Zhu Zhanzhen set off earlier than his brother, but he was still not as fast as the Raozhou merchant group. It's no wonder that these guys are all under the banner of the Ministry of War's Staff Division. No one dares to mess with them and no one dares to stop them at any checkpoint along the way. All the inns have to provide food, drink and horses.
Fatty Zhu arrived at Jinzhou leisurely in a four-wheeled carriage. He quickly received a reply from Li Dan and was on his way back.
When Li Dan learned that 10,000 taels had bought out more than 300 paintings and calligraphy works owned by Zhu Zhanji, and that he had also promised to write five essays "to do his best for education," he couldn't help but feel ecstatic. This happened again. Got rich!
Others who write online literature have to become a high official, become a son-in-law, marry a princess, or even be immoral and cheat in order to make a fortune. I don't know why I am sitting thousands of miles away and I am rich at home. The feudal era is not bad!
But after calming down and thinking about it, I realized that something was wrong. In his previous life, Zhu Zhanji was famous because he was Xuande, a painter among the emperors. His painting did not lead to wrongdoing, but contributed to the "Reign of Renxuan". It is for this reason that his paintings are valuable!
But now..., a fifth-grade military officer who has been wiped out, has lost his actual position, and holds the false title of "Pandemic Envoy" is not as good as himself, a middle-aged man with a sixth-grade civil servant status, who relied on his younger brother's protection to avoid impeachment. Traveling thousands of miles to Liaoning... Are his calligraphy and paintings valuable?
Suckling the bitterness in his mouth, Li Dan felt that since his aunt was in control, his handwriting should be good, at least the kind that makes people's eyes shine. His painting skills... you'll know it when you get there!
After thinking about it this way, he wasn't worried anymore. There was no point in thinking about it. We'll meet again! If this man is really an unappreciated talent, then he is lucky to meet him, and if he works harder to lift him up, then he will be lucky?
In the hands of our children and grandchildren, these "authentic works" will still be treasures! It's just that...it just lacks the aura of the emperor.
When it comes to "children and grandchildren", Li Dan has some troubles in his heart. Thinking about having a baby when you don’t have one is really troublesome. When Huan'er told him that he hadn't had his period, Li Dan experienced a feeling of joy first and then sorrow.
I am happy that I am finally going to be a father, but I am worried about what will happen with this and Aying? If the baby is not born to the main wife, will he be as embarrassed as himself in the future?
But he didn't want to give up on this child. After all, it was a life. Let him come to the world. Why let his hands do evil?
Another trouble is that Hu'er, who has a strong body and can withstand his nonsense, is pregnant. Now all the firepower is focused on Tao Niang, who has come with him in the name of taking care of his daily life. After three times, the girl can't stand it and begs for mercy again and again.
Li Dan also felt sorry for her that she was too weak to act recklessly, but it was difficult to get rid of this anxiety for a while. Colleagues sent congratulatory gifts after hearing the good news, but Li Dan looked sad.
Tao Niang blamed herself for being useless, and Li Dan could only smile and hug her into his arms. What can he do? In Li Dan's opinion, he can only complain about women and he is not a real man!
Huer also feels embarrassed, but now she can only give some comfort, there is no other way. Oh, if I had known that I would get pregnant so soon, how nice would it be to take my sister with me?
Why are you so anxious? Is it just because of the lack of women? Li Dan forced himself to meditate, calmed down and reflected. The conclusions he reaches are unpleasant, but they should be true.
At the age of 18, he made inspection tours and sat in a position equivalent to the deputy governor. He controlled a land area far larger than that of Liaoning Province in his previous life and nearly 200,000 armed forces. It would have been impossible without expansion!
Li Dan knew what would go wrong. What made him better than others and his peers was that he knew how to control and regulate himself, but he couldn't change the fact that his body was only eighteen years old!
Although he is full of energy, he can only sit in the room with the bureaucrats to discuss and talk. Now that Pan Chang has taken control of the army, it is better for the supervisor to show less publicity and steal the limelight.
So Li Dan returned to Liaoyang and continued to train troops, reorganize and refit the Shandong Preparatory Japanese Army and the Haizhou Army whose early training was not thorough enough. At the same time, he began to discuss the restructuring of military towns with his staff.
There are various meetings and exchanges every day. Although it is tiring, it is different from riding a horse. Li Dan felt bored, but he had to keep doing it. Anyway, you have to move yourself and not be idle, you have to do something, find something to do for yourself!
Li Dan suddenly thought of Huo Qubing, that famous young man who only lived for twenty-three years. He was awarded the title of Marquis at the same age as himself now.
