Overlord's Road to Ancient Emperors

Li Xu asked more than a dozen questions, and it was always the shopkeeper who answered, and the young people behind him didn't fart a single one. Except for the one who pretended to cry just now, there were three other people. After the tears dried up, they knelt there with their heads down. The sense of presence is extremely weak.

Li Xu was a little surprised when he saw this group. These people really don't look like they can do big bad things, so why don't they take them to Lingnan for labor reform?

"Who else is at home?"

The shopkeeper paused, and then cried: "There are 60-year-old grandparents at home, their parents are gone, brothers and sisters are also starving to death, and there are two little children underneath, and they also have parents to support them, and younger siblings We have to take care of it, my lord, we have no other choice."

Li Xu knew that he was lying as soon as he looked at his wandering eyeballs, and said with a sneer, "Why do you want to do such a bad thing, can you support the whole family?"

"That's also impossible..."

Li Xu interrupted them and asked: "You have hands and feet, and you are young and strong, so you can't plant the fields or plant the fields?"

"This... the harvest of the field is unpredictable, and the sky is the source of food, and the border is chaotic..."

"It's all an excuse, it's nothing more than that you don't want to work hard and get something for nothing, but you are indeed not the kind of people who are treacherous and evil. This...my son gives you two choices. One, go back to your hometown and start a new life. The land should be plowed and plowed. If there are natural disasters and man-made disasters reported to the government, the government will naturally help you.

Because you made a mistake before, you have to do three years of hard work for the government for free during the slack season, which is considered punishment.Two, go to Lingnan with us and enter the criminal camp as prisoners. You will be assigned to the coastal pearl factory. You should go to the sea and do what you are supposed to do. Just follow the orders. "

"Pig raising?" The five heads raised their heads together and looked at Li Xu at the same time.

The corner of Li Xu's mouth twitched, and he sighed helplessly, "It's a pearl."

"Impossible, pearls are natural, not cultivated." The shopkeeper categorically retorted.

"Oh? You still know about pearls, have you ever stolen them?"

The shopkeeper hurriedly lowered his head and didn't dare to speak anymore. Li Xu didn't want to pursue this, but asked them: "There are two choices, you can choose whatever you want."

The shopkeeper was still hesitating, but the young man behind him crawled over and asked, "My lord, are you really in charge?"

"nature."

"Then if we choose the second option, are we prisoners? We will lose our freedom in the future?"

"nature."

No one likes to be a prisoner, especially these days, being in prison is tantamount to death. Even if you get out of prison, you are inferior. The young man asked again: "Sir, your two choices seem to be unequal. Is the second one different?"

Li Xu looked at him in surprise. This young boy is very calm. It's amazing that such a person would work as a waiter in a country inn.

"The second article has a supplementary condition. If you can work in the pearl factory for five years, you will be able to recover your freedom. During these five years, you just need to work hard and don't be lazy. How much you can achieve depends on yourself , you have normal promotion space just like ordinary people, you can stay or stay after five years."

"What is... promotion space?" asked the shopkeeper.

"It means that you have the opportunity to go up, you can be a manager, or even a factory manager, as long as you have the ability."

"Then why do you want us to go as prisoners? Is it to punish us for our previous mistakes?" asked the young boy.

"Probably." Li Xu must let them know that people will be punished for making mistakes, and he is willing to give them a chance, but this opportunity must be grasped by themselves, "Oh, all your labor income in the past five years will go to the officials. It is owned by the family and is only responsible for your basic necessities of life.”

The shopkeeper asked cautiously: "Can we brothers discuss it?"

Li Xu nodded generously: "Okay, I will give you some time to burn incense."

He was also very curious about how they would choose. Of these two paths, the first one sounds safer. It’s just going back to their hometown to farm. They should be familiar with it. At most, they will suffer a lot in the first few years, which is better than losing their freedom. powerful.But the second road has more opportunities. In five years, they can seize the opportunity to climb up. The reason why Li Xu gave this choice is because he sees that these people don't like being farmers. Maybe they have great ambitions, but they just don't have the opportunity.

But who knows what the result will be, Li Xu doesn't care about the result.

After burning incense, the shopkeeper brought people over, five of them knelt down in front of Li Xu, kowtowed and said, "After discussing, we decided to choose the second one, but I don't know if we can ask for a favor."

"Say."

"My son promised us to be free in five years. At that time, we had no money, no land and no land, and we didn't know where to go. I wonder if we can stay in the pearl factory for one more year and accumulate some travel expenses to return home?"

