On the main street, two carriages passed each other.
The Tong family's coachman turned around and said to the people in the car: "Master, the carriage that just passed by was Princess Qian's carriage."
"Princess Qian?"
Tong Song looked out the window and saw a low-key and luxurious double-headed carriage running in the opposite direction to him. The two maroon horses in front were the hallmarks of Princess Qian's carriage.
Prince Qian's residence has been in Lingnan for several months. Prince Qian's carriage is pulled by two black horses, and the two maroon horses are the princess's mounts.
If any other prince's masters dare to ride in a two-headed carriage based on their status, they are exceeding the rules.
Therefore, the only people who can ride the double-headed carriage in Lingnan are King Qian and Princess Qian.
"Where is she going? How can she get to the north of the city?"
Tong Song hesitated for a moment, then asked the driver to turn the car around and follow him.
The princess's double-headed carriage went directly to the north of the city along the central axis of the city.
Tong Song confirmed his suspicion and became even more puzzled. This area in the north of the city was deserted and not very populated. Even if there were a few families, they were just shantytown residents who built shacks to live temporarily in this wasteland in the north of the city.
Xia Jing got off the carriage and went to the wasteland in the north of the city. She chose a large piece of land near the city wall as the site for the iron workshop.
When talking about infrastructure construction, Xia Jing thought of the indispensable adhesive for infrastructure construction, which is the cement that became popular in infrastructure construction in later generations.
You can try to calcine cement, but this iron workshop probably can't wait for the day when cement is produced.
Xia Jing asked Ye Fei to remember the building site, then got on the carriage and prepared to return to the palace.
Ye Fei got on his horse and rode to the window of Xia Jing's carriage: "Princess, there is a carriage following us, and the driver seems to be the carriage of the eldest young master of the Tong family. Do you want your subordinates to deal with him?"
"
Ye Fei has had a photographic memory since he was a child, and as the princess's personal guard, he acts more cautiously than usual.
He was very attentive to the people and things he came into contact with, so he naturally recognized Master Tong's coachman.
If he hadn't known that he was the coachman of the eldest young master of the Tong family, he would have taken action against them when he discovered the carriage for the first time.
"If he wants to follow him, just follow him. We'll just pretend we don't know and go back home."
Returning to the palace, as soon as I got off the carriage at the second gate, I saw the housekeeper Zeng Yan coming in from the outside.
Zeng Yan naturally noticed Xia Jing. He quickly came to Xia Jing, bowed and said, "I have met the princess before."
Xia Jing asked with a smile: "Look at you in a hurry, where are you going?"
"Back to the princess, I have just sent guests off for the prince." Zeng Yan took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead, answered Xia Jing's question, and smiled at the few guards and maids who were accompanying her in the car.
"Guest?" Xia Jing glanced at Zeng Yan, "Who is here?"
Zeng Yan lowered his head and replied: "It's Mr. Quan Hequan, the former governor of Lingnan. He came here specifically to bid farewell to the prince today. He will leave for Jiankang tomorrow to report on his duties."
As Xia Jing walked inside, she sneered: "This is because the court remembered him."
Zeng Yan raised his head and looked back and forth vigilantly, then whispered: "Dayu is currently suffering from internal and external troubles. The emperor and the court ministers are so worried about the current situation. How can they remember that he is a marginal figure? If Master Quan can be transferred from Lingnan, he must go to the court.
A certain minister paid a bribe and used money to clear the way. Otherwise, how could he have received the transfer document from above so quickly."
Xia Jing frowned slightly and asked a little confused: "How do you know he paid a bribe?"
Hearing this, Zeng Yan quickly replied: "Oh, Princess, it is an indisputable fact that bribery is common in the court. It is just a clear distinction between bribery in person and bribery in private."
What he didn't say was that nowadays all the civil and military officials in the court are openly giving and accepting bribes, and they have no scruples for a long time.
Of course, in the end, only the emperor sitting on the high throne may not know about the promotion methods that all officials are accustomed to.
This time Xia Jing frowned, "If even a slave of yours knows something, will the emperor with his eyes all over the world know about it?"
Zeng Yan took out his handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead and licked his lower lips. He, a slave, really didn't dare to tell anyone about the dirty things done by the officials in the court.
It's one thing to know it in your heart, but it's another thing to say it out loud.
Zhi Jinwu, the internal servants, and the civil and military officials all worked together to deceive the superiors and conceal the truth from the inferiors. If they wanted the emperor to know about external matters, the emperor would naturally know about them.
Things that he didn't want the emperor to know happened under the emperor's nose. Even if the emperor didn't know about it, he still didn't know about it.
What do those in power fear most?
What I fear most is that the court is in harmony and everyone vents their anger through the same nose.
