Fei Rulan shook the spinning wheel in the room, spinning carefully one by one.

She once asked Li Banghua who was the most virtuous among the queens of the past dynasties. Li Banghua replied that if you talk about the ancient sages, it is none other than Queen Ma when the previous dynasty was founded.

Fei Rulan asked again what words and deeds Queen Ma had, and Li Banghua said many deeds. For example, spinning and weaving in the palace is Queen Ma's initiative, and Zhu Yuanzhang has to spring plough every year, and they lead by example to persuade Nongsang.

Beginner spinning, the action is not good, Fei Rulan's speed is very slow, and occasionally she has to bury her head in a careful look.

Sitting opposite her was Liu, who was also spinning, but much faster.

Fei Rulan sincerely admired: "Mrs. Xu is really virtuous, she spins so well, and she is afraid that her family affairs can be taken care of properly." ”

Liu Shi hurriedly said: "The mother has a golden body, and she spun cotton yarn by hand, which is the real virtuous lady." ”

Asking for some textile skills, Fei Rulan asked again: "Where did Mrs. Xu buy her fat powder?" The smell is quite quiet and elegant. ”

Liu replied: "Lanxiuge, it's a time-honored brand." ”

"I'll have someone buy some next time." Fei Rulan said with a smile.

One of the great duties of the empress is to summon the minister's wife and appease the daughters of the minister's family.

Although Liu had met the queen several times, he was apprehensive every time they met. She was originally just the wife of a talented woman in the countryside, but her husband was good at prostitution and gambling, and even the prostitution money was not enough to be withheld, so she was notified to take the silver to the brothel to ransom people.

At that time, it felt dark and there was no hope for life at all.

Unexpectedly, her husband was suddenly beaten to death by gangsters, and she was taken in by her husband's friends to take care of her. At first, I didn't think about it, after all, I was just a widow, and I was older than Xu Ying. Xu Ying was born handsome, full of talent, and knew how to make money in business.

She can only have a secret crush, even if it is just a crush, she often blames herself for not abiding by women's morals, and feels that widows should not have such thoughts.

But that emotion is really hard to suppress, the more Xu Ying abides by etiquette and takes care of him, the stronger her secret love becomes. Xu Ying's appearance was full of thoughts all day long, Xu Ying went out and came back a little later, she was worried about whether something happened to her, and even dreamed one day that she was doing something embarrassing with Xu Ying.

Lonely men and widows, dry wood and fire, after all, still exceeded the etiquette.

Liu felt very happy, although he did not hold a wedding, he only reported his marriage at the official mansion and received the marriage certificate and became a family. But the small days are dull, and the love between husband and wife is abnormal, which is countless times better than before.

Until King Zhao occupied the whole province of Jiangxi, Xu Ying suddenly said: "I am from Mr. Zhao's town and I want to go to Yangzhou on business." I may be able to go home once a year, and Mrs. Lao will take care of the two children in charge of the house. ”

Liu didn't think much about it at the time, after all, there were many people who took refuge in Zhao Tianwang, thinking that her husband was just one of them.

But King Zhao Tianwang ascended the throne in Nanjing and became the emperor, and Xu Ying also brought the whole family over. It turned out that her husband's identity was fake, as well as her parents and brother, and that was the first time she met her in-laws.

Even so, Liu has not yet figured out the situation, because her husband is too low-key and has a low sense of presence in the Nanjing court.

Until the queen invited her to dinner, she was kind and family-friendly with her!

That time, Liu was greatly shocked and did not come back to his senses for several days. Gradually, she got to know the wives of other ministers, and occasionally went out to go shopping and hang out.

The most interesting is Zhang Tieniu's wife, a well-bodied widow who remarried.

I heard that Huangjia Town had just been conquered, and His Majesty assigned wives to the soldiers. General Zhang didn't have any pursuits at the time, he just wanted to ask for a life that could give birth to children, and he fell in love with his current wife at a glance - because his ass was so good to give birth.

Sure enough, I gave birth to four babies in one go.