Li Xu nodded generously: "Of course, as I said, you can stay as you like, even if you want to stay in the factory all the time, as long as you don't make mistakes."

"Then we have no problem, choose the second way." The shopkeeper patted his chest and let out a breath after speaking, as if he had made a difficult and important decision.

Li Xu didn't say anything, nodded, told them to follow the team, and set off again.

On the next road, Li Xu spent most of his time discussing things with Qiao An. He and Xie's family jointly operated the pearl factory, but considering the use of prisoners from Lingnan, Li Xu gave Qiao An [-]% of the shares.

Joan refused to agree at first, and it would be good for him to assign some prisoners to work for King Shun. With King Shun's control, these people would not be afraid of trouble, so how could he get a dividend.

"One yard is one yard. Firstly, this pearl factory uses Lingnan's network resources, and the sea area also belongs to Lingnan. On the contrary, we are outsiders. It is also appropriate to give back to the prefect's government, and Lingnan is your territory. , and trouble you to take care of it."

After hearing this, Qiao An finally nodded, thinking, with King Shun's business ability, the two layers of dividends may be quite a lot, and he just needs to work harder in the future.

"Apart from the pearl factory, does the prince have anything else to do?"

"Yes, I brought people here, and I will teach the people how to grow rice and cotton. However, the climate in south of the Five Ridges is actually not suitable for growing cotton, and the same is true in South Vietnam. It's just better than nothing, but there are more fruits, my lord. There are restaurants and grocery stores, and dried fruit and candied fruit are also quite popular.”

This is also because the fruit is not easy to store. Otherwise, the fruit in the south is juicy and honey, and it must be very popular among women. However, dried bananas, dried mangoes, and dried pineapples are also good, and durians should also be liked by some people.

"Besides, this king will build a shipyard in Lingnan to build ships. This matter will not be announced to the public for the time being. If Mr. Qiao can give enough rewards, this king can even borrow someone to help you train sailors."

Qiao An almost stopped breathing, and stared at Li Xu with wide eyes, with a dazed look, "Is... Really?"

Li Xu patted him on the shoulder, and said earnestly: "Qiao An, you must know that the purpose of this king's urging you to come to Lingnan is not to monopolize this place, but to develop Lingnan in a place out of the reach of the imperial court. The lives of the common people are better, as a rule, Lingnan can recruit [-] soldiers, and if you come one by one, it will never happen that a few thousand prisoners can succeed in a rebellion."

Joan's heart was fluttering, and he said excitedly: "Yes, I will do my best to treat this parent as a good official."

After entering the Lingnan area, Li Xu asked Qian Lin to dress up in disguise. He put on a mask, raised his shoes, and wore bloated clothes. At least he couldn't tell that he was Qian Zhanlin from his figure.

Along the way, Li Xu also silently observed the five little thieves, and found that although the shopkeeper was in charge, he listened to the opinions of his younger brothers most of the time, and the boss was very open-minded.

The young boy Li Xu paid special attention to was Luo Xiaoliang. He was only 17 years old this year. He knew a few words but could not write. He was the smartest of the five of them. He was the one who came up with the idea of ​​drugging the horses.

Although Luo Xiaoliang is smart, he is not a person who likes to stand out. Most of the time, he stands silently behind the shopkeeper, neither showing off nor stealing credit. Li Xu watched all the way, and felt that there are very few people at this age who can be so stable.

"You like that kid very much?" Kou Xiao seized the opportunity to overthrow the jealousy, Li Xu was already used to it.

"What kind of liking are you referring to?" He teased Kou Xiao and asked.

"You appreciate him." Kou Xiao replied affirmatively.

"It's okay, he's a nice person, and he has a nice temper."

"That's really good, why don't you take it home and train it well, staying here may not be able to shine."

"Gold will always shine, not to mention that he did make mistakes, and appropriate punishment and tempering are also needed. Whether he can succeed in the future depends on his own ability."

"King Shun is indeed kind and kind. He paved the way for them. It's more like a reward than a punishment. This kind of good thing is something that most people don't see." Others don't know, but Kou Xiao knows the profit of cultivating pearls. How impressive it is, and this is the only one in the world. As long as it succeeds, it will definitely cause a sensation in the whole country.

"Good or bad just depends on how one looks at it. My honey is my arsenic. To seek a living in Lingnan must be more risky than at home. They may die before they come to the top. Who knows for sure."

Qian Lin was very familiar with Lingnan, so he first found his sworn brother, and then the group set off for Xiangcheng, where the county guard's mansion was located. concentrated in the east.

