Daming Yinghua

In early spring and February, Shangjinbei Village, Ningde County, Funing Prefecture, Fujian Province.

Zhuxiang, Miao Ruiyun's maid, got off the ox cart.

At the end of noon, when the light is the best in the day, there are women of all ages in front of almost every house in the village, getting together to carve horn combs.

Fujian ox horn combs are not only popular in all parts of Ming Dynasty, but also a hot item in Yuegang Maritime Trade.Foreigners who finally hoped that the Ming Dynasty would open up the country again like the Song and Yuan Dynasties, when they saw the gold-bound combs in Fujian ox horn combs for the first time, they were stunned by the amazing craftsmanship of oriental craftsmen.

On the grate, which is only half the palm width of an adult, there are [-] to [-] toothed needles arranged in a dense and even space. The needles are straight and the teeth are rounded. knotted hair.

It is not easy to complete such a work with wood, let alone horns.

And if those dumbfounded foreigners are willing to spend more than one penny each, they can buy categories with exquisite carvings of flowers and plants, landscapes and pavilions, and even beautiful ladies.After crossing the sea waves and returning to the Middle East or the Europa continent, after such a horn comb is sold, adventurers can get four or five times the profit.

The small and light Fujian horn combs, which can be supplied in large quantities and do not take up space, have brought a lot of silver for the emperor.

However, few people know that in this era, the really expensive gold-coated horn combs do not come from Fuzhou, but from Shangjinbei, a small village in Ningde County.

It was not sold to the Western fan merchants in Yuegang, but appeared in the middle of the buns of the Japanese noble women's family members...

The maid, Zhuxiang, greeted the villagers casually, and walked slowly all the way to the mansion at the east end of the village.

The man in normal clothes who was fishing by the stream stood up to greet her.

"Miss Zhuxiang, General Zheng has already gone up the mountain."

Zhu Xiang nodded at him, and without much greeting, walked straight along the mountain path with the shadows of the trees to an ancient temple in front of him.

When the cigarette smoke was close at hand, Zhuxiang did not step into the gate of the temple, but continued to climb up the steps from the side to a cemetery hidden in the dense forest on the mountainside.

"Canglang", several guards drew their swords at the same time, and when they heard Zhuxiang calmly sing "Jiangzuo survivors, loyalty and righteousness", they all withdrew their weapons one after another.

One of the guards came up and cupped his fists, and asked softly, "Who is your honor?"

"At the knee of Princess Songjiang, Miao Zhuxiang."

The guards became more respectful, leading the way, and took the bamboo fragrance to the depths of the cemetery.

As soon as Zhu Xiang stopped, she knelt down beside the tall pillar made of blue stones. After reporting her identity again, she kowtowed a few times to the tower tablet in front of her, and said respectfully on the ground: "Princess and General Liu, thank you Greetings from Elder Zheng Ge and General Zheng Can."

In front of the relic stupa engraved with "the pagoda of the third generation Canghaizhu Zen master of the imperial gift of the golden Buddha and the Japanese Yuanming master", two men sitting on futons looked at Zhuxiang.

The monk in cassock, known as Ge Lao, is approaching sixty years old, with a gray man and a kind face.

The "participant" opposite the monk was a middle-aged man in his thirties, with sword eyebrows and leopard eyes, and a stern expression. Although he was not wearing armor, he was full of power in the battlefield.

"Put down the news of the princess, you go down the mountain, and go to pay respects to your family." The old monk said softly.

Zhuxiang raised her head and said yes, took out a letter, and held it to the little novice beside her.

The middle-aged ginseng also expressed a bit of amiability and said: "Miss Zhuxiang, when you came up, you were at the mansion, did you meet Zheng Xu fishing?"

"Returning to the general, I met Brother Zheng."

"Well, please go find him again. This year, I have kept fifty of the best gold-clad ox horn combs, all of which are engraved with Ma Lin's paintings that the princess can see. You bring them back to Songjiang and submit them to the county. Lord, she can keep it for others."

Zhuxiang was about to thank him with blessings, but the old monk said slowly: "Don't take it. The opening of Songjiang is coming soon, Dongying is afraid that many goods will return to the south of the Yangtze River. If those warriors are lost, they will sell the gold combs back to Daming, and they will appear in the Songjiang..."

The middle-aged general immediately realized that he was not thinking well, and hurriedly said: "The old man taught you well."

Zhuxiang bowed and left.

The two descendants of Zheng Qia, the "remains of Jiangzuo", faced the stupa again, just like the previous generations of Zheng's nephews, praying to Emperor Jianwen that they would return to the Buddhist temple's meditation hall after the spirit of heaven.

……

That old monk is Zheng Lang, the sixth grandson of Zheng Qia.The middle-aged man is Zheng Lang's nephew Zheng Yi, who is now publicly known as a naval officer under Yu Zigao's command.

200 years ago, when King Zhu Di of Yan "uncle rebelled against his nephew", when he captured Nanjing, Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen disguised himself as a monk and fled south with his eldest son Zhu Wenkui, accompanied by Zheng Qia and other ministers.Fang Xiaoru, a Hanlin scholar who stayed in Nanjing, was killed outside Nanjing because he refused to draft the enthronement edict for Zhu Di.

