Fenghou

Chapter 277
Lu Xiu walked into the room, knelt down in front of his grandfather's sick bed and asked, "Does grandfather feel better?"

Lu Yihao smiled slightly: "Xiu Niang's words are like a good medicine. Grandpa's heart knot has been untied a lot. Who taught you?"

"The master taught the granddaughter."

Lu Xiu's master is Li Qingzhao, who is also a woman who has experienced ups and downs.

Lu Yihao nodded, and said apologetically to his granddaughter: "Big waves wash the sand, suffering is the touchstone. I really thought that Shen Gai was already engaged, but now I realize that things are not that simple. The Shen family must have got the news that I was dismissed, so I just found an excuse to reject this marriage, it's because my grandfather is not good and I don't know anyone well, I didn't expect the Shen family to be so snobbish."

At this time, Lu Jin said from the side: "Father, Chen Qing introduced Wei'er a position as Huguang Propaganda Envoy Sihu Cao Shenjun, does father think it is feasible?"

Of course Lu Yihao knew that Chen Qing was transferred to be the governor of Yue and E towns. He also knew that Chen Qing defeated the water thief in Yuezhou and saved Li Gang's life. Li Gang will definitely give this favor.

He pondered for a moment and said: "Li Gang was dismissed because of my impeachment. It's not right for Wei'er to be an official under him. It's okay if he is the governor's office!"

Lu Xiu suddenly understood what her grandfather meant, and couldn't help crying with joy, "Thank you, grandfather!"

Lu Yihao touched his granddaughter's head, sighed and said: "When you reach my age, you will understand grandfather. Chen Qing is an excellent talent. Of course I will not give up easily. For him, now it seems that grandfather is too greedy."

Lu Xuan is Lu Xiu's cousin, she is only one year younger than her, and she looks pretty good, but she has a very quiet personality. Basically, she doesn't go out of the house and doesn't step out of the door, which is exactly the opposite of Lu Xiu's personality, and the two can't get along Instead, Lu Xiu has a very good relationship with her cousin Li Mei.

Lu Jin said again from the side: "Chen Qing invited Wei'er and Xiu'er to visit Bashu. I wonder if my father will allow it?"

If this invitation had been proposed one day earlier, Lu Yihao would never have allowed it, but now that it is proposed, it is completely different, but Lu Yihao is a bit reluctant to let go of face.

Lu Yihao sighed and said, "They are your children, you can decide for yourself! Don't ask me about such things."

Everyone was happy with the ending. Seeing that Lu Yihao was a little tired, everyone withdrew, leaving only the second brother Lu Datong.

"Second brother is sure about Chen Qing's matter. The world is unpredictable. Who would have thought that he, a military general, would also be the governor of Yuezhou, both civil and military?"

"I think this is a general trend. Now the officials have also learned their lessons. They no longer blindly use only civil servants, but began to reuse Confucian generals who are both civil and military, such as Liu Guangshi, Zhang Jun, Han Shizhong, Yue Fei, etc. Chen Qing also left. The same route, I heard from Xu Xiantu that the poems and poems he wrote at Zhang Jun’s birthday banquet were greatly admired by the officials, and they repeatedly praised him as a rare Confucian general, not a brave man. It has something to do with the officials’ perception of him.”

"You're right. I've seen this trend a long time ago. The only thing I missed was that I misread the Shen family."

"Everyone is for the benefit of the family, and the Shen family's choice is not surprising. It's my brother's rest and recuperation during this period of time to take care of his body. Maybe one day, the government is unstable and important officials are needed to sit in charge, and the officials will think of him again. .”

Lu Yihao nodded secretly, or the second brother had a longer view than the third brother.

In the northwest corner of Lin'an City, there is a large area of ​​dilapidated small houses. Although the land price in Lin'an has skyrocketed, this large area is still a low-lying land, and the rent is very cheap. This is the slum area of ​​Lin'an, where hundreds of thousands of low-level people live. .

Compared with the high rents in other places in Lin'an, the rent here is really cheap. You can rent a house for [-] Wen a month. The common people live here.

Chen Qing led a few of his men to inquire all the way, and found Anyuan Lane after a lot of effort. This is a very narrow alley, about one mile long, and the alleyway is basically occupied by all kinds of stoves and rags, and even war horses can't get in. go.

