The red building is so arrogant

Chapter 531 The Concubine's Door [Last Part]

As I said earlier that Xing Xiuyan lacks the ability to separate herself, I couldn't turn my face away and invited her here for questioning.

Besides, as Xing Xiuyan's concubine, it's not proper to rashly invite her to meet Nan'an Princess.

Therefore, Lin Daiyu was entrusted by others to invite Xing Xiuyan to the Xiaoxiang Pavilion until the afternoon when Nan'an Concubine and the princess were sent away. After all, Jiao Shun is a foreigner, and Lin Daiyu usually only visits when he is not at home.

After listening to Sister Lin's retelling of Nan'an Princess' proposal, Xing Xiuyan naturally had no reason to object.

She didn't care much about these things, but she knew that Lin Daiyu had been bored in Rongguo Mansion for these years—especially after falling out with Jia Baoyu, and she actually hoped to get out of this cage, even if it was occasionally and temporarily.

only……

"Although it is a good thing, you must also bear in mind that your status is different. If you have a dispute with the Nan'an princess, you must be patient. You are just an outsider, and you will just refuse to go to the appointment with an excuse in the future."

"Sister, just don't worry."

Seeing that she was worried about herself, Lin Daiyu leaned her body on her shoulder and said softly: "Even if there is anything, there will still be Third Sister and Sister Bao trying to smooth things over—they absolutely don't want anyone to offend Nan'an Palace."

"It's better to rely on yourself than to rely on others."

Xing Xiuyan caressed the top of her head with a pun, and then sighed again: "Forget it, you and your left and right are not the ones to listen to advice, just do it and see."

Lin Daiyu naturally knew what she meant, but she didn't want to do this, so she didn't follow the words. Instead, she started a new stove and talked about her impressions of Nan'an Princess.

The two sisters chatted for about half an hour before bidding farewell.

When Xing Xiuyan returned home, she originally wanted to report this to Jiao Shun, but she went to the north room to see that her uncle was biting a pen and thinking hard at the desk, knowing that this must be writing a memorial to the emperor again. Therefore, he didn't dare to interrupt, and just quietly retreated out.

As she expected, Jiao Shun was really writing a memorial—more precisely, he was writing a reply letter to Emperor Longyuan.

When he got the news yesterday, he reported to the emperor what he had seen and heard in Zhen Guogong's mansion, and the fact that Concubine Nan'an was coming to Rongguo Mansion, and the emperor returned an eloquent imperial approval in a few days.

In the imperial criticism, it can be seen that the emperor is quite complacent about the recent situation, and feels that his practice of restarting Zhao Prison is indeed a clever move.

And while he was full of ambition, the emperor couldn't help thinking about doing things quickly. He always felt that it was too sloppy and not refreshing to wait for the completion of the engineering school step by step, and then follow the rules and wait for batches of work-students to fill the grassroots.

According to Emperor Longyuan's intention, it is the best policy to take advantage of the good situation and chase the poor with the remaining courage!

The plan was beautiful, but it got stuck before the first step was taken.

If you want to get ahead quickly, you have to have money, but Xia Guo's finances are very tight now - if it weren't for this, the Ministry of Households would not have the confidence to insist on not appropriating funds for engineering.

When Emperor Longyuan came to the throne, the country's finances were actually pretty good. After all the expenses were removed every year, some emergency reserves could be saved.

However, in recent years, first aid to Qianxiang and expedition to poisoning have consumed most of the accumulation in the national treasury, and then allocated huge sums of money to rebuild the North and South Navy, filling it like a bottomless pit for several years, and the national finances are naturally stretched. .

Therefore, although Emperor Longyuan was full of thoughts of doing things quickly, he suffered from having no rice to cook.

They even moved to tear down the east and west walls to make up for the west wall, intending to take part of the donations from the nobles as an early investment, and quickly launched the Beijing-West Railway, which is still in the preliminary survey stage.

Naturally, Jiao Shun didn't want to see this.

Although trains and railways are obvious political achievements, in the end engineering is his foundation. If he delays engineering studies to build railways, then he would rather not build this railway!
But this matter is not up to him.

It's impossible to stop him, Emperor Longyuan is a donkey, not to mention Jiao Shun is his confidant, unless there is a sudden illness in the brain, otherwise Jiao will never make any outright remonstrance.

Then we have to find a way to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, or at least draw a big cake for the emperor.

After thinking about it, Jiao Shun felt that he should start with the things around him, such as... selling arms!

Whether it is Emperor Longyuan or the Ordnance Department, they are very concerned about the installation of new muskets as soon as possible. It is expected that after the actual improvement in the Dragon Guard is completed, it is time to work overtime for full-scale production.

