The next day, Xu Hecheng sent a caravan and let him continue to go south to Xi'an, and he stayed in the city of a thousand households, and followed Liu Cheng to build houses and repair the guard city during the day, and at night he drank and chatted with Liu Cheng's pro-soldiers and officers, and talked about some guns and sticks. One night, everyone was already four or five points drunk, and a personal soldier took advantage of the wine and asked: "Master Xu, you are so rich, why don't you take out some money and donate some money to a prisoner to be a comfortable official and a master, why do you spend all day here with mud, carrying wood, and doing the work of cows and horses!" “

Xu Hecheng said with a smile: "I didn't even get a show, how can I donate to the prisoners!" "It turns out that the pro-soldier said that the prisoner is the abbreviation of the students of the Guozijian, the Guozijian is the highest institution of learning in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the children of the outstanding or meritorious people can only be enrolled in the school, and they can become officials after reading. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, because of the increasing financial difficulties of the government, some academic talents were allowed to pay money and property in exchange for admission qualifications.

Du Gu on the side patted the head of the pro-soldier and scolded with a smile: "Eyeless things, how can Master Xu make good guns and sticks, how can they be those big turbans who can only play tricks." “

"It's a villain's clumsiness!" The soldier rubbed his head and laughed with the crowd.

Everyone laughed happily, but they didn't want to touch Xu Hecheng's thoughts, he stood up, walked to the side, picked up the spear leaning against the wall, and danced. I saw that under the firelight, the figures were swaying, the cold light of the tip of the gun was not there, and although the wind was strong outside, it could not suppress the sound of the swishing tip of the gun breaking through the air. Xu Hecheng is depressed on weekdays, often thinking that he has few great ambitions, but he has been framed by traitors, and he has to leave his hometown, and his achievements have not become regrettable. Just after drinking a few glasses of wine into his stomach, the depression in his chest came out, and he spent it all on this nine-foot spear, and he made it even worse. Several people around the fire are knowledgeable, although they can't see the way of the marksmanship clearly, but the gunshots in their ears are getting louder and louder, and obviously the force of the gun is getting stronger and stronger. Suddenly heard Xu Hecheng shouting, jumped up in mid-air and whipped on the ground, splashing dust all over the sky, everyone subconsciously closed their eyes, and when they opened their eyes again, they only felt that their eyes were dark, and the three torches that were originally inserted on the wall were extinguished by Xu Hecheng with a spear at this moment.

"Good marksmanship, Master Xu makes a good gun!" Du Gu was the first to cheer, his hands were almost broken, and several other officers sitting next to Liu Cheng were also knowledgeable and applauded. Xu Hecheng made a group gesture and was about to thank him, but he heard Du Guoying, who had not spoken all the time, sigh: "It's really a good way to kill, but it's not a martial art in the army!" ”

Xu Hecheng was stunned when he heard this, and immediately understood that the other party had seen his origin, and he first used a spear to beat the ground and splash dust to blind the opponent's eyes, and the trick of taking the opportunity to assassinate the enemy was indeed not a martial art in the army, but was learned from a Henan marksmanship master when he was a teenager. On the rivers and lakes, such secret killing methods like this are all passed down by word of mouth, not words, and the famous master is willing to teach Xu Hecheng because he is old and has no children, Xu Hecheng is like his children. Xu Hecheng killed several strong enemies with this trick, in order not to leak out, he used to drive the servants out of the courtyard when he practiced the gun, but he didn't want to use it in front of so many people today, it seems that deep down in his heart he already understands that no matter how ever-changing the spear in his hand is, it will not be able to take revenge.

Xu Hecheng put the spear back to the wall, returned to the fire and sat down cross-legged: "A little bit of effort, see and laugh, everyone has seen blood killing, you should know that no matter how high the martial arts are, ten enemies are the limit, and the rank leader is the kung fu of a thousand enemies and ten thousand enemies!" In fact, the biggest official present is Liu Cheng, who is just a training division at this time, and thousands of enemies are reluctant, let alone ten thousand enemies.

As the saying goes, thousands of clothes are worn, but sycophants are not worn, even though Du Guoying is still suspicious of Xu Hecheng's origins, it is not good to continue to get to the bottom of it. A sergeant suddenly sighed: "It's almost May now, but it's still bitterly cold at night, and you can't wear less clothes." I heard that you can take off your jacket on March in Jiangnan, hey, it's all big tomorrow, why is there such a big difference? “

"You like Jiangnan so much, why don't you reincarnate in Jiangnan? Why do you need to cast on this dragon? A companion next to him quipped.

