Everyone was so excited. Not to mention 600,000 taels, even if we raise 300,000 taels now, we still have to fight the famine with the Guangdong vassal. As for the vassal in Guangxi, the garrison in Guangxi itself has to rely on the Guangdong Alliance.
I can't even count on the salary.
Seeing that the atmosphere was a little low, Lu Yizhong quickly changed the topic: "How many men, horses, ships and cannons will be used can only be decided after discussion between Master Tai and Master Futai, He Zhen. Let's put this matter aside and discuss other things first.
"
At the moment, the staff were discussing where to call the troops, how to advance the troops, how to cross the sea, how to contact the local garrison, etc. Lu Yizhong's mind was not on this. After some perfunctory talk, he excused himself and entrusted the meeting with urgent matters.
Leave it to Li Xijue and resign first.
As soon as he left the Governor's Mansion, he felt relaxed all over, and he was very happy and excited because the opportunity he had been waiting for had finally arrived.
He had been secretly planning this for a long time, just waiting for such an opportunity to come. Although he expected that the opportunity would come soon, he didn't expect it to come so quickly.
At this time, he looked calm on the surface, but he was still a little anxious in his heart. When he got into his four-person sedan, he stamped the sedan board impatiently:
"Ziming Tower."
Just as the bearer was about to get up, Lu Yizhong felt something was wrong and stamped his foot again: "Go back to the mansion!"
He felt that it was not appropriate to go to Ziminglou at this time. The news that he was going to attack Lingao has not spread yet. It will naturally spread after the meeting is over. When Miss Pei and Dongzhu Guo are in panic all day long, they will naturally come.
Please go yourself.
Thinking of this, he felt that his idea was a trick. Let Dongzhu Guo hesitate for a while, and he would naturally understand it when the city is full of troubles.
In addition, although Guo Yi has only been in Guangzhou for two or three years, he has a wide range of contacts. Basically all the wealthy gentry and officials in Guangdong and outside the city have passed through him. If there is any ruthless person behind him who has not shown up, this time
Keeping in mind that knocking on the mountain and shaking the tiger is enough to make the other party stand out. It also prevents you from being too hasty and hitting a wall in vain.
The sunlight approaching noon shines on the carved window lattice, and the glass inlaid on it reflects the light on the whitewashed walls. The room is furnished with rosewood tables and chairs, gorgeous lacquered screens with flowers and grass, and one of the most luxurious furniture in Guangzhou.
Household items - a large life-size crystal mirror mounted on a finely carved red sandalwood frame with a brocade mirror cover; two shelves of impeccably packed thread-bound books; a Western enamel incense burner decorated with animal figures,
He was blowing out wisps of sandalwood smoke, and a thin, faint fragrance floated in the room.
There is a hanging scroll by an unknown landscape painter hanging on the wall, which seems to express the owner's unique taste. Underneath the painting is a simple and elegant guqin. Looking at the simple patterns, you can tell that it is an authentic Tang style.
The Song Guqin is also worth thousands of gold.
This neat and comfortable boudoir is decorated with silk brocade and gold and jade utensils, making it look luxurious and magnificent. At this time, the owner of the room, Pei Lixiu, the hostess of Ziminglou, is leaning on the moon-hole style door cover with tassel gauze hanging on it.
On the canopy bed, she slept soundly on white satin and red flower soft pillows.
The sunlight approaching noon shone on the wall, and the originally dark and comfortable light in the room gradually became brighter. Finally, she opened her eyes, as if she was not used to such bright light in the room. She closed her eyes again for a while, and looked out from the big red cloud.
Under the satin quilt, a snow-white arm slowly stretched out, and then another one stretched out, stretching leisurely.
Although the skin color of the arms is snow-white, it looks a little rounded. Two twisted silver bracelets tightly hug the wrists. Small emeralds are hung on thin chains on the bracelets.
"This annoying sunshine." Pei Lixiu muttered, slowly stood up from the bed, and yawned in an unladylike manner.
