The name of Wangjiang Tower sounds very loud, but it is actually a small two-story building, with more than a dozen tables upstairs and downstairs. When Su Hao and the others arrived, there were no guests in the restaurant, and it seemed quite deserted. The shopkeeper took them to the second floor, and Su Hao saw that there were only two people sitting at one table on the second floor, and the rest of the tables were empty.

"Xiao Er, why don't you have any people?" Su Hao couldn't help but ask, this is the time to eat, but there is no one in the restaurant, could it be that the dishes in the restaurant taste unpalatable?

Xiao Er seemed to hear Su Hao's voice, and hurriedly explained: "The guest officer doesn't know, this year, our Xinjian County has suffered from a drought, and the farmer's harvest is extremely poor, so there are fewer people who come out to eat. In the past half a year, eighty percent of the people who came to my restaurant for dinner were foreign merchants. But now that it has been closed for nearly a year, there are few customers, so the restaurant is deserted. However, the guest officer can rest assured, my family's food is the best in this woodcutter town, if the guest officer is not satisfied, there is no need to pay the bill, just smash my house's signboard. ”

"Hehe, that's what you said." Su Hao said with a smile.

"That's natural, the guest officer knows it after eating." Xiao Er replied with a stiff neck. His rhetoric is actually just to fool people, and how can anyone who really dare to smash the local restaurant when the guests are out of the house. If he knew that Su Hao was coming with more than 100 soldiers, he wouldn't dare to say this.

Su Hao and Chen Dao found a seat by the window and sat down, looking out from this seat, they could really see the Ganjiang River in the twilight, if it was the season of spring and Jingming, the scenery here should be quite good. Chen Guanyu and Chen Dao's two entourages chose a seat not far away and not close to them, so that on the one hand, they could take care of their respective masters, and on the other hand, they would not affect Su Hao and Chen Dao's chat.

The shopkeeper sent the menu, Su Hao opened it and looked at it, and immediately wanted to jump up and scold the street, he asked: "Little Er, you are not a black shop, right?" How can there be such an expensive dish? ”

It turns out that the prices of all the dishes on the menu are almost more than three times that of Fengcheng, a green vegetable costs 20 Wen, a random meat dish is hundreds of Wen, and even a plate of scrambled eggs is marked with 50 Wen, which is enough to buy a basket of eggs in Fengcheng.

Xiao Er smiled and said, "Guest officer, there's really no way, the dishes on the market are so expensive now, and our store is already making it at a loss." ”

"Losing money?" Su Hao sneered, "Let me ask you, how much is an egg on the market?" ”

Xiao Er said: "In previous years, it was 2 yuan and 3, and this year it is 5 yuan and 1." ”

"What's the explanation?" Su Hao was surprised and said that the price that Xiao Er said in previous years was no problem, which showed that he was not lying. But this year's price is evil, how can there be a reason for 5 yuan and 1 egg? A chicken is 50 Wen, which is an old hen weighing three or four pounds.

Xiao Er said: "Guest officer, I told you earlier, this year, our Xinjian County has suffered from drought, and there is no harvest in many places, and the price of rice, vegetables, and eggs has doubled. In this ordinary farmhouse, how can anyone afford to eat eggs. ”

"Brother Chen, what do you think?" Su Hao looked at Chen Dao and asked.

Without waiting for Chen Dao to say anything, someone next to him spoke first: "What Xiao Er said is true, the price of vegetables here is indeed extremely high, and even Qiaosheyi doesn't dare to serve meals to guests." ”

Su Hao looked back and saw that it was a guest at the previous table upstairs who spoke. He wore a long robe of blue silk cloth and a small round hat on top of his head, and his hat was decorated with bright beads, and he looked very rich. Seeing Su Hao turn his head to look at him, the man arched his hand and said: "Brother Tai, please, Xiong Ji and Xiong Bojiang in Yuyao, Zhejiang, are businessmen, and they have been here for a few days, so they know that what Xiao Er said is the truth." ”

"Junior brother Su Hao, a miscellaneous servant in the Yali of Fengcheng County." Su Hao also arched his hand to Xiong Ji and introduced himself. When he came out, he had already changed into civilian clothes, so he did not say his position in the army.

"It turned out to be Brother Su." That Xiong Ji is worthy of being a businessman, and he has a bit of a good ability. He stood up and said: "When we meet in Pingshui, we are destined to be people, if Brother Su and this benevolent brother don't dislike it, please enjoy a light, come to the next table to eat together, and do the east in the next, how about it?" ”

Su Hao claimed to be a miscellaneous servant in the county government, but Xiong Ji was not blind, where could he not see that Su Hao and Chen Dao came with their entourage, what kind of miscellaneous servant could mix with the realm of traveling with his entourage? He believes that at least one of the two of them, Su Hao and Chen Dao, has a background, and the more low-key a person is, the more it shows that this person has a lot of background.

As a businessman, he will naturally not let go of any opportunity to make friends with powerful people. Xiong Ji heard that Su Hao thought the food was expensive, so he took the initiative to invite him, in fact, no matter how expensive a meal is, it is not worth much, but being able to drink and chat at a table with a person with a background is of great potential value.

Su Hao was not afraid to eat with a stranger, but he didn't know what Chen Dao thought. He glanced at Chen Dao, and Chen Dao laughed and said, "Since Xiong Yuanwai kindly invited, change it, I think we might as well be respectful." ”

"Then bother Brother Xiong." Su Hao also laughed, and together with Chen Dao, he moved to Xiong Ji's table, and after the two sides exchanged polite words, they sat down in the position of guest and host.

