"So much? Why didn't anyone tell me? Liu Cheng couldn't help but be taken aback, the grassland tribe bought so many iron pots naturally not for cooking and cooking, most of them were remelted to make arrowheads, an iron pot also weighed five or six catties, and the iron pots produced in Chaoyi were cast with good pig iron, not to mention that they could also fight fifty or sixty iron arrowheads, which was enough to equip two or three horsemen to fight a battle. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 For strategic resources like iron materials, even if it is an in-law like Chechen Taiji, although Liu Cheng is very close on the surface, he is secretly quite vigilant, and there is a corresponding limit, and if this limit is exceeded, he must report to Liu Cheng himself or the Planning Commission.

"Because these are not purchased directly." Chesan sneered: "They bought it through six middlemen, and each of them added about twenty percent of the price. ”

"Damn it!" Liu Cheng scolded hatefully, and he didn't know if he was scolding Chechen Taiji or the insider in charge of supervising this area.

"Please don't blame others, I also know it from another person!"

"Who?"

"Ahmat, it's that Yarkand merchant! This man has a big business, has a lot of connections, and knows a lot of things that others don't know. I think he has been thinking about getting on the adult's car since the last time he went on the northern expedition with you, but he has never had the opportunity. ”

"Ahmat?" Liu Cheng's eyes appeared in front of the chubby middle-aged Uyghur businessman, and his mind suddenly cleared up: "Chechen Taiji recently wants to buy lead and saltpeter through him?" ”

"Your Excellency is like a god! There is also zinc, and I also heard that Chechen Taiji discovered a copper mine in Mobei, which is very abundant. ”

"That's not unusual, but he's ambitious!" Liu Cheng sneered, according to the knowledge he obtained on the Internet in his later life, the world's largest open-pit copper mine is in Outer Mongolia, and it is not unusual for one or two veins to be exposed to the surface. In the previous battle to defeat the combined forces of Chechen Khan and Tushetu Khan, he was very greedy after seeing the power of the three-pounder cannon in Liu Cheng's army, and offered to buy them from Liu Cheng, but Liu Cheng politely refused on the grounds that the production technology was not yet mature. With the geographical location of Chechen Taiji, it is not unusual to get a few cannon casting craftsmen, after all, in the seventeenth century, casting cannons in bronze was already technically a big deal, and with his ambition, it was not normal for Liu Cheng not to think about it after being rejected by Liu Cheng.

"My lord, that's why I just said that it is better to be slow than hasty with Chechen Khan. Chechen Taiji and Shuolei are currently facing each other, if we want to control the Chechen Ministry in a hurry, we must either give Shuolei enough benefits to pull him over, or we need the power of Chechen Taiji to defeat it. But whether it is the former or the latter, it will destroy the balance of Mobei, and winning over Shuo Lei will not only cost a lot of money, but also make Chechen Taiji resentful, after all, he is your in-law; And it would be even worse to unite with Chechen Taiji to attack Shuoba, which is tantamount to driving the Chechen Khan to the Jurchens, and even if you win, you will send troops and food for Chechen Taiji to take the entire Mobei land, although he is your in-law, it is not okay to be too powerful? ”

Liu Cheng nodded, what Qiesan said was exactly what he wanted. The secret of his ability to leverage the overall situation of the entire Northeast Asia with a mere tens of thousands of people is actually only four words: "divide and rule." At the beginning, after he united with Chechen Taiji to defeat the combined army of Tushetu Khan and Chechen Khan, he did not take advantage of the victory to pursue and wipe out Chechen Khan, in addition to the fear that the nest would be taken out by the Western Expedition army of Houjin, another reason is that he did not want Mobei to be monopolized by one force. After all, as long as Liu Cheng does not solve the Houjin for a day, his main attention will be on the east, and the hundreds of miles wide Hanhai also prevents him from investing too many troops in Mobei, so no matter how much territory Liu Cheng has now laid in Mobei, in the final analysis, he has made a wedding dress for Chechen Taiji. As long as Shuolei and Chechen Taiji contain each other for a day, the two of them will have to ask Liu Cheng for a day. Liu Chengcheng was able to manipulate the benefits in the meantime, and he was naturally unwilling to destroy this favorable situation.

Chesang looked at Liu Cheng's face and made sure that his evaluation of Chechen Taiji did not anger his boss, so he continued: "I think that the matter of contacting the Jurchens in the East China Sea does not need to be carried out openly with great fanfare, and it is completely possible to send a businessman to cross the Xing'an Mountains from Shuolei in the name of collecting leather goods and ginseng, open up the road, and familiarize yourself with the situation. When the trade route is opened and the people are familiar, whether it is to send equipment or send troops, it is a natural thing. ”

"Well, then you can talk to Ahmad first and see if he is willing to do this!"

