Lao Liang broke off a brand-new copper coin and gritted his teeth because it affected the wound on his shoulder.
"You're so damn tough, Diao has some fingering skills."
"This is a piece of Hu cake." Xue Bai picked up the broken copper coin and looked at it, recalling what he saw every time he bought Hu cake.
Vendors work from dawn to dusk, chopping firewood, lighting fires, carrying water, and kneading dough, but how do they grow this dough? Plowing the fields, picking manure, and harvesting are all heavy physical labor.
In comparison, privately minted copper coins use hydraulic blasting. The copper juice flows out of the minting furnace and two copper molds are pressed. It can easily exchange for the rations that ordinary people have worked hard to grow... Although they have invaded the fields,
The sale of human life deprives a lot of people, but who would think that they get a lot?
Of course, there are barriers to minting coins, and ordinary farmers cannot do it. Mining private coins also relies on strength.
"Lang Jun." Shi Zhong came over and said, "They are transporting iron and stone."
"It's true that you keep your word."
Xue Bai got up and walked to the side of the ship to look. He saw more than a hundred people under Diao Bing loading the grain and driving a carriage over. The carriage was very heavy and carried the iron and stone he wanted.
He had sent people to follow Diao Geng before. He had known that they had transported the iron and stone all the way to Yanshi and would not be able to transport it back. Therefore, he pretended to be generous during the transaction and let them transport the grain first.
After all, although what you are buying is iron and stone, it is actually people's hearts.
"Lieutenant Xue County, I'll put the goods on the ship for you. I'll take my leave."
"If you kill Gao Chong, you can go to the county office to receive the reward."
"No." Diao Bing was worried that he would be detained because of this unnecessary matter, so he said: "Goodbye, Xue County Lieutenant Gaoyi."
"Fifty bolts of silk. It's almost the Chinese New Year. You can take them back to cut clothes for your family members. There are also charcoal, pepper, tea and other gifts as rewards."
It would have been fine if it was a reward of coins, but since it was these objects, Diao Bing couldn't help but hesitate.
Diao Geng said: "Brother, I took someone to pick it up?"
"Then be careful."
Being used to life and death, the two brothers did not show any pretense. Diao Geng carried the head, took Xue Bai's boat, crossed to the north bank, and headed for the county government office.
On the way, Shi Zhong specifically ordered the guys to beat gongs and shout.
"The fugitive Gao Chong attacked the county captain and was captured and killed by the heroes Diao Bing, Diao Geng and others, and the county was restored to peace!"
"Don't be like this, this head... I picked it up."
Diao Geng also knew something was wrong and quickly explained. He could not say that Gao Chong was killed by Xue County Lieutenant, but to be honest, the head really rolled to his feet and was picked up by him.
Unfortunately, Shi Zhong and others as well as the onlookers were too enthusiastic, and no one believed his explanation at all.
Such a big fanfare has alarmed Song Mian. When he learned that his brother's murderer was dead, he could not help but come forward.
After Song Mian got the news, he hurried from Shouyang Academy to the county office. When he saw Diao Geng, he couldn't help being secretly surprised and thought to himself, isn't this one of the Diao brothers, the leader of the labor force transporting copper materials?
He suppressed his surprise and thought about it carefully. He realized that Gao Chong had fled to the Diao brothers. Unfortunately, he had misjudged their friendship. An official wanted to be protected by Mud Legs, and his head was taken away in exchange for a reward.
.
Untouchables are unrighteous and should not be easily trusted. This matter must be taken as a warning.
Song Mian was thinking this in his heart, but a look of sadness appeared on his face. The reason why he was sad rather than grateful was because what he wanted was not to win over Diao Geng who killed Gao Chong, but to show the deep brotherhood. The Song family has
Vengeance must be avenged.
"The noble dog thief harmed my brother. Fortunately, a righteous man took action, so that I can sacrifice the head of my enemy in front of my brother's soul."
In short, the Song family was very grateful for this, and also rewarded Diao Geng with twenty taels of gold.
Diao Geng was still a little sad that Gao Chong, whom he had known for more than ten years, died unexpectedly. Although Gao Chong was an official at the time and they were citizens, they had only met each other, but they had done business for more than a year... In addition, Gao Chong had two other people.
Piti Shi didn't pay the bill.
Then, while feeling sentimental, he watched the pieces of silk being loaded onto the mule cart, the bright gold in the box, placed in front of his eyes, and the shouts of the people around him.
"righteous!"
"righteous!"
Diao Geng was a little confused by the compliments. He also saw Pen'er in the crowd, so he raised his hand and waved at the crowd twice, grinning stupidly.
After leaving the county seat and arriving at the south bank of the Yiluo River, he had not yet recovered from the excitement of being regarded as a hero.
"It's fun to watch."
"It's no fun, brother, Xue County Lieutenant didn't detain me, I'm busy."
