The victory in the Battle of Shouzhou made Chai Rong see the advantages of firearms, and made him full of confidence in taking all the land of Southern Tang and Huainan. Therefore, after conquering Shouzhou, he chose to stay here, preparing to readjust the deployment of troops, and wipe out all the states and counties of the Southern Tang Dynasty in Huainan in one fell swoop.

However, people are not as good as heaven, and since the second day of the Zhou army's capture of Shouzhou, heavy rain fell in the Huainan area. The rain has been falling for seven or eight days, and there is no sign of stopping. The continuous heavy rain not only greatly affected the movement and logistics supply of the Zhou army, but more importantly, in such an environment, black powder was extremely susceptible to moisture, and could not be used normally whether it was transportation, storage, or actual combat use. As a result, the ambitious Chai Rong had to pause the pace of the attack and wait for the weather to improve.

It was precisely because Chai Rong chose to stay in Shouzhou that Lin Xiaoyu, who arrived in Shouzhou City with Empress Fu, had the opportunity to meet Xu Shaoan. At this time, after listening to Xu Shao'an's account of the siege of the Zhou army, Lin Xiaoyu was not only happy that Xu Shao'an was able to show his hands in front of Chai Rong, but also felt a little uneasy that Chai Rong would not consider withdrawing the army for the time being because he saw the power of black powder. Because Chai Rong withdrew the army one day later, Empress Fu had to stay in this hot place for one more day. Although judging from the current situation, Empress Fu's health is not serious, but as a northerner, it is easy for her to adapt to the soil and water when she comes to the south.

In particular, Empress Fu's own physique is not very strong, and if she stays here for a long time, it is difficult to guarantee that she will not have any serious illnesses. Moreover, according to Zhang Weixin, in the history of her previous life, Empress Fu died in the seventh month of the lunar calendar. So, while everything is normal now, no one can say what will happen until the end of July. Therefore, Lin Xiaoyu, who was still elated and smiling just now, became a little depressed at this time.

Seeing this, Xu Shao'an, who was next to her, guessed that she was still worried about Queen Fu's body. So, while comforting with kind words, he changed the topic and proposed that it was rare to come to Shouzhou City, which was close to noon, and he should find a place to eat and appreciate the taste of Huainan cuisine, and at the same time to celebrate his great victory.

Regarding Xu Shaoan's kindness, Lin Xiaoyu naturally had no reason to refuse. Fortunately, although the sky has not really cleared up at this time, at least there is no intention of rain for a while, and the two of them are not afraid of being drenched in the rain halfway. So, the two asked the locals about the location of the most famous restaurant in the city, and searched all the way.

This restaurant, called "Binyang Building" - the same name as the east gate of Shouzhou City - is located in the east of Shouzhou City, not far from the Shouzhou Jiedu Embassy where Chai Rong is stationed, and it didn't take long for Xu and Lin to find it.

Because Xu Shaoan was wearing his military attache costume at this time, as soon as the two arrived at the door of the restaurant, they were greeted warmly by a guy. While politely letting the two of them into the private room, he said some flattering words.

Xu and Lin, under the guidance of their buddies, came to a private room and sat down. While wiping the table neatly, the guy introduced the characteristics and signature dishes of his restaurant to Xu and Lin. Xu and Lin had no concept of the dishes of this era, so they signaled to the guys not to say so much, just pick a few of the most popular dishes in the store, and bring a small jar of wine. After hearing this, the man nodded yes again and again, put the handkerchief on his shoulder, and sang the name of the dish in his mouth and left the private room.

There was not much time, and all kinds of dishes were served at a low price. Xu Shaoan slapped open the wine jar and poured wine for Lin Xiaoyu and himself. The two of them ate and drank slowly. During the banquet, Xu Shaoan not only continued to tell Lin Xiaoyu some interesting stories in Shenji and the details of conquering Shouzhou, but also used some plots in the story to say some words of comfort to further resolve Lin Xiaoyu's worries about the safety of Queen Fu.

Therefore, when the two of them were full of food and drink, Lin Xiaoyu's mood was also much more relaxed, and he returned to the relaxed state when the two first met. Seeing that Lin Xiaoyu's mood improved, Xu Shaoan also breathed a sigh of relief. At this time, the two of them had been eating this meal for almost half an hour, and it was time to go back. Therefore, after Xu Shaoan asked his men to settle the account, he and Lin Xiaoyu went out of the private room together, preparing to return to their respective stations.