As a result, the enemy of the Xiongnu was gone, and he had no outlet to vent his anger. He actually did something unavoidable like shooting Li Gan, and he "died" of illness the next year. Li Dan doesn't want to imitate this famous senior, even if he is a champion!
Venting on women is also a way. There are no film and television productions these days. When the candles are extinguished at night, what’s left is just me and me.
Originally, Huan'er and Tao Niang could accompany him alternately, but suddenly Huan'er became pregnant, which made Li Dan suddenly feel like the Juliu River in the upper reaches of the Liao River was blocked by a dam, and his whole body was in bad condition.
His subordinates also noticed that he had been a little depressed recently, and he often spoke harshly or lost his temper. Everyone murmured in private and didn't know what was going on. Wu Maoyou whispered beside him:
"Don't lose yourself at any time. The young master is the supervisor of the army, not the commander-in-chief, the chief envoy, or even the governor or the consolation envoy. Remember not to reach too far.
Now Yebi Khan has retreated to the grassland west of the Harawen Pass. After General Pan regained Kulun, he advanced to Udan to build a city. The young master is right to worry that he will go deep alone, but you are not the coach after all. "
"I know, that's not why I'm unhappy." Li Dan smiled bitterly.
"Then are you because a large number of civil servants are coming to build a province soon, or are you not happy about the handover of power by General Sun?"
"The Construction Bank Province is really unhappy. Not only General Sun finds it difficult to accept it, but I also feel uncomfortable with civilian officials coming to pick peaches. But we have no choice.
If we continue to follow the methods of military towns, immigration, resettlement of people, recruitment of workers, and opening of factories will not go smoothly. But can a bunch of civilian officials smooth everything? I don't understand either.
In the main town, it was a game of military chess, and it was only a matter of one sentence from Lao Sun. After the restructuring, the military and political affairs had to be divided into two parts: the internal guard and the elite forbidden army. The military power was reduced a lot, and he simply couldn't get involved in the civil affairs. Of course the old general was not happy.
However, he soon understood that by changing the administrative department to the provincial level, they would actually have a lot of room for development and creation, and their business would be more prosperous.
When the facts tell them this, the old general will naturally not be angry anymore. So I'm not worried about that either. "
"Then what are you thinking about?" Wu Mao asked strangely.
"Woman!" Li Dan cursed the nerd several times in his mind before reluctantly telling him. After hearing his worries, Wu Mao realized that Li Dan was worried about giving birth to a son who would be the eldest son of a concubine like himself, so he smiled and told him not to think so much:
"Children and grandchildren will have their own blessings. Why are you worrying so much? He will be fine if you can get through, otherwise there is no use worrying about him!" Wu Maowan glanced at him again: "Are you sure it's a boy?"
Li Dan shook his head.
Wu Mao was furious: "You are really good. We are all very busy, but you are worrying about such invisible things!"
Li Dan quickly apologized, thinking how could this be just a baby's business? But he was embarrassed about what he said later, so he took Wu Mao to discuss how to convince Mr. Sun.
Wu Mao told him not to worry about this yet. Now we need to build three Forbidden Army divisions and two brigades of field troops as the mobile force of the entire Liaoning Province. How to build them, how to get the required muskets, artillery, and medicine, etc. I'm afraid Mr. Sun is confused.
He felt that Li Dan should take the initiative to talk to Mr. Sun about this aspect. By the way, he might have figured it out. Li Dan thought it made sense, so he went to the door to persuade him, but the effect was usually not very good!
Let’s take a look first to ask for directions.” Li Dan sent a brief letter to the old general, and the general Ming came to visit him regarding assisting him in expanding the new army.
After Mr. Sun replied, he held a family banquet to celebrate his granddaughter's birthday and invited him to come and talk about it. Li Dan called Sun Dezhi to ask, and found out that it was his second uncle Sun Zhe's third daughter, so he readily agreed.
When it comes to the banquet, Li Dan wears a plain white top with silver and rich dark flowers, and a tunic of the same color with black moire trim.
He was wearing yellow carved cowhide boots, a simple black gauze braided with ponytail on his head, and in his hand he was twisting a sandalwood folding fan with a jade pendant given to him by King Ding.
At the waist is a yellow ox leather belt with a copper tiger head, on which hangs a sachet made by Tao Niang, a short sword inlaid with a silver scabbard presented by Huo'er, and below the tassel is a string of beads strung by Sister Ning'er herself, with a bright bead on top. The lapis lazuli, the head is six acacia red beans.
