Domineering husband

Chapter 138 The Grand Canal Opens to Build the British Government's Trick

Li Qiao was waiting for the new moves from the British government, but the British government definitely didn't have any new moves for a while.

In the gambling house, the British government can't think of a more interesting game than mahjong and fighting the landlord.

Like him, the British government does not raise ducks at the duck store. If they want to make ducks, they have to buy ducks from others.

He raised the purchase price of the duck regardless of the cost, so naturally he would not lower it.

He doesn't mind a price war with the British government.

He can fight a price war, but can the British government fight it?

Although Li Qiao doesn't know how rich the British government is, but in terms of cash, the British government is definitely not as good as him.

He is willing to fight the price war without steaming the steamed buns.

But how long the British government can persist is hard to say.

For now, the British government probably has nothing to offer.

The British government is a joke this year.

However, he can't put too much energy on the British government, he still has to continue living his own life.

Every day of the twelfth lunar month passed quickly, and soon it was the twenty-third of the twelfth lunar month, offering sacrifices to the stove.

Today I have to offer sacrifices to Lord Stove and eat stove candy.

Li Qiao's stove candy is made by Li Dashan, it's very crispy, and if you take a bite, there will be scum all over the floor.

This stove candy was delicious, but after Li Dashan took two bites, he suddenly sighed.

"I think my parents still have Xiaoshan and Xiaolan."

The kitchen candy is maltose, which makes him miss his family.

Although his father came when Li Xia got married this year, the rest of the family members didn't come, and they haven't seen each other for a year and a half. When Li Qiao heard this, she was silent for a while, and then said: " The

next time the Han family caravan returns to Sanliu Village, write to them and ask them to come with the Han family caravan next year."

"

"I'm afraid my mother won't come, there are many things at home."

Li Dashan took another bite of the stove candy, and then sighed: "It seems that our Li family is indeed small, and there are not enough people at all. "

That's not true." Li Qiao nodded approvingly.

The Li family seems to have a lot, but who makes him have a lot of property now.

However, Shengjing is indeed too far away from Sanliu Village. Even if it is a normal journey, it will take a month and a half. If the weather is bad in the middle, it will take longer to walk on the road.

If the road is repaired, the time spent on the road will be shortened a lot.

But this road is too long. If an adobe brick road is built like in Sanliu Village, it will not be enough for him to put all his family property into it.

If only the cement could be tossed out.

He knows how to make cement, and he learned it after the end of the world, but there is no suitable opportunity to fiddle with it at present.

The land route was not good, so he focused on the water route.

The waterway is smoother than the land way, and the speed is faster. More importantly, Sheng Hong wants to build the Grand Canal.

When he was taking the imperial examination, Sheng Hong had already begun to survey the places where the Grand Canal passed. As for the funds needed for the Grand Canal, it was funded by the rich people of Dasheng according to the method he wrote during the imperial examination.

He only heard about it from Xin Zhi. Xin Zhi said that many people wanted to pay for this money, but he didn't think of getting involved at the time, so he just listened to it and didn't take it to heart.

But now.

If the Grand Canal can pass through Hexi Mansion, no, even if it passes through Yuanhe Province, it will definitely be much easier for the Li family to come to the capital again.

Not only the Li family, but those merchants who went to Pingcheng to buy vermicelli would definitely choose a combination of water and land.

At that time, there will be more merchants going to Pingcheng.

If you want to get rich, you need to build roads first. Roads can't be repaired right now, but Sheng Hong is determined to build the Grand Canal.

I just don't know if the route of the Grand Canal has been determined...

I have doubts in my heart, so I naturally have to find someone to inquire.

It just so happened that the annual gifts for Mr. Zhao hadn't been sent out yet, so Li Qiao prepared the annual gifts by himself. This year's annual gifts are still ducks and cakes, and the strawberries he planted this year were quite successful, so this year he gave Mr. Zhao the seventh prince Xin The cake I prepared is strawberry cake.

In the middle of winter and the twelfth lunar month, this cake can be sold for a hundred taels of silver, which is very affordable.

The New Year ceremony was ready, on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, Li Qiao and Tao Zhu went to Zhao Mansion together.

Mr. Zhao is the minister of the Ministry of Industry, so it is right to ask Mr. Zhao about this matter.

When I arrived at the Zhao Mansion, I met Mr. Zhao, because Zhao Shen and Li Xia were married, so the relationship between the two families became much closer.

When Mr. Zhao heard about Li Qiao's intentions, he knew everything he could say.

Li Qiao's timing was ingenious. After a year and a half of surveying, the Grand Canal is about to officially finalize its route map.

But, as long as you are not a fool, you can see the huge profits and various benefits brought by the docks after the completion of the Grand Canal. Therefore, during the survey process, some ministers secretly searched for the Ministry of Works and wanted to change the route. .