According to the rules of wealthy families in the Ming Dynasty: when a mistress like her gets up, she does not need to be summoned. As long as there is the slightest noise, the personal maid outside will immediately show up, chatting with the master to please her while serving her to change clothes and wash.
.But Pei Lixiu's boudoir has a strict no-entry system. No servants are allowed to enter her boudoir without being summoned.
She sat on the bed blankly for a long time, and then she seemed to suddenly wake up. She lazily got out of the bed, dragged a pair of embroidered slippers, and walked slowly to the bathroom.
The bathroom is completely decorated in a modern style. Except there is no shiny stainless steel - but the use here is much more luxurious than stainless steel. All the plumbing hardware is made of bronze.
She hurriedly took off her clothes, took out a plastic hair cover that had been used many times from the drawer, carefully put her black hair up and put it on. She looked in the mirror again and again to see where her hair was not exposed, and then stood in the bathtub.
inside.
It is used to show the status of the roof water tank. It is a bit like a car clock on a ship. The pointer of the copper clock shows at 70%. The water in the water tank is enough for her to take a comfortable shower. Otherwise, she will have to pull it.
The handle of the bronze bell. The servants below will quickly lead the cattle out, drive the cattle to run and drive the animal-powered pedal machine to fill the water. This filling process takes at least fifteen minutes. Although there are modern bathroom facilities, the supporting facilities are still
Too backward.
After taking a shower, she sat in the dressing room outside the bathroom. Looking at herself in the bathroom mirror, her eyes were swollen - yesterday she just socialized a little between the boxes and was already very drunk.
It's all because Ziminglou's rum cocktail has been so successful. Rum, mixed with kvass, various fruit juices, and distilled flower, fruit, and grass leaf liquids make this fashionable drink ever-changing.
, it suddenly fascinated the dignitaries in the city of Guangzhou. Everyone who came to Ziming Tower was proud to have a drink.
Fortunately, her head no longer hurts. The effect of the hangover soup is still good. Pei Lixiu noticed some slight wrinkles in the corners of her eyes - she frowned secretly and reminded herself to make a cucumber or fruit facial mask at night, or
Like the method introduced to her by Su Ai, Gao Shunqin's favorite concubine, she used egg white to make pearl powder and applied it to her face.
Pei Lixiu thought about this problem for another ten minutes, until the mahogany floor clock in the room struck eleven times. She suddenly woke up. Today is the day of the "salon", or according to this time and space, it is called
"Elegant gathering".
This gathering was specially organized for the female relatives who came to Ziminglou for recreation. Pei Lixiu got to know many concubines of local dignitaries and eunuchs. Most of these concubines were famous prostitutes in Guangzhou, and many of them were the masters.
The famous prostitutes from the south of the Yangtze River are hundreds of times better than ordinary women in terms of appearance, body shape, and talents. Most of these women are smart, cunning, and quick-thinking. They have seen various scenes and have been staying in the mansion for a long time.
, although they are well-dressed and well-fed, and have slaves and maids, they feel very empty inside. Ziming Tower, a place full of new things, has become a magnet that attracts them.
Pei Lixiu took advantage of the opportunity of following Guo Yi to "build relationships" and "find connections" and met many such women. Although Pei Lixiu knew nothing about poetry and poetry, she still won many awards by virtue of her status as the hostess of Ziming Tower and her cheerful and unrestrained temperament.
He is favored by few people. Over time, he has developed relationships with many people's concubines, and has become a handkerchief.
The relationship leading to the inner house is very useful for Guangzhou Branch. The first is to attract deposits. The concubine of a wealthy family has some savings on hand and hopes to make money in a substantial business. Pei Lixiu used her relationship to attract Delong Guangzhou Branch.
A lot of deposits. When something was difficult to handle at the Guangzhou station, Pei Lixiu held her handkerchief and asked them to look for opportunities to blow the pillow, and almost everything went wrong.
Because her work is very effective, Guo Yi basically responds to her various applications. There are endless new gadgets in Ziminglou - many of them are specially made in Lingao and Zizhenzhai. Pei Lixiu made this "elegant gathering"
It has gradually become more and more famous, so much so that recently, the wives and young ladies of some families are also thinking of ways to get on the invitation list in order to build some connections for their husbands and fathers.
