A few days later, Wei Shuo and his entourage came to Linzi smoothly.

The road is very peaceful, every time you encounter a city, as long as you see the big flag fluttering in the wind in the convoy, you will give Wei Shuo and his party all kinds of warm reception, it seems that Cao Wei really values Wei Shuo!

In fact, there is nothing surprising about that flag, only four words are written on it: Laoshan Weishuo! As the green salt business is getting bigger and bigger, now there is no one in Qingzhou who does not know Laoshan, and of course there will be three points of respect for the principal of Laoshan!

Besides, the Laoshan people also dispelled the dirty thoughts of many people in the name of meeting the assassins. Not to mention that Wei Shuo and the others are still fully armed, and the soldiers they bring are the elite of the elite in the escort team, and those who go to such great lengths to guard against are those with bad intentions!

On the road, Wei Shuo behaved very happily and relaxedly, and in the face of the competition and flattery of the local government, he did not show any impatience, but greeted him with a smile, as if this trip was just to go to a gathering of friends. It wasn't until Linzi was approaching that Wei Shuo gradually became nervous, full of worries about the upcoming confrontation with Qingzhou Thorn Shi Cao Wei. Because he knows very well that he will face a battle without gunpowder, which is a little more dangerous than a real battlefield, and the only thing he can rely on is his own mind and tongue.

When they arrived at the city gate, Wei Shuo stepped forward and had a brief conversation with the officers guarding the city gate, and their party successfully entered Linzi. At the same time, there was an additional Qingzhou lieutenant officer named Xu Dan in the whole team.

Linzi, formerly known as Yingqiu, was the capital of Qi in the Western Zhou Dynasty.

After the death of Qin, Xiang Yu established Tian Du, a member of the Qi royal family, as the king of Qi.

After two weeks and nearly a thousand years of Han Dynasty, this great ancient city has always been the famous capital of the world. Since ancient times, Qidi has developed industrial and commercial industries, and the benefits of fishing and salt have been very prosperous.

Sima Qian recorded in "Historical Records: The Family of Taigong of Qi": Yangyang, the wind of a solid country!

Even the later Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Liu Che, was envious of the wealth of Qidi, "There is no one greater than Qi in the country of Kanto,...... The world is full of people! ”

It can be said that from the late 11th century BC (after the founding of the country by Jiang Taigong) to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Linzi has always been the first of all cities in the country, especially industrial and commercial cities, in terms of city size, population density, industrial and commercial prosperity, and the cultural quality of citizens.

It is here that the first handicraft science and technology masterpiece in Chinese history was born, "Zhou Li, Examination of Work".

Linzi City is built on the west bank of the Zihe River, west by the water, by the size of the two cities coincidentally connected together, with a total area of more than 60 square kilometers.

Although since the end of the Han Dynasty, this place has been affected by wars, but the city of Linzi is still prosperous, with a large population and a prosperous economy.

Before entering the city, look at it from afar, Linzi City has thousands of weather, the city is connected, the surrounding moat is wide, it is an irregular rectangle, it bends with the terrain and the river, the south gate is positive, all the city gates have protruding gates and moats, greatly enhance the defense force of the city gate, appear magnificent.

The fly in the ointment is that the terrain around Linzi is gentle, there is no danger to rely on, once besieged by the army, there is a worry about the city being broken, which must be the main reason why Cao Wei is eager to build another new city.

Entering Linzi City, Wei Shuo and his entourage saw another wonderful scene.

The buildings in the city are magnificent, the traffic avenues are centered on the palace in the north of the small city, the temple, the government office and the residences of officials at all levels are concentrated near the palace, and the ancient trees on both sides of the streets in the city are towering and lush.

Along the way are majestic mansions, listen to the school captain Xu Dan who led the way, these deep mansions live in Qingzhou's local wealthy families. Wei Shuo couldn't help but take a few more glances when he heard this, and found that every mansion seemed extravagant, with several courtyards, tiled roofs and white walls, and ordinary houses in the streets and alleys, which were very different.

This is the first time Wei Shuo has felt the prosperity of the ancient city, which is completely different from the county seat he has seen before, even Pengcheng, the seat of Xuzhou, is not lively in Linzi. There are many shops in Linzi City, and there are all kinds of goods from south to north.

After a while, Xu Dan led Wei Shuo to the inn where they were entertained, and the inn was already surrounded by vigilant soldiers. After Xu Dan explained to the person in charge of the inn, Wei Shuo successfully checked into the inn. Here, Wei Shuo had a separate courtyard, and it could be seen that Cao Wei had put a lot of effort into entertaining him, because soon beautiful slaves and maids came in to serve him to eat and rest, and the guards who followed him were arranged in the adjacent courtyard.

