Poor family mother and son

In Daxuan's Ministry of Industry, the conversion from open fire to flint has not yet been successful, but in Chu Qing's view, it is already quite a remarkable progress.

In fact, it was the same in the emperor's heart.

Without Chu Qing's cannon, the emperor might have praised the Ministry of Industry's invention, but now...

"You..." The emperor looked at Wen Bingquan, neither scolding nor praising him. He couldn't vent his frustration: "All the artillery of Duke Yong'an suppressed the bandits for me!"

The emperor's breath was stuffy in his chest, and Li Jin's breath was stuffed in his stomach. Anyway, there was no ventilation up and down.

Eunuch Li reminded: "Your Majesty, Mr. Hu is still waiting outside."

"What's wrong with him?" the emperor asked angrily. He had forgotten about Hu Hengqiu.

"He...uh...Master Hu has official documents to submit." Eunuch Li replied.

He didn't know if he could tell clearly that what Hu Hengqiu was holding was Chu Qing's letter, so he could only reply vaguely.

"Official document..." The emperor came back to his senses and said to Wen Bingquan and others: "You should step back first."

Wen Bingquan was really sweating this time. The first, second and third leaders of the Ministry of Industry all looked down upon him!

Wen Bingquan and Li Jin hurriedly saluted and were about to exit the imperial study, but then heard the emperor's serious tone: "The Ministry of Industry must tighten its grip!"

……

Seeing the two senior officials of the Ministry of Industry exiting the Imperial Study Room in embarrassment, Hu Hengqiu hurriedly walked in, not daring to wait for the announcement.

Don’t you believe that the emperor likes to vent his anger on those close to him?Just look at Eunuch Li's expression of relief when he saw Hu Hengqiu.

Eunuch Li was extremely glad that Hu Hengqiu and he were not traveling together. Otherwise, they would both be servants. Faced with the affairs of the emperor's heart, the servants had no right to participate, so how could they share the emperor's worries?Don’t they all have to be used as a punching bag?

In the affairs of the court, ministers should share their worries. Hu Hengqiu, please take care of yourself. If the emperor allows it, I can serve you a nice cup of tea - you are also someone close to the emperor.

"Your Majesty, I received an urgent message from Duke Yong'an this morning just as I was about to go out. I didn't dare to delay, so I brought it to you. However, I didn't expect Lord Wen to report something, so I had to postpone it until now." Hu Hengqiu worshiped the emperor as soon as he came in. Under the nose.

He didn't dare to say to the emperor: You obviously see me as anxious, but you insist on meeting the Minister of Industry first. It's your own fault that you delayed until now.

After all these years, Hu Hengqiu could still open the official documents or letters that Chu Qing sent to the Secret Investigation Department, read them first, and then report them to the emperor. Now, he dare not!
It’s not that we don’t dare to do it now. We haven’t dared to do so since the first time Chu Qing Dynasty issued a military order to raise our own food and fodder to retreat from the enemy at the front.

That bitch, tiger!
"Your Majesty, what's in the letter? Is there anything I need to do?" Hu Hengqiu saw that the emperor was looking at every line until he reached the bottom of the last page before he dared to ask a question.

"Humph!" The emperor snorted coldly and threw the letter to Hu Hengqiu: "Take it and read it for yourself!"

With this throw, the letter paper fell to the ground. Hu Hengqiu hurriedly picked it up, nagging in his heart: "It must not be good content! But it's useless for you to show off to me!"
Yes, Chu Qing is still nominally the deputy Qianhu of my Secret Investigation Department, but when will I be able to control her?Don't talk about me, you can't control it now! "

Thinking like this, I couldn't help but feel a little angry in my heart: "You will get mad at me. If you have the ability, go and compete with Mr. Yong'an!"

But the emperor is the emperor after all, and the power of kingship is granted by God and cannot be discussed arbitrarily. So as soon as this complaint flashed through his heart, Hu Hengqiu quickly wiped it away and complained about Chu Qing:
"Chu Qing, Chu Qing, I haven't been kind to you these years!
Why do you always get me into trouble?

How many times have I been scolded by the emperor for you?
You can do it, my gray hair has come out, and I worry so much about you. I have never worried so much about my wife! "

Thinking about it this way, I felt like a rat in the bellows. I was hurt by both sides and felt very aggrieved. I picked up the letter and didn't stand up, so I squatted on the ground to read it.

Squatting down and looking at it... it looks pitiful... it looks like it is occupying a latrine even though it can't poop out. "Hiss!" Hu Hengqiu took a breath as he looked at it, as if he had a toothache.

What is written on the letter?
The letter said that the last letter did not specify the rental price of the Chu family mortars. This time, it was added that each gun and gunner were rented out as a whole, and the rent was 100 taels of silver per day. There was a limit of two shells. If more rounds were needed, each gun could be rented. 50 taels per artillery shell.

He also said that at that time, the Chu family had been waiting for the emperor to issue an order to set a price, because the Chu family had prepared to wait for the imperial court to send them and help suppress the bandits, and they were ready to wait for the emperor to give a clear price.

Unexpectedly, when the Chu family's caravan passed through a certain county in Songjiang Prefecture, it encountered a group of bandits blocking the road and robbing goods and money. The Chu family directly fired a cannon to disperse them.

As a result, the county government sent someone to contact them, saying that they wanted to ask the Chu family to help them suppress bandits in the mountains. Because more and more people were falling into the grass, doing evil everywhere, gathering people to kidnap and rob, and repeatedly resisting the officers and soldiers, the government could not arrest them with the limited manpower.

The Chu family had to temporarily set a price at that time.

Although the boys at home did not know the cost of the shells and set the price low, the price could barely break even. But now that the words had been spoken, it was not easy to change them at will, so I quickly wrote a letter to report it.

Ouch!

100 taels of silver a day, just two cannons. If it's not enough, you have to spend 50 taels of silver on each shell!

"Crazy thinking about money!"

Hu Hengqiu couldn't squat any longer and was about to stand up. As a result, his feet became numb and he almost fell when he stood up so hard.

"Look at your little potential!" the emperor scolded.

Hu Hengqiu's performance actually made the emperor's depression dissipate a little.

People always see that others are more unsatisfied than themselves, so that they can have a psychological balance.

"Get up and sit on the side!" the emperor said, "what does it look like squatting on the ground!"

Look, after a little performance, you will get the emperor's consideration and give you a seat. This is the real "just as long as you are happy".

The emperor couldn't reply to a letter like Chu Qing's because he didn't know what attitude to take towards her.

Since the letter was delivered and the emperor had nothing to say, Hu Hengqiu accompanied the emperor to scold Chu Qing for a while and then went back.

The emperor didn't even let him eat.

Hu Hengqiu found that as soon as Chu Qing received a letter, his day was like going through a catastrophe, and he was very sad.

During lunch, Hu Tu came over and told that Mrs. Hu Hengqiu had brought food.

Since the disaster caused by the "Eight Troubles" at the end of last year, in order to provide relief to the disaster-stricken areas, the canteens of various departments have reduced funds, so the food is very scarce.

Everything else is fine. I can check in when I get there, and eat on time when I get home. Then the bland meal at noon will be boring, and I can eat good food when I get home.

But this was not the case in the Secret Investigation Department, especially Hu Hengqiu. He always had to run to the emperor if he had nothing to do, and he couldn't get off work in time, so Mrs. Hu would ask the servant to bring some delicious meals during her lunch break from time to time, so as not to be unable to survive the whole day. consumption.

Why did Madam personally deliver the meal today?Did something happen at home?Hu Hengqiu ran all the way to greet his wife.