Chapter 19:
Li Canghai bought a property in Bianjing, and Lu Yan took his servants to decorate the new home, adding a lot of new things.
Two more peach blossoms were planted in the front yard, and the back yard was a large training ground. The new set of stakes made by the craftsmen are ready to use, and the stakes are connected by iron chains, which can be used to practice light kung fu.
Of course, these two maids and six subordinates used a lot more. Of course, Li Canghai's martial arts didn't need this.
When she came back from going out that day and entered the house, Lu Yan had already made a bed for her, and the bedding was all silk. At present, cotton cloth is not popular in the Central Plains, only foreign countries pay tribute, and linen cloth is worn by ordinary people, and it is much thicker than the linen cloth of later generations.
Today's cotton was introduced into the Central Plains after Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions, mostly for filling quilts. But even quilts are not widely used. The poor use hemp and kudzu fibers, and collect reed flowers as fillings. Lu Yan prepares silk quilts for her so extravagantly, which is really a noble enjoyment.
When there were no outsiders, Li Canghai ate at the same table with the two maids, while the other six servants set up a separate table.
Lu Yan explained to her: "I hired two cooks and a couple to clean the yard. I also bought two maids from Yafu. But I couldn't find a good place here. , it will be much better when the eldest miss has arranged for someone to come over."
Li Canghai said, "How can I be so delicate? That's fine. It's up to you to decide what happens in the yard anyway."
Lu Yan snorted and said, "The head said as if you had given me a lot of power. You are biased to take Lu Yi everywhere and leave me at home as a housekeeper."
Li Canghai smiled and said, "You're used to being in charge of people. Your father is also a housekeeper in the Spirit Vulture Palace. He has a family background and makes the best use of his talents."
Lu Yan said: "The master has to pass on my Luoying swordsmanship, and I can practice it when I have time."
Lu Yi smiled and said, "Oh, what a majestic butler's wife, I've talked to the head about the conditions."
Lu Yan's chopsticks stabbed at Lu Yi's mouth, Lu Yi hurriedly stretched out her hand and pressed her wrist, Lu Yan turned her chopsticks again to hit Lu Yi's Neiguan Point, Lu Yi's arm bent, and the chopsticks tapped her "Quchi" again. hole".
Li Canghai said, "Two heroines, it's time for dinner!"
These two deputy young ladies doted on them too much on weekdays, but they did help her solve a lot of things. As long as they didn't damage her proper prestige outside, she would not be harsh.
…
The next day, Li Canghaitian was still in darkness. She was still in bed, and she heard the servants from Zhou, Wang, Zhao, and Zhang's family practice martial arts in the backyard, ecstasy, which was earlier than her. In the martial arts world, people from "Tianhai Haige" are also very obsessed with martial arts. They feel uncomfortable if they don't practice for a day. Now they are more diligent and hard-working.
At 3:30 in the morning, they were humming. Li Canghai's ears were strong, but he was woken up. In the past, when she was doing penance in front of Xiaoyaozi, she only woke up at four or five in the morning. These people don't need to sleep, right? They have to practice gong for four hours before breakfast. What kind of spirit is that?
She couldn't get an extra hour of sleep every morning, so she had no choice but to go to see and give some pointers. The four future heroes and the other two future women were like chicken blood.
They follow her, the head of the sect, and she has to pass on some of their internal and external skills, which is better than the martial arts learned from their grandfathers. You must know that their grandfathers' martial arts are also passed down by their elders, and the elders learned it a hundred years ago. Boy, it's been a few generations.
After finally having breakfast, she took the opportunity to rest for a while, and then asked Zhou Tao and Wang Feng to come over and told them to find a coal seller in the Bianliang area.
Coal has been used since ancient times in ancient China, and it was naturally used widely during the Northern Song Dynasty. I went to Zhao Gang to find bricklayers and carpenters with good craftsmanship. Li Canghai didn't have to change the martial arts style to farming style, she knew that when Li Qiushui made a fortune, she must also make money. Although Jianghu people use the grabbing meeting faster, but she wants to use the business network in Bianjing in the future, and secretly form a force.
She had to learn from her predecessors to build a honeycomb and coal stove, and start a workshop. The low-tech things like honeycomb coal and coal stoves are most in line with the current technical level.
Zhang Lei took Zhou Juan, and his little sister Zhang Xue to look for land around Bianjing. This task is more difficult, because the ancient Chinese habit only likes to buy farmland but not sell it, and the farmland villages in the Bianliang area are all in demand.
In the study, Li Canghai was drawing the structural diagram of the coal stove and the production process of honeycomb briquettes. Suddenly, he heard a newly bought little maid from the outer door reporting that there was a visitor.
The comers were brothers from the Zhe family. After the two were appointed officials, they were favored by Zhao Zhen on weekdays. At that time, it was the first year of Mingdao, and Song Renzong was already twenty-two years old, but he had not really been in power. During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was not one emperor and one year. There were several years in Song Renzong, so although this was the first year of Mingdao, Zhao Zhen had been on the throne for several years.
