Chapter 5 Two Donkeys Entering Yinzhou
The whole audience couldn't stop laughing.
The image of a "talented man" that Liu Zheng had just created was instantly shattered.
Among the three states and counties, Yinzhou is the worst.
This is something that even a three-year-old child can understand, but he chose Yinzhou without any bias? Isn't this stupid?
Chen Ping looked at Liu Zheng in surprise: "Are you serious, nephew?"
Chen Ruoshi was also disappointed, but she couldn't help but angrily reminded him, "Liu Zheng, if you are drunk, wait until you wake up before making a decision. Liu County Marquis has worked hard all his life, don't let you waste it! It's embarrassing! That Yinzhou is extremely poor, with a declining population. It's known as an incurable place. You, you..."
Liu Dahao was also sweating profusely, and whispered: "Son, why is this happening? Tell your father that you are serious!"
Liu Zheng ignored the ridicule of others and said calmly: "Yes, it is Yinzhou."
However, a sly smile appeared on his face immediately, and he looked at Chen Ping flatteringly: "Sir Governor, I, Liu Zheng, have no great ambitions. I am willing to be the second generation ancestor of Yinzhou and not cause disputes. But... after all, Yinzhou is poor, so you have to give us some start-up capital, right?"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone suddenly understood.
It turns out that this guy chose Yinzhou because he wanted to "cash in" money?
, everyone was once again extremely disappointed with Liu Zheng.
“Short-sighted!”
"This boy, this boy, will make Liu County Marquis fall into the trap!"
Many people beat their chests and stamped their feet. If they were given this opportunity, they would definitely think of settling in Wuzhou and Kezhou and making great plans. However, Liu Zheng only wanted immediate benefits and coveted wealth and honor, but lost his rich fiefdom. What else could he be if not lack of ambition?
Chen Ping also smiled and said, "My dear nephew, what you said makes sense. If Lord Liu really wants to go to Yinzhou, I will naturally prepare some money for you. Yinzhou is poor and needs to be rebuilt. If Lord Liu goes, he will have to worry about me. How about I give you one thousand gold?"
One thousand gold is equivalent to ten thousand taels of silver.
Before Liu Dahao could say anything, Liu Zheng had already thanked him overjoyed, looking like a miser.
"absurd!"
"What a loser!"
People cried out in pain, although Liu Dahao was a businessman, he was also a hero and had a great reputation. He was so old, but he still lost to his only son.
The poetry reading ended here and everyone dispersed.
Liu Zheng's name will surely spread throughout Liangzhou in the next few days. But it is destined to receive mixed reviews...
Chen Ping was afraid that the two would go back on their word, so he immediately asked the counselor in the mansion to give the two men one thousand gold coins.
Wait for the Liu father and son to leave happily.
Chen Ping's face slowly turned gloomy.
"Sir, this child is nothing to worry about. I didn't expect that Liu Dahao, who was a hero all his life, would give birth to such a prodigal son. For the sake of a thousand gold coins, he chose a mere Yinzhou. From now on, it will be difficult for Liu Dahao to make a comeback in Liangzhou!"
A military advisor nearby laughed.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Chen Ping also laughed happily: "Ruoshi, you should be a scholar and judge people in the future. Liu Zheng has decent literary talent, but he still has a playboy style. In this chaotic world, literature is not as good as martial arts..."
Chen Ruoshi snorted coldly and turned back to her boudoir.
"This girl..."
Chen Ping shook his head helplessly, but he was still a little worried, so he gave an order: "Liu Dahao is a man with a lot of tricks in his mind, we must be on guard. Give orders to keep track of the whereabouts of these two people at all times, and report to me immediately if there are any changes!"
"yes!"
…
Look at Liu Zheng and Liu Dahao over here.
Along the way, Liu Zheng was quite excited.
I didn't expect that I would come to the poetry gathering to ruin the place, but I would gain quite a lot! I was promoted from a township marquis to a county marquis, and I also got 10,000 taels of silver as a start-up capital!
unexpected surprise!
But after thinking about it, he felt relieved.
This idea was that there was no imperial examination. The Longyan Dynasty continued the Han Dynasty's poetry meeting system of selecting filial and honest people. It was extremely difficult for literati to become officials from a commoner. They had to have the talent of the classics and be famous enough. Occasions like the Liangzhou Poetry Meeting were actually similar to the imperial examinations of later generations.
Whoever is more powerful and wins the championship will be close to becoming an official.
