I am a temporary worker in Jinyiwei, how did I become a powerful official?

Chapter 164: This is called professionalism ( words)

Li Mushao did not come to Xiyuan empty-handed.

Sun Yue helped him carry a small box called "Fish Training Box".

Li Mushao looked around as he walked, stretching his head like a turtle. Lin Shisan reminded him: "The palace has strict rules, don't look around."

As soon as they entered Yongshou Palace, Lu Fang and Huang Jin came over in a hurry.

Lu Fang looked Li Mushao up and down and asked, "Is he the fish tamer?"

Lin Shisan replied, "That's right. Brother Li, why don't you go and greet Eunuch Lu and Eunuch Huang?"

Li Mushao bowed his head and said, "I am Li Mushao, honored to meet Eunuch Lu and Eunuch Huang."

Lu Fang said, "It's important to do the work. Get up. Follow me."

Lü Fang led everyone to the fish tank outside the main hall of Yongshou Palace. As luck would have it, Emperor Jiajing was doing the daily "Ninety-nine Steps of Crane Walking Exercise" and had just walked to the fish tank.

Li Mushao was puzzled: Where did this crazy Taoist priest jumping on one leg come from in the palace? He looked like an idiot.

Lin Shisan pushed him down to his knees, and everyone shouted, "Greetings to the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"

Li Mushao was shocked: This idiot is actually the emperor?

When Emperor Jiajing saw Li Mushao wearing cloth clothes and ordinary clothes, he asked, "Who is this person?"

Lin Shisan replied, "Your Majesty, this man is a fish trainer I found among the people. His name is Li Mushao."

Emperor Jiajing became interested: "Li Mushao? This name is very unique. Look up."

Li Mushao was shaking with excitement and looked up at Emperor Jiajing.

The emperor lived in the inner palace for a long time, and actually liked to interact with ordinary people, especially those with special abilities.

Emperor Jiajing pointed at the fish tank and said, "Stand up. Look at this water phoenix. Can you tame it?"

Li Mushao actually mistook Yongshou Palace for the entrance to Lancaibao village where people were chatting and bragging.

He patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. I can tame any fish in the world."

Emperor Jiajing asked: "Water Phoenix is not a fish from our Ming Dynasty, it is a foreign fish from the foreign land."

Li Mushao said, "No matter where the fish come from, they all have two gills and a tail. They are all the same."

Lin Shisan broke out in a cold sweat: You said before that you had never tamed a barracuda and you were not sure.

If you boast in front of the emperor, you might end up blowing your own trumpet. Our emperor is a dog-faced person who can change his mind at any time.
Emperor Jiajing smiled and said, "Good, good. Hurry up and see how to tame this water phoenix."

Li Mushao was a brave man, but when he saw a few yamen runners, he was so scared that he ran around the house like a rabbit.

You say he is timid. He is carefree in front of the emperor, showing no fear at all and even a bit of excitement on his face.

Li Mushao walked to the fish tank and said, "Your Majesty, I have to fish it out first and take a look."

Lu Fang was horrified: "Find it out? With your hands? If you torture it to death, even if you kill your whole family, it won't be enough to bury it with you."

Emperor Jiajing said, "Lü Fang, don't scare my people."

Li Mushao explained: "Your Majesty, Eunuch Lu, I have a secret method to catch fish without getting killed."

Emperor Jiajing smiled and said, "Okay, let me see what you can do."

Li Mushao first opened the fish training box and took out a bronze chime and a small iron hammer with a strange shape.

Then he lifted the hem of his cloth clothes with his left hand, revealing nine strands of colorful fishing line tied inside.

Li Mushao said: "Your Majesty and all the eunuchs and gentlemen, please cover your ears."

Everyone covered their ears.

Li Mushao placed the bronze bell next to the fish tank and knocked it hard.

This bronze chime is different from the one used by Emperor Jiajing. The bronze chime used by Emperor Jiajing makes a "dangdangdang" sound when struck.

