Chapter 113

With the Xiaocang Mountain copper mine as a base, Li Mu's revenue expectations for the other copper mine also dropped significantly.

Thinking about it is normal; for gentry who mine privately, besides profit, the most important thing is safety.

A tall tree catches the wind; it applies everywhere.

If there are no thousands of troops in hand, letting him develop cautiously, he will only mine on a small scale.

Earning a few hundred taels of silver per month is just right; it won't be too eye-catching, and he can accumulate wealth slowly.

If he develops wantonly regardless of consequences, monthly income grows from a few hundred taels to thousands, or even tens of thousands of taels.

This is not a family foundation, but a devastating disaster.

In the hands of gentry, it is impossible to mine wantonly, but it doesn't mean that when it reaches him, he cannot expand the mining scale.

Anyway, the scale is here; with current technology, no matter how much mining is expanded, capacity won't be high anywhere.

As long as money is turned into military strength in time, there is no risk.

Days passed one by one, and in a blink of an eye, it was the end of the year.

Too many things happened in the seventh year of Tianyuan; for Li Mu, it was a year full of turning points.

Before entering the capital, he only thought about successfully inheriting the hereditary official position and returning to Hanzhong to be a happy idler.

Never did he expect that first he would enter the Five Cities Military Commission, and then participate in the great war of pacifying the rebellion.

With a near-legendary speed, he was promoted to the position of Assistant Regional Commander.

Although it is currently acting, this "acting" character will be removed before long.

Looking back, it feels like a dream.

Compared to the smoothness of his official career, the birth of the Yangzhou Battalion is of great significance.

A military general with soldiers and a military general without soldiers are completely two concepts.

The Great Great Dayu has been passed down for more than 200 years, and there are a lot of internal contradictions accumulated.

"Tianyuan Restoration" is just a beautiful fantasy of Great Great Dayu's loyal ministers.

That sudden big explosion cut off the beautiful dream of the empire's restoration.

The reforms launched in the court are more like a national salvation movement launched by people of insight who are unwilling to let the empire sink.

Emperor Tianyuan is alive, and the reform can continue.

Once the Emperor passes away, no one knows where the empire will go.

Compared to the Great Great Dayu Dynasty and the Great Ming in his memory, it is too similar.

It is nothing more than Emperor Tianyuan's political means being tougher, able to press all parties to work.

Unfortunately, heaven does not bless Great Great Dayu, and the Emperor's health has problems.

Changing to another emperor, Li Mu doesn't know who among the imperial clan can shoulder this heavy responsibility.

He doesn't expect political means to be on par with Emperor Tianyuan; as long as he has half the level and doesn't toss blindly in the court, the Tianyuan Restoration has hope to continue.

These problems, he can think of, and others can naturally think of them too.

But caught in the torrent of the era, what he can do is only accumulate strength, hoping to have the power of self-preservation in the changing situation.

In this era with backward medical conditions, for patients, winter is undoubtedly the hardest to endure.

Since the beginning of winter, every time he opens a letter from home, Li Mu is terrified, fearing receiving bad news.

Opening the letter from home again, Li Mu is a bit dumbfounded.

It hasn't been long since the engagement, and he is being urged to marry.

After a brief loss of focus, Li Mu soon noticed something wrong.

According to normal circumstances, there are many rituals in the marriage of big families.

According to the normal rhythm, he should go back to complete the series of engagement processes first and announce it to the relatives and friends of both families.

The wedding time should be placed at least three months later.

After all, transportation is a hard injury in this era; without notifying in advance, relatives and friends from other places cannot rush over at all.

But looking at his uncle's meaning, it is clearly to let him hold the wedding during his tenure in the capital.

Holding a wedding in a hurry, either both families urgently need this marriage, or the one in the palace has worsened in health.

According to Great Great Dayu's rules, when the Emperor dies, nobles need to mourn for 27 months.

During this period, all marriages are prohibited, and banquets are not allowed.

In Li Mu's eyes, dragging the wedding date later is fine, but the woman's side definitely won't be willing.

Once dragged, she becomes an old maid of this era; for the Duke's mansion, this is a very face-losing thing.

Reaching out to rub his forehead, Li Mu wrote a reply.

This kind of thing definitely cannot be refused; the Duke's mansion played a big role in his position as acting Assistant Regional Commander.

It is equivalent to receiving half of the dowry in advance; now he has taken people's things and is soft-handed.

"Mr. Lan, prepare some specialties in Yangzhou as soon as possible, and the specifications should be as high as possible.

