"What chicken? You want to eat chicken?"

After Shen Muzhi finished lighting the wall lamp, he walked over and heard Yan Xiao talking to herself.

He didn't hear her clearly at first, but when he got closer, he only heard her say something about chicken, so he assumed she wanted to eat chicken and asked her directly.

Yan Xiao had just accidentally blurted out her innermost thoughts, and only after hearing Shen Muzhi's question did she snap out of her astonishment.

She waved her hand, skipping the topic of chickens, and asked Shen Muzhi how the mechanism door worked and what its working principle was.

Shen Muzhi didn't understand mechanisms either, and spoke the truth:

"This was created by a capable person at a high price hired by the former prefect. I only know how to use it from the former prefect, but I don't know the principle behind it."

"oh."

Yan Xiao nodded, not dwelling on the issue, and quickly asked Shen Muzhi to teach her how to use it.

With Shen Muzhi's explanation, she quickly understood that it meant that after she set the door password by pressing the raised buttons in the order she wanted in the secret room, she could only enter by pressing them in that order.

Unless extreme violence is used, only one person will be allowed to enter that place in the future.

This is exactly the private territory she needs. In the future, when she absorbs the spiritual energy from the jade, she won't have to worry about anyone discovering the inexplicable anomalies within it.

She was just puzzled. How could such a good place have fallen into Shen Muzhi's hands and been left to waste? It was simply a waste of a precious resource!

That's what she thought, and that's what she asked.

A hint of embarrassment flashed across Shen Muzhi's face after hearing this, and finally he coughed lightly and asked innocently:

Do I look like someone who could hide treasure?

"Uh~"

Yan Xiao was speechless, only then realizing that this man was now a rebel leader who almost entirely relied on war to sustain his war effort, so how could he possibly have much extra money to build up a treasury?

Unless he follows the example of some other rebels, seizes territory and becomes queen, loots and plunders the city, or greatly increases the taxes on the city's people and merchants, then he is no longer Chen Muzhi.

But isn't it a bit too obvious that this person is poor?

Yan Xiao was speechless, so she ignored him and turned to look at the scene inside the secret room.

The secret room wasn't large, only about 30 square meters. Apart from a few very small ventilation openings, there was nothing else that let in light, so wall lamps were needed.

However, this size is more than enough for Yanxiao.

After she finished reading, she nodded in satisfaction at Shen Muzhi.

"This place is great. I'll bring all my good stuff in here in a bit."

As he spoke, he walked towards the door.

Shen Muzhi remained noncommittal and followed Yan Xiao directly. However, when they reached the door, Yan Xiao gestured for him to go out first.

Shen Muzhi raised an eyebrow in confusion: "What does Madam mean by this?"

"What could I possibly mean? I'd like you to go out first so I can set up the door opening mechanism."

Yan Xiao answered matter-of-factly, and seeing that Shen Muzhi still didn't move, she directly used her hand, pushing him while saying confidently:

"Once it's given to me, it's mine. You can't know how to enter my private territory. What if you run out of money one day and come looking for my secret stash?"

Shen Muzhi's face darkened upon hearing this. He wanted to ask Yan Xiao what kind of image he had in her mind.

Moreover, this is the General's Mansion. If he really wanted to touch her secret stash without her consent, could this door really stop him?

But when his gaze fell on Yan Xiao's face, he ultimately said nothing. In the end, he felt that Yan Xiao's current stinginess was largely due to him.

If he hadn't been gone for years, causing her so much suffering, why would she be so insecure now? And why would she be so greedy for money?

Thinking of this, he followed Yan Xiao's force and stepped back through the stone gate, then went directly out of the passage and summoned Zhao Qian, instructing him:

"If the lady needs to use this place in the future, have someone come and clean it up, and arrange for two people to guard it, and not allow any unauthorized people to approach."

"yes."

Most of the people around Shen Muzhi knew what this place was used for before, since a lot of gold and silver jewelry was moved out of it back then.

It was precisely because of those gold and silver treasures that Shen Muzhi was able to quickly and completely occupy Jiangbei, and also allowed the soldiers in the camp to receive their pay, which boosted their morale.

This was merely the prefect of Jiangbei City, yet he embezzled so much wealth, while the people and soldiers suffered from lack of food and clothing.

This gives you an idea of ​​how rotten the Qing Kingdom had become; its demise was only a matter of time.

After Yan Xiao set the entrance password, she came out and saw Shen Muzhi still standing at the door, looking like he was waiting for her.

She took a few steps forward and asked:

"Why are you still here? Don't you have anything else to do?"

This is a classic case of using and discarding something after use, which almost made Shen Muzhi laugh in anger.

He took a deep breath, trying to maintain the composure expected of a gentleman, and replied:

"I have something I want to tell you."

"Oh, then go ahead and tell me."

As Shen Muzhi led Yan Xiao outside, he explained the current situation of the people outside the city.

Because of the good price of crayfish, the first group of refugees who caught crayfish now had a lot of money in their hands.

In addition, Shen Muzhi specially dispatched two teams of soldiers to patrol outside the city. Although there were a few incidents of robbery and extortion, they were quickly resolved by the patrolling soldiers.

Because the methods used to deal with troublemakers were quite bloody, they served as a deterrent, and such incidents became less and less frequent, and the area outside the city was no longer a lawless zone.

So, with fewer and fewer crayfish available in the area, the first group of people who made money started building houses and clearing land in the area designated by Shen Muzhi, preparing to settle down.

As long as the migrants have built houses or cleared land, when they are registered at the city gate, Jiangbei City will reissue them identity cards.

With this, they were no longer refugees, but became newly arrived relocated residents, that is, new people from Jiangbei.

With their new identity cards, they could now freely enter the inner city, whether to buy or sell or simply stroll around, marking the beginning of a completely new life.

For this reason, more and more migrants are now willing to settle outside the city, and the area has been renamed Lobster Town.

However, everyone wants such a good thing; who wants to remain a vagrant forever? Their greatest wish now is to be able to settle down again.

As more people received the news, more and more refugees came to Jiangbei City.

However, there are fewer and fewer crayfish near Jiangbei City, so they have to go to more distant places, which naturally takes more time and effort.

Moreover, this situation will become more and more serious as time goes on.

So when people heard that the crayfish that had been bought up were being sold for tens of coins a serving in the city, and that each serving weighed less than half a pound, some people began to complain.

They felt that the buyers were selling at such a high price, yet they were only being given 20 coins per pound, which was too low a price.

Given that scarcity drives up prices, and crayfish are so hard to find these days, their price should be raised; otherwise, it would be unfair to these newcomers who have arrived later.