The smoke on the top of the distant mountains is thick with smoke, slowly wafting on the continuous green hills, boundless, like a fairyland. In a trance, I felt that there would be immortals flying out of the clouds, flying together with colorful glow and white clouds, and swimming towards the twilight of the North Sea.

At the foot of the mountain, there are ponds all over the place, mixed with large bamboo forests, and occasionally a few plantain plants pop up, flapping their wide leaves to greet the fruitful papaya not far away.

This mountain dam has fertile land and abundant water and grass, and has been lying quietly here for thousands of years, waiting for pioneers to reclaim fertile land and become the land of fish and rice in Lingnan.

The isolated Lingnan is still like a flood, and such a good land is still only a slash-and-burn field for the natives. Although the land is full of ploughing oxen, they do not plow the land, do not raise seedlings, and when the season comes, they scatter seeds casually, and they do not weed, irrigate, or drain, and it depends on the will of heaven to harvest more and more harvest.

Today is finally different.

Around a hill, hundreds of people have reclaimed the land and made neat rice fields, some driving water buffaloes to plough the fields, others looking at the seedlings with joy.

The green grass and green carpet of the mountain wrap the whole hill. In the meantime, fruit trees such as plantains, papayas, loquats, and longans appear out of nowhere, like pictures dotted on a carpet.

A circle of thatched houses was built on the mountainside, which seemed to be the family in the picture.

The idyllic scenery of Lingnan is not as tough as the Central Plains, and it is a little less delicate than the south of the Yangtze River, but it has a fairyland atmosphere that transcends the mortal.

Xu Ping sat on the green grass in front of the thatched hut, looking intently at the letter in his hand, the corners of his mouth curled, and the smile on his face was like this green mountain and green water, as if it lasted forever.

On the thirteenth of last month, at two o'clock on the fourth day of the fourth month of the sixth year of Tiansheng, Lin Suniang gave birth to a daughter, named Panpan, and he became her father. Although it is thousands of miles away, not being able to take a look at it will leave countless regrets, but the joy of having descendants can not be hidden.

Not far away, Xiuxiu sat on a tree stump, tilting her little head and reading the letter, generally engrossed. The small fruit next to him dismounted and spun around leisurely, eating a mouthful of tender grass from time to time. The two of them, whether they are humans or horses, are carefree and enjoy the leisure and tranquility of nature.

I don't know how much time passed, the pony came over and licked Xiuxiu's hand mischievously, and when she saw Xiuxiu raise her head, she jumped a few steps away, and looked at Xiuxiu curiously with clear eyes.

Xiuxiu glanced at it, was in no mood to mess with it, put down the letter, sighed and said to Xu Ping next to her: "Official, we can't look at Panpan's little lady at home, it's a pity." ”

"Yes, when we go back in two or three years, the little ones will be gone."

Xu Ping sighed, looked at the mountains in the distance with Xiuxiu, and was stunned.

"Sister Su'er is getting married too—"

After a while, Xiuxiu said leisurely, looking a little melancholy that did not match her age.

Xu Ping smiled: "I didn't expect that I would be a brother-in-law with Li Zhang." ”

Su'er's contract has expired, she has no family, and she has no food and clothing when she goes out, so Lin Wensi recognized her as her daughter and gave her to Li Zhang, who will get married in two years, and it is the time for Xu Ping to return to report on his work.

Unconsciously, his childhood playmates have grown up, Xu Ping has become a father, and Li Zhang is about to start a family. Although Su Er has been Lin Suniang's personal maidservant, after all, she was born in a family of eunuchs, and the small family of military generals does not pay attention to these.

Only Xiuxiu is three years younger than Su'er, and she is still a half-old child at the age of twelve, but the best sister is going to get married, and she also feels that she has grown up a lot.

Xu Ping's family letter is from Lin Suniang, and Xiuxiu's is from Su'er, and they are always delivered at the same time. The content about the Xu family is almost the same, and there are some other things, such as Xiuxiu's family, such as Xu Ping's affairs in some officialdom, and all the chores in the family of acquaintances in the same year are Lin Suniang in Zhang Luo.

Just as the thoughts of the two of them flew back to the Central Plains across thousands of mountains and rivers, a loud voice came from the courtyard behind them: "Yanei, why do you give less money than once?" If this continues, the money I make from picking tea is not as much as the money I make by Gao Daquan and leading people to plow the fields! ”

Duan Yunjie's crisp voice sounded: "County Lieutenant Huang, now that it's May, the leaves of the tea trees are already old, and you can't make good tea." If it weren't for Xu Tong's judgment to keep collecting, I wouldn't have wanted it according to my meaning. ”

"Then I'll go with Gao Daquan and lead people to plow the fields and make money to buy wine and drink!"

A crisp laugh rang out: "Lieutenant Huang can plow the fields?" ”

This sentence obviously stopped Huang Tianbiao, and he held it for a while before bursting out in a muffled voice: "No!" I tried for two days and couldn't learn! If I can't plow the fields, I will repair the house with Tan Hu, and that will make a lot of money! ”

"You've got to be able to fix houses—"

You can imagine Duan Yunjie's smile that was amused by Huang Tianbiao like a flower.

Xu Ping and Xiuxiu glanced at each other and couldn't help laughing.

Before entering May, news came from the Cochin side that the leader Li Gongyun suddenly fell seriously ill, and the prince of Cochin, Li Foma, hurriedly returned to Thang Long Province (now Hanoi) with his men and horses, and the chaotic border suddenly became quiet.

Jiaozhi has always led the troops with various princes, and although Li Foma was made the crown prince, it was not so easy to succeed smoothly. According to the habit of Jiaozhi, the crown prince only has the opportunity to take the position of successor, and if he wants to succeed as king, there is also the edict of the previous king when he died. At this time, the king Li Gongyun can have six legitimate queens reigning at the same time, and no one can say what the old king will do, not to mention that each prince has fought with soldiers, and it has not been quiet in a few years.

Yizhou Feng Shenji's soldiers and horses had just been mobilized, but there was no need to go south when he got the news, and Xu Ping did not have the task of preparing money and food for them. Yongzhou, which was disturbed one after another, finally calmed down, and everything entered the track of step-by-step again. Miscellaneous matters are naturally handled by Zhou Tianxing, the judge of moderation, and Li Yonglun, who joined the army, as long as Xu Ping signs and draws the charge, he is not in the mood to make trouble, and he is happy to be idle.

As soon as he was free, Xu Ping again moved his mind to develop agriculture around Ruhe County, and used his authority to make a general judgment and in the name of reclamation, gathered all the hundreds of peasant households in Ruhe County, and according to the practice of Zhongmu Manor, he cultivated sugarcane on dry land and planted rice near water.

Cao Keming looked at the recent military treasury with a lot of money in the account, after all, his heart was unbalanced, and it was not until Xu Ping put the industry of chopping pepper under the minister's treasury that he agreed to this plan, and reported to the transfer envoy, Wang Weizheng approved it.

Gao Daquan had experience in planting rice in the village, so he naturally took the errand of leading people to open up the field and plant rice. Because Tuntian wanted to live permanently, Xu Ping thought that Ruhe County was too small, so he chose this place five miles away from the county seat to build a house as his station, and Tan Hu led the house to build it.

With the experience of his previous life, Xu Ping paid these people who worked in the name of rewards, which spoiled Huang Tianbiao, who had nothing to do. As the county lieutenant of the most inferior county, he has no part-time job to increase money, and the local officials have not yet paid additional expenses for foreign appointments, Huang Tianbiao's monthly salary is only six or seven yuan, plus folding back and forth, and he has less than five yuan a month. This guy is delicious and delicious, he can't eat any wine and meat for this money, and he pestered Xu Ping to do an errand to make money, so Xu Ping asked him to take people up the mountain to pick tea and make money according to the amount picked.

Huang Tianbiao turned out to be the lord of the nearby Xiaotong, and he couldn't be more familiar in the mountains, and he took more than 20 of his original clansmen to wander around the mountains every day, and he also made a lot of money. However, as the seasons change, the price of collecting money is getting lower and lower, and today it finally broke out.

Duan Yunjie had made tea by herself, and she was extremely smart, she had mastered the process of making tea after hearing Xu Ping say it twice, and was invited to come over and take a group of young women to make tea. Although he wore men's clothes, no one regarded him as a man, and the tea industry was booming.

The weather here is humid, the traffic is unchanged, the tea industry is easy to mold, Xu Ping let people make black tea that was thoroughly fermented in later generations, pressed into large tea bricks, and prepared to take the road that has not yet appeared on the ancient tea horse road. The rest of the broken tea is thoroughly chopped, wrapped in bamboo paper into small tea bags, and made into tea bags, which are being tested.

Huang Tianbiao complained for a long time, but he couldn't say anything about Duan Yunjie with a clumsy mouth, walked out of the courtyard unhappily, and saluted Xu Ping: "Shangguan, I won't pick this tea anymore, and the money I earn is enough to buy wine and drink!" ”

Xu Ping couldn't help but laugh and said: "I think you can make seven or eight yuan a month now, and you can buy several cylinders of good wine, how can you not buy enough wine to drink?" ”

Huang Tianbiao said curtly: "These days, I have a lot of activity in my hands, and I drink the new jade liquor from Yuxian Lou in the state city, Shangguan, you don't know how expensive that wine is, and you can't buy a liter with money!" Is it a human drink that is such an expensive wine? Pit to death! ”

"You still drink it if you don't drink it? That wine is for the rich, are you rich? ”

Huang Jinbiao saw Xu Ping's face stiffened, and hurriedly said: "Shangguan forgive the sin, it's not that I'm going to drink, I really can't help it, I feel uncomfortable if I don't drink for a day!" You said this, I wanted to make money and marry a daughter-in-law, but who knew that it was all sent to the restaurant! How good is that? ”

Xu Ping said angrily: "It's simple, just quit your alcohol addiction!" ”

"It can't be done! Shangguan doesn't know, a person like me, if he doesn't drink alcohol, he really feels that it's not interesting to live! I can't drink wine, isn't life tasteless? ”

Xiuxiu grimaced at Huang Jinbiao on the side: "You big man, not only do you like to drink, but you also like to eat!" I've seen you ask someone to bring delicious food back from the state city several times, how expensive it is! ”

Huang Tianbiao glared at Xiuxiu and said, "You little girl, what do you know!" Isn't life in the world about eating and drinking? It's not for good food and drink, I take my clan to live a fairy-like life in the mountains, and I have the final say in everything! You are a woman, where do you understand a man's ambitions! ”

Xu Ping looked at Huang Tianbiao and was really speechless, there is nothing wrong with people wanting to have fun, but it is incomprehensible that Huang Tianbiao insists on eating and drinking well as the first goal of life. You can't tell Huang Tianbiao about this truth, he insists that he is right, and his clansmen even think that he is right, what high-ranking officials and Houlu's political future is completely incomprehensible to them, how many catties of beef can be exchanged?

"And what do you want?" Xu Ping asked Huang Tianbiao impatiently.

Huang Tianbiao said seriously: "Shangguan will change my job, how can I fight for fifteen yuan a month, enough for me to have one liter of jade liquor a day." ”

Xu Ping smiled: "There is a job, that is, I know if you can do it." ”

Huang Tianbiao showed a vigilant look: "Shangguan, let's talk about it first, I can't cultivate the land and build a house like Gao Daquan and Tan Hu, don't be embarrassed for me!" ”

"I won't let you do that, of course you have to do what you do best. You are very familiar with the Tuxian of Tuzhou in the surrounding mountains, and now we have made tea, as well as the chopped peppers that the minister Kuli has recently begun to sell, you sell these things to the natives in the mountains, and I will give you a cut. As long as you work hard, you will definitely make much more money than Gao Daquan and Tan Hu, what do you think? ”

"Let me sell something?"

"Of course, don't you know that in this world, apart from officials, businessmen are the most profitable? Both of these people turn other people's things into money and put them in their own pockets, which industry can compare? ”

Huang Jinbiao thought for a while, and nodded emphatically: "Shangguan is reasonable, if he is a learned person, I will go to be a businessman and make a lot of money with other people's things!" ”