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Finally, a cold dampness fell in the sky with a biting chill, and the winter rain quietly filled the sky over the city, and the female soldiers at the gate of the women's camp in the city shrank their heads, looked into the sky, and muttered to themselves. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

"Maybe it's going to snow."

In winter, when it rains, it will turn into snow, and sure enough, as the female soldier said, after the rain fell for more than two hours, it slowly turned into snow, and the snow became heavier and heavier, and finally even snowed with goose feathers, which is rare in the south of the Yangtze River.

In the midst of the heavy snowfall, a piece of wood shook by the wall of the camp nailed with wood, and suddenly pushed a hole open.

"Click, click, click"

In the midst of a few inappropriate rooster crows, a woman in the camp dragged the little girl and ran over, and the little girl came out first, followed by the woman.

"Mother! Big sister! ”

As soon as the two of them came out, a young man whispered in a suppressed, joyful voice and threw himself into the woman's arms.

"Mother, I miss you so much!"

Holding her eight or nine-year-old son, the woman looked up at the man in front of her.

The cold wind from the camp was blowing in her face, and the subtle raindrops in the sky turned into large snowflakes, fluttering, and among the flying and scattered snowflakes, she saw his eyes clearly, also with suppressed joy.

"Xianggong"

"Well, let's go quickly."

Gently covering the log, they immediately ran to the nearby alley, and suddenly a group of four people were shrouded in darkness, all in front of them were pitch black and dazed, Song Jialin's vision was not very good, when he entered the dark alley, he could hardly see anything, but he walked forward by instinct.

Jiangning ...... No, now it's called Tianjing, there is a ban in the city, and the main street naturally can't go, if you meet those Cantonese people on the road, I'm afraid I don't know how to die, but as a local, he is naturally familiar with this street and alley, and the group walked briskly towards the city wall, while listening carefully to the sound ahead, and hiding at the slightest disturbance.

Finally, when the time was about to pass, a group of four of them came to the root of the city wall, and again, Song Jialin went to school on the city wall and started a rooster crow, after a few rooster crows, the lights on the city head went out, and then, he immediately dragged his daughter-in-law and children up the city wall together.

There were people waiting on the city wall early in the morning, and as soon as the man saw Song Jialin coming, he looked at the three people behind him and said.

"Twenty taels for one person, male or female!"

Twenty taels, that's the price of leaving the city, in the past, even if he knew this price, he wouldn't leave, because he was going to leave with his family, but the woman was a small-footed woman, even if she escaped from the city, what could she do? But now, he has a chance to leave with his family.

Song Jialin nodded without hesitation, and took out a few silver ingots from his arms, and the woman behind him immediately recognized the blackened silver ingots, which were the silver ingots they secretly buried under the stove before the Cantonese bandits entered the city. I have some money at home.

"Give you the money, and send us down to the city!"

Although the city gate is not open, the way to go down the city is very simple, that is, make a basket and put it down with a rope, and it is faster to go down to the city than to enter the city, but it is only a while, and the four of them went down to the city wall, and then fled in the other direction along the moat.

"Xianggong, where are we going?"

"Go ahead!"

"But the silver ......"

If the woman remembers correctly, eighty taels of silver, that's all their belongings.

"As long as we're a family! If the money is gone, it will be earned again in the future! ”

Song Jialin took his son's hand and walked forward without looking back, his speed was fast, but he seemed very careful, carefully avoiding all the light, and sometimes avoiding the soldiers who were patrolling.

"We're here!"

Finally, when he saw the red wall of Dabao'en Temple, Song Jialin looked back at the woman, and his always dignified face finally showed a little relaxation.

"This? This is that? ”

"A place that can make us leave Jiangning!"

Observing left and right, Song Jialin ran quickly and pulled his son over, and then he supported his son over the wall. After a while, the small door at the temple wall opened, and Song Jialin stood on the edge of the door and waved at his daughter-in-law and daughter, and after they entered the courtyard, he immediately closed the door again.

The footsteps of the person walking in front made Song Jialin nervously pull his son, and as soon as they entered the courtyard, they were blocked by the guards in the courtyard. Although he was nervous, when the other party accepted his "ticket", he knew that he was safe, and when he raised his head and looked at the pagoda of Da Bao'en Temple in the dark, he couldn't help but secretly thank the Buddha for his blessing.

"This lord, we, when are we leaving?"

When the man gave him the ticket, he told him that as long as he arrived at the Dabao'en Temple, he would be able to leave Jiangning with his family.

"When the ship comes, it will naturally inform you that you will live here first!"

At this time, the Da Bao En Temple was empty, the silence was very, once upon a time, there were hundreds of monks here, but now most of those monks were killed by the Taiping army, leaving only this empty temple, even the Buddha statues in the treasure hall were mostly destroyed, leaving only this empty temple and the towering and magnificent glazed pagoda.

