Let's say that Zhou Hai and his wife paved the way with gold and silver, invited guests to dinner, gave gifts, and bribed officials, with the purpose of using officials as backers and backings.

As long as you have a backer and backing in the officialdom, it means that you will have more opportunities to make a fortune in the future, which means avoiding or reducing the risks encountered in the process of getting rich, and even doing whatever you want.

Of course, officials and businessmen are mutual.

In fact, some officials are eager for big businessmen to come and "cheer". They can get or scoop more "oil and water" from the merchant's pocket.

These words are not false at all.

In those days, the four state prefects, successively in Zhouhai Mansion, ate, received, and played, but they did not eat, harvest, and play in vain. After that, they reciprocate with momentum.

Four state officials jointly recommended to the imperial court and appointed Zhou Hai as the chief tea merchant. Of course, such a good thing is something that many businessmen dream of but cannot want.

Hearing the news, Zhou Hai and Zhang Cui were so excited that they didn't close their eyes for several days and nights.

The so-called general merchant is the commercial agent designated by the imperial court in the monopoly industry and among the wealthy merchants. The procedure is that the local officials recommend the declaration to the imperial court, and finally the imperial court approves and issues a charter.

At that time, tea was also a monopoly industry. In the market in this area, the goods are monopolized by the general merchant, and the price is determined by the general merchant.

If a retail merchant wants to operate, he must obtain the consent of the head office, and he can only purchase goods from the head office. Otherwise, it will be regarded as a violation and will be punished by the government.

At the same time, the general merchant regularly or irregularly, collects taxes from retail merchants and pays them to the imperial court in a unified manner.

It can be seen from this that the power of the general merchant is very large and very affordable.

A few days later, when the other merchants found out, they all sent letters to congratulate them.

Zhou Hai replied to the merchants: "Recently, I am not in Hezhou, I am going to Rongzhou to buy goods." After a while, I'll hold a few tables of banquets and come over to drink together. ”

The reason why he said this was that Zhou Hai had always kept it in his heart for the beautiful maid and wanted to go to Rongzhou to see her as soon as possible. At the same time, I also thought of bringing in a batch of tea from Rongzhou to sell.

Then he called Zhang Xiong, Meng Chao, Lin Ling, Guo Tong and others to prepare to go to Rongzhou again.

Before that, Zhou Hai learned swordsmanship from Meng Chao.

Zhou Hai said to Meng Chao: "I have a weak body and bones, and I have always wanted to learn a martial art. It can not only defend oneself, but also strengthen the body. I see that the sword is relatively light, and I want to learn swordsmanship, so you can teach me. May I? ”

Meng Chao said: "The weapon I use is an iron hammer, and I have studied hammer art, but I am not proficient in swordsmanship. But I know a swordsman, his name is Cui Yu. He is famous for his swordsmanship, and he can ask him for advice. ”

Zhou Hai said: "Since you know each other, please take a trip and ask him to teach me." ”

Meng Chao followed his words, that is, to invite Cui Yu.

Cui Yu is a native of Huaqiao Village, the capital of Hezhou. Since childhood, he has followed his master, concentrated on learning swordsmanship, has a very high understanding, practices diligently, and is particularly good at swordsmanship. It can be said that it has reached the point of perfection.

In addition, Cui Yu is physically strong, courageous, not afraid of heaven and earth, and once got rid of a wolf demon for the villagers, so he is respected.

After Huaqiao Village, not far away, there is a mountain that is not high or low, there is a Longxiang Temple on the mountain, there is a forest around the temple, and there is a vicious wolf in the forest.

The wolf has become a goblin, has learned human language, and can converse with people. He lives in a cave in the Longxiang Temple, with green eyes, grinning teeth, and a fierce appearance.

They often come to the surrounding villages and eat people and livestock.

