In the afternoon, the sound of flute suddenly sounded on Hanshan Mountain. The sound of flutes melodiously gathered into music and echoed over the city. Passers-by on the streets couldn't help but stop and listen carefully.

Xiahou Qi is one of them. He has been to Hanshan for a while and was soon attracted by the music that played regularly in the afternoon every day.

This music is played by a flute and the sound is particularly loud, so Xiahou Qi believes that it is not possible to sound it by humans.

As expected, after careful investigation, I learned that there was a large musical instrument called "bagpipe" on the mountain. Although it was also a flute, the wind came from the bellows driven by water, and people then controlled the wind gates of each flute.

It is said that when the Qi army was besieging the city, the northern music played by the bagpipe aroused the soldiers' homesickness, so that the army had no desire to fight.

As the music was sounding, Xiahou Qi continued to move forward, and a child servant followed closely behind. As he walked, Xiahou Qi suddenly felt the sky dark.

Looking up, it was an elevated canal blocking the sun.

Xiahou Qi was a little confused when he looked at the stone elevated canal that was almost as high as the city wall.

Hanshan City is getting bigger and bigger. Although it is next to Hanshan Weir, it is quite inconvenient for residents to get water in the expanded urban area, and it is difficult to drill wells, so water supply is needed for canals.

At the beginning, a canal was dug on the ground, but it was prone to enter the canal due to rain or various reasons, debris, mud and sand, causing the water quality to deteriorate.

Therefore, the Xuzhou Prefecture Party mobilized manpower and material resources to build this long elevated canal, starting from Hanshan (mountainside) and crossed the north and south of Hanshan City to provide clean drinking water for residents in the city.

This elevated canal is built with stone, arch bridge style, and has a canal on it. It is said that the canal is 1 meter wide and can leave if necessary.

From a distance, it looks like a beam with countless arches, lying across the Hanshan City.

There is no such landscape in other cities, and even Jiankang cannot be seen, so the elevated canal can be regarded as one of the landmark buildings of Hanshan City (there is also a road in the north city).

Xiahou Qi continued to walk forward. There was an open space on the street, about four hundred steps in a radius. The ground was made of pebbles, and there was a pool in the center and a stone fence beside the pool.

There is a well in the middle of the pond. The wellhead is higher than the water surface. There is a spring water constantly gushing out and then flowing into the pond.

When he first saw this pool, he thought it was really a gushing underground spring. Later, someone introduced that he knew that it was the elevated canal that supplies water to the well, so that water would emerge.

In other words, this well is one of the water supply points in the city. Residents only need to carry buckets to the pool to fetch water.

The overflowing well water will flow out along the ditches and flow into a "sewage discharge channel network" along with other flowing water, taking away all kinds of excrement and waste generated in residents' daily lives.

The sewage drainage channel network in Hanshan City is very dense and large. Each drainage channel is cleaned regularly and has a roof cover. Even if it encounters heavy rains for several days, it can discharge rainwater from the city out of the city without fear of flooding.

Xiahou Qi stood by the pool, watching the residents fetch water and gurgling water, and felt that this place was much better than Shouyang City.

As soon as it rains, the streets in Shouyang City will be muddy and difficult to travel. If there are no vehicles and people traveling on their shoulders, they can only wear wooden clogs barefoot, roll up their trousers, and move in the mud.

In the mud, there are still people and animals who urinate and drown, but they are unavoidable.

When you arrive at your destination, you have to wash your feet and change into your shoes to get into the room.

It’s different in Hanshan. Xiahou Qi lived for a while and found that it rained. After the rain, the streets of Hanshan City were quite clean because the ground was paved with cobbles and there was not much water accumulation.

Although many people travel barefoot on wooden clogs, when they arrive at their destination, there is only water and some mud on their feet, just wipe it, unlike in Shouyang.

Thinking of Shouyang, thinking of the family's current dilemma, Xiahou Qi shook his energy and continued to move forward.

