The New Year of the fourteenth year of Wanli is spent in such a peaceful and festive, full of financial dreams, and the Zhenwu Marquis Mansion is no exception, when several ladies and ladies bought China Merchants stocks with private money have been dividends and dividends twice, and the wealth in everyone's hands has increased several times, and they have all become little rich women.

On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, on the morning of the first day of the New Year, which accompanied Zeng Cheng and his children in Wuyi Lane, Liu Ziguang returned to the mansion under the pretext of New Year's greetings to preside over the overall situation, Peng Jingrong, Peng Jingwei's sisters, Liu Xiaomei, Li Xiangjun, and all the maids and maids, and the nursing home, all waiting to pay New Year's greetings to the master.

Liu Ziguang changed his dress, sat in the lobby, put on the style of the head of the family, and accepted everyone's kneeling, first Peng Jingrong led a group of female dependents and daughter Zhao Jiao to the lord to say ten thousand blessings, and then hundreds of subordinates took turns to kowtow, Liu Ziguang's housekeeper Liu Fu also wore a brand-new silk dress, and so on those people finished worshipping, they went up to the red bag, Hou Ye made a generous New Year's money to the next person, and the New Year's money was a new day of rising Chang ten taels of silver tickets, and people took the silver tickets and kowtowed to the Hou Ye happily.

Just kowtowing, the emperor's reward arrived, and the housekeeper hurriedly arranged the incense case to receive the decree, Zhu Youxiao's holy decree praised Liu Ziguang's contribution in the past year, and rewarded him with a box of treasures, and after the eunuch left, the female dependents immediately surrounded him, and asked Liu Ziguang to open the box to see what treasure the emperor rewarded.

Liu Ziguang gently opened the box of golden silk nanmu, only to see that there were two one-foot-long short knives in the velvet-lined box, the handle of agarwood had no knife, the scabbard was orange-red, and the outside was shrouded in arabesque made of silver, inlaid with blue glass beads and white pearls, the appearance was extremely luxurious and exquisite, and when he took out the blade, he saw that there was a layer of patterns on the cyan blade: "Sure enough, it is a good knife!" It's just a little too showy. Liu Ziguang praised.

"It's just right to give it to me when you're showy." Peng Jingwei shouted, this girl who grew up in the Liguo Iron Works has liked weapons since she was a child, and when she saw such a beautiful short knife, her eyes naturally glowed with gold.

"I want it too~ I want it too." When Liu Xiaomei heard Peng Jingwei boast that it was good, she also made a fuss about jumping on the ground with two feet and scratching Peng Jingwei directly on her head: "It's enough for you to have claws, what kind of short knife do you want." This knife happens to be the most suitable for me and my sister. ”

Peng Jingrong frowned and said: "The things that send swords to soldiers for the New Year are inevitably unlucky, and I don't want this knife." ”

Liu Ziguang laughed: "The emperor knows that I like this, so he specially rewarded him, so there is nothing unlucky, the second lady likes to share it with the kitten." ”

As soon as the words fell, Peng Jingwei and Liu Xiaomei pounced, and one of them grabbed a rare handful, as if they were touching it in their hands, Peng Jingwei was a child who grew up in the weapons factory, and said strangely: "This knife is an antiquity, at least a few hundred years old." ”

Liu Ziguang said: "The things given by the emperor are naturally valuable antiques, if you can get your hands on ordinary things, don't care about any antiquities or antiquities, don't hold it at home on the first day of the Lunar New Year, go out and go around, one thousand taels of silver tickets per person to make New Year's money, buy whatever you want." As he spoke, he took out a few red envelopes and stuffed them into the girls, and at the end of the day, he also stuffed a red envelope into Zhao Jiao's swaddling clothes.

The girls cheered, rushed back to their rooms, dressed up, Liu Ziguang also got up and went back to the room to change clothes, he had to rush back to Wuyi Lane, take his wife and children to the street, and buy some small toys such as rattles for Liu Qianqian, which Zeng Cheng had promised a long time ago.

Just as he was about to go out, he suddenly saw Liu Fu hurriedly running in and said, "Lord Hou's holy decree has arrived." ”

Liu Ziguang wondered if he had just been given something by the emperor, why did he come again, Liu Fu explained: "It was another father-in-law who came to pass on the emperor's message." ”

Liu Ziguang hurriedly put on a python robe and came out to greet him, a young little eunuch with a look of urgency, and he didn't let Liu Fu put any incense on his face, and when he saw Liu Ziguang, he said: "The emperor ordered Xuanzhen Wuhou Huo to enter the palace to discuss the military situation. ”

Liu Ziguang was full of doubts about the peace in the world, where did the military situation come from, but seeing the little eunuch's anxious appearance, he was afraid that something really happened at the border, so he asked Liu Fu to send someone to explain to the eldest princess, and he wanted to go home later, so he followed the edict and the eunuch hurriedly entered the palace.

Coming to the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Youzheng sat behind the dragon book case, with an angry look on his face, and the ground in front of the case threw all over the ground, as well as vases, pen washes, and fragments of jade Ruyi, and the four little eunuchs trembled, knelt beside them, and didn't dare to clean up, Qian Qianyi and several other scholars had already arrived, and their faces were as cold as autumn water, and they didn't say a word.

Seeing Liu Ziguang coming in, Zhu Youxiao seemed to have picked up a life-saving straw, and motioned to the little eunuch to hand over a telegram to Liu Ziguang to see, Liu Ziguang took it over, and couldn't help but be surprised after reading it at a glance and ten lines: Shaanxi actually gained and lost!

