Working on the docks, everyone is no stranger to the 3,000-material steam carrier, the 3,000-material steam-powered warship, etc., but this is the first time I have seen an ironclad ship. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The first time I saw the ironclad, many people who were sitting and resting stood up, and the people who were carrying bags also stopped, and everyone's eyes were all focused on the two ironclads.

The ironclad ship is majestic and visually impactful, especially the big chimney with black smoke, the cannon on the ship, and the resolute rough lines, which give people a completely different feeling.

"The ship wasn't made of wood, it looked like it was made of steel, it's so big!"

"It looks bigger than a 3,000-material warship."

"Look, there's a big group of soldiers on the dock, and this time it's definitely a big shot."

The big man in everyone's mouth is naturally Zhang Feng, and the one who came to greet him was the commander of the independent brigade, Zong Dechao, with a soldier of the guard company, ran quickly into the dock, the soldiers of the guard company stood neatly on the dock, and Zong Dechao looked at one of the ironclad ships.

Waiting for the ironclad ship to dock, Zhang Feng's figure appeared on the deck of the ironclad ship, Zhang Feng came to Tianjin Wei this time, in addition to taking a look at Tianjin Wei and the Independent Brigade, Zhang Feng also had an important thing to do.

Zhang Feng walked down the gangway and stepped on the dock, Zong Dechao walked over quickly, stood upright, saluted, and said loudly: "Hello, Lord Commander!" ”

Zhang Feng returned a military salute, nodded slightly, knowing that this was not the place to speak, and waved his hand, "Let's go, go back to the brigade headquarters." ”

Zhang Feng stayed in Tianjin Wei for three days and inspected the entire independent brigade, which can now be described as strong and strong, and there is an infantry regiment that has even been completely reequipped with rear-loading guns, and this regiment is the first to complete the reloading of the five infantry regiments under the jurisdiction of the independent brigade.

In addition to inspecting the independent brigade, Zhang Feng also inspected the three harvest grain numbers in the Tianjin Acropolis, which not only opened more than 20 stores in Songjiang Mansion, Suzhou Prefecture, and Changzhou Prefecture, but also saw three stores in Tianjin Weicheng, in addition, the capital has just opened a few stores.

Jiangnan is already rich in grain, and with the grain transported back from North Korea, Ryukyu and other places, the supply of grain in Songjiang, Suzhou, and Changzhou has exceeded demand, and the price of one stone of grain has dropped to about two taels of silver.

Considering that he has a relatively large grain stockpile, coupled with the continuous transportation of grain from North Korea, Zhang Feng considered that selling grain in the north can make money on the one hand, and on the other hand, it can benefit the people and make everyone eat.

The price of grain in the provinces and counties of the Gyeonggi region, including the capital, has risen to a relatively outrageous price, and Xu Liangyi came to Tianjin Wei a month ago, and now he is preparing for the opening of the harvest grain in the capital.

After spending a few days in Tianjin, Zhang Feng went to the capital.

Dressed in civilian clothes, a light car is simple, there is only one carriage, and several entourages, however, these entourages are not simple, these are a few team members.

Dong Wuping's team formation time is not short, twenty or thirty team members are more powerful than the other, this time to Tianjin Wei, Zhang Feng picked a few people to bring.

Zhang Feng arrived in the capital and stayed at the Songjiang Hall.

The current Songjiang Guild Hall, which is equivalent to Zhang Feng's "Beijing Office", is generally closed to the public, mainly providing services for Zhang Feng and Songjiang officials at all levels who come to Beijing.

Xu Liangyi arrived in the capital early, busy preparing for the harvest grain, basically he was almost busy, and opened a total of six stores in the capital, each of which was good in size and location, just waiting for the opening.

"Lord Commander, the opening preparations of each store are almost the same, and tomorrow will be a good day, can you officially open tomorrow?"

After listening to Xu Liangyi's instructions, Zhang Feng said: "Then it will open tomorrow, and you can make your own decisions about the affairs of the harvest grain, and you don't need to report to me if it is not a major matter." ”

Zhang Feng is equivalent to delegating power, mainly because Xu Liangyi's ability is really good, plus he is more loyal, Zhang Feng is at ease with such a person, so almost all the affairs are handed over to Xu Liangyi.

After thinking about it, Zhang Feng said: "Grain is sold cheaper than others, in order to reduce unnecessary trouble, you can show my name and tell everyone that I am the boss behind these grain stores." ”

When he opened a grain store in Suzhou Mansion, because the price of grain was cheap, someone dared to come to the door to smash the store, this time, Zhang Feng didn't want anyone to come up to find trouble, so it was necessary to show his name, at least to calm some people.

Xu Liangyi hurriedly nodded in agreement, "Lord Commander, in this way, it is best." ”

…………

Ouchi of the Imperial Palace, sleeping palace.

Chongzhen's face was slightly haggard, Chongzhen's diligence was not fake at all, but the Ming Dynasty was already stormy, and Chongzhen, who was only in his thirties, actually had some gray hair on his temples.

