In just a few months, Yuxian Lou has completely changed its appearance, learning from the appearance of a big restaurant in Tokyo, with a colorful building outside the door, and official and private prostitutes lined up on both sides of the door, attracting passers-by with flowers and branches.

Chen Laoshi and Qiao Datou left far away and sat against the wall, watching the night slowly darken the world and enjoy their own peaceful time.

Qiao Datou's gaze always couldn't help but drift towards those female prostitutes, and he had secretly inquired several times to confirm that the Qiannu who looked pleasing to his eyes could sleep with him once as long as he had consistent money. He has saved all the money in the past few months, and he is about to save enough, and after living for more than 30 years, he can finally really taste the taste of women and fill this gap in his life.

Of course, Qiao Datou didn't know that Qiannu just saw him stupidly and slandered him, if he was a guest he didn't know, he would happily sleep with Qiannu if he gave Qiannu two or three hundred Wen Qiannu. Qiannu has passed the age of twenty-five, this business will not last long, every penny is valued, and it is convenient to plan for himself early, and it is convenient for acquaintances to slaughter it.

Qiao Datou doesn't know, and he doesn't care if he knows, people like him live in a mess, as long as he eats enough today, the sun doesn't rise tomorrow, who cares?

"The official is here again—"

Chen Laoshi, who was squinting, suddenly said without a head, but Qiao Datou understood what he meant, looked up at the road, and saw Xu Ping, Zhang Cun and Cao Keming walking in the company of a few accompanying soldiers.

Qiao Datou muttered: "The water and soil in Lingnan are not good, the officials have been here for less than a year, and they are tanned." If we can return to the Central Plains alive, I don't know if the people there will see us as barbarians. ”

Chen Laoshi's eyes narrowed, as if recalling the past time, and the two fell silent.

Before arriving at Yuxian Tower, Cao Keming began to complain: "Such a good restaurant, with more than 100 yuan in cash every month, how could the general judgment put it under the account of the military treasury?" Yongzhou's annual tax amount to Beijing is so much, isn't this money moldy when it is put in the military treasury? The Legation Treasury doesn't have enough money! ”

Xu Ping smiled and did not speak. Who is to blame for this? It's not to blame Cao Keming for his own brain pumping, if Xu Ping had this attitude when he first came, Xu Ping wouldn't have been able to do this kind of thing. In recent months, Xu Ping has made a lot of money, and Cao Keming's hands have also become rich, and his attitude towards Xu Ping has slowly changed, but some things have been done, and it is too late to regret it. It is taboo to transfer the assets under the name of the military treasury to the minister's treasury, and it is impossible to get rid of the suspicion of digging into the corners of the national treasury, and Cao Keming can only complain.

Yongzhou's annual commercial tax is more than 1,000 yuan, and now the income of Yuxian Lou has covered all this tax, Xu Ping has exempted a lot of taxes, Cao Keming took the opportunity to add some names to the minister's treasury and hugged a part, barely balancing a little in his heart.

When he arrived at the door, Xu Ping looked left and right, and by the faint light of the lantern, he saw Chen Laoshi and Qiao Datou sitting at the foot of the wall, smiling and nodding to them.

The most bitter thing in life is not that there is no food and clothing, but that it is tired, but that this person is obviously alive, but his heart is dead. The prosperity and depression of this world have nothing to do with him, just like the walking dead all day long, watching the morning sun rise and watch the sunset set, there is not a single ripple in his heart.

As an official in Yongzhou, Xu Ping knew that he could bring wealth to the place and make everyone's life better than before, although they may not be able to reap more happiness, but they could get comfort that they did not have before. But Chen Laoshi's heart is dead, this veteran has fought the Khitan and conquered Jiaozhi, but he has worn out his ambition early and consumed his life in the hot and humid weather of Yongzhou City.

Such a person Xu Ping can't do anything to bring him change, after all, it's a pity.

Perhaps, one day, he will lead his troops to destroy Jiaozhi? With this veteran returning to the Central Plains with the glory of victory, and receiving the cheers of the crowd in his hometown, his heart will come to life.

Xu Ping smiled and shook his head, this is a neurotic idea, in this world that does not belong to him, he still doesn't want to put in so much effort.

