"Second brother, third brother, let's go and have a look outside the city."
"Brother, why did you call us out to see us?" a short man asked the businessman-looking man who spoke earlier.
"That's right, brother, please tell me in advance." Another strong man also asked the merchant walking in front.
The merchant replied as he walked: "Brother, didn't I tell you about the cement thing last time? It is said that a cement square has been built at the cement factory outside the city, and roads are being built to Beijing."
When the short man heard this, he became interested and asked quickly: "The gates of the capital are only open at noon, so the cement factory has not stopped working?"
The merchant turned his head and looked at the short man behind him. He wanted to speak, but felt awkward, so he turned back and said, "You two, walk faster. It's not convenient to talk to me behind you."
When the short man and the strong man heard this, they quickly walked a few steps and walked side by side with the merchant.
"It is said that the Marquis of Zhongxing told him before he left that the factories outside the city were not allowed to stop work. Moreover, the gate of the capital only opened at noon in the days when King Qin's army just set off. Since the last good news of the capture of Luanzhou came to the capital,
, and opened the door as normal." The merchant told his two sworn brothers what he knew.
The strong man scratched his head, and then asked: "Brother, you said that the factories outside the city were all built by Zhongxing Hou. Why didn't he keep one for himself to make money, and why did he dedicate all of them to the court?" [
When the short man heard this, without waiting for his eldest brother to speak, he turned his head and said directly to his third brother: "Didn't you say that Marquis Zhongxing was a god from heaven who came down to earth to assist Ziweixing? How could he fall in the eyes of money like you?"
The strong man chuckled: "That's the same reason. If you were a mortal, you wouldn't be so generous!"
Seeing that the two younger brothers were talking interestingly, the merchant joined in the fun and said, "It is said that Marquis Zhongxing comes from a very wealthy place overseas. It would be nice to go to sea and experience it sometime."
The three of them walked and gossiped, and unknowingly arrived at the city gate.
Although the city gate is still open, there are still many more soldiers guarding the gate than usual. They don't pay much attention to people entering the city, but anyone leaving the city will be stopped and inspected.
When the merchant saw this situation, he frowned. It was a bit troublesome to leave the city.
At this moment, the sound of horse hooves suddenly came from the distance, which made the soldiers guarding the gate become nervous and immediately looked out of the city with their guns in hand.
Seeing this scene, the three merchant brothers were also slightly panicked. It couldn't be a bad thing, right?
"Eight hundred miles, hurry up, there is news from the front line." A soldier with better eyesight suddenly shouted loudly.
When the people around heard this, they all cheered and rushed to the city gate to watch.
The leading captain saw them and quickly drove them away: "Get out of the way, don't block the road."
Then he hurriedly stepped aside to see what was going on outside the city, wondering what the message from the messenger was.
As soon as the messenger saw that he was getting closer to the city gate, he started shouting: "Good news from the front line, a great victory over the Jianqi, regained the lost territory, and captured the slave chief alive."
When the soldiers at the top of the city and the people around the city heard the messenger shouting from the galloping horse, they thought they had heard wrongly. They listened to it twice. When the messenger was approaching the city gate, they were convinced that they had heard correctly.
The captain excitedly said to his men: "Salute." Upon hearing this, the soldiers all hurriedly stood aside to salute the military salute and greet the messenger.[
The common people also seemed to believe that the messenger who was about to enter the city was the one who had made these achievements, and they greeted the messenger with admiration.
The courier flew all the way, receiving the admiring looks of passers-by, feeling extremely satisfied, as if he had his own share of the honor in the good news, and the fatigue of traveling day and night was swept away.
The strong man watched the messenger shouting and heading towards the Forbidden City. He waited until he was out of sight and then asked the merchant: "Brother, are we still going to the cement factory outside the city?"
With a smile on his face, the merchant said: "Go, why not go. We will come back to see you when the imperial army returns to Beijing."
The short man suddenly said: "Brother, I want to go home and tell my mother-in-law first. She has been thinking about her mother-in-law. Now that we have won the battle, it is time to go back and take a look."
When the merchant heard this, he nodded and said: "That's right. You should go home quickly and send a message. Forget it, I won't leave the city today. When my employer hears the good news, he might also send us out to check where he is.
