As soon as Wang Gang heard the name of King Yong, he began to guess the cause and effect.
The current emperor, Zhao Zhen, has been in power for more than thirty years. The government is stable, the world is at peace, and the diplomatic relations are stable. However, his only regret is that he has few heirs.
In his early years, Zhao Zhen only had daughters in his harem, so he had to adopt his nephew as the crown prince. That nephew was named Zhao Zongquan, who was also the future emperor.
I don't know whether Zhao Zongquan is lucky or unlucky. He is the thirteenth son of an idle prince. Logically speaking, he is destined to miss the throne.
To be chosen by Zhao Zhen and adopt him as the crown prince was, logically speaking, a piece of cake in the sky.
As a result, after Zhao Zongquan adopted him, Zhao Zhen's concubines immediately gave birth to a son for him.
After having a biological son, Zhao Zhen saw that Zhao Zongquan was not happy in any way. Zhao Zongquan was also resourceful and immediately submitted a letter to resign, giving up the position of crown prince to Zhao Zhen's son, and then ran back to his fiefdom to stay out of the court's disputes.
It's funny to say that as soon as Zhao Zongquan left, Zhao Zhen's son died suddenly, causing a big disturbance.
Later, Zhao Zhen gave birth to two more sons one after another. He originally wanted to make him a prince, but unfortunately the second prince only lived to be four years old and died young. The third prince was also weak and sick when he was born, and it was difficult to raise him.
When the position of crown prince was vacant, someone in the court once again mentioned the matter of adopting the crown prince, but Zhao Zongquan was determined not to be the crown prince anymore. The most promising ones left were King Yong and King Yan.
The advantage of these two princes is that they both have heirs and have high prestige in the court.
Fighting for the heirloom has been very dangerous since ancient times, let alone fighting for the heirloom as a cousin.
For the sake of the throne, King Yong and King Yan almost unabashedly wooed important officials in the court to expand their power.
Since that Ma Guowei is King Yong's brother-in-law, he is obviously King Yong's spokesperson on Jiangnan Road.
You can't win over courtiers just by talking, you have to buy them with real money.
Jiangnan was a tax-heavy province in the Song Dynasty. This corner of the country accounted for more than half of the court's tax revenue, and everyone wanted the fragrant steamed buns.
Yangzhou Prefecture is the richest place on Jiangnan Road, and Sheng Hong, the general magistrate of Yangzhou, occupies a very important position.
However, Sheng Hong had a slippery character and never showed his support for who came to power. It seemed that he would not offend anyone, but in fact he offended both King Yong and King Yan.
When Ma Guowei arrested Wang Gang and Sheng Changbai, he probably wanted to give Sheng Hong a warning and force him to take sides.
In fact, do you know that in the original work, King Yong did similar things?
One is to capture Qi Heng’s father and force Qi Heng to marry his daughter, the head of Jiacheng County.
The other one was to capture Concubine Rong's sister Rong Feiyan, destroying her reputation and making her unable to compete with the head of Jiacheng County.
From these two things, Wang Gang knew that King Yong was a lawless lord.
You must know that Qi Heng's father is the Duke of Qi, a man who stands at the top of the lordship.
Rong Feiyan is the biological sister of the emperor's favorite concubine.
What is Sheng Hong? If it were not for the sake of the late Mrs. Wang, Sheng Hong would not be able to get into the eyes of King Yong.
This time Sheng Hong was transferred to Bianjing as an official. It seemed that he was promoted high, but in fact he was promoted and demoted secretly. He was replaced by a idle position in the imperial court from a lucrative position in the original place.
At the same time, this is also Sheng Hong's wise way to protect himself.
After trying to understand all the causes and consequences, Wang Gang fell silent.
"Now you understand! Sheng Hong didn't tell you two brothers because he didn't want you to cause trouble. It's for your own good." Master Liao looked into Wang Gang's eyes and said.
Wang Gang faced Master Liao calmly and said, "As long as I know the reason, I can't go to jail for a few days for nothing."
Master Liao raised his eyebrows and asked, "What, you still want to seek revenge from King Yong?"
Wang Gang said calmly: "Of course I can't do that now. How can I, a Bai Ding, compete with the current prince and the prince who is most likely to succeed me as the king?"
Master Liao immediately understood what Wang Gang meant. If you can't fight now, it doesn't mean you won't be able to fight in the future.
"You are a master who does not suffer losses, but I want to remind you that the other party is a prince or a prince with real power. Even if you win the first prize in the future, you will definitely not be his opponent." Master Liao reminded Wang Gang.
Wang Gang nodded and said, "Don't worry, I'm not a reckless person."
Master Liao looked at Wang Gang's look and knew that he would never give up.
After getting along with him for more than a year, Master Liao has almost figured out Wang Gang's temperament.
Next, Wang Gang never mentioned the matter of King Yong again, and the Sheng family also began to pack up their things and prepare to move everyone to Bianjing.
At that time, Sheng Hong's grandfather had already purchased a property in Bianjing, and the Sheng family could live there, so they didn't have to pack much.
