Lord, he is not a man [infrastructure]

On behalf of the lord, Butler Bafu went to meet the high officials from Luma City.

The steward, who was over half a century old, told Che Ying in an unassuming manner: "I'm sorry, my lord didn't know that this year's tax battle would be so big, he thought it would be the same as in previous years, and sending the tax revenue from Bailuling to Sanshu City would be a big deal. Good. Because the tax amount is fixed every year, so in previous years, I will pay the tax instead of my lord."

Che Ying remained silent, and the tax officer from Santata County also came with him. At this time, he whispered in his ear and told him that he did this in previous years. The tax collector will choose to settle in a larger territory and let the owner of the nearby territory send the tax.

"Where is Lord Tang now? When will he be back?" Someone asked impatiently.

Bafu asked with a puzzled face: "Is it important whether my lord comes back or not? I have already brought this year's autumn tax."

The tax officer of Santata County coughed dryly and said: "This year's taxation can be like this, but because the scale of Bailuling merchants is increasing every year, and some very special products have appeared, they have been sold at high prices in many places. Others After the lord knew about it, he felt that the current tax amount of Bailuling was not fair. Your Excellency the Minister of Taxation was very concerned about this matter, and because of the importance he paid to Bailuling, he invited Master Che Ying to lead a team to review the current situation of Bailuling. , and decide the new tax amount for Bailu collar in the future."

Buff suddenly realized: "So that's how it is."

But soon he showed a troubled expression: "I'm very sorry, because my lord has not been notified in advance, and he is not in the white deer collar now. The prey is fat in autumn. In order to increase some meat storage for the territory, he took people out to hunt."

Che Ying frowned slightly, "Send someone to look for him and ask him to come back as soon as possible."

"Okay, I will send someone to find my lord as soon as I go back." Bafu replied respectfully.

Che Ying: "When will Lord Tang come back the soonest?"

Bafu reckoned and said: "My lord has been away for several days, and now he should have entered the deep mountains and old forests. It will take three to five days to send someone there, plus the search time and return time, it will take at least ten days to arrive. About fifteen days."

"It takes so long?" Someone was dissatisfied.

Baffo looked embarrassed and didn't speak.

Che Ying raised her hand, let Bafu go, and let the tax officer of Santata County go to collect Bailu collar's autumn tax this year.

Naturally, the tax officer of Three Towers County didn't have to do it himself, but at this time he still put on a show and left the hall with Bafu.

Che Ying turned to look at Tang Ze. The former lord looked sluggish. He must have played late last night.This is also the status quo of most aristocrats. They have no specific jobs. They eat, drink and have fun every day, indulge themselves at night, and sleep until noon or even afternoon the next day.

"Your Excellency the Baron."

"Huh?" Tang Ze sat up straight as if awakened from a start: "Sorry, I was distracted just now, what's the matter?"

Che Ying asked nonchalantly: "Yesterday you said that you would let the foreman of paper making come over today."

"Ah, this matter. Yes, yes, wait a moment, I'll ask why no one has come yet." Tang Ze ran out of the hall to find someone.

After a while, he came back and said to Che Ying: "The person I sent hasn't come back yet. Don't worry, this is a common occurrence. The white deer leads the way and it is difficult to walk. There is still a mountain to climb in the middle. My God, if you have a sprained foot while walking or encounter other things, it’s normal to delay a little longer. In the past, there were people who encountered wild animals on the way and just left and never came back, hahaha.”

Tang Ze was the only one laughing in the hall, and no one else laughed.

Che Ying waved his hand and asked Tang Ze to wait for the foreman, and when the foreman arrived, he would bring him immediately.

Tang Ze agreed very simply, and Shi Shiran left. He wanted to go back to catch up on sleep. As for when the people he sent could arrive at Bailuling and when they could come back, that was out of his control.

After Tang Ze left, several officials in the hall began to discuss, all saying that Tang Bo was avoiding them on purpose.

