Li Xia walked through the corridor and heard a "click" sound.
He lowered his head and saw a pebble falling to the ground.
When I turned around, I saw a little head peeking at the small door of the back office, and then quickly retracting it.
"Mr. Jiang, please wait a moment. I'll go see the landlord later."
"yes……"
Li Xia then turned around and walked to the back office, walked around the tea room, and passed through the small door. He saw Han Qiaoer looking there with his head tilted up and waved to him.
"What's wrong?"
As soon as Li Xia went over, he was hugged by this little girl.
"Brother Li, I haven't seen you for several days."
"Why don't you wait in my office?"
Han Qiaoer lowered his head and muttered in a low voice: "I'm wearing women's clothes today, so I can't go to the front office. You didn't even notice."
She has been hanging out with Jiang Di lately, and Jiang Di gave her several pieces of clothing that he used to wear.
Because she heard her father say that Li Xia would return to the city today, she put it on specially, but he didn't even notice...
"I found it. I'll cut some pieces of cloth for you to make new clothes later."
"No, no, no, my sister gave me several clothes, don't they look good?"
"Well, for the Chinese New Year, I will make a few more, and also make a few for your father and grandfather."
"I don't have to." Han Qiaoer said, "I still want to grow taller."
"You can grow taller if you eat more."
Han Qiaoer thought for a while and said a little depressed: "Yingxiang Tower was burned down by fire. Brother Li also said that he would defend the county seat and take me to eat stir-fry."
"There are other restaurants in the county. I'll take you to eat there when the war is over."
"Is the war not over yet? I thought you forgot."
"I haven't forgotten, the war is not over yet..."
Han Qiaoer had been busy all morning, but she only had a few words with Li Xia.
Afterwards, Li Xia returned to the front office and walked into Fang Yankai's public room.
~~
After a few words, the atmosphere in the public room solidified again.
"You use Zhang Yuanming's money and food to make friends?" Fang Yankai stared at Li Xia and said, "Feiyu, you use other people's money and the county's credit to make friends?"
"How did the owner's bookkeeper know?"
"How do I know? Ha, I personally counted the heads. As for how many hectares of land Zhang Yuanming has, I know it best in the county except for himself. How can I not know how many kilos of grain he has? You..."
Li Xia nodded and said, "Let's do this. This time, the county magistrate and the chief registrar will be the first to take the credit for defending the county. How about that?"
"Why did you defeat the enemy like this?"
"I hope you will be transferred away as soon as possible." Li Xia said.
Fang Yankai was stunned.
Li Xia added: "No need to doubt the landlord, I am sincere."
"Feiyu misunderstood, I don't want to compete with you for credit."
"But I want you to be transferred."
"..."
Fang Yankai took a few deep breaths, waved his hands, and said, "Let's talk about these things after the war is completely over. The Hezhou War is about to happen, and this is not the time to strive for glory."
At this point, he emphasized his tone and said: "We should not provoke the squires and county magistrates. The Spring Festival is approaching and the people are already dissatisfied with being trapped in the city. If Zhang Yuanming instigates public opinion at this time, we and the county magistrates should not take credit for their merits.
It is possible to commit a serious crime..."
Li Xia said: "I burned the Jiuqu Garden, and I also stole Zhang Yuanming's grain. I have nothing to do with the county magistrate or the chief clerk."
"Li Feiyu, stop joking!"
"I'm not joking, I've always been serious. I have a strong backing, so I'm not afraid of this little credit, and I'm not afraid of this little guilt."
"Being an official is not just messing around like you."
"The situation is critical and extraordinary measures must be taken."
Fang Yankai dropped his sleeves and finally controlled his anger. He took a few steps and said, "The county will allocate an additional amount of money to Zhang Yuanming in addition to next year's summer tax."
"Why?"
"Why? You burned someone else's garden."
"In order to resist the Mongolian army, not only his family was burned this time, but the tea garden in Baiyan Miao Village was also burned. Why didn't Xiong Chun ask the county to compensate?"
"Baiyan Miao Village is outside the household registration."
“Didn’t the homeowner’s book always say that the county had no money?”
"The county really has no money, so who is suffering?" Fang Yankai sighed and said, "You are too impulsive."
"Must we pay?"
"With Zhang Yuanming's connections, what if someone in the court impeaches us and burns down people's houses, killing good people and taking credit? I can't do anything about this matter. Even if I report it to the court, I will have to pay compensation, and you and I will still have to bear the responsibility. I shouldn't say it.
Yes, you and I have been officials for only three years, but they are still the commander of the county. Feiyu, could you understand a little bit about my difficulties?"
"This is the authority of the landlord. I reserve objections but will not interfere."
"Don't tell me whether you have these things or not. Let's do this. The county magistrate has hosted a banquet at Qingfu Tower tonight, and you go and apologize to Zhang Yuanming."
"Um?"
Fang Yankai was afraid of bringing out Li Xia's arrogance, so he came closer and said, "After all, you burned down someone else's house, so what if you apologize to him?"
