Huan Rong

Towards the end of December, the north wind swept across, and there were several heavy snowfalls in a row.

The further north, the colder the weather, the rivers, lakes and streams are all frozen, the ground is frozen solid, and the cars and horses pass by the road, and the snow is compacted layer by layer, like frozen soil.

There is a vast expanse of whiteness between the sky and the earth, and the trees and houses are covered with ice and snow, as if they are integrated with the sky and the earth.

In Xihe County, all the rivers passing around Wubao were frozen, and a large area of ​​the river was frozen.

Ordinary ox carts and horse carts pass through the river, and the servants who drive the carts wave their long whips, throwing out loud whip flowers one after another, the hot air exhaled from the mouth and nose condenses into white mist, hangs eyebrows and beards, and condenses a series of connected snow crystals .

"Such a cold day is really rare." Jianfu wiped his face, muttered to himself, and continued to drive on the road.

From the south of Wubao, more than a dozen horses rode on the snow.

The knight whipped his horse, and his black cloak and sleeves fluttered in the wind. There were still more than a hundred meters away from the Wubao, and the servants at the top of the city had already blown their horns.

The servants guarding the gate turned the wooden wheel, and amidst the creaking sound, the wooden door opened to both sides. Two groups of servants walked out of the gate, pushing aside their horses in front of the fort to welcome Qin Jing and his party inside.

"Second Young Master and Fourth Young Master are back!"

Accompanied by the sound of people from the top of the city, two teenagers galloped north. They were both fourteen or fifteen years old, with handsome faces and full of vigor.

One was wearing a blue dark coat with tight cuffs and a fox fur cloak over his shoulders, the other was wearing leather armor with a longbow on his back, and two fat gray rabbits hung on his horseback.

Seeing Qin Jing and Qin Ju, the two teenagers turned their horses around sharply and rushed straight towards Gu.

Only when they get close can they realize that the two people have the same appearance, except for their clothes and expressions, even their voices are exactly the same.

"Brother!"

The boy in blue dark clothes is named Qin Jue, the sixth son of Qin Ce, the patriarch of the Qin family. The leather armor boy is named Qin Yu, the seventh son of Qin Ce, and Qin Jue's twin brother.

The biological mother of the two is the sister of Qin Ce's first wife Liu Wenjun, who married into the Qin family as a companion.Qin Ce's nine sons were all from his concubine and his concubine, and the remaining concubines, not to mention sons, did not even have a daughter.

Similar to Sima Huan, Patriarch Qin's back house is also "harmonious" and "peaceful".It's just that the basis of harmony is different, and the cause of tranquility is also fundamentally different.

Princess Nankang and Mrs. Li are beauties who love each other and don't pay attention to other concubines and concubines at all.

Mrs. Liu and her companion were sisters on a blind date, and they were so close that they kinked together to suppress any signs of threat.In the early years, there were girls from the noble family who were not convinced and tried to jump a few times. Now, even Qin Ce has to smile when he sees his wife.

Hero shortness of breath?

Patriarch Qin said that he is willing, can he control it?

As Qin Jing's brothers grew up to become crowned champions one after another, Mrs. Liu's temper gradually eased, and she seldom implemented the iron-fisted policy.Qin Ce's concubine's room became more and more honest, and the atmosphere in the back house became more and more harmonious.

The bottom line is that Qin Ce is over fifty years old, and it must be the Qin Jing brothers who will be in charge of Wubao from now on.

For the concubine's room of a middle-aged lady, it is futile to compete for the patriarch's favor, it is far better to try to coax the wife to feel at ease, and seek a place to live in for the future.Knowing that the result would be confrontation with Mrs. Liu, it was definitely because the head was hit by an ice cube and he got out of the hole.

On a rare sunny day, Mrs. Liu and the female family members in the back house had nothing to do, so they called the servants to bring out silk and compared the cutting of new clothes.After being busy for a while, I felt bored, so I simply asked my son to dance swords to relieve boredom.

Qin Jing's eldest brother was guarding Wubao in Shangdang County, and he was not in the castle. In addition, he was standing after a young age, so naturally he would not be arrested by his mother.

Seeing something was wrong, Qin Jue and Qin Yu ran off on the pretext of hunting, leaving Qin Zhen, who was less than ten years old, with a black cloud over his head. No matter, it's too unkind, isn't it!

From this point of view, the Qin brothers' habit of pitting each other is really not an exception.

"Brother is finally back. My father has been reading. All the goshawks in the castle have been released. I guess the eagle cages in Wubao in Luozhou are almost full, right?"

Qin Jue has a lively personality, while Qin Yu is somewhat taciturn.Although they look very similar, the Qin family who are familiar with them can still recognize them at a glance.

"Go hunting?"

"Yes." Qin Jue flicked off his horsewhip, turned to look at Qin Yu, and said, "Ah Lan, show brother the two wolf cubs you caught."

