I'm playing tricks in Daqin

Chapter 42 Wives and Concubines

"Hmm... ah, my husband, I haven't had a cup of wine yet..."

"Msg... Xianggong... hand over a glass of wine... that's not how you drink... um... um..."

The movement from the bridal chamber made the maids hiding outside the door to eavesdrop and laugh, the young master is too impatient, right?

However, their cheeks were also red, and their heads were beating wildly.

"Ouch……"

Su Yuejiao came out at some point, twisted the ears of those naughty maids, gritted her teeth and scolded with a smile: "Damn girl, are you ashamed?"

Those playful girls blushed, stuck out their tongues, and slipped away with their little mouths covered.

Su Yuejiao listened intently to the movement in the room, and a meaningful smile escaped from the corners of Dan Hong's lips. For a person like her who has been here, she can naturally hear the meaning of all the noises and movements coming out of the bridal chamber. She I just hope that the daughter-in-law's stomach will be more angry, and the thin Li family will give birth to more boys, so as to strengthen the blood of the Li family.

Several families are happy and some are sad. Li Wei is busy with the great plan of making villains in the wedding night of the bridal chamber, while Zhuang Xi is doomed to have insomnia tonight.

At this moment, with teary eyes, she leaned weakly on the pile of brocade quilts, wiping her tears with a silk handkerchief from time to time.

She did not expect that the notorious young master Li and the outstanding talent and eloquence, who were hailed as the god of poetry by scholars, and the youngest and most talented Li Langjun and everyone Li are the same person. In fact, it is not difficult to conclude that they are the same person, otherwise, where would such great power come from?

If you want to blame, you can only blame yourself for being dizzy at the time, and you can't see it.

Zhuang Xi felt extremely miserable. She didn't blame Li Langjun for concealing her identity from her, but blamed herself for having a hard life and rejected the Li family's marriage proposal. Otherwise, she is now an upright Young Mistress Li. Your husband is performing the ceremony of Duke Zhou.

Now, it's too late to say anything, there is no medicine for regret in this world, she has privately engaged with Li Langjun for life, and she will not marry unless he is the king, but she is unwilling to be a concubine, her heart is full of entanglements and deep resentment.

On the first morning after the wedding, the new daughter-in-law would serve tea to her parents-in-law. Su Yuejiao was very satisfied with Kong Rong's appearance, temperament and decent language and behavior, and also dispelled some of the previous unhappiness.

Seeing her father-in-law and mother-in-law drinking the respected tea, Kong Rong, who was so nervous that she didn't dare to take a breath, was relieved, but seeing her mother-in-law's eyes falling on her waist intentionally or unintentionally, she was desperately ashamed bowed his head.

Even though the husband is sympathetic in every possible way, but he is a newcomer, pain is unavoidable, and walking is more or less unnatural. When the mother-in-law who knows everything notices, she is really ashamed to death.

Li Gang was busy with official duties, so he left after breakfast, and the younger couple accompanied the older ladies to eat.

"Wei'er, the days ahead are long, don't rush for a night or two, your body is important."

Su Yuejiao put a bowl of black-bone ginseng chicken soup in front of Li Wei, and motioned him to drink it.

Even Li Wei, who was yawning, lowered his head and sipped his soup honestly. Last night, he performed super-level and tossed all night. Now his hands and feet are a little weak. The aunt is really discerning.

Kong Rong lowered her head desperately, her jade cheeks were red, her expression was as coy as she wanted, how could she not hear the deep meaning in her mother-in-law's words?

She who has just experienced human affairs is not worthy of conquest, but her husband is too powerful, he insisted on tossing her all night, making her walk unnaturally, which will be reprimanded by her mother-in-law. He was so ashamed to look for cracks.

Back in her own room, Kong Rong sat on the soft chair and accepted Qing'er's tea offer. She is the first wife of Ming Media, so it is natural to accept the concubine's tea offer.

"Sister, please get up."

When Kong Rong took the teacup, she reached out to help Qing'er who was kneeling in front of her, and motioned her to sit beside her.

Before entering the family, her mother told her a lot, besides fulfilling her duties as a wife, serving her husband well, being filial to her parents-in-law, she also reminded her what to pay attention to.

