Xia Dehai sent Liang Chuan and his party across Wan'an Ferry. He wanted to follow Liang Chuan to do something big, but it was a pity that Liang Chuan didn't accept him because he didn't know his details. Liang Chuan didn't completely give up his idea, but just told him to stay here and paddle the boat and stop doing evil. If someone with excellent water skills like him is needed in the future, he will definitely come back to him.
After passing the Wan'an Ferry, Liang Chuan looked back at the vast river. In his memory, a long bridge should be built in the future. How many people have walked across this long bridge. The tide has risen and fallen over the past year. The river flows eastward and the waves pour back. Only this bridge remains forever.
The group of people hadn't gone far when they saw hotels and villages on the roadside, and the number of people was increasing. The fields on the roadside are connected to the sky. Even though it is night, the sound of frogs in the fields is like a chorus, which is very lively. A few people found a hotel and took a rest. It was much more comfortable than spending the night in the wild, and at least there were not so many mosquitoes and flying insects.
Luocheng and Qingyuan are bounded by the Wan'an River. Once you cross the river, you have officially entered Qingyuan County. The group of people set out on the road early the next morning. The scenery on the road was completely different from that on the other side of the river. Quanzhou Prefecture governs Qingyuan, Luocheng, Taocheng, Changkeng and other counties. The state capital is located in Qingyuan, so the city is also in Qingyuan. The county government of Qingyuan County is not far from Weiyuan Building, the seat of the state government. The ancient city of Qingyuan is built with stone strips, and there is a moat outside, which looks like the shape of Bagua, so the people also call this river Baguagou. Many people have gathered outside the city, and a sign of prosperity has taken shape. The people live and work in peace and contentment, various industries are prosperous, specialties from all directions gather in Qingyuan, and southeast sea ships continue to transport goods from all over the sea. The southeast is well-deserved.
Qingyuan City was built in the late Tang Dynasty. After expansion in the Five Dynasties, the original four gates became seven gates, namely Renfeng Gate, Yicheng Gate, Deji Gate, Chaotian Gate, Tonghuai Gate, Linzhang Gate and Tongjin Gate.
Liang Chuan and his party came from Xinghua in the northwest and entered the city through Chaotian Gate at the north gate. Erythrina is planted all over the city, with small pale red flowers dotting the branches, which are rare to see in other places. When Liang Chuan came to Quanzhou City in later generations, there were so many Erythrina japonicas. They were just green plants on both sides of the road. Unlike now, the open spaces in the city are all planted with Erythrina truncatula.
Liang Chuan took four people with him, and he was not in the mood to look at the local customs. The first priority was to find a place to stay and settle down the group of people. Liang Chuan thought that Hussein still owed him a thousand guan of money. He didn't have much money and left most of it for Yi Niang's family. If he found this God of Wealth first, everything would be easy.
Most of these outsiders move around Qingyuan Port and rarely go inland. Firstly, there is a language barrier. Secondly, the court has formulated relevant management systems for these outsiders. It is not that they can do whatever they want. What's more, It is impossible to move around at will. Foreigners also like to stick together. If they fall in love with someone, they will sooner or later become a hidden danger to the dynasty.
The imperial court established the Municipal Shipping Department to manage overseas trade, and then established Laiyuan Station to handle foreigners. Laiyuan Station was affiliated to Honglu Temple and was responsible for receiving and managing visitors from ethnic minorities and foreigners. These two institutions are close to the state government and belong to Qingyuan Dongyuan. They are above East Street. East Street is also the most prosperous place where the state government and Qingyuan County government offices are located.
Xinghua is already a prosperous place compared to Fengshan, but compared with Qingyuan, the scene is nothing worth mentioning. Even Shen Yuzhen and Ye Xiaochai were dazzled by what they saw. The two of them were considered people who had seen the world, and they were shocked by the bustling scene of Qingyuan. There were countless people selling various jewelry and gadgets on the street. Things were everywhere, including fragrant powder, sachets, brocade handkerchiefs, and handkerchiefs in as many styles as stars. Several people felt like they had roots under their feet, unable to move around in front of the small stalls.
Girls love beauty, but sketches about recruiting younger brothers are just greedy. The street is filled with the aroma of meat, wheat and noodles, and the smoke soaring up the chimney gives people a warm and satisfying feeling. In the oven in front of the cake shop, there are steamed wheat cakes, wide char cakes, chrysanthemum cakes, mung bean cakes, ice cakes, and unnamed steamed cakes with fillings on the trays made of bamboo. Qingyuan is rich in aquatic products, and shrimp steamed buns and crab roe steamed buns are everywhere. Residents in the past are sitting around, and everyone's mouth is watering after eating. Eat a bite of meat buns, drink two sips of tea, and scrape the fat and water in your stomach. This is a complete meal.
Zongzi is a special snack during the Dragon Boat Festival. It is rare to see on weekdays. However, Qingyuan County is full of small meat dumpling shops. The fragrant rice dumplings are made of glutinous rice and wrapped with egg yolk and pork. The plain ones are stuffed with mushrooms and cooked in a steamer. By the time they opened the basket, the scent of glutinous rice had already drifted far away, making Zhao Di and Zhao Xiaopin swallow their saliva.
Liang Chuan looked at the faces of several people and could only give each of them a little money. He wanted to eat and play first and satisfy himself first. He wandered along the way and the two of them searched everywhere, trying to find an empty house for rent by someone. They quickly Settling down first, a few people agreed to meet under the clock tower on East Street.
