The oil bottle of the Red Chamber

One party intends to please, and the other party intends to make friends. Naturally, this welcome banquet ended happily.

Early the next morning, Liu Xianglian finished her grooming and had breakfast with her third sister.The servant at the door has already prepared the horse, only waiting for Liu Xianglian to use it when he goes out.

Although Liu Xianglian has been operating in Xihai Yanzi for several years, with the support of saints behind her, she has already grasped the Xihai Camp in her hands.But this time was the first time he inspected the coastal defense after he was promoted to the Marshal of the Xihai Camp. Liu Xianglian felt that today might be delayed until very late, so before she left, she specially asked Third Sister You, "Today I'm afraid I won't be able to come back early. If I haven't come back by the time it's time to light the lanterns, you can eat by yourself first. Don't starve yourself because of waiting for me."

Third Sister You couldn't help laughing when she heard Liu Xianglian's thoughtful advice, "Don't worry, I'll save it."

The husband and wife said a few more words before Liu Xianglian went out.

After Liu Xianglian went out, Third Sister You summoned all the stewards and compradors in the mansion, as well as the stewards of the shops outside to question her.

Third Sister You even established Chen Yuan and Jinghua Yuan in the boudoir, and now she is married as a woman, and it is more convenient to move around and take care of affairs than in the boudoir. Such a good opportunity, Third Sister You will not waste it in vain.

Now that she has just arrived in Xihai, she still doesn't know the business situation here, so after inquiring about the business in the mansion with the compradors in charge of the Liu family, she sent her confidant and companion to go outside to find out the news.

But he was very interested and called the cook into the house for questioning.I really want to know how the food here in Xihai Yanzi is different from that in Chang'an.

When the cook heard the mistress' question, she was immediately excited.She also wanted to show it in front of the mistress, and immediately told the name of the local specialties in Xihaiyanzi, and then volunteered to cook a table of special flavors for the third sister.

Seeing this, the third sister You immediately ordered the cook to make preparations.

When it was time to light the lanterns, Liu Xianglian did not come home.The third sister You ate a meal with local characteristics, ordered the kitchen to prepare a few dishes that Liu Xianglian liked to eat on the stove, and then went to the study to read.

Around the time when the moon was in the sky, Liu Xianglian hurried back.

The third sister You was busy helping the little girl to scoop up water to wash, and at the same time ordered the kitchen to deliver the food.After Liu Xianglian finished washing and changed her clothes, the hot food was immediately served on the table.

Seeing that the dishes on the table were all her favorite dishes, Liu Xianglian specially prepared a jar of good Huiquan wine for Liu Xianglian to drink to soothe her fatigue. Those servants are not so meticulous.”

After finishing speaking, he asked Third Sister You what she had for dinner.

Third Sister You answered with a smile.Then sat down and had a few glasses of wine with Liu Xianglian.The husband and wife had another private conversation before going to bed and resting.

For the next month or so, Liu Xianglian kept busy.The third sister is not idle in the inner house.While taking care of the internal affairs of the Liu family, he was thinking of opening a semicolon of Jinghuayuan along the West Sea.At the same time, several shops were opened, specializing in the business of selling porcelain, tea, and silk from the south to here, and then selling Western machines and gadgets from here to the south.As for the purchase of land and other matters, it is even more in the meaning of the title.

The prefect's wife helped the third sister a lot in this matter.Because Xihai County has not been operating here for many years, and is in charge of the economic and government affairs of various places, he is more familiar with business matters than Liu Xianglian.This time, Third Sister You wanted to buy land here, so the prefect's wife volunteered to be the middleman for Third Sister.

The third sister You's kindness is hard to bear, and she also saw that although the prefect's wife helped her find a good land, the seller was an official's family whose term of office had expired, was about to return to Beijing to continue her job, and was short of money to find a way out.Selling the land at this moment is not out of fear of the power of Liu Xianglian and the prefect of Xihai County, but because of the urgent need to collect money to return to Beijing.The third sister You ordered the housekeeper to check it out, and sure enough, she bought the land from the seller at a rather generous price.