Qing'er was one of the people her mother mentioned to pay special attention to. Su Yuejiao was the mistress of the Li family, and the backyard of the Li family was her house of speech. Who would dare to disrespect her?

Qing'er was originally one of the personal servants who had served Su Yuejiao for many years, and she was also Su Yuejiao's disciple who preached the teachings hand in hand. Su Yuejiao came as a dowry when she got married, and had a high status among the maidservants, and was later sent to serve Li Wei, because of his cleverness, empathy, and high martial arts skills, was extremely favored by Li Wei, and he was always taken by his side as a personal bodyguard. Later, his wife Su Yuejiao made the decision and accepted him as a concubine.

Qing'er has such a profound background, Kong Rong has no choice but to accept it generously, the most sensible way is to show her generosity, as long as she keeps the throne of her original wife.

The century-old Li family has been passed down to this generation, and there is only one single seedling to inherit the incense. The only way to continue the Li family's incense is to take more concubines and have more children. My mother has deliberately reminded me of these things She, if she likes her and opposes her father-in-law to accept a concubine, it will definitely cause her father-in-law's displeasure and affect her status. The most sensible way is to acquiesce.

Kong Rong's temperament was originally virtuous and gentle, without any ambitions, coupled with her mother's deliberate reminder, she showed her generosity and kindness. From now on, everyone is a family and will do their part That's fine, but don't challenge the authority of my first wife.

Qing'er was relieved by her generosity and kindness, which was what she hoped for and the best result.

Li Wei also heaved a sigh of relief. It would be great if wives and concubines lived in harmony. If there was a quarrel, it would be the most troublesome thing for a man.

Newlyweds, a couple should be like glue, spend their honeymoon together and enjoy life together all day long, but Li Wei is very busy, and his wife and concubines are harmonious, so he plunged into the military camp with peace of mind.

Five thousand new recruits are still undergoing the most basic training according to the training course he wrote, queue up to practice physical skills training, etc. After five months of training, they will undergo cruel elimination. .

The war horses bought by the merchants were brought in one after another. There were nearly [-] war horses in the barracks, but there were only a thousand or so good war horses that were truly strong and fat, and the rest could only be used for soldiers. Practice riding.

After spending a lot of money, there are only so few war horses that can be really used. Li Wei is very helpless. He also knows that those merchants have tried their best, and those merchants dare not make him a big money. An agreement has been reached, and I believe that the best horses will arrive soon.

More than a thousand knight-errants Cao Mang with miraculous abilities are also undergoing rigorous military training. Give them systematic and intensive special training.

However, after a month, there were still three or four hundred rangers who could not bear the hardships and were eliminated one after another. Li Wei continued to recruit people until he recruited 500 people.

What Li Wei is most concerned about right now is the general camp. In the era of cold weapons, weapons are the second life of soldiers. If his elite cavalry don't have good weapons, everything will be bullshit. The technical standards of steelmaking determine the quality of weapons. .

Chapter 43 The richest man also lacks money

"Master, please try the sword."

The old blacksmith Mr. Huang held an ordinary iron sword in both hands, respectful and nervous on his wrinkled old face.

The young master is so kind to these low-status blacksmiths that they will be grateful for the rest of their lives. The only reward is that they work hard to create good weapons that satisfy the young master according to the young master's requirements.

The iron sword that was presented was actually just a sword model that had not been polished and opened, but it took Huang Laopai 20 days to forge it after nearly a hundred times of repeated forging, and it has been tested. After chopping off nearly twenty iron swords and twenty pairs of bright light armor, there was no obvious crack on the blade, and they were presented after confirming that they had almost met the requirements of the young master.

Li Wei motioned to Li Er to try the sword, and stood aside to watch with folded arms.

Li Eryun swung his sword vigorously, and chopped off nearly ten iron swords and five pairs of bright armor in one breath. There was no obvious crack on the edge of the blade, and his eyes lit up. This is a top-quality sword that cuts iron like mud.

Li Wei grinned, looking very happy. This iron sword is the so-called hundred-smelting steel that has been repeatedly forged after carburizing. According to today's iron-smelting technology, it can be called a qualitative leap. The refining of steel is cumbersome and time-consuming, with low output and high cost, but he is content with it, it is better than nothing, and wait until the craftsmen develop a high-efficiency steelmaking technology.

