Joy of Life: Starting from Teacher Fan Xian

Chapter 130 Transfer of Smuggling Business

The little emperor didn't think so. He smiled and said, "The reason I want to see Fan Xian is mainly to ask whether the Red Mansion was written by his teacher."

Taoist He paused for a moment before he said, "Your Majesty, are you talking about Lin Ruo?"

The little emperor looked over and saw that the man's face was not very good, so he teased: "My dear Lord He, you are not still holding a grudge, are you?"

Taoist He shook his head slightly: "Your Majesty, you are joking. This person is both civil and military, which is rare in the world."

The little emperor laughed out loud: "A few days ago, I heard that Lin Ruo broke into Jianlu alone, and none of the thirteen disciples of Jianlu stopped him. Although he was not able to defeat Si Gu Jian, it was enough."

"It's a pity that such a person was born in Nanqing." The little emperor stopped smiling and was quite fearful.

"But the emperor of Nanqing doesn't seem to value him very much." Taoist He said.

The little emperor took a sip from the teacup and said, "Minister He, you are a little superficial. Besides, no matter how hard you try, you will never be able to make it to Northern Qi."

Taoist He nodded respectfully and said, "I wonder if Your Majesty has heard of another version. There is a rumor among the people of Nanqing that the Red Mansion seems to have been written by Fan Xian."

Haitang Duoduo, who was drinking tea in big gulps, sprayed tea all over her face.

"What's wrong with the little nun?" asked the little emperor.

Haitang Duoduo wiped her mouth rudely with her sleeve and said, "I choked, but the Red Mansion should not be written by Fan Xian. I have seen this person before. He is slick and has a bad character."

"There is something wrong with what you said, little nun. Fan Xian is recognized as the immortal poet of Nanqing. It is not surprising that he wrote Dream of the Red Chamber. This has nothing to do with his moral character." The little emperor explained.

"However, I am more inclined to believe that it was done by Lin Ruo."

Haitang Duoduo said nonchalantly: "I won't argue with Your Majesty. Once Your Majesty sees him, he will know what kind of person he is." She would always remember the aphrodisiac that Fan Xian gave her. It was so shameless, but she couldn't bring it up openly as it would damage her reputation.

“Worry about the world before you worry about yourself, and be happy about the world after you are happy about yourself. This poem by Fan Xian really makes a lot of sense.” The little emperor thought of the poem and savored it. He actually felt a little curious about Fan Xian. Thinking about how Nan Qing had so many talents that were hated by both gods and ghosts, a hint of sadness gradually welled up on his brows.

After leaving the palace, He Daoren went to pay a visit to the empress dowager again and explained the little emperor's idea. The empress dowager didn't care much and just told He Daoren to do whatever he wanted and to support the little emperor as much as possible.

He Daoren received the order and left the palace. Over the years, he had done a lot for the empress dowager, so it was natural that he gained her trust.

Ever since the battle with Lin Ruo on the grassland that year, He Daoren's reputation almost plummeted to the bottom in Northern Qi. He was looked down upon, especially by Marquis Changning, who severely criticized him, and the Queen Mother also banished him from the capital.

If not...

After all, adding icing on the cake is not as good as sending charcoal in the snow...

After resting for a night in the villa guarded by the Northern Qi Imperial Guards, Fan Xian found that he had too many things to do. Not only did he have to meet with Taoist He and rescue Yan Bingyun, but he also had to find a way to enter the palace as soon as possible to complete negotiations such as prisoner exchange, boundary drawing, and exchange of letters.

So Fan Xian went out early in the morning without telling anyone, and headed for the Jinyiwei's office. During the trip, he met Shen Zhong, and was tested by this smiling tiger in various ways, which took a lot of time, and then he finally met He Daoren.

The two talked secretly and quickly. After Fan Xian returned to the villa, he began to prepare for the next step of entering the palace to meet the emperor.

Taoist He didn't say much important to him, just said that Yan Bingyun was safe, but releasing him required the approval of the Queen Mother, and what the Queen Mother wanted was the Supervisory Council's intelligence network in Northern Qi in exchange.

During the days when Yan Bingyun was arrested, the Supervisory Council's intelligence network in Northern Qi was completely disbanded. Even if it was handed over, it would only be an empty shell with some irrelevant information remaining.

Fan Xian thought, just give it, with He Taoist around, the spy network will be reorganized sooner or later.

Yan Bingyun had been acting for so long, mainly for another major event, which was to interrupt the business dealings between Northern Qi and the Princess in the Jiangnan Inner Treasury, or in other words, to take over the business, naturally to the hands of himself, the future owner of the Inner Treasury.