"Not necessarily. Although our visit this time is not too secretive, the Tang family has no foundation in Luma City. In addition, we set off as soon as the Grand Duke made a decision. Even if someone sends them a letter, it will not be faster than us. Also, I heard some news."

Che Ying took a look at the crowd and said, "Princess Sita told the big announcement that Lord White Deer went to his county and killed Lord Wild Boar's family and took away a large number of citizens. If this is true, Bailuling should be very short of food right now."

"Huh?" Everyone was shocked.

"This White Deer lord is too courageous. He even went to Sita County to kill another nobleman, and if he killed another nobleman, he would become a family?"

"Why did he go to Sita County and take away the people of Sita County? Is he real? How many people did he take away? It will be winter soon, can they support them?"

Che Ying waited for everyone to ask all the questions, and then said: "The Grand Duke has sent someone to investigate. The White Deer Lord did go to Sita County, and he did kill the Wild Boar Lord's family and took away tens of thousands of people. But there’s also something else going on in it.”

Everyone pricked up their ears.

Che Ying smiled: "The White Deer Lord has a big ship in his hands. The Grand Duke suspects that the big ship is not owned by the White Deer Lord, but belongs to the Principality of Lanji. The owner of the ship probably wants to go to Sita County to buy slaves and do some business. Let Lord White Deer accompany you. Lord White Deer was young, and brought some children with him. Those children were soft-hearted and couldn't bear the begging of the victims, so they even distributed food to those victims. After that, those victims stuck to the White Deer Leader and wanted to make a deal. fleet."

"How much food can the White Deer Leader convoy bring? With so many victims following him, he panicked a long time ago. They passed by the Wild Boar Leader at that time, and the Lord White Deer couldn't get any food, so he wanted to go to the Wild Boar Leader for help, but the Wild Boar Lord refused. The victims asked for food. Afterwards, the angry victims led a convoy of white deer to attack the wild boar city. The number of those victims is said to have reached tens of thousands."

Che Ying paused: "This is not me speaking for Tang Bo, but the fact that the Grand Duke has investigated."

The others also expressed their understanding after hearing it. It was easier for them to believe and accept the young and naive little lord being coerced by the victims than Tang Bo who led tens of thousands of victims to attack the wild boar collar.

"That's right, how many people and food can Tang Bo bring to Sita County? At that time, if he wanted to save his life, he could only run forward with the victims."

Che Ying nodded: "The reason why the wild boar collar city was brought down was not only because of the victims. It is said that there was a sudden thunder in the sky at that time, and the thunder and lightning destroyed the wild boar collar city wall."

"Natural disasters, no wonder. When such a large-scale natural disaster occurs, the weather will always be weird, and all kinds of natural disasters will happen." All the officials showed their knowledge one after another.

Che Ying suddenly sighed: "In addition, there is another important reason why the wild boar collar was taken down. This is something that Princess Sita didn't tell the Grand Duke. Do you know Lord Baowanghe? The eldest son of the Lord of the town disappeared more than five years ago , but appeared among the slave soldiers in the wild boar city."

Everyone was shocked.

Che Ying continued: "The young master of the town is not weak himself. He heard the thunder and the victims attacking the city, so he took the opportunity to lead the slave soldiers to rebel. With the cooperation of the slave soldiers inside and outside, those victims could break through the wild boar collar. City, as for who killed the Boar Lord and his family, there is actually no conclusion."

But everyone understood what Che Ying meant, that unlucky lord must have been killed by the young master of the town.Think about it, a son of a nobleman, who is still a sure-fire heir, was captured and branded as a slave and trained as a slave soldier. How much hate does this feel?

And this is also the truth "dig out" by the Grand Duke of Green Hemp.

The Grand Duke can also understand the reason why the princess of Sita County concealed this fact. He can even guess who did the good thing that the young master of the town was arrested and beaten into a slave. The cause of death was all blamed on Lord Baowanghe.

However, the lord of Wanghe is indeed leading a group of people to win over the victims with food, and make trouble for the princess of Sita County everywhere.