The villagers were extremely afraid, and in order to protect people's lives, they used pigs, cattle and sheep to worship. But the big evil wolf demon, touching the weakness of people's fear, still did not meet the existing situation, and asked for a maiden sacrifice at the end of every month.

For this wolf demon, the villagers are resentful and afraid, but there is nothing they can do. In desperation, I had no choice but to do so. Over the years, countless girls have been swallowed.

At the end of this month, when the villagers were preparing to look for the girl again to sacrifice, one of the young people in the village couldn't bear it anymore, so he took the initiative to stand up and bravely invite the wolf demon.

In the eyes of everyone, this person is Cui Yu.

Cui Yu has a slender and burly, but not rugged figure. The broad forehead, visibly protruding outward, shows that the mind is extremely intelligent.

A head of oily black and shiny hair, like a pile of black paint applied to the scalp.

The two raised eyebrows were like two extremely sharp swords.

The two black eyes buried deep in the eye sockets are like two unfathomable bottomless caves.

Looking at that temperament image, cold and arrogant and lonely, but not arrogant, there is still a little affinity.

When the villagers saw Cui Yu's courage, they all persuaded: "Don't go!" That bad wolf, quite powerful. If you go, you are also going to die, and you can't do it. ”

Cui Yu said: "I'm not afraid, I want to see how vicious this wolf is?" If I can kill it, even if I die, in exchange for the lives of those girls, my death will be worth it. ”

Seeing that they could not be persuaded, the villagers said, "Since you are going, you must be fully prepared." What weapons do you think you need? ”

Cui Yu pondered for a moment and said, "Please prepare a good sword, a wolf-biting dog, a jar of sesame oil, and a piece of pork for me." When I kill the wolf demon, I have my own use. ”

The villagers from their words.

Everyone raised funds, specially called a swordsmith, and forged a green dragon sword. The body of the sword is cyan in color, and there is a red flower at the hilt of the sword, as well as a bunch of spike flowers. The sword body is unornamented, the middle ridge is ridged, and the blade is extremely sharp.

In a few days, everything was ready.

After a few days, Cui Yu practiced his skills. Late one night, Cui Yu quietly came to the temple, holding the green dragon sword in his right hand and the wolfdog in his left hand.

Standing in the temple first, Cui Yu's eyes swept around. After observing for a while, I found that the cave was hidden under the idol.

Cui Yu quietly walked over, put the pork in the sesame oil jar, and stirred well.

After it is done properly, the acupuncture points are placed.

The wolf demon is sleeping soundly. Smelling the aroma of oil and meat, he slowly poked his head out of the cave. When Cui Yu looked at it, his mouth was as big as a basin and his eyes were like copper bells. Stick out your long tongue and want to eat.

At this time, Cui Yu released a wolf-biting dog.

The dog immediately rushed over and bit the wolf demon's head. Taking advantage of this time, Cui Yu jumped out from its side and slashed the wolf in one eye with a sword.

The wolf was so painful that he ran out of the cave and pounced on Cui Yu with a "flutter, flutter".

Cui Yu was agile, flashed quickly, and suddenly flashed to the side.

The evil wolf didn't pounce, panting, opening his teeth and claws, and slammed into Cui Yu fiercely again, ready to bite with his sharp teeth.

Cui Yu pulled out the Qinglong Sword and swung it open, sometimes pumping, sometimes lifting, and sometimes hitting. Taking advantage of his unpreparedness, he stabbed hard and stabbed the wolf in the leg.

The wolf endured great pain and fought back for the third time.

Cui Yu danced the sword, jumped and threw to undertake, and the frost blade and snow blade flew all over the air. Another sword stabbed down and stabbed the wolf in the throat.

Suddenly, the evil wolf's blood flowed, and he struggled to the atrium of the temple, collapsed and died. In an instant, from the corpse of the wolf demon, a cloud of black smoke came out, which was the soul of the wolf demon.

The soul went around looking for corpses to attach to. For attached corpses, they can be both humans and animals. Whoever is attached to the body becomes a man-eating demon.

