Yao Guangxiao was not well-known, but he was the first meritorious official in Zhu Di's Jingnan Campaign in the future.

It can be said that without Yao Guangxiao, Zhu Di would have suffered great losses in many aspects in secret, and his strategic strategies and scheming were all due to Yao Guangxiao.

The famous black-robed prime minister in later generations did not get his name in vain.

Since following Zhu Di to the capital, Yao Guangxiao would go out early in the morning and return in the evening. He was very busy as he was good at dealing with many people.

Huang Zicheng was Yao Guangxiao's main target.

Huang Zicheng was Zhu Yunwen's trusted teacher, and Yao Guangxiao began to influence him gradually from an early stage.

Later, after Zhu Yunwen became Emperor Jianwen, he insisted on adopting Huang Zicheng's plan to first weaken the feudal lords and then fight against the powerful ones.

No one knows whether this was influenced by Yao Guangxiao.

It is still unknown whether ordinary people have been taken advantage of by Yao Guangxiao's silent and subtle methods.

Even if there are some guesses, they are only a few clues and cannot be confirmed afterwards.

This is where Yao Guangxiao’s brilliance lies.

…

Qinhuai River.

Zhu Ying and Zhu Gaochi were standing in front of a teahouse.

This is the teahouse owned by Zhu Di. After obtaining the consent of his father Zhu Di, Zhu Gaochi took the land deed and gave it to Zhu Ying today.

Zhu Gaochi seemed loyal and honest, but in fact he was very cunning. After all, he used to see his uncle Zhu Biao often.

Of course, the similarity between Zhu Ying and her can be seen at a glance.

But Zhu Gaochi didn't ask his father anything, he just made friends with Zhu Ying.

He even wanted to give his family's property in the capital to Zhu Ying without getting his father Zhu Di's consent.

"It's really a good position." Zhu Ying said with some emotion.

In front of the two of them was a two-story small teahouse with an area of ​​about half an acre, which was equivalent to the standard of 300 square meters in later generations.

In the capital, where every inch of land is worth a lot of money, you can't buy anything just by having money.

Next to it is the Qinhuai River, and the Qinhuai scenery can be clearly seen from the second-floor window.

The Qinhuai River in the early Ming Dynasty was not as wide as it was in later generations, which was 20 or 30 meters wide, but was more than 100 meters wide.

The Qinhuai River mentioned here is the Inner Qinhuai River, not the Outer Qinhuai River.

Before the late Tang Dynasty, the Qinhuai River was outside the main city, and there was no distinction between the inner and outer Qinhuai Rivers.

Later, when the highest administrative officer of Nanjing at that time built a new city, he enclosed the Qinhuai River inside the main city and dug a moat outside the city. This moat is now the Outer Qinhuai River.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Nanjing was designated as the capital, and the two sides of the Qinhuai River began to prosper.

There are numerous handicrafts, teahouses, brothels and shops on both sides of the strait.

There are even many river houses, which are houses extending into the river. For example, the teahouse that Zhu Ying is about to acquire is also a river house.

As the number of riverside houses continued to increase, the river surface was increasingly encroached upon, which was the main reason why the Qinhuai River was only 20 to 30 meters wide in later generations.

The Ten-Li Qinhuai River is the prosperous place of Nanjing, and the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties also became famous here.

Opposite the teahouse is the Jiangnan Imperial Examination Hall, which is extremely famous in history.

Next to Zhuying Teahouse is where famous prostitutes from the Southern Jiaofang gathered, including the Old Courtyard and the Pearl Market.

With Zhu Ying's hearing ability, he could vaguely hear some sweet sounds.

Occasionally when the wind blows, you can even smell the scent of rouge.

This teahouse is located in the middle of the street. It has an excellent location, which cannot be measured by money. It represents more of a status.

"Isn't this a little too expensive?" Even though Zhu Ying was wealthy, he still felt flattered when faced with such a teahouse.