Che Ying said again: "The residents of Sita County that Tang Bo took away were actually disaster victims. Those victims rushed into the wild boar collar, smashed, smashed and killed them. After the incident, they were very afraid that Princess Sita would settle accounts with them. The convoy was going back to Bailuling, and these victims relied on Tang Bo and insisted on going with them. It is said that Tang Bo has no choice but to bring people back."

"Then how will he arrange so many people?"

"How else can it be arranged? Of course they are going to open up wasteland." An official gloated: "This can also be used as an excuse to increase the tax revenue of the White Deer collar. Those victims are not slaves who were bought and sold, but free people. White Deer collar thinks You can take them, but you have to pay taxes according to the number of free people."

Che Ying also smiled and said: "I heard that Tang Bo sent someone to discuss with Princess Sita, asking him to send someone to bring back all the victims, or pay a tax to make them slaves. But An County The Lord refused."

Everyone laughed together, thinking that Anshen was cunning.

Everyone looked very relaxed at this moment. From the information, they thought they had almost analyzed what kind of person and ability the Lord of the White Deer Territory was.

Che Ying also said: "This time we come here to focus on two things. The first is to obtain papermaking technology, and the second is to find out who the owner of the big ship, that is, Bailuling, is cooperating with. Where did they come from? Come here, the Grand Duke wants that secret path."

Everyone said they knew it well.

Che Ying: "It's actually a good thing that Tang Bo is not in Bailuling now. Later, we will send some people to pretend to be merchants and enter Bailuling to see the situation. If our people can directly find the paper workshop and the group of mysterious Merchant, half of our purpose here is achieved."

On that day, the people who greeted the car not only looked for the way to enter Bailuling, but also wandered around Sanshu City.

After visiting the market in Three Tree City, Che Ying and the others couldn't help but be amazed by the prosperity and the products sold here. Even though they thought they were well-informed, they couldn't help but buy a lot of small things here, such as coal Furnace briquettes folding tables and chairs and the like.

Especially the food street in Sanshu City makes the car welcome team linger from top to bottom and is reluctant to leave. Noodle wonton pot stickers, fried stinky tofu with tofu brain, dried bean curd and bean shreds, pancake rolls, egg pancakes, finger cakes, soup dumplings Steamed buns, big meat buns and even buns with various fillings...

In addition to these snacks and snacks, there are also various small stir-fried vegetables cooked in a large iron pot, braised pork cooked in a crock pot, slices of shabu-shabu cooked in a pot, skewers cooked in soup with rich taste, and grilled meat. The sizzling barbecue...

These officials and subordinates from Luma City were all eye-opening, and many of them asked the food chefs to follow them on the spot, and it would be impossible not to follow them.

Fortunately, this is not the first time that the bosses and chefs of the food street have encountered this kind of thing. They respectfully and calmly told the officials and nobles who wanted to buy them that their titles belonged to Lord Three Trees. , if you want to buy them, you must get the consent of the ancient little lord.

If these cooks belonged to the lord of the White Deer Lord, maybe the officials of Luma City would rob them by force—in their eyes, the Lord of the White Deer was doomed.But these cooks belong to Gu Ding, and they accidentally know Gu Ding's "life experience", so it's not easy to stretch their hands.

Although I'm not sure if Gu Ding is loved by the higher-ups, but seeing how Sanshuling can develop like this, no matter what the attitude of the higher-ups is, if they dare to reach out to Gu Ding, even if the higher-ups won't mention them clearly, they will definitely wear shoes for them.

Neither Grand Duke Luma nor his eldest son is a broad-minded person.

One day, two days... After five days, these Luma City officials who were reluctant to return suddenly found that none of the things they came to do seemed to be done.

The paper foreman that Tang Ze had promised to look for hadn't come today, so it was said that he couldn't find anyone.Tang Ze was also furious with his subordinates, threatening that he would go to find it himself. He set off yesterday and hasn't returned yet.

Instead, the person Che Ying sent out to investigate the situation of Bailuling came back.

