Wanli retired from the dynasty and returned to the harem, his brain was still a little buzzing, which really made Cheng Dong's noise torture. Li Long followed behind Wanli, waited for Wanli to sit down, poured water for him, and then stood solemnly beside him with his hands down, waiting for Wanli to speak.

"Li Long, what do you think about Xiao Ruxun's going to send troops?" Wanli asked.

Li Long said: "Back to Long Live Lord, the slave doesn't understand this Xiao Ruxun, and I can't say whether this matter is reliable or not." However, Xiao Ruxun's article said that he was joining forces with Su Hao, and this slave was down-to-earth. Long live you, think about it, with Su Hao's action, how can it not be done? ”

"Haha, that's what I thought too!" Wanli laughed, and his gloomy mood was swept away, "This Cheng Dong said something, I was angry when I heard it." That Su Hao said something, and I was happy to hear it. How can the difference between this person and man be so great? ”

Li Long said: "Long live Lord, since you like this Su Hao so much, wouldn't it be good to let him come back to the capital and give him a big official, so that you can see him every day in the court?" ”

Wanli said: "He is still young now, let him practice more, it will be good for him." If he could really go to the steppe and beat the Tatars severely, he would have taken a breath of evil for me. ”

Li Long said: "Long live Lord, the key now is that the imperial court has to allow Su Hao and Xiao Ruxun to send troops." But the words of the kid surnamed Cheng made everyone dumb, what should I do about this, long live you, you still have to have a charter. ”

Wanli sighed and said, "I don't know this, but this Cheng Dong is a speech official." I still have to listen to what he says. If the ministers of the court and the central government are not in favor of sending troops. I can't help it. ”

Li Long was also dumbfounded, he was only able to help Wanli earn pocket money, and he could pat Concubine Zheng's sycophants, so he got Wanli's favor. If you want to talk about how to fight wits with Yanguan, he has no way at all. He was silent for a while, then sighed like Wanli and said, "Alas, this thing is really difficult. If Su Hao was in the capital, maybe he would have a way. ”

The two monarchs and ministers sighed in the palace, but the ministers did not have so much distress, and after retiring from the court, they went in groups of three or five to do whatever they wanted. Zhou Wei'an, the servant of the ministry, walked home in a sedan chair, chased a small servant behind him, and said to Zhou Wei'an outside the sedan chair: "Zhou Shilang." My lord wants to ask if you are free today. ”

Zhou Wei'an opened the sedan curtain and recognized that the little guy was the servant of Zhuang Migao's family, so he responded with a smile: "Oh, I'm free." What, is your marquis also free? ”

"Exactly, my lord said that he wanted to go to Zhou Shilang's house to play a few games." The little guy also said with a smile.

"You go and tell your marquis. Zhou said that he did not dare to ask for ears. Zhou Wei'an said.

The little guy ran back and reported to Zhuang Migao, who was also sitting in the sedan chair, Zhuang Migao laughed and told the sedan chair man to follow Zhou Wei'an's sedan chair. The two came to Zhou Wei'an's house together.

After sitting down in the living room, Zhou Wei'an asked, "Brother Zhuang." What do you think of what is being discussed by the court today? ”

Zhuang Migao said: "I'm a little puzzled, Xiao Ruxun wants to use troops on the grassland, how can he not use money?" If he asks the Ministry of War for hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, I would like to approve of his proposal. This silver must have been used to buy firearms from the Su family's factory. By the way, Brother Zhou, have you heard that Li Rusong from Liaodong is willing to pay more than 100,000 taels to buy firearms from the Su family factory. ”

Zhou Wei'an smiled: "Of course I heard about it." You said that Su Gaizhi, a young man, really has the ability, and he can really sell these firearms for a big price. At the beginning, Dong Tianzhang said that he wanted to invest in the Su family factory, but I didn't approve of it, but now it seems that this thing that Su has changed is really a cornucopia. ”

Zhuang Migao said: "Isn't it, this guy Su Gaizhi is indeed impressive." ”

"That's bullshit like Cheng Dong's kid, just memorize some sage articles." Zhou Wei'an said disdainfully. He is actually one of the ministers who once supported Cheng Dong, but in his heart, the positioning of Cheng Dong is just a gun. After being an official for so many years, he has long known that the ways of sages are fake, and real benefits are real. In terms of seeking benefits, Su Hao is more than a hundred times stronger than Cheng Dongke.

Dong Tianzhang and Yang Laizhen are the lackeys of Zhou Wei'an and Zhuang Migao respectively, Dong and Yang invested in Su Hao's factory, and then under the banner of Zhou Wei'an and Zhuang Migao, they were responsible for selling various rare products produced in the factory, and the dividends they received were considerable. Naturally, a considerable part of these dividends will be handed over to the masters behind them, so Zhou Wei'an and Zhuang Migao are both beneficiaries of Su Hao's business, and they are naturally full of good feelings towards Su Hao.

This time, Xiao Ruxun proposed to go abroad to fight, and what Zhou and Zhuang thought about the most was not a question of benevolence and morality, nor whether the court's finances could support it, but whether they could benefit from this battle. If the imperial court took out a large amount of silver to purchase the Su family's firearms in order to fight the war, then they would naturally benefit from it, and they would express their approval. And now, Xiao Ruxun proposed in the article that there is no need to increase military spending, and Zhou and Zhuang can't see their benefits, and of course they have no interest in supporting it.

