After accepting Liu Huaiyuan's oath of allegiance, Zhao Junchen fell into deep thought.
Because of the large amount of intelligence provided by Liu Huaiyuan, Zhao Junchen has initially figured out the general outline of the recent changes in the situation in Nanjing City.
However, among all kinds of information, Liu Huaiyuan missed the most critical piece of information.
That is - not long ago today, Zhou Shangjing took advantage of the opportunity of a public debate between the Jin gentry forces and the Huangzhuang forces in the Confucius Temple to publicly propose the restart of the Six Ministries of Nanjing, forcing the seventh prince Zhu Hejian to fully compromise and announce severe punishment for profiteers in Nanjing
The command!
The "United Shipping Company" founded by Zhao Junchen was about to suffer heavy losses due to this order.
Of course, Liu Huaiyuan did not deliberately conceal this information.
Ever since he stabbed Song Chengren in the back, Liu Huaiyuan has not dared to meet Zhou Shangjing. He did not go to the Confucius Temple today to witness the public debate between the Jin gentry forces and the Huangzhuang forces. Instead, he has been hiding outside Nanjing with the Jiang Fang camp soldiers.
, naturally cannot keep abreast of the latest news from the Confucius Temple, and thus cannot provide relevant information to Zhao Junchen.
Because of the lack of this key piece of information, after Zhao Junchen compiled all the information, although he had already speculated that Zhou Shangjing must have a far-reaching plan and a big plan this time, he was unable to accurately guess Zhou Shangjing's true intention in a short period of time.
Zhao Junchen was extremely afraid of Zhou Shangjing. If he could not guess Zhou Shangjing's true intention in advance, he would naturally not dare to confront Zhou Shangjing easily.
"If I couldn't guess Zhou Shangjing's true intention, I would have had little chance of winning if I rashly entered the muddy waters of Nanjing City..."
And just when Zhao Junchen was in such distress, the voice of Zhao's aide Li Chuanwen sounded outside the cabin.
"Information to Minister Zhao that the Crown Prince and Grand Master Wang Baoren has arrived and is waiting outside the ship. He has learned about your arrival in Nanjing and hopes to meet and have a confidential chat with you!"
After hearing the report, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but be stunned.
After all, it has only been more than an hour since Zhao Junchen arrived outside Nanjing by boat, and the time for revealing his identity to the outside world is much shorter, less than half an hour. It stands to reason that even all the forces in Nanjing have already withdrawn.
When the news arrived, there was no time to respond.
As one of the key figures in Nanjing, Wang Baoren's appearance did not surprise Zhao Junchen. It was expected that he wanted to meet and talk secretly with Zhao Junchen, but Wang Baoren's appearance was too fast.
It was as if he had guessed Zhao Junchen's arrival time in advance.
After all, Wang Baoren has a distinguished status, so although Zhao Junchen was confused, he did not dare to delay. He immediately stood up and said: "Master Wang is here? He is a senior, and I must welcome him personally."
As he spoke, Zhao Junchen was about to walk out of the cabin.
But at the next moment, Zhao Junchen keenly discovered that Liu Huaiyuan, the commander of the Jiang Fang camp, did not seem to intend to follow him to the outside of the ship to greet Wang Baoren. Instead, he stood still in his original position with an extremely embarrassed expression.
Seeing Liu Huaiyuan's embarrassed expression, Zhao Junchen quickly guessed the reason.
"Liu Wuchen, you were originally a fringe figure of the 'Zhou Party'. You assisted Song Chengren in handling water transportation and smuggling business within Nanjing. However, you were instigated by the Crown Prince Wang Baoren some time ago and reported Song Chengren under your real name, causing Song Chengren to
You are in jail, so...before you swore allegiance to this pavilion, you had already changed your family and joined Taishi Wang's sect, right?"
After hearing this, Liu Huaiyuan's expression became increasingly embarrassed, but he did not deny it.
During this period of time, he first secretly took refuge with Wang Baoren, completely betrayed the "Zhou Party" under Wang Baoren's instigation, and then swore allegiance to Zhao Junchen without Wang Baoren's permission. Such behavior can be called a family with three surnames.
Slave.
But now, his current master Zhao Junchen and his former master Wang Baoren are about to meet for a secret meeting, and Liu Huaiyuan's position is naturally extremely embarrassing.
