"That's right!" Hearing this, a smile bloomed on Min Min's face: "As the saying goes, the raw stand on one side, the raised stand on the side, and the raw one is not raised!" That child was raised by you, and he will definitely think of your good. ”

"Really? Minmin, no matter how well you raise it, it's not as good as your own child! When are we going to have one? ”

"Phew!" Min Min took a sip, stood up with a crimson face, and walked out, but was grabbed by Liu Cheng and hugged into his arms.

Like most fathers-in-law, Hu Kejian has a special hobby for Ah Duwu; But this can't be blamed on him, if the man lacks the crotch thing, the biggest fun in life will be gone, and that's all left, and those big turbans are sanctimonious on weekdays, and they are not better than their fathers-in-law when it comes to making money. This time, he went out of the palace to be the supervisor of Ningxia Town, and he was very bloody, and he wanted to make a lot of money, but he didn't expect to be surrounded by Lin Dan Khan in the city. Although Father-in-law Hu loves money, he still knows that no matter how much money he has saved for others, he has not done anything to deduct military salaries to enrich himself, seeing that the day of returning to Beijing is getting closer and closer, but his waist bag is still empty, Father-in-law Hu feels a pain in his heart. At the banquet two days ago, Deputy Chief Liu was a cheerful person, and promised to fill in the shortage of 25,000 taels of silver for the eunuch of the Imperial Horse Supervisor's palm seal, but after all, the silver of the white flower is still in his own pocket to feel at ease! “

Of course, no matter how worried Grandpa Hu is, he will not do such a tasteless thing as running to the other party's house to beg for money. He got up this morning, and was eating breakfast while thinking about finding a way to remind the deputy chief soldier Liu a little, after all, the position of the eunuch in charge of the imperial horse seal is not often vacant, and he can't rush to the village after this village, and finally decided to go to Lord Liu's mansion It is definitely not possible, but no one dares to gossip when he is invited out of the city to hunt together. Anyway, it's always good to be a minister of the prison army, and it's always good to be good at arching horses!

As soon as Hu Kejian made up his mind, a waiting little eunuch came in from outside: "Father-in-law, there is a gentry surnamed Zhao outside who asks to see him." ”

"A gentry surnamed Zhao?" Hu Kejian searched in his mind for a while, but he didn't have any impression at all, he waved his hand casually: "No." You go to Vice Chief Liu's Mansion for me and ask him to go out of the city to hunt tomorrow!" ”

"Father-in-law, that gentry came here with the name of Deputy General Liu!" The little eunuch took out a famous thorn from his sleeve and handed it over, Hu Kejian took it and took a look, and sure enough, it was Liu Cheng, the deputy chief soldier of Yansui Town. He kicked the little eunuch hatefully and scolded: "If you don't have long eyes, why didn't you say it earlier?" ”

The little eunuch was kicked to the ground, and he didn't dare to complain, and asked in a low voice, "Father-in-law." To see or not to see? ”

"Nonsense! Invite him here! Hu Kejian's eyes rolled, and he felt that the dining room was full of people, and it was not a place to talk, so he changed his words and said: "No, you take him to my study, and I'll be there right away!" ”

Hu Kejian didn't care about eating, tidied up his clothes a little, and walked quickly to the study.

Den.

A gilded bronze furnace with the head of a beast is placed next to the bookcase. Pale cyan cigarettes wafted out of the beast's mouth, and on the bookshelf next to it were several military books such as "The Actual Record of Military Training" and "The New Book of Discipline and Effectiveness". I don't know if it was used to fill the façade or if the owner worked hard.

"It looks like the bet is right this time!" Zhao Youcai said to himself, with a smug look on his face, he was originally appointed as the head of the Lijin Bureau for the collection of business travel between Shaanxi and Shanxi, which was a lucrative errand. But Zhao Youcai is a person who thinks highly of himself, thinking that his talents surpass the Ma family's father and son, but let these two people take refuge in Liu Cheng first. I had to stoop to it, and I often regretted it. When Zhao Youcai learned the news that Liu Cheng was sweating in Ningxia, he realized that his opportunity to overtake had come, and hurriedly handed over the matter of levying the centijin to the assistant Solomong, and took out all the silver in the centijin treasury. He borrowed more than 10,000 taels of silver from a familiar merchant, scraped together 30,000 taels of silver, and came all the way to Ningxia Fucheng. He secretly thought that Lord Liu had just won the battle, and there must be a lot of money to spend, and he would definitely not forget his merits.