"Yes, sir!" Chesan answered. At this moment, Ah Gui came in from outside, holding a carrier pigeon in his hand, and said, "My lord, there is an urgent letter in the capital!" ”

"Oh?" Liu Cheng took the carrier pigeon, took a small piece of bamboo tube from the foot ring, returned the carrier pigeon to Ah Gui, carefully took out a roll of tissue paper from the bamboo tube, unfolded it, and suddenly laughed with a poof.

"My lord, what's wrong?" Chessan asked.

"There are some twists and turns in the purchase of weapons by the imperial court!" Liu Cheng replied lightly: "But it's nothing, if such a big thing goes smoothly, it would be strange for me!" ”

"Did the news leak to the counselor?"

"It's not!" Liu Cheng shook his head: "It's okay, it's just that the Son of Heaven doesn't want to!" “

"Huh?" Chessan's mouth grew in surprise, and listening to Liu Cheng's tone, he attached much more importance to the attitude of the officials than the attitude of the emperor. Liu Cheng noticed the surprise of his subordinates, and smiled: "Master, don't you understand that the current Son of Heaven, although he tries his best to pretend to be wise and resolute, but in fact he is only a half-old child and does not understand anything. Don't look at how much he opposes now, but as soon as the situation changes, he becomes faster than anyone else. Those imperial masters are different, if they oppose you, even if they smash their butts and cut off their heads, don't think they will comply, which one do you say is more troublesome? ”

"This-" Hearing Liu Cheng evaluate the dignified son in such a relaxed tone, Che Sang couldn't help but grow his mouth in surprise, although he knew that Liu Cheng had already had a disobedient heart, and it was too appalling to use such a tone to evaluate a demigod and half-human emperor. At this time, Liu Cheng turned the paper to the back, and suddenly smiled: "I didn't expect Yang Wenqiao to be a wonderful person, good, good, good!" Just 10,000 taels of silver gave me this matter, and it was not in vain that I fought for him in Shanxi! ”

Fuzhou and Fujian Governor Xiong Wencan's Mansion.

Zheng Zhilong jumped off the war horse, and the officer guarding the door hurriedly greeted him, and saluted with his crossed hands: "General Zheng, the governor has already ordered, there is no need to pass it on, he has something important to wait for you in the study!" ”

Zheng Zhilong nodded, and a gentle smile appeared on his handsome face: "I'm tired, I remember that it will be Lingtang's birthday in a few days, right?" I couldn't come that day, so I had to ask someone to bring a heart! ”

The officer was surprised and delighted, and hurriedly bowed down and said, "How is this embarrassing? It's time for General Zheng to break the bill again! ”

"Huh!" Zheng Zhilong patted the officer's arm affectionately: "They are all their own brothers, so they will give birth, just a little money, you can just say a few kind words for me in front of Lord Xiong!"

"This nature, this nature!" The officer was already smiling from ear to ear, no wonder he was like this, Zheng Zhilong had always been generous, and a little heart in his mouth was worth at least two or three hundred silver, which was equal to the officer's salary for a year. He bowed his body and sent Zheng Zhilong into the mansion, looking at his back, with a smile on his face: "Hey, General Zheng is so good at being a man, no wonder he was promoted so quickly!" ”

As soon as Zheng Zhilong entered the door of the mansion, the smile on his face disappeared. Not long ago, Zheng Cai, a close confidant he had carefully cultivated, told him a piece of information: a team of soldiers and horses claiming to be under the command of the Zhejiang Metropolitan Command Department of the Ming Dynasty was besieging Dayuangang in Taiwan. Zheng Cai urged himself to send troops to Dayuan immediately to seize this important port. Of course, Zheng Zhilong knew that Zheng Cai was doing this mostly to make meritorious contributions and overpower those old people in the group, but this was also his intention. So Zheng Cai led more than 2,000 people to Dayuan Port, but he didn't want to go out with a majestic style, dozens of large and small ships, and more than 2,000 horses; When he returned, he was left with a lonely boat, and Goto Goro, the leader of the Japanese soldiers, was holding an urn of ashes. Since he accepted Xiong Wencan's recruitment in the first year of Chongzhen, how could he have suffered such a loss? So while he was dispatching troops, he sent people to collect information about the uninvited guest of the general, but he didn't want to be busy but received a letter from Xiong Wencan, saying that there was something important to discuss with him. Zheng Zhilong had no choice but to leave the matter at hand and rush to Fuzhou to see Xiong Wencan.