The streets are full of people, and there are really all kinds of people. Black Kunlun slaves, that is, Africans, South Asian Indians, locals can be seen everywhere, and there are many monks and Taoist priests. Really There are all kinds of people, most of them are business people. They are either carrying goods or luggage, all looking in a hurry, all looking for profit. Now is the time when winter is about to begin. When the north wind comes, a large number of sea ships will follow the wind and sail south. Now the merchants must take advantage of this time to sell their goods to outsiders and seize the last opportunity of the year.
Liang Chuan walked down East Street. There were no vacant shops on both sides of the avenue. Every household was open and doing business happily. Liang Chuan could only walk closer to the side. There were several alleys on the East Street, one was called Menlou Lane, the other was called Chengtian Lane, and there were several unknown alleys. Although they were called lanes, as the city wall expanded, , has already approached the scale of East and West Street.
Liang Chuan walked into Chengtian Alley. There was a lot of people in the alley, but it disappeared as he walked back. Liang Chuan walked to the middle of the alley and happened to see a shop under a house. A copper lock was hung on the door, and a large sign was posted on the door: Rent. The shop on the left side of this shop is quiet and sparse. There is a big sign hanging at the door: "Biji." There are only many waiters in the shop who are drying out books and papers. There are not many customers in the shop. On the right is a gate. The shabby wooden door is ajar. It looks like the home of a wealthy family, but the shabby situation is probably more or less ruined.
Everyone in the shop on the left is dejected and languid in their work. There is no sign of being open to do business. Others in the whole place are doing business with vigor. This shop is in great contrast. Liang Chuan came closer and saw that many people in the store were holding pieces of wood and carving on them with carving knives. Someone in the store was brushing ink on the wood, then peeling off the paper and letting it dry in the sun.
Liang Chuan looked at it for a long time and realized that it was a printing shop.
This industry is rare, but looking at this scene, it seems a bit uncomfortable. Liang Chuan stood at the door and looked into the room for a long time, but no one came out to say hello. Instead, Liang Chuan spoke first. He found an older man, licked his face and asked, "I can give you a step."
The old man was binding the book paper. He was so careful that he didn't see Liang Chuan come in. He only reacted when he asked: "Oh, a guest is here." He quickly put down what he was doing and took Liang Chuan to sit down at the coffee table. , are preparing to entertain Liang Chuan.
"I would like to ask who owns the rental house next to this. I saw the word "rent" written on it. I am interested in renting this house. If I know, please let me know." Liang Chuan followed the old man and sat down and asked.
"The house next door is also my family's property, but now I don't care about it, old man. I'll leave it to my son to take care of everything. You sit down for a while. He went outside to pick up boards and came back." The old man didn't expect that he would still be there. The old store owner, since he has handed over the power and it is his son who makes the decision, it is better to wait for his son.
This old man looked unfamiliar to Liang Chuan, his accent didn't sound like a local, and his speech was quite polite. He made a good impression upon meeting him for the first time. He made a cup of loose tea for Liang Chuan. The tea soup was green, and he asked with a smile: "Where is your family name, little friend?"
Liang Chuan took a sip of tea and replied: "I am originally from Xinghua." In fact, Liang Chuan didn't know where the owner of his body wandered to Xinghua, but now that he is registered in Xinghua, he is a native of Xinghua.
"Oh? I heard a few days ago that there was a rebellion in Xinghua. It was so loud that it almost took over the city of Xinghua. It made us in Qingyuan panic. I don't know if it is true or not?" The old man was quite good at bragging. Just chat with people and pick interesting ones to talk about, so as not to leave the guests in the cold.
When talking about the rebellion, Liang Chuan was the one who had the most say. He did not hide his secrets at the moment. He talked about the rebellion of the people in Xinghua Mountain like making tea and told the story. However, he omitted all his own heroic deeds. It was an exaggeration of the official's reputation. Even so, it still made the old man stunned. Southerners have seen too few wars. The wars are all in the north, and the south wants stability. If there is chaos in the south, there will be no place for the world to live.
The two were talking happily. At this time, his son came back from outside. As soon as he sat down, he cursed: "Damn it, the price of these killings has increased again. The price of wooden boards will increase by 10% now, and the deposit will be increased by 10%." OK, we have to talk about it later, otherwise we have to replace him."
The shop owner's son is slightly older than Liang Chuan, has a fair face and no beard, and doesn't look like he is from a farmer's family. He took a sip of tea and discovered that a customer had come to the store and was having a lively conversation with his father.
"Who is this?" the shop owner's son asked softly.
"We have been waiting for you for a long time. This little brother plans to rent our shop. I had a great conversation with this little friend from Liang Chuan. Our shop has been idle for a long time, and it is just right to rent it to him. What do you think of Zhaosheng?" "The old shopkeeper said as he looked at his son.
"That's right!" The shop owner, whose surname was Bi and Zhaosheng, was overjoyed: "I think this shop is actually a prosperous shop because I make my own ink for printing books. Many people dislike the smell of ink and looked at it again and again. , I haven’t been able to rent it out, if you figure it out, I’ll give you the key right away!”
Liang Chuan chuckled: "How can there be any foul smell in the company of books? I am a rough person, and I don't have enough ink in my belly. Isn't this just what I want? It couldn't be better!"
