Zhu Ya, Shen Xuan, the great farmer, and Ling Weijing of Zhuya County stood side by side on the dock, and behind them stood more than a dozen guards wearing brand new clothes and armor.

The neatly dressed Wei Boyang and the bearded Ge Xuan stood together and said something softly, Wei Boyang's eyes were filled with a smile of relief, but Ge Xuan was inexplicably excited, and from time to time he took out the wine gourd on his waist and poured a sip of wine, and then sprayed a mouth full of wine, which made Wei Boyang frown. Not far away, Liu Xi, who had a solemn face, and Zhao Shuang, who was in a trance, stood together, but they didn't say a word, Liu Xi was serious, but Zhao Shuang seemed to be thinking about something, and he didn't see all this in front of him.

Here are the elites of Zhuya, the scholars of the Taoist Academy, and they rarely gathered together at the dock today to welcome His Royal Highness King Yue who came to inspect. After King Yue conquered Yizhou, he took more than 10,000 troops to inspect the South China Sea, but did not return to China to celebrate the New Year in Qiantang, but summoned all the officials of Qiantang to Zhuya, and he informed Shen Xuan that this year's New Year should be spent in Zhuya.

Shen Xuan is very smart, he knows the appreciation behind this will, and he is very excited, but he also knows that this matter is a great achievement, which will pave the way for his further promotion, and if he can't do it well, then his career will end here. Shen Xuan did not mobilize the people, all the arrangements were carried out in a concealed state, until Sun Shao's sailor was about to arrive in Zhuya, he informed the scholars of the Taoist Academy of these news, and led them to the dock to greet them, and the people of Zhuya County were still in the dark, and they didn't know that the king of Yue was coming, although the fishermen who were fishing saw that there were a lot of people on the dock, but they only knew that there was an important person coming, but they didn't expect that this important person would be the king of Yue.

"It's coming, it's coming." Wei Jing, who couldn't hold back his excitement, pointed to a small boat flying in the distance, and shouted in a low voice.

"Yes, it should be here." Shen Xuan smiled slightly, raised his hand to block the early morning sun, and looked at the place where the sea and the sky met, the sea was vast, glowing with golden light, and he couldn't see it very much.

The boat docked, and a strong man with vigorous skills galloped all the way to Shen Xuan, bowing and saluting: "My lord, the king's fleet has reached ten miles away. ”

"It's hard work, go down and rest." Shen Xuan waved his hand, turned to Wei Boyang and Liu Xi and said, "Wei sacrifice wine, Liu sacrifice wine, the king is about to arrive, please stop arguing and be serious." ”

Wei Boyang and Liu Xi nodded with a smile, turned around and commanded a few times, and the scholars like ducks immediately quieted down and looked east in unison, and after a while, Wei Boyang first shouted: "Sure enough, it's here." Immediately afterwards, Ge Xuan also snorted, everyone was surprised, they couldn't see anything, and just as they were about to say, someone shouted: "Come on, I see the sail." ”

The scholars who were about to slander Wei Boyang and Ge Xuan pretending to be ghosts didn't bother to say more, and looked closely, and sure enough, a sail shadow appeared in the sky, and soon, a building ship revealed a huge figure, and then, countless warships appeared on the sea, speeding towards the dock.

"Coming, coming......" everyone cheered.

"Quiet!" Ge Xuan's voice was like thunder, rumbling over everyone's heads, and the excited scholars suddenly felt their ears buzzing, and their bodies were almost unstable, and they couldn't help but be shocked one by one, and they became silent for a moment.

"Ge Xianweng's skills have improved greatly." Shen Xuan plucked his ears and praised with a wry smile.

"Hahaha......" Ge Xuan was very proud, and said with a fake modesty: "It's okay, it's all because of greed, otherwise it's faster." ”

Wei Jing pursed his lips and did not say a word.

"This old warlock is showing off his skills again." Behind Liu Xi, a weak-looking scholar snorted disdainfully.

