Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 171 Bloodline

Stay in the capital, make arrangements, maintain good relations with Wei Zhongxian, clear away hidden dangers and obstacles from the capital for Zhu Shenzhui, pay attention to the movements in the capital, pass on information, and even win over some frustrated lower-level officials and find people among them to use for his own purposes...

This was Zhu Shenzui's real purpose. In other words, Zhu Shenzui not only wanted to make Zhang Xijun the director of the Beijing office, but also wanted him to undertake the task of a secret agent. In other words, some of what he did was not much different from that of the Jinyiwei.

Zhu Yuanzhang first created the Jinyiwei, the first professional spy agency in Chinese history. Although there were similar organizations before the Ming Dynasty, such as the Xiuyi Yushi of the Han Dynasty, the Houguan and Dianqian of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the Huangchengsi of the Song Dynasty, which can barely be regarded as spy agencies, compared with the Jinyiwei of the Ming Dynasty, the Jinyiwei was more rigorous in its settings, its tasks were more comprehensive, and its scale was larger. In many ways, it was not much different from the spy agencies of later generations.

After the Jinyiwei, the Ming Dynasty successively set up the East Factory, West Factory, and Inner Factory. Among them, the West Factory was established during the Chenghua period, and the Inner Factory was established during the Zhengde period. After the eunuch Liu Jin was skinned alive, the Inner Factory and the West Factory were abolished together, leaving only the Jinyiwei and the East Factory.

Now, there is only one guard and one factory left out of the three factories in the Ming Dynasty. Outsiders cannot touch the East Factory because it has always been controlled by eunuchs, just like Wei Zhongxian now controls the Silijian and supervises the East Factory. The highest commander of the Jinyiwei is the Duzhishi. Tianqi has not touched Luo Sigong yet and still lets him continue to be in charge of the Jinyiwei.

Zhou Anmin is now the deputy commander of the Jinyiwei Qianhu Division of Luzhou Guard, and he is also considered a local lord within the Jinyiwei. As he controls the Luzhou Guard Qianhu Division, Zhu Shenzhui can naturally get a lot of information from Zhou Anmin, and can also use the Jinyiwei's authority to do some things.

But Jinyiwei is Jinyiwei after all. Even if Zhou Anmin is in charge of Qianhu Office, he is just a deputy Qianhu. As the emperor's Jinyiwei, this is not his own private organization. In addition, there are many factions and complicated relationships within Jinyiwei. Some things can be handled by Jinyiwei, but some things are not convenient for Jinyiwei to know.

For this reason, Zhu Shenzui decided to organize a similar organization himself, and Zhang Xijun was the temporary leader of this organization.

Zhang Xijun was sent to the capital for this purpose. As for whether Zhang Xijun could do the job and to what extent, it all depended on his ability. If Zhang Xijun could satisfy Zhu Shenzhui, then this was a good move and he might be of great use one day in the future.

After returning home, Zhu Shenzhui wrote a letter to Zhou Anmin, asking Zhou Anmin to send someone to investigate the truth of what Zhang Xijun said, and also telling Zhou Anmin his arrangements for Zhang Xijun.

In the following days, Zhang Xijun assisted Zhu Shencui in adjusting the company. In order to appease Kang Youfu's emotions, Zhu Shencui also specially called Kang Youfu and talked with him in detail for two hours. When Kang Youfu left, he did not look disappointed, on the contrary he was a little excited, because Zhu Shencui told him that although necessary adjustments had been made to the company, his position as shopkeeper remained unchanged. While the company needed to accept adjustments and supervision, the company's investment would be increased in the coming days to accelerate its development.

In the future, the company will not only need to establish a foothold in Pingyang, but will also need to gradually open branches in Taiyuan Prefecture, Datong Wei, Luzhou Wei, and even Henan Prefecture. With the opening of branches, Kang Youfu, as the chief shopkeeper in charge of the company, will have increasingly greater authority.

Kang Youfu naturally would not refuse such a good thing. Besides, he was also a smart man and understood the intention of Zhu Shenzui as the host in making such arrangements, so he readily agreed.

After finishing the business, Zhu Shenzhui took advantage of the autumn season to go to the grassland. This time when he met Tana in the grassland, he unexpectedly got a surprise.

When I returned to the grassland half a year later, Tana was found to be pregnant. When I saw Tana again, she was already five months pregnant and her belly was already bulging.

Zhu Shenzhui was extremely happy as he was about to become a father. He complained to Tana why she didn't send anyone to bring him a letter. If he had known that she was pregnant, he should have come back earlier.

The pregnancy is now almost halfway through, and the conditions on the grassland are not as good as those inside the Great Wall. In addition, there are no reliable doctors on the Mongolian side. It is not easy for women to give birth in this era. Zhu Shenzhui is happy but also a little worried. He suggests to Tana that she follow him back to Ming Dynasty this time.

Although Tana was tempted, she rejected the suggestion after thinking it over. She told Zhu Shencui that she would not go back to Ming Dynasty with him. She was not only Zhu Shencui's woman, but also a Mongolian woman. The grassland was her home.

Zhu Shencui had his own newlywed wife in Daming, and she was Zhu Shencui's wife on the grassland.

Once she followed him back to the Ming Dynasty and met another woman, how would they get along? How would Zhu Shenzhu feel? Tana didn't want her man to be caught in a dilemma.

