Let the soldiers stay in the temporary military camp temporarily set up by the Cao Guoren to rest, and enter the city from the north with only a few guards and cronies. It is close to the market of Jishui, the world's largest trading center in the entire Central Plains.

The market is densely packed on both sides of the riverbank, and the department stores are full of miscellaneous and bustling. The road in the city is straight, paved with bluestone slabs, and wealthy merchants dressed in Song embroidery and Lu Jin lead soap-clothed attendants to swagger through the market, and the sound of bargaining is noisy. Xuanyi's city official "Chu Shi" took the city officials to collect trade taxes during the inspection.

When I passed by here last year, I just sighed at the number of goods, but this time I passed by again, and when I looked at the goods, I saw the difference. the fish and salt of the Qi country; the cattle and horses of Beiyan and Xianyu; Song Lu's grains, silk and linen; Jin leather and pool salt; Copper tin of the state of Wu; The wolfberry, bird feather, and danqing of the Chu State are even gold mined from the Rushui Han River......

These things are all strategic resources, related to the people's livelihood of food and clothing, related to whether craftsmen can make blades, arrows, and shields, related to whether a monarch's rule can be stable, and whether his war machine can run smoothly!

Walking towards the inner city, Wuxian and Zigong chatted casually: "It seems that Taoqiu has not changed much. ”

Zigong chuckled: "When you get to the extravagant place in the Waiguo District, I'm afraid Si Kou will have to take back this sentence." ”

It turned out that Zigong's strategy to encourage extravagance worked, and Cao Guo's income last year was good, and his income was twice as high as in previous years. Cao Bo was immediately grateful to Zhao Wuxian and Zigong, and even took out the wealth that he only had when he was hunting, and funded the renovation of the humble civil engineering arena where he was extravagant.

At the suggestion of Zhao Wuxian's letter, Cao Bo asked the workers to send thousands of laborers to collect stones from the upper reaches of the water. It was transported to Taoyi by longboat. A new stone "arena" was created to show off wealth. Celebrate your birthday, and it is said that it can accommodate 5,000 people at a time!

"Land prices are soaring right now. Most of the farmer's fields within a mile to the left have been acquired, and now an acre is worth hundreds of dollars. ”

Wu Xian was surprised: "Dozens of times up? ”

"Although it is expensive, if you can open a shop near there to eat and drink, it will definitely be a hundred profits, and the merchants all say that this is the blessing of Sikou, but most of the land is in our hands...... In addition, the accounts are ready for inspection by the Scooper. Throwing away all expenses, last year, he got a total of nine pure profits in gold, thousands of horses in Song and Lu, and tens of thousands of coins in Qi and Jin. If all these are exchanged for grain, 60,000 people in Sanyi can be fed for a year, and if all of them are exchanged for good horses, one or two thousand horses can be scraped together! ”

"There's no rush in this matter."

As Zigong gradually gained a foothold in Taoqiu, Zhao Wuxian also planned to reach out to the rest of the realm, where porcelain and paper had to open up as soon as possible. Plans for the acquisition of strategic goods must also be put on the agenda.

However, Wuxian didn't have time to go over today to take a look, and he didn't even have time to go to Zigong's residence to see the beautiful woman in the boudoir.

That night, Cao Boyang put on a grand guard of honor and personally went out of the inner city to greet him. And took a four-wheeled luxury car with Zhao Wuxian to enter the palace, and set up a banquet on the high platform near Jishui to catch him and wash the dust, and the seat was set within three steps to the right of the throne!

The forces of Taoqiu were in an uproar. This specification is to receive the doctor of the country of Lu as the secretary of a big country and the king of a small country!

"Cao Jun is confused! Absurd! "Some people scolded so secretly. But this does not in any way affect the unsympathetic treatment.

And at this drunken banquet, the host Cao Bo also cordially held Zhao Wuxian's hand. Pointing to the two people at the front of the banquet, he said to him, "Zitai, there are still two of your old friends here!" ”

Wuxian looked at it, one after the other, and was getting up to salute him, with meaningful eyes in their eyes, aren't they two old acquaintances from the Jin Kingdom......