Lin Sushuang was very excited about moving to Bianjing. She naively thought that Sheng Hong had been promoted back to Bianjing and dreamed of becoming her official wife.
Wang Gang didn't want to attack Lin Sushuang anymore. She was a concubine, and it was not her turn to be an official wife.
Over at Shou'an Hall, the old lady asked Fang's mother to pack her things, and she devoted all her energy to taking care of the children.
Sheng Changdong was just one year old and went all the way to Bianjing. The journey was long and he could easily get sick.
Sheng Hong chose an auspicious day and the whole family left Yangzhou together in a great hurry, as if they wanted to escape from the place of right and wrong as soon as possible.
After a month of long journey, the Sheng family finally arrived in Bianjing and moved into the Sheng family's old house.
The old residence of the Sheng family was purchased by Taigong Sheng. It is twice the size of the Sheng Mansion in Yangzhou and is divided into several courtyards.
Mrs. Wang moved into Wei Rui Xuan. The word "Wei Rui" comes from the Book of Songs "Ancient Style. Green Dior Flowers and Weirui", which means luxuriant branches and leaves.
Lin Sushuang and her children moved into Linqi Pavilion. The word "Linqi" comes from Zhang Jiuling's poem: "Who knows that those who live in the forest will listen to the wind and sit happily. The grass and trees have a heart, so why ask for a beautiful woman?"
The place where Mrs. Sheng lives continues to be called Shouan Hall.
There are still several empty courtyards in Sheng Mansion, waiting for its mistress.
After the Sheng family moved to Bianjing, Sheng Hong immediately received many invitations, all inviting him to banquets.
Even Wang Ruofu received many invitations from Bianjing ladies. When Lin Sushuang learned about this, she was extremely angry.
What made him even more angry was that as soon as he arrived in Bianjing, Sheng Hong took back Lin Sushuang's housekeeping rights and gave them back to Wang Ruofu.
Lin Sushuang made a fuss about this for a while, and Sheng Hong hid in Wei Ruixuan and did not dare to go to Lin Sushuang's Linqi Pavilion.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! In fact, Wang Gang had already expected that Sheng Hong would take back Lin Sushuang's housekeeping rights.
Bianjing is no better than Yangzhou. The mountains are high and the emperor is far away.
Letting a concubine take care of the house is the greatest contempt for the eldest lady in the house, and she may be cited by the imperial censor.
Sheng Hong values his reputation the most, so how could he make such a mistake?
Lin Sushuang lost her stewardship, which meant she lost her biggest financial source, and her status in the Sheng Mansion was immediately affected. The most important thing was that after Wang Ruofu gained power, he flaunted his power in front of Lin Sushuang all day long, which made her hate it.
In the end, Sheng Hong had to transfer some stores from his hands to Lin Sushuang as compensation.
Lin Sushuang got a store, and it was a store in Bianjing City. Wang Gang was moved.
He took the initiative to find Lin Sushuang and gave her something to sell in the store.
"Feng'er, is this soap really easy to use?" Lin Sushuang asked suspiciously, holding something as big as a palm.
Wang Gang smiled and said, "You will know if it works or not after you try it. I added toilet water to the soap to clean the body and it will leave a lingering fragrance."
Lin Sushuang washed her hands with soap dubiously, and then fell in love immediately.
"Feng'er, can this soap be mass-produced?"
Wang Gang shook his head and said: "Soap technology is simple. Once it is mass-produced, it is easy for others to steal it. Therefore, the output must be controlled at the beginning. All people involved in production must be trustworthy people."
Lin Sushuang nodded with deep understanding and said, "How much does this piece of soap cost, and what price should it be set at?"
Wang Gang said: "The cost of soap is low, less than five cents. The price can be set higher, and it is specially used by the ladies of Bianjing. I think one hundred cents is enough."
Lin Sushuang took a breath and said: "One hundred cents, twenty times the profit, the price is so high, can it be sold?"
Wang Gang smiled and said: "Before the soap goes on sale, you can find some guys to test the effect of the soap on the street, which is considered advertising."
"Advertisement?" Lin Sushuang asked confused.
"It means spreading the word widely. Once the reputation is out, we won't have to worry about sales. We can also send some free soap to the Bianjing courtesan to use and let them help us advertise."
When it came to doing business, Lin Sushuang had eight brains that were not as good as Wang Gang's. If the scholar-bureaucrats hadn't refused to do business, Wang Gang would have wanted to die personally.
But it’s not bad to have Lin Sushuang as a spokesperson. After all, she is my own mother, so I can definitely trust her.
There was a regulation in the Song Dynasty that officials were not allowed to engage in business. However, there were policies from above and countermeasures from below. Officials were not allowed to engage in business, but servants and housekeepers in the mansion were not subject to this restriction.
The Dafang of the Sheng family is a merchant, and every year money is dragged into the Sheng Mansion. Sheng Hong acts as the protection of the Dafang, which is a typical collusion between officials and businessmen.
Lin Sushuang just needs to find some trustworthy people to manage the store and sit back and collect money from now on.
But Wang Gang never expected that a small piece of soap would eventually cause a trend in Bianjing, and the Sheng family almost suffered a disaster.
