Zhu Youzhen said to Wang Mujiu, "Mu Jiu, go outside to find a single guest, I want to eat at the same table with him." ”

Wang Mujiu looked at Zhu Youzhen's face: "Your Highness, rest assured, your subordinates will not reveal your identity." He opened the door to the private room and slowly exited.

Before Xiao Er's tea came up, Wang Mujiu came back, "Your Highness, the arrangements are ready." ”

Zhu Youzhen came outside with Wang Mujiu and sat down next to a single guest who was about thirty years old.

"Huang Er, my son-in-law is here, he wants to ask you a few questions, and you have to answer them truthfully." Wang Mujiu put a few pieces of broken silver in front of Huang Er.

"Yes, yes. The villain must know everything. Huang Er quickly stuffed the broken silver into his sleeve, and then glanced at Zhu Youjian.

"Don't be nervous, I'm just a passing guest, because Xiao Er didn't let me eat enough, I was upset, so I came to ask."

"Outlander, right? I can tell it at a glance. Huang Er took a bite of half of the steamed bun and ate another mouthful of food, "Just ask me, there is no information in this area that I don't know." ”

Zhu Youzhen frowned: "Why doesn't the store let us eat enough?" ”

"There's no surplus food -- in fact, he can't buy food." Huang Er lowered his voice: "Childe wants to sell grain?" The villain can buy some cheap grain. ”

"We don't need it for the time being—why won't this grain store sell more? Don't they have food either? ”

"There is also some grain, but the price is low, and people are reluctant to sell it."

"Low? What is the price of food in Guide now? Zhu Youzhen doesn't believe that in this place where there is a shortage of grain, grain prices will not go up.

"A tael of silver and a stone."

"That's a lot, I remember that the grain was one tael of silver and two stones." Zhu Youzhen didn't know if his memory was wrong.

"What year did Childe say?" Huang Er was quite disdainful, "Shaanxi has been in drought for three consecutive years, and grain prices have long been sky-high. ”

"Then why is it only one or two now?" Zhu Youzhen did not believe that this was a discovery of conscience by the merchants.

"Gongzi doesn't know, there is a trilateral governor in Shaanxi, Lord Zu, and he is not allowed to increase the price of grain, one or two is the upper limit, and if the price is exceeded, the grain store will be closed and the grain will be confiscated."

"Huh? So powerful? Then the merchant will not ship the grain out of Shaanxi to buy? ”

"Shipped out? The ancestors of the people have long been prepared, and all the customs clearance intersections in Shaanxi are guarded by soldiers, as long as the grain is transported outward, no matter who it is. Huang Er swiped his hand on his neck and made a head-killing pose.

"Has anyone been beheaded?" Zhu Youzhen didn't expect Zu Dashou's methods to be so harsh.

"Yes, not only was the head beheaded, but also shown to the public, who would dare to transport grain out of Shaanxi now?"

Zhu Youzhen was silent for a while, he practiced extraordinary methods in extraordinary times, and Zu Dashou's methods were a little stricter, but without strict methods, I was afraid that he would not be able to shake the merchants. "Huang Er, I'm going to buy some food now and prepare it for use on the road, can you get it?"

"How much does Childe want?"

"Two stones."

"So much? If it is shipped out of Shaanxi......"

"We don't go out of Shaanxi, we go to Xi'an. Besides, there are more than 100 people in our group, and we ate in one day on the road. ”

"That's fine, as long as you can afford it."

"The price? Didn't you say a stone of grain and a tael of silver? Zhu Youzhen felt strange.

"That's the price in the market -- you can't buy five catties of grain at that price."

"How much silver does that cost?"

Huang Er stretched out four fingers, "Four taels." ”

It turned out to be a price increase in disguise. But under the eaves, Zhu Youzhen had to endure it, "Okay, I'll give four taels, you get me two stones of grain." ”

Childe laughed. How can four taels of silver buy two stones of grain? ”

"Didn't you just say four taels of silver and two stones?" Zhu Youzhen felt that he had been deceived by this little gangster.

"Childe, when did the villain say that--if that's the case, ask Childe to find someone else."

"You dare to deceive us?" Wang Mujiu was furious and stepped forward to grab Huang Er's collar.

"Rest the wrath, rest the wrath." Huang Er slowly pulled Wang Mujiu's hand away, "That's it, I don't look like a rich man - I suffer a loss, it's a big deal to work in vain." Two stones of grain, seven taels of silver, no matter how little, there is no need to negotiate. ”

"You ......" Wang Mujiu still wanted to reason with Huang Er again.

"Forget it, give him eight taels of silver, it's considered to be a friend." Zhu Youzhen thought of a position, which is very suitable for this kind of master who refuses to suffer losses and forces the other party into a corner step by step.

"It's still a happy child, and villains like to run errands for people like Childe." Huang Er glared at Wang Mujiu provocatively, "The villain is a military household in this Guide Institute, I don't know what Gongzi's tuba is?" The villain is also easy to remember, and burn incense and pray for the son all the time. ”

"Haha," Zhu Youzhen took Huang Er, "My son's surname is Wang Mingxin, and he lives in Yansui." Now I want to go to Xi'an, and I will return in half a month, you can go to Yansui to find me. ”

"Huang Er, you have to dare to get some inferior grain to prevaricate, see that I don't peel off your skin." Wang Mujiu couldn't get used to these gangsters, and dared to provoke.