The Qingke who was waiting at the door blinked at his appearance, and he quickly stepped forward to welcome him inside warmly. Others invited Mao Zaidi and Lu Jiu, who were accompanying him, to eat and drink elsewhere.
When Sun Douen heard that Li Dan had arrived, he hurriedly took his three sons and Sun Dezhi, who had returned home before, to greet him in the yard.
Sun Zhe often met Li Dan when he was working as a military recruitment secretary in the shogunate. Sun Qi and Gao Fei worked together on the grasslands to deal with the Seyan tribe, specializing in mutual market rules and dispute resolution.
Since their fair work won the trust of merchants on both sides, the Seyan tribe gradually stabilized their position after receiving supplies of food and weapons, and assembled 15,000 people to continuously harass the troops on the western flank of Kergo.
When Li Dan saw him, he praised him for doing a good job. The twenty or so people were as capable as a trainer. He was so happy that Mr. Sun laughed, and he was very proud in front of the guests. But he's an old fox, how can he not know Li Dan's intentions?
It was still a long time before the banquet started, and after a while Sun Douen winked. Sun Qing immediately made an excuse to drag his two younger brothers and son out together. Two of General Sun's personal guards guarded the door.
"The children have no jobs, and some words are inconvenient for them to listen to." The boss stood up and poured tea for Li Dan himself: "Well, although I have three sons, only Dezhi, my grandson, is somewhat like me."
He smiled bitterly and sat down and waved his hands: "I can't pass the Jinshi examination, but I don't even bother to work as an official in the county or government. Humph, you have high hands and low eyesight! This time, I forced the second and third sons to work for you. But it's me. If they can do some practical work, I would like to thank you!"
"Senior, why do you need to thank me? This junior just put the two brothers in a position that suits them. In fact, they are not bad at what they do. They can show it as long as they have the opportunity."
Li Dan smiled and said: "With this restructuring, a large number of officials are needed in the local area. For example, the second brother can join the official's room, and the third brother may go to the household room. Otherwise, he can go to the trading company to be responsible for the business with the Seyan Department. As long as they are willing, I can recommend it to juniors.”
Sun Dou'en chuckled twice but did not answer, "I heard that the emperor asked the cabinet to recommend the first chief envoy of Liaoning Province. According to current information, there are three main candidates:
Zou Youguang, the minister of Taichang Temple, ranked third in the first class of Jingwu Junior College;
Guizhou Xuanwei envoy Zhou Luyan, his grandfather was Dingxiang Bo Zhou Wenli, a noble empress;
There was also Yao Qing, the chief envoy of Huguang, who was in charge of the affairs of the left and participated in politics. He was born as a Jinshi. He was not able to enter the cabinet due to the rejection of Er Yang when he was in the Ministry of Civil Affairs. When he was discouraged, he asked to be released.
Among the three people, he has the best character and reputation. Well, Your Majesty is someone who has the trust of your Majesty. Do you want to guess whose family this Chief Envoy will end up in? "
"Senior, this living room is really nice. I can see that the craftsmen are talking attentively." Li Dan did not immediately answer his words: "I am preparing to set up a Poly factory in Shenyang, and the Poly produced in the future can be supplied to the whole Liaoning.
That way, the house will be as warm as spring in winter, and you won't be afraid of someone eavesdropping on confidential matters. "
"Oh? There is such a treasure?" Sun Zongbing didn't believe it in his heart, thinking that Xu was just making it up to distract him.
"After they finish, the first batch will be installed in the boss's bedroom and the living room first, as a sign of respect from the younger generation." Li Dan said with a cupped hand.
"Tsk, this is where we, the rough warriors, are different from the adults." Sun Douen sighed and tapped on the coffee table with his fingertips:
"Even if your Excellency does not become an official, you will still be a wealthy man if you retire and work in the business world. But once I become a bare man, I will only sit on the bench in the Governor's Mansion of the Fifth Army."
"Where can you find that, sir?" Li Dan smiled and waved his hand: "Liaodong Military Town was changed to Liaoning Chief Envoy Division, but it was not a complete change, and some remained in the military town.
For example, Tieling, Jinshan and Zhangwu are important external ports in the north, west and south directions respectively. In the future, trade from Shandong will definitely pass through these points.
Therefore, the military town will not be poor. If the income increases but it only needs to manage less than half of the city, how poor can it be? Furthermore, in the past, everyone in Liao had to take care of their eyebrows and beards.