Qian Lin felt very uncomfortable when he mentioned the Sheriff's Mansion. Back then, a group of people rushed into the Sheriff's Mansion and killed everyone they saw. After he killed his enemy, he regretted seeing the corpses all over the ground. He wanted revenge, but he didn't He didn't want to kill people indiscriminately, but when he tried to dissuade his companions, they stopped listening.

The officials were all dead. They thought they were free, so how could they be willing to go back to the cage again, so they couldn't stop it, and said to the outside world that he made himself a king, which is ridiculous to think about.

On the way to Xiangcheng, you can see groups of idle people everywhere, they don't do anything, they collapse on the side of the road like a group of begging homeless, without any energy.

When Li Xu arrived at a crowded place, he got into the carriage and saw the desolate street and its mess through the curtains. He deeply felt that Qiao An was not a good parent.

There was a sigh in his ear, Li Xu turned his head and heard Qiao An say: "This is the first time for an official to come to Lingnan. I don't know that Dayan still has such a decadent place. In the past, in Yuhang, the people were poor, but all year round They are all busy, and people have to go ahead when they live."

"After all, the chaos has just happened, and it is normal that order has not yet been restored. The most urgent task is to select the officials of the counties and towns to take office as soon as possible, so that the functions of the government can play a role as soon as possible. These people need restraint and encouragement, and it doesn't matter if they are stricter."

Qiao An understands, but the election of officials is not so easy, especially Lingnan is a place completely unfamiliar to him, he asked Li Xu for advice: "Can the prince help the officials to select officials?"

"Why? You must be more assured to use the person you choose yourself?"

Qiao An complimented: "My lord has a high vision and is a good judge of people. If I can be recommended by my lord, I will feel more at ease as an official."

Li Xu laughed, "To tell you the truth, the king has actually prepared a lot of people, just waiting for you to send them to and from the government, but in this way, they will become my King Shun's people, are you afraid?"

Qiao An arched his hands at him, and replied very straightforwardly: "Your official can't ask for it."

"The order of the villages and towns will definitely be difficult to establish by the government for a while. If you ask the officials below to find the local gentry and elders, and let them come forward to control, you can properly promise some benefits, such as tax reduction, such as providing them with some convenience, or Provide their families with a few good jobs, or simply post conscription notices, as long as the food and pay are in place, young people are still willing to join the army."

"In this way, will the common people feel that it is unfair, and the benefits will be given too much, and the lower officials are afraid that they will take an inch."

"Where is fairness in this world? And you can be superficially fair, and give benefits in a tactful way, and it's not free, but in exchange. Are you afraid that they will make more progress?" Li Xu showed him a subtle smile, and said in a deep voice. Said: "As a county guard, whoever wants to live will live, and whoever dies will die. Use the obedient ones, and keep the disobedient ones for what? If there are people who are difficult to arrange, the king's mines welcome he."

Joan shivered, realizing for the first time that King Shun was different from them. He was born to stand at the top of the people, and he looked down on all living beings. Indeed, no one could play tricks in front of him.

"You have to know that there will never be a shortage of stupid people in this world, and you can't get everyone's approval, but you hold power, and they should be afraid of you, flattering you, and pleasing you. You only need to do things with a clear conscience."

Qiao An knelt on the ground straightly, "Thank you, my lord, for your enlightenment." Maybe his previous thinking was wrong. Being an official doesn't have to be a clean and honest official, because people are good at being bullied.

"Come on, when you arrive in Xiangcheng, you will enter the city with gongs and drums, publicize it, and post a notice for the selection of officials. Anyone who can read more than [-] words can apply for the selection. Other places also let people choose officials in the same way, tell them , Those who are selected have a one-year probationary period, and if they can make political achievements in this year, they can be transferred to official officials and benefited for life. This is their chance to soar into the sky, and no one can stand this temptation."

Joan sat on his knees and said in a low voice: "Yes, most of the officials selected by the imperial court come from various families, and there are very few officials who can come out of poor families. This is a great opportunity, but before the officials come to Lingnan, The intention of the imperial court is to elect officials from several big families in Lingnan."

"Choose too. This king didn't say that you won't be allowed to choose the sons of big families as officials. They have a lot of contacts and control most of the resources. Naturally, they need to be recruited by officials, but it's up to you to decide who to choose. The final decision.

Another point is that the notice you posted stated that if there are suitable candidates in the families of those officials who died, they can be given priority. It is not out of the ordinary to benefit their descendants. "

Joan nodded. King Shun meant that he would choose people by himself instead of those recommended by those families. In this way, those selected children from the family would also remember his kindness. It was really a good way to win over people.