Shiluo Village is a small coastal fishing village under Wendeng County, Dengzhou Prefecture, Shandong Province. In recent years, the whole village has changed its life to farming due to the ban on the sea. Little arable land has become difficult, so some villagers moved their families to nearby villages and towns closer to the inland to settle down, reclaiming wasteland and planting fruit trees.

The population of the village has dropped sharply by half. Most of the surname Liu is named Liu. According to the elders of the Liu family, they said that in the late Qin and early Han dynasties, their ancestors fled here to avoid the war and saw that there was no way out through the vast sea, so they had to settle down.

The origin of the name of Shiluo Village is no longer verified. Perhaps because the land is full of citrus, the fruits fall one after another every year during the harvest, or because the Shiluo River at the entrance of the village is full of strange-shaped large stones, it is said that it was done by Nezha when he was in trouble in the sea.

In fact, the ancestors had already reproductive and thriving in the Shiluocun area as early as the Shang and Zhou dynasties, but later disappeared into the long river of history. Many people from Qi migrated here during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

This year, the northwest has a severe drought for thousands of miles. There has not been a heavy rain since the beginning of spring in Shandong. The Shiluo River, which used to survive, has turned into a shallow small ditch. The wells of nearby people's homes are dry and unable to get water. In addition, there are many mountains and fields here, and the fields are barren, so there is almost no harvest in the crops this year.

Just as the area of ​​Dezhou in Qingzhou suffered floods and droughts last year, the imperial court wanted to build a fortress in Shiluo Village to resist Japanese pirates, and moved thousands of refugees one after another, which made the injury worse.

At this time, the entire Shandong was suffering from drought. The court's attention was focused on the northwest direction. The governments in various places were too busy to take care of themselves, so they had no time to pay attention to Wendeng County, which had a small population. The pressure to support the people was very heavy. Just when the officials were frowning about this, the Ministry of War laid off Wendeng County and changed it to a garrison.

Overnight, except for the county magistrate Yang and other minor officials who lived there, most of the officials rushed to the prefecture to find a way. At the same time, the new Weihaiwei family, Mu Ximu, came to the county, and as many as four or five hundred people, along with the family members of the hundreds of households and other officials.

County officials quickly went over to pay a visit. Following the guidance of the sergeant standing guard along the way, they ran to the top of Huancui Mountain, which is the highest terrain and the most beautiful scenery in Shiluo Village. A group of lieutenants were accompanying a young man in a scholar's shirt and pointing at the sea.

"The official asked to see Mu Qianhu." County officials of Yang hurriedly wiped their heads of sweat and shouted at the top of their throat.

The young man turned around and looked at him deeply, saying, "Give me a cup of herbal tea to quench my thirst."

County officials took the teacup handed over by the lieutenant with both hands. First, they looked at Mu Xi, who was in a thousand households in confusion, and then asked the young man who was obviously the leader of everyone: "I dare to ask which Shangguan you are?"

The young man smiled and said, "No official or no position is a civilian."

County officials Yang immediately shouted: "Can you be Xu Hao in white in the capital? Oh, the official has met Mr. Xu."

"When did I become so famous? I became a sir?" Xu Hao asked back with some curiosity, which made Mu Xi and his brothers smile knowingly.

The Yang County official said happily: "Mr. I am helping countless victims and living people in the northwest. Who doesn't know the feat of opening 32 infant insurance bureaus to save thousands of children? It is really a blessing for the people who come to Wendeng County."

Xu Hao put away his smile and frowned and stared at the calm sea level in the distance. Everyone fell down, making County Yang confused.

Seeing this, Mu Xi smiled bitterly and said, "Mr. Yang, please stop mentioning the northwest incident. The reason for this reminds my brother of all kinds of tragic events."

So that's what happened. County Yang nodded considerately, but said: "It's not that the officials intend to be annoying. It's really because the people in Wendeng County are the same as eating and eating, and they're almost gone. I hope Mr. Xu and Lord Mu can help."

Xu Hao whispered: "Yang Shiqi. I recommend you to attack Jiangxia and come to Shandong to be an official, not to let you come everywhere to ask for help and to support the people by begging."

County officials trembled all over and exclaimed: "It turns out that the gentleman recommended Yang to serve as an official. Please accept Yang's worship."

Xu Hao said unhappily: "You don't need to give me a big gift. I just ask you if you can support yourself and keep the safety of the people of Wendeng County?"

Yang Shiqi said excitedly: "Sir, don't worry, I, Yang Shiqi, will do my best to do everything possible. We will never let the people starve to death."

Xu Hao smiled and said, "You have little ambition and great talents, and you should be able to lead the people out of famine. In the past, you were implicated by your stepfather and could not be enrolled in the imperial examination. Therefore, I specially recommended talents to the court. Since you are not from a regular background, you just hope that when you become an official in the future, you should consider the people of the world equally, and do not consciously study but only care about the interests of civil officials."

Yang Shiqi said seriously: "Mr. Yang must keep the teachings in mind."

Xu Hao bowed and said, "The people's meals are handed over to Lord Yang. We are here to be ordered by the Emperor of War to build a city fortress and docks and military camps to resist Japanese pirates. The terrain of Cuishan is the highest. If you want to build a tower to guide the direction, you have to survey the hydrological conditions such as the currents and wind directions of the waterways. There are many things, and you need strong assistance from your county government."

"Yes." Yang Shiqi pointed his head, "The officials should do their best. By the way, Lord Mu, there are often pirates here on the shore, and occasionally there will be one or two Japanese inside."

Mu Xi snorted coldly: "I understand, I will definitely send them to see the King of Hell with my own hands."

Xu Hao said casually: "As the saying goes, rely on the mountains and rivers to eat water. At this critical moment, you don't care about the ban on the court. You have to allow fishermen to go out to sea to catch fish. Do you dare to bear it with all your strength?"

