After having lunch at Lin Daoquan's guerrilla general's mansion, Lin Run declined the suggestion of taking a nap and went for a walk in the city in the hot summer afternoon.

Zhao Hao had no interest in this. He had already read the "Report on the Situation of Xiawei City" written by Tang Baolu, so there was no need to see it again. He was just a tool for military use, and his internal affairs points were not important.

But Lin Run insisted on dragging him along, so Mr. Zhao had no choice but to give up his plan for a lunch break and drag the even more reluctant fat white man Xu Wei to accompany Lin Zhongcheng.

"Oh, you're boring now." Xu Wei wore a straw hat and fanned himself with a palm-leaf fan, but he was still too hot to wear clothes. "I've lived in this tiny place for half a month. What else is there to see? What if I get heat stroke?"

"This is called sharing happiness and sharing difficulties." Zhao Hao was also very hot, but fortunately Secretary Ma held an umbrella for him, and he fanned himself, so it was somewhat bearable. "Look, you've only been fat for a few days, and you have a double chin. Just think of it as losing weight."

He saw Lin Run walking into a market with great interest, asking the merchants in Minnan dialect about something. He curiously asked Xu Wei, "Is this the largest market in Xiawei?"

"How should I know?" Xu Wei rolled his eyes and looked around for a shady place.

"Haven't you visited all of them?" Zhao Hao followed him and said speechlessly.

"I was just saying it casually. Only a fool would go out in such a hot day." Xu Wei found a shade and quickly hid under it. His lazy look reminded Zhao Hao of Garfield. "In the high hall, with the draft blowing, there are girls fanning me, girls massaging my feet, girls feeding me, and girls doing that. And running around, don't you think I'm stupid?"

"Oh, Xiao Linzi is worshipping you as his ancestor." Zhao Hao followed him, and the guards set up two high-backed stools in the shade, and the two sat down. Young Master Zhao asked with a smile: "Why, you are so happy here that you don't miss your homeland?"

"Hehe, a little bit, but not that bad." Xu Wei took off his sweat towel and wiped his neck, saying, "After all, the joy of Shu is hard to find here."

"I like to hear that." Zhao Hao smiled and pointed two fingers at Secretary Ma.

Sister Ma opened the wooden box behind the guard, took out two cream popsicles from the ice bucket wrapped in a thick quilt, and handed them to the young master.

Zhao Hao gave one to Lao Xu, and the two of them sat on the stools and licked the popsicles happily.

"When it comes to enjoying life, my godson is nothing but a bumpkin compared to you." Feeling the chill in his lungs, Xu Wei narrowed his eyes in comfort. He had been completely captivated by Zhao Hao's petty bourgeois enjoyment.

"I dream of having an air-conditioned room!"

As mentioned before, the heater installed by Zhao Hao can be cooled manually in summer. There is no need to add ice. You only need to use the drainage king to pump out the cool well water and transfer it into the copper pipe of the heater for continuous circulation. Combined with the hand-pulled large fan, you can achieve a good cooling effect.

The Jiangnan Building in Suzhou has already installed this kind of equipment, so Xu Wei has naturally enjoyed it for a long time...

Sometimes you may not cherish air conditioners, but if you don't have them, you will miss them. It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality!

"Then you should stay here for a while." Zhao Hao gently bit off a piece of the milky popsicle, letting it melt on the tip of his tongue, and said, "We came too hastily, and we didn't bring the things we enjoyed in Kunshan. My father and I are in the capital, and if we want to cool down, we basically have to take a shower... a cold shower."

But he was chilled by the popsicle and shivered.

"Then I won't go back yet, otherwise Old Wu will nag all day long, and your father will be jealous." Xu Wei said, thinking of the four maids of Master Zhao, he couldn't help but smile from ear to ear and said: "The Four Heavenly Kings are really not to be underestimated. That Madam Xiao is a ruthless character."

"Mrs. Xiao?" Zhao Hao was stunned for a moment before he remembered that was his godmother's new surname. Why did she choose this surname? I don't understand...

"But I'm afraid you're not that kind." Xu Wei finished his popsicle, licked the stick and said, "Would you like me to stay here permanently and help you keep an eye on my godson?"

"Well. Just don't let Xiao Linzi's love potion really make you dizzy. We have already agreed that I will take care of you in your old age and see you to the end of your life. No one is allowed to snatch it away." Zhao Hao said with a smile.

"Haha, do you think I can't see that he wants to use my fame to raise his own value? Let's each get what we need and live together." Xu Wei smiled and lowered his voice and said, "The pretty boy is very sinister. I tell you, this guy must have a trick up his sleeve. Don't let him cheat you out of your loss."

"Oh, how do you mean?" Zhao Hao became interested.

"Xiao Tang should have told you that this guy is very good at recruiting people to join his gang... Of course, he can't compare with you." Xu Wei took out his hookah and asked Zhao Hao to light it for him. While smoking, he whispered:

"He sent all his men back to his hometown to recruit people, regardless of whether they were men or women, as long as they were capable of labor. He would reward two taels of silver for every man he brought back. He would reward three taels of gold for every ten men he brought back, and whoever recruited the man would be his subordinate. So if his men wanted to get promoted and make money, they had to work hard to recruit people."

"Isn't this a pyramid scheme? It's so shameless." Zhao Hao couldn't help but criticize, but suddenly realized that he was even worse than others, so he shut up obediently.

