The two sand boats did not attract the attention of the people, after all, it is normal for two boats to come up on the canal, and even recently, there are boats moored and passed by almost every day, but there is no grain on them.

Zhu Houzhao was still comforting the people, talking about the life of the road construction team and Huangzhuang, and the people were also listening quietly with longing. After about 10 minutes, there was a commotion at the pier, which attracted the attention of the surrounding people. It turned out that the rice that was being brought down from the sand boat caused a commotion. However, there were soldiers from the land and water battalion to maintain order, but no one stood up and walked around.

After a while, the people voluntarily separated a road and let the grain be delivered, and when they saw the bags of grain transported to the back of the high platform and piled up in a neat piece, many people wept with joy, and listened to Zhu Houzhao's speech more devoutly.

Zhu Houzhao asked a man who was carrying grain to come to power, and he and Lu Zhixian stepped down from the high platform. This man is about 40 years old, his skin is a little dark, and he has some wrinkles on his face, and he looks quite old. At this time, he stood on the stage crampedly, looking at the tens of thousands of compatriots who had already stood up below, a little at a loss.

A man who came with him, who should be his boss, scolded in a low voice, "Say, isn't it usually quite able to speak, just tell me how you have spent more than a month." The man on the stage listened, nodded, and then said loudly, "Fellow villagers, my name is Huang Daniu, I am a man from Texas, and I am working in the road construction team now." ”

As soon as he opened his mouth, it was an authentic Shandong dialect, and the people below also smiled when they listened. Huang Daniu continued to speak, "I worked in the road construction team for a month, and our squad leader saw that I was working hard, and gave me a reward. This month, I took a total of 3 taels of silver, but I asked for all the copper coins. Don't look at the road construction team, it sounds like going to do conscription, in fact, it's a good day, as long as you don't be lazy, it's no problem to feed the family with a month's salary. Huang Daniu said, his words became more fluent, and the expression on his face became more vivid, feeling like a neighbor chatting together, very down-to-earth, "In the road construction team, if you are sick, you will be treated, and your family will be treated when you are sick, and you will be asked for a herbal medicine money, as for the doctor, you only need a penny." The best part? That is, as long as you are working, you can take care of three meals a day, rice, flatbread, and you can still eat some meat for 2 days, but you can't bring it home. ”

Huang Da Niu's words made the people below talk a lot, just if they can eat enough and the disease can be cured, even if they don't pay their wages, they have to go. Seeing that there was some chaos below, Huang Daniu hurriedly pressed down with both hands and shouted loudly, "Fellows, I haven't finished talking yet." His words attracted the attention of the people, and the people around them slowly quieted down to see what the fellow had to say.

Huang Daniu coughed, cleared his throat, and continued, "It's not without harm, just take me as an example, my mother-in-law helps cook in the road construction team, and she also has a monthly money of 1 tael and 5 yuan a month, which is terrible, the family dares to talk back to me, this woman will go to the house to uncover the tiles if she doesn't fight for three days, don't think that you can make money and turn the sky upside down, this family still has to have the final say." ”

Suddenly, the chief below spoke, "Da Niu, don't blow it, that time your family quarrel was not caused by you scratching your face with a cat, and your daughter-in-law was unharmed." ”

"Hahaha" There was laughter below, and the people around were overjoyed to hear what this chief said, and the bragging of the fellows on this stage was debunked. The people in the back heard the laughter in front and hurriedly asked what was going on, and then the whole crowd burst into laughter.

Huang Daniu blushed a little, and shouted loudly, "What do you know, I let her, what kind of ability is it to beat women, we Shandong men have the ability to go outside." As soon as the words fell, the men, women and children around him were all cheering, and Huang Daniu's originally annoyed and angry face turned into triumphant.

Zhu Houzhao, Zhu Houwei and others are already walking towards the city, and they don't need to come forward for the rest of the matter, as long as they grasp the direction. Ma Sanniang said with a smile: "That man is very funny." Zhu Houwei looked at her and said with a smile, "He's a dead duck with a hard mouth, don't say anything else, just talk about you, if you get married in the future, if your man yells at you, it is estimated that he will not see the sun tomorrow." After speaking, he didn't care about Ma Sanniang's eyes when he was about to draw his knife, strode forward, and shouted in his mouth, "Big brother, wait for me, what are you doing so fast." ”

Half an hour later, in the back hall of the Yamen in Jining County, Zhu Houzhao's brothers, Ma Sanniang and Lu Zhixian, as well as Zhu Yuan, who had escorted grain, talked here. Zhu Houwei looked at Zhu Yuan and said, "Why did you come so slowly, how long has it been." ”