Zhao Junchen had a tolerant attitude and didn't seem to mind Liu Huaiyuan's repeated changes of masters. Instead, he smiled and comforted: "Under such circumstances, you must be worried about Taishi Wang's attitude and think that Taishi Wang may be angry with you without his consent."
The matter of changing the court... But you don’t have to worry too much. After I meet with Grand Master Wang, I will personally explain the matter to Grand Master Wang. Presumably, Grand Master Wang will be willing to sell it to me. I forgive you for not reporting it to him before changing the court.
negligence."
When Zhao Junchen expressed his stance like this, he was full of confidence.
According to Zhao Junchen's prediction, when Wang Baoren and Zhou Shangjing compete against each other in the near future, there is a high probability that they will be at a disadvantage.
As a result, Wang Baoren most likely regards Zhao Junchen as a foreign aid and hopes to join forces with Zhao Junchen to fight against Zhou Shangjing.
Therefore, Wang Baoren would never care about trivial matters with Zhao Junchen.
In Wang Baoren's eyes, Liu Huaiyuan's change of family was a trivial matter.
Wang Baoren originally took Liu Huaiyuan under his wing just to use Liu Huaiyuan's real name to report Song Chengren and cut off Zhou Shangjing's biggest help in Nanjing. After this intention was implemented, Liu Huaiyuan lost its use value to Wang Baoren.
But in the future, Liu Huaiyuan will inevitably suffer the full revenge of the "Zhou Party". In order to maintain his own prestige, Wang Baoren must try his best to protect Liu Huaiyuan, who has become useless. Naturally, he is not willing to do so.
Under such circumstances, if Liu Huaiyuan is allowed to switch to Zhao Junchen, Wang Baoren may be happy to see the result, and even secretly feel happy that he has gotten rid of a burden. He can also use Liu Huaiyuan's existence to further intensify the relationship between Zhao Junchen and Zhou Shangjing.
contradiction.
Therefore, according to Zhao Junchen's speculation, after Wang Baoren saw Liu Huaiyuan changing his family, he most likely followed the trend and took the opportunity to sell himself a favor. Even if he was unhappy, he would never care about it.
Of course, after Zhao Junchen took Liu Huaiyuan under his sect, he had to protect Liu Huaiyuan on behalf of Wang Baoren and block the subsequent revenge of the "Zhou Party" forces for Liu Huaiyuan, which must have been extremely difficult.
But under the current situation, Zhao Junchen must have a head-on confrontation with Zhou Shangjing. Regardless of whether Liu Huaiyuan is his disciple or not, this confrontation is inevitable, so Zhao Junchen does not mind taking Liu Huaiyuan under his disciple.
What's more, his chicken ribs are my treasure.
For Zhao Junchen, the biggest benefit of taking Liu Huaiyuan as his disciple is not that he controls a weak army that cannot be reused, but that he can take the opportunity to intervene in Jiang Fang camp's power to inspect smuggling. This power is in Zhao Junchen's eyes
It is crucial and may also be of great use in the subsequent power struggle in Nanjing.
Of course, Zhao Junchen naturally looked down upon Liu Huaiyuan, a faggot who repeatedly changed his family, and would never trust Liu Huaiyuan's loyalty. He was just using him for a temporary purpose, and sooner or later he would have to abandon him and choose someone else to use him.
.
On the other side, Liu Huaiyuan finally felt a little relieved after hearing Zhao Junchen's assurance, and finally had the courage to follow Zhao Junchen to meet Wang Baoren outside the ship.
*
When Zhao Junchen walked out of the cabin surrounded by Liu Huaiyuan and a group of staff and guards, he saw Wang Baoren also stepping out of his sedan chair.
When Wang Baoren looked up at Zhao Junchen, his old face was filled with joy, as if he was reunited with an old friend.
"Sure enough, it was Zhao Gechen who came to Nanjing in person! After hearing about this from the Jiangfang camp soldiers, I was still a little unbelievable, because according to my information, Zhao Gechen should be inspecting armaments in Liaodong recently. Unexpectedly, Zhao Gechen was still in Liaodong a few days ago.
, and now you have come all the way to Nanjing, you must have been extremely lucky along the way, right?"
Walking quickly to Zhao Junchen, Wang Baoren took the initiative to hold Zhao Junchen's hands and expressed his condolences warmly.
Zhao Junchen also had a friendly attitude, shook his head and sighed: "After I finished my trip to Liaodong, I was about to return to the center of the capital, but I was soon stopped halfway by someone sent by His Majesty. He was not worried about things in Nanjing, so he
I was assigned the status of an imperial envoy and asked me to come to Nanjing in person to announce to all walks of life that the imperial court decided to abolish the six departments in Nanjing!
I didn't dare to delay, so I naturally rushed day and night... But there were many accidents along the way, either the ship broke down or the bottom of the ship leaked, so it took me two full days later than expected to get here! In fact, if it weren't for
I made a decisive decision and transferred to the light passenger ship at the back. I was afraid it would be a few days later before I could reach Nanjing! So it was indeed extremely unfortunate."
After hearing Zhao Junchen's explanation, Wang Baoren's eyes flickered and he fell into deep thought.
Zhao Junchen took the opportunity to lead Wang Baoren onto the passenger ship and returned to his cabin on the ship.
After both parties sat down, Zhao Junchen and Wang Baoren shared information with each other in a tacit understanding.
The intelligence content Zhao Junchen shared with Wang Baoren was mainly about the recent changes in the situation in the capital city.
"...His Majesty assigned me the task of delivering the imperial envoy. On the one hand, he was worried about the unstable situation in Nanjing. On the other hand, he did not want me to return to the center of the capital early to disrupt the situation!
In recent months, as I went north to inspect Liaodong, Zhou's first assistant went south to Jinling to take charge. His Majesty no longer had any constraints in the temple, and the imperial power completely overwhelmed the ministerial power! Taking advantage of this opportunity, His Majesty also used fists and fists to confine him.
He appointed the Crown Prince and Crown Prince, dismissed the Minister of Civil Affairs, interfered with the public funds of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and even wanted to further control the replacement of cabinet ministers!"
In order to express sincerity, Zhao Junchen took the lead in sharing with Wang Baoren the recent changes in the situation in the capital city.
When talking about the latter part, Zhao Junchen looked serious and said firmly: "So, we ministers must end the affairs in Nanjing as soon as possible, and we must return to the center of the capital as soon as possible! If Nanjing delays for too long, we will wait until we return to the center of the capital.
After that, I’m afraid many things will be done!”
After Zhao Junchen left Liaodong, he was stopped by Emperor Deqing's messengers as soon as he entered the capital. He quickly changed his route and rushed to Nanjing. Therefore, he only knew some general information about the changes in the situation in the capital center and shared the information with Wang Baoren.
It's also extremely rough.
However, after seeing Zhao Junchen taking the lead in sharing the news and showing his sincerity, Wang Baoren thought for a moment and quickly responded, explaining to Zhao Junchen in detail all the recent events in Nanjing, only concealing the most important information.
A small number of them involve their own secrets.
Although Zhou Shangjing asked Wang Baoren not to reveal any information when welcoming Zhao Junchen, Wang Baoren did not directly agree to this request at the time, and now he plans to add fuel to the fire!
The information provided by Wang Baoren was naturally far more detailed than Liu Huaiyuan's. Wang Baoren directly explained the truth behind many situations that could only be seen in the fog, saving Zhao Junchen a lot of thought.
The most important thing is that Wang Baoren also explained to Zhao Junchen in detail what happened in Confucius Temple today, making up for Zhao Junchen's lack of intelligence, and finally letting Zhao Junchen understand Zhou Shangjing's true intention!
It turns out that Zhou Shangjing's real goal is to "joint shipping companies"!
This old fox actually wants to take "United Shipping Lines" away from him!
Nanjing is not only the most prosperous large-scale city in the contemporary Far East, with a population of one million, but it is also the intersection hub of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and the Yangtze River Waterway. Its influence radiates to the entire Jiangnan region, which is very important!
Once Zhou Shangjing is allowed to take away the Nanjing branch of "United Shipping Company", coupled with the deep foundation and heritage of the "Zhou Party", Zhou Shangjing's influence on "United Shipping Company" will quickly surpass that of Zhao Junchen.
At that time, Zhao Junchen will no longer be able to control the "United Shipping Company" as he did before, and Zhou Shangjing will definitely want to go further, continue to dispel Zhao Junchen's influence, and find a way to control the entire "United Shipping Company"
.
Thinking of this, Zhao Junchen's face naturally became particularly gloomy.
On the other side, after Wang Baoren saw the change in Zhao Junchen's expression, he was secretly happy, thinking that he could soon completely intensify the conflict between Zhao Junchen and Zhou Shangjing, making Zhou and Zhao fight with each other, while he
Then there is a chance to make a profit.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! So Wang Baoren took the opportunity to add fuel to the fire again and said: "Well, if Zhao Gechen could arrive in Nanjing two or three hours in advance, Zhou Shangjing's conspiracy would not succeed.
Got it!
Zhao Gechen just said that he had many accidents on his way to Nanjing. I am afraid that Zhou Shangjing was behind the scenes! On the one hand, he wanted to seize the Nanjing branch of the United Shipping Company before Zhao Gechen came on stage. On the other hand, he also wanted to catch up with the imperial court.
Before officially announcing the abolition of the Six Ministries in Nanjing, he threatened the Seventh Prince to fully compromise with him by restarting the Six Ministries in Nanjing, so he absolutely could not allow Zhao Gechen to arrive in Nanjing in time!
But now, Zhao Gechen is a step too late after all, and many things have become a foregone conclusion! As the seventh prince issued an order to severely punish profiteers, while the two of us were talking, the Nanjing government was closing down shops and arresting merchants, and
These shops and merchants all have a close relationship with the United Shipping Company, and the gentry who support Zhou Shangjing have fully taken over the industry and influence of the United Shipping Company! In this round, Zhao Gechen, you have suffered heavy losses!"
After shaking his head and sighing, Wang Baoren secretly observed Zhao Junchen's expression, and at the same time pretended to share the same hatred with the enemy, and said angrily: "Zhou Shangjing, this old fox! I don't know whether I should praise him for his ruthless strategy, or scold him for his clumsy tactics! No matter what, he is an old fox!
, all of us have been plotted by him! Especially when he took away the "United Shipping Company", he did it through unscrupulous means. Everyone knows that "United Shipping Company" was founded by Zhao Gechen against all opinions. It can be said that it is
It's all about his hard work, but he is very light-footed and hides aside when he should be working hard. Now he is jealous of the profits of the 'United Boat Line' and wants to pick peaches to steal people's beauty!"
Later, Wang Baoren patted his chest and assured Zhao Junchen: "What Zhou Shangjing did is really despicable! Although I have nothing to do with this matter, I don't like it! So, if Zhao Junchen, what are you going to do next?
If you want to seek justice from Zhou Shangjing, I am willing to help you! There is still justice in this world, and we cannot always let honest people like us suffer!"
At this moment, Zhao Junchen was indeed extremely angry, but he still remained calm and saw through Wang Baoren's plan on the spot to cause the crane and the clam to fight and benefit himself.
Perhaps Wang Baoren really wanted to form a temporary alliance with Zhao Junchen to jointly deal with Zhou Shangjing, but he obviously wanted to take control of the alliance and let Zhao Junchen charge in the front, while he hid in the rear and added fuel to the flames.
Of course, Zhao Junchen also hopes that he can form a temporary alliance with Wang Baoren. At this time, it is better to have one more friend than one more enemy, but he will not let Wang Baoren's calculations succeed.
So, after Zhao Junchen thought for a moment, he shook his head and said: "I will naturally respond to this 'United Shipping Company' matter and look for opportunities to retaliate, but...I am afraid that I cannot directly retaliate against Zhou Shangjing, but must take the lead in retaliating against the seven-year-old
Your Highness the Prince!"
Wang Baoren couldn't help being stunned after hearing this.
Zhao Junchen shook his head again and sighed: "Oh... Zhou Shangjing is indeed clever! He forced the seventh prince to publicly announce an order to punish profiteers, so in the eyes of the world, the person who is my enemy is not Zhou Shangjing, but the seventh prince!
It was the Seventh Prince who targeted me and severely damaged the United Shipping Company. Zhou Shangjing was just lucky enough to pick the peaches! Under such circumstances, I must take revenge on the Seventh Prince, otherwise my prestige in the government and the public will be completely wiped out, and I will be regarded by all forces.
A soft persimmon who can be bullied at will! At the same time, I can only take the lead in retaliating against the Seventh Prince, because I do not have enough power in Nanjing to deal with both the Seventh Prince and Zhou Shoufu at the same time!"
Wang Baoren was stunned when he heard Zhao Junchen's fallacy, but he had to admit that this fallacy did have some truth.
As a minister of the current court, prestige and reputation are more important than anything else. Once you lose your prestige and reputation, it will be like a tree falling and you will scatter.
Therefore, it is not important whether Zhao Junchen really takes revenge on his enemies. What is important is that he must let the world believe that he has the ability to take revenge on his enemies and has already done so.