A young man with a weak crown, wearing a fur cloak, stood outside the house in the wind and snow. When he saw Jia Lan pushing out the door, he immediately raised his hands and gave a salute.
"I'm Lin Shixian, the young owner of Lin's Trading Company. I'm trying to test thousands of households for the internal health factory. I beg Mr. Jia to help me!"
Looking at the well-mannered and upright young man in front of him, Jia Lan would be lying if he said he wasn't surprised.
Although he had learned that the Lin's Trading Company, which arrived at Yuqiuyi one after another with him, had an extraordinary origin, Jia Lan did not associate them with the inner guards.
I just thought it was the caravan of a noble relative in Beijing.
I didn’t expect him to be an internal guard!
The young master in front of him, who called himself Lin Shixian, looked at his scholarly air and the appearance of a humble gentleman. Jia Lan was more willing to believe that he was a scholar who read poetry and books than a businessman who was always willing to spend money.
In Xia Chengming's system, the once notorious East Factory and West Factory were not re-established, but the inner court still had an internal guard factory. One was for the emperor's personal and external eyes and ears, the second was for supervising and restraining the embroidery guards, etc., and the third was for the attendants.
Guards the emperor and his surroundings.
For the purpose of checks and balances, many times the emperor sent his trusted eunuchs to supervise the eunuchs of the inner guard factory. This also caused a prejudice among the people. The embroidered guards were regarded as the former Ming Dynasty brocades, while the inner guards were like the east and west second factories.
.
Therefore, the internal guards were also despised as eunuchs by the scholar-bureaucrats.
In fact, this is not the case. Even now, except for the post of admiral, which is held by eunuchs, all the other subordinate officials in the Internal Guard Factory are not eunuchs. Instead, they are held by children of the internal guard family who have guarded the royal family for generations. In some cases, even the internal guard admiral himself is not an eunuch.
Select directly from these disciples.
If we want to use a vivid metaphor, the people who work in the internal defense factory are more like the retainers who took over from the shogun's family next door during the Tokugawa shogunate era. Their ancestors were all Taizu's retinue, so in line with the times, we should open a corresponding department.
After creating an organization to place these heroes, it not only reflects Taizu's forgiveness for his subordinates, but also allows the people who serve the dragon to truly get the treatment of being separated from the country.
In the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the total number of years in which eunuchs actually served as governors of the internal defense was less than one-third.
Lin Shixian looks like he is only in his junior years. It is not easy to become an internal guard and test a thousand households at such an age. He can be called a young talent.
Jia Lan believes in his spiritual sense more than his appearance, while Lin Shixian has a calm aura and a calm and indifferent magnanimity.
But under this indifference, Jia Lan could feel that the owner of the aura was in great anxiety.
Lin Shixian's purpose of coming was unclear, so Jia Lan asked tentatively: "Brother Lin came to visit late at night. Could it be that I violated the national law and bothered the internal guards to come and seize him?"
His tone was cautious but also tinged with a hint of ridicule. During the process, Jia Lan's spiritual sense expanded and he paid close attention to every expression on Lin Shixian's face.
"Young Master Jia is overly worried." Lin Shixian smiled hoarsely: "Young Master belongs to a noble family. After the Rongguo Kingdom, even the internal guards cannot be easily arrested without the Holy Spirit's will."
Lin Shixian's aura showed no change, nor did he reveal any malice, which made Jia Lan unsure.
"Then why did Brother Lin come here this time?"
"I would like to ask you to pack your bags immediately and leave to the north to avoid being involved in the war here!"
"War, here?" Jia Lan said in surprise: "Brother Lin, Yuqiu Post is a large official post with a team of guards stationed there. Any attack will be regarded as treason. Who has the courage?"<
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Faced with Jia Lan's doubts, Lin Shixian half-opened his mouth and paused briefly before speaking.
In the dim snowy night, this stagnation was almost undetectable, but the momentary fluctuation in Lin Shixian's aura was still keenly captured by Jia Lan.
"Linqing City has been broken into by thieves, and a group of bandits are running towards here under the leadership of the bandit leader Chen Shan and brother Chen Rong!"
"What?"
Lin Shixian's news really shocked Jia Lan.
Linqing City is not a small outlying city, but a strategic pass on the canal. The city is high and the pond is deep, and there are even garrisoned guards. How could it be easily broken?
More importantly, Linqing City is not far from Yuqiuyi!
"Is this true?"
"It's absolutely true!" Lin Shixian said firmly.
Jia Lan believed that the other party would not easily entertain himself with such things, so he asked: "What does Brother Lin want me to do?"
"Sir, please come here."
Lin Shixian invited Jia Lan into the room, took out a cloth bag wrapped in a tarpaulin from his arms, opened it, and revealed an envelope tightly sealed with fire paint.
He smiled at Qingwen who walked out of the back room, opened the paint in front of the two of them, and took out the contents.
"This is a silver note of one million taels. Please take it out of here, Mr. Jia, bring it safely to Shenjing, and hand it over to the palace with your own hands."
"One million taels!" Qingwen covered her mouth and exclaimed.
Jia Lan took it from Lin Shixian and looked at it one by one. The one million banknotes belonged to several banknotes, including Jiangzuo and Hedong, all of which were famous large banknotes.
Putting down the banknotes in his hand, Jia Lan glanced at Qin Zhong and Liang Yong, who had heard the news from outside. They were frightened when they saw the banknotes worth millions and learned that Lin Shixian was the identity of the internal guard Qianhu.
Not light.
Jia Lan looked at Lin Shixian again, his eyes a little solemn: "Send to the palace?"
"That's right!"
Lin Shixian put the banknote away, repainted it, and wrapped it carefully.
"There have been constant natural disasters in the past few years, and the tribes and Di people on the northern grasslands have also experienced some unstable trends. This million silver is the money that the Holy One has painstakingly raised to help the victims and pay the food and salary arrears in Jiubian. I ask Mr. Jia to confirm it."
Send him safely to the palace!"
Jia Lan looked at the banknote in his hand and then at Lin Shixian.
"Brother Lin, this is a serious matter, why don't you deliver it yourself?"
"It's too late." Lin Shixian shook his head, "My men risked their lives to deliver the news. The bandits are less than ten miles away from here, and even heavy snowfall can't stop them for long.
Moreover, there is still gold and silver worth millions of dollars in the caravan. The guards are responsible for it, and Shixian must not leave his subordinates and escape alone.
What's more, too many of our brothers have died in order to make this trip!"
Lin Shixian's voice was filled with sadness, and Jia Lan frowned upon hearing this.
The water is very deep here.
Liang Yong pondered for a moment and then asked: "With the ability of the internal guards, how could they be in such a mess? The guards along the way should have sent troops to escort them, right?"
That's right! That's the problem, but it's certainly not that simple, Jia Lan looked at Lin Shixian and said to himself.
As expected, Lin Shixian's aura became somewhat chaotic.
"The news has leaked!"
Mentioning this, there was still an expression of disbelief on his face: "The journey was originally smooth until we entered the territory of Shanyang. The Linqing Guard and other guards who were supposed to come were unable to come because of bandits.
What's worse is that the news leaked out for some reason, and we were constantly attacked along the way, and the other party..."
At the end of the sentence, Lin Shixian made a big salute to Jia Lan: "Shixian is at the end of his rope at this moment. I just ask Jie Yuanlang to help you out of the ancestral friendship between our two families!"