Overlord's Road to Ancient Emperors

Although South Vietnam can't kill farm cattle, there are still ways to buy beef. Because Li Xu decided to fry steak on the spur of the moment, it took a lot of effort to get the beef.

It doesn't take much time to make a candlelight dinner. Considering Kou Xiao's appetite, Li Xu made a few big burgers in addition to frying steak. There is a ready-made oven in the kitchen, and the freshly baked bread is very fragrant when sprinkled with sesame seeds. With fried chicken and vegetables, it looks very appetizing.

He also fried some chicken popcorn and peanuts as an appetizer, and finally made chicken soup, and the dinner was complete.

Kou Xiao was thinking about Li Xu today, and he came back early at night, Liu Shu invited him into the dining room, closed the door, and then drove all the guards out of the yard, looking up at the sky in a dazed look.

"Hey, the moonlight is so beautiful today."

He Zun stood beside him, leaning against the wall, looked up at the dark night sky, "Are you out of your mind?"

Liu Shu looked at him sideways, his height only reached He Zun's chin, looking up from the bottom, he could see the edge of his chin under the mask, which was also covered with scars.

"Don't you think the prince is crazy? Why did you provoke such a troublesome person, and how will it end in the future?"

"It's beyond my control, as long as the prince is happy."

This topic cannot continue, because Liu Shu also knows that he can't change anything.

In the house, as soon as Kou Xiao entered the door, he saw oil lamps on the dining table. This is actually not surprising. It was dark, and every household had to light oil lamps, otherwise the food would be eaten into the nostrils.

But he saw Li Xu sitting on one side of the dining table, with several dishes on the table, Li Xu looked at him unnaturally.

Kou Xiao opened the chair and sat down, and asked, "Did the little princess have dinner? Am I coming back too late?"

Li Xu took a bunch of wrapped flowers from under the dining table and handed it to him, and said with a smile: "For you, Shu'er will go back to the yard after eating first."

Kou Xiao took the bouquet in surprise, and saw at a glance that it was fake flowers made of paper. The technology is not very good, and it is not as beautiful as the ones he has seen before, but he also knows what it means to send flowers, and he immediately feels like a treasure, "This How can the prince send flowers, it should come from the end of the day."

"Shut up, I'll keep it when I give it to you, and eat first." Seeing him smiling like a fool, Li Xu asked him to put the flowers aside, pointed to the steak in front of him, and said, "This is fried beef. Cut it with a knife and eat it, and taste it."

Without a steak knife, Li Xu took a fruit knife instead. The fork was also made by a carpenter off-the-shelf, and it didn't look good at all.

But that's not the point, the point is that Kou Xiao looked at the piece of beef and immediately wanted to take it with his hands, "Such a small piece of meat doesn't need to be cut with a knife, it's gone in two bites."

"Stop!" Li Xu snatched his plate, cut him into small pieces with a knife, and handed it back to him, "Eat well."

Kou Xiao looked around, but he couldn't find any chopsticks. Seeing that Li Xu used a fork to stuff a piece of beef into his mouth, he followed suit and used the fork too.

Eating meat with a fork is not aesthetically pleasing. Anyway, Li Xu himself is not very proficient in western food etiquette. When he was young, he didn't need to be familiar with it. Later, when his status was high, when he wanted to let go of himself, some people would compliment him, even if he used chopsticks to eat western food. No one dared to say anything.

"How does it taste?" Li Xu asked.

Kou Xiao's eyes were very bright, his mouth never stopped, he nodded while chewing, and waited until the meat on the plate was finished before he said: "It's delicious, what kind of sauce is used, it's very special."

"Black pepper sauce, a bit spicy. This is a burger, see if you like it."

Kou Xiao held the hamburger in his hand and looked at it. In fact, it was bread sandwiched with meat. They also like to eat this way when they go out. The dry food is roasted on the fire, and then the roast meat is thinly sliced ​​and sandwiched. It is delicious and hungry. .

