Back home, Li Mu and Wanniang slept comfortably all day. Li Mu talked with Liu Luo until the third watch last night, and he didn't sleep well at all. Wan Niang comforted the aggrieved eldest sister and didn't close her eyes almost all night. The two of them fell asleep almost with their pillows on their heads. Get up and take a shower, and dinner will be ready when they come out. During the time when Li Mu went to sea, his family didn't know when he invited two cooks, and his skills were great, at least Li Mu felt very good.

After dinner, Li Mu went to the village chief's house, and the old man was lying on the kang enjoying a massage. He rested his hands under his head, his eyes squinted, and his face was satisfied. When he saw Li Mu coming in, he immediately bounced up, and his face was flushed with shame.

Li Mu moved a chair and sat down on his own, and said, "Uncle Dali, I came this time to invite you to go out of the mountain. ”

"What for?"

The village chief looked wary. Li Mu was stunned, when did he make him so jealous? It seems that he hasn't cheated him, right?

"Uncle Dali, in a few days, the raw materials for the bait will be shipped and the processing will begin, and the second batch of fishing boats will also go to sea. But I have something important to leave for a while, and I want to ask you to come out and take charge of the overall situation. ”

The village chief seemed to be a little hesitant, he didn't want to go out and toss anymore at such an age. Li Mu directly took a dose of fierce medicine: "Liu Yuanwai recruited hundreds of fishermen in the county seat, and they are the second batch of candidates to go to sea. All my belongings have been invested, and if we can't catch the catch, our village may have to go back to the old days of eating chaff. ”

"Alright, alright. The village chief felt a little headache and interrupted him and said, "Leave the family to me for the time being." But let's talk about it, when you're done with this time......"

Li Mu knew that if he continued to talk about it, he would definitely throw this stall back to himself, so he hurriedly interrupted him and said: "When I finish this time, I will build a new house for you in the village, build a three-entry yard, and let your old family live in it beautifully." ”

The village chief's words were still stuck in his throat, but he couldn't say the second half of his sentence after listening to Li Mu. Think about the fact that I have struggled all my life and have not bought any belongings for my children and grandchildren, and even the grass houses he built when his son got married. Could it be that Tian Zhuang's children will still live in a grass house when they grow up?

If there is really a three-entry yard for the family to live in, the reunion will be reunited...... Thinking of this, the village chief compromised.

Then, Li Mu helped the village chief make a short-term plan for the development route of the fishery. There are also problems such as the production process of fishing bait. After doing all this, Li Mu completely became a hands-off shopkeeper and went home satisfied.

Two days later, Li Mu and Liu Luo set off. They traveled all the way north, passing through the two state capitals of Ning'an to the jurisdiction of Shangjing. At Li Mu's request, he began to transfer to the carriage, because Li Mu felt that his heart was too tired. I've been running around since half a month ago, and basically all my time has been wasted on the road. Either go to sea or travel long distances to Beijing...... He decided, went home as soon as he got the fiefdom, and then honestly accompanied Wanniang at home.

......

Running all the way, it was already five days later when they came to the gate of Shangjing. As soon as he entered the city gate, Liu Luo introduced the situation in Beijing to Li Mu:

Shangjing is the royal city of the entire Great Xia Empire, the most central location of Shangjing is the imperial palace, from the palace to the outer circle is the inner ring, here is mostly the residence of princes and generals and civil and military officials, ordinary people are not qualified to enter. Further out is the inner second ring road, where most of the mansions of some small officials and businessmen are very wealthy, and ordinary people are not qualified to enter. The Third Ring Road is the largest gold cave in the whole Wangcheng, with various high-end restaurants and entertainment venues and so on. Ordinary people can enter, but few civilians come in, and any person you meet here may be a civil and military minister or a princely general, and the worst is also a businessman who is very rich, and it is easy to lose his head if he is not good.

The second is the Fourth Ring Road, where there are more ordinary people, and there are also many small merchants and hawkers, and the liveliness is not inferior to the Third Ring Road, but the grade is so lower. Most of the people who live here are from well-to-do families. The 5th and 6th Ring Roads are the paradise of ordinary people, and they are also the most populous places in Shangjing. As for the Seven Rings...... It was the slum of Shangjing. No matter how prosperous any city is, there are inevitably some poor beggars and the like.

The carriage entered Shangjing and went directly to Liu Luo's baron's mansion, his baron's mansion was located in the third ring road, which Liu Luo spent a lot of money to buy at that time. The butler of the Baron's Mansion is Man'er's own brother, and in addition to managing the huge Baron's Mansion, he is also in charge of Liu Luo's business in Shangjing, a restaurant located in the Third Ring Road. The restaurant is full every day, and the diners are like a carp crossing the river, and the business is a hot mess. However, he always lost a few hundred taels of silver every month.

"The restaurant is so popular that it will lose money?" Li Mu asked his own question.

