Chapter 1342: The people’s support!

Hu Ming is now confused, scared, and even a little helpless...

As a representative of these Jiangnan tycoons in the Yijing court, he facilitated several QQ and QS transactions when he was serving in the Yijing court. These were nothing if kept under the radar. After all, there were so many masters in the Yijing court, and he, Hu Ming, was not the first, and would definitely not be the last!
But once these things are brought to the surface and used to make a fuss, they become extremely important!
Although Hu Ming considered himself to be cautious in his work, he felt that there were no mistakes in his operations and that he had not left any handles!
However, as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and Cui Shao's subordinate, Hu Ming is more aware of Cui Shao's power in the Yijing court!

Once Cui Shao really made up his mind to deal with me, let alone what I had done, even if I had not done something, Cui Shao could completely pin these things on me and make me die without a burial place.

So when the news came yesterday, Hu Ming was really panicked!
Hu Ming knew that he had little time left. With Cui Shao's power, if he wanted to touch him, the arrest warrant from the Ministry of Justice would soon arrive in Jiangnan!

By that time, I can only wait to be killed!
Although Hu Ming wanted to do something to protect himself, facing the powerful Cui Shao, he felt a sense of helplessness. He didn't know what he should do to save his life!

Under such circumstances, Hu Ming thought of a way to save his life!
But this method is only the last resort. Once this is really done, everything Hu Ming has accumulated in the first half of his life will basically be wiped out.

Hu Ming was really unwilling to accept this. He felt that there must be a better way for him to get through this difficult time...
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While Hu Ming was struggling in his manor in the suburbs, in the Hu Mansion in Lin'an City,

Hu Xinglong, the third manager of Ruifengchang Trading Company, is reporting to Hu Wenjie, the head of the Hu family.

"Uncle, our business has been booming in the past three months. The pirate leader, Zhang Dapeng, the King of the Sea, has been doing a good job after being recruited by the court. With their protection, our merchant ships are much safer in Southeast Asia!"

"We signed a big contract with that foreigner named Smith. He wanted 10,000 tea bricks, 500 pieces of silk, and 3,000 pieces of porcelain. He took 10,000 silver coins as a deposit!"

"I've calculated this order, uncle. If everything goes well, we can make at least 20,000 taels of silver after deducting all costs!"

"And this foreigner Smith said that this is just the beginning of the cooperation. If the cooperation goes well, he will give us more orders, and the amount of future orders will not be less than the amount of this order!"

"I think this Smith is really our big customer, and he is really happy to take the money. He took out 10,000 silver coins as a deposit in one breath. He is much better than those natives in Nanyang. Those natives are really poor and stingy. I think we can cooperate well with this Smith!"

Listening to Hu Xinglong's introduction, Hu Wenjie, the head of the family, nodded and instructed:
"Have you investigated the background of this Smith?"

Hu Xinglong preached without hesitation:
"Uncle, this is the first time we've cooperated with Smith, so we don't know Smith's specific background yet. We only heard that he is from Tudor. I have asked our fellow countrymen in Tudor to investigate this Smith..."

Hu Wenjie nodded and said:

"Okay! I'll leave this matter to you, Xinglong. You follow Smith. If he's reliable, we can continue to cooperate with him. It's okay to give up some profits when necessary!"

"Okay! Uncle, leave this matter to me!"

After discussing this matter, Hu Wenjie was ready to let Hu Xinglong leave. He was now over 60 years old and his energy was declining, so he had to take a nap this afternoon, sleeping for an hour or half an hour, otherwise his old bones would not be able to bear it.

Just when Hu Wenjie thought that his nephew would be sensible and leave, Hu Xinglong did not leave. Seeing this, Hu Wenjie felt something was wrong. He knew that his nephew, who had always been smart and sensible, would be able to understand his hint!
So he hasn't left yet, there is only one answer!
"Xinglong, do you have anything else to do?"

