Li Yuntian returned to Hukou County this time not to do business, but because of personal affairs, Chen Ningning's eldest brother Chen Hao's eldest son Chen Fang will hold a big wedding soon.

Chen Fang is not only the eldest son and grandson of the Chen family, but also a student who graduated from the lecture martial arts hall, and was left by Li Yuntian to work in the Beijing suburb camp of the Xiaowu Army.

Originally, Chen Fang wanted to go to the four battalions of the Xiaowu Army or the water division, but was stopped by Li Yuntian, according to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, Chen Fang, as the eldest son and grandson of the Chen family, was going to inherit the Chen family's family business in the future, so he couldn't let him take risks, so he placed him in the camp on the outskirts of the Xiaowu Army.

In fact, Chen Fang should have married as early as four years ago, but at that time he happened to be admitted to the Jingshi Martial Arts Hall, so he postponed his marriage in order not to affect his studies.

After graduating last year, Chen Fang, who wanted to make a career in Jiangwutang, did not choose to go home to get married, but stayed in Jiangwutang in the suburbs of Beijing.

This made Chen Ningning's father Chen Bozhao very anxious, after all, the woman had been waiting for Chen Fang for four years, and after two decades, Hua became an old girl, and she couldn't let her family wait forever, and the family who could marry the Chen family must also be a family with a prominent family.

Since Chen Fang is now young and vigorous, and he is also a member of the government, if he doesn't come back, Chen Bozhao really doesn't have any good way, so he can't be tied up.

In desperation, Chen Bozhao had no choice but to ask Li Yuntian for help, so Li Yuntian wrote a letter to Chen Fang, this trick was better than anything else, and Chen Fang immediately obediently went home to get married.

In addition, in addition to Chen Fang's family affairs, Li Yuntian has another thing to do when he returns to Hukou County this time, that is, to congratulate Zheng Wanrou's grandfather on his 70th birthday.

The life expectancy of ancient people was shorter than that of modern people, and the people who participated in the Qianlong Emperor's banquet were all over 60 years old, which shows the life expectancy at that time.

In the poem "Qujiang" by Du Fu in the Tang Dynasty, there is a verse "Life is rare for seventy years", which is the source of the later "ancient and rare years", which means that it is a very rare thing to live past the age of seventy.

Therefore, Old Man Zheng's 70th birthday banquet is a major event, and Li Yuntian, the grandson-in-law, has to go to congratulate him no matter what, which is naturally a façade for the Zheng family.

It is precisely because of this that Chen Ningning and Zheng Wanrou, who are also busy with affairs, rarely get together, because of the business running around, the two big leaders of the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce rarely meet once or twice a year, and the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce has developed steadily under the control of the two, and its business network has spread all over the Ming Dynasty, Beijing and 14 provinces.

At the same time, the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce and the Jiangwutang also carried out close cooperation, the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce is responsible for the transportation of logistics materials and the production of some military items under the Jiangwutang, which makes the logistics of the four major battalions of the Xiaowu Army and the water division troops have been fully guaranteed.

The troops to which the lecture hall belonged were different from the troops of the Ming army's guard, except for the large camp of the lecture hall on the outskirts of Beijing, the rest of the troops were stationed in relatively remote areas.

What is particularly important is that although Jiangwutang also has military households under its jurisdiction, the troops of the Ming Army and the Guards are different, and its Xiaowu Army and Naval Division implement a material rationing system, which requires a strong logistics supply support system.

Li Yuntian did not have the energy, nor the financial, manpower, and material resources to independently establish a complete logistics support system by relying on the strength of the Wutang, so he handed over most of the logistics supply to the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce.

In Li Yuntian's opinion, at the same price, the people of the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce would complete the logistics and supply tasks better than the personnel of the imperial court, and there would be a lot less trouble.

