Emperor Ming Dynasty

Having made up his mind, Sun Zhenghao began to appreciate opera.

"Ten years of cultivation can make us cross the same boat, and a hundred years of cultivation can make us sleep together, la la la la..."

Singing, chanting and beating, the tune is ups and downs, which makes people hum and have endless aftertaste, and they start singing along without knowing it.

Especially when he saw the scene, surrounded by white smoke, and the fake mountains and green waters seemed real, he suddenly jumped up.

"It's so true. Is there really a white snake in this world?"

"Your Majesty, the Legend of the White Snake is very popular. I heard that when it first came out, the harem sang it continuously for half a month, and they didn't stop until they listened to all the parts of the show."

Zhou Shan said with a smile: "When we first came out, the venue was full, and everyone in the capital was so intoxicated that they felt tasteless if they didn't listen to it for a day..."

"Oh? It's really delicious!" Sun Zhenghao sighed: "I don't know when we will have this theater in Xinjing."

"My lord, when the princess comes to dowry, there will definitely be one."

"Hahaha!" Sun Zhenghao chuckled: "I never thought that I could also enjoy the flavor of Beijing!"

It wasn't until midnight that the show ended.

At this time, the whole city of Beijing seemed to be lively.

Rows of lanterns have been hung up in rows of shops, with dragons, phoenixes and unicorns competing for their beauty, as if they are trying to compete in order to attract customers.

In the store, there are special operations such as silk and silk, jewelry, spices, incense, paper and horses, etc. In addition, there are medical clinics, cart repairs, fortune-telling, face trimming and plastic surgery, and everything from all walks of life.

In order to win the top prize, the bosses of large shops will diligently set up a "cailou" and even set up a stage and invite famous actors from the theater to sing.

His name hangs as a market sign to attract business.

It attracted a lot of theater-loving street market passers-by, who crowded together just to see the famous actor.

Every step, every line, every word, every promise seems to have a charm, making people addicted to it.

The merchants doing business, the elegant gentry, the officials on horseback, the hawkers, the family members riding in sedan chairs, the traveling monks carrying baskets on their backs, and the foreign tourists could not help but be dazzled by it.

"color--"

For a moment, everyone was in a state of madness, as if they had seen gods and Buddhas.

Sun Kehao looked at her, and saw that the woman on the second floor was indeed a picture-perfect color, with red phoenix eyes, light red thin lips, and round ears, all of which made people feel mesmerized.

"Your Majesty, this woman is famous for playing the role of the White Snake. She simply faked her role and named her Bai Zhenzhen. She is only eighteen years old. She has fascinated all the men in the capital and it is difficult to control herself..."

"It's just an actor, does anyone dare to take it by force?" Sun Zhenghao asked in confusion.

"Sir, the Chang'an Theater is the property of the King of Liao. Although he is no longer in Beijing, he is still a vassal of the Liao Kingdom and his prestige is still intact. Who dares to stroke the tiger's beard in front of him?"

Zhou Shan said in a low voice: "This corner is not easy. No matter which high-ranking official or minister, everyone wants to get it, but there is a balance. No one wants to let anyone get it, so they can only leave it alone. "

"Look at it, don't talk about her, even if she is 28, she can't get married!"

"He is also a poor man!" Sun Zhenghao sighed.

Suddenly, words came to my ears:
"The third young master of Duke Jingguo's mansion is offering a reward of 300 yuan in silver and begging for a smile from the white girl..."

"The second son of the Duke of Guizhou gave a piece of Yunnan jade..."

Shouting after shouting and slaps on Sun Zhenghao's face.

It should be noted that even in Beijing, the value of silver yuan has not decreased, and for Myanmar, it is even more expensive.

As the eldest son, his annual salary is only 5000 silver yuan.

And if you listen carefully, it turns out that the reward this actor received tonight actually exceeded his annual salary.

"How luxurious the nobles in the capital are!" Sun Zhenghao's face stiffened, and then he said with a wry smile.

Zhou Shan also echoed: "These noble sons, relying on their fathers' military exploits and the emperor's rewards, have fields ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of hectares. Especially in Hebei and Liaodong, there are farms everywhere."

"An ordinary government office can collect tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of silver dollars a year. It can be said to be extremely rich."

These words really made Sun Zhenghao envious.

These palaces seem to be richer than the Sun family in Burma, which is really unreasonable.

At the same time, the luxury of this city of Beijing also opened his eyes. It is really surprising to throw away hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a mere actor.

Immediately afterwards, the pedestrians walking below also generously donated copper coins or silver coins, and filled the box full with enthusiasm.

