Chapter 13: Nine Thousand Years Old – The Hidden Dragon in the Deep
Chapter 13: Nine Thousand Years Old – The Hidden Dragon in the Deep
“Consort Wang passed away from illness several months ago, and Eunuch Wei returned to the Jiazi Storage.”
A shop assistant said from behind.
“The storekeeper?”
Yang Xin turned back and asked.
“How could it be his turn to be the storekeeper!”
The shop assistant said with a laugh.
Yang Xin smiled and nodded at him.
Nine Thousand Years Old was still lying low!
He was never a high-ranking eunuch. After spending many years in the Imperial Palace, he managed to become an ordinary custodian at the Jiazi Storage. Later, he was promoted by Wang An to manage the meals for Consort Wang, but his status remained low…
The big boss in the Imperial Palace was the Directorate of Ceremonial.
The Seal-holding Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, the Memorial-Submitting Eunuch, the Commander-in-Chief of each directorate, the factory chief—even the Imperial Treasury like Jiazi Storage was under the storekeeper’s control.
He was not the storekeeper at Jiazi Storage.
At most, he was just a minor supervisor beside Consort Wang. The latter was a consort of the Crown Prince, and Zhu Changluo himself had no real standing in the palace. He lived in constant fear of being deposed. Wei Zhongxian managed meals for one of his concubines—how high could his status be? After Consort Wang died, he was sent back to Jiazi Storage.
Fortunately, this consort gave birth to Tianqi.
But it wouldn’t be long. This was the 47th Year of Wanli. Next year would be the Red Pill Case, followed closely by the Palace Removal Case. The countdown for Nine Thousand Years Old’s meteoric rise had almost begun. Speaking of which, Tianqi was already fourteen this year. A fourteen-year-old boy witnessed his own mother being beaten to death by an evil woman. Then, this evil woman conspired with his mother’s trusted aide, attempting to imprison and control him as a puppet. In the end, he was rescued by loyal ministers and escaped from this evil woman. But then he turned around, demoting or killing those loyal ministers one by one. He promoted the traitor who betrayed his mother back to a position of utmost trust until death. Despite pressure from the entire court, he posthumously honored that evil woman—who had no status as a concubine—as a consort for his deceased father, allowing her to live out her years in comfort in the palace…
It was said this evil woman lived until the Kangxi era, passing away peacefully in her eighties.
The Donglin Faction Scholars had such vivid imaginations.
They could design such mind-bending plots and dare to write them solemnly in history books!
This was purely insulting the audience’s intelligence!
Even absurd dramas wouldn’t dare to write such a script!
Nine Thousand Years Old’s success was entirely forced by the Donglin Faction Scholars. It was their ruthless faces, snatching power from the emperor, that showed Tianqi—who was only middle-school age—the true darkness of human hearts. It also terrified this clever young boy. He realized just how frenzied the High-ranking Officials could become when fighting for power!
He had no one to rely on.
The only people he could depend on were a wet nurse and Wei Zhongxian, the eunuch who had served him since childhood. His situation was unique. Originally, as the Crown Prince, he should have gathered a few trusted aides. But his father only reigned for one month. He had just been promoted from a backup heir to the heir for a month.
He hadn’t had time to gather any trusted aides!
Then, all at once, he saw everyone’s unscrupulous behavior in the face of power—from his father’s trusted eunuchs in the palace to the civil officials and military officers, all revealing their bottomless, frenzied faces!
He was truly afraid.
A middle-schooler suddenly thrown into a den of wolves.
Watching helplessly as the wolves tore at the flesh of power, treating him like a lamb for them to fight over.
He was terrified!
Who could he trust at this time? By his side, there was only the woman who breastfed him since infancy and the eunuch who managed his meals since childhood. These two were the ones he had depended on since he was young. In such times, aside from them, he had no one else to trust.
This was the root of Nine Thousand Years Old’s success.
“Why was that commander earlier a civil official?”
Yang Xin asked the shop assistant.
“The Five City Military Inspectorate is made up of civil officials. The commander is not the Commander. Their ranks are vastly different. The commander is only a sixth-rank official, and the deputy commander is only seventh-rank. Their archers and runners are similar to those of government offices—they’re not considered official soldiers. In the past, they were miscellaneous officials who collected money for imperial relatives, maintained order in the Capital City, managed fire prevention, and even handled cleaning. Later, they were changed to proper career officials.”
The shop assistant said.
“What about the Patrol Camp?”
Yang Xin asked.
“The Patrol Camp consists of military officers. They are Garrison Soldiers drafted from around the Capital City. They don’t patrol during the day; it’s the Patrol Camp that patrols at night.”
That shop assistant said.
“Is the public order in this Capital City good?”
Yang Xin asked.
“How it is elsewhere, so it is in this Capital City!”
That shop assistant said with a smile.
“Be careful of monks, and stay away from foreigners.”
Another shop assistant added.
“Uh, why is that?”
Yang Xin asked.
“There are many temples in the Capital City, and the number of itinerant monks from various places is also large. Among them are not a few bad people. In the past, over three hundred thieves were arrested in the Capital City at once, most of whom were hiding in various temples. Foreigners have wild tempers, and the court tends to be lenient with them, so they like to cause trouble. For us commoners, getting into conflicts with them is quite troublesome, since officials don’t like trouble.”
The first shop assistant said.
“If I want to buy a house in this Capital City, do I also need a Travel Pass?”
Yang Xin asked.
