Chapter 193: Building Momentum for Gunpowder
(I thank kadp and ใกใกใค Kaede for the commuter pass of Kadp and ใกใค Kaede and bow.) Thank you Xiao Afang for your praise all the way. ๏ผ
This morning, Lu Chen was woken up by the heat. Last night, I played a game with Sister Zhen Mi for a long time, and Lu Chen naturally slept naked, but in the morning it was so hot that he was sweating, as if he was being steamed in a steamer.
Kicking off the quilt and opening his eyes, Lu Chen saw that Zhen Mixi had already dressed and hugged a large piece of snow-white fur and gestured at him, which was a complete and huge bear skin. Obviously, Lu Chen was covered by this fur, he sat up, yawned and dragged Zhen Mi towards the bed.
"Hey, Bo Chao, what are you doing in broad daylight?" Zhen Mi turned around, blushing and disgusted.
"You said it was broad daylight, of course it was ......" Lu Chen smiled.
"Don't make a fuss!" Zhen Mi took a sip, and her eyes flashed with an indescribable charm, "I can't stand your toss, why don't I call Yun Sleeve for you to come in?" This Nizi has grown up a lot now, and she can pinch out the water with a pinch, she blushed early this morning and secretly played with her pants, rubbing it hard, hehe......"
"Don't people just wash their clothes, don't you?" When Lu Chen thinks of Yun Sleeve, he will always think of the nameless who is missing his front teeth, and he smirks at the picture of handing a string of sugar gourds to Yun Sleeve, that guy is still leading the Flying Dragon Secret Spy to work hard for himself, he eats and drinks well in Yanmen and sleeps with his sister? That's not big, is it?
"Why don't you know how to fake it? Yun Sleeve sleeps outside us every day, you are so hard, can she not hear it? Her obscene pants ......"
"Ah, that's it! I am hungry. Take two steamed buns. โ
"Boom!"
"White flour steamed buns, I didn't say I would eat you! Sister Mi'er, why are you getting more and more evil? โ
"Breakfast is ready, it's outside. Don't worry, take a look at this. Zhen Mi twisted her waist, held up the boss's two steamed buns, and asked Lu Chen, "Is it white?" โ
"When I take off my clothes, I can see whether it is white or not." Lu Chen said with a smile.
"What? I'm talking about this skin! Zhen Mi lifted the white bear skin hard, and it looked very heavy.
"It's white. Do? โ
"Let Miao Yin sew you a cape. If you wear armor in winter, you won't freeze. Zhen Mi's eyes were bright and full of longing, "The longer you get, the higher you get." It's rare to find such a big piece of fur. โ
Lu Chen listened awkwardly. How it feels like an underage child being toyed with. The longer it gets, the higher it gets. He also noticed the fur, and it could be said that there was still plenty to make a wide cloak for him who was tall and tall. That's too big, right?
"Where did it come from?" Lu Chen subconsciously frowned. He knew that this kind of fur would definitely not be cheap, Lu Chen usually didn't give much money to his family, and Zhen Mi couldn't afford such an expensive fur.
"Someone else sent it." Zhen Mi said disappreliantly, "I've calculated, it's okay to make you a cloak with a cloak." โ
"Who sent it?" Lu Chen's voice was a little cold.
"What are you doing?" Zhen Mi twisted her waist and was unhappy, "The merchant sent it." โ
"Merchant? A businessman who came to Yanmen to buy horses? Hum! Who told you to take it? โ
Lu Chen was not disgusted with Zhen Mi's interaction with the outside world, he didn't think about keeping her in captivity, but the businessman wouldn't give her such a heavy gift for no reason, obviously because he knew her identity. Even if this businessman didn't directly ask Zhen Mi for anything, presumably the people below would be able to take care of each other "knowingly". This was not too much of a problem, but Lu Chen knew that most of those merchants had the backgrounds of princes from all walks of life, one side was a businessman, and the other was a spy. If Zhen Mi took the lead in accepting the other party's gift, then those people below would think that Lu Chen had received it, and began to follow suit, making it easy for their own secrets to be snooped on.