Zheng Zhilong entered the door of the mansion, only to see that as soon as he entered the door, there was an open land in all directions, with four pillars on the ground, a frame building, and a vermilion lacquer gate. Downstairs there are two rooms facing each other. When you get here, it is another large courtyard, facing a row of Western-style high-rise buildings, and there is a gatehouse at the bottom. The messengers inside and outside the porter all stood up with a smile. Entering this heavy gate, the verandah is copied on both sides, and a building is surrounded. The guide did not enter the building, but went around the verandah. In the back hall, the doors and windows are all vermilion lacquered, bright red and dazzling. There is a platform in the hall, and behind the platform, there is a red building with four corners of cornices. Around this house, half cypress trees and half willows are planted, and the red and green are very splendid. When I got here, I saw the female servants, and when I saw people coming, they all gave way early. Right here, in the shade of the willows, two moon doors flashed out of the east and west. Entering the moon gate in the east, a pile of grapes like a mountain, covering a boat hall with white walls and green paint on it, and a small corridor outside the boat hall is surrounded by large and small bonsai, surrounded by fat and thin swallows, dark red and light purple, and a boat hall is clustered as a thousand flowers. Xiong Wencan's new mansion is actually mostly Zheng Zhilong's money and people, but he was busy with his own affairs during this time, and it was the first time he saw it. ”

Zheng Zhilong nodded, and walked towards the boat hall, and when he got closer, he heard a melodious singing voice coming from inside, and a clear voice was singing in Wu language: "There are many lotus seeds on the bank of the Autumn River, the daughter of the lotus picker sings the boat song, the lotus in the flower room is full of flowers, the green wave is in front of the competition, the long stem is not the lotus, the broken silk is more than the puncture hurts the hand, when to find a companion to return, the water is far away and the mountain is long and don't look back." ”

Although Zheng Zhilong was born in poverty, he has seen a lot in the past ten years, and he has met countless wealthy businessmen, high-ranking officials, and famous prostitutes. In order to revive the Yue country and take revenge on the husband, Gou Jian followed Fan Li's suggestion and dedicated Fan Li's lover beauty Xi Shi Jin to Wu Wangfucha, intending to use women to kill his will, divide the monarchs and ministers of Wu State, and gain the trust of King Wu with a completely obedient attitude, King Wu was really confused by Xi Shi's beauty, abolished the national government, killed Zhongliang, three years later Gou Jian Junchen was released back to Yueguo, painstakingly managed, and finally defeated Wu Guo successfully, Fucha committed suicide. Fan Li retired after becoming famous, and made up his mind to stay away from political right and wrong, and went on a boat with Xi Shi, looking for a place to live a hermit life. Zheng Zhilong knew that this Ming Li was singing about picking lotus, but the actual achievement was a pun, talking about the **** lovesickness of Xi Shi and Fan Li. With "lotus" through "pity", "hating the long stem can not be lotus" in the "lotus" and "even" sound, which means that Xi Shi can not form a good couple with Fan Li, and the next sentence "the broken silk is more than a puncture and hurts the hand", referring to the broken lotus stem and the silk is continuous, symbolizing the continuous feelings. The stem pierces the hand, referring to the painful parting feelings. This paragraph is a famous paragraph in "The Story of Huansha", singing about picking lotus but implying affection, and the people in the house are singing very well, Rao is full of his heart, and he can't help but stop and listen carefully.

"Good, good, good, Xiong can hear Mr. Liu's song today, which is really a blessing for three lives. It's just a song from Mr. Wen, and after that, other vulgar songs are afraid that they will no longer be able to hear it, which is sad and lamentable! ”

Zheng Zhilong was listening attentively, but the sound of the song suddenly stopped, but it was Xiong Wencan's voice that praised loudly. It's just that this voice is clearly a young woman, but for some reason, Xiong Wencan is called "sir". Zheng Zhilong stood outside the house, and when he heard the words of the woman and Xiong Wencan inside, the curiosity in his heart became heavier and heavier, and he simply said in a loud voice: "The last general, Zheng Zhilong, will see the governor!" ”

Hearing Zheng Zhilong's request to see him, the room was quiet for a moment, and then Xiong Wencan's voice came: "Is it General Feihuang (Zheng Zhilong's character)?" Quick, come in, I'm going to introduce you to someone today! (To be continued.) )