Chapter 259

Love Shenjing Liuyang River West City Ferry.

Some time ago, Jia Cong sent away Qu Hongxiu and Qin Keqing here.

Today he has to send away Zhou Guangcheng here again.

Zhou Guangcheng is one of the five orphans taken in by Qu Hongxiu that year.

In the past few years, he and another young man named Wang Dequan have been responsible for managing the perfume workshop outside the city.

The one who works as a waiter in the Xiuniang Incense Shop is called Liu Ping, the one who follows Jia Cong as a little servant is called Jiang Liu, and the other is Keqing's maid Baozhu.

When Jia Cong and Qu Hongxiu opened the Xiuniang Incense Shop, the original intention was to find a living for these orphans.

The Xiuniang Incense Shop was built from scratch, and it was the result of their efforts for several years; for Jia Cong, they are the people he can trust the most.

Zhou Guangcheng is only one year younger than Jia Cong, and he is very careful and agile in his actions, and another thing is that he is bold enough.

Jia Cong participated in the Nanxi Literary Gathering that year and served as a recorder, so he naturally knew very well about this kind of literary gathering and poetry banquet; all the poetry manuscripts were copied and collected by the recorder.

Otherwise, Jia Cong would not rest assured to let him do such a thing.

"The waiter who delivered food at the Chunhua Building was knocked unconscious by me from behind; he didn't see my face."

"I helped him pick up the poetry manuscripts on the ground and mixed in the poem you wrote; that recorder was only complaining to me and didn't notice at all..."

"Brother Cong, you can rest assured; I have destroyed the peddler's outfit cleanly."

"I have a friend who often goes to the Chunhua Building for a banquet, and he heard this from the waiter there; my friend is a famous scholar in the Love Shenjing and happened to be invited to this poetry banquet."

Watching Zhou Guangcheng's ship gradually sail out of the wharf, the last connection point with that overstepping short poem also disappeared in the Love Shenjing.

Jia Cong did not tell Zhou Guangcheng that his friend was He Jizhen, who was famous in the Love Shenjing for being good at painting bamboo, known as He Qingzhu.

In fact, this is not strange; under those circumstances, who would care about a careless waiter running errands in a restaurant, and even less would think that he could do such a thing.

Zhou Guangcheng suddenly realized: "No wonder you asked me to watch the Chunhua Building that day; after I entered the Prince's Mansion, the guards looked at my food box and let me into the poetry banquet hall."

"Brother Cong, there is one thing I am very curious about; how did you know that the Prince of Beijing has such a hobby, loves to eat the Eight Treasure Stew of the Longjiang River in the Chunhua Building, and must let the Chunhua Building deliver food to the mansion for banquets?"

Jia Cong asked: "Have you cleaned up the end of the things in your hands?"

Regarding that overstepping poem, it involves a princely title of a different surname; with the suspicious nature of that supreme one, the secret agents of the Zhongche Division must investigate the root cause.

Jia Cong smiled: "That day I just let you try it, but I didn't expect you to really do it."

"Sister Xiu is hosting the various matters of the Xinchun Firm in Jinling; the Xinchun Firm needs to gain a foothold in Jiangnan and is just lacking capable hands..."

Jia Cong smiled: "All these nobles are picky about food, and it is common for them to be particularly particular about this."

"Although things are done secretly, you have shown your face in the Beijing Prince's Mansion after all; for the sake of perfection, it is better to leave the Love Shenjing for a period of time."

But they can at most find that guest who is responsible for recording; it is impossible to realize the existence of Zhou Guangcheng.

He Jizhen also inadvertently chatted that there were many Wuzhou people among those invited this time, which is not strange; Wuzhou is a major state for imperial examinations and has always produced many literary scholars.

"I sent things in and went to pay attention to the recorder you mentioned who specializes in writing; I pretended to take the wrong road, passed by him, and deliberately knocked over the poetry manuscripts on the table."

Now that Zhou Guangcheng has left the Love Shenjing, it is even more untraceable.

Of course, there is also the waiter who was knocked unconscious at the Chunhua Building; he will realize the strangeness of the matter.

But the food ordered by the Beijing Prince's Mansion was lost, and the people in the Prince's Mansion did not come to pursue it.

The restaurant owner is a businessman, and reputation and credibility are still very important; the party concerned did not come to the door, so he naturally kept his mouth shut and pretended that nothing happened.

