"Brother Xian is so interested!" Xu Hecheng looked up and down the half-built houses and the soldiers running around like ants, and saw that this house was a little different from the usual structure of the houses at that time, but it was self-contained, and it was obviously not built haphazardly. Xu Hecheng pointed to the house with some confusion and asked, "Dare to ask, who is the craftsman who built this house?" ”

"Hehe, two of my sergeants used to be carpenters, so they didn't hire outside craftsmen, they built them themselves!" Liu Cheng washed his hands in a crockpot with a smile, took the cloth shirt from his hand and put it on, gossiping with Xu Hecheng while answering the subordinates who came to ask for instructions from time to time.

"Will this work?" Xu Hecheng couldn't help but glance at Liu Cheng, although ancient China did not have such a complicated architectural qualification certification system as modern society, but he would not fail to understand the importance of relevant professional knowledge for construction projects, although the two-story building being built in Liu Cheng looked inconspicuous, it was equivalent to the level of wealthy farmers building new houses in the sixties and seventies after the founding of the People's Republic of China. But in Xu Hecheng's view, it is a different matter, digging foundations, building walls, mud, carrying materials, building scaffolding, transporting ash buckets up and down with hand-cranked gourds, more than 100 laborers under the command of Liu Cheng There is not a single idler, and there is no one who is busy, obviously this orderly labor scene will never be naturally formed, and its root is in the smiling young man in front of him.

"Brother Xian, you are getting more and more incomprehensible to me, could it be that you also learned these things in the temple?" Xu Hecheng said with a smile: "If there is such a temple in the world, as long as the host is willing to let my children practice in that temple, I am willing to give as much charity as I want!" ”

"Brother Xu said he laughed!" Liu Cheng snorted: "These are just some means of making a living, big brother, your business is getting bigger and bigger now, and your nephews will naturally be rich in the future, and they are living a good life in Zhong Mingding, why go to the temple to survive?" “

"Being able to lead soldiers to fight and build houses and pave roads is not a means of making a living!" Xu Hecheng laughed, and he casually pointed to the soldiers who were working: "Look at these soldiers, each has their own work, but they are busy but not chaotic, just this strategic work is by no means something that ordinary people can do." “

Liu Cheng smiled slightly, but did not speak, his brother-in-law's eyes were indeed very poisonous, and he immediately saw the key. If you compare drawings, plan projects, allocate project quantities, supervise progress, check project progress, and finally accept, I am afraid that there is no one in the Ming Dynasty who can compare with their own.

When Xu Hecheng saw Liu Cheng's appearance, he knew that the other party would definitely not tell the truth, so he didn't continue to ask. He groped in his arms, took out a sheepskin bag and handed it over: "Brother Xian, I came back this time and heard that you were promoted again, and I didn't prepare any gifts in advance. These are the little gadgets I got on the grassland, and they are congratulatory gifts, so don't take them lightly. ”

"Thank you!" Liu Cheng took the pocket, weighed it for a while, and felt that it was quite heavy, so he untied the leather cord tied to the mouth of the bag under Xu Hecheng's signal, poured out the contents of the contents, and landed on the stump that was used as a table between the two of them, but it was six or seven small stones of different sizes and shapes.

"This is—" Liu Cheng picked up a piece of rubble that looked like it was no more than the size of a fist, but as it turned in the sunlight, a magnificent blue reflection suddenly caught his eye.

"This is the rough of the gem?" Liu Cheng's expression suddenly became solemn, and he saw that a small piece of translucent blue crystal was exposed on the stone, emitting a color as beautiful as starlight under the sunlight, and it seemed that the exposed area was at least the size of the tip of the index finger.

