"Haiweiju" is a thousand-year-old restaurant, and it is also the most luxurious and high-end restaurant in Liaoyuan County. Its main product is a variety of seafood delicacies.
Its history can almost be traced back to the time when Liaoyuan County was just opening up wasteland.
The reason why it has been able to stand for so many years is because the owner behind it is the Cao family of Liaoyuan, a fifth-grade Zifu family.
this day.
On the top floor of Haiweiju, a private room with the best view and the most luxurious decoration welcomed two distinguished guests.
One of them, a middle-aged man wearing brocade clothes and elegant temperament, is Cao Bangning, the owner of this "Haiweiju" and the head of the Liaoyuan Cao family.
The other one with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks, a shrewd temperament, and a mustache on his chin is Liu Tianming, the head of the Liu family in Qing'an County.
The two of them took their seats at the table one after another.
The shopkeeper of Haiweiju led the waiters to serve all the dishes, carefully poured the wine, and after seeing the courtesy, he respectfully stepped out. At the same time, he told the waiter outside the door to guard the door and strictly prohibited anyone from approaching the box.
Naturally, the waiter didn't dare to neglect, so he repeatedly assured me that he would not mention it for the time being.
At the same time, in the private room, Cao Bangning, the head of the Liaoyuan Cao family, also began to pour wine and add dishes to Liu Tianming enthusiastically, and warmly greeted him to eat and drink.
"Come, come, come~ Master Tianming, you only come here twice a year. It's rare for us to get together. Today, my brother is hosting. You can eat and drink freely. Brother, we have enough good food and good wine here...
…”
"Master Tianming, try this. This is the top-quality fourth-grade lobster just delivered from the sea today. It was specially cooked by the restaurant chef using a secret method. It is fragrant, smooth and tender, without any fishy smell. This is considered a seafood restaurant.
The specialties you can’t get anywhere else…”
"And this, this is one of the three treasures of the deep sea, the sea turtle fish. It is only found in this season every year..."
For this table of dishes, Cao Bangning can be said to have spent a lot of money. Money comes second. The key is that the materials used in several dishes are tributes with very low production. Normally, even he himself would not bear to eat more, but now, he
They were all used to entertain Liu Tianming.
The kitchen of Haiweiju has been busy since the night before, and it has been busy until now to prepare such a delicious and delicious banquet.
And Liu Tianming lived up to his expectations and had a great time eating and drinking.
After three rounds of wine, five flavors of food.
Liu Tianming had almost finished eating, and then he put down his wine cup and looked at Cao Bangning: "Master Bangning, you have really spent money today~ Don't worry, I will definitely give you the best price for this year's grain prices. I would rather make less for myself."
You won’t suffer any loss at all.”
Liaoyuan County has more people and less land, so a considerable part of the food consumed every year needs to be purchased from other counties. Among them, Qing'an County, known as the "granary" of Daqian and located right next to Liaoyuan County, has naturally become the main food supplier in Liaoyuan County.
Food source.
Liu Tianming travels between the east and the west on weekdays, and his business is food selling.
As one of the largest families in Liaoyuan Guard, the Zifu Cao family naturally purchases a large amount of grain from him every year.
However, Cao Bangning was troubled when he heard this and couldn't help but cursed "old fox" secretly.
He didn't believe that Liu Tianming didn't know what happened to Mr. Cao recently. When he said this now, it was clear that he was pretending to be confused and was waiting for him to ask him in person~
But even though he knew this, he had no other choice but to put on a shameful expression, and stood up to bow deeply to him: "Master Tianming, to be honest, I invited you here today, Lao Cao, because I have something to do.
Please. Seeing that our two families have maintained a direct marriage for many years, please be sure to give me a hand."
"Oh~ Brother Cao, you are out of touch when you say this. We are all one family, how can we ask for help?" Liu Tianming quickly supported him, "Get up. How do you want me to help you, brother?"
, you said, brother, I will definitely help you if I can."
He looked very enthusiastic on the face, but secretly he was very proud of himself.
The old guy Cao Bangning relies on the fact that he is the head of a fifth-grade family, and his aunt is Cao Youqing, a core disciple of the Holy Land. He usually uses his nostrils to look at people. Now if something goes wrong, shouldn't he have to blame him?