The soul of the wolf demon was searching, and finally attached to Zhou Hai's body, turning Zhou Hai into a man-eating demon.

This is a later story, so I won't mention it for the time being.

Let's say that Cui Yu entered the cave, looked around the cave, looked at the countless skeletons of the girl, picked them all out, and said to himself: "You are so cowardly, you are very pitiful and pathetic to be eaten by the wolf demon!" ”

So, Cui Yu returned slowly.

When the villagers heard that the wolf had been killed, they rushed over and shouted loudly, and everyone raised their hands to raise Cui Yu high. The villagers gave the Green Dragon Sword to Cui Yu.

The parents of the victims picked up the bones of the girl and came back for burial. The dead are laid to rest in peace.

The wolf demon was removed, and Cui Yu was chased by everyone and became famous. But Cui Yu is not ostentatious, more modest and cautious.

On this day, Cui Yu was practicing swordsmanship at home, only to hear someone knocking on the door. Cui Yu opened the door and saw that this person was short in stature, but his eyes were bright, and he was a shrewd person.

Cui Yu asked, "Who are you?" ”

The man replied, "My name is Meng Chao." ”

Cui Yu asked again: "I don't know you, why are you here?" ”

Meng Chao said: "It's normal that you don't know me, because I'm a nobody. But you're famous, and I know you, a great demon hero. ”

Cui Yu smiled and invited Meng Chao into the house. You serve tea, and please be seated.

Meng Chao came here for this purpose, and said: "Zhou Dongjia, the Zhou family's business group, wants to hire you as a swordsmanship instructor with a lot of money, I don't know if Cui Yingying is willing?" ”

Cui Yu thought that now that he had nothing to do at home, it was better to go out and earn some money to spend. After thinking about it, he nodded in agreement and said, "Brother Meng, you go back first, I will prepare properly, and then I will come." ”

Meng Chao then took his leave and left.

The next day, Cui Yu packed up, took the Qinglong Sword, and came to Hezhou City. On the way, he met a beautiful woman who blocked Cui Yu's way.

Cui Yu asked, "Who are you who dare to stop me?" ”

The beauty replied, "If others call me Snake Girl, you can call me that." ”

Cui Yu said, "Do you want to do it?" ”

Snake Sister said: "I know your name is Cui Yu, I heard that you are good at fencing, let's try it, okay?" ”

Cui Yu said: "Okay, you attack me first." ”

The snake girl said: "Since it's a competition, you can't use a real sword, what if you hurt someone?" How do you see us using bamboo? ”

Cui Yu agreed.

Snake Girl picked up a piece of bamboo on the ground and cut it in two. Keep the bamboo roots by yourself and hand the bamboo tips to Cui Yu.

Cui Yu took it.

The snake girl blew the wind on Cui Yu's hand, and the bamboo tip in Cui Yu's hand suddenly turned into a sharp sword.

Cui Yu was taken aback.

The snake girl stabbed Cui Yu with a bamboo root.

Cui Yu took advantage of the situation to welcome it. Sometimes mentioned, sometimes gridded, sometimes stabbed, one move and one style, the sword is like a swimming dragon. The body is vigorous and powerful. The sword spike flies, making people confused. Fingers up and down, virtual and real are difficult to distinguish.

The snake girl did not dare to fight, so she fled. Before leaving, he instantly turned into a huge python. He looked back at Cui Yu and fled into the trees, but there was no trace of the snake.

Cui Yu had an epiphany: "Sister Snake, this is telling me that you can't bully the weak, let alone help the abuse." He had heard others say that Zhou Hai became rich overnight and became a rich man, but his heart became bad.

This kind of person has a vicious temperament, evil and deceitful, which is tantamount to that wolf demon. As an instructor, you can't teach swordsmanship to such people, otherwise more innocent people will suffer.

Cui Yu thought about it, so he returned and didn't go.