After learning from the newspaper that the chief steward of his government had escaped, Situ Pan immediately asked Lu Sangu to inquire about it. Naturally, Lu Sangu didn't know about such a trivial matter, so she went back to ask Jia Xu. Jia Xu smiled and said, "It's obviously Cong'er who did it." He kept talking. Find the document sent from the capital. The next day, Lv Sangu asked Secretary Yu to hand the document to Situ Pan.
Co-author The Prince of Yan's Mansion initially thought that Sun Liang had encountered something outside, but on the third day after he left, he learned that he had used the money in the public account. Fang suspected that his family had fled and sent someone to report the case to the Wucheng Military and Horse Division. Zhao Cheng hurriedly dropped his official duties and went to investigate. The investigation was easy. After the Sun family left the city gate that day, they hired two large rubber-tired carriages with two drivers and four strong horses. Heading straight to Tianjin. He also said that he had to hurry and would rather pay more to ask the driver to go faster. The road between Beijing and Tianjin had been built long ago, and it only took two hours.
Then they rushed to the Tianjin pier without stopping for a while, and made a point at the pier. Sun Liang stopped in front of a ship that was leaving the port in the afternoon, and asked everyone he met if they would like to take a later ship. The ticket was sold to him. He said that his father was seriously ill in Japan, and he would not be able to see him until he left without paying the bills. He was willing to pay double the ticket price. Chinese people have always valued filial piety, and some people love the beauty of adulthood, while others love money. Not long after, he collected the tickets for the whole family and boarded the ship to leave the port on the same day. The whole family had Lu Yinzi, and they were from the state of Lu. The special envoy of King Lu had done a small business in Beijing, specializing in buying Lu Yinzi. .Sell it when you give it money. He is an honest child and never asks the buyer any questions. By the time the Wucheng Military and Horse Division thoroughly investigated the matter, the Sun family had disembarked at the Yansong in Japan and no one knew where they went.
After reading it, Situ Pan shook his head and said, "People's hearts are unreliable." He held the document and thought for a long time, then asked his secretary what he thought.
Secretary Yu said: "I'm afraid it will have a broken window effect." Situ Pan glanced at him in confusion and said, "If we don't protect everything, it will cause slaves in the capital and even the entire Yan Kingdom to run away."
Situ Pan frowned: "We must order Feng Tang to catch that family in Japan and punish them severely."
Secretary Yu said: "Mr. Feng can't catch him."
"How can I see it?"
"The Regent, Prime Minister Lin and others are eager to have as many runaway slaves as possible. What Mr. Sun Liang did is exactly what they want, so they will not be allowed to be caught." Seeing Situ Pan's brows tightening, Secretary Yu asked Explained, "Every large family has a number of slaves ranging from hundreds to thousands, who only do errands to serve the master every day. Just releasing these labors is enough to fill hundreds of large factories."
Situ Pan was dumbfounded: "Jia Cong must be crazy if he wants to work hard! They have a lot of slaves in Rongguo Mansion."
Secretary Yu smiled slightly and answered the question: "Beijing is busy reorganizing the police and recruiting and training the police. The military and police are really the two most important professions." Situ Pan sneered, knowing that once these two professions were completely reorganized, Jia Cong and others will start to act recklessly.
Sure enough, as Secretary Yu expected, everyone in the capital knew about Sun Liang's absconding, and countless uneasy servants stretched out their ears and eyes to wait for the news. More than ten days later, the Japanese Yan family came back with news that there were sparsely populated people and high mountains there. The forest is dense, and there are not even many horses. It is connected to Liu and Wu, and has large and small ports to go to overseas countries. Moreover, ships going to overseas never look at the road guides, not to mention North America, Southeast Asia and Australia. Lu Yinzi, any living person can board the ship - they are all short of people. A few days later, the Japanese Yan family sent back the news again. Sun Liang's family only stayed in Japan for two days, and bought the ship ticket on the third day. Heading to the Malay Kingdom in Southeast Asia. Feng Tang doesn't control that country, so he doesn't know what happens next.
There is really no need to say the sentence "those behind will not know", but Feng Tang wrote it in black and white, and Jia Cong ordered the military commanders of the five cities to write it in a majestic manner on government notices posted all over the streets. Suddenly someone suspected the regent.
The king deliberately destroyed the prestige of King Yan.
Unexpectedly, a few days later, another slave from a wealthy family escaped. This time, it was from Shi Ding's family, the Marquis of Zhongjing. The two slaves were just ordinary handymen, and they only had a daughter when they were nearly forty years old. They are now sixteen years old.
, serving Mrs. Zhong Jinghou in the inner courtyard. Although she is not very beautiful, her skin is fair and her appearance is quite attractive. Shi Ding fell in love with her a while ago and wanted to take her in as his wife. Although the wife was not very happy, she did not
Method. However, this girl was unwilling, and neither were the old couple. But who did the master like, so how could she be left alone? Shi Ding was so angry that he did not even choose a day, and ordered her to come and serve tonight.