"You're wrong." A man with a dark face and a pair of big hands next to him said with a smile: "This is not his real ability, but I am afraid that once his true ability is displayed, the little book in your Confucian Academy will not be enough for him to burn." ”

"And!" The scholar was disdainful: "The sage's scriptures and righteousness are all in the hearts of our students, how could it be that he was burned by the earth-shattering thunder?" Could he be more powerful than Qin Shi Huang's fire? ”

"That's a real deal." The man didn't think so, and laughed sneeringly: "Qin Shi Huang has left a whole corpse for you, if Ge Xianweng does it, I'm afraid you will all become Zilu." ”

The scholar was furious, Zilu was chopped into meat sauce and died, this man's metaphor of the academy was too vicious, he rolled up his sleeves and was about to fight him, but look at the man's thick arms, and then look at the sneering men behind him, and a little short of breath, let go of his sleeves, shrunk his neck, and muttered: "The gentleman doesn't move his mouth, and he is too lazy to bother with you people." ”

The men rattled and were about to sneer a few more words, when Wei Boyang turned his head, his eyes swept away as if he were substantial, and they suddenly became honest and stood there respectfully, trying to pretend to be gentle and frugal. Today, in order to welcome King Yue, they all put on formal dresses, but they are usually used to wearing short fights, and it is really uncomfortable to suddenly wear this long shirt.

The fleet was getting closer and closer, and the first to dock was the boat of General Zuo Cui Qian, as soon as the ship landed, the two thousand elites of General He Da of Fuyue got off the ship first, and they lined up along the long stone road, and the murderous aura suddenly enveloped the entire dock, and everyone became serious. Several fishermen in the distance were taken aback when they saw this posture, and they pointed in the distance, but they were not afraid, and soon someone discovered the king of Yue's ship, and the news of King Yue's arrival in Zhuya immediately spread away.

The king boat approached the dock, the long and wide springboard was put down, Sun Shao stepped on the gangplank under the protection of Shi Bao, Ao Lei and others, stepped on the gangplank and went ashore, looking at the smooth bluestone paved avenue under his feet, and smiled at Shen Xuan, who came up to give a salute: "Mozhi, you are so generous." ”

Shen Xuan smiled slightly: "Back to my king, this is the use of the slack time to gather the people to process, in three years, Lord Wei put the main streets in the city on stone slabs, so that it can withstand the trampling of every cow and horse, otherwise, Lord Wei will have a headache for road construction every year." ”

Sun Shao turned his head to look at Wei Jing, Wei Jing hurriedly stepped forward and explained: "The king, Zhuya is a county based on business, and there are countless cars and horses coming and going between the wharves every day, and the minister used to use dirt roads, but Zhuya is rainy, once it rains, it is muddy and difficult to walk, and the day is clear, and the road becomes potholes, and it is extremely difficult to walk. ”

"Well done." Sun Shao turned his head and said to Prime Minister Yu Fu and Imperial Doctor Lu Ji who were following behind him: "What do you two think? ”

Yu turned his heart and said, you have said it, what other opinions can I have? Lu Ji smiled faintly: "Good is naturally good, but the big farmer order, I can speak first, since you said that it was done by employing people, it is naturally not free, I want to check whether your salary meets the standards of my country, if you find that there is a deduction of wages, or abuse of people, it will violate my king's purpose of treating the people well, don't blame me for impeaching the two at that time." ”

Shen Xuan smiled slightly: "This naturally doesn't need to be said, Imperial Doctor Shi please go and investigate, as long as such a thing happens, Lord Wei and I don't want you to impeach, and ask for guilt from the Imperial Governor's Mansion." ”

"Da Si Nong is very confident." Yu rolled his eyes with a smile.

"Don't dare, just have a clear conscience." Shen Xuan replied with a smile. Sun Shao brought Yu Fu and Lu Ji to Zhuya for the New Year, naturally he wanted Yu Tuo, the prime minister, to see his Zhu Ya's achievements, which in disguise meant that Sun Shao was not satisfied with Yu Tuo's work, and Yu Tuo was not a fool, of course he knew this truth, so it was reasonable for him to pick on Zhu Ya. The more this is the case, the more Shen Xuan wants to make him have no thorns to pick on, so that he can show his ability.

