Hu Xinxue got Zhu Youzhen's promise, and the concern in her heart could finally be released, and she cried loudly, and no longer paid attention to the fact that Zhu Youzhen was the master and she was a maidservant, and she cried so much that the flowers around her were also grateful.

"Don't cry, Cher, look, if you cry, you don't look good." Zhu Youzhen felt that Hu Xinxue's delicate and white face had some teardrops, which really looked like a snowlotus with morning dew.

Hu Xinxue stopped crying, glanced at Zhu Youzhen, remembered Zhu Youzhen's identity, in front of Zhu Youzhen, in Zhu Youzhen's mansion, crying so unscrupulously is not in line with her status as a maid. She lowered her head in embarrassment and laughed silently.

This woman's tears are like the rain on a June day, coming and going.

Zu Dashou is now the governor of the three sides, and the head of Hu Tingyan is in the first three sides, and Zu Dashou must know where it is. Zhu Youzhen prepared to send his own soldiers to see Zu Dashou early the next morning, and wanted to return to the head of Hu Tingyan.

"Your Highness, the slave maid has one more thing to ask for." Hu Xinxue wiped away her tears with the silk handkerchief handed over by Zhu Youzhen. The crying just now made her vent, and now her mind has recovered.

"What else?" Zhu Youzhen wondered if Sun Chuanting was thinking that he was too leisurely and deliberately threw these problems to himself.

"Your Royal Highness, the slave maid is in Beijing, and there is a younger brother named Hu Xinxuan. Because he is less than three feet, he should still be alive in the world. Please ask Your Highness to inquire on your behalf, the slave and maid are not able to raise their younger brother now, they just want to know his whereabouts, as long as they know that he is safe. ”

Zhu Youzhen silently thought in his heart, if he wants to inquire about the whereabouts of this child, who are he looking for? Jingshi himself doesn't have any friends with weight, Li Chunye? No, in order to reduce Wei Zhongxian's suspicion of him, there is nothing special, it is best not to look for him, so who can you find? Zhou Wenqi and Zhu Youzhen thought of this interrogation talent, he should be very good at doing this kind of thing.

"Your Royal Highness......" Hu Xinxue saw that Zhu You couldn't make a sound, thinking that her requirements were too high.

"Oh, I've got it figured out." Zhu Youzhen summoned a personal soldier, whispered a little, and sent him away. "Xue'er, inquiring about your brother's affairs has been arranged, as long as he is still in Jingshi, he will definitely be able to find out his whereabouts."

"The slave and maid are concerned about these two things. Now with the grace of His Royal Highness, there is no longer any concern in the hearts of the slaves and maids. Hu Xinxue respectfully kowtowed to Zhu Youzhen three times, as a young woman who had lost her identity, status, and family property, she really couldn't think of any other way to repay Zhu Youzhen except kowtow.

With Hu Xinxue's care, Zhu Youzhen is much more comfortable. Although Hu Xinxue, who was born as a young lady, is not very good at serving men, and there are always a lot of foreign appearances, but compared with the rough soldiers, Zhu Youzhen feels that Hu Xinxue is stronger, at least more eye-catching than the soldiers, besides, Miss Hu's progress is still quite fast.

Zhu Youzhen is still busy with his business.

The soap is still under development and has not been put into production; The technology of cement has matured, and some skilled workers have been trained.

His main focus is still on the cement avenue, especially the West Extension Avenue from Xi'an to Yansui.

When exterminating bandits, Zhu Youzhen walked almost the entire road and had some understanding of the conditions on this road.

This is the most troubled area in Shaanxi.

Already barren, coupled with the destruction of bandits, this place is also the most prone to breed bandits again.

The root cause of banditry in Shaanxi lies in poverty, and Yansui is the poverty in poverty, the bottom of the pot.

Now Yansui has discovered a huge coal mine, which is a good opportunity to get rid of poverty. But the premise of poverty alleviation is developed transportation, as the saying goes, if you want to get rich with poor mountains and bad waters, you should have fewer children and build more roads.

Yansui is a place surrounded by poor mountains.

The Yellow River is commonly known as "nine bends and eighteen bends", which is not bad at all, especially its middle and upper reaches of the river, with large bends and middle bends, and small bends. In Shaanxi, the Yellow River bends into a huge "several" shape, and Yansui is located at the top of this "several" character.

Why the Yellow River bends into a zigzag shape, instead of rolling eastward like the Yangtze River, Zhu Youzhen knows with his eyes closed is because of the barrier of the hills, and Yansui is located surrounded by mountains.

In Yansui, which is located in the mountains, the traffic situation can be imagined.

The traffic congestion in Yansui is also reflected in the outside. To the north and northwest of Yansui are the Great Wall, which hinders Yansui's communication and development in these directions.

Now, the east of Yansui is adjacent to Shanxi across the Yellow River, not to mention the mountains and mountains on both sides of the Yellow River here, it is very difficult to find a ferry. Yansui's only advantage is coal, and Shanxi is the province with the most abundant coal resources, and they are all high-quality and easy-to-develop kinds, as long as the surface of the loess and stones is uncovered, it can be directly mined in the open pit, and even the coal kiln does not need to be dug. So even if Yansui has a road connecting Shanxi, coal can't be sold.

The north and west of Yansui are the Great Wall, beyond the Great Wall is the Yellow River, between the Great Wall and the Yellow River, is the Hetao area with fertile water and grass, is the Han people and the northern nomads wrestling for thousands of years, and now the Mongols still have the advantage.

Yansui's only hope is still in the south, with Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi, for logistics. Xiyan Avenue is the only passage connecting Yansui and Xi'an.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen is making every effort to step up the construction of this avenue. On this road, there are too many hills that hinder the construction of the road.

