Seeing Li Hu, Zhu Shenzui smiled.
This guy is really sincere. After breaking up a few days ago, Li Hu mentioned that he would come to greet him when the time comes, but who would have thought that he actually came to greet him.
It took him two days to wait for such weather on the mountain road. It was a blessing for him to have such a temper.
Everyone was very happy to meet him, especially Li Hu who saw that Zhu Shenzui really brought him a lot of grain, rice and utensils. He laughed so hard that he couldn't close his mouth. He quickly called his brothers and asked them to help Wangjia Village. The people transporting supplies and leading the way, the group happily headed towards Laojun Temple.
Zhu Shenzui and Li Hu walked together, asking about their situation in the past few days.
Li Hu told Zhu Shenzui that they had almost finished cleaning up the Laojun Temple in the past few days. They also selected several places suitable for farming near the Laojun Temple. When next spring, he would lead people to clear out the land. .
As for the others, since it is already early winter and it has snowed again in the past two days, we will wait until spring begins. There haven't been many merchants passing by Sheephead Mountain these days, but they did meet a few ordinary passers-by. Li Hu and the others didn't make things difficult for these people. They treated them well as Zhu Shenzui said and took dozens of coins from them. "tea money", and clearly explain the future rules to the other party. Although the money is not much, it is a good start anyway.
The group of people quickly arrived at the Laojun Temple. When they arrived, it was as Li Hu said. Compared with when they left some time ago, the Laojun Temple had changed a lot.
In addition to Laojun Temple and the shacks built before, several new houses made of wood were built nearby. Although these houses are very simple, they are much better than the original shacks. And now that people like Li Hu have a place to live, plus the prepared firewood and the grain, rice and utensils that Zhu Shenzui brought to them this time, they can barely survive this winter and there should be no big problem.
Zhu Shenzui and his party came back with grain, rice and utensils. Their arrival made the people waiting at Laojun Temple extremely happy. Several old people even shed tears when they saw the grain unloaded from the donkeys and mules.
They followed Li Hu and fled into Yangtou Mountain. It can be said that they have become refugees with no future. They have fallen into the mountains and have no savings, and even have little food.
Seeing that the weather is getting colder and colder, it may not be easy to survive even digging wild vegetables in the mountains. If Zhu Shenzui hadn't brought them so much grain this time, I don't know how they could have survived this winter. .
For a moment, everyone was inexplicably grateful to Zhu Shenzui. This was a life-saving grace!
Even though Wang Jinwu captured Li Hu last time and forced Li Hu to bow his head, the few young people who were not convinced by Zhu Shenzui's apparent silence but were deeply dissatisfied when they saw this scene, the remaining resentment was instantly dissipated and replaced by Equally admired and grateful.
After handing the things over to the people below, they came to the main hall. Li Hu's son Li You obediently served tea, which was the persimmon leaf tea they drank last time.
Zhu Shenzui took it with a smile, said thank you, drank half the bowl, and then put the tea down.
Zhu Shenzui was talking to the Li Hu brothers in the main hall. He told them that this time he not only brought grain, rice and utensils, but also a lot of seeds. These seeds will be available in the spring next year. If the crop fields are taken care of well, they will be able to wait until next year. There will be a harvest in the autumn harvest, and Sheephead Mountain can be considered as having its own income.
Hearing this, Li Hu and others thanked Zhu Shenzui repeatedly.
Zhu Shenzui waved his hand and asked Li Huxun how big the land was. Li Hu told him. After hearing this, Zhu Shenzui frowned slightly. The place was still a bit small. If there were fewer people, it would be enough. But Li Hu There are more than a hundred people here, so this small amount of land may not be enough.
"Sixth Master, we have thought about this too. Just wait and look for it in a few days. Sheephead Mountain is so big, there is always more land for farming." Hu Lin said at the side.
"That's fine, but farming in the mountains is not as good as usual, especially with water. I'm afraid it will be a bit troublesome. You can just think about it. If it's really not possible, I can't wait until next spring to send you some grain and rice."
"Sixth Master..." As soon as Zhu Shenzui said this, Li Hu and others were moved and stood up to salute. Speaking of which, when they first met Zhu Shenzui, it was Li Hu and others who led people to rob Zhu Shenzui. Who would have thought that the other party not only did not take his life, but also provided such help? How could such a great kindness be repaid!
Zhu Shenzui waved his hand, stopped them from talking, asked them to sit down and said with a smile: "Actually, helping you is a sign of friendship, and secondly, I admire your actions. As for the third one, I also have some saved by myself. I plan to use your Yangtou Mountain to do something."
"If Mr. Six wants us to do anything, just give him your orders, even if I, Li Hu, are asked to go up mountains of swords and seas of fire!" Li Hu said, patting his chest without saying a word.
"Haha, it's not that serious, it's just a trivial matter." Zhu Shenzui said cheerfully, and then told Li Hu his plan. He planned to wait for next spring for someone to set up a stronghold in Yangtou Mountain and send two people over. Take care of.
