Zhu Nao

Lu Qiuyu worked in the field for a long time, so tired that his back ached.He straightened up with his waist down, and was about to take a rest when he saw a figure walking towards the village on the ridge in the distance.

That figure looked familiar, Lu Qiuyu squinted his eyes for a while, suspected that he had misidentified the person, and called to Shi San beside him: "Brother Shi, look, is that person over there from your village?"

Shi San raised his head from the ground and looked in the direction Lu Qiuyu pointed.The man had gone so far that all he could see was a small black shadow.He was not sure: "It seems to be the boss of the Wang family... What's wrong?"

Lu Qiuyu whispered: "I think his back looks a bit like our second village master."

"Two what?" Shi San didn't hear clearly.

Lu Qiuyu almost slipped his tongue, and shook his head again and again in fright: "No, no, I must have admitted the wrong person."

Shi San shrugged, bent down and continued working.

Lu Qiuyu looked at the figure suspiciously.No matter how he looked at it, he felt a bit like Yu Ping, but Yu Ping seemed to have no reason to appear in this place.

The man walked quickly, and it didn't take long for him to disappear from his sight.Lu Qiuyu shook his head, thinking that he probably had the wrong person.So he stopped thinking about it, buried his head and continued digging.

……

Zhu Nao went to inspect the farm today, checked the progress of the spring plowing, and checked whether the tenants had any problems that needed to be solved. Then he found a yard to look over the account books sent by the steward for the purchase of new farm tools, cattle, etc. in the beginning of spring.

Cheng Jingzhe moved a small table and read a book beside it.After a while, he leaned over, pointed to a place in the book and asked Zhu Nao, "My lord, what is this word?"

Zhu Nao glanced at it and replied, "This is Cuan, which means to set fire to cook."

Cheng Jingzhe nodded, and went back to the small table to continue reading.

He didn't know many characters before, but after following Jun Nao, Jun Nao asked someone to teach him how to read.Young people learn things quickly, and after less than a year, he can already read books by himself.There are still many characters in the book that he doesn't understand, but if he guesses according to the context, he can often guess right nine out of ten.If you can't figure it out, ask someone to answer it.This way, you can learn by watching and learn faster.

What he is reading right now is a military book, which was also thrown to him by Junao.

Not long after, Zhu Nao finished reconciling the ledger, stretched his waist, and turned his head to look aside.

Cheng Jingzhe was holding a book with a serious expression on his face.He was a little slow at reading, probably because he didn't know all the characters well, and he only read half of a book after reading it for many days.But he has one advantage, that is, he is very rigorous and careful in everything he does, and writes down what he has read, and never swallows it whole.

Zhu Nao had nothing to do, so he called out, "Jing Zhe."

Cheng Jingzhe hurriedly pressed the pages of the book with a paperweight, and looked up at him.

Zhu Nao asked, "After watching these days, what do you think?"

Cheng Jingzhe thought for a while, and seriously replied: "This book contains detailed cases, and I have gained a lot from reading it. There are many cases that I found unbelievable when I first read them, but when I think about them carefully, I think they are reasonable."

"for example?"

"For example, in the article I just read, it recorded a battle in which fewer people won more. In that battle, one side had an army of 1 people, while the other side had only 1000 people. The difference was ten times." Cheng Jingzhe said solemnly Narrated, "In the last book I read, if you want to win more with less, you should take a sneak attack in a narrow terrain. If the army cannot be deployed, the weaker side will have a greater chance of winning. But fighting on flat ground, It will be very dependent on the number of troops. Therefore, it stands to reason that if a thousand people want to defeat ten thousand people, they should choose to fight in the valley, but that thousand-man army took the initiative to launch a surprise attack on the ten-thousand-man army on the plain near Luoyang... The odds of winning should have been It’s not that big, I didn’t expect that as soon as the two sides fought, the [-]-strong army would be quickly disintegrated, and they were completely defeated in the end.”

Zhu Nao nodded while listening, motioning for him to continue talking.

Cheng Jingzhe said: "It turned out that the general who commanded thousands of people specially chose to sneak attack when the enemy's army passed by Luoyang, because many of the soldiers in the army of ten thousand people were from Luoyang. The army has been fighting outside all year round. When the soldiers passed by their hometown, They already had a strong sense of homesickness. When the enemy army came, they had no intention of fighting, and many people wanted to take advantage of the chaos to escape to their hometown, but as a result, this group of people dragged the entire army away, and the morale of the army was broken, and it completely collapsed."

Zhu Nao smiled slightly, and said, "The general of a thousand men is a genius at using soldiers."

Cheng Jingzhe scratched his head: "I used to think that when the two armies were fighting, whoever had the braver general and the stronger army would win. But after reading many cases in the book, I realized that the success or failure of the two armies is so different. There are many variables. The biggest variable is neither the general's bravery nor the number of soldiers, but lies in... lies in..."

He understood the meaning in his heart, but he couldn't find the right words for a while, so he couldn't speak any more.

Zhu Nao reminded: "People's hearts."

Cheng Jingzhe's eyes lit up: "Yes! It's in people's hearts!"