Li Xia nodded and said, "It makes sense, then I'll meet him tonight."
"Your attitude..."
Fang Yankai frowned and said again: "You should apologize to him in terms of seniority and inferiority. Didn't I tell you that he was a member of the Communist Party of China? He was a Jinshi in the Bingxu year, was awarded an official status, and received a salary, but he did not make up for the vacancy.
, as a 'substitute member', his qualifications and official rank are still above the county magistrate and me!"
Li Xia often heard people say "Zhang Yuanwai" and thought Zhang Yuanming was an ordinary country squire. Only then did he realize that "Yuanwai" meant exactly that. He was really an official.
Recalling Zhang Mingyuan's first respectful and then arrogant attitude when they first met, and his surprised and angry attitude, it turned out that he was angry with him for not knowing etiquette.
It can also be seen that the official system of the Song Dynasty was complicated and there were many officials awarded through imperial examinations.
Even if you do nothing, you still receive a salary...
~~
"It turns out Zhang Yuanming is an official."
"Yes, A Lang doesn't know? I thought A Lang knew." Han Qi'an smiled awkwardly and said, "But according to the practice of the Song Dynasty, there are too many people who arrogantly use official titles. I think A Lang must have misunderstood."
Han Chengxu shook his head and said: "It's just an official 'outside of the official'. I think Alang doesn't care whether he is an official or not."
Han Chengxu knew Li Xia better than Han Qian, so he explained a few more words.
"Officials in the Song Dynasty must have a postal rank, which means they can receive salary and salary, which is an official status. However, there are too many redundant personnel, and there are not so many real vacancies in the court. It usually takes three or four officials to fill one real vacancy."
Li Xia came to his senses and said, "There are three or four times more officials who live on leisure than what is normally required?"
"It's... it's hard to say, because there are also 'Yinbu' and 'Tiancha'."
"What is Tim Chai?"
"For example, in our Tongchuan Prefecture Road, we have two Shangguan officials, the 'Tongchuan Prefecture Road Appeasement Envoy' and the 'Tiancha Tongchuan Prefecture Road Appeasement Envoy'. The latter one is extra."
Li Xia shook his head and walked into the inner room.
Soon, Han Qian followed in.
"Have you checked?"
"Yes, but let's talk about another thing first." Han Qian said: "Zhang Shifei hired a group of thugs to assassinate A Lang."
"What a coincidence."
Li Xia looked outside and saw Han Chengxu leaning over his desk and writing an account book, occasionally glancing outside the door.
Han Chengxu knew about these things, but because he was old, he didn't get involved in the fighting and killing, so he took care of them and didn't ask too many questions.
"The leader of this group of thugs is called 'Chu Fu', nicknamed 'The Ugly Butcher'. He has been cutting trails on the southwest border all year round. He has several Bo people under his command..."
"When do you plan to take action?"
"They seem to have not thought about it and are looking for opportunities."
Li Xia said: "Let's do it first."
"If the Zhang family is confiscated due to the crime, the land will become the county government land. It is better to assassinate Zhang Yuanming and his son and secretly control the Zhang family."
"Is there a way?"
"Zhang Yuanming has several brothers, but they are not in Qingfu. Zhang Shifei has a son named Zhang Daiyin, who is four years old. If all three of the Zhang family's father and son die, the family property should go to the eldest grandson Zhang Daiyin."
At this point, Han Qi'an pondered and said: "At that time, as long as we control Zhang Shifei's wife Yang, we can get the land in Zhang Dai Yin's name, and we can cover it up."
"Can you control Yang?"
"It should be possible, but it will take some time."
Li Xia said: "We'll do it tonight."
"Isn't it too hasty?"
"This kind of thing doesn't need to be too meticulous. There is a banquet tonight. The Zhang family and his son will attend the banquet. They will be killed on the way back."
Han Qi'an said: "But we have not yet controlled the Yang family, Zhang Dai Yin's mother and son."
"Kill first, I will arrange the killing, and then you can slowly control Zhang Jiachi."
"Yes." Han Qi'an thought for a while and said, "Let me ask, who does Alang want to use?"
"Ginger rice."
"I'm afraid it's inappropriate. Although Jiang Fan has never had any dealings with Zhang Yuanming, he has been greatly favored by Fang Yankai. Let him handle this matter, because he is afraid that he will not be able to hide it from Fang Yankai... A Lang also knows that our landlord's bookkeeper has good eyes.
It's poisonous. In addition, if you want to sell smuggled salt in the future, if you want to deal with Fang Yankai, you shouldn't use Bao San, Jiang Fan, Lu Hu and others."
"It doesn't matter." Li Xia said, "It doesn't matter if Fang Yankai knows."
"But this..."
"If you think about it carefully, as long as the matter can be justified on the surface, will Fang Yankai expose it? Is he really willing to compensate the Zhang family?"
"Yes, but how can Alang make things justified on the surface?"
"Simple, some of the prisoners we captured escaped..."