Chapter 48: The Journey 1
Wang Shaoyan didn't want to agree to Mama Wu, the generals who would escort the military funds had not yet been decided, how could Wang Shaoyan arrange for Xi Cui to accompany a woman with the army? But Mama Wu was hard-hearted, and she even asked Wang Shaoyan if she had other thoughts about Xi Cui. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. biquge。 info Wang Shaoyan of course denied it, so Mama Wu said the old lady's recent suspicious behavior, Wang Shaoyan thought about it, he seemed to be really paying too much attention to Xi Cui, it can't go on like this, if he follows Mama Wu's proposal, let Xi Cui go to see Xi Yunjian, maybe give him a certain amount of time to calm down and everything will return to the way it was.
So he agreed to arrange it for Xi Cui.
On the other side, Xi Cui, who was busy discussing the store management innovation plan with Rui Niang, didn't know anything about the negotiation between the two.
The posts sent out before have basically been responded, and the solution has been agreed with Rui Niang, and the day is waiting for the day when these stewards will gather for a meeting. Mama Wu's name is still very loud, with her in charge, those stewards really appeared in the designated place on time.
After Xi Cui led Rui Niang and Mama Wu in, everyone didn't have any extra expressions, but they were generally surprised after they had discussed. Be amazed by Xi Cui's age.
Xi Cui turned a blind eye to their exploratory eyes, and wrote off accounts with them one by one, and her style was quite steady, without the squeamishness of an ordinary little girl.
Because Tianyi Silk Village has become a royal merchant, this matter is famous all over the world, and these stewards regard this matter as the first fire for Xi Cui to take over the business. As the saying goes, there are three fires when a new official takes office, and she really burns the first fire very well, but I don't know what will happen to the second and third fires?
After checking the accounts, Xi Cui began to comment on the transactions in the hands of each steward one by one. Every family is in the same sentence, to the point, and a few people in charge dare not disagree.
Then Xi Cui put forward the innovative plan that she and Rui Niang initially conceived, and a few of these people were stubborn and put forward a few opinions, Xi Cui was not angry but praised them, and this mind and bearing regularly convinced everyone present. In addition, Zhang Xun, Bai Fat and Wang Yonglin are highly sought after by Xi Cui, and the stewards who know about these people have already made up their minds about Xi Cui's ability.
The meeting went smoothly, and it was agreed that the innovation would start with Vientiane Shop, and then gradually start to implement it in other industries after success.
They meet once every six months, each time in a fixed place, this is the rule left by the lady, no one knows that this VIP building is the property of the lady, there is only such a restaurant under the lady's hands, and it has always been managed by the lady herself. Now that the shopkeeper has seen the key in Xi Cui's hand, he can be regarded as recognizing the new owner, and everything here will be under Xi Cui's control in the future.
The shopkeeper of the VIP building also told Xi Cui that although these stewards could only see Mrs. once every six months, if something big happened during the period, they still had a way to come here to see Mrs. if they couldn't wait. They only need to send someone to deliver the letter to the VIP building, and the person who comes to designate the private room for the party to use, and the shopkeeper knows that he has something to do with his wife. It was easy to get the news to the Hou Mansion from here, and Madame would get the news soon. It's also easy to deal with things.
Xi Cui asked and learned that the private room where they were gathering was extremely hidden, there was no such private room on the books, and it was closed all year round and only opened during the party.
Xi Cui felt in his heart that how to talk about a business was like a meticulous work, it didn't matter, this situation would definitely change, but not now, as long as they were doing business openly and openly, not bribing officials, and not evading taxes, there was no need to dodge like this.
Although Vientiane Shop is only the beginning, its success or failure is directly related to the subsequent reform. So Xi Cui was extremely careful, in order to deal with all kinds of problems encountered at any time faster, Xi Cui simply left Rui Niang in the VIP building and let her live in that hidden private room. Passing the news back and forth by Huan Huanxi, this is really a lot more convenient, this plan was thought up by Rui Niang and Xi Cui together, and she is more handy than Mama Wu in solving the problem.
