Behind the withered flower building where Yao Qianhu hosted a banquet for Liaodong businessmen, there was a large courtyard facing the sea. At this moment, there were actually piles of several sections of huanghuali wood. The yellow and moist color of the wood was illuminated by the bright sun, turning it into an even more dazzling golden color.
, which makes people take it for God.
"Little carpenter, do you know what kind of wood this is?"
Yao Qianhu asked Ashan arrogantly while picking at the mutton shreds between his teeth.
Ah Shan shook his head.
It was indeed the first time for him to see such beautiful wood, and he couldn't help but secretly sigh. The Ming Dynasty was really vast and rich in resources, full of rare things. Even the wood looked more like gold than Khan's gold-embedded belt.
Yao Qianhu said: "Rural boss, this is called Huanghuali. It comes from Qionghai. One or two feet is worth more than your life. These two bosses have seen the chairs in your car and like them very much."
, Prime Minister Yang County ordered you to make a few handfuls of huanghuali and take them away to the bosses. You should do your fucking job more neatly, otherwise, I say a word, your tigress will have to pay double the autumn tax.
.”
Ah Shan agreed obediently, walked to the wood, put down the burden full of tools, walked over again, and said flatteringly: "You must prepare a chair, I hope the general can speak kindly to the county master and take care of our Zhengjiazhuang."
The spears and cannons made by our ladies are a waste of money."
Yao Qianhu snorted, a look of vulgarity suddenly appeared in his eyes, and said to the two Liao merchants: "That tigress is just an egg. What do you think a woman can do with guns and cannons? Women, we are here."
Just let them use the gun and fire a few shots from time to time, right?"
After he finished speaking, he seemed to be proud of his obscene remarks and started laughing. However, he soon discovered that Liao Shang did not laugh with him.
"Master Yao," the older Liao merchant said seriously, "when Fushun was fighting the Tatars, we Liaonan people heard that the imperial firearms were transported from Songjiang. It turns out that there were also firearms makers on Chongming Island?
"
Yao Qianhu rolled his eyes: "Ah, yes, you are talking about the woman who was ordered to be in the sixth rank by the imperial court. Her surname is Zheng, and she occupied the South Island."
After the two Liao merchants looked at each other, the elder glanced at Ah Shan, who was immersed in measuring wood, and made a "take a step to speak" gesture to Yao Qianhu.
Walking outside the courtyard, Liao Shang lowered his voice and said, "Sir, can you sell the firearm made by Zheng?"
Yao Qianhu was stunned, thought for a moment, and suddenly realized: "You want to buy it?"
"No, selling it to the north and selling it to bandits will make more money than silk, cloth and grain."
Yao Qianhu looked troubled: "I guess that tigress won't. I heard that her firearms were made in cooperation with the Ministry of War, and then transported to border towns and Fujian."
"Oh..." The elder Liao merchant understood, "So, the imperial court is her main and only customer."
The younger Liao merchants encouraged him unwillingly: "Master Yao will find a way to get some, twenty or thirty, and the gross profit will be better than a hundred tons of homespun cloth."
Yao Qianhu rolled his eyes: "I'll give it a try. I'm a serious Qianhu in Chongming. Soldiers, soldiers, soldiers, soldiers first, soldiers second, this is the Ming Dynasty's traditional rule. It makes no sense for her half-baked military camp to have guns and cannons. I'm dignified."
No guns or cannons were fired at Qianhu Station."
Adding fuel to the fire, the young Liao merchant said: "That's right, in Chongming, the gateway to the East China Sea, there are guys in the camp, but not in the guards. Is the imperial court raising a female pirate?"
The older man said with a smile: "When Master Yao gets the guns, it's time for our next ship to arrive, just in time to bring money to Master Yao."
"Easy to say, easy to say," Yao Qianhu's eyes shone, and he turned around and pointed to the courtyard, "You two can just send the little carpenter, Yang Xiancheng came out to call him, he is working here, and his boss dare not come to talk.
.”
"Thank you, Master Yao. Why don't you go and take a rest? The two of us chatted with the carpenter brother for a few words, and then went to the beach to enjoy the warm breeze to dissipate the alcohol."
…
Yao Qianhu hummed a little tune and disappeared into the front hall of the Withering Flower Building. This Qiu Ba built a separate business in a private harbor here and raised a brothel girl from Suzhou. He would go to the other business to hang out when he had nothing to do.
The two Liao merchants walked up to Ashan and said almost simultaneously: "Master."
"Um."
Yue Tuan responded dully, his eyes still fixed on the huanghuali.
"That little bitch was disrespectful to his master just now. Let's turn around and kill him." The young Liao merchant said bitterly.
