When he arrived at the Yamen, Cao Hao was still a little unable to slow down.

Even with Xiaoman, Zhao and others, they were a little worried. They have been friends with Zhang Yi for many years, and they are all very uncomfortable when they are separated.

Cao Hao sat down behind the bookcase, and the head of the hall came over with a stack of papers.

Now it is the end of July, and many of the seasonal melons and fruits of the imperial village have arrived, which are also divided into three, six, nine, etc., some are dedicated to the emperor and queen, and there are also for the harem and the major royal palaces.

It is necessary to count and put it into the warehouse, and then have it transported to the outside of the fortress and the royal car, or distribute it to the palaces and palaces.

Cao Hao read the paperwork and sent a Lang Zhong to go over to count it.

Cao Hao picked up the imperial court newspaper on the desk and glanced at it. On July 26, the holy driver set off from Rehe to set off for the siege, and the prince and elder brother who accompanied him were the third elder brother, the fifteenth elder brother, and the sixteenth elder brother.

A few days ago, I heard that the fourth elder brother was going back to Beijing. Judging from this newspaper, it is true.

There is another piece of news that made Cao Hao look twice, that is, Jiang Chenxi, the governor of Shandong, was promoted to the governor of Guizhou, Yunnan, and Li Shude, the chief military officer of Dengzhou, Shandong, was appointed as the governor of Shandong.

Li Shude came to Shandong in the fifty-fourth year of Kangxi, and Cao Hao did not know him; Jiang Chenxi's side, speaking of it, is Cao Hao's old superior.

When Cao Hao Kangxi was a Taoist guard in Yizhou in the fifty-first year, Jiang Chenxi was already the governor of Shandong and Cao Hao's top boss.

There are many contacts in the officialdom, and even the clansmen, fellow families, fellow villagers, the same year, teachers and students, and superiors and subordinates have all talked about them.

Although Cao Hao returned to Beijing for several years, he also had occasional contacts with the Jiang family.

Speaking of which, Jiang Chenxi is a frequent acquaintance of Jiangsu, and when his father was alive, he had a friendship with Cao Hao's ancestors, and the two families also had a good relationship.

Although Jiang Chenxi was not in the capital, his younger brother Jiang Tingxi was a Beijing official, born as a jinshi, and entered the Hanlin Academy. In his early years, he served as the young minister of the Zhan Mansion.

Zhan Shifu is the yamen of the auxiliary East Palace, mostly concurrently served by Hanlin, after Kangxi abolished the prince for the second time in 51 years, Zhan Shifu stopped errands here and reclassified into Hanlin Academy.

Although I don't know if Jiang Chenxi has received an order to go to Saiwai to drive outside the palace to resign, but before going south, he has designated to go back to Beijing to go through the formalities.

It seems that it is necessary to make people inquire and prepare a rich ritual.

Being an official is half doing things and half being a person.

Next, there are officials who come up and talk back and forth, like the dredging of the south pond of Changchun Garden, and the Buddhist hall of the Wanshan Hall in Zhongnanhai needs to be repaired or something.

Cao Hao inquired clearly and gave instructions one by one.

It was nearly noon, and after finishing the errand at hand, Cao Hao was not worried about the seventeenth elder brother, so he paced to the elder brother's side.

When I arrived at the door, I just asked the attendant to spread the word, and I heard that the fourth elder brother was visiting the sick inside.

Cao Hao listened, and hesitated to come back in the evening, but an attendant came out to spread the word, but the seventeenth elder brother invited him in.

When I entered the elder brother's office, I saw the fourth elder brother sitting on the side of the kang in his regular clothes, and the seventeenth elder brother sitting on the other side, his face was a little pale, but his eyes were bright and he looked much more energetic.

"Say hello to the fourth master, please say hello to the seventeenth master." Cao Hao flicked his sleeves and said with a thousand salutes.

The fourth elder brother looked at Cao Hao's eyes, waved his hand, and said, "Get up and talk." I heard that you are not in good health, and I missed it with you last time I went to Rehe. How's your body? ”

"Fourth Master Xie is worried, it's already fine." Cao Hao bowed.

Seeing this, the seventeenth elder brother smiled and said to the fourth elder brother: "Fourth brother, you don't know what he can do." As for his small body, he has been tossing a lot in the past few years. Now I'm showing off with everyone, I'm afraid that when the wind blows, I'm going to run away. ”

Speaking of this, seeing that Cao Hao was a little restrained, the seventeenth elder brother pointed to the chair on the ground and said, "What's the matter, you can't let the master help Fu Ruo to sit?" When I saw the fourth brother, I knew that I was honest; I haven't been so careful when I'm in front of me. ”

One is a little kid who watched himself grow up, and a person who watched himself grow up with a cold-faced prince, where is there a comparable surname?

