The first thing is that Liu Ru reported to Ji Qingwen, saying that in August and September, the weaving yamen did not make a penny, but lost 500,000 taels of silver, and now the silver in the treasury has basically bottomed out, and there is no longer much silver.

This is not surprising to Ji Qingwen.

He had a price war with the Suzhou Chamber of Commerce before, and although he also collected funds by selling some of Wei Zhongxian's inheritance, the amount of silver burned during this period was shocking.

After that, Ji Qingwen and the Suzhou Chamber of Commerce under the people's weaving mill to buy eight or nine out of ten, although the acquisition was quite a bit of a dangerous posture, the purchase price is not very high, but it needs to be handed over in cash, so it is also quite expensive.

Then it was time to send troops to quell the rebellion of the White Lotus Sect. In the whole world, there is nothing more expensive than recruiting, using, and raising soldiers. Therefore, this time on the expedition, another hundred thousand taels of silver were gone.

Therefore, although 500,000 taels of silver is not a small amount, in Ji Qingwen's eyes, it is very rare to be able to spend this amount of silver to successively unify the textile industry in Suzhou, quell the rebellion of the White Lotus Sect, and kill the leader of the White Lotus Sect, Xu Hongru.

And what surprised him even more was that Liu Ru was such a woman who was born in the dust of fireworks, and she still had the ability to take accounts and settle accounts, which was indeed a bit unexpected to him.

After asking, Ji Qingwen learned that when Liu Ru was an oiran under the old bustard Ma Xianglan before, he also followed the calculation of the expenditure income account in the Qinglou. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the balance sheet, cash flow statement, profit statement and other advanced accounting statements had not yet been invented, and most of the bookkeeping was just a flow account. Therefore, as long as you are careful and cautious and not afraid of triviality, there is not much difference between keeping accounts for Qinglou and keeping accounts for Ji Qingwen's big business.

Therefore, with such a Liu Ru who can keep accounts for himself, Ji Qingwen is like a tiger with wings, after all, Liu Ru is his eldest wife, and he and he breathe the same breath and share the same fate, and no one can get to Ji Qingwen's head.

So Ji Qingwen was relieved and boldly entrusted the financial affairs that were originally handled by Li Yan to Liu Rushi, so that Li Yan, a resourceful and intelligent man, could unload his burden and concentrate on giving advice to Ji Qingwen, and at the same time, he could also review and prepare for the exam to meet the upcoming imperial examination in the fourth year of Chongzhen.

The first thing is a joy in the midst of sorrow, and the second thing is a joy in the midst of sorrow.

It turned out that after the rebellion of the White Lotus Sect was put down, Liu Kongzhao, the commander of the Nanjing garrison and the sincere Bo Liu Kongzhao, did not delay for a moment, and immediately sent someone to deliver Xu Hongru's body to the emperor along with a colorful triumphant battle report.

In the battle array, although Liu Kongzhao did not hide Ji Qingwen's credit for resisting Xu Hongru's breakthrough actions several times and being the first to enter Wenzhou City, he unceremoniously took the credit of commanding the whole army and careful deployment in his arms.

Fortunately, there are still a few people in the imperial court who understand that it is absolutely impossible to completely quell this White Lotus Sect rebellion at such a small price and in such a short period of time with Liu Kongzhao alone. Therefore, this credit has to be given to Ji Qingwen no matter what.

Emperor Chongzhen was also quite kind, and did not fully believe in the report sent by Liu Kongzhao, in addition to rewarding the meritorious people who came up, he also took out the will that had already been drawn up for Ji Qingwen and published it in the palace newspaper to make it known to the world.

In addition to receiving this report, Ji Qingwen naturally also received the original copy of the holy decree, asking him to leave for Beijing to participate in the canonization ceremony.

Since the Battle of Salhu, the Ming court has always lost more than won less, and I don't know how many generals of the defeated army have been killed, but in recent decades, there has not been an official who has been rewarded for his military exploits. Therefore, this major event that can stimulate the morale of the army, the imperial court must do it beautifully, and naturally the protagonist Ji Qingwen went to Beijing to be entitled.