……

"I didn't expect to meet Zitai here."

"The teacher is the teacher of the boy Pan Palace, just call me a shirtless." After Wu Xian finished speaking, Deng Fei, who was behind Qin, also saluted: "I've seen Mr. Deng." ”

Cao Bo's birthday banquet invited all the princes of the Central Plains except the Song Dynasty, and the international relations in the Spring and Autumn Period were very close and complex, and blood, patriarchy, in-laws and interests were entangled, so the monarchs also had to hire each other to liaise with each other.

The Jin State also sent the doctor of the Gong clan and the Shangjun Sima Qin to congratulate him on his birthday, although Qin is only a middle doctor, but the doctor in a large country is equivalent to a doctor in a small country, so he is in the front, and the subordinate Deng Fei also sits in the back, and Cao Bo's so-called Zhao Wuxian's "old man" is the two of them.

Qin was dressed in black and had a long crown, sitting behind the case, he hadn't seen him for two years, and the beard under his chin seemed to have grown a little, but he still looked graceful. The difference is that he has a smile on his face, a bow in his hand, and is very eager for Wuxian, and immediately toasts him, and also talks about the past of the Jin Kingdom.

Speaking of which, when Qin saw that he was ordinary-looking, and he was just a lowly concubine of the Zhao family, he only came to Pan Palace to study in his teens, so he didn't pay much attention to it, and he didn't teach a class by himself, and completely threw it to his subordinate Deng Fei.

But now, he regretted it a little too late, because although Wuxian was "expelled" from the Jin Kingdom, he was famous, and he got the same title as Qin in Lu, but Lingyi was several times better than him. And he is only sixteen or seventeen years old, and his future is limitless, how can he not stammer? Although Qin is the Sima of the Shangjun, as a subordinate of the Shangjun general Zhongxingyin, he is currently taking refuge in the Fan and Zhongxing factions, and this time he also brought gifts from the two families and the soldiers who escorted the gifts.

If you put it into a peach, you will repay it with Li, Zhao Wuxian also gave a lot of courtesy to Qin, after all, he also offered a bundle when he was in the Xinjiang Pan Palace, and took Qin as his teacher, and this superficial respect is to be done.

However, what he respected more was Deng Fei, who was following behind Ji Qin and saluting together.

Seeing that Wuxian respected him in public, Deng Fei was moved and hurriedly returned the salute: "The poor don't dare to be a doctor." ”

Wuxian insisted on it: "This is wrong, Mr.'s talent is worthy of worship!" ”

This scholar, who had taught Zhao Wuxian a lot of canonical history and the laws of Jin and Zheng, was wearing a cloth crown today, and his slightly short figure was wrapped in plain dark clothes and tied with a black silk belt. Compared with two years ago, there are a few more white threads on his sideburns, after all, he is over forty years old, and the years are not forgiving.

It is not convenient to speak at the feast. After saying hello to the two of them, Wuxian returned to his seat and chatted with Uncle Cao. Tonight, Cao Guoku's kitchen found delicacies from all over the place. Many of them were the prey that the monarch had personally caught a few days ago, and the main course was a whole deer. A rare giant turtle soup, but the faint fishy smell made Wuxian not like the dagger very much.

In addition, there are all kinds of meat, such as the world-famous orangutan lips, badger badgers, leopard fetuses, elephant tails have also been found. Spring and autumn is a meal system, the food is served in the beans and the ding respectively in front of each person's case, it is the season of autumn meat fat, these game meat dipped in sauce to eat is very delicious.

After drinking until the wine was drunk, the ladies of the Cao State Palace began to dance with wide sleeves. fluttering like a fairy, Uncle Cao drank so much that he raised his glass again, and he didn't thank anything else, but Xie Zhao Wuxian gave him a hunting weapon.

"Thanks to the saddle offered by Zitai, now the widow has also formed a light knight, but it is enough to penetrate the forest and cross the water, but it is not enough to shoot a bow and arrow on a galloping horse."

