The number of visitors to Horenbao increased, and most of them did not leave after they came. It was not that the black shops here killed them, but that Hu Gao brought those scholars, craftsmen, and small businessmen who were depressing in the Central Plains to

Recruit them.

Among them were Fan Zhihong and Cheng who were proficient in military tactics and battle formations. Hu Gao placed them next to Pajaqili and supervised the three thousand elites selected by Pajaqili from various ministries every day. These three thousand elites were distinguished from other soldiers and horses by wearing a helmet on each person.

The missing white feather was called the "Thousand Feather Army". Pajaqili originally trained the Thousand Feather Army according to the grassland hunting tactics, but after Fan Zhihongcheng and Fan Zhihongcheng took office, they each took a thousand people to practice digging holes, drilling and rock climbing.

Although Pajaqili did not understand the subject of the wall, it was not easy to stop him.

Seeing that the one-and-a-half-year appointment had passed, Hu Gao and Ju Wuzhi went to the Green Flag Khanate to deliver gifts and told the Green Flag Khanate that the time had not yet come for Tubili and that he would have to wait a few more years for Tubili to come.

He was busy making money by doing business with the countries in the Western Regions, so he agreed.

The King of Han, Liu Jian, stayed in Luoyang for a year and a half, spending most of his time competing with Li Xiaofei, drinking, and going hunting. Xiao Qian and Liu Jian did not sleep together much, and they had not yet had any children after several years of marriage. Xiao Qian

Unable to bear it anymore, he said while drinking with everyone: "Do you want your King of Han to be the emperor in the future?"

Liu Jian was the first to wave her hand: "Don't say such nonsense, my beloved concubine must have drunk too much!"

Xiao Qian smiled: "Tell the truth when you drink too much. The emperor is already forty-eight and has no heirs. In the future, the throne will fall into the hands of King Han and other princes. I don't think anyone should be the emperor.

It is better for King Han to do it. In the future, King Han will not have children and pass them on to other princes."

After all, Xiang Xiaoyu has several children, so he immediately knew what Xiao Qian meant, so he raised his glass and said: "Your Highness, King Han, now that the world is at peace, you have to work hard to add happiness to the royal family. From now on, you are not allowed to talk to me anymore."

Let’s hang out together”

Li Xiaofei and Murong Ling also reacted: "I think the prince has to do business. I have quietly returned to Shouxian County several times. Now Hongrui is pregnant. I will pick her up when it gets warmer."

Xiao Qian asked Li Xiaofei: "Why did you go back to Shouxian County secretly?"

Murong Ling rushed to say: "He owes the people of Shouxian County hundreds of lives and is afraid of seeing them."

Li Xiaofei lowered his head in embarrassment, and Liu Jian took the opportunity to talk: "Xiao Fei, we have already compensated those brothers who died in the war and gave their families a lot of money. If you go back generously, they will not

It will embarrass you”

Li Xiaofei sighed: "After all, I didn't do what I promised. I'm sorry for those brothers who died. In fact, I also want to accompany Hong Rui to drink with Meng Crow and Huang Banxian every day, but I still feel a little uncomfortable in my heart."

Murong Ling looked at Li Xiaofei and said, "Tomorrow we will go back to Shouxian County openly. I will take you with me, and I also have to accompany Xuehua."

Li Xiaofei wanted to say something, Xiang Xiaoyu winked at him, and Li Xiaofei agreed.

The next day, Li Xiaofei and Murong Ling bid farewell to Liu Jian, Xiao Qian and Xiang Xiaoyu, packed their bags, bought some jewelry, rouge, spices and took them with them, and headed for Shouxian County.

As Li Xiaofei and Murong Ling walked further south, they found that there were more and more flying insects along the way, especially small grasshoppers, which were jumping densely on the roadside. Murong Ling looked at the leaves on the roadside, and they were all covered with black silkworms.

The caterpillars fell down from time to time. Li Xiaofei raised his head and looked at the sky, and was surprised that he couldn't see a few flying birds.

After arriving in Shouxian County and returning to the house in Zhangjia Village, the bamboo forest in the village was reduced to bare bamboo poles with all the leaves gone. After asking, I found out that there were so many bugs this year that they had eaten all the bamboo leaves.

People in Shouxian County are now busy killing and catching insects, and half of the seedlings in the rice fields have been eaten away.

Li Xiaofei asked everyone: "Are there no birds to eat insects? Without birds, chickens and ducks will do just fine."

The villagers smiled bitterly: "These days, as long as they have feathers, they are all caught and sold. Where are the birds, chickens, ducks and geese?"

After further questioning, I found out that Jinling now buys birds at a high price, and later on the poultry are not spared. Without the birds, insects have become more and more unscrupulous, until Jiangnan and Huainan have been plagued by insect pests.

Li Xiaofei asked the villagers: "Well, since you know that you need birds to eat insects, why do you still catch birds to sell?"

A child took out several large bunches of money and said: "You are stupid, a bird can be exchanged for three guan of money. With money, you can buy food and clothing, so what are you afraid of?"

Li Xiaofei was not polite: "Then we are all going to catch birds like you. No one is farming. Where do we get food and clothing?"

Everyone was stunned, but they felt that now that they have money, they can always buy food and clothing, and there will always be people in the world who farm.

Murong Ling walked along the river to find Zhu Xuehua who was fishing. Along the way, he found that the ditches and ditches they had built a few years ago had collapsed and were blocked. When he found Zhu Xuehua, Zhu Xuehua was fishing for a carp. When he raised the hook, the fish

Seeing that the fish was about to unhook as it swayed left and right, Murong Ling flew forward and reached out to grab the fish, then turned it over and landed in front of Zhu Xuehua.

