My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 130 This Gift is Too Punishing

The Chinese New Year is coming soon. The streets are decorated with lights and crowded with people. It is very lively. There are students playing freely during the winter vacation, couples expressing their love for each other, and even more families buying New Year's goods.

Li Han's shop seemed a little deserted. There were not many tourists at this time of year, and no one would come here to look for antiques during the Chinese New Year.

Li Momo wanted to spend the New Year with him, but was taken to Hainan by her parents. Xu Nian went to his grandmother's house in Wuxi with his parents.

Li Han felt a little uncomfortable at first because the two regular customers in the store were not there, but he had to celebrate the New Year alone after all.

His unreliable parents left the shop to him after he graduated from college, saying that they had raised Li Han into an adult and he had to rely on himself in the future.

Then the couple began to travel around the country, saying that they wanted to spend half their lifetime traveling through the mountains and rivers of their motherland.

As a result, he was gone for several years, so much so that Li Han sometimes had the illusion that the couple had forgotten that they had a son.

His second uncle did call him and asked him to go home for the New Year, but when he heard his second aunt chattering about introducing him to someone, Li Han refused without hesitation.

These days, Second Aunt introduced him to some literary young women or the daughters of some leaders, but he rejected them all with various reasons.

But Second Aunt was very enthusiastic. The more she refused, the more she became more competitive. She even asked Li Han indirectly whether he had special tastes and liked older men. She knew several successful single female entrepreneurs who had savings of tens of millions.

They also say that it doesn't matter if they are a little older, but they have taken good care of themselves, and they all still have charm. Moreover, they are more caring than young girls, and it is not a problem for them to try hard and give birth to a big fat boy.

Li Han got goosebumps when he heard this. He just wanted to say that Second Aunt, your way is really wild. We are young and innocent and can't stand it. We are afraid of accidents and even more afraid of steel wool.

If he went to his second uncle's house for the New Year, he was really afraid that his second aunt would suddenly ask to introduce him to a boyfriend.

Li Han's scalp tingled just thinking about that scene. He made up his mind to cherish his life and stay away from Second Aunt!

Over the past few years, I have gotten used to celebrating the New Year alone. At least I have the Spring Festival Gala to keep me company, so I don’t feel lonely.

I bought New Year's goods and cleaned the house. Although it is not a luxurious villa, it cannot be called a shabby room, but it has a unique sense of warmth.

He remembered that the warehouse had not been cleaned yet, so he picked up the broom and rag and went into the warehouse, and then he was stunned.

Looking at the mailbox whose door was propped open by something, Li Han was a little dumbfounded. What big thing was Old Zhu doing for him again?

The thing looked like a long, thin tube, and it sparkled with golden light under the light.

Gold, what is this?
Li Han widened his eyes. Gold is not rare, but why would Lao Zhu use gold to make a tube?

Putting down the things in his hands, he walked forward and took the golden tube out of the mailbox. After seeing clearly what it was, he couldn't help but gasp.

Okay, Lao Zhu, you really want to send your buddy to the trading floor!

When it comes to making a living, you have to be the one!

This time, Old Li was convinced.

This is an M1841 needle-fired rifle made of gold. The barrel, bolt, bolt, gun cap and other parts, including the trigger and firing pin, are all made of gold, while the buttstock is carefully carved from smooth-grained rosewood!

The gun body is carved with exquisite unicorn and cloud patterns, which are so ingenious and lifelike. Some places are inlaid with gems or jade, which is so gorgeous and eye-catching that people can't take their eyes away.

Touch it gently and feel the ultimate touch. The delicacy and exquisiteness will make you intoxicated.

On both sides of the gun body, there are poems by Wang Bo engraved respectively, one side is engraved with "There are bosom friends everywhere in the world", and the other side is engraved with "The world is so small that it seems so close".

Li Han was somewhat moved when he saw the poem. It seemed that Lao Zhu really regarded him as a close friend. Although the two had been separated by hundreds of years, at this moment, he could deeply feel the deep friendship. He carefully placed the gun on the shelf, took out the letter from the mailbox, opened it and began to read.

When Li Han saw the first sentence in the letter, he couldn't help laughing. He didn't expect that the first person to wish him a happy new year would be Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty.

This standard, this level, is just like when the host reads "XX unit wishes Li Han a happy new year" during the Spring Festival Gala, no, the level is even higher!

I didn't expect that our Lao Li could also enjoy such high-level treatment.

The capture of the desert was expected. From a geographical point of view, controlling the desert is equivalent to China's territory returning to the shape of a crabapple leaf.

During the Hongwu period, the Principality of Rus had just perished, the Principality of Mosk was still in its infancy, and the behemoth that was Tsarist Russia was nowhere to be seen. As for the disloyal khanates of the Mongol Empire, they were also in danger and would be swallowed up by local forces sooner or later without the Ming Dynasty's intervention.

With the fall of the Yuan Dynasty and the Oirat Mongols, there is no longer any force in the north that threatens the Central Plains!
The Ming Dynasty controlled the desert and the Tunguska region in Siberia to the north. To the west, it could reintegrate the Western Regions into its territory, reopen the Silk Road, and project influence to Central Asia and even the Middle East and Near East through trade.

As for Goryeo, it was a poor, mountainous and remote place with no other way out except to rely on the Ming Dynasty and become a geopolitical chess piece.

Zhu Yuanzhang wrote in the letter that he did not know how to organize the nobles and princes to carry out overseas trade.

Although Li Han had already made a plan for this, he wanted the noble princes to actively expand trade abroad, but he also wanted to effectively restrain them through the performance appraisal system.

In the Ming Dynasty, the private ones naturally refer to the noble princes and others, and the public ones refer to the imperial court. Above the imperial court, there is Zhu Yuanzhang, the supreme arbitrator, to balance and restrain the forces of the various parties.

Of course, in order to give full play to the subjective initiative of everyone, the distribution of benefits is crucial.

It is in this process that the shareholding system is adopted as the basis for profit distribution. Shares refer not only to the amount of capital invested, but also to the effort contributed. This is what is meant by "those who are more capable get more."

But these are all small matters. The killer lies in performance appraisal. Performance appraisal is supposedly intended to motivate employees to work hard, but I believe every worker has a deep understanding of how evil it is.

Thinking of Zhu Di's princes who were tortured to death by performance appraisals, Li Han couldn't help feeling sympathetic and then burst into laughter.

After some thought, he wrote the reply and then went out to buy a gift for Zhu Yuanzhang.

As for what gift to return, he actually had an idea in his mind the moment he saw Golden Needle firing the gun.

Lao Zhu gave him such a big surprise, so of course he had to give him a bigger surprise in return.

It’s the New Year, so what is indispensable for the New Year? Of course, it’s fireworks!

It’s not that the Ming Dynasty didn’t have fireworks and firecrackers, but compared with modern ones, they are not as good as they are now.

As for what kind of fireworks to buy, Li Han had only one criterion: he would buy the big ones. They had to make a big noise and be dazzling. In short, they had to make Old Zhu dumbfounded visually!

I ran around all the fireworks stores in Nanjing and bought whatever fireworks I could find, including those that spray flowers, rotate and rise into the sky, and those with combination shapes. I even bought quite a few large fireworks.

The number of purchases left the store owner dumbfounded, and he thought he was a rich man from some wealthy family, going to give his girlfriend a surprise.

He called a small truck, dragged the fireworks back home, and stuffed them into the mailbox one by one until they were all delivered. Only then did Li Han have some free time, already sweating profusely.

After wiping the sweat off his face, he let out a sigh, then looked at his mailbox and said:

"Happy New Year, Lao Zhu!"

(End of this chapter)