Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 358 Trip to Foshan ([-])

"No need," Li Luoyou said, "Both of you can eat Chinese dishes, and you like it very much. Ask Cook Liao to do it." Cook Liao was brought with him from his home in Guangzhou, and he is quite good at a few dishes. Famous dishes, especially roast suckling pig and roast lamb, are well-known in Guangzhou.Li Luoyou also brought him here for the convenience of entertaining guests locally.

"Yes. I'll make arrangements now." Shopkeeper Cheng withdrew.Li Luoyou stood up and said to Gu Baocheng, "Come here."

Gu Baocheng was still a boy of fifteen or sixteen years old, and he could tell that he was very afraid of this uncle.followed closely.

"I assigned you to do homework on the boat, did you do it? Is there anything you don't understand?"

"Return to the master: my nephew has already done it." The Li family is also imitating the style of an official family, and the nephew and daughter call the elders "Master". "It's just that there are a few geometry problems that I can't solve. I need to ask the master for advice."

"Well, send the window lesson book to the study at night."

The study room I arrived at has been cleaned up, and there are more than a dozen large cabinets full of correspondence and account books.The cabinets containing important paperwork were locked.Li Luoyou checked the seals on the various cabinets, and after confirming that they were intact, he tore off the seals one by one and sat down.

Naturally, Gu Baocheng didn't dare to sit down and stood aside.

"Baocheng! Grind the ink and write a few letters."

"Yes!" Gu Baocheng was a little surprised. Writing such a letter was usually the business of Master Shuqi, and the secret thing was that uncle did it himself. Why do you ask yourself to write it?He didn't dare to ask more questions, so he hurried to the red sandalwood desk, took an ingot of Cheng Junfang's residual ink, and ground it on a Tang Dynasty Duan inkstone.

"Write in small letters in Song style! You write—" Li Luoyou's letter was written to Liao Haixing's agent in Shenyang—the "Shengjing" of Jiannu. There are more than one such agent, and some are in There are businesses in the local area, and some aristocratic officials who specialize in making money.Since Guangning withdrew from the town, the Li family's business in Liaodong was completely destroyed.Li Luoyou, who had witnessed the tragic situation of the army and the people in Liaodong, returned to Zhili and after a little stability, he began to send people back to Liaodong to reorganize his family business.In the name of doing business, he secretly collected intelligence information about Houjin—he still held a glimmer of hope in his chest: one day when the king’s master returned to Liaodong, the intelligence network he arranged in Liaodong would be able to play a role—at least, it could also be used locally. Kill some Tartars.

The news of Ningyuan's great victory once gave Li Luoyou, who was already extremely disappointed with the government, a glimmer of hope.Emperor Apocalypse passed away, the trustworthy king came into power, and Wei Zhongxian, who was in power, lost his power and died, until Yuan Chonghuan came out again and proposed the memorial of "recovering Liao in five years", all of which made him feel unprecedentedly bright.This Daming's vitality is not exhausted after all!

According to the news from his agent in Liaodong, since the old Tartar died under Yuan Dushi's cannon, Hou Jin was in a precarious state both within the puppet regime and economically.Li Luoyou felt that since the defeat of Sarhu, the decline of the imperial court in Liaodong may be reversed, and the activities in Liaodong have also increased in the past two years.

He asked Gu Baocheng to write an instruction letter to take care of the agent's business activities in Shenyang.The commercial activities of the Liaohai Bank in Liaodong were mainly through the channel of Pidao, entering the ruled area of ​​Houjin to transport and sell customs goods, and to purchase red ginseng, antler, and fur.Especially fine sable.This kind of trade was illegal in Ming Dynasty, but it was welcome within the jurisdiction of the Later Jin regime.A regime based on looting and looting is inevitably militaristic, agriculture is dying, and various materials are extremely scarce, and it is extremely supportive of such smuggling trade with the customs.

However, Li Luoyou was different from those traitor merchants in Shanxi. He never sold strategic materials such as food, pig iron, and copperware that Hou Jin urgently needed.The goods that were transported were all luxuries that were useless in farming and warfare, especially silk brocades, and porcelains of all sizes—the barbarians who had accumulated a lot of wealth by plundering and looting had just taken off their pigskins, and it was inevitable that these The product generated great demand.Li Luoyou's business was not originally for making money, but it got bigger and bigger—red ginseng, deer antler and mink fur made him a lot of money,

"...As for what Baylor said, asking me to wait for the transportation and sales of grain, please tell him: the recent famine has continued, the price of grain is extremely high, and there is no surplus grain to buy..."

Then he dictated a letter to redeem several former store clerks, instructing the agent to redeem the clerks from the original store that had been found whereabouts one by one, and if the family members could find their whereabouts, they would also redeem them.Taking advantage of trading opportunities, he searched for and redeemed many acquaintances, colleagues, and relatives who had been captured as slaves during the collapse of Liaodong.Those who redeem themselves will be sent back to the pass, and those who are courageous and insightful, and have a deep hatred for Jiannu will be sent back outside the pass, either as a buddy in the shop, or settling down in the local area to do small business and hide .Waiting for the day when he can take revenge.

