Globe Trekker

Chapter 41

On August [-]th in the Gregorian calendar, Li Kun, who has been in charge of scouting news and contacting eyeliners for many years, returned from Changshan County. In addition to bringing back this month's old and new newspapers, he has not yet confirmed his identity record at the county government. However, the roster that Master Lu worked so hard to write was accepted by the official of the civil affairs department of the county government.

"You didn't send money to the manager secretly?" Master Lu's voice was very unhappy, and Wu Ming heard it as soon as he walked downstairs.

Li Kun explained helplessly: "Give it! The three handlers have sent each to fifty oceans."

There was no sound upstairs, Wu Ming stepped into the door, glanced at it and said with a smile: "I guess the money given is not enough. Who will do things for you if you don't give enough money these days? Fifty oceans is a big sum in the eyes of ordinary people. But in the eyes of officials, it’s nothing, not to mention we have 96 mu of registered land besides [-] people.”

Lu Zhengde nodded slightly: "It should be like this, the money is not enough."

Master Lu accepted Wu Ming's conjecture, and Li Kun smiled embarrassedly at Wu Ming.

Wu Ming looked around, sat down and asked, "Why do you always like to come to my house? There is soot everywhere, and you spit. Really, the big wooden building specially built for meetings under the big camphor tree at the entrance of the village is white. fixed?"

The three of them had already known Wu Ming's good temper, so they didn't pay attention to his complaints. They all sat with their buttocks and legs crossed, and sat indifferently.

Wu Ming shook his head and stopped thinking about it: "Third Brother, the caravan who just came back said that they hired two boats to transport the goods to the mouth of the Chahe River in Fangcun in the south, and the boatmen don't want to come up again?"

"No, to put it bluntly, the bosses of the boat were still afraid of the plague, and asked me why I was with a few She ethnicity men, so I had no choice but to come back and ask my brothers to drive horses to pack it. Lilu, the horses are exhausted, so why don’t you just buy a boat earlier, it’s convenient for you to do everything with a boat, and you won’t have to hide every time you get the bullets back.” Li Kun replied angrily.

Master Lu gave him a blank look: "You think you're the only one in a hurry? If you don't get your ID card, it's not safe to go out for a step."

Wu Ming stood up holding the newspaper, "Look, everyone, there is a message in the newly issued "Quzhou Business Daily" that the new acting county magistrate of Kaihua is a high-achieving law student who returned from Japan. His name is Wang Guangshao. He is only 28 years old. As a Kaihua man, the newspapers praised him for his fairness and approachability, since he took office, he has been hardworking and benefited all people, and he has been highly praised by all walks of life in Kaihua."

Master Lu hurried over, put down the newspaper after reading it: "You want to register in Kaihua?"

"Can't you? You copy the list again, change the number of acres to [-] acres of mountain land, and then change the place of declaration to Shunshan Village in the west, and then send it to Kaihua County. It is estimated that Kaihua, a third-class county, does not have so many twists and turns. The emperor Tiangao It is easy to be fooled by the distance. Besides, an acting county magistrate who has just returned from studying in Japan, no matter how knowledgeable he is, will not be a veteran in the officialdom. At least he has drive and is eager to get things done. Try." Wu Ming replied lazily.

Li Kun quickly stood up: "Then the things handed in at the Changshan County Government are invalid?"

Wu Ming waved his hand: "It won't be invalidated, just wait patiently. It is necessary to apply for more identification...or just apply for more than [-] brothers. They all use fake names. Anyway, the ID cards issued are real. , and multiple covers at critical moments."

Master Lu raised his eyebrows: "This is a way! It won't cost much, and Shun Mountain is a big mountain nest that doesn't care about it. It is estimated that no one will visit it in ten years."

"Then let's do it, but we only need to do it with a few of us?" Lu Zhengde suggested.

After discussion, everyone agreed with Lu Zhengde's opinion. The four people present plus Wu Ming's two apprentices Lu Kuiyuan and Lei Peng made a total of six people, plus the nicknames of eight women who never went out. Of the five families far away from the world in the mountains, the third family immediately volunteered to go to Kaihua tomorrow.

After the important matter was settled, Master Lu frowned again: "Brother Wu, you guys have been busy for forty days, and finally found coal at the foot of Dongwu Mountain in the west, but now it seems that there is no manpower dedicated to this matter! "

"That's right! Although the coal there is not buried deep, it will take less than a year to dig a tunnel. There are not enough people!"

During this period of time, Li Kun often went to Changshan and Quzhou to inquire about the coal market. He knew that most of the coal in Changshan and Quzhou was shipped from Shangrao and Guangfeng in Jiangxi Province. As long as he mined it here, he could make a lot of money.

Wu Ming really had no choice. The She brothers were used to leisure. It was okay to build a house and hunt. There was no hope of digging coal, building roads and opening tunnels. We could only temporarily let a dozen brothers who had nothing to do dig dozens of loads every day and bring them back for their own use. , although I thought about whether to build a small cement plant to produce cement in the surrounding limestone, clay, sand shale, and fluorite. Now it seems that this idea is too advanced. There is no need for this place after two years of development. For cement production, it is enough to buy a few hundred tons in Changshan for personal use. Maybe after the autumn harvest, everyone settles down, and I will leave this place to try my luck.

Seeing Wu Ming pondering for a long time without speaking, Master Lu couldn't help urging: "Say something, what should I do?"