Of course, the fried chicken made by Li Xu must be more fragrant, with crispy skin and tender meat inside. It is made of chicken thigh meat, and the remaining chicken racks are boiled into chicken soup, which is eaten with hamburgers.

Kou Xiao discovered that Li Xu can always make all kinds of meat very tender and delicious, the seasoning is also very rich, and there are many ways to make a dish, no matter how you eat it, you will never get tired of it.

When Kou Xiao was half full, Li Xu took out two glasses, poured half a glass of wine in each, and pushed one of the glasses in front of Kou Xiao.

Kou Xiao's nose moved when he smelled the aroma of wine, stared at the two wine glasses for a long time, and said with an inexplicable expression: "My lord knew the law and broke the law. The last general personally ordered the people not to make wine."

"You also said that you are not allowed to make wine, but you didn't say that you are not allowed to drink alcohol. This is the wine that the king bought from other places. I am happy to spend the money. Besides, don't think that I don't know that you are secretly giving wine to Guard Mu."

"Cough! It's someone else's filial piety, and the general will rarely drink alcohol."

"Drink or not is up to you." Not drinking is a good habit, and Li Xu will not force him to change.

But obviously, Kou Xiao didn't have this good habit. He leaned over the wine glass and sniffed it, then closed his eyes intoxicated, "This is a high-quality wine. It's true that you can't buy this kind of wine in Nanyue."

After speaking, he couldn't wait to pick up the wine glass and took a small sip, the force of the wine rushed into the tip of his tongue, and then went down the esophagus into his stomach, it became hot from the inside out, Kou Xiao licked his lower lip, and praised: "Good wine! It’s really good wine! This wine glass is made of glass, it’s crystal clear, clearer than a jade cup, it’s a waste to hold wine.”

Li Xu thought to himself: When I make wine next year and sell it with glass wine glasses, it won't be wasted.

"Why don't you have a drink first?" Li Xu raised his glass and asked.

Knowing that the glass is fragile, Kou Xiao lightly touched it with the wine glass, then tilted his neck, and poured half a glass of white wine into his mouth, Li Xu didn't even have time to stop, he saw his Adam's apple moved a few times, and the glass of wine was drained up.

"Actually, you have been drinking for a long time!" This heroic posture is definitely not the first time drinking.

Kou Xiao hiccupped, put down his glass with a smile, "It's a little bit, mainly because I haven't had such a strong and pure good wine for a long time."

"All right, as long as you're happy." Li Xu only prepared a jug of wine in total, half a catty of it, and the two of them wouldn't get drunk after drinking it all, so he let him go.

Li Xu was full after eating steak and a hamburger, and then sat face to face with Kou Xiao to drink and chat. The relationship between the two has changed, but it seems that nothing has changed. Sitting together, they can talk about business and just chat, and they are not in love. Lovers are so close.

Li Xu felt that maybe he was just lonely and wanted to find a companion, so he didn't reject Kou Xiao. After all, Kou Xiao was the one with whom he was the most equal among the people he knew so far.

He didn't like others to bow down to him, nor did he like other people's flattery. Although Liu Shu was very considerate, he didn't make him want to eat and sleep together.

"Enough to eat and drink, it's time to go to bed." Kou Xiao drank the last sip of wine, stood up and looked at Li Xu, as if waiting for his invitation.

Li Xu sat without moving, probably because he drank some wine, his mind was a little excited, he even thought, if he hadn't sent out an invitation, would Kou Xiao go back to his room to sleep or sleep on his bed tonight.

He even diverted his thinking, thinking that the bed is a bit small now, and it is a bit crowded for two big men to lie on it. Fortunately, the bed in the new house is big enough, and it must be able to sleep two people.

"What is the lord thinking?" A low voice rang in his ears, and his warm breath sprayed on his ears, a little itchy, Li Xu turned his head to look at him, and found that Kou Xiao was standing beside him, his lips were only one piece away from him finger distance.