Junao looked approvingly.After reading such a few books, one can have such insights. Cheng Jingzhe's aptitude is better than he thought.He was about to say a few words of praise when footsteps suddenly sounded outside.

Zhu Nao turned his head to look, but it was a tenant who came.He asked, "What's the matter?"

The tenant said: "Owner, a foreigner came into the farm and said he wanted to see you, but we stopped him outside the building. He called himself Yu, and refused to say anything else. Shall we let him in?"

"Yu?" Cheng Jingzhe whispered, "Is it the village master Yu?"

Zhu Nao also had the same thought, and said, "Let him in."

After a while, footsteps came from outside, and several tenants led a man out of the yard: "Master, the man has brought it."

Zhu Nao and Cheng Jingzhe were startled when they saw the people they brought, Cheng Jingzhe got up quickly, grabbed a long stick by his feet, and looked at the people with wary eyes.

The person who came was not Yu Changming, but a stranger they had never seen before.

The tenants were taken aback when they saw this, and immediately put on a defensive posture.However, the sparkle in Zhu Nao's eyes moved, and he said gently: "It's okay, you go to work."

After Zhu Nao spoke, the tenants all lifted their guard and dispersed.Cheng Jingzhe retracted his stick, and still stood beside Zhu Nao without moving.

Yu Ping walked into the yard with his head held high, and seeing Cheng Jingzhe still staring at him suspiciously, he opened his arms generously and turned back and forth to indicate that he was not carrying any weapons.Then he bowed his hands to Zhu Nao: "I have seen Zhuzhuang Zhu."

Zhu Nao asked, "Your Excellency?"

"Yu Ping. I'm Yu Changming's younger brother. Does Zhu Zhuangzhu know me?"

Junao was not surprised.When he saw that it was a stranger, he already guessed Yu Ping's identity.He raised his hand and said, "Second village master, please sit down."

Yu Ping pulled up a stool and sat down opposite him, looking at Zhu Nao, with a hint of surprise in his eyes.In his mind, Jun Nao is a cunning and cunning businessman, but he did not expect Jun Nao to be so young and handsome.

Zhu Nao asked with a smile, "The Lord of the Second Village has come here, what advice can you give?"

Yu Ping didn't speak immediately, but still stared at Zhu Nao.

He remembered the first time he dealt with Junao, it should be that he led people to rob Junao's caravan and stole ten carts of grain.A few days later, Zhu Nao sent someone to deliver another ten carts of grain to Changming Village.At that time, he had fallen in love with Jun Nao, and felt that this person was not simple.Just for fun, I didn't expect that Zhu Nao would have so much involvement with Changming Village later on.

Zhu Nao bought a farm at the foot of Longcheng Mountain, Zhu Nao hired villagers to help with farm work, and Zhu Nao sent food for the winter to Changming Village... Many things that Zhu Nao did made Yu Ping deeply disgusted.There was no other reason, but because those things all indirectly increased Yu Changming's prestige in the village.

But those were still small things, and what was really unbearable was the salt well.

Last winter, Yu Changming suddenly led someone to dig a salt well, and he heard that this matter was related to Zhu Nao again.Yu Changming seemed to be encouraged by Zhu Nao, and the old man who knew the pulse was also found by Zhu Nao.At that time, he hated Zhu Nao to the bone, but he still had a fluke heart, hoping that Yu Changming's hard work would be in vain in the end.But when the salt well really started leaking bittern this month, he was so angry that he wanted to kill Zhu Nao before he could!

However, that thought didn't last long.When he calmed down, instead of wanting to get rid of Jun Nao, he felt that Jun Nao's appearance might be an opportunity given to him by God.

Yu Ping suddenly smiled, and stared at Zhu Nao piercingly: "Master Zhu, I want to make friends with you."

He thought Jun Nao would be surprised, but he didn't expect Jun Nao's tone to be light: "Really?"

Yu Ping frowned, observing Zhu Nao carefully, not letting go of any changes on his face.His actions today are somewhat risky, but he dares to do so with some certainty.He investigated many things about Zhu Nao. He knew how Zhu Nao made his fortune in Langzhou, he knew that Zhu Nao raised the price of food during the disaster, and he also knew that Zhu Nao was a deceitful person who claimed to be a relative of the emperor.Even if some people say that Zhu Nao is benevolent and righteous, he doesn't believe it.In the eyes of businessmen, there is only one word for profit, so where does it come from?It's nothing more than pretending to be benevolent and righteous to make money.Zhu Nao sent food to Changming Village, just to take the opportunity to win over and please, so that Yu Changming can be encouraged to open tea fields and dig salt wells, so that he can get profits from it.

Yu Ping leaned forward and said straight to the point: "Yes. Master Zhu, I want to make friends with you because I share the same goals with you."

After saying this, he finally saw a hint of interest on Junao's face.

"I don't know where the master of the second village is going?"

The corner of Yu Ping's mouth curled into a smile.He believed that what he said next would make Zhu Nao feel very excited: "Me? I am determined to make money. Not only do I make money alone, but I also want to make money with Zhu Zhuangzhu and help Zhu Zhuangzhu make more money." .”