Cowardly Stepmother Dressed As the Hero

A few days later, Qi You headed north again with his fully equipped army. The newly arrived supervisor Li Gonggong and his party were all taken away by him.

Cao Mi really relaxed a little while he was reluctant to give up. During this time, Eunuch Li and the others were in the city, and she was not comfortable doing anything.

Let the King of Bei'an fight all alone.

After the snow has melted, it is time for spring ploughing.

The people in the city who had rested for a winter became active again. Under the command from above, the houses that should be built should be built, and the cultivated land should be cultivated.

It has to be said that although this kind of collective life with a big pot of rice has obvious disadvantages, it is not conducive to sustainable development. But for today's refusal, this system is simply a weapon to revive the city.

Under the unified scheduling, coupled with the stimulation of the reward system, everyone's strength is used in one direction, and the construction of the entire city is advancing at an incredible speed.

Not long after Qi You left, Cao Mi really saw the weapons he said would be shipped to the Rong tribe.

The entire convoy was transported by Rongmen under the command of King Bei'an.

What surprised Cao Mi even more was that the things on the car were also well hidden.

At first glance, what they are transporting is salt and cloth that are commonly used in border transactions, but in fact the real goods are hidden in the compartments of the carriage, and if you don't make a lot of effort, you can't see it at all.

Cao Mi was like this, watching Qi San pull out a hidden box from an inconspicuous place in the carriage, and inside it were displayed several machetes with a cold light.

"...There are several such hidden compartments on each car. In addition, the car with a lot of cloth is actually wrapped with weapons." Qi San explained to Cao Mi while closing the hidden compartments again.

Cao Mi nodded.

She looked at the military guards beside the carriage, and thought for a moment: "Going deep into the grasslands is dangerous, you must be careful."

The leader of this team happens to be Maureen.

He was injured after going undercover at first, but he saved his life with Cao Mi's carry-on medicine bag, and he respected Cao Mi very much.

Hearing Cao Mi's advice, Mo Lin Hanhan explained: "Don't worry, princess, we won't go to the royal court.

"Go north for a month, go to Prince Zuoyi's site, hand over things to them, and then turn around."

Cao Mi naturally knew that Mo Lin's words could not be completely believed - if it was as safe as he said, why did the team have to do such a strict disguise?

But she didn't say anything more, she just said: "I ordered Rong Guang to prepare some food for you, and then you can take it on the road to eat."

A winter has passed, and a large amount of dried sweet potatoes and sweet potato flour have been stored in Jurong City.

These super easy-to-keep treats are a favorite in town today.

Mo Lin was also very happy when he heard the words, nodding his head and saying "Thank you, Princess" several times.

After a brief inspection of the place, and knowing that Qi You had arranged things well, Cao Mi took the people back.

Qi San respectfully sent her away, and then continued to focus on matters related to Mo Lin's busy schedule.

Cao Mi returned to his courtyard, only to find that Rong Guan was waiting with a stack of documents.

She nodded towards Rongguan and motioned for him to enter the room to speak.

After being busy for more than half a month, the time for spring ploughing was almost over. Rong Guan sorted out the recent ploughing matters in the suburbs, and chose today to report to Cao Mi.

"...As recorded in the document, except for a few fields that are still being cultivated, other places have been cultivated." Rong Guan reported while Cao Mi was inspecting: "The main food for planting is still sweet potatoes, but This year, the planting acres of wheat and rice have been increased.

"Cotton has been successfully planted in Rongguang Mountain Villa. This kind of thing is drought tolerant. This year, I also took some seeds to Jurong.

"I said earlier that the water conservancy facilities would be built in the suburbs. After a few months, the urban engineering team will have more space and will start preparing to start construction.

"During this time, Zhou Xuefuzi and the others will calculate the corresponding data and consumables.

"..."

Cao Mi nodded while listening.

The two communicated for a long time, and settled the farming matters in the city, and Cao Mi proposed several changes.

Seeing that Rongguan had written down everything he said, Cao Mi thought for a while, and suddenly asked, "The river outside the city... is there anything unusual?