Zhe Jimin has become an oddity, and the young emperor pays special attention to those things he did at such a young age. The emperor liked his youth. He promoted a hero of his age and made him a school captain. It was to show Empress Liu and the court and the public that even a fifteen-year-old could be a school captain. At the age of twenty-two, the power still remained with the Empress Liu. and courtiers.
To say that the Empress Dowager Liu is not as sinister as in the opera "The civet cat for the prince", she is a very successful woman. The Northern Song Dynasty prospered during the period when she was under the curtain, and a large number of famous officials and honest officials such as Fan Zhongyan emerged.
Empress Dowager Liu, like Wu Zetian, was a second-married daughter. It can be seen that the restrictions on women in the early Song Dynasty were not as perverted as those after the Southern Song Dynasty. But no matter whether Empress Dowager Liu is capable or not, a twenty-two-year-old adult emperor certainly doesn't want to be unable to get the power that belongs to him.
Now that the rebellion of the Northwest Fan people has been temporarily settled, and now there is no sign of Liao taking the initiative to invade Song, so he deliberately favored Zhe, a young and promising (brutal and willful) son of a noble family, following Min's favor, and at the same time he could win over the Zhe family.
The uncle of the Zhe family returned to Fuzhou, and the brothers of the Zhe family had been staying in the capital for two months. Apart from being summoned to the palace to accompany him, they went to the Daxiangguo Temple to find Jie Xie and learn martial arts before they met Li Canghai again.
…
Zhe Jimin came with a carload of gifts, and he didn't go to the post a few days earlier as he did to the officials, but came directly.
Li Canghai entertained them in the main hall, and Lu Yi brewed new tea from the south. In the precious five-generation white porcelain tea cup, the green tea leaves spread out one bud and one leaf, and the tea soup was clear and fragrant.
The Zhe brothers are children of an aristocratic family, and they know goods. Originally, they thought she was from the rivers and lakes and belonged to a hermit master, but there is some background in using the antiques of the Five Dynasties as ordinary tea sets.
Zhe Jimin took a sip of tea and considered his words before saying, "I haven't thanked Sister Li properly for my life-saving grace. I took the liberty to visit today, just to express my heart."
Zhe Jizu said with a smile, "Sister Li, my eldest brother has been picking for a long time, and my heart is your life-saving grace."
Li Canghai looked at the boxes, baskets, and boxes of things that their servants brought up, almost filling the small living room.
"Brother Zhe is too polite. I'm just a Jianghu person, so I don't need such a heavy ceremony."
"It's not heavy, it's not heavy. The official rewarded me with some things, but I can't use them as a man. Giving them to Sister Li is also a good place for these things, which is better than staying with me."
Li Canghai raised his eyebrows and said, "It was given by the emperor, how could you give it to me at will?"
Zhe Jizu said: "Big brother has read it carefully, these things are not beyond the limit, and Sister Li can use them." As a follower of his younger brother, he didn't want Zhe Jimin's heart to be conveyed.
But to be honest, Zhe Jizu is not optimistic about the eldest brother. This sister Li was born too beautiful, so beautiful that it makes people feel unreal. It seems that she does not eat the fireworks of the world.
The Zhe family will naturally marry into the aristocratic family. No matter how beautiful this girl is, she is also a member of the rivers and lakes, which is different from their real big family that has been passed down from generation to generation.
But it's useless to say these truths a hundred times. If you don't try it, the big brother will not be reconciled. In addition to practicing martial arts and fighting over the years, eldest brother has been looking for her foolishly. Now that he has found it, he is naturally extremely happy.
Looking at so many things, Li Canghai couldn't help but say, "The emperor treats you well."
Zhe Jimin said: "The emperor's grace is mighty, and I can't repay it if I break my body and break my bones."
Although corruption is rampant in the officialdom nowadays, the traditional literati still have the character and loyalty, and even in the Southern Song Dynasty, there were still 100,000 elites who threw themselves into the sea and died. Like these generals and aristocratic families, I don't know how many children died on the battlefield for the country. Li Canghai believed that if he had to use his life to exchange the emperor's life one day, he would really be able to cut off his head. This is the moral standard of the feudal era, not the "human rights first" of later generations, and it is unclear which spirit is more admirable.
Li Canghai thought to himself that if he wanted to do business by himself, it would definitely be a disadvantage to befriend Zhe Jimin. If he really wanted to take root in Bianjing and have a family backer in the court, it would be easy for him to enter the business circle of the rich.
Li Canghai smiled slightly: "This emperor is a benevolent emperor, it would be a good thing if he likes you. However, why did you stay in Bianjing for a long time as a military attache?"
Zhe Jimin didn't dare to tell the emperor's intention to put him in the army in front of the palace. After all, Empress Dowager Liu still holds power, and the affairs of the court cannot be told to the people of the Jianghu.
Zhe Jimin said, "The officials saw that I was young, so they kept me for a while longer."
Suddenly she heard another loud noise outside, and Lu Yi ran into her ear and said, "Miss, the second young master and the masters from the Haotian and Zhutian departments are here."
This "Second Young Master" was Wuyazi, and Li Canghai was also surprised.
How could he come to Bianjing now?
Didn't you send Wu Yazi to Hengshan to find the treasure land of Feng Shui? Did he find it so quickly? :