Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 192 Coming
Zhu Shenzui stayed on the grassland until his child was one month old, and then he left.

Due to the birth of his child, Zhu Shenzui stayed on the grassland for more than a month, which was much longer than he should have stayed.

When he left, the second caravan led by Ma Shizhou had already arrived at the tribe, and if he didn't leave, it would delay the rest of the trip. And he couldn't always accompany Tana and the child, after all, he had another family in Daming, and his wife was pregnant and also needed his company.

These days, I helped Tana to settle the people, cattle and sheep allocated by Ashe Temur for the child, and selected a few reliable people from Tana's previous people to stay. These people will serve as Tana's personal guards in the future, responsible for the safety of Tana and the child.

In addition, the trading company also made explanations and arrangements for the people who stayed in the tribe. While they were responsible for trade, they would also protect Tana and the children.

Apart from these, Wang Hai offered to stay.

Wang Hai is a clever young man. Although he was born in a humble family, he has grown rapidly in the past two years following Zhu Shenzhui and is now able to stand on his own. In addition, due to his loyalty to Zhu Shenzhui, he regards Tana as the mistress second only to Zhu Shenzhui.

Zhu Shenzui therefore asked Wang Hai to be responsible for protecting Tana and the children when he was not on the grassland, and also handed over several selected Mongolians to him.

Wang Hai was familiar with them. He had led several teams to and from Daming and the grasslands before. In addition, they were all Mongolians, so they got along well with each other. With Wang Hai by Tana and the children's side, Zhu Shenzhu felt more at ease. As for the company, with the normalization of trade with the grasslands, some old friends were gradually trained. In addition, with Ma Shizhou in charge, even if Wang Hai left temporarily, it would not affect the company much.

Although he was reluctant, Zhu Shenzui still set out on his return journey.

It was already early April when he returned to Daming. When he arrived in Pingyang, he handed over the business of the business directly to Kang Youfu, and Zhu Shenzhui went home first.

At home, Xu Jingqiu had been looking forward to it for a long time. Although her sister-in-law Zhang did not say it, she had the same idea in her heart. And Qiao'er, the little girl is growing up now. During the days when Zhu Shenzhu was away, Xu Jingqiu had been recuperating at home because of her pregnancy. There were servants in the house, so they did not need to run around like before on weekdays. Instead, they felt a little bored when they were idle.

Xu Jingqiu took the initiative to find his sister-in-law Zhang, discussed with her, and decided to teach Qiao'er.

Qiao'er is a girl. In this era, it is not possible for girls to go to school like boys, especially for a royal family like the Zhu family. It is against the rules for a girl to go out and show her face in public. As a daughter of the royal family, Qiao'er cannot not read and learn to read. Xu Jingqiu thinks that since Qiao'er is getting older, it is better for her to teach her at home.

After listening to Xu Jingqiu's suggestion, sister-in-law Zhang was willing in her heart, but she felt that Xu Jingqiu was pregnant now, so this arrangement was not appropriate. Moreover, Zhu Shenzhu was not at home now, so should she discuss this matter after he came back?

But this was not a problem for Xu Jingqiu. She smiled and told Zhang that she was not that delicate. When she was at Pingshun's house, she had helped with housework since she was a child and was in good health. And even if she was pregnant, she just couldn't be too tired. It wasn't a tiring thing to teach Qiao'er. Besides, it would be boring to stay at home like this every day, so she had to find something to do. This arrangement was just right.

As for Zhu Shencui, there is no need to worry. Zhu Shencui has always attached great importance to family affection and loves Qiao'er like his own daughter. Zhu Shencui will definitely not object to Qiao'er's education himself.

Under Xu Jingqiu's persuasion, sister-in-law Zhang finally agreed to this arrangement. In this way, Xu Jingqiu began to teach Qiao'er. Although Qiao'er was playful, she was also quite interested in reading. In addition, Qiao'er was very smart and Xu Jingqiu taught well. In just one month, Qiao'er recognized a lot of words and began to recite "Three Character Classic". After reciting "Three Character Classic" and "Thousand Character Classic", Xu Jingqiu prepared to use "Mingxin Baojian" to teach Qiao'er the following courses.

When Zhu Shenzhui returned home, he heard Qiao'er's loud reading voice coming from the room as soon as he entered the door. He was slightly stunned. After learning the reason from his sister-in-law Zhang, he couldn't help feeling happy but also a little ashamed.

Xu Jingqiu was indeed thoughtful. Come to think of it, her brother-in-law Zhou Anmin's two children had already entered school a long time ago. The older one, Zhou Chong, was needless to say, and the younger one, Zhou Bin, was only about one year older than Qiao'er, but they had already been in school for more than a year.

According to her age, Qiao'er, who was four years old after the New Year, should have started to learn. However, he was so busy with his own affairs that he forgot about Qiao'er's start of education. In addition, he was away for such a long time this time. Even if Xu Jingqiu remembered it, he would not have remembered it.

Zhu Shenzhui's return made the family as happy as if it was the New Year, especially Xu Jingqiu. There is an old saying that goes, "A long absence is better than a new marriage." Although Xu Jingqiu is a relatively independent woman, she is still a woman after all, and now she is pregnant. Pregnant women are often sentimental. During these days when Zhu Shenzhui was not at home, her longing for her husband became deeper and deeper as time went by.

