Early the next morning, Zhu Youzhen led the basic team of the palace out of Xi'an City and went straight to Lijiazhuang in Jingyang County.

The reason why it is said to be the "basic team" is because Zhu Youzhen left most of the palace maids and all the eunuchs in the palace of King Qin. Anyway, they are all sent by the celebrant and do not need to receive salaries from themselves. And there must be Wei Zhongxian's eyes and ears in it, and the fewer such people around him, the better.

As for Wang Jiuling and other palace officials, Zhu Youzhen also let them be stationed in Xi'an City. Of course, these people are not as easy to deal with as eunuchs and palace maids, so Zhu Youzhen had to fool them, saying that he would build a palace in Xi'an City in the future, and let them prepare to build it here first.

These people were unwilling to follow Zhu Youzhen to the countryside, and they wanted to make a big profit in the future infrastructure projects, so they all happily stayed in the post house in the city.

As for the 1,000 Qin Wangwei brought by Lin Youkun, Zhu Youzhen also left only thirty of the highest martial arts, and the rest were all stationed in Jingyang County.

In this way, Zhu Youzhen's basic team is left: Princess Rui'er, and her maid Yiyi; Bao Yulian, Catherina, Meilan Zhuju four sisters, and ten miscellaneous palace maids; Lin Youkun and thirty Qin Wangwei, plus Sun Chuanting.

All these people combined, there are less than fifty people, which can be said to be so streamlined that it can no longer be streamlined.

Zhu Youzhen's purpose in doing this is also very simple: to save money!

He had studied economics and knew that economic and financial issues were of paramount importance to a dynasty, a company, or even a family. Since he wants to be the emperor, he must cultivate his own power and accumulate his own strength, which is bound to cost a lot of money. Once you don't have money, you can't do anything you want.

In history, the Ming Dynasty finally had to pay three salaries because of the deep financial crisis, which accelerated the process of its demise. Zhu Youzhen didn't want to repeat the mistakes of the past, so he made plans early.

In fact, the financial problem is also very simple, it is nothing more than "open source" and "throttling". "Open source" is a little more complicated, but "throttling" is very simple and ready-made. Therefore, Zhu Youjian got rid of several big burdens and minimized the unnecessary waste of funds.

And the reason why he chose Lijiazhuang in Jingyang as the location of the palace was naturally made careful arrangements in advance.

The so-called "open source" is naturally to open up a way to make money. Throughout history, modern China and foreign countries, which business has the fastest money? Naturally, it's trade!

So Zhu Youzhen naturally set his sights on Li Zicheng. He is the young gang leader of the Shaanxi Merchant Gang, and he already has certain business resources. If you can cooperate with him, some of Zhu Youzhen's ideas can be realized as soon as possible.

So on the way to Xi'an, Zhu Youzhen found Li Zicheng and said that he wanted to form a "strategic partnership" with him.

This term is relatively fashionable in the 21st century, and Li Zicheng certainly does not understand it. Zhu Youzhen had to explain to him, this is probably the meaning of "cooperation", in short, I want to partner with you to do business!

Li Zicheng naturally couldn't ask for it, his Shaanxi merchant gang has gradually declined over the years, and he is in a comprehensive disadvantage in the business war with Jin merchants and Hui merchants, and he doesn't know how to reverse the decline. And climbing up to Zhu Youzhen, the prince, didn't the momentum of the Shaanxi merchant gang immediately soar?

He was about to agree, but Zhu Youzhen smiled and said, "Don't worry, I still have a few conditions, you have to listen well." Only when these conditions are met can we cooperate, otherwise everything will not be discussed. ”

"Please make it clear!" Li Zicheng had also negotiated with Zhu Youzhen before, and knew that he had some unique vision. Such a thing as abandoning the mortgage of land and property and choosing a foreign firm in Macao is something that ordinary people cannot imagine.

"First, you and I will jointly fund and form a new business gang." Zhu Youzhen said jokingly, "This merchant gang is nominally part of the Shaanxi merchant gang, but it must be completely separated from your original business and accounted for independently; I have seven you three, or I eight you can two, major matters must be said by me, the accounts of our two sides to supervise, but dividends we can divide in half. ”

"There's no problem with this!" Li Zicheng has been fighting in the business sea for many years, and he is extremely shrewd, how could he miss this kind of good thing of taking advantage of nothing, and immediately agreed.

Zhu Youzhen continued: "The second one, business matters, you will show up, I can't show up, and I can't play the banner of Qin Wangfu." ”

"This..."Li Zicheng was a little difficult, thinking that he just wanted to use Zhu Youzhen's name to scare competitors, if he didn't let him do this, the effect would be greatly reduced.

Zhu Youzhen saw his thoughts, and smiled slightly: "If it doesn't work, then you can only do it." ”

Li Zicheng saw that Zhu Youzhen was very resolute, and he calculated that Zhu Youzhen must have a lot of funds, and he could still make a lot of money if he operated well.

"Thirdly, some of the businesses I have chosen may not be considered appropriate by you; There are even times when I deliberately do something that loses money. Zhu Youzhen stared at Li Zicheng and said, "At this time, you have to listen to me, you can't question it, and you can't restrain it." But I will guarantee that you will definitely make money in the end, and if you do lose money, I will double the compensation to you. ”

"Where did the prince say it!" Li Zicheng hurriedly smiled flatteringly, "The life of the grass people is given by the prince, and it is not an exaggeration for the grass people to give away all their family property!" This business is originally a loss and a profit, how can you make money for two people to earn, and one person to lose money? ”

"Don't worry!" Zhu Youzhen smiled, "I'm just saying this, we will definitely make a lot of money in the end!" ”

After the two finalized the cooperation, Zhu Youzhen asked Li Zicheng if there was a suitable mansion in the countryside near Xi'an.

And Li Zicheng happens to have a house in Lijiazhuang in Jingyang, which has been in the market for several years, but it has been vacant. Listening to Zhu Youzhen's question, Li Zicheng wanted to dedicate this mansion to him.

Zhu Youzhen waved his hand and smiled: "I won't take advantage of you, how much money did you buy this house, you can sell it to me at the restoration price." ”

Li Zicheng still insisted on refusing to accept money, but Zhu Youzhen was very resolute and insisted on trading on an equal footing. Because he knew that Li Zicheng was just a businessman after all, not his confidant, and he only wanted to carry out limited cooperation with Li Zicheng.

He didn't want to collude too deeply with the interests of businessmen like some high-ranking officials in his previous life, and finally be kidnapped by businessmen and embark on a crazy road of no return. Therefore, he will never take advantage of Li Zicheng, but let Li Zicheng take advantage of him, so that he can withdraw in time when he needs it in the future.

In the end, Li Zicheng couldn't resist Zhu Youzhen, so he had to tell the truth: the price of this house was 5,000 taels of silver, which was evidenced by the deed of the transaction at that time.

Zhu Youzhen said: "Very good, these five thousand taels are counted as the shares you entered!" ”

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen asked Wu Zhiwang and others to come to Jingyang County. In this way, he naturally got rid of the strict surveillance and could use his fists and feet.

After a short trip out of Xi'an, everyone came to Lijiazhuang. Zhu Youzhen walked along the way, but found that the crops in the fields were growing sparsely, and some even died in large areas.

"What's going on?" Zhu Youzhen asked in surprise.

Li Zicheng, who led the way for him, sighed and said: "The weather was very cold last winter, and this year the spring started, but there was a big drought, and so far there has not been a drop of rain, and many crops have dried up. If this continues, this crop will not be able to harvest much grain at all, and I am afraid that there will be a famine soon! ”

"Isn't there a water source nearby? Why not divert water to water the ground? Zhu Youzhen said worriedly.

"Yes, yes, the Jing River flows nearby." Li Zicheng frowned and said, "But it costs a lot of money to build a canal, and ordinary people can't afford it; Second, if water is diverted from a river, it will inevitably involve the question of which villages the canal passes through and how the water source is distributed. Each village has its own plan, and no one wants to suffer, so they always fail to negotiate. ”

"Does the government care about this?" Zhu Youzhen asked.

"Official?" Li Zicheng snorted and said, "They only know that they will be given additional service, and they will never do this kind of spending money!" ”

Zhu Youzhen's brows tightened when he heard this, and his steps became heavy.

After a while, the already potholed dirt road became more difficult to navigate, and the carts containing the royal belongings also jolted violently, almost falling apart. Li Zicheng pointed forward embarrassedly and said, "Lord Wang, Li Jiazhuang has arrived." ”

Zhu Youzhen looked forward and saw a dilapidated village appear in front of him. There were many ragged people gathered at the entrance of the village, and when they saw Zhu Youzhen and his party coming, they all knelt down and kowtowed, but they were so frightened that they didn't even dare to say a word.

Only an old man who looked neatly dressed stepped forward and said tremblingly, "Wang... Wang Ye, all the old and young people of Lijiazhuang came to pick up the car, the prince is a thousand years old, a thousand years old, a thousand years old! ”

Zhu Youzhen hurriedly shouted to the villagers: "Folks, please hurry up, we will be neighbors in the future, don't be so formal." ”

But these villagers usually haven't even seen the county master, but at this time, they suddenly saw a prince second only to the emperor, and they were already frightened, and they all shook their clothes and fought, but no one dared to talk to them.

Zhu Youzhen had to say to the old man: "May I ask the old man's surname?" ”

The old man hurriedly lay on the ground and kowtowed a few times before he replied respectfully: "Back to the prince's words, the little old man's surname is Li Mingtai, because he is a few years older, he was elected by everyone to be Lizheng." ”

Zhu Youzhen knew that this "Lizheng" was probably equivalent to the village chief in his previous life, so he politely said to Li Tai: "Let the villagers be busy with their own affairs, this king will go to the mansion to settle down first." ”

Li Tai hurriedly beckoned everyone to disperse, and these villagers disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.

Zhu Youzhen couldn't cry or laugh, secretly thinking that in this time and space, the gap between the government and the people is too big, and the rule is too strict, causing the people to see the officials like rats seeing cats. The so-called extreme of things must be opposed, and once it is reversed, the destructive power is extremely amazing.

While she was pondering, Rui'er exclaimed in surprise: "Lord Wang, we are home!" ”