The two of them went back and forth for a long time, showing their "deep friendship" with "true feelings", and then finally stopped and started talking about business.
"Brother Tianming, didn't your youngest daughter marry into the Zuoqiu family? I heard that she is still a direct descendant." Cao Bangning poured a glass of wine for Liu Tianming and said, "Look, can you give me a message for you?
My girl can help me make peace."
"this……"
Upon hearing this, Liu Tianming, who had been so generous just now, suddenly looked embarrassed.
What a joke~ He finally managed to marry his daughter into the direct lineage of the Zuoqiu family. It was only because of this that the Zuoqiu family was willing to give him part of the high-quality grain for sale.
He would not waste all the contacts his family had managed to save just to ruin things for the Cao family.
Of course, he would not say that openly, but said tactfully: "Brother Cao, you also know that the Zuoqiu family is different from our aristocratic families. The head of their family is at least in the heaven-human realm, and the first head of the family is
One or two hundred years later, the number of direct descendants has increased. Although my youngest daughter is married to a direct descendant, she is only a direct grandson, not the eldest grandson..."
Cao Bangning had known that he would not agree so easily, so he easily took out a gold ticket from the storage ring and stuffed it into his hand, saying sincerely: "Brother Tianming, you must help me! What can I count on now?"
It’s just you! I don’t ask for anything else. I just want your daughter to intercede for me and ask the ancestor of Zuoqiu’s Zi family to agree to meet and talk to my ancestor. That’s enough.
"
"Oh~ How can this be so embarrassing?"
Liu Tianming stroked the texture of the gold ticket and found that it was a purple gold ticket. The smile on his face suddenly became more sincere. Hearing that Cao Bangning just wanted to talk to Zuoqiu, his heart suddenly settled.
He immediately collected the purple gold tickets and made a guarantee: "Brother Cao, don't worry, I will ask my daughter to help you when I get back. However, I can't guarantee whether the peace talks will be successful or not. This matter
I have to make it clear to you in advance."
"Of course, of course. Brother Tianming has done me a great favor by agreeing. Whether this matter succeeds or not, I will not blame Brother Tianming."
Cao Bangning naturally nodded repeatedly without saying a word.
The two chatted for a few more words, and the meal was almost finished. Soon, Liu Tianming Shiran left the seafood house.
After he left, the forced smile on Cao Bangning's face finally couldn't hold on any longer and disappeared instantly.
"Hey~"
He sighed heavily, unable to help but feel worried.
This time, my aunt rashly killed the Zuoqiu family's genius, which was a serious offense to the Zuoqiu family.
Although on the surface, if the children of the family join the Holy Land or the Academy, they are considered to be members of the Holy Land, and the family will not be implicated. However, the Zuoqiu family lost a genius and was exposed in such a big scandal.
How could he let it go when he became the laughing stock in the eyes of many aristocratic families?
If they can't do anything to the Holy Land, they will definitely vent their anger on the Cao family. Even if they don't take action openly, they will definitely punish the Cao family secretly.
Compared with the Zuoqiu family, which dominates Qing'an County and has four or five Zifu ancestors on the bright side, the Cao family is just an ordinary fifth-grade family, with only one Zifu ancestor in the family.
Not to mention, the foundation and industry he owned were completely crushed by the Zuoqiu clan.
If the Zuoqiu family really took action to punish the Cao family, the Cao family would not be able to resist at all.
Now, the safest way he can think of is to ask his ancestor to come forward and talk to the Zifu ancestor above Zuoqiu Qingyun. If they can reach an agreement, although the Cao family will inevitably have to pay some price, they will also
This disaster has finally been overcome. If we can't reach an agreement...
Hey~
Cao Bangning couldn't help but sigh again.
This Liu Tianming acts quickly and cunningly, and his actions may not be reliable. He cannot bet all his money on Liu Tianming, so it is best to be prepared.
He paced with his hands behind his hands, thinking about countermeasures in his mind, and slowly walked out of the seafood house.
"Congratulations to the master of the family."