Mama Wu actually has an opinion about Xi Cui's trust in Rui Niang to this extent, but she has been secretly observing Rui Niang for this period of time and found that she did not have any abnormal behavior, plus Xi Cui returned Huan Xi to her, it can be seen that Rui Niang is really grateful to Xi Cui. What's more, Rui Niang's deed of sale is still in her hands, and I believe she won't be able to make many waves. Seeing that everything had settled down, Mama Wu decided to tell Xi Cui about her asking her to find Xi Yunjian.
When she said this, Mama Wu was cautious, afraid that Xi Cui would be unhappy. But I didn't expect Xi Cui to agree very happily, which made Mama Wu even happier, it seems that Xi Cui is really interested in her young master, otherwise she wouldn't be so happy when she heard about seeing the young master, right?
But how did she know Xi Cui's true thoughts. At this moment, Xi Cui forced himself to arrange this and solve that, and the strings in his head were always tense and did not dare to relax in the slightest. If it weren't for Mama Wu watching and Madame's kindness pressing, Xi Cui would have wanted to quit a long time ago, and now as long as she gets permission, let alone go to the southwest battlefield, even if she goes to no man's land, she will agree without hesitation.
At the same time as the emperor's draft decree was issued, the candidates for escorting military funds were also decided, and no one could have imagined that it would be Wang Shaoyan. The emperor first authorized Wang Shaoyan to transfer personnel from the military department, and then handed over this important task to Wang Shaoyan, such an obvious move is enough to show that the emperor is going to promote Wang Shaoyan.
There are even rumors that the draft has not yet begun, and the emperor has already decided on the concubine position of Miss Wang, but the Lao family has no show girls to participate in the election. This gust of wind is blowing too directly and simply, even novices who have just entered the officialdom can judge that after the new emperor ascends the throne, the situation of the Lao family is about to change.
According to Uncle Lao's temper, this time should be a warning to the new emperor, you must know that all the people and horses in the emperor's hands are fighting on the southwest border, and Uncle Lao is the only one who holds the military power above the court. Not to mention Uncle Lao's dragon support, but even the military power in his hands should not be handled by the emperor at will. Some people speculate that the Lao family should not be bluffing, but in fact, Uncle Lao Guo has no people in his hands at all, right? But before the new emperor ascended the throne, who wiped out all the people of the second prince?
I'm afraid that even the emperor himself is afraid of the Lao family, he promoted the Wang family little by little, tested Uncle Lao's bottom line again and again, sweated for himself every time, and was glad that he didn't touch his bottom line every time.
This time, he did intend to give the military department to the Wang family, but it was difficult to protect Uncle Laoguo, so he didn't dare to give it a direct order, so he could only let him use it openly. In this way, if Uncle Lao Guo has an opinion, he can take back his order in private, at least he will not lose the face of the Son of Heaven. When he thought of the unrivaled power of the Lao family, he felt aggrieved and panicked, but he was just a nominal uncle, and he really regarded himself as an uncle of the country, and he thought about asking about everything, so that he was really uncomfortable as an emperor.
Qin Tianjian chose the day to set off three days later, and Xi Cui still had time to prepare some things for Yun Ting that she needed on weekdays. and Rui Niang's side, for at least two months in the next two months, she is afraid that she will not be able to contact Rui Niang, so she can only tell her to make up her own mind if she can decide everything by herself, and if she can't make up her mind, she can find Mama Wu.
After Zhang Xun got the Jinyi Pavilion, Xi Cui really kept his promise and gave him half of the income of the Jinyi Pavilion as Zhang Xun's private property, and stamped the seal on the deed. It's just that in the future, the business model of Jinyi Pavilion can not be as before, free of charge from Tianyi Silk Village, but to give the price according to the goods, which can be appropriately cheaper but not lower than the cost price.
After all these things are arranged, it is time to go.
In order to facilitate the march, Wang Shaoyan asked Xi Cui to pretend to be his little servant and put on men's clothes on the road, and Duan San naturally wanted to follow. Wang Shaoyan did not object, Duan San was good, and he had a good response on the road.
The escort of military supplies is not as vigorous as that of the large army, and the escort of the army is only about 1,000 people, but the escort of military resources is full of 20 carts, and the march is very slow, and it takes a whole day to walk for about 30 miles, and at this rate it will take at least 20 days to reach the southwest border.
