All the way south through Longshan, Qufu, then turn southwest through Rencheng (now Jining), Kangfu, and then bypassing a huge water siege to Huling County (now Yutai County).

When I arrived here, I had actually arrived at Liu Bang's hometown.

Because in later generations, Liu Bang revolted from Pei County. After taking Pei County, the first attack was Hu Ling and Fang Yu County, and then went north to attack Kangfu, which began his achievements in overthrowing the Qin Dynasty and creating the Han Empire for thousands of years.

There is a big lake to the east of Huling County and a small hill at the north end, called Dushan, so this big lake is called Dushan Lake.

Dushan Lake is vast and blue, about two hundred miles long, and the widest place is about fifty miles, forming a narrow and long lake. But in fact, this is not the whole of this big lake, because after continuing to walk south through a huge reed marsh that stretches for dozens of miles, there is also a big lake below, called Weishan Lake.

The two large lakes of Dushan Weishan form a water town that stretches for more than 300 miles. As the saying goes, you can eat the mountains and the water. The lotus roots, fish and shrimps growing in this huge water siege provide sufficient food for the people along the coast. Therefore, walking on the shore by horses, through the lush reeds and thorns, you can see countless fishing boats coming and going in the lake to catch fish, shrimps, and pick lotus roots.

When he arrived in Huling County, he took a break in the county town and asked the shop owners about the situation in Pei County and nearby. After roughly understanding the situation, Chen Xu wrote a letter and arranged for the guards to send them to the county magistrate Jiangbeiting in person. Chen Xu pretended to be a rich young man. The remaining guards and the young men accompanied him also bought some ordinary clothes in Huling County to dress up as ordinary business travelers and entourages. Some went to Pei County in advance to find and arrange accommodation, while the rest protected Chen Xu and slowly headed to Pei County.

Huling is not far from Pei County, only a hundred miles apart. Moreover, because the lake is abundant, there are large areas of neat farmland and mulberry fields along the way. Villages are connected to each other, and the fields are everywhere, and the fields are full of chickens and dogs are heard. It is very prosperous and prosperous. The civilians coming and going are also very good. Many fishermen carrying lotus roots and fish baskets are even standing by the roadside and constantly selling their harvest in the lake today.

"Look at the guys passing by. These are the fish and crabs that my brother and I caught today. They are very cheap..."

Because the guards who reported the news had not long been gone, Chen Xu was not in a hurry and rode a few guards and the boy on horseback and walked forward leisurely. When he was about to arrive in Pei County, a little girl selling fish and shrimps on the road attracted his attention.

The little girl was thin, with messy and woolly hair. She was wearing a coarse linen that was patched but still had a torn and tattered cloth. She was barefoot, with mud and water everywhere on her face, hands and body. She was placed in front of her with a broken pottery basin and a fish basket that had been used for many years. The little girl looked a little nervous and kept selling her fish and shrimp to people passing by.

"Yu~~"

Chen Xu strangled the reins of the horse and stopped in front of the little girl, leaned over and took a look into the pottery basin, then turned over and dismounted.

"Young Master, these fish and shrimps are very small, and there must be big fish sold in Pei County..." A guard who was dressed up as a follower quickly got off the horse and reminded him.

"How do you sell loaches?" Chen Xu ignored the words of the guard and squatted down in front of the pottery basin. He looked at the half-basin of fat loaches in the pottery basin in surprise and was very excited.

"Go back to Master, two loach fish...one coin per pound!" The little girl hesitated for a moment and replied timidly.

Although Chen Xu did not wear brocade robe or official uniforms, he was wearing a well-made fine linen cloth. He was hung with a jade pendant around his waist, his hair was neatly combed, his fair skin and strange words. He was obviously not a local. The little girl retreated back a little scared, and kept looking back at the direction of the lake.

"You don't have to be afraid, I just want to buy your fish!" Chen Xu smiled and opened the fish basket next to him. There were half a basket of crabs and lake shrimps. The crabs were the size of fists. After being frightened, they were clambered around inside.

"Hey, this crab is not bad, how to sell shrimp and crabs?" Chen Xu became more interested.

"After Master, shrimps and crabs are also one pound per pound!" The little girl was a little bolder.

