[Qing wear] Harem promotion expert

Jiang Heng thought that the gift from France would not be a big one, because the emperor just came here empty-handed, and Eunuch Su who came with him today didn't bring any boxes.

The emperor stretched out his arms to her, and motioned her to look for it from his sleeve.

Speaking of the universe in the sleeves of the ancients is really powerful.Jiang Heng still remembered that when he was in high school, he learned a text about Lord Xinling, in which there was a sentence "Zhu Haisleeve forty catties of iron vertebrae killed Jin Bi", which shows that the sleeves can be hidden.

Ju Jiangheng looked at the brochures on his second brother Jiang Yuan. The French also imitated the clothes of the Qing Dynasty, and specially changed into wide-sleeved Confucian robes, so they hid their murder weapon, the baguette, in the sleeves, otherwise they would be very aggressive. Carrying a baguette to ambush the Duke of England, he was stopped long ago.

However, the cuffs of the emperor's dragon robe have been specially shrunk for the convenience of daily critiquing. It is not so elegant and spacious, and the sleeves are at most stuffed with a thin book.

Jiang Heng couldn't help being curious, is that a small thing?

When Jiang Heng took out the things from the emperor's sleeve, he was momentarily stunned.

It was actually a pencil.

She didn't even dare to pick it up immediately, for fear that once the muscle memory was picked up, it would probably be the standard way of holding a brush—to this day she sometimes holds a brush in private, and before she dips it in the ink, she subconsciously thinks it is a modern way of holding a brush, and she needs to make a special change.

The emperor thought she didn't recognize it, so he took it over by himself: "This is a pen."

He first asked the nurse standing in the corner to come over and take care of the princess, and let the princess grind her teeth with the mustache. Don't eat this kind of hard cake to avoid indigestion. Then he took Jiang Heng to the desk inside to show her The role of the pencil.

Jiang Heng looked at the way the emperor held the pen, and really wanted to change it for him.

However, the emperor didn't care that it was called a pencil.

Because the pencil is not a "lead" pen, the refill is not really metal lead.

The emperor drew some lines on the paper and said: "This is a graphite-wooden pen, which was played by the Duke of France. It is a new and sharp product that the English have only made in the past few years, and it is covered. , only used by a small group of people such as princes and nobles."

"They accidentally dug some graphite mines on the mountain, and they regarded them as treasures before they had seen them. Later, an ingenious craftsman figured out a way to refine the graphite with clay, wrap it with a wooden shell, and make it It is really convenient to use this kind of wooden pen with solidified ink."

As he spoke, he handed it to Jiang Heng and asked her to try it.

Jiang Heng took it with great nostalgia.

In fact, she once thought about whether to get a pencil as a project, but this matter involves mining and smelting, which is not something that the Manufacturing Office can do, so the project has not been approved yet.Who would have expected to see the real thing now.

But it doesn't matter, the appearance of the pencil at this time is still very rough, it is just a stick of graphite stuffed in a stick, there is still a lot of room for her to improve the design in the future.

It had been a long time since she drew some black lines on the paper with a pencil, and the emperor couldn't help but smile: "Is it difficult to handle it? I see that you hold this pen like chopsticks."

Jiang Heng sighed: No, I am too used to it.

Handed the pen back to the emperor: "Try to take it like this—the emperor also knows that I used to have people fetch a lot of Western canvases and paints from Ruyi Pavilion, and I also took a lot of Western painting brushes. The master's brush is not like we usually hold a brush."

The emperor also tried it, and suddenly felt that holding the graphite pen in this way can use more force than the usual posture of holding a brush.

Looking at the familiar pencil lines, Jiang Heng couldn't help but think of some philosophical questions about the fate of the country: In the years that followed, Yingjili was like the goddess of luck possessed, and the graphite mine that was suddenly discovered made a pencil that was just a miniature. The steam engine and the subsequent industrial revolution are the blowout development of a country.

The emperor put down the graphite pen, and wiped the lines he drew twice with his hands. Looking at the gray and black marks on his hands, he asked for a handkerchief to wipe his hands.

From the emperor's point of view, this graphite pen is convenient, but it also has a disadvantage. Unlike the ink that dries up, it won't stick to your hands. This graphite pen is naturally dry, but if you rub it with your hand, it will leave a black streak. From this point of view, writing with this graphite pen might not last long.