"Like... a drop in the water level or something?"

Cao Mi had checked the relevant information before, and knew that the river next to Jirong City originated from a high mountain in the territory of the Rong people that was covered with snow all year round.

Because of the existence of Jurong City, the people of Sheng Dynasty called this river the Jurong River. But on the Rong side, the river has the same name as the mountain, and it is called "Yanaan", which means "the gift of snow".

The Jurong River passes through the broad grassland and goes all the way to the south. It enters the sea at a port in the east of Liaozhou, and a tributary even flows to Linzhou, which is south of Liaozhou.

Jurong City is considered to be in its mid-level position.

Because the source of this river is the snow water in the mountains, and because of the late snow last winter, Cao Mi was a little worried that the water volume of the river would decrease.

Rong Guan thought about it for a while and replied, "If you go back to the princess, the water level of the river seems to have dropped a little bit. But the villain thinks that the change is so insignificant that it is nothing to worry about."

He carefully observed Cao Mi's face, and hesitantly asked again: "Otherwise... After the villain returns later, he will find a few experienced farmers in the suburbs to ask questions, and then report to the princess tomorrow?"

"Well, good." Cao Mi nodded: "You can ask someone."

Rong Guan was stunned for a moment, then saluted, "Yes."

He didn't take this incident seriously. After all, in his memory, the snowfall in Liaozhou in the past few years had been irregular. The situation like last year was also encountered when he was a child.

But at that time, nothing happened.

Rong Guan just said it casually to the question just now, but he didn't expect Cao Mi to actually answer, and he seemed to take it seriously.

In this way, Rong Guan also became concerned about the difference between Yin and Yang.

How did he know that Cao Mi was sure that a natural disaster was about to come, and he was very careful about calculating the approximate time and getting ready.

After Rong Guan left, she leaned on the tea table and exhaled slowly.

Seeing that her face was not good, Dong Li stepped forward and rubbed her forehead.

Cao Mi waved his hand to stop Dong Li's movements.

She raised her head and murmured, "Dongli, go and write a letter for me and send it to Xiling."

This time, they moved to Jirong, and both Dongli and Nanxi followed. Only Xiling was left in Cannes by Cao Mi to take care of various businesses in the city and the situation in Rongguang Villa.

Dong Li nodded, and then asked, "What do you want to tell the princess?"

Cao Mi said, "Let him think of a way to deliver sweet potatoes to the ordinary people in Liaozhou."

She looked up at Dongli: "You told him that you can use the method of promoting peppers before you tried it, omitting the auction step, and directly giving out the sweet potato vines for farmers to cultivate, and we will buy 70% to 80% after the autumn harvest.

"Of course, if he has a better way, I want most of the people in Liaozhou to be able to eat their own sweet potatoes at home."

Dong Li was stunned.

She had thousands of questions in her heart, but she swallowed it after all, and said respectfully, "My servant understands."

"Remember, it's ordinary people." Cao Mi reminded: "The peppers were given to those noble families before, so let him not confuse him."

"Yes, the maid will remind you in the letter." Dongli said again.

"Yeah." Cao Mi nodded, "You can write it now, and show it to me when you're done."

"Yes." Dong Li bowed, turned and walked out.

Cao Mi took the tea cup at hand, brought it to his lips and took a sip, letting the fragrance of the tea permeate his mouth and nose.

"I can only...to do this," she murmured, her voice barely audible.

a few months later.

After this period of construction, Jirong City is no longer as desolate as it used to be.

Although there are still about 40 to 50% of the city that has not yet been built, but those places are scattered in the corners.

If outsiders enter from the city gate and visit the designated area according to the main road, they will only be attracted by the neat and exquisite buildings on the left and right.

Cao Mi was like this. After getting off the carriage, he took his three children to the trading area in the city that was waiting to be opened under the guidance of Rong Guan.

She looked at the spacious Exchange Square in front of her and said with satisfaction, "Well, it's very good."

