Chapter 103 The light in the Grace Tent was dim, and the princess smiled, but...
The light in the big tent was dim. When the princess smiled, it was as if someone had suddenly drawn aside the top curtain, and the daylight came in, shining brightly.
Dorji stared at her, and couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth.
The little fox is plotting something again, he thought.
But who cares? For such a small matter that has no conflict with the interests of the department, the princess can do whatever she wants. There are even some benefits. If the people around her are equipped with firearms, they can be more useful. When he is not around, her safety can be guaranteed.
"In that case, I'll ask someone to buy more firearms from those Rakshasa merchants and give them all to you," said Dorji.
"No hurry, let's wait and see." Mu Xue said, "Those who are dissatisfied with the goods are the buyers. If we go in now, they will definitely raise the price."
Besides, they are not the only one who can do this. Didn't Li Wen say that there were people in the court who had such ability before? When writing to Emperor Kangxi, he asked for the person to come over. After all, exile... exile to Ningguta and? exile to her, it's almost the same thing.
"Okay, I'll listen to you." said Dorji.
Mu Xue glanced at him with a smile, and reached out to gently rub his earlobe: "Good boy, you have the potential to be a henpecked man now."
"Hang-eared? What is that?"
"A dialect that means to respect a husband who listens to his wife."
Dorji smiled gently and held her in his arms: "Okay, it's my honor to be the princess's henpecked husband. But——"
His breath hit my neck, itching a little: "I? I'm so good, should the princess reward me?"
With such an ambiguous tone, one can faintly hear the footsteps of maids and eunuchs outside the tent. They must be checking to see if the meal is ready.
Mu Xue cleared her throat and said, "Do you want me to slap you?"
Dorji laughed softly: "Well, thunder and rain are all grace from the king."
"Stop making trouble, I'll come in to serve the meal soon." Mu Xue gently pulled his ear.
As they were talking, they suddenly heard Rong'er outside asking, "Master, the dining table has been brought in. Do you want to eat?"
Muxue wanted to sit up straight and call someone in, but Dorji pulled her sleeve and refused, obviously wanting to continue teasing her.
She glared at him and said, "Let's talk about it tonight."
Dorji raised his eyebrows, looked at her and smiled: "Okay, I'll keep a record and come back to collect the debt later." Then he let go.
The two of them sat upright as a group of maids and eunuchs entered the tent, each placing a plate of vegetables and steamed buns on the table.
Mu Xue asked about the food of the Russian merchants, and knowing that everything was arranged, she didn't care. She just pretended that there was no such group of people, and summoned the attachés of the Lifanyuan when necessary, and met Yunqi, Wang Xiangqing and Zhou Qiniang when necessary, and told them what she had planned.
Yunqi understood her instructions, and his eyes lit up. If there were firearms, they could form a firearms battalion. Although it was taboo to call it this, and a different name was needed, it was essentially the same. Yunqi had experienced the Three Feudatories Rebellion, and knew the importance of having a reliable team. He was always worried about it, but the princess had no money or food. Even if he mentioned it, it was just a fantasy.
The situation is quite different now. As the top aide who helps the princess manage the accounting of the private treasury, Yunqi has watched the princess become rich little by little. At the same time, by leading the princes of Mobei to make a fortune by selling sheep and assisting Taiji to go to Beijing for the New Year, the princess has already made some money on the grassland. At this point in time, it is just right to get a small guard team out.
According to the princess, they wanted to build an escort agency and set up a team of escorts equipped with firearms.
"Before, there were remnants of the Junggars causing trouble, and maybe there are still some. It is always a hidden danger for the Mongolian merchants, especially since we have to follow the imperial order to build post stations along the trade routes. It would be bad if someone caused chaos. It would be unreasonable to set up an escort agency and escort the merchants when they are doing business? The escorts recruited from the people are definitely not as good as the people in the Green Camp in terms of riding, shooting, and swordsmanship. Getting a firearm can give them courage."
Coming out of the princess's tent, Yunqi first checked the account book. As the saying goes, "before the troops move, the food and grass must be sent first." If the firearms camp is to be built, silver must be piled up. For example, how to forge firearms, buy or make them? How to recruit and train personnel, and how to provide logistics? Support?
The silver earned from the sheep, silk, cloth, tea and copper trades should have been collected in the capital and Guihua City. Only the accounts of the princes and magistrates have not been collected yet. Perhaps we can send someone to urge them on the way back. In this way, we can get a total of 20,000 taels of silver. However, in this way, we will have to use some of the silver originally reserved for the construction of the post station.
After Yunqi checked the accounts, he reported back to the princess and described the situation in detail.
Mu Xue listened and thought, "It's not a big deal. I have other plans for the post station, so I'll temporarily allocate the money to set up the escort agency. It's a pity that a lot of money was spent on building the princess's mansion and buying furniture, otherwise I can allocate some more money to you from the inner treasury."
As there are now many items of income, in order to make the finances clearer, Mu Xue imitated the Ministry of Revenue’s National Treasury and the Emperor’s Inner Treasury and made a distinction between them, called the Princess’ Silver Treasury and the Inner Silver Treasury.