"Wolf cub?" Qin Yu was cheerful by nature, and rarely put on airs in front of his younger brother.This is true for Qin Jing who was born of the same mother, and it is also true for twins.

"The fur is all white!"

Qin Jue was a little excited, pulled the leather rope on Qin Yu's horse's head, and said, "It's the mountain where brother hunted wolves before. Ah Lan and I were chasing a fox, but the fox was cunning and burrowed into the snow den. They disappeared without a trace. Following the footprints in circles, Ah Lan found a wolf's lair!"

While speaking, Qin Yu untied a leather bag on the horse's back, and took out two little wolf cubs inside.

Different from ordinary wild wolves, these two wolf cubs are covered in snow-white, with dark pupils, thumping vigorously on their four legs, baring their teeth in a demonstrative manner, and making immature growls. all the way.

"Brother, does this look like the one you hunted before?"

Qin Jing didn't have time to speak, Qin Ju burst out laughing.

"Your fourth brother hunts the wolf king, who stands taller than you. These are still two cubs, how do you look like them?"

Qin Jue was not convinced, and was about to argue, but Qin Yu pulled him, took the wolf cub back, and stuffed it back into the leather pocket.

"Auntie is short of something to relieve boredom, this is just right."

"Wolf nature is difficult to tame. If you want to relieve your mother's boredom, you might as well catch a few rabbits." Qin Yu disagreed.

"Brother, do you think my mother would be willing to raise rabbits?" Qin Yu tied the leather bag firmly without raising his head.The wolf cub continued to flop around in the bag, unabated in spirit.

"This..." With my mother's character, it was indeed impossible.

Mrs. Liu has the blood of the Han Dynasty, not only proficient in writing and ink, but also learned marksmanship.The first goshawk in Qinshiwu Castle was originally raised by Mrs. Liu, and to this day, the strongest eagles in the castle are all descendants of that female eagle.

If Huan Rong heard Madam Liu's name and knew her deeds in the early years, he would definitely say on the spot that this madam and grandma must have quite a common language!

When the four brothers were talking outside the castle, Qin Ce had already received the report, but after waiting in the main room for a quarter of an hour, his son still did not show up.Just waiting impatiently, there was a sound of footsteps outside the door, Qin Jing and Qin Jun took off their cloaks, walked into the room one after another, and saluted Qin Ce.

"Father."

Qin Ce nodded, and ordered his servant to bring tea soup.

Qin Jun picked up the lacquer cup, and when he put half of the cup down, he felt comfortable.Qin Jing took a sip and put the lacquer cup aside.I am used to the tea soup at Huanrong's place, but I am not used to the strong ginger flavor.

Fortunately, Qin Ce and Qin Jun didn't pay attention, both of them were focused on Qin Jing's trip to the south, or should I say, what he brought back from the south.

"Father, my son has gained a lot from this trip."

"Oh?" Qin Ce asked, "But did you find Shi Jingde?"

"It has indeed been found."

"Can he go north with you?"

"No."

Seeing Qin Ce's frown, Qin Jing explained: "Father, people have their own aspirations and cannot be forced. The Shi family was imprisoned by Xianbei before, and after escaping, they met the robbers. Now there are only two brothers, Shi Jingde. What he said, the two brothers were able to survive, all depended on the Yandu county magistrate to save them. He bluntly said that he did not want to go north with his son in order to repay his life-saving grace."

"The county magistrate of Yandu?" Qin Ce didn't pay much attention to the Overseas Chinese County in Jin, and he didn't know much about Yandu County, which was located in the Overseas Chinese County.

"This son's surname is Huan and his name is Rong. He is the direct son of Jin Dasi Ma Huanyuan. He was selected by the imperial court three months ago and became an official in Yandu to take charge of a county's government affairs."

"Oh?" Hearing that it was Huan Wen's son, Qin Ce somewhat had an impression, and asked doubtfully, "If it's him, he shouldn't be as weak as the crown?"

"It's the year of the dancing elephant." Qin Jing said.

Qin Ce and Qin Yu were silent at the same time.

so young?

"Father, although he is young, he has been praised as a talented and beautiful jade by the Confucian Zhou family in Runan. My son went south twice and met him face to face several times. He watched his words and deeds and knew his deeds after he took office. It is expected that this son will It's not a thing in the pool, and it will definitely do a lot in the future."

While speaking, Qin Jing ordered his servants to carry two wooden boxes, one containing the salt and food contract signed by both parties, and the other containing the map given by Huan Rong.

Qin Jing first opened the wooden box on the right, and took out the bamboo slips one by one, asking Qin Ce to read them in detail.Seeing the amount of sea salt and rice recorded on the bamboo slips, Qin Ce couldn't help showing surprise.

"Can one county produce so much salt?"

"Father, Yandu has been a place to cook salt since the Han Dynasty. During the Wei and Jin wars, this place was occupied by the Chen family and other powerful Wu surnames. They only knew how to exploit but didn't manage it. It has gradually declined for decades."

The Chen family and their in-laws occupied Yanting, making several surnames and several families rich, and Yandu never had much development.

After Huan Rong overthrew the county's tyrants and took back the salt pavilion, he adopted Shi Shao's advice, abolished all the previous disadvantages, and adopted the method of boiling salt proposed by the experienced hand, which not only increased the amount of salt produced, but also improved the quality.

Salt of this quality is not suitable for the original price.If it were someone else, nine out of ten would have a price increase.Huan Rong went in the opposite direction, not raising the price but lowering it, which is quite rare.

After Qin Jing's explanation, Qin Ce thought about it for a while, and decided in his heart that Huan Rong's ambition was lofty and worthy of friendship.

It's a pity that Huan doesn't know what Patriarch Qin thinks, if he knows, [-]% of them will be silent.

All he wanted was to expand business channels, expand the market as quickly as possible, and then make a lot of money. For this reason, he did not hesitate to send two boats of salt to the Jin Dynasty. It is really not so noble.

The so-called ancients were good at making up brains, Xi Cishi was like this, and so was Patriarch Qin.

"According to this contract, starting from next year, within three years, salt from Yandu can be used by thousands of people in Wubao. If the production increases, the quantity of the market can also increase accordingly, and within the agreed period, the price will remain the same. constant."

After explaining the main content of the contract, Qin Jing took back the bamboo slips and put them back in the wooden box.Afterwards, Qin Ce asked Qin Ce to move back to the left and right, closed the door, and then opened the copper lock of the wooden box on the left, took out a piece of plain silk cloth, and slowly unfolded it.

In order to make the map detailed enough, Huan Rong used a whole piece of silk cloth, cut it and spread it out, which can occupy most of the inner room.

The silk cloth is unfolded little by little, and the terrain of mountains and rivers gradually shows its original appearance.

Qin Ce and Qin Jun were surprised at first, then gasped, and finally shocked.

"Azi, where did you get this picture?"

"A gift from the county magistrate Huan."

"Where did he get it?" Qin Ce approached the map, and traced along the river with his fingers. His excitement and surprise could not be concealed, and he even made up his mind that if he could find the person who drew the map, no matter what the price was, he must try to invite him to join Qin. Shiwubao!

"This picture was drawn by Huan County Magistrate himself."

"what?!"

Qin Ce paused, Qin Ju raised his head in astonishment, and the two looked at Qin Jing. Their shocking mood could no longer be described as "a divine beast galloping past".

Huan Rong, who was far away in Yandu, had no idea how the Qin family and his son felt about him.

Wary of Hu Shangsheng, after discussing with Shi Shao, Huan Rong selected a few of his servants, entered Dongcheng under the cover of food and cloth, and inquired about Hu Shang from many sources.

As expected, he found a problem with this inquiry.

"Don't buy silk cloth, don't buy food, ask about the location of Yanting every day, and try to bribe refugees to lead the way?"

After listening to Jianfu's report, Huan Rong immediately knew that the visitor was not good.

The Jin Dynasty couldn't help smuggling salt, and Hu merchants didn't break the law when buying salt, so they could raise it openly.

If you are worried that the merchant will not sell it, you can also change hands through the merchants in the city.Huan Rong knows exactly how many such "second-hand traffickers" there are in Yandu County.

No substantial damage has been caused so far, so he turned a blind eye to it for the time being.If anyone dares to cross the line, the Chen father and son who will lose their heads after the next year will be a lesson from the past.

It's impossible to be so sneaky and pry around, saying that there is no ghost in my heart.

"Continue to investigate and record the people who came into contact with them, including the refugees who were bought."

"promise!"

The servant took the order to retreat, and Huan Rong sat alone in the inner room, and couldn't help laughing bitterly.

The tree wants to be calm and the wind does not stop.

I really thought that I would not be able to live a peaceful life for a few days.

Just as he was sighing, there was a sudden sound of a heavy object falling to the ground outside the window.

Huan Rong knew immediately that Brother Raptor returned home with a lot of rewards.He got up and walked to the door of the room, pushed it open, and found a half-sized elk lying in the yard, its neck had been broken, and its back was scratched and dripping with blood.

"Hey——"

The goshawk croaked triumphantly, circled for two weeks and then landed, directly occupying Huan Rong's right shoulder.

Feeling Feiyu sweeping across his cheeks, and seeing the bloodstains and scratches left by the eagle claws on his outer robe, Huan Rong pinched the center of his brows helplessly.

This is already the eighth robe since half a month ago.

He did not lack clothes, but he couldn't waste them like this.If possible, he really wanted to discuss with Brother Raptor, could he find a cloth to wipe his claws before flying down next time?