"What happened to the force?" Huo Tingzheng was the first to break the silence.
"The weapons transported to Beidi bypassed Jingzhou and departed from Liuzhou. However, the governor of Liuzhou is a close confidant of His Majesty. Logically speaking, it is impossible for the weapons to be successfully transported under his nose."
"Is there something wrong with Song Yu?" Huo Tingrong immediately guessed.
Huo Tingzheng felt that this stupid brother was really hopeless, and said impatiently: "The Song family has always been loyal, and with Mrs. Song here, how could the Song family betray His Majesty? You can know it with your toes!"
Even Huo Jingchen shook his head helplessly, causing Huo Tingrong to lower his head in shame and stopped expressing random opinions.
"You continue." Huo Tingzheng was too lazy to comfort the idiot, and instead motioned to his son to continue.
Huo Jingchen first glanced sympathetically at Huo Tingrong, who was shrugging his big head, and then said: "I discovered that Chen Wen not only served as the prime minister of Jingzhou, but also served as the county magistrate of Shi County in Liuzhou."
"Although Shi County is remote, poor and backward, it happens to be at the junction of Xuzhou, Liuzhou, Jingzhou and Beidi. Its geographical location is extremely advantageous. As long as it is operated properly, it is completely possible to transport weapons directly from Xuzhou without passing through Jingzhou.
Pass through Shi County and arrive at Beidi."
"So, I deliberately delayed my return to Beijing, and asked Jinghe to go to Liuzhou in person, and announced outside that he could not catch up with the marching team, so he slowly followed behind. It is estimated that Jinghe will be able to find out the truth before long.
.”
"The water in this imperial city is really getting deeper and deeper." When he saw his tall and handsome eldest son, who had become much more mature and stable in recent years, Huo Tingzheng felt happy and sad at the same time. He was filled with emotions for a moment.
"Your Majesty is getting older, but his princes are becoming more and more uneasy. I don't know what kind of bloody storm it will be in the future."
Hearing this, Huo Jingchen fell silent, and even Huo Tingrong, who had always been unable to hide his words, lowered his head and remained silent.
The atmosphere instantly became tense.
"That's all, as long as we, the Huo family, don't get involved, it doesn't matter whether he is King Xiang or King Xin." Huo Tingzheng didn't want to see his son who was rarely coming back feel bad because of this, so he pretended to be relaxed.
"That's right, our Huo family has always been loyal to the emperor. What does this drama about the prince seizing the heir have to do with us?" Huo Tingrong, who had been quiet for a long time, couldn't help it anymore and shouted loudly.
Hearing this, a meaningful light flashed in Huo Tingzheng's eyes.
"By the way, why didn't you see your second brother today?" Huo Jingchen asked curiously, thinking of Huo Jingrui whom he hadn't seen for a long time.
"Your second brother followed the people from the academy to attend Master Kong's Buddhist meeting at Huguo Temple. Because the opportunity was rare, and only close disciples of the dean had the opportunity to go, no, he went there for several days and didn't rush.
I’ll see you up there.”
Seeing Huo Tingrong's obviously extremely proud but pretending to be humble look, Huo Jingchen only felt it was funny. However, due to human kindness, he pretended to be surprised and said: "The second brother is really getting better and better. The second brother is really getting better."
Uncle teaches well."
"He learned everything by himself, and I usually don't care much about his homework." Huo Tingrong waved his hand, as if he didn't care.
Huo Jingchen strongly agreed with this. After all, with his second uncle's temperament, he only focused on weapons and military affairs, so he would not care about his two children. Fortunately, his second aunt was a responsible and steady person, otherwise his second brother would probably become a playboy.
"Okay, it's getting late. You've been working hard for more than half a month. Go back and rest early!" Huo Tingzheng felt sorry for his son who was tired. He interrupted his brother who was still chattering and told him.
Huo Jingchen took advantage of the situation and resigned.
After more than a month of decoration, the originally bare farmhouse became more and more lifelike.
A grapevine was planted on the east side of the yard, and its fat green leaves quietly climbed up the dry wooden frame to block the dazzling sunlight for the little flower dog squatting and sleeping underneath.
A pretty and upright girl in plain clothes with an almond-shaped face and peach cheeks was sitting on a stone chair under the big tree in the yard, carefully reading through the thick account books.
"Liu Ying, go and ask Mrs. Li and the others to come over." Jiang Hexi whispered to Liu Ying while packing her things.
"Okay!" Liuying responded loudly, turned around and strode away.
Jiang Hexi touched the thick account book and recalled the cotton cloth she saw in the cloth store a few days ago. She couldn't help but feel happy. She didn't expect that there was already cotton here. God really treated her well!
When she thought of the piles of white dumplings that would eventually be processed into piles of silver, Jiang Hexi was so excited that she had already had sweet dreams in advance.
At this time, several people who had gathered at Mrs. Li's house to make dried tofu hurried over. The sound of footsteps one after another awoke Jiang Hexi, who was addicted to fantasy.
Seeing that everyone was here, Jiang Hexi stood up and walked inside, and motioned for several people to follow her into the house.
"Xi'er, what do you want from us?" Madam Li asked as soon as she entered the door.
