moon, the lights are on the double bridge. The red foil is opened across the bank, and the purple flute is played in the wind. Who cares for the wanderer, the heart is shaking." Liu Zongyang listened there, saw Ye Chen coming down, and said with a smile: "Singing your poems .”

When everyone in the hall heard the words, many people looked over one after another. Someone had already walked towards this side from the crowd, and it seemed that they wanted to make friends with Ye Chen.

At this moment, Fu Ruojin suddenly said: "Actually, I seem to have heard the poem "Qinhuai Yipo" somewhere before."

Everyone was startled when they heard the words, and the people who were going to make friends with Ye Chen also stopped, Liu Zongyang's face changed slightly, and he was very angry with Fu Ruojin in his heart.Ye Chen frowned slightly.

(End of this chapter)