Early morning, Baicheng.
Baicheng is a county-level city, and there are many small morning markets, but there is only one big morning market, which is in the West Ring. Regardless of spring, summer, autumn and winter, the earliest time is five o'clock and the latest is eight o'clock. During these three hours, the hundreds of meters long street is basically blocked.
Small businessmen from the outskirts of the city gather here, as if it is not surprising that any commodity appears here. Of course, this was before. Since the middle of last year, the morning market has become more and more depressed.
Phoenix Mountain can deal with aggressive creatures, but it can't do anything about natural decay: the vegetable fields are full of strange grasses, the fish in the fish ponds are killing each other, the orchards are also infested with insects, and there are pork, chicken, duck, tofu vermicelli, green onion and ginger Garlic, etc., even rice and soybean oil are becoming scarcer.
The whole country has entered a state of gradual shortage of resources, just like a crucified hourglass, the sand inside is falling down, you watch and rush, but there is nothing you can do.
"Whew..."
Liu Ziming sniffled and wandered around the side streets wearing very old handbags.
Thanks to the generous help of a Fantian ancestor, the construction period was successfully shortened by 20 days, and they also successfully lost 20 days' salary. All plans have been disrupted, and the follow-up materials have not been shipped yet, and this side is flying on a rocket!
Lao Shui had to coordinate urgently and could not start full-scale work, so the workers also took turns to have a half-day vacation. It was impossible to go home for a long time, so Liu Ziming thought about buying something and asked Lao Shui's freight company to deliver it.
And he walked for a short distance, wrapped in the desolate street, suddenly saw a roadside store open, it was a grain and oil store. He snuggled in and asked, "Is there any rice?"
"Rice? Do you think I look like rice?"
The owner was a bald man with a rough voice.
"Is there any white flour? Cornmeal is also fine."
"It's all there, see for yourself!" The shopkeeper pointed casually.
Liu Ziming wiped his nose and took a look. The shop was pitifully tight. There was no rice, no flour, no soybean oil. There was still some sorghum rice spread in a wooden bucket, and some soybeans, red beans and the like.
The shelves are even more shabby, even the dried noodles are gone, and there are some aniseed peppercorns. Surprisingly, however, there were plenty of potatoes, and bags of strange flour.
"It's all gone, so what do you eat?" Liu Ziming wondered.
"Are you from out of town?"
The shopkeeper gave him a sideways look and said, "Let me tell you, we have to get a certificate to buy goods now, and each store has a quota, and we are not allowed to increase the price, up to 30%! You say this is nonsense, there is only so much rice in total. , there is nothing left for the family, how can the one who sells that 80 cents make a living?"
"Hehe, yes..."
Liu Ziming smiled apologetically, and asked again: "Then when will you make the next purchase?"
"At the beginning of next month, do you want to order?"
"Yes, how do you sell rice and flour?"
"Don't even think about white flour. There's no such thing as rice. The cheapest bulk rice costs three yuan and twenty a catty. If it's better, it costs ten catties and costs seventy yuan a bag."
It's not too expensive!
The most common bulk rice in the past cost about two yuan more than one catty. Liu Ziming made some estimates and asked, "Then how much can I buy?"
"Yo, clever!"
The shopkeeper was a little surprised, and said: "You also have to get your certificates. For gentlemen like you, each person has a maximum of eighteen catties per month."
"Then I'll order eighteen catties first."
Liu Ziming nodded, looked at the potatoes and the bags of flour, and asked, "How do you sell the potatoes?"
"One yuan per catty. Those are whole potato powder. They taste almost bad, but they are still edible."
"Oh, give me some."
Ever since, Liu Ziming bought another bag of potatoes and a bag of flour, the price is very cheap.
There is no way, even if Yuan Shennong is involved, it will take a long time from the cultivation of a new type of hybrid rice to the promotion of the market. What about the transition period? It is necessary to implement government control similar to the wartime economy to ensure the basic food and clothing needs of each person, and all activities are focused on the cultivation and development of food.
People in the Xia Kingdom have eaten rice and white noodles for thousands of years, and these things are extremely difficult to change. So rice is expensive and potatoes are cheap, just to stimulate the masses to change their eating habits.
When Yuan Shennong's hybrid rice is settled, and the layout of the national agricultural base is completed, the resources will recover little by little.
Liu Ziming came out carrying the booty, walked for a while, and passed a meat stall. He remembered that his daughter-in-law hadn't tasted meat for several days, so he leaned over and asked, "Do you have pork?"
"Yes, but I guess you can't afford it."
