"Sir, this is a handsome man. Why are you so shabby?" The county magistrate worriedly looked at the table used by Chen Tingjing to entertain Li Xiao.

Two meat, two vegetarian, four dishes and one soup, the standard reception standard of the Ming Dynasty. Although the soup is turtle soup, but...!

The county magistrate doesn't think that the handsome commander has even drunk the tortoise soup!

"This is the custom of the imperial court." Chen Tingjing did not understand the county magistrate's "good intentions" and straightened his back as proudly as a rooster.

"Sir, although you are young, you have been a county magistrate for three years. You feel bad for saying this. Four dishes and one soup... How did you find this way to entertain your colleagues in the past?

Who has ever followed the standards set by the imperial court... The commander-in-chief has just promoted you."

Li Xiao upgraded the county seat to a prefectural city. This was not a matter of Chen Tingjing's promotion alone.

One city's tigers, chickens and dogs ascended to heaven. This is the sentiment of all the officials in Huating County today.

From the county seat to the prefectural city, that is to say, all officials in Huating County, regardless of their size, will be upgraded by two levels.

Finally, a pie fell from the sky, and it was pure beef filling. This is what all the officials in Huating County were thinking about. How could we not celebrate such a good thing?

If the marshal personally blessed the party at the celebration banquet, everyone would be even more excited.

The commander-in-chief of the Ming Empire!

This kind of low-level official, who you will never see once in eight lifetimes, is absolutely opposite to a big shot.

It is truly a blessing to meet him once.

Now Chen Tingjing actually laid out such a banquet and asked the commander to eat four dishes and one soup?

"Haha! Lao Hu, you are older than me. I'm afraid I'm still wearing crotchless pants, so you should take up the post as an errand."

"Calculating my age, I should have just been born when I was on duty." Lao Hu blushed. A child who was born in the year when I was on duty is actually his immediate boss!

People are more likely to die than others!

"Why do you think I am in this position? Just because I have a junior high school diploma?

Let me tell you, when we went to school, we didn’t just learn things like physics and mathematics.

Do you think the commander-in-chief will come to our place to eat?" Chen Tingjing turned around and asked the county magistrate, Old Hu, with a smile.

"You mean, the commander-in-chief will not come to our place to eat, nor will he stay in the inn we have prepared?" Lao Hu looked at Chen Tingjing very suspiciously. It was almost dark, where would the commander-in-chief go?

"How did the commander come? He flew from the sky. Isn't it difficult to send a telegram beforehand?

He didn't notify us in advance, which means that the commander-in-chief is going to see things without modification. This is different from the style of the governor!

The Governor came to inspect last year, and you saw what it was like.

Believe it or not, the news of the general coming to our place has spread. The officials from the provincial capital, Dao and county are still rushing to our Huating?

Wherever I want to go, there will be a large group of people surrounding me, so what the hell are you looking at?

Now go and take a look outside the city, the commander is probably gone."

"Gone? Where?" Lao Hu looked at Chen Tingjing in surprise. Could it be that this young man was telling the truth?

"Old Hu! Who is he? Marshal!

If you come to eat our food and stay in our place, do you mean that you won’t send someone to supervise the kitchen? You won’t check the commander’s residence in advance?

Do you really think that the commander-in-chief has never been assassinated?"

"This...!" Lao Hu nodded suddenly.

Indeed, the Marshal did not send anyone to supervise the kitchen. At the same time, no one came to check the prepared post house. This is indeed a bit abnormal!

"No one has come yet, which means that the commander-in-chief doesn't want to eat or live here at all."

"Then what does the handsome man eat? We are made of iron rice and steel, so we have to eat."

Chen Tingjing pointed to the sky: "Old Hu, how old is this? Horse-drawn carriages can be transported from the capital. Do you think there is any problem with the commander transporting food from the capital?"

"No problem!" Lao Hu shook his head, the fat on his head rippling like waves.

"Lord County Magistrate, you see, it's already this time. Over there with the Marshal...!" A subordinate accompanied Xin Xin to Shangguan. All the officials from Huating County had gathered here, and they all wanted to fool around in front of the Marshal.

Familiar face.

But after waiting and waiting, the food was getting cold, and there was no movement from the commander.

"Why don't you send someone to contact us outside the city?" Old Hu shouted.

"Oh! No!" The subordinate hurriedly ran out like a frightened donkey, found a horse and led the people out of the city.

Li Xiao really has no idea of ​​eating in Huating County!

Before the news spread on a large scale, he wanted to see what the real Jiangnan was like. He also wanted to take a good look at what Li Hao had done in the past few years.

The carriage drove on the official road all night, followed by more than a dozen cavalrymen.

Li Xiao's carriage was very comfortable. Li Xiao and Li Hao were lying in it, drinking wine and eating roast duck.

"How many rolls have you eaten?"

