Daming: Stealing Chen Yuanyuan at the beginning

Chapter 94 Seven-Colored Orb, Prince Xie Yu Presents a Horse

In late April, a dusty caravan arrived in the capital.

Seeing that these merchants had not shaved their hair and were dressed in Han clothes, the guards of Deshengmen immediately raised their vigilance and stopped the caravan by yelling at them.

Liu Zhiyuan got out of the carriage, smiled and came to the general of the defending army, holding a heavy bag of silver, offering it with both hands.

"The younger one's name is Liu Zhiyuan. He's an Huizhou merchant from the south. He's just a businessman. Mr. Jun, a mere courtesy is no respect. Please accept it!"

The general took the money bag and weighed it in his hands, at least there were dozens of taels of silver, his face softened, and he said: "Anyone who comes from the south will be subject to interrogation^..."

"Mr. Jun, we can understand. It's just that we traveled thousands of miles and risked our lives to go north, mainly to meet Prince Yu, and please report to Mr. Jun."

"You mean these goods are for Prince Yu?"

Liu Zhiyuan glanced left and right, looked extremely cautious, and said in a low voice, "We have brought a few large boxes of divine ointment, as long as the military lord tells Prince Yu like this, there will be a reward!"

Duoduo, the Prince of Yu, likes to take divine ointment, and everyone in the capital knows it.Anyone who can offer God's anointing to Prince Yu will be reused.

The general didn't dare to neglect, and said: "You wait in front of the city gate, I will report to the palace."

"Thank you General!" Liu Zhiyuan bowed.

About half an hour later, the general galloped back with a man on horseback.When they arrived at the city gate, the two jumped off their horses, and the general introduced, "This is the steward of Prince Yu's residence."

Liu Zhiyuan hurriedly nodded and bowed, and offered another bag of silver.

The butler took the money without saying a word, and went directly to inspect the goods.Opening a few large wooden boxes, I saw the opium cream wrapped in oiled paper, which was of high quality and bright in color.

"Very good!" The housekeeper nodded and asked, "How did you go north?"

This sentence is casual, but it hides a trap.

Liu Zhiyuan replied: "When I set off from Yangzhou, I took the land route. I didn't dare to take the water route. I took a big detour, traveled at night and day and night, and it was safe to pass Jinan Prefecture. Please take a look, sir. This is the prefect of Jinan Prefecture. issued travel diploma."

After looking at it, the butler finally smiled: "That's right, now the Grand Canal is controlled by your Han court, if you go north from the Grand Canal, I will inevitably have doubts. Let's go, follow me to see Prince Yu .”

When they arrived at the palace, the servants of the palace moved in the boxes containing the opium paste.Liu Zhiyuan and others waited in the gatehouse, and they didn't see Duoduo until it was time to light the lamps.

Duoduo blushed and was full of energy, and said: "This king is worrying about God's anointing, so you sent it here, it is really timely rain! This king is very useful, very useful. Tell me, what do you want this king to do? "

Liu Zhiyuan respectfully said: "This is a little thought from the little ones. The prince will benefit from it, and the little ones will be satisfied. How dare you have any extravagant demands?"

"Hey, in business talk business, this king will not treat you badly."

Liu Zhiyuan said: "Thanks to the great love of the lord, I dare to say it when I am young. In fact, as long as we can make money, we will do any business. Your country's wild ginseng and medicinal materials are very popular in the south, and we want to buy them in large quantities."

Duoduo shook his head and said, "The regent just issued an order, saying that wild ginseng and medicinal materials are strategic materials, and it is strictly forbidden to sell them to other countries. You are late, and you can do it earlier, but now the king has nothing to do."

Liu Zhiyuan showed a very frustrated expression, pondered for a moment and said: "Where is the purchase of leather?"

"We Manchus are good at hunting, and the most indispensable thing is all kinds of leather. But you have to be honest, what are you doing with the leather?"

Liu Zhiyuan opened a box, took out several leather bags, and said, "Our emperor founded a leather factory to produce this kind of leather bags. The rich people in the south are rushing to grab them. The leather factory needs a lot of leather, but unfortunately there is a shortage of leather in the south." , I want to buy some from your country and sell them to tanneries.”

He said again: "These purses are not a respect for the ladies and princesses of the palace!"

Duoduo took a leather bag and looked at it carefully, and said with a smile: "The leather bag is a rarity, and this king accepts it with a smile. Thanks to Chongzhen, he figured it out, and even set up a leather factory in Nanjing, haha..."

"Hey, our emperor, I don't know where so many strange ideas come from. In addition to producing leather bags, we have recently improved toothbrushes, tooth powder, and perfume! Probably because we are too short of money, but I don't think he is suitable. It's not bad to be an emperor, but to be a big businessman." Liu Zhiyuan said.

Duoduo laughed loudly: "Chongzhen is poor and crazy, how can he keep half of the south of the Yangtze River? Sooner or later, this king will drink horses from the Yangtze River and slash the city of Nanjing!"

The Huizhou merchants were obsequious and flattering, and Liu Zhiyuan opened another box and said, "My lord, you guys brought you many rare treasures!"

As soon as the box was opened, it was radiant and radiant.Doduo exclaimed, and ran over holding the candlestick, and saw that the alley was full of beads, colorful and shining brightly under the candlelight.

"What is this?" Duduo's eyes sparkled.

