Go back to ancient times to engage in sideline business

The carriage moved forward slowly, and it took a long time to travel a hundred paces.

Tang Zhong only felt that even the uncle walking out of the city by the side of the road was faster than them.

"I'm tired along the way, why don't I just get off here!"

After thanking the coachman who was ordered to escort him, Tang Zhong jumped out of the carriage and began to trot unconsciously, passing by several caravans lined up with long queues, and walked quickly to the west gate.

At the gate of the city, Shouzheng Li Dabao and his subordinates were checking the directions of vendors entering the city.

Tomorrow is the fair again, and many businessmen from other places have already arrived ahead of schedule.

Every few days before the fair, the workload at the gate of the city will increase sharply. It is not uncommon for caravans from other places to queue for several hours before they can enter the city.

Since the establishment of the Qingjiang Chamber of Commerce, merchants from all walks of life in the county have tasted the sweetness of group development and exploring foreign markets, and they feel more and more that the only way to do it is to forge their own strength.

During the three months since Tang Zhong left, the merchants in the county all worked hard to think about their business. They often came up with good ideas on the first day. can be promoted.

Merchants are grouping together to open the books, and their competitiveness is naturally increasing day by day. The most obvious manifestation is the monthly trade fair, which is getting more and more popular every time.

At first, the fair attracted caravans passing through official roads.But now, there are already quite a few caravans from other provinces who have come here especially for the name.

Business in Qingjiang County is booming day by day, and the prices of daily grain, rice, and vegetables have also risen accordingly.

But in just three months, almost everyone in the county has bulged a little.

Many people couldn't help but start to imagine that if things go on like this, their small county will sooner or later surpass Yongning Mansion and catch up with the provincial capital!

But Tang Zhong didn't know it yet, because of his existence, all the businesses in Qingjiang County were off to a good start.

Now he was walking briskly on, hurrying home.

Seeing someone rushing over in a hurry, Li Dabao frowned and was about to reprimand him, but when he saw the other person's face clearly, he couldn't help but widen his eyes.

"Tang Zhong! You're back!"

Tang Zhong nodded to Li Dabao, he wanted to say hello and leave, but he grabbed his sleeves tightly.

"It's really you! After you disappeared, Master Liu and Hu Tou'er almost turned Qingjiang County upside down, and I followed the county to search for it for a long time. Later, I heard that you were taken away by people from the Ministry of War. Why? What happened? What did they arrest you for?"

Li Dabao seemed to have pulled the gossip trigger, asking questions like peas in a bamboo tube, Tang Zhong wondered, hadn't he been so familiar with him before?

Still in a hurry to go home, he simply picked the key points of the past three months and said a few words, but it was enough for the other party to click their tongues.

At the end, Li Dabao finally said: "This is a great achievement! I estimate that the imperial court's reward will come down in less than a month, so I congratulate you in advance, brother!"

"I am over-flattered."

Tang Zhong smiled dryly as a thank you for the sudden approach of the guard at the west city gate, made a salute with his hands clasped together, and quickly slipped away.

Walking out of the city gate and formally stepping on Baima Street, which runs through Qingjiang County, Tang Zhong raised his eyes and saw the red banner stretched ahead.

The left and right banners were tied to the second floors on both sides of the street, and seven big characters were written in the air: "Welcome to Qingjiang County".

The handwriting looks familiar, but it looks like... Mr. Tongzhi's calligraphy!

On Baima Street, which connects the two city gates, looking from west to east, such welcome slogans hang every other section, which makes the whole street quite festive, like New Year's Eve.

Before he had time to wonder, who borrowed his idea of ​​pulling banners on the city tower before, he heard someone greet him again.

"Master! It's really you!"

It was the six clerks standing at the entrance of Fuxing Restaurant, greeting the guests.

The six sons had sharp eyes and recognized him from a long distance away, and immediately moved closer to him regardless of the guests around him.