Xia Jing saw Zeng Yan's nervous expression and seemed to have something to hide, "Huh?"
Zeng Yan glanced at Xia Jing and smiled: "Princess, have you ever heard that three people become tigers?"
Xia Jing glanced at Zeng Yan, who was sweating on his forehead, and after thinking for a while, she came to a clear understanding, "I understand what you mean, three people make a tiger. You said that the court is harmonious, at least when facing the emperor,
All civil and military officials are unanimous in communicating with the outside world. They deceive the emperor about the truth of the matter, and everyone agrees. Even if the emperor wants to seek the truth, he can't find a way."
Besides, since everyone was talking the same way, how could the emperor suspect that everyone was committing the crime of deceiving the emperor?
Thinking that the emperor and the eunuchs and eunuchs wearing the same trousers as the foreign ministers, Xia Jing felt pity for the sealing tool man sitting on the dragon chair.
Of course, Xia Jing believed that the emperor might have resisted. For example, when the eldest lady's natal palace in Washington was raided, it might have been the emperor's resistance.
It’s just a matter of who will win in the end of the dynasty in this game between king and minister.
She was asked to say that no matter who wins, everyone is actually a loser. Ruining the dynasty will only benefit the surrounding Yi people.
Zeng Yan nodded helplessly. The prince also knew about this, but he did not dare to challenge the ministers in the court.
After returning to Yiguiyuan and driving out all the people waiting on her, Xia Jing entered the space and started searching.
She remembered that during the skills training at the Doomsday Base, they were taught how to make cement.
During the training, she took notes in a notebook.
In the study room on the second floor, there are many novels and notebooks in the desk drawer.
Xia Jing poured out all the items in the drawer and sorted them one by one. After a while, she found the original notebook.
In the last few decades of the apocalypse, in order to increase survival skills for the new generation in the apocalypse, base leaders have organized two survival skills classes every week in the base school.
It will talk about how to make some common materials.
This cement is one of them.
Xia Jing scrolled back and saw the glass making process, the refining methods of various ores, and
To bite off more than we can chew, we will first make cement, and then improve the smelting technology. We will first improve the level of weapons production and create more sophisticated weapons before talking about other things.
After leaving the space, he summoned Ye Fei and handed him the cement making formula and the construction requirements for the iron workshop.
Ye Fei handed over the two workshops to the people below to hire workers to build them, and he invited blacksmith Shan to ask about the things that needed to be paid attention to in the construction of the iron workshop, and the tools that needed to be purchased.
Tong Family Ancestral Hall.
The head of the Tong family led Tong Song in the grand ceremony of kneeling three times and kowtowing nine times under the ancestral tablet.
Finally, after inserting the incense into the incense burner, Master Tong, the head of the Tong family, said, "My son must take care of himself during this trip."
"Don't worry, dad. The team we are leading this time are all my confidants. With their protection, everything will be safe."
"Yes." Mr. Tong looked back at the ancestral tablet, hoping that his ancestors would bless the Tong family and go against the wind, and everything would turn into good fortune.
Tong Song said goodbye to his parents and family, and rode out of the city with a few guards.
Twenty miles away from the south of the city, there is a vast mountain valley with hundreds of hectares of fertile land and beautiful mountain scenery. The mountains are full of peach trees. Every spring when the peach blossoms are enchanting or in summer when the fruits are abundant, this is the best place for young men and women in Fucheng to go on an outing.
Good place to go.
The owner of this farm is the Tong family.
The Tong family has many bodyguards in this farm, and their martial arts training is pretty good all year round.
The reason why Tong Song came here was to lead his team of servants to suppress the bandits.
Ever since he last saw Xia Jing's personal guard camp returning from a mission to suppress bandits, and seeing the rich supplies of seized materials, his heart had been moved for a long time.
After preparing for so many days, I persuaded my parents and family, organized the team, and prepared food and fodder. Now everything is finally ready, just waiting for the team to set off.
Not to mention leading a team of thousands of people, Tong Song really found a bit of the heroic spirit of a general leading an army on an expedition.
After two days of marching, Tong Song and his team were the first to arrive at a bandit den that had been explored in advance.
The team was resting in a secret place at the foot of the mountain, and Tong Jian, the captain of the servant escort team, came over.
"Young Master, what are you going to do next?"
Tong Song observed the surrounding terrain and asked, "Do you have any good ideas? Tell me."
Tong Jian really has some ideas about this. In fact, he wants to show his ability in front of the future people in power of the Tong family.
"Master, do you know why I suggested coming to the south?"
When Tong Song heard this, his curiosity was really aroused, so he asked casually: "Why?"
