After Su Shi's birthday banquet, Murong Fu set off for Bianjing to prepare for the provincial test for the coming year, and he was accompanied by Qin Guan, Qiao Feng and Su Mai. Unlike the other three, Murong Fu designated Su Mai as the destination of this trip was not Bianjing, but Shanghai. Unlike the financial center of later generations, Shanghai today is just a small fishing village under Pingjiang Prefecture.

"Shanghai? If memory serves, it's just a town, right? Su Mai said with a surprised face, "Where are you going to build the port?" ”

"Not bad." Murong Fu nodded, Shanghai in later generations was the shipping center of the whole country and even the entire Asian region, and it was best to establish a port there.

Su Mai shook his head, obviously not very much agreeing with his opinion. "Quanzhou people have many eyes, and it is indeed not suitable." In particular, in addition to serious business, we are not allowed to do some business such as selling weapons, stealing coins, and robbing pirates. "But why not Hangzhou? You should know that Hangzhou has better conditions than Shanghai. ”

"The draft of sea ships is different from that of river ships, and the port is built in Hangzhou, so it is very inconvenient to change ships when going to sea." Murong thought about it for a while, and added another sentence. "Let Third Brother Bao go with you this time. Although he has a detached personality, he has been exposed to a lot of official affairs in the past two years, and he can help you. ”

"But there are many people in Hangzhou and the market is also large, so it will be very convenient to ship goods." Although Su Mai has no opinion on the entourage, he obviously still has a soft spot for Hangzhou.

"So I plan to build a road in Shanghai, directly to Hangzhou and Jiangning, and use four-wheeled carriages to transport goods. It would be great if we could negotiate with the local government and buy the entire town of Shanghai. Murong Fu frowned slightly, and said with a straight face. Hangzhou has a huge number of forces, and I really have no intention of operating it. On the contrary, it is not as good as Shanghai, it is just a blank sheet of paper, which is easy to write. In this imperial examination, I intend to stay in the center, and find a way to let the teacher stay in the center and win the position of ruler. ”

When it came to his father's future, Su Mai immediately wisely kept his mouth shut. Su Mai and Su Shi were originally father and son, and they couldn't know much about his personality. Su Shi is naïve and open-minded, although he is talented and has a big mouth, he often offends people without knowing it. With his qualifications, if the court is really prosperous, then he will definitely be able to make a career. And at the moment, only the conspiracy of those villains is enough to make Su Shi's head as big as a fight, not to mention the party struggle between the old and new parties, which are not something that a downright gentleman like Su Shi can handle. He skipped this topic at the moment, and only asked curiously: "What is the relationship between that Xue Zhiyan and Boss Xue of Jiangning Mansion, and you care so much about his business?" ”

Murong Fu smiled dumbly, and said after a while: "A single flower is not spring, and a thousand purples and thousands of red springs are full of spring." In the future, I never thought that I would take possession of everything, because even if it wasn't him, there would be someone else. Besides, although Xue Zhiyan has the opportunity, I will not wait for him, what will happen in the future, it only depends on his ability. "Compared with two-wheeled carriages, four-wheeled carriages are more demanding on the road, but they are indeed smoother and faster, and they are a status symbol. Everyone has a heart to compare, and this is especially true in the shopping mall. Murong Fu believes that after the construction of the port in Shanghai, more and more merchants will choose to travel by four-wheeled carriages, and they will have to spend money to build roads to ensure that the four-wheeled carriages can travel. Highway is the blood that connects a country, but wherever the transportation is convenient, not only the economic level is improved, but also firmly tied to the chariot of the central government, and there is no danger of splitting. The strategy of this four-wheeled carriage is so important, naturally the sooner it is promoted, the better, how could Murong Fu delay his time because of Xue Zhiyan alone?

Su Mai nodded and did not speak. He knew that although Murong Fu's words were cold, they were the attitude that a superior person should have, considering the overall situation rather than trivial human feelings. Just as Murong Fu has done overseas in the past two years, no matter what kind of obstacles he encounters, all he has done is to use the fastest and most effective way to crush it, without fear of any gossip. Thinking of the iron-blooded methods of this seemingly gentle little junior brother in the country, and then comparing it with the official family who was determined to change the law and try to be strong, but was stuck in the party struggle, Su Mai couldn't help but shake his head slightly, and said: "In this way, our route is from Shanghai Town, through Goryeo, Japan, and Ryukyu, and into Nanyang via Srivijaya, Cochin, Siam, Mayi, ......."

"Then cross the Strait of Malacca and go straight to Shilan or the Arabian Peninsula." Murong Fu took over the conversation and directly extended the end point of the voyage by about half of the voyage.