The seller had already been prepared to sell the fertile land in a hurry, and the other party took advantage of the situation to lower the price. He never thought that the third sister would be so benevolent, and instead of taking the opportunity to lower the price, she bought her own land at the prevailing price.

The seller tasted the sweetness because of this, and simply asked the third sister if she wanted to buy a house.If you want to buy it, my family has a villa in the West Sea, which was originally purchased by a maritime merchant here. Later, the sea merchant's ship encountered a storm at sea, and the goods on both ships were lost.The sea family also fell.The seller therefore purchased the house.

Now that the seller wants to return to Beijing to continue his job, I'm afraid he won't be able to come back in the future, but it's a pity that the house is exquisite and he doesn't want to sell it in a hurry.Therefore, I figured out how to get the money from the land sale to work elsewhere, and then slowly look for buyers.

It happened that the third sister You was generous and kind.The seller simply had the idea of ​​taking advantage of the situation to sell Bieyuan.

Third Sister You is not in a hurry to buy a house, but she happens to have spare money in her hands, and seeing that the other garden is really exquisite and unique, with a strong exotic style, it is even more refreshing.They also bought it.

Later, he ordered the servants of the family to wait for the supervisor to repair it, and planned to build a Chen Garden here.

When the prefect's wife and all the civil and military officials in Xihai heard about this, they all laughed and said they would come to join in the show.

The third sister You smiled happily.

While Miss You was busy doing business, Liu Xianglian also led a group of soldiers from the Xihai Camp to inspect the coastal defense.Now it's midsummer, and it's the time for all seas to ship and trade.Not only the sea merchants are busy, but also all kinds of bandits roving on the sea are also keeping a close eye on the merchant ships.Liu Xianglian is now guarding the Xihai camp, of course she will not allow these pirates to disturb the border.Therefore, he took the Xihai division to cruise the sea every day, and even found an eyeliner to keep an eye on the bandits everywhere, and whenever he had the opportunity, he went straight to Huanglong to wipe out the pirates.Except for warships and ordnance, only part of the confiscated spoils was kept as military rewards, and the rest were sent back to Chang'an.Pay tribute to His Majesty.

Today's sage was elated when he learned that Xihai Yanzi had won successive victories.Even the Chinese, Chinese and military officials of the DPRK were also honored, and one after another submitted their papers to sing praises for the saints.And the household department was the happiest, because Liu Xianglian paid tribute to these jewels, gold and silver, etc., except some treasures were included in the saint's inner treasury, and the rest were all sent to the national treasury.

Make the treasury more abundant.The imperial court does not have to weigh it over and over again, and it is stretched.

The saint specially decreed to reward Liu Xianglian.After Liu Xianglian took over the imperial decree, she was not arrogant or impetuous, and she continued to clear the pirates step by step.It didn't take long for the pirates at sea to be wiped out.Except for some pirates backed by vassal forces and relying on strong ships and guns to strictly guard their positions, the remaining small crabs and shrimps either retreated to avoid their edge, or directly joined the background pirate forces.

Liu Xianglian knew that the matter of eliminating pirates would come to an end at this time.The remaining pirates have strong financial resources, well-equipped armaments, and the support of the foreign country, so they can hide in the foreign navy at any time regardless of their actions.It is not something that can be broken by ordinary methods.Now it is not easy to drive them out of the border defense sea.If you want to kill them all without leaving any future troubles, I'm afraid you can't.

However, these pirates can hide and wait for the opportunity. It is a big mistake to think that the imperial court's caravans can be slaughtered at will after they leave the sea and border defense.After clearing the sea, Liu Xianglian organized the Xihai Navy into several armies, following what she had done in the south.Escort the caravans from all walks of life to the country of Fanbang for trade.In order to get the protection of Xi Haidi, these sea merchants must also pay each transaction with Xi Haidi as a reward.