Zhao Youcai guessed well, after Liu Cheng defeated the enemy on the battlefield, the next thing is to deal with the enemy outside the battlefield, in the new battlefield, the weapons used are not spears and firearms, but daggers, poison and money, the silver sent by Zhao Youcai can be described as a charcoal in the snow for Liu Cheng, and the happy Liu Chengli is about to contact Hu Kejian The task was handed over to him, Zhao Youcai understood that this marked the victory of this bet - Liu Cheng would not hand over such a confidential thing to outsiders, and he finally entered Liu Cheng's inner circle.

"Have you kept Mr. Zhao waiting?"

A feminine voice woke Zhao Youcai from his reverie, and when he looked up, he saw that it was a man dressed in red, wearing a flat-horned black veil, and a white beard looking at him with a smile. Zhao Youcai hurriedly got up and bowed down: "Zhao Youcai, the supervisor of Dunzhou, see Gonggong Hu!" ”

"It turns out that Mr. Zhao has been in school!" Hu Kejian smiled: "Sit, sit, serve tea to Mr. Zhao!" For Liu Cheng's sake, Hu Kejian was quite polite to Zhao Youcai. The two drank tea, and Hu Kejian smiled and said, "Mr. Zhao, I don't know what you are doing this time?" ”

"Gonggong Hu, I was sent by Mr. Liu this time!" Zhao Youcai looked at the little eunuch standing behind Hu Kejian, Hu Kejian smiled and said, "He came out of the palace with me, you can say everything about it!" “

"Yes, father-in-law!" Zhao Youcai took out half of the jade pendant from his arms and handed it over: "General Liu ordered that this half of the jade pendant be handed over to you under the order, and when you return to Beijing and pass through Chaoyi, you can use this to exchange 25,000 taels of silver from the Hongyang Tent Village in Chaoyi." “

"Oh?" Hu Kejian took the jade pendant, only to see that the jade pendant was made of high-grade mutton fat jade, in the shape of a crouching tiger, and was cut open from it, obviously the other half should be in the Hongyang tent village, as a talisman letter. He carefully took it into his arms, patted his chest and said, "Mr. Liu has a heart, and this heart is remembered by a certain family." ”

"Grandpa Hu! My lord asked me to say that the 25,000 taels of silver should have been sent to the house in person, but the silver was inconvenient to carry, and I was afraid that the old man would hear any rumors and cause trouble, so I had to bother you to go to the court. Zhao Youcai arched his hand with a smile: "My family also said that when I return to Jingshi, I would like to ask you to say a few kind words in front of the saint." “

"Huh!" Hu Kejian laughed: "What Mr. Zhao said is very angry, our family is the most righteous." Since Mr. Liu is so attentive, our family will naturally take Mr. Liu's affairs to heart. Speaking of this, Hu Kejian picked up the teacup, Zhao Youcai hurriedly got up to say goodbye when he saw this, and Hu Kejian sent it to the door of the study before giving up.

"Father-in-law, this guy is just a prisoner. Why was he so polite? When Zhao Youcai walked away, the little eunuch asked in a low voice.

"A prisoner naturally has nothing." Hu Kejian said: "But the general soldier Liu behind him is not simple, he can fight, he will come to things, and there is Lord Hong behind him to support him, how can he be an idle person?" He doesn't know what he's busy with these days, he's out of nowhere, I'm afraid that this silver won't be so delicious! ”

"Then father-in-law, do you accept this silver or not?" The little eunuch asked cautiously.

"Accept it, why don't you accept it!" Hu Kejian sneered: "With this amount of silver, our family will return to Beijing as the eunuch of the palm print of the imperial horse eunuch." There aren't many things in the world that I can't suppress. Besides, if this Liu Zongbing didn't hook up in private, I wouldn't dare to take his money. ”

"Why did my father-in-law say that?"

"Huh!" Hu Kejian smiled: "As the saying goes, if the water is clear, there are no fish, and if people are observed, there are no friends." Since Emperor Jingtai in this dynasty, there are few warriors who can fight and will not make money, why? With the little food and salary given by the imperial court, the rats can starve to death, and they can still be counted on the Qiu Ba to work hard? This Chief Soldier Liu, Lord Liu, can fight and have money to send to our family, so there must be many ways to make money. However, most of these ways are probably a bit prohibited, and the money given to our family is when the old men and gentlemen of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of War impeach him in the future. Someone else just said two kind things for him. Xiaofuzi, should we say this? “

The little eunuch looked at Hu Kejian's face. He replied cautiously, "I don't know." ”

"Hey, you're such a fool!" Hu Kejian scolded: "Naturally, I should say it." What are we? is the house slave of the Son of Heaven, the dog of the Heavenly family, and he came to be a prison soldier for two things: 1. Whether the generals are loyal to the Son of Heaven; 2, can they fight, the others are all stubs, can this Liu Zongbing fight? Didn't rebel, did you? Is it okay for someone like this not to speak for him? ”

"Father-in-law taught me a lesson!" The little eunuch hurriedly said yes. But in his stomach he secretly thought that if it weren't for the 25,000 taels of silver, how could you speak for him, in the end, it was still the benefit of silver.