Under the gaze of his uncle, Hu Xinglong hesitated for a moment and said:
"Uncle, there is something I don't know whether I should tell you."

"Just say whatever you want to say!"

"Uncle, I heard that Hu Ming was not ordered by His Majesty to stay in Jiangnan as he said. He applied to His Majesty to stay in Jiangnan on his own..."

Hearing his nephew talking about this, Hu Wenjie narrowed his eyes slightly and asked Hu Xinglong solemnly:
"What do you want to say?"

Feeling his uncle's captivating gaze, Hu Xinglong's eyes flickered a little, but he still said what he wanted to say.

"Hu Ming stayed in Jiangnan because he was avoiding trouble! News has come from Yijing that someone is investigating him and digging up dirt on him. Hu Ming didn't dare to return to Yijing because he heard the news!"

"And I heard that the person Hu Ming offended was very powerful, otherwise he wouldn't be so scared that he dared not return to Yijing!"

"Xinglong! Who told you these words?"

When he heard his uncle asking about the source of his information, Hu Xinglong hesitated for a moment and said perfunctorily:

"A friend told me!"

"Tell me about that friend!"

Seeing that his uncle was determined to get to the bottom of the matter, Hu Xinglong considered it for a moment but still declined politely:
"This news is no secret. The news from Yijing will soon spread to Jiangnan. Then you will know whether the news is true or not!"

Faced with his nephew's refusal, Hu Wenjie looked at Hu Xinglong deeply. Under his years of accumulated power, Hu Xinglong did not dare to look at him at all, and could only turn his face away. Seeing this, Hu Wenjie said lightly:
"Did your friend named Ye tell you this news?"

Hu Xinglong was a little surprised when his uncle revealed the truth. Seeing that his uncle already knew it, he simply admitted it:
"Uncle, Hu Ming is not the only one in our Hu family who has connections. Who doesn't have a few friends? I'm also in my thirties and have lived for half of my life. Naturally, I have friends who take care of each other and share what we have with each other..."

After saying this, Hu Xinglong changed the subject and said very seriously:
"Hu Ming offended Cui Shao this time!" "Uncle, who is Cui Shao?"

"That is the uncle of the current emperor, Duke Cui of Daqian, the Minister of Finance. He made great contributions to the establishment of Daqian. His students and friends are all over the Daqian court. If he stamps his feet, the whole Yijing will tremble!"

"Uncle, why did Hu Ming have to mess with this important person when there are so many other people he could mess with?"

At this point, Hu Xinglong glanced at Hu Wenjie, and seeing that his uncle's eyebrows were drooping, he hesitated for a moment and then said tentatively:

"Uncle, I think our Hu family must take this matter seriously and deal with it as soon as possible, otherwise Hu Ming will be in trouble, and our Hu family will also be implicated and suffer as well!"

"During this time, I have learned a lot about the Yijing court from my friend. This Cui Shao is really a big shot!"

"Our current Queen Mother Cui is Cui Shao's sister! This relationship goes far beyond the heavens!"

"Because of Cui Shao, some people in the Yijing court said that Ye and Cui shared the world in Daqian!"

Listening to his nephew's somewhat complacent introduction, Hu Wenjie asked calmly:

"Since your friend surnamed Ye told you that it was Cui Shao who wanted to take action against Hu Ming, did he say that he was the original culprit?"

Hu Xinglong said without hesitation:
"Uncle, I must have asked this!"

“But my friend also said that he didn’t know either. He only knew that Hu Ming had been very close to Cui Shao’s son Cui Zibo. But Cui Zibo died of syphilis before, so they speculated that Hu Ming might be related to Cui Zibo’s death…”

"This Cui Zibo is Cui Shao's legitimate son. Cui Shao has always protected him. It was also under the paving of his father that Cui Zibo became the Minister of Justice of the Yijing court, and was only one step away from the cabinet. But now he is dead. How can Minister Cui not be sad to see his son die?"

"If it's something else, our Hu family would just pay a little more money, we would kowtow and apologize to them and try to get this matter resolved!"

