The next day, Ding Wei and Xue Yue took people into the city to inquire about the news, and Hou Zhen also entered the city to inquire about the news of the Li Mansion for Tong Tuchang.

Tong Tuchang got up and finished freshening up, saw that there were many people missing from Zhuangzi, and knew that everyone began to inquire about the news separately, he felt that he should also do something, and came out to find Wang Xian and said that he also wanted to contribute.

Wang Xian smiled when he heard Tong Tuchang say this, "Lord Tong, let's do this kind of thing, Lord Tong just needs to wait for the news!" ”

"Lord Wang, can I sit back and enjoy it? And I also want to go into the city to see, after all, if you want to enter the Li Mansion in the future, it's better to know more! ”

Wang Xian didn't think that Tong Tuchang's task could be completed at all, but seeing that Tong Tuchang's interest was so high, it was not easy to refuse, so he had to say: "Okay, I'll find two people to accompany Master Tong into the city!" ”

Wang Xian went out to find two young men with good skills and asked them to escort Tong Tuchang into the city.

After Tong Tuchang finished his preparations, he took two guards and rode out of Zhuangzi to Fuzhou City, which was twenty miles away.

The twenty-mile road was completed quickly, and before noon, the three of them came to the west gate of Fuzhou City.

Fuzhou City was founded in the fifth year of Han Gaozu, but this Fuzhou City located in a wild place is pitifully small, roughly within a small area of Yeshan Road and Qiantang Lane, just like a village. Over time, the city gradually expanded, mainly to the south.

In the Jin Dynasty, Yongjia Nandu brought a large number of Han people from the north, and the city wall moved south to the Hujie Road north of Dongjiekou, and the vast area south of Dongjiekou, including the famous three lanes and seven lanes, was still a rippling water surface and a piece of sandbar. In the following hundreds of years, the city of Fuzhou was continuously expanded, and by the Ming Dynasty, a densely populated market had formed in the area around the south gate next to the Minjiang River. However, the Fuzhou city wall built in the Ming Dynasty did not expand to the south, and basically maintained the urban pattern of three mountains and two towers in the Jin Dynasty. The city wall of the Ming Dynasty of Fuzhou is like a "convex" character, the north is narrow and the south is wide, the north is Ping Mountain, the left and right ends of the south are Wushan and Yu Mountain respectively, and the three mountains are just the momentum of the peak. Fuzhou city wall has opened a total of seven city gates, outside the east, west, south and north gates, there are also soup gates, well building doors and water departments, and the popular city gate recipe is "east, west, north and south soup well water".

Tong Tuchang and the three of them entered the city from the west gate, because the city is now replaced by the new governor Tong Guonai, and the soldiers defending the city are all replaced by officers and soldiers with the Han army flag. After paying another penny of silver to enter the city, the three entered Fuzhou City.

The west city of Fuzhou is full of factories, workshops, warehouses, etc., because it was the Zheng family who controlled Fujian before, so Fuzhou's commerce is very prosperous, and there are hundreds of workshops here in Xicheng. However, since the Qing army occupied Fuzhou, these big soldiers who didn't know what commerce was began to loot Xicheng, and many merchants without a foundation were ruined, and the Zheng family left the mainland, Fuzhou's maritime trade routes were cut off, and the workshops in Xicheng are now open.

Tong Tuchang can also be regarded as a magistrate who has been a magistrate for several years, and he regrets it very much when he sees that the good business area was destroyed like this by the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

Zhao Da, the guard on the side, also entered Fuzhou for the first time, he was a native of Huguang, and Zhu Hongsan joined Jinyiwei after coming to Guangdong, he was used to seeing the prosperity of Guangzhou, and this time he saw the ruin of Fuzhou and couldn't help but say: "It seems that Guangzhou is good!" ”

The other guard was his younger brother Zhao Er, who heard the eldest brother sigh with emotion, and also said: "Yes, there is not a single homeless person on the streets of Guangzhou, but look at Fuzhou, not only the homeless people, but also the local people have no food to eat!" ”

Tong Tuchang looked at the beggars begging on the street, sighed and said, "I don't know when this troubled world will end!" ”

The three of them entered the city this time in order to identify the way, and after finding someone to ask the road in Dongcheng, the three of them walked along Ximen Street and walked South Street to Dongcheng.

The north city of Fuzhou is where all the yamen are located, and all the officials and masters live in the north city. The East Side was the residence of some big merchants. When Li Chengdong first entered the city, he occupied the palace of Emperor Longwu in Beicheng, but he didn't expect Tong Guonai to take Li Chengdong away on the grounds that Beicheng was going to build a full city, and the emperor's palace was used as the governor's yamen by Tong Guonai.

Li Chengdong had no choice but to go to Dongcheng Zhuangyuan Lane to find a maritime merchant's house as his home.

Tong Tuchang and the three of them found Li Chengdong's residence, there were soldiers standing guard at the door, and the three of them did not dare to move forward, but just looked at it from a distance.

This house is really imposing, it occupies a full six alleys, and it seems that there are dozens of houses. Tong Tuchang and the others circled around the Li Mansion, and the high-walled compound couldn't enter at all.

It seems that no one can help to get in at all, and Qian Lide's plan to rescue Princess Yuyang seems to be not easy to implement.

After turning around for a long time, it was already noon, and Tong Tuchang asked, "Are you both hungry?" Let's find a place to eat! ”

The Zhao brothers have been hungry for a long time, but the three of them are mainly Tong Tuchang, and the two of them are not easy to talk to. Now hearing that Tong Tuchang was going to eat, the two hurried to find a restaurant.

