After the winter, Dajiang returned to Nambu from Wu Chengkang, bringing a handwritten letter from Yu Kui.
The words on the secret letter are written in edible white vinegar, dry without trace, Chu Chao Hui with carrot peel leaching liquid spray, you will see the red handwriting on the letter paper.
Only a few sentences on the letter paper, Yu Kui told Zheng Chu two people in the letter, the two major forces in the court of the King of Wu, he has been with the Jiang Zuo Daifu's disciples, the disciples promised to the end of the year to Jiang Kui recommended to Jiang Daifu. As for the Hussar General's family forces, the identity of the disciples of the status requirements are very high, most of these disciples of the extraordinary origin, not of noble origin is very exclusionary, the merchant even more contempt, Yu Kui can not be openly use their real identity, so to date have not been able to approach the Hussar General's side of the close friends. For Wu Prince Zhao, Yu Kui only has one comment, that is Prince Zhao is not as good as Gongzi Guang.
Yu Kui did not have a high opinion of Gong Ziguang, believing that Gong Ziguang did not think about making progress and only wanted to live his carefree life in a remote area. However, among Yu Kui's negative comments, he still praised Duke Ziguang, praising Duke Ziguang for having the capacity to tolerate others, and that after he trusted Wei Shen, he was very assured of Wei Shen and never suspected each other. Wei Shen's eyes are not open, but the management ability is very strong, Gong Ziguang rely on Wei Shen auxiliary, in Dacheng nine years of peaceful days. Dacheng was also stabilized under Wei Shen's painstaking management. This comment of Yu Kui on Prince Zhao let Zheng Yuming and Chu Chao Hui understand that Prince Zhao was narrow-minded.
The trip from Dacheng to Wudu City will take three or four days, Yu Kui because of the fragile porcelain, the road walking are exceptionally worried, walking six days to arrive. After arriving at the capital city of Wu, Yu Kui did not first go to peddle porcelain, but around the news, find out Jiang Dafu and Hussar General's close characters, with a pair of porcelain vase as a gift, and Jiang Dafu a more important use of the gatekeeper on the line, the use of Jiang Dafu's power in the capital city to stand firm, the sale of porcelain. Now and this door customer is called brother to brother. Yu Kui this time to send Dajiang back, one is to report the activities, the second is the need for Zheng Chu two people looking for a treasure, as a promotion to meet Jiang Dafu meet gift, Jiang Dafu is very greedy, to let Jiang Dafu Yu Kui impressed, the meet gift must be very precious.
Zheng Yuming and Chu Zhaohui asked Yu Kui and Dazhuang carefully in the capital of the drop, learned that the two have now sold the porcelain peddling empty, and in the city of Dacheng bought a residence to live, residence to buy a very luxurious, the cost of most of the porcelain goods.
"My lord, Yu Dongjia is spending too much money." Dazhuang is very dissatisfied with Yu Kui's behavior of not treating money as money, this time the porcelain brought, excluding a pair of porcelain vases made as a gift, after selling a total of more than 20,000 gold. Yu Kui got the money, immediately buy mansion buy servants beauty, every day in the mansion with wine and food song and dance feast treats, spending to see the big Zhuang heartache trembling. Because before the departure, Chu Chao Hui told him to follow all the instructions of Yu Kui, Dazhuang can only secretly persuade Yu Kui not to spend too much money, to save money for the main family. Yu Kui heard just a smile, still the same. Dazhuang, who had a hard time holding his heart, returned to the valley and reported to his master.
"Going out for more than two months this time, hard work! You go down and have a good rest, you will also be sent to Kangcheng in the next two days." Zheng Yuming only praised and pacified Dajiang without making any remarks about Yu Kui's big hand, and gave Dajiang another sweet date before he took his leave. "I trust you father and son the most in the valley, Yu Kui's activities in Kangcheng are very important, only by sending you there can I rest assured!" The implication was that sending Dajiang there meant that Dajiang would help them keep an eye on Yu Kui.