Hu Kejian rubbed his hands proudly: "Okay, our family estimates that this mission is almost over." Little Fuzi, you go and pack your luggage. In a few months, we will return to Beijing! ”

When Zhao Youcai returned to the General Soldier's Mansion, he saw Liu Cheng standing on the steps, shouting loudly for a group of subordinates to carry things, and hurriedly stepped forward. Liu Cheng nodded, handed over the chores to the accompanying pro-soldier leader, returned to the study with Zhao Youcai, and listened to Zhao Youcai's report. Liu Cheng said with a smile: "What a big appetite, 25,000 taels of silver, and a military salary for two years, this Hu Gonggong is not afraid of spoiling his stomach if he eats it." Zhao Youcai didn't dare to talk, but just smiled and said nothing.

"But that's fine! I don't want this thing to happen, just ask him not to hurt my business. If he is at peace like this, I am at ease! Liu Cheng slapped his face and said with a smile: "Zhao Laosan, this time you sent the 30,000 taels of silver, but it was an emergency, and I remember this credit in my heart." How about it, do you still want to go back to be the head of the gold bureau? “

Zhao Youcai heard Liu Cheng say this, and he was secretly happy in his heart. He is a very shrewd person, and after becoming the head of the Lijin Bureau, he also thought a lot, and felt more and more that Liu Cheng had a great plan, and this Lijin Bureau was just a node on that big net. If you just want to be a rich man, it is enough to be in charge of this financial bureau, but if you want to go further and press the Ma family father and son under you, you have to give up something.

"If you have any errands, just ask!" Zhao Youcai replied cautiously: "Before I came, I had already handed over the envoy of the Lijin Bureau to the assistant Solomon, he has been with me for a while, and he is still diligent in his work, so he should be able to bear this burden." ”

"Good!" Liu Cheng is quite satisfied with Zhao Youcai's attitude, and the most urgent problem in front of him is that the development is too fast, so that there is a lack of talents to support this situation, especially in business, finance, and diplomacy. Although this Zhao Youcai is still a little lacking in some aspects, he has two advantages: first, although he is well educated, he does not have the style of advocating empty talk and despising practice like the late Ming scholars; Second, be sensitive enough to the new business forces. There are not many talents like this in Liu Cheng's pocket.

"Zhao Laosan, tomorrow you will pack your luggage and go to Qimen for me."

"Qimen?" Zhao Youcai was stunned when he heard this, and asked, "What are you going to do there?" ”

"Naturally, it's for this!" Liu Cheng casually picked up an oiled paper package from the bookshelf and threw it at Zhao Youcai. Zhao Youcai subconsciously stretched out his hand to catch it, and he smelled a refreshing aroma, and he asked tentatively, "Tea?" “

"Yes, it's tea!"

Since the Tang and Song dynasties, among the trade between the Central Plains Dynasty and the steppe nomads, the tea trade has been an inseparable topic. Unlike European merchants, who regarded tea as a luxury and medicine, tea was a necessity for the nomads of the steppes, almost second only to salt in necessity. The reason is that the nomadic diet is mostly meat, cheese and other indigestible foods, few vegetables, fruits, grains and other rich vitamins and crude fiber, while tea is rich in vitamins, tannins, theophylline and other elements and easy to preserve, the nomads lack the nutrients of fruits and vegetables, which can be supplemented. The large amount of aromatic oil in tea can also dissolve animal fat, reduce cholesterol, and strengthen the toughness of blood vessel walls. The function of tea is just to make up for the missing link in the diet of nomads. As a result, it became a favorite of nomads, and tea accounted for more than half of the trade in the northwest. The seedlings and cultivation techniques of tea were not stolen by the British until modern times, and the ancient Chinese monopolized the supply of this special commodity. Therefore, the Ming government adopted the mode of government monopoly on the tea trade in the border areas, exchanging tea with the nomads for strategic materials such as war horses, and through this economic means to the tribes on the grassland to exercise political and military influence, in fact, the tea trade is no longer just a business, but has become an economic weapon for the Central Plains Dynasty to control the nomads of the grassland. After Liu Cheng defeated Lin Dan Khan, he actually controlled the most convenient access to the Mongolian steppe, whether it was to increase economic income or to grasp this economic weapon, it was extremely necessary to establish a stable supply channel. Qimen, located in today's Huangshan City, Anhui Province, was the most important tea market in the Ming Dynasty at that time. (To be continued.) )