Chapter 64: Do you want to get rich?
Fan Xian nodded and smiled, “I heard that when the rebellion in Beijing, the Marquis ventured out of the palace with the Empress Dowager’s handwritten letter, mobilizing Lord Shen’s Jinyiwei, which saved the day. From then on, Lord Shen has been lucky all the way, and the marquis has always been a very good friendship, so I would like to ask the marquis from the introduction.”
This is said to be Changning Marquis this life’s only honorable thing, Changning Marquis has been early drunk, at this time full of red face, drunkenness is even more intense, the face of the intention of self-preservation. But no matter how stupid he is, he can also hear that things are a bit odd, hiccuping, staring at Fan Xian with a strange look and asked, “Little Lord Fan, you’re an envoy, going to see the commanding envoy of the Zhenfu Division …… this is not inevitably a bit unorthodox ah.”
Fan Xian said with a sad face, “As the Marquis also knows, there are always many inconvenient places when an envoy is in a foreign country.” He lowered his voice and said, “Actually, I’m not hiding it from marquis, my senior also offended a large number of capital officials in Kyoto, and even his majesty is not good enough to protect me, so that’s why I’m looking for this reason to go on a mission, and kicked my senior to Northern Qi.”
Changning Marquis nodded his head repeatedly, even hiccuping, a piece of his heart, the defeat of Northern Qi last year, the power and prestige related to the empress dowager were all stranded on the stove, so Changan Marquis was demoted and returned to his home, and it was his own, the empress dowager’s own brother, who was kicked to the south to sign that disempowering and humiliating agreement……. The fact that Fan Xian offended a large number of civil officials in Nanqing is really somewhat shocking, the prime minister of the Southern Qing Dynasty was removed, the Minister of Rites was hanged, sixteen high-ranking officials were beheaded, and the case of the Chun Exam was a big deal, even the officials of the Northern Qi court knew about it, so Marquis Changning believed that Fan Xian was telling the truth.
“But why do we need to see the Zhen Fu Si ambassador?” Changning Marquis was a bit embarrassed, and really didn’t know what this young official from the Southern Dynasty wanted to do.
“I want to get rich, I don’t know if the Marquis wants to?”
Hearing the word get rich, Changning Marquis was instantly interested.
“Business.” Fan Xian filled the wine cup for the marquis, at this time, there had long been no other people around the banquet, only this old and young two people, his voice was suppressed to a very low level, “The marquis should have gotten wind of the fact that the year after next, at the latest, I will be taking over the southern inner treasury. And the business of the inner treasury, at least forty percent of the volume, is sent to the north, so I must have a good relationship with the Zhenfu ambassador, otherwise how to keep peace along the way?”
Marquis Changning glanced at him, his heart in a state of shock, and subconsciously drank, “You want to smuggle!”
Fan Xian put his index finger up to his lips, smiled, took a sip of wine, and said, “Look, Marquis, is this business doable?”
Marquis Changning’s wine had already woken up a lot, half of it was scared awake, half of it was joyfully awake, what does Nanqing rely on to be so prosperous these years? Is not the original old Ye family left those business? If the interests of the southern court can be turned into private interests, that has to be a number of how?
However, Marquis Changning was still somewhat in disbelief, the guts of this young southern court official in front of him, could he really be this big! This Marquis pondered for a long time, thinking about it, if the other party wanted to smuggle, it was indeed necessary to make the relationship with the Zhenfu Envoy better. As for the disadvantages? After all, it is not half!
Anyway, the other side of the greedy is the money in the treasury of Nanqing, our Daqi court is no loss at all! If smuggling, the price of those goods in the future will come down, the Palace will also save a lot of money, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor’s nephew will be happy to wake up laughing. Why don’t you do this kind of thing that is detrimental to others and yourself?
Marquis Changning viciously drank a mouthful of wine and said: ”Success! I’ll arrange a meeting between you and Old Shen, but ……”
“But what?”
“Fan Xian, I must say explicitly that for this matter, I must have the consent of the palace.”
“No way!” Fan Xian said decisively, “I’ve said enough today, it was just a deal for the three of us to get rich, if the Marquis plays such a game, wouldn’t that be me chaining my head to the waistband of your Northern Qi court?”
Marquis Changning knew that the other party had a point, but still said with a bitter smile, “I really don’t dare to take on such a big thing myself.”
“Then Marquis reconsider.” Fan Xian said coldly, “But this matter involves my life, so the marquis’ mouth must still be tighter.”
Fan Xian’s eyes suddenly flashed a vicious look, this look fell into the eyes of the Changning Marquis, the Marquis naturally not the slightest bit afraid, but instead coldly laughed and thought, “You this hall of civil ministers, actually want to play these shady tricks, this is where the Zhenfu Si where their rivals. At this time, the Changning Marquis may be smuggling two words brought by the huge silver money shocked the mind, all forgotten Fan Xian’s real identity, and that the Zhenfu Si is very similar.
Fan Xian looked at the other side of the color, know that their own today under the bait is almost, he smiled and changed the topic, will today’s mission door and Chang’an Marquis of conflict said again, please Changning Marquis to help mediate a little from.