Xu is reason for seeing that the seventeenth elder brother's illness has improved, and the fourth elder brother is in a good mood, looking at Cao Hao and saying: "The Zongren Mansion has paid silver money from the household department, and I heard that it has something to do with you." How? I'm tired of staying in the Internal Affairs Office, and I still want to change the yamen? "In the end, there was already a bit of inquiry, and the eyes were unpredictable.

These words seemed to be joking, and they were like accusations, and even the seventeenth elder brother was beside him, he was a little uncomfortable, thinking about whether to find a reason to help Cao Hao out of the siege.

In this capital, where can there be secrets?

On Cao Hao's side, he only stabilized his mind and frankly told Yaerjianga about his own reasons.

Regarding the lack of silver in the Zongren Mansion, the fourth elder brother also knows it, otherwise he would not borrow silver from the household department to make interest.

As far as the fourth elder brother is concerned, he can't look down on Yaerjiang's actions, because there are more places to use silver, and the Hubu Treasury is already in dire straits, but this time he took out a lot at once, which made the Hubu side also constrained.

But Yarjana does not represent one person, but the interests of the kings of the clan. The fourth elder brother is a prince, and he is still jealous of those iron hats.

The fourth elder brother didn't know about Yarjiang's actions, he just didn't know what Cao Hao's position was.

Yaerjiang's surname is arrogant and not a good person to get along with, but it is rare that he has a relationship with Cao Hao that is not far away, and he has some contacts.

In addition, the prince's "favorite concubine in the outer room", who was rumored to be in the capital, seems to have something to do with the female shopkeeper of the Cao family.

In this way, the fourth elder brother has no bottom in his heart, and he doesn't know what the extent of their friendship is.

Seeing that Cao Hao had no intention of concealing it, and was frank and unrestrained, the fourth elder brother felt much more comfortable.

Seeing Cao Hao finish speaking, the seventeenth elder brother said with a smile: "Fourth brother, my brother knows about this." A few days ago, Cao Hao also made a special trip to find his younger brother to help him come up with ideas. Prince Jane's temper, who doesn't know in this capital, who dares to offend him? But Cao Hao is just Cao Hao, and he is not really a 'good wealth boy', where would he know so much. Now it's a big tree, and everyone is worried about making him money. ”

Listening to the words of the seventeenth elder brother, the fourth elder brother smiled faintly, glanced at Cao Hao, and said: "Prince Jian has also been supporting the money from the household department, and you must have thought about this method of making money. How about letting this king listen to your seventeenth master and gain a long insight? ”

"Back to the fourth master's words, these words, because of this matter, the minister is also racking his brains, I really don't know what way to make King Jian satisfied." Speaking of this, he paused and said: "Fortunately, the minister has an old friend who went north to the capital and brought news from the south, which made the minister have some ridiculous ideas, and he didn't know if it was feasible or not. ”

"Is it your brother in Jiangning, the one who married a foreign woman?" The seventeenth elder brother had a little curiosity on his face, and said: "I want to see and see if it is really a female rakshasa as people rumore." ”

"I'm afraid that the seventeenth elder brother won't be able to see it, they have already left for the south today." Cao Hao thought of Wei Xin, Zhang Yi and the others who left, and his chest still felt panicked.

"It's a pity." Seventeenth elder brother sighed and said.

When did the Cao family come, who came, and what happened, a spy at the sticky pole had already written a report, which was on the case of the fourth elder brother.

After listening to Cao Hao's words, he didn't have the slightest intention of concealing it, the fourth elder brother nodded and asked, "What thoughts, let's hear about it?" ”

"Back to the fourth master, the minister's friend has settled in Guangzhou in recent years, so he knows a lot about the situation in Guangzhou. In Guangzhou, due to the cumbersome foreign goods, there are many foreigners doing business there. The boundary between the South Sea and the West is cheap in gold and silver, and one tael of gold can be exchanged for fifteen taels of silver, and the same is almost the case in Guangzhou, even if there is no one tael to fifteen taels, thirteen or fourteen taels are available. On the side of the capital, gold for silver, but since the beginning of the dynasty, it has been a one-to-ten official exchange. Cao Hao thought for a moment and said.

These words couldn't help but attract the fourth elder brother's sideways, and even the seventeenth elder brother was interested, and he snapped his fingers and said: "In this way, the difference between one tael of gold and silver is three or four taels, and ten thousand taels of gold is the benefit of tens of thousands of taels of silver." This silver is also too easy, but it is thousands of miles away, and it is not easy to transport back and forth, not to mention, if this gold is redeemed by foreigners, then our Qing Kingdom will also lack gold in the future? ”

Nowadays, the coins circulating in the market are still mainly copper coins, accompanied by a small amount of silver. Although gold can also be used as money, ordinary people will spend on it, and most of them are made into gold or jewelry.