Of course, if the sea merchants are reluctant to part with the money, they can also hire guards instead of hiring Xi Haijun.The Western Navy only guarantees the safety of the maritime merchant fleet within the sea.The accidental safety beyond the border is no longer under the guard of the Xihai Navy.

These sea merchants have to hire a large number of guards to protect themselves every time they go out to sea, but they are useless every time they encounter well-armed pirates with strong ships and sharp guns.Seeing that Master Xihai is willing to take on the responsibility of guarding, and what he has to spend is only [-]% of the income of each trip, there is no one who is unwilling.

Immediately, countless sea merchants tried their best to send posts to Liu's house, almost breaking down the door of Liu's house.

And the soldiers of the Xihai Navy can also get more salary because of this, but they are also grateful to Liu Xianglian.

Now it is only said that the third sister You heard the news that the Western Navy was going to protect the merchant ships arriving in the feudal kingdom, so she couldn't help thinking about those Western technologies.

It should be said that although the third sister You came from later generations, she was born in liberal arts, and she didn't understand the principles of making those strong ships and cannons.But she is well aware of the power of these things.So he advised Liu Xianglian that Xi Haijun could take advantage of his position to encourage those skilled in the feudal kingdom to defect to the imperial court, and give them gold and silver official positions to benefit them.

In order to convince Liu Xianglian, the third sister You gave examples of the diorama and the large piece of glass most sought after by the rich and powerful in Chang'an City, and said eloquently: "We think that thing is very rare, but we don't know that those things look beautiful. , but it’s just made from sand and gravel. The raw materials are so cheap, but the finished dioramas and large pieces of glass are so expensive. If we can also know these manufacturing methods, why let outsiders make the money.”

After all, he mentioned the strong ships, sharp guns and various firearms of the vassal state, "...Although nothing can be seen now, in time, people's strong ships and sharp guns will become more and more refined. , I am afraid that flesh and blood will not be able to resist the power of the artillery."

Liu Xianglian is now in charge of the Xihai camp, and also dealt with those foreign countries when suppressing pirates.It's not that he is uninformed, and he also deeply agrees with the words of Third Sister You.

The next day when I went to the Xihai camp for training, I really told these plans one by one. Although some of the generals of the Xihai camp didn't take Liu Xianglian's alarmist words seriously, the money is touching. Anyone with a head can know the profits of the Western machine .Even if it was aimed at gold and silver, everyone readily obeyed Liu Xianglian's words.

So the Xihai sailors who escorted various sea merchants to the vassal state for trade had another task.

Because this is a long-term plan, it is to seek the future for the community.After Liu Xianglian settled in Xihai Daying for a while, she specially wrote a letter to the saint.In the memorial, Liu Xianglian especially emphasized the importance of this matter to the imperial court's force and financial resources.To be on the safe side, Liu Xianglian even sent a family letter to her uncle Chen Gui after writing the memorial, and all the impact of this matter on the Ministry of Households—

Because under Liu Xianglian's planning, it was thought that after recruiting talents from Fanbang, they would distribute them to various ministries according to their abilities, so as to ensure that the court could digest these people as soon as possible.Turn the power of the vassal state into your own use as soon as possible.

After the memorial arrived in the capital, it really aroused heated discussions among the ministers of the DPRK and China.Although the past dynasties have upheld the principle of the court not to compete with the people for profit, this matter is obviously no longer within the scope of "competition for profit". Moreover, Liu Xianglian is playing the banner of benefiting the country and the people. These meritorious ministers have met , can not help but be tempted.

It is profitable for the entire court, so of course this matter passed smoothly.

When the news spread from Chang'an to Xihai Yanzi, Liu Xianglian was ecstatic because of another happy event.

What do you think, but the third sister You is pregnant.