Huang Xiaobao is really a loyal and capable good eunuch, who is quick and reliable.

Emperor Zhu was a month ago to make him Mary. Mancini had prepared a proper place to live, so that this beauty would have been living in the palace of the Prince of Condé - how uncomfortable the Prince of Condé was! Such a good little Yanma can only be seen but not ridden......

Now little Yanmar has her own "little home", on the edge of Tangquan Town, next to a high wall of Tangquan Palace. The original master's Chongzhen Emperor's side of the Catholic eunuch Pang Tianshou, because of the belief in foreign religion, so the eunuch Pang especially likes Western-style things, except for a little Yanma like Mary, I don't like it at all, I am annoyed when I see it!

But no matter how annoying the little Yanmar is, now I have to transfer the Western-style mansion that was built not long ago to Mary. Mancini - Of course, it was not gratuitous, Huang Xiaobao spent Emperor Zhu 25,000 taels of silver to put down the house, and spent another 5,000 taels to buy furniture and build a corridor. Mancini moved in.

By the way, a special person was also arranged to "serve" Miss Mary.

On the way to the "Pang Family Garden" (in order to hide people's eyes, the name of this residence is still the Pang Family Garden), Huang Xiaobao also told Zhu Cihong about Mary. Mancini's conditions for "selling himself".

"Long live the lord, the slave maid and Miss Mary have talked about a worth, give 30,000 taels at a time, 500 taels per month in the future, and all the expenses of the Pang family's garden are yours. The contract also has a year of 10 years, after which you can ask for a renewal of the contract, and Miss Mary may not refuse. It's a little more expensive, but Miss Mary won't be cheap, you see......"

For a garden house, pay 30,000 taels of silver at a time, and give 6,000 pocket flowers a year, and the daily expenses of the house will be calculated separately...... Zhu Cihong said in his heart: Although this Huang Xiaobao is a good eunuch, he can't talk about business! I knew that Huang Jiang would talk about it, and half of the price could be negotiated!

"It's not expensive, it's not expensive...... Zhu Cihong thought in his heart, but there was no expression of pain on his face, and he said to Huang Xiaobao with a smile, "The money spent on her can be recovered ten times and a hundred times, so it's not expensive!" ”

What the? Fished back? How to fish?

Huang Xiaobao was confused when he heard it, and said in his heart: Can you still make money in it for absurd and unscrupulous things? How do you earn it? You can't let Mary's little beauty open the door to do business, right?

Zhu Cihong glanced back at him and said with a smile: "Xiaobao, you don't understand the matter of making money!" Do you know who makes the best money in the world? ”

"This ......" Huang Xiaobao shook his head and thought: Of course, your money is the best to make! Miss Mary, isn't that what makes you so much money? 30,000 at a time, 6,000 a year for ten years, it is 90,000 taels of silver, and one more house is 120,000 taels!

Zhu Cihong smiled: "Of course, women's money is the best to earn!" Why do Westerners like our silk so much? And not because their women like it? Women love beauty, what is it to spend some money in order to look beautiful? And women like to compare, you have it, I have to have it! What's the point of spending a little money? Xiaobao, you understand how I am going to make money with Mary, right? ”

"I don't understand!" Huang Xiaobao still shook his head. Although he goes in and out with a group of women all day long, and he also marries himself a wife, he really doesn't understand women...... And he's also quite stingy, he doesn't want to spend money on women, it's not an ordinary door-picking!

Seriously, it's Mary. No matter how much Mancini's posture tempted him, he would not want to dig a silver coin out of his pocket.

Zhu Cihong sighed and said with a smile: "If you don't understand this, forget it...... Let me tell you this, if we want to make more money from Europe, we have to figure out how to make European women spend money! ”

As he spoke, the emperor had already passed through the corridor and arrived at the back door of the Pang family's garden, the door was already open, and a little Yanmar dressed as a lady was already standing at the door with a smile......

......

