Hundreds of households in Liaodong, covering the light with one hand

Chapter 172 The missing gunpowder from Wang Gongchang
  "Before uncle sent you here, I must have told you clearly what you were going to do?" Wang Qi took two bites of shrimp fried rice, then stopped moving his chopsticks and sat there watching Wang Zhengyi eat.

"Before coming here, my uncle has made it clear that I will follow the Duke of Guo and handle some trivial business matters. I can't help the Duke of Guo with his worries. It's good if I can get some exercise." Wang Zheng looked at Wang Zheng. Qi didn't move his chopsticks, so he put down the bowl and chopsticks in his hands, sat up, took out a letter from his sleeve, and handed it to Wang Qi respectfully: "This is what my uncle asked me to bring to the Duke!"

"Have you handled family business before?" Wang Qi opened the letter, read it quickly, raised his head and asked again.

"I did some business with the elders in the family," Wang Zhengyi licked his lips and said a little shyly: "Mainly working with my sister. My sister has managed the entire commercial trade from Dengzhou to Jinan in the family. This time I went to Beijing. It is also my sister who takes the lead and helps the Duke in his work."

Wang Nan, Wang Zhengyi's sister, went to Beijing with him this time to help handle business matters in the capital.

Wang Qi had heard his uncle say this. It was admirable for a woman to achieve something in this world at the peak of feudal ethics.

"Sister caught a cold on the road. She is recuperating these days. She will come back to visit the Duke in two days." Seeing Wang Qi thinking about something, Wang Zhengyi hurriedly explained, for fear of misunderstanding.

"It doesn't matter, things in the capital haven't started yet. It won't be too late to start after the illness is cured." Wang Qi nodded, thought for a moment and asked: "You and your sister Qian will come to live in the house tomorrow. I will find someone tomorrow." An imperial doctor is here to treat your sister, otherwise my uncle will probably blame me for not taking good care of my relatives."

"This," Wang Zheng was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately stood up and prostrated: "Thank you so much, Lord Duke, for your love!"

Except for Wang Huazhen, there are not many Wang families in Zhucheng who can make Wang Qi truly treat him as a family member. If he can use this opportunity to truly become the confidant of the Duke of Guo, wouldn't he be able to achieve great success in the future?
  Wang Zhengyi is seventeen years old this year. He seems to be quite smart. He has his own opinions on the business and trade in Beijing. Although he is sometimes immature, Wang Qi seems to be harmless. Whenever he has ideas, he can understand things when they happen. , it is good to be able to think. The experience of doing things can be accumulated slowly, but the width and depth of thinking cannot be changed in a short time.

Wang Zhengyi did this very well.

What a strange woman Wang Nan was who trained her, which also made Wang Qi look forward to the future business development in the capital.

About half an hour later, after drinking the post-dinner tea, Wang Zhengyi stood up respectfully and bowed to Wang Qi: "Cousin, it's getting late, I should go back, otherwise my sister might be worried at home."

Wang Qi nodded when he heard this: "There is a curfew in Beijing tonight, let Shouxin take you back."

Not long after, Wang Zhengyi left with all his thanks.

After sitting alone for a while, Wang Qi got up and walked towards the back garden.

After sending away the maids and servants, Wang Qi sat alone in the pavilion next to the rockery of the pond. The breeze was blowing and the bright moon was high, which soothed people's mood. He looked at the golden scales of the fish jumping up from the water from time to time. The water was rippled and the brilliance was overflowing.

Having lived in the capital for a long time, the battle in Liaodong seems to have become a very distant event. The flowers in the capital are dazzling, let alone the beauty of the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River? After living here for a long time, who still has such ambitions?

Emperor Tianqi's words today, which fell into Wang Qi's ears, were considered a gesture of goodwill and compromise.

Zhu Youxiao has made it very clear that in the battle of the Later Jin Dynasty to destroy the country, Wang Qi, the Duke of Lang Kingdom, mainly provided strategic and tactical support in the rear. The specific actions could be left to Xiong Tingbi and others. This can be regarded as an explanation to the world.

At least that's the case in name.

Wang Qi looked up at the bright moonlight. What is the truth?
  Emperor Tianqi's good plan was a success.

One: Let Wang Qi sit in the rear, and on the one hand keep him at the center of the court to minimize his local influence.

Second: Let Xiong Tingbi step up the cultivation of the court's manpower and cronies to replace the generals and private soldiers Wang Qi left in Liaodong.

Third: Balance the court. So many people died in Donglin this time. If Wang Qi is allowed to continue to hold military and political power, the world will be talking about it, and Emperor Tianqi will also have doubts. Therefore, we have dinner together during the day.

Therefore, the three people who have been discussed a lot in the government and the public recently have entered the cabinet.

It's just compensation in disguise from the emperor.

Recently, Qin Erbao, who was far away in Liaodong, also sent a letter to Wang Qi: Xiong Tingbi has begun preparations to launch an attack on the remaining forces of Hou Jin.

Since the battle of Ningyuan City, Hou Jin's troops once shrank to Shenyang City, Fushun and Liaoyang City, and even Liaoyang City has been abandoned, forming a completely strategic defense.

From this point of view, it also gave Xiong Tingbi the confidence to launch a large-scale army after gathering his strength.

As for whether you should obey the emperor's words and ask Wang Qi about everything?

Any high-minded civil servant would never turn to a military commander at this juncture.

This will be a stain on his ability to become a prime minister in the future.

It has nothing to do with personal likes and dislikes, it's just a fact.

Wang Qi is also helpless about this, or in other words, we can understand Xiong Tingbi's approach.

However, Qin Erbao also said another thing in his letter: as long as it is a military commander closely related to Wang Qi, it is not just Qin Erbao, but also Lu Xiangsheng, Cao Wenzhao, Luo Yiguan and others. In terms of the strategic layout of the extermination of Hou Jin this time, everyone stepped aside.

On the contrary, because Yuan Chonghuan, Zu Dashou and others were in the defense of Ningyuan City and obeyed Xiong Tingqiang's orders, they were also reused in this battle. They were respectively appointed as the Liaodong transit envoy and the forward commander. The two men were extremely powerful for a while.

"Sir, we have been sent back," Wang Shouxin walked into Wang Qi and bowed to return.

"Well," Wang Qi nodded and did not give any other instructions: "You should also go and rest early."

"Sir," Wang Shouxin hesitated for a moment before continuing, "I have some clues about the missing gunpowder."

"Tell me about it," Wang Qi looked back at Wang Shouxin after hearing this.

During the daily inspection of the warehouse of Wang Gong Factory in Beijing, the gunpowder used in the Liangtun experiment was inexplicably missing.

In fact, relatively speaking, not many people care about the inventory of black powder. After all, the Ministry of Industry does not have specific archives of these gunpowders. It doesn't matter if there are more or less.

But a month ago, Xu Guangqi had suggested that the Cabinet Secretary and Supervisor of Ceremonies should reorganize the gunpowder warehouse. After all, such a large amount of gunpowder was stored in Beijing in a place with such a dense flow of people. If something happened, it would be a big deal. After Emperor Tianqi learned about this, he ordered the Supervisor of Ceremonies to count the quantity of gunpowder. After such comparison, there was an error of about two tons in quantity.

Two tons of black powder, tsk tsk tsk, who would need these things?

At this time, Wang Qi happened to return to Beijing and was responsible for the errands of Jin Yiwei. Emperor Tianqi asked Wang Qi to be responsible for the investigation.

(End of this chapter)