Tong Jia anecdote

<May Day>

After dinner, it was still early, and a few people left the restaurant and went to the downtown area.This is the right time to do New Year's goods. The streets are full of traffic and crowded with people.

No matter how far away they were, they sent the servants to lead the horses to follow, and a few people went in on foot to see the excitement.What kind of juggling and performing arts, twisting Yangko and setting up a stage to sing operas, it is so prosperous.

"Good guy, as expected of the capital, these people can catch up with Quanbaotoufu in the market." Shen Jianping put down the earmuffs of the warm hat on his head, and shouted to Tong Jiu because of the noise of people.

"Yeah, it's so lively, I knew I would have brought Hongxiao with me." Tong Jiu looked at the juggler who was spitting fire and crushing boulders in his chest, smiled happily, tilted his head and touched Jing Fu with his elbow, "Isn't it?"

Jing Fu was wearing a stone blue brocade robe and a mink fur cloak on the back. The right side of the hem was pinned obliquely on the back waist, and the right arrow sleeve was habitually put down to cover the hand holding the handle of the waist knife.His expression was indifferent, and he didn't agree with her.

"A person with a plain face and a serious face all day long is the only one who dares to provoke you." Tong Jiu was stared back by her cold eyes, curled her lips in a self-deprecating manner, and turned back to continue watching the jugglers.

Seeing the excitement, he shouted hello, waved to the boys behind him, and urged in a loud voice, "Hurry up, come here quickly. Money, money, bring me some money." He laughed and burst into flames. Like, can't wait for a moment.

It made all the servants laugh, Jin Douer, the little follower in charge of the money, squeezed into the crowd nimbly, and handed the money to Tong Jiu.

Tong Jiu didn't even look at how much it was, and threw it all into the busker's place, haha ​​and happy in his heart, dragging Shen Jianping and Jing Fu away.

After a few steps, he walked to a stall selling New Year pictures of door gods. Tong Jiu had never paid attention to these things before.

I suddenly met today, and the colorful people felt that it was not fresh for a while.Take a closer look at which one is a story, and see which one has allusions.So, he called Jindou to take the money again, carried them all, and looked at them one by one as he walked.

He couldn't stop talking to the left and right, "This is good, this one is riding a white tiger, mighty!" After finishing speaking, he looked at Ren Jingfu face to face, "Well, this look looks like my Huada hero, just stick it At the gate of our house."

Stuffing it into Shen Jianping's arms, he took the next one, and said, "Hey, these two people carrying swords are vividly drawn and pasted on the second door. This one has a red face on it, is it Zhong Kui? It looks bluffing, Paste it on the door of our accountant's room. This, Mr. Shouxing—"

As he spoke, he stopped, his eyes lit up, and he looked at Shen Jianping, who was holding New Year pictures in his arms, and said, "Shall we go to Prince Shen's Mansion now?"

"At this time, go to the palace?" Shen Jianping was a little hesitant when he heard that he was going to the palace.

"Yes, let's go to the palace and send the door god to the prince." Tong Jiu raised the New Year picture in his hand, and said to the boy, "Let's go, take the horse back, and go to the prince's mansion."

The vermilion gates of Prince Jian's Mansion were open, and the lanterns on both sides were hanging high and fluttering in the wind. At the end of the year, officials and dignitaries of all kinds came in and out, and the crowds were like a bustle.

Not a moment after the announcement, someone came to the porter to ask Tong Jiu and others to come in.But according to the rules, Jing Fu had to take off the waist knife before going in, so she took off the waist knife and hung it on her horse before following Tong Jiu in.

It turned out that today, Prince Jian hosted a banquet in the mansion for some military officers with white flags.At this moment, the person who pushed the cups and changed the cups happened to be very interested. When I heard that Tong Jiu was here, I felt strange in my heart, but as the saying goes, it is better to meet by chance than to invite her.

Seeing that all the guards in the palace today were carrying foreign guns, Tong Jiu took a closer look at them, thinking that the one that Prince Shen asked him to buy for him that day should be this kind of foreign guns.

"My lord, it's New Year's Eve, and Cao Min brought you a New Year picture." Going around to the chairman of Prince Xie, Tong Jiu saluted, and took out the New Year picture for Mi Yun to see.

Mi Yun took the New Year picture, stroked his beard to look at it, raised his hand to ask the attendant to pour a glass of wine for Tong Jiu, and introduced to the relatives at the banquet, "This is the king's walking comprador, Han Luqi. Speaking of You may be familiar with him, but for this march, the people you use eat horse chews, but he raised them all."

"Young people are awesome, Mr. Han has worked hard. Come, let's toast Mr. Han." Several generals got up one after another and drank a glass of wine with Tong Jiu.

Here, the wine glass in Tong Jiu's hand hadn't been put down before someone snatched it away.When she was startled in surprise, a dart fell from her wine glass.

Immediately afterwards, someone suddenly yelled, "There are assassins, hurry up and protect the prince." All the generals present stood up in shock, and the flower hall was in chaos in an instant.

"Pa" heard another deafening foreign gunshot from the chairman, and then smelled a pungent smell of gunpowder mixed with blood.

Everyone looked sideways at Prince Jian when they heard the sound, and saw that Hua Jingfu beside Tong Jiu was holding a gun in his hand at this time, and the muzzle of the gun was still slowly emitting white smoke.And a guard far away from the hall door fell to the ground, was hit in the head beyond recognition, and died instantly.