Yang Shiqi smiled indifferently and said, "Why don't you dare? At worst, you can just resign from your official position and serve the people. For the sake of the people, what is your personal future?"

Xu Hao said with satisfaction: "Sure enough, I'm not wrong. I guess you will lose your official position next year and you have to be mentally prepared first."

Yang Shiqi's smile froze and thought to himself that he would not take the blame just to ask others to take the blame, so Mr. Xu recommended himself to be an official? Then he thought that the worst is that it is no big deal.

At that moment, Yang Shiqi said goodbye with great worries, and Mu Xi asked, "Why are you trying to make things difficult for others? Yang Shiqi only started an official at the age of 30, which is not easy."

Xu Hao smiled and didn't explain. He pointed to the island that was looming in the distance and said, "While the news of our first arrival has not yet spread, we must catch all the pirates on Liugong Island and the surrounding islands tonight. If you can catch them alive, I will interrogate the whereabouts of the Japanese."

Mu Xi looked far away and said confidently: "Don't worry, the forty warships of Shandong Navy are nearby. Even if the pirate wants to escape by boat now, it is too late."

"Well, the war will be left to you. I want to accompany Ningxue Hongye." Xu Hao laughed and raised his feet toward the mountain.

Shiluo Village at the foot of the mountain suddenly became lively. The villagers were stunned and watched the nobles come to the family of the eldest son. In addition, many nobles lived in the village. Fortunately, there were many empty houses, and the girls who came out of the carriage were as beautiful as fairies, just like the lamp people in the painting.

The village chief's family collected 200 stagnant treasures and moved them out happily. The village was in chaos, and there were soldiers around the village busy building sentry towers and blocking the roads. Teams of soldiers patrolling back and forth with swords and guns in hand.

Mu Xi led fifty elite troops to capture the pirates. The number of people with the help of the navy was enough. The staff and clerks hired in the northwest set up military tents in the open space in the middle of the village and sent officers and lieutenants to take over thirty or forty villages of all sizes nearby. From now on, all the people in Wendeng County were affiliated with Weihaiwei, half-army and half-people.

It is September now. For more than three months, Xu Hao has traveled to several northwest provinces to assist the government in helping the people. Mu Ningxue has been living in her hometown of Fengyang with her female relatives and opening a porridge factory to accommodate orphans and widows.

Finally, after the joint efforts of the government and the country, the rich households and merchants who hoarded grain, uprooted thousands of landlords and wealthy families into Beijing. The harvest season in August was ushered in and some more and less grain was brought out. Because the White Lotus Rebellion was first quelled, the disaster in the northwest was greatly alleviated. Despite such efforts, tens of thousands of people starved to death.

In order to raise food, Xu Hao offended all the royal palaces and robbed tens of thousands of stones of grain, which made King Qin and King Jin complain. Anyway, he wouldn't bite him if he had too many lice, what could you do to get a weed man?

Some orphans stayed in the local area and were cared for by the government to search for their relatives. About 300 babies were sent to the female doctor in the capital. Nearly 600 children over four years old were moved to Wendeng County, and nearly 1,000 orphans and widows were also coming.

Five thousand stones of grain were also on the way here, and Xu Hao was not going to send it to ordinary people for food, but for the purpose of three meals on the construction site.

Running Weihaiwei is equivalent to starting from scratch, and it is full of things in all aspects. Xu Hao tried his best to do this. Weihaiwei was just the beginning. His ultimate goal was to connect Liaodong by sea and continue to make a breakthrough in Guandong in advance.

At this moment, Li Qiu came back first to notify his family, and Zhiqing and Zhenzhu quickly came out to pick him up.

Xu Hao held the hands of several children in the village, went to the door of the house and broke up and said goodbye, and entered the yard and asked, "What's good to eat at night? I've been traveling all day and didn't eat a bite of food all day."

Pearl was still dressed like a newlywed young woman, saying, "The eldest daughter sent some pheasant cubs to stew them in the pot. It will take half an hour to stew them."

Xu Hao said: "You can eat Shanghai food in a few days. I'm afraid you won't be able to adapt to the environment, so you have to boil it in water and enjoy it. The pickled taste is the most delicious, but Li Qiu and I have a good taste anyway."

Zhiqing reached out to take the coat and frowned and said, "Looking at you, you are covered in dirty clothes. The bath water is ready. It's not too late to chat after washing it."

Pearl giggled, stopped and watched the young master and Zhiqing enter the main room. She turned around and scolded her husband who was slipping into the kitchen, "Take the dirty hands away."

The room was changed into a long thick cloth dress. Mu Ningxue and Zhiyan were busy cleaning the room without makeup. Hongye frowned and looked at the place with dissatisfaction, muttering something in his mouth, not knowing what he was thinking about.

Xu Hao felt very distressed when he saw this scene. Since he grabbed Ningxue by his side, he has suffered all the hardships along the way. In the past, as the eldest lady of the Mu family, there were not many servants everywhere. He had to go to a group of servants when he was eating and clothes. Now there are only seven people in total, and he has to take care of everything himself. But Ningxue was happy about this without a single complaint. What else can he ask for if he got a wife like this?

I hope to stay in this beautiful Weihai with beautiful mountains and rivers, and spend a lot of time with Ningxue to enjoy the mountains and waters, try to go to the sea bath and all kinds of interesting things by the sea.

Xu Hao was not worried about safety issues. Mu Xi's more than 100 people were from Jinyiwei. His relatives were all in the capital. Then two families had ten families with more than 50 people coming.

When Mu Ningxue saw him come in, she put down the rag in her hand and walked over and said, "There is a shortage of water in the village, so you can save some money when bathing."
Chapter completed!