Zhu Youzhen and his entourage boarded Zheng Tuohai's car, and only Lin Youkun was still riding alone. And Zheng Tuohai's caravan had more than a dozen carriages, which were discharged hundreds of meters from front to back, and they all followed them in turn, rushing through.

The carriage was so large that it was pulled by four horses side by side. The interior of the carriage is also extremely spacious and luxuriously furnished, which is equivalent to a living room of twenty or thirty square meters.

Zheng Tuohai also humbly said: "I'm really sorry for You Gongzi." It is now a cold winter, the canal is frozen, and it is impossible to take the waterway, so you Gongzi has to suffer from some bumps in the carriage and horses. ”

Li Zicheng smiled and said, "Boss Zheng is too polite. I think that Zhang Wenzhonggong, the master of the court, once had a large sedan chair carried by 64 people, and the sedan chair was like a mansion, with a living room, study, bedroom, and dressing room. Although Boss Zheng's car is not as good as Wen Zhonggong, it is not far away. ”

Zheng Tuohai laughed and said: "Li Gongzi said that he was joking, how dare Zheng be a businessman compared to Zhang Juzheng?" Actually, I would have liked to make the carriage bigger, but then I wouldn't be able to get out of the city gates. ”

Everyone set off on the road with laughter and laughter, but because of the heavy traffic on the road, the speed of travel was not very fast.

Zhu Youzhen asked curiously: "Why is the World Oiran Finals held in Tongzhou?" Why not in Jingshi? ”

Zheng Tuohai hurriedly explained: "You Gongzi doesn't know that this Tongzhou is the northern terminus of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and the rice, salt, silk cloth in the south of the Yangtze River can be transported here through the canal, so it is called 'Tongzhou'." Therefore, Tongzhou is also a place where merchants from all over the world gather, and the degree of prosperity is no less than that of Beijing. And after all, this Jingshi is at the foot of the Son of Heaven, and there is a group of Taoists, who always find trouble in Qinglou all day long on the grounds of 'hindering weathering'. Some dignitaries and nobles are reluctant to visit Qinglou in Beijing because of their status. When I arrived in Tongzhou, although it was not as far as the emperor of the sky, it was much more convenient. On this day, the Oiran finals are held once a year in Tongzhou, Yangzhou, and Hangzhou, and this year it is Tongzhou's turn. ”

Zhu Youzhen suddenly realized this, thinking that this was actually the same reason as the corrupt officials who were not uncommon in his previous life to go abroad to gamble. But he also said with a little question: "I don't think this canal leads directly to Chongwenmen?" Why don't the goods be transported directly into Beijing? ”

Li Zicheng interjected: "The section of the canal from Tongzhou to Jingshi is called Tonghui River, which was originally built under the auspices of Guo Shoujing of the former Yuan Dynasty, and it was a pond that leads directly from Tongzhou to the inner city. At the peak of Caoyun, the grain transported to Dadu through the Tonghui River could reach 2 million stone per year. The capital of this dynasty was Nanjing, and the capital of the Yuan Dynasty was abandoned, and the status of the Tonghui River plummeted. Although Chengzu later moved the capital and rebuilt the Tonghui River many times, since the Jiajing period, the financial resources of the imperial court have become more and more stretched, and the repair and maintenance of the canal is not as good as before, resulting in the gradual silting of the Tonghui River. Today, the river is only more than three feet deep, and only a few small boats or painting boats can be carried out, while cargo ships with a deep draft cannot pass, so they can only transfer goods from Tongzhou to land and then transport them to Beijing. ”

Zhu Youzhen listened to these stories all the way, and was accompanied by beautiful women, but he didn't feel bored. At this time, the carriage had already driven out of the Dongbian Gate, and finally left the Jingshi guarded by the tall city wall, and galloped on the official road in the field.

Zhu Youzhen looked out of the car window and saw that beyond the capital was an endless farmland. Due to the heavy snow for several days, the sky and the earth were blank, and even the smoke curling in the sky above the small village in the distance could be seen clearly.

Breathing the fresh air of this era that has not been polluted by industry, Zhu Youzhen thought to himself that in his previous life, this was a place where every inch of land was valuable, and even the broken house on the edge of the Sixth Ring Road cost 20,000 yuan per square meter, which was really vicissitudes. But if you have a choice, you would rather choose now, there are no big trucks whistling by, no PM2.5, and no need to be stuck in traffic jams on the way to work for three or four hours a day!

Li Zicheng also sighed with emotion: "As the saying goes, the snow is a good year, but this year's snow is also a little too big, a tight one, you see, now the snowflakes are starting to fall again." Although the land moisture is good, it will make the poor people suffer from the cold winter. I don't know what will happen after the beginning of spring next year, but don't be like this spring, the drought will lead to the failure of the winter wheat harvest. ”

Zheng Tuohai teased: "Wouldn't it be better to have no harvest? The price of rice will inevitably rise sharply in the next spring, and Li Gongzi and your Shaanxi business gang will make a lot of money again. ”

Zhu Youzhen heard a black line, and thought to himself that there was no business and no treachery, and no treachery and no business, and it was indeed true. What kind of feeling is it to hope for a grain harvest in order to make money?