Zhu Xuehua was so frightened by the sudden movement that she threw away her fishing rod. Just as she was about to get up and run, she realized it was Murong Ling, so she punched Murong Ling in the chest: "I was scared to death. When you show up, can you first

Tell me”

Murong Ling replied: "Go home!"

Zhu Xuehua picked up the fishing rod again and followed Murong Ling to Zhangjiacun. Li Xiaofei was waiting for them at the entrance of the village holding a big-bellied Hong Rui.

Zhu Xuehua looked at Hongrui and then at Murong Ling: "Look at Sister Hongrui, she is about to have a baby. I also want to have a baby of my own."

Murong Ling pointed at Li Xiaofei: "He is good at this."

Hong Rui almost fainted with laughter, Zhu Xuehua slapped Murong Ling randomly, Li Xiaofei took a few steps back and pointed at Murong Ling: "Are there people like you? Your wife wants to have a baby, and you let her find someone else to give birth. She should be beaten!"

"

Murong Ling gave a bad laugh: "I can't beat him."

Zhu Xuehua jumped up and patted Murong Ling's cheek, but with no force. Murong Ling hugged Zhu Xuehua and said, "Okay, let's do this when we return to Luoyang."

The four of them returned to the house in the village, talking and laughing together, and continued playing until late at night.

Li Xiaofei stayed up all night, preparing many words to meet the families of those brothers who did not come back alive. The next day, he finally followed Murong Ling uneasily. They first went to Meng Crow and Huang Banxian, but found that these two were busy

Selling birdcages and fishing nets.

Meng Wuwu and Huang Banxian put down the things in their hands and immediately took Li Xiaofei and Murong Ling to their house. The four of them had a heart-to-heart talk about brotherhood. Li Xiaofei told his purpose, and Meng Wuwu and Huang Banxian laughed at him for being pedantic.

Li Xiaofei was a little annoyed: "We have met now, and I don't know how sad their families are. I accept even beating and punishing me."

Meng Wuwu patted him on the shoulder: "Hey, brother, have you seen that my house was earned last year? Now everyone is busy making money. Except for us brothers, who will listen to you wiping away your tears?

Those things about defending the city and fighting. Didn’t you see it on the way here? The teachers in this city teach about the habits and appearances of various birds every day. Some are dedicated to fostering birds for bird catchers, and some are for

The bird catchers provide food, clothing, housing and transportation. Of course, Banxian'er and I are the ones selling them tools, one, one."

Li Xiaofei immediately remembered something: "That's not right, aren't you the commander and deputy commander of the city defense? You are all out to do business, who will do the commander's work? Oh, I understand, you must have been dismissed because you neglected your duties.

, and then he started doing business due to the livelihood. Alas, you didn't tell me earlier. It's not too late now. Let's go to Luoyang and become a chef in Prince Han's Mansion."

Huang Banxian laughed: "It seems that you stay in the palace all day and don't understand anything about the world. Haven't you heard of "replacing soldiers" to replace officials?"

Li Xiaofei and Murong Ling were both surprised: "Replacement? How can I replace this? Isn't it just removal from office?"

Meng Wuwu said straightforwardly: "This half-fairy child always talks behind the scenes, so let me tell you straight away. We hire people to do the work of the commander and deputy commander. We pay the wages, and we take our salary and then we can rest assured."

When doing business, the people we hire are called "replacement officers." Of course, the people we hire as soldiers are "replacement soldiers."

Li Xiaofei and Murong Ling's eyes almost dropped. They never thought that they could hire people to do the work and do business themselves while serving as soldiers and officials.

Seeing that Li Xiaofei and Murong Ling were dumbfounded, Meng Wuwu smiled: "Don't be surprised, this is not our invention, this is a substitution method made by the court. It seems that except for the substitution of husband, there are other substitutions."

.You two should make more money in the city and go see the prosperity of this prosperous age. I won’t tell you anymore, Banxian’er and I have to do business.”

Li Xiaofei and Murong Ling stayed where they were, watching Meng Wuwu and Banxian'er rush to do business. Murong Ling suddenly laughed: "Oh, I won't watch anymore, it will upset some people."

Li Xiaofei punched him: "What a hell, I think there is going to be trouble in this prosperous age."

The two got up and prepared to return to Zhangjiacun. At this time, the sky was covered with dark clouds and strong winds blew up the bird cages and fishing nets of Meng Wuwu and Banxian'er into the air. Some thin people clung to the swaying fishnets.

On the tree, it was not swept away by the wind.

Relying on his good skills, Murong Ling pulled Li Xiaofei to ride out of the city. Unexpectedly, the horses were frightened and broke away from the reins. Murong Ling had to pull Li Xiaofei and walked out of the city in the strong wind. Their hair and clothes were all

The wind blew and squeezed back.

The two struggled to get out of the city, then looked up at the sky, and saw a burst of dark clouds rushing towards them. When they looked carefully, they saw that they were not dark clouds, but locusts all over the sky. Li Xiaofei shouted: "No, there is a locust plague. They will bite people."

Cannibal!"

Murong Ling used enough strength to pull Li Xiao and run towards the moat. As soon as the two of them jumped into the water, they heard rustling sounds above their heads. Fortunately, they were good at water and could hold their breath in the water for a while.
Chapter completed!