It is estimated that by the end of next year at the latest, a large number of Longyuan Type I will be installed in the Beijing camp, and tens of thousands of old-fashioned breech-loading guns will naturally be eliminated by then.

According to the old practice during the reign of Taizu, these old guns will be completely dismantled, some of them will be returned to the furnace and remade as raw materials for new guns, and the rest will be completely discarded and destroyed.

But the reason why Taizu did this was because most of the firearms in the former Qing Dynasty were not very usable. In addition, he was ambitious to conquer Siyi, so it was naturally impossible to use the eliminated weapons to arm his future enemies.

It's different now.

Although the breech-loading gun that was finalized during the Taizu period was not comparable to the modern continuous-fire rifle like the Longyuan Type I, it could be regarded as a world-leading cutting-edge weapon in a horizontal comparison.

Instead of destroying and recasting, it is better to use it to arm vassal states such as Qianxiang and Chenla.

Faced with the increasingly greedy Xiyi, these countries have an urgent need for a strong army. What can they be dissatisfied with if they can buy the Xia Guo musket that defeated Xiyi in actual combat at a relatively low price?
If you can't come up with so much silver, you can also barter.

What kind of wood, food, spices, the more the better, some of them can be digested internally, and some can be sold directly to Xiyi.

And then there is...

After seeing the actual combat effect of breech-loading guns, several powerful countries in Europa have already started to imitate them. The speed of installation will probably be slightly faster than Xia Guo's new muskets, but it will not be too much faster. .

At this time, the second-rate countries that have conflicts of interest with them will also be eager to obtain weapons that can compete with them.

Selling some of the past at a high price can not only subsidize Xia's finances, but also balance the strength of the European countries, why not do it?
perhaps……

You can also learn from each other's strengths and exchange some industrial technologies from these countries that the Xia Kingdom does not have.

After writing this, Jiao Shun hesitated for a moment, and finally ticked off the last sentence. Emperor Longyuan was a standard Great Xia nationalist, and he always regarded himself as a monarch who lived in heaven.

He was deeply ashamed of the ironclad ship's defeat of Xia Guo's navy before, so he ordered the Ordnance Department to catch up with the Wuxi people at all costs and make up for the last shortcoming of Daxia.

Driven by this mentality, how could he admit that Xia Guo still lags behind the second-tier countries in Europe in terms of industrial technology?

Although it's a pity, it's better not to touch his bad luck.

After reviewing the memorial from the beginning to the end, and re-copying it on the special bright yellow book, Jiao Shun summoned the little eunuch who was almost always stationed at the back door of the Rong Mansion, and asked him to send him to the palace immediately, and handed it over to the palace. Qiu Shi'an presented it to the emperor——Qiu Shi'an started his career based on this, so naturally he would not easily give up this job to others.

After finishing the work, he stretched his muscles and bones a lot, then turned to the south room to tease his daughter for fun.

Xing Xiuyan hurriedly talked about the suggestion of the princess of Nan'an, and said: "In fact, there is already a public opinion in the poetry club, so I will follow the trend. If the master thinks it is inappropriate, then I will find a reason to refuse to go. .”

"why are you not going?"

Jiao Shun pecked his daughter's face with his probe, wiped off the watermark for her, and said: "I know you will be inconvenient in that mansion, but when you go outside, everyone is a guest, so there are fewer taboos— ——If it’s a place to relieve boredom, you can just go there in the future; if you don’t like it, it’s not too late to decline.”

…………

at the same time.

In the backyard of Nan'an Prince's Mansion, the concubine had just changed and washed, and before she could rest for a while, Nan'an King rushed to find her.

After seeing the ceremony, he complained sullenly: "I didn't say anything about him, but I just said some gossip that was rumored outside. Why should my mother come here just for this?"

"You never said anything to him."

The concubine took the almond tea handed over by the maid, took a sip to moisten her throat, and then signaled to the maid next to her to use a disposable veil to wipe off the whiteness around her mouth, and then continued: "Kerongguo Mansion is His former benefactor, if he allows others to criticize Jia Zheng and his wife face to face, wouldn't he be an ungrateful person?"

Yesterday, because he was afraid of his mother's punishment, he didn't dare to approach the concubine after returning home with his cousin Niu Jizong. At this time, after listening to the concubine's explanation, he finally became aware of it and said angrily, "It's all because of that Jia. Yucun, it’s not that he has a grudge against Jia Zheng, that’s why I picked up Jia Zheng’s gossip!”

"Jia Yucun?"

Concubine Tai raised her eyebrows and asked, "But the new Shuntian Mansion Jia's Yin? I heard that he is also linked to the Rongning Second Mansion, but how could he reveal these secrets to you?"

"Didn't the emperor's cousin push the lawsuit on him a while ago? That's why the guy came to the door to show his kindness, and even gave me an idea to donate money to the engineering school..."

