Overlord's Road to Ancient Emperors

There are a lot of fruits in South Vietnam in summer, Lei Luo came back from Zhangyi several days late, and brought back a whole boatload of fruits, Li Xu thought he wanted to wholesale fruits for sale, but in the end all the fruits were sent to his home.

Carloads of fruit were brought in, and there was no place to put them all piled up in the yard, like a hill.

"You bought it?" Li Xu asked with black lines all over his head.

Lei Luo shook his head hastily, "No, most of them were brought back by Mr. Liu's orders, and Deputy General Jia collected two carts, and the county magistrate of Zhangyi County sent one cart, and the rest were the family members of the salt workers and sailors. As a gift, there are fruit trees in every household over there, and there are too many fruits this season to eat."

The weather is hot, and the fruit is easy to spoil, so Li Xu found someone to organize and repackage, which happened to be distributed to the employees as a welfare.It was not his turn to do these tasks, and when he came back in the evening, he saw boxes of fruit in wooden boxes and a list.

Li Xu took a look, and most of them were longan and lychees. He also saw hundreds of catties of mangoes and papayas, and three unknown fruits represented by patterns.

Li Xu recognized that one of them was dragon fruit, and the other two were recognized only after seeing the real thing, one was lotus mist and the other was coconut, both of which were his favorite fruits.

Lei Luo said: "Vice General Jia picked these two kinds of fruits from a certain island. He heard that the island was full of fruit trees. He took people to the island by accident and spent ten days relying on these two kinds of fruits. .”

Li Xu generally knew about this. Jia Ping would send a letter back every half a month. He mentioned that the island is very big, not far from the pier, and it can be reached by boat in three days. The island is full of trees. , very suitable for human habitation, he stayed on the island for half a month just to find out if there was anyone on the island.

Li Xu had originally hoped to find a sea island overseas to build a secret base as a way out in the future. Even if he didn't need it, it would still be a base for maritime merchants and fleets to rest and replenish their supplies. Therefore, during this time, the sailors frequently went to sea. , is busy with this matter.

Li Xu peeled a lychee and ate it. It was sweet and sour, the flesh was a bit old, and the pit was big. It was not as delicious as the lychees in Guangzhou, but lychees should still be eaten chilled. Li Xu kept a bag and kept the rest. Divided out.

Longan and lychee are also found in Minzhou City, which is not uncommon. Dragon fruit is rare but can be found, but coconuts are not found here. They don’t even know how to eat them when they see the round and hard coconuts.

Li Xu asked someone to peel off the coconut skin with a knife, then dug a hole in the shell, and poured out the coconut juice to share with everyone. In ancient times when there were no drinks, it would be nice to have a glass of iced coconut juice in summer, so Li Xu put He kept all the coconuts for himself, and sent a message to Jia Ping to bring some back when he went to sea.

Longan and lychees are also purchased in large quantities. The former is a good tonic after being dried in the sun. Lychees can also be chilled with ice cubes and shipped to Linjun for sale. As for lotus mist, forget it. This kind of fruit is too light and not many people like it. But before that, he had to get the ice out.

The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and the South Vietnamese people are not used to digging ice cellars, so they can’t even see a piece of ice in summer, but Li Xu can make ice, and many people can make ice with saltpeter. He succeeded after trying it once. He Zun saw it with his own eyes. Throughout the whole process, the moment he saw the ice forming, he couldn't hide his shocked expression even wearing a mask, and the rest of the people were even more stunned when they saw the ice. This thing is very rare in Minzhou in winter, let alone in the hot summer. up.

Is the prince really a fairy?Turning stone into ice is definitely a fairy art.

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Kou Xiao led his troops out for inspection these two days, and when he came back, he found that the gate of Xiyuan had become a place to pray for gods and Buddha again.

"What's going on here? Isn't the common people not allowed to come and worship?" Kou Xiao asked the guard when he entered the gate.