"I'm ......" Zhen Mi suddenly pouted.
"What am I? Send it back! Lu Chen said unhappily, the horse market has already opened, and with the personal relationship of Zhen Yi, Chen Gong, Zhang Yang and Pang Tong, there have been many businessmen from all over the Central Plains gathered in Yanmen. For this reason, Lu Chen gave an order early that he was not allowed to accept heavy gifts from businessmen, and once he was discovered, he would be severely punished, and as a reward, Lu Chen promised extremely generous year-end bonuses to the officials under his rule.
"I don't!" Zhen Mi turned her head and ignored Lu Chen.
"Sue me who sent it? I personally sent it back. Lu Chen was furious.
"Your eldest brother sent it."
"Huh? Liu, Liu Xiao? โ
"What Liu Xiao?"
"Don't you say my eldest brother? Wuzhu's brother is the eldest son of Hu Chuquan, his name seems to be Liu Xiao, he came to Yanmen? Come sell horses? โ
"Ahhh I'm! โ
Zhen Mi immediately became furious, pounced on it and took a bite on Lu Chen's chest.
"Your brother is coming to Yanmen?" Of course, Lu Chen deliberately teased Zhen Mi, if it was sent by Zhen Yan, then there would be no problem.
"It was sent by your Wuzhu's brother, hum!" Zhen Mi pouted and ignored Lu Chen.
Kissed Zhen Mi a few bites, Lu Chen laughed, Zhen Yi, the old fox, showed a little sincerity in the end, and did not plan to hang himself on Yuan Shao's tree. Zhen Mi was kissed so that her limbs were weak, and she couldn't get angry, so she dressed Lu Chen and went out for breakfast with him.
During the dinner, Zhen Mi talked about her brother Zhen Yan's visit to Yanmen.
Lu Chen hadn't paid attention to the situation in Yanmen Horse Market for a long time, so he just listened to it and learned about the development of Mayi Horse Market.
According to Zhen Mi, her brother Zhen Yan was arranged by his father to come to Yanmen and opened a trading company in Mayi, selling horses, armaments, grain and grass. Although the relationship was not very good when she was at home before, she was always a member of the family, so she often went to see her brother when she was free. War horses, stirrups and horseshoes were, of course, bought from Yanmen and sold to Yuan Shao's army, and grain and grass were mainly transported from Hebei to Mayi and sold to Chen Gong. In addition, the Zhen family trading company also collects some fur medicinal materials and other things, however, she heard her brother say in private that he came to Yanmen mainly for gunpowder, of course, now he is eyeing coal and cement, two new things.
War horses, stirrups and horseshoes, and even new-style Takahashi saddles began to be sold, but the gunpowder was still hidden by Lu Chen and refused to be sold publicly, so all business travelers were inevitably anxious, for fear that others would secretly reach an agreement with Lu Chen. In fact, Lu Chen didn't sell it, but deliberately pretended to be weird. While he tightly sealed the leakage of information related to gunpowder, he fired dozens of cannonballs at the south gate of Mayi every few days, and the sound of cannons was so loud that none of the merchants could not notice it, and they could feel that the power of the cannonballs was getting stronger and stronger, and the range was getting farther and farther.
In fact, Lu Chen wanted to build momentum, pass these merchants, spread the fame of gunpowder to the world, and then start selling at a high price, and on the eighth day of October, his marriage was an opportunity.
Of course, Zhen Mi didn't promise her brother anything, she just shirked and said that she didn't know.
After eating, Lu Chen thought about it and said to Zhen Mi: "Mi'er, it's okay today, let's go shopping." โ
"Huh?" Zhen Mi was first surprised, then happy, and asked rhetorically, "Really?" โ
In all dynasties, there is no woman who does not like to go shopping, this is an indelible gene. Lu Chen didn't like shopping very much, but now it's time to take a look at the current situation of Ma Yi. Like testing artillery every few days, the commercialization of Ma Yi into the city also laid the foundation for the arms trade conference more than a month later, and he naturally could not ignore the development of Ma Yi. (To be continued......)