Since Zhou Zhong decided to give up his position as governor and go to the capital, and it was Zhengde who proposed it, Zhou Zhong took his whole family to the capital when he left. After all, after he went to the capital this time, he would probably not do anything in the future.

He would come back again, so his family naturally wanted to go to the capital with him. For this purpose, Zhou Zhong specially prepared a large ship and several other ships to escort him.

Originally Jinxuan did not agree with Zhou Zhong going to the capital, but when Zhou Zhong explained the reason for going to the capital in detail, he also promised Jinxuan that he would never let his son live in the palace in the future.

Jean Jinxuan finally agreed.

In the spring of the eleventh year of Zhengde, Zhou Chong took his family and set sail northward. Several large ships set off from the newly built Shanghai Port and headed north. With the development of maritime trade in the Ming Dynasty, ports along the coast of the Ming Dynasty slowly began to recover, among which

Although the ports in the north are not as numerous as those in the south, they are

The scale is not that of the south, but there are ports connected to several important places. For example, Tianjin Wei near Beijing opened a new port called Tianjin Port, which has now become one of the several large ports in the north.

This time Zhou Chong wanted to take a boat to Tianjin and then go to the capital.

Zhou Zhong's ship went all the way north. Speaking of which, this was the third time Zhou Zhong took this northward route. The first time was when he went to the capital to meet Zhengde, and the second time was when he went to Weihaiwei to secretly control North Korea.

Compared with the previous two times, this third voyage made Zhou Zhong find that the entire route was busier than before. There was a constant flow of merchant ships coming and going along the way. The draft of each ship was very deep. It was obvious at a glance that the ship was full of people.

Got the goods.

When passing Weihaiwei on the way, Zhou Zhong ordered the fleet to stay there for two days. The current Weihaiwei is no longer the guard station that secretly opened sea restrictions. It has developed into one of the largest ports in the north. In addition, here

There is another very famous specialty, that is

It was Zhou Zhong who discovered sea sausage powder. This kind of sea sausage powder, which can make food delicious, is now monopolized by Zhou Zhong and Heng Wang Zhu Youyi. They are responsible for the internal and overseas sales of Ming Dynasty respectively, and they are not affected by each other.

In the past few years, sea sausage powder alone has brought them hundreds of thousands of taels of income.

For Zhou Zhong, the income from sea sausage powder is not a big deal. After all, the annual income of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce alone is not comparable to that of a small sea sausage powder, not to mention that Zhou Zhong has more businesses, such as soap,

Shipyards, etc., but in comparison, that one is

Uncle Zhou Zhong's Majesty Prince Heng was much shabbier, at least to him. Sea sausage powder has become one of the most important financial incomes of his Prince Heng's palace. He even wrote to Zhengde two years ago to move the palace from Jinan to

Weihai personally protects the most important source of wealth, sea sausage powder.

Zhou Zhong and King Heng were business partners, and in terms of family ties, King Heng was also his uncle. Although King Heng didn't know it himself, Zhou Zhong knew it, so he had to pay a visit to his mansion no matter what.

, As a result, the fun-loving King Heng welcomed Zhou Chong very much, and asked him to inquire about the scenery of Nanyang. He even said that if the emperor allowed it, he would go to Nanyang for a tour.

After paying a visit to Queen Heng, Zhou Zhong visited Weihai Port again. It was said that this place was originally the military base of the Ming Dynasty. However, because of the advantage of the harbor, it has been promoted to the imperial palace. The administrative seat is in Weihai. It is just because of habit.

, so most people like to call this place Weihaiwei.

A few days later, Zhou Zhong's fleet left Weihai and entered the Bohai Sea, and soon arrived at Tianjin Port. Like Weihai Guard, the guard post here was also promoted to a mansion, and Tianjin was no longer the dilapidated appearance it had been before.

, the whole port is bustling

Incomparably, especially the merchant ships from the south and other places are coming and going incessantly. The goods on these merchant ships are all transported to the capital. In the past, they had to take the land route, which was very inconvenient. Now they take the sea route directly to Tianjin, and then transfer it from Tianjin to

Beijing.

This is not Zhou Zhong’s first visit to the city of Tianjin. The last time he left the capital, his motorcade passed through Tianjin Wei. However, Tianjin had not yet built a port at that time, and because Tianjin was too close to the capital, the sea ban here was also limited.

It was so dense that it was impossible to take a boat from here. In the end, Zhou Zhong had to go around most of Shandong and take a sea boat from Weihaiwei again.

After landing in Tianjin, the people sent by Zhengde to escort him quickly contacted the local officials and prepared carriages and horses for him within a day. After spending another day or two unloading the things on the ship onto the carriages,

Zhou Chong then set off again, and it took him less than two days to finally reach Beijing again.

Zhou Zhong's visit to the capital was not too publicized. Even except for the people in Songjiang and Prince Heng whom he visited in Weihaiwei, no one knew that Zhou Zhong actually left his governor's palace and came to the capital.

However, Zhengde had already made preparations. Even Zhou Chong's mansion was ready, which was the Nine Thousand Years Mansion built by Liu Jin in the palace.