Sun Shao smiled silently, he invited Yu to Zhuya, that is, let them compete with each other, now as soon as they meet, they are on the bar, although the speed is too fast, but the atmosphere is not bad, everyone is still according to the card, so it is easy to do. He waved his hand and said: "Okay, don't stand here anymore, we have been on the boat for more than ten days, and we have just come ashore, why don't we rest and rest first, and then Da Si Nong will lead us to take a look around, and the imperial doctor should hurry up and check it, don't be blinded by them." ”

Lu Ji smiled, bowed down and said: "The king is right, the minister came with suspicion this time, so he had to pick eggs and bones and find trouble for him." ”

The crowd laughed.

returned to Zhuya County and lived in the palace prepared by Shen Xuan for Sun Shao. The main building of the palace is not big, just a big mansion, but the surrounding environment is very good, the back of the mountain and the sea, there are patches of mangrove forests on the beach, like a blood-colored Great Wall, there are a lot of tall fruit trees planted on the hillside, although it is already winter now, but many trees still bear fruit, so that those who have never been to Zhuya Yuejun people open their eyes, some of them have learned some of the products of Zhuya from the "New Classic of Mountains and Seas" and "Interpretation", but they have seen it with their own eyes, and they can't help but be very excited.

In the next few days, under the leadership of Shen Xuan, Sun Shao led hundreds of officials to visit Zhuya's Taoist Academy, workshops, breeding factories, fishing bays and bazaars. While listening, the imperial historian Lu Ji did not forget his responsibility, he took the accounting staff headed by Lu Shan to conduct a verification of Zhu Ya's relevant accounts, and sent the imperial historian to conduct an unannounced visit.

On this day, he walked in the mangrove forest after the tide receded, Ding Feng took the guards from afar of the Destroying Battalion, Shi Bao and Deng Ai followed with more than a dozen tiger Benlang ten steps away, only Shen Xuan followed closely behind Sun Shao, he was barefoot like Sun Shao, his trousers were rolled up high, and he was not wearing official uniforms.

"Mozhi, you're doing a good job here, it's better than I estimated." Sun Shao was the first to speak: "I was worried that Zhuya's production population is too small, but there are too many people to eat, and the food supply will be a big problem, but now I am relieved, Zhuya can completely become a model for my development in Vietnam." Mozhi, you've solved a big problem for me. ”

Shen Xuan smiled, lowered his head, looked at the mud squeezed out of his feet, and said after a while: "King, the minister didn't expect to be able to solve this problem at first, and the minister was also very skeptical of the king's decision at that time. ”

"Oh? Is it? Sun Shao didn't think it was angry, and said with a smile: "You said come and listen, I saw that you promised happily, and I always thought that you were confident, but I didn't expect you to have questions." ”

"The king must know that my Shen family got rich by running a manor, right?" Shen Xuan tilted his head, glanced at Sun Shao, and smiled at the corner of his mouth.

Sun Shao nodded, of course he knew how the Shen family got rich. Not only the Shen family, but most of the families in Jiangdong are like this, although they are also in business, but most of their wealth is still based on the self-sufficient economy of the estate, business is not their main business, and it is also to sell their surplus property as the main content, and there are not many who specialize in selling. The Shen family was killed by Sun Quan because of Shen You, Shen Xuan refused to go out of office, not only did he not have an official to get, but more importantly, he had no privileges in business, and it was inevitable that he would be blackmailed, so the proportion of business income in his family was smaller, and he had always been mainly engaged in running a manor, which was why he had to seek attachment to Sun Shao later.

