Zhou Xiuying was stunned for a moment when she heard this, but did not immediately agree to Ji Qingwen's request, and asked, "Why did Gongzi think of asking me to spy on these two people?" ”

Regarding this, Ji Qingwen's reasons are very sufficient.

Although Hong Chengchou is now an official of the Ming Dynasty, he will be defeated in the battle with the Manchurian Emperor Taiji in the future and surrender to the Qing Dynasty. This is not a joke, after the surrender of the Manchu Qing, Hong Chengchou also led the main force of the Qing army in Jiangnan and eliminated the last forces of the Southern Ming, thus helping the Manchus to sit firmly in the country. His performance is enough to compete with Wu Sangui in history for the throne of the number one traitor in history.

And Li Zicheng not to mention, you must know that the Ming Dynasty may have died in finance, party disputes, or natural disasters, but the most direct reason was that Li Zicheng led the peasant army to break through the Beijing Division in one fell swoop, forcing Emperor Chongzhen to hang himself on the crooked neck tree in the coal mountain. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that Li Zicheng was the biggest enemy of the Ming Dynasty.

But for these reasons, Ji Qingwen couldn't say it to Zhou Xiuying, but asked: "Listening to Miss Xiuying's meaning, it seems that you still know these two people?" ”

Zhou Xiuying's face turned red and said, "I can't talk about acquaintance...... Li Zicheng I only have one fate, I remember that Ji Gongzi was also there at that time, he is now leading countless peasant brothers who can't get by, attacking the state capital, fighting the county seat, and distributing grain, he is a good man, and he is very famous in the rivers and lakes. As for Hong Chengchou...... Although he became an enemy of Li Zi, he was a rare clean official, a good official, and he was also very famous. ”

Indeed, as Zhou Xiuying said, Li Zicheng and Hong Chengchou's current actions are still good people in the traditional sense and from the mainstream perspective. But the weirdness of history is weird in this place - there are many good people who never lose their integrity, and there are many evil people who do bad things to the end, but with the change of the environment, there are even more people who have become unrecognizable, which often makes people sigh.

The so-called "after Zhou Gong was afraid of rumors, Wang Mang was humble and did not usurp the time", this is the truth.

But before Ji Qingwen crossed over, he opened the perspective of God and saw things, but he couldn't say anything to anyone, so he could only bluff: "Miss Xiuying, don't ask, when have I ever been unreliable in what I said and did?" Li Zicheng and Hong Chengchou must have a problem, you can help me pay more attention to these two people, there is no harm. ”

Regarding this, Zhou Xiuying still admits it.

It is precisely because Ji Qingwen is so reliable that the White Lotus Sect, which has lasted for hundreds of years, has since collapsed, and Xu Hongru, who can be regarded as having made a difference among the leaders of the past dynasties, also died in Jiangnan, making Zhou Xiuying, a saint of the White Lotus Sect, like a rootless duckweed, drift in the world ever since.

So thinking of this, Zhou Xiuying still had some knots in her heart that were difficult to untie, and her heart was sour for a while, and she nodded: "Okay, I'll write it down." These two people, I will naturally go and see. Let's see if they're as good people as they say...... In this world, what is black will turn white, and what is white will also turn black, and some people and some things are better to see for believing and hearing for nothing......"

Thousands of miles to see off, you must say goodbye in the end.

After saying a few words of caring for peace, Zhou Xiuying finally relented, and after saying goodbye to Ji Qingwen, she disappeared on the busy canal wharf in a flash.

For the departure of such a strange woman with a magnificent face, extraordinary skills, well-informed, and self-reliant, Ji Qingwen is still quite sad. But he didn't know that after this parting, they met again after a few years, but the circumstances of the meeting were very different from today, which made Ji Qingwen at that time feel remorse.

However, the current Ji Qingwen couldn't think of such a long term, and after sighing with a sense of loss, he could only board the boat and go to Jiangnan.

From Beijing to Jiangnan, as usual, you have to pass through Shandong.

Shandong Governor Sun Yuanhua is an old friend of Ji Qingwen, and he always has to entertain every time he meets, and this time is no exception.

It's just that Ji Qingwen still has a piercing Yuan Chonghuan by his side this time, and Yuan Chonghuan and Sun Yuanhua are also old acquaintances, and they fought side by side in Jinzhou City back then, and seriously injured Nurhachi with artillery, which eventually led to his death.

Therefore, Ji Qingwen just dealt with a few words hastily, and then said goodbye and left.

Unexpectedly, Sun Yuanhua mysteriously took out a few muskets and asked Ji Qingwen to comment.

Ji Qingwen traveled to the end of the Ming Dynasty, not only worked hard to make money, but also led the troops to fight, and he could already be regarded as an expert in half of the ancient hot weapons - he took the musket in Sun Yuanhua's hand, and after a little look, he knew that it was made by Sun Yuanhua in the Shandong Arsenal. However, the manufacturing materials and manufacturing processes of these muskets have obviously made great progress, and the quality is changing with each passing day compared to what I saw here half a month ago.

This made Ji Qingwen even more emotional: It is said that the Chinese are the smartest and hardest working people in the world, and this sentence is indeed not wrong. If this trend continues, if it were not for the vigorous peasant war at the end of the Ming Dynasty and for the Manchurian Tartars to pick up the leaks and gain the world, then China's science and technology (at least military technology) would never have lagged behind the West as much as the Opium War in the mid-19th century.