At the entrance of Haiweiju, the shopkeeper and a group of waiters stood in a row respectfully. It was not until he saw Cao Bangning entering the carriage that he breathed a sigh of relief, as if he had survived a catastrophe.
…
The "gratitude and grudges" between the Zuoqiu family in Qing'an and the Cao family in Liaoyuan led to the change of situation, which has nothing to do with Wang Shouzhe for the time being.
As Wang Shouzhe became a great genius and returned to the family after his troubles were over, he devoted himself to his intense work.
The Changning Wang family, which had accumulated strength for more than 20 years, finally embarked on a new round of expansion.
For Wang, this is an inevitable development.
Even though the Wang family's current annual income reaches millions of dry gold, apart from the huge expenses, they can also save a little two million dry gold. It seems to be a lot, but with the talent of the family, After the great geniuses gradually reach the realm of heavenly beings, the little funds they have will be stretched thin.
What's more, Wang's new generation of young people are constantly being born. Under Wang's philosophy of having more children and raising children, the unexpended expenses will become increasingly huge.
In addition, the total population of Pingan Town now exceeds 150,000, which is slightly crowded, and internal land reclamation and development have also encountered bottlenecks.
Only by inheriting the aspirations of ancestor Zhou Xuan and opening up wasteland to foreign countries is the fundamental way to develop.
Zhouxuan Pass!
It was a checkpoint built by ancestor Zhou Xuan with huge investment and countless efforts. It protected generations of Wang family disciples and tens of thousands of people in Ping'an Town.
Coming out of Zhouxuan Pass, there is a narrow cliff corridor, which is the only place to pass outside the territory in the direction of Pingan Town.
For a long time, loose cultivators and disciples of aristocratic families have gone out to explore and adventure outside the territory from here. If they are not lucky, they will leave their bodies in the wilderness. If they are lucky, they can make a lot of gains.
Nowadays, a cement concrete road more than four feet wide is being laid in this corridor. (In Daqian Country, the word "foreign" has no positive or derogatory connotations, it only means goods from overseas.)
To build a cement road, you need to first use stones to tamp the dirt road, then put on a thick layer of gravel, then use stones to compact the gravel layer little by little, then use cement to pour the concrete layer, and polish the concrete surface. Surface treatment.
The process is simple and simple, the core material is cement.
Today, the price of cement sold by the United Industry to the outside world is as high as about two coppers and fifty cents per load (one hundred catties), which is only half the price of ordinary grain.
It can be seen that cement is a luxury-grade construction material. Therefore, not every aristocratic family has the capital to build cement roads.
In Wang Shouzhe's plan.
This high-quality cement road called "Shou Zhe Road" is more than four feet wide and can accommodate five carriages running parallelly. It is a full eighty miles in length! If it were on earth, it would be only eighty miles wide. Cement roads are not a big project.
But for Wang, the internal cost budget for this road has reached 216,000 gold, which will require 3,000 civilian workers, and the construction period will be six months.
The "Shouzhe Road" project has a very tight construction period and needs to be completed before the next rainy season. Otherwise, once it is delayed until March next year, the construction difficulty will increase dramatically.
It will shuttle through the land outside the territory, and at the end eighty miles away is an open canyon, which is a corridor terrain with two mountain ranges running parallel.
When developing wasteland outside the territory, the first choice is to build passes in natural chasms. Otherwise, no matter how well developed this land is, once the beast tide comes, it will be unable to resist, and the losses will be immeasurable.
To be honest, the current "Shouzheguan" construction site is not ideal.
However, after conducting a terrain survey within a radius of two to three hundred miles, the Shouzhe Pass construction point can be considered as the best of the worst. The rest of the terrain is far inferior to the Shouzhe Pass construction point.
The reason why the "Shouzhe Pass" construction point is called unsatisfactory is that the canyon corridor is too wide. Compared with the narrowest and most optimal construction point, the pass must be built ten miles wide!
A pass ten miles wide! Looking at the entire Daqian, it is rare.
Previously, the "Zhouxuan Pass" that the Wang family had been proud of was only over a hundred feet wide, far less than a mile wide.
It can be seen how majestic the "Shuzhe Pass" that has not yet been built is.