"This Brother Xu also just met in Xia, and we both live in Qiaosheyi, so we went out to eat together." Xiong Ji pointed to a young man dressed as a talent next to him and introduced it to Su Hao and Chen Dao.

That Xiucai has clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, and the shirt on his body looks very clean, and he can keep it so clean when he goes out, which shows that he pays a lot of attention to appearance. Hearing Xiong Ji introduce him, he stood up, arched his hand to Su Hao and Chen Dao, and said, "In Xia Xu Zixian, a person from Songjiang Mansion, is now white. ”

Su Hao and Chen Dao also reported their own names, Chen Dao claimed to be a petty official in a small yamen, Xiong Ji knew that he was covering up, but he was also very clever not to expose it.

Xiao Er brought bowls and chopsticks to Su Hao and Chen Dao, Xiong Ji instructed Xiao Er to add a few good dishes to his table, and arranged for Chen Guanyu to send some wine and food to their table, saying that the accounts were all in his name. Su Hao hugged his fists and expressed his gratitude, but secretly turned his head and glanced at Chen Guanyu. Chen Guanyu very cleverly stuffed a piece of silver into the shopkeeper and paid for the meal on his and Su Hao's side.

When everyone met for the first time, they toasted each other with a few glasses of wine, and described the order of the elders and young, among which Chen Dao was naturally the oldest, already in his 40s, Xiong Ji was second, 30 years old, Xu Zixian was 28 years old, and Su Hao was only 18 years old after the New Year, and he was a real little brother.

After being polite, Chen Dao asked Xiong Ji: "Bo Jiang Shicai said that the price of food is high, so the post house does not prepare meals for guests, what does it mean?" ”

Xiong Ji said with a smile: "I have been doing grain business in Jiangxi recently, and I have passed this Qiao Sheyi no less than 10 times. As early as half a year ago, this Yu Yicheng said that the stove of the post house was broken, and it has not been repaired yet, which means that he does not want to prepare meals for guests. ”

"I see." Chen Dao also laughed, he was a person who had been in the officialdom for a long time, and as soon as he heard Xiong Ji's words, he knew what was going on.

According to the regulations, the post house is responsible for the distribution of past public servants, and the standard is three or five liters of rice a day. The price of rice given by Liao is calculated according to the official price, that is, one tael of silver and two stones, but the local price of rice and vegetables has risen, and it is impossible to eat enough with this money, let alone eat well.

Yu Yi was forced to say that the stove was broken, and let the guests go to the restaurant for dinner, and after he came back, he calculated the subsidy of five liters of rice according to the regulations of the imperial court. As for how much it actually costs for guests to go to the restaurant, Yu Yi can't control it, which can be regarded as a way to protect himself.

Su Hao also figured out this section, and his dissatisfaction with Yu Yi disappeared. It's not easy to be a postman, so be more considerate. However, the disaster in Xinjian County turned out to be so serious, but Su Hao did not expect it, he stayed in Fengcheng, and he really didn't have much feeling about the severity of the drought in the province this year.

Xiong Ji said: "This year's drought in Jiangxi is really severe, many prefectures and counties have half of the fields out of production, grain prices have skyrocketed, and those who sell their children and women among the people, although there is government relief, is also a drop in the bucket." However, I heard that your situation in Fengcheng is okay, is that so? ”

Su Hao responded: "Fengcheng also suffered a major drought, but our Han Zhi County led the officials and people to dig wells effectively, so the disaster is not so serious, this is also Tianzhaoying." ”

Xiong Ji shook his head and said: "Brother Su's words are wrong, you are from Fengcheng, don't you know that Fengcheng is not seriously affected this time, it is all because of the work of one person?" ”

"Hehe, is there such a thing? But the younger brother didn't know. Su Hao pretended to be stupid and said. Xiong Ji said that it was the work of one person, and Su Hao could guess who he was referring to, the only thing he was surprised by was that his reputation could spread so far.

Xiong Ji said: "I have come and gone on the ground in Jiangxi, and I have heard it for a long time. At the time of the great drought, the chief secretary ordered the officials and people around the country to dig wells to fight the drought, but the effect of drilling wells in various places is very different, among which the effect of Fengcheng drilling is the best, everyone said, that is because the county is looking for a mysterious master in the countryside, there are ghosts and gods to help, and the well is ten in the **, which saved the people of a county. ”

Su Hao said with a smile: "What kind of land teacher is not a local teacher, folklore, most of them are false, Brother Xiong can't be fully believed." ”

That Xu Zixian also interjected: "The younger brother also thinks that this theory is unfair, at least, this theory of ghosts and gods, the younger brother has always not believed in it." ”

Su Hao said: "What Brother Zi said is very ......"

Xu Zixian said: "However, I have also heard about the well survey in Fengcheng County. I heard that the geomaster who surveyed the well learned the method of Xiyi, which is different from the well exploration technique of my Daming. Guangqi longs for it, looking forward to having the opportunity to meet and ask for advice. ”

"Well, actually...... What, what did you just say your name was? Su Hao was about to be modest for a few words, and suddenly heard a familiar name from Xu Zixian's words, and couldn't help but ask.

Xu Zixian said: "Oh, the next surname is Xu Guangqi, and the son is the next word." ”

"You are Xu Guangqi!" Su Hao's eyes were about to pop out.