The bronze chime made a buzzing sound. The strange sound caused ripples in the fish tank. The water phoenix that was running around in the tank stopped moving.

Li Mushao shouted: "The sound of the chimes calms the fish souls!"

Then he took out a square glass mirror from the fish training box, adjusted the angle to refract the sunlight into colorful spots and threw it into the water. The water phoenix actually began to chase the spots.

After a while, it seemed to have lost all its strength and floated to the surface with its belly turned up.

Li Mushao shouted: "The divine light captures the fish soul!"

Emperor Jiajing frowned: "Is it dead?"

Li Mushao smiled and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty! It just fainted."

Then Li Mushao took out a strand of colorful fishing line from his waist, shook it with his hand, and the silver hook tied to the end of the line accurately hooked the fish's lip, and lifted it up. Before everyone could see the action clearly, the water phoenix was already in his hands.

Lu Fang was shocked: "How can you use a fishhook to catch a fish? What if something happens to it?"

Li Mushao said, "Don't worry, sir. If you hook the fish's lip, the fish won't die. But if you hook it on the gills or liver, it will be over immediately."

Emperor Jiajing said, "Lü Fang, I always don't employ people I doubt, and I trust people I employ. Stop yelling."

Li Mushao took off the hook and carefully examined the Phoenix. Then he said, "No wonder Master Lin said it has a violent temper and bites fish as soon as it sees them! It turns out to be a ventral tooth fish."

Emperor Jiajing asked: "Hmm? What is a ventral tooth fish?"

Li Mushao talked eloquently: "Ordinary fish have teeth in their mouths. Some rare fish have teeth not only in their mouths, but also in their stomachs. For example, grouper in the South China Sea, sea bream in the East China Sea and North China Sea, etc."

"These fish with teeth in their bellies are collectively called ventral tooth fish. They hunt fish and shrimp for a living and are violent and bloodthirsty by nature. Sometimes they attack other fish not for food, but just for fun."

"Your Majesty, Eunuch, and all the gentlemen, please cover your ears again."

After saying that, he put the water phoenix into the jar, picked up the bronze chime again, and knocked on the bottom of the bronze chime, making a "hum".

Ripples appeared in the chime tank again, and the water phoenix slowed down in the water, swam slowly, and sank to the bottom of the tank.

Li Mushao shouted: "When the chimes sound twice, the fish soul returns!"

Emperor Jiajing asked: "How can we tame it and make it docile and peaceful? Do you have any ideas?"

Li Mushao replied: "Your Majesty, I can tame it with two methods. The first is 'fasting to calm down', and the second is 'transferring the soul to change the nature'."

Lin Shisan figured it out and asked, "You want to fast it? How many days?"

Li Mushao replied: "Five days. Fish are not human beings. If they don't eat for five days, they will be hungry, but they won't starve to death."

Emperor Jiajing asked: "What about soul transfer and gender change?"

Li Mushao replied: "The so-called soul-transferring phantom is made from the roe of pregnant female fish, which is used to make 'soul-transferring water'. It stimulates the protective instinct of the evil fish and transforms its hostility into kindness."

"After fasting to calm down the fish and transferring their souls, even the most violent fish will become docile and live in harmony with their tank mates."

Emperor Jiajing clapped his hands and said, "Excellent, excellent. Doing anything to the extreme is a science. Lü Fang, reward Li Mushao with a position as a regular servant in the Goldfish Room, and issue him a badge to enter and leave the Western Garden."

Xiyuan was a separate palace, not part of the Imperial Palace. Servants and regular servants who were not castrated were allowed to enter and leave. If Emperor Jiajing lived in the Qianqing Palace, he would have to be castrated if he wanted Li Mushao to help him raise fish.

Lin Shisan reminded: "Li Mushao, why don't you kneel down and kowtow to accept the order and thank the emperor?"

Li Mushao knelt on the ground and kowtowed several times, shouting: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for giving me an official position." Lu Fang explained: "The Goldfish Room Servant is not an official, and has no rank. But he is considered a royal servant, and he gets five taels of silver per month. He can receive it for life."