Under the eyes of everyone, Jing Fu put away the foreign gun in his hand, handed it back to the guard beside him, and stood back behind Tong Jiu without saying a word.

Tong Jiu looked at the safe and sound Prince Jian with a pale face, and swallowed nervously.He looked at the dangling silver dart nailed to the roast duck on the plate, and couldn't help but lift it up again.

Soon, the Changshi bodyguard of the palace checked the body behind the dead bodyguard, and whispered something in the ear of Prince Xie. Although Prince Xie didn't show any emotion on his face, his eyes were always on Tong Jiu and Jing Fu. Snatching back and forth.

After this unexpected turn of events, the mats in the palace broke up unhappy.Prince Xie left Tong Jiu, Jing Fu and others alone, and called them into the Nuan Pavilion outside his bedroom.

"You came today just to give me a New Year picture?" Prince Jian's face was very ugly, leaning on the back of the chair, he asked Tong Jiu with bad words.

"My lord, the conscience of heaven and earth." Tong Jiu saw that he looked like he had nowhere to vent his anger, so he stopped taking it out on himself, gave a deep bow, and said, "No matter what the grass people do, they will not do such a rebellious thing."

"Who said you did it." Prince Jian muttered, "I lend you 1 courage." After speaking, he held the dart through the handkerchief, looked at it and said, "This king is asking you, come today, what is it?" Why did you come here?"

"Oh, thanks to the appreciation of the lord, didn't you tell me to go on a walk during the New Year a few days ago and buy some arms for you?" Tong Jiu smiled dryly, and said carefully, "Caomin came here today just to ask When do you plan to transfer this money to Huizhengsheng, my lord?"

Prince Jian nodded slightly knowingly, and didn't say when to give it. Instead, he looked behind her and said to Hua Jing, "You shot well with foreign guns, and you saved my life. If you want any reward, just say it." .”

Tong Jiu was afraid that Hua Jingfu would still be indifferent to answering, so she looked back at Hua Jingfu anxiously, moved her arms a little to remind her to answer quickly, sweating all over her forehead.

But I heard Hua Jingfu say indifferently, "I just want a house with a gate, two gates and a counting house."

"Haha!" Prince Jian looked at the pair of master and servant, nodded and smiled and said, "Han Luqi, you slave is so courageous. If you want the house to have a gate and two gates, you have to bring an accountant? This is normal. , you can teach me."

"My lord, she came from the countryside, and she has no rules. You were shocked today, and you left without telling the grassroots, so you can rest." Tong Jiu knew Yun Mi's moodiness very well, and was afraid that he would turn his face and blame Hua Jingfu, so she hurriedly bowed her head. To resign.

"Why, this king's life is not worth a house with a storefront?" Prince Jian stroked his forehead, pondered for a while, and asked the housekeeper to say, "Go and tidy up the house facing the street in the east city. If you get it, you can get it." They go."

After speaking, he picked up the New Year picture that Tong Jiu sent, looked at the birthday old man on it, and said, "The New Year picture you sent this time is both suitable for the occasion and at the right time, and this king accepts your favor. Alright, let's kneel down."

Watching them go out, Yun Mi said to Chang Shi's guard beside him, "In your opinion, what is the origin of this person?"

"It's probably related to the sticky stick." Chang Shi's guard replied, "This person can tell the difference between the disguised assassin and the other guards in the mansion at a glance, and this assassin is from the sticky stick. It's all too familiar."

Prince Xie picked up the dart, slammed it hard on the New Year picture Tong Jiu sent, and said, "Where the stick sticks—is it the emperor who wants to kill me?"

Chang Shi's bodyguard shook his head, Prince Xie got up, and cursed, "Buka, this dog slave." Then he said to another supervisor, "Go and send a message to Deke, don't touch the money in the house, and leave it to Han Luqi, so that you can save money." Prepare him for the purchase of arms next year."

It turned out that Prince Yunmi loved Westernization since he was a child. Knowing the power of Western arms, he has always highly praised the equipment and use of foreign guns and artillery in the Eight Banners cavalry.

This caused those feudal conservative institutions that were accustomed to using cold weapons such as blood drops by the emperor's side to suffer an unprecedented impact.And this includes the sticky rod.

Since the past few years, Western missionaries have repeatedly launched troubles in the southern coastal areas, intending to collude with the Han people to fight against the Qing Dynasty.The various ports in the south are no longer allowed to trade with Westerners.

Therefore, in order not to give up all his previous efforts, Yun Mi had to put his sights and hopes of purchasing arms on the Russian country north of the Mongolian grassland.

Purchasing arms is an important weapon of the country.He really took great pains to find someone who could act as the traveling comprador.

First of all, in terms of background, this person has to reassure the emperor, so he can't be a Shanxi merchant, and he has to satisfy himself, so he can't be a conservative bannerman.Secondly, in terms of talent, this person must have the ability to know the Mongolian steppe like the palm of his hand.

Han Luqi, a well-known young businessman in the south of the Yangtze River, does not belong to any faction of the imperial court, and is married to the Fucha family. These clean net worths are enough to reassure the emperor.

As for Han Luqi's ability, it was the reason why he valued him so much.

He fully believed that Han Luqi was so clever that he could quietly transfer the money used to buy arms to various places in Mongolia through his exchange house.

Finally, after buying arms for himself on the Mongolian-Russian border, he transported them back to the capital through his commercial lines and caravans on the grasslands.