Wei Wen reached out and took the pistol from Chen Xiaomu's hand. He turned it over and looked at it carefully. He felt that the object was quite exquisite, but he didn't know how to use it.
"Dad, let me show you how to play with it." Wei Yushang looked on impatiently and grabbed the pistol from Wei Wen's hand. Following Chen Xiaomu's example, he pulled back the slide of the pistol. There was a click sound, and then Wei Yushang pointed the muzzle of the gun into the air, and pulled the trigger of the pistol with her finger. She only heard a soft "click" sound from the gun body. There was neither a flash of fire nor any sound from the gun as she imagined. A loud bang!
Wei Yushang was stunned and couldn't help but look at Chen Xiaomu with suspicion. In fact, when Chen Xiaomu was using the gun, Wei Yushang had been secretly observing every detail of his gun handling. Coupled with her ice-snow intelligence and super comprehension, I thought she could use this gun once she got her hands on it!
Chen Xiaomu called Li Gui, grabbed a handful of yellow bullets from the burlap bag in his hand, and joked: "Go and cook some good dishes for the teacher. After dinner, the teacher will teach you how to use this treasure!" Do you think it’s good?”
Wei Yushang blinked her eyes and smiled sweetly: "Teacher, it's good, but even if the student learns to use this treasure like yours, what's the use? If you want to meet a master like Abbot Sanqingguan again, you won't be able to use it again." It’s no use!”
"Yeah." Chen Xiaomu nodded and said, "That makes sense, let's do this! If you cook good food for ten days in a row and feed it to the teacher, the teacher will give you one. How about that?"
"Really!" Wei Yushang couldn't believe that Chen Xiaomu had so easily agreed to give her this treasure that she fell in love with at first sight.
Chen Xiaomu said cheerfully: "Of course it's true! Have you ever seen that teacher use this to defraud students of their food?"
After receiving Chen Xiaomu's affirmative reply, Wei Yushang was ecstatic and couldn't help blurting out: "Teacher, if you really give me this treasure, let alone let the students cook for you for ten days, even if you have to cook for a lifetime." You are also willing to eat students!"
"Haha!" Chen Xiaomu laughed when he heard the sound: "Yushang, then it's settled!"
Wei Yushang reacted immediately, her face turned red like a ripe persimmon, she rolled her eyes at Chen Xiaomu, and said coquettishly: "You are already a teacher, but you are not serious at all!"
Wei Wen came up and said with a smile: "Okay, Chang'er, this is not a place to stand in front of the palace for a long time. Let's go back to the Prime Minister's Mansion first."
When the group of people returned to the door of the Prime Minister's Mansion, it was already bright and the sun was rising high. When walking into the Prime Minister's Mansion, Wei Wen was startled when he saw Wei Yu wearing a leather mask. Chen Xiaomu hurriedly saw this. He pulled Wei Wen aside and whispered the reason into his ear. Wei Wen was as happy as a child and almost started dancing! It has been his wish for many years for his two daughters to go home together.
Next, Wei Wen took Chen Xiaomu into the Prime Minister's study, closed the door and posted a sentry outside. The two began to discuss the new emperor's new year number after he ascended the throne tomorrow and the adjustment of officials in the DPRK and other major matters. Wei Wen proposed to Some officials, large and small, who were brought up by Lu Qian and Guan Wenjin, or who had close relations with each other in peacetime, whether they participated in the rebellion or not, were all arrested and imprisoned first. , when the Yi people are of the Yi people, they should be sentenced to prison labor.
Chen Xiaomu disagreed with Wei Wen's proposition. He believed that under the current situation of an imminent war with Qi, doing so would most likely make some officials in the DPRK and Central China who were still waiting and watching, ready to eat from both sides, sprout the idea. They are willing to fight to the death, and as subordinates of Lu Qian, the Minister of War, many of these people have more or less military power in their hands! In this way, if we fight Qi in the front and send troops to fight the rebels later, the consequences will be disastrous.
Wei Wen was right when he thought about it carefully. At this juncture, adopting such drastic methods would most likely trigger a domestic mutiny. He couldn't help but said worriedly: "Captain Chen, these people are like people stuck in their bodies." If the thick thorn is not removed, I am afraid that the entire Zheng Kingdom will not be able to live in peace!"
