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   Chapter 478 475【Information】

  Fei Rulan was shaking the spinning wheel in the room, spinning carefully.

  She once asked Li Banghua who was the wisest queen in the past. Li Banghua replied that when it comes to empresses from ancient times, there is nothing better than Empress Ma at the founding of the previous dynasty.

  Fei Rulan asked again what Queen Ma had said and done, and Li Banghua told many stories. For example, spinning and weaving in the palace was the move of Empress Ma, and Zhu Yuanzhang had to plow in the spring every year. They set an example to persuade Nongsang.

  Beginning to learn spinning, Fei Rulan's speed is very slow, and occasionally she has to bury her head to check carefully.

  Sitting across from her was Mrs. Liu, who was also spinning, but at a much faster speed.

  Fei Rulan praised sincerely: "Mrs. Xu is really virtuous, she spins so well, and I am afraid that the family affairs are also taken care of properly."

   Mrs. Liu hurriedly said: "The empress has a body of ten thousand gold, and she spins cotton yarn by herself, which is the real virtuous and virtuous."

   Asking for some weaving skills, Fei Rulan asked again: "Where did you buy Madam Xu's makeup? It smells quite quiet and elegant."

   Mrs. Liu replied: "Lanxiu Pavilion, a time-honored brand."

   "Next time I'll ask someone to buy some." Fei Rulan said with a smile.

  One of the responsibilities of being a queen is to summon the minister's wife and appease the female relatives in the minister's family.

  Although Mrs. Liu has met the queen several times, she feels uneasy every time she meets her. She was originally the wife of a scholar in the countryside, and her husband was fond of prostitution and gambling, and even if the funds for prostitution were not enough, he was detained and told her to bring money to a brothel to redeem him.

   At that time, I felt that the sky was dark, and life was completely hopeless.

  Unexpectedly, her husband was suddenly beaten to death by gangsters, and she was picked up by her husband's friend to take care of her. At the beginning, I didn't think too much, after all, I was just a widow, and she was older than Xu Ying. Xu Ying was handsome, full of talent, and knew how to make money in business.

  She can only secretly fall in love, even if it is just a crush, she often blames herself for being unwifely, thinking that a widow should not have such thoughts.

   But that kind of emotion is really hard to suppress. The more Xu Ying abides by the etiquette and takes good care of him, the stronger her secret love becomes. Her mind was full of Xu Ying's image all day long, and when Xu Ying came back a little late after going out, she was worried about what would happen to her, and even had a dream one day that she was doing embarrassing things with Xu Ying.

  Lonely men and widows, dry firewood and fire, after all, they surpassed the ethics.

  Mr. Liu felt very happy. Although she didn't hold a wedding, she only registered her marriage with the government, received the marriage certificate and registered as a family. But the little days were ordinary, and the love between the husband and wife was extraordinary, and it was countless times better than before.

  Until Zhao Tianwang occupied the entire Jiangxi province, Xu Ying suddenly said: "I am from Zhao Zongzhen, and I am going to Yangzhou for business. I may be able to go home once a year. Mrs. Lao takes care of the house and takes good care of the two children."

  Mr. Liu didn't think much about it at the time. After all, there were many people who took refuge in Zhao Tianwang, thinking that her husband was just one of them.

   But Zhao Tianwang became emperor in Nanjing, and Xu Ying also brought the whole family over. It turned out that her husband's identity was false, and her parents and brothers were also present. That was the first time she met her in-laws.

   Even so, Mrs. Liu has not figured out the situation yet, because her husband is too low-key, and his presence in the Nanjing court is very low.

  Until the queen invites her to dinner, she will be amiable to make daily routines with her!

   Mrs. Liu was greatly shocked that time, and she didn't recover for several days. Gradually, she got acquainted with the wives of other ministers, and occasionally went out to hang out together.

  The most interesting one is Zhang Tieniu's wife, a remarried widow with a strong body.

   I heard that the Huangjia town had just been conquered, and His Majesty assigned wives to the soldiers. General Zhang didn't have much pursuit at the time, he just wanted to live a life that would give birth, and he fell in love with the current wife at a glance-because the **** is so good to give birth.

