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Fei Rulan was spinning the spinning wheel in the room, spinning seriously.

She once asked Li Banghua who was the wisest queen in the past dynasties. Li Banghua replied that if we talk about sages from ancient times, there is no one more empress Ma from 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 Queen Ma's initiative, and Zhu Yuanzhang did spring plowing every year. They led by example to persuade farmers to grow mulberry trees.

As a newbie to spinning, Fei Rulan's movements were not smooth yet. Fei Rulan's speed was very slow, and she occasionally had to look closely.

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

Fei Rulan sincerely praised: "Mrs. Xu is really virtuous, she can spin yarn so well, and she can also take care of the family affairs properly."

Mrs. Liu hurriedly said: "The empress has a body of thousands of gold and spins cotton yarn with her own hands. She is the real virtuous and kind person."

Asking for some textile skills, Fei Rulan asked again: "Where did Mrs. Xu buy her powder? It smells quite quiet and elegant."

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

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

One of the duties of a queen is to summon the wives of ministers and comfort the female relatives of the ministers' families.

Although Mrs. Liu had met the queen several times, she felt uneasy every time she met. She was originally just the wife of a country scholar, but her husband was good at whoring and gambling. Even if the prostitution money was not enough, he was detained and she was told to take the money to a brothel to redeem him.

At that time, I felt like there was no daylight and there was absolutely no hope in life.

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 first, I didn't think anything wrong. After all, I was just a widow, and she was older than Xu Ying. Xu Ying is handsome, talented, and knows how to make money in business.

She could only have a secret love, and even if it was just a secret love, she would often blame herself for not being a woman, and felt that a widow should not have such thoughts.

But that kind of emotion is really difficult to suppress. The more Xu Ying abides by etiquette and takes good care of him, the stronger her secret love becomes. Xu Ying's appearance was in her mind all day long. When Xu Ying went out and came back a little late, she was worried about something unexpected happening. One day, she even dreamed that she and Xu Ying were doing something embarrassing.

A man and a woman alone, making firewood and burning fire, ultimately went beyond the rules and regulations.

Mrs. Liu feels very happy. Although she did not hold a wedding, she only reported her marriage to the government and received the marriage certificate and registered her as a family. But the little life was ordinary, the couple was extremely loving, and it was already countless times better than before.

Until King Zhao Tian took over the whole province of Jiangxi, Xu Ying suddenly said: "I am from Zhaozong Town, and I am going to Yangzhou for business. I may be able to go home once a year, and Mrs. Lao can take care of the house and take good care of the two children."

Ms. Liu didn't think much about it at the time. After all, there were many people who had taken refuge with King Zhao Tian, ​​and she thought her husband was just one of them.

But King Zhao Tian ascended the throne and became emperor in Nanjing, and Xu Ying also brought the whole family over. It turned out that her husband's identity was fake, as was his parents and brothers. That was the first time she met her parents-in-law.

Even so, Mrs. Liu has not yet understood the situation because her husband is too low-key and has a low sense of presence in the Nanjing court.

Until the queen invited her to dinner and chatted with her amiably!

Mrs. Liu was greatly shocked that time and could not recover for several days. Gradually, she got to know the wives of other ministers, and occasionally met them for shopping and leisurely gatherings.

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

I heard that Huangjia Town had just been captured and His Majesty assigned wives to the soldiers. General Zhang didn't have much pursuit at that time. He just wanted to live a life where he could have children, so he fell in love with his current wife at a glance - because her butt was so big that she could have children.

As expected, it was easy to have children, and I gave birth to four babies in one breath.

Now they quarrel when they meet. Zhang Tieniu thinks his wife is not good-looking, has never read a book, and has a domineering personality. Now that he is stationed in the north with his troops, Zhang Tieniu does not take his wife there and only lets her take care of the children at home.

Some time ago, his wife came to the queen and cried. It was said that her husband was so successful that he despised his poor wife. After he went to the north, he didn't write home for half a year. He must have raised a baby outside.

Every time we met to go shopping, Zhang Tieniu's wife was always in charge of bargaining, and she would get red-faced over the dozens of pennies.

Mrs. Liu felt very embarrassed at first, but gradually she got used to it. As long as this woman was present, everyone would always laugh very happily.

…

Mrs. Liu was spinning with the queen in the house, but her husband was in the courtyard, sitting and chatting with the emperor about official matters.

Xu Ying ate the cakes brought by Pan Qimei and said: "In the shop established by Cao Fengji in Nanjing, 30% of the clerks are from Taigu, Shanxi, and the rest are recruited locally in Nanjing. At the beginning, we went to investigate those Shanxi clerks. Many spies were sent to contact him, but no clues were found. They really thought they were coming to the south to do business."

Zhao Han asked: "Is Xizuo a local?"

Xu Ying said: "He is half a local. This guy's ancestral home is Nanjing, and he has been doing business in Yangzhou with his employer all year round. His employer was killed during the Zaohu Uprising. He heard that Nanjing was very stable and prosperous under His Majesty's rule, so he fled back to register. I settled in and found a job as a errand boy for a business.”