Chen Xiaomu smiled and said, "Prime Minister Wei, I have a way to get rid of these people's rebellious intentions without having to express their suffering!"
"Oh!" Wei Wen said happily when he heard this: "Commander Chen, tell me quickly."
Chen Xiaomu thought for a while and said: "We can propose to the new emperor and set up a very high-level council in the court. You, the first-class prime minister of the current dynasty, will also serve as the dean of the court council. There will be five or six deputy directors under the dean." Dean, these vice-presidents must be at least second-grade or higher before they can be appointed. Below the Senate, there are divisions: Agriculture Department, Military Affairs Department, Works and Manufacturing Department, Foreign Affairs Department, and Inspectorate Department. These departments are set up respectively. There is one envoy and two deputy envoys, ranging from the third rank to the third rank. Then, these officials who have close contact with the two rebels Wei Qian and Guan Wenjin and hold military power are promoted one level each. , double their salaries, and place them all in this chamber. This will not only deprive them of their military power, but also facilitate their censorship, and make it impossible for them to speak out about their sufferings!"
Wei Wen nodded first, then shook his head, and said thoughtfully: "This method is good, but have you ever thought about it? These people are all monkeys and monkeys. Once their military power is affected, they may immediately They will be alert, and there is no guarantee that some of them will not take the wrong approach!"
Chen Xiaomu smiled and said: "This is easy to handle. While giving them promotions and salary increases, we also let them temporarily hold their original official positions. How about this?"
Wei Wen wondered: "Then what's the point of giving them promotions and salary increases like this?"
Chen Xiaomu smiled softly and said: "Prime Minister Wei, once they have high-level positions and low-level positions, they will definitely have the high-level positions here as their main posts. At that time, you will just have to work hard to summon them to the council for meetings to discuss some issues in the court. For trivial matters, they can just write a report and submit it to the emperor. In addition, they can also be formed into several inspection teams and request some fees from the court to let them go to various parts of Zheng to inspect farming, water conservancy, officials and other affairs. And it is stipulated that when they come back, each of them must submit an inspection report of no less than 10,000 words to you! In short, as long as they can take care of the military affairs flawlessly, let our people take control of their army in a short time. , and you’re done!”
Wei Wen thought for a long time, and finally smiled bitterly and said: "Captain Chen, the method you mentioned is very good, but all of this can only be accomplished with money!"
"Prime Minister Wei, how much money do you need?" Chen Xiaomu looked at Wei Wen across a square table in the middle.
"This...!" Wei Wen did some calculations in his mind, gritted his teeth and said, "Captain Chen, this should cost 80,000 taels of silver, right?"
Chen Xiaomu nodded, "Okay, Prime Minister Wei, eighty thousand taels of silver is too little, how about I give you ten times that amount, eight hundred thousand taels of silver?"
"Ah, so many!" Wei Wen was shocked after hearing this. It took him a while to wake up and asked cautiously: "Chen Duwei, did your treasure take action?"
Chen Xiaomu didn't want to tell the truth early, so he joked and said vaguely: "Prime Minister Wei, you don't have to worry about money. After the new emperor ascends the throne tomorrow morning, including the military salary owed by the court and the salaries of officials at all levels, all will be given to the warlord." Pensions for dead soldiers will begin to be distributed at the same time!"
Wei Wen was shocked when he heard this: "Captain Chen, this is not a small sum. How can you get so much money?"
Chen Xiaomu couldn't hide the proud look on his face. He stretched out his palm and turned it twice in the air, and said proudly: "The new emperor will ascend the throne tomorrow morning. My congratulatory gift is ten million taels of silver!"
"Oh my God!" Wei Wen couldn't help but screamed. He sat on the chair and looked at Chen Xiaomu, dumbfounded!
With so much money, Wei Wen seemed to have something to rely on, and he no longer had to worry about money matters. Therefore, the two of them quickly arranged all the matters in the court that the new emperor would face after he ascended the throne. Although Chen Xiaomu mentioned the names of many newly established yamen during the period, such as "Zheng Guo Bank Securities Company, Zheng Guo Security Department, Zheng Guo Weapons Department, etc., he had never heard of them in his life! But as the name suggests, Chen Xiaomu does not need to After explaining too much, he also knew what these yamen were doing. Only for this Zheng Guo Bank, Chen Xiaomu not only had to serve as the president himself, but his explanation was also vague. He only said that it was established for Zheng Guo to harvest the world's wealth in the future. As for how Harvest, I couldn't tell clearly for a while. Wei Wen was old and didn't want to bother with it. In short, the new emperor Su Xingran came to make the final decision, so he simply wrote a memorial according to his wishes.