The stall owner was scraping the knife sharpener, and without even raising his head, he began to cut a piece of strange meat that was fat and thin, black and red in color, and was in the shape of a long strip.
Liu Ziming had previous experience, so he simply asked, "Why are you so cheap?"
"This one!"
The stall owner shook the meat strips, which weighed about three catties, and said, "This is rat meat, ten yuan a catty. Hey, it's not that kind of mouse, it's the meat of yellow-haired rat. I've eaten it, and it's quite tender." The meat joint factory said that it will be all this kind of meat in the future, and there is also a kind of big rabbit meat. Don’t even think about pigs, beef and sheep, that’s not something we can afford.”
"..."
Liu Ziming stared at the thing, hesitated for a while, and finally said: "Cut two catties."
"Okay, how refreshing you are! There is an old lady in front of me who insists on buying donkey meat for half an hour. Where the hell am I going to turn her into donkey meat?"
The stall owner cut it skillfully, and said: "To tell you the truth, if I really have a piece of donkey meat, I will never sell it, and I will keep it in the bottom of the box. After 180 years, the children in the future may not know what a donkey is." , I am a family heirloom... take it for you!"
Liu Ziming pursed his lips, didn't say a word, seemed to be touched, took the things and turned to leave.
Following a few words from the stall owner, his mood suddenly became a little depressed, but with his own cultural level, he couldn't describe it.
With a sullen head, he walked from the street to the end of the street, and bought another big bag of mushrooms, a big bag of vegetables that were said to be mutated from cabbage, and the whole body was forgiving.
Things were very heavy, and the morning market was not close to the construction site. Liu Ziming was reluctant to take the car, so he carried it away.
Now the money is too low and the prices are too expensive. In the past, it was rising year by year, but now it is rising day by day. The common people don't understand, but they feel the most intuitively.
He has never seen these foods in Shengtian, and they should have been on the market in the last month. His daughter-in-law was saving money, so she was absolutely reluctant to buy them, so she sent them back, made money by herself, and then went home...
hey-hey!
Liu Ziming smirked unconsciously, the cold wind blew, but his head was covered with beads of sweat, which rolled on his forehead and temples, and quickly evaporated, leaving a layer of cold skin that penetrated directly into his heart.
As he walked, he felt in a trance that things were getting heavier and heavier, and his legs and feet were getting more and more floating. When he was approaching the bus stop, he finally staggered a few steps forward and fell there.
"ah!"
A little girl screamed in fright, and others immediately surrounded her and dragged him to the platform first, so as not to block the traffic.
"What's going on? Are you still angry?"
"I dare not touch it!"
"Who will give first aid, isn't there some cardiopulmonary resuscitation?"
All of a sudden, everyone was chattering, and someone with sharp eyes suddenly yelled: "Hey, Daoist Daoist! Someone fainted!"
Everyone looked together, and it was a young Taoist passing by across the road. When he heard the shout, he floated over as if he didn't touch the ground.
Take a closer look when you get closer, ho, what a nice skin!
Everyone gave way to the space, and didn't get on the bus when it came, just waiting to watch the excitement. The Taoist squatted down, felt his pulse lightly, and said, "I need a bowl of water."
"Uh, will this work?"
The little girl frantically dug out a thermos, pulled off the lid, and it was barely a small cup.
"Oh, yes."
The Taoist took it with a smile, poured some water, and then took out a talisman, shaking his hand casually. Pfft, the talisman ignited spontaneously without fire, and pressed it into the cup again.
laugh!
In an instant, white smoke rose straight up, but the water was still clear without any black ash.
After the talisman was burned out, he fed water to Liu Ziming, and in just a few seconds, the other party woke up slowly, and thanked him again and again after understanding what had happened.
"You have qi deficiency and stagnation, and you have suffered from wind and cold, and your qi stagnation hits your heart for a while, just rest for a few days."
"Thank you Daoist, thank you Daoist!"
Liu Ziming was very emotional, almost kneeling and kowtowing. What he was afraid of was not that he would fall, but that once he fell, the family would fall apart.
The Taoist didn't stay long, and left with a flick of his clothes. There were a few quick-witted ones who wanted to follow them secretly, but after turning around a few times, they lost their target.
…
Phoenix Mountain, Beilu Manor.
Due to the disclosure of information, there is no need to worry, that Zhang Qianqiu has been kicked out of the mountain gate and returned to Shengtian. At the beginning, he was the one who most resembled the protagonist's fate when he ventured into the mountains with Li Dong and Yan Han, but the result was just the opposite.
