Time passed, and with the end of a poetry meeting that aroused countless conversations, Li Shishi and a group of scholars from the capital left Jiangning, and Li Mu felt at ease again.
In this way, another period of time has passed, and it has entered May, which is the early summer season. At this time, the weather is suitable, neither cold nor hot, and it is a good time to travel.
After planning for such a long time, Li Mu and Su Tan'er's travel plan finally started.
During this trip, both Suzhou and Hangzhou are places with developed water transportation, especially Hangzhou, which is connected by the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and can be reached directly by boat.
For this reason, a painting boat was specially prepared for travel. Su Tan'er originally prepared a two-story medium-sized boat, not too big or small, but Li Mu changed it to a three-story large boat with a wave of his hand.
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This time we go south. There will be no peace after arriving in Hangzhou. There are earthquakes and rebellions. It is more convenient to have a large and sturdy boat than a medium-sized boat, and it is also convenient for traveling around the mountains and rivers along the way.
Seeing that departure was imminent, Li Mu wandered along the Qinhuai River that day. Unknowingly, it had been two years since he came to this world.
For two years, most of the time was spent leisurely hanging around, enjoying the comfortable life of ancient times, but not much time for real work. The only thing I did well was to lay a good foundation for future development.
From now on, there may not be many such leisurely days.
Li Mu was thinking about it while wandering around, and unknowingly came to a familiar small tea stall by the Qinhuai River, but the small chess stall that Qin Siyuan usually set up next to it was missing.
Since the end of last year, there have been endless rumors about Qin Siyuan. Some say that he endured the humiliation and secretly provoked Jin and Liao. Some say that he is about to rise again and will soon enter the capital to become the prime minister. One person is worth more than ten thousand people...
In this way, all kinds of rumors were swirling, and all kinds of people with various purposes gathered around.
It is no longer possible to set up a chess stall and play chess as leisurely as before, and we can only stop here.
After walking along the river for a while, they came to Qin Mansion. The two of them were playing chess and drinking tea in the pavilion.
After the game of chess was over, Li Mu took a sip of tea and said calmly: "Mr. Qin, seeing the current buzz, it's time for you to go to Beijing, right?"
Qin Siyuan nodded slightly: "Almost!"
As he spoke, he stroked his long beard and said with a smile, "I heard that Li Heng you are also going on a trip?"
Li Mu nodded: "Yes, we will leave in the next two days."
Qin Siyuan said: "When you come back from your trip, I will probably no longer be in Jiangning."
Li Mu said: "It seems that Mr. Qin is about to leave. Is there a war in the north?"
Qin Siyuan was stunned for a moment, then nodded solemnly: "Hit me. After a while, the news will probably come through."
Li Mu said: "It seems that the Jin Kingdom's record is not small."
Qin Siyuan said in a somewhat low tone: "More than a month ago, Wanyan Aguda led a large army and officially launched an army to Linhuang Mansion in Shangjing, one of the five capitals of the Liao Kingdom. The march was unstoppable. According to the news we received, Linhuang Mansion fell seven days ago.
"
He said with emotion: "This is Shangjing of the Liao Kingdom. The person guarding Linhuang Mansion is also the veteran general of the Liao Kingdom, Xiao Tabuye. Although he has been defeated by the Jin Kingdom several times in the past, he is not a mediocre person and has an upright character.
The troops are prudent. Linhuang Mansion also has a high city and a thick pool, and is well defended. I thought I could defend it for at least a few months, but I never thought it would fall so quickly."
“I don’t know if it is right to unite with Jin to fight against Liao and just sit back and watch Jin grow bigger?”
Li Mu said: "Whether it is right or not, our court is now powerless to prevent the Jin Kingdom from becoming bigger. Some time ago, there was a lot of commotion about joining forces with the Jin Kingdom to fight against the Liao Dynasty. Now that the Jin Kingdom has taken action, if our country agrees to join forces with the Jin Kingdom to fight against the Liao Dynasty, we will also send troops to attack it.
It’s too late.”
Qin Siyuan said in a low voice: "I agreed. Today... I also have an idea. It is a once-in-a-century opportunity to regain the Yanyun Sixteenth Continent."
As he spoke, a trace of worry flashed across his face. After a moment, he sighed and said: "It's just that I always feel a little uneasy in my heart. Li Heng, actually... In the early years, watching the fierce competition between Jin and Liao, I felt...
I am only happy, feeling that the snipe and the clam are fighting, and the fisherman will benefit."
"However, over the past few years, watching them fight back and forth, the Jin Kingdom has become stronger and stronger, its territory has grown larger, and it has been unstoppable. I feel more and more uneasy."
"At the beginning, Wanyan Agu raised an army with more than 2,000 people, marched out of Hedian, Huanglong Mansion, and guarded Dagang... One battle after another, in more than ten years, the Jin Kingdom developed into such a large scale. I listened to the people in the court and said
This man is an unparalleled hero. He said that the popularity of the Liao Dynasty has been exhausted. He looks very happy, as if we can be at peace after meeting each other."