When the Liang State was founded, the Xiahou clan of Qiao County produced a great minister named Xiahou Xiang, and his son Xiahou Dan and Xiahou Kui, who were re-elected as governor of Nanyuzhou and Yuzhou.

At that time, the prefecture of Yuzhou was under Shouyang, so the Xiahou clan members lived in Shouyang, built extensive land, and the family flourished.

But no one expected that when Hou Jing was in rebellion six or seven years ago, the Xiahou family actually had a rebel.

This person's name is Xiahou Huan, and is Xiahou Kuizi. He took the Xiahou family's children to Hou Jing and seized Shouyang City. He also helped the evildoer to attack Jiankang with the rebels.

Later, Xiahou Huai was defeated and Hou Jing was defeated not long after. Of course, the court had to liquidate those who were accomplices. At that time, the powerful Huainan powers who were accomplices were basically wiped out.

The Xiahou family in Shouyang is also in trouble.

Fortunately, Xiahou Hua's brothers and cousins ​​also served and even sacrificed their lives for the court during the Hou Jing Rebellion, so the Xiahou clan members who lived in Shouyang finally escaped.

But it never recovered. The Xiahou family's large amount of land and clan property in Shouyang was fined because the Xiahou Hua and his gang were liquidated.

Moreover, because the Xiahou family had produced Xiahou, a son of a nobleman with a rebellion, the court became more and more cautious about the Xiahou clan members who lived in Shouyang.

Compared with the Pei family of Hedong, which is also a founding minister and lives in Huainan, the future of Xiahou family in Qiao County is bleak. Among the clan members, no one has been able to enter the official position except for the few officials who fought hard to resist Hou Jing's rebels.

In such a dilemma, the Xiahou clan members had to make a living, because a large amount of land was confiscated, and many people had no choice but to do business to support their families.

Xiahou Qi is one of them.

However, it seems that the opportunity has come. The court regained Pengcheng and reestablished Xuzhou. Li Li, the Xinping Duke who guarded Xuzhou, actually gained a firm foothold.

But even so, if the young governor wants to make a difference and the imperial court wants to gain further gains in Huaibei, he has to strengthen the Xuzhou military office and constantly recruit troops to train more troops.

When recruiting soldiers, you will naturally recruit soldiers nearby, so the children of the two Huai Rivers will have the opportunity to join the army and serve the country and earn rewards.

This opportunity is the same for the Xiahou clan.

Xuzhou's industry is booming, coal and iron products are selling well. Even if they don't join the army but do business, it is also good for the Xiahou clan.

The merchant who came from the Xiahou family (who lived in Shouyang) was not rejected by the Xuzhou Prefecture Party. As long as the financial resources meet the requirements, he could get many specialty "licenses".

This shows that at least the governor of Xuzhou Li Li did not reject the Xiahou clan.

Because of Li Li's outstanding military achievements and ability to attack and defend, people have great chances to survive in the Xuzhou army and make contributions.

Now Xuzhou Military Office is training the army, and everyone is rejected of young and strong people who are determined to join the army. Therefore, the opportunity is right in front of you. Whether you can seize it depends on whether you work hard.

The melodious sound of flute disappeared, and the bagpipe performance today ended. Xiahou Qi came to a residence and walked in.

There are many merchants who come to buy new bronze mirrors. They have already paid the deposit before and are now here to pick up the goods. When the owner Xiahou Qi came, they rushed forward: "Master Xiahou, has my goods arrived?"

Xiahou Qi was calm: "Everyone is a little rest assured. The store has sufficient stock and will definitely deliver the goods as scheduled. Please queue up..."

......

On the Han Mountain, in the viewing platform, in the pavilion, Li Li sat on the couch by the window, holding a mirror and looking carefully.

The mirror is of course a bronze mirror, which is a product of Li Li’s own workplace. It is made of copper tin (mirror) and copper lead (mirror body) pressed by hydraulically driven machines.

Such a mirror is relatively resistant to falling while ensuring the clear mirror surface, and has low cost, so the sales volume is very good. It is one of the Li family's money trees.