The mansion is right next to the palace. The location is incredible, and it occupies a huge area. The carved beams and painted buildings in the mansion are so beautiful that there is no other comparable mansion in the capital. Later, Liu Jin's house was confiscated, and this mansion

It was taken back into public ownership. This time Zhengde renovated the mansion and gave it to Zhou Chong. In the future, when his identity is revealed, this will be Zhou Chong's palace.

After Zhou Zhong's family entered Beijing, they immediately moved into this Nine Thousand Years Mansion. However, there is no plaque hanging on the door of the mansion now. Although some well-informed people know that there are people living in this mansion, they don't know who actually lives there.

Who is he? Moreover, even if they inquired diligently, they could not find out the slightest information.

After Zhou Zhong settled his family in the mansion, he immediately took Jinxuan and his children into the palace. The last time Empress Dowager Zhang saw her was Xia Xia, a granddaughter. After not seeing each other for several years, Zhou Zhong gave him two more fat ones.

Grandson, this made Empress Dowager Zhang, who wanted to have her grandson, very excited. So as soon as Zhou Zhong entered the capital, he saw the confidants sent by Empress Dowager Zhang and asked them to enter the palace quickly. She wanted to hug her grandson with her own hands.

Zhou Zhong would naturally not refuse his biological mother's request. Although he had no relationship with Queen Mother Zhang, for an old man who had lost his children several times, he could still understand her feelings, so even if Zhou Zhong refused

Deep down, he couldn't get close to Queen Mother Zhang, but as long as it could make Queen Mother Zhang happy, he was very willing to do something.

Zhou Zhong accompanied his wife and children into the palace. Although he had entered the palace last time he came to the capital, he only went to the Leopard Room where Zhengde was located and did not enter the real palace. However, this was not his first time visiting the palace.

, in later generations, he once visited the Forbidden City, but it was renovated by the Manchu and Qing Dynasties and was very different from the Ming Palace. Therefore, when Zhou Chong entered the palace, the scenery he saw was the same as the Forbidden City in the memories of later generations.

Can't be put back together.

The empress dowagers of the Qing Dynasty in the mid-Ming Dynasty generally lived in Cining Palace, but Cining Palace was built by the later Emperor Jiajing. There is no such palace in the palace now. The palace where Empress Dowager Zhang lives is called Renshou Palace, which is located in

Behind Kunning Palace where the Queen lives, although the entire palace is not as grand as Kunning Palace, it is still very luxurious.

When Zhou Zhong brought his family to Cining Palace, he saw that Empress Dowager Zhang and Zhengde were both here. In addition, beside Empress Dowager Zhang, there was a beautiful but serious young woman. Seeing how she could

Naturally, there was only one seat in front of Empress Dowager Zhang, Queen Xia of Zhengde. I heard that Zhengde had a very bad relationship with Queen Xia. Just looking at this, Zhengde would rather live in the Leopard Room than stay in the Leopard Room.

You can guess a thing or two in the palace.

Seeing her granddaughter and grandson entering the hall, Queen Mother Zhang hurriedly greeted her, hugging Xia Xia and her two little sweethearts and shouting non-stop. Speaking of which, Queen Mother Zhang was really pitiful. Although she had a noble status, she could only stay here every day.

In this deep palace, Zhengde could not give him any grandchildren, and he was not even willing to live in the palace. As a result, Empress Dowager Zhang lived in this cold palace every day, without anyone around her to talk to.

Now that I see my grandchildren, I naturally feel very close to them.

When Zhengde saw his mother's appearance, he felt bitter and relieved at the same time. Although he usually acted mischievously and did not seem to have a very good relationship with Queen Mother Zhang, she was his biological mother after all, and he also knew that his mother usually lived a lonely life.

, I really want to have grandchildren by my side.

Accompany him, but he has no way to satisfy his mother's request. This is why he usually doesn't dare to see the Queen Mother Zhang, because he always feels very guilty when facing his mother. Now that he has several nieces and nephews of his own,

Presumably my mother's life will be much easier in the future.

In contrast, Queen Xia behind Empress Dowager Zhang was full of displeasure. After all, she was the master of the harem. Originally, her and Zhengde's child should be Empress Dowager Zhang's darling. However, because Zhengde was unable to have children, the entire palace

Not only did she have no children, the other concubines also had no children. Now she was being upstaged by the emperor's younger brother who appeared from nowhere. Her child might even inherit the Ming Dynasty's throne in the future. This made Empress Xia very sad.

Not the taste.

After finally waiting for the Empress Dowager Zhang to be intimate with the three children, Zhou Zhong and Jinxuan stepped forward to salute the Empress Dowager Zhang and the Zhengde couple. Zhengde also valued this capable younger brother very much. At that moment, he personally helped Zhou Zhong.

Then Xia Xia and her two younger brothers also stepped forward to salute.

After the ceremony was over, Queen Mother Zhang asked Zhou Zhong about their trip, to which Zhou Zhong answered one by one. Next, Jinxuan and three children chatted with Queen Mother Zhang, while Zhou Zhong
Chapter completed!