Facing the Seven Forging Warriors head-on, this is a great thing.

Wang Ergou ran over and said worriedly: "Brother Meng, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Meng Li shook his head and understated.

Miss Bu, who came with Wang Ergou, frowned slightly, and snorted coldly: "How can it be okay!"

yes! How could it be okay!

Thinking of Hu Bugui's terrifying strength, Wang Ergou's heart that he had just put down rose again.

Meng Li said: "Don't worry, I'm really fine." Moreover, fighting with that person just now gave me another idea, maybe it can make my strength go to the next level. ”

Meng Li's idea is not untargeted.

When he was defeated by Hu Bu's sword, he suddenly realized that since he couldn't compare to the other party in terms of the amount of true qi, why didn't he think of a way in terms of quality?

If his true qi is condensed enough and can break more with less, when facing the Seven Forging Martial Artists, will he have the power to fight?

Let's just say that Hu Bugui's sword, if it weren't for the other party's sword to defeat his true qi, why would he fall into a situation where he couldn't fight back?

Thinking about the possibility of condensing true qi, Meng Li's eyes gradually bloomed with a look.

Seeing the look on his face, Bu Yu thought of the unpleasantness on the way, and snorted coldly again, "Hmph, this martial madman!"

Xiao Zicong looked at Wang Ergou, pointed at Meng Li, who was immersed in the martial arts world with infinite possibilities, and said in surprise: "Has he always been like this?"

Wang Ergou scratched his head and said with a wry smile: "It's the first time I've seen him like this, maybe it's because the opponent this time has brought him too much pressure!"

Drawing motivation from pressure is what a martial artist should have.

Hu Bugui's strength not only did not crush Meng Li, but made him even stronger.

With Xiao Zicong on board, the rest of the journey became much more enjoyable, he is like an extremely talkative scholar, knows everything, and no matter what questions you have, you can get answers from him.

The big brother next door with a modest personality, this is Meng Lixiao Zicong's evaluation.

Because of Xiao Zicong, time seemed to have become much faster, and within a moment, the boat had docked.

Getting off the boat, Jieshui City was already in sight, Meng Li looked at the tall city wall at the end of his sight, and his heart was excited.

Boundary Water City, I'm coming!

I'm here for this river!

The moment he saw Jieshui City, Meng Li felt that Liu Fengliu was not wrong about one thing.

He's a hillbilly himself!

Jieshui City was far bigger than he had imagined, and the boundless city walls were like a canopy of heaven across in front of him. He couldn't help but feel awe in his heart.

Be in awe of the city, and the culture that is bred in it!

From the ferry port to Jieshui Castle, there is an open official road that has been rammed to a very strong point. The willows on both sides of the official road are shady, and the sunlight shines through the gaps between the willow leaves, sprinkling a little golden light on the ground.

Meng Li walked on the road, looking at the crowd passing by from time to time, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Jieshui City is worthy of being one of the two big cities in Xizhou, just looking at the flow of people in and out, even a hundred water-based towns can't compare.

A group of seven people walked all the way, and finally arrived at Jieshui City before dark.

Entering the city is a more cumbersome process, especially for those who enter the city for the first time, and they need to go through layers of checks.

As early as when he was approaching Jieshui City, Xiao Zicong had already told everyone about the rules of entering the city for investigation.

In the final analysis, this kind of inventory is more of a formality, and in the era of peace without war, the real effect can be minimal, and it is difficult to even verify the identity, so that the city defense department guarding the city gate has become a special existence for the purpose of extracting poll tax.

Meng Li, who came to Jieshui City, knew that it turned out that he still had to pay silver to enter the city!

In fact, there are many cities in the Southern Tang Dynasty, not only Jieshui City will collect poll tax, but almost all big cities have such measures.

Undoubtedly, this was an important means for the imperial court to accumulate wealth and enrich the treasury.

There were not many taxes in the Southern Tang Dynasty, except for the poll tax, there were only land taxes and commercial taxes. However, compared with the poll tax, which must be paid when entering the city, although the latter two taxes are the bulk of the national treasury, they are not as real as the poll tax for the localities.

The development of the poll tax has been around for a long time, almost after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and at first it was only one of the means for the local government to increase tax revenue, but in the subsequent development, it has been continuously transformed into the privatization of the army, and has become an important way for the local government to pay the army.

Since the war stopped, the imperial court has long had the intention of opening up sources and reducing expenditures, and after the military expenditure of local troops was cut, the local government was self-sufficient through the poll tax, but it saved the imperial court a lot of trouble, as long as the part of the tax sent to the treasury was indispensable, the imperial court was also happy to turn a blind eye.

The city defense department, which is responsible for guarding the Jieshui City, is a large army of thousands of people, which is subordinate to the military headquarters of Jieshui City, and is directly under the command of the local captain.

According to Xiao Zicong, the military and government of Jieshui City are separated and do not interfere with each other, and the commander of the captain is a big man who can be compared with the city guard of Jieshui City, and the official residence is from the third grade, and the rank is more than 800 stones.

What is the concept of 800 stones?

To give an example, the price of grain in the Southern Tang Dynasty averaged about 100 wen per catty, which is one penny, while ten hangs was consistent, that is, one tael of silver.

The average output value of a farmer per mu is about 500 catties. In other words, a farmer's income is only 50 taels at most.

And 800 stone is 8,000 catties of grain, that is, 800 taels of silver.

A senior official with eight hundred taels in one year is almost the largest official Meng Li has ever heard of, not to mention that this captain also has tens of thousands of elite soldiers stationed in the barracks of Jieshui City. It is not an exaggeration to say that the power is monstrous.