When the old man thought about it, if his daughter was sent to be spoiled by someone older than her father at a young age, wouldn't it be worse than death? Naturally, he and his mother-in-law would be worse off than dead. In this case, it was better to take a gamble.
Didn't the chief steward of Prince Yan's Mansion escape a while ago? Even if he was captured, the whole family would go on the road together, and they wouldn't be lonely once there. So he discussed it with the old woman and her daughter. The old woman only listened to men. The girl was stunned for a moment, then gritted her teeth with tears in her eyes and said:
"I'd rather bet! Zuo is just a dead man." The matter was decided in a hurry.
The three of them hurriedly packed up their belongings and put them close to each other, not daring to make friends and say goodbye. They each made up excuses to deceive the disciples. The old man went out through the main door, the old woman through the small door of the kitchen, and the girl went out through the back door of the garden. Thanks to Zhongjing,
The houfu was so big that no one paid attention. After leaving the house, we met up, hired a carriage and ran out of the city, and changed to a large carriage to go to Tianjin. It was already afternoon, and the old man only said that my brother was in an emergency, so he had to pay more money to ask the carriage driver to hurry up.
By the time we arrived in Tianjin, the city gates had already been closed. The family didn’t even have a way out, so they had to stay overnight at a farmhouse in the suburbs.
The old man finally saw the world of ideas and told his wife and daughter: "Since several overseas countries are extremely short of population, they don't care whether there are road guides or not, only people. Furthermore, in a place as big as Tianjin, there will be no roads and guides for sale."
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Early the next morning, when they were about to enter the city, they saw an important steward of the Zhongjing Marquis Mansion looking at the city gate. The three of them hurriedly circled half the city and entered through another gate. They were most afraid of being arrested by the Tianjin officials, but fortunately here
Huizi Yamen probably hasn't started work yet, and the people on the road don't see anything strange.
The three of them found a breakfast stall to buy pancakes and fruits, and asked the stall owner if there was any news in Tianjin. The stall owner said: "Last month, a group of officers and soldiers suddenly came from the capital, saying they were Jin Yiwei, and took away the prefect Di. Later I heard
He said that nothing important was found, so he just rolled off his official hat and returned to his place of origin. A new prefect came, he was only in his thirties, his surname was Ge. Although he was a donated official, he was said to be very impressive.
"I have only been here for less than a month, and I still don't know how to be an official." It sounded like nothing happened, but the three of them were still worried. So they rented a carriage and rushed to the port. The old woman, daughter, and daughter were waiting in the car while the old man went over to explore the situation.
The old man looked around for a moment, and a short man came up to say hello and promote business: "Old man, do you want to buy a boat ticket?"
The old man hesitated and said: "It hasn't been decided yet."
The dwarf asked again: "Where are you going, old man?"
The old man said: "Still undecided."
The dwarf immediately whispered: "Want to buy a road guide?" The old man's eyes lit up! The dwarf smiled and whispered, "Don't worry, it's not expensive."
The old man then followed the man to a room on the pier. There was a wooden sign with white and black characters hanging outside. The man pointed at the wooden sign and said, "We are the North American Shipping Office." He smiled and led the people in.
room.
There were two large cases and five or six very tall cabinets in the room, with one person sitting in front of each case. The short man whispered a few words in the ear of a gentleman, and the gentleman smiled and picked up his pen and asked the old man: "You guys
How many people are there in total? What are their names? Which country’s guide do you want?”
The old man was stunned: "May I ask which country you sell them to?"
The gentleman said: "They are sold in every country. But there is one thing. If the elderly want to go abroad, they must go to North America, otherwise they will not be sold. Let me tell you, North America is the best place for immigrants. Look at those islands in Southeast Asia. They are so hot.
People are dead! People from the south are just going to pay it back. How can we northerners stand it? There are still people who are not accustomed to the climate and die! Australia is so wild that the land is full of wild animals. They use wood to build shacks to live, and there is no decent food to eat. They eat Western potatoes all year round!
Only in North America, there are gold mines in the west and ready-made houses and fields in the east..." The man began to praise non-stop for a long time, and finally said, "Anyway, if you go to North America, you don't even need to buy a road guide, just buy a boat.
Just a ticket. How about we help you find a place to stay before sailing?"
The old man didn't dare to believe it at first, but everyone from the Zhongjing Marquis Mansion had come to the city gate, and they didn't care about anyone else. So he agreed. The gentleman, the dwarf, and the man sitting next to the table were all very happy.
They all said: "Don't worry, old man! I will keep you safe on your journey."
The old man bought three boat tickets, and the short man led the family to a nearby yard. When they arrived, they saw seven or eight rooms full of people, all waiting to board the boat. The old woman was a smart-talking person, so she went out to talk to the neighbors.
After chatting for a while, I felt a lot more at ease when I came back: It is said that there are three families who are also escaped slaves, one is from Qi State, one is from Yongping Prefecture, and the other is from Tianjin.