Outside industry.”
After hearing this, the strong man also patted his head and said: "A few regular customers who often come to my place to buy pork are always nagging about their relatives outside the city. Let me send them a message as well."
So the three of them separated at the city gate and went back to report the good news.
The good news spread more and more widely, and the gentry and common people in the city gradually responded to the good news.
The number of people going out at several gates of the capital gradually increased, including people walking and riding horses, old and young, men and women, some alone and some in groups.
These people either had relatives or property in the capital. Now that there was peace in the pass, they hurried out of the city.
Emperor Chongzhen did not work until late at night as usual. After preliminary discussions with the cabinet on various matters regarding the return of the army to Beijing, Emperor Chongzhen came to Zhongcui Palace to visit the prince.
At this time, Zhu Cihong was just over thirteen months old. Due to political reasons, he was canonized as the crown prince early and was placed in a palace alone.
He was just old enough to walk, and it was rare to see his father, so when Emperor Chongzhen passed by, he was quite a bit surprised.
When Emperor Chongzhen saw his son's reaction, he felt slightly guilty. The family ties in the Tian family were weaker than those of ordinary people. Not only did he experience this personally, but so did his son now.
But he was a little proud. The news of the great victory dissipated the shadow of the country's subjugation that had always been cast in his heart. One of the slave chiefs had been captured. History had changed, and his daily hard work was finally rewarded.
He hugged the prince and said secretly in his heart: "The great Ming Dynasty will not be left in my hands, it will be passed on to you."
Emperor Chongzhen went to bed at Concubine Tian's house at night. After scoring three goals, he hugged the naked Concubine Tian and started talking.
Concubine Tian could think with her toes that Emperor Chongzhen was in an unusually good mood. She lay in Emperor Chongzhen's arms and said, "Your Majesty, I have something that I don't know whether to tell or not."
Emperor Chongzhen patted her smooth back with his hand and said with a smile: "If you have something to say that should be said or not, just say it if you have something to say. If you hesitate, I will punish you again."
When Concubine Tian heard Emperor Chongzhen's permission, she said: "Your Majesty, the imperial army has captured the slave chief alive, so the land in the capital should be at peace, right?"
Emperor Chongzhen looked down at Concubine Tian's little face, pinched it lightly and said, "Is it still not peaceful?"
"My concubine's father has several properties outside Beijing that have been destroyed by the war. He wants to rebuild these properties."
"Oh, I have no money, you should know that." Emperor Chongzhen thought that Concubine Tian wanted to ask for money from Governor Zuo to rebuild.
"That's not what my father means. What he means is to ask your majesty for some cement. Your majesty, as you know, there is no cement available for sale outside now. So, I came to beg my concubine." Concubine Tian extended her hand.
He touched Emperor Chongzhen's chest with his little hand and said.
"That's no problem. When Marquis Zhongxing comes back, I'll ask him to allocate some to Governor Zuo." Emperor Chongzhen replied without thinking.
"Your Majesty, my concubine's father saw the square made of cement at the cement factory, and he wanted to use cement to build roads between several properties and the capital. Your Majesty, you know, it is raining season, and the roads are too
If it gets through the mud, it will be difficult to transport things to the capital." Concubine Tian said with a little lack of confidence.
"Oh, doesn't that cost a lot? I'm afraid that won't work. I'm still counting on selling the cement!" Emperor Chongzhen disagreed.
"My concubine also told her father the same thing, which made him give up the idea." Concubine Tian was a smart person. After checking Emperor Chongzhen's tone, she immediately changed her tune when she knew it was not good.
She put the matter aside and then said: "My father decided to buy cement to build the road himself, but..."
Emperor Chongzhen had just rejected a modest request from the beauty in his arms due to lack of money, and Wei Wei felt a little guilty. Now it seemed that there was another problem with her words, so he asked softly: "Just what?"
"My father only has some Ming Dynasty currency notes in his hand, and no one is willing to exchange them. Therefore, he wants to ask me to ask your Majesty to exchange some other banknotes for use." When Concubine Tian said this, she raised her head slightly and said softly.
He stared at Emperor Chongzhen.
"Other banknotes?" Emperor Chongzhen heard some meaning and his voice became a little stiff.