"The Duke of France is smart enough to send this kind of thing first." Jiang Heng couldn't help laughing beside him.France was the first to sell a big bean, so it picked out this 'pencil' that did not harm its own interests.

Because the manufacture of pencils mainly relies on minerals rather than technology.However, graphite mines in France are very scarce, and France would not be able to earn this money!

Jiang Heng remembered that after the UK started selling pencils, pencils quickly became popular in Europe, and all countries went to buy them.Until the time of Napoleon, when Britain and France went to war, Daying quickly cut off the export of pencils to France, which was very stuck for Bonadi.The angry Napoleon ordered the craftsmen of the country to overcome difficulties and make their own pencils no matter how few graphite mines are of poor quality!

At this moment, France should not have found the pitiful graphite mines in the mainland.

Knowing that this graphite pen can only be imported in the future, it is natural that the more countries that can produce graphite pens, the less they will be controlled by others in buying graphite pens in France.

So France is willing to hand over this thing to Qing Dynasty, and earn a wave of favor by the way.It doesn’t even matter if the Qing emperor doesn’t take this as a favor. For the Duke of France who was just stunned, it doesn’t matter whether it hurts others or hurts himself. The point is to hurt others!

England must be killed!

Seeing that the emperor is no stranger to graphite, Jiang Heng remembered what the emperor said just now, saying that Yingjili had never seen a graphite mine before, and regarded it as a treasure. Doesn't that mean...

"Your Majesty, do we have this kind of graphite mine?"

Seeing the emperor nodded, he picked up a piece of ink on the table and said: "The graphite mine has existed for a long time—Westerners actually don't care that it is called graphite, but it has another name, but in our place, this mine has been called graphite since ancient times. This was originally used to make ink sticks, and it existed as early as before the Han and Tang Dynasties."

"It's just that I later found out that this ink hair oil is not as good as the ink made by Songyan, etc., and gradually no one uses it."

"Nowadays, only the Ministry of War occasionally uses some graphite powder in the court. Many weapons are not smooth after being used for a long time, so just apply some graphite powder. In addition, the Ministry of Internal Affairs often uses this graphite powder to unlock locks."

Jiang Heng also remembered the old story of grinding pencil leads into powder and opening some rusty locks when he was a child.

There was a smile on his face: "Hearing what the emperor said, can we make more graphite pens like this?"

The emperor nodded: "Naturally, it is one thing to carry this pen with you when you go out. It is another thing to be able to wipe it off with the crumbs of steamed buns. Do you still remember the picture of the military aircraft you drew—the detailed modification of the picture? It’s troublesome to get up, but it’s much cheaper to use this kind of graphite pen to draw pictures in the future, which can be erased and altered at any time.”

Now is the era when starch is still used to wipe pencils. Jiang Heng can't help but miss erasers. She said that she liked to collect all kinds of beautiful erasers when she was a child. Her parents said that she couldn't finish all the erasers.

However, there was no rubber in this era, or there were no rubber products at all.

This made Jiang Heng think that all projects are castles in the air, impossible to talk about, and rubber can't be changed.

The dimensions of Daying and other countries determine that there are no rubber trees. The discovery of rubber should have benefited from navigation. Later, I don’t know which European country discovered and brought back latex, a fresh item from South America.

Speaking of which, the use of rubber is too great, not just for making rubber.

Thinking of this, Jiang Heng couldn't help but feel regretful: the political center of the Rabbit Dynasty was mostly in the north, and since ancient times it was difficult to pass the customs from south to north to conquer the world. This is destined to focus most of the emperor's eyes on the north, and now the south has a good economy. In Jiangsu and Zhejiang, this is not a place where rubber trees can be grown.

Before she finished regretting, she suddenly remembered, wait a minute, isn't Annan, where Ba Ye is now, one of the largest rubber exporting countries in the future?

The emperor lived in the Forbidden City, so he was destined not to keep his eyes on Annan. If Annan hadn't come to secretly poke and occupy Yunnan's territory first, it is estimated that the emperor would never have any dealings with Annan for the rest of his life.But for the current Eighth Master, it is a place where he has painstakingly managed. In the future, he must be very careful about the place where he will live. If there is any chance to remind him of the magic of the rubber tree...