Prepare more, don't care about money.

This time returning to the capital to report on duties, I will hold a grand wedding."

Li Mu immediately instructed.

He doesn't need to worry about the various processes and betrothal gifts of the wedding; these will naturally be handled by elders.

As the person involved, he only needs to be responsible for paying money.

Of course, he might not really pay this money.

Representing the marriage of two big families, even if he wants to do it himself, the elders in the clan won't be at ease.

For the sake of the family's face, the clan will definitely arrange for people to be responsible for handling the wedding, and the expenses will also be advanced by the public account.

With the influence of the Jing and Li families in the court, the gifts received on the wedding day will inevitably cover all expenses; it is just a matter of earning more or less.

If he wants to make money, then be thick-skinned and invite more guests.

If he can lower his face to send invitations to wealthy merchants, they wouldn't dare to come to the door without gifts of 10,000 taels of silver.

Of course, if he really did this, he would probably have his bones broken by the elders in the clan.

The political marriage of the Duke's mansion pays attention to force; if it goes wrong, even the Emperor will send people to participate.

Don't say unranked merchants; some officials with lower ranks can't even enter the door without connections.

"Congratulations, Lord!

I was wondering why the magpies were always calling recently; it turns out the Lord's wedding date is near.

I wonder which daughter it is?"

Lan Lan Linjie said with a look of surprise.

Mixing in officialdom, being single is also a deduction item.

Usually, it is considered not mature enough; when promoting personnel, the court will deliberately press down.

Although Li Mu broke the convention, as a private secretary, he still hopes his master will get married soon.

"Second young lady of the Duke of Cheng's mansion."

Hearing this answer, Lan Lan Linjie's head buzzed.

Although he knew Li Mu's marriage object would be from a high-ranking family, he didn't expect the family status to be so high.

After a brief loss of focus, he suddenly understood why his master could climb so fast.

With the support of the two big wealthy families of Great Great Dayu behind him, if his official career didn't develop smoothly, that would be the problem.

Earlier he felt that many of Li Mu's actions were a bit out of line; now he feels his master is still too conservative.

With such a hard background, temporarily borrowing some land and minerals from the prefecture is nothing at all.

Not directly putting it under his own name is considered having integrity.

"Don't announce it to the outside world for now; after the grand wedding is over, I will privately entertain colleagues."

Li Mu reminded.

Some things exposed in advance lose their meaning.

Now he is just the prospective son-in-law of the Duke's mansion; compared to the official son-in-law, he is still a step behind.

If the news spreads and people send gifts in advance, how can he be embarrassed to invite guests later?

It is better to wait until after the grand wedding and then, according to custom, privately entertain colleagues who couldn't attend the wedding.

After the news spreads, even if people nearby don't come, gifts will be sent over.

Compared to officials who hold banquets for concubines and birthdays to solicit bribes, this is definitely considered having integrity.

It's not that he is a young radical; it's mainly that since entering officialdom, he has attended no less than ten concubine banquets.

This kind of banquet is mainly to harvest merchants and local gentry.

Li Mu attended only because of human feelings; the gifts he sent were not many, but he couldn't stand the disgust.

"Lord, rest assured; the student will never leak a single word to the outside world!"

Lan Lan Linjie immediately guaranteed.

Following a master with a hard background is also a good thing for him.

Even if he can't intervene in the high-end circle of connections, being able to follow and get a familiar face is also of great benefit to the future.

If it goes wrong, the examiner of the next imperial examination might have eaten dinner together.

If people take care of him a little, maybe he can change from failing the exam to "Sun Shan."

Three days later, Li Mu boarded the ship again.

Compared to coming empty-handed, returning was full of big and small boxes piled up on the pier.

Because there were too many things to bring, he chartered two ships alone to return to the capital.

Looking at this posture, one knows it is the standard configuration of a corrupt official.

If he didn't fish for money, relying on the court's salary, I'm afraid the money for chartering the ship wouldn't necessarily be enough.

For the strange looks from the outside world, Li Mu turned a blind eye.

Which general returning from the Two Huai region isn't transporting things to the capital on big and small ships?

Besides needing them for gifts, bringing some local specialties from the Jiangnan region to sell in the capital is also a considerable income.

Water bandits and thieves along the way, seeing the ships of court officials, will stay far away.

The soldiers of the canal transport government office will not collect taxes from officials reporting on duties; this is a tacit understanding that everyone knows privately.

(End of chapter)