Diqiu Town, where the Liguojian in Xuzhou is located, is somewhat similar to Jiehe Commercial City and Jingdong Commercial City. It is also a commercial town with a high degree of autonomy. The one who really makes the decision in this town full of iron and smelting blast furnaces is not the Zhili Provincial Supervisor sent by the court, but the thirty-six masters of the thirty-six families.

On the tenth day of the fifth month of the fifth year of Jianzhong Jingguo in the Song Dynasty, it was already spring, and there was a thick smoke in Diqiu Town, sixty or seventy miles away from Pengcheng.

Diqiu is a town of mining and smelting. To the north is Panma Tieshan. There is a small river with gentle water flowing in the south of the mountain. It is a small canal dug artificially called the Yunti River. The Yunti River flows south into Diqiu Town, passes through the town, and then passes westward through the depressions of Weishan Lake in later generations, and merges into Sishui. At this time, the Sishui River is the Central Plains Canal, part of the water transportation system. Every day, a large amount of iron ore is transported from Panma Mountain to Diqiu, and carbon is transported into Sishui and Shishi River. Finally, it is processed into pig iron in the iron yard in Diqiu Town, and then enters the Central Plains water transportation system through the Shishi River and Sishui, and is sent to all parts of the Song Dynasty.

The Diqiu Town, which flows through the Iron River, is extremely prosperous, with a population of tens of thousands, mainly the family members of the 36th Silk Road Master, thousands of miners and smelters and their families, as well as merchants gathered from all over the world, all gathered in this town, making the small Diqiu Town prosperous as that of Jiehe Commercial City and Jingdong Commercial City.

The person who dominates this prosperous Shang Town is of course nominally appointed by the court, Zhili State Supervisor, which is an official position equivalent to a county magistrate. This position of Zhili State Supervisor is Liu Yu and Liu Yanyou, who is a Jinshi in the same high school as Wu Haowen. He has a good relationship with Wu Haowen, and Wu Haowen also helped him buy a house in Kaifeng Prefecture. On the way south to Xiuzhou, Wu Haowen was still staying at Li Guozheng and had a drink and chat with Liu Yu.

However, Liu Yu has little power in Li Guojian, which is not as good as the magistrates elsewhere. This is because the 36th Master of Li Guojian is all rich merchants with deep backgrounds. Every family has a few thick legs to hold in Kaifeng Prefecture. Moreover, each Master of the Master of the Master of the Donation has donated the official position. Although the status of the donation official is very low and cannot be compared with Liu Yu, who was a Jinshi, it is also a talisman. In theory, these officials who donated the crimes should be secured by the Censorate. Liu Yu, the Li Guojian, cannot be a scam supervisor...

And every family of these smugglers is super rich, at least with more than one million yuan, and everyone is richer than a king.

They not only owned the mines in Panma Mountain, but also had the iron farm in Diqiu Town, but also bought out half of the land in Xuzhou, which was the largest landlord group in Xuzhou. They also married each other and married the local scholar-official family in Xuzhou, forming a mixed interest group.

However, these arrogant figures in Xuzhou are standing outside Diqiu Town with Liu Yu today, obviously waiting for someone to come.

"I don't know if Wu Shuaisi can fall in love with my son Yizhou..." Ren Baichuan, who is also a top figure among all the masters, said anxiously.

"Uncle, you're too worried," Zhu Xingshu, standing next to him, wearing a green official uniform, smiled, "Brother is a famous talent in Xuzhou City, why can't he be under the sect of Wu Shuaisi?"

"What a talented man, I'm not sure about the different tests this year? Not many of us, the men of the Master, are good at studying." Ren Baichuan muttered as he touched his big belly.

A group of sirens in the surroundings nodded in agreement. One of the oldest ones sighed slowly: "I feel sorry for parents in the world. They all hope that their children will become successful. Even if they are not for studying, even if they spend more money?"

"Yes, we have money!"

"We are not afraid of spending money!"

"As long as he can enter Yuntai Academy, we will give as much as he wants!"

"I'm afraid he doesn't want money! He is the richest man in the Song Dynasty... he has more money than us!"

"What does he want to do when he comes to our Liguozheng? How can we still produce talents in his eyes?"

"Yes, there are only rich people here, no talented people."

Everyone burst into laughter as they spoke. There was indeed no talented man from Liguojian. Although Diqiu Town is rich, there are not many scholars. In other words, the thirty-six families and some coal bosses' sons would go to study seriously. As for the children of the miners and blacksmiths, they all took the path of inheriting their father's business, but they were not considered to be a working class, but they actually made a lot of money, so they were not interested in changing their destiny through studying.

Because although the iron smelting industry in Diqiu Town is already at the beginning of the germination of capitalism, it is not a real market economy, and is far behind the emerging Jiehe Commercial City and JD Commercial City.