"But the fact is! Every time we have friction with the Liao people at the border, we will be defeated like a mountain. The Liao people are exhausted. Our Wu Dynasty! We can't even defeat the Liao Kingdom, which has exhausted its energy."
"Allied with Jin to conquer Liao, and really destroyed the Liao Kingdom. Faced directly with the Jin Kingdom, who will the Jin Kingdom attack after conquering the Liao Dynasty? Li Heng, what I thought at the beginning, sowing the relationship between Jin and Liao, and benefiting the good fishermen may not be the case.
Saving the Wu Dynasty is pushing our country into a pit of fire. If one day the Jin soldiers march south...what can we do to resist them?"
Li Mu didn't know how to answer. In the future, the Jin soldiers would really go south, and Wu Guo would indeed be unable to resist it. It seems that his arrangements will be accelerated. Taking advantage of the rare peace period before the Jin soldiers go south, he will expand his strength as soon as possible, especially the military.
With strength and enough chips, I can seize opportunities in the future.
He could only comfort him by saying: "With so many heroes in our country of Wu, there will always be a way. If you feel that it is not appropriate to unite with Jin to attack Liao, why don't you go to Beijing to pay homage to the Prime Minister? Then use all your strength to unite with Liao to attack Jin."
Qin Siyuan smiled bitterly and shook his head: "The alliance with the Jin Kingdom has been signed. The Sixteen States of Yanyun are right in front of us, waiting for us to go north to recover them. Even if they know the ambition of the Jin Kingdom, who will give up. Not now, my lords.
No, even I wouldn't give it up... This is the Sixteenth State of Yanyun. The Sixteenth State of Yanyun has been lost for hundreds of years. This is a once-in-a-century opportunity. Even if it makes the Kingdom of Jin further grow, no one would be willing to part with it.
Give up, no one dares to say give up..."
Li Mu said: "Then there is no other way. If the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun can be successfully recovered, the north will have a natural barrier. We can quickly improve the defense system of the north and prevent the Jin Kingdom from exploiting any loopholes. There is still a chance."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Qin Siyuan nodded: "I think so too. If we can successfully regain the Yanyun Sixteenth Prefecture, there will be a natural defense barrier, and then we can improve the northern defense system based on this."
, it’s not that we don’t have a chance to resist the Jin Kingdom, it just depends on whether everything goes smoothly and whether we are given the time and opportunity.”
Li Mu said: "It depends on the ability of the army and the commander. Whether they can quickly capture the Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures will give them enough time to operate and improve the defense system."
Qin Siyuan's eyes suddenly became firm: "Since we have chosen to unite with the Jin Dynasty to conquer the Liao Dynasty, this Northern Expedition will focus on the elite of the army, with Tong Guan as the commander. He is still capable. Half of the purpose of my coming to Beijing this time is also for this matter. I will try my best to
Clear the obstacles for the Northern Expedition and allow the army to successfully capture the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun. I just hope nothing happens along the way."
Li Mu suddenly felt that the old man in front of him was a bit pitiful. It was impossible that something would happen in the process. After a while, Fang La, who was raising flags to revolt everywhere in the southeast, would take advantage of the earthquake and natural disasters and the chaos in the entire southeast to capture Hangzhou in one fell swoop and claim the throne as emperor.
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In order to quell the rebellion in the southeast and prevent Fang La from stabilizing his foundation and growing bigger step by step, the imperial court could only draw out the elite members of the Northern Expedition and let Tong Guan lead the army to quell the rebellion in the southeast.
The two chatted about the situation for a while, and Qin Siyuan suddenly said: "Liheng, you are a great talent, both civil and military. It is a pity to be idle. Would you like to come to Beijing with me and start a career?"
Li Mu raised his tea cup and said, "Thank you, Mr. Qin, for your kindness. I don't have this ambition now. I may go to Beijing in a year or two, and then I won't bother Mr. Qin again."
Qin Siyuan said: "It's okay. The capital is now a big whirlpool. If you fall into it, you can't help yourself. It's okay not to get involved."
Then he added: "I heard that I am also going to Hangzhou for this trip."
Li Mu said: "Yes! We will go by boat all the way along the waterway, first to Yangzhou and then to Suzhou and Hangzhou."
"That's not bad." Qin Siyuan smiled and said: "I have a good friend in Hangzhou. He is a great scholar named Qian. He is very influential in the local area. I haven't contacted him for a long time. You go to Hangzhou this time and bring a letter for me.
, if you encounter something difficult to solve, you can ask him for help."
Li Mu nodded: "Thank you, Mr. Qin."
It was said to be a letter, but in fact it was also a guarantee for him. After all, Hangzhou was no longer Jiangning. He was not familiar with the place, so it would be much more convenient to have a local powerful person. Although Li Mu may not need it.
After preparing the letter, Qin Siyuan looked at the house in front of him and sighed: "I'm afraid this house will be idle in the future. I have lived in seclusion in Jiangning for eight years. I was already prepared to live here until my old age..."