Changning Marquis at this time in his mind all remembered to arrange Fan Xian and Shen Commanding Envoy to meet, and thinking about how to go to the palace to persuade the empress dowager to do this business that has a hundred benefits and no harm, listening to this, naturally, is a big deal to respond to, scolded: “my brother will not do the right thing, will make a fuss, don’t worry, I’m going to deal with this matter.”
Wine and rice is not full, deep love is not strong, Fan Zheng made resigned from the marquis, then on the carriage, ready to go back to the mission. At this very moment, he suddenly heard a rush of hoofbeats in front of him, and stopped right next to the carriage.
Fan Xian lifted the curtain to look, and found that it was indeed the eldest son of the Changning Marquis’ family, Wei Hua, the Young Secretary of the Honglu Temple, who had rushed back, and could not help but reveal a hint of a smile at the corners of his lips – the four goals that he wanted to achieve by giving a gift to the Changning Marquis’ residence today seemed to be accomplished.
“Lord Fan, what exactly are you trying to do?” Wei Hua gritted his teeth and lowered his voice, speaking to Fan Xian by the car window.
Fan Xian burped, and the acrid odor caused Wei Hua to hurriedly cover his nose. He chuckled to himself and drove the air from his lips with the palm of his hand, explaining, “Your father and I were drinking buddies in years past, and since I’m here in Shangjing today, of course I’m here to pay a visit.”
Wei Hua was angry and furious, saying, “You are an envoy of a country, your words and actions attract attention, if you really want to visit your relatives and friends, it must be arranged by my Honglu Temple after the state affairs are over, or through the Ministry of Ceremony to ask for an order from the palace. If your sudden visit falls into the eyes of the courtiers, how will my father explain to the palace tomorrow?”
Fan Xian said with amusement, “The Marquis is a free-spirited man, he doesn’t care about that. Lord Shaoqing and your father’s elegance is however much worse.”
Wei Hua strongly pressed down the mass of stuffiness in his chest and held his breath, saying, “My father is good at wine, and the world knows that …… Lord Fan, what exactly do you want to do?”
Fan Xian looked at Wei Hua calmly with the color of wine gone from his eyes, the indifference in his eyes made Wei Hua feel a little uncomfortable, only to hear him say softly, “What do I want to do? I want to introduce a business to your father.”
Wei Hua didn’t know what he meant by that, but intuited that this matter must be extremely sinister, and climbed his hand on the window pane of the envoy’s carriage, frowning, he said, “Lord Fan, please be straightforward if you have something to say.”
“I was looking for you today, and you hid.” Fan Xian looked at him with a smile, “I wanted to look for that Deputy Recruiter, but it turns out that he’s not at the Ministry of Rites, so I’d like to ask, who exactly should I be looking for?”
Wei Hua replied with some embarrassment, “Aren’t all matters being handled by your envoys in consultation with the Ministry of Rites?”
“Boundary demarcation is being handled, as is the prisoner exchange.” Fan Xian looked him in the eyes and said coldly, “But what I am going to do, you as the young secretary of the Honglu Temple should know very well, don’t think of procrastinating any longer, within tomorrow, I must see someone.”
Wei Hua said with a strong neck, “The formalities are cumbersome, is that lord not something that can be seen at a moment’s notice if he wants to see it?”
“That’s fine, I’ll continue to come and see your father tomorrow.” Fan Xian laughed back in anger, “Drinking, talking, and discussing business, such a life as an envoy can be considered enjoyable.”
As soon as the words were said, the carriage traveled, and under the escort of the Beiqi army, it drove towards the residence very happily.
Wei Hua threw the horse whip to the servant in annoyance, all the way to the mansion, all the way to ask when Fan Xian came today, what did he do, when he heard that it was Wei Commander accompanied all the way to the place, his heart was only a little bit stabilized, thought that those courtiers of his majesty can hardly take advantage of this matter to have an attack on something.
Entered the flower hall, looked at the marquis of Changning is still there nuisance drink small wine, Wei Hua angry, but forced to suppress the emotions, respectfully bowed a salute.
Looking at his most accomplished son returning, Marquis Changning lisped without inviting a smile and recruited, “Come, come, today’s home guest, is that Fan Xian I often mention, hey, this kid, actually the Xiu Shui Street that family collection of spirits have gotten two altars to.”
Wei Hua finally couldn’t help it, sighed and persuaded, “Father, after all, the other party is an envoy of an enemy country, nowadays the court doesn’t know how many people are looking at our Changning Chang’an two families, can you …… not?”
Before the words were finished, Marquis Changning was already howling, “What’s wrong? I’m the Empress Dowager’s own brother, entertaining a guest at home, can’t I!”
“That’s not an ordinary guest, that’s an envoy from the Kingdom of Qing!” Wei Hua’s voice was also louder, “Precisely because our family is different from other families, even for the sake of auntie’s face, you shouldn’t let Fan Xian enter this door today.”
For some reason, as soon as Wei Hua became fierce, Changning Marquis softened, holding his wine cup, his face was miserable, and his tone was tinged with a sobbing tone, “What face or no face, your aunt started from the day she entered the palace, and I, your father, have not had much face left! What kind of person am I? I am Zhuang Mo Han’s student! But in the eyes of others, what am I? In all my years in the capital, which ministers have come to visit me? The ones who come to visit me are those faceless things that I get sick of looking at.”