At this time, Bai Zhenzhen smiled lightly and bowed.

The whole crowd seemed to explode with cheers.

At this time, a hawker ran over, holding a basket in his hand. He opened it and saw that it was full of picture albums:

"Young Master, take a look, these are all portraits of Miss Bai. All her charm and charm are reflected in these paintings. I am destined to see you, and it only costs three yuan."

It turned out that he saw that this young man Mu Ai was a big customer due to his age and unusual clothes.

Sun Zhenghao was stunned for a moment and took a rough look at it. It was indeed very tempting.

Although there is nothing exposed, every move is full of charm, which makes people fascinated.

"Bought it!"

Sun Zhenghao laughed.

As soon as he finished speaking, another hawker ran over, carrying a basket of books: "Look, young man, my books are all about Miss Bai. She started learning arts at the age of three. On weekdays, there are several Best friends, best friends, parents, brothers, who you are, what you like, everything is clear..."

"Sir, this is the purse that Miss Bai embroidered when she was 13 years old to support the family. It cost a lot of money..."

"I still have Miss Bai's red bellyband here, the price is out of print..."

For a time, Sun Zhenghao was surrounded by businessmen.

The nearby clothing store is even more exaggerated. All kinds of white snakes, green snakes, and Xu Xian's clothes are listed, making it dizzying.

Jewelry, clay figurines, puppets, candied haws, snare drums, shoes and socks, etc. are all related to the Legend of the White Snake.

“Beijing people are so crazy!”

Seeing this scene, Sun Zhenghao could only smile bitterly and left the team.

Zhou Shan was sweating profusely and said: "Sir, the spirit of the new year has not faded away, so the imperial court has no curfew, allowing the people in the city to live happily for a while. It is actually more lively than outside the city."

In this way, away from the lively place, they calmed down and took the carriage back to the house.

……

"Crack!" With the sound of the chain being pulled, the wooden door of the dungeon was opened, and dazzling light immediately shone into this dark place.

The shadows inside seemed to be squirming, as if countless ghosts had been awakened.

A bald old man limped down carrying two barrels.The prison bars on both sides were quickly plastered with many people so dirty that even their skin could not be seen.

"rice……"

Unmoved, the old man scooped a spoonful of the sticky substance into each protruding tile bowl.

There was only one cell, but there was a person sitting there. His face was expressionless, his eyes were dull, and he had no intention of begging.

"Eat?" the old man called out.

The man came back to his senses and stared blankly at the contents of the barrel. There was still a stale stench, and his throat squirmed.

He sighed, stretched out a bowl feebly, and said, "Give me some water, thank you." After hearing this, the old man looked at him coldly and said nothing, so he took a spoonful of turbid water and poured it into the bowl. In the bowl.

At this moment, the bright hole above dimmed slightly, and several people appeared there.

The old man turned around and looked over: "Who?"

"Big shot, don't worry about it."

After hearing this, the old man dropped the spoon and bent down to face that side.

"Are you Jiang Liuqi?"

"That's right!" The man smiled miserably: "What, do you have anything to ask?"

"You're very courageous." The big man put his hands on his hips and puffed out his belly: "Do you dare to do it or not?"

"Tell me, the copper mines in Yunnan are owned by a few companies, and where are they? How many years has it been mined? How much copper has been transported? Where was the ship destroyed?"

The man turned around and asked, "Who are you?"

"Jinyiwei!" The big man smiled: "The copper mines in Yunnan left the province, and suddenly the ship was destroyed, and nothing was caught on the river. Is this a lie?"

"Don't play tricks on me and recruit me truthfully. Otherwise, the family will be implicated and you will reap the benefits."

When a man sees this, he can only call it truthfully.

Following his words, the big man's face gradually became serious.

On the Xiangjiang River, more than a dozen boats were lined up in a row. They sailed over to the sound of the boatmen's trumpets and poled their moorings horizontally to surround the more than 30 boats of various sizes parked vertically at the pier.

A large number of civilian ships dispersed, not daring to be involved or collided at all, but who knew they had been locked long ago and could not move at all.

I saw dozens of soldiers, some holding swords, some holding water and fire sticks, or some holding chains to hold people, jumping from the official ship to the surrounded cargo ship, and then jumped from the cargo ship to the shore, blocking the boatmen and cargo owners. On the way out, he shouted:

"I have been ordered to escort the official copper. All soldiers and civilians should go away. Violators will be punished by law!"

"Master, let me go. Can you let me go up?" A porter pointed to the shore and asked with a grimace.

