Lin Shuhan smiled and said, "Of course. The people who buy things in your building are all ignorant and snobbish. They only think that expensive things are good..."
"Then why didn't you tell me earlier?" Wu Ruofei asked angrily.
Lin Shuhan laughed twice: "You never asked, so why should I tell you. Besides, isn't it very interesting to see you all being intoxicated by this kind of thing?"
Wu Ruofei also smiled: "Mr. Bansong, you have always been making fun of me! Today I will punish you to draw a picture of Longjing for me, and write a poem to accompany it, otherwise you will be hungry tonight!"
Wen Lingjiao was already infatuated with the intimate flirting between Lin Shuhan and Wu Ruofei. She only heard Lin Shuhan continue to say in a daze: "As for the tea Miss Wen has now, it was bought by someone who knows the business. If it seems that what I guessed is correct, it must be a good tea grafted from the branches of the original Longjing tree, produced on the high mountains beside the West Lake. It is certainly inferior to the original old tree, but it is also the best in the world!"
After saying that, Lin Shuhan picked up the tea bowl and took a long sip.
After hearing his introduction, everyone was already salivating, and they also raised the tea bowls in front of them and took a sip. It was indeed fragrant and refreshing.
Qiu Yizhi swallowed half a mouthful of tea reluctantly, and then said to Lin Shuhan: "Mr. Lin, I just listened to your profound remarks, and suddenly I felt enlightened. Drinking tea is good, and doing anything is the same. You must understand the three flavors of it, so that you can apply it to other situations, and not just recite by rote and never make progress."
Lin Shuhan believed Qiu Yizhi's words were correct, but he didn't know what the deep meaning behind them was. He fanned himself while listening to Qiu Yizhi say:
"So I have another thing I would like to ask you to do, but considering your knowledge, it seems a bit of a waste of talent, and I don't know how to ask."
"Hahaha!" Lin Shuhan laughed, "Lord Qiu is really a man who knows how to talk. He clearly claimed that he couldn't speak, but now he has spoken out, hasn't he?"
Qiu Yizi also laughed out loud: "Sir, you are a smart man, so I will speak frankly. I would like to ask you to give these new soldiers a lesson. I don't ask that all of them can pass the imperial examination, but at least they can learn a few words, so that they don't have to be blind all their lives."
After hearing this, Lin Shuhan's face darkened and he said, "Sir, please don't blame me for speaking harshly. These people are all peasants, over 10 years old, and have long passed the age of enlightenment. Even if I want to teach them, they may not be able to learn! Moreover, these people are warriors. As long as they understand the orders from above, know how to charge into battle, and face death as if they were alive, do they need to be able to read and write?"
Qiu Yizhi said, "Mr. Lin is my confidant, so I might as well speak frankly. Among my subordinates, Zhao Chengxiao and his eighteen personal soldiers were all born as bandits. They made great contributions in the campaign against the rebellion and have been awarded various military positions. They have already achieved positive results. I'm afraid these new recruits don't have such a blessing."
He turned his head to look at Wen Lingjiao, and then said: "Mr. Lin, and Miss Wu know that I have no intention of fame and fortune. Even if I am now a small official, I am forced to retire to the mountains one day. When the time comes, these two hundred new recruits will have to find a way to make a living. If they go up the mountain with me, won't I become a mountain king who instigates rebellion?"
Lin Shuhan laughed out loud at Qiu Yizi's words, Wu Ruofei also covered her mouth and smiled continuously, but Wen Lingjiao had a different feeling - she really hoped that the day when Qiu Yizi would "retire to the mountains and forests" as she said would come soon, so that she could also hide her identity and become a fairy couple with her lover.
Lin Shuhan, who was standing by, said, "Although I call myself 'Mr. Bansong', I have never been a teacher. If I don't teach well, please don't blame me."
Lin Shuhan's words meant that he had already agreed to Qiu Yizi's request.
Therefore, Qiu Yizhi was very happy and said, "Mr. Lin, you are too modest. With your talent, maybe there are one or two smart people among the new recruits who can learn something from you. When they become generals or ministers, you will be their master. Apart from anything else, it will be easy to transfer a few soldiers to help when they build houses in the future!"
Lin Shuhan felt a little proud when he heard Qiu Yizhi's flattery was just right, but he was still reserved and said, "It's all for the future. Right now..."
"What's going on now?" Qiu Yizi asked hurriedly.
"The tea is probably getting cold now. If we don't drink it, it would be a waste!" As he said that, Lin Shuhan picked up the teacup and tasted it while smiling.
Qiu Yi's recruitment of soldiers went quite smoothly.
Firstly, Qiu Yizi had just taken office when he vindicated the sisters Yang Ying'er and Yang Qiao'er, not hesitating to offend his superiors, and had already earned quite a reputation among the people; secondly, when he started recruiting soldiers, he offered a large sum of money to recruit a woodcutter, letting everyone know that he was a man of his words; thirdly, the military pay was so generous that it was impossible to refuse.
Therefore, within three days of the recruitment notice being posted, all the men of the right age in Shanyin County came to sign up, and even those from Lin County who heard the news came rushing over. Qiu Yizhi was afraid that if he recruited soldiers from Lin County, he would cause disputes with his colleagues from other counties, so he only recruited able-bodied men from his own county.
Even so, within just a few days, tens of thousands of people signed up.
Zhao Chengxiao had not gone to Mingzhou with Qiu Yizhi to do business before, and only stayed in the county to recuperate, so he was in high spirits and worked hard to select soldiers. However, he had high standards and strict criteria, and in the end, he only selected 199 strong men, including Meng Hong, who was selected by Qiu Yizhi himself earlier, which was exactly 200.