   Sure enough, she gave birth to four children in one go.

   Now they quarrel when they meet each other. Zhang Tieniu thinks his wife is unattractive, has no education, and has a domineering personality. Now that the troops are stationed in the north, Zhang Tieniu does not take his wife home, but only lets her take care of the children at home.

  Some time ago, his wife cried in front of the queen. It is said that the husband is so prosperous and dislikes the wife who is a mess. After going to the north, he only wrote a letter and returned home half a year. He must have raised a young child outside.

  Every time we meet to go shopping, it is Zhang Tieniu's wife who is in charge of haggling the price, and she gets red-faced because of dozens of pennies.

  At first, Mrs. Liu felt ashamed, but she gradually got used to it. As long as this woman is present, everyone always laughs very happily.

  …

  Ms. Liu was spinning yarn with the queen in the house, but her husband was sitting in the courtyard, chatting with the emperor about official business.

Xu Ying ate the pastries brought by Pan Qimei and said: "Cao Fengji established a business in Nanjing, 30% of the employees are from Taigu, Shanxi, and the rest are recruited locally in Nanjing. At the beginning, let's investigate those Shanxi employees. Many spies were sent to get in touch, but they found nothing, they really thought they were coming to the south to do business."

  Zhao Han asked: "Is Xi Zuo a local?"

Xu Ying said: "It's half a local. This guy's ancestral home is in Nanjing, and he has been doing business with his boss in Yangzhou all year round. His boss was killed during the Zaohu uprising. He heard that Nanjing was governed by His Majesty to be stable and prosperous, so he fled back to register. After settling down, I found an errand job for a firm."

   "How was he found out?" Zhao Han asked.

Xu Ying said: "Cao Fengji's business partners have checked all of them, as long as they live in the south, including their family members. The youngest son of this guy is only four years old. He went missing for two days at the beginning of the year and reported it to the government. Later, He also said that the child was found. Because he was threatened, he was afraid that something would happen to his family.”

  Zhao Han said contemptuously: "Threatening directly with family members, the puppet tricks are too rough."

"It's rough, but it's useful, and it's not just to find someone to threaten," Xu Ying said, "I let the woman get in touch with this guy's mother, give some small favors, and talk about everything in a few days. This guy's mother, He also boasted that he had Korean ginseng at home, which was a gift from his son’s boss when he was in business. It was not Korean ginseng, but a Liao ginseng, which may have been stolen.”

  Zhao Han came to a sudden: "This person has been to Liaodong before, and worked as a spy for the puppet Qing Dynasty."

Xu Ying said: "The minister also sent people to investigate merchants in Yangzhou, Huai'an, Xuzhou and other places, especially those who had done business in Liaodong. Unexpectedly, it was really rewarding. A merchant told the spy that he was an eyeliner for the Tartars. Merchants spread all over the four provinces of Southern Zhili, Northern Zhili, Shandong, and Shanxi in the Ming Dynasty. Among them, Shandong and Shanxi have the most merchants."

   "How did the Tartars bribe merchants?" Zhao Han asked.

Xu Ying explained: "When Tartar chieftain Nurhachi captured Liaoyang, he captured a large number of merchants. These merchants thought they would be killed, but not only did they not die, but their property was not lost. But there is one condition, that is, to pass on to the Tartars According to the news, as long as you collude with the Tartars, you can continue to do business in Liaodong in the future. At that time, they all agreed, some really colluded with the Tartars, and a few will not go to Liaodong after returning home.”

  Zhao Han nodded: "Continue."

Xu Ying said: "Shanxi merchants mainly trade goods with the Tartars in Datong and Zhangjiakou, and they also take the opportunity to pass on information. Especially the Shanxi merchants in Zhangjiakou were all developed by Huang Taiji later. As for Shandong merchants, they trade grain with the Tartars. The minister also asked a lot of inside information. When Yuan Chonghuan sold rice to the Mongols, one was to exchange for war horses, and the other was to win over the vacillating Mongolian tribes. Huang Taiji was furious and severely criticized the Mongols. The Manchus surrendered the Mongolian tribes , There are three main methods: one is war, the other is marriage, and the third is food."

