The next day, Cao Bin took Master Li directly back to the Hou Mansion, and Li's house was also evacuated.
Gao Qiu was a street kid, and there was no limit to what he could do. Cao Bin didn't want to leave any loopholes and give him a chance to disgust himself.
As for Gao Qiu's threat, he didn't take it to heart.
So what if you have Cai Jing and King Duan behind Gao Qiu?
I also have Taishi Pang and Concubine Pang behind me.
At worst, everyone flips the table to see who has a stronger backer and who is more sinister!
At this time, Cao Bin will not hold on by himself. Isn't the backer just for use?
So, after settling down Master Li and others, Cao Bin went directly to the Grand Master's Mansion.
When Master Pang and his son heard that King Duan wanted to embezzle the perfume business, they almost jumped up.
After more than two months of development, the perfume business has begun to spread throughout the Song Dynasty, and now earns more than 30,000 taels of silver every month.
After one year, the Pang family was able to receive hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
This is just the beginning. If the business is completely stabilized, this number will rise a lot.
The current perfume business is the lifeblood of the Pang family. Anyone who dares to touch their cheese will fight to the death.
Without Cao Bin's instigation, Taishi Pang and his party began to collect dirty information about King Duan and Gao Qiu.
In fact, there is no need to deliberately collect it. As political opponents, how could they not have any dirty information about the other party?
It's just that I don't have any disagreements on weekdays.
Especially Duan Wang Zhao Ji, his identity is very sensitive. If he is at the center of a court battle, he will not be able to escape easily.
Now they are still arresting "Timely Rain", "Gongming" and "Tieniu" all over the city, unaware that danger has quietly arrived...
The back garden of Zhongjinghou Mansion.
Cao Bin was lying comfortably on the rocking chair to enjoy the coolness. Du Shiniang and Li Shishi were sitting side by side with him.
Du Shiniang sat for a while, turned over the poetry collection in her hand with some boredom, and complained:
"Is it true that I can't go out? Without me here, Washi will definitely be in chaos!"
Cao Bin shook his head and said:
"That fellow Gao Qiu has no lower limit for what he can do. If he sees that I haven't given in, he will probably use some underhanded methods, so we have to be on guard."
"Besides, don't take yourself too seriously. When you didn't take over, Washi was still operating as usual?"
Du Shiniang rolled her eyes and was about to retort when Master Li covered herself with the brocade quilt and said weakly:
"Shi Niang, just be satisfied. Except for Cao Lang, how can the women in the back house be allowed to go out as they please?"
Du Shiniang curled her lips and said, "Senior sister is completely on Cao Yun's side now, which really makes my sister sad."
Li Shishi's weak and pale face showed a smug smile and said:
"I just want to stand with Cao Yan!"
Du Shiniang looked at Cao Bin resentfully and said, "Does this count as self-imposed cocooning?"
Cao Bin laughed and said, "It's too late for you to regret it now!"
As he spoke, he pondered for a moment and said:
"It's not impossible for you to go out. Just bring the sedan and let him protect you."
Du Shiniang hesitated: "Is there any danger in the mansion?"
Cao Bin smiled and said:
"Don't worry, if you give Gao Qiu some courage, he won't dare to take advantage of the Hou Mansion."
"If he really dares to do that, he will be exiled for three thousand miles even if he doesn't die."
Du Shiniang suddenly became happy: "I knew Cao Yan was the best!"
Seeing her leaving in a hurry, Li Shishi smiled bitterly and said:
"Shi Niang is becoming more and more cheerful, but is Cao Yun doting on her too much?"
Cao Bin smiled and said, "I just wanted to scare her just in case."
"How can one use dirty tricks easily in broad daylight?"
"Kidnapping the family members of the Hou Mansion is the crime of confiscating the family and exterminating the clan!"
"Not to mention that desperadoes are hard to find, but if they are exposed, he himself will not have to serve as a lieutenant."
"And the Kaifeng Mansion is not easy to mess with..."
While he was comforting Master Li, Uncle Fu came in with the account book.
"Young Master, I have taken stock of the accounts. We have saved more than 70,000 taels of silver with the addition of the perfume dividends."
Fu Bo said with a smile on his face.
"Should we repay the Grand Master's debt, or should we use it to recruit soldiers?"
When Master Li heard this number, he opened his mouth slightly in surprise: "So many?"
As far as she knew, the Cao Duwa shop in Zhongjing Houfu had only been in business for three months, and the perfume had only been sold for less than two months, right?
How can you make so much?