Although it was dark at night, you could still feel the shape of the glazed tower in the courtyard. As the "ambassador" of the Governor's Office in Nanjing...... Well, this is what the governor of the governor's palace said to him, Li Mingqin knew that he had a great responsibility in Nanjing, on the one hand, he wanted to ensure trade with the Taiping army in Nanjing, and on the other hand, he had to do everything possible to "dig the foot of the wall".

The Taiping army has always been the most important "trading partner" of the Governor, Hubei and Hunan have been rich in fish and rice since ancient times, but under the rule of the Taiping Army, it was a chaos, not only in the city but also in the countryside, and because of this, the Governor will sell a large amount of rice and grain to the Taiping Army. In addition to the abundant fish and rice in the two lakes, more important is the arms trade, which is more important than fish and rice.

"There is another foreign ship in Shimonoseki......"

Thinking that foreign merchants are now competing to sell weapons to the Taiping Army, Li Mingqin's brows are tightly knit, and there is no smile on his face, maybe others don't know, but he knows very well the importance of this weapon trade in the Governor's Mansion.

"For a short gun that could be bought for fifteen or twenty yuan in Shanghai, the Taiping army had to pay the smuggler a hundred yuan...... Those who used to sell gunpowder for three yuan per barrel of foreign silver have now increased to 256 yuan" (1), and it was precisely because "the Cantonese bandits bought them at a high price, and the traitors were greedy for money and sold them privately" that foreign merchants smuggled arms into Nanjing one after another. And now their smuggling is impacting the trade between the Governor and the Taipings. Those foreign businessmen were inclined to make huge profits, and then engaged in smuggling. Foreign smugglers, greedy for windfall profits, are eating away at the Governor's share of arms little by little.

"There are 32 munitions ...... in Shimonoseki"

Thinking about this number, Li Mingqin's face became solemn, those foreign merchants were even more openly engaged in the gun business, they set up an arms shop in Xiaguan to provide arms to the Taiping army, just like the governor's mansion, but in comparison, the types of weapons provided by the governor's mansion were not as complicated as theirs, but the Taiping army obviously did not realize the significance of standardized weapons to the army, but Li Mingqin also had no intention of reminding them.

"I have to find a way!"

If the Qing army prohibits smuggling in the Jiangkou area, it will also be extremely unfavorable to the governor's office, although now the governor's office almost no longer directly buys weapons, but changes to local production in Wuchang, but the machines used to produce weapons and even the steel used are all purchased from foreign countries, although even if they are stopped by the Qing army, the Qing army does not know what the steam engine and machine tool are, but after all, it will still bring trouble to the governor's office.

And more importantly, the Qing army was greedy for money, although they strictly enforced the ban, but in fact, as long as they spent enough money, they could always pass safely, and even compared with the Qing army's blockade, the Taiping army's blockade was more severe.

"Otherwise, the price will be reduced!"

The reason why even a person like Jin Nengheng, a businessman of the American Qichang Foreign Company and vice consul in Shanghai, would sell a steamer and a large number of American firearms and ammunition to the Taiping Army was not because they were lured by huge profits, and if the price was lowered, it would certainly have an impact on many foreign businessmen.

"The ex-factory price of a barrel of gunpowder is only one yuan, and now it is sold for fifty yuan in Nanjing......"

Thinking about the price in Shanghai, Li Mingqin naturally thought that there would be an incident in Shanghai, and the knife would push up the price of foreign guns and gunpowder, which would make the price of gunpowder and foreign guns in Nanjing skyrocket. Even compared to the past, the supply is very limited.

"That's right! Take advantage of this opportunity to bring the price down! ”

Li Mingqin secretly pondered that in terms of the price of weapons, Wuchang naturally had the advantage of Wuchang, and unlike Shanghai's gunpowder, which needed to be transported from India across the ocean, Wuchang's gunpowder factory had already been put into operation, and the cost of each barrel of gunpowder was not even half a tael of silver, and the ex-factory price was only one yuan. And its quality is not inferior to foreign medicine. Even if it looks like a foreign gun, there is no difference between it and a foreign gun produced abroad, but its ex-factory price is only five yuan.

"Now if it is less than 50 yuan, foreign businessmen will have no profit to talk about, but the family is different, even if it is 50 yuan, there is 10 times the profit! Yes, that's right! Price! We have to bring this price down, first control the market, and then wait until the market is controlled......"

It's never too late to raise the price then!

After writing the letter, he did not directly put the letter in the envelope, but took out the code book hidden in the room, translated the content of the letter into a digital code, and then packed the letter full of numbers in the envelope, writing a secret letter is a basic skill that diplomats must master.

Packed the letter in the envelope and sealed it with wax, looking at the sky that had been slightly brightened, Li Mingqin pondered silently.

"There should be a ship coming over these two days! The people hiding in the temple should also be sent away......"

(1) From "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom History Translation Series", third series, Zhonghua Book Company, 1985 edition, p. 119. (Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Foreign Arms Trade: Equipping the Taiping Army with Western-style weapons.) (To be continued.) )