"No need," Li Luoyu said, "Both of you can eat Chinese food, and you like it very much. Let's ask Chef Liao to cook it." Chef Liao brought him with him from his home in Guangzhou, and he is quite good at several dishes.
Famous dishes, especially roasted suckling pig and roasted mutton, are famous in the city of Guangzhou. Li Luoyou also brought him here for the convenience of entertaining local guests.
"Yes. I'll make arrangements right away." Shopkeeper Cheng retreated. Li Luoyou stood up and said to Gu Baocheng, "Come here."
Gu Baocheng was still a boy of fifteen or sixteen years old, and it was obvious that he was very afraid of this uncle. He followed him closely.
"I assigned you to do your homework on the boat, did you do it? Is there anything you didn't understand?"
"Reply to the master: My nephew has already done it." The Li family is also learning the style of being an official. The nephews and daughters call their elders "Master". "There are just a few geometry questions that I can't solve. I want to ask the master for advice."
"Well, bring the window lesson books to the study in the evening."
When he arrived, the study room was already clean. There were more than a dozen large cabinets filled with correspondence and account books. The cabinets containing important documents were locked. Li Luoyou checked the seals on various cabinets.
, after confirming that they were intact, they tore off the seals one by one and sat down.
Gu Baocheng naturally did not dare to sit down and stood aside.
"Baocheng! Polish your ink and write some letters."
"Yes!" Gu Baocheng was a little strange. Writing letters and other matters were usually Master Shuqi's business, while his uncle had to do the secret work himself. Why should he write it himself? He didn't dare to ask any more questions, and hurriedly walked to the red sandalwood desk.
I took a piece of residual ink from Cheng Junfang and rubbed it on a Tang Dynasty Duan inkstone.
"Write in Song style small regular script! You write -" Li Luoyou's letter was written to Liaohai's agent in Shenyang, Jiannu's "Shengjing". There was more than one such agent, and some were in
They opened businesses locally, and some specialized in making friends with noble officials of Houjin. Since Guangning withdrew from the town, all the Li family's business in Liaodong was destroyed. Li Luoyou, who witnessed the tragic situation of the soldiers and civilians in Liaodong, returned to Zhili and settled down a little.
After that, he began to send people back to Liaodong to reorganize the family business. In the name of doing business, he secretly collected intelligence information about Houjin. He still held a glimmer of hope in his heart: one day when the king's army returned to Liaodong, he would arrange for him to return to Liaodong.
The intelligence network can play some role - at least, it can kill a few Tatars locally.
The news of Ningyuan's victory once gave Li Luoyou a glimmer of hope, who was already extremely disappointed with the government. Emperor Tianqi passed away, King Xin took over the throne, and Wei Zhongxian, who had overwhelming power in the government, lost power and died. It was not until Yuan Chonghuan came back and proposed "five years"
"Restore the Liao Dynasty", all this made him feel brighter than ever before. The power of the Ming Dynasty has not been exhausted after all!
The news from his agents in Liaodong showed that since the death of the old Tatar under the cannon of Governor Yuan, the Later Jin Dynasty was in a precarious state both internally and economically in the puppet regime. Li Luoyou felt:
After the defeat of Saarhu, the imperial court's decline in Liaodong may be reversed, and there have been more activities in Liaodong in the past two years.
He asked Gu Baocheng to write a letter of instructions to take care of the agent's commercial activities in Shenyang. Liaohai Bank's commercial activities in Liaodong were mainly through the channel of Pidao, entering the Houjin ruling area to transport and sell goods within the customs, and purchase red ginseng, velvet antler,
Furs, especially fine sable furs. This trade was illegal in the Ming Dynasty, but it was welcomed within the jurisdiction of the Hou Jin regime. A regime based on robbery and robbery would inevitably engage in militarism and agricultural decline.
There is an extreme shortage of various materials, which is extremely supportive of such smuggling trade with the customs.
However, Li Luoyou is still different from those traitorous merchants in Shanxi. He never transports and sells strategic materials such as grain, pig iron, and copperware that Hou Jin urgently needs. All he transports are luxuries that are useless for farming and fighting.
, especially all kinds of silk brocades, as well as all kinds of porcelain of various thicknesses - the barbarians who have accumulated a lot of wealth by robbery and robbery have just taken off their pig skins, and inevitably there is a huge demand for these products. Li Luoyou's
This business was not originally intended to make money, but it grew bigger and bigger - red ginseng, deer antlers and mink skins made him a lot of money.
"...As for what Baylor said, asking us to transport and sell food, please tell him: famines have been constant recently, food prices are extremely high, and there is no surplus food left in the market..."
Then he dictated a letter to redeem several former store clerks, instructing the agent to redeem the clerks in the original shop whose whereabouts had been found one by one. If their family members could find their whereabouts, they would also be redeemed together. Borrow
Taking advantage of trade opportunities, he searched for and redeemed many acquaintances, colleagues, and relatives who were taken into slavery during the Liaodong collapse. Those who were redeemed were all sent back to the pass. Those who were courageous, knowledgeable, and harbored a deep hatred for the slaves.
People will be re-sent outside the customs, or work as shop assistants, or settle down locally to do small business and lurk, waiting for revenge one day.