Yue Tuo raised his eyes and said softly: "That's not necessary. It would be worse if he didn't treat me as a little carpenter. Besides, what we have to spend our efforts to eliminate are those powerful figures in the Ming Dynasty, like Yao Qianhu
It’s better to keep such a money-grubbing waste, maybe he will be a slave to pave the way for me to make money in the future.”
When the elder Liao merchant heard this, he immediately responded respectfully and taught his son: "In good years, you must remember my master's wisdom, so that you can follow your master and accomplish great things."
The father and son who pretended to be Liao merchants were Tong Yangzheng and his eldest son Tong Fengnian. They both followed Tong Yangxing and defected to Nurhaci during the Fushun Defense War.
Tong Yangzheng also had a son named Tong Shengnian, who was named "Tu Lai" by the old chief Nurhachi. In history, Tong Tu Lai's daughter married Emperor Shunzhi and gave birth to the later Emperor Kangxi, but at this time Tong Tu Lai was only thirteen or fourteen years old.
At the age of 18, he did not follow his father and brother out to work as a spy for Hou Jin.
As for Yue Tuan, who presented himself as a carpenter, he had a greater background. He was the grandson of Nurhaci and the son of Dabeile Daishan.
Yue Tuan lost his mother in childhood, and his stepmother, with the connivance of Daishan, treated Yue Tuan harshly. When Nurhachi found out, he asked Huang Taiji's mother, Meng Guzhezhe, to raise Yue Tuan. Therefore, Yue Tuan and his uncle Huang Taiji had a deep relationship, and they had a close relationship with their biological father, Dai Shan.
On the contrary, they are strangers.
During the Battle of Fushun, Yue Tuan was going to the Haixi Jurchens in the north to select horses. He had never met Zheng Haizhu and others in Hetuala before. In addition, his Chinese was the best among the descendants of the old chief Nurhaci.
Huang Taiji then appointed him to come south to spy on various military affairs.
Huang Taiji was vicious and careful. He found several gangsters outside Kuandian and ordered his armored soldiers to massacre the Han people wantonly, forcing the Han people to flee westward. He also designed a chase and killing scene so that Yue Tuo could sneak into the pass.
On the other hand, the Tong family was also sent by Nurhaci to Huang Taiji for dispatch. Tong Yangzheng and his son began to launch water from the seaport near North Korea, pretending to be smuggling merchants, while Tong Xiyu entered Songjiang by land.
At this moment, Tong Fengnian walked to the courtyard gate to look out, while Tong Yangzheng took out a blank account book.
Yue Tuo took out the ink fountain, a tool commonly used by carpenters, and opened the ink chamber. There was no ball of cotton thread storing ink in the ink chamber, but thick ink.
He sawed wood for a while, then stopped, dipped his pen in ink, and drew maps on his account book for a while. They were all the garrison posts he saw on the way south by boat, from the Liaohai Sea to the East China Sea.
After drawing the map, Yue Tuan began to trace the appearance of machine guns, heavy matchlock guns, and large and small iron cannons, and marked the distance at which they could destroy the carriages.
As for the multi-spindle spinning wheel, it did not appear on the paper.
So what if we can spin many cotton balls at the same time? Where can we Jurchens get so much cotton?
Yue Tuo thought helplessly.
After finishing the painting in one go, Yue Tuo handed the account book to Tong Yangzheng and asked slightly relaxedly: "Fengnian baby, have you landed? Are you a grandpa?"
Tong Yangzheng's eyes darkened, and he smiled bitterly and said: "He is a boy, but he has no food to feed him, no milk to eat, and his body and bones are not good."
Yue Tuo thought of the strong boy in his family and couldn't help asking: "Why don't you have milk?"
Tong Yangzheng sighed, and then said in a pleading tone: "Master, please speak to the Great Khan and Sibeile for my slave. Gege married into our Tong family and cut off the chests of Feng Nian's daughter-in-law and concubine. That's all. Anyway, that's all.
Give me a nanny and leave a queen for the good years."
Yue Tuo was shocked.
He knew that he had an aunt in her late thirties, both of whom had died, and Tong Feng was handsome in old age, so the Great Khan gave this old princess to the Tong family.
Unexpectedly, it was a disaster for Tong Fengnian's house.
That won't work, it will anger the Tong family, and they will switch sides again.
After all, being a traitor is often the difference between zero and countless times.
Then, Yue Tuan thought of Zheng Haizhu's docile but capable little widow Aya.
Yue Tuan finally understood why he felt something was wrong with Aya when he went to deliver the wooden horse and rocking car a few days ago.