The guard said with admiration: "The lord has cast a magic spell again, turning a stone into ice. After the news got out, the people couldn't sit still, and came to kneel down one after another. Not only ordinary people, but also many officials. Say hello outside the door every morning and evening.”

Kou Xiao grasped the point and asked, "Is it true that turning stone into ice is true?"

The guard nodded vigorously, "It's absolutely true, the prince has already sent ice to all the adults in the county guard's mansion. He said that it is some kind of high temperature subsidy, and the general's mansion must have sent more."

Kou Xiao hurriedly ran into the courtyard, he was sweating profusely from the heat, if there was ice, he would like to chew some raw.

Li Xu had just made a bowl of fruit smoothie, gave a small bowl to the little princess, and prepared the rest to treat himself, when he saw Kou Xiao rushing in.

There is an ice basin in his room, and the temperature is lower than outside. After entering the door, Kou Xiao only felt refreshed, and seeing Li Xu's refreshing and clean face, his whole body calmed down.

When the weather was hot, people became a little impetuous, Kou Xiao knelt down on one knee and saluted, then naturally sat on Li Xu's right hand side, looking pitifully at Li Xu's father and daughter.

The little princess is kind-hearted, and asked with concern: "Is Uncle Kou hot?"

Kou Xiao fanned it with his hands, "Yes."

"Then do you eat ice?"

Kou Xiao licked his dry lips and asked, "Is there any more?"

The little princess looked at her bowl in embarrassment, "Father said that I am young and a girl, so I can't eat too much ice. This is all I have, and I can't share it with you."

Kou Xiao cast his eyes on Li Xu, continued to lick his dry lips, and called out in a low voice: "My lord."

Li Xu looked at him angrily, and said, "This king only made this bowl, if you want to eat it, make it yourself."

"The general will not." Kou Xiao said confidently.

Li Xu asked someone to put a piece of ice in a bowl, and gave Kou Xiao a knife to poke the ice into a smoothie, but Kou Xiao thought it was too troublesome to stab each knife, and he also wanted to show his hole in front of Li Xu Wu Youli, he put the ice cube on the table, slapped it down with his palm, and immediately screamed "Aw".

Li Xu was taken aback. He saw a puddle of water on the table, and Kou Xiao saw red liquid flowing out from his palm. He was dumbfounded, "I asked you to poke the ice, what are you doing?"

Kou Xiao was extremely embarrassed. He had never played with ice cubes before, so he didn't know how to play with ice cubes. He hurriedly explained: "The general is just too thirsty, and he thinks the knife is too slow."

The ice was smashed into pieces, each piece had sharp edges, Kou Xiao was a normal person no matter how rough his skin was, his palm was scratched by the ice.

Li Xu asked someone to clean up the table, and took Kou Xiao to bandage the wound, and when it was done, his bowl of smoothie had turned into water.

Li Xu naturally won't eat any more, Kou Xiao picked up the bowl and drank the ice water in one gulp, sighed comfortably after drinking, "It's so cool, it's so comfortable to have a mouthful of ice water when you come back from going out on a hot summer day Things, and this water is sweet and sour, with a fruity taste, it couldn't be better."

Li Xu didn't bother to talk to him, sent the little princess to play, took Kou Xiao to the study, happened to have something to discuss with Kou Xiao.

Kou Xiao asked someone to get another piece of ice, and followed Li Xu with ice cubes and a bowl, and started poking and poking as soon as he entered the study.

That voice was laughing and rustling, which wasn't really unpleasant, but Li Xu felt that he was very stupid, and asked in a deep voice: "General Kou still wants to eat ice and let his servants poke it." He didn't poke the bowl himself either.

In the end, Kou Xiao said seriously: "No, I will waste your bowl of smoothies in the end, you have to make up for it. You have to do it yourself to be sincere."

Seeing that he moved quickly, Li Xu didn't stop him when he finished half of a bowl of smoothie, anyway, he didn't intend to eat any more.

