In October, everything was slaughtered.

It is already the early winter season, and the ground of Cangzhou, located in the north, is naturally a desolate scene in the cold wind.

However, as soon as I arrived at the Jiehe Commercial Market, I immediately felt a different kind of prosperity.

From time to time, you can see the compound that is still under intense construction on the roadside, the red walls are built high, and most of the houses are two-story buildings, which are also brick houses, which are very strong and durable.

Such a house that uses a lot of bricks and tiles, Mo said that it is rare in Haizhou, even in Kaifeng Mansion, and you can live in such a building, either rich or powerful.

How is it that there are such houses everywhere in the vicinity of Jiehe Merchant City?

Further on, you can see the walls of the Jiehe Merchant Market.

The tall and solid red city walls look particularly majestic in the winter sun.

This is a majestic city!

The cars and horses coming and going on the road are endless, but they are also different from other places. Most of the men on horseback are brightly dressed, carrying bows and swords, and all of them show a domineering spirit that only men who have been on the battlefield.

This is still a military city!

Ji Yiji, a senior official, rode a horse, with a group of entourages that should be considered majestic, walking on this official road leading to Jiehe Shang City, the more he walked, the more frightened he became, and the more he walked, the more frightened he became.

Is Jiehe Merchant Market really a city of short-sighted merchants? Why do these people on the official road look so fierce? The entourage he brought with him in Haizhou can be regarded as a hero who can shock the field, but when compared with others, how can they look like pigs and sheep to be slaughtered?

Ji Yi has seen the world! Black and white, the killers on the sea, and the demon girls of the Demon Sect, they are all used to it. So at a glance, you can see that these knights on the official road are super fierce!

"These knights are ......"

"Most of them are knights and knights' retinues, and some are knights of the Boundary River." Ji Lei, the big shopkeeper of the Ji family in Jiehe Commercial City, explained with a smile, "They are all heroes who killed countless people in front of the Northwest Army, and they are different from the thugs raised by our family." ”

I see!

The knights and warriors in front of the palace have already returned home from the northwest, and the knights and knights who have returned to the vicinity of Jiehe Merchant City are knights and knights. Many of the retinue also had enough credit for the promotion of knights, and they were waiting for the distribution of land - now the imperial court had some land to distribute. Because of the fact that there is a part of the Hetao grassland, large-scale grazing is possible. Therefore, the civil officials in the imperial court suggested that the herdsmen of Hebei, Hedong, and Guanzhong should be abolished, and the horses should be sent to Shuofang for shepherding.

In this way, there is a little land to allocate to the new knights, and the first thing to be allocated is the horse farms located in Cangzhou, Qingzhou, Bazhou, Hejian and other Hebei East Road, ready to be completed by the end of the year. All knights who should be promoted in the Northwest Army, and who are unwilling to stay in Shuofang and Lingzhou, can receive 1,500 acres of vocational land on Hebei East Road.

According to a rough estimate, excluding the Boundary River Utility Knights and False Knights, the number of knights in the vicinity of the Boundary River Merchant City will reach more than 3,000 in the future.

That's a lot of scale!

Therefore, it is not surprising that Ji Yi always encounters murderers near Jiehe Shang City.

"Didn't the alliance of the abyss say that the city wall would not be built?" Ji Yi had already arrived at the south gate of Jiehe Shang City at this time, and he was a little strange to see the city wall several feet high and a fortress outside the city that also had high walls.

"Yes, Fuhrer Wu has a way." Ji Lei said with a smile, "The Khitans just don't ask, so the city wall is built higher and higher." Moreover, Jiehe not only has a city wall, but also tens of thousands of Baoding, and there are thousands of utility and van soldiers. ”

"Pauling?" Ji Yi smiled, "Is it useful?" ”

Ji Lei smiled bitterly, it's hard to say whether it's useful or not, but his family of the patriarch of Jieheshang City has also been pulled Ding - the patriarch himself can be exempted from military service, and their son can also be exempted if he has an official status (it is not okay to arrest an official of the Great Song Dynasty to be a baoding), or if he is studying in a designated academy or school palace, he can also be exempted from military service, but many of their family guards have been arrested. They take turns serving in the barracks, and the training is strict!

Ji Lei said: "Remember, when you see them later, you will know if it is useful!" ”

As they spoke, they had ridden around the castle where the Coastal City Ship Division was located. Between this small castle and the big city of Jiehe Merchant City, there is a clearing. In the open space, about 500 Jiehe Baoding are training. The 500 paedins were armed with "spear shields" (i.e., Roman shields and short spears), spears (spears of more than one zhang) and bows and arrows, and constantly changed their ranks at the sound of commands from officers. It looks extremely neat, no less than the Great Song Forbidden Army that Ji Yi has seen.

"This is all practiced according to the formation of the Dragon Warrior and the Xinfu Soldiers." Ji Lei said, "Those who train troops are not ordinary Baozheng, but the military opportunities of the coastal city shipping and construction division, all of which are ...... from the northwest front."

Wu Haogu is now the so-called commander, and he can naturally set up a position all the way. The subordinate departments have the official affairs department, the writing department of the pipeline, the account department and other shovel organs, and they have also obtained Zhao Ji's permission to set up two military staff organs, namely, the Military Machinery Division and the Sea Route Machinery Division.

