Ji Qingwen was dumbfounded by this scene, and repeated "so dangerous" and "so dangerous" many times, but he was still shocked.

So it was Huang Degong's turn to start teaching Ji Qingwen a lesson: "Dongjia, you are a thousand, ten thousand good, but it's not good to be too curious and bold." If you come out a little late, won't you be crushed into a patty by the snow and the ceiling? In my opinion, it is better to be timid in the world. ”

When Ji Qingwen heard this, he immediately became angry and scolded: "Okay, you Huang Degong saved my life, I will pay you for it." How dare you count me! See I don't hit you! ”

As he spoke, Ji Qingwen took a step forward and stretched out his hand to hit Huang Degong's head.

However, as soon as he moved, he lifted a corner of the quilt he was draped on, and the cold wind immediately poured in from this corner, freezing Ji Qingwen shivering, causing him to wrap the quilt tightly again, and scolded Huang Degong and said: "Degong, you have time to talk nonsense here, why don't you quickly find out my clothes from the ruins, so that I will freeze to death and no one will pay you." ”

Huang Degong hurriedly agreed, walked to the collapsed roof step by step, gropedly pulled out a few clothes and a few pairs of pants from the gap in the ruins, and sent them to Ji Qingwen.

Ji Qingwen took his clothes and just wanted to wear them, but as soon as the quilt wrapped around his body loosened slightly, the cold wind made him shiver, and he didn't know whether to wear the clothes on his hands or not.

At this moment, I saw a team of people, five or six people, all holding torches, walking up to Ji Qingwen from the silver mine, and the first one of them was Chen Wenzhao himself.

I saw that he carefully looked at the situation around him left and right, and then he arched his hand and said: "The snow is heavy today, I didn't expect it to really crush Lord Ji's house." Come, please come to my mine to shelter from the snow and keep warm. ”

In the past ten days, Ji Qingwen has become familiar with Chen Wenzhao and his children in the mine, and he agreed without thinking about it, and followed Chen Wenzhao into the silver mine.

I saw that the path on the mine had been sprinkled with slag, so although it was also covered with heavy snow, walking on it was indeed like walking on the ground, and it was not slippery at all.

After walking for a while, Ji Qingwen saw that several houses in the mine had also been crushed by heavy snow, and the miners in the mine had come out of the houses, hid in several makeshift tents, lit bonfires and drank to keep warm. From time to time, people use long bamboo poles to poke down the snow piled up on the canopy, so that the thin tent will not be flattened.

Seeing such a scene, Ji Qingwen deliberately provoked the topic, and said: "General Chen is worthy of being a military general, governing a mine, but he also sees military law, and he admires and admires it!" ”

Chen Wenzhao didn't agree, and silently led Ji Qingwen and the others to a slightly larger tent.

Ji Qingwen saw that the tent lit a charcoal basin and baked a two-zhang square tent warmly, so he took this opportunity to put down the quilt on his body, put on the clothes he was holding one by one, and drank half a bowl of warm rice wine, and his whole body regained his warmth.

Chen Wenzhao saw that Ji Qingwen's face gradually became bloody, and suddenly said: "Master Ji, I have a few words to talk to you, I don't know if you are willing to go outside with me?" ”

Now that it was snowing heavily, it was so cold that it almost froze the blood on his body, and Ji Qingwen didn't want to leave this tent at all.

But seeing that Chen Wenzhao's expression was extremely serious and serious, knowing that he must have something important to talk to him, Ji Qingwen could only agree: "Okay, just ask General Chen to lead the way." ”

So Chen Wenzhao lifted the curtain of the tent and walked in front to lead Ji Qingwen into the mine.

The opening of the mine is very narrow, and you can only bend down and bow your head to enter, but the inside is very spacious, and a few stone niches have been carved out of the walls of the mine, and a few oil lamps have been lit, giving off a swaying and fluttering light.

This dim light deepened Chen Wenzhao's face after the vicissitudes of life, and he only heard him speak: "Lord Ji, you have been lying in front of my silver mine for the past few days, and you know what you want to achieve. It's just that doing this will inevitably lose the system of Lord Ji weaving the admiral and the minister, right? ”

The temperature inside the mine was slightly warmer than the snowy outside, but it was much colder than in the tent with charcoal basins for heating, and Chen Wenzhao's words were even colder than the air inside the mine.