Since Meng Li and the three of them left the town of Shui Town, they only carried a road guide document issued by Bu Ji. When they entered the city, the elite soldiers in charge of the investigation only glanced at them, and after collecting the poll tax for three people and a donkey, they let them into the city.

From one side of the city gate to the other, Meng Li touched the dark mane of the little black donkey, and couldn't help but show a crying smile.

"Little Black, Little Black, I can't imagine that your donkey's head is more expensive than our human head. ”

Today, there are many things that Meng Li didn't expect.

He didn't expect the magnificence of Jieshui City, the poll tax, and even the livestock entering the city to pay taxes, and it was a full ten copper plates. You know, they're just a copper plate.

The difference between the price of people and livestock is ten times unbelievable. And this was also because their cattle were only black donkeys, and they later learned from the king's steward that the poll tax on their horse was fifty copper plates, which was five times higher than that of their little black donkey.

Meng Li glanced at the city gate behind him, and as far as his eyes could see, there was no shortage of warriors and traders leading horses into the city.

No wonder this poll tax that must be paid at the door will be a piece of fat that makes the military department covetous. Judging by this constant flow of people, the tax revenue for this day alone is an astronomical amount.

It must be known that there are four gates in Jieshui City, and the north gate where they are at this time is still the most scarce of the four gates because of the diversion of Huaichuan. Not to mention the west gate and the east gate, let's just say that the south gate, which leads directly to the hinterland of Zhongzhou, has a daily flow of people several times that of the north gate.

After entering the city, Xiao Zicong hurriedly said goodbye to Meng Li and others because of important matters. Before leaving, he didn't forget to send out an invitation, hoping that when Meng Li and the others were free, they would go to his martial arts hall to sit as guests.

At this time, Meng Li knew that Xiao Zicong was still the owner of a martial arts hall, and the name of his martial arts hall was also appropriate, and he only took one of his surnames, which was called Xiao's martial arts hall.

After saying goodbye to Xiao Zicong, Meng Li looked at Li Yan and said with a smile: "It's not too early, Miss Li, please go back too!"

Li Yan held her forehead with her hand and complained, "Meng Gongzi is driving me away?"

Meng Li laughed and said, "Miss Li, Hui Ruolanxin, knows that I didn't mean that. ”

Li Yan said: "The three of them came to Jieshui City for the first time, and they definitely didn't even have a place to live, so it was better to live in the Li Mansion temporarily, so that Li Yan could thank the three for saving their lives." ”

The maid Xiaocui echoed: "Yes, the three sons will go with us!"

Meng Li hesitated.

The Li family is a first-class family in Jieshui City, and their energy is huge, and it is of great significance to have a good relationship with them and gain a firm foothold in Jieshui City in the future.

Wang Ergou was an eight-sided intelligence broker when he was in the water town, and naturally he also understood that this kind of advantage of being rooted in a high-ranking family was that he was forced to stand and had a lot less choice.

Jieshui City is not as good as relying on the water town, not only there are many people, but also many martial artists, among which there are many first-class martial artists with strong strength, they have just arrived, and they must be careful every step of the way.

Meng Li and Wang Ergou glanced at each other, and they both saw the hesitation in each other's eyes. They didn't know much about Jieshui City, and maybe this was a good opportunity to learn about the city.

However, even if the two of them were willing, they would have to listen to the other's opinion.

Both of them looked at Miss Bu at the same time. The latter snorted lightly and said, "Look at what I do, I won't go anyway." ”

Bu Yu also has Bu Yu's difficulties, after all, she is a daughter and has lived in the Li Mansion for a long time, just hiding her identity is a problem.

Meng Li and Wang Ergou also thought of this, and were not surprised by Bu Yu's answer, and after looking at each other, they had already made a decision in their hearts.

If you don't go to the Li family, there is naturally a way not to go to the Li family, there are hundreds of inns in Jieshui City, and they have to find a place to live, and it is not a big problem.

Li Yan said regretfully: "Alas, since Bu Gongzi is unwilling, I will no longer be reluctant to force the little girl, and the three sons will take care." ”

"Take care. ”

After saying goodbye to Meng Li and the others, Li Yan boarded the carriage and drove towards her mansion, and on the way, the maid Xiaocui was sad. Li Yan saw that she couldn't give up, so she teased her and said, "You little girl, aren't you thinking of spring again?"

Xiao Cui pouted and said aggrievedly: "Miss is making fun of people again." ”

Li Yan covered her mouth and chuckled: "Did I say something wrong?"

Xiao Cui stomped her feet angrily: "Miss, you're talking, Xiao Cui will ignore you." ”

Li Yan soothed: "Okay, okay, don't say it." After speaking, he sighed again and said, "It's a pity that I couldn't invite them to the house in the end." These three people have saved our lives, and this kindness cannot be left at that. ”

Steward Wang laughed in a low voice: "My young lady is also a temperamental!"

Xiaocui said: "Miss, our Li family has a big business, and the family's industries are all over the city, so find an opportunity to take care of some." ”

The little maid's words reminded Miss Li, who had a gleam in her eyes and said, "Steward Wang, in our Li family's industry, which inn is the closest to Beicheng?"

Steward Wang said: "Miss Hui, it's a Fujia Inn." ”

"Rich Armor Inn? Li Yan nodded and said, "You go and arrange it, and Xiaocui and I will go back." ”

Steward Wang nodded yes, handed the horsewhip to Xiao Cui, and disappeared after a few dodges.

Everything around me is as usual, and I seem to be accustomed to this scene, and I have long been surprised.