Early the next morning, Liu Ziguang's residence, located on the bank of the Qinhuai River, welcomed a mysterious guest. An imposing white-robed scribe jumped out of an unmarked carriage. Four entourages on horseback dismounted, knocked on the door, and told the concierge
It was said that Liu Ziguang's friends were coming to visit. Seeing how impressive their style was, everyone in the house did not dare to neglect them, so they spread the word like a flying breeze.
When Liu Ziguang heard from the concierge that a friend was visiting, he thought it was the little emperor who was visiting incognito. He hurriedly got dressed and went out to greet him. However, when he arrived at the gate, he saw that it was the eunuch wearing a red python robe that he had seen at Bingmasi in Dongcheng last night.
The eunuch Hu Yimin called Mr. Li.
Seeing Liu Ziguang's slightly surprised look, Manager Li smiled slightly: "Brother Liu, you just met us last night and don't you remember our family?" After saying that, he walked to the main hall on his own.
"It turns out to be General Manager Li. Of course I remember it. I just don't know that General Manager Li has come to visit me. What advice can I give?" Liu Ziguang said as he accompanied Li Lianying to the main hall. After the guests and the host were seated, a waiter served tea.
Li Lianying said: "We are here today to save Brother Liu's life."
"Why did Mr. Li say this?" Liu Ziguang asked with a puzzled expression.
"Do you know who ordered the gangster who wanted to attack the young lady yesterday? Let me tell you, it is Huang Zhen from Jinyiwei. This man is the grandson of the nine thousand-year-old Eunuch Huang who was very powerful in the dynasty. He has always had a perverse temperament, and he is obsessed with every little thing.
Keep it in mind, not to mention that if you ruined his good deeds, they can't do anything to the Bingma Division and our internal affairs, so they have to take action on you. I heard that the Jin Yiwei is preparing to fabricate charges and come to arrest you." Li Lianying said to scare Liu Ziguang.
Liu Ziguang said in his heart that you are not doing business, why are you here trying to scare me? There must be some purpose in saying these words for no reason, and he did not answer at the moment and remained silent.
Seeing that he was silent, Li Lianying thought he was scared, and then said: "Brother Liu rescued Miss Hu and Miss Li yesterday, and the palace is very grateful. The name Liu Ziguang looks familiar to our family.
I seemed to have seen it somewhere, so I checked the military reports from Shandong. Sure enough, from the Battle of Liguo at the beginning of this year to the Battle of Yanzhou and the Battle of Jinan, Brother Liu had repeatedly made extraordinary achievements, but unfortunately he was always buried. He had defeated the Tatars earlier.
The record of the serial horse was actually claimed by that guy from Huang Zhen, but no one claimed the subsequent achievements. It is a pity that the traitors in the court took over and only gave Brother Liu the position of the ninth-grade regiment's general trainer. It really made our family sigh.
It's been a long time. Now the Dongchang and Jinyiwei gangs are plotting against you again. Although our family is just a small internal affairs manager, we also have the heart to know and love talents, and we will never tolerate those traitors being so wanton." After finishing speaking.
He looked at Liu Ziguang's expression.
If ordinary people heard that Dongchang and Jinyiwei were going to deal with them, they would have been scared out of their wits. If they grasped a life-saving straw like General Manager Li and did not immediately prostrate themselves and show their loyalty with tears of gratitude, who is Liu Ziguang? He would be the best among millions of soldiers.
The general-level hero, who was extremely nervous, just said a soft "hmm" at this moment, nodded noncommittally, and waited for Li Lianying's next words.
"He is indeed a true hero." Li Lianying couldn't help but admired secretly. It's really hard to find someone who doesn't change his temper when talking about Dongchang and Jinyiwei in the whole capital. This time, we found the right person! "Brother Liu is really brave.
, our family admires us, we are also a cheerful person, let’s just say it bluntly, in order to save the people from hanging upside down and fight against the eunuch forces of the Dongchang Jinyiwei, the Queen Mother decided to recruit some righteous people from the Jianghu to set up the Nanji Service Factory to compete with them.
If you are not talented, I will temporarily serve as the admiral of Nachang. Brother Liu is originally a ninth-grade official. If the Queen Mother bestows upon you the position of Thousand Households of Nanchang, we will become our own family from now on. Those who are in charge of the Imperial Guards of Dongchang will not dare to touch the Queen Mother easily.
people."
Liu Ziguang's mind is running fast, and the Queen Mother is wooing me. This is a good thing that I can only hope for. There are now three forces in the capital. The Queen Mother and Jiu Qian are evenly matched, and the little emperor who is gradually awakening is the weakest, but also the most powerful.
The dark horse with a bright future, he is already considered a member of the Little Emperor's camp. Now he has the opportunity to use the power of the Queen Mother to gradually disintegrate and consume the strength of both parties in the name of fighting against Jiu Qiansui, while secretly developing the power of himself and the Little Emperor.