This is also one of the reasons why no nearby family has opened up wasteland outside Zhouxuan Pass for more than a hundred years. The difficulty and cost of building a pass of that level cannot be built by an ordinary seventh-grade family.
In fact, most sixth-grade aristocratic families may not be able to build one.
The reason why the Wang family, headed by Wang Shouzhe, dared to build the "Shouzhe Pass" ambitiously was because, first, the Wang family's annual income was very high, and secondly, it had a lot of experience in concrete construction.
Estimated budget based on drawings.
This "Shouzhe Pass" plus Wengcheng requires a total of 40 million tons of cement, 80 million tons of gravel, 2 million tons of steel bars smelted from crude iron, as well as high-quality thick walls and high-quality walls. The number of stones reached 90 million tons.
The number of people planned to participate in the project will reach 10,000.
The total construction period of "Shouzhe Pass" and its urn city alone will reach ten years, with a total cost of about 14 million dry gold. This does not include the future costs of erecting divine cannons at Shouzhe Pass.
(Lao Ao made a rough sketch of the manuscript, and briefly calculated the amount of work, the amount of materials and the cost. There is no way. When he was young, Lao Ao worked as a project estimator for a year or two in a very unprofessional way, and he even passed the certification exam, but At that time, the research was relatively simple... so I felt somewhat obsessive-compulsive.)
It is naturally impossible to transport such a huge amount of engineering materials through the "Shouzhe Road". Firstly, the transportation volume is too large, and secondly, the transportation cost is too high.
Therefore, before building "Shouzhe Pass", it is necessary to build cement factories, quarries, civilian dormitories, etc. around the construction site.
Of course, these are not the biggest difficulties in building infrastructure outside the region.
The biggest difficulty actually comes from danger and uncertainty. Wang has to take advantage of this autumn and winter to conduct a large-scale sweep of "Shouzhe Pass" to eliminate all dangerous animals and plants.
While building the "Shouzhe Road", it is also necessary to continuously patrol and clean the road to ensure the safety of the civilians who built the road.
Based on the above.
It is really too strenuous to rely solely on the Wang family to open up wasteland.
The in-law alliance families headed by the Wang family have also joined in this large-scale land reclamation plan. Each family needs to allocate part of their manpower, mobilize the people under their jurisdiction to participate in the ranks of civilians, and need to bear part of the funds.
Of course, the Wang family has contributed the most, and among the 150,000 civilians under its rule, it has the most number of civilians to mobilize. The Wang family will go all out to carry out this wave of overseas development, and will also receive the largest share of benefits in the future.
Wang's machine is running smoothly.
Longzuo County City, inside Tianyuan Danfang.
Wang Shouye, the alchemist who is the focus of the family's training, is currently on his mission.
"Brother Wenshan, thank you for taking the time to refine these one hundred first-grade 'Antitoxic Pills'. This is 2,500 dry gold. Please keep it."
"Brother Jingfu, thank you for taking the time to refine these two hundred first-grade "healing pills". Please keep these four thousand dry gold tickets. I hope you can refine some more when you have time."
Foreign land reclamation is a systematic project with high risks and uncertainties. Detoxifying Pills and Healing Pills are indispensable strategic materials. The former can resolve most low-level toxins, while the latter can effectively heal injuries and save lives.
However, first-grade elixirs like this are only effective for Qi Refining Realm and mortals. They have almost no effect on Lingtai Realm monks. The reason is also very simple. The jump and transformation of life levels make them more powerful, and minor poisons and minor injuries are nothing. Not allowed to them.
But once they are all poisoned and injured, low-grade detoxification pills and healing pills will not be effective.
Therefore, it is necessary to prepare a lot of third- and fourth-grade poison-repelling pills and good fortune pills. Wang Shouye either refines some of these himself, or entrusts other high-grade alchemists to refine them.
With Wang Shouye, a high-quality alchemist here, as long as Wang is willing to spend money, there will no longer be a shortage of elixirs below the fourth grade. Only the elixirs of the fourth grade or above may not be available in sufficient supply because the materials are precious and scarce. .
In addition, Wang Shouye also refines the third-grade elixir "Qiling Pill" in batches. Occasionally, a Qiling Pill usually requires six to seven hundred gold. However, Shouye relies on the amethyst royal honey supplied by Luo Jing as the main material. , "Qiling Pill" can be refined in large quantities, and the cost will also be reduced a lot.