Cao Hao also regretted in his heart why he was short-sighted, if he could have understood some mineral knowledge in his previous life and knew the distribution of gold, silver and copper mines, he didn't know if it would be much easier than now.

The fourth elder brother originally felt interested, and after listening to the seventeenth elder brother's question, he nodded again and again: "That's right, rare things are expensive." The foreigners have a lot of money, presumably because of scarcity. If you blindly covet small profits and exchange all the gold for foreigners, then after a few years, there will be no gold available, and you will have to eat the consequences. ”

Seeing that the fourth elder brother and the seventeenth elder brother were questioning, Cao Hao swallowed the other words into his stomach and did not say them.

He originally wanted to introduce the excerpt of the governor of Zhejiang, and told him about the gold, copper, and silver. On the other hand, four taels of silver can be exchanged for one tael of gold.

Transporting the silver to the capital, exchanging it for gold, and then transporting the gold to Guangzhou and exchanging it for silver, in this way, you can make three times the profit.

Although those clan princes have noble status, they will not think of crossing the ocean, but the most important thing they lack is the door slaves.

In this way, we can not only solve the problem of lack of money in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but also indirectly promote foreign exchanges and broaden our horizons.

However, now, Cao Hao has changed his mind.

Even if the silver is earned by the Zongren Mansion, it is just more pocket money for the various royal mansions, which makes them spend more and more money, which is not beneficial to the people and the country.

If you wait until the fourth elder brother ascends the throne and then do this, it will be twice the result with half the effort, and it will benefit the present.

Seeing that Cao Hao was silent, the seventeenth elder brother was afraid that he would be discouraged, so he laughed twice and said: "Xu I am worried about the sky, how much energy can foreigners have, and can they still redeem all the gold of our Great Qing Kingdom?" Speaking of which, Fu Ruo is also a good idea to come to the silver, and a toss over from the Zongren Mansion is enough to spend a few years. ”

Cao Hao said: "It's too simple for the minister, if it weren't for the fourth master and the seventeenth master thinking of this, I'm afraid the minister would have become a sinner in the Qing Dynasty." ”

The fourth elder brother looked at Cao Hao and said, "Although you are young, you are already in a prominent position, so you should think about it properly in the future, so as to save the trouble of tongue." ”

"Yes, Fourth Master Xie taught, and Cao Hao wrote it down." When Cao Hao heard this, he had already stood up and lowered his hand in response.

Seeing that Cao Hao was respectfully listening to the training, the fourth elder brother was satisfied, and said to the seventeenth elder brother: "The seventeenth brother is good to recuperate, and there are many things in the yamen, I will go over and take a look first, and then come to see the seventeenth brother" said, and got up.

When the seventeenth elder brother heard this, he hurriedly got up and sent the fourth elder brother to the door together with Cao Hao.

It wasn't until the fourth elder brother walked away that the seventeenth elder brother breathed a sigh of relief, glanced back at Cao Hao, and said in a low voice: "Fu Ruo, not only are you afraid of him, but I am also afraid." A look came over, it was really terrifying, it was really strange to say, even before the second elder brother was abolished in the early years, I was not so afraid. ”

When Cao Hao heard this, he couldn't judge that person at will, so he had to say vaguely: "Maybe it's because the fourth master is looking at him seriously." ”

"Really?" The seventeenth elder brother couldn't figure it out, so he didn't think about it anymore, and said to Cao Hao: "Fu Ruo, although the idea of exchanging gold for silver is flawed, it is powerful enough. You don't have to be too demanding, talk to Prince Jian, and let him make his own ideas. Speaking of which, the amount of gold outside is already limited, and only some is still stored in the treasury of each royal palace. If they can take out the gold and make money for their own expenses, it will be considered a great goodness if they can no longer count on the grace of the court. ”

Cao Hao nodded and said, "I know, Prince Jian has been urging him several times, and I really don't have any other way......

* Front Gate, Daoxiang Village, Inner Hall.

Han Jiang sat behind the bookcase and looked at this month's purchase accounts.

Because it is going to the Mid-Autumn Festival, there are many raw materials to purchase, and a lot of silver is spent. Fortunately, because there are many dumpling shops, the amount of demand is large, and each is to enable people to buy in the place of origin, less intermediate links, and there is room for bargaining, and the price of high-quality materials is not much more expensive than ordinary materials.