Li Mushao's eyes lit up when he heard this: five taels a month, sixty taels a year, six hundred taels in ten years, and one thousand two hundred taels in twenty years!

Oh my! My father's grave must be on fire. I have a silver bowl in my hand that I can eat until I die.

Emperor Jiajing rewarded Li Mushao with a job and then hopped away on one leg.

Lin Shisan asked Li Mushao: "Is it okay if we don't feed it for five days?"

Li Mushao said, "The mouth of the jar should be covered with a black cloth. Uncover it at 3 p.m. every day, and throw the colorful light spots of the glass mirror into the water. Let it swim after the light spots for half an hour. Then cover the jar with the black cloth again."

Lin Shisan asked: "What about the Soul Transfer Water? How to make it?"

Li Mushao replied: "To tame the ventral tooth fish, you must use the roe of the ventral tooth fish to boil the soul-transferring water. The first choice is the sheepshead bream in the Tanggukou Sea. However, you must take the roe and boil it immediately when the sheepshead bream is caught and brought ashore."

"March is the time when sheepshead breams shed their eggs, so it's not difficult to make soul-transferring water."

Lin Shisan said, "Then we have to go to Tanggukou. Brother Li, can you tell my fat disciple how to use the colored glass mirror? Let him stay in the palace to fast and nourish the water phoenix."

Li Mushao immediately taught Sun Yue the method of using the light spots from the glass mirror to lure fish.

Lin Shisan said, "There is no time to lose. Let's have dinner and rush to Tianjin Wei Tanggukou overnight."

Lu Fang praised: "Thirteen, you found a good person. He looks simple and silly, but I didn't expect that he is actually a remarkable person."

Lin Shisan smiled and said, "Uncle, my nephew believes in one sentence more and more now."

Lu Fang asked: "Oh? That sentence?"

Lin Shisan replied: "When a car reaches the mountain, there will be a road; when a boat reaches the bridge, it will naturally go straight."

At night, Lin Shisan brought his men to escort Li Mushao to Tianjin.

Xu Jie's residence.

A young eunuch stood in front of the third son Xu Ying.

The young eunuch's name was Zhang Jing. He lowered his voice and said, "Third Master, it's not that I don't want to find out the news about Yongshou Palace for you. After Wang Xi got into trouble last time, Eunuch Lu replaced everyone in Yongshou Palace with his disciples."

"Even Chen Hong, the trusted adopted son of Eunuch Chen, has been transferred to the Qianqing Palace. People like us can no longer serve in the Yongshou Palace."

Xu Ying said: "Lü Fang has many disciples. There are all kinds of people. There are always those who are greedy for money. You can try to bribe Lü Fang's people."

"Silver is easy to talk about. If you need money, just ask for three thousand taels or five thousand taels."

Zhang Jing said with a smile: "With money, things can be done easily. With the Third Young Master's words, everything will be done."

Xu Ying said: "The most important thing right now is to find out the news about the fish tank outside the main hall of Yongshou Palace."

Zhang Jing nodded: "I understand."

Xu Ying took out a silver note from his sleeve and handed it to Zhang Jing: "Thank you for your help."

Not long after Zhang Jing left, Xu Ying came to Xu Jie's study: "Dad, the people from the palace have been sent away."

Xu Jie was reserved even for his own son. He pretended to say, "I've told you so many times. It's taboo for an outside official to make friends with an eunuch."

Xu Ying smiled and said, "I understand, Dad."

Xu Jie was a typical example of a man who would beat the cook after he had eaten his fill. Over the years, Xu Ying bribed the eunuchs to get countless important information from the palace for Xu Jie.

Xu Ying said, "Dad, we have contacted all our students and friends. If the water phoenix kills the goldfish in the same tank in seven days, they will file a petition to oppose the opening of the sea."

"If submitting a memorial fails, then kneel down to make a protest. If kneeling down to make a protest fails, then die."