Wu Ming thought for a while: "How about this, I will go to Changshan City tomorrow, take Kui Yuan and Lei Peng out to broaden their horizons, and stop by the Civil Affairs Section of the county government to see if it can be done quickly."

Several people looked at each other in blank dismay, they never thought that Wu Ming would have this idea suddenly, but after thinking about it, the young Wu Ming couldn't be allowed to squat in this remote place for the rest of his life, right?One more thing, although the arrest warrant from the three provinces has not passed for a long time, Changshan is not Shangrao, and few people have seen Wu Ming, so there is no danger. Taking a step back, even if there is danger, with the abilities of Wu Ming and Lu Kuiyuan, it is more than enough to escape .

Before the three of them could think it over clearly, Wu Ming turned to Li Kun and asked, "Third brother, you went to the Changshan county government office to do business, did they give you a receipt of acceptance?"

Li Kun asked puzzledly: "Receipt? What receipt? No!"

"If you don't have it, you don't have it. I'll go there and report the names of Mao Liangwu and Lu Da village chief. But you need to bring me some money. Besides running errands, I also want to buy something." Wu Ming turned Looking at the master.

"How much? Is one thousand oceans enough?" The master was very forthright this time.

Wu Ming waved his hand: "It doesn't take so much, five hundred oceans is enough."

Lu Zhengde quickly persuaded: "You should bring more. Didn't you say you want to buy a watch? By the way, I bought the watch."

Wu Ming stood up and laughed: "No need, don't look at who I am? The bandit leader 'Lone Wolf' who is famous all over the country and has been featured in the "Central Daily"! If I have no money, I will go and grab it. How dare he not give it, haha!"

Wu Ming laughed and went out, leaving the three bosses to look at me and you. They knew that this was an angry statement, but the three of them still couldn't hide their worries.

It was not dawn the next day, and Lei Peng, who was so excited that he didn't sleep all night, got up early and stood guard at the door of Wu Ming's bedroom, watching the green rice waves starting to head to the east, looking at the hazy sky from time to time, and then looking at the dark east. Whether there is a morning glow on the top of the mountain, I feel that time has never passed so slowly in my life.

He is not the only one who is in a hurry, Lu Kuiyuan, the eldest son of Chief Lu, is even more anxious than him. He gets up early and puts on the best clothes. One night, I was so exhausted that I just fell asleep when I was woken up by the hurried footsteps of the eldest son, and I was so angry that I sat under the mosquito net and yelled: "Little beast, what do you want to do like a horse? Come in and out again." , I will break your leg!"

Lu Kuiyuan rushed out of the door in fright, quickly turned a few turns and rushed up to Wu Ming's wooden building. When he saw Lei Peng leaning against the railing, he couldn't help laughing out loud, which woke Wu Ming up again. .

Wu Ming put on his practice clothes and went out to watch the sky, and immediately began to teach him a lesson: "It's 05:30 at the most, you two guys, that's fine! Don't pretend to be pitiful, follow me down for a lap, and when you're done, go to the half slope Go practice boxing, grandma, it's outrageous."

The two apprentices did not dare to disobey the order. They took off their new clothes and hung them on the railing at the same time. They followed Wu Ming weakly and ran around the village naked. Ming didn't care about them, and stood alone under the big tree to practice Zhuang Gong facing the east.

It was bright, and all the old and young in the village went out one after another. After Wu Ming finished his morning exercise, he went down the mountain to the river bend in the south, took off his clothes and trousers and plunged into the water. After returning home, they found that Lu Kuiyuan and Lei Peng had already brought gruel and two pickles from the master's house.

The three masters and apprentices sat together for breakfast. Lu Zhengde, master, Li Kun and others arrived soon. After Wu Ming drank half a bowl of porridge, he put down the bowl and went into the room to change into youth clothes and cloth shoes. He took the cloth bag containing one hundred oceans and twelve small gold bars in his hand, and threw it to Lu Kuiyuan behind him, nodded and walked a few steps forward, took the reins from a brother, and led the horse out leisurely. village entrance.The two young ones followed suit, each leading a horse and following, regardless of the worried eyes of a group of elders.

Two hours later, the three masters and apprentices and the three brothers who followed rushed to the pier at Chahekou, Fangcun. The passenger boat that departed at a fixed time every day had not yet left. People on the pier saw Wu Ming, who stood out from the crowd, and the two young men behind him. Boarding the ship, they looked very surprised, whispered together in twos and threes, and quietly asked the elegant and handsome young man who had just boarded the ship which young master he was?Several young women stared straight at Wu Ming, as if their souls had been taken away.

"One penny for two cents!"

The rickety passenger ship left the shore amid the yelling of the ship's boss. Wu Ming suddenly found the two brothers sitting shyly in the stern, so he shook his head and stopped talking.

The sharp-eyed Lei Peng had already noticed it. Seeing the helpless smile on Wu Ming's face, he quietly leaned up to report in a low voice: "Uncle Ming, I knew they were coming with me a long time ago."

"Oh? How did you know?" Wu Ming asked with a smile.

Lei Peng replied calmly: "When I came out, I heard the second uncle quietly ordering them to keep an eye on us. If something happens, we will deal with them when we go back."

Wu Ming heard it interestingly: "That's right, very clever! Keep it up in the future."

Lu Kuiyuan also came over: "Brother, after finishing business in Changshan City, do you want to go to Quzhou City? I heard that Quzhou City is a hundred times more lively than Changshan City."

Wu Ming was in a good mood: "No problem, we'll go to Quzhou City after we're done, and we have to go to big cities anyway, right?"

(End of this chapter)