Speaking of this, King Nan'an couldn't help pleading again: "Mother, I let out the words in front of so many people. If I can't get the money by the end of the day, wouldn't it be a joke?!"

The concubine was thinking about Jia Yucun's intentions, and knowingly asked after hearing this, "You really want to come up with this money?"

"That's natural!"

Seeing that his mother seemed to be loose, King Nan'an hurriedly smiled and said, "Mother, this is also to support the emperor's new policy, no matter how you say it is a serious matter..."

"It's not hard for you to want silver."

Before King Nan'an finished speaking, the concubine said: "You will go to the inner mansion early tomorrow morning to do business—you must go there with great fanfare, the more people know about it, the better."

"This……"

The king of Nan'an was immediately discouraged, and said angrily: "If I borrow money, I still need to ask you... Besides, the inner palace is not making ends meet now, so why would you lend me money?"

"Just say it's what the emperor meant."

The concubine said: "I will also go to the palace tomorrow, and I will definitely let you borrow the money smoothly."

"That, that..."

The king of Nan'an still felt uncomfortable. Why did he go to the inner mansion to borrow money when he was obviously rich?
Let people know, don't you underestimate yourself?
"All right."

Seeing him hesitating and wanting to talk again, the concubine downcast and reprimanded: "That's the matter, you'll go to the inner palace tomorrow morning, if you don't go, I'll have someone tie you up!"

King Nan'an reluctantly agreed, after all, it was also embarrassing, and using borrowed money was better than not having any money.

Seeing her son leave, the concubine couldn't help but secretly sighed.

If it was really a loan of money, the emperor would most likely not be willing, but the concubine's intention was actually to use the money from the palace to go through a procedure quietly in the inner palace - the money was still paid by the palace, but it was only said to the outside world that it was transferred from the inner palace.With a little guidance at that time, it is naturally not difficult for people to think that King Nan'an's appearance in the Zhen Guogong's mansion was ordered by the emperor.

In this way, it is natural to avoid arousing the emperor's suspicion.

but……

What happened to Jia Yucun?

Was he appointed by the emperor, or did he deliberately want to place the palace in a place of suspicion?
Just as she was thinking about it, the little princess came in from the outside after going back to the room to change and wash. The concubine immediately smiled when she saw the good girl, and stretched out her hand to beckon the princess, signaling her to come to her side.

The princess saluted respectfully, then sat down beside her mother, and said with some embarrassment: "Mother, I, I want to buy a garden in the city—it doesn't need to be too big, just clean and elegant. "

"Ok?"

The concubine sat up straight, put her arms around her daughter's slender waist and said, "My son, it's rare that you take the initiative to buy more houses, but what's your favorite?"

"Actually, when I was in Rongguo Mansion..."

The princess recounted the scene at that time to her mother in detail, and added: "I think it is an elegant thing to set up a poetry club. In the future, with the name of the Hongmei Poetry Club, even if it is resold, it will never be sold." There will be no loss."

"Haha, so what if you lose money?"

The concubine pinched her face with a smile, and said with a smile: "If you buy it back, it will only be your dowry. Why sell the stuff at the bottom of the box?"

"Mother!"

The princess blushed immediately, and writhed in her arms resolutely.

The mother and daughter laughed and quarreled for a while, before the concubine reminded again: "It doesn't have to be the Hongmei Poetry Club family. If other girls are talented and famous, you might as well invite them to make friends."

"This……"

The princess showed some hesitation.

The concubine continued to be persuasive: "Silly boy, you don't want to invite people to the sky, do you? Sometimes you find others for entertainment, and if you meet someone who is really good, then recommending you to the poetry club, isn't it an elegant thing?"

The princess of Nan'an finally agreed.

The mother and daughter spoke some more personal words, and seeing that the concubine was a little tired, the princess took the initiative to leave.

I didn't want to run into my brother head-on as soon as I left the main room.

I saw King Nan'an approaching eagerly, and asked curiously: "Sister, when I go back to the Rongguo Mansion, have you ever seen Mrs. Wang, the wife of Jia Zheng?"

The princess was stunned, covered her mouth and said in surprise: "How could my brother...that woman is a few years older than her mother, and she owes you, owes you..."

As he said that, he turned away in disgust.

"I did not mean!"

King Nan'an hurriedly explained: "I heard that she looks like a virgin in her 40s, so I'm just curious!"

"really?"

The princess still looked him up and down suspiciously, and then snorted: "A person of her age is at most similar to the empress dowager, how could it be that..."

Halfway through, he gave his brother another look, pouted and went away to himself.

King Nan'an was bored, looked at the back of his sister going away, squeezed his chin and muttered: "If I can really look like my aunt, then I really want to see and see..."

(End of this chapter)