"You can rest assured that this is an authentic white face. If it's a little bit wrong, you screw my head off and use it as a night pot. Huang Er didn't seem to be at ease with Zhu Youzhen, "But, let's say it, don't be so swaggering and take food out of Shaanxi, that ancestor boss doesn't follow personal feelings." ”

"Don't worry, we won't joke with our heads. You go and come back quickly, we have to hurry after dinner. ”

"Okay, the villain will be fine in a while. Childe eats and drinks well first. Huang Eryi slipped out of the door, flashed into an alley, and disappeared in an instant.

Before Zhu Youzhen's meal was finished, Huang Er came back. He was followed by a little boy wearing a melon skin hat and a blue sweat towel on his shoulder, who was pushing a trolley with two brand new white noodle bags.

Wang Mujiu opened the noodle bag, and sure enough, it was a good white noodle. He gave Huang Erba taels of silver, and then asked Xiao Er to carry the white noodles to the horse.

Zhu Youzhen and his entourage ran south along the avenue again. On the horse, the more Zhu Youzhen thought about it, the more wrong it became, how poor is this ordinary person? How hungry are you? It is not visible along the avenue in this way.

"Mu Jiu, there is a village in front, let's go and have a look, you let the soldiers continue to walk along the avenue, and we will meet them in front."

Wang Mujiu explained a few words to Li Jun, and then followed Zhu Youzhen with several soldiers.

They removed the thick cotton wool that was wrapped around the horses' feet, and the fields were not as hard as the concrete avenues, and the horses' hooves did not need protection.

The farmland is full of greenery, in addition to winter wheat, there are also rape, potatoes are also a lot, from time to time you can see a whole field is the kind of mulberry leaf-like wide leaves, but more often than not, there is a small piece of the field. I don't know if it's because the seeds of potatoes are insufficient, or if the people can't believe the propaganda of the government.

In order to prevent the horses' hooves from trampling the crops, Zhu Youzhen and the soldiers all came down and led the horses slowly.

"Your Highness, what's wrong with these leaves?" A soldier found a small piece of potato leaf missing, leaving only a bare stalk swaying in the wind.

"Is it that someone's livestock accidentally ran here and ate the leaves?" Zhu Youzhen was also a little puzzled, if it was really livestock, why didn't he eat wheat leaves?

"Your Highness, it won't be livestock." Liu Lin decisively put forward his discovery, "If it were livestock, it would definitely leave footprints on this soft land, but I looked around and found that there were no footprints at all. ”

"Haha, it's really an interrogation, more careful than ordinary people." Wang Mujiu gave him a thumbs up.

Liu Lin smiled shyly.

Zhu Youzhen frowned, it can't be who is sabotage, right? Is it specifically for the new crop of potatoes? "Look around and see if there's any such thing."

"Yes, Your Highness." The soldiers agreed and searched in all directions, while Zhu Youzhen and Wang Mujiu waited for their message.

"There are some here, too." A soldier's voice came from the southwest, and there was a large thorn in the ground, blocking Zhu Youzhen's view.

"Let's go, let's see." Zhu Youzhen and Wang Mujiu carefully led the horse and walked towards the thorns.

"Your Highness, there is someone here." Before Zhu Youzhen walked to the thorn bush, the voice of a soldier came.

"Everyone quickly close together to protect Your Highness." Wang Mujiu had already put down the reins of the horse in his hand, pulled out his waist knife, and protected Zhu Youzhen in front of him.

The soldiers in the distance were also quickly returning to the defense, and at this moment, no one cared whether to trample on the crops or not.

Could it be an assassin? Zhu Youzhen didn't believe it, how many people could be hidden with such a small shrub thorn? Is there still someone hiding underground?

"Your Highness, it's an old man with a few children." The soldier over there came again.

Sure enough, it's not an assassin, what can an old man do with a few children? Could it be that they are gourd babies? Zhu Youzhen continued to walk towards the thorns.

"Your Highness, be careful, there is no one around here, but there is an old man hiding in the thorns with a child, it is too weird. His Highness had to guard against it. Wang Mujiu still held the saber very carefully, guarding Zhu Youzhen's left side, his eyes staring at the thorns in front of him.

"Come out." The soldiers surrounding the thorny bushes shouted loudly.

A thorn in the center parted in all directions, and an old man with gray hair, hunched over, pulled the three and a half children against his thigh, and staggered out of the thorn.

Seeing that he was surrounded by more than a dozen soldiers with knives and guns, the old man was so frightened that he "pounced" and knelt down in front of Zhu Youzhen, "I did it, I beg you, let the child go!" ”

When the three children saw the old man kneeling, they also knelt beside the old man for unknown reasons.

If such an old man is an Assassin, unless he is from the Tang Sect in Sichuan. Zhu Youzhen observed carefully, and at the corner of a little girl's mouth, he also found a long green water stain, which had not yet dried, and was obviously just left.

"You did it? What did you do? ”

"Aren't you looking into potato leaves?" The old man raised his eyes to look at Zhu Youzhen, and obviously found that he was the leader of this group.

"We're really looking into the potato leaves." Zhu Youzhen didn't deny it, he didn't know what this potato leaf had to do with this old man, could it be that this old man could still eat potato leaves?

"These are all eaten by me, and they have nothing to do with the children, if you want to punish me, the old man!" The old man moved the kneeling children to his side, under his arms, and since he had only two hands, he moved the third child under his armpits.

"What did you eat? Can you eat the leaves of this potato? Zhu Youzhen was very surprised, he had only heard of winter melon skin, watermelon skin, eggplant stalk, and water chestnut cabbage in later generations, and soaked them in the thick soup of pickled pickles, and after they were fully fermented, they were taken out and steamed, which was a rare appetizer in summer, but he had never heard that the leaves of potatoes could also be eaten.