On the morning of May 30, the 59th year of Qianlong.

Today, Manager Dong, as usual, got up and washed up when he heard the bell from the Chongwenmen direction, and then went out to the "Donghongtai" teahouse for tea.

The place he lives in three grass fields, which is very close to Zhengyangmen Street. After the entrance of the alley, it is Shuicang Hutong. Walk west to the end, and the left side is Dashilan. A little further south is the "Donghongtai" teahouse located at the entrance of Yupi Hutong.

This person's real name is Dong Xinchen. He is from Shangqiu County, Henan Province. He is 37 years old and is born into a small wealthy farmer. When he was a child, he studied in a private school for a few years, but his family was in decline because of a change, so he did not continue. At the age of seventeen, he started to carry a load to do some small business, and traveled to villages and alleys every day, and his life was still acceptable. In the 50th year of Qianlong's reign, the Shangqiu area suffered the most, and people were hungry and fed each other. Dong Xinchen, like other people who fled, took his wife, children and children to Kaifeng to settle down.

By chance, Xu Dayong was ordered by Zhao Xin to gather refugees. In addition to buying people in the market, he also recruited some hired workers through the gang, mainly to cook for refugees inside and outside the village. Dong Xinchen was a foreigner, and it was not easy to make a living in Kaifeng; however, this man was very smart and generous, and met a gang man by deliberately making friends. The latter happened to help Xu Zhuang recruit workers, so he collected him a hundred dollars and introduced him.

Because he was literate and went through business, Dong Xinchen quickly stood out among the gangs in Xuzhuang. After a year, Xu Dayong felt that this person was attentive in his work and was not greedy for small profits in money. After several tests, he took him on a boat to travel abroad and saw the Thunder God. After receiving the "shocking education", Dong Xinchen's family went to Beihai Town, and had a house after dividing the land. He was unwilling to face the loess and facing the sky, and went to the Trade Department and worked under Shen Jingdan.

Four years ago, Dong Xinchen was ordered to enter Beijing and opened a north-south goods shop on Zhengyangmen Street under the name of "Huang Shengtai". Since then, Beihai Town has established the first intelligence point in the capital. Except for his wife Dong He who lived with him and two radio operators disguised as servants, the other accountants and servants employed locally did not know that the boss behind them was the "rebel" number one in Tianzi.

During the years in the capital, Dong Xinchen's greatest achievement was to develop the eunuch of the deputy general manager of Jingshifang into the eyeliner of Beihai Town, which made Beihai Town's tentacles extend into the Forbidden City. Basically, Zhao Xin can know the major events in the palace within three days.

Now the North Navy Intelligence Bureau has established a total of five intelligence sub-stations inside and outside the capital. The first branch is based on "Huang Shengtai" north-south goods; the second branch is standing on Liulichang East Street outside Xuanwu Gate. It is an antique shop called "Fan Gutang". Its main task is to connect with Ruan Yuan who worked in the Hanlin Academy, and to purchase antique calligraphy and paintings for Zhao Xin; the third branch is standing in Haidian Town, and to the outside is a medicinal material shop, and its main task is to monitor and inquire about the situation in various parts of the Old Summer Palace; the fourth branch is standing near Qingfeng Gate outside Dongbian Gate. It is a tavern. The shop from the shopkeeper to the client is all the Cao Gang people who defect to the North Navy; the fifth branch is standing at the Tongzhou Canal Wharf, and to the outside is a home grain shop.

For safety reasons, if there are no special circumstances, there will never be horizontal contacts in various intelligence stations. They only receive direct orders from the Intelligence Bureau from the radio station. Among them, the fourth station is a group specializing in the operation, and they did what they did when submitting anonymous letters to Liu Quan and Ruan Yuan's mansions.

When he was fine, Dong Xinchen usually had to stay in the teahouse until noon before returning to the shop, but today it was not possible. Prince Yi's grandson arrested Zhou Li because he was the general manager of the Office of the Internal Affairs. "Huang Shengtai" is now a supplier of the Office of the Internal Affairs, so he had to give a gift no matter what. Besides, Li Qiucheng said last month that he would go today, which was just right.

