On the first day of winter, the ghost mother country ushered in the first snow of the year, and the sky and the earth became much colder for a while. Although Shuoyue Island is one of the islands in the Xuanyan Continent thousands of miles south of the underworld, it is still some distance from the Xuanyan Continent, so the climate is distinct throughout the year, and it snows in winter.

Before dawn today, black snowflakes with the characteristics of the underworld fell from the sky one after another, covering Shuoyue Island. It's not beautiful, but it's weird and inexplicable.

On the Tiande Palace, hundreds of officials wrapped in winter clothes gathered to prepare for the early dynasty. And the ghost mother also changed into a purple heavy long jacket and long skirt this morning, so that her proud concave figure could not be seen for the time being, in addition, she also wore a white background with blue silk thread embroidered on it with a velvet hooded cape.

And most of the officials in today's hundred officials have to participate in Xiao Shizhu in the early dynasties. Just because he came in and swept the alabaster of the ghost mother country, the manufacturer and boss behind the scenes is Xiao Shizhu. It is even rumored that the soldiers in the army no longer call him a general, and they have changed their names to call him Shopkeeper Xiao.

According to the national law of the ghost mother country, civil and military officials are not allowed to do business privately, which is one of the reasons; more importantly, these officials want to buy boxes of alabaster, and Xiao Shizhu has to charge the original price, without any discount.

This made them hold a grudge against Xiao Shizhu and resent.

After the officials had just bowed three times and bowed to the ghost mother, Qiu Yun took the lead in the line with a jade wat in his hand, bowed to the ghost mother and said loudly: "Enlighten my lord, Xiao Shizhu has become more and more blind recently, as the commander of the Dongcheng Guard, he has set up a private workshop outside the barracks, and let the sergeants boil alabaster and sell it on the street!

"Yes, yes, according to our national law, officials are not allowed to do business. As soon as her words fell, another official shouted angrily: "This Xiao Shizhu is too bold and big, and dares to treat the law as child's play." Is this law really a dead letter in the temple?".

"I often don't come to the court, or I am late for the court. One of the officials said, looking around, and said indignantly, "I didn't come today." ”。

For a time, the crowd of hundreds of officials was excited, and Xiao Shizhu was chattering; even Chunyun, who had little to say in the past, also said: "In the past, I didn't report to the military headquarters on time, what kind of system did I become?"

As soon as these words came out, the hundred officials became even more energetic, and scolded one after another: "Yes, I also lied that the alabaster was a special thing for the ancient gods, so as to fool the people and collect the people's fat and ointment." ”。

"Profiteer, full profiteer!".

"When he does this, it's nothing more than losing his money, is he still a bit of a general......?"

In the midst of the crowd, only Xia Xing and another woman in her early twenties, who was also wearing a seven-beam crown, kept silent and did not participate in the condemnation of Xiao Shizhu by the ministers.

"Ministers, be calm. After they quarreled for a while, the ghost mother, who had been silent, slowly spoke, and said loudly: "You said that Xiao Shizhu is not, but you know that Xiao Shizhu has already expected today's situation. ”。 After saying that, she smiled faintly, but this smile was a mockery, and the ministers who laughed at her for their ignorance.

Immediately afterwards, she took out a book from her sleeve, handed it to Chen Ruohou beside her, and said, "Read." ”。

"Yes. Chen Ruo took the piece with both hands, unfolded it and looked at it, and read aloud to the hundred officials: "Chen Xiao Shizhu knocks: First of all, I have to explain that a few days ago, I made alabaster all to raise military expenses, and it was definitely not to enrich my own pockets as others thought. Secondly, alabaster is now a big seller, and it is already unknown to no ghosts and souls in the ghost mother country, and it is quite well received. In the future, all the profits and income of the alabaster will be transferred to Dongchengwei for military expenses, mainly for the development of firearms in the army, and it is best to ensure that every soldier has a musket. The first battle of Wuzhiqi in the Eastern Expedition has fully proved that the era of cold weapons has passed, and in the future wars against the enemy, the full use of firearms is the king. The remaining three-four tenths of the proceeds are filled into the treasury and taken from the people for the people, so as to be used for the construction and development of the ghost mother country. In addition, the ministers expected that the other courtiers would be dissatisfied with my profiteer's behavior, and the ghost mother and sister would not have to quarrel with them at that time, so let's use this piece to stop their mouths. Please read and approve it, and the minister Xiao Shizhu bowed again. ”。 More than 300 words are sprinkled, still full of the characteristics of Xiao Shizhu, and the vernacular runs through it from beginning to end.

