When Su Shi ruled Xuzhou, Li Guojian was extremely prosperous, there were 36 smelting pits, 100 people in each pit, a total of more than 4,000 workers, and the annual output of iron was about 1.5 million catties!

On the tenth day of the fifth month of the second year of the Great Song Dynasty, just after the Dragon Boat Festival, Diqiu, where the Li Guojian was located, was filled with thick smoke.

Diqiu is a mining and metallurgical town, surrounded only by a very low wall, and its defense is almost equal to zero. To the north, there is Panma Mountain, and to the south of the mountain, there is a small river with a gentle flow, which the locals call the Yuntie River.

This river is connected to the canal, and there is a large amount of pig iron every day, which is transported from here to various places in the Great Song Dynasty.

The river runs through the town of Diqiu, and the population is very large, numbering tens of thousands—the miners and their servants, the thousands of miners and their families, the merchants from all over the world, and the local farmers, all gathered in this town, which makes the whole town seem to be alive.

Nominally, the Liguo Supervisor was managed by the Zhili State Supervisor appointed by the imperial court - his official rank was equivalent to that of the county magistrate, but in reality, this chief official and the Liguo Supervisor he managed were only responsible for taxation, and specific affairs were often under the jurisdiction of the smelter of Diqiu 36 Metallurgy.

These smelters are the real big men of the Li Guojian, and their family has a collection of 100,000 or even 1 million yuan, and they are extravagant and rich, comparable to princes.

However, the few leading figures in the past are now standing outside Diqiu, as if they are greeting someone.

"I don't know what kind of temper this newly appointed supervisor of Zhiliguo is." Among the leading figures, Meng Guang, the youngest, was a little anxious.

"What, you're in a hurry?" The other master next to him laughed.

"Why aren't you in a hurry, I changed the governor in a good way, the old man in front, I just fed him, and I was thinking about showing his strength!" Meng Guang muttered.

Everyone nodded knowingly, and one of the older ones sighed slowly: "As long as you are willing to accept money, then you don't have to worry." ”

"How can an official not take money! What I read is loyalty, filial piety, and righteousness, and what I read is etiquette, righteousness, and shame, but what I put in my heart is only one word, money! Meng Guang sneered.

His words made everyone laugh, but Zhao Sheng, who was older, glanced at him with some disdain and pursed his lips.

Among the smelters present, Zhao Sheng is faintly his head, because most of the other smelters only have huge amounts of money, and the background is not obvious, only Zhao Sheng, his backstage is very tough, even if the family is in the middle of the road now, it is not comparable to other smelters.

Everyone saw that his expression was different, and someone asked: "Zhao Yuanwai, you are the most well-informed, do you know what kind of person this new governor is?" ”

Zhao Sheng stroked his beard and smiled before speaking: "I have heard of it a little, I heard that he is not from the imperial examination......

The sentence "not from the imperial examination" suddenly made the eyebrows of the lord move.

At the moment when "everything is inferior, only the reading is high", officials who are not from the imperial examination can get the fat difference of Zhili Guojian, and the backing behind them is not small.

"Recently, the cement that has prevailed in Beijing, everyone knows, it is this handicraft, he came to our Liguo Prison, in addition to supervising the iron affairs, there is also a dispatch, that is, to build a cement kiln in our place, for the needs of the Beijing Division."

"In addition, this person is said to have been a martial artist, won the appreciation of the official family, gave his current background, and is an eight-sided exquisite role in the Beijing division, I heard that when he went out of Beijing, there were as many as 100 civil and military officials who went to see each other...... Even today's Zaizhi also sent people to send him off, and Taishi Cai's Ling Lang personally sent ......"

Although Zhao Sheng's news is well-informed, there are some inaccuracies. Everyone heard him say such a beautiful scene, but they all smiled weirdly, and only the younger Meng Guang really regarded the governor who came out as a great character.

The rest of the people know very well that some of the Jingshi are noble and leisurely but have a lot of money, if the governor really has the ability to splash the sky, how could he not stay in the Jingshi, but was sent to Xuzhou!

As for the people who saw them off...... I don't know if I really sympathize with him, or if I'm here to see the fun.

While they were talking, they saw several official boats coming down the river in the distance.

The Grand Canal is rare to see this kind of official ship, that is, Xuzhou, there is a boat yard for this kind of boat.

"Zhou ...... It's him, it's a big show! Although Zhao Sheng's eyes were dizzy, he still saw the honor guard on the official ship and laughed softly.

It was indeed a big show, a district governor took office, and brought four boats, each of which was full of people. What is strange is that most of these people are teenagers, and when the boat docks on the dock, these teenagers get off the boat one after another, and then ignore the boatmen and rivermen at the dock, and take care of themselves to find an open space, and begin to report the number in the whole team.

Meng Guang heard that there were three teams and sixty-seven people.

These teenagers lined up a little strangely, attracting everyone's attention, and after the teenagers lined up and counted as good people, they looked at the boat again, and the people on the boat had already come down.

Zhou Quan jumped on the ground and let out a long sigh of relief: "It's finally here!" ”

Beside him, Zhou Fu, who was dressed in an official robe, put on a majestic appearance: "Why are you so frivolous, you have to have manners!" ”

Zhou Quan smiled and didn't take his father's words to heart.

