"Brother Zichu, the front is our Mi family's dock fort in Qu County."

Not far from the Mi family's dock fort, Mi Sangongzi stopped his steps, pointed to the huge manor in front of him, and opened his mouth to introduce Yuan Yao.

Yuan Yao took the opportunity to glance at the manor in the distance.

Saying that it was a manor, the dock fort was a little reluctant, because of the thick walls and the watchtowers built on the walls.

They all told Yuan Yao about the strength of this dock fort.

There is also a straight blue brick road leading to the outside of the dock fort, stretching for several miles, the gate of the dock fort is wide, and the people around are numerous.

This manor built by the Mi family themselves is comparable to a small town, and even much larger than the counties in the north of the Han Empire.

Just by looking at it from the outside, you can understand how rich the Mi family is.

"This entire Dock Fort is your family's property?"

"Yes, my Mi family has nothing else but money."

When he said this, Mi Sangongzi's face was filled with a hint of pride.

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand to get out of the carriage, and then led Yuan Yao to start walking towards your dock fort.

The group soon arrived at the gate of the dock fort.

Some of the Mi family guards standing guard at the gate saw Yuan Yao and his party of dozens of people riding horses to the gate of the dock fort, and they immediately looked nervous and wanted to come forward to check.

However, after these guards saw Mi Sangongzi, they immediately looked stunned and did not dare to come forward to search.

and hurriedly saluted Mi Sangongzi.

"It turned out to be the third son, why did the third son come back now?"

When they saw that there was only one person in Mi Sangongzi, these guards were a little surprised.

Because of the whereabouts of Mi Sangongzi, these people all know. As early as a month ago, Mi Sangongzi took a group of caravans to other places to do business.

Counting the days, it should be a few days before I come back, but I didn't expect to come back so soon.

"There were some changes on the way, I came back early, go and inform my eldest brother, just say that I brought a guest back."

With that, Mi Sangongzi led Yuan Yao into the dock fort.

The gate of the dock fort is not opened on weekdays, unless there is a major event, such as the caravan returning to the city, sacrificing heaven and earth, etc.

On weekdays, people come and go, and they are all small doors on the side of the dock fort, and the small doors are not big enough to accommodate two or three people entering and exiting at the same time.

And this time, the third prince of the Mi family said that he had brought guests, and it was dozens of guests on horseback, so these guards naturally did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly opened the door to welcome the third prince of Mi into the dock fort.

After entering the dock fort, Yuan Yao took a look and found that the scene in the dock fort was actually different from a small town.

There is a lot of land in the Dock Fort, not only farmland, but also a small river passing through the Dock Fort, the farmland is full of crops, the small river is brought into the interior, and there are some small fish ponds.

As for the buildings, there are not many buildings, except for some private houses, there are more warehouses and the owner's mansion.

To put it more complicated, the interior of this dock fort is not a small town at all, it is a larger home of the Mi family, in which it can be self-produced and sold, even if the dock fort is closed, the people in it can also ensure that they will not contact the outside world for a few years, or even more than ten years.

In fact, the dock fort has not only appeared in recent years.

As early as the end of the Western Han Dynasty, it had gradually become popular, when Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, there was a famine in the north, and the whole society was in turmoil. In order to protect themselves in troubled times, the families of the rich built dock forts one after another.

If there are fewer assets in the home, that is, the dock is built on flat ground, surrounded by walls, the front and back doors are opened, the watchtower is built in the dock, and the corner tower is built in the four corners, which is slightly like the city system.

If the family has more assets, it will be expanded on this basis, and the building with three floors inside and three floors outside is like a small bunker city.

It's just that after the establishment of this dock fort in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Guangwu ordered the abolition and destruction of the dock fort. However, the ban could not be stopped, because the people in the northwest often suffered from troubles, and the people automatically organized self-defense forces.

It lasted until the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the troubled times were full of bandits, and the society became turbulent again.

Yuan Yao also knew that many families had dock forts, but he had never seen a dock fort covering such a wide area, which really made him a little frightened, and at the same time surprised by the Mi family's wealth.

Not to mention that the rich rival the country, at least in the entire Xuzhou, no one is richer than the Mi family.

Mi Sangongzi led Yuan Yao into the Mi Mansion, and then came all the way to the meeting room, Yuan Yao let his entourage wait outside for the time being, and only took Ji Ling into the mansion.

After arriving at the living room, Mi Sangongzi left under the pretext of saying that his eldest brother Mi family would come to receive him in person.

Yuan Yao didn't have any doubts, so he waited in this living room.

After all, the brothers and sisters haven't seen each other for a long time, and there must be a lot to say, not to mention that when you encounter this kind of thing on the way back, you must say a few words to your brother.

Anyway, in the living room, there was tea, Yuan Yao and Ji Ling drank two cups of tea here, and after waiting for about a cup of tea, there was finally footsteps outside.

Yuan Yao heard the footsteps and hurriedly got up, intending to go over to greet him.

Before he reached the door, he saw a middle-aged man in his thirties with some beard, surrounded by several entourage, appear at the door.

As soon as he saw Yuan Yao, he immediately showed a smile.

"This must be my Mi family's benefactor Yuan Gongzi, please take a seat!"

Seeing Yuan Yao, Mi Zhu's expression was obviously much better, after all, Yuan Yao saved his third sister, and his kindness to their Mi family was not small.

"Where, the head of the Mi family doesn't have to be polite, it's just that the road is uneven."

In the face of Mi Zhu's praise, Yuan Yao didn't show any interest.

Immediately sat down according to Mi Zhu's invitation, and the two first exchanged a few words.

Soon, Yuan Yao stopped talking nonsense and directly told Mi Zhu about his intention this time.

"Master of the Mi family, I can't hide it, this time I came to the East China Sea to find the Mi family to cooperate."

"Oh? Engong has something to say, but it doesn't hurt to say it, as long as it is used in the place of my Mi family, I cannot give up my definition. ”

"Since this is the case, then I will not be polite to the head of the family, and I will serve as the head of a county in Lujiang County, but recently I found that Lujiang has been dry for a long time, and it has not rained for several months.

"At that time, people will be displaced and society will be in turmoil."

"I want to spend some money to buy some grain and grass from other places in case of emergency, and when there is food, I will not panic, which can be used as military funds and disaster relief."