"If I can decide for myself if I can be reincarnated, I will be thrown into the rich man's family, why should I be this military household?"

"Wouldn't it be better for you to vote for Emperor Zhu's family, and be born with glory and wealth and endless enjoyment!"

Du Guoying saw that the more he spoke, the more unspeakable he became, and hurriedly shouted: "Don't you know how many bones you have after a few cups of yellow soup?" Is it okay to talk nonsense about the surname of the Son of Heaven? He then bowed to Liu Cheng and said, "My lord, these two people don't respect their superiors and talk nonsense, and they think that they should be punished lightly to set an example!" “

After Du Guoying finished speaking, he didn't hear an echo, and when he looked up, he found that Liu Cheng had words in his mouth, his eyes were staring at a non-existent object, looking like he was out of the world, obviously he didn't hear what he just said, and he was about to raise his voice, but he saw Liu Cheng slap his thigh and shouted: "I understand!" “

"Got what?" Du Guoying was confused by Liu Cheng's sudden attack, Liu Cheng ignored Du Guoying, grabbed Xu Hecheng and asked, "Brother Xu, let me ask you what is the most profitable business in the world?" “

"Naturally, it is a trade of goods, I heard that a boatload of lake silk in Jiangnan can be exchanged for a boatload of silver when it goes out. Of course, tea, porcelain and sugar are also very profitable, but there is no silk to make money! “

"Well, what about the other than the sale of goods?"

"That's the salt trade, but it's not something that ordinary businessmen can meddle in, so let's put it aside. The trading of goods in the north and south is also very profitable, and the trading of goods out of the jam is also good......! Xu Hecheng counted with his fingers as he spoke, he has spent a lot of energy in business over the years, although he does not know all the buying and selling industries, but he knows a little bit about it.

"Brother Xu, you said so much, why didn't you mention Songjiang cloth?" Liu Cheng asked suddenly.

"Matsue Fu?" Xu Hecheng was stunned when he heard this, and then smiled: "Brother, what he said is bad, although this Songjiang cloth is known as the world, but others can't intervene, and we can't counterfeit it. "It turns out that this Songjiang refers to the Songjiang Mansion of the Ming Dynasty, probably located in the territory of today's Shanghai, between the Song and Yuan dynasties, the local cotton planting technology from Fujian and Guangdong, and the Yuan Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty through the Songjiang Wu Nijing people Huang Daopo from today's Hainan to get the advanced textile technology, coupled with its favorable geographical location, so from the middle and late Yuan Dynasty, the Songjiang area has become the center of the ancient Chinese cotton textile handicraft industry. Because of its advanced technology, the quality of the cloth is far superior to other places, taking the price of cloth in the 48th year of Wanli as an example, an ordinary white cotton cloth (undyed) is used as three coins of silver, and a horse of three shuttle cloth produced in Songjiang can be used as six coins and one cent; The highest grade twill can be used as a tael of silver per horse. At that time, almost all the local farmers in Songjiang were engaged in the cotton textile industry during the off-season, and the daily output of cloth could reach 10,000 horses, and its products were as far as Japan and North Korea, known as the clothing quilt in the world, and the huge amount of capital inflow can be seen.

"Really? I don't think so! Liu Cheng suddenly showed a mysterious smile on his face: "That's it, Brother Xu, you keep an eye on me here these days, I'm going to the city to do something these days!" “

Sure enough, Liu Chengcheng disappeared from the next day, and he came back here when it was dark when he ran outside every day, bringing a bunch of jars and jars and some tools that could not be seen, and Xu Hecheng didn't say anything when he asked. Fortunately, the city's engineering foundation, erection of beams, these relatively high-tech parts have been completed, and the only work left is to build walls and tiles, Xu Hecheng climbs up and down every day to check around, lest he make a mistake, Rao is his iron muscles, and at night he is already tired and sore, and he goes to bed and falls asleep. After five or six days like this, suddenly one day Liu Cheng invited Xu Hecheng to the house.

