The banquet at the Chang Mansion was over, and the guests left in groups of twos and threes. Li Muchian, Wang Dehua, Lao Hu and others saw off the guests one by one at the door. These officials came in joy and returned happily, stumbling with their steps. Some were holding on to the wall, some were independent, and some were peeing on wild dogs.
Thousands of postures.
There were only a few distinguished guests left in the lobby of the house, whispering to each other. Chang Yu and Zhang Shize were chatting about business.
By the time the guests had dispersed, it was already early in the morning, but Chang Yu was very drunk and was carried back to his room to rest by several personal attendants.
The hall was full of noise just now, but in a blink of an eye, only a dozen servants were busy cleaning up the mess. Li Muxian and Wang Dehua were sitting under the eaves of the verandah, drinking tea and resting. Tonight, the two of them were busy receiving people and treating people, and it was not until this moment that they finally rested.
tone.
"I just heard that Duke Ying is going to send a theater troupe to the Governor, and Duke Ding is going to send some bed-warming girls. Is this true?" Li Muchian asked Wang Dehua.
Wang Dehua nodded: "Yes, but I was rejected by Eunuch Chang."
"Hey, our little governor knows everything but doesn't know how to enjoy it. It's getting colder and colder today. How can he bear it without a girl to warm the bed?" Li Muchian chuckled, and Wang Dehua laughed.
: "Eunuch Chang is young and strong, and he is very angry. He doesn't like to bother others with this kind of thing."
"Hey, to put it bluntly, I don't know how to enjoy myself. I just like to fight and kill. All I can think about is killing thieves and quelling chaos." Li Muxian glanced at Wang Dehua intentionally or unintentionally as he spoke.
Wang Dehua laughed loudly: "Master Fang, there is really no need for you to insinuate yourself here. We are wearing the same trousers as Eunuch Chang. We are not sent by the emperor to inquire about Eunuch Chang. Don't worry."
Oh, Li Muxian chuckled: "Then what happens here tonight will be told to the emperor when we return to the palace tomorrow."
"That's natural, but there's nothing to say. Eunuch Chang stood upright and acted upright. There was nothing wrong with him." Wang Dehua spread his hands and then mysteriously whispered: "Actually, the emperor only cares about receiving
No matter how much money he paid, he didn't care so much about anything else. He trusted Eunuch Chang the most."
"Yes, I don't know how much money I collected today." Li Muxian was stunned: "Shall we go there?"
There are as many as 150,000!
Chang Yu got up in the middle of the day with a splitting headache. Hearing that he had received so much money, he felt refreshed. Li Muxian held an abacus in his hand and fiddled with it in front of him: "There are nearly a hundred officials below the fifth rank, but not even one penny."
When it comes down to it, there are dozens of officials of fifth rank and above, except for the senior officials of the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers, who usually have one hundred and eighty taels or even ten dozen taels..."
"So in the end, the big ones are all from those nobles, right?" Chang Yu drank vegetable porridge and ate salted duck eggs after washing up.
Li Muxian nodded: "The forty-plus count marquises who came here all started with a thousand taels, and collected more than fifty thousand. The dozen or so yamen managers in the palace collected more than fifty thousand, plus the two princes and others, a total of fifteen
Seventy-seven thousand six hundred and fifty taels, of which the 10,000 taels sent by the British government was the largest."
"How much did Wu Mengming send? Hey, this old boy didn't come yesterday, right?" Chang Yu suddenly realized this problem, and as expected, Li Muchian nodded: "Master Wu sent someone to send a message yesterday, and he didn't come to avoid suspicion, but
I also sealed the money and sent it directly to the Yamen, one thousand taels."
As the emperor, he was very reluctant to see the two knives in his hands coming too close. Chang Yu and Wu Mengming both knew this very well. The emperor wanted to play with balance and checks and balances. Although they had a close relationship in private, on the surface they had to be different.
and.
"It seems that this old boy is really broke...but he will soon be rich." Chang Yu smiled slightly. Da Ming Bank has opened in several important towns in Gyeonggi Province. I heard that the business is doing very well, and then along the canal
Opening a branch... Banking has been one of the most profitable industries throughout the ages.
What's more, Chang Yu now owns the largest logistics company in Ming Dynasty, the only royal trademark chamber of commerce. It's hard not to make money, and Wu Mengming has shares in it.
Nearly two hundred people came to the banquet yesterday, leaving the Sanjin mansion in a mess. However, after the servants cleaned it up overnight, it has now returned to its original cleanliness, and you can even smell the fragrance of sweet-scented osmanthus.
Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Ancient people attached great importance to celebrating festivals. Unlike later generations, it has become an excuse to eat, drink and have fun on vacation, and the original meaning of the festival has long been lost.
This was the first important festival that Chang Yu had celebrated after traveling back in time. Looking back on the past, it seemed like a dream, and he decided to have a good holiday.
Yesterday was considered a business banquet, so today we will hold a family banquet and invite some friends and colleagues over to have a meal and chat about home affairs.
Of course, it is not up to Chang Yu to decide whether this banquet can be held. Although he may seem powerful to outsiders, in fact he is just a servant of the royal family.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the royal family also held special events. If he was asked to enter the palace to serve, he would not be able to host the family banquet, so he had to go to the palace.
A dozen men gathered together in the front yard and talked in low voices. They were all subordinates of the Thirteen Taibao who were ordered to help arrange the banquet yesterday. At this time, everything was done and they were waiting to say goodbye to the host.
Chang Yu asked Lao Hu to take a hundred taels of silver and reward him: "Everyone will stay here for now, maybe there is a family dinner to be busy with in the evening."
"Just a word from the Governor, we are here to work at any time." These men were all very cheerful. Chang Yu smiled and nodded: "Then you guys just rest and wait for our reply." He cupped his hands and went out.
Get ready to enter the palace.
But he found that the alley outside the mansion was packed with people. He looked at at least a hundred people at a glance and couldn't help but frown. What were these people doing?
The crowd also saw him and greeted him with greetings and greetings: "Mr. Du Gong, what a happy holiday..." Although Chang Yu was confused, he quickly changed his smile and clasped his fists and handed over his hands: "Happy holidays to all my neighbors... Yesterday was a happy holiday.
You have all been happy to see my son move into a new house, but today this is..."
"Hey, Mr. Governor, we are here to beg for food," someone shouted. Chang Yu then realized that they were all holding pots and pans in their hands, and suddenly frowned. Could it be that the neighbors are refugees? But there is no such thing in the inner city.
Refugees are allowed to beg, and their accents and clothes don't look like refugees.
At this time, Lao Hu hurried over to Chang Yu and whispered: "They are all neighbors in the alley, here to beg for yesterday's leftovers."
Chang Yu suddenly realized!
In later generations, when someone's family holds a wedding or wedding, the neighbors will come to ask for leftovers to eat or to feed the dogs and pigs.
A wealthy family like the Chang Mansion had a banquet with hundreds of guests yesterday, so it was inevitable that there would be a lot of leftover soup left over, and these neighbors came to ask for it. I have to say that they were also very smart, and they dared to go to the house of the eunuch of Dongchang to ask for it.
This is probably why the young eunuch I met yesterday was so approachable.
Besides, with the current famine, every household’s life is very tight. On weekdays, the most they can get is porridge and pickles. Many families haven’t seen oil or water for many days. Finally, if a rich neighbor holds a banquet, he must come and get some leftovers to eat.
ah.
Chang Yu naturally agreed, and the neighbors were grateful to him and gave him a thumbs up. He was so down-to-earth, and he had never seen or heard of such an approachable eunuch.
Chang Yu was still in a hurry to enter the palace. He exchanged greetings with the neighbors and then got into the carriage and was about to leave. Suddenly he heard someone in the distance shouting: "Brother Chang, Brother Chang, wait a moment."
Hey, this is incredible, who is so bold to call the eunuch of Dongchang as Brother Chang? The neighbors were excited, and when they followed the call, they saw a lovely little girl rushing towards her, but they changed because of the sudden attention she attracted.
I was a little overwhelmed, and my face turned red, as red as an apple.
Yes, she is Little Apple, and only she can call it that, and only she dares to call it that way.
"Guoguo, why are you here?" Chang Yu poked his head out of the carriage and asked. Little Apple quickly ran to the car: "Daddy asked me to ask you if you will go home for dinner tonight?"
Chang Yu thought for a moment: "Come here to eat in the evening, it will be more lively when there are more people." Little Apple hummed: "Brother Chang, where are you going?"
"Go to the palace..." Chang Yu responded casually, and suddenly his heart moved: "Apple, do you want to go to the palace to see it?"
Ah, Little Apple immediately became excited: "I, I, I want to, but I, I'm afraid!"
"What are you afraid of when I'm here? Get in the car." Chang Yu chuckled: "Go to the palace and let Linglong take you around."
Okay, Little Apple now also knows Chang Yu's identity. The eunuch of Dongchang is the head of the eunuchs and palace maids. He is the largest in the palace besides the emperor's family.
"Lao Hu, go and inform your family." After Little Apple got on the carriage, Chang Yu said a few words, lowered the curtain and entered the palace.