The two got out of the carriage and walked all the way into the Baron's Palace. Liu Luo explained to him as he walked: "Although there are many mouths for eating, there are few people who give money. What kind of place is Shangjing? In this place, if a stone is thrown out, it is possible to hit a prince! When the prince comes to your restaurant for dinner, you dare to collect money? Of course, the prince will ask the man to keep accounts and go to his house to collect money, but who dares to collect it? I am afraid that after the collection is over, he will be charged with a crime and shut down. ”

Speaking of which, the two of them had already arrived in the main hall, and the servants immediately brought tea and pastries. Liu Luo took a sip of tea and continued: "There is a prerequisite for all this, that is, identity. I'm just a baron of the lowest rank and I don't have an official position, so they dare to pinch me and round me. Like those restaurants opened by princes and nobles with real power, the effect is completely different. Even if you sit down and drink some tea, you will throw a few taels of silver when you leave, and that is the person who stutters. ”

The two of them traveled all the way, talked for a while and then went to rest, and they made an appointment to enter the palace together the next day. Originally, Liu Luo was not qualified to enter the palace, but Li Mu could arrange an identity for him, such as: guard.

This is the only right that Li Mu, the grand duke, has now. Of course, when he meets the saint tomorrow, it will be completely different.

The emperor would give him a fief, which was the most basic. When he has a fief, he can recruit the garrisons of the fiefdom, which are generally the private armies of the owner of the fief. (Unless the fief is too barren to support a garrison, then you need to ask the court for military pay.) Such a garrison will usually have a chief general sent by the imperial court. This army will help manage the fiefdom, but will not completely dictate the owner of the fiefdom. ）

The number of fiefdom garrisons depends on the title. For example, the baron's fiefdom garrison can only have a maximum of 1,200 people. 3,000 viscounts, 10,000 earls, and 30,000 marquises. As for the duke...... Everyone knows that there have been dukes since the founding of the Great Xia Empire, but in the past thousand years, no duke has asked the royal family for a fief. Therefore, the imperial court did not know how many garrisons the duke should have.

With the garrison, it is necessary to develop the development of the fiefdom, and the richer the fief, the greater Li Mu's right to speak. On the contrary, he is not even comparable to a marquis who has a strong army and a rich people...... Or the little viscount.

Back in the room, Li Mu, who was lying on the bed, only now found that he had been driven to the shelves, and there was no way but to take one step at a time.

Early the next morning, after breakfast, Liu Luo took Li Mu into the inner second ring of the royal city. With the duke's waist card in hand, the road was unimpeded and came directly to the gate of the palace. The gates of the palace were guarded by the Imperial City Guards, who had to ensure the safety of the palace surroundings and ensure that there were no Assassins among the people entering and leaving the palace.

At this time, the supreme commander on duty by the guard army checked Li Mu's duke's waist card and confirmed that there was no problem before letting them into the palace. Because Li Mu couldn't find the emperor's residence, the official contacted the Praetorian Guards to pick them up and escort them to the Emperor's Pavilion.

The Imperial Pavilion is the sleeping palace of the emperors of the past dynasties, and the periphery of the Imperial Pavilion has the personal guard handle of the emperor, and no one is allowed to enter unless summoned by the emperor. The number of the emperor's personal guards is not large, but their martial arts are very strong, and each of them can win a hundred. Their duty was to prevent the Emperor from being assassinated by infiltrated Assassins in the palace.

In addition to the emperor's personal guards, there are also imperial guards in charge of fixed posts and mobile posts in the palace, who mainly maintain the security of the palace. At this time, Li Mu and Liu Luo came to the Imperial Pavilion under the protection of the Imperial City Guards on the mobile post.

The emperor's chief guard frowned when he saw Li Mu and the others, and the officials of the Praetorian Guard immediately made a report: "My lord, this is the descendant of Duke Li Zhan Trench, Duke Li Mu." This is Duke Li Mu's bodyguard. ”

The head guard carefully checked the waist card, and the probability of making sure that it was genuine was greater, and his expression was a little more respectful, but in Li Mu's eyes, his respect seemed to have a perfunctory taste.

He bowed slightly, and said in a low voice: "I will go to report to the saint, and I also ask Lord Li to wait here for a while." ”

Li Mu's face was expressionless, this was what Liu Luo taught him. There's no way, who let Li Mu be a turtle, let the turtle enter the palace Liu Luo is really afraid of causing some headaches.

The chief guard walked all the way into the Emperor's Pavilion, and finally handed the waist card to the chief eunuch who was waiting at the door of the emperor's bedroom. The chief eunuch took the token a little impatiently, glanced at it casually and went in to report.

"Your Majesty?"

The Emperor's voice was so weak that he had to listen carefully to hear it: "What's going on again?"

The chief eunuch regretted it a little, he really should have let the chief guard take people directly just now, most of the waist cards like this are fake, what if he angered Long Yan? Don't say that in his life, even any eunuch chief since the founding of the country has never seen a real duke waist card!

However, when he came to this point, he could only stubbornly hand over the duke's waist card, and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, there is a person outside the door who claims to be the descendant of the duke, and he has brought the waist card to face the saint......"