It's really a good deal.
"The Queen Mother has great love for you. Liu Mowan will not hesitate to die. I will ask the Admiral for your support in the future." Liu Ziguang stood up and saluted Li Lianying, acting neither humble nor overbearing.
"Easy to say, easy to say." The more calm and calm Liu Ziguang appeared, the more Li Lianying felt that he was a talent. Now that Liu Ziguang accepted the appointment, he could tell him the reason for the establishment of the South Factory and the current urgent tasks.
When the palace seizure occurred ten years ago, Queen Mother Li was just a woman with little power and the status of a queen, while the nine thousand-year-old Eunuch Huang was already a veteran of two dynasties and had served as a ceremonial eunuch for decades.
Influence has spread throughout the government and the public. In order to deal with the prince, they temporarily formed an alliance, and the cooperation was quite pleasant. After the little emperor ascended the throne, the queen mother began to listen to politics behind the curtain, gained a certain amount of political power, and began to install cronies and cultivate influence. At the beginning, she was not visible.
It was obvious that when the Dongchang side realized that the influence of the foreign relatives had become too small to be eradicated, the two parties lived in peace for ten years. No one broke this delicate balance, which was precisely the balance under the knife's edge.
As a result, the political situation was relatively stable. If one of the people in the rear area was promoted to the prefect, then a prefect must also be promoted to the prefect in Jiuqiansui. As a result, all the officials in the court joined the two families one after another, and there were even fathers and sons, and brothers separated.
Being in two camps is also a way of balancing the officials. You have me among you, and you among me. No matter which party controls the power in the future, the families of these officials will never be confiscated and exterminated.
Jin Yiwei was created by Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, and Dongchang was created by Emperor Chengzu. These two spy organizations have been in the hands of Jiu Qian Sui for thirty years. Naturally, the rear party cannot get involved and can only control the five.
The city soldiers and horses secretly established an armed internal force to protect the palace. In terms of armed strength alone, it is not weaker than the eunuchs, but compared to intelligence work, it is far behind. Every move is subject to the scrutiny of the Jinyi Guards.
Not to mention the surveillance of the Dongchang, the imperial court will review major cases, Jinyiweibei Town Fusi tortures felons, the Dongchang will send people to hear the trial; every yamen of the imperial court has Dongchang personnel on duty to monitor every move of the officials; some important
Yamen's documents, such as various side reports from the Ministry of War, Tang News, and Dongchang, all had to be sent to check. The Hou Party suffered a lot of losses on this, but there was nothing they could do about it. Now the Queen Mother was finally caught by what Huang Zhen did.
Completely angered, he decided to set up his own intelligence agency. The South Factory is no better than the East Factory. Even if it is established, it can only be used as a secret agency that is unknown to the public. It definitely does not have the power and prestige of the East Factory. In terms of staffing, the South Factory has
The officers from the Five Cities Military and Horse Division and the Internal Operations serve as leaders, and the Jianghu people recruited as grassroots forces. The main task is to detect the movements of the eunuchs and take corresponding actions. The most urgent action at the moment is to respond to last night's incident -
---Kill Huang Zhen.
The plan to kill Huang Zhen was decided during a secret meeting in the palace last night. This is Liu Ziguang's surrender. Only by killing the people from the eunuch party can Liu Ziguang be completely tied to the rear party's chariot. After explaining this
For this task, Li Lianying gave Liu Ziguang a meaningful look and said: "It's rude to come and go without reciprocating. Huang Zhen is your old enemy. Whether for public or private reasons, Liu Qianhu will make the first move to open the South Factory."
The business should be done more beautifully."
"As a member of a thousand households in Nanchang, where do you sit in court? Who are the people under your command?" Liu Ziguang asked.
"Well, our Nanchang Yamen has just been established and is relatively short of manpower. For the time being, we will use your original team. I heard that you have a group of brothers in Shandong who are good at fighting. The drivers from Ziguang Car Shop are used for surveillance and tracking.
Not bad, as for the Yamen... I think your river house is pretty good." Li Lianying said.
Seeing Liu Ziguang's stunned look, Li Lianying also felt a little embarrassed. She took out a bronze medal and handed it to Liu Ziguang and said: "This is the command badge of the Wucheng Army and Horse Division. It can command the troops of the Wucheng Army and Horse Division. You can hold it for now."
, when our Nanchang’s reputation is established, it won’t be too late to show up openly and openly.”
That was all that could be done now. At any rate, he relied on one of the two big trees in the capital. From then on, he was officially involved in the political whirlpool of the capital. Liu Ziguang accepted the bronze medal and discussed some other issues with Li Lianying.
Only then did he send the internal operations manager and the admiral of the South Factory away.
When Li Lianying left, at least two groups of surveillance personnel also quietly evacuated, each reporting to their masters.