Watching Xu Ping and the three of them enter the restaurant, Qiao stabbed Chen Laoshi next to him and whispered, "Daddy Chen, that official is smiling at us." ”

Chen Laoshi muttered in a low voice, Qiao Datou didn't hear what he said, and he didn't care about Chen Laoshi's answer, the two of them still quietly watched the pedestrians coming and going on the road.

When he arrived at the pavilion on the second floor, Cao Keming said to Director Cai, who came over: "First serve two bottles of good wine, then a chopped pepper fish head, put more pickled peppers, it must be spicy!" Recently, I've liked this bite, and I feel uncomfortable not eating spicy things for a day. The best beef also comes to two catties, let Yun Juan taste the taste of our Yongzhou! ”

Director Cai said yes again and again. There are a lot of cattle breeders in Yongzhou, and it is not popular to cultivate land, they are all barbarians killed to sacrifice ghosts, and there is no way to ban beef, and the beef restaurant is openly sold.

After Cao Zhizhou finished ordering, Director Cai asked Zhang Cun again: "What do you want to eat?" ”

"You heard here that there is a hot and sour fish fillet, and everyone who has eaten it praises it, so I want this."

Although Zhang Cun is a higher-level authority, his level is slightly lower than Cao Keming, not that Cao Keming doesn't give him face. Zhang Cun finished ordering, and it was Xu Ping's turn. Xu Ping ordered a boiled beef slice, since he came to the Great Song Dynasty, he has not been able to eat beef openly, and Xu Ping naturally wants to make up for it when he has the opportunity.

These dishes were all created by Xu Ping in Yongzhou, of course, they were all copied from his previous life, and somehow they spread and became the signature dishes of Yuxian Lou, which made Xu Ping very surprised. In the past, when he was in the Central Plains, he also made a lot of dishes from his previous life, but he couldn't even look at Xiuxiu, but he didn't expect it to become popular in Yongzhou. Even after Xu Ping left Yongzhou, these dishes were called Xu Gong cuisine and became a major cuisine.

To put it bluntly, the degree of development of Lingnan at this time is not enough, and anything in later generations is a rare thing here, compared to the Central Plains after thousands of years of wind and rain, people have seen everything.

The wine and food came up, and after drinking several rounds, the three of them chatted about business.

Cao Keming said to Xu Ping: "General judgment, a few days ago, you deceived the son of Huang Chengxiang in Zhongzhou, but he has been holding his breath in his heart, and he wants to find you trouble, but he didn't dare to move because I pressed him." In a few days, if you really produce so much sugar as you said, but there are mountains of gold and silver, and the barbarians see the money, you have to be careful. ”

"What's that? Huang Conggui and I met in the inspection village, and I invited him to a feast, why did I bully him? Chungju Zhiju is too ignorant! ”

Seeing Xu Ping's innocent face, Cao Keming said: "It's okay to sentence you, Huang Conggui has been stubborn and domineering since he was a child, and the surrounding states and counties are famous, how can he suffer your losses in vain?" As soon as he went back, he was going to take people to Ruhe County, and Huang Chengxiang specially sent people to Yongzhou to find me. Let me tell you, don't think that the barbarians are the same as the people of the Central Plains, they can be deceived by reasoning, they are unreasonable when they make trouble, they will fight and kill when they say they will be killed, unless they have the strength to suppress them to the death, they will not dare to rebel. ”

Xu Ping didn't care: "If Hexian is not a paper paste, a Zhongzhou will dare to shout and kill, if it really comes out to make trouble, I will level it and make room for sugarcane!" ”

Zhang Cun heard that the matter was serious, and hurriedly asked, "What's going on?" Ruhe County is now spending hundreds of thousands of yuan a year, and it can't withstand a little turmoil. ”

Cao Keming told him about Xu Ping's inspection of the grass market that day and the lynching of Huang Conggui. Huang Conggui is not Li Wei, he swallowed it into his stomach at a loss, as soon as he went back, he was going to order all the people to inspect the village, Huang Chengxiang was afraid of Cao Keming, and sent someone to the state to ask for the crime, and Cao Keming also knew what happened.

If this kind of thing happened before, Zhang Cun would definitely not let Xu Ping have a good time, but now that hundreds of thousands of dollars are in front of him, and the great political achievements are smashed on his head, what Xu Ping does is not a big deal in Zhang Cun's eyes. Not to mention the son of a barbarian chief, hundreds of thousands of yuan a year is enough for the Song Dynasty to send troops to level several surrounding states and counties. Emperor Zhenzong pretended to be a god and played a ghost, and the treasury was completely tossed away, what is more important than money in such an era?

Sighing, Zhang Cun said: "Xu Tong sentenced you to be young and vigorous, didn't I say you, what do you care about with a barbarian?" Chungju is on the edge of Ruhe County, there is a direct road, and there are no mountains and rivers to block it, so it is not a small trouble to cause trouble, disturbing the army and the people. The so-called harmony makes money, in the future, you will let them go and let them make trouble in the mountains. ”

Xu Ping shook his head and said, "How can the judgment think that I am a battle of will?" That grass market can't be removed, so I have to make this decision. If you don't scare him, if you come to make trouble every day, you won't be able to do business. ”

"It's just a grass market, what's the matter?"

Xu Ping smiled: "Don't look down on that grass market, where all the money for planting sugarcane comes from." Cao Zhizhou, Zhang Yunjuan, let me ask you, Yongzhou has hundreds of thousands of barbarians, these people have to eat and drink, and there are many caravans who come and go to do business, but the annual commercial tax in the state is only more than 1,000 yuan, is it possible that the business between the caravans and hundreds of thousands of barbarians is only so little? ”

Cao Keming said: "I think a lot about it. There are a lot of inspections in and out of the city in Honshu, and there are people stationed on all major roads, so they must not evade taxes. How much business can a barbarian Ru Mao drink blood? ”

Cao Zhizhou still doesn't know how the caravan's business is doing, so he thinks like this. Let's put it this way, they transport things in, and they only pay a little tax when they pass through Yongzhou, and they are exempted from counting more, so it seems that there is little money. When you get to the barbarian place, these horse gangs are finished, and they will exchange the goods for gold and silver before leaving the mountain, and take them out of the mountain secretly, where do you go to collect taxes? There is a grass market, and the government itself trades with the horse gangs and barbarians, and it doesn't matter if the tax is not collected, anyway, the money has already entered the treasury. ”

"Xu Tongjuan is also reasonable, it is better to keep the grass market. Let's not talk about the past, but now that Chungju and Tongju have become troublesome, how to prevent them from making trouble is the most important. ”

Zhang Cun is not interested in those small profits, what can he do with a few thousand yuan more? It's nothing more than that Yongzhou has abundant local finances, and Cao Keming and Xu Ping live a comfortable life. For him, the huge wealth in exchange for sugar is the most important thing, which is directly related to the future future.

Xu Ping didn't care, if the base was set up in Ruhe County, the development would definitely not be able to tolerate the existence of Chungju, how could he not prepare early? From the time when the population was concentrated and the land was opened, Xu Ping trained the township soldiers according to his own method in Zhongmu's own countryside, and if he really wanted to pull the team, he could organize more than a thousand people, and the hundreds of family soldiers of the Huang family in Zhongzhou were just a rabble, and they were really a big army.

Zhang Cun saw that Xu Ping didn't take this matter to heart at all, and became more and more anxious. He was a civil official, but he didn't think that with a population of thousands of households, he would not be afraid of barbarian trouble, and muttered in his mouth: "What can I do about this!" ”

Cao Keming took a big sip of wine and said to Zhang Cun: "Don't worry about the judgment, otherwise, these months are the time to squeeze sugar, and I will go to Ruhe County to sit down, and Xu Tongju will go back to the state city first." Even if Huang Chengxiang has great courage, he doesn't dare to provoke me! ”

After speaking, he looked at Xu Ping with a smile.

Although the relationship between the two has eased, the previous contradictions did not disappear all at once. Cao Keming was always a little unconvinced in his heart, and he wanted Xu Ping to understand that I was not as good as you when making money, but you were far inferior to me in the appeasement place.

Xu Ping looked at Cao Keming and said lightly: "No need." Cao Zhizhou doesn't know how to squeeze sugar, and things there can't do without me. As for the Chungju Huang family, you don't have to worry, you won't be scared by a small Tuzhou. Even if he came, he still said that Ruhe County is not a paper paste after all! ”