In this way, it not only ensures the quality of the dumplings, but also guarantees the profits, making the business in the shop more and more prosperous.

According to the annual example, the Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and the New Year are the best times for the business of dumpling shops. Before the Dragon Boat Festival, it is only half a month's work, and the income of the money in the shop is equivalent to the income of a few months after the Chinese New Year.

Now, the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, although the Han Jiang clan is not thinking about being vigorous, but they are also thinking about taking the opportunity to earn more silver.

She was looking at the accounts when she saw her personal maid Xiaoxi come in and report: "Girl, Master Qu is here." ”

Han Jiang put down the account book and said, "Please let him in." ”

Xiaoxi went out in response, and after a while, a master in his fifties followed Xiaoxi in, wearing a white coarse cloth cardigan scarf, holding an iron plate in his hand, and a golden mooncake was placed in it.

This master was specially invited by the Han Jiang clan from Suzhou at a high price before Daoxiang Village opened. He is the best dim sum chef in Suzhou City, and in the early years, when the Holy Driver was on his southern tour, he was also summoned to worship the royal dumplings.

The price is 300 taels per year, plus a bonus at the end of the year.

This price is ten times that of other dim sum chefs.

But it is also worth the money, and now the main masters in several other shops are mostly the apprentices and grandchildren of Master Qu.

It was also in order to envelop Master Qu and prevent other families from poaching people, their whole family moved to the capital, and the Cao Mansion sent them a flag and became a member of the Cao family.

Master Qu did not have several children and grandchildren who inherited his craft, and worked as errands in Caofu. Master Qu is also working hard, and many of the newly launched dumplings in Daoxiang Village are all from his side.

Han Jiang's family has long said that if the dim sum chefs of each shop can figure out new varieties of dumplings and sell them well, they will give a reward of two taels of silver to twenty taels of silver.

Speaking of this amount of silver alone, Master Qu earns more than 100 taels every year.

In the room, the smell of moon cakes was all over the place.

"Baked?" Han Jiang stood up and looked at the mooncakes on the plate.

Master Qu put down the iron plate and said, "Each set of eight moon cakes, one main and seven guests, each filling is different, which is in line with the trend of the seven stars holding the moon." ”

Han Jiang listened and nodded to Xiaoxi. Xiaoxi had already taken out a sandalwood box from the cabinet on the side.

There was a copper lock hanging on it, Xiaoxi took out the key, opened the lock, and inside was a set of silver plates, silver knives, silver chopsticks, and silver forks.

Xiao Xi came over with a silver plate, cut a piece of moon cake three times with a silver knife, and then inserted a piece with a silver fork and sent it to Han Jiang's face.

This is the rose filling, the roses inside are pleasant, and the moon cake crust outside is also exquisite, it is really full of color and fragrance...... * Cao Mansion, school field.

Qi Niang has been practicing several punches, and her forehead is sweaty, but she has no intention of resting.

She went out in the morning, and she didn't come back at noon, and Vanilla was a little worried, so she found it.

Seeing that she was basking in the sun, her whole body was hot, Vanilla hurriedly took two steps forward and said, "This has been here all along?" Although the beginning of autumn is the beginning of autumn, the autumn tiger is also powerful, rest quickly, don't burn under the head. ”

Qi Niang's little face was tense, and she didn't have any vigor at all. Although he stopped his fists and kicks according to his words, he was silent in a daze.

"Who are you talking about?" Vanilla said as she took out a handkerchief to help her wipe her sweat.

Qi Niang stretched out her hand, hugged Vanilla's waist, buried her little head in her arms, and said in a muffled voice: "Aunt Xiang, it's almost time for Qi Niang to be born, why hasn't Daddy come back?" ”

Although she is plain and lively, she is a child in the end, and in the end, she cried.

Vanilla has been married for many years, and she has been looking forward to adding a man and a woman over the years, but she has never been able to do so. Since she beat Qi Niang, she has treated Qi Niang as a daughter.

Now that she saw that Qi Niang was uncomfortable, she couldn't bear it, so she touched Qi Niang's hair and said, "Didn't your father go on an errand?" Qi Niang's birth said, aunt will do it for you. If you want to eat anything delicious, tell your aunt, and your aunt will give you a change. ”

Qi Niang snorted and choked up: "Why don't Qi Niang accompany Aunt Xiang to incense, and bless Qi Niang to add a godbrother to Qi Niang in the coming year." ”

Vanilla listened, patted Qi Niang's head, and said: "In the end, it's the girl's family, you can say anything, and you don't know who dares to ask for your daughter-in-law." ”

Qi Niang stuck out her tongue, made a grimace, and said: "Qi Niang is not married, it's strange and boring, it's better to practice boxing......"

(To be continued)