Therefore, the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce has in fact become a contractor for the subordinate troops of the Jiangwutang, providing various logistics services for the troops of the Jiangwutang, which is an indispensable and important part of the logistics support system of the Jiangwutang.

Whitewater Pier.

As the largest passenger and cargo wharf in the central region of Daming, Baishui Wharf is crowded with people, and the boats in and out are endless, a lively and busy scene.

After a painting boat came to rest at a berth on the dock, a group of people who looked like entourages surrounded four handsome and elegant sons and brothers and walked down from the ship.

These four sons are Li Yuntian and Chen Ningning, Zheng Wanrou and Lei Ting, who are disguised as men, in order to avoid being recognized by the people in the town, Li Yuntian decided to take a look at the development of Baishui Town.

Looking at the rows of shops and rolling buildings on both sides of the street, the corners of Li Yuntian's mouth showed a smile of relief, it seems that Baishui Town has developed very well over the years, and the bustling market is comparable to Yangzhou.

For some reason, Li Yuntian thought of the scene when he went to Baishui Town for the first time, when Zhang Youde, the household secretary of Hukou County, made a false impression of a prosperous market for him in order to please him and Chen Bozhao and other big households in the town.

Li Yuntian will not forget that when the three kings of Poyang Lake looted Baishui Town, burning the area around the wharf of Baishui Town, at that time, I am afraid that no one would have imagined that Baishui Town would have today's prosperous scene.

Nowadays, the people of Baishui Town are all rich and stable life, the rise of Baishui Town has brought them great benefits, the townspeople of Baishui Town enjoy various preferential welfare policies, even the idle people are also worry-free, which makes many foreign girls want to marry to Baishui Town, and even some people are willing to be the aunt of Baishui Town.

However, it is not easy to become a person in Whitewater, and you need to meet some conditions before you can obtain the household registration of Whitewater Town, and then enjoy the benefits of Whitewater Town.

It is worth mentioning that although Li Yuntian is not from Baishui Town, no one will forget that he is the "uncle" of Baishui Town, so Li Yuntian became the first "honorary townman" of Baishui Town, and enjoys the same welfare policies as the townspeople.

Not only Baishui Town, but also the people of Hukou County have benefited greatly from the rapid development of commerce and trade in Baishui Town, and enjoy a welfare system that is enviable to outsiders.

Of course, these welfare systems were formulated by Li Yuntian, which made the people of Hukou County more united and more prosperous.

Compared to more than a decade ago, the town has more than tripled in size, and continues to expand outward, which means that the town's business is still growing rapidly.

When it comes to Whitewater Town, the most famous local area is the headquarters of the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce, which is now the largest chamber of commerce in the Ming Dynasty, surpassing salt merchants, grain merchants and cloth merchants.

And unlike the salt merchants, grain merchants, and cloth merchants, the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce is a comprehensive chamber of commerce, and its members are involved in all areas of commerce.

Naturally, the headquarters of the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce is one of the most magnificent buildings in Whitewater Town, and every three years members from all over the world will come here to discuss the development plan for the next three years, which not only effectively and rationally uses resources but also avoids vicious competition between them.

Whenever members of the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce gather in Baishui Town from the north and south of the river, the town is as lively as the New Year, which is a major event in Baishui Town.

When Li Yuntian and his party came to an intersection, a lot of people gathered around the corner of the intersection to watch the excitement, and vaguely Li Yuntian heard people talking about the "Treasure Knife of the Western Regions" with great interest, as if someone was selling knives on the street.

Li Yuntian is not a person who likes to join in the fun, but he was a little surprised after hearing the "Western Regions Treasure Knife", the Ming Dynasty is forbidden to buy and sell weapons, or the person will be punished according to the rebellion, but someone actually sells the Western Regions knife on the street, this is too bold.

So, Li Yuntian whispered a few words to Li Zixi, who was following behind, and Li Zixi immediately walked quickly to check.

