Poor Family Chapter 705

  Chapter 705 Jiangxia news

  Gao Qiu is also using his own method to join the team. He is low-key on the surface, secretly serving the prince. Even he can see that Zhao Ji's reign will not be too long.

  Li Yanqing took the sword and said with a smile: "Rather than icing on the cake, it is better to give charcoal in the snow. The prince is suffering from the ineffective defense of the city. The Taiwei should have a lot to do in this matter."

Gao Qiu pondered for a while, then sighed: "I have no choice in terms of the army. The officials have very strict control over the army, especially for the prince. If I give the military power to the prince, the officials will punish me immediately. Besides, Everything else is fine.”

  Li Yanqing shook his head, "I said that His Royal Highness is in dire straits, not referring to the military power. Of course, I will not let the Taiwei do something difficult."

  Gao Qiu suddenly became interested, and quickly leaned over and asked, "Tell me, how can I solve the prince's worries and problems?"

   "How many forbidden troops are there in the capital now?"

"Now there are 300,000 imperial troops in the capital in name, but in fact there are only a little over 100,000 of them, and 30,000 of them are Tianlong imperial troops. They must follow the emperor and do not participate in any battles. I will command them personally. In fact, there are only more than 70,000 troops that can be used. .”

Li Yanqing is not surprised either. Although the Song Dynasty claimed to have a million forbidden troops, the court did not have that much money to support the army. In fact, it was only five or six hundred thousand. In addition, the forbidden troops suffered heavy losses in the past few years. In the war, at least more than 400,000 troops were lost, so it is reasonable that there are 100,000 imperial troops left in the capital.

Li Yanqing pondered for a while and said: "The key now is to train the city defenders. The current 30,000 city defenders are too weak, and it's a bit late to train them. They can only do logistics support at most, and they still have to rely on the imperial army. Please, Captain." Pick out 30,000 forbidden troops, and I will arrange for my subordinates to train them, and try to transform them into a truly elite army within a month or two."

Gao Qiu hesitated for a moment, this matter is a bit risky, if the officials find out, I'm afraid it will be difficult for him to explain, but now is the critical time to stand in line, just as Li Yanqing said, it is better to give charcoal in the snow than icing on the cake. Then he nodded and agreed, "Okay! I will arrange this matter tomorrow. In addition, Xu Ning, Dong Ping, and Zhang Qing are all talents in the Forbidden Army. They have high prestige in the Forbidden Army. You can use them, but my brother is from the Kaifeng Mansion. Yin, you don't train them yourself, do you?”

  Li Yanqing smiled slightly, "Training in person is not enough, but there is nothing wrong with going to see it every day. The Governor of Kaifeng has nothing to do. Besides, my fellow magistrate of Jingzhao Prefecture has not resigned, so it is reasonable to appear in the barracks!"

  Gao Qiu was stunned, "This is strange, you are still the co-prefect of Jingzhao Mansion?"

"Actually, it's not surprising at all. Although Zhongshuai sits in Jingzhao Mansion, the officials don't want him to take up a real position. If someone else is appointed as the co-prefect of Jingzhao Mansion, he will form a power struggle with Zhongshuai, which is not conducive to fighting against Xixia. , so we can only maintain the status quo and continue to let me serve as the co-prefect of Jingzhao Mansion concurrently, so that everyone has no objections."

  Gao Qiu nodded with a smile, "It sounds unbelievable, but when you think about it carefully, it makes sense. Only by letting you continue to hold this position in vain can the balance of Jingzhao Mansion be maintained. Changing anyone else will break this balance."

  The two of them were talking, when the maid outside the door reported; "Our big shopkeeper, Xin Lou Xin, would like to offer a glass of wine to the honored guest. Is it convenient?"

   Gao Qiu chuckled, "Please come in!"

  At this time, a beautiful woman walked in quickly from the outside, bringing in a gust of fragrance, smiling like a flower, and said: "I'm bothering you two distinguished guests."

  Gao Qiu smiled in surprise: "It's actually a female shopkeeper?"

  Li Yanqing was even more surprised, "Big lady, why is it you?"

  The female shopkeeper Li Yanqing who came in was very familiar, she turned out to be Mrs. Sun of Baoyanzhai, and Mrs. Sun was also stunned, "Little proprietor, why are you here?"

   "Wait a minute!"

  Li Yanqing was a little confused, and hurriedly dragged Mrs. Sun to the outside room, "Mrs., when did you leave Baoyanzhai?"

  Miss Sun smiled charmingly, "Don't tell me the little proprietor doesn't know that half of the tower already belongs to Baoyanzhai."

   "Ah! When did it happen?"

"Two and a half months ago! The master signed an agreement with the Xiang family, and half of the building was given to Bao Yanzhai. Then the two partnered to build a new building in Hangzhou. At that time, I will be the big shopkeeper of the new building. For a few months, I will temporarily serve as the big shopkeeper here."

  Li Yanqing finally understood the cause and effect, and smiled happily: "Since this is the case, then I will congratulate the eldest lady."