"But if Hu Ming is really related to Master Cui's death, then I think this is not something that can be solved with money. Minister Cui is powerful and he doesn't need our money!"

After saying that, Hu Xinglong also looked at his uncle, wanting to see what Hu Wenjie's attitude was towards this.

Hu Wenjie was constantly thinking at this time. He knew that Hu Xinglong and Hu Ming had always been at odds with each other. When Hu Ming was in a high position before, he had a conflict with Hu Xinglong. In the end, Hu Ming relied on his status and position to not only slap Hu Xinglong twice, but also forced Hu Xinglong to kowtow and apologize to Hu Ming after being beaten!
Hu Xinglong regarded this incident as a lifelong shame!

Therefore, Hu Wenjie, as the head of the family, was skeptical about Hu Xinglong's words, but he himself was also a little skeptical about Hu Ming staying in Jiangnan!
When Hu Ming first came to Jiangnan, he and Hu Ming had a conversation!
At that time, Hu Mingzhi proudly introduced his plan to himself. He wanted to rely on the merits he had made during the southern tour to become a popular figure in front of Ye Mingsheng, and thus impact the pinnacle of power in the Yijing court and become a cabinet elder of the new dynasty...

For this reason, Hu Ming also painted a big pie for Hu Wenjie and drew a beautiful blueprint. When Hu Wenjie thought that someone from the Hu family might become a cabinet minister, he was very excited. He immediately told Hu Ming that the family fully supported him and would give him as much money as he wanted!

Hu Wenjie's support was not just verbal support, but also practical. He directly gave Hu Ming a silver note of 50,000 taels of silver, and also gave Hu Ming ten boxes of gold, silver, jade, cultural relics and ancient books, which he used as activity funds for Hu Ming to operate in the Yijing court.

However, just when Hu Wenjie was fantasizing about the Hu family F rising from the sky, Hu Ming told him that he was arranged by His Majesty to stay in Jiangnan for a period of time and would return to Yijing after a while!
At first, Hu Wenjie didn't think much about it and just thought that this was Ye Mingsheng's arrangement. However, when he saw that Hu Ming was staying in Jiangnan for longer and longer time, and even had no intention of returning to Yijing, Hu Ming began to become suspicious.

Hu Wenjie had originally planned to find some time recently to have a good talk with Hu Ming to find out what had happened, but he didn't expect to hear such a thing from the mouth of his other nephew Hu Xinglong!

Hu Wenjie didn’t know whether what Hu Xinglong said was true or not, but from a logical point of view, he could not rule out this possibility at present.

At this time, Hu Xinglong saw that his uncle looked conflicted, so he spoke directly:
“Uncle, if you really want to wait for news, don’t blame your nephew for not reminding you. It will be too late by then. Why don’t you go and call Hu Ming from the manor and ask him in person what happened. I think he should be able to tell you…”

"But maybe Hu Ming has already run away by now!"

"Although our Hu family has some influence in Jiangnan, compared with Minister Cui, it is nothing."

"Hu Ming probably understands that even if you, uncle, really want to protect him, it's probably like an egg hitting a rock and there's no hope at all!"

Hearing Hu Xinglong talking about this, Hu Wenjie didn't say anything, but his face looked a little ugly. However, Hu Xinglong didn't stop, but continued to preach leisurely:

"Hu Ming has earned a lot of money from his family over the years. If he really runs away, he can be a big shot wherever he goes with that money. He can eat and drink the best food and drink. He won't be afraid of traveling around the world!"

"But the monk can escape but the temple cannot! Our Hu family is in big trouble. Minister Cui is furious and wants to offend our Hu family. How can the eggs in the nest be intact?"

"Uncle! What do you think is going on?"

Faced with Hu Xinglong's words, Hu Wenjie was a little angry, but he knew that he had to make a choice for the sake of his family, so he closed his eyes and said:

"Xinglong! Go and invite Hu Ming back to me..."