"My lord! After a long journey, why don't you take a break from Lu Chengting's department? Liu Bei proposed.

"How about Bo Rong and Han Sheng?" Liu He asked.

"No." Xu Rong and Huang Zhong immediately went to order the trilogy.

This pavilion refers to the local "pavilion", the Qin and Han dynasties - the grassroots institutions below the county level are townships, li, and pavilions; Ten miles and one pavilion, ten pavilions and one township; It is not only the most basic security unit, but also has the responsibility of receiving past officials and providing accommodation for people who travel far away.

The "pavilion" has similarities and differences with the "post station" where Liu He stayed before.

In terms of mail delivery and reception of messengers, the two are the same, so there are post booths and called them. The difference is that the pavilion has public security duties, and usually not only receives messengers, but also provides accommodation for the people, and at the same time, in terms of scale, the pavilion is not as large as the post station.

Zhuo County is a large county and the seat of the county. Lucheng Pavilion is a large pavilion with many households in the county, and the façade of the pavilion is very magnificent.

Before getting closer, Liu He saw more clearly, only to see that the pavilion covered a wide area, the foundation was higher than the ground, and there were stone stairs connected to the official road.

Liu Bei led the way, and an old pawn sat in the school by the door, saw him come up, walked out of the house, and asked kindly: "Xuande is back!" ”

"Yes, Gong Geng."

The old pawn stood up straight, saw Liu Bei coming over, saw his outfit clearly, and asked, "Huh! Xuande! Didn't you sell shoes today? Why did you wear the clothes you wore during the Chinese New Year? Your grandmother is afraid that she is going to scold you. ”

"Geng Gong! Out of the way. My mother and I have already said that today our family is going to come to the nobles, and I specially took it out. Liu Bei straightened his clothes again: "It's just that I can't get used to using this ring knife." ”

At this time, Liu He went up: "Uncle! ”

"Who is this?" The old pawn looked at Liu Bei.

"He is the noble man of my family, the other Sima from Jingshi." Liu Bei introduced.

"Alas, please forgive the villain's clumsiness." The old man was sincerely afraid, lifted his robe, and had to bow down.

Liu He stopped him and said with a smile: "It doesn't have to be like this! We're just taking a break and we're going to the county later. ”

"I'm the pavilion father of this pavilion." The old pawn took out a wooden card: "My name is Geng Qiu." ”

Pavilion Father, is one of the Pavilion Chief's deputies. Although the pavilion is the most basic unit, after all, it is in charge of a radius of ten miles, so there are subordinate members under the pavilion chief, and the left and right hands are called respectively: seeking thieves, pavilion fathers, and pavilion pawns. Seeking thieves, "catching thieves and patrolling"; Pavilion father, "palm opening and closing sweep welcome"; Pavilion pawn, thug follower.

Geng Qiu said respectfully: "Yesterday Xuande told me that he thought he was joking. I didn't expect that today's noble person really came today, so I didn't be able to greet him in the pavilion realm, and I still ask for forgiveness. ......, the others are still in the house, noble man, please wait a moment, and I will go and call them out. ”

"No, I don't. I went in with Xuande. ”

Ascending the steps, Liu He glanced at the side school by the door, the room was simply furnished, just a few beds. When I entered the courtyard, I found that there were two entrances to the pavilion. The courtyard in front is smaller, with an open space in the middle, three houses on the right, a hall and two bedrooms, and a small room next to it, which is the kitchen. On the left there is a stable, and there is a latrine on the side of the stable.

After Geng Qiu led the horse into the stable, and guided Xu Rong, Huang Zhong and others to arrange the troops, he walked back to Liu He's side and introduced him attentively: "This front yard is where we live, and the back yard is where the guests live." ”

Liu He looked into the backyard, then at the house on the right, and asked, "Where are the other people in the pavilion?" ”

"They should all be in the backyard." Liu Bei said.

"In that case, please lead the way and lead me to meet the kings of the pavilion." Liu and Geng Ballway.

He answered, hunched his waist, led the way sideways, and led Liu He and the others to the backyard.

When I entered the backyard, I found that it was indeed much larger than the front yard, and there were more than a dozen houses built around the big elm tree in the courtyard. However, it has probably been built for a long time, and the walls and wooden doors of the house are a little old, and the square bricks laid under the cornice outside the house are also pitted. In the private rooms on the south side, weeds are still emerging from the roofs of several rooms. But overall, it's neat and clean.

"The houses on the north side, the one in them are reserved for the officials to stay. These on the south side were for the retinue of the officials, the slaves and maids, and if there were people to stay, they were also arranged here. ”

The elm trees shade the sun, and the sunlight casts through the gaps in the branches and leaves, forming flecks of light on the ground. Just a cool breeze blew, rolling up the fallen leaves on the ground, fluttering and whirling.

"If you need water, the well is in the north corner."

Although the sparrow is small and has all kinds of organs, although it looks a little shabby, Liu He is very satisfied and says, "Very good,......。 ”

A cheer interrupted him. He followed the sound, and it came from a room with a closed door to the south.