Hundreds of smelting steels have been smelted. Next, Li Wei can't wait to start his big plan. First, he will carburize the iron into iron embryos, and then hand them over to the blacksmiths in the city for repeated forging. For a certain amount of wages, qualified steel billets will be stored in stock and reserved.

The blast furnace and carburizing technology can be said to be important military secrets, which must be kept strictly confidential, and anyone who leaks the secrets will copy them all over the house.

Afterwards, Li Wei took out a bunch of drafts that had already been drawn for the craftsmen in the camp to study. The triangular arrow javelin head of the horseshoe long knife was the primary focus of production, followed by the Modao heavy armor and other things.

Modao heavy armored infantry and heavy armored cavalry must be available, but due to various cost constraints and other factors, the number will not be too many, and the output of Baisteel is too low, so we can only take it slowly.

The steelmaking problem was barely solved, and next, Li Wei had to start solving the business monopoly problem.

In this era, agriculture is emphasized and business is suppressed, and the status of businessmen is extremely low. Even if you have a wealth of wealth and wealth, you are not as powerful as a landlord with only a few hundred acres of land, but you don’t know that businessmen play a role in promoting economic development Moreover, they are too rich, and they can temporarily relieve the tension of military expenditures by just digging out a little bit.

If it is said who is the richest in Jiayue Province, it is naturally the Li clan that has run Jiayue Province for hundreds of years. Not counting all kinds of profitable businesses, the salt farms in their hands alone earn several hundred dollars for the Li family every year. Unclear money, coupled with various taxes, otherwise, how can it support the military and political operations of the huge Jiayue Provincial Government?

Although he is the richest man in Jiayue Province, Li Wei also knows that the Li family has a big business, and all kinds of expenses are scary. It was so big that it made people vomit blood, so he tried every means to make money, and the best way was to tie all the wealthy businessmen and families in Jiayue Province to Li's chariot, so that honor and disgrace could coexist.

Back home, after Li Wei had a discussion with Father Cheap, Father Cheap came forward and invited the heads of the most powerful families in Jiayue Provincial City to come to the house to discuss matters. After an agreement was reached, he sent out invitations , invited well-known wealthy merchants and aristocratic families in Jiayue City to come to the mansion to discuss matters in three days.

Li Gang smiled very happily. The various performances of the precious son clearly have the potential of a generation of heroes, which made him very happy. He is now fully supporting the various actions of the precious son, and even delegated certain powers to train him. After being impressed with 80 taels of tribute silver, he directly asked Tian Ce to stay with his precious son to make suggestions and form a small team to prepare for taking over Li's huge foundation in the future.

Three days later in Li's Mansion, rich merchants and heads of aristocratic families who received the invitation gathered in the prefect's mansion. Regarding Li Wei's invitation, their hearts were full of various speculations, while the merchants were anxious.

The prefect's mansion is not something that ordinary people can come in and out of casually. The status of the merchants was originally low. Even if they paid filial piety every year, they couldn't enter the prefect's mansion. The steward of Li's mansion received it outside the gate. Now that Young Master Li suddenly invited him, it naturally made him Surprised and excited, they couldn't help feeling uneasy, wondering what kind of medicine was sold in the gourd of Young Master Li, who had been acting monstrously lately.

Rows of low tables and brocade mats are placed in the spacious hall. The low tables are filled with snacks, fruits, tea and wine. Everyone sits on the floor. However, the merchants are very consciously sitting on the right, and the heads of those aristocratic families are sitting on the left. On the first side, there is a clear-cut distinction between high and low status.

While everyone was anxiously waiting to speculate on Li Wei's mind, the Li family father and son came out from the inner hall, and everyone quickly stood up and saluted.

"You are welcome, please sit down."

The father and son of the Li family clasped their fists politely in return. Li Gang gestured for everyone to sit down. He stroked his long beard under his chin and said slowly: "The old man invited everyone here today to discuss something with you."

The hearts of all the people present jumped suddenly, and there was an instinctive look of nervousness on their faces. The more polite the prefect spoke, the more pressure they felt. In the past, when wars broke out, in order to ease the tension of military expenditures, they all directly assigned.

"You don't have to be nervous, I'm just discussing something with you."

Li Wei smiled and said: "The reason why the Li family can survive in Jiayue is all thanks to the support of all the lords. I thank you here in advance."