Su Mai was taken aback, and hurriedly said: "We have never been out of the Strait of Malacca, and it has been very difficult to subdue the Three Buddhas in the past two years, besides, it is not enough for Arabs to come to the Great Song Dynasty to trade?" "The Three Buddhas were a kingdom in the Great Sunda Islands, and at the peak of their power in the Song Dynasty, they had fifteen subject states, which firmly locked the throat of the Great Song Dynasty in the South China Sea. Two years ago, when Murong returned to the sea and sailed away, he was spoiled by the courtesy and deference of Goryeo and Japan, and he suffered a brutally high tax in Sriwijaya. Murong Fu was furious and raised troops to fight, all the way from the Three Buddhas to the Zhuyuan country, and easily changed the oppressed poor people in the Zhulin country for a good lord who "gave benevolence and righteousness and was friendly to the Great Song Dynasty", so he returned to the Great Song Dynasty with ivory, pearls, *, rose water, cloves and other things.

Murong Fu shook his head and said softly: "The so-called exchange of courtesies, if the Arabs can come, we should naturally be able to go too." The world is so big, always guarding this acre and three points of land, and the horizon is about to narrow. ”

"Listen to you!" Su Mai said happily, once, in Su Mai's eyes, there was only one place in the Central Plains. After his father Su Shi was degraded, he thought that his life could see the end. After reading a full stomach of poetry and books, but because of his father, he could never be admitted to the Jinshi, trembling and seeking a position as a clerk, relying on people to snort until the end of his life, so as to pass on the blood of the Su family, this is the life path that Su Mai planned for himself. It wasn't until Murong Fu took him to sea that he knew that there was a broader world beyond the royal land, and compared to this, what was the imperial examination? In the past two years, Su Mai has seen a lot and experienced a lot overseas, and he is no longer the honest man he used to be. Murong Fu trusts him and cooperates with him seamlessly, and his friendship with Murong Fu can be summed up in just one sentence: Death for a confidant! Thinking of this, he suddenly blinked and said narrowly: "A single flower is not spring, and a thousand purples and thousands of red springs are full of spring...... Although the text is not carved enough, at least it rhymes, how about making up two more sentences? ”

Murong Fu smiled dumbly, these two sentences are from the cooperation of "Zengguang Xianwen" in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, there are only two sentences in total, how can they still make it up? Just mentioning the poem, his expression also became solemn, and he said: "Right now, there is indeed a difficult matter that needs to be solved urgently!" ”

"What?" Seeing that Murong Fu was solemn, Su Mai couldn't help but sit up straight and listen carefully.

"At the Qionglin banquet, according to the rules, the new science and technology jinshi is going to make standard poems, and if I can't do it at that time, won't it be a big shame?" Murong Fu looked at Su Mai with a sad face, and when he saw that he was indifferent, he added meaningfully. "If I'm the only one who loses face, I'm afraid that I will teach people more to see the teacher's jokes!"

Su Mai was dumbfounded, and after a while, he suddenly got up and said, "Since my destination is Shanghai Town, I won't go with you." As he spoke, he lifted the curtain and shouted at the coachman to stop, and jumped out of the carriage.

"Brother Mai," Murong Fu leaned out and said hurriedly. "You can't die without help!"

Su Mai sighed with his back to him, reluctantly suppressed the urge to beat him, and said slowly: "What is the proposition of the standard poems at the Qionglin banquet, and the official family has its own opinions, and it is too early to prepare. Isn't Shaoyou going to go to the imperial examination with you, just ask him then! ”

"Say it lightly, in case he loses his name to Sun Shan......" Murong Fu muttered in a low voice behind his back.

You can't even do poetry, where do you get the confidence to think that you can be admitted, and if you don't travel, you will fall off the list? Although the intersection is irreversible, Su Mai can endure Murong Fu's turning of his face like turning a book, but he really can't bear his shamelessness and skinlessness, so he only coldly dropped a sentence: "Farewell!" He walked to his carriage, and didn't want to say more than half a word to Murong Fu.

After Su Mai left, Qiao Feng also took Jiang Changyun and Wu Changfeng to resign. This time, Murong Fu was a little confused, the destination of Qiao Feng and his party was also Bianjing, which way of doing this is this? He immediately asked, "Am I not greeting well?" ”

"You're overthinking." Qiao Feng shook his head and said seriously. "Gang Master Wang ordered me to go to Bianjing Dazhong to do business, time is urgent, and I can't delay it any longer."