"Da Zhuang will definitely do a good job for your lord." As soon as Dajiang heard about Zheng Yuming's trust in him, he only felt a rush of hot blood rush to his head and only thought of breaking his bones to repay his master.
"What you and Yu Kui did in Kangcheng is confidential, you can't tell anyone." Chu Chao Hui actually did not worry about Da Zhuang leaking secrets to the slaves because the slaves did not have channels to leak secrets, however, in order to cultivate Da Zhuang's sense of confidentiality, Chu Chao Hui still cautioned again and again.
"Bigstrong knows! Bigstrong won't tell anyone." Big Strong solemnly swore, "I won't tell at my father's place either!"
"Your father has moved into the new house, so go home and take a look." Zheng Yuming told Da Jang the good news.
"My lord! Big Strong takes his leave!" Big Strong's face was full of excitement, although he had known that his family would be the first slaves in the valley to have a house, he still felt a surge of excitement when it was actually realized now.
When Big Strong came out of the cottage, he went to the Valley Blacksmith Works to look for his father. Papa Bigstrong was instructing his apprentices in front of the recently built blast furnace. There were two master craftsmen in the blacksmith factory, one of whom was Big Strong's father, and the other was a sinful craftsman who had been exiled. The two master craftsmen are in charge of the blacksmith factory, with Papa Bigstrong as the head and the sin smith as the deputy.
This sin smith is not a blacksmith, but a jeweler who makes jewelry, the ironworks in the valley besides producing some necessary tools, the most important thing is to make weapons, the jeweler's craftsmanship is exquisite, the production of bows and arrows, arrows and crossbows, and metal armor need the jeweler's craftsmanship to improve the production of the items to be more suitable.
Every handicraft industry in this time and space used family inheritance to pass on their skills. Zheng Yuming, in order to streamline the production of the industry, had the idea to change this inheritance by dividing the ranks of the master craftsmen in the valley into six grades, with each grade having different treatment, and one grade higher, the treatment compensation was doubled.
Fan Jin had calculated for the master craftsmen, if the skill level reaches level six, the master craftsmen enjoy the remuneration income every year equivalent to the land tax income of a village in Nambu for two years, this calculation came out, the craftsmen in the valley boiled, master craftsmen rushed to take the apprenticeship, the apprenticeship desperately trying to learn the art. The valley is now a few master masters rank is a level, rank assessment is calculated with scoring, an apprentice out of the master into a craftsman, will add a point for his master, the number of points to reach the standard, a level of master masters become two masters, and the apprentice to become a master craftsman, work for a full year, then you can take an apprentice, craftsmen can struggle towards the first level of the master master position. The Master Master level assessment gives craftsmen a clear goal to strive for.
As soon as Big Strong Old Dad saw his son come in, wrinkles immediately appeared on his face. However, because he was in the middle of teaching his disciples, Big Strong Old Dad just waved his hand towards his son, signaling him to wait by the side for a while and go back together after his shift.
The blast furnace must be occupied day and night, and the furnace guards work three shifts. Father Dajiang waited for the shift change craftsmen to arrive, and then took his son back to the family's new tiled house.
The new tiled house is two two-story houses plus two side rooms, with a not so small yard, which is also made of bricks, and a water well has been drilled in the yard. House under the repair of the sewer, built a septic tank behind the house, two buildings on the ground floor paved with tiles, the second floor floor paved with wooden planks. The whole structure of the house carries a kind of eccentricity, but when you live in it, you feel very comfortable.
"Dajiang, you can build a shed to raise chickens and ducks and pigs over there on the fence, and you can grow some vegetables over here." Father Dajiang took his son and climbed to the upstairs corridor overlooking his yard, pointing his finger at the yard and talking about his plans.
"Dad, you're going to work at the ironworks, and I'm going to go outside the valley to help the adults, so who's going to raise chickens and ducks, and who's going to grow vegetables?" Da Zhuang first followed his old dad's wild thoughts, then thought of practical problems.