Different from Li Dabao's familiarity, the six sons came over and checked his arms, legs and feet with pinches and shakes. After confirming that he had all beard and tail, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's good that you're not injured. You don't know. When there was no news at first, we were all in a hurry. Shopkeeper Liu almost went to the governor's office to submit a certificate! Fortunately, Mr. Liu stopped him in time and said that you were ordered to go to Ningzhou Camp."

The worried look in the eyes of the six sons was still there, Tang Zhong felt grateful in his heart, and patted him on the shoulder comfortingly: "Okay, it's back! Hurry up, I'll go home and report that I'm safe, and then I'll talk to you in detail! "

Continue to go forward and meet the shop owner or guy along the way.Anyone who recognizes Tang Zhong should call out in surprise: "Tang Boss! You're back!"

Tang Zhong was busy nodding back and forth in agreement, but he was really happy in his heart.

This feeling of being cared about and missed by others is extremely common and extremely rare.

Turning his head to say hello to the clerk at the cloth shop, who knows that Tang Zhong didn't pay attention when passing the intersection, and Tang Zhong happened to collide with the oncoming cart.

"Be careful, be careful! O my turnip!"

Tang Zhong staggered and jumped onto the cart. The cart was full of all kinds of groceries. The sack that happened to be placed on the roof was not fastened, and two large bags of round radishes poured out, rolling all over the street.

"You man! Why don't you look at the road when you walk!" The man pushing the cart felt bitter, and immediately squatted down to pick up carrots.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Tang Zhong apologized repeatedly and hurried to help.

It was just an ordinary small collision, but it happened at the intersection of Baima Street and Qingniu Street. The already slow traffic on the two roads immediately made things worse.

Pedestrians were fine, but the donkey carts and horses at the crossroads were so annoyed that they had to pull up the reins and stop in place.

Seeing that the small conflict was about to develop into a big congestion, three young yamen officials appeared out of nowhere and rushed over quickly.

One helped to push the cart to the side of the road to get out of the way, while the other two picked up the hem of their robes and bent over to help pick them up.

The three of them have a clear division of labor and quick movements, and they just focus on doing things without saying a word throughout the whole process. This skilled look seems to have long been used to dealing with traffic jams at intersections.

Soon, the radishes piled up at the intersection were picked up, and many of the radishes that had disappeared were picked up one by one by the passing people and surrounding vendors and put them on the car, and the road became smooth again.

When Tang Zhong was taken away from Qingjiang, Master Liu Tongzhi was trying to rectify the customs of the county officials, but he did not expect that today's officers and common people would get along so well.

If you want to come to a harmonious government, you are talking about Qingjiang County, which is now under the rule of Mr. Liu!

Walk to Baima East Street, turn into Qingshi Lane, in front of him is home, the small courtyard that he cares about.

After a summer, the branches of the sour jujube tree became more and more luxuriant, and they looked bigger than before.

Under the jujube tree, Granny Zhao, who had been hired to look after the children at home, was sitting on a bench and picking up the soles of her shoes.

Speaking of which, Granny Zhao has been owed three months' wages. I didn't expect that Granny Zhao would continue to take care of the children at home during these days away from home.

On the other side of the yard, there was an extra wooden swing at some point.And the two-year-old girl, Tang Biao, is sitting on the swing, playing with Granny Zhao's ball of thread.

The breeze blows, the jujube leaves rustle.The little girl blinked her eyes and suddenly raised her head, her eyes just happened to look over.

"elder brother."

"Your brother just left school at this hour, and he won't be back until a while!" Granny Zhao looked at Tang Biao lovingly, trying to correct him.

"Who said that? She obviously has a second brother!"

Grandma Zhao turned around following the sound, her hands shook in shock, and the spools of thread in the sewing basket tumbled to the ground.

While speaking, Tang Biao had climbed down the swing skillfully, and staggered over with small steps.

"elder brother."

The little girl raised her head, her deer-like eyes turned into crescent moons, and she gave a soft cry.

Tang Zhong only felt that the hard work all the way was melted away in his younger sister's milking voice, so he quickly hugged the younger sister in his arms, and gently stroked her little head.The little girl nestled her head softly on her brother's shoulder, giggling happily.

It's nice to see family again.