In Diqiu Town, most industries related to iron smelting are highly monopoly! Not only are the smelting masters monopolize for generations, but miners are monopolize like smelting. There are many miners and smelting gangs who often fight on their own, but at the same time they are unanimously xenophobic and are not allowed to make a living in the iron ore, iron farm and carbonite mines in Liguojian.

In this way, the miners and craftsmen in Liguojian have been paid high salaries for a long time and live a wealthy and secure life. They naturally do not want to make progress and only rely on the skills left by their ancestors. If it weren't for iron ore, coal ore, and iron farms, there would be accidents from time to time, the working class here would be quite comfortable, and their lives would be much happier than the house slaves in Kaifeng Prefecture.

The transactions of the 36th smelting masters are also very stable, which is even more stable than the monopoly state-owned enterprises in later generations. Most of the smelting masters do business from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. There is no competition in the old shops that are two hundred years old. How to smelting, how to sell, and how to price are all integrated with the 36th smelting masters. In addition to charcoal to coal (that's because there is no charcoal), the iron smelting technology used is also unchanged for 200 years, and it is a true craftsman spirit!

As for the smelters elsewhere in the Song Dynasty, it is impossible to threaten the 36th smelter of Liguojian. Liguojian is too unique, with resource advantages, geographical advantages, and the accumulation of a thousand-year-old iron city. Especially after coal and ironmaking became the mainstream, in addition to Liguojian, where is there an important iron smelting city integrating coal and iron canal?

Unless there is a revolutionary change in the iron smelting industry, these smelting masters can make money while lying down...

And now the revolutionary change has arrived!

A large group of people, all of whom were in bright clothes and angry horses, came in a mighty manner. They were all in a slim dress, and no one was wearing official robes. However, Liu Yu still recognized Wu Haogu and Ji Yi at a glance.

Liu Yu smiled and said to the smugglers around him: "Here is here, it's Wu Shuaisi, and Ji Yizhi, who is also the one who is referring to the Jingdong Maritime Warehouse Office, is here."

"Yes, it's Ji Shibo... Look at him like that, he's so proud!"

"I heard that he had a good fortune and was on a mission to the Western Food Country!"

"It seems that he has also set up a school called Gezhi University Academy. If our son can't enter Yuntai Academy, it's okay to go to Gezhi University Academy."

Liu Yu frowned slightly. He had money to be an official in Liguojian. He could save a big house in Kaifeng Prefecture in more than a year! But his official power is a little small, and all the masters of the gang are all from above. The news is more informed than his official ones. He didn't know that Ji Yi was going to go to the Dashi Kingdom! By the way, where is the Dashi Kingdom? Is it rich in big stones that is called Dashi Kingdom?

With a head full of doubt, Liu Yu strode forward, smiling and singing a fat look at Wu Haogu and Ji Yi, "Wu Shuaisi, Brother Yizhi, the two of you are here, but it makes Diqiu Town shine!"

Wu Haogu turned over and got off the horse, and his movements were so refreshing. Then he bowed to Liu Yu and the group of Yezhu in official uniforms behind him, smiling: "Brother Yanyou, I and Brother Yizhi are just here to Li Guozheng to handle some private affairs. It's so much trouble. I'm really sorry."

"It's okay, it's okay, I'm sure I'm sure friends with Wu Wangdao, and Shuai Si is Wangdao's elder brother, and I'm the elder brother of a certain family."

Liu Yu looked easy to deal with, and even formed a friendship with Wu Haogu.

Wu Haogu then smiled at a group of Yezhu who didn't know how many years the disaster was coming (perhaps ten years later), saying, "You are all Yezhu of the Liguo Supervisory Bureau? I am here to ask for your help."

help?

A group of smugglers agreed, but thought to themselves: This excuse is good! You can’t help for nothing, right? By the way, you will also bring dozens of "caizi" to Yuntai Academy. This is a ritual exchange? As for the tuition fee, it’s easy to say...

...

"All these are the talents in Liguo Town?"

"Report to Shuaisi, these are all wealthy people, and they all have a lot of wealth..."

"Really? OK, I will go back to Pengcheng with someone and ask someone to take the test. As long as they can pass, they will be admitted to Yuntai Academy or Sikai Academy."

A little beyond Wu Haogu's expectations, Zhu Xingshu and Zhou Daxia did not bring him a craftsman who was proficient in iron smelting. Instead, they brought him dozens of talented men in the hall on Ren Yezhu's mansion, the largest and most luxurious in Liguo Town, saying that they were going to enter Yuntai Academy or Liuyi Academy.

Not to mention, it looks quite like it. Everyone is a gentle family, but not a nouveau riche. They are all "old nobles" for 200 years, and their temperament has been developed long ago. Although they are not very good at studying, their personal cultivation and temperament still look very good, and they are all polite.

Moreover, Wu Haogu is not very picky about students. He is taking students with the spirit of teaching without distinction... so he agreed readily.

The group of smugglers present were very happy. They thought Wu Shuaisi would make a couple or take out half a piece of lyrics to take the exam, but they didn't expect it to be so easy to talk to.
Chapter completed!