"I have always had this concept, or rather, the vast majority of people have this concept, without population, without land, how can stability be guaranteed, and how can unstable development? Under normal circumstances, if you govern a place like Zhuya, you should first teach them to cultivate, reclaim the wasteland suitable for farming, men and women weave, first seek food and clothing, if there is more than one year of ploughing for three years, then even if this county order is qualified, it is likely to get the most evaluation in the performance appraisal, and after the three examinations, promotion is not a problem. Shen Xuan said unhurriedly: "However, if you want to build Zhuya into a county town with a permanent population of nearly 50,000 within three or five years, and more than 60% of the merchants who are not engaged in production, if nothing else, just talk about food supply, I don't think anyone can do it." ”

"But you did." Sun Shao looked at Shen Xuan with a smile on the corner of his mouth.

"I was forced by the king." Shen Xuan shook his head: "In the first two years, I was most worried about food, and I was worried about food every day, and the first thing I had to do in autumn was to send someone to Yuenan to purchase food and prepare for the coming year. ”

"The people take food as their sky, and if they don't eat, no matter how well you treat him, he will rebel." Sun Shao stopped laughing, he sighed, he expected that there would be certain difficulties in Zhu Ya's development at the beginning, but he didn't expect Shen Xuan to have such a lot of pressure at that time, and these Shen Xuan never told him, Shen Xuan never wrote to him about these difficulties.

"I was soon reassured, though." Shen Xuan showed a relaxed smile: "In the autumn of the second year, I found out that my grain ship had just arrived in Yuenan, and they had already prepared the grain I needed, and what made me even happier was that there were still merchants from Jiuzhen and Jiaolu waiting there, and warmly invited our fleet to them, saying that their grain was cheaper." On that occasion, I bought two years' worth of grain at once, and before the fleet returned to Zhuya, the merchants of Hepu came to the door and complained that I had not gone to Hepu to buy grain, but had to travel thousands of miles to Yuenan and Jiuzhen, and from the third year onwards, I did not need to buy it, as long as I sent the purchased quantity to the counties, and then they themselves would send the grain. ”

"Really? No wonder you are so confident, I have always asked you for food, and you will transport thousands of stones to Yizhou. ”

"The reason is very simple, we buy five to ten times the price of their local grain, and they buy grain from other places and resell it, and they also make a considerable profit." Shen Xuan said with a smile: "Even if they are lowering each other's prices now, and I only give them three or four times the price, there are still people who rush to them." My granary in Zhuya has enough grain that can be used for ten years, and the king wants grain, but I can't ask for it, otherwise, there is no way to solve the old grain in the warehouse, and the taste of the stored grain after three years is much worse. ”

"Five times to ten times, this price is indeed not low, is your tax here enough?"

"Enough! Not only enough, but more than enough. Shen Xuan laughed: "Yuejun's Yuebu, Linzi, Xiangben's silk, and Xiapi's iron all have to pass through my Zhuya, and the price of these goods is a hundred times that of grain." Not to mention anything else, Linzi's silk can be sold for two or three hundred thousand yuan per stone, and this alone is enough for me to buy grain every year. ”

"So expensive?" Sun Shao was a little shocked: "I heard Sun Guan say that they have made a lot of money by selling a stone of raw silk for 10,000 yuan. ”

"Yes, without such a high profit, those Qingzhou businessmen would be so enthusiastic?"

"No wonder that old guy is so happy every time he sees me, it turns out that the profit is so high." Sun Shao clapped his hands and said with some regret: "If I knew that I would make such a profit, I would have asked him for some benefits." ”

"This is nothing, according to the merchants of Daqin, if these silks are transported to Daqin, they are as valuable as gold, and transporting a shipload of silk back is equivalent to transporting a shipload of gold."

Sun Shao was dumbfounded, a stone of raw silk sold in Qingzhou for 8,000 yuan, according to the price ratio of materials, the cost of weaving a stone silk is about 20,000 yuan, now using a new loom, the cost has been reduced to about 15,000 yuan, and the selling price is about 30,000 yuan, that is to say, this stone silk has not yet come out of Qingzhou, the profit is as high as 100%, and it is transported to Zhuya to sell to Daqin merchants, the price has risen tenfold, this is already a huge profit, even if the freight and related taxes are removed, the profit in this is also very considerable. However, the merchants of Great Qin transported it back to Daqin at a price of two or three hundred thousand yuan per stone, but they could sell it at a price as heavy as gold, which means that one stone can be worth about three hundred to four million yuan, which is ten times more. Transported from Qingzhou to Daqin, the price of a stone of silk has changed from 20,000 or 30,000 yuan to 3 or 4 million yuan, a hundred times longer.

