In the Yongning Palace south of Zhongcui Palace, Concubine Li Guifei sat alone in the warm pavilion of the side hall, and she didn't know what she was thinking.

A white-faced and beardless young man turned out from behind the curtain, walked behind Li Guifei, and said softly, "Sister, what are you thinking?" ”

Li Guifei moved slightly, but she didn't look back, just frowned slightly, and asked rhetorically: "The imperial horse supervisor has changed the palm print, why don't you stay in the grassland yamen and take care of it, what are you doing here, aren't you afraid that the three fires will come down and burn you?" ”

"Sister said with a smile." The young man smiled and said: "Who doesn't know that Chen Ju is the prince's person, he, the new official, has three fires, and whoever burns it will not come to burn the prince's maternal uncle, right?" If he was so ignorant, he wouldn't have transferred me back to the grassland from Zhongfu. ”

Li Guifei turned her head slightly, glanced at her younger brother, and said, "Listening to your tone, I really like the grassland?" Why, Zhongfu Grassland not only has to accept tens of thousands of taels of silver from the Taicang every year, but also manages the Huangzhuang, Huangdian, and pasture, how can there be two or three hundred thousand taels of silver a year, with your means, you are afraid that you will not starve to death? The grassland here can't manage the money, Chen Ju transferred you back from the money jar, don't you blame him? ”

"Don't complain, it's all for the emperor, it's the same everywhere." The young man laughed happily.

"Huh?" Li Guifei's phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, glanced at him, and said nonchalantly: "I can't see it, you have grown up, you know how to say such things." ”

"Haha, sister, look at what you said, the little brother is sincere......"

"Okay, okay, let's talk about it directly, what benefits did Chen Ju promise you? I don't remember any errands in the pasture - don't tell me you suddenly don't love money. Li Guifei looked away and waved her hand to interrupt.

The young man put away his smile and said seriously: "Sister really guessed wrong, the younger brother is just an idle person in the grassland." After speaking, he took out a waist card from his back waist and handed it to Li Guifei.

Li Guifei took it and took a look, the waist card was silver, but the whole body was gilded, bell-shaped and hollow, the edges of both sides of the waist card were raised and double-edged, the top was engraved with auspicious cloud patterns, there was a perforation in the cloud pattern, and the waist card was engraved in the middle of the yang to write five big characters: the eunuch of the imperial horse eunuch.

Li Guifei didn't look at it much, and turned it over directly, the style of the yin side was roughly the same as before, but the words engraved in the middle were different: Zhongzi No. 7.

"You're in charge of the gun now?" Li Guifei frowned, looked at her young brother, and had some doubts in her eyes: "This is not a fat difference, should you think about it...... Don't make a mistake about yourself. ”

The young man rolled his eyes and said angrily, "Sister, what do you want?" I'm afraid that I will sell the guns and cannons in Beijing? Even if I'm so fat, who would dare to buy it! ”

"And what are you happy about?"

The young eunuch reached out and took the waist card back from Concubine Li's hand, tied it around her waist, patted it, and said, "It's not worth it now, but it is estimated that it will be worth it soon." ”

"Why?" Li Guifei looked puzzled.

"Chen Ju asked for the inside information that Gao Pragmatic asked about that little golden hand." The young man glanced left and right, and saw that there was indeed no one, so he lowered his voice and said mysteriously: "Last time, Gao Pragmatic came back from Datong and reported to the emperor and the prince about the current problem of firearms, sister, do you remember?" ”

"A little impressed, what's wrong?"

"After listening to it, what do you think when you know that the firearms of the country are so unbearable?"

Li Guifei looked inexplicable: "I'm a deep palace woman, what can I think?" These things are considered by the emperor and his auxiliary ministers. ”

"Sister doesn't think our firearms are rotten like this...... Isn't it dangerous? ”

Li Guifei sighed: "What do you want to say?" Yes, after listening to it at the time, I also thought that it would not be possible to go on like this, but I didn't understand the affairs of the DPRK and China, let alone ask, and I thought that nothing mattered. ”

The young man smiled bitterly and spread his hands, and said, "Sister, you are really like a thief to prevent me, do you think I want to persuade you to do politics?" No, I'm just asking, I want to know what kind of mentality a person with your status is after hearing such news. ”

Li Guifei glanced at him deeply and muttered, "I just said, I also don't think it's okay to go on like this. Then he added, "I don't need to repeat the rest of the words, right?" ”

The young man nodded helplessly, and said: "So, no matter who knows about that kind of situation, they will feel that it is not good, our current firearms are too unreliable, and the border army and the Beijing army have these burning sticks in their hands, if something happens, it will be a big trouble...... Sister, you think, although I have called the minister a tribute, but the Yuan court (Mongolian left) has not. ”

"What does that have to do with you, the eunuch of the imperial horse and the gun?"

The young man laughed: "My position itself is not important, the important thing is that I am the eunuch of the imperial horse and the gun, and I am also in charge of the war bureau according to the rules. ”

Li Guifei frowned and said, "What do you want to do?" ”

She was afraid that her brother would say that anyway, it must be a scum product, so it is better for me to make a profit from it.