The Ministry of Industry withstood the pressure and gave the best road map according to the actual situation. At present, there are already several sections of canals from south to north. It is the most convenient and trouble-free way to connect these canals and dig through them.

But a few people didn't give up and still wanted to repair the route. Recently, they approached Sheng Hong directly during the Chinese New Year.

Sheng Hong will formally start to build the Grand Canal in a few years, and now is the time when money is needed. Mr. Zhao feels that if someone is willing to pay enough money, then this best road map may really take a detour.

Li Qiao is most concerned about whether the Grand Canal passes through Yuanhe Province.

According to the current road map, the Grand Canal passes through a county adjacent to Yuanhe Province and Dongshan Province. This county is called Weiqing County, because there is a Weishui Lake and a Qinghe River in that county, so the county is named Wei Qing County.

Weiqing County has a lot of water and the terrain is more suitable, so it is included in the best route map of the Grand Canal.

Although there is only a short section of Weiqing County, the Grand Canal does pass through Yuanhe Province.

However, before the start of the construction of the Grand Canal, it is hard to say whether this best road map can be kept. For the construction of the Grand Canal, Sheng Hong paid money in advance to the wealthy people in Dasheng, and whoever paid the money would have the right to speak.

Mr. Zhao couldn't guarantee Li Qiao.

In order for Li Qiao to intuitively feel the distance between Weiqing County and Pingcheng in Yuanhe Province, Mr. Zhao deliberately took out the map of the Ministry of Industry, whose level of detail is beyond the reach of the outside world.

According to the map, Weiqing County and Pingcheng are separated by a mansion, which is not too close, but if the Grand Canal really passes through Weiqing County, then when the time comes for traders to go to Pingcheng, they must go to Weiqing County.

Li Qiao looked at the map and knew it well. After returning from Zhao's house, he immediately sent a message to the Seventh Prince's Mansion. He wanted to go with Tao Zhu to give the Seventh Prince a new year gift tomorrow.

On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, Li Qiao and Tao Zhu went to give New Year gifts to the Seventh Prince.

The Seventh Prince's Mansion is quite big, but it is also very empty. In terms of appearance and behavior, the Seventh Prince is completely masculine. There are no maids in the mansion, and the servants are all men. With a group of guards, the mansion is full of yang Very rich.

Li Qiao couldn't help but praise Meng Yue in her heart.

The Seventh Prince was surrounded by men, but Meng Yue didn't care about it. This alone was enough to show that Meng Yue was a good person.

It's just that he can't see much hope for this pair.

I met the Seventh Prince in the flower hall, saluted, sat down, and served tea and snacks.

After exchanging a few words of pleasantries, Li Qiao and Tao Zhu expressed their intention of coming. They wanted to find out if the Weiqing County section of the Grand Canal could be kept?

The Seventh Prince was a little surprised when he heard Li Qiao's words.

"It's really a coincidence that you asked. I was hesitating whether I should tell you. I went to the palace yesterday to talk to my father about the case of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, and I ran into Fifth Brother." "When I went, he was talking to my father

. I listened to the talk about the Grand Canal, and he wanted to spend money to divert the site selected by the Ministry of Industry, and he wanted to bypass Weiqing County so that the Grand Canal would pass through Daze Mansion in Dongshan Province."

"Daze Prefecture is adjacent to Yuanshan Prefecture, the hometown of Yingyinggong, and it also belongs to the territory of Yinggong. Yinggong has many good farms in Dasawa Prefecture." "If the Grand Canal is really changed to Dasawa Prefecture, then

Daze The price of the property in the prefecture will definitely increase, and the passenger flow will also increase a lot." "

But I think Weiqing County has nothing to do with you, and if you intervene, it is tantamount to directly confronting Fifth Brother, so there is no first priority." Time will let you know."

"Now you ask, but you want to get involved in the Grand Canal?"

Li Qiao: "..."

Good guy.

Was it just waiting for him here?

No no no, not at all.

Before Li Dashan said he missed his parents, siblings, he hadn't thought about the Grand Canal at all.

In the head of the British government, it should be purely based on the interests of his British government, so he focused on Weiqing County.

The Duke of England directly asked the fifth prince to come forward. If he went to find Sheng Hong, he would really be confronting the fifth prince directly.

"Then what did the emperor say?"

Tao Zhu on the side was a little anxious, and immediately asked: "

Has the emperor agreed ?" So if Li Qiao doesn't get involved, then the emperor will most likely agree to it. Because the terrain on the Daze Mansion is considered suitable, it is feasible for the Grand Canal to bypass the Daze Mansion, but it will cost more money."

Seven The prince said.

Tao Zhu: "..."

