Yangwu is a wealthy county, with more than 5,000 households and a population of about 30,000 in the county alone. The walls are made of rammed earth and stones, are six meters high, three meters wide at the top, and surrounded by a moat up to 20 meters wide. The river runs through the city, dividing the city into two districts, north and south, with a total of four main streets, eight main streets, and seventy-two alleys.

Shi Meng is the head catcher in the northern district of Yangwu County, commanding twenty catchers.

The officials of the county government are divided into internal and external classes, and they have no official status and belong to personnel recruited from the people. The inner class served in the county government, such as menzi, grooms, waiters, etc., which were generally appointed by the county officials or brought by them when they took office. The outer class is the personnel recruited from the private market, which is divided into soap class, fast class, and form class. The soap squad is on duty, the fast squad is arrested, and the strong squad is poor, and their boss is just a miscellaneous adjutant official.

Shi Meng doesn't look at a majestic title of head catcher, but in fact, his status is very low, he belongs to the untouchables, and he is in the same column as the slave and maid who advocates excellence, and his descendants cannot be an official within three generations. He carried his head to catch the big thief, and his annual salary was only sixteen taels of silver. And the subordinates catch even faster, only ten taels of silver, so it is inevitable to do some unclean work. The so-called officials have no longevity, and they only make a living by taking bribes.

And it was just dawn that they entered the city.

According to Shi Meng, in the past, the suspension bridge was not closed and the city gate was not closed. Recently, due to the tension between Li Guo and Ji Guo, Yangwu County began to close the city gates after dark. But it was still four or five hundred miles away from the border pass, the atmosphere was relaxed, there was no garrison, and even the suspension bridge did not have to be put away at night. The county government assigned eight people from the soap class to guard the city gates on all sides, just for show, and they couldn't stand up to anything.

The main work of the soap squad is to stand in the hall, which doubles as a precursor guard and honor guard. In addition to getting some bribes from the relatives of criminals when playing boards and joints, there are not many places to fish for oil and water. The spirit of guarding the city gate has come, and when you meet a vegetable seller in the township, you have to smoke a green onion. They didn't dare to provoke the gentry, but they were very strict with the outsiders, and they must be surveyed and guided. If a powerless merchant enters the city, he must squeeze out the oil and water before he is allowed to let him go.

In order not to attract attention, Chu Fan asked Shi Meng to ride back on the horse, while he held the little girl behind him.

When the two men saw Shi Meng returning to the city, they flattered the head in their mouths, nodded and stammered. When he saw Chu Fan hanging behind him, he was stunned and wanted to stop him. Shi Meng hurriedly turned over and dismounted, saying that his relatives had gone to the city for treatment and stuffed a few copper coins. The two men said goodbye, shouted for the benevolence of the stone catcher, and waved their hands to let them go.

Shi Meng's family lives in a remote place on the edge of the city, and he can't compare to the big tiled house in the center, and his face is a little ashamed. But Chu Fan felt good, he had a separate courtyard and planted some flowers and plants.

Shi Meng had long regarded Chu Fan as an immortal master who had come to Hongchen to train, not to mention that he had saved his own life, so he was naturally sincerely afraid, and he just wanted to serve well. Chu Fan knew this little bit of caution, and mysteriously told him that he must regard himself as a refugee from the north, otherwise he would lose the meaning of "experience".

Shi Meng's wife is in her early thirties, has a gentle personality, dresses plainly, and does not wear a crown, but simply wraps her hair in a bun with a brocade. After entering the yard, Shi Meng didn't even have time to lead the horse into the stable, so he hurriedly called her to boil water and make tea.

Chu Fan saw her round face, smiling, and quite prosperous, so he smiled and called "sister-in-law". Who knew that this "sister-in-law" frightened Shi Da to catch his head very lightly, and his heart beat for a long time before he settled down.

After sending the Chu Fan brothers and sisters into the hall to sit down, Shi Meng turned around and tied up his horse, still worried that his mother-in-law would snub the immortal master in the future, so he personally went to the stove house to burn the fire and help the cook, muttering.

After washing his face, Chu Fanle was broken.

Finally saw the toothbrush.

The handle of the brush is, and several rows of small holes are drilled into the front end to implant in the horsetail. As for the gray powder stained when brushing, it is a bit bitter, and it can't be brushed to foam, so it is estimated that it is made by crushing medicinal herbs.

The little girl was listless, her face was crimson, she didn't even eat poached eggs, and only drank half a bowl of sugar water.

Chu Fan touched her forehead, it was very hot, and hurriedly called Shi Meng to call the doctor. At this time, Sister-in-law Shi cleaned up the room, and he hugged the little girl to the bed and covered the quilt, and by the way, he took out the straw shoes and willow hairpin in her arms.

Shi Meng hurriedly ran out, who knew that the familiar doctor was out of the emergency room today, and the person was waiting at the door with a sedan chair earlier, and after listening to the symptoms, he only prescribed a prescription to ask him to take medicine.

Shi Meng hurried back with three packets of medicinal herbs, feeling that he hadn't done things properly, and he had to go to another medical center.

Chu Fan heard the doctor say that the occasional wind chill was not serious, so he put his mind at ease.

Looking at the prescription, it is nothing more than nepeta, ginger, tangerine peel, licorice, ephedra, cinnamon and other things, and I can't be wrong. He didn't want to be disturbed, so he asked Shi Mengzheng to go to the hospital and buy another bed and bed, as well as toiletries and corresponding clothes for the two. In addition, a large number of books are needed, focusing on history, geography, customs and customs, and others can also be a little bit, the more the merrier.

The little girl took two pills to reduce her fever, and her body was a little weak and dazed. Chu Fan thought about it, and after crossing a trace of spirit crystal to her meridians, people immediately refreshed.