"It's too expensive!" Liu Cheng hurriedly stuffed the stone back to Xu Hecheng: "I can't stand it!" ”

"Hey!" As soon as Xu Hecheng's cross arm was pressed, Liu Cheng's hand could no longer move forward: "Brother Xian, if I ask you to accept it, you will accept it." I was lucky enough to get in touch with Batur Khan of Erut Mongolia, and I bought these rough stones from a local herdsman at the meeting of Batur Khan, who found them drinking horses from a river in the far north, and I spent a total of 200 catties of salt and five iron pots to exchange these stones, which were worth nothing. ”

"You can't say that!" Liu Cheng retorted: "It's one thing how much you spend in exchange, but it's another thing how much these rough stones are worth." If nothing else, it is the rough stone, as long as you find a good craftsman to cut it open and polish it carefully, it is a rare treasure, how can I afford such a heavy gift? Brother Tai should put it away quickly, it's better not to lose it! ”

"Good, good!" Xu Hecheng suddenly laughed: "Today, the virtuous brother is finally willing to call me brother, which is a hundred times happier than being the Great Khan merchant of Batur Khan, the son of Raush." ”

"Brother Tai said it was funny!" Liu Cheng heard Xu Hecheng say this, knowing that his long-standing vigilance was seen by the other party, and he couldn't help but be a little embarrassed, and he was thinking about what to say to prevaricate. But Xu Hecheng grabbed his hands and stuffed the pocket into his hands.

"Brother Xian, in fact, I saw from the beginning that you were wary of me, I understand that you are from a good family, and I am an outcast of the Red Sun Sect, so it is common to be wary of me. Originally, I wanted to recruit you to my command, and the two brothers would create a business together. But these days, I have underestimated you, brother, you are so measured, how can the pattern of roosters and dogs like the Red Yang Sect be able to tolerate it? If I force you into the gang, it will hurt you and my brother's affection. Rather than this, it is better to help you with all your might, no matter how good these stones are, they are just playthings, but if they are in your hands, maybe they can make a situation at a critical time, isn't it far better than in my hands? ”

After Xu Hecheng's words, Liu Cheng couldn't help but feel a warm current in his heart, not to mention what this Red Yang Sect was, but if it weren't for Xu Hecheng's help, he might not even be able to see the morning light on the first day after crossing and become one of the countless corpses on the side of the road in this era. Later, although the other party had some thoughts, he had always been unstingy in helping each other. Today, I pierced this layer of paper again, and all the mustard in my heart was gone.

"My brother is so loving, and my younger brother can only be disrespectful!" Liu Cheng took a step back and bowed down to Xu Hecheng, Xu Hecheng knew that this was Liu Cheng's official recognition of the brotherhood between the two parties, so he calmly accepted Liu Cheng's bow, helped Liu Cheng up, and laughed loudly: "Okay, good, good, since I Xu Hecheng broke home and went out, I thought I would be alone in this life, but I didn't expect to have such a capable brother today." At this, he couldn't help but bow his head and burst into tears.

Seeing this, Liu Cheng hurriedly opened his mouth to convince him, Xu Hecheng raised his head and wiped the tears on his face: "Today's gaffe made Brother Xian smile, but Brother Xian's bag of stones can't be taken for nothing, and he has to solve a problem for me." “

"As long as I Liu Cheng can do my best, I will definitely go all out!"