"There is no need for additional military spending, how is Xiao Ruxun going to fight this battle?" Zhuang Migao asked casually.

Zhou Wei'an shook his head: "How do I know, maybe he is really lost because of his promotion, and he wants to be unconventional and make a name for himself." ”

"This kind of thing, let Shen Shoufu and them have a headache." Zhuang Migao also echoed.

As he was talking, a family member of the Zhou Mansion ran in and reported: "Shilang, Marquis Zhuang, Shopkeeper Dong and Shopkeeper Yang have returned from Ningxia, and they heard that the two masters are here, and they asked to meet each other." ”

"Oh? Such a coincidence. Zhou Wei'an and Zhuang Migao glanced at each other, then beckoned to their family members and said, "Please invite the two shopkeepers to the hall to reply." ”

After a while, Dong Tianzhang and Yang Laizhen were brought in. As soon as they entered the door, they saluted Zhou Wei'an and Zhuang Migao respectively, and offered the treasures they had obtained from Ningxia Wei. Bibai fled in a hurry, leaving a lot of jewelry, calligraphy and painting collections in the house, which became the trophies of the Ming army. Dong and Yang were both active people, and they bought some of these trophies from Ye Mengxiong and brought them back to the capital, just in time to give them to key people.

Zhou Wei'an and Zhuang Migao accepted the gifts, exchanged a few words of greetings with Dong and Yang, and then cut to the chase. Zhou Wei'an asked Dong Tianzhang: "Tingye, when you come back this time, did Su Hao ask you to bring anything back?" ”

"Back to Shilang, Tianzhang came back with the words of Deputy Chief Su Bing." Dong Tianzhang bowed and said.

"Oh? Does he have something to say to us? "Zhuang Migao came to the spirit, with his experience, but whenever Su Hao interfered, it must be interesting, as for how much benefit it can bring to himself, it is difficult to say.

Dong Tianzhang said to Zhou Wei'an: "Squire, can you let the subordinate bring a table, Deputy General Su asked Tianzhang to bring something, saying that Squire Lang and Marquis Zhuang will know at a glance." ”

This request is not complicated, Zhou Wei'an commanded, and someone brought a large table and placed it in the middle of the living room. Zhou Wei'an took out a piece of silk silk from his body, spread it out on the table, and then said: "Squire Lang and Marquis Zhuang, please see, this is what Deputy Chief Su asked the villain to bring back." ”

"Maps?" Zhou Wei'an recognized the content of the painting on the silk silk at a glance, he stepped forward, took a closer look, and said: "This is a sketch of the nine sides of the Ming Dynasty, and the outside is the grassland...... And the mountains and rivers, which were painted by Su Gaizhi? ”

Dong Tianzhang said: "It was painted by Deputy General Su and then embroidered by the embroiderers under his command." These mountains and rivers have not been surveyed, but were imagined by Deputy General Su himself. ”

When the survey camp was in Pingyu City, it used to go out of the border wall to the surrounding grasslands for surveying and mapping, but this time the sketch map provided by Su Hao was more extensive, extending to Liaodong to the east and to the north to the scope of today's Outer Mongolia. Such a large area has not been surveyed by the Kanyu Camp, and Su Hao can only roughly draw it with the memory of later generations. What he provides is only a sketch of the picture, so there is no need to pursue any precision.

"What is his purpose in offering such a picture?" Zhuang Migao watched from the side for a long time, but he didn't see anything famous, so he couldn't help but ask Yang Laizhen.

Yang Laizhen said: "Master Hou, pay attention, there are these small marks on this picture. ”

Zhuang Migao followed Yang Laizhen's finger and found some round, square, and triangular small marks on the map, dotted all over the grassland.

"What does that mean?" Zhuang Mi Gao Road.

"Master Hou, Deputy Chief Su said that this circle represents gold ore, the square is coal mine, the triangle is iron ore, and these are lead ore, salt ore, alkali ore, and phosphate ore, all of which are treasures." Yang Laizhen said.

"Mine!" Zhou Wei'an and Zhuang Migao's spirits were lifted, they looked at the map with greedy eyes, and gradually understood what Su Hao meant.

Dong Tianzhang said: "Squire, Marquis Zhuang, Deputy Chief Su said that this grassland is full of treasures, and it would be a pity not to use it." He asked the villain and Zhao Bo to come back and ask the two adults if they were interested in mining on the grassland. ”

"It goes without saying." Zhou Wei'an said with a smile, "Did he ask Xiao Ruxun to send troops to the grassland, just to mine these mines?" ”

Dong Tianzhang said: "Deputy Chief Su said that he and General Xiao want credit, and as for these mines, they will be given to the two adults." However, the two lords have to find a way to get the imperial court to issue an order to send troops, otherwise, these mines can only be placed there, and we can only sigh with joy. ”

"How can the two of us influence the decision of the imperial court?" Zhuang Migao muttered, he was itching for these mines, but he also knew that whether he could send troops or not was not something that he and Zhou Wei'an could count if they talked about it.

Zhou Wei'an understood, he shook his head and said, "Lao Zhuang, we were all tricked by that Su Gaizhi." He said that he was giving us all these mines, but in fact, he was using us as a messenger. In order for the court to agree to send troops, all the ministers must agree to it. Su Hao's meaning is to let us pull the ministers to divide these mineral deposits together in exchange for their support. ”