"Why are you so well and lost in thought?" The emperor waved his hand slightly in front of her eyes, and said in a worried tone: "It's hard to be pregnant. I see that you are not as energetic this time as when you were pregnant with Minmin. In April The queen's birthday should not be stuffy, but it will be hot in May. Why don't I go and tell the queen that you don't want to go to her birthday banquet, just rest in the Yonghe Palace."

Jiang Heng hastily declined the emperor's kindness.

If the Queen's Qianqiu can't let go of it, there will definitely be more fresh gossip in the mouths of the inner and outer wives.What's more, it's not like she can't move. If she is so 'delicate' that she can't even show up at the queen's birthday party, she must be bedridden to recuperate, and she will be overwhelmed.

The emperor originally wanted to directly decide for her, but suddenly remembered what she said last time, and tried to trust her...

I believe that she can take care of her physical condition and protect herself.

So the emperor just nodded: "Okay, let it go, just don't force yourself. The queen is not a harsh person."

Jiang Heng followed the emperor's words: "The Empress has always been fair and magnanimous. It is only about rumors, and the concubines always think of the empress's goodness in their hearts." Regardless of the reason, the empress made a decisive decision and even changed the name of the rumor. Well, escorting the two little court ladies directly to the Department of Punishment and telling the emperor immediately, it was indeed suppressing the rumors to a minimum.

Jiang Heng had one thing in mind, and just now he said to tell the emperor a clear way: "Your Majesty, it's not easy for the concubines to thank the empress in public, so this time the empress's future, the concubine's How about a slightly more important ceremony? If you want to come to your mother, you will be able to understand, and you will appreciate the heavy gift from the concubine."

The emperor couldn't help laughing: "You still can't make up your mind about such a trivial matter? You want to tell me specifically, why, do you want to pay a fee and write off the account?"

Jiang Heng also laughed: "The concubine can afford this, and I will ask the emperor to write off the child's expenses in the future."

The emperor just sneaked over to share with Jiang Heng the new things sent by France.

After that, he left this graphite pen in the Yonghe Palace: "You can play with this one first, the French sent a total of three, I kept one, and gave another one to the thirteenth brother - now This graphite pen is said to cost as much as gold in England."

The emperor didn't take it seriously: "I have plenty of graphite mines."

If it is said that Daying or certain countries in history have been favored by the goddess of luck for a period of time, then the rabbit dynasty can be regarded as being fed by the sky at the beginning.

The land of the Central Plains is rich in resources. For example, the output of this graphite mine far exceeds that of Europe. For example, before Jiang Heng crossed over, the extremely important rare and earth are treasures that have been hidden in this land since ancient times. Yes, just waiting for the rabbits who live in this land to need and discover.

It's just a great gift package.

This gift of nature, for thousands of years and in many difficult times, has supported the Rabbit Chao never to fall.

Thinking of what happened last year, the emperor's smile became more cold: "Back then, Yingjili wanted to send in low-priced drugs as a disaster, but now I send back the cheap graphite pens!" Almost succeeded in being dumped, the emperor Still holding grudges, ready to 'come and not reciprocate'.

It doesn't matter if you don't know about graphite pens, but now that you know it, with the reserves of local graphite mines and a large amount of manpower for production, it is easy to make England's graphite pen business really big, and it will die before it even starts.

It can be said that France's stabbing was accurate and ruthless.

And if there is one, there are two. France has done this once, and in the future, Yingjili will always know about the revenge of the scene. At that time, I am afraid that France will have the motivation to sell more things.

Jiang Heng didn't know if he could see the original version of the steam engine that changed the whole world in his lifetime.

After the emperor left, Qiu Xue, who had been watching the nurse at the kang outside by the window, followed Jiang Heng back to the study and presented the gift list from the storeroom.

The birthdays of the Empress Dowager and Empress are consecutive, which is a big event for all the concubines in the palace.

Especially now that most of the women in the harem can't see the emperor, these two empresses are the only leaders directly under them, and they must not be offended.

Besides, non-prime concubines rarely have the opportunity to flatter these two, and they have to take advantage of the New Year's or birthday banquets to have the opportunity to meet.

Naturally, this annual gift-giving opportunity should not be missed.

Concubines like Jiang Heng who haven't fully finalized the gift are in the minority.