This stronghold will be used as a transit point for their future salt journeys, and they will store a batch of salt here in the future.
Since the place of Yangtou Mountain was used for this transaction, Zhu Shenzui would not treat Li Hu badly. Li Hu and the others helped to take care of it. From now on, Li Hu would leave a piece of silver for every kilogram of salt shipped from Yangtou Mountain. This money would cost Whether it's cash or rice, it all depends on Li Hu's needs. If Li Hu agrees, the matter will be settled.
Zhu Shenzui had considered this matter before. The terrain of Yangtou Mountain was good and it was the only way to go to Zhao Village. If Yangtou Mountain could be managed, it would be of great benefit to Zhu Shenzui.
It was impossible to do this before. After all, Zhu Shenzui couldn't keep people in Yangtou Mountain. It would be unsafe to keep too few people, and it wouldn't be worth the loss if he kept too many people. But now that people like Li Hu have settled in Yangtou Mountain, it's different. He only needs to send two people to help, and Li Hu can help with everything else.
In addition, the risk of smuggling salt is extremely high. Currently, most of Zhu Shenzui's salt products are hidden in Wangjiacun. Although it is not a big problem for a while, it will be very troublesome if the news leaks over time. Cunning Rabbit Three Cave, Zhu Shenzui needs a new stronghold to share risks for Wangjia Village, and Yangtou Mountain is the most suitable place.
There is another reason that Zhu Shenzui did not mention. This reason is that Zhu Shenzui wanted to use this matter to completely take over Li Hu and his gang in Yangtou Mountain for his own use.
It is not appropriate to say this now, and this condition is also intended to be subtle. As long as Li Hu does not object, then as time goes by, the two parties will gradually be tied together, and this matter will be a matter of course in the future.
After hearing what Zhu Shenzui said, Li Hu agreed without even thinking. This matter was not difficult for him. Zhu Shenzui had helped them so much and received so much kindness. Let alone such a trivial matter, no matter how big it was, he had to handle it.
Seeing that Li Hu agreed, Zhu Shenzui thanked Li Hu with tea instead of wine, and then mentioned what he could find out about this trip.
Zhu Shenzui did not tell Li Hu the truth about the mine supervisor, but only told them that Jin Yiwei had intervened in the matter. The mine supervisor and Jin Yiwei were still looking for the whereabouts of Li Hu and others, and told them to be careful when staying in Yangtou Mountain. The information must not be leaked.
After hearing what Zhu Shenzui said, everyone looked at each other with extremely nervous expressions.
Not to mention that the mine supervisor was a person sent by the emperor, the name of Jin Yiwei was even more intimidating.
Li Hu had been a low-level officer, and he knew the capabilities of Jin Yiwei very well. If a person wants to hide, he may be able to escape the eyes and ears of the government, but he will definitely not be able to escape the pursuit of the Jin Yiwei. The Jin Yiwei has been famous for more than two hundred years in the Ming Dynasty and has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
"This matter about Master Six..."
"You don't need to panic about this matter. I found someone at Jinyiwei to smooth things over and suppress it for the time being. Besides, the term of the mine supervisor is not long. I have already inquired about it. This mine supervisor has been in office for several years now. He said Maybe he will be recalled to the capital that day. Once this eggless guy leaves, Jinyiwei will find a way to do something about it, maybe this matter can be hidden."
"However, the nickname Sishanhu can continue to be used, but the name Li Hu cannot be used for safety reasons. Once it spreads outside, there is no guarantee that it will not spread to the ears of the mine supervisor. Then it will be a big trouble. Tiger. , I think you should change your name, it can be anything you want."
"Okay! I will listen to Mr. Liu!" Li Hu nodded without hesitation.
Zhu Shenzui then looked at Lu Yisheng and Hu Lin. They were Li Hu's sworn brothers and the leading miners. If Li Hu alone could not change his name, they would probably have to change their names as well.
"Me too!"
Lu Yisheng and Hu Lin agreed in unison without even thinking about it. As for the name, they hadn't read much, but they couldn't figure it out for a while, so they turned to Zhu Shenzui for help.
Zhu Shenzui smiled, and after thinking about it, he gave the three of them pseudonyms. Since we are settling in Yangtou Mountain, for the sake of convenience, let’s all take the surname Yang.
Li Hu changed his name to Yang Biao, Lu Yisheng changed his name to Yang Yi, and Hu Lin changed his name to Yang Lin. How about that?
After hearing these three names, the three of them chanted them twice, and their eyes lit up and they praised them repeatedly. Then Zhu Shenzui turned his attention to Zhang Xijun, who had been silent. Zhang Xijun smiled and said that he didn't need to change it, because the name he was using now was not his real name.
Hearing this, Zhu Shenzui was quite surprised, but seeing that Li Hu and the others did not object, it seemed that Master Zhang was indeed not lying.