The telegram said that the Western Xia people were cunning with troops, and the previous withdrawal to the Western Regions was just a plan to lure the enemy into the depths, and the imperial army was deep into the Hexi Corridor, and the logistics supply line was too long, and the southern soldiers were not suitable for the bitter cold land of the Western Regions, so they were dumpled by the Xia army, and were defeated one after another.

After reading it, Liu Ziguang was speechless, the war in the west suddenly changed, and the role changed too quickly, first passively beaten, and then drove straight into the reconquest of lost territory, and even fought even victories, just when everyone was looking forward to capturing the Hexi Corridor and restoring the former Han and Tang dynasties, the battle situation suddenly and dramatically took a sharp turn, and was even taken back by people with interest.

"Liu Aiqing, what do you think of this?" Zhu Youxiao asked, and the irrepressible anger and irritability could be heard in his voice, and it is no wonder that the manpower and material resources invested in the war in the west were too great, and the army spent fifteen million taels of silver, and the children of Huguang and Henan recruited more than 200,000 people.

"What else can I do, naturally the whole army will fight again, Guanzhong is the land of Longxing in my Huaxia, and I can't give it to the barbarians, and the ministers are not willing to lead the troops to the west to resist the barbarians." Liu Ziguang's generous statement made Zhu Youxiao raise his eyebrows, and his heart was happy.

"Inspector Yuan has not reached the point of exhaustion, at this time it is too early to change the commander, with the meaning of the minister, only need to raise military salaries, grain and grass to Henan, so that Inspector Yuan reorganizes the men and horses, and then fights again, victory or defeat is a common thing in the army, Your Majesty does not have to be in a hurry, let alone the former generals of the army, so as not to hurt the morale of the army."

As soon as he heard that Liu Ziguang wanted to take command and lead the army, Qian Qianyi immediately stood up against him, and other ministers also said that the Western Xia was not enough, and they only needed to add troops and pay heavy rewards, and there would be brave men under Guanzhong, and sooner or later, there would be no need to filter. Some people also said that they might as well follow the example of the Song Dynasty and spend some silver to redeem Shaanxi, anyway, the barbarians are just money and food, and the children will naturally retreat when they are satisfied.

The exclusive text version of this work may not be reproduced without permission, and excerpts for more of the latest and fastest chapters can be found here.! As soon as everyone said this, Zhu Youxiao relieved himself and said to everyone: "The matter of changing the commander is put on hold for the time being, you quickly take a note and show it, whether it is a war or a peace, how to fight and how to discuss, and leave it to the ministers, Liu Aiqing will come with me to let you see my new things." ”

Liu Ziguang was speechless, and the emperor, who was still indignant just now, became like a nobody in a blink of an eye, but since he was enthusiastic, people didn't care, and he wouldn't learn any direct ministers' death advice, but never mentioned the war in the west, and accompanied Zhu Youxiao to play with the tracked car.

The two of them drove on the stone floor of the palace for a while, and the tracked car seemed to have found the feeling of racing together again, and after a while, Zhu Youxiao said: "Brother-in-law, I don't see you, I often bring my nephew into the palace to see if the queen mother and I are sisters who are reluctant to have children." ”

Liu Ziguang said: "Yes, the child is too young, his mother is very pampered, if the queen mother wants her grandson, I will carry it into the palace another day." ”

Zhu Youxiao said: "The queen mother really misses her grandson, the old man should also have a grandson at this age, and the younger brother and daughter Cheng Huan are under his knees, but it's a pity that my queen's stomach is not angry, and there has been no movement for three years, and there is a lack of children's anger in this palace." ”

Liu Ziguang said: "The emperor is in his prime, and I'm afraid that there will be no prince, if the queen can't have children, then take a few more concubines, there will always be a large group of dragon sons and grandchildren." ”

*******************************************************************

After chatting with the emperor for a while, it was already noon, Liu Ziguang declined Zhu Youxiao's banquet, and hurriedly came to the house in Wuyi Lane, Zeng Cheng had already changed into a brand new cotton robe, and waited for a long time, even Liu Qianqian was dressed up, stopped when he opened the stall, the tiger head hat on the head of the small cotton jacket and cotton pants looked magical, and when he saw his husband go home, Zeng Cheng said: "Xianggong, I went out in the morning to buy a lot of things, bought a rattle for the child, Da Afu bought you a new scarf and boots, and also pulled a piece of green cloth to make a robe for you, in addition, I also did a big thing, if nothing else, in two months, we can change to a big house with a back garden, the scrious is getting bigger and bigger, maybe we will have to add some younger brothers and sisters, we are a little small now."

Liu Ziguang said: "Where did you get so much money? The big mansion in the capital is not a few hundred taels of silver, at least 10,000 taels can be beaten. ”

Zeng Cheng smiled and said: "I bought the Xiyu Jiebao Performance Fund, three taels and five dollars of silver, a unit of silver, very cheap, you know, the original market price of this kind of fund was only one or two silver, and it tripled in less than a month, I heard that the west won the war again, this fund will rise again, and when we earn 10,000 taels, we will sell and buy a big house for the sloppy toss, you say okay." ”

Liu Ziguang's face sank at that time: "When did you buy it?" ”

"I just bought it this morning, Aunt Zhang and Sister Li next door, they both bought it, I didn't want to buy it, but I heard them say that this is the fund of the imperial court, and I don't want you to go out again to make hard money, so I took out the three thousand taels of silver saved at home and bought some of my ...... I'm not going to get in trouble, am I?" Zeng Chengxian, Liu Ziguang's face was wrong, and he replied timidly.