Granny Zhao stood up and slapped her thighs happily. When she got excited, she couldn't stop talking.

"It's really a real person who appeared! The day before yesterday, I took the children to the Sanqing Temple in Heming Mountain to offer incense. Unexpectedly, the Sanqing real person sent you back today!"

Tang Zhong couldn't laugh or cry when he heard it, but he was really grateful for Granny Zhao's care: "Grandma Zhao has worked hard these days when I'm not here!"

"What's the hard work? Neighbors in the street, it should be! When I accepted the job of taking care of the children of the Tang family, I should have done my best, right? Besides, Mr. Liu came back and forth several times and gave away a lot of money. I don't dare to be careless!"

Seeing that Tang Zhong was still staring at her, Grandma Zhao had a thin face and felt a little embarrassed, so she pointed to some newly acquired objects in the courtyard, trying to change the subject: "Look, during the days when you were away, a lot of things have been added to the house. The swings and wooden horses in the garden were made by Carpenter Gao, the beautiful pots and pans on the steps were given by Blacksmith Wang, and there are a lot of braised meat in the kitchen, all of which are Fuxing..."

"Thank you, grandma." Tang Zhong held the younger sister with one hand, freed the other hand, bent down, and gave Grandma Zhao a big hug.

Grandma Zhao stopped talking immediately, and laughed out of embarrassment.

It was the first time that he was hugged by other people's children and grandchildren. Could it be that the child of the Tang family learned how to behave like a coastal family?

It's... so cute.

Reunited in the small courtyard of the Tang family after a long absence, they were feeling affectionate. Behind an old elm tree with a crooked neck outside the small courtyard, Pu Guang's face was cold, and his sleeves flashed by.

He was ordered to follow along all the way, and he had to wait for the time to bring Tang Zhong back.

Suddenly, he saw a sharp palm wind coming from behind, he instinctively dodged sideways, but he didn't want to, another hidden weapon shot from the left and right sides.

Pu Guang jumped up, trying to avoid it, but he didn't want to be hit by the person waiting on the tree, who directly hit the acupuncture point on his chest, and couldn't move immediately.

"Go, or the Tang family will find out!"

The leader greeted him, and the others understood, and immediately led Pu Guang to a more remote, unnamed alley.

Pu Guang was furious and threatened the person who kidnapped him, "Do you know who I am? Do you dare to strike?"

Unexpectedly, as soon as the other party opened his mouth, he knew all about him.

"It's inconvenient for Cheng Li to go north with the army, so he simply sent you to bring Tang Zhong back, right?"

"You? Who are you?"

The leader couldn't help laughing and said, "We disguised ourselves as a caravan and secretly escorted Tang Zhong here. Who do you think we are?"

Pu Guang's face froze, and he lost a bit of confidence even when he spoke: "Could it be...it's General Yuan!"

"I expected that you would do this!" The leader lowered his expression: "General Yuan kept his promise. Since he promised to let Tang Zhong return home, why would he only send a carriage? Go back and tell Commander Cheng that Tang Zhong's future actions will come sooner or later." Things, don't bother the commander!"

After a short rest, Tang Zhong went into the house and changed into clean clothes and came out, looking at the leaves scattered all over the old elm tree beside the outer wall of Cook Sun's house, feeling a little puzzled.

The wind is obviously not strong today, is it?

Tang Meng was not seen when he came back, Tang Zhong was a little worried, and immediately put this trivial matter behind him.

Tang Shu didn't come back from the school, but where did Tang Meng go?

"Grandma, Xiao Meng is not at home reading, do you know where she has gone?"

"She..."

Tang Zhong saw Granny Zhao struggling with herself, not knowing how to speak, and her heart began to tremble involuntarily.

This girl has always had her own ideas, so maybe something happened while he was away?

Just as he was about to ask questions anxiously, he heard two familiar voices coming from the Qingshi alley.

"Stop, what are you hiding in your arms?"

It was the third brother, Uncle Tang, who spoke.

"Hey, third brother, are you off to school?"

Then the girl's voice sounded, it was the elder sister Tang Meng.