The wind and clouds in the capital have been left behind by him, and from today on, he jumped out of the pool of sewage in Bianjing and came to the land of the sea and the sky.

After figuring out the true intentions of those civil officials, Zhou Quan did not hesitate to write to Zhao Ji, and amused Zhao Ji with the words "beggar bones": Those are the words that the old guys in their seventies and eighties will only say when they want to retire, Zhou Quan is only more than sixteen years old, and he is not yet seventeen, and he actually wants to retire!

At this time, Zhao Ji remembered Zhou Quan's good coming, so he met him. As a result, Zhou Quan claimed that he wanted to study well, took the road of the imperial examination, and took the initiative to resign from the official position of the city affairs. This also played into Zhao Ji's favor, and at the same time made those civil officials who were eyeing Rongcheng lose their interest in attacking Zhou Quan - it was more important to fight for the interests of Rongcheng than to embarrass Zhou Quan.

With this means of retreating as advance, Zhou Quan operated for Zhou Fu, and got a new official position as a supervisor of Zhiliguo, and his rank was slightly promoted, directly mentioning Congqipin, which can be regarded as Zhao Ji's little compensation for the Zhou family's father and son. Of course, the cement kiln in Jingshi has naturally been handed over and used to send a group of leopard-like eunuchs and civil officials.

"This old man is the new supervisor of Zhiliguo, Master Zhou?"

Zhou Quan was looking around, and heard someone come to greet him, and after Zhou Fu agreed, he saw dozens of people of all ages and children surrounding him, all of whom were flattering Zhou Fu.

Zhou Fu was either a general in the army or an official in Beijing, and he had never come out to be in charge of the party, so he had never seen this kind of demeanor in the local area. was praised by these dozens of people, only to be dizzy, and it took a long time to come back to his senses: "Everyone, all the villagers, after I settle down first, I will greet you." ”

The flatterers finally dispersed, and only then did the servants from the yamen come forward to salute. Zhou Fu himself was born as a minister, and when he saw the style of these officers, he understood that they did not welcome him as a chief officer.

"This is the Yamen?" When he arrived at the Yamen of Zhiliguo's supervisor, Zhou Fu was stunned.

The dilapidated and cramped nature of this yamen really made him unimaginable, even the house he rented in Baijia Lane seemed to be bigger than this yamen.

"The rich don't repair the government, and the previous masters didn't allocate money, so they can only look like this, wronged by the masters." An errand officer smirked.

"Such a small house, even if it is not enough to live three or five people, I have a large number of people......" Zhou Fu said this, seeing that there was a faint contempt in the eyes of the officer, his expression suddenly changed, and he suddenly stretched out his hand and grabbed the officer: "The thief prisoner, do you want to send the master and me like this, do you know that the master and I are from the border army, and it is only idle to kill a few dogs!" ”

His anger was murderous, and the servant trembled in fright: "Master, master, if the villain intends to do this, it is really difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice, and the villain has no way, there is nothing to do!" ”

"The lord doesn't believe it, the previous few times lived here?"

Seeing that Zhou Fu was about to slap someone, the errand officer hurriedly said: "Master, the previous masters all relied on the rich people's homes in the town!" ”

Zhou Fu put his hand away suspiciously, and he looked at the town again.

This Diqiu town is the location of the Yamen of the Liguo Prison, which is densely populated, and there are indeed many large-scale mansions. Judging from the appearance alone, it is almost not inferior to the rich family in the capital.

"I remember that there is also a hole here, a yaqian, why don't the two of them come to see the master and me!" Zhou Fu asked again.

He was unfamiliar with his life now, and his eyes were dark, so he wanted to see if his subordinates could help.

When the officer heard this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Zhou Fu's predecessor easily took advantage of the fat gap of Li Guojian, but he was dismissed before he could get enough, and that guy was also a bachelor, and he patted his ass and left without waiting for the official handover. And a Kong Mu in charge of money and food in the yamen, and a yaqian in charge of the gangyun, both of them said that they were not sick, and only let him be a cat and dog who could not shirk to deal with the new chief official.

Listening to the errand officer explain that the two officials were "sick", Zhou Fu let go of his hand, a smile appeared on his face, but his heart was greasy.

The two of Kongmu and Yaqian obviously intended to embarrass him, so they performed this trick of pretending to be sick.

By this time he had come to his senses from the initial flattery, and he was deeply aware that he was not welcome in the Prison of the Mountains.

If it was just him, it would be fine, but with so many people coming with him this time, how could he squeeze down in this dilapidated yamen?

Nominally, he is the head of the family, and the real person in charge of the family is his son Zhou Quan.

Therefore, he looked at Zhou Quan and found that his son was chatting happily with a man in brocade clothes.

This man was also one of the people who greeted him just now, but everyone else was sent away, but this man was left by Zhou Quan.

Zhou Fu walked over curiously, but heard his son arch his hand to the man: "Thank you so much...... My lord, this Meng Yuan has a village outside the town, but he can let us stay temporarily. ”

Zhou Fu couldn't help but scratch his head, the matter that originally gave him a headache, his son solved it easily, and he didn't know how this Meng Yuanwai would agree to borrow the Zhuangyuan.