Fortunately, there is no shortage of gunpowder in the Ming Dynasty, and the low hills are directly blasted with gunpowder, and the falling rocks can also be used to build roadbeds.

Xiyan Avenue is divided into three sections: Xi'an to Tongzhou Xitong Section, Tongzhou to Yan'an Tongyan Section, Yan'an to Yansui Yan'an Extension Section. Among them, the extension section is the longest.

The construction of these three sections of the avenue began at almost both ends at the same time. Zhu Youzhen is not short of manpower now, he has 170,000 bandit prisoners of war in his hands, plus the people conscripted nearby, and he is rich in human resources.

The roadbed of the avenue is basically completed, and the construction of the cement avenue is now much faster than the previous construction of the official road.

In the past, the construction of official roads was mainly spent on roadbed time and manpower. The roadbed is all completed by manual methods, a group of four people or a group of eight people, grinding the stones into a grinding disc shape, digging holes on four or eight sides, loading wooden blocks, and tying ropes. Four or eight people in each group pull the rope tight, let the grinding disc hang in the air, and then lower it again, in a free fall, hitting the ground and compacting the roadbed. One by one, the roadbed is repeatedly hammered and compacted.

Now the construction of cement roads is much simpler. As long as the roadbed is simply tamped, 3-4 inches of gravel is padded, and then 2 inches of concrete is poured, and the cement concrete is solidified, and the avenue is successful.

Due to the weather, the watering of the cement pavement was not fast, which made Zhu Youzhen very anxious. The cold in Shaanxi is too heavy in the morning and evening, the temperature is low, the speed of cement setting is very slow, it is easy to be frozen, and it can only be watered around noon.

But the cement road has not stopped, it from four cities, slowly extending in six directions, especially the shortest mileage of Xi'an to Tongzhou section, cement pouring, because from Xi'an and Tongzhou at the same time, is estimated to be finished before the end of the year.

On this day, Zhu Youzhen was surveying the road, and the soldiers sent to find Zu Dashou last time came back. "Your Highness, Miss Hu's father's head has been found." Zhu Youzhen often called Hu Xinxue Miss Hu in front of the soldiers, and his own soldiers also called him so, and did not treat Hu Xinxue as an ordinary maidservant at all.

"Oh, is there any rot?"

"Back to Your Highness, there is no decay. In order to pass on the first three sides, the first stage is pickled with lime, and the temperature is very low, so it is estimated that it will not rot within half a year. ”

"Hmm. Then you send it back first and let Miss Hu take a look! Zhu Youzhen knew that when Hu Xinxue saw her father's head, he would inevitably cry again, and he really didn't want to see her crying.

When Zhu Youzhen returned to the mansion, it was already dark, and Hu Xinxue's earth-shattering crying of ghosts and gods had just ended.

"The slave and maid have thanked Your Highness." Seeing Zhu Youzhen come back, Hu Xinxue wiped away her tears and kowtowed to him again.

"Cher, get up! You don't have to kowtow all the time, there are many ways to repay it. "Zhu Youzhen is from the next generation, and he is very disgusted with kowtowing at every turn. Both men and daughters should have gold under their knees.

Where else can I repay the reward but prostrate? After Hu Xinxue got up, she looked at Zhu Youjian with her head held high for a while, and didn't say anything.

"Xue'er, people can't be resurrected after death, don't be too sad, it's only right to find an auspicious day to bury your father." Zhu Youzhen felt that he was afraid of Hu Xinxue's gaze, as if he had done something wrong. If he really wanted to do something unfortunate, wouldn't Miss Hu next door have already been eaten?

Hu Xinxue nodded: "What auspicious day can you choose?" In order to let my father have a superbirth as soon as possible, let's do it tomorrow! ”

"Okay, then tomorrow. In the morning I would arrange a few soldiers, prepare hoes, and choose a refreshing place outside the city. "Help people to the end, Hu Xinxue is a woman, and she has no ability to bury her father at all, so Zhu Youzhen had to do everything on his behalf#, "Xue'er, you rest early." ”

Hu Xinxue nodded weakly, glanced at Zhu Youzhen again, and slowly returned to her room. For the first time, she didn't wash Zhu Youzhen's feet.

Hu Tingyan's head did not enter Zhu Youzhen's mansion, according to local customs, the dead cannot go home, it will bring bad luck to the family, not to mention a head, Hu Tingyan and Zhu Youzhen have no special relationship.

Hu Tingyan's head was placed in an open space 300 paces east of the mansion, and in order to prevent it from being spoiled by cats and dogs at night, the head was placed in a large wooden niche.

The next morning, Zhu Youzhen arranged for the soldiers to go to the coffin shop to buy a coffin and a quilt. After the coffin was lifted out of the coffin bunk, the soldiers opened the coffin, first put half of the quilt on the bottom of the coffin, then put the head on the quilt, covered the other half of the quilt, and closed the coffin lid. Because I don't have a body, and I don't need clothes or anything.

The coffin was carried to a col outside the eastern city for burial.

Hu Xinxue was worried that when she burned paper during the Qingming and winter solstices in the future, she would not be able to find her father's grave, so she begged the soldiers to go to the city and carve a tombstone. But Hu Tingyan was a prisoner of the imperial court, and his name could not be engraved on the tombstone, and in the end a literate soldier came up with an idea to engrave the word Gu Yue on the tombstone. Gu Yue is a beard when combined, which is Hu Tingyan's surname. Hu Xinxue had no better way, so she had to engrave the word Gu Yue on the tombstone.