"No matter what method is used, at least hundreds of people join the gang every day, and sometimes there are five or six hundred." Xu Wei said leisurely, "He has been doing this for at least a year and a half, right? Together with his original subordinates, there must be 100,000 people, right?"

"Of course there is." Zhao Hao nodded.

"But look at this Xiawei city, there are 50,000 people in total?" Xu Wei pointed around with his hookah and said, "Most of them are ordinary people who come here to do business or work."

"The report says there are only about 30,000 to 40,000 people." Zhao Hao nodded.

"So, where are the people?" Xu Wei blew a smoke ring at him.

"Yeah, where are the people?" Zhao Hao's first reaction was, would this guy learn from the black-hearted compradors hundreds of years later and sell pigs?

But on second thought, it shouldn't be the case. Because at that time, among the options of the Portuguese, there were cheap and good quality natives of Southeast Asia and inexhaustible African slaves. Why would they risk offending the Ming Dynasty and use the expensive and unruly Ming labor force?

"I guess he probably moved to another place." Xu Wei said faintly, "It seems he also knows the principle of not putting all eggs in one basket."

"No, no." Zhao Hao shook his head and said, "He didn't even think of this Xiawei City as a basket, but just a funnel!"

"That's true." Xu Wei nodded, understanding what Zhao Hao meant.

Because before this, Lin Daoqian had always been in a precarious situation and could not consider Xiawei Castle as a place to live for a long time. It was not that he didn't want to, but he couldn't.

So why did he desperately recruit soldiers? Was he planning to use one city to compete with the whole province?

This time, the city of Xiawei is located on a flat ground with the sea at its back. If it is attacked by both land and sea, it will be very frustrating. Moreover, it was originally a village, so there is no room for maneuver. An old bandit like Lin Daoqian is definitely not so naive.

Apparently his real lair is somewhere else!

"Then where would it be?" Zhao Hao asked softly.

"I don't know, but he is definitely at sea." Xu Wei stopped talking when he saw Lin Run, Lin Daoqian and his group coming out of the market. He said slowly, "Just investigate slowly. He made such a big move, and if we really investigate, we can't hide it."

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded, stood up and greeted them with a smile, and asked the guards to distribute popsicles to Zhongcheng and his entourage to cool down.

"How do you like it?" Mr. Zhao personally handed one to Lin Run.

"You did a great job." Most of the pores on Lin Run's body were burned. In fact, this kind of weather is even more uncomfortable, but he didn't care at all. He praised Lin Daoqian and said, "I didn't expect that General Lin, a brave general, has the talent of a county governor. He has managed the market in an orderly manner. No wonder people from all over the world come here to do business."

"You are too kind, Zhongcheng. Actually, I did not do anything." Lin Daoqian said modestly, "Except for the tax on the stalls, no excessive taxes were levied, and no hooligans were allowed to harass the market. Then, it became lively without any reason."

"Isn't it just that what the people want?" Lin Run glanced at the officials behind him and said, "It's just that we often want too much."

Wu Qianshi and others blushed when they heard this, but it was probably because of the heat.

Fortunately, Lin Run stopped eating a popsicle and said with a smile: "Let's go to the top of the city to take a look."

"Yes, it's cooler there." Lin Daoquan exerted all his strength and led the way.

Zhao Hao and Xu Wei had no choice but to continue following behind.

But Wu Chenshi also deliberately slowed down his pace, obviously he had something to say.

"What do you want me to do, sir?" Young Master Zhao asked with his usual modesty and a smile.

"No instructions. Thank you for the popsicles, young master. I finally didn't have to heat up the food." Wu Chenshi held his belly with a silly smile on his face, harmless to people and animals. He whispered again: "Your grandfather Zhao Taigong is my best friend."

"Oh?" Zhao Hao thought to himself, should I call you grandpa? But he smiled and said, "I haven't asked for your name, old senior?"

"My surname is Wu, my given name is Yangxing, and my courtesy name is Mengda. You can just call me Uncle Wu." Wu Chenshi laughed and said, "Last year, your grandfather came to Guangzhou for recuperation. We hit it off right away and spent time together... oh no, we held a literary gathering together in the flower fields. In short, we got along very well and became close friends regardless of age difference."

"I see. It was great to have Uncle Wu accompany Grandpa. As his children and grandchildren, we are afraid that he will be lonely." Zhao Hao put on a polite smile, thinking that it seemed that Grandpa had a lot of fun in Guangdong last year. No wonder he never mentioned the old man after meeting Lin Zhongcheng.

"Oh, how could he be lonely? All the officials and gentry in Guangzhou have made friends with him. They are having fun together. I wonder how happy they are." Wu Chenshi said with a nostalgic look: "I wonder when he will return to Guangzhou?"

"I don't know either." Zhao Hao smiled and said, "He has been very casual these past two years, traveling all over the world. I heard that he went to Mount Lushan last month."

But Zhao Hao is not worried at all, because the old man's traveling is the kind of traveling like Xu Xiake, where he doesn't need to touch the ground at all, and he won't get tired even if he travels all over the country!

P. This way I want to pay tribute to Uncle Tat, the Tiger of the Serious Crime Squad and the originator of gigolos. I just want him to continue to be a gigolo in the book.

ps2. It’s gone today.