According to folklore, Fang Xiaoru was ordered by Zhu Di to "punish the ten clans" at that time, and there were more "disciple" clans than the "nine clans".

But in fact, many members of the Fang family were protected by righteous men who respected Fang Xiaoru's character. Many people were rescued and survived incognito.Liu Shimin, Wang Yuesheng and others are all descendants of the Fang family.

Miao Ruiyun's father is Zheng Qia's fifth grandson-in-law, and his mother is Zhu Wenkui's sixth princess.

After Emperor Jianwen fled to Ningde, Fujian, he ordered some civil servants and military generals to assist the seven-year-old prince Zhu Wenkui to sail out to sea to preserve blood for his own branch, while he and Zheng Qia stayed in Fujian to hide.

The regime that was bloodbathed by King Yan that year was like a grassy slope that even the fire could not eradicate.

When the usurper began to taste the sweetness of imperial power, the grass seeds flew to the ends of the earth in various ways, tenaciously surviving in the dark inside and outside the territory of the Ming Empire.

The Zhu family, the Zheng family, the Fang family, and 21 other courtiers who followed Emperor Jianwen, they spread out and had a huge number of direct descendants and foreign relatives. 200 years is not enough to eliminate the hatred of "prosperity collapsed overnight" and "separation of wife and children in an instant". its job.

If the descendants of Zhu Di in the Forbidden City who are obsessed with fighting animals, like taking drugs, or refuse to go to court, know that in the Zhujiajiangshan of this dark net world, the monks in the small mountain village of Ningde are called "shoufu", eunuchs without roots Known as the "general", the old woman who was once a maid under the eaves of the enemy is called the "princess", and she will definitely respond with contemptuous ridicule.

But if there are ghosts, the underground Zhu Di knows that the descendants of Emperor Jianwen have already surpassed the Ming Dynasty, and even absorbed the strong support of Ma Xianglin, who has the hatred of killing his father. Zhu Di's coffin board may not be able to cover it.

In the inner room of the meditation hall, Zheng Lang tore open the sealant envelope, took out Miao Ruiyun's letterhead, saw the code on the letterhead, folded himself and took a Buddhist scripture from the bookshelf, opened it, compared the numbers on the letterhead, and copied the Buddhist scriptures. The Chinese characters, and then connected together to read through.

After a while, he called Zheng Yi who was waiting outside to come in.

"The princess said that the tens of thousands of Sichuan troops trained by Ma Xianglin in Tongzhou were sent to Shanhaiguan and other places one after another. After General Liu took charge of the Suzhou-Hangzhou Weaving Bureau, by the end of last year, he had made about 20 taels of silver."

Zheng Yi listened, thought for a while, and said happily: "General Liu has a very high prestige in Nanzhili. Everyone from officials to merchants understands that he played an important role in the opening and closing of Songjiang. These people are the most skilled, and they must understand that Songjiang is the first open In a year, the amount of silver sent by General Liu to the internal treasury is significantly higher than that of Yuegang, so the one on the dragon chair will ignore the complaints of those smugglers and old businessmen in Zhejiang Province."

Zheng Lang nodded: "That's the reason. Just like you General Soldier Yu, you donate a lot of money to the internal treasury every year, so General Liu should get more money in the future."

After a pause, he said again: "A Yi, General Liu's 5 taels of silver will come over soon, you can take it and use it for Liu Xiang to recruit people."

This time Zheng Yi used the excuse of going back to his hometown to worship his ancestors, and rushed from the Xiamen guard to Ningde to meet Zheng Lang, and he really wanted the money.

In the secret room without outsiders, Zheng Yi became much closer to Zheng Lang as the "chief assistant".

"Uncle, there was no need to be in such a hurry. I didn't expect that the Zheng family that the princess and uncle had talked about was Yan Siqi's old friend who was rumored to be good. Xu Xinsu was persuaded, and Xu Xinsu also persuaded Yu Zongbing. He really wanted to beat the Dutchman." .”

"It's a good thing to be anxious," Zheng Lang closed his eyes slightly, twirling the beads, and said calmly, "We asked Liu Xiang to leave Hirado and rush to Taiwan to join Yan Siqi. People are transported to Taiwan. Now is a good opportunity to prevent Yan Siqi from being suspicious. It’s good to fight the Dutch, practice soldiers, and see how to use Yu Zigao’s good guns. Besides, Japan, it turns out that Frankie and Frankie Among the big names we have made friends with, we hate the Dutch the most, this time we just go to lobby, and it is our idea to persuade Yu Zigao and Yan Siqi to join forces to clean up the red hair."

Zheng Yi agreed and said yes. After a moment of silence, he finally couldn't help asking: "Uncle, that Zheng Haizhu has a good idea. Is she really not one of us?"

Zheng Lang opened his eyes, showing regret: "No. It hasn't been since her grandfather's generation. It's still my lord who has the heart of a sage. I believe that your uncle is just unwilling to inherit the responsibilities of the Zheng family, but will keep the secret. Otherwise, if envoys were sent from overseas to kill your uncle, how could there still be this little granddaughter of the Zheng family who is favored by the princess."