Every year, the income is split into 20:80, with 80% going to the outer treasury, which is managed by Yunqi. Cui Gu in the capital checks the expenditure accounts. If the business needs to pay capital or make other investments, it is all from the outer treasury. The inner treasury is still managed by Madam Wu and Madam Zhao. It is only used for her own food and clothing expenses, such as making new food or cutting new clothes, which are paid from the inner treasury.
Before coming to Mobei this time, Mu Xue gave the pair of cards of the inner treasury to Madam Wu, and asked her to lead people to Guihua to buy various items for the mansion. After all, it is a proper new home, and we can't just pick and choose the things that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has allocated. It is a bit like the developer delivering the fine decoration, but you also have to buy the furniture you like.
But in this way, it is impossible to immediately come up with money to set up an escort agency.
In the final analysis, it was because of the lack of money. Mu Xue pursed her lips and turned to talk to Yun Qi about another matter: "By the way, I have told Wang Xiangqing to think carefully about Dashengkui and expand the business to Russia. You should also pay attention to this matter."
Since the merchants in Kouzi think that this border is too far away, think that the business is small, and are too lazy to do it at present, then there is just another fertile land left for her.
Mu Xue pondered for a long time, and finally remembered that according to history, a trading city should be built on the Qing-Russian border in a few years, and then a treaty would be signed.
Although she didn't know when the treaty would be signed, and there was no sign of this trading city, since she was here, she might as well take the lead and build a prototype of this trading city.
Silk and tea, these goods are sold well in Europe, so they must have a market in Russia. If you don't make money, you are a bastard.
Once the prototype of this trading city is built, in addition to facilitating the flow of merchants, it will also have another meaning. There will be many local people traveling here, and our spies can also keep a close eye on Russia's developments to prevent them from having any ulterior motives.
Mu Xue briefly explained that she wanted to choose a good feng shui location nearby to build a trading city: "Please help me think about it and bring me a set of rules in a few days. I will write it in when I write to Khan Ama."
After giving her the order, he felt a little embarrassed: "Forget it, how about me? Think about it, you have so many things on your shoulders, I'm afraid you can't handle it."
Because they were in a hurry this time, they brought fewer people. All in all, the burden she added to Yunqi was already very heavy, and Yunqi was almost as busy as a top.
Yunqi smiled instead: "Princess, you pity me, how can I not share your worries? Perhaps, I can discuss this rule with Qiuhua, and also have a good discussion with Lord Li of the Lifanyuan."
"That's good too," Mu Xue encouraged her, "Don't worry, after this busy period is over, I will definitely reward you well."
"Actually, I do have something I would like to ask for, my master. A favor." Yunqi bowed.
Muxue was a little surprised. This was the first time that Yunqi had solemnly asked her for mercy since he had started working with her.
"You say it. If it's possible, I will certainly agree."
"When I was young, I had several good friends. Later, they were taken to the capital as slaves because of rebellion. Some of them, like Qiuhua, were lucky enough to become slaves of the master like me. There were also two or three who were sent to Ningguta to be slaves of the armored men." Yunqi said, "I heard that the master wanted to send someone to Ningguta to ask for a Mr. Dai, so I thought, could I ask about the news of my old friends?"
Talking about old friends, Yunqi's expression softened a lot: "There are two girls who were very talented when they were young and even wrote a collection of essays. If they are still alive, maybe the master can take them with him. They are both talented and well-educated people, and can also help the master share his worries."
Mu Xue was slightly stunned. He didn't ask for money or material things, but instead asked for news of an old friend? He was also a person of temperament.
Those girls, since they could be good friends with Yunqi, Qiuhua and others, must have once been the daughters of prominent families in Lingnan. It was really pitiful that they were reduced to slaves in an instant.
Her voice softened. "Okay, let's go find out about your old friends. Since they are slaves, they must pay the government some silver to atone their sins before they can be transferred here. The money will be drawn from the inner treasury."
Yunqi was also moved for a moment.
The princess's attitude really shows that she values her very much.
"Thank you, Princess, but I didn't keep the reward you gave me before, and it just so happens to come in handy right now."
Muxue immediately understood that using her savings after wandering for half a lifetime to redeem her old friend must be of great significance to Yunqi. She no longer insisted and just agreed.
With the princess's promise, Yunqi's lips curled up when he walked out of the tent.
She immediately went to find Qiuhua and told her the good news.
"I hope Ping'er and Xiaoluan are still alive." Yunqi said with a smile, "Xiaoluan is very delicate. She can even cut her fingers when turning pages. She cries all the time..."
Qiuhua put down the medicinal herbs she was drying, and in the beam of light where the dust was floating, she listened to Yunqi talking excitedly about her good friend from the past.
It seems like they are still young, with sisters forming poetry clubs and drinking wine together.
However, Qiuhua saw the white hair on Yunqi's temples, and she felt indescribable. If Ping'er and Xiaoluan were still alive, they would surely be covered in frost. Moreover, Xiaoluan was so delicate and proud, could she really survive the heavy snow in the border area?
Qiuhua thought so in her heart, but did not dare to show any of it. She just listened with a smile and agreed with him from time to time.
She noticed that there was a faint light in Yunqi's eyes, which were full of vicissitudes. What did he realize? How could such a smart person like her not think of it? It was just a little obsession.
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