Walking all the way from Huling County, I saw many people selling lotus roots, fish and shrimps on the road. Chen Xu sometimes just rode on the horse and asked the price casually. People on the road probably knew that people with his identity would not buy it. Therefore, although his attitude was respectful, he just answered the price casually. Moreover, along the way, the fishermen on the road sold big fish, black fish, carp, and grass carp, but they didn't see anyone selling loaches and crabs.

Chen Xu was not interested in the so-called traditional aquatic products of grass carp, black fish, silver carp, and Chen Xu. These ordinary fish are not as delicious as the five-colored fish in Zhongnan Mountain. However, this lake has abundant aquatic plants in all seasons, so there are many big fish that cannot be caught. To sell at a good price, you must catch large ones. Even if you catch them, you can basically not sell them. What's more, crabs and loaches, which are not considered fish, are not very fish. People in this era basically do not eat crabs, and they have been eating them in the past two years.

It was just beginning, and a method of making it from Xianyang was barbecue or frying, but whether it was barbecue or frying, it required a lot of seasonings, especially fried, and there was no ordinary household oil. I could not see meat several times a year, so I was even less interested in eating it. So if I hadn't met Chen Xu, I would probably not be able to sell it in one day. Moreover, there was a wrinkled little girl in front of me. I guess my family didn't plan to sell it, maybe I was just waiting to meet a fool when I tried my luck.

Of course, there is a fool in front of you.

"One pound per pound, the price is very cheap. How many pounds do you have in total? I bought them all!" Chen Xu stood up happily.

"I...I don't know!" the little girl shook her head.

"The quantity is quite large, even if you are ten kilograms, there are ten kilograms in total..." Chen Xu touched his body a few times, and only found a few brand new Tai Chi Tongbao of fifty qian, and then a few finger-sized golden cakes.

"Do you bring change?" Chen Xu turned to look at the guards.

"Young master, I have it here!" An escort quickly took out a handful of change, but at the same time reminded, "Young master, how can we get these fish and shrimps back?"

Uh! Chen Xu was stunned when he counted the change and was about to pay, then looked at the little girl and said, "Can you sell your pottery basin and fish basket to me? I'll pay another one!"

The little girl looked at Chen Xu with some timidity and said, "Although this clay pot is broken, it can still be used. The fish basket is also very old, but if there is no fish basket, you can't catch fish and shrimp..."

It was the first time that the little girl met a customer like Chen Xu who had to bring clay pots and baskets for fish. She hesitated for a long time and didn't know whether to refuse.

"What you said makes sense, but if I buy your loach and shrimps without utensils, I can't take it away. So, I'll give you fifty dollars, and you sell me the clay pot and the fish basket together, so that you won't blame you when you go home. What?" Chen Xu returned the change to the guard and took out a Tai Chi Tongbao and handed it to the little girl.

The little girl looked at the new purple-red coin and hesitated for a long time and then said: "Thank you, Master!"

"Well, your home is not far from here?" Chen Xu ordered several teenagers to move the pottery pot and fish basket to the carriage to prepare to leave, but looked at the desolate scenery surrounded by reeds.

"Not far away, just in the reed marsh there. My brother weaves reed mats and silkworms at home every day!" The little girl said, pointing to a distance behind her.

"That's good, you go home quickly, let's go!" Chen Xu turned over and watched the little girl run happily along a reed path into the reeds. Chen Xu then ordered to go.

But more than ten minutes after they left, a young man wearing shabby clothes and facing a honest and tall figure ran out of the reeds. He was about eighteen or nineteen years old, with a dark skin and a hatchet on his waist, and the little girl just now was following behind him.

"Brother, I just met the young master here. They must have gone to the county town!" The little girl ran and sweat was still rolling down her forehead.

The young man stood on tiptoe and looked at the direction of Peixian, but the post roads were surrounded by reeds and thorny trees, and Chen Xu and others could no longer be seen.

The young man withdrew his gaze and looked at the brand new copper coin in his hand that was brightly bright in the sun. Then he held the little girl's hand and walked back while walking back: "That pottery basin and fish basket are worthless. I will go to the county town with my brother to find that young man tomorrow and return the extra money to him!"

"But brother, you have to make a lot of reed silkworm plaques for fifty dollars to make money, and that master looks very rich..."

"If others have money, it's other people's money. I have hands to make money,"

"Brother, you have to help me find a sister-in-law. You see, my clothes can't cover my butt..."

"Our family is so poor. Which little lady is blind and married to me. I will help you make one..."

The conversation between the brother and sister came from the reeds, and they were soon drowned by the sound of the whistling reeds.

...

In the lobby of Pei County Government, the county magistrate Jiang Beiting was on the trial. Several burly men with bare chests and breasts were pressed by police officers to kneel on the ground. Hundreds of people gathered outside the county government, and the noise was very lively.

Someone quarreled in the market today, which finally caused a fight between two gangs, with hundreds of people involved, and the lieutenant was mobilized to suppress it. Several leaders of the fight between the two sides were arrested, and many others were arrested, but after interrogation, some of them had been returned home. The last few were thorns, and this was not the first time they caused trouble.

The cause of the matter is not complicated. One group of fishermen nearby, fishing in the lake all year round and then selling it on the market. The other group of gangsters who usually wander in the county town.

Because after the beginning of this year, the new business laws were implemented nationwide, allowing civilians to trade freely in the market, and the business tax of merchants suddenly decreased a lot, so the county town suddenly became lively. In just a few months, twenty or thirty foot houses and food houses appeared in the county town, and several living markets became extremely lively. Villagers from nearby towns lined up outside the city gate before dawn every day, carrying goods to the market in the city to sell.

The sudden prosperity of the market has also brought about many public security problems.

Pei County is close to the Shandong border in later generations. The people are already quite tough. In addition, Pei County is on the border of Qi and Chu, and the two countries often fight, and the people are not convinced by each other. The most important thing is that in the Qin Dynasty, people are very barbaric, and fighting is just like a common occurrence. Although private fights are illegal, this cannot stop the barbaric genes in everyone's blood. If no one fights on the street, it must be that the men in the county will die.

Due to the prosperity of business, many poor people who were suffering in the past also had some opportunities to make money, especially local fishermen, who took the fish they caught to the market in the city every day. The market in the city was like later generations, and there were gangsters in charge, so naturally they were not happy that these people would not pay protection fees for making money.

Therefore, some fishermen united to fight against these hooligans and gangsters, fighting every few days. Both sides hurt each other, but they were repeatedly banned.

However, ordinary fights cannot be sentenced if caught. At most, they will be fined. These fishermen and gangsters have no money and can only be locked in a cell for a few days and have a few days of food for nothing.

Therefore, Jiangbeiting also has a headache about this kind of thing.

And they appeared every now and then. The guys kneeling in the lobby in front of them had long been used to it, and they all stared at each other with calm expressions.

"Assemble a fight, according to the law of criminal law, you should be fined a stone for twenty flogs..."

"County Master, you can be beaten, but I have no money!" Before Jiang Beiting finished speaking, several fishermen and hooligans answered almost in unison.

Jiangbeiting:...

A man wearing blue official uniform next to him about forty years old said to Jiangbeiting: "County Master, these people are all thorns, so let's take twenty whips and let them go!"

"Okay, that's all, Master Xiao will arrange it!" Jiang Beiting waved his hand and closed the file in his hand.

"Each person is beaten twenty times and expelled from the county government!" Master Xiao waved his hand calmly.

"Here~"

A group of police officers rushed forward and pressed several people to the ground and whipped them with whips, then dragged them out and threw them outside the lobby of the county government. The people grinned and covered their butts and got up, and began to provoke each other again.

"What are you doing? If you annoy the county magistrate, you have to go to the prison for one tenth, why don't you leave quickly!" Master Xiao shouted with his eyes wide open.

"Don't worry, Master Xiao, I won't fight here. Let's go first today and say goodbye!"

Several gangsters bowed and left first. Several fishermen leaders limped and helped each other away. One of them looked back at Master Xiao, obviously a little angry. Although they were all spanking, it was obvious that their group of fishermen were going to be more severe, and the other hooligans were almost the same as not being beaten.
Chapter completed!