He clasped his fists and bowed, and everyone quickly stood up to return the salute, feeling more and more uneasy.

After a few words of politeness, Li Wei got straight to the point and stated his plan. He wanted to set up an official chamber of commerce. Everyone contributed money to buy shares, elected the president and vice president of the chamber of commerce to manage the chamber of commerce. Depending on the profit and the amount of dividends, the profit and loss are shared together. To show sincerity, the Li family opened up half of the salt transportation marketing share.

For a moment, the entire spacious hall sounded hissing inhalation. This proposal was like a heavy boulder falling into the water, causing huge waves.

These days, the safest and most profitable business is the salt business. Many salt dealers are willing to risk their heads to sell private salt to make huge profits. The powerful family and aristocratic family control it, and no one can intervene, and no one dares to intervene. Now, the Li family is going to open up half of the salt industry's marketing share, which is too surprising for people to believe.

The big pie that fell from the sky made people salivate. However, this big pie was not so delicious. Everyone lowered their heads and pondered, and their abacus was ringing in their hearts. They were all evaluating the benefits of joining the chamber of commerce and various risks.

Chapter 44 Earn money together

Don't look at these businessmen who look fat and full of fat, and some even have a loyal and honest face, but each one is better than the other, and they are all thinking about the little things in their hearts.

The salt business is like a big cake, which makes them salivate with envy, but the most attractive thing is the background of the chamber of commerce, which is official in nature and controlled by several powerful families such as the Li family. For those who have a lot of money but low status, what they want most is status and status, even if they spend most of their family property.

Joining the chamber of commerce has many benefits, such as unified purchase and unified marketing, basically monopolizing a certain industry, making a steady profit without losing money, and greatly reducing costs. The risk of robbers blocking the road and so on.

However, they are also worried, because in this way, all the channels they have painstakingly managed before will be cut off, and they will all be controlled by the Li family and other big families. If one day they are kicked out of the chamber of commerce, they will have to start all over again.

"My lords, please rest assured, as long as you don't seriously violate the agreed rules of the Chamber of Commerce, you can just wait for the dividends and count the money every month."

Li Wei knew what they were worried about, and smiled and said: "The accounts are open and transparent, and everyone supervises them together. The principal, vice president, management deacon, etc. are all selected from among the princes, and they receive their salaries. My father and several uncles are just titles of honorary consultants .”

Although the group of rich merchants hesitated, they couldn't help but be moved when they heard this. The richest stood up and clasped their hands together, expressing their willingness to join the chamber of commerce. Someone took the lead, and the people behind responded one after another.

In fact, they have also thought about all kinds of adverse consequences, but at this point, they can't help them. Just look at the cold expression of the prefect Li Gang sitting on the head, and the wolf-like soldiers standing on both sides, if they don't agree today , I'm afraid I can't get out of this door.

Even if Prefect Li generously lets them go, life will definitely be difficult in the future. I'm afraid they won't be able to do business. If you can't sell it, you can pay for it to death.

"Everyone, from now on, everyone is their own."

Li Gang stood up, flicked his sleeves, and said with a smile: "Today, the old man has prepared a few home-cooked dishes. Let's all have a good drink. If anyone is not drunk, he will not give the old man face."

"Thank you, sir, for your cooperation."

All the businessmen were so excited that they stood up and bowed to express their gratitude. In the past, they had no qualifications or opportunities to curry favor with the prefect, but now they are their own people with the prefect, even if half of the family property is scraped off by the prefect.

Pretty maidservants shuttled back and forth, serving delicious wine and meat meals, smelling the rich and mellow wine smell from the wine glasses placed in front of them, everyone couldn't help swallowing, what kind of wine is this, why is it so fragrant? "For our common interests, everyone drank this cup."

Li Wei held the wine glass and toasted everyone with a smile.

After drinking a glass of water and wine, everyone couldn't help showing an expression of enjoyment on their faces. The wine was so refreshing, and this was the first time they drank such a strong and mellow spirit.

What kind of wine is this, why haven't I heard of it?Haven't seen it sold in the market?Everyone showed curious expressions. In this era, tea is used instead of wine. Men and women can drink a few glasses, and most men are alcoholics. Such fine wine is really the nectar of the world. Where can I buy it?Li Gang stroked his long beard under his jaw, and said triumphantly: "This wine is brewed by my unicorn, so it is called Ya Nei wine."