Just as the two of them walked out of the private room where they were, the door of another private room next to them also opened, and two men stepped out of it. When the first person came out, he unconsciously glanced at Xu Shao'an's side, he was stunned at first, hesitated for a moment, then hugged his fist to Xu Shao'an, and asked tentatively: "Is this the Xu Dao Chang of the Jade Void Palace?" ”,

Xu Shaoan was also stunned by the three words "Xu Daochang", and he didn't understand that he was now wearing military attache clothes, and the other party would call himself Daochang. But after a little pondering, I figured out the key - I had only been a Taoist priest for a few months in the early stage of the crossing, and since this person in front of me called himself a Taoist master, he must have known himself at that time.

Thinking of this, Xu Shaoan hurriedly looked at the man carefully, and found that this person was indeed a little familiar. He recalled it carefully, and finally remembered the identity of this person, and immediately returned the salute: "Yes, this commander did serve as a Taoist priest in the Jade Void Palace when he first debuted. If this commander is not mistaken, your Excellency should be the eldest son of the Qi family who sold the house to my brothers in the first place, right? ”

Seeing that he didn't recognize the wrong person, the man hurriedly replied, "Yes, it's Qi Kunyu down there." ”

Seeing that the other party was indeed the eldest son of the original owner of "Qingyuan" and "Jingyuan", Xu Shaoan was both surprised and very happy - as a traverser, the brothers did not have many acquaintances in this era, and when they could meet an acquaintance in Shouzhou, which is more than 2,000 miles away from Youzhou, Xu Shaoan really felt a little "meeting an old acquaintance in a foreign land".

Xu Shaoan then said: "It's been almost two years since I said goodbye that day, and time flies really fast." At the beginning, Ling Zun only said that he was going to Jiangning Mansion to settle down, and he didn't want us to meet here in Shouzhou. ”

"yes, yes. This can be regarded as fate. Qi Kunyu also sighed.

Because the lobby of the restaurant where the two parties were located, it was not convenient to talk, so Xu Shaoan said that if Qi Kunyu had nothing important to do, it would be better to return to his private room to talk. Qi Kunyu naturally had no objection to this, he called his friend and re-entered the private room that Xu and Lin had just booked with Xu Shaoan and Lin Xiaoyu. Afterwards, Xu Shaoan asked the guy to bring in tea, and the four of them began to chat.

Qi Kunyu first introduced his companion to Xu and Lin, a wealthy local businessman and his distant relative, Qi Zhongyan. And Xu Shaoan also introduced Lin Xiaoyu's identity to the Qi brothers.

After the two sides exchanged salutes, Qi Kunyu asked about Xu Shao'an's recent situation, especially how Xu Shao'an changed from a Taoist priest to an officer of the Zhou army.

Regarding Qi Kunyu's question, Xu Shaoan obviously can't tell the truth, after all, the other party and the team only had a business relationship two years ago, and they are not his own people. Therefore, Xu Shaoan told Qi Kunyu and his distant brothers that he was unwilling to be a Taoist priest for a lifetime, so at the end of last year, he and several brothers "went south to fight" and successfully "fought for fame" - of course, Lin Xiaoyu naturally became a "strange woman in the country" among the "brothers who went south".

After listening to Xu Shao'an's mixed narration, Qi Kunyu, who did not know the reason, was surprised again and again on the one hand, and on the other hand, he also felt extremely envious of Xu and Lin who had become the six-rank military attache and imperial doctor of the Zhou State in just half a year. Especially when I heard that Xu Shao'an was one of the commanders who broke the city with strange methods a few days ago, Qi Kunyu and his distant brother were even more flattering.

Xu and Lin were a little embarrassed by Qi Kunyu's praise, and hurriedly changed the topic and asked why Qi Kunyu appeared in Shouzhou City.

Qi Kunyu sighed and said, "Alas, this matter is a long story. Then, he told his experience during this time.

It turned out that after Qi Yuanwai's family arrived in Jiangning Mansion (Nanjing), they were lucky to inherit a very rich ancestral property and became one of the top wealthy businessmen in the local area. In order to make his family business to a higher level, Qi Nanhai continued to purchase a large amount of land and became a big landowner. On the other hand, he also gave full play to his business ingenuity, not only in the Southern Tang and its surrounding areas, but also in maritime trade. However, unlike Cui Yongnian and Cui Yuanwai in Shandong, the Qi family's main trade partners were various cities in the south and countries in the South China Sea.