However, Pei Lixiu knows that it is not enough to attract them with the endless supply of modern gadgets and the like. They are all well-informed, and they will naturally get tired of these little clever tricks over time. Generally speaking,
They are very similar to the literary young women of the 20th century. There must be something that can make them feel higher than ordinary "common people" to attract them.
Poems, songs, calligraphy and painting are of course their weapons that make them proud of most women in this time and space, but this aspect is Pei Lixiu's biggest weakness.
Pei Lixiu knew that if she didn't have the mysterious identity of an "Australian woman" and was the hostess of Ziming House, which was full of new things, these talented women would probably not even look at her.
Pei Lixiu knew that her knowledge was limited, and if she had to learn these things in a sudden attack, she might not be able to achieve any results. She would have to make articles based on things they didn't understand.
The first thing she is most confident about is dressing, makeup and taking care of herself. However, she is almost at a disadvantage when it comes to dressing, because she can only wear Ming Dynasty women's clothing as the Romans do. Modern women's clothing, whether it is skirts or jeans, is regarded as
The "boudoir style" is acceptable, but if you really wear it, it would be "immoral".
As for the secret recipes for makeup and skin care, the ancients were no less good than modern people in this regard - almost every woman from a wealthy family has her own secret methods for makeup and skin care. They are just more limited by the materials: some
Cosmetics contain toxic ingredients, and some are not very effective. The biggest bottleneck of ancient cosmetics and skin care products is that they are inconvenient to use and easy to deteriorate. Zichengji sells lipstick sticks, eyebrow pencils, and perfumes that are made with modern methods and processes.
The popularity of such things is largely due to the convenience of use.
After careful consideration, Pei Lixiu decided to start from this aspect and set up a beauty salon or the like to promote pure natural beauty care. The Cross-Travel Group has a lot of information available in this area. Especially some people have a complete set of beauty salons in their computers.
Video tutorial. In addition to a full set of beauty care courses, there are also ear candling, uterine care, full body massage, medicinal bath, aromatherapy bath, chest massage, etc., and even beauty enema.
After seeing it, she felt more confident, and immediately started buying equipment, training personnel, and ordering various new gadgets from the Ministry of Light Industry. The arrival of Zheng Shangjie made her even more powerful. Zheng Shangjie was eloquent and was better than her in adaptability, but after all, she
She has a husband, and according to the standards of the Ming Dynasty, she is too old, so it is difficult for her to become famous, so she has to provide back-end support and make suggestions for her. She can also recruit remuneration when necessary.
But not all the things are in place yet. It is really difficult to communicate with the people at the Ministry of Light Industry because they are all men, and they are all men studying science and engineering. It is difficult for her to explain to them specifically what she needs.
. Because she neither knows the ingredients nor the structure of these things. She can only use some perceptual words to describe them. As a result, either the other party does not know what she wants, or the samples she makes do not meet the requirements at all.
A few days ago, Zheng Shangjie made a special trip to Lingao and made a list of the things she wanted. Zheng Shangjie said that as soon as she returned to Lingao, she went to the big library to look up information and compiled the pictures and structures of everything.
Find out. If necessary, go directly to the workshop to describe it.
"I wonder how things went?" Pei Lixiu muttered. She lazily changed into clothes. Today she chose a pink thin silk dress with purple lining, and underneath was an eight-piece Hunan skirt with purple floral piping on a white ground.
She was dressed very elegantly. It was just her hair. She did not dress up according to Ming Dynasty's custom, but used a low, antique-style hairstyle that is common in costume TV dramas.
After finishing dressing up and changing clothes, she pulled the bell rope. Her personal maid Chunliu came in from the door on tiptoe. This girl was bought by Guo Yi from the market a few months ago because she was very beautiful.
It almost fell into the hands of the old madam. Because of her outstanding appearance and "quick wit", she was assigned to the intelligence learning class. She recently returned from Lingao to serve as Pei Lixiu's personal maid and secretary.