Ji Qingwen didn't seem to feel the chill, and said with a smile: "Only when things are done, can we pay attention to what is indecent." Otherwise, no matter how decent your means are, you can't do things, isn't it in vain? ”

"So, Lord Ji must recruit soldiers, is this done?" Chen Wenzhao asked coldly, "And do you have to ask me to help?" ”

Ji Qingwen nodded and said, "This is a task assigned by the emperor, and it is also Teacher Sun's entrustment, and I dare not do it or fail to do it." However, I have never been a strong person, I only hope that General Chen can sincerely help me do this well, otherwise 'the twisted melon is not sweet', and the recruited soldiers will naturally not be good. ”

Chen Wenzhao frowned and said, "I have something to understand, and I ask Lord Ji for advice." Lord Ji is the weaving admiral of Suzhou, not a military official, and not a feudal official, what do you want to recruit the township warrior group to practice? Even if it is to serve as a guard of honor, there are people in Suzhou City, and dozens or hundreds of people can't be selected? ”

Ji Qingwen said with a smile: "The weaving admiral has always been served by eunuchs, and I am a big man to be this official, which is enough to lose face, do you need so many honor guards to embarrass people?" I thought that since I wanted to recruit soldiers, I must recruit good soldiers with combat effectiveness, otherwise raising more soldiers and horses would just be a waste of money and food. ”

Chen Wenzhao immediately took over the conversation: "The world is big, and there are many brave people, why should Lord Ji be obsessed with the name of the Qi family's army?" ”

"It's scary." Ji Qingwen blurted out, "The hard work of recruiting soldiers is not used to sacrifice them, as long as the goal can be achieved, isn't it better for everyone to be happy and the wife to be peaceful?" With the reputation of the Qi family's army in Jiangnan, as long as they go outside, those small people will naturally retreat from the difficulty, and how many fights can be spared......"

Chen Wenzhao doubted: "Could it be that adults have many enemies in Jiangnan?" ”

Ji Qingwen shook his head with a wry smile, and told Chen Wenzhao concisely about what happened after he arrived in Suzhou Weaving, and added: "After coming down, I not only offended the eunuch party, but also offended the Donglin party, and even the Suzhou Chamber of Commerce regarded me as a thorn in the eye and a thorn in the flesh. If I don't have a few reliable soldiers in my hands, I don't know when they will be squeezed out. ”

Chen Wenzhao listened to Ji Qingwen's words, and immediately said with hatred: "Although the eunuch party has misled the country, the Donglin party is not a good person!" Yuan Yingtai, who killed a thousand knives, was a member of the Donglin Party. ”

"That's right! Not a good person. Ji Qingwen said, "So as long as there are soldiers in hand, then any eunuch party and Donglin party will take me, and I will be helpless." ”

Chen Wenzhao replied: "Lord Ji's words are wrong. The soldiers are not in your hands, but in the hands of the court. And whoever is in charge of the imperial court in the eunuch party and the Donglin party can mobilize the army at will, and if you dare to hesitate, the imperial court will immediately cut off your military salary! ”

Ji Qingwen was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and suddenly laughed again: "General Chen is really a person who knows the soldiers, thanks to you pointing it out now, otherwise I don't know Teacher Sun Chengzong's intentions!" ”

"Huh?" Chen Wenzhao asked with a puzzled face, "What is the intention of Old Inspector Sun?" ”

Ji Qingwen explained with a smile: "When Mr. Sun asked me to form an army, he explained that this army is not a regular army of the imperial court, but a private village warrior regiment training that I have privately funded, and the military salary is paid by the weaving yamen. Don't look at other people's faces! ”

Chen Wenzhao asked coldly again: "Lord Ji, don't forget, your weaving admiral is also sealed by the imperial court, and the imperial court will still dismiss you from your post with a word!" ”

Ji Qingwen pondered for a moment and replied: "Now all the production and sales of the weaving yamen are in my hands, even if I am not the weaving commander, I open a weaving workshop in Suzhou, and I will have at least 300,000 taels of silver a year, which is enough to raise soldiers." And with soldiers in hand, I can ensure that my production and sales are not affected and interfered with by others. It's a mutually reinforcing relationship. ”

Speaking of this, Ji Qingwen couldn't help but feel proud - thanks to his good study of Marxist philosophy back then, he finally connected the two things of raising soldiers and making money organically and dialectically in the Ming Dynasty!