Now, the manor is mainly managed by Lao Shui's younger brothers. Every day, there are so many people in the city, there is a lot of traffic, and it is impossible to receive them. They were all begging to see the Mountain Lord, Xiao Zhai mostly ignored them, and of course some people were unwilling to give up and simply lived in Baicheng.
"Bang bang!"
At this moment, someone knocked on the door knocker, it was the young Taoist.
"Who's out there?"
"Chao Kongtu is visiting!"
"Squeak!"
The door opened quickly, and a person greeted: "It turns out to be Taoist Chao, please come in!"
This person is considered half a friend, and the subordinates did not dare to neglect him at all, so he invited him into the inner hall to serve tea, and then hurriedly reported to Mingshan.
Chao Kongtu sat in the living room for a while, when he heard a voice with a headache: "Hey, yo, why are you here? Hey, you haven't reached Xiantian yet?"
MMP!
Chao Kongtu kept smiling, walked past Xiao Jin, saluted Xiao Zhai behind her, and said, "Jiang Jushi."
"It's a rare visitor, sit down!"
Xiao Zhai sat down first, and asked, "What's the matter?"
"I heard that you built a square city at the foot of the mountain to allow free trade between monks and ordinary people. The monastery is deeply impressed and wants to ask for convenience."
"Are you going to open a shop?" Xiao Zhai immediately grasped the point.
"Exactly."
"Tianzhu Mountain is also a node, and it is densely populated. It seems more suitable than our place."
"After all, Tianzhu Mountain has a government base and a mine of spirit stones, so it's inconvenient to make it too public. It's okay for us to be a small market. It's not like here. It's Dafang City when we make a move."
He said that Dafang City is not an exaggeration. It has a circumference of 16 kilometers. You can think about this concept. Although it is a combination of residential area and commercial area, it is really not small.
Xiao Zhai was even more straightforward. He opened a planning booklet and said, "It's okay to open a store, but these are not scheduled. You can take a look first."
Chao Kongtu took a look, and half of the building layout like a chessboard was marked with marks, which meant that there was an owner. He didn't choose first, but said: "May I ask, who are the reservations?"
"Ha, what else can there be? From Liaodong to the capital, and from the capital to the south of the Yangtze River, there are countless famous families. You came by coincidence. This is the last place, and I plan to keep the rest for the time being."
"I don't know who to leave it to?"
"Half and half for the wealthy people."
"Each half... With all due respect, with the current number of monks, the opening of this market may have facilitated the rules of the game between them for a long time."
"The game is okay, but the rules are fine. No one can say the rules here. Besides, someone has to do this thing, and it's fine to do it sooner or later."
"I admire you!"
Chao Kongtu arched his hands, pointed to an area in a blink of an eye, and said with a smile: "I picked it, it's here."
oh
Taking a look at Xiao Zhai, it is a three-story single-family building with a rather large area. If it is built, it must be a landmark building.
She was also very happy, and said: "Okay, let's settle the accounts clearly. If others rent it, it will be four million yuan a year; if they buy it, it will be two hundred million yuan. But you, you only sell it and not rent it. The one-buy price is 100,000 spirit stones."
Ouch!
Chao Kongtu's face twitched, the price was exactly seven inches, not more than one cent, not much less than one cent.
With the discovery of Tianshan mineral veins, the government has slightly relaxed the control of Lingshi. They believe that over time, mineral veins will appear one after another, which is also a natural law.
And 100,000 is the bottom line that was negotiated beforehand.
"If we buy it, there is no expiration date, right?"
"Then I should ask you guys, why are you asking me?" Xiao Zhai said with a smile.
The Taoist Academy does not engage in production or trade. It seems that it has no money, but behind it is the most powerful organization in the Xia Kingdom, and it will be easy to make money in the later stage!
"Don't be too vulgar. We are going to close the front mountain, and we will have no income in the future. We have to get some money for milk powder. Paper money is still useful now, so it is this price. After Lingshi is popularized, it will not be this price."
Xiaozhai Qicha finished negotiating the conditions, and instead of getting up to see off the guests, he refilled some tea, which meant to discuss formally, "Okay, the foreplay is over, let me tell you the purpose of your visit this time."
"Oh, I can't hide it from you."
Chao Kongtu tilted his head, trying his best to ignore the eyes of someone who was not too angry because of his sister's presence, and said: "The second thing, I heard that we are collecting various Taoism. It happens that we have accumulated a little, so we might as well exchange it." have a look?"
"exchange?"