Who knows, but no, the young man smiled: "Whether it is the military battle bureau in the inner court or the ordnance bureau of the military department, it is estimated that there is nothing to save it, so what about it...... Mr. Gao was pondering the idea of allowing a private person to set up an ordnance factory to manufacture weapons, which would then be jointly inspected and procured by the Bureau of Arms and the Bureau of Ordnance. ”

Li Guifei really didn't know much about government affairs, so she was stunned for a moment before she reacted, and said in surprise: "Private weapons factory? It seems...... Something is wrong, right? As soon as she heard that it was something that Gao Ge Lao was considering, even if she subconsciously felt that it was not okay to do this, her words became obviously not very confident, "It seems that something is wrong."

This kind of thing is generally more confident for men, even if it is a crippled man, so the young man waved his hand and said: "I know what Sister is worried about, it is nothing more than that if a private person allows the manufacture of firearms, will it lead to the flooding of firearms among the people and cause trouble." ”

Concubine Li asked, "Isn't that so?" ”

"Yes and no." The young man smiled and said: "Sister, didn't I say that you can think of things, can Gao Ge Lao, Guo Ge Lao, and Zhang Ge Lao still not think about it?" These hidden dangers will naturally be eliminated in advance. ”

"It's all handed over to private individuals, how can you put an end to it?" Li Guifei said curiously.

"Uh, the news I have here is all inquired about by Chen Ju, and it may not be complete, Sister, will you just listen to it?"

"Okay, you can say it."

"That's right, although it is handed over to private individuals, but first of all, not just casual individuals can have such qualifications, and there will be very strict identity restrictions: for example, there are several generations of loyalty in the family; The capital contribution for the construction of the factory must reach at least 100,000 taels; The ordnance must be applied, you can only make guns if you are allowed to make guns, and you can make guns if you are allowed to make guns; The factory itself must also be supervised by the Imperial Horse Supervisor and the Ministry of War, and there must be a number, a background, and a destination for how much it has been built; Finally, the ordnance made must also pass the supervision and inspection of the War Bureau and the Ordnance Bureau, and so on and so forth, and there are many restrictions. ”

"Oh......" Li Guifei thought for a while, nodded and said: "In this case, it sounds okay, it is a good idea to supervise the inner court and the outer court together." ”

That's natural, after all, in Li Guifei's opinion, if the inner court and the outer court join forces to deceive the emperor, it will not be a small problem like the outflow of firearms.

But she immediately came back to her senses: "No, in this case, wouldn't it be even more useless for you to be in charge of the war?" ”

"How could it be useless?" The young man laughed: "I am in charge of the war bureau, which is equivalent to deciding whether these things can be used in the army......

Li Guifei raised her eyebrows, and her tone suddenly became stern: "You want to take bribes?" ”

"Sister, this is too ugly." The young man spread his hands: "Let's put it this way, if the thing is not qualified, it will definitely not be approved from the younger brother, but what, even if the thing is qualified...... Oh, people can take 100,000 taels out to do business, and they can't not know a normal exchange of courtesies, right? Not to mention ......"

Li Guifei was relieved to hear this, but as soon as she heard "what's more", she immediately asked again: "What's more?" ”

"What's more, I see that Gao Pragmatic himself is quite interested in this business, he is still quite good at being a man, and our family can follow it when the time comes."

Li Guifei was slightly stunned, but immediately felt that this was not strange, Gao Pragmatic, this kid's business experience is indeed good, if there is such a deal, it is not strange for him to intervene.

Who knew that the young man seemed to remember something important, patted his head, and said, "Oh, I almost forgot, our father is also quite interested in this business." ”

Concubine Li Guifei was stunned and said in surprise: "What nonsense are you talking about, where are we going to get the 100,000 taels?" Don't say 100,000 taels, can you take 10,000 taels? ”

The young man smiled: "I can't take it out, but it doesn't matter, we can participate in the shares." Sister, you know, Daddy and Zhang Siwei have always had a good relationship, and Zhang Siwei is a highly pragmatic maternal uncle. With this relationship, when the time comes, will he be pragmatic and embarrassed not to let us participate in it? At the beginning, he engaged in Jinghua soap factory and honeycomb coal, we reacted too slowly at that time, and we didn't catch up with the good time, this time we must not miss it again, this little guy will not say anything else, on making money, it is really a first-class national player, the opportunity must not be lost, and the time will not come. ”

"So, it's a serious deal...... But you must not take dry shares in the name of the prince or me, you know? ”

The young man smiled: "I know, I know, how can I be." But he secretly said in his heart: If you don't take dry shares, you won't take dry shares, let's just invest some money and see how many shares the kid surnamed Gao can give! I didn't believe that I gave him a thousand taels of silver, and he only gave me a thousand taels of shares.

Seeing that he agreed, Concubine Li Guifei's phoenix eyes rolled slightly, but she didn't speak again.