Speaking of what he is good at, Tong Jian's face suddenly filled with smiles, "Because Princess Qian's personal guard camp is going to the north, the bandit forces in that direction must be aware of it. If they are aware, they will be vigilant. This is not good for
We acted unexpectedly."
"In recent years, the bandits in Lingnan have not been surrounded and suppressed by hostile forces. The comfortable life has long made them lose their original vigilance. The life in the bandits' den is much better than that of the civilians at the foot of the mountain. We made a surprise surprise attack and beat them
Being caught off guard will make it easier for us to successfully suppress the bandits for the first time."
Tong Song nodded, feeling that this made sense, "Then what should we do next?"
Tong Jian smiled confidently and said: "Rest where you are and wait for a surprise attack before dawn tomorrow to catch them off guard."
According to the information he collected about the bandit den on the mountain, he knew that there were only about 200 bandits on it.
Among them were about a hundred people, including old, weak, women and children, as well as young and middle-aged people who were really capable of fighting.
One hundred against a thousand.
The Tong family doesn't have to fight to the death to know that they will win!
There was a huge disparity in strength, so Tong Jian wanted the first battle to increase the morale of the team.
Tong Song had no objection to this, and the two discussed the details of the raid together.
Time passed unconsciously and the sun slowly sank into the horizon.
In the evening, everyone ate dry food to fill their stomachs, and then early in the morning they sat in groups of three or five and rested together.
The night was getting darker and darker, and at the last dark moment before dawn, the team watchman woke up the team members in the dark.
Most of the bandits on the mountain have fallen asleep. None of them have much hope for their future life. Everyone is basically muddle along.
Therefore, most people have fun at night and cannot wake up during the day.
This played right into the Tong family's guard's plans.
When the eastern sun jumped over the top of the mountain, most of the bandits were still sleeping, and a few were half asleep and half awake.
Even the bandits guarding the mountain gate were in a daze and were not conscious.
Suddenly, several dark figures jumped in from the mountain gate. Before they could take a closer look, their necks felt cold, and warm blood gurgled out from the incision on their necks.
After getting rid of the guards at the mountain gate, a few black figures successfully opened the wooden mountain door, and the guards waiting outside rushed in.
They were the first to rush into the house and chop everyone they saw. Many bandits were hacked to death in their sleep, and some were awakened by the pain.
In an instant, the entire bandit den was crying and howling.
"Young Master, we found a small cave over there, with a lot of food and property stored in it." Tong Jian trotted over.
Tong Song was overjoyed when he heard this: "Oh, how much property is there?"
This year has been unlucky for the Tong family. Ever since Prince Qian's palace came to Lingnan, their family has lost a lot of money.
Nowadays, the Tong family cannot make ends meet, and they have to save food and money, which makes the old man feel very distressed.
He had no choice but to come out and find a way to make money.
The idea of suppressing bandits was inspired by the return of Princess Qian's bodyguard that day.
Tong Jian's answer was ambiguous, "I haven't counted them yet. I took a quick look and there should be a lot of them."
Tong Song didn't care about his answer, he would just go and see how much money he had and he would know.
He waved his hand and said excitedly: "Let's go and have a look!"
More than a hundred young men faced off against his thousand servant guards, and there was no suspense about the disparity in strength.
Tong Song was not worried at all that the bandits would escape.
The so-called small cave is behind the Zhongyi Hall built by the bandits on the mountain.
The walls of the cave are dry, which is quite suitable for storing food and property.
Tong Song looked at the grain stored in the cave and sighed: "Being a bandit these days has a real future. At least you don't have to worry about going hungry, and you can't spend all your money. The grain here is enough to sell in our store in Fucheng for a month."
"More than enough!" Tong Jian walked around the grain pile and made a rough estimate.
While looking through the belongings, Tong Song clicked his tongue, "There is a considerable amount of various kinds of cloth, and there are also a lot of other belongings. I don't know which caravan was robbed?"
The more Tong Jiian checked, his grin got wider and wider, "Except for a few caravans with strong influence in Lingnan, other small caravans who come to Lingnan to do business will only be robbed by bandits! Young Master, this time we won the first battle, and we will attack other bandits later.
Nest, I believe that our brothers will have more momentum and will not be afraid of death!"
Tong Song wondered how to deal with these supplies, "Check out these supplies first and send a team of people to guard them here. We will continue to move forward with other servants to protect us. Do you think this arrangement is appropriate?"
"I didn't expect us Lingnan bandits to be so wealthy. If we had known we had taken action long ago, how could we have taken advantage of Prince Qian's Mansion." Tong Jian said and looked at the eldest young master of the Tong family, "I guess we won't be able to do it again."
Find a bandit's nest that is easy to capture, and if you capture it, the mission you came out this time will be completed."