Back to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

Chapter 356 Exploring Cai Meng
"Why do you want to call me my lord?" Feng Yao asked curiously.

"Because if I can, I can become your subordinate. In that case, I will be able to earn a lot of money, and my father will no longer have to worry about money! And my family will not be separated because of this!" Xiao Xiao The boy replied, with a look of anticipation in his eyes.

Feng Yao felt sore, couldn't bear to refuse the little boy's request, tried to make his expression more solemn, pretended to think for a while, then nodded, and said in a majestic tone: "You are so filial to your parents, you must be a Loyal subordinate, so I decided to agree to your request!"

The little boy was overjoyed, and immediately jumped up from the ground, and shouted excitedly at Feng Yao: "My lord! My lord!"

The child's voice is crisp and crisp, and it sounds very pleasant.

With a smile on Feng Yao's face, he announced to the surrounding people: "Cai Meng is innocent!!"

Cai Meng was overjoyed, and immediately knelt down to thank him, but was quickly pulled up by Feng Yao.

In Feng Yao's opinion, these are just trivial matters, and he was here to help them, but so many things happened in the end!

To Cai Meng's family, although Feng Yao couldn't explain why, he always felt a little bit guilty, especially when Cai Meng's family was hit by life, he couldn't put on a superior posture, so he pulled Cai Meng up. , Seriously said: "There is nothing wrong with you, there is no need to be so polite!"

Seeing that the matter had a happy ending, the surrounding people all smiled and looked at Feng Yao with reverence, and soon they were persuaded by Yang Wu and others to separate and leave.

"Lord!"

At this time, Cai Meng's son walked up to Feng Yao, clasped his fists, and asked in a low voice, "My lord, can I advance some salary?"

"My lord doesn't know your name yet, so how can I pay you the salary? You know, the salary is paid according to the person's name!" Feng Yao smiled.

"My subordinate's surname is Cai, and the single name is Tongzi!" The little boy was very happy when he heard that there was food and salary.

"Uncle, my surname is Cai, and my nickname is Wuwu! I want money too!" At this moment, the little girl also ran up to Feng Yao, imitating her brother's words, with big eyes full of hope.

The childish behavior of the two children brought smiles to everyone's faces. Feng Yao hurriedly took out two silver ingots weighing five taels from his arms, gave one to Cai Tong and the other to Cai Wuwu, and said, "Okay, This is the salary paid to you!"

Cai Tong and Cai Wuwu were overjoyed, holding the heavy silver ingots, turned around and ran to Cai Meng and his wife.

"Father, this is Tong'er's salary. Father won't have to worry about life anymore!" Cai Tong said solemnly.

Cai Wuwu held up the silver bullion high up, intending to give it to her mother, and said crisply as if asking for credit: "This is Wuwu's filial piety to mother, mother, put it away quickly, and don't let the bad guys see it!"

Cai Meng and his wife were about to reject Feng Yao's kindness, Yang Wu stepped forward and persuaded: "This is a kindness from my lord, accept it quickly!"

"The little one has the audacity to accept it, thank you for the reward!" Cai Mengyi said.

Feng Yao asked: "Cai Meng, I hear what you mean, you also have a certain understanding of ships?"

"Returning to Shijun, Xiaomin's parents used to row boats to earn a living, so Xiaomin also knows a thing or two." Cai Meng said.

"Okay then, you settle your family first, and then come here, I'm planning to buy some boats, I think you can help me." Feng Yao suddenly had a very good idea.

Cai Meng immediately nodded, called his wife, and ordered him to lead Cai Tong. Cai Wuwu, go to a nearby inn to stay, don't wander around, and arrange the next step when he comes back.

His wife left as ordered, and Cai Meng followed behind Feng Yao.

Under the leadership of Zhang Liang, a group of people soon came to a bank of Yingshui River. The atmosphere suddenly changed. This is an extremely quiet place. The brick houses are located on the shore, and further away, there are rows of green trees that isolate this place from the noisy streets outside.

A road paved with bluestone stretches forward from Feng Yao's feet, and finally leads directly to the river. It is a stone pier, about five feet long and one foot wide. There are several warships parked!
On the river far away from the pier, there are several similar warships, each with more than ten sailors on board, patrolling and training on the water.

"My lord, this is the Navy Wharf built by my subordinates!" Zhang Liang bowed to Feng Yao and clasped his fists.

"Well, yes, but there are too few barracks. For a lake as big as Ruhu Lake, we should have more ships and more sailors!" Feng Yao nodded.

Xu Shu, Jian Yong, Man Chong, Cai Meng and others looked around.

At this time, Xu Shu, who had been holding back his silence, took a step forward, bowed to Feng Yao, and asked, "My lord, I don't understand something. If we need ships, we can directly order craftsmen to build them. Why buy those boats of different sizes? What about the ship?"

Along the way, Jian Yong had been thinking about something, and now he also stopped, showing curious eyes, and Man Chong, Yang Wu, all looked at Feng Yao in puzzlement, wanting to know why.

Feng Yao smiled and said, "Yuan Zhi, I'll explain it to you later."

Then Feng Yao turned around and asked Cai Meng, "How much money can you buy an ordinary boat?"

"Returning Shijun, you can take an ordinary boat with ten people, about 20 taels of silver!" Cai Meng said.

Feng Yao nodded, whispered something to Yang Wu, Yang Wu quickly took a big bag, put it in front of Cai Meng, nodded to Feng Yao, and retreated behind Feng Yao.

Cai Meng was a little dazed, not knowing what Feng Yao wanted to do, he asked in confusion, "Master, this is...?"

"Hehe, Cai Meng, this is 200 taels of silver. I would like to ask you to do one thing for me. With this money, you can buy ten boats by yourself and send them to this dock. Also, I hope tomorrow morning See them!" Feng Yao laughed.

Cai Meng lifted the cloth bag in surprise, and with a heavy hand, he loosened the cloth bag slightly, looked at it, his eyes widened suddenly, took a sharp breath of air-conditioning, his expression was excited, silver light shone in the cloth bag, Cai Meng Never before have I witnessed so much silver!

However, soon, Cai Meng calmed down, tied up the cloth bag, clasped his fists to Feng Yao and said, "Emissary, although Xiaomin is a commoner, but since the envoy entrusts you, Xiaomin will not let you down." It’s almost noon now, Xiaomin will leave now, otherwise the purchase of the boat may not be completed on time!”

Feng Yao nodded and ordered Cai Meng to go quickly.

After Cai Meng left with the money bag on his back, Yang Wu asked in amazement: "My lord, you just let Cai Meng go like that? What if Cai Meng just left with the money and never returned?"

Feng Yao smiled and said, "Yang Wu, do you know why I said the 210 taels you prepared were 200 taels?"

Yang Wu shook his head.

Feng Yao turned around and asked Xu Shu, "Yuan Zhi, didn't you just ask me why I bought a ship? Actually, the answer is here!"

Xu Shu's eyes lit up suddenly, and he said in surprise, "Could it be that my lord is trying to test Cai Meng's character?"

"Yes, that's the reason!! I think Cai Meng has a business mind, and his narrative is clear, he is a talent to create, and his current predicament is more or less my responsibility, so I want to take this opportunity, Use Cai Meng to let more civilians who have lost their land, who are in a similar situation as him, find a new job!" Feng Yao said.

(End of this chapter)