"Ten volumes. Not to mention, this roast duck is really good. I go back to the capital once or twice a year, and I almost forget what the duck tastes like. By the way, where is the best roast duck restaurant in the capital?

"

"Quanjude! It is said to be a duck roasted with fruit wood. Chen Tingjing is quite good. At least the road along the way has been smooth and not too bumpy.

If the roads in Jiangnan are like this, then you have done a good job in these years."

"It is true that the roads in Jiangnan have been renovated all the time, but they are only limited to the official roads. As you know, brother, there are too many things to do these years, and we are simply too busy.

Besides, it is really expensive to repair officialdom. In recent years, the tax collection in Jiangnan has been very small, but the court cannot always subsidize Jiangnan.

As the territory of the Ming Dynasty, we have to collect some taxes for the Ming Dynasty. I understand your difficulties, brother. The imperial court spends all its money on education, building official roads, building railways, and building various factories.

Seeing that there is a lot of income every year, in fact, it has long been stretched. I also want to share the worries for my eldest brother!"

Li Xiao picked up the wine pot and took a sip of Erguotou produced in Beijing: "Try this, Niulanshan's. Although it's not as good as Wuliangye and Maotai, it still tastes good."

Li Hao also took a sip and nodded.

"It's good that you can understand this level. Over the past few years, our Ming Dynasty has seen unlimited prosperity. We rely on the export trade of goods to make money, but in fact there is no longer that much profit.

The Europeans have been pumping water from the Americas for more than a hundred years. We in the Ming Dynasty... have been pumping water for twenty years, and we have almost exhausted it.

Over the years, trade profits have gradually declined. Europeans are really out of money. Do you think I want to encourage the entire Europe to attack Russia?

I am not thinking about making a good fortune in Russia.

Even with Russia's little industrial capacity, they couldn't catch up with the Ming Dynasty and exhausted Dorgon and the others. Even France's industrial capacity is much stronger than Russia's.

No money!

Now we need to find new sources of income. After all, we have many places to spend money in Ming Dynasty." Li Xiao's words were filled with melancholy.

"It is difficult for Zhang Huangyan to be in the position of chief minister, so I will let him do that. It is difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice, and the Ming Dynasty is a province with a large fiscal surplus.

In fact, it is Shandong, Shanxi, Liaoning, Tokyo, and Hebei.

In Henan, the Yellow River is always overflowing. I even want to drive away all the people in Lankao counties. Shaanxi was already doing well in the early years, but the Uighurs made trouble and it has not slowed down to this day.

come over.

As for those provinces in the northwest, you know that they don’t produce much at all!

Jiangnan is prosperous, but the people's sentiments have been unstable in recent years. Stabilizing the people's sentiments is the most important. As the years go by, the Donglin Party will one day be lost in the long river of history.

In five more years at most, Jiangnan must become prosperous.

With Su and Song's second house under half the power, Jiangnan must support itself and also bear the investment from Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian.

Five years, just a blink of an eye!

I am very worried that Jiangnan will not be able to provide relief by then, causing turmoil that will spread throughout the country!"

The topic was a bit heavy, and neither brother wanted to talk anymore. Their bodies were swaying with the carriage, and they drank some wine, and they didn't know when they fell asleep.

When I woke up in the morning, the carriage had just passed through Kunshan.

The sun has just risen, and the power of the Golden Crow has not yet been fully exerted.

The carriage stopped at the edge of the official road, and Shunzi poured water from the kettle into the copper basin. Li Xiao took a towel to cleanse his face, and dewdrops hung on the leaves next to him.

The air is extremely humid, and it feels very comfortable to take a breath.

The rice in the field is filling, and everything in my eyes is green.

"Ahead is the border of Suzhou. They say that Suzhou and Hangzhou are the most beautiful places in the world. You don't take a good look at it on weekdays!" Li Xiao looked at Li Hao who was brushing his teeth and said with a smile.

“I’ve been to Suzhou twice, but I didn’t have time to see the sights. I just wanted to see the silks there!

In Suzhou, the production of silk and satin has been expanding. It supports many people, and the export volume of these products is also very large.

I heard that it is very popular in Europe and the Middle East."

"Those people have a lot of hair, so they like to wear silk things. Have you never been to Hangzhou? I heard that the West Lake is very beautiful." Li Xiao shook his head helplessly, picked up a toothbrush and started brushing his teeth.

"I've been to Hangzhou several times, and the West Lake is far from as good as I imagined. Someone pointed out Leifeng Pagoda to me, but it didn't look very good." Li Hao finished brushing his teeth, rinsed his mouth, and went to serve noodles.

The guards set up a simple military stove on the roadside and cooked a lot of noodles in a large pot. They also put a dozen cans of canned beef in it, and the aroma of the cooked meat spread far away.
To be continued...