Now in Hanshan, the bronze mirror workshop is working hard to start construction, and the bronze mirrors produced are sold to various places, and the supply is in short supply.

Of course, this is the property of Huang Gui's mother, Du, but it will inevitably be passed on to Huang Gui in the future and then to Huang Gui's children. Huang Gui's children are Li Li's children, so it is not wrong to say that it is the property of the Li family.

Li Li raised the mirror, looked at the sunset in the west, pondering the pattern on the back, and the production process appeared in his mind.

A large amount of copper coins are poured into the furnace and turned into copper water, and then divided into two pots, each of which is put into a regular amount of lead and tin, and then it is put into the mold to form, pressed together by a hydraulically driven machine, and the finished product is packaged and exported.

The copper coins obtained from exports entered the same cycle, so there were more and more bronze mirrors and more and more money.

But he was swallowed into his stomach by war horses.

Of course, horses cannot digest copper coins. This is a metaphor, a metaphor for the expenses of raising horses.

The expenses of raising horses are huge. Li Li has been trying to make money to raise horse herds and troops, so the Li family has a high income and high expenses.

Fortunately, there are dams like Hanshanyan, which have abundant hydraulic resources, so the production capacity of various hydraulic fields is extremely strong.

For example, the fully automatic needle making (hook) machine "Redic" can be produced with all its strength.

Because there is sufficient iron supply, the production of iron needles and fish hooks is extremely amazing, but it is not noticeable when sold, so the outside world cannot guess how much the sales profit of needles and hooks is.

In addition, the mirror-making machine is started day and night, and the workers work in three shifts, generating amazing profits.

In addition, the Li family has various ‘cooperative operations’, plus the original industries in Poyang and the rapidly developing papermaking industry, so even if the sales of ring lock armor are no longer sold, the family’s income is guaranteed, and there is no problem raising soldiers and horses.

Suddenly someone gently hugged Li Li from the back. Li Li didn't have to look at it, and he knew that it was Duan Yuying who got up.

Li Li asked, "Don't you take a break?"

"No, I have to go home." Duan Yuying leaned her face against Li Li's back and said softly.

Not long ago, Li Li took Duan Yuying as his concubine, and the two of them sang and couldn't stop.

Just now Duan Yuying played the bagpipe, fulfilling the duties of a musician, and then fulfilling the duties of a concubine. Before she knew it, she had tormented for nearly an hour.

Li Li was very satisfied with the beauty's performance, but he didn't know whether Duan Yuying was so proactive because she was in love or had to please him. However, the rice had become a cook, so there was no need to worry about it.

He hugged the other person in his arms and pointed to the view outside the window: "The scenery here is beautiful, don't you look at it for a while?"

Duan Yuying looked at the streets in Hanshan City at the foot of the mountain outside the window, and looked at the wilderness outside the city further away, and suddenly her eyes dazzled.

A year ago, it was the location of the Qi army camp. She was the favorite concubine of the Emperor of Qi, and was in the camp.

One night, she heard the melodious sound of flutes coming from Hanshan. She was surprised at that time because no one could blow the flute so loudly.

Now, she knew the reason. She was here and was shocked to realize that Li Li must have been here, looking down at the Qi army camp.

And her identity is different.

The road is complete, she can never go back.

"I'll carry you down the mountain in a while." Li Li suddenly said, Duan Yuying was stunned, and then her face turned slightly red: Indeed, her legs were weak and she couldn't even walk steadily.

Thinking of the wife's explanation that Li Li could not be injured, Duan Yuying hurriedly said, "June, this is not something that can be done..."

"Nothing can't be done. Since it's a family, I should take care of you."

Li Li smiled and scraped the other person's firm nose with his fingers: "The opportunity is right. I will take you back to Poyang and see the beautiful Pengli Lake. The lake view is so beautiful."

Duan Yuying looked at Li Li, felt her eyes hot, and nodded: "Yes...."

"Come on, I'll help you comb your hair."

"Um."
Chapter completed!