When Qiao Feng said this, Murong Fu understood that his trip to Ruzhou was for public and private use, and in order to reach Bianjing on time, he could only rush desperately in the next time to make up for the time. Murong Fu has always had no good impression of Wang Jiantong, thinking that Qiao Feng has been working as a cow and a horse in the beggar gang all these years but he doesn't even have this bit of freedom, he feels even more uncomfortable, and he can't help laughing: "The troubles in the world are nothing more than the word money and power, since Brother Qiao is in the beggar gang, there is no need to think about power." So, but the big loyalty is short of the money of the Wang gang leader? ”

As soon as Murong Fu said this, Wu Changfeng had already made a sudden break in his heart. Li Qing, the helmsman of the Dazhong rudder, was originally a brother who was like a brother to the Wang Gang Master, and the Wang Gang Master handed over the Dazhong Rudder at the foot of the Son of Heaven to Li Qing to take care of it. Bianjing is the capital of the first good, and the help fee paid by the Dazhong rudder has always been rich. However, in the past two years, Li Qing has repeatedly delayed the money when he saw that Wang's health was deteriorating, and even refused to participate in the beggar gang meeting. Gang Master Wang was helpless, so he sent Qiao Feng to deal with it. Of course, it can't be said so bluntly to the outside world. Therefore, Qiao Feng's reason for going to Bianjing was: to inquire about the relationship between the bandits in Bianjing Sanssouci Cave and the beggar gang? Although the beggar gang is poor, they do not do the business of kidnapping tickets for extortion and trafficking of women and children. Now that Murong Fu explained the purpose of Qiao Feng's trip, Wu Changfeng only felt that his words were meaningful, as if the Wang gang leader only had money and no morality in his eyes, so he couldn't help but be silent. And Jiang Changyun was young and vigorous, and he couldn't help but shout loudly: "Murong Gongzi, why are you talking so ugly? ”

Jiang Changyun's sentence undoubtedly acquiesced in Murong Fu's statement, but Murong Fu ignored him, only stared at Qiao Feng and said in a deep voice: "It doesn't matter if the words are good or not, the key is to do things beautifully!" Although he went to ask for money, he had to find a good name. As soon as his sentence fell, Qiao Feng and Wu Changfeng's eyebrows twitched at the same time. Without waiting for them to speak, I only heard Murong Fu's last words, "According to the younger brother, the beggars have tens of thousands of people, and it is really unwise to rely on the brothers to see people stretching out their hands and barely get enough food and clothing. One day, if Brother Qiao can make his own decisions, he might as well come and talk to his younger brother about other ways to make a fortune. Overseas is a big world, Brother Qiao should really go and see it. ”

Murong Fu's wave of twists and turns, Qiao Feng couldn't help but laugh dumbly, and only said after a while: "Murong Gongzi is quick to think and speak sharply, I'm afraid the life of Yushitai will be difficult in the future." "The unjust case of the Wutai poetry case is being cast by Yu Shitai, and Murong Fu serves Su Shi like his father, which is also the proper meaning of the title to avenge his father.

Murong Fu saw that he didn't answer when he mentioned to Qiao Feng several times about going to sea, and he also knew that he attached great importance to Wang Jiantong's kindness, so he was no longer reluctant, and just said: "What do people and dogs care about?" The dog didn't take care of it and pounced and bited, and it was the dog owner who should be hit. ”

These two sentences are understated but hidden a little bloody, Jiang Changyun and Wu Changfeng couldn't help but be shocked at the same time. The two turned their eyes to Qiao Feng, but saw that Qiao Feng shook his head silently, and casually took off the mink cloak on his body and handed it to Murong Fu: "What do you want to do, I can't persuade you." In short, think twice before acting, and if you don't take advantage of it, come to me. ”

Murong Fu didn't take the cloak, but smiled: "With Brother Qiao's words, I will feel at ease." Keep your cloak, and ride away your horse. The so-called first respect Luo Yi and then respect people, dress as a high roller to go to Bianjing, that is in charge, and dress as a beggar to go to Bianjing to ask for food, which is very different! ”

Murong Fu's mink cloak has an excellent coat color, and it costs tens of thousands of dollars to say the least, but Qiao Feng doesn't seem to know the goods, and he is not polite to Murong Fu at all, I saw him put the cloak back on his shoulders, and asked casually: "Where do you plan to settle in Bianjing?" ”

"Third Brother Bao has purchased property outside Zhengmen, if Brother Qiao comes to me to drink, he will definitely sweep the couch to greet him." Murong Fu said easily, but Wu Changfeng couldn't help but smack his tongue secretly. At the feet of the Son of Heaven, every inch of land has always been valuable, and the area around Zhengmen has always been a gathering place for the powerful. Murong Fu was able to buy property outside Zhengmen instead of renting a house, and he was really rich. In the future, Murong Fu High School, whether he can be the master of the people with two sleeves of clean wind Wu Changfeng is not sure, but at least the two sleeves of golden wind are certain.

"Outside the Zheng Gate, I wrote it down." Qiao Feng was still indifferent, and only bowed his hand to Murong Fu. "This is the first wish Murong Gongzi a victory in the gold list! Leave! With that, he and Murong Fu looked at each other and smiled, and took the two beggar brothers to beat their horses and whip away.