Xiao Zhai paused, waved his hand to lay down a layer of restraint to keep Xiao Jin outside, and said, "What do you want in exchange?"
bang bang bang!
bang bang bang!
Chao Kongtu twitched the corners of his eyes, watching the guy punching and kicking outside, thunder and lightning, but the sound couldn't come in.
"Since it's an exchange, openness and honesty are the most important thing. The sincerity of the Taoist temple is full. Let me say something first. We discovered an underground palace last year, which was left by Taoist Baihe during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. After excavating the Taoist temple, we found a lot of Taoism. There are many types of pills, talismans, utensils, mantras, etc. Except for a few, they are all here... "
As he spoke, he swept the sleeves of his robe, and a thick booklet appeared on the table.
"..."
Xiao Zhai remained silent, his eyes turned on the other person's face, knowing what he knew.
The way the Taoist school does this is that it is the same as Phoenix Mountain, no longer cherishing itself, and pursuing openness and integration. Because the monks in ancient times were all-rounders, they knew a little bit in almost all aspects, but now the inheritance is broken, resulting in the extremely single and fragmented learning.
If you want to reproduce the prosperous age of ancient cultivation and rebuild the cultivation system, what you need is to communicate with each other and confirm each other.
Everyone has passed the cautious stage in the early stage, where all positions should be fixed, and all relationships should be clear. It depends on who has a long-term vision and can go longer.
Secondly, Lao Gu was promoted to be an immortal, and the Daoist Academy took the initiative to show their favor.
So she also took out a few jade slips, and said: "Our things are all here, you are not innate, and you can't check it..."
"It's okay, I'll just wait." Chao Kongtu didn't care.
Xiao Zhai waved his hand, let his sister in, and said, "I have something to deal with, so you can accompany Taoist Chao first."
puff!
Chao Kongtu shook his tea, did you do it on purpose or on purpose
Not to mention how the two were fighting each other, Xiao Zhai picked up the album and started to look through it.
Beast slavery: establish a master-servant relationship with spirit beasts through secret methods, and communicate with each other, and can cultivate, ride, and command spirit beasts. Taoist Baihe rides a giant crane and travels proudly in the world, just like this method.
Edict Sword Art: Created at will by Taoist Baihe, it is a side-door alchemy, not sword art. Inanimate sword energy can be used the day after tomorrow, and ordinary sword weapons can also be used. This technique is only one move, one sword flies out, turning into an afterimage to kill the enemy, the power is quite impressive.
This is exactly the trick Zhang Shouyang used to cut off one of Zhang Ziliang's arms during the Longhushan fight. Here is the mantra:
"The mysterious sword is used, and the Tianding guards follow. The god of heaven fights, and the five fights cheer. Xiaofa sacrifices the flying sword, killing the wicked, and there is no life left, and the magic soldiers are as urgent as the law!"
Land Soaring Art: Xuanmen escape method, different realms have different effects.
With one leap of the day after tomorrow, you will be several feet off the ground, or a few feet of dust, and you will be able to cross a hundred meters. Congenitally stepping on a foot of breeze, you can glide under the air for a short time, as fast as a bird, turn and turn as you like, and go for several miles.
"Huh?"
Xiao Zhai blinked his eyes, he was a little interested in the beast-handling technique, but not at all in the sword-fighting technique. Is it okay to fly the land.
Because Lao Gu has already researched his own escape method, whether it is the void air control technique or the body sword light, it seems that it is better than this. But he is a human immortal with a unique system, and others are still innate.
Phoenix Mountain lacks an escape method, and there is only an imaginary technique, that is, the feet are several inches off the ground, and the speed is extremely fast, suitable for long-distance raids. But the imaginary technique can't grow, and it's much worse than dodge and move.
She secretly wrote it down and continued to look through it.
Ruyi Light Smoke Gourd: Refined from a gourd with a size of five or six inches, a puff of green smoke will be released to cover the whole body with a wave of the hand, so that evil curses, poisons, and Gu cannot be approached, and swords, water, and fire cannot be hurt.
This is a magic weapon, which is tasteless, but it is optional. Xiao Zhai looked down again, his gaze suddenly fixed.
Small cloud and rain technique: It can help yin and yang to harmonize, make the bed happy, prolong it for a long time, and float to the blissful state... ah bah bah bah!
Small cloud and rain technique: controllable water lifts into the sky, and pours it into rain in a small area. It seems to be created by Taoist Baihe, and it is specially used for watering medicine gardens.
She doesn't need to look at anything else, this is enough.