He turned his head to look at Li Qiao.

Li Qiao smiled wryly: "So how much money is the Fifth Prince willing to pay?" "

As far as I know, this is

the one who pays the highest price, right ?" Does Fifth Brother compete? Even if you look at the entire Yuanhe Province, no one dares to offend Fifth Brother." The

Seventh Prince paused for a while before pointing at Li Qiao: "Except you." "

No, no, I just offended the British government, not the fifth prince directly."

Li Qiao quickly denied it.

This time he was going to directly confront the fifth prince, and he hadn't decided whether to get involved.

The Fifth Prince's diversion of the Grand Canal will directly damage the interests of Weiqing County, and has nothing to do with him.

Seeing this, the Seventh Prince nodded understandingly: "Personally, I don't recommend that you get involved. For now, except for the original piers on the canals, the remaining new piers to be built are all ordered by senior officials, Xungui was snatched away, let alone a big businessman, even someone with a slightly lower official position, they are not qualified to get involved."

Hearing this, Li Qiao could only smile wryly again.

Understood.

Even the Seventh Prince doesn't suggest it anymore, so let him give up this idea for now.

It would not be worthwhile to directly confront the fifth prince just because it is convenient for the Li family to come to Beijing.

As far as the present is concerned, the fifth prince has not directly provoked him. If he took the initiative to grab the meat from the fifth prince's mouth, he would not only be out of nowhere, but would also be overwhelmed.

Coming out of the Seventh Prince's Mansion, Li Qiao explained to Li Dashan that it wasn't that he, the head of the Li family, didn't work hard, but that the other party was too powerful.

After hearing this, Li Dashan understood very well, the other party was the Fifth Prince, and he was frightened to death: "Uncle, you are right not to get involved, anyway, there is a caravan from the Han family, as long as my parents want to come, they can come every year ."

It's not that I can't come, it's just that I spend too much time on the road.

In order to dispel Li Qiao's thoughts, he hurriedly said again: "Uncle, we don't want to do this anymore, let's celebrate the new year well, today is the twenty-fifth of the twelfth lunar month, according to the custom, it's time to grind tofu." Li Qiao

laughed He said: "Success. At this moment, Ershan should have led Li Dao to make some tofu. We can eat hot tofu when we go home." "Yes!"

Li Dashan replied happily: "Hot tofu." The tofu is served with the chili oil prepared by Uncle Zhu, and sprinkled with chopped green onion, it tastes delicious."

Tao Zhu also smiled when he heard this: "I want to eat what you said, go home soon."

"Okay." Li Dashan immediately shook the whip in his hand.

Li Qiao grabbed Tao Zhu's hand, turned his head and said to him, "This year, let's make more dried bean curds. It's delicious with stewed chicken feet."

Tao Zhu's stewed chicken feet are delicious, spicy enough, and the taste Enough, he can eat more than twenty in one go.

The fried dried tofu is soaked in the marinade, which absorbs the spicy soup and tastes great. Whether it is eating noodles or dumplings, it is extremely delicious with this dried tofu.

"Okay. After you go back, you watch the child, and I'll go to the kitchen to cook."

Tao Zhu nodded with a smile.

What about the Grand Canal? I don't want to think about it. The most important thing is to have a good New Year with Li Qiao's children.

When they got home, Li Xia and Zhao Shen were holding the two cubs in their arms to watch Li Xiaorui play on a scooter. The two fat faces were originally smiling, but when they saw their father and father, they turned into grievances.

As soon as the small mouth was deflated, tears appeared in the big eyes.

Li Xia smiled immediately: "I missed you all. But before, I was obedient and didn't cry at all." "

The one who was obviously smiling just now, when he saw Brother Zhu and me, he felt aggrieved, you little clever ghost.

" Qiao was amused by the speed at which the two boys changed their faces. He took Li Changfeng's fat friend from Zhao Shen's arms, and couldn't help pinching Li Changfeng's fat face: "Am I right?"

Li Changfeng How could the little fat friend understand his complicated words, but he still called out to his father with an aggrieved face.

The little arms were still stretched out to hug Li Qiao's neck.

Li Qiao's heart softened at once, kissed his chubby cheeks a few times, and raised his hands high, and after a while, he finally made him laugh.

Tao Zhu next to him also coaxed little fat friend Li Yunfan, Tao Zhu handed little fat friend Li Yunfan to Li Xia, and then went to the kitchen.

First come a bowl of hot tofu, then you can make dried tofu and marinated chicken feet.

It's a great Chinese New Year. Ordinary home-cooked food can also taste something that you don't have in ordinary times.

On the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, stew big meat.

On this day, Li Qiao's house was equally lively, making grilled sausages, stewed meat, braised meat, every pot was used.