   Zhao Han's eyes suddenly brightened: "The puppet Qing Dynasty used food to control the Mongolian tribe?"

Xu Ying said: "Yes, the Mongolian grassland has been suffering from severe drought year after year. They plundered south and could not beat the Ming border army, and they could not get much food, so they used war horses to trade with the puppet Qing Dynasty. Yuan Chonghuan also wanted to use food to win over Mongolia, which played a role. effect, but was stopped by Huang Taiji."

   "Liaodong doesn't have enough food for itself, where can we find food to sell to the Mongolian tribe?" Zhao Han was a little puzzled.

Xu Ying said: "Enter the customs to plunder, or buy grain from Ming merchants. If there is not enough food, they force North Korea to sell it. North Korea's grain was originally sold to Dongjiang Town. After Huang Taiji interfered, North Korea no longer gave it to Dongjiang Town. Selling grain, selling all the grain in North Korea to the Puppet Qing Dynasty. At that time, they were all doing business with the Puppet Qing Dynasty. Yuan Chonghuan was like this, Mao Wenlong was like this, and Lu... General Lu (Lu Xiangsheng) was like this. It’s not that they are all collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country, but they want to exchange for A lot of military supplies. General Lu traded with the puppet Qing Dynasty and Mongolia in exchange for war horses."

  Zhao Han was silent.

  Can you blame the governors and generals on the front line?

   Obviously something went wrong with the imperial court. The Ming court could not provide the urgently needed military supplies, and had to rely on generals to take risks and trade with the enemy in private to obtain them.

Xu Ying continued: "Now North Korea is intimidated by our army and no longer sells grain to the Puppet Qing. Dorgon could not buy food, so he sent troops to North Korea to plunder twice in a row, which led to the complete break between the Puppet Qing and North Korea. The Puppet Qing You can’t buy grain in North Korea, you can’t enter the customs to plunder, and you can’t buy grain from Datong and Zhangjiakou, because Li Zicheng is also in charge of grain and grass. Therefore, I judged that the Mongolian tribes who surrendered to the puppet Qing must have suffered extreme food shortages in the past two years, so It was only last year that I took the risk of looting Li Zicheng's territory."

   "Those Mongolian tribes seem to have separated from the puppet Qing." Zhao Han said happily.

  Xu Ying said: "This year, the summer grain harvest will be harvested, and some people will migrate to Zhili in the north. After the autumn grain harvest, large-scale immigration will be possible. At that time, troops will be sent to occupy Jizhou, contact some Mongolian tribes in the north, and use food to incite them to rebel at critical times!"

  The prefectures and counties near Jizhou, because they are close to Shanhaiguan Pass, were also the first target of the Manchu Qing crossing the Great Wall to plunder, so the common people had been looted or fled long ago. Before Chongzhen died, there were mostly soldiers and military families, and there were not many real ordinary people left.

  Now the population is even sparser, so neither Zhao Han nor Li Zicheng will occupy Jizhou, so as not to become the target of looting by the Tartars.

   Now it seems that this autumn can go to occupy, and then go north to the Great Wall to contact the Mongols.

  These Mongols are mothers if they have milk. It is easy to pull them to beat the Qing. As long as the food is traded to them, as long as the Manchu Qing continues to show signs of decline, the Mongolian tribes will rebel sooner or later.

Xu Ying continued: "After the Puppet Qing Dynasty returned to Liaodong, the plague raged in Shandong. Merchants in Shandong, Jiangsu, and Anhui have already cut off contact with the Puppet Qing Dynasty. But according to my estimate, there should be a few more, such as selling a large number of Liao ginseng merchants. The secret work in Nanjing is more or less related to these merchants, I am afraid that there are more than one or two secret works!"

  Zhao Han's face was gloomy: "Check slowly, don't rush, don't let any one go."

  (end of this chapter)