Chapter 9: Xiong Hu

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  He emphasized the importance of striking while the iron is hot, so Zhu Yinglong re-melted the freshly made transparent glass into molten glass. Using the metal casting techniques he learned in college, he managed to create ten small wine cups. He was very satisfied with his work, and the ten cups were crystal clear and sparkling. In modern times, they would be worthless, but in this time period, they might fetch a good price. He carefully placed them in a box made of high-quality nanmu wood and called for Shi Kefa, whispering something in his ear for half a day before he reluctantly took the box with the ten glass cups out.

  Zhu Yinglong was imagining the sensation these ten wine cups would cause in the capital when Xu Yingyuan walked in from outside and whispered in his ear, "Your Highness, that girl has woken up and wants to see you."

  Zhu Yinglong heard this and happily said: "Awake?"

  "Yes, Princess Zhou is also here, saying she wants to see you." Xu Yingyuan responded, among the many people in the mansion, he had the deepest feeling for this master. Since the prince fell and hurt his head, he became a completely different person, with strange thoughts popping up in his mind from time to time. His personal eunuch could no longer guess the master's thoughts, and every time he thought about it, he felt uneasy, afraid of losing favor one day. Therefore, when handling matters, he was extremely cautious, not daring to be even slightly careless.

  Zhu Yinglong arrived at the underground dark room, the dim yellow oil lamp flickered, feeling quite chilly. Such a place was not suitable for recuperation, but for now, it could only be so, and he felt some regret in his heart.

  "The civilian girl, Xiong Hu, requests an audience with Your Highness!" Xiong Hu recognized the young king in front of her at a glance, his neck still bearing the sword scar she had inflicted. Her mind was racing as she couldn't believe that the man who had been like a madman in the secret chamber last night was actually a prince.

  Zhu Yinglong hastily stepped forward to help Xiong Hu up, his small hands entering hers, soft and smooth to the touch. His heart involuntarily skipped a beat as he shot her a concerned glance: "Li Niang has injuries on her body, so there's no need to follow some etiquette."

  Xiong Hu was also the first to be so close to a young man, she is already eighteen this year, and the marriage that had been arranged since her father's imprisonment has also been cancelled. For several years, she had been running around trying to rescue her father, but it was all in vain, and instead, more people were implicated and thrown into prison. Where did she have time to consider her own lifelong affairs? The eyes of the young man in front of her actually moved the strings in her heart, and involuntarily, a flush rose to her face. Suddenly realizing that her hand was still in Zhu Yinglong's, she quickly pulled it back and said softly: "Li Niang still wants to thank Wang Ye for saving her life."

  "Naliang, how are you going to thank me?" Zhuminglong asked with a hint of a smile.

  Xiong Hu was stunned and didn't know how to respond.

  Zhou Tingning had already met Zhu Yinglong before, and every time he spoke, it was always unexpected, but with a deeper meaning. So, looking at the two of them, she didn't say anything either.

  "Whatever Wang Ye wants Liniang to thank him for, as long as it's something Liniang can do, she'll definitely do it." Xiong Hu finally said with a firm tone.

  "This king wants you!" Zhu Yinglong stared at Xiong Hu's clear and bright phoenix eyes, saying very affirmatively.

  As soon as the words came out, not only was Xiong Hu greatly surprised, but Zhou Yining on the side was even more shocked. Since she and Tian, Ye three women married into the Wang Mansion, Zhu Yinglong had never shared a bed with any of them. They didn't dare ask about this matter either, nor did they have the nerve to ask. The three beautiful wives at home hadn't been touched by him once, yet he still wanted to take in another woman? How could she not be shocked?

  "Your Highness, Liniang is the daughter of a low-ranking official and her status is humble. You are a noble prince, she dare not have any improper thoughts." Xiong Hu, after all, was not an ordinary woman, and with her childhood friend by her side, quickly thought of a tactful way to decline, while in her heart, her impression of Zhu Yinglong greatly decreased. Moreover, he was the husband of her sworn sister, which made it even more impossible for her to accept this almost rude request.

  "As expected," Zhu Yinglong smiled slightly and said: "Liang's answer was already within this king's expectations, but this king still says the same thing, this king wants you!"

  "Your Highness?" Zhou Yingning couldn't help but ask.

  Zhu Yinglong interrupted: "Xuan Ning, you go out first and prepare lunch for Ben Wang. Ben Wang will come over to have lunch with you in a while."

  In the Ming Dynasty where husband's authority was supreme, Zhu Yinglong's words were something Zhou Yining had to listen to, so she could only get up and leave the underground secret room.

  "Ling Niang, do you want to save your father?" Zhu Yinglong dropped a bombshell.

  "Prince..." A look of surprise flashed in Xiong Hu's eyes as he stared blankly at Zhu Yinglong.