"You idiot, you don't have any meat on your body. Why are you standing here in the way? Get out of here."

The police officer sneered, the knife in his hand became brighter and brighter, and his eyes were trained on the merchants.

There are dozens of boats, big and small, with a lot of cargo on board, and a lot of benefits can be gained.

"Master, look at me, I have nothing on me, how could I steal official copper?" the businessman hurriedly bowed.

"If it's not on me, it's not stolen. What if you hid it? Isn't it on the ship? Let me search for it!"

"Furthermore, did you throw the stolen official copper into the river and want to fish it out after we left?"

The official was aggressive and showed no mercy. It could be said that he was being robbed.

For a while, there were many begging for mercy, but there was no intention of forgiveness.

Seeing this, everyone also knew that something was wrong, and the official would end up personally, so he could only reluctantly give up his wealth to avoid disaster.

Suddenly, I got a thousand pieces of silver.

This made the officials who transported the copper beam with joy.

But on the shore, the guards in royal robes were staring intently.

"What audacity!"

He Bao, a member of the Jinyiwei family, looked at such arrogant officials and couldn't help but sigh, "This guy has surpassed their Jinyiwei."

This was the first time they saw someone more arrogant than the Jin Yiwei in the land of the Ming Dynasty.

The rampaging copper ship has never stopped since Yunnan. It extorted countless people along the way, but everyone dared not speak out.

There are two mouths in the official family, who dares to talk nonsense.

"Brothers, it just so happens that someone is doing something, let's join in the fun!" He Bao shouted, put aside his disguise, and swaggered towards the copper ship.

For a moment, the officials and servants were not afraid of the Jin Yiwei who were swarming in. However, because of their simple clothes and curiosity, they became wary one by one.

"Who among you dares to rob official copper and risk your life?"

"Hmph, I'm the Jin Yiwei, and I'm here to do something as ordered."

He Bao directly took out the token, and then boarded the copper ship in three steps and two steps.

The copper transport officer was shocked and turned pale. After hearing the words "Jinyiwei", he was trembling with fear and turned pale.

"Ma Bao?" He Bao sneered: "It's been a hard work for you all the way from Yunnan to the north."

As he said that, he wandered around on the ship: "30 kilograms of copper ingots were transported from Yunnan. I wonder how many are left now?"

"Brother!" At this time, Ma Bao hurriedly came over and took out a handful of banknotes from his sleeve: "If you have to be merciful, please be merciful!"

"This matter was not done by me alone, but by the entire Yunnan officialdom. The implications are huge. If something goes wrong, I'm afraid there will be a big upheaval in the officialdom, and you and I will both suffer!"

Faced with a dozen hundred yuan in silver notes, it was a lie that He Bao was not moved, but he was here under orders. If he accepted the money, his house would be ransacked another day.

"Hmph, this matter can be hidden for a while, but not for a lifetime."

More than a dozen ships were all locked and no one was allowed to move.

Immediately, a large number of copper ingots were opened and placed on the shore.

A simple count shows that the scale of copper ingots reaches 43 jins, exceeding the rated 13 jins.

He Bao shook his head, it was settled.

Immediately, the Yunnan Copper Selling Case broke out, shocking Beijing.

It turns out that copper mining began in Yunnan in the early Ming Dynasty, and a large amount of Yunnan copper began to be turned into copper coins, which was loved by the people.

For example, Yongle Tongbao is made of Yunnan copper, which is extremely exquisite.

The same is true. In the Shaowu Dynasty, although silver coins were the mainstream currency, the importance of copper coins still existed, especially the casting of copper coins, which was extremely common.

The same is true. The copper transported from Yunnan to Beijing reaches 50 kilograms every year, and it is still growing day by day.

Also by casting copper circles, the court made millions of profits every year.

Under such circumstances, the copper mine development in Dongchuan, Yunnan Province flourished.

Officials opened the mines privately and used the transportation of the mines to sell Yunnan copper along the way, thus making huge profits.

And you should know that the further south you go, the more minerals there are, the lower the copper price, while the further north you go, the higher the copper price is.

That's all, but these Yunnan coppers were dug into the corners of the imperial court.

To put it simply, the output was originally one million catties, but the local government reported it as 50 catties, and the remaining 50 catties were embezzled by Yunnan officials, making huge profits.

50 catties, if sold, would be almost 30 silver dollars.

The entire Yunnan officialdom was colluding and concealed this from the imperial court.

After Zhu Yixi learned about this, she felt unbelievable for the first time, but she had to believe it.

(End of this chapter)