Chen Qing asked one of his men to watch the war horses outside, and he walked into the alley with two soldiers. The alley was dimly lit, with densely packed small doors on one side, and each small door was a room. I don’t know how many people lived in the alley. people?

The alley is full of sewage, filled with the smell of rot and excrement, which makes people sick, and there are many naked children running in the alley.

A soldier pointed to the sign on the wall and said, "Dutong, this is the middle section, it should be around here!"

Chen Qing saw an old man sitting at the door in front of him, so he stepped forward and asked, "Excuse me, old man, where is Xie Changzhi's house?"

"I only know one lame Xie. If you want to find him, his house is right in front, and there is a lantern hanging at the door!"

Chen Qing heard from Zhao Wenxin that Xie Changzhi's leg was broken five years ago, so it should be him.

After walking for dozens of steps, he saw a lantern hanging above a small door. Chen Qing looked at this exquisitely crafted lantern and knew he had found the right one.

"Who are you looking for?" A teenager, about eleven or twelve years old, walked out of the room, holding a bundle of branches, and looked at Chen Qing warily.

"I'm looking for Xie Changzhi, he probably lives here!"

"What do you want to buy?"

As soon as the boy finished speaking, a roar came from the room, "Xiao Min, don't talk nonsense!"

Chen Qing laughed, guessing that Xie Changzhi was doing some contraband to make money!
"We are not in the government, don't worry!"

At this time, an unkempt middle-aged man walked out, dragging a lame foot, his hands were covered with calluses, his appearance looked very old, but his eyes were particularly sharp.

"I am Xie Changzhi, who are you?" The middle-aged man stared at Chen Qing and asked.

"I'm Chen Qing from the Western Army, have you heard of it?"

"Chen Qing who broke through Jingzhao City?"

"Exactly!"

Xie Changzhi's eyes softened, "Please come in!"

Xie Changzhi let Chen Qing into the room. The room was not dirty, but it was full of various kinds of wood, and there was an unfinished military crossbow on the table.

"Now I can only make a living by old skills!"

Xie Changzhi laughed at himself, put the military crossbow aside, "Please sit down!"

Chen Qing sat down, and the boy brought him a bowl of herbal tea. Seeing that he was quite smart, Chen Qing couldn't help liking him a bit.

"This is your son?"

"It's my youngest son, and the eldest son is also a craftsman in the Military Weapons Supervision. He refused to work for the Kingdom of Jin, and was stabbed to death by the Jin soldiers. I took the youngest son and the child's mother and fled from Bianliang to Lin'an. Marked as dead in the craftsman's book, I am free now, but it is difficult to support my family, I can only rely on my wife to make lanterns for people every day to earn a little money for food."

Chen Qing pondered for a while and said, "I found out about your whereabouts from a friend of the Military Weapons Supervisor. The friend said that you were the best craftsman in the Military Weapons Supervisor's Crossbow Workshop back then. Now, besides military crossbows, what else can you do? "

"The general wants to ask me to do something?"

Chen Qing nodded, and said frankly: "We experimented with large fire kites in Fort Ganquan, but we always failed. We succeeded a few times occasionally, but the summed up experience seems to be wrong. I don't know where the problem is?"

"Did it fall headfirst to the ground? Or was it seriously deflected?"

"It's both."

Xie Changzhi laughed, "This is the most common problem for large fire kites. The technology is really difficult. I studied for a whole year when I was [-] years old and failed hundreds of times before I found some tricks. But even so, I can only make seven of the ten large-scale fire kites, and the Tokyo Military Bureau has only three craftsmen who can make large-scale fire kites, one is me, one is my apprentice, and the other is my eldest son."

"Thirty taels of silver per month, for a five-acre house, I will hire Master Xie to be my chief military engineer."

Xie Changzhi's eyes lit up, "Are you really willing to give me one hundred and fifty per month?"

Chen Qing nodded, "I only have one condition, help me bring out a group of soldier apprentices."

Xie Changzhi laughed again, "How do you believe that I'm not bragging?"

Chen Qing picked up the military crossbow and said with a smile: "With our proficiency in the military crossbow, this is the best military crossbow I have ever seen!"

(End of this chapter)