  "Your respected father is one of the people I, the king, admire, but now the eunuchs are in power and the people's lives are withering away. The loyal and good officials have been repeatedly persecuted. I also want to rescue your respected father, but I cannot just rescue him for nothing. You are my condition." Zhu Yinglong wanted to thoroughly bind the Xiong family to his own chariot, as he now had too few people he could use. He had to speed up his search for talent. Rescuing Xiong Tingbi would be extremely beneficial to Zhu Yinglong. At the very least, he had a great influence in Liaodong. With Xiong Tingbi in hand, famous generals like Yuan Chonghuan would not be difficult to capture. He couldn't rely on that predictable history; what if changes occurred? As long as he grasped these talents, this world wouldn't be able to escape him.

  Xiong Hu suddenly fell into the midst of a heavenly battle, and after several years of hard work, not only had there been no progress, but the power of the eunuchs had grown stronger. The hope of rescuing her father was extremely slim, and she thought of taking the last step - jailbreak. Because Donglin Liu Junzi died miserably in prison, she felt that her father's death might not be far away either. However, to sacrifice her own happiness for her father's life, she wasn't unwilling, but rather because her father had devoted his life to loyalty to the Ming dynasty. If this Prince of Faith didn't have any ulterior motives, then it wouldn't matter, but what if he did? Wouldn't she be tarnishing her father's lifelong integrity? Her heart was truly torn and unable to make a decision.

  Zhu Yinglong knew that she was extremely unquiet in her heart, and said: "The king wants you to be a person who is not thinking of that kind of thing. The king will help you rescue your father, but from now on, you must devote yourself to the king and do things wholeheartedly for the king. This is the king's condition." He was going to thoroughly pull the Xiong family onto his own chariot. Originally, a marriage alliance was the most effective method, but things came step by step. First, he would keep her by his side. In fact, she hoped that Xiong Hu would agree to this. In later generations, men who did not think about having three wives and four concubines were rare, but the law did not allow it. However, keeping a second wife or third wife was common. Having arrived in this time and space, one could properly and legally marry many wives. If one did not make good use of this opportunity, would it not be a waste to come to this late Ming dynasty? There is a saying that a man's ambition has three aspects: power, wealth, and women. Zhu Yinglong's ideal was for these three aspects to develop in balance.

  Xiong Hu considered for a long time, and finally his anxious heart to save his father took over, saying: "Lieniang promised the king, as long as she saves her father, Lieniang's life belongs to the king, but only limited to Lieniang herself, please don't make things difficult for her father and family."

  "Alright, I'll agree to your request." Zhu Yinglong agreed very readily. Xiong Hu was too naive; once you got involved in things in this world, it was hard to get out of the relationship. He then comforted him by saying: "You stay here and recover from your injuries well, I'll take care of rescuing your father."

  Zhu Yinglong was about to leave, but suddenly remembered something and turned around to ask: "The prison break is such a big thing, I'm afraid it's hard for you to do it alone, Princess. I heard that there's another person who went with you, who is that person?"

  Xiong Hu said somewhat despondently: "That's Lieniang's older brother. My siblings and I went together, but after we failed, we dispersed."

  "Is your brother called Xiong Zhuoqi? Do you have any way of contacting him, I'd like to inform him." Zhu Yinglong was overjoyed, another talent had fallen into his hands.

  Since they already knew her brother's name, Xiong Hu no longer concealed the method of contacting her brother and fell asleep due to exhaustion. Zhu Yinglong covered her with a quilt, took a glance at her devilish figure that made his heart skip a beat, before leaving the underground secret room.

  "Prince Wang, are you really going to save Lord Xiong Tingxu?" Wang Chengen stared at Zhu Yinglong with wide eyes, disbelieving what he had just heard.

  "Do you think I'm joking?" Zhu Yinglong said calmly.

  Sitting on the side, Shi Kefa's heart was a bit uncomfortable. When Zhu Yinglong said that he couldn't rescue Zuo Guangdou and others at first, now he wants to rescue Xiong Tingbi, his heart is somewhat dissatisfied with Zhu Yinglong's favoritism. Why can he rescue Xiong Tingbi but not his master and others?

  Zhu Yinglong naturally understood Shi Kefa's feelings, but in his heart, he thought that Yang Lian and others were not only respectable but also pitiful. They knew the emperor didn't trust them, yet they still risked their lives to submit memorials, which was simply foolish beyond measure. People like this dying would be no loss at all, Zhu Yinglong thought. But Xiong Tingbi was different; he was a rare talent, and Zhu Yinglong needed him to lead the army in battle. That's why he wanted to rescue him. However, if Xiong Hu hadn't suddenly appeared, Zhu Yinglong might have given up on saving Xiong Tingbi because he didn't yet have the power and didn't dare take the risk. Seeing the value behind Xiong Tingbi, Zhu Yinglong decided on a very daring plan: to secretly swap Xiong Tingbi with a prisoner who looked similar, then secretly send him out of the capital and settle him safely. Later, when he went to his fiefdom, he would bring him there, give him a new name and identity, and wait until the eunuch party was eliminated before restoring him to his former position.