This trading area is located in the southwest of Jurong City, and is specially used for external transactions. Its area is about three times that of the previous Changling Market, and the ground is all just covered with bluestone, which looks clean and tidy.

On the south side of the square, there are small compartments, similar to ordinary shops. To the north are some wider fences, which are convenient for the Rong people to place their cattle and sheep.

More importantly, four wells were dug out in the four sides, which facilitated the water collection and water supply at that time. The surrounding ditches were obviously designed to make the subsequent cleaning and drainage more convenient.

"According to your instructions, the first market will be held on the first day of the next month." Rong Guan said respectfully beside him: "As before, the market is still open on the first and fifteenth day of the first month of each month. Mr. Qi San will be responsible for charge a certain amount of tax.”

"Well." Cao Mi nodded: "Has the news been released?"

"Yes, Princess, don't worry, it's already been arranged." Rong Guan smiled so hard that he couldn't see his teeth, "The villain also heard that because the Changling Market has been closed for a long time, the merchants who used to do business there also stopped work. After a period of time, these people couldn't wait to come here when they refused to open Rongcheng this time.

"At that time, the grand occasion in the city must have been more than the original Changling."

Next to him, Qi An heard the words and said coolly: "Rongguan, you have never seen the appearance of Changling Market, how do you know that it will be more lively than Changling?"

He had worked together with Qi Rui in Changling for a few months before, and after listening to Rong Guan's words, he became more serious.

Rong Guan was stunned for a moment, and then explained: "Second Young Master doesn't know something... Well, these things were said by the soldiers in Changling when the villain was preparing.

"Those soldiers are responsible for the affairs of Changling Market. What they said... should not be wrong."

"Yeah." Qi An nodded.

In fact, from his point of view, he also felt that Ji Rong's side, at least in terms of venue, was already better than Changling.

He suddenly raised his head and said to Cao Mi: "Mother, when the time comes, my brother and I will come over again for errands."

Cao Mi was taken aback.

She wondered: "The situation at that time is unpredictable. If you want to know the situation here, just go to the teahouse next to your mother and watch it. Where do you want to come over by yourself?"

Qi An pouted, shook her arm and started to act like a spoiled child: "I've been a bad guy before, and now I'm a little older, there's absolutely no problem!"

Qi Rui also looked at Cao Mi and said, "Mother, don't worry, I can take care of myself and Andi."

What he meant in his words was obviously on the same stance as Qi An.

Cao Mi and the two were deadlocked for a while, but in the end they couldn't resist the successive attacks of the eldest son and the second son, so he nodded reluctantly and agreed.

——

Liaozhou, forever.

Ma Kai was a businessman and had been to Jurong a long time ago.

He was originally a well-known merchant from the Sheng Dynasty in the border area. Although he couldn't compare to the existence of Danba, he was also a character who could eat meat in transactions.

The opening of Changling Market freed him from the trade routes of Danba.

He thought that Changling Market was an opportunity for him to go to the next level, but he didn't expect that Changling Market would be closed not long after he started to use his fists.

Therefore, after learning that the market in Changling was relocated to Jirong, he originally planned to change careers, but he was so excited that he moved to the south, and his mind turned again.

But after thinking about it, Ma Kai was a little distressed.

He lives in the Yongyu area, not far from Changling.

But in his memory, it would take more than half a month from Changling to Jirong.

These are actually second to none. After all, even in Jirong, it is much more convenient than before when he took people deep into the grasslands and went to various tribes to trade.

The most uncomfortable thing for him was that this place in Jurong was too broken.

Before the Changling Market was opened, he took his men into the grasslands and settled in this place many times. Although the leader of the rejection of the army at that time was greedy for money, he would not commit the act of making money and killing his life. Many businessmen like him are very willing to come here to "break wealth and eliminate disasters".

Therefore, Ma Kai was very impressed, and what Jirongcheng did was "a business without capital".

At that time, the Rong guards carved a place in the city and allowed them to settle down freely, but to put it bluntly, the place was a ruin, and there were half-collapsed houses everywhere.