It was almost time to go home and change his clothes and call him a personal follower. In fact, it was the guard sent by the Intelligence Bureau. He took the gifts and posts prepared in advance and got into the city from Chongwenmen in a mule cart and arrived at the destination at the end of the Si period.

Prince Yi's Mansion is located in Qihuamen (Chaoyangmen), located in the east of the city. It is not remote or very lively in the capital. This is actually not the earliest Prince Yi's Mansion. The royal palace in the Yunxiang era is located in Jinyu Hutong east of Wangfujing. After the death of the first Prince Yi in the eighth year of Yongzheng, Yongzheng followed his last wish and converted the royal palace into a temple. Because he gave Yunxiang the posthumous title "Xian", it was called "Xianliang Temple". In history, Xianfeng kicked his legs, Zaiyuan, the seventh Prince Yi, one of the eight ministers of the life of the emperor, was quickly sentenced to death. The iron hat title was lost and the royal palace was confiscated. Later, it was given to Daoguang's ninth son Yihuan, which was changed to the Fu County Prince's Mansion.

The one who captured Zhou Li today was Yixun, the eldest grandson of Prince Yi Yonglang. His father was Yonglang's second son Mianbiao, who was named the Duke of the Eight-point Suiguo in the first few years. Because Yonglang had two sons and his eldest son Mianjin died more than ten years ago, Mianbiao became the best candidate for the next Prince Yi. If nothing unexpected happens, Yixun will naturally be the future little prince.

Dong Xinchen got out of the car after more than fifty meters away from the palace. The door of the palace was full of carriages and sedan chairs, blocking the door. After entering the gate of the palace, Changsui handed over a big red greeting and gift list. The eunuch in charge of welcoming guests took the greeting and opened it. He looked at the valuable gifts on the gift list, nodded with satisfaction, and then said loudly: "The Changlu Salt Transportation Envoy, Mr. Dong, arrived!"

Well, a businessman wants to do business with the Interior Government in Beijing, but he doesn’t even think about it without an official. This is not only a matter of being easy to do business, but also allows others to understand your strength. If you don’t have a tens of thousands of taels of wealth, you will have to lose your business with the Interior Government.

Before Dong Xinchen entered Beijing, the Intelligence Bureau first asked him to return to Shangqiu and spend 1,200 yuan to donate a prison student. The second year after he arrived in the capital, he spent 150 taels of silver to donate a tribute student at the Ministry of Revenue, and then paid more than 5,000 taels of salt transportation department. If this was the candidate for the actual title, it would cost at least 10,000 taels.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content later! Although the situation in the Qing Dynasty is that Wang Xiaoer celebrates the New Year, many powerful people dare not be too arrogant to avoid Qianlong’s unhappy. However, Man people attach great importance to the year-end ceremony of their children. Moreover, Yonglang has a weak descendant and has a grandson when he is almost fifty. So after asking Qianlong for approval in advance, Prince Yi’s mansion invited many guests today, including Prince Beile and the female family in the family, as well as under the banner slaves who are officials in Beijing, as well as some close Manchu and Han and Mongolian ministers, as well as a group of Qing guest ministers.

According to the rules, the ceremonial ceremony of the week must be held before noon before the meal can be eaten. In the afternoon, there will be a troupe to start to appear to show the joy. However, at this time, everyone finally found that the main owner of the royal palace had not yet appeared, so many people couldn't help asking.

After listening to the explanation of Yonglang's great concubine and his son Mianbiao, everyone realized that Prince Qingyi and Prince Ding were summoned to the garden before dawn. I don't know what the specific reason was. The princes and princes present looked at each other, thinking that there was something wrong with not even taking care of Zhou for their grandson? Did something big happen to the court? I haven't heard of it!

In fact, the people in Prince Yi's mansion also thought this was strange. Mianbiao sent someone to the garden early in the morning and wanted to ask when Ama would come back. Unexpectedly, the person who asked did not see Yonglang at all. He just came out and sent a message saying that the emperor was negotiating important matters with Prince Yi, Prince Ding, and the three of the Zhongtang. He couldn't come out for a while, so he asked the mansion what to do, and there was no need to wait for him.