Now they quarrel when they meet, Zhang Tieniu thinks that his wife is not good-looking, and he has never read a book, and his personality is arrogant and domineering. Now that he is stationed in the north with troops, Zhang Tieniu does not take his wife away, but only asks her to take care of the children at home.

Some time ago, his wife went to the queen to cry. said that her husband was prosperous and disgusted with his wife, and after he went to the north, he wrote home for half a year, and he must have raised a small one outside.

Every time everyone meets to go shopping, it is Zhang Tieniu's wife who is responsible for bargaining, and she is red because of dozens of dollars.

At first, Liu felt very embarrassed, but gradually got used to it, as long as this mother-in-law was present, everyone always laughed very happily.

……

Liu was spinning yarn with the queen in the house, but her husband was in the courtyard, sitting with the emperor and chatting about official business.

Xu Ying ate the pastries brought by Pan Qimei and said: "Cao Fengji's business in Nanjing, thirty percent of the guys are from Taigu, Shanxi, and the rest are recruited locally in Nanjing. At the beginning, we went to investigate those Shanxi guys and sent many secret agents to contact them, but we didn't find any clues, they really thought they were coming to the south to do business. ”

Zhao Han asked, "Is Xiaozuo a local?" ”

Xu Ying said: "Half a local. This guy was originally from Nanjing, and followed his owner to do business in Yangzhou all the year round, and his owner was killed when the stove household uprising. When he heard that Nanjing was governed by His Majesty, he was very stable and prosperous, so he fled back to register and settle down, and found an errand for a business. ”

"How did he get out?" Zhao Han asked.

Xu Ying said: "Cao Fengji's trading company guys, all of them have been checked, as long as their homes are in the south, including their families. The young son of this guy is only four years old, and he disappeared for two days at the beginning of the year, and he went to the government to report the case, and later said that the child was found. Because he was threatened, he was afraid that something would happen to his family. ”

Zhao Han said disdainfully: "Directly threaten with your family, and the subtle methods of pseudo-Qing are too rough." ”

"It's rough, but it's useful, and it's not just a random threat," Xu Ying said, "I let the woman get in touch with this guy's mother, give some small favors, and talk about everything in a few days." The mother, who was this guy, also boasted that she had Korean ginseng in her family, which was rewarded by the owner when her son was doing business. It wasn't Korean ginseng, it was a sea cucumber, and it might have been stolen. ”

Zhao Han suddenly said: "This person has been to Liaodong before, and he has been a meticulous work for the pseudo-Qing Dynasty." ”

Xu Ying said: "The minister also sent people to investigate the merchants in Yangzhou, Huai'an, Xuzhou and other places, especially those who had gone to Liaodong to do business. I didn't expect to have a real harvest, a businessman told the secret agent, saying that he would be a businessman along the Tartars, all over the four provinces of Nanzhili, Beizhili, Shandong, and Shanxi in the Ming Dynasty. Among them, Shandong and Shanxi have the most businessmen. ”

"How did the Tartars buy the merchants?" Zhao Han asked.

Xu Ying explained: "When the Tartar chieftain Nurhachi captured Liaoyang, he captured a large number of merchants. The merchants thought they would be killed, but instead of dying, they lost their possessions. But there is one condition, that is, to pass the news to the Tartars, as long as they collude with the Tartars, they can continue to do business in Liaodong in the future. At that time, they all agreed, some really colluded with the Tartars, and a few did not go to Liaodong after returning to their hometowns. ”

Zhao Han nodded: "Go on." ”

Xu Ying said: "Shanxi businessmen, mainly in Datong and Zhangjiakou, trade goods with Tartars, and also take the opportunity to pass on information. In particular, the Shanxi merchants in Zhangjiakou were all developed by Huang Taiji later. As for the Shandong merchants, they traded grain with the Tartars. The minister also asked a lot of inside information, Yuan Chonghuan sold rice to the Mongols, one was in exchange for war horses, and the other was to win over those wavering Mongolian tribes. Huang Taiji was furious and severely rebuked the Mongols. The Manchus subjugated the Mongol tribes by three main means: one was to fight, the second was marriage, and the third was grain. ”