"Come on, everyone, come and sit down first."
Jiang Hexi called a few people over, and then took out a wooden box.
When I opened it, I saw that it was filled with white money!
Jiang Hexi simply poured them all out and said slowly: "This money is all the money earned from the tofu stall last month. After excluding the cost, I made a total of eighty taels of silver."
"My dear, there are so many!" Aunt Li on the side exclaimed in surprise.
Jiang Hexi smiled softly and explained: "Actually, there are not many. After all, we are an exclusive business and no one competes with us for business. In addition, General Huo sent people to protect our stall. Everyone in the county also loves it.
Our tofu, this way, the tofu stall can be sold out every day."
"In addition, many restaurants in the state capital have ordered our tofu, so we have really made a lot of money this month."
"Mrs. Li and his wife, Mrs. Li and her daughter-in-law, and Aunt Mei Ying are all helping to make tofu. We all work day and night to make tofu, and it is quite hard. So we will add some money to each person as we agreed before.
Three taels of silver per month."
"Liu Ying and Tieniu are responsible for selling tofu. It's not that hard. They only pay two taels of silver each. Do you have any opinions?"
"No, Girl Xi, this is too much, we deserve it!" Aunt Li refused hurriedly.
"That's right! Xi'er, Auntie's heart is shaking. I have never seen so much money in my life! You are going to scare Auntie to death!" the frightened Widow Zhang shouted loudly.
"Sister Xi, I'm just here to help, no money required!" Li Tieniu was stunned and refused loudly, fearing that Jiang Hexi would misunderstand him.
Madam Li hurriedly pulled Jiang Hexi over, leaned against her ear and whispered: "Xi'er, why did you take out all the money! This is so eye-catching!"
"It's okay, Madam Li, I know it well." Jiang Hexi also replied in a low voice.
"Okay, everyone, please accept it! Otherwise, I won't dare to ask everyone for help in the future."
Madam Li took advantage of the situation and said: "Yes, you guys, please take it! Anyway, Xi'er has already taken it out. Is it possible that you want her to keep her word?"
After talking about this, several people had no choice but to accept the money anxiously. They felt that the money in their hands was very hot and warmed their hearts.
"Actually, I have one more thing to ask for your help today." Jiang Hexi said warmly when she saw that everyone had accepted the money.
"What's the matter? Tell me."
"That's right, you're welcome!"
Jiang Hexi smiled warmly and said: "Winter is coming soon. I heard that the winter in Jingzhou is very cold, so I wanted to make something to warm my hands and feet. I thought there were many women in the village and everyone could do needlework.
I just want to recruit a group of people to come to my house to do needlework."
"Those jobs are not difficult, and you can learn them quickly. But I don't know much about the people in the village, so I want to ask all the ladies to help me find some more diligent and honest women. I will pay them per piece.
Gloves and socks cost five cents each, and jackets and trousers cost twelve cents each."
"No problem, it's all on us. We will definitely find someone with clean and stable hands and feet for you." Aunt Li agreed immediately.
"But isn't the salary too high?" Widow Zhang said worriedly.
"No, everyone earns hard-earned money. As long as the quality passes the standard, I will accept it."
"But one thing must be agreed in advance. You must only work in my house, and you must sign a contract. You cannot pass on this skill to others. Otherwise, each person will have to pay me five hundred taels of silver and sell himself as a slave.
!”
Hearing this, Aunt Li and others all trembled and looked at Jiang Hexi, who was rarely ruthless, in great surprise.
Madam Li thought it was a good idea for her to do this. She looked at the frightened eyes of several people and said, "I think Xi'er did a good job! If we don't establish good rules, the gossipy women in the village will not be able to use this craft."
The news will be passed back to my parents' family. When the time comes, who will our Xi'er find to cry to?"
"Besides, as long as you don't pass on this skill, there will be no need to pay for it, and you can still make a lot of money every day. Think about it, this is money that you can't make in a lifetime of farming."
After saying that, Madam Li turned to Jiang Hexi and said firmly: "Xi'er, I must be counted on to do this. I will definitely come!"
Aunt Li and the others were all moved. After all, after getting along with each other for this period of time, they also knew what Jiang Hexi was like.
"I'll sign too!" Aunt Li said proudly.
"Count me in!" Widow Zhang shouted hurriedly.
"Me too." Aunt Li's daughter-in-law Fang Niang also whispered.
Li Tieniu was unhappy and shouted loudly: "Then what should I do! I'm a boy, and I can't embroider!"
Upon hearing this, everyone laughed, and the serious atmosphere just now disappeared.
"I will ask Tieniu for you to help me with more important things in the future! From now on, you will learn arithmetic from me first, and I will train you to be my boss." Jiang Hexi has long taken a fancy to Li Tieniu's business talent, and is determined to
I want to train him to be my right hand man.
Aunt Li quickly grabbed her son and reminded her, "Thank you soon, Sister Xi!"
Li Tieniu thanked him in a confused manner, having not yet woken up from the big shopkeeper's cake.
"Brother Li, I also need your help with something." Jiang Hexi turned to Li Tiezhu and said warmly.