At this moment, no one of the princes and ministers in the capital knew that something big had happened in the Old Summer Palace, and a big chaos was right in front of him.

Although Yonglang was not here, the ceremony could not be delayed even when the time came. So amid the blessings of the relatives and friends, the little prince wearing a tiger-head hat and tiger-head shoes was taken out by the nurse. After everyone present said a few auspicious words, the chasing ceremony began.

The royal family's ritual of arresting Zhou in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was called "Zhu Pan", which means that the things were placed in the plate and let the children catch them to observe their ambitions. Speaking of which, this is still the custom of the Han people during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and Manchus learned before entering the pass. However, the royal family's arresting Zhou was different from ordinary families, and the items set up were very different from those of the people.

Standing outside the crowd, Dong Xinchen stood on tiptoe and stretched his neck to look, and saw the concubine smiling and bringing up a wooden plate. There were a wide variety of things on it, including jade ornaments, jade fan pendants, golden spoons, silver boxes, agate fan pendants, rhinoceros horn bells, four treasures of the study, a bow tied, an arrow, and a pair of small hammers tied with red silk ropes.

One-year-old Yixun stared at her big eyes, looked at this and that, and stretched out her little hand without hesitation, picked up the rhinoceros horn clock, held it in both hands and sent it to her mouth to chew it, but she was no longer interested in other things.

"Okay, okay! The little prince will be so busy that he will eat the food in the future!"

"Good omen, good omen!"

Although there were congratulations around him, the owners of Prince Yi's mansion smiled happily, among the iron-hat kings present, except for the young, the older ones frowned slightly, and then returned to normal. Prince Li Yongen and Prince Zhuang Mianke looked at each other, and a bad premonition arose in their hearts.

Why did the naughty kid catch such a thing? The meaning of the clock certainly represents "Zhongming and Ding Food", but at least we should catch another golden spoon. The problem is that the child only caught a clock. It would be fine if it was a peaceful time, but now the world is in danger, and the future for the Manchus is already in danger. Maybe one day the North Navy enters the pass, everyone will have to roll the beds to the snowy plateau to chew barley.

Yonglang's grandparents and grandchildren have a single lineage. This child is only one year old now, and it is not a joke to get sick when he arrives there. It seems that Prince Yi's lineage is probably not a good prospect!

After that, everyone went to the banquet hall to sit down. Prince Li Yongen swept around and asked strangely: "Why didn't you see the couple Runpu today?"

After hearing this, Mianbiao explained: "In the morning, the Hefu sent someone to deliver the letter, saying that the princess was unwell this morning. She asked the imperial physician to see it and said that it was caused by the cold wind and cold, and she was afraid that it would be transmitted to the child if it came."

The two of them were talking about Heshen’s sons, Fengshen Yinde and Princess Hexiao. They had already agreed to post a few days ago, but they suddenly said they could not come this morning. However, although the person had not come, the gift had been sent over early in the morning, and it was still double. Although the Dafu Jin and Mianbiao couple were a little disappointed, they couldn’t say anything.

Yongen nodded, glanced at him again, and said to himself: "No, why didn't Yongjun and his wife come?"

Mianbiao shook his head in surprise and said, "I don't know. Maybe I'll delay it when I came from Haidian? I'll come and have three glasses of wine."

This time the two talked about Yongyan, the grandson of Prince Chun Yunyou, the seventh son of Kangxi. He married Heshen's eldest daughter more than ten years ago and was considered a backbone of the He Party in the royal family. In another time and space history, after Heshen's death, he was implicated, depressed and unsuccessful, and died of illness in less than fifty years.

The speaker was unintentional and the listener was intentional. De Cheng, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Works, on the table next to him, said: "When it comes to Runpu, I have heard of something before I came."

"Let me tell me." Now Heshen is powerful and countless people are flattering and please him. His every move, every word and action will attract the attention of the powerful.