Sister-in-law Shi does have good cooking skills, stewed black chicken with chestnuts and red dates every day, sweet and sour pork ribs or something, and nothing is heavy. The little girl's thin face gradually became full and ruddy, and she helped the kitchen with housework and learned needlework before and after running. Shi Meng only had a son named Shi Tai, who was only six years old, tiger-headed and tiger-brained, and circled around the young lady all day long like a fart.

In the past ten days, Chu Fan only took Gardenia out of the hospital for a walk. The rest of the time, I only do two things, read books and practice.

Most of the streets and alleys are dirt roads, with occasional masonry and stone, and the open channels and culverts are drained, and they are still clean. The crowd of people in the fang market is like weaving, rubbing shoulders one after another, and the cries of selling come and go. frightened the little girl in the country, and held her brother's hand tightly, for fear of getting lost.

Encounter strange things in a secluded alley.

At that time, a middle-aged man who looked like a small merchant was entangled and torn with a spicy woman, and suddenly a big man rushed up waving a rope and an iron ruler, shouting loudly that the yamen should catch cattle and enforce the law, and that the merchant should be dragged to see the official. Occasionally, someone walks by, either leaving without hiding his face, or avoiding it in a hurry.

Chu Fan saw that the big man didn't hang his waist card like Shi Meng, and he didn't feel that he took a second look, could it be plainclothes?

The merchant was inexplicable and pleaded for mercy, but the woman held him alive and dead. The big man glared at Chu Fan fiercely and threatened, "Don't be nosy." ”

Chu Fan was unfamiliar with his life and didn't want to cause trouble, so he led the little girl and walked back, but his ears were pricked up to listen to the voice. Sure enough, the three of them argued for a while and began to bargain quietly, and finally the merchant paid the money and settled the matter.

Chu Fan guessed that this was probably a scam such as "Immortal Jump". But a public gate went in, and it was a bit like "fishing law enforcement".

Shi Meng got back hundreds of books every once in a while, a lot of them.

Chu Fan began to teach the little girl to read. Every time I can't boil a pillar of incense, the little brain melon begins to be little by little, and his eyes are blurred. Once he only went out to drink a sip of water, and when he came back, he saw her falling asleep with a book in her arms, which was more effective than taking any sleeping pills.

Chu Fan almost laughed his teeth out, so he had to stop teaching. Anyway, this world pursues that a woman's lack of talent is virtue, and it doesn't matter if she is highly respected in the future.

The little girl is like being pardoned.

She can't read, but she is very interested in learning from Sister-in-law Shi, and she embroidered a peony flower in a few days. Straw sandals and willow hairpins were also washed and cleaned, and they were collected like treasures.

Chu Fan combed through hundreds of books with huge contents, confirmed the limited information provided by Yang Qi, Shi Meng, Huang Tang, Lao Cangtou and others, and gradually pieced together the development history of this world, a rough outline.

Today, it is the four countries vying for hegemony.

It is bordered by Wu in the east, Yue in the south, Yong in the west, and Yan in the north.

Like Li country, Ji country, Ba country...... It can only be regarded as medium, and there are dozens of small radish head countries such as Xu and Zeng in the middle.

In the past, as a slave, I looked like slaves all at a glance, but after I came out, I realized that this era was not a slave society.

There are many slaves, one is that wars between countries have led to a large number of people becoming captives, and the other is that the family birth system has led to the enslavement of offspring. For the state, too many slaves weakened production and royal power, reduced taxes, and had to limit the number. However, the statistical work could not keep up, and the wealthy families stored tens of thousands of slaves, but only a few thousand were reported.

Lao Cangtou believed that after the slaves of the Li Kingdom fled to the Ji Kingdom, they would be pardoned and become commoners. I only know one thing, but I don't know the other.

The nations that had concluded the Covenant recognized each other's slavery status. You are a slave here, and you are a slave to flee there. Rival countries have a way of pardoning each other's slaves, but they need to be fugitive slaves to do three years of hard labor. As for whether or not slaves became commoners as a result, only God knows.

Flipping through the vast number of classics, Chu Fan found that the reason why the world is like this is because of the existence of monks, that is, cultivators.

Ordinary monks, revered as mages.

A mage with strong spells, he is revered as an immortal master.

The great power among the immortal masters often becomes the national teacher.

The national teacher ignores mundane affairs, generally does not get involved in wars, and only makes a move when life and death are at stake. Once the national teacher made a move, the war between the two countries evolved into a fighting method between the national teachers.

If the national teacher is defeated, the country will be destroyed.

Three hundred years ago, Yue was only a medium-sized country, and the national teacher Huanglong Zhenren traveled for 20 years and did not return. The neighboring Youguo took the opportunity to launch a war, and the momentum was like a bamboo, and the army came to the royal city. When the city was broken, Huanglong Zhenren descended from the sky and beheaded Cang Songzi, the national teacher of Youguo. The 200,000 troops of Youguo rushed to flee and were killed in blood. The Yue Kingdom took advantage of the situation to destroy the Youguo, and thus sat down.

How did small countries like Xu, Zeng, and other places with a population of less than one million survive?

One situation is that the national teacher has not returned for a long time, and the surrounding neighbors are slowly encroaching, but they dare not show their knives. Once it is confirmed that the national teacher will not return, the destruction will be imminent.

There is also a situation where there is no successor to the national teacher, and he asks friends in the world to take care of him before ascending, which is generally limited to ten years. During this period, if you can't invite a national teacher, the neighboring countries will slowly encroach on it. As long as the country is not destroyed, it is inconvenient for the immortal master who promised to take care of it to take care of it, and he will turn a blind eye. When the time comes, it will be over.

The rise of small countries is due to the strength of national teachers.

The decline of a great country is due to the failure of the national teacher.

One person is a national sport.