Previous Chapter: Chapter 458 Liaodong Next Chapter: Chapter 460 Signs of Rise

Drifting on the Liao River for two days and two nights, finally came to the cross ferry that is famous in Liaodong, the cross ferry is built because of the waterfront, and there is the east-west avenue traversing, so it is named, and the old name is also called the small ferry.

Now the water of the Liao River is still surging, from north to south, day and night, and the east-west artery connecting Youzhou and the Bohai Sea has long been submerged in the barren grass and weeds, and there is no trace to be found.

Li Mao stood at the bow of the boat, pointed to the hill northeast of the cross-ferry, and asked the clerk who boarded the boat to meet him:

"What is the name of this mountain?"

Answer: "East High Mountain." ”

Li Mao said: "After the crossing, it will be renamed Donggao Town, and two cities will be built in the future, one Gaozhou and one Dongzhou. ”

Li Mao took the lead, and his tone was indisputable.

The clerk sighed in his heart, and hurriedly expressed his approval, he had revealed in his letter to Li Mao that the idea of changing the name of the town was not all to catch up with the novelty, in fact, there was a deeper layer of ideas.

The Khitan people once broke the cross because it was so rich.

Cross crossing the back of the river mountain, all around are suitable for cultivating the plain, near the river and the terrain is nearly two zhang higher than the river surface, the water and drought do not invade, and here to the mouth of the Liao River, the river surface is wide and gentle, adapt to shipping, the sea boat can also go directly, it is an important ferry port that communicates the east and west of the Liao River, as long as it is carefully managed, it is difficult to get rich if you want to get rich.

Sure enough, it is difficult to ensure that it will not be coveted by people with intentions, and changing the name does not seem to have much effect, but in this era of news blockage, the benefits are still obvious.

Whether Li Mao's change of name was the intention of this is unknown, and he didn't expect Li Mao to suddenly propose to change his name, aggressive, and too sudden, which caught him off guard and was very passive.

After getting off the boat, Li Mao did not go to see the new house prepared for him, but went around along the city wall with Wen Wencheng, the city wall is about eight miles long, divided into two layers, the outer heavy wall is constructed of earth and stone according to the topography, about one zhang high, there is a trench dug outside the wall, and the root of the wall is planted with thorns, which is used to protect the thousands of acres of first-class land and more than a dozen cattle, sheep and pigsty sandwiched between the inner city and the outer wall. The inner city is built on a piece of high ground, with an area of more than 400 acres, and thousands of courtyards are densely distributed.

The surrounding wall is a stone wall, three zhang high, seven feet thick, every fifty steps to build an arrow tower, after the Khitan people broke through the small ferry, burned down all the houses in the village, but there is nothing to be done about this stone wall. Efforts have only destroyed a small part of it.

In the following years, several bandits were entrenched here, but because there were no people for hundreds of miles around, the supplies were insufficient, and finally gave up, and it took nearly a year for the clerk to complete the repair of the inner wall destroyed by the Khitans, and the houses in the city were also being built one after another. Six or seven percent of the acres of land and livestock pens in the city have been restored.

Li Mao turned around, the sky was already dark, and the howls of all kinds of beasts sounded in the surrounding forests.

That night, the clerk did his best to entertain his new partner, although he knew the desolation of Liaodong, but the immersion was still shocking, and Li Mao only smiled faintly when he saw that many of the people accompanying him were afraid of difficulties during the drinking.

After the welcome banquet, Li Mao returned to his new house, the walls were mud walls, the houses were low, the walls were thick, the windows were very small, and there were wooden windows. The walls of the interior were inlaid with wooden planks and tabernacles, which of course were the special privileges of the chiefs, and the ordinary rooms had only mud walls. Wu, the wife of the clerk, led several women to lay out the bedding, clean up inside and out, the bedding is a high-quality good fur, the texture is soft and warm, in the eyes of Chang'an merchants, the value is between seventy and one hundred.

While the women were busy, Wu had a conversation with him in Li Mao's study.

To the effect that the clerk is a talented person rather than a handsome talent, it is difficult for him to come out and be in charge, and it is miserable to grit his teeth and support in Liaodong over the years, and he has always wanted to unload this burden, but he failed to do so because he could not find a suitable candidate.

Wu said: "It's good for you to come, Taigong and Zhu Jiu are your subordinates, so naturally listen to you, with you on your side, Shucheng can finally sleep a few times peacefully." ”

Life in Liaodong is hard, and in just a few years, Wu seems to be ten years old, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes are already very deep. And she has always paid attention to her appearance, but she didn't even paint light makeup on such occasions. Li Mao turned around to the bedroom and took out a set of rouge gouache from his luggage and gave it to her, Wu hurriedly refused to ask for it, Li Mao said: "You can take what I gave it, I bought it just for you." ”

Wu sighed with emotion: "It's rare that you still remember, I" didn't finish his words, and tears filled his eyes.