Li Mu said: "I'm afraid it will be difficult for you if you want to stay here until you grow old. It's a troubled time in the world now. Now that you've left the mountain, I'm afraid it will be difficult for you to have some leisure time in the future."
Qin Siyuan smiled and shook his head: "Yes! After eight years of leisure, I have probably enjoyed all the blessings in my life. I will be very busy in the future."
As he spoke, he looked up to the north, as if he could smell the turbulent winds and the smell of iron and blood coming from the north.
After returning home from Qin Mansion, two days later, everything was ready, and the boat set sail, sailed out of Jiangning, eastward along the Yangtze River, and officially started traveling.
At the same time, in order to seize the opportunity of the chaos in the southeast and the Hangzhou Incident, Li Mu quietly launched his layout in the southeast.
Crisis is a crisis, and within a crisis there is an opportunity. Where there is danger, there is an opportunity.
Fang La's rebellion, the Hangzhou Incident, and the chaos in the southeast were naturally a crisis for the Wu Dynasty, and even caused the erosion of the southeast. Even Li Mu could not change this. His power was still developing, and his personal influence was limited before such major changes.
Since you cannot change the general trend, you must look for the right opportunity, take advantage of it as much as possible, develop and strengthen your own strength, and grow into a force that can influence the situation.
And this chaos in the southeast is a good opportunity to select talents and quickly expand wealth.
Although Zhuji is very profitable, it is still expanding rapidly and will become more and more profitable in the future.
However, after all, it is a newly established trading firm less than two years ago with limited foundation. If you want to expand your business and open up markets in various places, you need to open up business routes, open up various links, greatly expand the scale of the firm, and attract all kinds of talents.
These all cost a lot of money.
Zhuji has launched so many new products. Although they are extremely popular and highly profitable, most of them are used to build new workshops, open up trade routes in various places, and expand the scale of the business. The profits that can be extracted for him to use freely are only
It’s only four to five hundred thousand dollars, and it will probably be the same in the next few years.
Until the expansion and layout of various locations are completely completed, most of the profits can be extracted and developed in other areas.
This is a bit slow for Li Mu. Now that the situation in the north is getting more and more complicated, he has to plan ahead. When running business, force must not be left behind, and various layouts must be implemented in advance, which requires a lot of talent and money.
The chaos in the southeast is a good opportunity for him. As long as he completes a few set goals, he will have enough financial resources and manpower to accelerate development.
In fact, as early as a few months ago, Li Mu began to plan this matter through Zhuji and Longmen Escort Bureau, arranging manpower in various places in the southeast, especially on the small islands off the coast of Hangzhou Bay, taking advantage of the developed water transportation and convenient transportation.
He spent more than 300,000 yuan to purchase a huge amount of grain in the name of a grain merchant.
Currently, this procurement plan is still in progress, and all food is secretly stored on several small islands.
In the future, these grains will be of great use.
In order to avoid any mistakes, even Nie Yunzhu had already sailed southward by boat ahead of him. Even more than half of Zhuji's controllable manpower had followed Nie Yunzhu southward.
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The sky is clear and the wind is sunny. The huge three-story boat is exquisite and elegant. In addition, the pretty maids are noisy and moving around on the boat from time to time. It forms a beautiful scenery on the Yangtze River, attracting the attention of all the ships passing by.
In addition, behind the boat, there was a passenger ship following silently. From time to time, brave and well-organized men with knives and guns flashed past. They were obviously a group of extremely elite guards.
Judging from the splendid scene, I'm afraid it's not a trip for some noble or important person.
The boat sailed eastward along the Yangtze River and soon arrived at Zhenjiang. On the one hand, this trip was for fun. On the other hand, Su Tan'er also wanted to inspect the business and inspect the markets in various places. Taking into account the risk of war in the north, she planned to bring the people in the north to Zhenjiang.
Some industries moved south.
However, it is only an investigation at present, and this work will take several years to complete.
Therefore, during this trip, in addition to him, Su Tan'er, Chan'er's three maids, and some servants and servants, there were also some more trustworthy shopkeepers, accountants, and their families who took them on the trip.
Neither leisure nor business will be delayed.
In addition, Su Tan'er's two cousins, Su Wending and Su Wenfang, who had been relatively close to Dafang before, also followed along.
Including the boatmen, there were as many as fifty or sixty people on the entire boat. Fortunately, this was a three-story boat with enough space. Fifty or sixty people could live in great wealth.
After staying in Zhenjiang for a few days, I and Su Tan'er took a few maids to visit Jinshan Temple and visited various local scenery. Several shopkeepers also completed an inspection of the market under Su Tan'er's command, and then visited the market again.
Set off, drive out of the Yangtze River, enter the Jiangnan River and go all the way south.
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is the longest artificial canal in the world. The section of the canal that goes south from the Yangtze River and starts from Zhenjiang is called the Jiangnan River. The south of the Yangtze River is prosperous. From Zhenjiang to the south, the waterway is densely packed with ships, making it the busiest section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal.