Volume 3: The Richest Man in the World Chapter 70 Lama Temple
Wu Chengjian stayed quietly in the Guangdong Guild Hall for another four or five days. One day, Cai Qinghua suddenly sent a message asking Wu Chengjian to "get ready." Cai Qinghua didn't say anything else, but Wu Chengjian had already guessed something.
After two days of preparation, nothing happened. But on the third day, a man in a yellow jacket suddenly came to the Guangdong Guild Hall to summon Wu Chengjian without saying anything. Wu Chengjian followed with his head down, not saying a word.
It was not until he walked in front of a big gate that he looked up and saw the three words "Yonghe Palace".
The Lama Temple was the secret residence of Emperor Yongzheng, and Emperor Qianlong was also born here. According to the rules, a house where an emperor had lived could not be inhabited again, so it was converted into a Yellow Sect Lama Temple.
After entering the gate, Wu Chengjian lowered his head again, not looking around, so he didn't know where he was going. All he heard was Tibetan Buddhist music, and all he smelled was the lingering sandalwood. After passing a gate, the yellow jacket stopped, and a eunuch called out, "Is it Wu Chengjian?"
The man in the yellow jacket replied, "Yes."
Then a eunuch and a guard came forward and searched Wu Chengjian thoroughly.
After making sure that the person was clean, the eunuch said, "Let's go."
Wu Chengjian followed the eunuch again and came to a door. He knew that this was the last dangerous change of his trip to Beijing and he didn't want any more accidents, so he appeared to be extremely honest and didn't even look at the plaque at the door.
After waiting at the door for an unknown amount of time, an old eunuch finally came in, glanced at Wu Chengjian, and said, "Come in."
When Wu Chengjian heard the voice, his heart skipped a beat, thinking it was you, but his expression did not change at all, and he did not even raise his eyes to look at the old eunuch's appearance.
The old eunuch secretly praised him, thinking: "This boy is indeed sensible and reliable, no wonder he can make so much money."
Wu Chengjian followed the old eunuch into the door. The old eunuch pointed to the ground and Wu Chengjian knelt there with his head lowered. He did not look around. He only vaguely caught a glimpse of a desk in front of him, and probably someone was sitting behind the desk.
Then a middle-aged man's voice was heard from behind the desk: "Is this the Guangdong Baoshang?"
The old eunuch replied, "Yes."
The middle-aged man said, "Raise your head and let me take a look."
It turned out to be Emperor Jiaqing.
Wu Chengjian then raised his head so that the emperor could see his face clearly, but his eyes were honest and he looked down consciously, not even glancing at the emperor's face. But he saw what was on the desk - there was a piece of paper as thin as a cicada's wing on it . Although he only glanced at it, Wu Chengjian was very familiar with this paper. It was the "list of stolen goods" with the "Seal of Sui'an Room" on it, so he recognized it.
"Huh, you're so young, and you've become a guarantor?" Emperor Jiaqing seemed a little surprised.
The old eunuch answered on his behalf, "The Yihe business he was entrusted with was originally managed by his elder brother. His elder brother suddenly fell ill a few years ago, and his father was old, so he was entrusted with the task of taking over the family business. He has done a very good job in the past few years."
The millions of taels of silver were not wasted. There were three or four good words hidden in the few words of reply.
Emperor Jiaqing said, "So that's how it is! He accepted the mission in times of crisis and lived up to the trust. Although he is a businessman, he is still a good man."
Wu Chengjian thought to himself: "As expected, they are students taught by Zhu Gui. Their accents are all the same." Hearing this, he already had an idea in his mind.
Jiaqing had heard about the "list of stolen goods" from Zhu Gui a few days ago, and he wanted to ask this Guangdong guarantor, but at this sensitive time, Wu Chengjian could not enter the Forbidden City with his identity. It happened that he went out of the palace to worship Buddha and pray for the safety of the emperor, so he arranged time to come out.
Emperor Jiaqing said: "Master Zhu told me about you, saying that you were in the Thirteen Hongs and were forced to succumb to the tyranny of the rebels, but you were able to loyally protect your master with all your heart and soul, and you can be regarded as a loyal and righteous person."
When Wu Chengjian heard Jiaqing call him "He Ni", he was more certain about what happened today and said quickly, "This matter concerns the reputation of the royal family. I cannot sit idly by even if I die. But He Shen was powerful at that time and I am just a commoner. If I confront He Shen, it would be like hitting a rock with an egg and it would not help. After He Shen gets rid of me, he will find someone else to do this. So I thought about it and decided to pretend to be submissive and do things secretly to break this treacherous plot. During this period, because the matter was secret and difficult to tell, I suffered some misunderstandings, but this is the duty of a minister. I am ashamed to accept the praise from Lord Zhu."
Jiaqing nodded. When Heshen was powerful, how many ministers would not join the rebellion, let alone a small merchant? It was rare for this young man to be loyal to the emperor, but he was still a little surprised: "Minister?" It stands to reason that merchants should call themselves common people.
From his reaction, Wu Chengjian knew that the emperor knew very little about the Thirteen Hongs and was not even aware that the two major merchants had been given official titles.
He said quickly: "In order to control me, Heshen forced me to have an official position. At that time, I was unwilling to accept it, but I had to accept it." When he said this, he prostrated himself on the ground, trembling all over, and he didn't know whether he was frightened or nervous.
At this time, the old eunuch said, "He Shen secretly instructed the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel to appoint officials to the two largest guarantors of the Thirteen Hongs. On the one hand, he could extort a large amount of donations from them, and on the other hand, he could stamp He Shen's mark on them. From then on, they would only listen to He Shen and do things for him."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Jiaqing shouted angrily: "Traitor, traitor! A great traitor!"
He cursed a few times, knocked on the list on the table, and said, "Look up and tell me how this thing came about."
Wu Chengjian replied: "Yes."
He estimated that since Hubuta had been taken away by Zhu Gui, he would most likely be transferred to the emperor and interrogated by his confidants, so he did not dare to make up stories and almost selectively told the truth.
It starts with the inexplicable receipt of a batch of boxes that could not be opened, and how the boxes were secretly switched in order to hide the "stolen goods". During the switching process, there was a man named Kongshen who tried to take something from the box, but was finally shocked to discover Heshen's treacherous plot. These events are briefly described one by one.
As expected, Emperor Jiaqing sent other people to interrogate Hubuta on these matters. After comparing the two, they knew the truth. However, the twists and turns of how the list was obtained were heard for the first time.
Wu Chengjian finally said, "During the transportation, it was completely accidental that Miaoshoukongkong stole this item from the box. Originally, I didn't dare to open the box. If so, I would not have been able to get this list. Even if I got this list, if my master was not the apprentice of Zhu Gelao's master and had occasionally heard of the name of Sui'an Room, then I would not have guessed that the name of the imperial family would be involved behind this list. If only one of these coincidences was lost, things would not be what they are today. But God happened to use a thief to take out this item, allowing me to guess the inside story. And long ago, God arranged for my master to happen to have heard of "Sui'an Room". It can be seen that the Holy Emperor is blessed by all spirits. If Wu does not do this, there will naturally be other loyal ministers and filial sons who will act in this way, and will definitely not let those with ulterior motives do unjust things."
He paused, and then continued: "At that time, I was in a trap and could not tell Lord Zhu about this matter. Lord Zhu did not know that this was a trap and forced me to go to the capital to explain. I was in a dilemma and was ready to commit suicide in prison! Unexpectedly, at this moment, the sky actually sent down a fire, burning all the things that might embarrass the emperor! From then on, I understood: not only will the people of the world support the emperor openly or secretly, but even God is protecting the emperor. So from then on, I was even more focused on the words loyalty and obedience, because the emperor is the son of God. People can deceive people, but can people deceive God!"
When Emperor Jiaqing received the list that day, he was shocked to hear Zhu Gui's story. It turned out that such a struggle had taken place in a place he didn't know about! If this matter was played out according to the script written by Heshen, Zhu Gui would be embarrassed in the end, and then he would be implicated.
Although a mere "Palace Stolen Property Case" was not enough to shake his throne, he immediately remembered that some other things had happened all over the country at that time, some of which were successful and some of which were not. If this "Palace Stolen Property Case" was handled according to Heshen's idea, and some other things were added up, it would be really hard to predict what the emperor would think and do.
After all, among the princes, Yongyan was not the most outstanding. If he really wanted to depose or enthrone an emperor, Emperor Qianlong would have a backup plan.
When Emperor Jiaqing thought of this, he broke out in a cold sweat. It was because this matter involved a lot of things that he had to take the trouble to squeeze out time and go out of the palace to meet this guarantor.
At this time, after listening to Wu Chengjian's talk about the details of the petty thief stealing the bill and the floating fire from heaven, he also felt that there was indeed God's will in all things.
"Even if He Shen has planned everything, what does it matter? I am the emperor, and under the protection of God, no matter how talented He Shen is, it is useless!"
Thinking of this, his mood improved on the spot. Looking at Wu Chengjian who was still crawling on the ground at a loss, he felt amused. In his opinion, this small businessman must have some thoughts of his own, but being able to stand on his side at the critical moment was enough. You can't ask a businessman to be as selfless and sacrifice himself for the country as a famous Confucian scholar.
Thinking of this, he smiled and said to Wu Chengjian: "Although your official position was given by Heshen, I will exempt you from it. However, you should be rewarded for your contribution, so I will restore your official position."
Wu Chengjian seemed ecstatic, he fell to the ground and shouted "Long live!"
Emperor Jiaqing nodded to the old eunuch, and the old eunuch was about to lead Wu Chengjian out.
Wu Chengjian suddenly said, "I have something else to report, but I don't know whether I should report it or not."
Emperor Jiaqing hesitated for a moment and said, "Let me make it short."
Wu Chengjian said: "There are barbarians from the west who are coming with their troops. They have occupied Macau with their powerful ships and cannons, and they are even planning to take over Guangzhou. I wonder if the imperial court has heard about this."
Emperor Jiaqing was stunned for a moment, and the old eunuch was also surprised. Emperor Jiaqing shouted, "What did you say!"
"Does the imperial court really not know about it?" Wu Chengjian made a long story short and told him about the British warships entering Macau and controlling the Pearl River Estuary, and how he tried to make the imperial court recognize Britain's occupation of Macau and open more trading ports.
Emperor Jiaqing was furious when he heard this: "Is this true? If this is true, where is the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi? Where is the General of Guangzhou?"
Wu Chengjian said: "Your Majesty, the British invasion is known to almost everyone in Guangdong. Because this matter concerns the state system, I not only reported it to the Supervisory Office, but also wrote a letter to Heshen's housekeeper Liu Quan, so Heshen must know about it. At that time, I thought that no matter how corrupt Heshen was, he would not dare to deceive the court about such a big thing. Who knew that after I arrived in Beijing, I was shocked to find that Beijing did not know about it. So today I dared to report it. This matter is absolutely true. If Your Majesty has any doubts, you can send someone to investigate again, and you will get the truth. If what I said is not true, I am willing to redeem this crime of deceiving the emperor with my life!"
Emperor Jiaqing was furious when he heard this. He thought that such a big matter would be solved once it was investigated. Even if this small businessman had ten brains, he would not dare to lie about this matter!
He slammed the table and cursed: "Traitorous ministers and stupid governors! It is heartbreaking that the country has fallen into such a state of disgrace!"
The old eunuch stared at Wu Chengjian, quite puzzled as to why he was causing trouble at this time.
Wu Chengjian didn't look at the old eunuch, but he could feel his gaze and immediately guessed the other party's doubts. However, he did not regret it. This matter was related to the safety of the country. If it was not handled properly, the entire Guangdong Bay might be devastated - that was his hometown!
Emperor Jiaqing cursed for a while before calming down. He then asked Wu Chengjian to kneel two steps forward and asked him various details.
Wu Chengjian then listed the number of soldiers on the British warships, their training levels, the size of the ships, the scale of their artillery firepower, etc., one by one.
The more Emperor Jiaqing listened, the more frightened he became. But he also became convinced that such detailed information could not be a lie. Then he became suspicious again: "How do you know so much?"
"I myself was dealing with the barbarians on behalf of the imperial court." Wu Chengjian said, "First, the barbarians were at odds with each other, so England tried to dominate Macau, but Portugal, France and other Western countries refused, so they revealed a lot of information to me. Second, the barbarians had no king or father, and I paid a little money, and these untrustworthy people sold all the information to me. Third, the Qing people in Macau were worried about the country, and they also brought me a lot of information."
Emperor Jiaqing then resolved his doubts: "So that's how it is." But then he became worried. If what Wu Chengjian said was true, the British invaded with more troops than the Russians in the Battle of Yalu River, and their fighting power was even stronger. The Battle of Yalu River shook the entire Northeast at that time. If the British really fought this war, what would happen if Guangdong was ruined?
Besides, the national treasury is now empty, and the White Lotus Sect is causing trouble in Huguang and Sichuan. If the two respond to each other, it will be a disaster that spreads to several provinces! He is not very cunning, and when he thinks of this, he can't help but worry.
At this time, Wu Chengjian finally took the time to glance at the emperor. He saw that his features were bright, but he became angry when he heard something, and worried when he heard something again, all of which were written on his face. If it were Heshen, it would be almost impossible for him to be so easily moved by others, or even led by the nose. He then had a new understanding of the emperor's ability.
After taking a glance, he took advantage of the emperor not noticing to glance at the old eunuch, then lowered his head again.
Then he said, "Your Majesty, I don't understand state affairs, but I know a situation that your Majesty may be able to refer to."
"explain."