  It's easy to talk about, but it's extremely difficult to do. First of all, where can you find a dead prisoner? The great prison of the Zhenfu Temple is like a copper wall and an iron fortress, how can you switch them secretly? And if discovered afterwards, how can you cut off any connection with him?

  After a moment of relief and the influence of Zhu Yinglong's silent transformation over time, Shi Kefa finally got rid of that small lump in his heart and joined in to discuss the feasibility of this plan.

  This method is good, but the key point is that there is a lack of a trustworthy person. This person must have no connection with the Xing Wang Fu and be able to enter and exit the Beizhen Fu prison at will, and be able to get close to serious offenders like Xiong Tingyi. Without this person, the plan cannot be carried out. Fortunately, Zhu Yinglong knows the date of Xiong Tingyi's execution, and there is still time to find such a person. Whether by coercion or inducement, as long as he can replace the person, Zhu Yinglong is willing to pay any price.

  Zhu Yinglong told Wang Chengen the contact method of Xiong Hu and his brother, asking him to get in touch with Xiong Zuoqi as soon as possible.

  After instructing all this, Zhu Yinglong suddenly remembered the ten glass wine cups and asked Shi Kefa: "Brother Xian, how is the matter entrusted to you by the king going?"

  "According to the master's instructions, I will hand over these ten cups to Shen Zhanggui of Liuli Factory Bogu Zhai. Shen Zhanggui agreed and promised to auction off the ten cups publicly in ten days. However, Shen Zhanggui intends to sell them one by one, not as a whole box. Ke Fa dare not take liberties, so please instruct further, Your Excellency."

  Zhu Yinglong's heart moved, and this antique shop owner Shen was quite good at doing business. Selling the whole box could fetch a good price, but selling them one by one might add up to twice or thrice the total amount, which would naturally increase his commission. He nodded and said, "Let's do it according to Shen's idea."

  Shi Kefa was about to set off to do this, when Zhu Yinglong stopped him and said: "Brother Xian, wait a minute, I'll go with you. I'd like to meet this Shen Zhanggui who's good at doing business."

  "Your Highness, this is probably not very suitable, is it?" Shi Kefa said with difficulty.

  "What's wrong?" Zhu Yinglong asked in confusion, "Did you tell him that the owner of the cup is also me, the king?"

  "This is not right, but Master Wang is a noble person, those merchants are of low social status, you going there in such a manner is really..." Shi Kefa hesitated to say.

  "What's wrong with that?" Zhu Yinglong didn't expect that Shi Kefa, who came from a poor family, would also look down on merchants. Merchants are at the bottom of the four occupations, but they are actually the most important one. He thought Shi Kefa was young and flexible, but unexpectedly his thinking is so stubborn and rigid. It seems that to change the backwardness of the Ming Dynasty, we must first change this person's mindset. To change people's mindsets, we should start from an early age, so education should be put in the first place. It seems that I can no longer stay in the capital, shrinking from the task at hand is not going to get anything done.

  In the 21st century, what is most valuable? Talent! In the 17th century, what was most valuable? Also talent! Zhu Yinglong let out a long sigh. Where is this talent? Zhu Yinglong glanced at Shi Kefa beside him and sighed again. Such talent is already considered great in the eyes of the world because they are bound by their historical framework, which is an unavoidable fact. However, the talent he sought was not only capable and talented but also had advanced thinking. Therefore, he made a decision: from today on, he would brainwash Shi Kefa. Everyone trustworthy within the mansion must be brainwashed. Only by unifying their thoughts could he achieve something; otherwise, his ideals and ambitions would remain empty talk.

  "Merchants are greedy, stingy and often deceitful. Your Excellency really shouldn't get close to these merchants." Shi Kefa knew he couldn't persuade his current master, but still spoke out.

  "Oh, Xianzhi, that Wang asked you, merchants are not good at making a profit, what do they like? Doing business doesn't require brains, why would he still be in business? Since the founding of our dynasty by Taizu, we have been encouraging commerce. What we wear, eat and use, which one is not related to merchants? And there was a merchant who was as rich as the heavens during the founding of our dynasty, you wouldn't know that, Xianzhi's brother? Without his financial support, how could Taizu have conquered the world? As long as he doesn't do anything against the laws of the Ming Dynasty, why can't I be friends with him?"

  "The student is ashamed. The prince's words are something the student has never considered before." After all, young people's brains have not completely ossified yet, and they can see through things at once.