"I was slapped in the face, right? I don't know if Zhong Aiqing's face hurts?" Chen Ruo just finished speaking, the ghost mother raised her eyebrows, looked at the courtiers below who were already silent, and said lightly: "It's not that this king has the heart to protect Xiao Shizhu, but you keep saying that for the sake of our country, why don't you see that this is a model of loyal ministers." You are a profiteer, and a few ghosts know that Xiao Shizhu originally improved the tiger squat cannon, made*, made crystal prisms and other things in order to ensure the victory of the war of the Eastern Expedition to Wuzhiqi, which he paid out of his own pocket, and spent 500,000 taels of his private property, but he never mentioned it to me, nor did he ask me for anything in return. ”。 has been with Xiao Shizhu for a long time, and even she can say a few words of modern words in the world.

"You, Qiuyun. The more she spoke, the more excited the ghost mother became, she stood up and pointed at Qiu Yun and scolded sharply: "Do you think you got the 10,000 taels of silver after the Eastern Expedition to Wuzhiqi? He told me that he had given you all his reward. Today, you are still taking the lead in impeaching him, which is really an ungrateful thing. ”。

The words made those officials speechless, and they all hung their heads and stopped talking. They are indeed as the ghost mother said, shouting about loyalty and patriotism all day long, but few ghosts are doing big things and doing practical things for the ghost mother country.

And most of the ministers present were just like Xiao Shizhu's original thoughts, and when they got into reincarnation, they were reincarnated in the world to be human beings.

Otherwise, how could it be that in the era of the underworld, when the princes and nations were strife, the ghost mother country was only a palm-sized land for thousands of years? Over the years, it was the four major female officials and the ghost mother who had worked hard to support this small country, otherwise in this era of gunsmoke and secession, the little ghost mother country would have been wiped out long ago!

"I also have a book here, which Xiao Shizhu presented last night. The ghost mother sat on the throne, took out a book from her sleeve and handed it to Chen Ruo, and sneered: "Read, read it to these souls of 'loyal monarchs and patriots'." ”。

"No. Chen Ruo took the recital again, and unfolded it and read: "Chen Xiao Shizhu suddenly bowed his head: I was blessed by my lord and served as the commander of the Dongcheng Guard, but I found that there was a big problem in the army, the general cultural level of the sergeants was too low, and they could not understand the tactical theory, and some of them could not even write their own names; the reason for this was that the cultural quality of the people was too low. Therefore, the above table invites my lord to use the proceeds of alabaster to set up private schools to educate the people. And because of the defects of the current reincarnation system, the human souls are all white, and it is difficult to hire the souls of people with true knowledge to be teachers; In addition, every year, scientific examinations are held, and nothing else is examined, and civilian officials are tested on the theory of governing the country, and military generals are tested for the strategy of unifying the army, so as to enrich the talents of the DPRK and China, so as not to let some officials lie on the book of merit and eat the old book, and do nothing. Occupying the pit and not makes it difficult for our country to develop. Because of the above performance, the minister Xiao Shizhu bowed his head again. ”。

When Chen Ruo finished speaking, the ministers were shocked. Xiao Shizhu's move is equivalent to smashing their iron rice bowl. And they used to be Bai Ding, and they only learned knowledge after coming to the ghost mother country and being selected by the ghost mother to enter the Taixue Academy of the ghost mother country, otherwise they would still not be able to enter the official ranks.

But after becoming officials, they began to be lazy, no longer reading books and newspapers, and resting on their laurels. I only think about it all day long, how to take high-ranking officials and fool around.

Now Xiao Shizhu has come to vigorously develop schools and private schools, implement the competition system, get out of the box if you don't have the ability, and get promoted and get rich if you have the ability, which makes the hundreds of officials present almost all startled, and they are nervous.

