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

Chapter 895 Hit it off

The day's tour ended near the hour of Hai. Although Zhang Xijun was unable to see the spectacle of thirty-three moons because it was not the Mid-Autumn Festival, he was able to appreciate the beauty of the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon.

After having fun, Zhang Xijun and his party returned to the shore by boat, and then went to their residence to rest. After sending Zhang Xijun to his residence and respectfully saying goodbye, the prefect He Canglan got on his sedan chair. The steward beside him asked if he was going back to the mansion now. He Canglan shook his head slightly and said something. The steward immediately understood and ordered the sedan bearers to lift the sedan chair, carrying He Canglan and walked away quickly.

After a while, He Canglan arrived at the residence of the Governor Wang Ji. When he arrived, he got off the sedan chair and walked straight to the gate.

The steward knocked on the door in advance. When the doorman saw that it was He Canglan, he quickly said, "Please come in, sir." He Canglan nodded and stepped into the door. Then he walked inside as if he was familiar with the way, and soon arrived at Wang Ji's study in the backyard.

Wang Ji, who had heard the servant's report, was waiting for He Canglan in the study. When he saw He Canglan coming, he greeted him. He Canglan bowed to Wang Ji and then went into the study.

After serving tea and sending the servants away, Wang Ji asked directly about the situation of his companionship today, including Zhang Xijun's words and attitude, etc. He Canglan did not hide anything and directly explained it in detail. After he finished speaking, He Canglan took a sip of the tea in front of him and said with a smile: "Your Excellency is too cautious. In my opinion, this Lord Zhang is just here for routine business in Hangzhou, nothing else. Today, I deliberately tested Lord Zhang with a few words, but this Lord Zhang didn't care at all. Instead, he praised Hangzhou very much..."

"Is that true?" Wang Ji asked intently.

He Canglan was slightly displeased, and immediately said: "Of course it is so. Why don't you believe me, sir?"

"It's not that I don't believe it, but Zhang Xijun is an unusual person. Moreover, he was ordered by the emperor to tour the south and was the governor of Zhejiang. I am worried..."

"Haha, what is your Excellency worried about?" He Canglan said disapprovingly: "No matter how unusual Zhang Xijun is, he is still a human being. As long as he is a human being, he will be greedy. In the glamorous world of Hangzhou, how many people can resist it? Besides, what does it matter if he is under the emperor's order? The south is not like the north, and Hangzhou is not like the capital. Zhang Xijun is just a dragon crossing the river. Who can he do anything to? Besides, your Excellency gave him a gift before, and he did not refuse it. Today, I also said some filial words in a roundabout way, but Zhang Xijun was not angry but very happy. In my opinion, this person is just like that."

Wang Ji nodded silently, feeling relieved. They had never dealt with Zhang Xijun, but they had all heard of his reputation. Moreover, as officials with a legitimate Jinshi degree, they were not without connections in Beijing. Moreover, they were members of the Donglin Party and had their own channels to learn about Zhang Xijun.

They received the news in Hangzhou long after Zhang Xijun was ordered to leave the capital. They were indeed very worried at first, fearing that there might be some changes in the court, or that Zhang Xijun had come to the south for inspection on some order from the emperor.

However, after leaving Beijing, Zhang Xijun's journey south was not as fast as imagined. Instead of heading south directly and quickly, he stopped and walked along the way. In particular, he took a detour to Zhongdu, where he offered sacrifices to the Mausoleum of Emperor Xiaoling on behalf of the emperor. After the sacrifices were completed, Zhang Xijun continued his journey and arrived in Nanjing.

Zhang Xijun stayed in Nanjing for more than a month, but he didn't do anything high-profile. On weekdays, he either visited a few old nobles in Nanjing, or met with officials from the six ministries of Nanjing, including the eunuch Du Xun who was in charge of Nanjing.

Apart from this, Zhang Xijun spent most of his time eating, drinking and having fun, as if he came to the south not for an inspection but for a vacation. His attitude made the officials from the six ministries in Nanjing, who had been on high alert, feel relieved. In addition, Zhang Xijun was a good person and good at making friends, so soon everyone put aside their concerns and relaxed.

After Zhang Xijun stayed in Nanjing for many days, he continued to head south and arrived in Hangzhou. By this time, more than a month had passed since Wang Ji and others received the news that Zhang Xijun was coming. However, even so, Wang Ji and others did not dare to be negligent and they were very attentive to entertain Zhang Xijun to avoid any problems.

But judging from the contacts in the past few days, Zhang Xijun did not seem to have any important business. It seemed that he just came to Hangzhou for a tour under the pretext of being the governor of Zhejiang.

But for some reason, Wang Ji still felt vaguely uneasy. Today he deliberately found a reason not to accompany him in person, and just asked He Canglan to come forward. The purpose was to let He Canglan find out Zhang Xijun's background for him. Now He Canglan's answer is still the same, which makes Wang Ji finally feel relieved.

"That's good. I'm relieved." Wang Ji nodded, thought for a while and said, "You continue to accompany Zhang Xijun these few days and take him around Hangzhou. By the way, you haven't been to Lingyin Temple yet, right? Take him to Lingyin Temple to burn incense tomorrow. Make arrangements with the abbot there in advance and ask the temple to prepare vegetarian meals. After burning incense and worshiping Buddha, let the abbot talk about Buddhism with Zhang Xijun. I heard that although Zhang Xijun is not a Jinshi, he is also a scholar, especially well-versed in Buddhism. Let him stay in the temple for more time."