Wang Shaoyan's body is not good at riding a horse, he can only take a car, there is some cold outside Xi Cui wants to sit in the car with him, but Duan San said that he will not agree to anything, he would rather give his coat to Xi Cui and drive with only a single coat, rather than Xi Cui and Wang Shaoyan sitting in a car alone.
Xi Cui knew what he meant, but he could only follow his meaning and sit beside him tightly.
They didn't arrive at the post station before dark, the sky was not beautiful, and it was snowing at night, and it was already out of the New Year, and it would snow, which really made the soldiers on the march miserable. It is unwise to travel at night with such a heavy military capital in the wind and snow in the case of so many cars and so few people, and the adjutant general of the army is an experienced one, and it is proposed to find a place where you can shelter from the wind and set up camp.
Duan San ran the rivers and lakes, and he also had some experience, and he also agreed with the deputy general's opinion. So the lieutenant led the way and led everyone to a mountain col to camp.
At this time, Duan San gave full play to his experience of walking the rivers and lakes, and only went out for a while before returning with two hares, thinking that Xi Cui was the first time to go out with the army, and he couldn't be treated casually like ordinary men, so he had to take good care of Xi Cui, so that she couldn't see Xi Yunjian look thin.
Looking at the fat rabbit in Duan San's hand, Xi Cui suddenly remembered the situation when he went up to the mountains to hunt with his father when he was a child. Once, when it was snowing, my father took such a hare and found Xi Cui, and the joyful cheers of father and daughter echoed in the silence of the mountain forest, when they had been hungry for two days.
Duan San took out the dagger in his arms and prepared to kill the rabbit, but Xi Cui saw him cut down and immediately stopped him. Several guards saw that Xi Cui had fine skin and tender flesh, and her voice was as slender as a woman's, thinking that she couldn't bear to kill this rabbit, and couldn't help but sneer at her. Wang Shaoyan knew that Xi Cui was a woman, so he naturally had different ideas, he felt that Xi Cui was a girl after all, and it was normal to feel unbearable when he saw a small animal like a rabbit.
But she didn't want Xi Cui to walk up to Duan San in one step, snatched the dagger in Duan San's hand, and with the help of the firelight, her green and tender fingers and the sharp cold light of the dagger formed a unique beauty, which was daunting. I saw Xi Cui pulling the rabbit's ears, stretching the rabbit's body completely, the dagger slowly pierced from the rabbit's neck, and the red blood quickly spilled along the blade and dripped down...... Xi Cui seemed to be accustomed to this kind of scene, and said while using the knife, "If you stabbed it in the stomach like that just now, it won't be able to die at all for a while, and it will struggle desperately, in case you can't resist giving another knife, the rabbit will be guilty of not saying that a good rabbit skin will make you ruined." Like me, if you straighten it out and stab it in the throat, it will surely die in the shortest possible time, and it will not have to struggle for nothing, and most importantly, it will keep a good rabbit skin. ”
She remembered what her father taught her when she was a child, and she was very happy to say that she had forgotten that there were a group of men around her who were marching and fighting, and there were two men who knew the identity of their daughters.
Several of the guards looked very young, they should not have really been on the battlefield, maybe they had killed pheasants and hares before, but it was the first time to watch a person talk while killing rabbits in such a quiet way, and the two who looked at Xi Cui like a woman at first turned their faces away just now.
Wang Shaoyan opened his mouth even more in surprise, how could this be? The women he had seen would panic whenever they saw blood, screaming and fleeing, but Xi Cui actually dared to kill a hare with his own hands in front of everyone! can still explain while killing with a calm face, is this really a woman?
Duan San is very happy, the children of the rivers and lakes should be so informal, what's wrong with killing a rabbit, if Xi Cui can really dare to kill without blinking his eyes, then he is really relieved, there are too many bad people in this world, and the kindness of women can only be bad.
The deputy general was a discerning man, and knew that Xi Cui was following Wang Shaoyan, so he hurriedly went up to pick up the dead rabbit, carefully peeled off the skin, and disposed of it. Duan San had already made the other one at this time, Xi Cui had already set up a fire waiting for them, and the fire she set up was much stronger than what they had messed up before.