Liu He and the others moved over and looked into the house.

There were four people in the room, sitting in a circle on the ground, playing dice rolls, and the other two were watching the game on the left and right.

The cheers of Shicai must have come from the young man sitting against the wall, and when Liu He looked over, he was happily getting up, holding the dice in one hand and the copper coin at the other's feet in the other.

Hearing Geng Qiu speak, he saw Liu He and Liu Bei approaching: "Xuande, are you bringing your relatives and friends to fight today?" ”

I saw Liu Bei frowning, as if he was hinting at something.

Liu He smiled, because according to the law, gambling is illegal, especially in the pavilion, it is even more illegal to know the law. But I'm not an inspector, so I'm afraid of something. Liu Bei is a caring person, he must be afraid that he will know that he will gamble.

Liu Bei followed behind him, pointed to the person who bowed down first, and said: "He is Liu Xiu Liu Deran, the pavilion pawn of this pavilion, and my cousin...... and pointed to a strong pawn who was watching the battle on the side, and said, "He is Cheng Ying, and he is also a pavilion pawn of this pavilion." ”

Liu Xiu is tall and strong, with a dark complexion, he looks like he is in his twenties, and when he jumped up just now, his movements were very agile and light.

Cheng Ying is about thirty years old, and he is honest.

"Brother! This is the Liu Shunzhi I said a few days ago. Liu Bei said to Liu Xiu.

"Meet my lord." Liu Xiu bowed after listening.

"Uh..."Liu He looked at Liu Bei: "Xuande, this?" ”

"My lord! Presumptuous. The clan brother is still martial and is often determined to serve the field. I told him some of the things that the lord said in his letter. Liu Bei explained.

"Then Brother Deran, what are you capable of?" Liu He looked at it.

"I have a lot of strength! The lord has great strength. Liu Xiu said and went to lift the stone lock in the yard, which was estimated at about 200 catties, with one hand.

Liu He smiled: This guy is really honest and cute.

"Deran, then you can be my personal guard." Liu Hedao.

"No." Liu Xiu smiled.

As for the other two being past merchants, Liu Xiu explained.

Because of listening to the conversation between Liu Bei and others, these two people have rich experience in business for many years, and they concluded that Liu Fei Fei is expensive, so they have the intention to make friends.

"Your nobleman is so polite! Under Zhang Shiping. One of the bearded traders spoke.

"In the lower Sushuang. Brother Zhang and I are both from Zhongshan, and we are doing business in the north. Su Shuangdao.

Zhang Shiping? Su Shuang? Liu He suddenly felt so familiar? [Note 1]

Yikes! Could it be them?

"Business in the North? What is the source of the merchant, the only one? Non-fallacies add up! The north is barren, only horses and goods, and foreign things, if you want to get it, you should need it, and what do you need? Salt and iron are the first, silk tea is second, such as Yima, you can get innumerable! Liu He looked at them and said.

"Oh! Are nobles also merchants? Zhang Shiping said.

"Boyu and Hansheng will take it down." Liu He suddenly ordered.

"Uh..."Xu Rong and Huang Zhong were stunned.

I saw Liu Bei and Liu Xiu immediately subduing them.

"Salt and iron are indeed the most needed things for foreigners, but this thing can never flow into foreigners, once they get this thing, they will be buried, salt can make manpower endure for a long time, iron is the root of casting weapons, foreign races have shrunk so far, that is, the weapon is not sharp, if the weapon is sharp, it will definitely move depending on the opportunity, and then the frontier is afraid that the war will be raging, and the people will not survive!" Liu He said slowly.

"The nobleman is wronged! We're both Han Chinese. What's more, salt and iron are controlled by the imperial court, and we only sell some silk and tea. Zhang Shiping begged for mercy.

"Really?" Liu He motioned to Liu Xiu: "Search!" Search for goods. ”

In a moment, 1,000 catties of iron, 50 quintals of tea, 100 horses of silk cloth, and 30 quintals of Bashu salt were found.

"Now that the evidence is conclusive, what else do you have to say?" Liu Hedao.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, due to the need to attack the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty accepted the suggestion of Sang Hongyang and implemented a state monopoly system of salt, iron and wine. Later, Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty abolished the liquor system and partially abolished the monopoly of salt and iron after the Salt and Iron Conference, but the nomads were still prohibited from flowing iron into them.

[Note 1] The first episode of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms":

Gathering more than 300 warriors in the township, they got drunk in the peach orchard. Pack up your weapons in the future, but you don't have any horses to ride. While thinking about it, the newspaper had two guests and introduced a partner

When, drive a herd of horses, throw the village up.

Xuande said: "God bless me!" ”

The three of them went out of the village to greet them. It turned out that the two guests were Zhongshan merchants: a Zhang Shiping and a Su Shuang, who went north every year to sell horses, and recently returned because of Koufa. Xuande invited the two to the village, put the wine in charge, and told them that he wanted to please the thief and the people. The two guests were overjoyed and were willing to send fifty good horses; He also gave five hundred taels of gold and silver, and a thousand pounds of iron, which he used as a weapon.