Gradually, I heard the noise of people, people shouting and horses, as if hot water was boiling. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The king discussed with Company Commander Liu to go to the dock to have a look, and Company Commander Liu said that there were too many people and horses above, it was too chaotic, and they still had things from the imperial court. It's better for him to take the king level to see, if he is not at ease, it is better to bring two more guards.

After all, the king is also a general, so what is there to be afraid of?

The king ordered his team to rest on the spot, and he and Company Commander Liu dismounted and walked to the dock on foot.

The two of them soon walked to the big river, and the lighthouse was on a high slope beside it, and the whole height was about twenty feet. The king sighed and didn't ask anymore. Walking towards the dock, Company Commander Liu behind him followed closely.

This section of the river is east-west, and they just stand on the south bank of the river, which is not too busy, although it is not too busy, the docks are still full of people, the river is still brightly lit, and large ships are docked by the river, seemingly ready to load things.

Standing in the middle of the road leading to the side of the ship, Wang Jian carefully looked at the huge sailing ship, although at night, he still could see it roughly, turned his head and asked, "Company Commander Liu, are you familiar with this ship?" ”

"I do know something."

"How much grain can this ship carry?"

"I can't tell you the specifics, I heard that even if it can transport 1 million catties, even if it is a big ship, I have heard that there is a big ship that can transport 2 million catties before, but there doesn't seem to be one here, and I haven't seen it anywhere else, I've just heard of it."

"How much? 1,000,000 catties? ”

"Yes, we all call it a million-pound boat, it makes a lot of money, there is a boat at home, rent it out, just collect the money, it is said that you can't eat it all in your life."

The king level found out how this company commander Liu was full of businessman atmosphere, and he didn't look like an officer at all. It seems that if he plans to go home and do business without joining the army, he really has no ambitions. Like the soldiers of the imperial court, each must actively make military merits, and military merits are equal to land, which is the foundation of eternal prosperity.

The two were standing by the river chatting when they suddenly heard a commotion from behind, and someone shouted, "Get out of the way, get out of the way." ”

The two looked back and saw a long convoy of carriages and horses, all of which were four-wheeled carriages loaded with grain as the king had seen, and on each carriage there were people holding torches, stretching for several miles, and they did not see the edge at a glance. The two flashed to the side of the road, only to see the convoy moving forward, and the front of the car just stopped beside them.

The two men who walked in front couldn't see what they were wearing, only one was tall and the other was shorter. The tall one said: "I see that you have not bought less food, how many boats are there?" I heard the short man sigh and say, "How much did I take?" You guys from Chang'an, the five baht money in your hand doesn't seem to be money, and you scatter it everywhere, and now a stone of grain is 80 yuan. How can I have so much money, this time I only collected about three boats. What about you, how come you also have 10 boats, right? The tall man smiled and said, "I'm only some of the ones I've shipped today, and some of them are on the way, and there are 15 boats." The short man sighed and said, "You merchants in Chang'an are still wealthy." ”

The two talked and chatted, and the king and company commander Liu next to them heard clearly on the side of the road.

They said again: "It's late today, it seems that it is not easy to load the ship, and now all the coolies have gone to the north shore, and there are fewer people at night, and there is little business on the south bank, so they naturally do not come, and it seems that we have to load the ship tomorrow." The short merchant said, "Is there any way, is there no one to let us carry the rice on the boat?" ”

The two merchants were talking, and a group of people came out of nowhere. In the dark night, there was no torch, and the shadows were too good to see clearly. Wang and Company Commander Liu were also taken aback, did they encounter a thief?

I saw a tall man walk out of the middle of the group, walked up to the two merchants, knelt down with a plop and said, "Boss, boss, let's help you move grain, right?" ”

The two merchants stepped back in fright, and looked at the group carefully, and they took torches from the people beside them, and took a picture of the kneeling man in front of them, and the short merchant said, "You get up and speak first." ”

The man refused to get up, and continued: "Ask the two proprietors to let us carry the grain, we have the strength." ”

"I have a lot of food, how many of you are there?" The tall merchant chimed in.

"Boss, what we have is people." The kneeling man did not get up, but turned his head and shouted backwards, "Come out, all of you." ”

The black crowd stood behind the group, and the two merchants asked their men to carry torches to count the number of people, and after a while, they counted 197 people, but the real elite labor force was only about sixty or seventy people, and among the nearly two hundred people, there were many old and weak women and children.

Wang and Company Commander Liu were in the corner on the side, watching silently, and Company Commander Liu thought to himself, why are there so many refugee-like people in Pingzhou. He asked in a low voice, "General Wang, why don't we go back first." ”

The king level smiled and said: "Company Commander Liu, it's still early, take a look, it's nothing anyway." ”

Company Commander Liu was silent, so he had to watch the development of the situation.