   "Go! What's there to congratulate? I've been working in Fanlou for a year at most. I still want to go back to Baoyanzhai. By the way, the master has already returned to the capital today."

  Li Yanqing was overjoyed, "When did you come back?"

   "He just arrived at noon today, and he asked about you."

   "I see, I'll go see him later."

   Li Yanqing came back and briefly explained to Gao Qiu, Gao Qiu didn't ask any more questions, and had a glass of wine with Mrs. Sun, and he immediately took a step ahead.

  Li Yanqing originally wanted to go back to the Kaifeng government office, but now that his father had returned from Jiangxia, he was also eager to know the situation of his wife and children, so he changed his mind, found some subordinates downstairs, and headed towards Hongqiao Baoyanzhai.

  Li Yanqing hadn't seen his father for two years. The last time he had black hair, but this time when he saw his father, he found that his left temple was already gray and his face was full of exhaustion.

   "Daddy, train more subordinates!"

  Li Yanqing said to his father with some complaints: "Let your subordinates do something, don't worry about everything by yourself, you are too busy!"

   "I asked my subordinates to do it. There are already 20 or 30 people in charge that I trust, but this is an extraordinary period. It's normal for me to be busy, and you don't want to make trouble for me."

   "What?" Li Yanqing was startled.

   "Relief for refugees!"

Li Daqi said to his son with some dissatisfaction: "I have already set up three disaster relief sites in the south of Tangyin County, and all the people have been sent out. You have set up another site for me on the south bank of the Yellow River, and you have even put the brand of Baoyanzhai on it. What do you say?" Can I leave it alone?"

  Li Yanqing laughed, "Anyway, my subordinates are only helping temporarily. Either Dad will hire someone to do it, or they will disband in a few days."

   "Forget it, I have asked Hong Dazhi to take over, he will hire someone himself."

   "How is Jiang Xia?" Li Yanqing asked, turning back to the topic.

"They've already settled down, and they're all arranged in Jiangkou Town. Together with your family members, it has become a small Tangyin over there. There are 10,000 to 20,000 people gathered, most of whom are from Tangyin, but you really don't intend to let them Are Yunniang and the others going to Hangzhou?"

  Li Yanqing shook his head, "They are only staying in Jiangxia temporarily, because Bashu is inconvenient. I will arrange them when I stabilize."

   "This is up to you, and I hope they are best with you."

Having said that, Li Daqi took out a thick stack of letters and handed them to Li Yanqing, "One of them is yours, and the others are letters from your family. By the way, I met Tang Zhengzong and Brother Yue in Jiangxia County when I came back." son's mother and brothers."

   "How are they?"

   "Fortunately, Brother Yue's mother asked you to help pass a message, saying that they are all safe and have settled down."

   "I see, I will ask Zhou Chun to send him a message later."

   Zhou Chun was promoted to Xiangzhou general judge last year, and he is still in Xiangzhou.

  Li Yanqing was relieved when he heard about his wife and children. He took a sip of hot tea and said with a smile, "When did Daddy buy the building?"

   "I didn't buy the whole building, but only half of it. The main reason was that Xiang Jia wanted to buy 500 acres of land by the West Lake. The cooperation of the building was just an additional condition for me to transfer the land to them."

   "Is the housing price in Hangzhou very expensive now?" Li Yanqing asked with a smile.

Speaking of houses, Li Daqi was immediately interested, and said with a smile: "Thanks to you persuading me to go to Hangzhou, the prices in Hangzhou are actually not bad, mainly in Qiantang County, where house prices are skyrocketing, and a five-acre house can be sold for ten Wanguan, the land by the West Lake is simply impossible to buy. My Baoyanzhai main store in Beiguanmen covers an area of ​​40 mu. As a result, Empress Zheng's brother offered a price of 100,000 taels of silver to buy my land and approached me several times. , I had no choice but to sell the old house in Jiuyi Lane to him, 20 acres of land, 80,000 taels of silver, and now I will make a fortune even if I resell the land. I regret it so much!"

   "The Wang family also bought a lot!"

"The Wang family bought more than a dozen small houses in Qiantang County, about 100 mu. They only kept one, and sold all the others. I don't know how much they sold. But when Wang Wanhao saw me, he regretted buying less land. , probably made a lot of money, and Magpie, two years ago, I persuaded me to buy a 20-acre house by the West Lake with 1,000 yuan. Not long ago, I helped her to sell this house to Empress Liu My nephew, one hundred thousand taels of silver, but only you and I know about this matter, please don't tell it, she repeatedly asked me to keep it a secret."

   "How is the magpie doing now?" Li Yanqing asked.

  Li Daqi shook his head, "She is the same as before, still working as the top pharmacist in Baoyanzhai. This girl admits death, and her temper is more stubborn than ten cows. You should go and see her when you have time! She has been thinking about you."

  Li Yanqing smiled wryly. Of course he knew that the magpie had a deep affection for him, but he still hoped that the magpie would have a good home.

  At this time, a steward ran in and said, "A carriage came outside, and they said they were looking for the little proprietor."

  (end of this chapter)

Chapter end