Before he could answer, Kou Xiao hugged his waist with one hand, moved his lips to kiss him, gently pried his lips open with his warm tongue, swept his palate with the tip of his tongue, and then entangled with his tongue. clear.

Both of them smelled of alcohol, I don't know if it was because the alcohol was too strong, they were both a little dizzy after kissing, Li Xu pushed him away, gasped and said: "It's still early, the king still has some business to deal with. .”

Kou Xiao was also panting, his cheeks were reddish, he stared at him with fiery eyes, and said in a hoarse voice, "I will accompany you."

The two walked out of the dining room one after the other, and went straight to the study room. The study room was brighter, and the two of them were no longer stuck together. Li Xu read the official documents seriously, while Kou Xiao took a book and flipped through it, but he didn't know what he saw. Actually laughed.

Li Xu saw that the book in his hand was what he was reading, it was a folk story book, used to adjust his life, he hadn't finished it yet, he didn't know what was worth Kou Xiao's laugh.

Kou Xiao laughed a few times, then covered his mouth to hold back his laughter, looked at Li Xu with a smile in his eyes, saw that he was puzzled, shook the book and said: "My lord actually likes to read this kind of books about love between men and women, oh, I I forgot, but the prince himself wrote a fairy love story, so it can be seen that he often reads it."

Li Xu didn't want to talk to him, he lowered his head and continued to read the official documents. Whenever there is an important official document from the county guard's mansion, he will send a copy to him for review. Usually it is written with instructions. If Li Xu has different opinions, he can list them and send them back. Ji Hanyu will re-discuss the decision based on his instructions.

This is also a detail that can best reflect Li Xu's status at present. It can be said that he controls all major decisions of the Sheriff's Mansion, and it is precisely because of this that Mr. Zhong has a sense of urgency.

Like the one in his hand, it is an application requested by the Yamen for the distribution of subsidies for buying charcoal in winter, which is also one of the few benefits that officials can receive every year.

Although South Vietnam is located in the south, the winter is not too cold, but without heating, many people still can't stand the damp and cold. Rich people still burn charcoal pots at home to keep warm.

He glanced at Kou Xiao and asked, "Do you know how much the Kou Mansion spends on burning charcoal every winter?"

Of course Kou Xiao didn't know that he didn't take care of the accounts in the house, and he didn't use a charcoal basin in winter, "I don't know, why do you ask this?"

"In the past, the Sheriff's Office would give subsidies to officials to buy charcoal every winter. I see that the lowest-level officials can only get very little money. I'm afraid they can't afford the charcoal slag. This year, the price of charcoal has risen sharply. , although it has been lowered this month, but next month will be the cold winter, and it will definitely rise."

Since Li Xu returned from transporting coal from Shu County, the price of charcoal has dropped a bit, but the supply of coal is still not enough, it seems that two more boats are needed to go back and forth.As soon as winter comes, the sales of salt in Shu County also increase sharply. For the Chinese New Year, there are a lot of bacon and fish in various places, and these need to consume a lot of salt.

"Should I call the butler to ask?"

"No, I'm just asking casually." Li Xu multiplied the original application amount by two, and asked everyone to pay twice the original amount. Although he knew it was still not much, but this was the only way for the first year.

Others think that Li Xu's generous hands and feet are just to buy people's hearts, but in fact it is just to make everyone's lives better. These things are really nothing to modern people. He has the ability to do it, so why not? do it.

"It's not too cold in Minzhou in winter. It's much better than the capital city. I heard that the capital city starts to snow at this time of year. Is it true?"

"It should be snowing. When it snows, the days seem extraordinarily long. I feel like I have to hide in the house all day and can't go out, otherwise I will be frozen."

"Wealthy people can naturally hide at home and burn charcoal to keep warm, but the common people are afraid that they will have to suffer from the cold, and the number of people who freeze to death every year is unknown."