Decheng smiled and said, "Actually, it's not a big deal. I heard from my subordinates that his family lives in Badiao Bay north of Desheng Bridge. He said that the carriages that came out of Hefu early this morning were one after another, and there were people in the carriages. The carriages went out from Deshengmen and headed north, and I don't know what they were doing."

"Are you going to the Bixia Yuanjun Temple in Beiding to burn incense? Life is not right." Prince Li Yongen rolled his eyes, waved to his own eunuch behind him, and whispered: "Go and ask about the movements of He Mansion."

“Wait.”

Dong Xinchen, who was sitting in the distance, naturally couldn't hear all this. What he was most concerned about now was when Li Qiucheng would arrive. However, he waited around and did not see the other party until the banquet was over. He was unwilling to leave just like that, so he decided to continue waiting. The two had not met for two months. It was not easy for Li Qiucheng to leave the palace. Usually, he passed the message through a chef in the imperial kitchen.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content behind! It was almost four o'clock in the afternoon. Dong Xinchen, who was a little obsessed with listening to the opera, was suddenly patted on the shoulder from behind. He turned around and saw that it was Li Qiucheng.

"Oh~~Mr. Li! I'm paying respect to you." Dong Xinchen shone his sleeves and called him a thousand-year-old.

Li Qiucheng smiled with his hands behind his back: "Shopkeeper Dong, I said it looks familiar from behind, we haven't seen each other for many days!"

Dong Xinchen understood and politely followed the other party for a while, and then followed the other party outside under the name of sending "Master Li".

"What's wrong today. The emperor in the garden hasn't shown up for a day, and he and the central hall blocked several signs to pay their respects back. Many things in the palace were delayed because of this, otherwise I would have come soon." Li Qiucheng walked slowly and said softly.

"I'm sick?"

"It's hard to say. The Imperial Hospital has not received an order to send someone to the garden."

"Have you ever had this happen before?"

"No. And there is another thing. The person who went to the garden to deliver the memorial came back and told me that the emperor did not even leave Jiuzhou Qingyan today, so I think something was wrong."

"Please keep an eye on it. If there is news in the garden tomorrow, it will be an old place."

"I know." Li Qiucheng was about to walk to the gate of the royal palace, hesitated for a moment and stopped, turned around and asked in an extremely low voice: "When will you enter Shengjing?"

"It's been a few days."

"Enter the pass early, I'm so worried about my daily life."

Dong Xinchen smiled and said, "Don't worry, it's only been one or two years. How did the Nine-character Mantra come from?"

Li Qiucheng thought to himself, you should be over! Don’t think I don’t understand. We have heard of “The Story of Yuntai”. It has been nine years, and it is still a lot of grain and building walls! That person didn’t know what he thought, but he didn’t enter the capital and didn’t sit on the dragon throne, and he actually dispatched troops to Xinjiang.

Just as the two of them arrived at the gate of the palace and were about to bow their feet, they heard a "bang" explosion coming from the east, followed by another sound.

"Whose bastard is setting off firecrackers in broad daylight, scaring our little master, do you still want to..." A servant from the royal palace started to curse, and then he heard three consecutive explosions coming from the east.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

With five consecutive explosions, Li Qiucheng suddenly stopped and was stunned like a mud doll. He was standing at the door of the royal palace, tilting his head as if he was thinking about something. This look made Dong Xinchen and the servants of the royal palace at the door confused.

"Mr. Li, what's wrong with you?"

Li Qiucheng quickly walked to the street, regardless of whom his carriage, climbed up and looked westward. After only a moment, he suddenly shouted: "No! This is not a firecracker, it is the cannon on the White Tower of Qiongdao!"

"Sign up?" The people at the door were confused.

Suddenly, Li Qiucheng's face changed and he shouted at a servant in the royal palace and said loudly: "Go and tell your master, the White Tower cannon has fired, the Yellow Dragon Flag has been hung, and something big happened!"

Dong Xinchen was shocked. Before he could ask about the cannon, what did the flag have to do with the accident? Li Qiucheng said: "Shopkeeper Dong, you can leave the city quickly. If you are too late, you can't get out!"
Chapter completed!