There has been no will in the palace, so Li Chuan took his family out to go shopping.

Compared with last year, the life of the people is becoming more and more difficult, except for those powerful businessmen, even if it is a Ming Jingshi, it is difficult to see a person with no vegetable color on his face and no patches on his clothes.

After wandering around for a while, Li Chuan entered a jade shop.

The business is not too small, and the shopkeeper is listless, and he has no energy to welcome customers.

Li Chuan glanced at the shelves a few times, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he pointed to a crystal clear green jade horse and said, "What kind of jade is this, where did it come from, why haven't you seen it before?" ”

Xiao Er was a little more energetic at this time, and said with a smile: "Objective is really good eyesight, this is Burmese jade, which was brought by a merchant from Yunnan, it is said to be produced in Myanmar, and it is very popular with nobles. ”

"Burmese jade?"

The excitement in Li Chuan's heart, isn't this jade?

I took off the jade horse and played with it, I don't know if it's true or not, I was a poor dick in my last life, not to mention real jadeite, I haven't even played with man-made goods, and naturally I can't tell the truth from the fake, but it seems that there is no artificial jade in this era.

"How do you sell it?"

Li Chuan asked quietly, if it is really jade, then it will be developed.

The shopkeeper looked at his face, and a thought changed in his heart, so he smiled and said: "This jade horse was obtained by the shopkeeper of the store with great difficulty, and there is only one piece, the guest officer really wants it, but twenty taels will be given to you." ”

"Give money."

Li Chuan shook his head and directly took the jade horse into his arms.

Zhao Tiezhu didn't talk nonsense, and took out a silver ingot of twenty taels from his arms and threw it to Xiao Er.

The second shopkeeper was stunned, there is no mistake, we are still waiting for you to make a counteroffer, this is not scientific! But the next moment, Xiao Er's heart was overjoyed, it is a habit to buy things and bargain, the store quotes a high price, leaving room for buyers to bargain, which is also a law formed over the years.

But today I actually met one for myself, how can the shopkeeper not like it.

The reserve price of the jade horse is five taels, he quadrupled the offer, it just so happens that the shopkeeper is not there, and the extra fifteen taels can be put into his pocket.

"Is there any Burmese jade?"

Li Chuan swept his eyes, and didn't see the jade again, so he asked Xiao Er.

Xiao Er hurriedly said: "The amount of Burmese jade is very small, and there is only one piece in this store, the guest officer may wish to take a look at others, there are also good jade in the store, the guest officer may wish to take a look, the price is good, and you will definitely be given a discount." ”

Li Chuan said casually: "If there is any good jade, take it and take a look." ”

"Okay!"

Xiao Er answered, and took out a lot of jade from it with his hands and feet.

Li Chuan picked all the jade pieces one by one, and couldn't help but be a little disappointed.

To be honest, these jades are not bad, they are rare treasures after a few hundred years, but none of the most valuable Hetian jade is missing, and tens of thousands of dollars are really not worth it, so it is better to sell ginseng.

I went around the other shops, but I didn't come across the jade again.

After sweeping a bunch of ginseng and fine porcelain, Li Chuan returned to the post house.

The jade jade horse is not small, can have 20 centimeters long, the carving is vivid, and I don't know who the hand is, but this carving is extremely rare, emerald green and translucent, there are no impurities at all, it is an extremely rare glass emerald.

Such a large piece of glass emerald, let alone seen or heard.

After Li Chuan referred to it again and again, he sold the jade horse for 200 million.

This thing is not ginseng, it is not that easy to sell, and it takes time to sell it.

Waiting for the next day at the post house, the will of the palace finally came.

Emperor Chongzhen wanted to see the artillery, not only the emperor wanted to go, but also the Manchu civil and military forces.

For Emperor Chongzhen, who has a lot of opportunities, he can take time out to look at Western artillery, which shows that Emperor Chongzhen attaches great importance to these Western artillery, and Li Chuan also saw the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty for the first time in a large camp on the outskirts of Beijing.

Just looking at the appearance, all the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty are moral masters.

At least in terms of bearing, these big officials above the court all exude the atmosphere of cultural people.

Some officials Li Chuan had heard of it, some had not, although many of the clans or merchants behind the court officials had common interests with him because of Western goods, but these civil officials of the Ming Dynasty did not even look at him.

is just a fortunate minister, and the gentlemen of the Manchu Dynasty are really humiliated.

"This is Western artillery?"

Emperor Chongzhen looked at the mortar in front of him, and his brows immediately furrowed.

"Exactly!"

Li Chuan said: "Can the emperor let his ministers open fire?" ”

Emperor Chongzhen seemed to be very disappointed, and said: "Such a small cannon, although it is excellent, but it is not as powerful as the Franc machine cannon, how can you hit the enemy ten miles away, and try to open the cannon, if there is a mistake, beware of treating you for the crime of bullying the king." ”

"Obey the order!"

Li Chuan hurriedly responded, and commanded several family members to step forward and drag the cannon out.

This is not a place to test the cannon, and it is impossible to fire in front of Emperor Chongzhen.

A group of soldiers from the Beijing battalion also followed, and they had to learn how to control these Western artillery.

As for a group of Ouchi guards, they were still guarding around Emperor Chongzhen's ministers.

"Your Majesty, the minister has something to offer."

Li Chuan was afraid that the emperor would not be able to see it, so he presented a pair of binoculars.

"But clairvoyance?"

Emperor Chongzhen is not an uninformed bun, you can know what it is at a glance.

Li Chuan said: "Exactly! ”

"It's the first time I've seen binoculars."

Emperor Chongzhen was particularly interested in the endless Western goods that Li Chuan had gotten, holding the telescope to the glasses, first showing a confused look, shaking it left and right a few times, and when he saw the object in his sight, he couldn't help but be taken aback.

"This ......"

Emperor Chongzhen's face was full of shock, and he casually handed the telescope to Wen Tiren, the head of the cabinet next to him, and said, "Aiqing take a look." ”

Wen Tiren hurriedly took it and held it up to watch, first stunned, and then shocked.

"This, shrunk ten miles away, is really a divine thing!"

Wen Tiren was amazed, he had never seen such a delicate clairvoyant mirror.

Soon, the telescope was passed to the hands of one minister after another, and finally to the hands of Emperor Chongzhen.

Yang Sichang, the secretary of the Ministry of War, who had just taken office, hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, the visual distance of this object is far better than that of a monocular clairvoyant, and it can detect the enemy in the first place, and it should be handed over to the army for use." ”

"What Aiqing said is extremely true!"

Emperor Chongzhen readily agreed, and without asking Li Chuan's opinion, he casually gave the telescope to Yang Sichang.

Yang Sichang took it solemnly and held it with both hands like a baby.

Li Chuan couldn't help but slander, but he thought in his heart, I hope these bureaucrats don't spoil Lao Tzu's good things, they are telescopes, and modern artillery, if they can't beat Jiannu again, it can only show that the Ming Dynasty's civil and military generals have degenerated to the point of incurability.

At this moment, there was a bang, and artillery was fired outside the barracks.