Are you kidding? On the premise that Zhao Wuxian was slow to make stirrups, he wanted to train an archer knight. Won't it take three or four years to see results? What's more, even Zhao Wuxian did not dare to promote Hufu cavalry and archery to the whole people, and only dared to select some of the less high-status Yu, Mu, Rong, and Di Chong in the army as light knights, so as to avoid causing dissatisfaction. Condemned by the population.

In this world, except for the border countries with natural advantages such as Jin, Qin, Yan, and Xianyu, the rest of the princes do not have the conditions for large-scale mass production of cavalry.

However, Uncle Cao's words made the doctors of Secretary Cao on the side sigh, although the last year was good. The number of merchants and nobles entering the country soared, and the treasury gradually became fuller. But this lord of his own family. It seems that he has never faced up to anything other than hunting, and has been concerned about extravagance. And only because it allowed him to pay for the hunt.

After the Yan feast, the guests dispersed, and Zhao Wuxian was also slightly drunk, so he left the table with Ji Qin and others. One of them lives in the west of the inner city, and the other lives in the east of the inner city, so Wuxian plans to walk to the fork in the avenue before saying goodbye, and there are still people waiting for him in the building! Today's banquet is just an appetizer for Cao Bo's birthday banquet, and the day after tomorrow, those Wu people will also arrive in Taoqiu, and it will be the main dish at that time!

Ji Qin finally said goodbye after some chatter, but his subordinate Deng Fei trotted around halfway, panting and stopping Zhao Wuxian's carriage, saying that he had something important to ask him for.

Deng Fei was very familiar with both Jin and Zheng criminal law, and what Zhao Wuxian's new policy system lacked most was a judge in charge of criminal law proceedings, as well as a set of reasonable laws and regulations formulated according to local conditions.

He once had the idea of looking for a group of legal talents in Jin and Zheng, and Deng Fei bore the brunt of it, but the main task was to prevent thieves, and the internal conflict was not significant, and Zhao Xuanzi's law could also be used, so this matter was delayed.

But now, seeing that Deng Fei's position is still heavy, and his salary has not been improved by Ji Qin, this plan has emerged again. Zhao Wuxian gave birth to the heart of recruitment, as a subordinate official of Qin rather than a retainer, Deng Fei is considered a free body, a good bird chooses a tree to perch, Qin is not a master, as long as he knows it with affection and tempts it to benefit, he does not believe that he will not come.

is the same middle doctor, a military Sima, and a small secretary, who is worse than whom? In terms of territory, Zhao Wuxian has one more! In terms of fame, how can the descendants of "Counting Classics Forgetting Their Ancestors" be compared with Zhao Wuxian, who added several new words to the poem at the age of sixteen or seventeen, and now has a good reputation?

So he invited Deng Fei to pedal the car, and pretended to be drunk and complained angrily: "The doctor treats Mr. too thinly, and there is no car and horse delivery for travel, which is really unreasonable, I will use my car from tomorrow!" As for what the gentleman said, as long as it can be done without compassion, there will be no delay! ”

Deng Fei was moved, but the request he made was something that Zhao Wuxian did not expect in advance.

……

"I must have heard that the doctor had heard that I was originally a Deng person, and a hundred years ago, after the death of the state in Chu, the people of the tribe went north and scattered in Zhengdi. Fei has a cousin named Deng Xi, who is Zheng Guo's lawyer, who is arrogant by nature, good at biambiguity, and has studied the law more deeply than me. He is now confined to his home because he has offended Zheng Guo's government, and he said in his letter to me that he will never bow his head in this life, but if he does not bow his head, he may be convicted and deserved to death by Zheng Qing, so I have a reluctant request, and I hope the doctor can save his life! ”

"Deng Zi is imprisoned?" Speaking of which, Zhao Wuxian secretly said that the news he heard from Zigong was indeed accurate.