Seeing Zhu Shenzhui coming back, Xu Jingqiu didn't say anything, but she was very happy in her heart. If Zhu Shenzhui hadn't stopped her, she would have gone to the kitchen to help her husband cook a delicious meal. The family had a happy meal and chatted happily, and such a scene made Zhu Shenzhui feel very warm. At night, lying on the kang, holding his wife in his arms, the couple whispered and told each other their hearts. Zhu Shenzhui could feel Xu Jingqiu's dependence on and love for him, and thinking about how he had been away for a long time and just came back, he couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her.

After staying at home for half a month and spending some time with Xu Jingqiu, Qiao'er and others, Zhu Shenzhui set out again one day. However, this time he was not going to the grassland, and his stay was not for long, because he was going to Luzhou Wei.

On the day he returned, he received a letter from Zhou Anmin, in which Zhou Anmin told Zhu Shencui that his men had arrived in Luzhou Wei, and asked Zhu Shencui to make time to go to Luzhou Wei as soon as possible to make arrangements.

Although Zhou Anmin did not say who they were, Zhu Shenzhui knew that the people mentioned in the letter were none other than the people mentioned before, namely the three veterans of Qi's army who were brought from Yiwu, and the fireworks craftsman who was brought from Nanzhili.

Judging from the time, they arrived in Luzhou in early March and have been in Luzhou for nearly a month. Since he had just returned home, Zhu Shenzhui thought about it and felt that since he had already arrived and Zhou Anmin had settled these people according to his wishes, there was no need for him to rush over immediately.

Anyway, it didn't matter what time it took, so Zhu Shenzhui spent half a month with his family before setting off for Luzhou Wei.

Taking two young men from Wangjia Village with him, Zhu Shenzhui set out for Luzhou Wei.

He did not go directly to Luzhou Wei, but went to Yangtou Mountain first. He stayed there for two days, met with Li Hu, had a drink together, and also took a look at the situation in Yangtou Mountain.

Yangtou Mountain is developing well now. Since Li Hu led people to open up wasteland and cultivate land on the mountain, Yangtou Mountain can basically be self-sufficient. When the Yangtou Mountain Hundred Households Office was established last year, Li Hu also transformed from a refugee to a Hundred Household Officer of the Hundred Households Office, thus resuming his military service.

Such a change was what Li Hu had always dreamed of. Li Hu was a member of the frontier army. He was implicated for speaking out for his old superior, Deputy Garrison Commander Deng Guozhong. Under the suppression from above, he was arrested and imprisoned, stripped of his military rank, and eventually convicted and sent to Wuxiang Coal Mine to work as a miner.

Later everyone knew that Li Hu led his people to Yangtou Mountain and became the king of the mountain. If Zhu Shenzui had not happened to meet him and helped him, it would be hard to say whether Li Hu and the people of Yangtou Mountain could survive the winter.

Later, the people of Yangtou Mountain not only lived a good life, but also earned a stable income by collecting fees from passing merchants in addition to cultivating wasteland. Later, when Zhu Shenzhui let Zhou Anmin get in touch with Wei Zhongxian and got Zhou Anmin and Wang Rong the real positions of Jinyiwei Qianhu and Wei Suo Commander, the spring of Yangtou Mountain really came.

At present, Li Hu is the centurion of the Yangtou Mountain Hundred Households Office, and all the people in Yangtou Mountain have become military households of the Hundred Households Office. The tolls and other things that were collected before are now collected and have become a semi-official checkpoint. Except for a part that is handed over to the guard post, the rest is kept by themselves for daily use.

In addition, Zhu Shenzhu's private salt trading has been going on in Yangtou Mountain, which has become an important transit point for private salt. Not only Zhu Shenzhu's own business, but also the cooperative business of other thousand households in the garrison also goes through Yangtou Mountain. Through this model, Yangtou Mountain has become more and more prosperous.

There is not much difference between Yangtou Mountain and ordinary centurions, the main difference is the arrangement.

Compared with Zhaowuling, Yangtou Mountain was just a transit point in Zhu Shenzui's plan, with the functions of land reclamation and checkpoint.

The situation over there in Zhaowuling is different. Although it is nominally a hundred-household unit, Zhaowuling is the place that Zhu Shenzui pays the most attention to because of its geographical location and the nearby iron and coal mines.

After leaving Yangtou Mountain, Zhu Shenzhui arrived at Zhaowuling in one day. Zhaowuling has changed a lot this time. Compared with the last time, the whole Zhaowuling has become a whole, vaguely connected with Zhaowu Village not far away. With the arrival of spring, there are many more cultivated fields.

"Brother Six!"

"Why are you here?" As soon as he arrived near the 100-household station, he ran into Wang Jinwu. The silly boy grinned when he saw Zhu Shenzhui, but Zhu Shenzhui was very surprised. Logically, shouldn't Wang Jinwu be at the guard station? Why did he come here?
"I told my father that the matters of the guard post were handed over to Chu Er, and I will follow Brother Lu here from now on." Wang Jinwu said with a chuckle. Lu Yisheng beside him smiled bitterly and shook his head. What does it mean to follow him? He should follow Wang Jinwu. Although both of them are centurions, he knows very well how Lu Yisheng got the title of centurion. But Wang Jinwu is different. He is the only son of Commander Wang Rong and the cousin of Zhu Shenzhui. His status and position are far higher than his own.

(End of this chapter)