The weather has gradually warmed up, and although Pukou, located on the north bank of the Yangtze River, is cooler than the furnace city of Nanjing on the south bank, the crowds on the street still change into thin robes and short clothes. Unlike the flowing clothes with wide clothes and large sleeves and square scarves that are more common on the streets of the metropolis, this kind of pretentious "celebrities" is almost impossible to see here in Pukou.

The narrow-sleeved close-fitting clothes that are popular here look particularly spiritual when worn on the body, and many people will hang a two- or three-foot-long sword on their belts, which looks like a chivalrous warrior walking the rivers and lakes - in fact, these people with swords and narrow sleeves are not chivalrous, most of them are teachers and students of schools in Pukou and Laoshan or low-level officials of the imperial court, and some are officers and soldiers on vacation.

Officials wear swords to show their status - Zhu Cihong set the rules for officials to wear swords when he was the prince of Fujun, not only to wear swords, but also to learn fencing, archery and the use of muskets for younger officials!

As an official in troubled times, you can't do it without a little martial arts!

In the "new-style schools" in Pukou and Laoshan areas, whether they are military or not, students must all wear swords, even girls. Not only to wear a sword, but also to learn fencing, bows and arrows, muskets, horseback riding are of course compulsory! However, students who are not old enough to tie their hair or tie their hair can only wear wooden swords, not iron swords with greater lethality. Only after the hair salute and the bow salute will the division commander grant the unopened sword - this is a weapon given by the Great Son of Heaven to defend the Ming Dynasty! And after passing a series of martial arts exams, the sword can be opened, and they can be regarded as a qualified successor of Ming feudalism.

As for the officers and soldiers of the Ming army, they will also receive the sword nominally given by the Son of Heaven on the day of enlistment—which is also unopened. After they have completed the corresponding training, the sword can be opened, symbolizing that they have become good warriors of Ming feudalism.

And these swords, which were distributed to officials, sergeants, and students, had a special form, which forbade private imitations, and in a sense, was also a symbol of privilege, duty, and responsibility!

The industrial and commercial people who work and live in the Pukou and Laoshan areas generally do not carry swords (of course, they can carry swords), and if they need to defend themselves, they will at most carry a flintlock pistol......

Now the Ming Dynasty allows people to carry guns, but the permission to carry guns is gradually tightened. In the early years of Hongxing, the government did not care at all, but from the eighth year of Hongxing, the imperial court promulgated the "Musket Monopoly Law", and only merchants who obtained the monopoly right could sell guns. Moreover, customers who buy new muskets must pass the examination, and they must also participate in training and pass the assessment (which can also be taken directly) in order to obtain a gun license and legally carry a gun.

By the way, in addition to being able to legally hold guns, the current people of Daming can also legally hold guns! It is a cannon, and the bullet weighing less than 10 pounds can be legally held! However, the "gun license" is much more difficult to obtain than the gun license. Not just anyone can buy a cannon and go home and play with it...... The cannon is too loud to play with, disturbing the people!

According to the provisions of the Artillery Monopoly Law, only merchant ship owners and nobles who owned castles (nobles who had a large number of grants of land in the frontier provinces or regions could build private castles) could buy cannons, and the cannons they purchased must be stored in a designated place (fort or ship) and could not be moved without permission.

In addition, cannons can not be bought anywhere, only in the Ming Dynasty (Yingtianfu, Wuhan) and Shanghai, Yangzhou, Suzhou, Ningbo, Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Guangzhou, Macao and other places, there are artillery stores.

Whoever wants to buy guns has to go to these ten cities with a large number of documents and apply to the yamen who manage the monopoly, and only after obtaining approval can they buy them.

In short, buying guns is a hassle. And you have to pay a lot of taxes on the purchase of artillery, and you have to buy artillery courses, and you really can't afford it without a little net worth!

Jabus, a big businessman from Kanwai and North Korea, is a businessman who is not afraid of trouble, and he is not afraid of spending money. This time, on the pretext of purchasing a large number of artillery, he left Hanyang, where the head office of the Jiale City Bank was located (after Duoduo entered the court, he also moved most of the business to Korea), and traveled all the way, and now he finally arrived at the city of Nanjing, which was both familiar and unfamiliar to him.