"You say, is Xiao Shizhu's advice accurate, or not?" said the ghost mother, her eyes swept over their faces one by one, making their hearts rise to their throats......

At the same time, Xiao Shizhu changed into civilian clothes, told Lu Wu and Yu Rong to train well, and after Ying Zhao and Qin Yuan went to sell alabaster, they took King Kong and Wu Zhiqi out of Yuanmen and went to the southwest of Xiaoyu Mountain City.

According to Lu Wu, there is a dead forest at the foot of the mountain, covering an area of more than ten acres, because the demon soul and the beast soul are the products of the underworld, so they will leave corpses when they die in the underworld, so this place is the place where the people of the ghost mother country bury the relatives and friends of the demon soul, and countless tombs can be seen around and on the edge of the forest.

Although everyone is a ghost, they are somewhat taboo about the dead, not to mention that there are few ghosts coming back at night or during the day, but there is the largest black market in the ghost mother country in the forest.

The cannonballs that Xiao Shizhu asked him to buy before came from this black market.

At this time, Xiao Shizhu was going to the black market to find a firearms smuggler. Before the Eastern Expedition to Wuzhiqi, Xiao Shizhu found that the quality of the firearms in the Ghost Mother Country was problematic, and several guns were blown up, which made him completely lose confidence in the Ordnance Supervision of the Ministry of War (the official department that manufactures and manages weapons). That's why he came to look for smugglers.

And Wu Zhiqi used to be a pirate, and he dealt with black market merchants a lot, so he could just take him with him so that he would not be cheated by these black-hearted merchants.

They slowly came to the outside of the forest and stood still, and saw that as Lu Wu said, there were cold stone tablets everywhere that were crooked around the forest and on the edges, and the crows landed under the tombstones, hiding from the wind and snow, and from time to time let out a few hoarse and strange screams.

Xiao Shizhu took King Kong and Lu Wu and strode into the forest, but almost got lost. The dead trees here all grow about the same, even if they are bare, and all of them have grown into a "Y" shape.

After walking for a long time, Xiao Shizhu and the others took a lot of effort to come to the depths of the forest. I saw that all the trees in the center had been cut down, revealing a circular clearing the size of one or two acres.

The open space is sparsely populated by pedestrians, and there are many crooked and slanted small wooden buildings, which are arranged in layers, and there are no signs in front of each building, but a lantern is hung. And the streets are dirty, garbage can be seen everywhere, and the stench is everywhere. On both sides of the street, there are also many wooden cargo boxes, of different sizes and messy. I don't know if I thought this place was nothing more than a demolition area, who would have thought that this was a black market.

Before they could pull their legs and walk into it, they saw a thief-eyed human spirit walking towards them. The human soul was dressed in a black cotton jacket and cotton pants, and a cotton hat on his head. Place your hands across your abdomen and insert your palms into your sleeves.

After he stood still in front of Xiao Shizhu, he said with a smile: "Guest officer, Yansheng, it must be the first time to come." Do you want to lead the way? There is nothing in this black market that I don't know about Dead Wood Forest, tell me what you want to buy, and I'll take you to meet the best seller. ”。 After speaking, he grinned again, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.

As soon as he heard this, Xiao Shizhu knew that this human soul who claimed to be Ah San was a broker. Anyway, he wasn't familiar with this place, so he simply asked, "How much do you lead the way?" ”。

"'A slap in the face'. Ah San grinned.

He speaks the jargon of the black market, no different from the human world. In the world, a 'slap' is 5,000 yuan, and the underworld should say 5 taels of silver.

"Take me to the best firearms merchants' shops. This price is quite reasonable on the black market, so Xiao Shizhu didn't think about it, took out ten taels, handed it to him, and said, "You don't have to look for it." ”。

"Come on. After smashing the money, Ah San turned to lead the way.

"This is too expensive, isn't it?" King Kong, who followed Xiao Shizhu, lowered his voice and shouted in his ear: "Ten taels of silver, ten taels of silver, that's a lot of money." ”。

"That's cheap, Brother Kong. Without waiting for Xiao Shizhu to speak, Wu Zhiqi said to him: "If it is the black market in Xudu, if there is less than thirty taels, no broker is willing to show you the way." ”。