At a quarter past two o'clock, a dark four-wheeled carriage slowly stopped at the gate of Duke Lu's Mansion in Huaidefang.
Qin Da jumped off the carriage, put down the horse stool, and walked straight to the door of Duke Lu's mansion.
The concierge Cheng Er took a closer look and immediately recognized Qin Da's identity. After all, his eldest son and second son had already explained to their servants.
The male Director Qin of Lantian County is a close friend and brother of the two brothers. If any servant in the house dares to neglect Director Qin, then don't blame their brothers for being cruel.
Therefore, Cheng Er, the gatekeeper of the Cheng Mansion, had long regarded Director Qin as half a son of the Cheng Mansion, and as for the servants of the Qin Mansion, he naturally regarded him as half a family member.
So in the past few days, every time Qin Da and others accompanied Director Qin to the Cheng Mansion, they would entertain him attentively and not dare to be careless at all.
As for why Qin Ming is called Director Qin, it is of course because Director Qin is already famous among the powerful circles in the capital.
There is no wealthy family in Chang'an who doesn't want to buy the contract rights of a cement road from Director Qin.
Not only that, Cheng Er also heard that many wealthy nobles and wealthy merchants in Chang'an City had gone to Lantian to order four-wheel transport vehicles.
While Cheng Er was thinking, Qin Da had already walked up to him.
"Can you please help me, Brother Cheng, to inform you that my young master wants to see Mrs. Cui of your mansion."
Cheng Er nodded immediately and shouted to the boy beside him:
"Go to the backyard and inform the mistress that a man from Qin County is visiting."
The boy responded and quickly ran towards the house.
After a while
Cheng Quan, the steward of Duke Lu's mansion, walked out of the gate of Cheng's mansion with a smile on his face and walked quickly to Qin Ming and his party, his smile as bright as a flower.
Cheng Quan bowed and saluted Qin Ming:
"I have met Mr. Qin."
Qin Ming returned the favor.
"Meet the process steward."
Cheng Quan waved his hand and said:
"I don't dare, I don't dare. Mr. Qin and my son are sworn friends. They are as close as brothers. I don't dare to accept the master's gift."
"Master Qin, please come into the house with me as soon as possible, but don't keep Madam waiting. You don't know, Madam has been talking about you a lot these days!"
Qin Ming smiled and nodded, and then the group quickly arrived at the front hall of Cheng Mansion.
Qin Ming took two steps, bowed to Mrs. Cui who was sitting on the main seat, and said:
"My nephew, meet Aunt Cheng."
Ms. Cui nodded with a smile and said softly:
"My dear nephew, get up quickly. We are members of our own family and don't have to be so formal."
After finishing speaking, Cui said to the maid aside:
"Hurry and make some tea for Mr. Qin."
Qin Ming stood up with a smile and sat on the guest seat beside him.
"How is Auntie's health lately?"
Cui smiled and nodded.
"Okay, okay, everything is fine, Auntie."
Looking at the gentle young man sitting beside him, Ms. Cui nodded with satisfaction.
"Have you been very busy lately? Auntie has heard a lot of people talk about you recently. They say that you have recruited a lot of people to build the cement road from Chang'an to Lantian. Tell auntie, are you tired?"
Qin Ming looked at Mrs. Cui with a kind face and listened to her thoughtful words, and felt warm in his heart.
Although there are not many opportunities to meet Aunt Cui in front of him, far less than the future mother-in-law, for some reason, Qin Ming just feels closer to Aunt Cui in front of him.
Qin Ming thinks this way, not that he thinks Empress Changsun is not good, but that Qin Ming feels that getting along with Aunt Cui is more innocent and does not involve any interests.
Qin Ming smiled and shook his head:
"Thank you for your concern, aunt. I don't dare to deceive aunt. My nephew was indeed very tired in the first few days, but now various standards have been formed for the construction of cement roads."
"My nephew has left all matters big and small to the people in the house to take care of. My nephew is not very busy these days."
Cui smiled and raised her hand, pointing to the tea cup on the table.
"My dear nephew, don't just talk. Drink some tea to moisten your throat."
Qin Ming narrowed his eyes and smiled.
"Thank you, aunt."
After saying that, Qin Ming picked up the tea cup and took a sip.
"By the way, nephew, my aunt heard from Sanlang yesterday that you sold the cement formula to the Cui family, the Wang family and the Zheng family?"
Qin Ming nodded and said yes.
Cui narrowed her eyes and asked:
"Do you feel aggrieved? Or maybe you're feeling aggrieved?"
Qin Ming shook his head and said:
"No, it was originally a voluntary transaction between you and me. It's not a grievance or a grievance. My nephew really thought the price was right, so he sold it to the three of them."
"Besides, cement has a wide range of uses, and the Tang Dynasty is too big. It will be difficult for the Qin government alone to promote cement to the entire Tang Dynasty and benefit the people of the Tang Dynasty."
"Now that the Cui family of Qinghe, the Wang family of Taiyuan and the Zheng family of Xingyang have joined, it will be different. Within five years, the people of the entire Tang Dynasty will be able to use cement."
Cui smiled and nodded when she heard this:
"Brother Ming, I'm very happy that you think so. Originally, I was worried that you would have a grudge against her because of this!"
Upon hearing this, Qin Ming immediately guessed the hidden meaning of Aunt Cui's words. He picked up the teacup with a smile and said with a smile:
"How could it be? Aunt is worrying too much. By the way, Aunt, have Uncle Cheng and Chu Mo sent letters back recently? How is things going in Lanzhou now?"
Upon hearing this, Ms. Cui picked up the tea cup and waved her hand to the maid in the room.
"You guys go down first."
"promise."
Upon seeing this, Qin Ming knew that what Aunt Cui was going to say next might involve court secrets, so he turned to Xiao Qingwan and Si She behind him and said:
"Wan'er, Si She, you should also stay away."
Hearing this, Xiao Qingwan and Sishe gave Qin Ming and Cui a blessing respectively and then exited the hall.
Cui took a sip of tea, sighed and said:
"A few days ago, your Uncle Cheng sent a letter back to you from the servants in the mansion."
"The letter said that Tuyuhun assembled an army of 80,000 people thirty miles outside Lanzhou City on the 13th of this month. However, Tuyuhun did not attack Lanzhou City at that time. Your uncle Cheng analyzed that this battle was unavoidable. Tuyuhun held his troops temporarily. It is very likely that they are waiting for the follow-up army.”
Qin Ming frowned when he heard this.
"Eighty thousand enemy troops? Didn't I say before that Tuyuhun only gathered 50,000 elite troops? How could it be 80,000 now? Uncle Cheng's left-wing army seems to have only 30,000 troops, right? Even if you include the Lanzhou border guards, it's a full attack. Only 40,000 people, right? The enemy is twice as many as us! Didn’t Uncle Cheng ask for help from the palace?"
.......