After Li Lianying left, Liu Ziguang immediately went to visit Yuan Chonghuan. Although Yuan Chonghuan had been deprived of military power, his prestige in the Xuzhou army was still very high, and he was a target for all parties to win over. Of course, this person was a pure man and was only loyal to the generals.
The emperor of the Zhu family would never turn to the eunuchs or the queens. He had not paid a visit since he came to Beijing. Now he finally had time to visit the palace, reminisce about old times, and discuss how to help the emperor seize power.
Unfortunately, I didn't know until I arrived at the Yuan Mansion that Yuan Chonghuan had gone out to persuade some civil servants and generals to write a letter to continue the Northern Expedition. The servant guarding the gate was a soldier brought by Marshal Yuan from Shandong. Naturally, he knew Liu Ziguang and asked him to serve in the living room.
During the tea, a gentle and elegant black and thin boy came out to sit with him. After talking to each other, they realized that this was Yuan Chonghuan's eldest son Yuan Chengzhi. He was seventeen years old and was studying in Nanjing Imperial College. After chatting for a while, Liu Ziguang couldn't sit still.
He stood up and said goodbye, saying he would visit again when he had time.
Yuan Chonghuan was not seen, and the little emperor was even missing. The only way to contact him was to send messages through carrier pigeons and make an appointment in advance. Liu Ziguang had no choice but to return to his home in despair.
Returning to the study, he picked up paper and pen and wrote two secret letters. One was to the red shirt regiment stationed in Beijing, asking them to send brave and careful people to Beijing to learn medical skills from Dr. Jones.
It was written to the little emperor, using secret words to express the need to meet him soon. As soon as he finished writing the two letters, Liu Ziguang suddenly noticed a letter underneath a stack of blank rice paper, with the words "Liu Ziguang personally writes" on the envelope.
This was strange. Who was so mysterious that he actually dropped the letter into his study? He was full of doubts and held the letter for a long time, fearing that there was some mechanism. Finally, he took a pair of chopsticks and took the letter out of the envelope.
, unfolded it, and saw a few lines of meaningless words written on it: On June 13th, Huangzhen returned to Haizhou, boarded the ship at noon, and Fusang escorted five people. It was signed by Mr. Qi.
It's this strange Mr. Qi again. He previously helped him collect millions of dollars in debt from the Ministry of War, and then asked Zhou Mengren to inform him to rescue Yuan Chonghuan. Now he also passed on Huang Zhen's itinerary. This was obviously helping him, but
Li Lianying had just revealed his plan to kill Huang Zhen in the morning, and Mr. Qi already knew about it and sent him the information. It was unbelievable that the dragon was missing like this. Apart from Jinyiwei and Dongchang, there was no one in the capital.
Is there another secret spy organization operating?
In any case, according to Mr. Qi's various performances, he is a friend rather than an enemy. Let's trust him for a while. Liu Ziguang took the letter to the red shirt group and added a few words at the end, asking them to send more looks.
Normally, people with high martial arts skills would come to help me. Now the river house I live in is the so-called Nanjishichang Yamen. It is also a secret service agency, but Mr. Qi's people are allowed to come and go at will, leaving letters and passing them on.
It would be really embarrassing to go out. Since it is a secret service agency, it must look like a secret service agency. It seems that the internal operations and the Wucheng Army and Horse Division cannot provide any decent help. Everything has to be done by oneself. Liu Ziguang slightly
After thinking for a while, he ordered people to call Sun Gang and his son. This father and son have been in the world for a long time and must have their own opinions. As the saying goes, the three stooges are even more powerful than Zhuge Liang. Plus Li Yan, Peng Jingrong, and
With a modern man like me, who has a mind five hundred years ahead of his time, Nanchang will definitely be able to run it in a decent way.
We gathered people together for a discussion. Everyone talked for a while, but no one got to the point. It was just dressing up in disguise, paying private visits incognito, pretending to be a fortune teller, a salesman, etc., walking around the streets to collect information.
To collect information, the drivers from Ziguang Car Shop squat at the door of various ministers to monitor who they interact with, and then go to teahouses and restaurants to inquire about information, or recruit flower-picking thieves, snitches and other light kung fu masters to sneak into other people's homes.
To conduct eavesdropping on the mansion, in short, these are some methods that lack creativity.
"The methods you mentioned are not as good as those of Dongchang. They have accumulated experience for hundreds of years.
Experience, with a set of careful plans and detailed information, you asked the coachman to go to the door of the minister's house to monitor him, but they wouldn't recognize him if he came, so we can only use our strengths and avoid weaknesses and start from other aspects.
Liu Ziguang said after thinking for a long time.
"Isn't this what Jin Yiwei and Dongchang did? Is there any other good way?" Everyone was confused.
"It depends on Addison." Liu Ziguang smiled confidently.