end song

Chapter 621 Release the prisoner
The thirteenth day of the twelfth lunar month.

When the sky was dim, Liu Jinsuo carefully touched Liu Niang's bulging belly.

After staying in Lin'an for two months, and traveling back and forth for two months, when he returned home, Liu Niang hadn't given birth as expected, and she could be pregnant for more than eight months.

"I'm going to defend the city, so that there will be no war in Hanzhong, so that you can give birth safely..."

Liu Jinsuo muttered something in a low voice, because Liu Niang hadn't woken up yet, she walked out the door lightly.

His mansion under Liu Datong is in Yanku Lane not far north of Shuaifu.

Go out of the alley, turn into the East Street, and when you look up, you can see Hanwang Terrace.

First, he took his entourage to eat breakfast in the restaurant diagonally opposite the Shuai Mansion.

It was already very cold, and the smoke rose from the pots and pans, flowing over the old banner outside the shop, on which was written "Tianxiang Restaurant".

The reason for this name is that Hanzhong has been known as "Tianhan" since ancient times.

After snorting a bowl of dough, and eating five pieces of hot walnut buns, Liu Jinsuo patted his stomach before getting up, and saw Li Zhaocheng escorting a prisoner to the commander-in-chief's mansion.

"Mr. Da Lang!" Liu Jinsuo waved forward and shouted, "Would you like something to eat? Old Liu invites you!"

Li Zhaocheng turned his head and refused.

He is good at cooking, and he eats small meat porridge cooked by himself for breakfast, and he does not want to eat these street foods.

But the prisoner he escorted said: "It smells really fragrant, can General Liu treat me to a bowl?"

"Huh." Liu Jinsuo recognized this person, stared at him wide-eyed, and said, "I captured you in Chengdu, what's your name, Jia... Jia... In short, you have the same surname as that cricket."

"Jia Hou and Jia Peizhi."

"Oh, that's right, Liu Heima's brother-in-law... Hey, you've lost a lot of weight."

Although Jia Hou was embarrassed, he did not lose his elegance, and said with a wry smile: "You are thin, even if you are a prisoner, it is rare to treat nobles like Marshal Li of the Zunfu."

"Isn't it just to do some work?" Liu Jinsuo laughed, took a walnut bun and stuffed it into Jia Hou's hand, and then led the people to the city to change defenses.

With his hands bound, Jia Hou gnawed on the steamed bun, and finally licked his fingers.

At this moment, he has passed through Hantai and entered the handsome mansion through the side door.

"This layout... faces south to north." Jia Hou commented.

Li Zhaocheng didn't speak, just led him all the way into the meeting hall.

After waiting for a while, Li Xia strode in.

"Why do you treat Mr. Jia like this? Hurry up and untie him!"

Jia Hou shook his head, and secretly scolded Li Xia for not being full of expression when he said this, it was too perfunctory.

Two soldiers stepped forward to untie him, and retreated to garrison outside the hall.

He rubbed his wrists, cupped his hands and said, "Thank you Shuai Li."

"Don't be too polite."

Li Xia was willing to act, but he only acted in one or two sentences, and he still had a straightforward attitude when he spoke again.

"Not much nonsense, I invite you to come today, and I plan to let you go back."

As expected, Jia Hou smiled and said, "Dare to ask Li Shuai, what are your conditions?"

"No conditions." Li Xia said: "Send a word to Liu Heima... His brother Meng Khan is dead, Mongolia is torn apart, please bring the land in Guanzhong to him, and protect his high-ranking officials."

Jia Hou laughed loudly, picked up the rope on the ground and tied his wrists.

"Then please Li Shuai tie me back, I will continue to work for Li Shuai."

"Just bring a sentence, whether Liu Heima should be his business, you go back."

Jia Hou narrowed his eyes and said, "This is absolutely impossible."

"Ask him, and you won't suffer."

"Heh, return to the Song Dynasty? Dirty my marshal's ears."