Ji Qingwen just wanted to praise a few words, but when he saw Kong Youde standing behind Sun Yuan, who was full of smirk, he suddenly remembered that this guy was a big traitor who was not inferior to Wu Sangui and Hong Chengchou in history, and this person's actions were even more contemptible and hateful than Wu and Hong, and he couldn't be happy when he left.

So Ji Qingwen pulled Sun Yuanhua and told him to be careful of Kong Youde and his hardcore brothers, and never let them have a chance to make trouble.

Sun Yuanhua's resume is very commanding, and the current governor of Shandong is not a minor petty official, so he didn't take Ji Qingwen's words very seriously, and finally ended up in disrepute because of this.

In this regard, Ji Qingwen did not dwell too much, because the current era of the late Ming Dynasty is very different from the original tragic and tragic late Ming Dynasty - the damned Yuan Chonghuan is not dead, the dilapidated Guanning defense line has been slowly established, and the mountains and Shaanxi that should have been the rise of the people are still peaceful - more importantly, Ji Qingwen, the strength of the traverser is getting stronger and bigger, and he is more and more confident that he can intervene and prevent a series of tragedies in the future through his own efforts.

With such a mood, Ji Qingwen said goodbye to Sun Yuanhua, boarded the boat again, and continued to go to Jiangnan.

Along the way, Ji Qingwen saw that the young and middle-aged people in some places in Shandong and northern Jiangsu could still be reused, so he carefully recruited hundreds of strong men according to Qi Jiguang's old method of recruiting troops, and expanded the personnel of the "Ming Wu Army" to a full 2,000 people.

After the dispute in Beijing, Ji Qingwen understood more and more deeply - what status, what identity, what money, are all pipe dreams, and only by firmly holding the military power in his hands is the only reliable foundation for his life.

It's like Yuan Chonghuan, when he was the governor of Jiliao and had hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers in Liaodong, no one dared to touch him at all, even such a major event as Jiao Zhao killing Mao Wenlong, the chief soldier of Phi Dao, up to Emperor Chongzhen and down to the imperial history of the Imperial Inspectorate, could only pretend to be deaf and dumb, and did not dare to say one more word or half a sentence.

But once he was deprived of military power, the four major sins and the ten major sins came one after another, and any one of them was enough for Yuan Chonghuan to die once, if it weren't for Ji Qingwen's matchmaking, Yuan Chonghuan would have been executed by Ling Chi and broken into thousands of pieces as in serious history.

However, Ji Qingwen's Ming Wu Army's salary is very rich, as long as he becomes a soldier, he can have no worries about food and clothing, and follow Ji Qingwen to fight, he has always been victorious and undefeated, and his own losses are very small, which can be described as a good business with great profits and little risk.

This made the seventy-two miners that Ji Qingwen brought to the Beijing Division red-eyed, and specially recommended Sun Kui, who had a big face, to send a request to Ji Qingwen, and also wanted to join the Ming Wu Army.

These miners are the sons and daughters of the Qi family's army, and they are all strong and honest, even according to Qi Jiguang's strict military law, they should be included in the army. However, before Chen Wenzhao, who died, he instructed Ji Qingwen that for these miners, they must be raised in peace and security, and they must not be easily injured.

With such an instruction, Ji Qingwen naturally couldn't let them join the Ming Wu Army, but in the Beijing Division, Ji Qingwen also saw the ability of these miners to dig holes, and this kind of ability can be used to quickly dig trenches and build fortifications on the battlefield, and it can just make the firepower of the Ming Wu Army's superior muskets and artillery play the greatest role.

Therefore, Ji Qingwen discussed with Li Yan a little, and then promised those miners: although they could not join the Ming Wu Army, they could not work in the mine from now on, and work with Ji Qingwen, and all military salaries and benefits were the same as those of the Ming Wu Army.

When those miners heard such news, they were naturally overjoyed, and knelt in front of Ji Qingwen and said countless words of gratitude......

In this way, Ji Qingwen and his entourage took a big boat and smoothly went south along the Grand Canal, until they stopped at the wharf outside the Xiangmen in the south of Suzhou City, and finally set foot on this familiar land.

Ji Qingwen returned to Suzhou this time, without notifying others in advance, and originally wanted to see how he unloaded the cargo and disembarked from the ship, and went home quietly to rest.

However, Ji Qingwen is very famous in Suzhou, and there are more than 500 old miners and new sergeants accompanying him.

Seeing that his big boat had just docked, and the personnel, horses, and goods on the ship had not yet been carried ashore, a few weavers who were working under the weaving Yamen Weaving Workshop in Suzhou discovered the whereabouts of Ji Qingwen, the benefactor, and personally came to greet him, and sent people to inform Ge Sheng, Song Yingxing and others.

When Ge Sheng and Song Yingxing heard the news, they naturally were the first to inform Ji Qingwen's eldest wife Liu Ruis, and Liu Ru had not seen her husband for a few months.

Ji Qingwen was busy dealing with the matter of sealing Fuluhou and saving Yuan Chonghuan, except for accompanying Wu Sangui to look at Chen Yuanyuan and staying with Zhou Xiuying for a few days, he was not close to women at all.

Therefore, when Ji Qingwen saw Liu Ru who was like a fairy and a beautiful face, he was already overjoyed, and he quickly greeted him, opened his hands, and gave Liu Ru a big hug.

Although Liu Ru is not the kind of pedantic person who sticks to feudal etiquette, but at the end of the Ming Dynasty, such public affection still makes people a little embarrassed, so ashamed that Liu Ru is white and flawless face suddenly turned red like a red apple, and said in his mouth: "Don't be like this, husband, in front of people......"