Nanming Engineer

Chapter 483 Divorce II
Nearly October, the city of Beijing already has a sense of bleakness. The wind that blows over the mottled ancient city walls brings the inherent coldness of the Northland. On the streets paved with stone slabs, the pedestrians passing by stepped on, making a crisp broken sound, as if heralding another cold winter.

The carbon households on the Carbon Mountain in the suburbs of Beijing have also been organizing their supplies early to prepare carbon for the winter for this giant city with a population of 10, so that they can earn some money this winter and survive the long winter. A cotton-padded jacket.

Zhang Dabiao, a carbon householder, has been in this business for decades. He is in his fifties this year, but he looks 70 years old. He has never married a wife, and of course he has no descendants. He is alone.Since his grandfather's generation, he has been doing this business for a living.He has an honest temper, and he can't give a fart even if he is a stick. He is often bullied by other carbon households on weekdays and robs his clients, but he dare not say a word. As soon as he glared and tried to hit him, he was so frightened that he squatted on the ground begging for mercy. The others laughed and gave him the nickname "Zhang Idiot".

Zhang Dabiao has a cowardly character, but one advantage is that he is honest in his business, and the charcoal blocks are never short, and the baskets are solid. Although he is suppressed by other charcoal households, many people like to use his charcoal. Many of them are high-ranking and wealthy.

In August, Zhang Dabiao took in an apprentice. He seemed to be fleeing from other places. He was in his 20s. When I was old, I wanted to find someone to die with, so I took this person in.

This young man is called Chen Xiang. When he entered Zhang Dabiao's door, he worked hard for him. He was very diligent. In August and September, it was still early to burn charcoal. Prepare.I go out every day before dawn, with two steamed buns in my arms, and come back after dark, pushing the door from door to door, asking people with a smile if they need carbon for winter, and not afraid of being looked down upon.It's good for Zhang Dabiao. Every day when he goes back, he has to cook and wash clothes, and he also washes the feet of the elderly Zhang Dabiao.People say that Zhang Dabiao picked up the treasure, and got such a well-behaved and filial young man for nothing, and there will be no shortage of descendants in the next hundred years.

Zhang Dabiao was also very happy. As soon as October came, he took Chen Xiang into the mountains to burn charcoal. The winter this year was cold early, and some big families began to use charcoal before the winter. The nobles are very expensive and cannot stand the cold .

When the carbon was produced for the first time, as usual, someone came to the door and warned Zhang Dabiao that some places could not be delivered, which was arranged by others, otherwise Zhang Dabiao’s carbon stove would be dismantled, and at the same time, the carbon fee quota for this year was set , This carbon fee is the money that the carbon gang collects from the carbon households. If you can't pay it, don't even think about sending carbon in the capital.The carbon gang is spread all over the capital, with thousands of disciples and grandchildren, and it specializes in dominating the weak carbon households to collect money. It is not a big gang, but it has a lot of prestige among the carbon households.

In the past, this kind of carbon gang Zhang Dabiao couldn't afford to offend, so he could only agree to it, and reluctantly let go of some big carbon users and set up stalls in the market.But this year is different.

Chen Xiang walked forward with a grin. The carbon gang came with two rogue-headed minions. They looked like hooligans with slanted eyebrows and squinted eyes. Just as he was about to reprimand him, Chen Xiang kicked him far away.

Chen Xiang was thin and thin, but his ragged clothes were full of muscles, and his explosive power was very strong. The people who killed people from the battlefield were no match for these two minions. The knife was snatched away by Chen Xiang three times, and the arm bone was broken. One person slapped more than [-] ears and beat him out.

The two ran back and cried, that the Carbon Gang had 30 people come to settle accounts that night, but they "coincidentally" met another group of unidentified people, they were beaten to pieces on the road, and the leader had his ears cut off , Howled and ran away.

In the middle of the night that night, the leader of the Carbon Gang disappeared for no apparent reason on the bed of the chief helm's house. Even the clothes were there, but the person disappeared. The woman who slept on the same bed didn't notice anything, and woke up with only an empty bed.

The carbon gang was in chaos, and the position of the gang leader was vacant, which attracted countless pairs of eyes to pry.

Without the troubles caused by the Carbon Gang, Zhang Dabiao got his wish and resumed the old relationships left behind in the past. Among them was the residence of Hong Chengchou, a scholar of the Imperial Academy.

The housekeeper of the Hong Mansion was an old acquaintance of Zhang Dabiao. He was very happy to meet him. Zhang Dabiao's charcoal was not used in previous years. Not only was there a shortage of charcoal, but there were also multiple batches. The cooking was always unsatisfactory. Although the owner didn't say anything, but Feeling ashamed of being a housekeeper, Zhang Dabiao finally came to the door today, of course he was happy, and kept urging Zhang Dabiao to deliver the goods this year.

Zhang Dabiao took Chen Xiang with him, hired two porters, and started a door-to-door delivery business every other day. deliver.

Zhang Dabiao is old, and he has to take care of the work of burning charcoal in the mountains, and he can't stand the daily toss. The work of delivering charcoal must fall on the young Chen Xiang.

This young man is still smiling, extremely diligent, as if pulling the car that weighs several hundred catties is effortless, he eats less and sleeps late every day, works day and night, and knows how to be a man. The butler sent some carbon to the house for free, which was very flattering. Soon, everyone in the Hong family became familiar with this well-behaved young man. Go in and deliver.

The Hong Mansion is in the inner city, in Tongluo Hutong. It was originally a minister's mansion in the Ming Dynasty. After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, Dorgon gave it to Hong Chengchou.

The mansion is luxurious, with one layer of courtyards, towers and pavilions, nine-curved corridors, exquisite terraces in the lotus pond, crescent gates in the center of the lake, carved beams and painted buildings with cornices and corners, which are dizzying and amazing. Not pleasing to the eye.

But Hong Chengchou was not so comfortable.

In the past few days, the Tai Chi Hall in the Forbidden City has been full of noise.

Azig, who came back with his troops, was aggressive and wanted to be the regent. Of course, he couldn't say it clearly, but a large group of people helped him say that Jierhalang and others were not vegetarians, so how could they let Azi Do you want to be fierce?If someone really wants to be the regent, it should be Jierhalang, who is also the auxiliary minister.

The two sides fought with each other in the Taiji Hall, facing each other, their faces were red and their necks were thick, and no one would accept the other. If it wasn't for the prohibition of carrying knives in the hall, they might have already started cutting each other.

The young Emperor Shunzhi and the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, who had no backbone, looked helplessly at this scene and were helpless.

Hong Chengchou, Fan Wencheng, Ning Wan, and a group of Hanchens had no room to speak. They shrank their necks and watched. The more they watched, the more frightened they became, and the more they watched, the more chilled their hearts became. Wang Huan's 10,000+ people are gathering momentum in Shanxi Waiting to go, the masters of the Eight Banners are not in a hurry to deal with it, but are arguing about who will be the regent!
Putting the cart before the horse, or in other words, greed for profit!
For a moment, Hong Chengchou felt in a trance that he had returned to the Ming Dynasty Hall. The person sitting on it was not Shunzhi, but Emperor Chongzhen. The quarrel was not between the nobles of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but the cronies of the Ming Dynasty. Although time and space were separated, everything was the same. Kind of.

He thought sadly, could it be that the fate of the Qing Dynasty will repeat the mistakes of the Ming court?

(End of this chapter)