Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 190 But Wants to Live in Pengying (6)

The preparation of the Liaodong Chengying Camp is still a military secret, and the people involved, including Zhao Xingde, know nothing about it.The work and rest of the Artillery Battalion was as usual, the new lieutenant Huang Zhongxiang was very sympathetic to the sergeants, and he was also polite to Zhao Xingde, but it was too polite.The camp and shooting range of the Artillery Battalion were near Dunhuang. When Zhao Xingde was training his artillery crew, he took good care of his pregnant wife at home.No matter how windy or rainy it is outside, the small courtyard is peaceful and peaceful.

In March, the warm wind blew for several days, and it rained again. This morning, the crabapple flowers bloomed, and the petals looked delicate and beautiful in the misty rain.Li Ruoxue was as happy as a child, opened an oil-paper umbrella, and led Zhao Xingde to admire the flowers in the courtyard.Zhao Xingde was worried that she would catch the cold in the rain, so after some persuasion, Li Ruoxue reluctantly returned to the house.Recently, her belly has swelled, making it difficult to go in and out, and it is indeed a bit boring to stay at home.

The beauty pursed her mouth, Zhao Xingde moved slightly, and said with a smile: "Don't move, I'll listen to the child's heartbeat." Let Li Ruoxue sit on the embroidery bed safely, while he squatted down and put his ears on the bed. On Li Ruoxue's stomach, she closed her eyes.Bang... Bang... Bang... That feeling is really wonderful, at that moment, Zhao Xingde felt that he was filled with great happiness.Li Ruoxue's dimples turned red, and she asked in a low voice: "Can you really hear it?" Zhao Xingde opened his eyes, raised his head, nodded, and said with a smile: "It's the baby's heartbeat."

Li Ruoxue said: "I can also hear his heartbeat."

Zhao Xingde smiled and said, "I have a solution."

With anticipation and longing in her eyes, Li Ruoxue said, "Really?"

"When did your husband lie?" Zhao Xingde said with a smile, "Madam, just wait and see." He thought of the stethoscopes of later generations. Although there was no suitable rubber tube, it was very convenient to carve a fixed curved tube with wood. Dunhuang There are many carpenter's shops outside the city, all you need to do is draw a drawing and register the invention right by the way.Thinking of this, Zhao Xingde couldn't help laughing at himself.

Seeing him triumphant, Li Ruoxue deliberately said: "I don't believe it." A gust of wind mixed with drizzle came in through the screen window, Li Ruoxue only felt a slight coolness on the skin of her stomach, and when she looked down, she couldn't help but blush, angry He said: "What are you doing squatting down? Let Lingwu and the others see me and think I'm a vicious woman." While pulling Ruyi to cover her slightly protruding belly.

Zhao Xingde's heart became hot, he stood up, and put his arms around her shaved shoulders, but Li Ruoxue pushed him away, blushing slightly, and said in a low voice: "No." On the baby's body, in order to prevent the fetal gas from moving, not only did Xingde move to the study to sleep during this period of time, even the usual intimacy between husband and wife was extremely careful.Zhao Xingde couldn't help smiling wryly, and said softly: "It's okay to let your husband hug you, right?"

Li Ruoxue hesitated for a moment, before she stopped resisting, she curled up softly and bonelessly in his arms, feeling the soft hair swaying, smelling the fragrance slightly, and only heard the sound of even breathing in the room, Zhao Xingde only felt that his mind was like Drunk, just at this time, there was a light knock on the door outside the yard, Li Ruoxue sat up from Xingde's arms at once, her cheeks were slightly red, while arranging her temple hair and clothes, she said angrily: "It's all you, Ling Ling Wu and Xiaolian are making jokes." These days, Zhao Xingde had few guests, but Zhu Lingwu, Sun Xiaolian, and Mrs. Lu often came to visit Ruoxue.