Li Mao comforted her and sent her out, but there were four or five women with her, but Li Mao did not insist on sending her home.

At the time of parting, Wu invited Li Mao to her house to drink the next day, saying that there was still half a jar of wine left from a Dengzhou businessman last year, which was well sealed and did not taste at all.

Li Mao happily accepted the invitation, returned to the house, and stared at the empty walls of the empty room, the leader's bedroom was still so simple, and the others were miserable, and the embarrassment of Liaodong was even more serious than imagined.

At this time, the Shikong Shixiong brothers came over, Shixiong stayed outside to arrange the guards, and Shikong walked in the door, with a guilty face, and said, "If I don't pay attention, I will lose you." Guilty, guilty. Hey, this place is good, and there are a pair of high tables and chairs, which shows that you have put a lot of thought into it. It's just too close to the wall, it's not safe. ”

Li Mao smiled: "It's all a family, don't say these things again." ”

Shi Kong snorted for a while, there was nothing to say, today's reception banquet was rich in wine and food, and the atmosphere was warm, it looked like a long-lost family reunion, a reunion of brothers who had been separated for a long time, but it was a lot of mysteries when thinking about it carefully, and the few people gathered in the cross were not as intimate as they seemed on the surface.

The distance of time and space can not be erased by anyone, time and space produce distance, distance produces strangeness, strangeness leads to misunderstanding, if a small cross is to be twisted into a rope, it still takes time, the current situation is sensitive and complex, how can it be cautious

Shi Xiong arranged the guards and walked in, Li Mao saw that he was wearing iron armor, carrying a war knife at his waist, and carrying a bow, so he asked with a smile: "Are you going out hunting at night" Shi Kong said: "We have discussed, he is on the night shift, I am on the day shift, and the two of us will follow you every inch throughout the day." ”

Li Mao sat down on the earthen kang covered with a new mattress, sighed and said, "I understand your kindness, so the guards will withdraw." Originally, they were all good brothers, but they have been separated for too long, so it is inevitable that they will be a little rusty, and they must show sincerity to each other, right. ”

The two wanted to persuade but didn't dare, so they had to retreat, and after going out to discuss it, they withdrew the brigade, leaving a few capable people hidden nearby, providing armed support at any time. Shi Xiong took off his armor, wore civilian clothes, and stayed behind with a knife.

About a day or so, Wen Cheng, Mao Taigong, Zhu Jiu and Qin Mo came over talking and laughing, and they didn't know what jokes Qin Mo said, and even Mao Taigong, who didn't like to laugh the most, had a smile on his face.

Li Maoying was in the courtyard, and the clerk said when he met: "I originally wanted to ask you to sleep and talk about business, not because I was afraid that you would get drunk, but because I was afraid that you would work too the boat, but you look at my unproductive temperament, I can't sleep when I have something in my heart, so I have no choice, so I have to invite Taigong and pull Zhu Jiu to find you, and I didn't disturb you to rest." ”

Li Mao said: "Lao Wen, you said this, the brothers have not seen each other for many years, and it is inevitable that they will be divided, but it is not such a division of life, they are about to treat me as an outsider, if you have something to say, just come to me." I'm not a woman, so whatever time you knock on the door. ”

The crowd laughed and let them in.

When the clerk arranged Li Mao's residence, he took into account the convenience of daily affairs, Li Mao's residence was bright and dark, the bright hall was wide, with Li Mao's favorite large round table as the center, with more than a dozen high-backed chairs, and it did not look crowded to sit ten people.

Everyone sat down, Qin Mo was obedient, busy boiling water and making tea, and the clerk brought a bag of beef jerky with him, distributed it to everyone, and chewed it slowly.

Qin Mo made tea, grabbed a handful of jerky, pulled a chair and sat by the door, deliberately distancing himself from everyone.

The clerk asked him, "Is the king of the mountain asleep, and I invite him to come and sit down." ”

Qin Mo looked at Li Mao, put down the jerky, clapped his hands, and was about to get up, but Mao Taigong, who was sitting cross-legged on the chair, said: "Please do something to him, we have something to talk about ourselves, and we will inform him when we turn around." ”

Zhu Jiu also said: "His brother Jiamao did it for him, so you don't need to call him." ”

The clerk smiled awkwardly, took a sip of tea, cleared his throat and said: "I remember that in the first year of Zhenyuan, I bought a few granges under the pretense of my position, collected the old Qing Navy Department, and wanted them to cultivate and eat by themselves, in order to not bear them to freeze and starve, and the righteousness of the whole brothers, tasting beef jerky. ”

The crowd laughed.

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