Speaking of Deng Xi, he is also a big celebrity of this era, and he can be said to be the founder of the Warring States period of law and famous families. He has done a lot of things in the past ten years, first he was dissatisfied with the politics of the child, so he wanted to change the old law cast by Zheng, and he was not subject to the king's order, and privately made the criminal law, and the book was written in the bamboo slips, so he said "Bamboo Punishment".

Later, he imparted legal knowledge to Zheng Guoguo and businessmen, and also openly contracted lawsuits and litigated for others. This made Zheng Guosi and the judges very passive, as long as Deng Yi was present, no one would dare to take charge.

Therefore, he had already heard of his name, and he once sent someone to Zheng Guo to ask to see Deng Xi, and paid for several large volumes of hand-copied "Bamboo Punishment". After coming back and looking through it, he found that Deng Xi's thinking was really radical: he wanted to change the old system of Zheng Guo, neither mentioning to imitate the previous kings, refusing to respect etiquette and righteousness, and even more unwilling to accept the orders of the monarch and the ruling at that time.

By now, Deng Xi has become more and more emboldened, and he has begun to criticize Zheng Guo for coming to power, and he has even defeated him in a debate.

As a result, under the toss of this Mr. Deng, a new trend of thought appeared in Zheng Guo, and it was rumored that "Zheng Guo was in turmoil, and the people were in an uproar", which posed a serious threat to Zheng Guoqimu's rule.

When Zheng Zichan was alive, in the face of the dissatisfaction and slander of the Chinese people, he did not destroy the township community, did not block public opinion, and reversed the views of the Chinese people with substantive political achievements, which can be described as tolerant. After the death of Zisheng, the one who inherited the ruling position was one of the Seven Mu, the uncle of the You family, who was generous, dignified and tolerant, so he did not trouble Deng Xi.

Now, the step-son and the uncle of the son and the son of Zheng Guo are the rulers of the Si family, he is not able to win Deng Xi's argument, and he feels that he has lost face, so he issued a confinement order to Deng Xi, not allowing him to go out, and at the same time ordered to change some of the terms in the "Bamboo Punishment".

This is the cause and effect of Deng Xi's disaster, Xi Xiao's mind is not as broad as the previous two rulers, once he feels that he can't cope with Zheng Guo's "people's uproar", he may be killed by Deng Xi at any time!

Now in the face of Deng Fei's request for help, Wuxian pondered for a moment and then asked: "Wuxian is Lu Guosikou and not Zheng Guosikou, and a doctor in the middle will not be looked down upon by Zheng Qing." Zheng Guo's Deng Zi is well-known in the world, and now there are not a few Qing clans who like to recruit talents, if they can make a move, they will definitely be able to save Deng Zi without effort, why does Mr. ask me for help with a soft talk? ”

Deng Fei is also helpless, his lord Qin is not responsible, although he uses him, he is only treated as an ordinary scholar, how can he save Deng Xi because of his words? Although there are many doctors in the world, there are only a few people who are familiar with him, thinking about it, Zhao Wuxian is worthy of trust, although he has a bad relationship with Deng Xi, but after all, he is a blood relative who has not been out of five suits, how can he not be saved when he dies?

So he bowed solemnly and said: "Although the clan brother has a reputation among the princes, but it is not a good reputation, who can tolerate a person who advocates for the words of 'governing the country and punishing the country, not hiding it from relatives' and 'the doctor is guilty of the same crime as the common people'?" And the merchants of Zheng Guo were also afraid of the wrath of the ruling government, and they were especially afraid of it. But I know that Si Kou is benevolent, and he likes the study of names and laws, and his merchants colonize the Central Plains, and he also has some manpower in Zheng State, and I hope that he can try to rescue his brother, so that he can avoid the limelight in the west of Lu State. Si Kou's grace of the grass, Fei and Deng Xi, and even the whole Deng clan will definitely repay it! ”

PS: It's like this today, two more tomorrow (to be continued......

PS: Thank you for the nine days of Yan Yu, czdxh042408, baby tearful pupils, yyaJy2304, chaotic room otaku LYP, nine days of Yan Yu, no dust & Childe Xiaobai for the tip! Thank you for your commuter passes!

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