Zhu Yuan said with an embarrassed face, "Lord Wang, you can't blame me for this." We entered the canal from the Haihe River in Tianjin, and then went to Huangzhuang to transfer grain. As a result, the food came, but there was no ship to deliver it. All the boats were full of stuff, but none of them were loaded with food. Moreover, the number of boats in the north is very small, and I don't know where they went. Our big fortune boat, the No. 2 fortune boat can't get in, and the ones that can go through the canal are the Haicang boats, the Cangshan boats and the flat-bottomed sand boats, but there is a small house boat that can come in, but it can't carry much more food. This time, the two sand boats carried the most grain, with a total of 1,100 stones, or 110 tons. Other small boats such as Haicang boats were slower, and now they should have brought their own grain and sent it to the county seat where the canal on the first line of Linqing and Texas passed. ”

Zhu Houzhao frowned and said, "These 110 tons of grain sounds like a lot, but there are 560,000 people here, and they can only last for 4 or 5 days." Zhu Houwei shook his head, "We want to recruit 3,000 households to go to Huangzhuang here, this time we can reduce 10,000 people, and the ones left should only be more than 40,000, and when the sand boat goes back, bring another 1,000 people, if it is soup kitchen, these grains should be able to last for 10 days." Then he turned his head to look at Zhu Yuandao, "What did uncle say?" ”

Zhu Yuan smiled and said, "Shou Ningbo has already contacted the prince of the capital, Hou Ye and others, and when we came, we saw a lot of boats heading towards the capital. ”

Zhu Houwei wrote a letter to his two uncles at that time, and handed it to Zhu Yuan just in case, but he didn't expect it to be used, and what he didn't expect was that these nobles were so efficient.

Zhu Houzhao said with a smile: "That Tianjin Fishery Company is very good." "The fishing company in Tianjin has been doing really good business for a long time. In June, more than 50,000 taels of ordinary marine fish were sold, and some special seafood was sold for more than 80,000 taels. It seems that before the sea freezes this year, the capital will be recouped, and it may be profitable. In fact, these nobles don't value the money they earn very much, and they don't really have a lot of shares, and they can't make these princes and Hou Ye shine. Although Xungui is no longer as powerful as before, there are still so many fertile fields at home, and the money and grain earned every year are much more than those earned by the fishing company. These nobles value being able to have a relationship with the royal family, as a noble, it is impossible to join the civil official group, now the civil official family is dominant, even if you join, people will not value you, only with the royal family can it be possible to regain glory, the noble has been silent for too long.

Jining County has the largest number of people, so if the problem is solved here, the situation in Shandong will be much better. However, there are people here who give porridge relief, and there are no other places, and the situation there is even more critical, and the Zhu Houzhao brothers also need to rush to check. However, before that, it is necessary to settle the people who are recruited to the Huangzhuang, and there is also the need to go to the Lu Wangfu to visit this highly senior prince. The old prince took the lead in giving porridge, and he should go to see him because of his feelings.

So, Zhu Houzhao first sent someone to go to King Lu's Mansion with a name post, and Zhu Houzhao's brothers went to Yanzhou with the Beijing camp guards in the afternoon. Jining is only 50 kilometers away from Yanzhou, everyone rode horses, and it should be possible to arrive in the evening, and the time is urgent.

From the morning to the present, everyone has not eaten rice, and after Zhu Houzhao changed his clothes, he went to Jining City with a few other people to find a restaurant to eat. When I arrived at the market, I found that there were not many pedestrians, and it seemed that the gathering of so many people outside had a great impact on the people in the city.

Most of the buildings here are two-story wooden or brick-walled buildings, but Zhu Houzhao and his team still found a three-story building, and when they walked in, there was a gold plaque hanging above the gate, on which three words were written: "Food first". This is also a restaurant recommended by Lu Zhi County, and Lu Zhi County went to help register the information of the people. Brother Zhu Houzhao found that this magistrate "really can't be an official", let go of the prince, the prince is not stammering, but he is going to do these trivial things, but Zhu Houzhao brothers appreciate him very much.

After eating first, I found that this restaurant not only occupies a large area, but also is very elegantly decorated, the distance between the tables is also very large, the tables and chairs are very clean, well ventilated, and well-lit. Seeing that the temperament of the person who came was extraordinary, and there was a family to serve, the shopkeeper personally came to welcome the guests. "A few guest officers, a private seat on the second floor, a private room on the third floor, I don't know how many guest officers go up to the floor" The shopkeeper in his 40s had a businessman's signature smile, and it could be seen that he seemed to respect you very much, but I don't know if he was really so happy. Zhu Houwei threw out an ingot of about 5 taels of silver and said, "Go to the third floor, you want to face the street." ”

The shopkeeper showed a sincere smile, these people are big families. 5 Taels of silver may not sound like much, but the price of goods at this time is very low. Beef is 30 wen a catty, (about 580 grams) mutton is 30 wen, Yellow River carp is 35 wen, and pork is 40 wen. That's right, pork is the most expensive in this era.