At most, he would scold the unlucky waiter.

Such secular things in the market are instead easier to be ignored, and easier to be covered up by various strange reasons.

In this way, the last flaw in this matter also disappeared.

When Jia Cong went to the Ministry of War yesterday, he heard that Minister Gu was summoned into the palace by the Emperor to discuss the disposal of the Liaodong border troubles.

He also heard that the Prince of Beijing's entry into the palace to defend himself was blocked.

In Jia Cong's view, this is already a very obvious signal.

It shows that everything he did has already had an effect, and the expected situation may appear soon.

After a period of exploration and rework, the firearm workshop fired the first batch of two hundred qualified porcelain mine shells.

The various specifications were even better than the first batch of fifty sample porcelain mine shells.

Other steps such as drug matching, filling, fuse, and packaging also formulated operating standards.

By the end of September, the first batch of two hundred qualified finished porcelain mines was finally manufactured; after testing, the power was 20% higher than the fifty sample mines.

Determining the specifications from test mines to cost mines, the subsequent processes will be much smoother; completing 3,000 qualified porcelain mines before the end of December is no longer a problem.

And Jia Cong's memorial to purchase ten Frankish new cannons received the imperial approval of Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao on the third day after it was sent.

The Firearm Division Supervisor has full authority to hand over and purchase matters with the Frankish country, and the location for the handover of artillery entry is the port of the Shipping Commissioner.

Purchase ten steel cannons, two of which will be transported to the Love Shenjing Firearm Division for deduction and imitation.

The remaining eight Frankish cannons will be transported by the Jinling Guard Water Supervision Division along the sea route to Dengzhou Port, and then transferred to the Liaodong border towns for equipment.

Almost at the same time, after the court discussion and recommendation of various ministries, the Cabinet drafted the decree, and the Emperor used the vermilion pen to approve it; the Minister of War, Gu Yankui, was appointed as the Nine Provinces Commander and will inspect the nine borders in a few days.

And although the Prince of Beijing, Shui Rong, was frustrated, Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao did not embarrass him.

The overstepping poem at the autumn chrysanthemum poetry banquet provided the Emperor with an opportunity; after it played its role, it seemed to be forgotten soon.

It's just that Shui Rong can only continue to drink and talk in the future, and look for a sense of existence among the famous scholars on the sea.

I'm afraid that in the Emperor Jia Zhao Dynasty, it is unlikely that he wants to be a rising star of the Four Kings and Eight Dukes, or to be involved in the politics of the military and the country.

Shortly after the imperial decree appointing Gu Yankui as the Nine Provinces Commander was issued.

In the Five Military Camps and the Three Thousand Camps of the Love Shenjing, several old generals of the Prince of Beijing's line were transferred to various guard stations as officials for various reasons.

It is said that the initiator was not Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao, but the nobles who served as main officials in each camp, who saw that the Prince of Beijing could no longer rise again because of the overstepping poem.

One is to express loyalty to Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao, and at the same time, taking advantage of the decline of the Prince of Beijing's holy favor, they took advantage of the trend to occupy his original power space in the military.

And this was an unexpected harvest that Jia Cong did not expect when he made that overstepping poem.

And after Gu Yankui was appointed as the Nine Provinces Commander, he had a discussion with Jia Cong, who was observing politics in the Ministry of War, about the rectification of border town military equipment and the equipment of firearms.

Shortly after the incident, Gu Yankui recommended Jia Cong to Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao as the Nine Provinces Commander's border inspection consultant, participating in the firearm equipment matters of the nine border towns.

And after the firearm workshop completed the scheduled firearm construction, he accompanied the Nine Provinces Commander to inspect the nine border towns.

And Jia Cong's refusal to participate in the Prince of Beijing's solicitation and invitation, as well as that memorial on the purchase of Frankish cannons, left the Emperor with a good impression of being attentive to state affairs.

The original waiting and concerns about him had already been reduced a lot.

Gu Yankui's recommendation was soon approved by the Emperor.

The so-called border inspection consultant is just the role of the Nine Provinces Commander's accompanying personnel, secretary, and assistant.

But for a newcomer who has just entered the officialdom, it is already a remarkable esteem and achievement, equivalent to stepping into the threshold of military and national importance.

(End of chapter)