"Seven-colored orbs!" Liu Zhiyuan picked up a few beads and spread them on the palm of his hand, "Look, my lord, these beads are rare to see, bright in color, colorful, rare in the world!"

The so-called "seven-colored orbs" are nothing but colored glass beads.

After Bi Dengfu and Zhu Cijiong's continuous exploration, the Ming Military Academy has mastered the secret of producing colored glass. It can add colored substances to the raw materials to produce glass beads of various colors at will.

Glass beads in this era are still rare.At the beginning, Columbus exchanged glass beads for gold from the natives of South America. Li Cunming sent Huizhou merchants like Liu Zhiyuan to go north, so that they could become Columbus of the Ming Dynasty.

Duoduo is a prince, but it was the first time he saw glass beads, and he was fooled by him.

He was overjoyed and said: "Okay, since you are so sincere, this king will never let you go home empty-handed. You can bring my documents and go buy leather, no one dares to stop you."

"Thank you, my lord!" Liu Zhiyuan and others hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed to express their gratitude.

……

Liu Zhiyuan and others obtained the trading documents issued by Duoduo, and they were unimpeded in the Qing Dynasty.They took crates and crates of glass beads and went to various places to buy leather.

A glass bead can be exchanged for more than a dozen pieces of leather. Half a month later, they had exchanged countless pieces of leather, which were piled up in a temporarily rented warehouse.

Anhui merchants even left Shanhaiguan and went to the Northeast.He went to the Mongolian border again and exchanged many sheep for them. He announced that if the sheep were transported to the south, they could not only kill and sell their skins, but also their mutton.

In mid-May, Huizhou merchants decided to return to the south.There were more than 2000 carts full of goods, but they encountered a big problem. They lacked horses and could not transport the goods southward.

Liu Zhiyuan took 1 taels of silver, went to see Duoduo, and begged, "Prince Yu, the little ones are about to go south, so I came here to say goodbye! This 1 taels of silver is my wish, thank you Prince Yu for taking care of me."

"It's easy to say, it's easy to say. I look forward to your next arrival, but don't forget to bring more divine anointing!" Duduo said with a smile.

"Young men are in trouble, please ask the prince for help." Liu Zhiyuan took advantage of Duduo's good mood and talked about the lack of horses. "Without horses, the goods cannot be transported, so they will be lost."

"You guys are so greedy, what are you doing buying so much at once!" Duoduo said.

"The younger ones are also thinking that going north is not easy, so they are a bit greedy. Prince Yu, it is best to find [-] mules to pull the cart. Mules are very strong and patient, or donkeys are fine. Horses are not suitable for transportation. goods."

"Where did this king find you so many mules and donkeys? Don't pick and choose, buy horses from the Xiangbaiqi barracks that this king is in charge of. The price is the market price. But the barracks go up and down The generals under your command, you still need to manage, do you understand?"

Liu Zhiyuan was in a dilemma for a while, and finally said helplessly: "Hey, let's make do with it. Don't worry, Prince Yu, I won't let the Xiangbaiqi brothers suffer!"

Liu Zhiyuan went to the Xiangbaiqi barracks, took Duduo's words as an arrow, and quickly selected [-] horses, but he didn't pay the money, and he still gave them glass beads.

Immediately set up the car, left the capital overnight, and rushed to the south without stopping.

Duoduo didn't care at all, just hid in the mansion and smoked opium.This incident alarmed Fan Wencheng, the old fox instantly sensed that something was wrong, and went to see Duoduo, but was stopped at the door twice or three times.

Fan Wencheng had no choice but to rush in, and seeing Duoduo reclined on the soft couch, puffing out clouds and fog, stomped his feet angrily: "Prince Yu, you have broken a big deal, those Huizhou merchants took away a full [-] fine horses , do you know what that means?"

"Lord Fan, what are you talking about? Those people are just businessmen. What a big deal this king has broken. Don't scare me!"

"My Prince Yu, think about it carefully, if these horses fall into Chongzhen's hands, he will be able to form cavalry..."

"Hey, what's the big deal, I'm full of cavalry and invincible in the world, so what if Chongzhen has cavalry?"

"I won't tell you more, I'll go find the regent!" Fan Wencheng stomped his feet and sighed.

"Fan Wencheng, you old man, don't use the regent to suppress this king. Does this king not even have this bit of power?" Duoduo got up and yelled, but Fan Wencheng had already left the mansion.

Dorgon is a smart man, not as reckless and brainless as Duduo. After hearing Fan Wencheng's report and analysis, he immediately ordered Duduo to lead troops to hunt down Huizhou merchants.

Duoduo hated and annoyed, but in desperation he led a thousand soldiers and horses to chase after him.At this time, Huizhou merchants had left the capital for five days, and chased them all the way to the border of Liaocheng, and finally saw the caravan.

"Stop them and get the horse back!" Dodo ordered, waving a knife.

At this moment, [-] cavalrymen and [-] infantrymen suddenly came out, with loud gunshots and rain of arrows.

It turned out that Yan Yingyuan and Weng Zhiqi had already received a secret order to meet the caravan.Doduo's troops were insufficient, unable to resist, and fled in desperation.

After fleeing far away, the Ming soldiers could still be heard shouting loudly: "Thank you, Prince Yu, for the horse, thank you, Prince Yu, for the horse..."

The nobles of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties were familiar with "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". In this situation, Duoduo couldn't help but think of the story of Zhuge Liang borrowing arrows from a straw boat.

(End of this chapter)