For most families, Qiling Pill is not very effective.
Its greatest effect is to upgrade a scrap qualification that is close to a low-grade qualification to a low-grade D grade with a high probability.
Although the low-grade D-level qualification is still the lowest qualification among all Xuanwu monks, the chance of breaking through to the Lingtai realm is very low. But after all, it can be regarded as a Xuanwu monk. Many ordinary family generals, and even many low-grade monks Family members are basically at this level.
In addition, Qiling Pill can slightly improve the performance of those with low-level qualifications. The lower the blood qualifications, the better the effect will be.
Of course, the first pill is effective, but the effect of the second pill is very weak.
But even so, the effect of the Qiling Pill on the Wang family is immeasurable. The Wang family has its own spiritual measuring platform, which can roughly detect whether those who are not qualified for the first grade are close to the lower grade. If they are given the Qiling Pill to cultivate them, they can be used in the future. Act as the clan's military general to alleviate the Wang family's embarrassing situation of insufficient manpower.
It is more or less useful in cultivating the bloodline of the clan members, which is better than nothing.
In addition to Wang Shouye stationed in the county, purchasing and refining elixirs and sending them back to the Wang family through Shouda Trading Company, the other clan members were also working hard to run everything.
For example, Wang Zongyao, the family's weapon refiner, supervised the blacksmiths and craftsmen to create hoes, shovels, logging axes, saw blades for clearing land, as well as crossbows, spears, iron shields, machetes, shotguns, etc. for killing wild and ferocious beasts.
wait.
Wang Luotong and his wife, who are now in charge of Wang's ranch, are breeding and training heavy draft horses in the north, war horses for riding, and raising a large number of pigs, cattle and sheep on a large scale to produce more bodies for pioneers and pioneers.
Folks need more nutritional supplements.
Not to mention relying on hunting to replenish it, there are already fewer ferocious beasts in the nearby outer areas, and the wild meat obtained is not enough for the hunting team to replenish it.
In addition, Wang's fishing team, Zhuwei Lake fish farming team, etc. have stopped selling fish and meat products to the outside world. Instead, they have stocked up to support the teams opening up wasteland outside the region to ensure their daily nutritional intake.
The focus of everything revolves around the major event of opening up wasteland outside the territory.
Time flies by.
Early October.
The sky is getting colder, and the green sky is turning to waxy yellow.
The "Shouzhe Road" outside the territory is being constructed in full swing. In just a few months, it has been advanced to fifty miles away. The progress of the project is much faster than the original plan.
After all, he was a passionate young man who lived in the royal family of the Wang family in Changning. He volunteered to join the team of clearing out wasteland, leading a team of family generals and clan soldiers to patrol outside the territory and eliminate dangerous creatures all day long.
With his talent as a genius and good strength, he managed to live a decent life and was already quite popular among the generals and soldiers.
Wang Guanghai has a mixture of love and hate for the Changning Wang family. What he loves is that there are so many fun things in this place, and the freshness comes one after another. But what he hates is that the family members of the Changning Wang family are too senior and he can’t get along with them.
He felt quite uncomfortable.
Of course, there are also Wangwang Ning, Wangwang Cheng, etc. of the family name that he feels a little more familiar with. Unfortunately, the Changning Wang family's "Shi" and "玎" characters are still little kids. Even though Wang Wanghai feels that
No matter how friendly you are, you won't hang out with little kids every day.
This day.
Wang Wanghai returned with a full load again and led the team to the garrison point.
Suddenly!
On the "Shouzhe Road", which has been more than half constructed and part of the road section put into use, a woman wearing a light green dress appeared. What was very strange was that she wore a weft hat on her head and a rope hanging from her waist.
A flute, and a string of bells hanging from Hao's wrist.
Every time she took a step, she seemed to appear silently a few feet away, and the crisp ringtone drifted away with the wind.
A gust of wind blew by, revealing half of her delicate and clear face.
In an instant, Wang Wanghai was fascinated by the sight, and he felt as if he had been electrocuted by this temperament.