Li Xia smiled and said: "Mr. Jia makes his own decision, he is willing to go back and dirty Liu Heima's ears, or continue to carry stones here."

Jia Houlang smiled and asked: "In Li Shuai's eyes, is this low life of yours only good enough to humiliate the Marshal?"

"Human life is cheap."

Li Xia said, pointing at Li Zhaocheng casually, said: "This one, brother."

Jia Hou glanced at it, quite puzzled.

Li Xia said again: "I had a relationship with Liu Heima once, since he intends to marry me, I have the cheek to ask for my brother to marry the daughter of the Liu family, and from then on, we will be close to each other..."

"The Li family is willing to return to Mongolia?"

"No, it's still the same sentence. I have an opinion and I ask Liu Heima to consider it."

"Then there is nothing to think about, Li Shuai, please don't wishful thinking."

"Mr. Jia is only in charge of the conversation." Li Xia looked indifferent, raised his hand, and said, "Please."

……

Li Zhaocheng's expression became a little more gloomy, and he arranged for someone to send Jia Hou north, after much deliberation, he turned back to the meeting hall.

"Erro."

"It's just in time. Help me go through this pile of documents." Li Xia didn't even raise his head.

Li Zhaocheng sighed, stepped forward to take the official documents, and said: "You will recognize me as 'brother', I am very happy, but my marriage..."

"I've asked Yan Yunyun, she doesn't want to marry you."

Li Zhaocheng was stunned for a moment, only to feel that these words were very poignant.

Li Xia said: "She has discussed with Mr. Han and plans to recruit a man. It doesn't need much ability or family background, just be able to live in poverty. She wants the kind of old man who will take care of the housework for her, be honest and a little clumsy, You understand that?"

"Actually." Li Zhaocheng said slowly, "I just want to open a restaurant and do..."

Li Xia didn't have time to listen to him speak slowly, and said directly: "You think you are suitable, but you are not suitable. You are young and inexperienced, not clumsy. You will grow too much, and then will you be able to continue as before? ?Yan Yunyun won't spend the rest of her life betting on what will happen to you in the future. People don't have time to bet with you, so why should they bet with you? Everything she does is to control her own destiny. Half of the future fate is handed over to the unknown, how is it possible?"

Having said that, Li Xia looked out the window.

Although it is about Li Zhaocheng and Yan Yunyun, why not he and Liu Heima?
But Li Xia still said: "It's impossible for her to fall in love with you, give up."

Li Zhaocheng only felt heartache.

Li Xia ignored his heartache, and said again: "She saw that you look good, so she made friends with you once. But this is the only thing that matters about appearance. After that, it is always the person who looks at it..."

"Erlang stop talking... stop talking... I understand..."

Li Zhaocheng turned his back, sniffed, and tried to keep his voice steady.

"But let me calm down for a while? For the time being, I really don't want to marry the daughter of the Liu family..."

"If you think too much, Liu Heima will not agree to marry his daughter to you, go get busy."

~~
"Liu Heima will never agree. Why worry? The old Taoist said long ago that you should be more relaxed."

Hao Xiuyang turned around, took out a copy of "Baopuzi" from the bookcase and handed it to Li Zhaocheng.

"Borrow you, let's cultivate your body and mind."

Li Zhaocheng took the scriptures, sighed helplessly, and said: "In front of my second brother, I always feel... I am like a child."

"That man..."

Hao Xiuyang murmured, not knowing what to say to Li Xia, and finally rubbed his arms.

"Really cold."

His family hired many maids, but he was worried that they would overhear them when he spoke. As soon as Li Zhaocheng came, he asked them all to retreat, and he had to do many things by himself.

It was night now, and it was very cold.Hao Xiuyang went out of the house, took a piece of coal with iron tongs and put it in the stove, and warmed it with a jug of wine.

"Look at the coal."

"The style is odd."

"Honeycomb coal, you haven't made it before you go to Lin'an... It's cold, there is nothing to keep warm, people should be cold, especially the old man is so old."