Without even looking up, Xu Jie said, "Yes. Let them be careful."

Xu Ying continued, "There is some news from the Wucheng Military Command. Lin Shisan left the city tonight and seems to be heading to Tanggu."

Xu Jie raised his head: "Oh? The water phoenix he offered became a disaster. He didn't stay in Beijing to solve the problem, but went to Tanggu? Weird."

"Send someone to Tanggu and keep a close eye on him."

Xu Ying took the order and left.

Xu Jie placed his hand on the Ming Dynasty sea map on the desk and sighed, "Alas."

In fact, Xu Jie himself knew that opposing the opening of the sea was tantamount to going against Emperor Jiajing, and he would never have a good ending in the future.

However, Xu Jie, the leader of the Qingliu and the second-in-command of the cabinet, was promoted by a prominent family in Jiangnan.

If he bowed his head on the issue of customs clearance and sea opening, those wealthy families who made a fortune from smuggling trade would immediately turn against him.

As the second-in-command of the cabinet, he had no foundation and the Yan Party could easily overthrow him.

Xu Jie was Prince Yu's teacher, and it seemed that the crown prince was his backer. But he always felt that Prince Yu was separated from him, and was closer to two people of low official positions - Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng.

It is really difficult to be a human being and to be an official, and it is even more difficult to be the biggest corrupt official in the dynasty.

Lin Shisan brought more than thirty comrades and protected Li Mushao to Tanggukou.

Lin Shisan found more than two hundred fishermen and rowed more than fifty fishing boats out to sea to help them catch sheepshead snapper.

He found two houses by the sea and set out all the necessary items for Li Mushao to make "soul-transferring water".

All they had to do was wait for the fishermen to bring the sheepshead bream ashore, boil the soul-transferring water, and change the temperament of the water phoenix. Then Qingliu's attempt to ruin the trade by taking advantage of the water phoenix's violent behavior would be thwarted.

But, most of the things in the world don’t go as we wish.

The next morning, the first fishing boat arrived at the shore.

Lin Shisan went up to him and asked, "Old man, how many sheepshead bream did you catch?"

The old fisherman frowned and said, "Sir, this is really a ghost. In the past, there were always schools of sheepshead seabream in Tanggukou. I caught dozens of them in one net."

"But I don't know where all the fish went tonight. Maybe the wind and tide are not right, and the sheepshead snappers all went into the deep sea."

"Although I didn't catch any sheepshead snapper, I did catch over 200 pounds of sandfish. Do you want any sandfish, sir?"

Lin Shisan smiled bitterly: "I'm not craving for sandfish tofu soup. What do I need that for?"

At noon, more than 50 fishing boats came ashore one after another, but without exception, none of them caught a single sheepshead snapper.

Lin Shisan ordered everyone to go ashore and rest for two hours before going out to sea to continue fishing for sheepshead sea bream.

On the other hand, it is better to rely on oneself than on others. He sent people to Tianjin Weicheng to collect more than 30 fishing rods, and led Li Mushao and a group of comrades to fish on the rocks by the sea.

Li Gao asked Li Mushao: "Does it have to be a live fish? There are mostly dead sheepshead snappers in the fish market."

Li Mushao replied: "The Soul-Transferring Water must be taken alive by fish, and must be taken alive immediately after landing."

Lin Shisan hung a sea worm on the hook and threw it into the sea. "It doesn't matter. It will take another four days of fasting to cure the disease. I don't believe that I won't be able to catch a live sheepshead bream with eggs at Datanggukou within four days."

The group fished on the shore for a day and caught a lot of sandfish, Spanish mackerel, pike, and mullet.

The only thing I didn't catch was a sheepshead snapper.

Lin Shisan had no choice but to offer a reward. Any fisherman in Tianjin who caught a pregnant sheepshead sea bream and presented it to the emperor would be rewarded with ten taels of silver for each fish. The limit was twenty.

(End of this chapter)