After a while, Li Zixi inquired about the ins and outs of the matter, and came back to report to Li Yuntian, who was looking through trinkets in front of a stall on the side of the road.

It turned out that a hundred households from the Kansai Regional Health Center sold a scimitar knife with a sharp blade and luxurious decoration due to a shortage of money, which attracted many people to come and watch, pointing to the strangely shaped Western Regions knife and talking about it one after another.

"Damascus scimitar!" Although Li Zixi's statement was "Western Regions Scimitar", as soon as Li Yuntian heard that there were all kinds of beautiful patterns on the knife, he immediately knew the origin of the knife, and secretly said something in his heart.

Damascus knives are made of Uzi ingots, with a cast pattern, usually a scimitar, and its biggest feature is that the blade is covered with various patterns, like flowing water, which is wonderful.

The pattern on the body of this knife is formed in casting, and its unique smelting technique and forging method have always been a secret of the Persians and are not known to the outside world.

In fact, the Damascus steel knife is the name of the Europeans, used to refer to the Damascus plane pattern blade of the Islamic tribes, this steel will have a special pattern on the surface when it is cast into a sword - Muhammad pattern, which is a cast pattern steel in the pattern steel, which is different from the welded pattern steel formed by folding and forging, such as Chinese swords, Malay knives, etc., as well as the quenched pattern steel of the Japanese sword.

In ancient times, almost all of the patterned steel was used to make zuò weapons, because the pattern made the blade microscopic to form a serration that could not be distinguished by the naked eye, making the sword sharper, and the pattern on the Damascus scimitar was simply a natural beauty of artificial carving.

Damascus knives are divided into several categories, among them: smelted steel blades produced in Persia, whose veins are like silk weaves and have a dazzling luster; The patterned steel blades produced in India often have dozens of layers of cloud ladders, that is, the so-called Muhammad ladder, which is strange and valuable; The pattern of the Turkish knife is in the shape of a roll, and its veins are like an agate.

Even Napoleon, who was the object of the Crusades, could not stop the soldiers from competing for the Damascus swords studded with gold and silver jewels on the corpses of the enemy, and he himself brought one back, which is now on display in the Museum of Oriental Weapons in Paris.

As far as Li Yuntian knew, even the skilled craftsmen in Europe could not perfectly imitate the Damascus sword, because they did not cast the steel ingots that would produce the pattern of the Damascus knife body, the Uzi ingot, and they did not have the craftsmanship of Islamic gold, silver and jewelry craftsmen.

The gold filaments processed by Islamic craftsmen do not fall off after thousands of years, while the products imitated by European craftsmen generally begin to become mottled after 50 years, which shows the gap between the two sides.

"How much is this, I bought it." Li Yuntian had a strong interest in Damascus knives, so he wanted to see what was going on, so he said to the stall owner who had been staring at him with the two trinkets in his hand.

"Don't need money, these two gadgets are for you." Hearing this, the stall owner waved his hand to Li Yuntian and said.

"Oh?" Li Yuntian felt a little surprised, he thought that the stall owner recognized him, but seeing that the stall owner looked calm and didn't seem to know his identity, he said with a smile, "It's a matter of course to buy things and pay for them, I don't know why I want to give them to you?" ”

"You look a little similar to our former county master, I can't take your money just because of this, anyway, it's not a valuable thing, otherwise I won't be able to sleep at night." The stall owner replied seriously when he heard this, and then explained proudly, "That county lord is the now famous King Zhongwu, and the people in our county can have a good life today because of King Zhongwu." ”

"Thank you, King Chungmu would be very happy if he knew that you still remembered him." Li Yuntian immediately laughed when he heard this, he decided to accept the stall owner's heart, smiled at the stall owner and got up to leave.

"This looks too similar!" Looking at Li Yuntian's departing back, the stall owner couldn't help muttering to himself, and then shook his head, "How is this possible, if King Zhongwu came, the people from the county government would definitely come to greet him." ”