This time, Liu Zheng captured thousands of his colleagues in one fell swoop. Logically speaking, even the prefect Chen Ping would feel embarrassed to give nothing.
Coupled with Liu Zheng's words, "Father-in-law," it was reasonable for Chen Ping to upgrade the township marquis to the county marquis.
“Hahahaha! It’s posted!”
Liu Zheng laughed happily.
Liu Dahao followed his son happily: "Zheng'er, we really have to go to Yinzhou, it's an incurable place!"
An incurable place.
This was a new term for Liu Zheng. To put it simply, the area was really too poor. So poor that Liangzhou didn't even want to send officials to manage it.
After all, this also costs salary, right ?
So Yinzhou is now in a state of anarchy.
Yinzhou has a population of only 300,000, and social productivity is extremely low. There are only a few local landlords to maintain social order, and there is no county government.
Liu Zheng laughed: "Father, Yinzhou is our best choice."
Liu Dahao asked curiously, "What do you mean?"
Liu Zheng said: "I see that you and Chen Ping, although you are brothers on the surface, you want to kill each other behind the scenes. If we really go to Wuzhou and Kezhou, can he be at ease?"
Liu Dahao was shocked, a little surprised by his son 's look.
"in addition……"
Liu Zheng laughed: "It's more rewarding to cure an uncultivable place, isn't it?"
In fact, Liu Zheng had already investigated clearly that the Yinzhou in this world was probably in the area of the Salt Sea Lake in the previous life! The ancient books of this era recorded Yinzhou like this, "Yinzhou is barren, crops are not prosperous, there are many wastelands and white rocks, so it is called Yinzhou. There is no good farmland, the people's livelihood is suffering, and it has been difficult to govern for a hundred years..."
It sounds like everyone is avoiding it.
However……
They didn’t know that what attracted Liu Zheng the most was the white rocks on the barren beach!
what is that?
The wasteland that cannot be cultivated is considered an uncultivated place by others, but in Liu Zheng's eyes, it is a treasure trove!
That's salt! It's really strange that crops can be grown in salt land!
Salt!
What was the most valuable thing in ancient times?
Salt, of course!
However, in ancient times, there was only one way to extract salt, which was to boil seawater! The Book of Han says: "Wu boiled water from the East China Sea to make salt, which made him rich and provided him with plenty of money for the country."
The extraction costs are extremely high, which keeps the price of salt high.
However, they have no idea what lake salt and well salt are, let alone how to refine them.
That’s why there is a saying “white stones on the barren beach”.
"Dad, are you blaming me for coveting these ten thousand taels of silver?"
Liu Zheng asked with a smile.
Liu Dahao said calmly: "My son, your words really break my heart. I make money for Zheng'er, don't you? Spend it with confidence. I...ha, I will earn more money!"
The two looked at each other and laughed.
Return to Liu's house again.
The Liu Mansion, which had once been prosperous, was now deserted and all the maids and servants had been sold.
All valuable furniture was confiscated.
"These bandits actually took away several of our BMWs!"
Liu Dahao was furious when he saw that the stable was empty.
The two had originally planned to ride horses to Yinzhou to take up their posts.
And at this time.
In the entire Liu residence, there were only two skinny donkeys left, leisurely eating grass in the yard.
Liu Dahao burst into tears: "I never thought that I, Liu Dahao, would be left with only you two guys to accompany me in my downfall after a lifetime of wealth and glory..."
Liu Zheng laughed and said, "Dad, someone is deliberately trying to humiliate us. If that's the case, let's go on donkeys!"
"ah?"
Liu Dahao was stunned, but he reacted immediately.
Damn Chen Ping!
"Don't worry, Zheng'er. After all, we have 10,000 taels of silver. We can't afford a BMW, but Liangzhou horses are not expensive! Today, we are leaving Liangzhou, how can we let them make a fool of ourselves!"
Liu Dahao was angry and wanted to buy a horse, but was stopped by Liu Zheng.
He smiled softly: "Why do you have to do this?"
"You're already down and out, why do you care what others think?"
He led the two donkeys over, put the luggage on them, and laughed: "They want to laugh, so let's satisfy them for now!"
Liu Zheng sat on the donkey's back, full of energy and vigor.
"In ancient times, there was Liu Jingsheng, who rode alone into Jingzhou!"
"Now there is the old man of the Liu family, and his two donkeys are crossing the Silver Beach!"
"Dad, when we return to Liangzhou, it will be time for them to lead our horses and make stirrups for us!"
Liu Dahao was shocked when he heard this.
There is indeed something different about my son.
