After nightfall, the surroundings were quiet, and in the wing room where Zhou Hongmo entered, Chen Xin and Liu Minyou sat and studied their respective plans.

In the evening, Zhou Hongmo invited the head of the banknote customs banquet, but Chen Xin went out without authorization, and it was inconvenient for outsiders to know, so he did not go to see the head of the banknote customs, and Song Wenxian accompanied Zhou Laifu to go, although Zhou Laifu was okay to do things, but this kind of public relations thing was far worse than Song Wenxian.

Liu Minyou said while writing: "The price of cloth, paper, and tobacco have been asked, which is about the same as Tianjin, bought from Linqing, it is impossible to go to Wendeng by land, the cost is too high, and we have to take the sea route from Tianjin to Wendeng, so we have to buy things in Tianjin, Yangzhou has the most copper, this must be solved in Yangzhou, if the water camp is built, silk, spices, and tea will be purchased directly from Xu Xinsu's Jiangnan store, and the sea route to Wendeng can save a lot of canal costs in the middle." ”

Chen Xindao: "Xu Xinsu promised to find me three lucky boats, and there are some boatmen, I heard Zuo Changhao say that Guangdong's big black boat is very good, although it is a Guangzhou ship style, but it is very strong, Li Kuiqi used this kind of ship, it is very good to use it as an armed merchant ship, and transport those precious spices, tea and silk, so I also entrusted Zuo Changhao to see if I can buy it." The grain and cotton cloth were bought from the shipping boats. ”

Liu Minyou stopped writing and asked, "Do you really want to train your special forces?" If Zheng Zhilong is killed, won't you be worthless to Xu Xinsu and Li Guozhu? ”

Chen Xin gave Liu Min a thumbs up, "Brother Liu knows everything, but I don't dare to take risks, Zheng Zhilong and Xu Xinsu are endless." In case Zheng Zhilong kills Xu Xinsu, we will have nothing. Even if Zheng Zhilong is killed, there are other Haikou bandits, there will always be people who come out, Xu Xinsu has one more reinforcement from me, there is no reason to ignore me, and I can trust him. You've been in charge of the clothing shop for so long, what about the merchants who come and go? ”

"Those who are familiar with each other can be trusted. Although there is no contract, most of them are said to be the same, and they are better executed than the contract. It's much better than we were back then. ”

"The big businessman of this era, credit is very important, what is said is a contract, Xu Xinsu can do the current Cheng dù, there should be no problem in this regard." Chen Xin stretched his waist and continued, "Let's arrange it this way, is Zhou Laifu too powerful, these accounts are basically cultivated in clothing stores, and they are used to listening to Zhou Laifu's ......"

Liu Minyou glanced at him unhappily and said, "Their families are not all in your hands, you are not at ease." Besides, I have no other way, and I have to run a comprehensive store internally, and there are too few people who know how to settle accounts. ”

"Lao Cai will give it to you, let him go to the school to run an accounting class."

Liu Minyou said with a smile: "Aren't you afraid that he will teach his students to be greedy and cheap?" ”

"When the water is clear, there are no fish, you also know Lao Cai. knows how to be measured in big things, you have been in charge of the clothing store for so long, and you haven't fired him. ”

Liu Minyou shook his head and said: "He can't do it alone, the training of the account room is slow, we have been learning mathematics since childhood, but for ordinary farmers." Learning to settle accounts is a headache, only choose one in the literacy class first, pick out the slightly better ones and enter the account room class, in addition, the wounded soldiers in the army are also good, many people can calculate some simple, and I will also give lectures at that time. ”

Chen Xin touched his chin and whispered: "It's not enough to rely on the decentralization of the account room, especially those who are stationed in other places, they will get mixed together after a long time." ”

"Once every two or three years, it will be fine, and if there are enough people in the future, there will be an accounting review."

"Why is it okay, there is no way to conduct a review at all, the shops stationed abroad are all traded with the outside, and there are no bills, and the prices of raw materials and goods are not constant, write more when you do the accounts, who knows, we should have a secret agency."