While the two were talking, Wei Yushang came and knocked on the door, saying that the meal was ready, and asked them to go to the living room to eat quickly, otherwise the freshly cooked dishes would get cold very quickly in such a cold weather.
Sure enough, the two came to the living room of the Prime Minister's Mansion, where a square table was filled with steaming delicacies. Chen Xiaomu asked Wei Yuxin and Furong about them, and Wei Yushang said that they had set up another table in the side room. , let him not worry, just feed himself and drink enough.
Chen Xiaomu and Wei Wen bowed to each other, and then sat down in front of the table respectively. Wei Wen took the lead in picking up the chopsticks, picked up a piece of braised lamb from the sand basin in the middle of the table, and put it into the bowl in front of Chen Xiaomu. He smiled and said, "Captain Chen, try it. This is my daughter's best dish!"
Chen Xiaomu said with a smile: "Okay, okay!" Then he picked up the mutton with chopsticks and put it into his mouth. He frowned slightly. The mutton tasted good, but it was a pity that it looked like a steaming dish, but in fact It was extremely cold. Although the charcoal fires were burning brightly in the two copper stoves in the house, they could not withstand the cold weather.
Wei Wen seemed to have adapted to this way of eating. Not only did he eat with gusto, but he also picked up the wine glass in front of him from time to time and invited Chen Xiaomu to join him. The cold dishes and the cold wine really made Chen Xiaomu miserable. He looked at the copper stove Under the roaring charcoal fire, he suddenly had an idea and smiled at Wei Wen: "Prime Minister Wei, how about we eat it in Chen Guo style instead?"
Wei Wen was stunned when he heard the words, then smiled and said: "Okay, tell me the method, and I will tell my daughter to do it." After saying that, he sent the maid next to him to pour wine for him to go to the side room to call Wei Yushang. .
"No, no need!" Chen Xiaomu quickly stood up and stopped the maid who was about to leave, turned around and whispered to Wei Wen: "Prime Minister Wei, just the two of us can do it. There is no need to alarm Yu Shang and the others!"
Wei Wen stroked his beard and asked, "Captain Chen, I don't know how to cook!"
Chen Xiaomu pointed to the table full of dishes and said: "Prime Minister Wei, there is no need to cook any more, the dishes on the table are enough!" After saying that, he got up and left the chair, and went to lift the burning copper stove to the table. Come, then pick up the earthen basin containing the mutton stew and place it directly on the copper stove. After a while, the soup of the mutton stew in the earthen basin begins to gush and boil, and the room is filled with the aroma of meat!
"Prime Minister Wei, try it again now!" Chen Xiaomu said to Wei Wen, pointing to the mutton slices rolling up and down in the soup in the sand basin.
Wei Wen swallowed his saliva and said hesitantly: "If you eat such hot mutton, are you afraid your mouth will be full of hot food?"
Chen Xiaomu smiled and didn't say much. He took the bowls and chopsticks on the table, reached out and picked up two pieces of mutton from the sand basin, waited for the empty bowl, sucked, sucked, ate it, and then picked up the wine glass on the table and drank. Then, he smiled and said to Wei Wen: "Prime Minister Wei, try it quickly, it's so delicious, it's really wonderful!"
Wei Wen picked up the bowl and chopsticks and imitated Chen Xiaomu, sucking and eating two pieces of mutton. The feeling of being burned in his mouth not only did not hurt, but also the comfortable experience that spread throughout his body made him want to stop. He also warmed up, and then picked up the wine glass on the table and took a sip. The stimulation of cold and heat made him feel ecstatic in an instant!
Chen Xiaomu laughed and said: "Prime Minister Wei, how do we, Chen Guo, eat this way?"
Wei Wen sighed when he heard this: "You Chen people will still enjoy it. If you look at us again, the stove is clearly placed next to it, but you just didn't expect to put this sand basin on the stove and cook it until the soup boils before eating it!"