These questions should have meanings, but the holy decree still wrote this sentence in one fell swoop: "Although the White Lotus Sect is peaceful, there are still many small people." The Ming Wu army has the ability to suppress all evils, so it is better to stay in Jiangnan for the time being, and there is no need to bring the Beijing division. ”

This is a high-sounding statement, but the actual meaning is not to let Ji Qingwen lead troops into Beijing.

This reminded Ji Qingwen of the fact that in last year's "Jisi Change", Emperor Chongzhen did not let Yuan Chonghuan lead his army into the city to rest and recuperate, which made him feel unspeakably greasy.

However, the current Ji Qingwen does not have the power to turn against Emperor Chongzhen, and there is no such necessity for the time being, so he can only act according to the order.

It was Li Yan's idea that made Ji Qingwen come out of a road where there was no road: "Brother Ji, you forgot, in addition to the Ming Wu Army, you have another team of people, and you can also be completely trusted." ”

Ji Qingwen's first reaction was that he didn't want to bring thousands of miles of chaos from Shaanxi. But in the blink of an eye, he immediately denied his answer - although these rebels have all been used as dock workers, their unruly nature is difficult to change.

Therefore, Ji Qingwen widened his suspicious eyes and asked, "Really?" Brother Li, my temple is small, just a few drops of water, I really can't think of where there are people who can be trusted? Could it be that Brother Li found a copy of "Dunjia Heavenly Book" from Xu Hongru, and can be used as a soldier? ”

Li Yan knew that Ji Qingwen was joking, so he also joked: "What grass and trees are soldiers?" These are all small insect carving skills, I just learned it, and I won't use it. Brother Ji is a smart man, but unfortunately his memory is not very good, that team of people is now in Yiwu, not far away, have you forgotten? ”

"Yiwu? Isn't this the base camp of the Qi family's army, the initial source of strength of the Ming Wu army? The Ming Wu army recruited there has been banned from entering the Beijing Division by Emperor Chongzhen's decree, where is the second team that can be trusted? Ji Qingwen thought secretly.

But when he thought about it like this, it suddenly opened his eyes.

It turned out that what Li Yan was talking about was the miners in the silver mine that Chen Wenzhao operated before his death. These miners are all descendants of the former Qi Jiajun, and there is a natural blood bond between them and Ji Qingwen. Since Chen Wenzhao's death, Ji Qingwen has sent some gold and silver and bought some coal every once in a while, which can be regarded as single-handedly raising this silver mine.

Therefore, in public and private, and in reasonableness, these miners are Ji Qingwen's natural allies and reliable partners, and there is no reason to betray Ji Qingwen. And the "people who can be fully trusted" in Li Yan's mouth refer to them.

The above truth is very clear and easy to understand, Ji Qingwen made a decision after a little thought, and took advantage of the fact that it was still early, immediately went to Yiwu for a trip, called these miners, lived in Suzhou for a few days, and then followed him north to Beijing.

As soon as he heard that Lord Ji Qingwen was going to take him to Suzhou, Nanjing, and Beijing to see the world, he agreed without hesitation, said goodbye to Chen Wenzhao's tombstone on the mine, and then packed up his luggage and wanted to leave with Ji Qingwen.

Ji Qingwen looked at the luggage that these miners were going to bring on the road, and said with a smile: "I said brothers, I, Ji Qingwen, am a well-known businessman in Jiangnan, don't you sweep my face when you take these rags on the road?" I'll tell you not to bring anything, new clothes, new shoes, new covers, I have bought them all for you, and I will go to the capital to see the world with me! ”

When these miners heard this, they immediately burst into joy—after all, they had been suffering for a long time, and it was not easy to have a rare luxury.

This second thing with joy and sorrow can be regarded as an eyebrow, but this third thing is a bad thing with worries and joys.

It turned out that Ji Qingwen was about to gather his team and set off for Beijing, but he received a letter from Xu Guangqi, the cabinet.

The letter said that Emperor Chongzhen had convened the Criminal Department, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Dali Temple to interrogate Yuan Chonghuan, and the person who led the trial was Zhou Yanru, the first assistant of the cabinet. After some holy intent, it seems that Yuan Chonghuan's case is to be made into an iron case, and it is bound to punish Yuan Inspector Ming.