The short merchant stepped forward and pulled the kneeling man up and said, "Get up, what's your name?" What you just said, let's discuss it. ”

The kneeling man saw that the opportunity had come, stood up and said, "Thank you, my name is Liu Gui, we will definitely do a good job." ”

The short merchant asked, "Have you ever had dinner?" It takes a lot of effort to carry the food later, and you can't do it when you're hungry. ”

Liu Gui immediately said: "We have all eaten, some have strength, and carrying food is nothing, do you think we will start here?" ”

The short merchant hesitated for a moment, then looked at the group again, and many of the people next to him lit torches to see a little more clearly. I saw that they all felt tired, their eyes were dull, their hair was messy like weeds, and their clothes looked tattered.

The short merchant looked at the tall merchant next to him, meaning that you can see it?

The tall merchant hadn't had time to answer. In the crowd, a child's immature and clear voice said, "Father, I haven't eaten yet, I'm hungry." ”

Liu Gui turned around and walked quickly into the crowd, only to hear the crackling sound, and after a while, only to hear Liu Gui say: "Didn't you let you eat?" Didn't let you eat? ”

Liu Gui questioned the child, and his hand kept snapping.

Company Commander Liu couldn't stand it anymore, he wanted to rush over and stop Liu Gui. If you treat a child like this, you can't beat the child just because he speaks, and the child seems to be hungry enough.

Company Commander Liu had just taken two steps forward, and he felt that his hand was being held by a huge hand, and he knew that it must be the king who wanted to see more of the excitement of Pingzhou.

After all, Company Commander Liu is just leading the way, but he is not willing to make trouble for nothing and offend the king-level big man for no reason.

Company Commander Liu stopped and continued to watch. Although he stopped, someone still came out.

The short businessman hurriedly rushed into the crowd, pulled Liu Gui away and said, "What are you doing?" How do you hit a child? ”

Liu Gui stopped, the short businessman picked up the child under the firelight, and looked at the child, who was about seven or eight years old, with thin clothes, tattered, a big head and a small body. The boy stopped crying, but silently wept tears as he looked at the short merchant holding him in a panic.

The short merchant gently wiped away the child's tears with his hand, and turned back and shouted, "Bring the dry food." ”

After a while, the tall merchant also came, bringing with him a lot of his men and a lot of dry food. The dry food was immediately distributed, and they looked like they were gobbling it up.

The short businessman glanced at Liu Gui beside him and said, "Have you eaten yet?" ”

Liu Gui immediately knelt down and said: "The owner, I really can't hide it, I really can't help it, if you don't eat, I'm afraid that you will dislike us for not having the strength to work, so I don't dare, we just want to quickly earn money and have a good meal." ”

The short merchant said, "You don't need to call me the owner, just call me Lao Zhang." As he spoke, he pointed to the tall businessman next to him and said, "His surname is Zhao, you call him Lao Zhao, we don't pay so much attention to it." ”

Lao Zhang then said: "You get up first, I am in Pingzhou, it is rare to see you like this, what's going on, you stand up and tell me, I will look at the situation again, so as to arrange for you." But don't deceive any more, or I'll have to go and someone else to carry the grain. ”

Liu Gui immediately stood up, and at this time, Lao Zhang handed him some dry food, took it, and ate it in a big gulp. While eating, I wiped my tears, I don't know if it was because I was sad to beat the child just now, or I was happy to eat dry food.

After a while, Liu Gui ate some dry food and began to tell his life experience. It turned out that he came from Handan, and he used to be a slave in a local nobleman, although he was a slave and maid, but he also had food every day. His own name, Liu Gui, is also the name given by the master, the surname given. Unexpectedly, Wang Mang wanted to abolish slaves and maids this year, and a lot of his master's land would also be divided, so he couldn't afford to raise too many private dependents, so he had to dismiss them. The land is only allocated to the relatives of the old owner, and of course they have no share.

Liu Gui and other people had no land to share, so they had to wander everywhere and beg for a living, and later heard that Pingzhou could be mixed with some fill, so they begged all the way. I just arrived in Pingzhou in the past two days, but there are too many of them, and others are scared everywhere, and they don't want to have anything to eat.

After listening to what they said, Lao Zhang said to Liu Gui: "This way, today you move the grain first, and I will take you to find someone from the immigration department when you go back, and then you can continue to work or go to farming, anyway, this place will definitely settle down as soon as possible." ”

Liu Gui was overjoyed, and with a group of people who came with him, he began to carry grain from the car and deliver it to the ship.

Seeing that they were busy, the king took Company Commander Liu and left quietly.