As soon as Zheng Zhilong entered the door, he asked if he had eaten, although he was a child, but he was also sincere, Li Guozhu smiled when he heard this, put down the jade ruyi in his hand, and said with a smile: "Not yet, you ran to the waves, I haven't seen you for half a day!" ”

Li Guozhu and Zheng Zhilong are actually righteous brothers, Zheng Zhilong is a righteous father and Li Dan, and the relationship is extraordinary, but there are many things in the maritime business to worship and accept the righteous son, Li Dan's righteous son is afraid that there are more than 100 people, although Zheng Zhilong is quite concerned, but it is impossible to make Li Guozhu and Zheng Zhilong's brother commensurate.

However, a few years later, Zheng Zhilong gradually became a wing, and He Bin, Gan Hui, Yan Siqi, Li Kuiqi and others established Eighteen Zhi, and Li Guozhu was also among them, and at that time he was a serious righteous brother.

Zheng Zhilong lifted the food box in his hand, and said with a happy face: "I heard that the restaurant in the Tiancheng Acropolis is good, I think that although the food here is good, it tastes tired after eating it for a long time, and besides, I have to taste some local food to make this trip worthwhile, so I specially rode to the Acropolis, found a good restaurant, and asked them to make some local dishes and bring them over." ”

Li Guozhu knew that Zheng Zhilong was also afraid of cold, he had chilblains on both hands, and he also had chilblains on his face, and when he saw Zheng Zhilong's cold nose and blushing, he said a little unhappily at the moment: "There is some food left and right, is it worth suffering so much." ”

Zheng Zhilong smiled and said, "Of course it's worth it, I'm greedy." ”

Li Guozhu also likes food, and said with a smile: "It's hard for you to work hard." ”

Things are worthless, it's really embarrassing, Zheng Zhilong is clever and clever, and he doesn't ask the little guy to come in, he opens the food box by himself and brings out the dishes in the same way.

Zheng Zhilong pointed to a plate of golden dim sum and said with a smile: "This is Yanghe's dried apricot, I heard that it is very famous." ”

"This is Datong's sheep's hooves, crystal clear, and very hot, and it is very nourishing to eat in this weather."

"This is Lingqiu's smoked chicken and soba noodles, both of which are famous products."

Dishes are placed on the table, and the aroma wafts out for a while.

Li Guozhu didn't move his chopsticks, he looked at Zheng Zhilong and said, "It's strange, it's such a long way, and it's such a cold day, why is this dish still hot?" ”

Zheng Zhilong smiled: "Isn't this simple? Wrapped in thick fur and packed in my chest, of course it was still hot all the way back. ”

He added: "I heard that there is a kind of iron lunch box in the merchant army, which is specially used in winter, and is divided into three layers, the outer layer is the lid, the inner layer is for vegetables and rice, and there is a layer of mezzanine below, which can be filled with some burning charcoal, so that it will not be cold at the end of the day." This thing sounds rare, but I want people not to give it, saying that it is necessary to have an order from above, and it is not okay to give money. ”

Li Guozhu listened to Zheng Zhilong's words, savored those dishes, and felt that the taste was really good, he knew that Zheng Zhilong was very clever, and he would definitely not do these things, so he made up his mind and said: "What you ask for, I know very well in my heart." ”

Zheng Zhilong was a little uneasy, and said, "How can I do something and ask for something ......?"

"It's also human, who isn't?" Li Guozhu stopped Zheng Zhilong's defense and said: "If it's my business, I might as well let you do it, but Zhang Wenlan's matter, I have observed it for a few days, and everything has rules and laws, and Brother Wenlan himself has to abide by these laws and rules at least on the surface." He has done such a big thing here, and it is well organized, not chaotic at all, everything gives people a sense of enterprising and upward, such a place, it feels terrible to think about it carefully, and I don't know what kind of point Zhang Wenlan can go...... I don't say this to praise others, but I just want to say that we should study such a place carefully, observe it carefully, look at the strengths and advantages of others, and don't think that people don't understand the things at sea and want to reap the benefits, this is short-sighted...... I've finished speaking, if you still want to seek Nanyang's affairs, I won't support Li Kuiqi and them, and I will definitely recommend you to Zhang Wenlan. ”

Zheng Zhilong is also a smart person, almost a little thorough.

At this time, he faintly realized that his private discussions and thoughts with He Bin and others, as well as Zheng Zhihu and Zheng Zhibao, were a little shallow, and could even be said to be stupid.

A figure like Zhang Han, who has achieved such a scale of foundation, how can he be a good person? How can you not prevent others from taking advantage of the opportunity?

I'm afraid that people don't understand it at first, and they may suffer some losses, but after a long time, they will definitely get the field back!

Zheng Zhilong was shocked at first, but then he still made up his mind, and he said to Li Guozhu: "The words of the eldest prince made me wake up like in a dream, but I still want to do this errand. It's just that the idea has changed, at first I wanted to make money, but now I really want to do something, and the things of Nanyang are promising. Seeing that Mr. Zhang is very ambitious and invests a lot, not only talents, but also various technologies, and maybe intelligence, in short, Mr. Zhang is indeed a promising person, and I want this opportunity. ”

The Li family has always acted by themselves, Li Dan gave the opportunity, that is, to ask people to do it themselves, if Zheng Zhilong does not go to a few places in Nanyang, he will also fend for himself in the next two years, of course, it is best to be recommended by Li Dan, but the Li family does not need to use too many people on hand.