Xi Cui took back the rabbit from the deputy general and wanted to roast it herself, and the deputy general left her to go. Duan San was beside Xi Cui, while roasting the rabbit according to Xi Cui's appearance, and asked Xi Cui how to kill the rabbit and roast meat?
Xi Cui faced the fire, flipped over the rabbit in his hand, and laughed. The firelight reflected on her smiling face was extremely vivid and beautiful, and at this time, her eyes reflected the light of the flames, which made people can't help but be happy.
"My father is a hunter, I have been hunting in the mountains with my father since I was a child, and I will kill pheasants and hares myself at the age of six to get them to eat. In winter, it is not good to hunt, sometimes we run in the mountains for several days without yielding anything, and after eating the dry food we have brought with us, we would rather stay hungry for another day than be reluctant to leave. Because when I came home, I was still hungry, and hopelessly hungry. No more than in the mountains, at least there is hope of hitting the prey. Now that I think about it, how happy our family would have been to have such a hare every day! Xi Cui said as if she was really hungry, and even swallowed her saliva, causing everyone to chuckle.
It's rare for everyone to be so happy, Xi Cui doesn't care about these people unintentionally chuckling, anyway, she doesn't know them. The military funds were sent to the mission to be completed, and after returning to Beijing, no one knew who they were when they changed their clothes, so why bother to twist and be restrained to make everyone uncomfortable?
After the rabbit was roasted, Xi Cui was also generous, and she got some of the things that could be seen, and in the end, she ate a few bites of the two rabbits, which was only enough to taste. Duan San was unhappy, but he couldn't say anything. Wang Shaoyan was not used to eating at night, so he gave his share to Xi Cui, and Xi Cui generously wiped out a rabbit leg for him.
The snow stopped in the second half of the night, and in February the snow could not be held, and when it fell on the ground, it turned into water, making the ground very slippery, and the wooden wheels were easy to slip, and when it came to a downhill slope, someone had to pull it behind, otherwise it was easy to hurt the horse in front. They walked through a muddy mountain road, and when they reached the flat ground, everyone guessed relieved.
Xi Cui led the carriage with everyone along the way, making her face full of mud. Duan San was so busy that he forgot to look at Xi Cui, making her embarrassed and returning to Wang Shaoyan's carriage.
It was impossible to give her time to change when she was on the march, Xi Cui didn't mind at all, wiped the mud on her face casually, and laughed out two rows of white teeth, it was really a long time since she had such a pleasant experience, just like going back to when she was a wild child when she was a child, making trouble at will, laughing at will, and not worrying about what others would think of her, because all children are the same.
Wang Shaoyan had never seen Xi Cui smile like this, she was always very reserved and forbearant in front of him, seemingly decent, but in fact alienated and repulsed.
It was a good walk on the flat road, and they quickened a few steps to the post station just before dark. The soldiers who were sleepy and tired of the cars collapsed on the beds before they even had time to freshen up, and the few who had left a vigil were yawning while making rounds. Wang Shaoyan freshened up under the service of the post station man before going to sleep, and Xi Cui's room next door had long since stopped moving. Wang Shaoyan knew that Duan San was lying on the tiles on Xi Cui's roof, and no one could enter her room, so it was good that Duan San would not have anything to do with Xi Cui.
When the sky was bright, the person in charge of the post station began to beat the gong, and the complaints were ups and downs, but everyone was still all in order. Xi Cui also changed his clothes, slept all night and felt a lot more energetic, checked the number of people, and then set off again.
The next ten **** weather is good, the march is also very smooth, the deputy general has looked at the map has walked most of the way, he pointed to the mountain in front of him and said, "Over the mountain in front of you, there should be a rogue!" But where there is war, there will be rogues, and these people will grab things when they see them, and run away if they can't grab them. People like us who are in a hurry don't have the experience to chase them, so these people can only continue to harm passers-by. ”
In other words, there may be a real battle next, and if you don't do it, someone will die, and he hopes that everyone can be mentally prepared. Some veterans are not afraid, most of the rogues don't know how to fight, they rely on brute force to fight to grab things, and they can deal with it with a little care, but the recruits are starting to be frightened, they have never seen anyone killed, let alone killed. The mountain in front of them was in front of them, and it was clearly a door for them at this moment, and on the other side of the door was an unpredictable battlefield of life and death. (To be continued.) )