Tang Zhong's hanging heart finally returned to his original position, he simply walked out of the yard, intending to pick up his two younger siblings and go home in person.

Qingshi Lane is not long, but it turned a corner near the intersection, Tang Shu and Tang Meng naturally did not see their brother coming, and continued the topic just now.

There were only two croaking sounds, and then Tang Laosan said, "Xiao Meng, tell the truth, are you going to find trouble with Liu Dacheng later?"

"That's not right! He stuffed frogs into your schoolbag, and I'll find a big one to stuff them back! Let's see if he dares to play tricks on you in the future!"

"I will ask him to reason, but you, little girl, when did you learn so wildly?"

Tang Meng was obviously not convinced: "Hmph! The second brother said before that you can't be bullied outside, you have to fight back!"

what?

"When did I tell you that!"

Tang Zhong, who was listening to the corner, could no longer hold his own, and stepped forward with great strides, confronting him on the spot.

At the entrance of the alley, Tang Laosan and Tang Meng stood together, one tall and one short.

Tang Laosan was carrying a schoolbag, still neat and sensible, but Tang Meng was completely different.

The two buns on the head were hanging loosely behind the ears, and the clothes and skirts all over the body were dirty and stained with a lot of dust.What was even more annoying was that the little girl wrapped it in linen and was holding her tightly in her arms.

Just now, he came all the way, and he prepared a lot of words in advance that he wanted to say to his two siblings, some of which were warm and self-blaming.

But I never expected that when we meet again, it will be like this.

Almost grinding his back molars, Tang Zhong said angrily: "Tang Laosan, go back first, Xiao Meng, come here and stand against the wall!"

Life in Qingjiang County passed quickly, and it had been more than a month since the servant sent by the superior came to Qingjiang County.

On this day, the special envoy preached the decree loudly in the square in front of officials big and small in Qingjiang County.When the commendation speech was read out, everyone could still understand it, but the content behind it was really hard to understand.

Just listen to the waiter read: "According to the agreement before the war, the price of building searchlights is 3000 taels, the price of refitting crossbow guns is 400 taels, the price of making winged clothes is 500 taels, and the price of building them is 700 taels. Ningzhou During World War I, the treasury paid silver, a total of 600 taels."

The servant closed the edict, pointed to the two big metal boxes behind him, and said, "Tang Zhong, let's count the numbers!"

Under the surprised eyes of Liu Tongzhi and Hu Touer, Tang Zhongxie got up and happily ran to count the money.

Speaking of which, this large sum of silver was planned for him by General Yuan that day.

"You want this old man to help you return home, but it's not difficult, but you, have you figured out how to deal with people who will come looking for you in the future?" Old General Yuan stroked his beard and asked leisurely.

At that time, Tang Zhong was only thinking about going home, and he didn't think about these problems at all, so he could only shake his head honestly.

"You, even if you want to be a wandering cloud and a wild crane, you have to think about how to deal with it. You have made great contributions in this battle, and the government and the public will soon know that there is someone like you, and there is no fear that there will be a second Cheng Li, who will come to Qingjiang to tie you up again." You go back?"

Tang Zhong was awed, and subconsciously touched the back of his neck where he had been hit by the ecstasy needle: "I also ask the general for advice!"

Old General Yuan lowered his voice, and continued: "Simply, let them know that the price is not cheap for you to advise. Unless there is a big event, ordinary officials can't afford you..."

Tang Zhong withdrew his thoughts, looking at the two large boxes full of official silver in front of him, it was really embarrassing for Old General Yuan, he made up an arms quotation out of thin air, and sent him a large sum of money.

In the future, there is no need to think about whether there are important people coming to him for business. Now there is only one problem in front of Tang Zhong:

So much money, how should he spend it?

The warm autumn sun cut through the clouds and shone brightly on the body, as warm as a loved one's embrace.

Tang Zhong used to always think about how to earn more money with a side job, now it's time to start thinking about how to spend money...

The author has something to say:

Thank you for your encouragement and tolerance

The good-for-nothing writer is finally finished, ouch——

Love you, mua—