"We're just charcoal sellers who make a fuss, worried about charcoal and wishing it was cold." Li Zicheng said with a mocking smile on the corner of his mouth, "Jiangnan rice is one year old and two crops, we just harvest rice for two or three months, and it takes another two or three months to transport it to Tongzhou, and it is a year to be full, non-stop!" With such a hard transfer, if the rice is cheap in a good year, one stone of rice can only earn a few dollars of silver. Even in the year of the catastrophe, although the price of rice in Jingshi rose sharply, the purchase price in Jiangnan also rose, and it was just a matter of earning one or two taels of silver. Where can I compare to Boss Zheng's shrewdness, first buy Oriental swords from Fusang and sell them to the Warat people, and then buy military horses from Wara and sell them to Fusang, this time back and forth, a hundredfold profit is easy to get! Boss Zheng sits in the green building all day long, drinking and having fun in the red scarf and green sleeves, how can we be like those of us who sell coolies, we can only be in the company of slender men covered in stinky sweat! ”

Zhu Youzhen was dumbfounded when he heard this, and from this point of view, this Zheng Tuohai was a typical arms smuggler.

"Don't believe Li Gongzi's nonsense, how can the sea business be so easy to do!" Although Zheng Tuohai said this, he was proud, "We are doing a forbidden business, and in order to support our family, our heads are pinned to the waistband of our trousers." It looks like making money, but the ocean is unpredictable, the wind is high and the waves are urgent, the bandits are rampant, and you can't recover the capital for a few years if you fold a boat! Coupled with the various yamen, how can there be a few left! ”

Zheng Tuohai said with a splash, but finally sighed and said: "In recent years, business has become more and more difficult. Since Tokugawa Ieyasu became the shogun, although the Orientals have been much more restrained than in the Wanli period, they have also closed off the country, cut off maritime trade, and can only do business secretly. In the Nanyang area, the competition between the red-haired people and the dried silk wax people has become increasingly fierce, which has also affected our business, and the route has gradually become impassable over the years. What's even more hateful is that there is a Zheng Zhilong in Fujian, who is also a businessman and a thief, and he is located in the Dongfan Gang, with tens of thousands of people under his command, rampaging in the East China Sea and the strait, and even the Ming sailors are helpless against him, so they can only pretend that they don't know. Speaking of which, this person is still a contemptible fellow, but he doesn't give face at all, and he is more fierce than outsiders! ”

Zhu Youzhen originally still held on to a glimmer of hope, feeling that since Houjin would enter the customs sooner or later, the Ming Dynasty would not be safe, and escaping overseas would not be a clear way. Now that I heard Zheng Tuohai say this, the situation overseas is even more chaotic than that on the mainland, and my heart sank when I landed, knowing that this road was impassable. When you think about it, there is nowhere to go!

At this time, the carriage was speeding forward, and the road was gradually bumpy. Bao Yulian and Lan Jian sat on Zhu Youzhen's left and right sides, both of them were groggy and gradually tilted towards Zhu Youzhen, and finally fell asleep with their heads resting on his shoulders.

The beauty is on the side, blowing like an orchid, and even the faint body fragrance is clearly recognizable, refreshing, Zhu Youzhen can't help but feel ape again. But thinking of the tragic situation of the poison last night, this thing also has palpitations, even if it is cowardly, it does not dare to act rashly anymore.

Zheng Tuohai saw Zhu Youzhen shrinking his hands and feet, and said that he couldn't let go in front of outsiders, laughed, grabbed Wu Mengmei's soft waist and said, "Gongzi You and all the ladies are tired, please rest in the car." The contemptible person wants to change cars and slowly appreciate the singing voice of Miss Mengmei. There are poems in the Du Gong Department: Singing during the day must be indulged in wine. Li Gongzi, would you like to drink and write poems with contemptible people? ”

Li Zicheng urged narrowly: "You and I are both rough people, and we are not talented people, so this poem is exempt." I'm afraid that this poem of Du Gongbu is still what Miss Mengmei just taught you by the pillow last night! I heard that Boss Zheng sold a lot of Oriental ukiyo-e to Shopkeeper Qiao this time, and whether there is any inventory, but I want to borrow it and take a look! ”

The two laughed and took Wu Mengmei out of the car and changed to other vehicles. They wanted to make room for Zhu Youzhen to have fun, but they didn't know that Zhu Youzhen had a thief's heart and no courage, so they had to pretend to be sleepy in the car and close his eyes to recuperate, which was not as comfortable as just now.

Seeing that Zhu Youzhen closed his eyes and didn't say a word, Mei Jian, Zhu Jian, and Ju Jian were not sleepy, and they didn't dare to make a sound, so as not to disturb him. Mei Jian was still afraid that he would fall asleep and get cold, so he took off his coat and carefully covered his body. After a long time, Zhu Youzhen was really drowsy, and with the bumps of the car, he leaned head to head with Bao Yulian for a while, and then put his face on Lan Jian's face for a while.

In the haze, this thing is still reminiscing about the fragrant scene last night, thinking that these four sisters are twins, don't they even have a mark on their bodies that can be distinguished? When they are cured, they should always find an opportunity to lie side by side in bed and explore again!

I don't know how long I was confused, Zhu Youzhen was suddenly awakened by the sound of a rapid knock on the carriage. He got up abruptly and looked out the window, but it was Lin Youkun who was riding the wind and snow, riding his horse and the vehicle he was riding. I saw that his head and eyebrows were covered with a layer of frost, like a snowman. The knock just now was done by Lin Youkun.

Zhu Youzhen hurriedly opened the window, and a cold wind immediately carried the goose feather-sized snow flakes into the carriage that was originally baked warm with charcoal fire, making him shiver.

Lin Youkun saw Zhu Youzhen showing his head, and hurriedly shouted at him. But the wind and snow were too big, and Zhu Youzhen couldn't hear what he was shouting at all, so he had to shake his head helplessly.

Lin Youkun looked anxious, and leaned close to Zhu Youzhen's ear and shouted: "Childe, we seem to be being targeted!" ”