Now, just focus on what you should be responsible for, then train your troops well, maintain your carriages well, and pounce wherever there are police like tigers descending from the mountain. This is the look of a soldier that His Majesty expects. "
Seeing Mr. Sun holding his gray beard and thinking deeply, Li Dan asked: "I have been here several times and have not had much contact with the eldest son. I wonder what his plans are for his future?"
"Hey, you got it right!" The old soldier frowned when he heard this: "The boss went out to serve as a county magistrate, and then resigned due to physical discomfort, and now he is staying at home.
At the beginning of this year, a caravan passed by, and he originally intended to follow the caravan to North Korea. Unexpectedly, Kerr called him and his eldest son could not leave home, so he had to give up the matter. "
"I see." Li Dan nodded. In fact, he had already sent Sa to check on these matters. "Raozhou Trading Company has opened up the Liaodi market and has the best goods to offer. If you want, brother, you can choose one or two to make."
"This... I'm afraid he is not the material."
"Don't worry, sir. With your status, it's impossible for the eldest brother to end the situation himself. The general method is to hire a big shopkeeper to be in front, and the eldest brother will take care of the situation in the back."
"Hey, you can consider this!" Sun Douen rolled his eyes: "But I understand that hiring such a shopkeeper is not cheap!"
Li Dan laughed loudly: "Sir, if you can trust me, Dan is willing to help you find two or three candidates."
"Then how much gold is needed?"
"For example, for the coal cake iron furnace, a factory was built outside Shenyang. The cast iron from the steel plant can be used directly, and the coal from Fushun can be used as fuel.
With this, there is something warmer than a brazier in the house in winter, which is convenient for boiling water, cooking, baking pancakes, and drying clothes. Thousands of stoves were sold across Liaoning last year, mostly used by the army and government offices, and they were expensive to transport from afar.
There are nearly 100,000 immigrants this year alone. I hope to sell 20,000 stoves! In this way, the business is more than double or nearly triple that of last year. I think 60,000 taels should be enough. "
"Sixty thousand?" Mr. Sun was shocked.
"It doesn't matter. You can get part of it from your family, and you can use the collateral to get a loan for the rest. You can just go to Liaoning First Bank. You ask your eldest brother to go to the president Wen Zishan..."
The two of them became more and more lively and got closer. When the officials came to announce that the banquet was about to begin, the three sons of the Sun family had all been arranged by Li Dan.
Sun Douen stood up with the help of Li Dan and said with emotion: "My family does not have a thousand-mile horse like you, what a pity! Even a son-in-law would be great!"
"Haha, this junior can't help you." Li Dan knew that Mr. Sun only had three sons but eleven daughters!
However, at least six eldest girls in the front have already left the cabinet. Although the details of the following ones are not clear, they are probably not very old. The youngest is only six years old. This boss soldier is really powerful!
"I know, your family has a wife, Mrs. Ru, and two concubines. But the concubines you brought are not very old, right? I heard that one of them is pregnant? I haven't congratulated you yet, so I turned around and gave a big gift! "
Sun Douen smiled and even winked, which made Li Dan feel dumbfounded.
Well, this old guy actually knows so clearly about the candidates for civil servants being discussed in the capital, so he must have known about bringing his concubine to Liao. Slippery!
At the banquet, everyone was changing glasses and just walking around, when suddenly there was a noise outside the door. Then someone came to report that someone had arrived.
After careful questioning, I realized it was Liu Xi. As soon as he entered the city gate, he met an acquaintance Shi Dajun hooking up with Gu Da and Lai Wubao. He was about to enter the restaurant, so he stopped the car and stopped the three of them.
Gu Da knew where Li Dan was and hurriedly brought him to find him. Liu Xi first greeted everyone, then told everyone An Xin that he came to Li Dan on orders, and then congratulated him.
Everyone was shocked and knew that there must be a decree to grant the gift.
Fortunately, the general commanded the troops and arranged for everyone to set up the incense table. Then Liu Xidaizi received the ceremony and announced that due to his great contribution in the Battle of Liaohe, he was awarded the title of General Wujie of the fifth rank, with the title of Captain, and the right to discuss with Siyou, the Chief Envoy of Liaoning. , to serve as the governor of South Liaoning Province.
Everyone roared with applause and congratulations could be heard endlessly. Li Dan knew that he seemed to have been promoted again, but he only understood that he could be called a general in the future, and his rank was raised by two levels. Before he could figure out what happened next, he was surrounded by the crowd.
This was great. Mr. Sun decided on the spot that the birthday banquet for his granddaughter would also become a congratulatory banquet for Li Dan. Li Dan had to send Lu Jiu back quickly to prepare five boxes of Fengquan wine to cheer up!