The family stayed in the courtyard. In the afternoon, their girl went out for a walk with two other girls and met someone from the government office posting a portrait. One girl asked who this person was. The government official said: "Zhongjing from the capital city
Three servants escaped from the governor's office and were suspected of coming to Tianjin. They came to the governor's office early in the morning and knocked on the door. They woke up Mr. Ge from the kang and helped him draw shadows and figures to search. The world is so big and there are so many ports every day.
Ships were coming in and out, and God knows where they went." The man who had escaped from the capital knew immediately that he was talking about his family. But the people in the portrait looked nothing like the three of them! Only a ghost would recognize them, so he was very brave.
She got up. She went back and told her that I was my mother with a smile, which frightened the old couple. Then she was not allowed to leave the hospital again. The girl was young and complained a few times.
They stayed in this courtyard for five days, and about ten more people came among them. Fortunately, the weather was warm now, so the strong men slept in the courtyard. On the night of the sixth day, the dwarf came over and asked everyone to hurry up and prepare their luggage.
Board the ship.
Someone asked: "Isn't the boat sailing tomorrow?"
The short man said: "During the day, there were people from the Zhongjing Marquis on the pier patrolling around." The old man and his family all took a breath in fright. The short man continued, "Anyway, I will take you on board tonight, and we will sail tomorrow.
Those servants don't do night patrols." They didn't dare to say anything more. They immediately went back to pack their things and followed the dwarf to Tianjin Port like a thief.
The port was silent, but the stars were shining brightly. The dwarf explained in a low voice: "Everyone is sensible and doesn't light lanterns. When you encounter difficult places, you just light a match."
Someone asked: "Who are you guys?"
The dwarf said: "Tomorrow we are not the only ones sailing overseas." Everyone laughed dumbly.
So they tiptoed onto the boat and slept on the boat that night. Many people didn't sleep a wink all night and stayed below the deck without daring to go out until dawn.
The next morning, the big ship left the port, taking the old man's family of three and a boatload of immigrants away safely.
There was a young man from Cangzhou who was single, handsome and capable. He had been courteous to the daughter of the family since he was born in the courtyard in Tianjin, and he took care of the whole family on the ship. The old couple and the girl were quite satisfied. After arriving in North America,
Soon the two young men got married. The son-in-law and the old man farmed, while the daughter and the old woman did chores for the military base. Although life was hard, it was happy. Many years later, the old man saw the rich family's carriage passing by and asked his daughter if she regretted it -
-If you stay in the capital, you will not be able to afford fine clothes and fine food. The daughter pointed to her son-in-law's dark and shiny back and said, "Regret? I have seen that the man named Shi even had wrinkles on his back!" The old man laughed loudly: "It's worth it!"
For later.
After the family escaped, the Wucheng Soldiers and Horses Division only found out that they met a trafficker in Tianjin Port, and nothing happened after that. After waiting for more than half a month without arresting anyone, Shi Ding became ill.
He didn't care much about the maid, he just hated losing his face. So his wife hired a sixteen-year-old girl to be his wife - this girl was willing.
After that, even the details of the matter spread quickly throughout the capital. Someone said loudly in the market teahouse: "These three servants of the Shi family are different from the ones who returned to Prince Yan's house last time. They did not prepare anything in advance. Lord Shi said that the girl would be there that night."
Went to wait on them, but were so frightened that they immediately ran away, empty-handed. I heard that someone saw them boarding a ship to North America. The ship owner knew that the Zhongjing Marquis was looking for them at the dock, so he led them around. It can be seen that when they arrived in Tianjin, it was a living thing.
People can go to sea safely."
A few days later, a slave in the Duke's Mansion made a mistake and was caught by the steward, tied up and thrown into the stable. The night watchman got drunk and told him that the master had heard about it and ordered him to be beaten to death tomorrow. In the middle of the night, this happened
The man actually broke free from the rope and ran away. After several days of tracking by the military and horse divisions of the five cities, he boarded a ship to the Malay Kingdom in Southeast Asia and bought a temporary road guide in Tianjin Port. There are several other cases of escaped slaves like this.
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All the gentlemen were annoyed. A few slaves just wanted to pay it back. What mattered was face. So letters were sent like raindrops to Ge Qiao, the newly appointed prefect of Tianjin. Lord Ge wrote all the replies in his own hand: I will seriously rectify the indiscriminate trafficking in Tianjin Port.
Lu Yinzi's black-hearted profiteers would never condone or tolerate them. Then he made serious efforts to punish profiteers, and banned all those who sold at high prices. He also hung a huge banner at Tianjin Port: Safety, Order, Fairness, and Harmony.
On the day the banner was hung up, many people gathered around to look at it. A man sent by the Southeast Asian country of Java to recruit immigrants read it over and said to himself: "What does this slogan mean?"
The gentleman from the North American Shipping Office told him slowly: "The prefect wants us to get along well with each other and not to steal business."
Everyone sneered in unison: "Sir, that's it! Your family is the one who loves to steal business, and you still have the nerve to talk to others."