The pigs raised in China in this era were not the white pigs of later generations, and they were basically the original species of China. The advantage is that the meat has a high lean meat rate, and the meat is smooth and chewy. The disadvantage is that the growth is very slow, it takes nearly 2 years from a little pig to adulthood, and the individual is not very large, so there are not many people to raise, and it cannot be compared with cattle and sheep.

One tael of silver is roughly equal to 1200 Wen Hongzhi Tongbao (different regions, there is also a gap in the exchange ratio), 5 taels of silver is definitely enough for these 10 people to feast.

Led by the shopkeeper, everyone quickly came to the third floor and sat down in a room by the street. There is a door between the rooms here, but now the door is closed, and there is a person next door.

Zhu Houzhao had a total of 11 people, and the two tables sat down. One table is occupied by Zhu Houzhao's brothers, Zhu Yuan and Ma Sanniang, and at the other table is Ma Sanniang's 2 female soldiers and 4 water and land battalions. Food First is a well-known chain store, and after only 2 or 3 minutes, there are dishes, and every 2 or 3 minutes there is a dish, which is very fast.

waited for 5 or 6 dishes to be served, and under Zhu Houzhao's order, everyone started eating. There was only the movement of eating in the room, and no one spoke. But the voice next door came through, and only a crisp, gentle girl said, "I see, that's what the prince is, this time I only brought about 200 people, and it almost went wrong." My brother is different, he can be civil and martial, even if he also brings about 200 people, he can ensure that tens of thousands of people are obedient. The prince, that is, occupies that name, it's not a big deal, maybe it's a big straw bag. Another glutinous female voice said carefully, "Miss, you can't talk nonsense, there are many people in this restaurant." The original female voice spoke, "Okay, Rouge, I know, you're going to worry about it." Come, I'll feed you another piece of sweet and sour pork, ah-"

Ma Sanniang looked at Brother Zhu Houzhao with a smile on her face, Zhu Yuan and the others looked embarrassed, the other party didn't listen to the age, so he couldn't bully other little girls. Zhu Houzhao didn't care, and continued to eat, saying that these two brothers, Zhu Houzhao's heart is definitely much broader than Zhu Houwei's.

Sure enough, Zhu Houwei spoke, "I was able to write at the age of three and practice martial arts at the age of five. At the age of 7, he knew all the sons of a hundred schools, published a book and established a biography, and at the age of 10, he could resist the enemy in the north, crisscross the battlefield, and be invincible. I'm not saying this to say how good I am. Zhu Houzhao knew that his younger brother was going to be broken, so he asked, "What is that for?" ”

Zhu Houwei glanced at the eldest brother appreciatively, and then said loudly, with some vague words, "Shopkeeper, come here for 2 more jars of good wine, I'm not drunk yet." ”

"Hahaha" Zhu Houzhao's room was full of jubilation, and Ma Sanniang glared at Zhu Houwei angrily and funny. The glutinous female voice next door said urgently, "Miss, forget it, forget it, let's go quickly." The crisp female voice said angrily, "No, I'm going to see who is so disgusting." ”

Suddenly, a somewhat old male voice said with 3 points of dissuasion and 7 points of indulgence, "Miss." The one known as Miss was silent for 2 seconds, "Hmph, let's go." Then I heard the footsteps of about 10 people next door and walked out.

Zhu Houzhao shook his head with a smile and said to Zhu Houwei, "You, it's too bad." Zhu Houwei shrugged his shoulders and said indifferently, "It's boring, adjust it." ”

Ma Sanniang was closest to the window, looked out the window, and then turned to Zhu Houwei and said, "Hehe, you have offended a beautiful lady now." Zhu Houwei said in his mouth, "With that temper, no matter how beautiful she looks, I can't look at it." He poked out the open window and peeked out, just in time to see a woman turn her head to look at the private room on the third floor, find him, and glare at him fiercely. Zhu Houwei found that this woman was the one who was cooking porridge outside the city, and wearing men's clothes couldn't hide the woman's beauty, and now the "angry eyes" look even more delicate. Zhu Houwei smiled at her in a friendly manner, and then retracted his head.

The woman also turned back, and rode on a healthy horse, and with about a dozen people, she headed north, and another woman in the procession, also dressed as a man, also rode a horse to follow it.

Seeing Zhu Houwei turn around, he said with a smile, "See, isn't it beautiful?" Zhu Houwei said indifferently, "That's it, it's not as beautiful as you." The room was quiet, the men were staring at Zhu Houwei, and the two female soldiers were staring at Ma Sanniang, their eyes flashing with a thick fire of gossip.

Ma Sanniang was stunned for a while, and then her face turned pale, "Aren't you hungry, don't eat quickly, there is something to do in the afternoon." Everyone hurriedly bowed their heads to eat, and a woman with superb martial arts must not be offended, otherwise the end will be miserable. Ma Sanniang seemed to be eating calmly, but some red ears showed that she was not so distracted.