Because the Qi family has a distant relative in Shouzhou, at the beginning of this year, Qi Nanhai sent his son here, planning to cooperate with this distant relative and open shops and storefronts in Shouzhou. Unexpectedly, the eldest prince of Qi entered Shouzhou City with his front foot, and Chai Rong began his southern expedition with his back foot. The soldiers were in a panic, and the eldest prince of Qi naturally did not dare to leave rashly, so he temporarily stayed at a relative's house, wanting to wait for the war to end later, and then rush back to Jiangning. Who knows, the Zhou army was like a broken bamboo all the way, but it was deflated under the city of Shouzhou, and had to besiege the city for a long time. This siege has been around for several months, and the eldest prince of Qi has been trapped until now. ,

It wasn't until a few days ago that Xu Shao'an's gunpowder siege method showed his might and broke through Shouzhou City, which was considered to have solved Qi Kunyu's siege. Today, he and his distant brother in the local area came to the restaurant to eat the candied wine for him, if he hadn't happened to meet Xu Shao'an, Qi Kunyu would have left Shouzhou City at this time and returned to Jiangning.

After listening to Qi Kunyu's introduction, Xu Shaoan was also emotional, and said bluntly, "No coincidence is not a book".

Perhaps out of professional habits, Qi Kunyu gradually brought the topic to business. Because he is a layman in business, at the beginning, Xu Shaoan just dealt with it perfunctorily and didn't pay much attention to it. However, as he spoke, Qi Kunyu inadvertently revealed that he was very envious of the few business partners who had the ability to operate glass products and made a lot of profits, which attracted Xu Shaoan's attention.

Xu Shao'an could naturally guess what Qi Kunyu said, these businessmen who do glass business basically buy goods from their own "Jingbaoxuan" - Cui Yongnian's goods purchased from the team are mainly supplied overseas, and the goods from Zhongtu are basically from the three "Jingbaoxuan" in Liangxiang, Youzhou City and Kaifeng City. Therefore, he took the opportunity to reveal to Qi Kunyu that his brother who stayed in Youzhou was also in the glass business, and he was doing a lot of it. If the other party is interested, he can send someone to Liangxiang to negotiate with his brother there. And, as an acquaintance, I am willing to help facilitate this matter.

Xu Shaoan's news made Qi Kunyu very happy, he didn't expect that the glass business that he and his father had longed for for a long time was actually controlled in the hands of a group of acquaintances. Therefore, he immediately expressed his willingness to cooperate with the "Qingyuan" brothers, and asked Xu Shaoan to draw the strings. At the same time, he also said that if this matter can be done, he will definitely reward Xu Shaoan in the future.

Xu Shaoan naturally agreed, and said that this is just a gesture, not to mention that there is nothing to thank - for Xu Shaoan, being able to pull a big business for the team is far more important than getting this reward.

Qi Kunyu was naturally grateful for this, and said that the thank you gift must not be missing, and invited Xu Shaoan and Lin Xiaoyu to his relative's house for a banquet that night, which can be regarded as his friendship with the landlord.

Regarding Qi Kunyu's invitation, Xu Shaoan didn't really want to go. First, Chai Rong values him very much now, and he needs to be ready to respond to Chai Rong's summons at any time. Second, he himself is not very interested in doing business, and he does not like to deal with businessmen very much. Helping Qi Kunyu this time was also completely out of consideration for the interests of the team.

Just when Xu Shaoan was about to excuse himself on official business, there was a sudden commotion outside the private room, and it seemed that the guys in the store were reasoning with a few guests who didn't pay for dinner.

Regarding this kind of eating "overlord meal", Xu Shaoan didn't take it seriously. However, the guy said something that forced him to pay attention to what was happening outside.

I heard a guy say: "You don't pretend to be poor here, don't think that if you change the clothes of the people, Lao Tzu won't recognize you." Lao Tzu knows that you were all Southern Tang soldiers before, and the one in black was your battalion commander. Lao Tzu told you that now Shouzhou City is already the world of the Great Zhou, and the days of you Southern Tang soldiers being powerful and blessed have passed. If you don't give money today, Lao Tzu will send you all to the Zhou army camp. Lao Tzu also told you that there is a general of the Great Zhou Dynasty in the private room of the restaurant now, if you dare to be rude, be careful of your dog's life. ”

The man's words were not only for those Southern Tang Dynasty soldiers who ate the "overlord meal", but also for Xu Shaoan in the private room. Obviously, those guys were afraid of eating the "overlord meal", and moved Xu Shaoan, a Great Zhou officer, out in advance to deter them.

Now, Xu Shaoan has to take care of things if he doesn't want to be nosy, otherwise he will lose his own reputation and Zhou Jun's reputation. Therefore, Xu Shaoan confessed a crime to the Qi family brothers, got up and left his seat, and went outside the private room.

);