After he finally dictated the letter about sending gifts to Houjin nobles and officials during the Dragon Boat Festival, Gu Baocheng saw that he had no other instructions, so he handed the letter over. Li Luoyou took it and read it carefully - a piece of work
The writing was in neat small regular script, densely packed and without any mess. He nodded with satisfaction. Then he took out a small stamp from the invitation box he carried with him and stamped it one by one.
Trading with Hou Jin is illegal, so Li Luoyou never writes letters like this to others, without leaving out the name, signature, or inscription, and only uses a monogram stamp to mark it. Once the letter is lost, he will directly
Just destroy the seal. Although Li Luoyou placed his hope in the imperial court, he knew exactly who the various figures in the imperial court were.
The letter was carefully sealed and put into wax pills. It was then collected by dedicated and capable personnel and headed north to Dengzhou. There were many ships going from Dengzhou to Pi Island, making it very convenient for smuggling.
Li Luoyou sealed the wax balls and put them in a special jewelry box. Then he asked: "Baocheng! Do you know why you are asked to write these three letters today?"
"Yes, I want my nephew to remember the hatred between the country and the family."
"It's good that you know." Li Luoyou nodded, "Sit down."
"My nephew doesn't dare."
"Sit down, I have something to tell you." Li Luoyou sighed, "My uncle suffered from vertigo again yesterday. This disease has occurred several times. I'm afraid something will happen -"
"My uncle was at his peak in the Spring and Autumn Period..."
"It doesn't matter, he won't die for a while." Li Luoyou said solemnly, "My uncle climbed out of the dead, and he takes life and death lightly. The Li family is now prosperous, but they just can't let you go——"
He stopped Gu Baocheng's words and said, "My uncle originally expected to watch the imperial court regain Liaozuo and us men to return home in fine clothes to help you revive the family business. Now it seems that my uncle may not have this blessing. Therefore, this stall in Liaodong will not be able to survive in the future."
You should pay more attention and help uncle keep an eye on him."
"Yes, my nephew will follow my uncle's teachings."
"You should go to the Portuguese people in Xiangshan'ao often. My uncle knows that you don't want to believe in God, so he won't force you. It's just that you can gain more experience by going there." Li Luoyou closed his eyes, "Westerners have their own
A set of skills, mathematics, and mathematics are not inferior to my Chinese. The vastness of the world is far beyond the small corner of China..." His words seemed to be warning Gu Baocheng, but also seemed to be muttering to himself. Gu Baocheng did not dare to disturb, and just stood and listened.
"...You go ahead. After a long journey, you should take a good rest. There are still things to discuss in the evening."
"Yes." Gu Baocheng responded respectfully. Just as he was about to exit, he saw that his uncle had no intention of leaving. He continued to open letters sent from various places and asked, "Master, aren't you going to have a rest?"
"I'm not tired, I'll go back later."
"Yes," Gu Baocheng hesitated, "My nephew is brave, please forgive Aunt Jiang..."
"Hmph," Li Luoyou snorted coldly, "You are very considerate of her."
"My nephew doesn't dare!" Gu Baocheng was so frightened that he knelt down. Women of elders - this was a matter of principle in ancient society.
"Get up! I scared you like this." Li Luoyou glanced at him with dissatisfaction. Gu Bao grew up to look like his late wife, and therefore looked quite weak. He sighed secretly in his heart, such a boy cannot
Do you know if you can carry this shoulder?
"Aunt Jiang is my nephew's elder. She has always been a female child and cannot bear such suffering..."
"Kneel down and you will die on your knees?" Li Luoyou sneered, "I escaped from Liaodong. I don't know how many men, women, old and children who could not escape from Liaozuo were kidnapped and enslaved by the slaves.
Those who have been tortured to death, those who are not dead - you should be asked to meet those who were redeemed and hear what kind of life they lived - she would have to kneel for an hour without a piece of flesh."
Gu Baocheng kowtowed and protested: "Master, my nephew will never forget the suffering of the people of Liaodong after the fall. It's just that these are two different things. How could Aunt Jiang be guilty? It was just a wrong sentence, and the master scolded her.
Okay, such punishment would be unkind..."
"Asshole!" Li Luoyou saw his nephew's stubborn temper rising and cursed angrily. Suddenly, his head felt dizzy. He quickly stopped his anger and just said: "Get out. You are really kind to a woman!"
Li Luoyu calmed down for a while, and then his mind became clear - the symptoms were getting more serious. He thought that after returning to Guangzhou this time, he would hire a famous doctor to take a closer look.
While he was resting his mind with his eyes closed, Su Ye came in softly and said in his ear: "Sir, shopkeeper Yang Da from Yangrun Kaitang has sent someone to pay your respects and also gave you a gift of four colors of water."
"He's not here to say hello to me. He's here to say hello to my red ginseng and deer antlers." A smile appeared on Li Luoyou's lips, "I've accepted the gift, and I'll give it a reward to the visitor. Tell him: Invite shopkeeper Yang to come over tomorrow.
Narrative.”
"Yes." Saoye agreed and stepped out.
"Hold on, Li Luoyou stopped him, "Go to the inner house and ask Aunt Jiang to get up."