"Ge carpenter has a fifteen year old Erniu, he wants to marry with our family, has let teacher Fan come to set the word with me, I went to look at his family Erniu, the appearance is good, and now waiting for your opinion, you want to think it is OK, Ah Dad at the end of this year will ask people to go to the marriage proposal, and next year you guys will finish the marriage, and when you become a family, the family will be able to raise chickens, ducks, and grow vegetables." Big strong old man has a plan in his heart, this plan is waiting for his son's nod.
"Mr. Fan himself hasn't started a family yet, how come he's doing coal instead?" Hearing his own father talk about his lifelong affairs, Dajiang was a bit embarrassed to answer, so he led the conversation to Fan Jin, who turned out to be an entertainer, drifting around and never having a family.
"Teacher Fan and Carpenter Ge's eldest daughter have become married! The marriage will be consummated after the winter solstice."
"How many daughters does Carpenter Ge have?" Dazhuang was dumbfounded, is he going to become a brother-in-law with Fanjin?
"There are five daughters in total, two died on the way to exile, and now there are three more." This Ge carpenter is a thousand-dollar professional.
"Then did his youngest daughter find someone? Is she married to the Gongsun carpenter's family?" Dazhuang deeply felt that this Ge carpenter's brain is particularly clever, preemptively marrying his daughter to the real estate class, and it is true that having a house is the only way to find a wife. His family and Gongsun smith, Fanjin is the first three families with houses.
"That little daughter of his is too young, only eight years old." Big strong old man blankly glanced at his son. "Ge Carpenter's daughters are all good looking, you go and look at them tomorrow, if you are satisfied, then settle down first, with a woman in the house to take care of them, our family will be like a family!"
"How good it would have been for my sister and brother to live to see this day." Da Zhuang's eyes were moist as he looked at the brand new furniture in the house.
"Dajiang, work well for your master, everything we have is given by your master!" Old man Dajiang's eyes were red as he thought of his dead sons and daughters, and the life he was living nowadays made Old man Dajiang grateful to his lord at all times.
Da Zhuang in the valley only stayed three days, three days later, he escorted a batch of porcelain, carrying villa a glass ashtray to Wudu. Porcelain is given to Yu Kui sold for activity funds, glass ashtray is given to Yu Kui as a gift to Dr. Jiang's meeting, of course, the treasure term can not be called an ashtray, it must be called white jade flawless glazed plate.
After Da Zhuang left, it snowed heavily in Dacheng and the temperature dropped below zero. The earth is nothing but white, and few people walk outside. Zheng Yuming grew up in the Yangtze River Delta and had long been accustomed to the cold and cloudy weather, while Chu Chao Hui had lived in the tropics for a long time and was very unaccustomed to this kind of wet and cold. Even though Chu Chao Hui was not used to this kind of weather, he still brought his slave soldiers to insist on training in the field, an excellent soldier, must adapt to any weather.
Cotton was bought in abundance in the fall, and each of the slaves in the valley had a cotton coat made, and each was allotted a quilt, and the slaves did not freeze this early winter.
Slaves in the valley have guaranteed food and clothing, the villagers of Nambu village life is even better, in addition to enough food at home, there are still working in the hands of the money and silk, was hemp clothes for the winter, are now purchasing cotton to do the cotton clothes, the original is unable to buy fish and meat, is now in January will be bought a few times. Because the villagers of Nangbu have a strong demand for goods, the pork, chicken and ducks from the surrounding villages are sold to Nangbu, and the cargo men brave the snow to earn profits at the pier in Nangbu. The Yangtze River does not freeze over because of the cold, and there are still many boats coming to Nambu. Nambu wharf is not depressed this year because of the cold weather, but shows a busy business in the cold winter.
But it is in this vibrant village, carrying merchants wooden boats to the south port of the refugees gradually increased, not long after, Yu Kui from the royal capital to send important news, Wu Wang Ting Ri Ji, a big move.