Zhao Han's eyes suddenly lit up: "The pseudo-Qing used grain to control the Mongolian tribes? ”

Xu Ying said: "Yes, the Mongolian steppe has also been in drought for many years. They couldn't defeat the Ming border army when they went south to plunder, and they couldn't grab much food, so they used war horses to trade with the pseudo-Qing Dynasty. Yuan Chonghuan also wanted to use grain to win over Mongolia, which had some effect, but was stopped by Huang Taiji. ”

"Liaodong doesn't have enough to eat, where can I find grain to sell to the Mongolian tribes?" Zhao Han was a little puzzled again.

Xu Ying said: "Enter the customs to loot, or buy grain from the Ming merchants." There was really not enough food, so they forced North Korea to sell it. North Korea's grain was originally sold to Donggang Town, but after Huang Taiji's intervention, North Korea stopped selling grain to Donggang Town, and sold all the grain in North Korea to the puppet Qing Dynasty. At that time, they were all doing business with the puppet Qing, Yuan Chonghuan was like this, Mao Wenlong was like this, and Lu ...... The same goes for General Lu (Lu Xiangsheng). It's not that they are all collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country, but they want to exchange for a lot of military supplies. General Lu traded with the puppet Qing and Mongolia in exchange for war horses. ”

Zhao Han was silent.

Can this be blamed on the governors and generals on the front line?

Obviously, there was a problem with the imperial court, and the urgently needed military supplies could not be provided by the Ming court, and they had to rely on the generals to take risks and trade with the enemy privately to obtain them.

Xu Ying continued: "Now North Korea is coerced and intimidated by our army, and no longer sells grain to the puppet Qing. Dolgon could not buy food, so he sent troops to Korea twice in a row to plunder, resulting in a complete break between the puppet Qing and Korea. The puppet Qing Dynasty could no longer buy grain in North Korea, nor could they enter the customs to loot, let alone buy grain from Datong and Zhangjiakou, because Li Zicheng was also controlling grain and grass. Therefore, the minister judged that the Mongolian tribes who had returned to the puppet Qing Dynasty must have been extremely short of food in the past two years, so they only ventured to Li Zicheng's territory last year to plunder. ”

"Those Mongolian tribes seem to have deviated from the puppet Qing Dynasty." Zhao Han said happily.

Xu Ying said: "This year's summer grain harvest has immigrated to the north of Zhili. When the autumn grain is harvested, large-scale immigration will be possible, and when the time comes, troops will be sent to occupy Jizhou, contact some Mongolian tribes in the north, and use grain to incite them to rebel at a critical time! ”

The prefectures and counties near Jizhou, because they were close to the Shanhaiguan Pass, were also the first targets of the Manchu Qing Dynasty to cross the Great Wall and plunder, so the common people had long been plundered or scattered. When Chongzhen was not dead, there were mostly troops and military families there, and there were not many real people left.

Now the population is even more sparse, so Zhao Han and Li Zicheng will not occupy Jizhou, so as not to become the target of Tartar looting.

Now it seems that this autumn it is possible to occupy it, and then go north out of the Great Wall to contact the Mongols.

These Mongolians, if they have milk, they are mothers, and it is easy to pull them to fight the Manchus. As long as they were traded for grain, as long as the Manchus continued to show their decline, it was only a matter of time before the Mongol tribes rebelled.

Xu Ying continued: "After the puppet Qing Dynasty returned to Liaodong, the plague raged in Shandong, and the merchants of Shandong, Jiangsu, and Anhui had already severed contact with the puppet Qing. But according to the minister's estimates, there should still be a few that have not been broken, such as merchants who sell a large number of Liao cucumbers. Nanjing's fine work is also somewhat related to these businessmen, I'm afraid there are more than one or two fine works! ”

Zhao Han's face was gloomy: "Check slowly, don't be in a hurry, don't let one go." ”