Hao Xiuyang also felt emotional, took a blanket and draped it over his body, leaning against the stove, there were so many things he wanted to talk about, but he didn't know how to talk about it.

"Liu Heima, Guanzhong, Coal... Li Jieshuai has a lot of things on his mind... how to put it? Let's talk about heating. Although coal has been available since the Han Dynasty, it has always been scarce. People have to cut wood for heating in winter.

In the land of Guanzhong, the mountains and forests are gradually decreasing. It was strictly forbidden to cut mulberry trees in the ancestors' time. 42 feet is one count, and three counts or more will be a death penalty.During the Taiping period of the Great Song Dynasty, every winter, the third division gave hundreds of thousands of charcoal and halved the price to help the poor..."

At this point, Hao Xiuyang pointed to the briquettes in the stove.

"Small objects are not difficult to make... Before Li Jieshuai went to Lin'an, he gave the old man this thick stack of manuscripts. It is somewhat difficult to make, but there are many easy-to-make things like this. The difficulty is how to give each family Every household uses it.

The old Taoist spent two months exploring coal in Huaying Mountain, so what?Fields need people to plant, water conservancy needs people to repair, roads need people to open, iron and stone need people to gather, and people need people to control... Everything needs people, and people need to eat enough to eat, and they have to plant in the field first.There are only these people in Shu, but how many people does the old Taoist have?
The difficulties are far more than these.

To keep warm in winter, coal alone is not enough, and clothes are needed. Ge, hemp, and silk are not enough to keep warm. Li Jieshuai said that cotton must be planted in Sichuan and Shuai. Clothes, soap, hats and curtains', Jibei's clothes, which he called 'cotton clothes', have long existed, but it is difficult to implement them.

I sent people to the south to look for jibei seeds. After four months, I have seeds. I don’t know how many families are willing to change the land to cotton?

This mess in the hands of the old Taoist is good for the people, it must be good for the people.Start doing it as soon as possible, next year to relieve the cold of the people in Nanzheng County, and in two or three years to relieve the cold of the people in Hanzhong.In six or seven years, it may relieve the coldness of the people in Sichuan and Shu.However, there is no situation for 20 years, and the national situation cannot be changed.

The reason why Li Jieshuai wants to take Guanzhong is that the old man can understand that there are cattle, sheep and horses in Guanzhong, which are animal power, wool, coal, population, and fame and prestige, all of which he is eager for.After taking Guanzhong, he wanted to take Shanxi again, in order to have a mountain of coal and iron that had been mined.

And the things that Li Jieshuai had, briquettes, cotton clothes, and his heart to help the people, should also be what the people of Guanzhong need.

It's a pity that he doesn't have this kind of force, so he wants to win over Liu Heima... Whether it will work or not, the old man doesn't know, and tonight he just feels that there are too many things in his heart.It is not easy to take office in one party, basic necessities of life, food, housing and transportation. "

Hearing Hao Xiuyang's long passage of emotion, Li Zhaocheng felt quite ashamed.

For some things, status often determines ideas.In the past, he only wanted to open a restaurant, but now because of Li Xia, his ambition is a little different.

"Having said so, marry a daughter of the Liu family."

"Ha, as the old man said, it is impossible for Liu Heima to marry his daughter to you."

Hao Xiuyang smirked, and picked up a pile of wooden parts beside him to fiddle with.

Li Zhaocheng knew what it was, took a piece of wood, and carved it with a knife.

His hands are steady and the carvings are very detailed.

After a while, Xi Xiuyang had fallen asleep sitting on the recliner.

Li Zhaocheng was thinking about Yan Yunyun's matter, he didn't want to go home and stay alone, he still sat there carving these woods, occasionally got up to add some charcoal to the fire.

The whole night passed like this.

When Hao Xiuyang woke up at dawn, Li Zhaocheng was nowhere to be seen, so he must have gone to deal with paperwork again.

He turned his head and saw that the sets of molds on the case had already been made, picked it up to have a look, and sighed.

"Let's talk about it when Jieshuai comes to inspect the workshop..."

(End of this chapter)