Even if this teahouse is just rented out, it would probably bring in hundreds of silver coins a year.

In the seventh year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang promulgated the "Banknote Law" and established the Baochao Tizhusi. The following year, the Ming Baochao was issued.

But up to now, the Ming Baochao has shown signs of decline.

At this time, the quality of paper was poor and the Ming Dynasty treasure notes were difficult to last long.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty only issued paper money but did not collect it. There was no demarcation, and old banknotes were not recycled. There was no limit on the number of banknotes issued.

This resulted in an increasing amount of paper money circulating in the market, which became a disaster. Inflation occurred in the year of issuance and the value of the banknotes depreciated very quickly.

Hongwu Tongbao was also issued earlier, but the copper coins were of poor shape and inconvenient to use, and the Ming Dynasty was short of copper.

Coupled with the serious depreciation of Baochao, silver inevitably became the main currency for public and private transactions.

The convenience of small change currency suppressed the inflation caused by the currency chaos in the early stage and enabled the monetary economy to develop.

"This teahouse is in my father's hands, and it's useless. Look, it's very busy everywhere, but this teahouse is deserted."

"You should not despise this teahouse."

Zhu Gaochi said this with a smile, but what he said was also true.

Many such good positions are generally under the jurisdiction of various princes.

Influenced by Zhu Yuanzhang, none of the princes liked to do business. Basically, they handed the shops over to their subordinates and left them alone. Most of them just collected rent and employment fees, which were not as high as the income from a few acres of princely land.

"Thank you very much, Prince."

Zhu Ying did not mention the land deed, and Zhu Gaochi seemed to have forgotten about it.

Zhu Gaochi was much more shrewd than his two reckless brothers, as he was able to serve as regent without causing any trouble and successfully obtain the throne.

If it weren't for his health, Zhu Gaochi wouldn't have to be as cautious as he is now.

During the Yongle period, Zhu Di was warlike and domestic affairs were always controlled by Zhu Gaochi. Even his two younger brothers only cared about military power and never paid attention to people's livelihood.

In the blink of an eye, five days passed.

During these five days, Zhu Ying also welcomed the day when the teahouse was about to open.

The teahouse was named Ping'an Teahouse.

Although it is called a teahouse, it is actually not much different from a breakfast shop.

Teahouses during the Ming Dynasty offered a wide variety of services.

Usually we sell breakfast in the morning and drink tea and listen to books in the afternoon.

The most popular people in the Ming Dynasty were storytellers. The so-called Tang poetry, Song lyrics, Yuan opera and Ming novels all originated from this.

Zhu Ying asked Zhang Bo to find a storyteller and then left it alone. After being influenced by later generations, these storytellings are not very interesting just for the sake of novelty.

Zhu Ying had no intention of writing any novel story; that was not his interest.

Uncle Zhang is a good shopkeeper and cook.

In recent years, Zhu Ying has been quite picky about food and doesn't want to cook by herself, so she basically teaches Zhang Bo how to cook.

Spicy soup, flatbreads, soup dumplings, egg pancakes, crystal shrimps, porridge, rice porridge, soy milk, etc.

Although most people only have two meals a day, in prosperous Nanjing, most people have begun to get used to three meals a day.

For some nobles, it was not uncommon to have four meals a day.

However, Zhu Ying’s prices for these breakfasts are more than twice as high as those in other teahouses.

His target was originally the noble class.

…

"I received news from the palace that my nephew is keeping vigil for my elder brother alone."

Prince Yan's face was a little gloomy. As a prince, it was not difficult for him to get some news from the palace.

After all, that was where he grew up, and he had a good relationship with several young eunuchs.

Zhu Di felt somewhat uneasy about his father's decision to have Zhu Yunwen keep vigil over the body.

Yao Guangxiao looked calm when he heard this. All this was within his expectations.

"Don't worry, Your Highness. After the condolences tomorrow, His Majesty will decide everything."