Besides, Tana said that Mongolian women have been living and herding on horseback since childhood and are therefore strong. Although there are no Ming Dynasty doctors in the tribe, there are experienced midwives and shamans. Everyone gives birth in this way, so nothing will go wrong.

So Tana told Zhu Shenzhui that she would not follow Zhu Shenzhui back to Ming Dynasty. Maybe she would go later, but definitely not now.

Zhu Shenzhu had no choice but to agree. He calculated the time. If nothing unexpected happened, Tana would give birth around March next year. By then, the grassland would have entered spring. Zhu Shenzhu would try to rush back in advance and bring a doctor to help if possible. He hugged Tana and talked to her a lot, telling her not to be tired after getting pregnant, to wait for the birth with peace of mind, and to remember to eat and drink well on weekdays. This was their first child, and whether it was a boy or a girl, it was a gift from Changshengtian.

Zhu Shenzui stayed with Tana on the grassland until late October, and watched the first snow fall on the grassland. If he didn't leave now, he might not be able to go back this year.

Although he was reluctant to leave, he still had to say goodbye. The day before leaving, Zhu Shenzhui did not go anywhere and stayed with Tana for the whole day. The two talked a lot.

Zhu Shenzhui asked Tana's father and brother to take good care of her and gave detailed instructions to the people who stayed behind. Only then did he say goodbye to Tana reluctantly. When he returned to the Great Wall, it was already early November. Not long after entering the Great Wall, before he returned to Pingyang, he received news from Zhou Anmin on the way.

After reading the news, Zhu Shenzhui decided to temporarily change his itinerary. He asked his men to take the caravan back to Pingyang, and he himself made a detour to Luzhou Wei and would go back after meeting Zhou Anmin.

The weather was cold, and after two consecutive heavy snowfalls, the land of Shanxi was covered in white. Fortunately, the official road to Luzhou was easy to travel, and the horse Zhu Shenzhu rode was a good horse, but it was really hard to rush to Luzhou.

After much hurrying, we finally arrived at Luzhou Wei. After entering the city, we went straight to our sister and brother-in-law's residence.

Zhou Anmin is now the deputy commander of the Jinyiwei Qianhu Office in Luzhouwei. It is naturally inconvenient to go to the Jinyiwei Yamen, so it is most appropriate to go to the residence. Because this time it was Zhou Anmin who sent a message asking him to come to Luzhouwei as soon as possible, Zhu Shenzhui did not have time to tell his uncle and others, but it doesn't matter, anyway, it's not far, after seeing Zhou Anmin, he will take time to go to the guard station.

"It's snowing so heavily, why are you here, little brother?" When they arrived at the place, Zhu Xiu'er was surprised and happy to see Zhu Shenzhui, especially when Zhu Shenzhui got off the horse covered in snow, Zhu Xiu'er couldn't help but complain a few words.

"It's okay. I'm wearing warm clothes, so I'm not cold even though I'm traveling." Zhu Shenzhui said with a smile.

"You're not frozen yet. Look at you, you're covered in snow and your face is frozen." Zhu Xiuer helped to pat the snow off her body. Looking at her brother's blue face and red nose that were frozen, she felt resentful in her heart. Why didn't he stay at home but came here in such a cold day? Even riding in a carriage would be better than riding a horse.

Zhu Shenzhui couldn't say that he came because of his brother-in-law, so he smiled and said that he missed them. Besides, riding a carriage was too slow, how could it be faster than riding a horse? And he was young and strong, so this little cold was nothing.

After glaring at Zhu Shenzhui, Zhu Xiuer asked the servants to take the horse to the stable and take good care of it, then she took her brother's hand and went into the house.

When he got into the house, Zhu Shenzhui took off his cloak and then his outer coat, changed his boots into a pair of dry ones, sat on the kang and drank hot tea, and his body soon warmed up.

"Where are Chong'er and Bin'er?"

"They are with the teacher." Zhu Xiu'er told Zhu Shenzhui that his two nephews went to study with the teacher. After moving to Luzhou Wei, Zhou Anmin found a new teacher for the children. This new teacher was no simple person. Not only was he well-educated, he had also passed the imperial examination and worked as a county teacher in his early years. Later, because of his upright character and could not stand the filthiness of officialdom, he resigned from his position and returned home after working for a few years.

After returning to Luzhou Wei, this gentleman devoted himself to studying and researching at home. He also opened a private school to teach and educate people, and accepted some students to teach.

Not long after Zhou Anmin arrived, he heard of this gentleman's name. He paid a personal visit to the gentleman and asked him to accept his two children. From then on, Zhou Chong and Zhou Bin went to school with the gentleman on weekdays.

The teacher's teaching level is quite high and he is very strict and serious with his students.

The private school was closed every ten days. Students had to go there early in the morning for classes. They had to bring their own lunch to the private school and could only go home in the evening. Zhu Xiuer told Zhu Shenzhu that the two children had improved a lot since they followed the teacher and understood a lot about life. As a mother, she was happy to see the children's progress.

Seeing his sister smiling when she talked about the children, Zhu Shenzhui was also happy. His two nephews were his closest relatives by blood, and they had been close to Zhu Shenzhui since they were young. Now Zhou Chong was already seven or eight years old, and the youngest Zhou Bin was also over five years old. In the blink of an eye, the children had grown up gradually. When he recalled the past, it seemed as if they were still in front of him.

(End of this chapter)