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

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

Zhao Han said disdainfully: "To directly threaten someone with your family, the pseudo-Qing's meticulous tactics are too rough."

"It's rough, but it's useful, and it's not just someone to threaten," Xu Ying said, "I asked the woman to get in touch with this guy's mother, give her some small favors, and we talked about everything in a few days. This guy's mother, He also boasted that he had Korean ginseng at home, which was given to him by his employer when he was doing business. It was either Korean ginseng or a Liao ginseng, which might have been stolen."

Zhao Han suddenly realized: "This person has been to Liaodong before, and has worked for the Puppet Qing Dynasty."

Xu Ying said: "I also sent people to investigate merchants in Yangzhou, Huai'an, Xuzhou and other places, especially those who had done business in Liaodong. Unexpectedly, I really got something. A merchant informed the spy that he was an informant for the Tatars. Merchants can be found in 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 Tatars bribe merchants?" Zhao Han asked.

Xu Ying explained: "When the Tatar chief Nurhaci 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 was one condition, which was to pass it on to the Tatars. According to the news, as long as you collude with the Tatars, you can continue to do business in Liaodong in the future. They all agreed at the time, some really colluded with the Tatars, and a few will no longer go to Liaodong after returning home."

Zhao Han nodded: "Continue."

Xu Ying said: "Shanxi merchants, mainly in Datong and Zhangjiakou, traded goods with the Tatars and also took the opportunity to pass on information. Especially the Shanxi merchants in Zhangjiakou were all developed by Huang Taiji later. As for the Shandong merchants, they traded grain with the Tatars. The minister also asked many inside stories. When Yuan Chonghuan sold rice to the Mongols, one was to exchange for war horses, and the other was to win over the wavering Mongolian tribes. Huang Taiji was furious and severely criticized those Mongolians. The Manchus surrendered to the Mongolian tribes. , there are three main means: one is war, the other is marriage, and the third is food."

Zhao Han's eyes suddenly lit up: "The Qing Dynasty used food to control the Mongolian tribes?"

Xu Ying said: "Yes, the Mongolian grasslands have been experiencing severe droughts for years. They went south to plunder and could not defeat the Ming Dynasty's border troops, and could not steal 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 had some effect The effect was good, but was stopped by Huang Taiji."

"Liaodong doesn't have enough to eat, so where can they find food to sell to the Mongolian tribes?" Zhao Han was confused again.

Xu Ying said: "Enter the customs to plunder, or buy food from merchants of the Ming Dynasty. If the food is not enough, they will force North Korea to sell it. North Korea's food was originally sold to Dongjiang Town. After Huang Taiji's intervention, North Korea no longer gave it to Dongjiang Town. Sell ​​grain, and sell 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 did this, Mao Wenlong did this, and... General Lu (Lu Xiangsheng) did the same. It was not that they were all collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country, but they wanted to In exchange for a lot of military supplies. General Lu traded with the puppet Qing Dynasty and Mongolia in order to exchange for war horses."

Zhao Han was silent.

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

There was obviously something wrong with the court. The Ming court could not provide the urgently needed military supplies, and had to rely on generals to take desperate risks and trade with the enemy privately to obtain them.

Xu Ying continued: "Now North Korea is coerced and intimidated by our army and no longer sells food to the Puppet Qing Dynasty. Dorgon was unable to buy food, so he sent troops to North Korea twice in a row to plunder, causing the Puppet Qing Dynasty to completely break with North Korea. The Puppet Qing Dynasty It is impossible to buy food in North Korea, and it is impossible to enter the customs and plunder it, let alone buy food from Datong and Zhangjiakou, because Li Zicheng is also controlling food and grass. Therefore, I judge that the Mongolian tribes who have submitted to the puppet Qing Dynasty must have been extremely short of food in the past two years, so It was only last year that I took the risk to plunder Li Zicheng’s territory.”

"Those Mongolian tribes seem to have distanced themselves from the Puppet Qing Dynasty." Zhao Han said happily.

Xu Ying said: "This summer grain harvest will bring some immigrants to the north of Zhili. When the autumn grain harvest occurs, large-scale immigration will be possible. At that time, we will send troops 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 were close to Shanhaiguan, were also the first targets for Manchu plunder across the Great Wall, so the people had long been robbed or fled. Before Chongzhen died, there were mostly troops and military dependents there, and there were very few real ordinary people left.

Now the population is even sparser, so neither Zhao Han nor Li Zicheng wants to occupy Jizhou to avoid becoming the target of Tatar plunder.

Now it seems that we can capture it this fall and then go north to the Great Wall to contact the Mongols.

These Mongolians are like mothers if they have breasts, and it would be easy to win them over to the Qing Dynasty. As long as food is traded to them and as long as the Manchu Qing Dynasty continues to show its 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 cut off contact with the Puppet Qing Dynasty. However, according to my estimation, there should be a few that have not cut off contact, such as selling large quantities of Liao Ginseng. merchants. Nanjing’s fine craftsmanship is somewhat related to these merchants, I’m afraid there are more than one or two craftsmen!”

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