"Yeah, not to mention the north, it's not uncommon in South Vietnam."

Kou Xiao thought for a while, put down the book in his hand, and sat across from Li Xu, "There is something I want to discuss with the lord."

"Well, you said."

"The end general knows that there is an iron mine in a place."

Li Xu sat up straight and asked curiously, "Where?"

"There is a mountain range on the border of South Vietnam. A few hundred miles west of Shanghang County, the general led his troops into one of the mountain ranges by mistake. He saw some savages mining, but he didn't think too much about it because the opponent was powerful. We left without being able to stay on the mountain for long, and after thinking about it, it should be the iron mine."

"Are you sure? If there are iron mines, then the tribe on the mountain can't be unknown. Wouldn't they sell the iron mines for other things?"

"I have noticed that there is indeed no iron ore or ironware in secret circulation in South Vietnam. Either the things they dug up are used for themselves, or they are sold to other places."

"So you think?" Li Xu looked into Kou Xiao's bright eyes, moved his fingers, stroked the paper, and asked, "Do you want to keep it for yourself?"

"Well, I'm thinking about it, after all, we are short of iron."

Li Xu put down the paper, put aside the official document that had been approved, and asked him: "Do you know how many people there are in the tribe on that mountain? What about the weapons? Since they can dig iron ore, it means that their productivity is not low. It is excellent and has a large number of people, so I am afraid it will be difficult to capture it."

This is obvious. There must be countless traps around their territory, and it is a familiar terrain. It is too difficult for outsiders to invade.

"I know all of this, do you have a better way?"

Li Xu glanced at him, knocked on the table and reminded: "First of all, we have to confirm whether there is really iron ore in that mountain, maybe they are just digging potatoes." Li Xu made a joke, and then said: "You send someone to Have you checked it?"

"Sent, three groups of people before and after, the first group of five people never returned, the second group of people came back without even touching the mountain gate, the third group of people died half, and those who escaped said that the other party was good at using bows and arrows , and attack outsiders as soon as they see them, and don’t give them a chance to speak at all.”

"Then there's nothing to talk about. Do they speak the language?"

"It should be connected to Shanghang County. Later, some people saw savages in disguise in the villages and towns near the foot of the mountain. They would occasionally go down the mountain to exchange some items."

"It's so well hidden, it's hard to find. It's not worthwhile to capture it if it's so difficult. It would be great if it could be bought and sold."

Kou Xiao looked at him speechlessly, he wanted to save money wholeheartedly, but the other party actually said that it would be good if he could buy and sell, so he was robbing a fart.

"My lord, your idea is too pure. Is the [-] Kou family's army just a display? Of course, if you can grab it without spending money, you have to rely on it."

Li Xu waved his hand and said boldly: "Things that can be solved with money are trivial matters. Those recruits have only been here for a long time, so there is no need to sacrifice their lives. They should train hard for a few months and take them out in batches after the new year. , the savages on the border will not move for the time being, but those tribes in South Vietnam who dare to attack passers-by frequently will be wiped out one by one."

"To fight against the outside world, you must first settle down inside. Although these tribes are said to be rooted in the mountains for generations, some of them are quite ambitious. Still sacrificing people and living a life of ruthlessness and blood drinking, it really should be taken care of."

"Then fight until they are afraid. Either submit to the court and become a normal citizen, or drive out of South Vietnam. Anyone who dares to defy will be killed."

Kou Xiao laughed softly, jokingly said: "I thought the prince would give a lot of money, and then said to spend money on this king, to see if they return, haha.

Li Xu got up and walked in front of him, pinched his ears and dragged him away, "You have used up all the money, where did you get the money, do you know that it is very expensive to support you?"

"Yes, that's why I promised you with your body, just to repay your kindness in nurturing." After speaking, Kou Xiao laughed again, and it was over, feeling that he was a generation younger than Li Xu for no reason.