There is a big map hanging in Li Xu's study room, which is the only treasure he brought out from the palace. He pointed to a certain location on the map and said, "This is the border of South Vietnam, and the area further west is the border of the Kou Has the general been there?"

"No, there is also a high mountain blocking it. There must be a tribe living there. I heard that Dayan wanted to go all the way west when he went south a hundred years ago, but he couldn't get past that mountain range. That tribe seems to be able to use witchcraft and control snakes and insects. Rats, ants and other poisons wiped out the vanguard army, and even the bones were not recovered. After that, no one dared to go west."

"No one knows what's going on on the other side of the mountain?"

"That's still there. Many criminals from Lingnan will flee there. I heard that the terrain there is similar to that of South Vietnam, but there are fewer people. Most of them live in tribes or villages. There are also constant disputes, but the specific situation is not clear. Yes. In the south, the stretch of mountains has become a natural danger for each area. The mountain road has eighteen bends. If you want to pass it smoothly, unless you travel lightly, otherwise it will be difficult to move.

"I don't have this idea for the time being, but we must ensure the safety of the border. The north is the territory of Dayan. As long as there is no turmoil, it is safe. The barren land in the south of the Lingnan is full of bandits, but there are soldiers guarding it. As long as the army is strengthened, it is not a big problem. The east The sea is not so easy to cross, and the king in the west doesn't understand it, so I asked the general to ask, if there are hidden dangers, we should prepare early."

"What do you mean by preparation?"

"Don't the general feel that eight thousand troops is too little? If foreign enemies invade, these few thousand troops will be enough?"

"That's definitely not enough." It's not that Kou Xiao doesn't know that he needs to increase his troops, but in the past few years, in order to suppress the pirates, the number of Kou's army has been greatly reduced. It is difficult to maintain the military salary of these thousands of people, so they can only rest and recuperate first, "Is the prince asking this to recruit troops?"

"With this idea, the standing army needs to be at least 2 people, plus [-] sailors. With the output of South Vietnam, it is not difficult to support [-] troops."

Kou Xiao was naturally delighted, the [-] navy would definitely be handed over to Jia Ping and Ye Changqing, but he could still expand the army by [-], he was content.

Kou Xiao knelt down and thanked, "Thank you, my lord, for your support. I wonder when my lord plans to start conscription?"

Li Xu looked at him carefully. He thought that Kou Xiao would make up his own mind about this kind of problem. Apart from inserting Jia Ping and Ye Changqing into the navy, he didn't rush to seize military power, and the two had a tacit understanding, knowing each other's bottom line where.

But Kou Xiao obviously valued his opinion when he asked this question, Li Xu pushed the question to him: "General Kou is fully responsible for this matter, and there is no need to report to the king."

Kou Xiao raised his head, his gaze met Li Xu's, and he grinned, "So, is it time to start training recruits?"

Li Xu nodded, Kou Xiao is the commander in chief, the military training can be assigned to others, but it is impossible to let it go completely, the military camp outside the city was originally built on the scale of [-] soldiers, and it can accommodate recruiting and buying horses.

"Then the new military camp?" Kou Xiao reminded Li Xu not to forget the military camp promised to him.

"I haven't forgotten, but it will take at least two years to complete the construction." According to Li Xu's plan, that area will be built as an important military town, and when the military camp moves there, a commercial town will gradually form in the surrounding area, but then There are many important places that Li Xu needs to check.

"The barracks can't be built for the time being, but the promised military uniforms have been made and will be delivered to the barracks tomorrow."

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small theater:

General Kou: "What kind of experience is it to have a fairy daughter-in-law?"

Everyone: "Shouldn't you be ashamed of yourself and think you're not worthy?"

General Kou: "No, no, those are nothing, having a fairy daughter-in-law, warm in winter and cool in summer, no worries about food and clothing, life is enough."