Cao Bin knew what was going on. Most of the money was the deposit provided by the perfume dealer, so it seemed like a lot of money.
That's not where his focus lies.
"Personnel? Can I still recruit soldiers?"
Cao Bin sat up and asked confused.
Uncle Fu explained: "Master, now that you have inherited the title of earl, according to the court regulations, you can recruit eight hundred soldiers."
After listening to Uncle Fu's explanation, Cao Bin also understood.
The personal soldiers he was talking about were actually the private armies of military nobles.
All soldiers, equipment, and salaries are borne by the military nobles themselves, and the court only has quotas.
These private soldiers are the foundation of military nobility and their absolute confidants.
The duke has a quota of 1,200 soldiers, the marquis has 1,000, the earl has 800, and the viscount has 600.
"The imperial court is really grand! There is such a system! Aren't you afraid of rebellion?"
Cao Bin sighed involuntarily.
Uncle Fu quickly stopped Cao Bin:
"Master, don't dare to talk nonsense!"
Seeing that Cao Bin didn't understand, he had to explain from the beginning:
"Since the time of Taizu, the imperial court has allowed 'meritorious nobles' to recruit soldiers."
"But only in times of war are the powers to command the army given."
As he spoke, he whispered: "How can you rebel with only a few soldiers? Master, please don't mess around!"
Cao Bin rolled his eyes and said:
"Am I that unreliable?"
"Don't worry, I'm not tired of living yet, I'm just confused. Keep talking!"
Uncle Fu breathed a sigh of relief:
"Our family is a hereditary noble, and the young master will go to the battlefield sooner or later, so we must recruit soldiers as soon as possible!"
"In case there is a war in the future, the young master will have no one to use!"
Cao Bin nodded and said, "How to recruit?"
Uncle Fu smiled and said: "To recruit soldiers, you have to go back to your hometown. The township party is the most reliable."
"Our Cao family is from Zhending, Hebei Province. If the young master allows me, I will go back in the near future. It will be easy to recruit enough people."
As he spoke, he was very pleased and said: "Thanks to the young master's good fortune, otherwise we would not be able to support so many soldiers."
"Like the Yang family and the Gao family, they only had a little salary from the court and scrimped on food and clothing, so they could only recruit two to three hundred soldiers."
"Moreover, their armor is incomplete and their weapons are outdated. They even use their servants as personal soldiers..."
Speaking of this, Cao Bin also thought about it.
There seems to be a girl among the generals of the Yang family who is very famous for making fires. In addition to making fires to cook, she also goes to the battlefield to fight and bathe in blood.
I don’t know how the Yang family cultivated him to be so loyal.
The donkeys in the production team wouldn't dare to do this.
Realizing the importance of personal soldiers, Cao Bin nodded and said:
"Then leave this matter to Uncle Fu! Let's not be afraid of spending money. We must have the best equipment, mounts, food, and training."
"If you want to train, you need to build a strong army. This is the foundation of our family. When we go to the battlefield, I still count on them to save their lives."
Uncle Fu patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, young master. I've memorized the military training tips written by the old master so well that there won't be any problems!"
Cao Bin nodded and then sent Uncle Fu out.
Cao Bin has also seen the military book he mentioned.
In his opinion, it is just like that. It cannot be said to be very clever, and it cannot be compared with the classics on the art of war. But it is better because it is detailed, and this is its greatest value.
Of course, this was just what Cao Bin was talking about on paper. We won’t know how it will be until we go to the battlefield.
A few days later, after Uncle Fu made some arrangements for the affairs in the house, he returned to Zhending with a few close servants.
At the same time, Cao Bin also started making purchases.
Military training is definitely the most expensive business. Not talking about armor and weapons, just buying horses cost him more than 50,000 taels of silver.
This is the result of him lowering his standards.
There were very few war horses produced locally in the Song Dynasty, and official war horses were basically purchased from Tubo, Mongolia, the Western Regions and other places.
His original idea was to purchase 1,600 good horses from the Western Regions, so that he could have two horses per man.
But after looking at the price list provided by the horse dealer, he had to decline with tears in his eyes and chose the Hequ horses smuggled from Xixia.
This was considered a top war horse in the Song Dynasty, but Cao Bin could only afford 800 horses.
As for armor and weapons, they can only be temporarily replaced by wooden sticks, because the remaining silver has to be used for military pay and training, and cannot be spent completely.
Fortunately, he still has two big businesses, which can continuously earn him money, otherwise he really wouldn't be able to support so many private soldiers.