All former maids, servants, stewards and other close personnel at Guangzhou Station have been transferred from the quarantine camp in Lingao in accordance with the regulations of the General Administration of Political Security. Former personnel have also been transferred back to Lingao in batches to undergo political review. Confirmed
Only those who are honest and reliable can continue to serve in Guangzhou. Those who are considered to have potential temporarily join various short-term training courses to learn various professional skills. For example, Sun Chang studied administration and personnel management in Lingao. There are currently no indigenous personnel in Guangzhou Station
They have been absorbed into Lingao's indigenous personnel system, but the Civil Affairs Committee is already preparing their personal files.
The concubines of Guo Yi and others do not enjoy such treatment. They have only been closely scrutinized to prove that they are not dangerous. There will be no place for them in the future indigenous personnel system.
Chunliu brought breakfast to the hostess. There was only a bowl of white porridge and four dishes of side dishes on the lacquer plate. Although it was noon, she still prepared it as breakfast. The hostess seemed to have a fear of eating and would not eat anything.
Investigate every detail.
Chunliu said with a smile: "Madam, you are awake. How did you sleep?"
Pei Lixiu didn't answer. She glanced at the rosewood desk in front of the window from a distance. I don't know when a Xue Tao note was placed on it.
There are no poems on Xue Tao's paper - no one here can sing with her, and everyone knows that Miss Pei doesn't understand these - Xue Tao's paper is her schedule for the day.
"Has Xia He come in?" Pei Lixiu asked angrily, still a little "angry" about getting up.
"How dare you do this?" Chunliu said cautiously, "You brought it in before you went to bed last night. Maybe it was dark at the time and you didn't see it."
The schedule was written and sent in every night by Xia He, who was specializing in writing and ink next to her. Xia He also recently came from Lingaoguo. She turned out to be the only daughter of a scholar. A robbery by a bandit caused the death of both her parents. People in the clan forced her to
She sold her body to bury her relatives. Only then did she fall into the hands of the Guangzhou Station. After being sent to Lingao for quarantine, she entered the administrative secretary training class because she was proficient in writing. This time she was transferred back to Guangzhou to serve as Pei Lixiu's secretary. Not only did Pei Lixiu's single strokes
It's a bit ugly to even show it out to people in an elegant hall. Xia He specially writes letters and invitations for her, and translates elegant letters for her when necessary. The administrative secretary training class now also teaches some financial accounting knowledge.
Therefore, Xia He also served as Pei Lixiu's cashier. When visiting guests, Xia He had to accompany her to prevent Pei Lixiu from causing any rudeness.
"Send her in."
Because of her heavy tasks and responsibilities, some people at Guangzhou Station jokingly called her "the maid holding the pen", while others called her "the maid in charge of the Ziming Tower".
Xia He was not pretty, and was even a bit clumsy - her father was just a poor scholar living in the countryside. She walked carefully to the room, gathered her clothes in a polite manner, and greeted the hostess.
.
"You're welcome. What's going on today?"
Xia He began to explain today's schedule.
Most of Pei Lixiu's schedule is spent in socializing. She has to socialize not only with the guests of Ziminglou, but also with all the big shots related to the entire Guangzhou Station. These people's weddings, funerals, receptions, etc.
Pampering, celebrating birthdays...we must prepare gifts according to the closeness of the family, or visit in person or send someone to go. This is originally the most important thing for a wife of a wealthy family.
Guo Yi does not have an official wife. Since Pei Lixiu bears the title of his concubine, she must take part in these matters.
In the past, the scope of socializing at Guangzhou Station was limited, and this aspect rarely needed to be taken into consideration, but now it has become a heavy burden for Pei Lixiu. Every now and then, there must be some etiquette matter waiting for her to deal with.
…
"The third son of the magistrate of Nanhai County is enrolling in school in his hometown, so he must prepare gifts to congratulate him."
"I beg you, one of your concubines has died, and I would like to send you a memorial ceremony."
"Mr. Zhou, who is on the patrol, will have a wedding ceremony on the eighth day of the lunar month."
"Mr. Liu's family has suffered a disaster, and he needs to send someone to express his condolences."