With these shogunate institutions, Wu Haogu could naturally place a large number of military attachés brought back from the Northwest Army. Therefore, now there are enough officers to train the Baoding of Jiehe, as well as the water and land soldiers under the Coastal City Shipping Division.

"Do you want to go into town?"

Ji Yi had already followed Ji Lei to the south gate of Jiehe Shang City, and like other cities in the Great Song Dynasty, there were also soldiers at the gate of the city who set up cards to stand guard.

However, the soldiers standing guard here are not much stronger than the soldiers who watched the gate that Ji Yi had seen elsewhere. They are all those obstruction war slaves who have been transferred to the coastal city and the division of the ship, and the status of the van soldiers, who are paid higher than the forbidden army. Now clothed in iron armor, armed with spears, bows and arrows, and long swords, they stood in two columns majestically. Seeing Ji Yi, he was a little stunned - doing business and making money in harmony and anger, why is Wu Haogu like this?

"Enter the city," Ji Lei said, "Wu Haogu doesn't live in the coastal city outside the city, he lives in a mansion in the city, and he sits in the municipal office on weekdays."

Therefore to see him, you have to go into the city. ”

To enter the city, it is necessary to register (check the registration card) and pass taxes. Ji Yi is an official, and Ji Lei is the veteran of Jiehe Commercial City, and they didn't bring goods, so naturally they quickly completed the formalities, and then entered Jiehe Commercial City.

At present, the Jiehe River has not been frozen, and the confrontation between Song and Liao has been completely lifted because of the successful conclusion of the peace talks a few days ago. Therefore, the Jiehe Commercial Market has ushered in the most prosperous days, and it looks even more lively than Haizhou, which Ji Yi is familiar with......

……

When Ji Yi entered the city, Wu Haogu did not sit in the municipal office. He was also busy with the peace talks just now, and he didn't have anything to do on the peace talks, but he was jumping up and down the stage, and he did a lot of various behind-the-scenes transactions. Now that the matter is finally over, and the gods Zhang Kangguo and Su Zhe have been sent away, he naturally has to give himself a few days off.

As for the government office and the coastal city shipping department, there are people who can help with mundane affairs. The municipal government has Ximen Anguo, Zhang Xizai, Huang Shilang, He Tianran, Lin Wancheng and others. The preparation department has Mi Youren, Zhao Zhongge, and Zhao Jiaren watching, and naturally nothing can happen.

Wu Haogu, who was idle, took Guo Xiaoxiao today, and went to the Jiehe Daxiangguo Temple on the edge of the Wujia mansion to play, and by the way, the abbot Zhishen monk here and Pan Xingye, who presided over the Changsheng Library of the Jiehe Daxiangguo Temple, Pan Da Steward.

The meeting place is in the backyard of the Daishokokuji Temple in the Jiehe River, behind a pine forest, there is a small building that stands small.

The location of this small building is extremely remote, and it is covered by pine forests, and it is really difficult to find if you don't look carefully. And the location of this small building is actually very close to the backyard of the ancient mansion of Wuhao, and the two places are separated by a wall, and they can communicate with each other through a moon gate.

Wu Haogu and Guo Xiaoxiao entered the Jiehe Daxiangguo Temple from the moon gate today, and after a while, he returned to the small building here to rest and eat - this small building is actually Wu Haogu's residence in the Jiehe Daxiangguo Temple! He is also rich and powerful in Kaifeng Mansion, but he is a minister after all. And in Jiehe Commercial City, he is the lord of a city! The power it has is naturally incomparable.

"Führer, why don't you say a word when you come over, and the Sprinkle family can be prepared."

"Yes, the master of the Roast Pig Academy has also come to the Jiehe River now, just ask him to cook some delicious food."

The great monk Zhishen who was talking to Wu Haogu and Pan Xingye and the big shopkeeper Pan. The great monk Zhishen now looks much richer, wearing a purple brocade robe, the rosary around his neck is made of the best longan Bodhi, and he also holds a string of red coral hand beads in his hand.

He is now a real monk, not only famous in Jiehe Shang City, but also in Liao, Goryeo, and Japan, and he is also a famous monk - I don't know how many copies of the "Bishamentian" law diagram based on him have been copied! It is widely spread in Liao, Goryeo, and Japan!

Wu Haogu came to visit this monk today, and naturally wanted to invite him to come forward.

"Great monk," Wu Haogu smiled, "This official came here this time to ask you to go to Xijin Mansion to pick up someone." ”

"Pick up someone? Who is it? ”

"Princess Cheng'an of Liao." Wu Hao Gu said, "She will marry the prince of Xiping of my dynasty in the near future, and she will enter the country from Jiehe Shang City...... From Jiehe Commercial Market to Kaifeng Mansion, there will be this official responsible for accompaniment, and you will also be with this official. ”

"Sprinkle the family and go together?" Monk Zhishen was stunned for a moment, "The Sprinkle family won't make the princess happy, what's the use of following?" ”

Wu Haogu smiled, "The master is rich, the master can lend money to the princess's husband...... King Xiping is about to go west for his father, and the military expenses are estimated to be unsettled, so the master can lend it to him. ”

"Poor Monk...... The Changsheng Treasury of the Great Xiangguo Temple of the Jiehe River is rich, but you can't borrow money casually. The great monk Zhishen shook his head, "This matter has to be considered in the long run." ”

"No, no, no." Wu Haogu shook his head and said, "This money must be borrowed!" Because King Xiping is also fighting for the Buddha this time! ”