"If you want to do it, you can do it, don't spy on me." Liu Minyou turned his head to look outside and asked, "Are they coming back when it's dark, it's all curfew......

"Lord Liu, you still think you are the original, Zhou Hongmo is an official, and he can walk wherever he goes at night. I guess they won't come back tonight, according to the habit, it should be to entertain the principal to spend the night in the Qinglou, Song Wenxian and they have no reason to come back by themselves. ”

At this time, there was a creak at the door outside, and a burst of footsteps came in a hurry, Liu Minyou listened to it and said, "You also said that Zhou Laifu will come back, and this is how he walked in the clothing store." ”

Chen Xin opened the door, and sure enough, Zhou Laifu appeared at the door, Chen Xin asked strangely, "You're back so soon?" What about Mr. Song? ”

After Zhou Laifu came in, he said to Chen Xin: "At the banquet, the chief said that half a month ago, there was an internal official and eunuch from Linqing, and there were a few servants with him, I heard that he was sent to Dengzhou to supervise the army, and the chief also participated in the reception banquet at that time, and I heard that the eunuch said that as soon as he arrived, he would inspect the camps in Dengzhou, and the Wendeng camp was the first place. Mr. Song said that this is a big deal, and he can't leave, so let me come back and talk to the adults first. ”

Liu Minyou's eyes widened, "Eunuch? Not a eunuch? ”

"It's a eunuch, and the fan is from Dongchang."

"He went to Dengzhou, how could he have passed from Linqing, how did he go."

Chen Xin sneered and said: "What kind of money do you collect when you go by sea, I estimate that he will go around Jinan from Dongchang and go around." It seems that we have to hurry back and prepare, if he wants to go to Wendeng, Sun Yuanhua and Yu Keda may also go. What is the name of this eunuch? ”

"It's called Lu Zhi, according to the director, after martial law in Beijing last year, this Lu Zhi was the commander of Jiumen and the Imperial City at that time."

Chen Xin nodded, he was a little impressed by this Lu Zhi, Wendeng Camp was stationed at Desheng Gate at that time, which belonged to one of the nine gates of the inner city, this Lu eunuch seemed to have come to inspect once, he was cautious in front of Cao Huachun, so Chen Xin was not impressed by him, and he did not touch him, but fortunately, he did not offend him.

After Wei Zhongxian's ambush, Chongzhen withdrew the prison army of each town, but he did not abolish the prison system, but just to remove Wei Zhongxian's minions, the situation in Chongzhen's second year was quite stable, and the emperor was not in a hurry to send a new prison army out.

Of course, Chen Xin and the two didn't know, Liu Minyou asked Chen Xin in a low voice: "His first stop is Wendeng Camp." A good thing or a bad thing? ”

"I don't know, Zhang Dahui should have sent the news back to Weihai, it's hard to say it's a good thing or a bad thing, there seems to be no supervision of the army in Dengzhou last year, I guess it's mainly because of Yuan Chonghuan's killing of Mao Wenlong, plus several mutinies, the emperor is no longer at ease with the civilian and military attachés. It is only a matter of time before the eunuch oversees the army, and no matter what the purpose of sending him is, we must do our best to make it a good thing. ”

Liu Minyou asked, "Did you deal with these eunuchs when you were in Jingshi?" I didn't give him any money. ”

"I only know Cao Huachun. Two thousand or three thousand taels of silver were given. This time Lu Zhi came, and this number is indispensable. ”

Liu Minyou looked unwilling, "This is two or three hundred thousand catties of grain." How many people have to be raised. ”

"Come on, let's not give away more losses, we give more silver every year, and there is no less of his share." Chen Xin turned his head to Zhou Laifu and said, "Laifu, what else is the news?" ”

"Yuan Chonghuan died, in August in Beijing was executed by Ling Chi, when the execution of many people went to buy his meat to eat, last year Jiannu into the Kou, most of the people in Beijing have relatives died outside the city, so they hate him."