After arranging Wei Shuo, Captain Xu Dan did not leave, and then he was responsible for bringing Wei Shuo and his party to the Assassin's Mansion. Tonight, Cao Wei will have a banquet in the Assassin's Mansion, and together with the local celebrities, he will entertain Wei Shuo, who came to visit.

At the beginning of the lanterns, night fell, Wei Shuo arrived at Cao Wei's mansion with Xu Dan, only to see that the gate of the mansion was open, and several large lanterns in front of the door were as bright as day, and two columns were full of soldiers with long halberds, staring at everyone who entered and exited the Assassin's Mansion.

Wei Shuo stepped forward and handed over his name thorn, and someone personally led him into the house. At this point, Xu Dan's task has been successfully completed, and he needs to return to the camp to return to Shangguan. Before entering the mansion, Wei Shuo turned around and smiled and arched his hand towards Xu Dan to show his gratitude.

……

Since the day Wei Shuo set off for Linzi, Cao Wei has paid close attention to Wei Shuo's whereabouts, not only strictly ordering the local government to do a good job of reception, but also preparing a grand welcome banquet for him in Linzi. After Wei Shuo arrived in Linzi, Cao Wei placed him in a special inn, and anyone could see the meaning of the assassin's dependence on Wei Shuo.

The banquet was about to begin, and Cao Wei was discussing how to treat Wei Shuo with a few henchmen in the study. The brothers here are all brothers who have followed Cao Wei to fight in the south and the north for many years, and after Cao Wei entered Qingzhou, they also followed the rising tide, and many people were awarded official positions such as county guards and internal history.

Cao Wei glanced around and said, "You all talk about it, Wei Shuo came to Linzi with great fanfare, what is the idea of fighting in this gourd?" ”

Shi Tianhua of Le'an rolled his eyes and said: "Lord, Su Jun must have gone south, which made Wei Shuo feel great pressure, so he had to serve the lord with great fanfare in the name of gift-giving." I heard that Laoshan is engaged in the green salt trade, and the mountain is so rich that it is full of oil, so the lord took the opportunity to blackmail him! ”

Li Mao, the county guard of Jinan County, also said with a wicked smile: "Yes, my lord, Lord Tian is reasonable, that Wei Shuo monopolized the benefits of Qingyan, and he has long become a thorn in the side and a thorn in the flesh of the Qingzhou family." If he doesn't want to be swallowed up by the family in the future, it is best to throw himself under the wing of the lord to seek refuge. ”

"With the love of the lord, the Qingzhou family will not dare to fight the idea of Laoshan even if they are greedy. The subordinates heard that Wang Tingjian, the county guard of Donglai County, was eyeing the Laoshan green salt business, if it weren't for the lord who had been restraining soldiers and horses from all over the country, Wang Taishou would have sent troops to Laoshan a long time ago. ”

Speaking of Donglai Taishou Wang Tingjian, Cao Wei frowned slightly, this person is a famous person in Donglai, although he is nominally obedient to Cao Wei, but in fact, people still serve the Jin family as orthodox, and they are only forced to pay tribute to Cao Wei out of helplessness. The Qingzhou family was only temporarily attached to Cao Wei, and it was impossible for Cao Wei to completely control all parts of Qingzhou, and it was a little powerless to deal with the semi-separatist forces like Wang Tingjian, who were born in a family.

Listening to the compliments of the people below, Cao Wei nodded with satisfaction, in fact, he didn't want to have a head-on conflict with Wei Shuo, not because he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to destroy the other party, but because he was worried that Wei Shuo would escape from the sea in a rage. Cao Wei himself is a typical example of a small wealth and peace, he has no ambitions, he just wants to live his own life by guarding one acre and three points of land in Qingzhou. Inviting Wei Shuo to Linzi this time, he wanted to share some benefits from Wei Shuo, but he didn't want to end up with a chicken and egg fight.

When Cao Wei and others were talking about Wei Shuo, Wei Shuo also came to the banquet hall smoothly. As soon as he appeared, he attracted the attention of four people: Gao Liang, Xu Miao, Liu Zong, and Wang Tingjian.

Gao and Xu were originally Wang Mi's old department, but they came to Cao Wei because they were dissatisfied with Wang Mi, and now they have not been reused by Cao Wei; Mr. Liu is the second son of Liu Yi, the former Qingzhou Dazhongzheng, and since his brother Liu Jun was killed by Shi Le, he ran back to Qingzhou; Wang Tingjian was originally appointed by the imperial court as the Taishou of Donglai, and he was forced to surrender to Cao Wei out of desperation, but in fact, he has always had the Jin family in mind and directly obeyed the orders of King Langya in Jiangdong.