"Since it's so profitable, why don't we just ship it to Daqin?" Sun Shao's eyes rolled, and he immediately had a new idea.

"The minister also thought so." Shen Xuan smiled, "However, when those Qingzhou merchants heard what the Great Qin merchants said, they were all scared and didn't dare to go." ”

"Why?"

"First, it's a long way, and it takes about a year to come and go." Shen Xuan snapped his fingers and said: "The second is the danger of the sea route, according to the merchants of Great Qin, if they encounter wind and waves at sea, it is very likely that the ship will be destroyed and people will die, and everyone who is bankrupt because of this is not in Shaolu." Third, there are many pirates, and the pirates along the way are like blood-sucking locusts, as many as cow hair, and most of this profit is earned for them. ”

"Hahaha......" Sun Shao laughed: "Pirates? What pirate could be better than me? I'm going to see if they rob me or if I rob them. As for the boats, I have also seen the ships of the Great Qin people, it is really not worth mentioning, if our ships go to sea, the ability to resist wind and waves is much stronger than theirs, but at this time, alas, before the machine came out, although we were faster than them, it was also limited. ”

"If you can reduce the risk and not be afraid of pirates, even if it takes a little longer, there are still people who are willing to go." Shen Xuan said: "However, if the king wants to go to sea, it is reasonable to lay a good foundation first." This is not a simple matter of doing business, those pirates are not just pirates, most of them have the shadow of officials behind them, and fighting with pirates is fighting with those kingdoms, which should not be taken lightly. ”

Sun Shao smiled: "I understand the truth of the official thief family, I am the most obvious example, this meal has to be eaten in one bite, and things have to be done one by one, first wait for me to clear the South China Sea, and then go to Daqin." However, you have to start cleaning up the things related to Daqin, at most three or five years, I will send someone to Daqin to take a look. ”

"Rest assured, the minister has already begun to collect information on this." Shen Xuan smiled slightly with some smugness: "Great King, the minister has found some good iron in Tianzhu, which has been handed over to the Academy of Art for study, and it is said that the weapon created is even better than the iron in Xiapi." ”

Sun Shao blinked suspiciously, his impression of India was limited to Ah San and the bald monk, is Tianzhu still a good iron?

"Ge Sizhen personally took people to Tianzhu for this matter, and finally brought a few blacksmiths from Tianzhu back, trial production for two months, finally mastered this method, and recently tried to produce the first batch of weapons."

"No wonder he didn't come to see me, he was busy with this." Sun Shao smiled. He has been to Zhuya for several days, and basically everyone he wants to see has seen it, but Ge Heng has never shown up, only saying that he will come in two days, but he didn't say what he was busy with, Shen Xuan didn't say it, he really didn't know.

"He's a little crazy to do things." Shen Xuan smiled: "It's the same as the blacksmith surnamed Pu from Hanzhong." ”

"Hehe, most of the people who do technology are a little crazy." Sun Shao smiled sympathetically, "I originally wanted to go to see him, so I better not go, so as not to disturb him." ”

Shen Xuan was silent for a moment, Sun Shao actually wanted to take the initiative to see Ge Heng, which made him a little sour, but then he threw this thought out again. Ge Heng is Sun Shao's cronies, he has followed Sun Shao since Sun Shao was still embarrassed, Sun Shao can have today's achievements, Ge Heng is the first hero, without the warships he transformed, how could Sun Shao have sprung up. Sun Shao is so good to the hero, isn't it exactly what he wants.

"Your Majesty, it's not just the South China Sea, right?" Shen Xuan smiled slightly: "I heard that King Wu has been making a lot of moves recently. ”

(To be continued)