Many concubines have even been busy preparing for the next year's birthday ceremony since the last birthday of the queen mother (queen) - if they want to embroider a large and exquisite table screen and other embroidery, or copy enough "pious" words The Buddhist scriptures are presented, and the whole year's work is very tight.

The Empress Dowager's ceremony is not difficult to prepare at the Yonghe Palace. Her old man has already said that the concubine Xin's pregnancy is the best gift for the mourning family. Knowing that Concubine Xin is not in good spirits since she was pregnant this time, she has already passed Aunt Wuya and Mammy Yu sent word several times that she was not allowed to prepare any energy-intensive gifts, and if her grandchildren were tired for a birthday gift, she would be angry.

So Jiang Heng just followed the Queen Mother's instructions and prepared some exquisite decorations in pairs, which were neither outstanding nor wrong.

Qiuxue came in this time, and she was also concerned about the empress' empress's Qianqiu ceremony. She had just heard the empress's conversation with the emperor outside, so she couldn't help asking in a low voice: "My empress wants to be more important than the gift from the concubine Xi of Jingren Palace this time? Is that so?" Will it..."

It is said that Jiang Heng is pregnant this time, so the seating positions among the three concubines are a bit embarrassing.

All banquets in the palace must be arranged according to their status. The ranking principle is the first priority, followed by children and seniority.

Now the three concubines have the same status and all have titles. Originally, when Jiang Heng was only Min Min, Jiang Heng naturally had to sit at the bottom of the concubine no matter in terms of children or seniority, but now that she is pregnant again, the seat in the palace is delicate. stand up.

What's more, Concubine Xin also carries the unexplainable but real buff of Emperor's Heart.

Everyone in the palace tacitly agreed that once Concubine Xin gave birth to a healthy child, she would be able to sit at the head of the concubine no matter whether the heir was male or female.

Qiu Xue also knew the unspoken rules in the palace, but it had to be after the empress gave birth to the child, and now she showed her intentions. Wouldn't it offend Jingren Palace to suppress Concubine Xi at the Queen's Qianqiu ceremony?

"Will this make Concubine Xi dissatisfied?" Qiu Xue was a little puzzled, she was never such an aggressive person.

Jiang Heng smiled: "It's not that I want to provoke Concubine Xi, I'm just responding to her."

Qiu Xue immediately fell silent.

She thought of the gossip that Miss Yinqiao had said, and of Qiu Wu who had been summoned privately by the empress a lot recently.

Qiu Xue is very numerous, she can discipline anyone in this palace, except Qiu Wu, she always turns a blind eye and pretends to be invisible.There is also an unspoken tacit understanding with Jiang Heng, and Qiu Wu will be given to "running errands" for all tasks such as sending messages to the Ministry of Internal Affairs or counting cases.

The empress suddenly made this decision, it must not be aimless, thinking that the back of the previous rumors, there is a little shadow of Jingren Palace.

After Qiu Xue figured it out, not only did she not persuade her, but she immediately became angry in her heart: Concubine Xi herself has a son, don't you know how murderous these rumors are?The empress has never said a word about the fourth elder brother, openly or secretly!With Jingren Palace, well water does not interfere with river water.

So Qiu Xue became eager instead: "Your Majesty, hurry up and choose, let's choose some precious things for the Empress Dowager."

Jiang Heng slowly selected the warehouse receipts.

Now she knows from various news sources that it was Concubine Xi who first discovered these two maids, and then sent them to the Queen's Palace.In terms of procedure, what Concubine Xi did was impeccable, she did not dispose of it herself, but she did not indulge the court lady, and handed it over to the queen directly—it seemed that she was just an innocent person who happened to encounter rumors and acted according to the rules.

However, it was the word "coincidental" that Jiang Heng didn't believe the most.

The queen spends all day in the palace taking care of the palace affairs, and has no doubts about the fact that Concubine Xi ran into rumors by accident when passing by the Imperial Garden, but Jiang Heng is not——When it comes to walking around the Imperial Garden, the number of times Concubine Xi is really very small, she It is the person who wanders the most in this palace.

But in the past few years, she has never encountered any gossip from a little palace maid who happened to reach her ears.

Although these court ladies are young and can't keep their mouth shut, they are not stupid enough to deliberately stand on the road where the concubines are walking, and start chatting about rumors involving the emperor's heir.