Ma Kai and the others reluctantly found a tall man among such dwarfs, dealt with them for two nights, and then left in a hurry.

Speaking of which, it is slightly better than sleeping in the wild.

So when he heard that the trading point was changed to Changling, he was a little overwhelmed.

Even though he knew last year that Ji Rong had been captured by the King of Bei'an, Ma Kai didn't think that this would make any qualitative change in the broken city.

Change of owner, can it be a new look?

Last year when his business was at its most prosperous, the concubine who brought him into the door leaned in his arms and said falsely, "Master, otherwise don't go.

"The wind and sand outside the fortress is so big, it's not a good place to refuse Rongcheng, why bother to suffer that crime?

"You go to the prosperous part of the South."

"Hey, how can you not go." Ma Kai put his arms around her shoulders, "Do you think going south is so easy?"

He sneered: "Master Penghu Peng, have you heard of it? The serious Liaozhou tycoon heard that he didn't know how much money he put into the south, so he still wanted to be a small fudi.

"Go south, go south... it's not that easy, scoff!"

"Then otherwise..." The concubine rolled her eyes and came up with an idea: "Can you let the eldest son in the house go? The eldest son is sixteen, it's time to go out and practice."

Ma Kai pondered for a while, and said: "He really should go out, but...

"He's just a stunner and doesn't understand anything. Let him go out by himself, and he has to mess things up for me."

After thinking about it like this, Ma Kai strengthened his determination to go to the past.

He sighed and said, "That's it, although it's hard work, let's go there. We have to bring that **** to get acquainted with it."

After that, he lay back directly, and regardless of what the concubine still wanted to say, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

The concubine was stunned for a while, then she concealed the expression on her face, and then she carefully lay down.

A few days later, Ma Kai led his eldest son and set off with a convoy full of supplies.

According to his previous estimates, he set off more than half a month in advance.

There is no directly connected cement road between Yongyu and Changling, but after a day's walk, when you reach Huaitong, you can rub on the smooth road from Huaitong to Changling.

Ma Kai got off the horse and called his son to teach him: "Look, this kind of road is conducive to traffic. Of course, it is very hard, and the wear of horseshoes is much more serious than that of dirt roads, but son, you You know, the time this can save on the road is more important than changing a few horseshoes.

"And you have to know that the road is easy to go, not only is it easy to get out of Yongyu, but it is also convenient to enter Yongyu, and it is necessary to attract other live fish.

"We don't have any big businessmen in Yongyu, otherwise someone would start to raise some money and build the road for Yongyu to get here, it's really great.

"Hey... It's still up to me to see if my business can do it. If I can do it, the money will be available from our family."

Ma Kai's eldest son nodded and said, "Thank you father for teaching me."

Ma Kai is very satisfied with this son.

He nodded and said, "You have to know, a businessman, if you are stingy, it is impossible to grow big.

"You can recycle as many books as you put in. If you can't give up money, the price is likely to turn into other more expensive things. So if you can spend money to solve things, you have to give up.

As he said, he stepped on the road under his feet: "I always feel that the prince and the princess are the ones who really do big things.

"As soon as they came, the road from Cannes City to Changling was immediately paved. Such a handwriting, without a certain amount of courage, can't be done with money alone."

His son nodded straight.

The two chatted and soon came to Changling.

Changling is no longer the same as when people were kept thousands of miles away during martial law. There are a lot of merchants lining up outside the city, all ready to leave the fortress.

Ma Kai, a rival in business, was at the end of the line. Seeing them all, he greeted them with a smirk, "Yo, Boss Ma. Are you also going to Jurong? Why are you rushing so early?"

"I have a lot of stuff! It's estimated that you will be delayed for a few more days on the road than you, Boss Qi." Ma Kai replied with a smile: "What if you don't hurry up?"

The two of you came and I went to the place to be polite, and in the end, I really didn't want to make excuses, and I didn't speak with a tacit understanding.

When Boss Qi left with a limited number of his people, Ma Kai let out a cold "hum".

Soon, they also passed the inspection, crossed Changling, and came to the north gate.