Chen Xin and Liu Minyou both knew about this result for a long time. But I don't know how miserable it is, I still feel a little embarrassed when I hear it, last year at this time, he was still a powerful supervisor, and countless people looked at his face and acted, but now there are no bones. Mao Wenlong, who was killed by him, had already been buried by the West Lake.

Liu Minyou sighed: "I knew this was the case, I went home to celebrate my birthday when I was exempted from the governor of Liaodong, why should I go back to be a supervisor and harm others and myself." ”――

On the second day, the two hurriedly said goodbye to Zhou Hongmo, who also knew about the prison army and did not keep it. After sending each of them a horse, Chen Xin explained to Zhou Laifu before leaving, asking him to do his best to build up the canal network, and leaving two guards to help temporarily.

They bought a few more horses in the horse market outside the city, and they didn't dare to delay all the way, and they rushed to Gaotang Prefecture on the same day.

Along the way, I saw that the territory of Dongchang Province was indeed full of cotton fields, but wheat millet became a minority, and the horse-drawn carts and ox carts transporting cotton were endless, and the faces and clothes of the people looked good, much better than those near Dengzhou.

After getting out of Dongchang Mansion, it is the jurisdiction of Jinan Mansion, the farther away from the canal, the barren fields will gradually increase, and the harvest in the fields does not look good, this year's northern land is a big drought, Shandong is slightly better than Henan, Shanxi and Shaanxi, but the grain harvest is certain, and the people they see have gradually become the kind of peasant taste they are familiar with, and there are more displaced people on the road. Jinan is followed by Qingzhou and Laizhou, which is already the Jiaodong Peninsula, and the people are getting poorer and poorer, and countless beggars and homeless people are moving to various towns and cities along the way.

Liu Minyou had never ridden a horse for such a long time, and the inner thigh was already swollen, and Song Wenxian also shouted that he couldn't bear it, and after arriving at Qingzhou Mansion, he could only change the carriage, although he kept changing the carriage all the way, but the speed was still not as good as the original horse.

After passing Pingdu Prefecture, it is about to enter the boundary of Dengzhou, and there are more and more beggars and displaced people on the road, almost blocking the official road, but there are relatively few people who drag children and women, and there are more strong men and women.

Chen Xin rode a horse slowly through the flow of people, while listening to the voices of the displaced people around him, many of them seemed to have Liaodong accents, and their destination was Wendeng.

Curious, he jumped off his horse and asked a few homeless men beside him, "Brothers, where are you going?" ”

Although the homeless people were thin, they had a smile on their faces, "Let's go to Wendeng." ”

"Oh, why did you go so far to Camp Wenden? Jinan Mansion and Dongchang Mansion are still richer. ”

"We are all from Liaodong, we are going to the camp of Wendeng, that General Chen can fight Tartars, we have to follow him back to Liaodong."

Chen Xin smiled: "Who did you listen to? ”

"This is something that everyone knows, that General Chen is the second Qi Shaobao of the emperor's personal seal, and he killed more than a thousand Tartars, let's believe him, we used to work hard in Guangrao, a few days ago, people from Wendeng Camp came to recruit people from all over the country, saying that there is food, and maybe they can divide the fields, so they have to go."

Those Liao people sang the minor tune of Liaodong loudly, and continued to hurry happily, Chen Xin stopped in place and shook his head with a smile, and then Song Wenxian and Liu Minyou came over, Liu Min said: "I told Xu Yuanhua to let him recruit some people from all over the country, but I didn't expect so much, too many are difficult to do, and I don't know if there are so many wastelands that can accommodate them." ”

Chen Xinyi waved his hand and said: "What's so difficult to do, people are the most precious resources, as long as they are within their ability, they must be kept, no one is called difficult, and the people have done a good job." ”

Song Wenxian laughed and said: "Wendeng Camp is famous all over the world, and heroes from all over the world will come to vote." ”

Chen Xin took a breath, "This is the benefit of fame." ”