If you go to the imperial garden, you can hear gossip and gossip. What does Jiang Heng train Qiu Wu to be a scout? She just hangs around every day.

Ju Yinqiao said that the two little maids were helping with chores, and when they were cleaning up the mushrooms and moss growing in the damp and cold place under the rockery, they got together and chatted, and they happened to be bumped into by the empress Xi.

This 'coincidence' is more like Jiang Heng already knew the plot back then, and deliberately went to Jingqi Pavilion behind Jingyang Palace, in order to run into Chen Debao's crime.Even if Concubine Xi didn't plot this rumor, there is still an 80.00% possibility that she knew where the rumor was, and went to bump into it on purpose, at least she had the idea of ​​taking advantage of it.

What's more... Jiang Heng also wanted to try it in advance. If one day, she came from behind, and her order in the palace was really higher than that of Concubine Xi, how would she react?

If she wants to get promoted and raise her salary, there will always be a day of friction with Concubine Xi.

Before the birthdays of the Empress Dowager and the Empress, there were still people in the palace celebrating their birthdays.

After Jiang Heng's 20-day vacation was over, it happened to be Concubine Yu's birthday.

Concubine Yu is not a troublesome character, and she doesn't plan to hold any small banquet in the palace. She invites the 'sisters' to sit and listen to others' flattery. She just opened the door happily to receive gifts on this day.

Finally got my money back!

The concubines also agreed to come here in order, leaving the morning for the eminent lady, and the afternoon is the time when the nobleman often promises to wait for others--those who are not in charge and want to flatter Concubine Yu can come and give a gift in person, if that This kind of ordinary people who live in hiding are not people from Concubine Yu's palace, and they don't come to pay birthday wishes in person, but order the maids to send two-color homemade needles and threads to pass the favor.

But Concubine Yu is still happy: on her concubine's birthday, the subsidies from the House of Internal Affairs and the Hall of Mental Cultivation will not be less. In short, it is a day of great income.

So Xianfu Palace opened its gates wide early in the morning, and Concubine Yu first gave nine slings of money to the palace people as a prize, and then just waited for others to come to the door.

"Go back to the empress, the concubine Xin has arrived."

Concubine Yu didn't react at first, she just said casually: "Concubine Xi, please come in... what? Concubine Xin arrived first?"

Huang Yang was obviously also a little nervous.

This, according to the order, shouldn't the concubine Xi come first?Just like Concubine Xin’s birthday in March, when there was a lot of turmoil in the palace about the Northwest War, and the Yonghe Palace didn’t celebrate her birthday, the ladies just went to congratulate each other and then dispersed. At that time, it was time for my own concubine to wait for Concubine Xi I went to the Yonghe Palace after visiting the door.

Today, Concubine Xin came here first by herself.

Seeing the hesitation on Huang Yang's face, Concubine Yu quickly smiled: "Please come in soon! How can Concubine Xin wait outside?"

Huang Yang hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, this slave has already invited Concubine Xin to the main hall, I only know that Concubine Xin is in the hairpin, and she will go out in a moment, the palace people have prepared honey water and white water for Concubine Xin to use." Surprise is nothing but surprise, but she did not dare to delay in welcoming Concubine Xin.

Now that Concubine Xin is still pregnant, she can't wait outside, and Xianfu Palace can't afford to be tired in the sun.

Concubine Yu straightened the flowers on her head when she heard the words: "Oh, I thought that matter was over, but just looking at Concubine Xin's actions today, I know that she has not calmed down. That's right, no matter how good-tempered she is, it would be too late for the rumor to plot against the child." You have to be aggressive, not to mention..." Besides, Concubine Xin was not soft-tempered in the first place.

When she was a nobleman, she almost fainted from the concubine's anger at the concubine's birthday banquet. She was so stubborn that she hit the concubine in the face with a pair of goldfish loose-leaf albums.

What's more, today, she already has full confidence, and she doesn't need to resort to external things anymore.

Before Concubine Yu went out, she thought that she had to get rid of herself for a while. Although the maid surnamed Fei had stayed in her palace, she had nothing to do with her!

Concubine Xi came to Xianfu Palace according to the usual time.

As soon as he entered the door, he heard the laughter inside.

Huang Yang, who welcomed Concubine Xi, had a smile on his face: "Go back to Concubine Xi, and Concubine Xin is inside."

Concubine Xi paused.