Therefore, Qiu Yizi used his salary to purchase building materials and followed the method of Wei Hu, a favorite general under the emperor, to have the newly recruited soldiers work on it themselves. They built a military camp, which was not large in scale but well organized, right next to the not-so-strong city wall of Shanyin County.
Most of the militiamen recruited by Qiu Yizi and Zhao Chengxiao were poor farmers in the countryside, and they lived in simple thatched huts at home. Today, they can live in such a newly built brick and tile house, which is a blessing that cannot be achieved in several lifetimes, and they are all deeply impressed.
Qiu Yizhi saw that there was still a lot of building materials left after the military camp was built, so he asked people to build a tower on the bare front gate of the city wall. This tower was only used for observation and was not very large. It took only two days to build it.
Qiu Yizi made such a big fuss in Shanyin County that it was bound to attract attention. He had also offended countless colleagues in the officialdom of Jiangnan. All of a sudden, all kinds of complaints and impeachment petitions were sent to the Jinling Daofu Yamen like snowflakes.
The new governor of Jiangnan Province was named Qian Mingfeng, an old assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue who was over sixty years old. He was temporarily promoted because Emperor Zheng Rong and Prime Minister Zhongli Kuang could not find a suitable person to succeed the deceased Yin Chengliang.
The old governor was old and was just waiting to retire, but he was assigned to the troubled Jiangnan Road. When he first arrived, the Japanese pirates broke out. Although the emperor had clearly ordered General Cui Nan to take charge of the matter of pacifying the Japanese pirates, the governor of Jiangnan was the master after all, and the logistics support alone was enough to keep him busy.
Therefore, when the old governor saw these impeachment articles, he originally did not want to pay attention to them. However, the charges listed in the articles were too scary. They were all serious crimes such as treason, rebellion, privately raising assassins, and making friends with bandits. If proven, they would be punishable by death by thousands of cuts.
Lord Qian knew that Jiangnan was the richest region in the world and that it was being watched by thousands of eyes. If he delayed for a few more days, an inspector would write a memorial and send it directly to the Northern Palace, accusing him of dereliction of duty, deliberate delay, and collusion with the traitors.
However, the old governor Qian was in the center of the court, and he had heard that Qiu Yi of Shanyin County had a strong background and could not be easily offended. So he had an idea and discussed with several of his advisors. He only summarized the impeachment documents sent by the lower level, without raising any opinions, and packed them into a knee-high bundle together with the original documents, and sent them to Jiangnan.
Qiu Yizhi's recruitment was the idea of Emperor Zheng Rong, so the emperor certainly didn't take these impeachments seriously. In addition, the Japanese pirates' riots in the southeast coast were getting worse and worse, and they were in need of troops, so they would not use this to shake Qiu Yizhi's military morale. Therefore, Zheng Rong only read the summary of Governor Qian's impeachment, and sealed the rest of the impeachment as it was, without even opening it.
In addition to handing over the military training matters to Zhao Chengxiao, Qiu Yizi was also very busy.
He wrote a letter himself, sent one to Zhou Cijing in the north, and sent the other to Mingzhou to be delivered to Li Zhi's comprador who stayed on the mainland.
Zhou Cijing knew Qiu Yizi's background. Seeing that the letter was delivered personally by the emperor's adopted son, he could not ignore it. He prepared valuable gifts and sent his trusted people to Shanyin County in the south to meet Qiu Yizi.
In Mingzhou, Li Zhi had already informed the comprador who stayed behind before he crossed to Fuso to look for the antidote. Therefore, after receiving Qiu Yizi's letter, the comprador also prepared gifts and came to Shanyin County in person to discuss the matter.
After all parties arrived, Qiu Yizi invited Lin Shuhan and Zhao Fuyi to book the best teahouse in the county to discuss things together.
In fact, Zhou Cijing had long intended to open up overseas trade, but the previous customs clearance channels were controlled by Yin Chengliang, the governor of Jiangnan, and Zheng Gui, the king of Lingnan, and it was impossible to get in. Most of the other sea merchants were suspected of smuggling, and Zhou Cijing was proud of his status as an imperial merchant and was unwilling to trade with them. Therefore, Qiu Yizhi's suggestion, for Zhou Cijing, even if it could not be called timely help, was icing on the cake.
The confidant sent by Zhou Cijing this time, of course, had to follow the wishes of the big boss and agreed without hesitation. He wanted to organize the Zhou family's porcelain kilns, silk workshops, wine cellars, tea gardens and other industries in Jiangnan, Huguang, Yunnan, Guizhou, Bashu and other places, and transport the porcelain, silk, liquor, tea and other goods produced in them to Mingzhou Port through the Yangtze River waterway, and use the Li family's large sea ships to send them to Japan, Nanyang, Luzon, Siam, and even Persia, Dashi, Daqin and other places, making a lot of money.
The same is true for Li Zhi. Because he was charged with smuggling, he could not go deep into the interior to purchase goods. He could only buy goods at high prices in coastal ports such as Mingzhou. The purchase price was often one or two times more expensive than the place of origin. Today, with the direct supply of the wealthy businessman Zhou Cijing, not only the cost is reduced, but the quality is also more guaranteed.
However, Li Zhi was not in the country after all. The comprador who stayed behind did not dare to act rashly on his own for such an important deal. He hesitated and refused to agree to it. (To be continued)