The news they brought is that Bailuling is a very poor small territory. The local people live very hard. They don't even have clothes to wear, and they live in low adobe houses. After the autumn grain is taken away, it is said that they The lord took away another batch of grain, saying he was buying it, but he didn't give any money.

There are people from the Ma family in the convoy, not Earl Ma Lin's Ma family, but Ma Jin's family who came here to cheat.

Ma Jin's father and brother waited and waited until Ma Jin came back. When they heard that Che Ying led the team to Bailuling this time, they also followed.They came here to find Ma Jin, and they also wanted to get some benefits from Bailuling.

The members of Ma Jin's family even sneaked into the White Deer Lord's mansion, searched around inside, but did not find Ma Jin.

When Che Ying heard the return, she always felt that something was wrong.

He also has a report in his hand, which comes from his subordinates' investigation of the people in Three Tree City.

His subordinates are all the elite of the Che family. They pretended to be servants of merchants in Three Tree City, and talked to ordinary Sanshu leaders, asking them about the situation of Sanshu collar and White Deer collar.

What is very strange is that the people of Sanshuling have a very good impression of Bailuling, and they also show their desire for Bailuling in their speech, as if they really want to live in Bailuling.

In addition, his subordinates also found out that there is a cart going to Bailuling in Sanshu City. It is said that a special station has been set up. Anyone who works in Bailuling in front of him can take the cart there to go there with his work card. White deer collar.

It's a pity that the management of the station is strict, and the people who greeted the car failed to get in several times. They wanted to get into the cart halfway, but found that the cart followed and lost it.

Che Ying finally decided to take someone to Bailuling to check it out.

Che Ying saw the white deer collar reported by his subordinates with his own eyes. He was indeed poor, but there was nothing special about it.Che Ying had seen many barren small territories, and the White Deer Territory was no different from those small territories.

But Che Ying walked around this white deer collar, and immediately said: "No, this is not the real white deer collar."

Che Ying immediately ordered people to arrest several Bailu leaders who were working in the fields, and tortured them severely.

These Bailuling farmers finally couldn't bear the torture and said everything.

It turned out that these peasants lived in Bailuling, but it was not the best Bailuling, but in the fringe area. Most of the people living here were serfs and Bailuling who made mistakes.In short, the poorest people in Bailuling live here.

Che Ying got up, and finally showed a little smile: "This is really not a real white deer collar, it's just a little bit of stuff that Tang Bo left on purpose to deceive the tax officials."

All the officials flattered and praised Che Yinghuo's eyes.

Che Ying forced those Bailuling farmers to lead the way to the real Bailuling, which is also the center of Bailuling.

Afraid of being whipped again, the peasants obediently led them through a forest to the real Bailuling.

When everyone passed through the mountains and saw the small town on the bank of the river, they no longer had any doubts.

look!This is the White Hart Collar in their imagination.

There are large fields beside the river, and the fields should have just been harvested, leaving only a lot of stubble.

The town is not big, but it is divided into several areas, and high walls are built outside each area.Che Ying and the others guessed that the enclosed places would probably be Bailuling's workshop.

Che Ying also saw a small castle under construction, which undoubtedly must be the residence of the White Hart Lord.The construction of castles is time-consuming, labor-intensive and expensive. Many castles of nobles have been built for tens of hundreds of years, and they live in them while they are being built.

The land in the town is all flattened gravel land, and the mental outlook of the town residents looks very good. Most of the houses they live in are made of wood or brick and stone, and they also have complete clothes, shoes and socks on their bodies.

Such a small town is not uncommon for Che Ying and others. In some medium and large territories, their middle-class civilians and wealthy households all live in such small towns or central cities.

The poor live in the outer circle, the commoners and wealthy households in the middle circle, and the lords and nobles in the middle.This division is in line with the current mainstream urban planning.

And Bailuling has just started to develop (just got rich) for a few years, and its middle circle has developed like this is already worthy of praise.

There is also a city wall around the town, which is also under construction.

A gatekeeper found Che Ying and his party, and immediately came up to them.

After knowing the identities of Che Ying and the others, the gatekeeper immediately called for the butler Bafu.