After he finally finished dictating the letter about giving gifts to Houjin nobles and officials during the Dragon Boat Festival, Gu Baocheng saw that he had no other instructions, so he handed over the letterhead.Li Luoyou took it, and read it carefully - a neat small script, written densely and without any mess.He nodded in satisfaction.Only then did he take out a small stamp from the letter box that he carried with him, and stamped it one by one.

Trading with Houjin is against the law, so Li Luoyou never handed over such letters to others, and never put names, signatures, or inscriptions in his heart, and only used a monogram stamp as a mark.Once the letter is lost, just destroy the stamp directly.Although Li Luoyou pinned his hopes on the imperial court, he knew exactly who the various characters in the imperial court were.

The letter was carefully sealed and put into wax pills.At that time, Beishang Dengzhou will be collected by special and capable personnel.There are many boats going from Dengzhou to Phi Island, which is very convenient for smuggling.

Li Luoyou sealed the wax pills and put them in a special jewelry box.Only then did he ask, "Baocheng! Do you know why you were asked to write these three letters today?"

"Yes, the master is for my nephew not to forget the hatred of the country and the family."

"It's good that you know." Li Luoyou nodded, "Sit."

"My nephew dare not."

"Sit down, I have something to tell you." Li Luoyou sighed, "Uncle suffered from vertigo again yesterday, and this disease has occurred several times, I'm afraid there is something wrong—"

"Uncle is in the prime of his life..."

"It doesn't matter, I won't be able to die for a while." Li Luoyou said in a deep voice, "Uncle crawled out of the dead, so life and death are not considered lightly. The Li family is prosperous now, but they just can't let you go—" He stopped Gu Baocheng's words, "Uncle originally hoped to see the imperial court regain Liaozuo, and we men will return home to help you revive the family business. Now it seems that uncle may not have this blessing. Therefore, this situation in Liaodong will be restored in the future. You have to pay more attention and help uncle watch more."

"Yes, my nephew would like to follow my uncle's instruction."

"You have to go often to the Portuguese in Xiangshanao. Uncle knows that you don't want to believe in God, so he doesn't force you. It's just that you can learn more by going there." Li Luoyou closed his eyes, "Western people have theirs. A set of skills and mathematics is not inferior to China, and the vastness of the world is far from a corner of China..." His words seemed to be warning Gu Baocheng, but also seemed to be muttering to himself, Gu Baocheng didn't dare to disturb, just stood and listened.

"...Go ahead, you are exhausted, you should take a good rest, there are things to discuss in the evening."

"Yes." Gu Baocheng replied respectfully, and just about to leave, seeing that his uncle had no intention of leaving, he continued to open letters from various places, and asked, "Master, won't you go to rest?"

"I'm not tired, I'll go later."

"Yes," Gu Baocheng hesitated, "Nephew is bold, please forgive Aunt Jiang..."

"Hmph," Li Luoyou snorted coldly, "You will be pitiful and cherish jade."

"Nephew dare not!" Gu Baocheng knelt down in fright.Elderly women - this is a matter of principle in ancient society.

"Get up! I scared you like this." Li Luoyou gave him a dissatisfied look. Gu Bao grew up a lot like his late wife, and because of this, he looked rather weak. He sighed secretly in his heart, such a boy is not I don't know if I can take this shoulder.

"Aunt Jiang is the elder of my nephew, she is always a girl, she can't bear such suffering..."

"If you kneel down, will you kneel down to death?" Li Luoyou sneered, "I escaped from Liaodong. At that time, Liaozuo failed to escape the men, women and children who were taken as slaves by Jiannu. I don't know how many have died. Tortured to death, not dead—you should see those people who have been redeemed, and hear what their lives are like—she would have to kneel for an hour without missing a piece of flesh.”

Gu Baocheng kowtowed, and protested: "My lord, my nephew never dares to forget the sufferings of the people in the fallen Liaodong. It's just that these are two different things. What's wrong with Aunt Jiang? It's just that I made a mistake, and my lord reprimanded her for nothing. Now, such a punishment would be unkind..."

"Bastard!" Li Luoyou cursed angrily when he saw the nephew's stubborn temper, and suddenly his head became dizzy.Quickly stopped my anger, just said: "You go out. It's the kindness of a woman!"

Li Luoyou settled down for a long time before his mind cleared up—this symptom became more and more serious.He thought that after returning to Guangzhou this time, he would invite a famous doctor and take a good look at it.

He was resting with his eyes closed, when Sao Ye came in lightly, and whispered in his ear: "Master, Master Yang, who opened the hall of Yang Run, sent someone to greet you, and also gave you a four-color water gift."

"He didn't say hello to me, he came to greet my red ginseng and antler." Li Luoyou showed a smile, "The gift is accepted, and I will seal a reward for the visitor. Tell him: Please come over tomorrow Narrative."

"Yes." Sao Ye agreed and withdrew.

"Slow down, Li Luoyou stopped him, "Go to the inner house and ask Aunt Jiang to get up. "

(End of this chapter)