Li Qiao and Tao Zhu didn't do it themselves, they took care of the two cubs.

On this day, there is no need to cook seriously at all. After every meal is prepared, taste it, and you will be full after tasting it.

It's just a little greasy, and I ate meat all day long. In the evening, Li Qiao went to the strawberry planting house to pick some strawberries, washed them and brought them back to the warm room, ready to use strawberries to relieve the greasy.

Tao Zhu sat on the kang and was looking through the picture book that Li Qiao had tailored for Li Xiaorui, and the little boy was lying on the kang sleeping soundly.

Seeing him come in with a bowl of strawberries, Tao Zhu yelled, "We should ask Li Yu and the others to make some cream in advance."

Although this strawberry was more successful than last year, it was small in size and not sweet enough, so it was most suitable to eat with cream .

"No, you already ate the cream cake today."

Li Qiao stood by the kang, picked up a strawberry and fed it to him: "If you want to eat it, I will make it tomorrow."

Tao Zhu opened his mouth and put the strawberry in his mouth , looked up at Li Qiao's serious face, and couldn't help smiling.

Looking at Li Qiao from this angle, Li Qiao still looks pretty good.

He raised his hand and tugged at Li Qiao's sleeve: "Then prepare more cream tomorrow, we haven't played with cream for a long time."

Although the cream is not easy to wash when you put it on your body, it is really interesting.

Li Qiao: "...OK."

He looked at Tao Zhu's sparkling eyes, then picked up another strawberry and fed it to Tao Zhu, the smile on his face couldn't stop.

Brother Zhu was taken by him, and when he said this kind of words, he was open and frank, without any shyness.

very good.

He likes such an enthusiastic bamboo brother.

However, since he had a cub, he and Brother Zhu couldn't be as happy every night as before.

Although the two cubs are well-behaved, they also need to eat goat's milk and pee in the middle of the night. In order to prevent lack of sleep from affecting work the next day, he and Brother Zhu can only be happy once in three days.

Thinking like this, he couldn't help but said: "When will the two cubs be able to sleep independently? It will affect our love too much." "...Don't think about it

, at least you have to endure it for another seven or eight years."

Tao Zhuxi Thinking about it carefully, I couldn't laugh anymore.

He turned to look at the sleeping cubs, and couldn't help pinching their chubby faces. He and Li Qiao had paid too much for the two of them!

Soon it will be New Year's Eve, and it will be another day of making dumplings.

Tao Zhu is not pregnant this year, so the job of making dumplings must be done by herself, while Tao Zhu makes dumplings, Li Qiao and Li Xia sit aside to take care of the two cubs.

There are still many kinds of fillings for dumplings this year. Li Qiao planted some out-of-season vegetables in between planting strawberries. Although they don't grow very well, they are rare and delicious in this winter.

Wrap these vegetables into dumplings, the taste is very good.

A few people were busy making dumplings when suddenly, there was a rush of horseshoes at the door.

Then, Shen Hua's voice sounded.

"Brother Qiao, Brother Qiao! Brother Qiao!"

The kitchen was in the front yard, and Shen Hua's voice was so shrill and panicked that everyone present could hear it, let alone Li Qiao, who had good hearing.

"What's going on?"

Tao Zhu immediately stood up and walked out quickly.

Li Qiao stuffed Li Changfeng's chubby friend in his arms to Zheng Qianqian whose hands were covered in flour, and stood up and left the kitchen.

After a few steps to the gate of the courtyard, Shen Hua stumbled open the gate and came in. When he saw Tao Zhu and Li Qiao with concerned faces, his nose sore and he burst into tears.

"Brother Qiao! I beg you to find the Seventh Prince. Just now, two officials from the household department came and said that my cousin was greedy for money from the court to make false accounts. They took him away!" "What?" Li Qiao and

Tao

Zhu They all exclaimed in unison.

Li Qiao walked directly to the door: "I'm going to find the Seventh Prince."

"Brother Zhu, take a good look at Brother Hua."

"No, I'm going too, Brother Qiao, take me with you."

Shen While wiping tears, Hua followed Li Qiao's footsteps: "You go in my carriage, the carriage is fast."

Li Qiao turned to look at him, and nodded: "Okay, you can go together."

"You two Go, don't worry about the house." Seeing this, Tao Zhu hurriedly said.

"Okay, you guys continue to make dumplings."

Li Qiao hurriedly explained, and then got into the carriage with Shen Hua.

Sitting in the carriage, Li Qiao asked about the details.

He didn't believe that Xu Ying would be greedy for money from Mo's bank.

Can the little money at the bank get into Xu Ying's eyes?

joke!

This matter must be framed.

Coincidentally, the Fifth Prince is working in the Ministry of Household Affairs...

The author has something to say: