On the Dongjiang River in November, although the water is slow, it can still carry a big boat, and at the wharf of Guishan County, Huizhou Prefecture, a three-masted sand boat followed behind other ships, waiting to dock. Unlike the sand boats of the past, there were two small buildings at the bow and stern of the boats, which was the place for the guests, and now the ships are renovating their ships to carry both passengers and cargo.

On the second floor of the stern passenger building, looking at the bustling dock with its own busy scene, a thin middle-aged man frowned, and subconsciously touched the melon skin hat on his head. Most of the people on the boat have their hair in their buns, and none of the people on the dock still have a money rat tail on their heads.

"Big... The proprietor must be worried, and now under the rule of the Nanban, the braid tax has existed in name only. The patrolmen are all busy with their own affairs, and as long as they don't show their braids openly, no one will be left in trouble. ”

There were two servants beside the middle-aged man, one wearing a short-brimmed yarcoat that was popular in Yinghua, he should have a little knowledge of Yinghua's style, saw the middle-aged man's worries, and opened his mouth to persuade him.

"Hmph, it's really Nanban, not only did he change his hairstyle, but he even forgot the color of his clothes!"

The other man wore a melon skin hat and a short coat, and looked at the coolies on the dock wearing medium coats instead of uniforms, and said indignantly.

The middle-aged man's eyes were confused: "The old face of the old country is like a different world" ,..."

The round-hat servant changed the topic and said: "The owner, even if Mr. Chen is still loyal to the imperial court, it is difficult to ensure that there are Nanban eyes and ears lurking around him, so let's just look for it, it's too risky." ”

The middle-aged man said with a smile: "Mr. Guangling's reputation is far and wide, and the British Dynasty is not much embarrassed, and Mr. Rong opened his own school in Huizhou." I can't get into the end of my studies, how can I get into the eyes of nobles. ”

The round-hat servant said: "But the owner will go after all", the governor of Fujian, with an official rank. ”

The melon skin hat servant said angrily: "Isn't it that Shi Shi's fat run?" My lord, no, the proprietor should not be provoked by him and take risks himself. ”

Li Ba shook his head and said, "That's it, don't mention this much." General Shi wants to know the roots of the Nanban, and it is not enough to rely on fine work, and I, Li Ba, am dedicated to doing things for the imperial court, and I came to see for myself where the Nanban is strong, which is also out of my original intention. ”

Li Ba, the word is huge, Kangxi was a jinshi in the forty-eighth year, after entering Hanlin, the official road has not been smooth, so he went around as a student and a test officer. After Yongzheng ascended the throne, Tian Congdian recovered, knew that he was talented, and removed him from the cabinet to study for a bachelor's degree. But he was on the show before Sun Jiaqia, persuaded Yongzheng to be lenient and less punished, and committed Shengyankou Fortunately, he was only on the fold, and not like Sun Jiaqia, so he was "promoted" by Yongzheng to Fujian and became the governor of Fujian.

At this time, Fujian is almost the world. The governor of Zhejiang, Manbao, protected Zhejiang and paid little attention to the affairs of Fujian. Shi Shifat took the rank of general, and the military and government were arrested, so abusing power, but Yongzheng didn't say anything. The reason is very simple, only Shi Shiji, who is based in Fujian and Taiwan, and the fame and ability to unify the power of Fujian and block Li Shi, as long as Shi Shiji will not throw away the court, let him be the king of Fujian.

Li Ba, the governor of Fujian, is the thing that the imperial court pastes the wall in Fujian, as long as Shi Shifat does not rub it too much, the imperial court will also pinch his nose and admit it. Letting him, the governor of Fujian, find out about the situation of the people in the southern barbarians, although it sounds a little ridiculous, Li Ba is powerless to resist.

He didn't want to resist, he already had the heart to figure out why Yinghua could suddenly rise and become a country of its own. As a Confucian scholar who read poetry and books, he did not believe that he could achieve this career just by relying on fast guns and cannons. It is impossible for a reckless man who is desperate to unite the people in a few years.

Under the military, there must be a mystery in civil affairs, and he came this time to find this answer.

He's not a headless fly, and he's just jumping in. Through the relationship between all parties, he inquired about the whereabouts of Chen Yuanlong, the former governor of Guangxi. Chen Yuanlong was originally his teacher in the Hanlin Academy, and he had a deep friendship with him. I heard that Chen Yuanlong was imprisoned for two years, but he was always loyal and unyielding, and he was finally released. However, Chen Yuanlong was ashamed to lose his land and drowned his job, and he did not want to return to his homeland to involve the clansmen, so he opened a museum in Guishan County, Huizhou to teach apprentices for a living.

Li Ba's plan is very simple, find Chen Yuanlong, and find out the bottom of the Yinghua country from himFor Chen Yuanlong, he is full of trust, and it is impossible for such an elder who abides by righteousness to sell him.

After getting off the boat, Li Ba had the first point of discovery, there were a lot of patrols, and they were all neatly dressed. Although he just hung the machine and carried a rattan card, it also showed that Guishan County was very rich. ,

The next realization is that it's a mess here. The patrol officer watched the flow of people with vigilant eyes, and only glanced at Li Ba and the melon skin hat servants, and had no interest in scrutinizing them, it should have been to see that the three people who were covered up as merchants were dressed in bright colors, and the patrol looked more closely at the poor people in tattered clothes, and from time to time caught petty thieves from the crowd.

There are still several miles away from the county seat, outside the wharf, there are countless donkey carts and rickshaws, the donkey carts are similar to the kind of carriages that Li Ba has seen, it should be a small horse in the southern barbarians, and the people mostly use donkeys to pull the carts. And that kind of person car has never been seen before, just two big wheels, a pergola, can carry two people.

"Fifty Wen!? Are you robbing money!? ”

Asked the price, the servant of the melon skin hat almost jumped, three or five miles, it costs fifty yuan, which is the expenses of ordinary people for a day.

"Our donkey cart only costs eighty wen, and one cart pulls down three people, and two more people and carts can sit down."

The donkey cart came to rob the business, and suddenly quarreled with the driver of the cart, and seemed to turn out the old grudges, and moved his hands while arguing, and in a moment the whistle sounded, and the patrol came.

"Let's take a walk, it's a mess here."

Li Ba's heart trembled, and he felt that the people under the rule of the Nanban were all disgusting.

Walking all the way, Li Ba had a new feeling. Although the folk customs here are muddy, the local officials seem to be really doing the matter, and they say that this road is four or five zhang wide, and the road surface is divided into six roads straight from the wharf to the county entrance, three from left to right. In the middle is a fast horse and carriage, in the middle is a donkey cart or a human cart, and on the side is a person walking.

If you want to get to the other side of the road, you can't just cross it, and you can get to a place with a dense white line, and you can only pass by stopping the passing cars and horses by the patrolman. There is even a place where a valley road has been dug under the avenue. The road surface seems to be triple soil, and it is also filled with cinders, and it will not be too slippery when it rains.

Originally, he came to visit the civil affairs of Nanban, and Li Ba went all the way, and also inquired about prices all the way. The more I touched it, the more shocked I became.

The price of food is the most concerned, and the result is also the most surprising to Li Ba. The most expensive rice is only six yuan per stone, which is four or five yuan lower than Fuzhou. Generally, brown rice is only five coins and silver bud rice, and it is even lower to the level of three or four coins and one stone.

Melons and fruits, even on this avenue, there are people everywhere to set up stalls to sell, bananas, pineapples, citrus and other southern products, but more than ten yuan a catty, although it is more expensive than grain, but it is far cheaper than Fuzhou.

The avenue turned a corner somewhere, and in front of it were layers of private houses, and the walls of Guishan County were clearly visible. On the other side of the avenue, it was like a big bazaar, with people coming and going, shouting and drinking, and the three masters and servants were dazzled, and their ears were constantly buzzing, and they felt that there were no less than 10,000 people inside.

"Look at ......"

The necks of the two servants had doubled, and Li Zuo couldn't resist the temptation and beckoned the servants into the bazaar. As soon as I entered, I immediately fell into a vast metropolis of everything.

Grains, fruits and vegetables are certainly dazzling, but Li Ba's servants are full of agitation, and what they see in front of them almost subverts their understanding of "market" and "price".

In this big bazaar, eating, dressing and playing are exquisite and rare, which makes people dizzy. Locally produced, foreign-owned, Jiangnan, Miaojiang, and even Jiaozhi to curb the Luonan barbarians, there is everything.

More is just one of them, and the other is cheap. Cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks, chickens and something are not too obvious, but cotton and linen silk fabrics, but only half price in Fuzhou, the best Jiangnan Suzhou embroidery, is also cheaper than the local Jiangnan This is rare.

It took a long time to wake up to the fact that this is just a county, what would it be like if it was in Guangzhou?

Then the three of them saw something even more shocking, salt! The white flowers and shiny salt were stacked and sold openly, and Li Ba asked anxiously, how much is a catty? Although he is not good at local political affairs, the price of salt and grain is a direct reflection of the people's feelings in a place, and he is naturally very sensitive.

"A pound!? A bag of 100 catties and 4 coins of silver. You want to buy nothing, a small bag, ten catties and fifty jade, I didn't mean to be so high, now the price of money has fallen, one thousand two hundred wen for one or two silver......",

The salt dealer muttered absentmindedly, he did both large and small businesses, but the small ones were clearly not very interested.

Li Ba's master and servant took a breath, and the eyes of the melon skin hat servant were even greener, they ate salt in Fuzhou, but it was twenty wen a catty! And it's still a good price, Jiangnan is said to have a salt price of 30 Wen...",,

"Don't forget, owner, salt is not regulated here."

The round-hat servant looked at Li Ba's forehead and quickly explained. How did he know that Li Ba was angry with the salt merchants in Fujian, and those salt merchants in Fujian must be selling salt from Yinghua, and the backhand is four or five times the profit! No wonder Fujian no longer produces salt,...

I gritted my teeth and passed the salt stall, and then I went to another place, but my ears were full of jingling, and it turned out to be an iron object that sold knives and pots. Looking at hundreds of kitchen knives, meat knives, bone chopping knives and even waist knives piled up casually, Li Ba felt that it was difficult to breathe, and his heart was lifted for the officials of Guishan County, and the knives were sold casually, which is worth it!?

As soon as he saw Li Ba's melon skin hat, the stall owner understood where he came from, and he knew his look, and laughed loudly: "What are you worried about, don't talk about knives, now the imperial court is letting us people discuss, can muskets be banned?" ”

Li Ba shuddered again, and the musket can be banned!?

The stall owner said with a little pity for the old man: "The master is from the north, right?" If you have a way, let alone a knife, if you really need it, you can buy a musket. I have a relationship in Foshan, and I dare not say that I can still get a few hundred fast guns. Don't look like that, this big discussion is about to have eyebrows, and it will definitely be only forbidden to take out, but you can't help buying and selling. My Lao Lin is the head of the Tiexing in Guishan County, and as soon as the imperial court issues an order, he can definitely hold a license to sell guns! ”

Feeling that this matter was beyond his comprehension, Li Ba classified this person as crazy, and simply turned his head and left. The round-hat servant said on the side: "The newspapers of the Nanban are indeed discussing this matter......

Li Ba flicked his sleeves and sneered: "Ridiculous! How can the sword soldiers be left to the people? Those newspapers in Nanban are just pretending to be lies and confusing the imperial court, how can they be trusted!? ”

Believe it or not, you have to listen to a reliable person, Li Ba no longer had the intention to wander around, and went straight to the county seat...... ）