Li Wei smiled and said: "The brewing of this wine is very cumbersome and complicated. Only a dozen or so altars are brewed in a month, so it is only used for our own people, or rewarded to those who have made meritorious deeds, and will not be sold."

This guy is talking nonsense with his eyes open, his face is not red, and his heart is not beating. This high-strength wine was originally used to disinfect wounds. It is not that he has never thought about selling it on the market. In the event of a war, the price of food will be frighteningly more expensive, but I still hold back when I think about it.

It is not listed for sale, but it can be sold in the domestic market. There is a saying in business that eat cooked and not raw. It is said that acquaintances are easy to talk to, but in fact they slaughter you without discussing it. Li Wei is selling it with a jar of highly purified wine under the banner of domestic supply. The sky-high price of 150 taels of silver was paid, and the money earned was more than that sold on the market, and it was tantamount to selling favors, killing you, and making you feel grateful and owe favor debts.

"Master, hehe..."

Those who were a little more courageous shouted haha, and the expression on their faces could be understood without saying anything.

Li Wei mobilized the muscles of his face, showing a very embarrassed expression, pretended to think about it, and then sighed: "Okay, there is only one pot for one month per person."

"Thank you Ya Nei."

A group of businessmen were so moved that they cupped their fists in thanks, the young master was so refreshing.

"It's your own person, you don't have to be polite, hehe."

Li Wei smiled and said Mimi, but he was secretly happy, more than 30 people, that is, more than 30 jugs of wine, one jug costs 150 taels, and 5000 taels will be in hand.

In a word, the businessmen were moved to tears, young master, good man!Next, the merchants, whose pressure was gradually reduced, let go of their bellies to eat and drink. For them, the wealthy merchants who were so poor that they only had money, they were already tired of it. They were only interested in Ya Nei wine, and Li Wei was generous Fang asked people to bring several big jars, and the banquet didn't end until those businessmen passed out drunk.

The domestic slave waiting outside the prefect's mansion carried his master into the carriage and returned home. Li Wei, the cheap father and the heads of several big families were still discussing in the hall. In addition to discussing the operation of the chamber of commerce, he continued to throw The concept of a bank made everyone present dumbfounded.

In this day and age, big money is really in circulation. One tael of silver is equal to a big coin, and a big coin is 1000 coins. Just counting them makes you dizzy, and it is very heavy, which is very inconvenient to carry. There are also a few small businesses. Hundreds of thousands of slings have to be packed in boxes, and the bigger ones are tens of thousands of 10,000+ slings, which have to be loaded in several carts.

Credit banks are established by commercial banks, and special coins or banknotes with large denominations are issued, which are similar to cash or transfer checks in modern banks. Cashing in different places is convenient for both parties.

There are many benefits to establishing a credit bank. Li Wei is not familiar with the various businesses of modern banks. He just gave a rough idea based on his usual impression of depositing and withdrawing money. The specific operation is still to be discussed. He just gave a clear direction.

"Uh...all uncles...little nephew...did you say something wrong?"

Li Wei couldn't help scratching his head seeing the heads of several big families staring at him, as if he was an alien being visited by them.

"Young master, you still have some strange things in your mind, why not pour them all out..."

The amount of information was too much, and the patriarchs of the aristocratic families all had their mouths open. They needed to digest it slowly, but what was certain was that the once notorious Huahua Taisui had turned too monstrous.

Chapter 45 Wives are not as good as concubines

After marriage, Li Wei became even busier. In addition to dealing with the overly enthusiastic care of the 13 ladies during the day, he also had to sit in the barracks, supervising his special training for the cavalry that was not accepted at night, as well as scientific and technological research for the camp, and discussing Various details of the operation of chambers of commerce and banks, etc., have to work hard at night to make villains, which can be said to be very busy.

On the morning of the tenth day after marriage, Li Wei had breakfast, and habitually went out to the barracks to supervise the special training of recruits. Then he walked out of the long alley and saw Lin Ruoying standing pretty at the corner.

"Master."

Lin Ruoying swayed willows in the wind and stepped forward, her beautiful eyes were shining brightly, and there was a soul-stirring style between her brows.