They didn't want to part for a moment, they came to the courtyard hand in hand, Zhao Xingde went to open the door and saw that it was Chen Kang standing at the door, wearing a white Confucian shirt, with a saber hanging from his waist, and a sword between his brows. Depressed 'color'.Seeing Zhao Xingde's surprised face, Chen Kang gave a wry smile, cupped his hands and said, "Brother Zhao, I'm here to bid you farewell." Zhao Xingde was slightly startled, and asked in a low voice, "Brother Chen, is he going to travel around? Is it?" Chen Kang smiled wryly, and sighed: "No, it's just the opposite." He didn't want to stand at the door, so Zhao Xingde hurriedly invited him in.

Stepping into the gate of the courtyard, when he saw Li Ruoxue standing under the flower tree, Chen Kang bowed and said, "Chen Kang, I have met Mrs. Zhao." Li Ruoxue was in poor health, so she only inspected the clothes slightly to return the gift, and was waiting to serve tea to the guests , Zhao Xingde said softly: "My lady, don't worry about it." He pulled her to sit down, poured two cups of tea by himself, Ruoxue couldn't drink more tea because she was pregnant, Xingde poured her a cup of warm water, and worked for a while I just took my seat.

Li Ruoxue looked at Zhao Xingde with a happy smile.Chen Kang couldn't help sighing: "Brother Zhao and his wife are gods and couples, I really envy others." He took a sip from the teacup, and said in a low voice, "Chen will go to Kang Guo soon, from now on I can't be free. Let's say goodbye today, I don't know when I will see such a literary and elegant person as your husband." There was a sense of loneliness on his face, as if he was very unwilling to leave Dunhuang.

Zhao Xingde felt a little strange, and said in a deep voice: "If brother Chen doesn't want to leave the Western Capital, he should just live here for a long time. I don't remember the imperial court ordering the prince to leave the capital."

Chen Kang smiled wryly and explained: "My uncle, my mother's elder brother is the king of the Kang Kingdom. He is old but has no heirs to inherit the king's title. My uncle agreed with the court ministers to make me the eldest son and treat him for a hundred years. Afterwards, he will inherit the Duke of Kang. My father, queen and queen have agreed to this matter, and the five houses have also agreed. I will go to Kang in a few days, and I will live there for a long time if I have nothing to do. I can't leave at will." He said between words With a sense of sadness, it seems that compared with what is lost, this hereditary prince is just a dispensable thing.

Zhao Xingde said with a smile: "Then I would like to congratulate Brother Chen. I have been to the Kang country, the people are prosperous, the products are abundant, the melons and fruits are abundant, and the gold peaches are especially delicious." He saw that it was not Chen Kang's original intention for the Kang country to be the heir.Considering from the standpoint of the Five Houses, allowing the blood of the Chen royal family to take control of the Kingdom of Kang will naturally greatly enhance the centripetal force of the Kingdom of Kang to the imperial court, so it is natural to fully promote it.In the face of national interests, whether to be the son of Kang Guo or not is probably up to Chen Kang himself.

"Thank you, Brother Zhao." Chen Kang said in a deep voice. He picked up the teacup and took a sip, as if drinking strong wine in the army, but there was a lot of helplessness in his words, "I would rather not have this prince, like Brother Yuan Zhi In the same way, relying on one's own ability alone, military merits to be promoted to the ranks, and generals and ministers, is what a real man does."

Zhao Xingde hurriedly said: "Thank you, thank you, Brother Chen, you don't have to be too self-effacing." Only Li Ruoxue's eyes flickered, obviously agreeing with Chen Kang's words.

However, Chen Kang shook his head and sighed, "Even a banished fairy like Mrs. Zhao, who is so beautiful in the world, is willing to follow you. Brother Yuanzhi, I really envy you for being able to stay with the one you love for life." The days are full of boredom, but there is no one around to help them. At this moment, Zhao Xingde and Li Ruoxue know that Chen Kang has a special liking for a girl from childhood. Unfortunately, there is always a little fate between the two. If Chen Kang has been together all year round Dunhuang and the Central Plains can still see each other from time to time, but the trip to Kang is thousands of miles away, and the meeting is rare, and the chance of getting married is even more remote.