Li Guozhu sighed secretly in his heart, he had already felt the beauty of Zhang Han's many measures in Li Zhuang, and he also thought about change, but he was not in charge of the affairs of the Li family, Zheng Zhilong and others were all handsome under the Li family, but Li Guozhu didn't know, if these people had been doing things for Zhang Han for a long time, would they still belong to the Li family, or would they directly belong to Zhang Han?

"In that case," Li Guozhu picked up a piece of sheep's hoof and said softly, "I will recommend you to Zhang Wenlan." ”

"Thank you, eldest son." Zheng Zhilong felt a burst of joy in his heart, and bowed down with his crossed hands.

……

As we approached November, Liaodong had lost count of how many times it had snowed.

The whole world is covered with snow white, and even the green pine trees on the high mountains around Liaoyang City are covered under the white snow all year round, and there is no greenery at all.

Li Mingli, who was thin and yellow-faced, had a rope on his shoulder, and the rope had worn out all his flesh and skin, bringing out beads of blood.

The people around him were all the same, all tired and emaciated, some in shabby fur clothes, most in thin jackets, and their bodies and cuffs were stuffed with ura grass for warmth...... This is better than nothing, they are malnourished, they eat poorly, their bodies cannot supply their own heat, they wear little, and almost everyone is cold.

Li Mingli was captured when Kaiyuan City was broken, when the deputy general of Kaiyuan who garrisoned Kaiyuan surrendered, Zhou Daniu and others broke through, Li Mingli was injured and could not walk, was captured on the battlefield, the battle of Kaiyuan and Tieling, the Jurchens slaughtered very badly, only a small number of sturdy soldiers were captured and survived, Li Mingli was one of them.

He was incorporated under the banner of Zhengbai and became the banner slave of the lieutenant general Darhan.

Darhan is an important confidant of Huang Taiji, and he is also a general who leads the army, with more than a dozen Zhuangzi, more than a thousand Zhuang Ding Qi slaves, Li Mingli began to work on the village before his injury was healed, and he was constantly beaten and scolded and insulted every day.

The Jurchens would catch fish once before the beginning of winter, and then again after the beginning of spring, and after March, the fish would start spawning, and then they would stop fishing, and then they would start fishing again in autumn.

There are thousands of catties of frozen fish on each climbing plow, the weight is not too heavy, but such ice and snow, the roads are frozen, covered with snow, people wear fur wrapped leggings, their feet are covered with grass, and they are trekking in knee-deep snow, all kinds of pain is needless to say, and Li Mingli and these coats have endured too much pain, and in the past few months, there has been a large-scale food shortage, and the price of grain has risen to one stone or two, and even continues to rise. Everyone is struggling on the line of life and death.

"Dog minion, hurry up!"

A flag-bearer wielded a leather whip and waved it in the air, making a crackling explosion.

Li Mingli worked harder, his eyes full of contempt.

This flag was originally also a Han Chinese, and he surrendered with Li Yongfang, and the flag he just raised last year has been used as the master to take the big, and the wrappers don't like this person, and of course they are even more unconvinced.

"Dare to look around!" Qi Ding saw Li Mingli's eyes, and he was angry, and whipped Li Mingli behind his back.

Li Mingli felt his whole body tremble, his back was first unconscious, and then there was a huge pain like pins and needles.

"Hurry up, watch and fight again!"

Qi Ding shouted majestically, and went to beat others, Li Mingli stared at this person, and his right hand touched under the trousers.

There was a small knife hidden there, and as long as he pulled it out and pounced forward, the flag man would be dead.

"Mingli, bear with me."

A hand reached over and pressed Li Mingli's right hand.

Li Mingli looked over, the man felt as if he was being stared at by a beast, Li Mingli's eyes were simply no one's anger, only indifference to life and death and beast-like ferocity.

"Mingli?"

"Well, old Brother Cao......"

Li Mingli finally came back to his senses and nodded to the one who pressed him.

The man was wearing a azure arrow robe, and he didn't wear fur clothes, but fortunately, the clothes were seven or eight percent new, and he also had a pair of boots on his feet, and his arrow jacket was thick, so it didn't look cold, and this person also wore a waist knife around his waist, and he also had a warm hat on his head, but it was different from ordinary flags or coats.

"Yo, Cao Zhangjing."

Qiding also saw this person at a glance, but he didn't come over, and after saying hello, he raised his chin up again.

"Cao Zhangjing" is named Cao Shixuan, originally the commander of Liaoyang Zhongwei, speaking of which is still a senior military official of the guard, but the guard officer is not valuable, Cao Shixuan did not serve as a military attache in the battalion, nor did he lead the troops, nor did he have a family Ding Tian, so he surrendered after being captured, although he got his life, but he was not awarded the official to carry the flag, unlike Li Yongfang and other guerrillas with real power, after the surrender, there was a corresponding official position, Cao Shixuan surrendered and became a banner Zhangjing, assisting the Jurchen Ezhen to manage a Niu Lu's banner, This Niulu is actually the surrendered Han army independently compiled into Niulu, which is subordinate to the black flag, that is, the later black battalion soldiers.