Empress Zhou said distressedly: "Your Majesty, you are working hard for state affairs again. ”

Chongzhen said: "Internal and external troubles, the Manchu Qing Dynasty in Liaodong has hoarded heavy troops and encircled Jinzhou, and the situation is more serious." ”

Empress Zhou said: "Your Majesty, didn't you send 130,000 troops out of Shanhaiguan to rescue?" ”

Chongzhen sighed, "130,000 troops, this is far from enough." ”

The 130,000 army should be the largest force that the Ming Dynasty can draw, because the domestic peasant army rebelled, Li Zicheng Keluoyang, Zhang Xianzhong Kexiangyang, and the peasant army contained a large number of Ming troops, otherwise, it would definitely not be the thirteenth army, it may be 230,000, or even 330,000.

Empress Zhou was silent, although she was a woman, she was also aware of the seriousness of the problem.

Chongzhen sighed again, "There is famine everywhere in the country, and the price of grain is soaring, even in the Gyeonggi area, every stone of grain has risen to four or five taels of silver. ”

So many people in the Gyeonggi area had to eat, and in the past, there was still Cao Yun, and the grain from the south of the Yangtze River was transported to the capital through Cao Yun, but now, there are rebellions everywhere, and Cao Yun is not smooth, and the grain that can be transported is limited.

If this continues, it is estimated that the military rations will become a problem, which makes Chongzhen very worried. If there is also a problem with the military rations in Liaodong, it will affect the morale of the troops, and the situation will be even more unfavorable.

Empress Zhou comforted: "Your Majesty, don't worry too much, everything will be fine, listen to Ru'er, since yesterday, several grain stores have opened in the capital at the same time, and the price of grain is very cheap." ”

Chongzhen said: "Ru'er ran out of the palace again? ”

Empress Zhou said: "Your Majesty, I have agreed to Ru'er leaving the palace, and going out is limited to the capital, not out of the city, and there will be no problems with safety." ”

Chongzhen is not too relieved about leaving the palace, many major events are too busy, where do you still have the heart to ask out of the palace, Chongzhen said: "It's not early, let's go to bed." ”

Queen Zhou was overjoyed.

…………

Zhang Feng stayed in the capital for several days, a little reluctant to go, every day in casual clothes, dressed as a son-in-law, walked around, look, after all, it is the capital, far from Songjiang Mansion can be compared.

No, today I wandered around for most of the day, just tasted some food in a century-old restaurant, not far from the restaurant, and saw a grain store on the street.

Zhang Feng naturally saw at a glance that this was his own grain store, and this unified decoration style could be seen at a glance, and he didn't need to look at the signboard at all.

This is the closest grain store to the imperial city, that is, the grain store opened under the emperor's nose, Zhang Feng has not come to this grain store, he was interested, walked over, and walked into this grain store.

The store is large, clean, neat, and a few guys in the store are busy, and it looks like business is doing very well.

Although Zhang Feng didn't look like a person who bought food, some guys still greeted Zhang Feng warmly, Zhang Feng smiled and waved his hand to signal the guy to go to other things, and he took two entourages and watched in the store.

Zhang Feng saw that this was North Korean rice, and the 3,000-material transport ship directly transported it from North Korea to Tianjin Wei, and then transported it to the capital by cart, and the rice was of good quality.

Zhang Feng grabbed a handful of rice and looked at it with satisfaction, Zhang Feng suddenly smelled a burst of fragrance, and a small white hand also grabbed a handful of rice, looking happy.

"Xiao Yan'er, look, this rice looks very good."

Zhang Feng saw that this was a little girl, it should be a rich girl, but she was relatively young, about twelve or thirteen years old, not more than thirteen years old at most, not yet fully grown, with a little naïve and immature, but very beautiful, a beauty.

The "little swallow" in the little girl's mouth is a maid, who is only thirteen or fourteen years old. Miss, this rice is really good, and it's not expensive. ”

The maid almost made a slip of the tongue and almost called her "princess", but immediately changed her name to Miss, Zhang Feng didn't notice this, Zhang Feng just glanced at the little girl.

Zhang Feng was puzzled: "Little girl, you don't look like a person who buys rice, didn't your adults come?" ”

The little girl is naturally Her Royal Highness the princess who secretly left the palace, but Zhang Feng doesn't know each other, and the other party doesn't know Zhang Feng for the time being.

The little girl pouted and said, "This girl can't just take a look, besides, people are not little girls, they have grown up." ”

Zhang Feng looked at the little girl and said in his heart, she really started to grow up, and in a few years, she will definitely be a beautiful big girl.

"Hmph" The little girl snorted softly, and then looked to the side to see other grains, in addition to rice, wheat, and even coarse grains and miscellaneous grains, etc., there are many varieties.

Xu Liangyi walked in from the outside, these days, Xu Liangyi has to go to the grain stores to have a look, see that the grain stores are doing well, there are no accidents, I feel very relieved, ready to stay in the capital for a few more days and go back, Xu Liangyi is also the owner of the Oriental Ocean Trading Company, and the affairs are very busy.

As soon as I entered the store, I immediately saw Zhang Feng and hurriedly walked over, "Lord General Bing, why are you here?" ”

Xu Liangyi's voice was relatively loud, and many people heard this "Lord Chief Soldier", and many people looked at it, including the beautiful little girl just now.

The little girl was stunned for a moment, and then, her face turned slightly red inexplicably, and the maid next to her (actually the palace maid) Xiao Yan'er gently pulled the corner of Princess Lakunxing's clothes, looked excited, and quietly pointed at Zhang Feng.

Xiao Yan'er's eyes seemed to say, princess, that's the master of the horse, oh my God, it is actually the master of the horse.

……….