"Good!" Xu Hecheng nodded, and explained in a low voice. It turned out that this trip to Xu Hecheng was aimed at the bazaar held by Batur Khan of Erut Mongolia. This Erut Mongolia is the Oirat Mongolia mentioned in many books today, that is, the Ming Dynasty called the Washai Division, whose ancestors came from the upper reaches of the Yenisei River, which was the "forest tribes" in the era of Genghis Khan, although it did not belong to the Golden Family, but it had a generational marriage relationship, and occupied an extremely important position in the power structure of the Mongol Empire. After Zhu Yuanzhang, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, drove the Yuan Dynasty out of the Central Plains, the two emperors of Taizu and Chengzu went out to the Northern Yuan Dynasty in succession, which dealt a great blow to them, and then the Golden Family lost its co-ownership status over the entire grassland. Since then, the northern strategy of the Later Ming Dynasty has been to try to re-emerge the Mongol princes of the Golden Family line, that is, to use the power of the Oirat Mongols to contain the princes of the Golden Family whose main sphere of influence is located east of the desert, preventing them from reunifying the steppe and forming a threat to the Ming Empire. Therefore, the Oirat Mongols located in the west of the desert maintained a very ambiguous relationship with the Ming Dynasty for a long time, and in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the Waspur Department gradually became stronger, and overtook the Eastern Mongolia with the Golden Family as the ruler. Later, the resurgence of Dayan Khan in Eastern Mongolia forced the Oirats to migrate westward again, and they gradually controlled the vast lands of present-day Xinjiang, Qinghai, Western Mongolia, and present-day Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Batur was the leader of the four major tribes of the Oirat, the leader of the nomadic tribes, known historically as the defender of the Mongols (who repelled several Russian invasions) and the founder of the Zungar Khanate. At the turn of the spring and summer of 1631, he was only one of the many Mongol princes among the Oirats, before he had time to accomplish the great feats that followed. When Xu Hecheng and his entourage came to the bazaar, the various handicrafts produced in China at that time were extremely needed by the Mongols, whose productivity was still very backward, but the variety of commodities that the Mongols could exchange was extremely limited, nothing more than a few kinds of cattle, sheep, leather, etc., which limited the scale of commodity transactions, because the Mongols could not exchange the products for goods in the Central Plains, and there were not enough precious metals to offset the difference. As one of the few far-sighted Mongol princes, Batur saw the drawbacks of such a trade, whether it was to resist the invasion of the Russians in the north or to conquer the rich Seven Rivers basin (the basin of the seven rivers that flow into Lake Balkhash, the Russian-speaking Shemilech region, i.e., the part of the Ili River Valley to Kazakhstan), he had to import a large number of handicrafts, but too much of cattle, sheep and livestock would destroy the economic base of his herders. Therefore, he issued a decree prohibiting foreign traders from trading privately with his herdsmen, but allowing them to buy and sell in the bazaars he had established, and interfering with prices to prevent foreign merchants from exploiting the herders and obtaining taxes. At the same time, he issued a decree that if any merchant developed a steppe product other than cattle, sheep and horses, he would give him the title of monopoly and friend of the Great Khan.

"Commodities other than cattle, sheep and horses?" Liu Cheng smiled: "This Great Khan is a little interesting!" ”

"This Batur Khan is very shrewd! If you think about it, these cattle and sheep are the same as fate for those Tartars, and they are all fed, clothed, drunk, and burned from cattle and sheep, and if they sell all the cattle, sheep and horses to us, won't they become weaker and weaker? Most of his subordinates are slaves, and as long as the others are on the grassland, they are all capitalless transactions for him, so he is naturally virtuous! “

"That's just as well!" Liu Cheng laughed, thinking in his heart that the righteous brother was still a little shallow, and he didn't see the real power of this Batur Great Khan. The purpose of Batur's commercial development was not to accumulate gold and silver, because gold and silver were only used in the grassland when trading with the outside world, and the commercial activities between tribes and within tribes were still in the stage of physical exchange, and the real currency was cattle, sheep and horses, and even if the herders got some gold and silver, they generally used it to make jewelry or Buddha statues, rather than hoarding it as currency like the Han people. For Batur, the real purpose of expanding commercial trade with the Central Plains was to import a large number of goods that the Mongols could not manufacture, such as salt, ironware, tea, cloth, medicinal herbs, etc., which were necessary for his ongoing conquest, and if he could discover some new goods that the Central Plains desperately needed, it would undoubtedly expand the power of his tribe. Moreover, as the first tribal leader to discover this commodity, if he can monopolize the output of this commodity, he will obtain a lot of economic benefits at the same time, and greatly increase the centripetal force of his tribal alliance.

Thinking of this, Liu Cheng felt that he should give Xu Hecheng a reply after careful consideration, so he smiled and said: "I can't think of it for a while, after all, I haven't been to the grassland, where do I know what can be produced on the grassland, and the mainland continues." “

"It's okay, I've brought a little bit of everything back this time, you can take a look at it for me, maybe you can come up with a way!"

"It's good!"

Seeing that Liu Cheng agreed, Xu Hecheng turned around and said hello, and soon several of his subordinates moved more than a dozen large bags up, and when they opened it, they saw that there were dozens of small sheepskin pockets inside, and each sheepskin bag was opened to prevent a little sample, there were stones, medicinal materials, and wood animal tendons and horns, which could be said to have everything, and they were scattered on the ground in a large pile. Liu Cheng took a little in the east, touched a piece in the west, asked a few words from time to time, and after about a meal, Liu Cheng straightened up and said with a smile: "I'm afraid this is not a matter of a while, why don't you live with me for a few days, and wait for me to figure it out slowly?" “