“Of course you need one. Without a Travel Pass, who knows if you’re a runaway Military Household? Besides, without a Travel Pass, you can’t sign a contract with the government. Also, are you adding to the household register, a merchant, or a happy migrant? Without a Travel Pass, no one knows where you come from or what your household registration status is. Even if the homeowner wants to sell, the neighbors won’t agree. The block chief and deputy chief wouldn’t dare to accept you. If something happens, they will all share the blame. Not to mention buying, even renting a house requires checking the Travel Pass. This isn’t like traveling on the road, where you can just pass through and it’s over. It doesn’t matter to the checkpoint officials whether you have one or not—if you don’t have a Travel Pass, you just avoid the main roads. It’s not hard for runaway households to get through. They can’t be held responsible for not catching them. But here, the neighborhood watch teams share the responsibility together. No one dares to be careless; if something happens later, everyone involved will be held accountable.”
The shop assistant said.
But his expression was very meaningful.
“There must be a solution, right?”
Yang Xin said with a smile.
The shop assistant chuckled.
He didn’t need to say it; Yang Xin understood. In later times, the toilets at train stations were plastered with solutions!
But he was just asking. As for whether he would truly become a resident of the Capital City of the Great Ming Dynasty, that was something to consider separately. After all, at the moment, he was also very confused…
“Sir!”
Huang Ying called out from beside him.
Yang Xin stood up and looked at Huang Zhen and the others who came out from inside.
The future Nine Thousand Years Old smiled as he looked at the two.
Yang Xin held the bag of melon seeds, and Huang Ying, who was cracking melon seeds beside him, blushed.
“These two children are quite well-matched!”
Eunuch Wei said.
Then he just walked away.
Yang Xin had a sudden idea. He stuffed that Silver Note into Huang Ying’s hand and winked at her. Huang Ying looked puzzled for a moment, but still took the Silver Note and chased after Nine Thousand Years Old. Clearly, using this Silver Note on Nine Thousand Years Old was far more valuable than buying a small house. Although a hundred taels would be like slapping his face to the future Nine Thousand Years Old, at this time, he hadn’t risen to prominence yet! A hundred taels was a lot. It could buy over a thousand jin of red copper alone. A jin of high-quality red copper was only nine fen of silver. Having just played up to someone fallen from favor, Yang Xin turned back and looked at Huang Zhen’s expression…
“One should know to repay kindness!”
He said righteously.
“You certainly are generous!”
Huang Zhen said with a smile.
“Wealth is external; you don’t bring it with you when you’re born, and you don’t take it with you when you die. Friendship is priceless!”
Yang Xin continued righteously.
“So, how much does it cost to get a fake certificate?”
He immediately changed his tone and asked.
“No need for a fake one. We can get a real one when we go back!”
Huang Zhen said.
As they spoke, Huang Ying returned, looking rather pained. Clearly, losing a hundred-tael Silver Note like this still hurt her a bit. Huang Zhen didn’t dare to linger in the Capital City for long. After all, running into Eunuch Wei this time was just a coincidence. If the other party continued to cause trouble for them, who knew what might happen? At the end of the day, they were the local power. Immediately, he took Yang Xin and the other and bid farewell to Shopkeeper Lin, then hurriedly left the Capital City. That night, they stayed at a random house in Shilihe. The next day, they rowed their own Sampan back to Zhangjiawan.
There wasn’t much going on in Zhangjiawan either. But to Yang Xin’s surprise, they didn’t buy any goods. Instead, they returned directly with an empty boat. Though the Customs Checkpoint at Hexiwu was still searching for people, Yang Xin now looked very different from the person being hunted. Not only would soldiers who had never seen him not recognize him, but even if Xiong Tingbi came, he might not be able to recognize him either.
The returning boat arrived at Yin’erwan five days later.
“Uh, why are we traveling at night?”
Yang Xin stood in the twilight, punting the boat into the retreating tide channel, and asked Huang Ying, who was looking ahead. Her father had already taken over the steering.
“Weren’t you complaining that we made too little money on this trip? We’re going to make big money next!”
Huang Ying said.
“Are you going to kill and rob people?”
Yang Xin asked in surprise.
“You’ll know when we get there!”
Huang Ying said.
Riding the retreating tide, the shallow boat sped forward in the twilight. By the time the moon rose, they had reached Dingzigu. Yang Xin quickly took over from Huang Ying. His vision was as good as a telescope, and he even had some low-light night vision. Relying on his directions and Huang Zhen’s steering, the shallow boat entered the Sancha River. But instead of turning into the Grand Canal, they crossed the river mouth directly into the Hai River. Here, the docks were full of large ships—at least so-called “Zheyang” ships, which were thousand-picul sand ships, and even larger ones like “Niao” ships. All these ships were quietly anchored in the night, and the shallow boat, with its mast lowered, silently sped past. Soon, the lights of Tianjin City were left behind, and both banks became completely dark.
At this time, most of the downstream areas of the Hai River were marshes, extending south all the way to Jinghai and even farther.
And they continued forward.
Finally, they stopped near Junliangcheng, dropping anchor and waiting quietly. Yang Xin woke up after a sleep, and the rising tide began again. When the tide quickly reached the water level Huang Zhen wanted, he immediately ordered the anchor to be raised. The boat rode the tide over a sandbar submerged by the rising tide and entered a nearby lagoon, quickly disappearing into a creek overgrown with reeds. Relying on Huang Zhen’s familiarity with the terrain, they sailed in deep water for half an hour before dropping anchor again deep in the reeds.
“Let’s go, get the goods!”
Huang Zhen said.
The oarsmen quickly lowered the sampan.
At this moment, Yang Xin already understood exactly how they planned to make big money…
Illicit Salt.