Seeing this, Ma Kai was immediately dumbfounded.

He glanced forward a few times, then looked back again, and for a moment even forgot to tell the caravan to move on.

His eldest son came over and asked, "Father, what's wrong? Don't you set off?"

Ma Kai came back to his senses and said with emotion, "I didn't know, the road has also been built in the north."

As soon as they left the city gate, Changling's defenders were behind them.

Ma Kai couldn't wait for the people below to ask him for help. He walked back to a Changling guard in three steps and two steps, and asked, "Brother guard, please ask, this..."

He stomped his feet: "Where is this cement road going?"

The guard glanced at him and said kindly: "I have been repaired until the side of Jurong.

"You just keep walking along this road, you can't go wrong."

After he finished speaking, he even said a word: "Oh, by the way, you can rest at the Ala tribe's side. The barbecue there is delicious."

Hearing the guard's words, Ma Kai nodded again and again.

He shook his head happily: "Oh, I didn't know it before, otherwise we wouldn't have come so early. I thought it was still a dirt road outside the customs, and it would take more than half a month to walk."

"It's okay to pass a few days earlier." Upon seeing this, the guard said, "Just stay in the city for a few days."

"Staying for a few days, hey... Then how can my old waist bear it?" He shook his head and left.

Even so, he has no intention of changing his travel plans. After all, the caravan had come outside Changling, and even if the time was a little different from what was expected, it could only be wrong.

Another caravan was about to come out from behind, and the guards began to drive them away. Ma Kai also followed the trend and called for people, and began to walk north.

Along the way, as the guard said, between Changling and Jirong is a straight concrete road.

Ma Kai originally hired the old Rong people who were specifically looking for the way to find the way, and said: "Hey, I thought I had to pay such a high price for Boss Ma... Now it seems that I really don't know what to do. what effect.

"Boss Ma, pay me the price of an ordinary servant."

Ma Kai walked on the cement road that was not bumpy at all, and when he was in a good mood, he shook his head indifferently when he heard the words: "Asu, I have to deal with the Rong people when I arrive at Jurong, so I will not rely on you to use the Rong. Can you help me attract business?

"I won't give you less money that should be given to you, you can rest assured and do things for me well."

As soon as he heard it, he hurriedly saluted and thanked: "You are the most generous businessman I have ever met, and you will definitely get huge profits from this transaction."

Ma Kai "hehe" laughed a few times and said, "I hope so."

After Asu left, Ma Kai's eldest son came over: "Father, why do I still see some anxiety on your face? Is it this time to refuse the Rong trade, or is there any risk?"

"You'll know when it arrives." Ma Kai shook his head helplessly.

After thinking about it, he simply explained: "You don't know, we often run on the road, and we hope to have a good rest after entering the city.

"But the place in Jurong, I used to go often, hey, the conditions are really not as good as our stables."

Seeing the eldest son nodding thoughtfully, Ma Kai reminded again: "In short, prepare yourself mentally. The hardship will only last for a while. When the goods are sold, let's go back to Yongyu and have a good rest. ."

The eldest son nodded obediently when he heard the words, and when Ma Kai saw this, he felt a lot of comfort in his heart.

About ten days later, they entered Jurong four and a half days earlier than originally expected.

Compared with before, Jurong has undergone a huge change in the outermost appearance.

Ma Kai and the others came from Changling and could enter directly from the South Gate. At this time, the rejection standing in front of him was no longer what he used to be.

In the moat that had been shriveled, clear water flowed again.

Not only did the city wall not look like the sand fell when the wind blew, but it was built even higher than before. On the high sentry towers around, you can vaguely see soldiers holding strange things casting their eyes.

Entering the city through a special suspension bridge, there are double-height buildings on both sides.

Ma Kai's eldest son drove the horse from his crotch, leaned to his father's side, and asked, "Father, this is what you said... It's not as good as the city of Jurong in our stables."

Ma Kai attached his left arm with his right hand and twisted it hard.

"Ouch!" A burst of clear pain hit his forehead, making him completely awake.

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