Xu Hecheng entered the house, only to see a few clay pots, a few clay jars, pottery pots, a stove, a large sieve, bamboo dustpans, spinning wheels, and some sundries, two middle-aged women standing in the corner, saw Xu Hecheng come in and hurriedly saluted him. Xu Hecheng glanced at Liu Cheng in confusion, pointed to those things and asked Liu Cheng, "Brother, what are you going to do?" “

"You're good to go!" Liu Cheng didn't answer Xu Hecheng's question, but just stretched out his hand and motioned for him to sit down. Xu Hecheng sat down with a stomach full of doubts, and saw that the two women had blessed Liu Cheng and Xu Hecheng, so he turned around and opened a package, took out a lot of hairs from it, and poured them all into a clay pot. After that, one person poured boiling hot water into the clay pot, and the other person stirred it with boiling, and the air was immediately filled with an unpleasant smell, Xu Hecheng couldn't help but cover his nose, and asked Liu Cheng in a low voice: "What kind of trick are you playing?" ”

"Brother, be patient, we'll find out later!" Liu Cheng patted Xu Hecheng's thigh with a smile, and Xu Hecheng had to suppress the doubts in his heart and continue to watch. The two women stirred for a while, and when the water was cooler, they each used a pair of long chopsticks to scoop up the plush in the water, spread it out on a clean straw mat to dry, and then removed the weeds floating on the water, and poured the remaining water into a crockpot and set it aside for later use. Then the woman poured the plush from the straw mat into a new clay pot, then opened the plug of one clay pot and poured in some yellowish liquid, and the other woman poured boiling water into it at the same time, and the air was filled with a foul smell of urine.

"What the hell are you!" Xu Hecheng jumped almost immediately.

"Fresh human urine, I ordered last night that everyone must urinate in a crockpot, and it's hard to have so much!" I don't know when, Liu Cheng was stuffed with rags in both nostrils, so his voice was a little strange.

"What do you want human urine for? It stinks to death. “

"My brother didn't know that there was too much grease on the wool, which was not good for spinning. Human urine can be degreased, and then washed with water can be spun. “

"Wool? Do you want wool instead of cotton? Xu Hecheng had a look of surprise on his face.

"Hmm!" Liu Cheng nodded, and while the two were talking, the two women had already cleaned the wool in the clay pot, picked it up again, put it on the straw mat, and moved it outside to dry. Taking advantage of this gap, Xu Hecheng asked: "Brother Xian, I don't think this business is very easy to do, after all, the Tartars also use this wool to weave cloth, but it is very rough, even the Tartars themselves don't like it, and they still like the cotton cloth of our Central Plains." “

"Brother Xu, don't worry, I'll talk about it later!" Liu Cheng smiled and poured a glass of water for Xu Hecheng, Xu Hecheng drank two sips, and saw that the two women took the dried wool back, and began to use the toothed bamboo comb to comb these fluffy plush, under the woman's labor, soon these unkempt plush became many strips, at this time a woman picked up one of them, gently took it on the spindle of the spinning wheel, and then shook the spinning wheel, and saw a thin fiber wound around the spindle, with the rotation of the spinning wheel, The white area covered by the wool yarn on the black spindle was increasing, and after about a meal, the woman stopped shaking the spinning wheel, cut off the yarn, and presented the spindle that had been wrapped with yarn to Liu Cheng, Liu Cheng took the spindle with a smile, handed it to Xu Hecheng and said, "Brother, how about you look at this yarn?" (Of course, the actual wool processing process cannot be so simple and fast, and the book has been simplified and accelerated for the development of the plot, forgive me!) ）

Xu Hecheng carefully took the spindle, played with it in his hand for a while, only to see that the yarn was smooth and soft, partial and tough, although Xu Hecheng had not spun and weaved, but also handled the cloth business, knowing that the best cotton yarn was far from the wool yarn in his hand, and the fabric spun out was naturally of the highest quality. He forced himself to suppress the excitement in his heart and asked, "Brother, why is your yarn so good, I see that the tartar also uses this wool defense line to weave cloth, but most of them are used to make tents and carpets, but not on people." “

"Huh!" Liu Cheng smiled slightly: "Actually, this is also simple, their wool is not carefully classified, and this wool must be cleaned and combed before spinning, and the Tartars don't even have enough water to drink horses on the grassland, how can it be as fine as me to clean and classify, comb and take care of it, naturally I can't get good yarn." “