Coming out of Zhuangyuan Lane, crossing Dongmen Street and entering Tangmen Street, it is full of restaurants.

Tong Tuchang looked at a big restaurant at the corner of the street, the name is Wanghailou, this restaurant is not small, let's do it!

Tong Tuchang took the Zhao brothers into Wanghai Tower, and the guy hurriedly greeted him and asked, "Three guest officers have dinner?" ”

"That's right! Find us a private room! Good wine and good food! ”

The fellow was very happy and hurriedly took the three of them to the private room on the second floor. Entering the restaurant, Tong Tuchang took a look, no one ate in the hall on the first floor, and it was the same when he came to the second floor, only less than three box doors were closed, and there were people eating inside, and there was no one in the other dozen boxes.

Tong Tuchang is very strange, isn't this a meal? Why is there no one eating in such a big restaurant?

"Man! Your business isn't very good! There are not many tables for dinner! ”

The guy sighed and said, "The guest officer is not a local, now the war is in chaos, then there are still people going to the restaurant to eat, now the street is full of homeless people, and the villain will work for this month, and he will return to his hometown next month!" ”

The guy chattered, led the three of them to the box, Tong Tuchang took out ten taels of silver, handed it to the guy and said, "Some good ones, more for you!" ”

Ten taels of silver is a lot of money, that is, the war is in chaos, and a good swallow wing seat on the table is less than three taels of silver, so that the guy's tip will be five or six taels into the account.

When the guy saw that he had met the gold owner, he quickly bowed his head and thanked him. "The three masters rest assured, the villain must be ready to eat and drink for the three of them!"

After the guy went down, Zhao Da said: "Lord Tong, you see that you will break the bank when you come out with us, Lord Wang has already explained when he comes out, and all the expenses will be taken into the public account!" ”

This time, in order to rescue Zhu Yu, Qian Lide made a bloody investment and took out 10,000 taels of silver as the activity fund, so the silver is still sufficient.

Tong Tuchang smiled and said, "Two brothers, this time it is arranged by my brother, and I will talk about it next time!" ”

Tong Tuchang, as a five-grade Tongzhi, earns nearly three hundred taels a month, and ten taels of silver for a meal is really drizzle. Not to mention that he accepted bribes in Zhaoqing, plus a few shops in Guangzhou, Tong Tuchang's family had nearly 100,000 taels.

Now there are not many customers in the restaurant, and the kung fu wine and food will come up for a while. In addition to some seafood, it is Tai Chi taro paste, pot side batter, meatballs, fish balls, flat meat swallows, lychee meat, drunk ribs and other Fujian dishes. The seasoning of Fujian cuisine is sweet, sour, and light, and likes to add sweet and sour, which are sweet and sour.

Tong Tuchang is a native of Liaodong, and he has been in Huguang for more than ten years, so he really doesn't like this kind of sweet and sour dish, so he stopped eating a few bites, and watched the Zhao brothers feast.

The guy on the side saw that Tong Tuchang hadn't eaten a few bites, and asked, "Uncle, why don't you eat it, the food is not to your taste?" ”

"Oh! No, I'm a foreigner, and I'm not used to the taste of Fujian cuisine! Man, sit down too, and I'll ask you something! ”

"Uncle can ask if he has something, and the villain will answer if he knows!"

Tong Tuchang nodded, he just wanted to know about the situation in Fuzhou.

"Man, I see that most of the workshops in the West Side are closed, why is that? Stopped doing business? ”

"Uncle, it's not all soldiers, when the Zheng family was there, Fuzhou was called a prosperous place, but since the pigtail army entered the city, this day is not as good as day by day!"

The guy looked outside the door and whispered: "I think the three of them should be merchants, let's go out of the city early after eating, Fuzhou is not a good place here!" ”

Tong Tuchang asked, "Why?" Even if the Manchurians occupied Fuzhou, didn't they also want to talk about the king's law? ”

"Guest officer, you don't know, the Manchurians are better, at least they still spend money on food, the most annoying thing is Li Chengdong's soldiers, who are similar to bandits, the shops in Xicheng are all disturbed and closed by them, and they rob them openly if they don't give money, and many businesses are ruined by them. Even the shopkeeper of my family also paid a thousand taels of silver for peace money! ”

Just when the guy was talking about Li Chengdong's crimes, the door of the box was pushed open, and five or six soldiers came in, led by a strong man who was 1.7 meters tall.

The strong man entered the house and looked at Tong Tuchang and the others, and asked, "Are you from this city?" ”

It seems that it was inspected by the Inspection Department, Tong Tuchang quickly stood up and said: "A few adults, we are merchants from Guangdong, and we have come to Fuzhou to do some small business!" After Tong Tuchang finished speaking, he took out ten taels of silver from his arms, wanting to bribe this petty official.

Who knew that people didn't eat this set at all, and asked, "Cantonese?" Our Qing Dynasty is now at war with the Ming Dynasty, I see that you are spies of the Ming army, come with me! ”

Tong Tuchang secretly shouted that it was not good, it was difficult to say whether the yamen could come out or not. Tong Tuchang hurriedly stepped forward and whispered: "My lord, I am from Liaodong, can you make it convenient!" ”

When the petty official heard Tong Tuchang say that he was from Liaodong, he frowned and asked, "Are you from Liaodong?" Where? ”

Tong Tuchang hurriedly said: "I am from Fushun." At the same time, he brought a bit of Liaodong accent.

"Fushun? Lao Tzu is also Fushun, what is your name? ”

Hearing that this guy was also Fushun, Tong Tuchang complained in his heart, originally he thought that all Liaodong people could let him go, but he didn't expect to meet his fellow countrymen. I can't help it, I have to tell the truth.