The next day, Zhang Cheng struggled to get up from the criss-crossing warren of warblers and swallows with sleepy eyes. Even though he was reluctant to let go, he didn't dare to linger any longer. After all, the events of the past few days were too urgent and dangerous.
He sat bare-chested on the edge of the bed and recalled last night's turbulent waves. It took him a long time to overcome the beast in his heart that was like a torrential flood. He suddenly felt strong all over his body. Just as he was about to close his eyes and rest his mind, he saw a pair of pink and tender breasts. The jade arms gently wrapped around his waist.
A gentle voice came softly: "The commander got up so early, why don't you just lie down for a while?"
Zhang Cheng gently stroked a pair of jade arms, and finally held the pair of catkins and whispered softly: "We are busy with military affairs, so I don't dare to sleep too much. You sisters, lie down for a while, and when you get up again in the morning, I will instruct my servants to prepare some supplements for you. "
At this time, the maids Chunlan and Xianglan who were sleeping in the side room heard the sound, opened the door and came in to see if they needed help. Seeing this, they wanted to turn around and exit, but were stopped by Zhang Cheng and called to wait on him to change clothes.
Although it was not the first time that Chunlan and Xianglan helped Zhang Cheng change clothes, for some reason, when he looked at the two smart little maids, he felt that the youthful atmosphere exuding from their bodies was so alluring.
Zhang Cheng quickly shook his head to dispel those strange thoughts and thought to himself: What's going on today? Didn't you eat enough last night?
Although the two little maids also noticed something strange, they did not dare to ask questions and just accelerated the speed of helping Zhang Cheng change clothes.
Liu Ying, who was leaning on the bed, asked softly: "Is the commander uncomfortable?"
Zhang Cheng also felt that he had lost his composure. He turned around and caressed Liu Ying's soft little face, and casually replied: "I'm fine, you can sleep a little longer!"
After he finished speaking, he turned around and gently left the Liu sisters' room and went straight to the back hall.
…………
At yesterday's banquet, Zhang Cheng tried his best to persuade Lin Dengyou and other generals to stay in Chicheng for a few more days so that he could fulfill his duties as a landlord. At first, everyone was not very willing.
Only Liu Guangwu was too happy to miss Shu and agreed on the spot. He also urged the generals to stay longer since they came to the North Road. He also told everyone about the hot springs southwest of the castle.
Gao Jingong even took the opportunity to talk about the myth and legend left by Governor Zuo and Yang Hong, Duke of Ying during the Xuande period, when they visited the border area.
He also mentioned that Yang Hong rebuilt the Ruiyun Temple in Tangquan Mountain in the west of the city, which was a good place to rest. Moreover, the Jingning Temple in the southwest corner of the fort is now the Changping Marquis Yang Gong Temple, and everyone can also take a bath in the spring. In the future, I will come back and pay homage again.
Lin Dengyou and others have been in the military for generations. If you want to talk to them about etiquette, justice, integrity, loyalty, filial piety and benevolence, most of them may not be interested. Only gold, pearls and silver money are their favorites. Worship the general at the altar and rank him as a prince!
Therefore, when Gao Jinggong mentioned the temple of Changping Marquis Yang Gong, they immediately went to pay homage to the holy face of Yingguo Gong Yang Wuxiang, thinking that they were seeking a military career and would be granted the title of uncle and marquis like Yang Wuxiang.
Because he drank until late last night, Gao Jinggong came to the back hall this morning to send a message to Zhang Cheng. He and Lin Dengyou and other generals in the town agreed to go to the hot spring in the southwest of the fort together after dinner at noon.
Zhang Cheng got up early today specifically to meet with some wealthy businessmen from all over Xuan Town. He went to the side hall of the back hall and had breakfast.
Zhang Chengfang, a young man from Gu, came in and reported, "Diao Dacheng, the shopkeeper of Zuixianju Restaurant, has been waiting in the middle hall for a long time."
Zhang Cheng ordered his servants to remove the bowls and chopsticks, and then asked Zhang Chengfang to lead Diao Dacheng to meet him in the side hall.
…………
"Commander, not only is the trade outside Dushikou becoming more and more difficult, our caravan can't even get through to Zhangjiakou." Diao Dacheng began to complain about the smuggling business with the Mongolian tribes as soon as he saw Zhang Cheng.
Zhang Cheng asked with doubts in his heart: "It was going well before. When I led the army to Henan Province to support the suppression, it became more and more prosperous. It has only been a few months now, how come it has reached such a point?"
"well!"
Diao Dacheng sighed first, then turned to look at Su Yiyang who was pretending to be his entourage by the carved window. In the past few months, he talked about the situation of Dushikou border trade and the caravan under his name: "It's not because of the robbery." The business of those big merchants in Zhangjiakou..."
It turns out that the trade with the Mongols in Xuanzhen was mainly concentrated in Zhangjiakou Fort City, where there were several large merchants specializing in smuggling business, and Zhang Cheng also had some impressions of this.
In his memory, it seemed that merchants from Shanxi and merchants from Zhangjiakou were colluding with each other. They not only smuggled grain, iron and other prohibited materials to the Jian slaves through naturalization, but even sold out military intelligence of the Ming Dynasty.
In the past, trade with various Mongolian ministries could be done at Dushikou Fort and Muma Fort on the North Road, and Heihanling Fort under Sihaiye on the East Road. The same smuggling business was done here as in Zhangjiakou, but the scale was not as large as that of Zhangjiakou. Compared with Zhangjiakou, only those who are protected by local officials are eligible.
But after Zhang Cheng left Zhenbei Road, he broke this invisible balance. Not only did he send a caravan to Zhangjiakou for trade, he even directly escorted his own caravan to naturalize trade. This was obviously robbing Zhangjiakou of the way to make money.
What is even more egregious is that Zhang Cheng built a market outside Dushikoubao City and openly allowed Mongolian caravans to trade through Beizha Pass. He even broke the rules and formed a North Road caravan to go out of Beizha Pass to deliver goods to the Mongolian tribes. Come to your door.
Zhang Cheng's operation is tantamount to grabbing food from the tiger's mouth. None of the major smuggling giants in Zhangjiakou has some background behind them. It can be said that they are intertwined.
They have been illegally operating the smuggling trade for more than ten years, or even decades, and have already accumulated more than one million in assets. Not to mention the officials and generals in Xuanzang Town, from the small Tunpu to the town. People can have nothing to do with them.
Even many of the big bosses in the capital were captured by them with beauties and silver bullets. On the surface, they looked like sanctimonious Neo-Confucian masters, but secretly they acted as their accomplices and protectors. Who doesn't sit in court during the day? , sitting in the boudoir at night.
Although there is competition among these big smugglers in Zhangjiakou, after years of constant friction and collision, they have formed a certain tacit understanding, not only competing and suppressing each other, but also helping and supporting each other.
Especially when they felt that their interests had been violated, they became even more tightly united and mobilized their relationships and forces to speak out unanimously.
It was precisely because of their obstruction that the smuggling trade caravan led by Diao Dacheng was not only unable to enter Zhangjiakou to trade, but also could no longer pass through the customs to trade with the Mongols in Guihua City outside the mouth.
Moreover, they also colluded with the Tumut left and right wing commanders Guluge and Hanggao who were stationed in Guihua City to prevent the Mongolian tribes outside Dushikou from trading with the Han people. The market has also become deserted.