"You can take care of the arrangements afterwards, whether it's tea tasting or mountain climbing and visiting ancient sites. The only thing is not to let Zhang Xijun run around by himself. His every move must be carefully monitored, and you must not let him down!"

"I know, sir, please rest assured that I will make all the arrangements properly." He Canglan agreed quickly, and then asked hesitantly: "By the way, sir, if you ask me to make such arrangements, do you want to...?"

Wang Ji smiled and nodded: "You guessed right, I have to go to Nanjing." "Is there any progress on the matter from before?" He Canglan was immediately delighted and asked quickly.

Wang Ji said: "Of course it's about that matter. Otherwise, why would I go to Nanjing?"

"This is good news, good news!" He Canglan smiled happily. He had been looking forward to it since he learned about it last time, and now he finally got the news.

Some time ago, news came from Nanjing that Xu Shiqi's legal advisor, Yang Dehua from the Ningbo Yang family, had found a way to make a fortune from somewhere.

Yang Dehua actually got in touch with the Korean merchant family, the Park family. According to Yang Dehua, Korea was willing to trade with the Ming Dynasty. As long as the Ming Dynasty could provide goods to Korea, Korea would accept them all and offer a very suitable price.

Xu Shiqi was quickly tempted when he heard the news, and when he saw the list of goods and prices required by North Korea that Yang Dehua took out, his eyes lit up. Ming Jiangnan is the richest region in the world, and it is completely different from the north. It is simply incomparable to other places.

The imperial court is now opening up maritime trade in Shandong, and a large number of northern merchants are involved. Even some southern merchants conduct maritime trade through these northern merchants. In addition, there is the Zheng family in Fujian.

Seeing these merchants and the Zheng family making a fortune in just one year, how could the civil servants, gentry and merchant groups in the south not be jealous? But they couldn't intervene. After all, Shandong was controlled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and there were also the Shandong Navy and the Provincial Administration. Even if they were powerful in the south, they couldn't get involved.

Unless these people in the south directly bow to Zhu Shencui and give up their interests in exchange with the court, there may be a chance. But the problem is that the price is too high. Once this is done, the court's tentacles will directly reach the south. Once their lifeline is controlled by Zhu Shencui, it will not be so easy to reverse it in the future.

How could these people give up the rights they have obtained, let alone give up their original interests easily? Therefore, they have been very embarrassed about this all along, always thinking of ways to open up the situation. However, because Shandong directly controls the maritime trade of Korea, Japan and other places, and there are signs of development to the south towards Southeast Asia, this makes these people in Jiangnan even more worried.

Now, North Korea came to them directly, which was equivalent to giving them a rare opportunity. Once they contacted North Korea and used the goods advantage and geographical convenience of the south to trade, they could not only prevent the development of maritime trade in the north, but also seize the market and make huge profits. How could such a good thing be missed? So Xu Shiqi was immediately tempted, but he also knew that he could not do it alone. If he wanted to do this, he had to unite. Because of Yang Dehua, Xu Shiqi had a good relationship with Gao Hongtu and Zheng Sanjun, so he directly found the two of them. The three of them hit it off and thought it was feasible.

However, although Gao Hongtu, Zheng Sanjun and Xu Shiqi held high official positions and had power in their hands, to do such a thing they still needed cooperation from local governments, especially the various prefectures in Nanzhili, including Zhejiang Governor Wang Ji.

After all, the two most suitable places for Jiangnan to go north by sea are Ningbo and Hangzhou, both of which are located in Zhejiang. Ningbo is directly east of the sea, and Zhoushan Islands are just east of Ningbo. Going north by sea, you can directly reach North Korea. Not to mention Hangzhou, Hangzhou Bay is a prosperous area of ​​maritime trade, and Hangzhou is rich in the world, especially silk, tea and other products are second to none in Jiangnan, and it is also convenient to go to sea from Hangzhou.

As for the area further north, it is not suitable because it is close to Shandong. Once they are discovered by Shandong, it will be a big deal. After all, what they are doing is smuggling, which is against the law of the court. Even if they unite to control most of Jiangnan, they are only officials, not the emperor. If the news leaks out, it will be very troublesome.

After receiving the news, Wang Ji went to Nanjing once and met with Gao Hongtu, Zheng Sanjun, Xu Shiqi and others in private for a secret talk. However, due to the division of interests, the first negotiation did not produce any results, and Wang Ji returned to Hangzhou first. He Canglan, as the prefect of Hangzhou, also participated in this matter, but he intervened in the cooperation as Wang Ji's side, and he and Wang Ji belonged to a community of interests.

Now that Wang Ji said he was leaving Hangzhou for a few days, He Canglan immediately understood what he meant. Wasn't this telling him that he was going to Nanjing to discuss trade with North Korea? When He Canglan thought of the profits once this deal was done, his heart was warmed up and he was extremely excited.

"Gao Hongtu sent someone to deliver a letter. They have agreed to my request. This trip is to finalize it. Don't relax after I leave. You have to accompany Zhang Xijun and make private arrangements. Once I return from Nanjing, this matter can be done. Once it is done, you know the benefits."

"I know, I know. Don't worry, sir. I promise to make all the arrangements. I congratulate you in advance on your success in Nanjing. I hope you will make a lot of money by then."

"Haha! Haha!" Wang Ji laughed loudly, stroking his long beard with great pride. He had been an official for money for so many years. Wasn't it for money? How could he let go of such a good opportunity? Moreover, he had already calculated that as long as this business was successful, the profit within a year would far exceed the profit he had made as an official in Hangzhou for so many years. Such a good thing was really an opportunity given by God, how could he miss it.

(End of this chapter)