He originally thought that coming to Northern Qi would be a lot of trouble, but in fact, it seemed that he only needed to worry about this one thing, and it was not even that difficult to solve. The eldest princess was almost down, and if Northern Qi wanted to continue to operate the market, it would naturally have to change partners. Although the eldest princess had the second prince behind her, he was not the head of the transaction, nor the future owner of the inner treasury, so how could he compare to Fan Xian's resounding name.

After getting everything sorted out, a day later, Fan Xian finally led the delegation into the palace to meet the emperor. After a lot of negotiations, he finally reached an armistice agreement between the two countries.

Northern Qi was too concerned about their reputation, so they just wanted to keep Fan Xian company, but they didn't dare to go back on the treaty at the last minute.

The next step was to pay a visit to the Queen Mother and act pitiful so that the Queen Mother would make a few cold threats, creating the impression that in order to save Yan Bingyun's life, he had to hand over the specific information of the intelligence layout.

Fan Xian completed the second task easily.

The third thing is to see how good Fan Xian is at speaking. After the princess was demoted to Xinyang, the case of collusion in the inner treasury business gradually surfaced. The Northern Qi actually guessed that the Southern Qing side, especially the Supervisory Council, had already noticed it, otherwise they would not have been able to easily drive the princess away, so it was not surprising that Fan Xian knew about the business between the two sides.

Although the business is not stagnant now, the eldest princess is still in danger after all. Fan Xian just mentioned it, and with He Daoren fanning the flames, the Queen Mother fell into the trap impatiently and was thinking of finding another stable ally.

Fan Xian added a 10% profit to the business at the right time, and based on his experience from his previous life, he started a business talk, speaking vividly, and the matter was quickly settled.

As for why Fan Xian committed acts of treason and collaborating with the enemy, it was very simple. First, he was irreconcilable with the eldest princess. Second, the profits from the inner treasury were too high. The Northern Qi royal family could not find any reason to be suspicious.

Once it is settled, it will be a matter of shared success and shared failure.

After learning from the Queen Mother that the Princess had been engaged in smuggling business with Northern Qi for nearly ten years, Fan Xian frowned, not daring to imagine how much silver the Princess had in her pocket.

……

"Engaging in smuggling with Northern Qi is no different from the eldest princess's act of treason." In the cool Fan Mansion, Fan Ruoruo felt as if a stone was hanging in her heart when she heard this, making it difficult for her to breathe.

Lin Ruo sat in the courtyard, looked at the sky, and thought that Fan Xian should have finished everything by now. He said calmly, "If this matter is made public, it will not be considered treason."

"Sir...what do you mean? Do you want to confess to His Majesty?" Fan Ruoruo didn't dare to think so.

"After His Majesty knew about the smuggling and drove the princess out of Kyoto, the smuggling has continued to run smoothly in the past six months. Why do you think that is?" Lin Ruo asked a very thought-provoking question.

Fan Ruoruo guessed something and whispered, "Your Majesty agrees?"

"Of course, the profits generated by the Jiangnan Treasury business are too great, and even His Majesty needs this sum of money, so he still lets the Princess do what she wants. When the time comes, let her spit it out, and this windfall will still belong to the court."

Although the eldest princess is a lunatic, she is inclined towards Emperor Qing to a large extent, and this silver will sooner or later fall into the hands of the royal family.

Recruiting soldiers and horses for the Second Prince was just doing what Emperor Qing wanted.

"The Jiangnan inner storehouse business is currently monopolized by the Ming family, which is not conducive to the peaceful development of merchants. We must first resolve this issue and restore a suitable environment for the people of Jiangnan."

"After I finish this, I will also bring Dongyi City into the picture. This will bring even greater benefits. With the rapid development of Jiangnan, our emperor will have no reason to refuse. And don't forget that Quanzhou is also an outlet to the sea. How could His Majesty not want to compete with Dongyi City?"

Fan Ruoruo was still worried: "Isn't it a bit too self-willed? His Majesty seems to dislike this kind of behavior."

"This is not my own decision. As early as four years ago when I was confronting the eldest princess, I mentioned to Your Majesty the tyranny of the Jiangnan Ming family in the business world."

"Today's move is just a matter of following the flow. His Majesty in the palace must have already made up his mind. What he needs is just a way to replace the eldest princess, such as replacing Fan Xian as the head of the inner treasury."

Fan Ruoruo stared at Lin Ruo blankly, feeling that she was not looking at a single person.

……

(End of this chapter)