"The world is unsatisfactory, and there are seven or eight of the ten." Zhao Xingde sighed slightly after seeing off Chen Kang, closed the door, and whispered, "Falling flowers and wind and rain hurt the spring more, it is better to take pity on the person in front of you." The rain had stopped, and the air after the rain was exceptionally fresh. The two cuddled each other, and their hearts were connected, as if they were blending with the heaven and the earth.

When I forgot about the real thing, there was a knock on the door, Li Ruoxue gently broke free from Zhao Xingde's arms, blushing, and asked him to open the door.

Being disturbed again, Zhao Xingde was full of depression, and thought to himself: "Is it Zhu Lingwu's two little girls? Or is it that Chen Kang still has unfinished intentions to continue talking?" When he opened the courtyard door, he saw a stranger, On the chest of the sheepskin short jacket was embroidered the emblem of Fu Haixing's messenger, he looked Zhao Xingde up and down, and asked: "Is this Zhao De, Zhao Jun's envoy?" glanced.

"Who is it?" Seeing Zhao Xingde holding two letters, Li Ruoxue asked curiously.

"Li Yong and Chen Shaoyang from Lumei." Zhao Xingde said with a smile, there has been no news of these two for a long time.The two walked into the study, Li Ruoxue also nestled beside Xingde, and they read the letter together.After the rain, a ray of clear sunlight came in through the window, illuminating every detail in the room. Li Ruoxue's chin rested on his shoulder, and a few strands of soft black fell on his collar. Zhao Xingde felt itchy in his neck, and his heart Itchy.

After finally suppressing his thoughts, Zhao Xingde first unfolded Li Yong's letter. Although it was written in small characters by Fuhai Geyi, it was still full.Zhao Xingde smiled slightly, I'm afraid that the pigeon book with so many words will cost a lot of money, it seems that Li Yong is not only a man of temperament, but also rich and powerful.

Li Yong was indeed in a very good mood, and he described many customs and customs in the southern part of the Great Sand Sea between the lines.He also mentioned in the letter that although the caravan has gained a lot of money, it has to take great risks every time, so it is necessary to develop some other industries.There are many deserted islands and wastelands in the South China Sea, full of insects and snakes, fierce barbarians, and sparsely populated. He plans to manage a place and ask the two governments for the title of Founding Marquis.If you can buy some Kunlun slaves, it would be good to ship them over by sea for labor in reclamation.There are frequent wars between tribes there, and prisoners of war and slaves are extremely cheap.The system of slaves and maidservants has been abolished in the country of Xia, but it is beyond the reach of the outside world.

After deducting the freight along the way and the gift money from the big food princes, the profit will be as much as five times the cost when the goods from the Song Dynasty are sold. Li Yong has already handed over the child to the sergeant of the Seventh Battalion of Chengying. The next caravan The scale of the caravan will be doubled, and Li Yong also asked Zhao Xingde if he would like to increase the share capital for the next caravan departure.

After putting away Li Rui's letter, Zhao Xingde pondered for a moment, and then unfolded Chen Dong's letter.This letter was sent by an ordinary post office of Fuhai Xing, and it is full of handwriting written by dragons and snakes.The partnership with Li Rui's caravan has made huge profits, and the problem of money needed for the operation of the Li Xue Society is expected to be solved.Moreover, recently, the government seems to have begun to change their minds. Several Qingliu officials who sympathize with the Neo-Confucian Society have been reused, and Chen Dong's tutor, Shao Wu, has been appointed as the governor of Kaifeng.

It can be seen that Chen Dong is in a very good mood. In the letter, he also asked Zhao Xingde when he could continue the script written by him under the pseudonym Bald Bi Weng. Woolen cloth.Zhao Xingde glanced to the side, Li Ruoxue's face was as usual, she didn't seem to have misunderstood, so she breathed a sigh of relief, and said: "This Chen Shaoyang, Master is eager to see you." He opened the second page of letter paper, his face The 'color' sank, Chen Dong brought up the case of the murder of a member of the Ridong Society in the scholar's mansion some time ago, and his anger overflowed his pen.