Diao Bing didn't look at the gold, but saw a few pieces of linen on the mule cart. He picked it up and touched it, sighing: "You have become a 'righteous man'. How will you explain it to Gao Shang when he comes to Henan?"
"To be honest, Mr. Gao Lang has a clear sense of grudges and grievances. Can he be as knowledgeable as rough guys like us?"
"Let's go."
~~
There were still a few days until the winter months, and suddenly all the blacksmiths in Yanshi County were summoned.
According to Shicao's officials, the county captain wants to forge a batch of farm tools. He has even bought the iron and stone, and requires that thousands of them must be made this winter so that he can lead farmers to open up wasteland before spring.
On October 27, after a continuous busy schedule, Luo Bin, the head of the military affairs department, felt very tired and could not help but complain.
"Let me tell you, what's the use? Even if you make farm tools, how much wasteland can be opened? Twenty hectares? Thirty hectares? What's the use?"
His several officials, most of whom were affiliated with large families in the county, laughed when they heard this.
It should be noted that the uncles in their clan have hundreds of hectares of farmland, and some even have over a thousand hectares of land... although they themselves don't have any.
After that, Zhao Liu, Hucao's accountant, came over with documents and an abacus. He awkwardly put down the objects in his hands and saluted: "Master Luo, let me review the quantity of iron and stone and the blacksmith's wages with you."
"Who are you?"
An official came forward and, taking advantage of his tallness, gave Zhao Liu a push with his belly, causing him to stumble to the ground. When the officials saw him, they laughed one after another, and the atmosphere was joyful.
"What's going on? You went into Hu Cao by flattering the new county captain, and you still want to interfere with our sergeant's affairs?"
Zhao Liu quickly got up from the ground and apologized: "Forgive me, Mr. Luo, I just do some official business..."
"How much official work does the county office originally have? When a new official takes office, he looks for trouble and orders people in different ways. Is this called official work?"
Luo Bin picked up the official document brought by Zhao Liu and looked at it, saying: "The wages paid are wrong. We have worked hard these days and hired forty-eight blacksmiths."
"But there are no four in the entire Yanshi County..."
"How dare you reach out to control Shi Cao again!"
Luo Bin was so angry that he threw a stack of official documents into Zhao Liu's face. The thick bamboo paper was not light and made Zhao Liu's nose bleed, and the official documents were scattered all over the floor.
"Do your job well for Hu Cao. In the winter, Mo Ke deducted the wages of the blacksmiths."
After saying this again, Luo Bin took the officials and left.
Zhao Liu said nothing, rolled up his sleeves, wiped the nosebleed with his arm, raised his head and waited for the nosebleed to dry, then squatted down to pack the official documents.
After a while, someone came in, squatted beside him, and picked up the list of blacksmiths provided by Luo Bin.
"County...county captain." Zhao Liu was startled and quickly helped Xue Bai to get up.
"What happened?"
"Blacksmith, the scholar is also thinking about this matter and wants to be rewarded."
Xue Bai understood and said: "Want to eat an empty portion under my nose?"
"Yes." Zhao Liu didn't hide it, "The county captain has just arrived, maybe we should win over them."
"Who hit you?"
"No, the villain fell by himself."
Xue Bai had inquired about Zhao Liu's situation. His grandfather was originally a county official. Unfortunately, Zhao Liu was still young when he died. His mother was sick and he had a disabled brother at home. Someone in the county office wanted to rob him.
It was not easy for Zhao Liulian to become the porter of his family, so he did not dare to lose his temper.
Xue Bai didn't ask any more questions and ordered: "You are from Yanshi, are you familiar with craftsmen?"
"Back to the county captain, I'm quite familiar with him."
"You can write another copy of this list, as well as these documents given by the sergeant. You can rewrite them and give them to me tomorrow morning."
"Here."
Xue Bai turned back to Weisha.
When passing by the arresting hall, I saw a group of officers gathered around to watch Ren Mulan and Xue Xin compete in martial arts. Xue Xin's injury on the buttocks was not healed yet, but Ren Mulan chased after him with a real knife, causing the officers to exclaim.
"Don't chop off the handsome head."
Xue Bai knew that Lao Liang knew what he was doing, so he didn't stop him and went to deal with some paperwork. When their competition was over, Ren Mulan was brought over in disgrace.
"Lost?"
"The handsome man is, after all, a disciple of the general."
"Are you familiar with Shi Cao's Luo Bin?"
"Is it a 'Luo whoring'? If so, we took a total of two hundred dollars from him."
Ren Mulan was not afraid of being taken to the county jail, so she confessed openly, and then she said whatever came to her mind.
"His favorite place is the brothel in the north of the city. Everyone from there comes out drunk, so it's best to steal it. Just in the past two months, Pen'er just watched him carrying a prostitute while walking around and chewing it, so he went up and stole it.
He kicked his purse into the ditch and said, 'You dare to steal it from an official in the county office', so we knew he was from the county office."
"You'll know if you take the basin over and take a look."
This group of beggars usually don't attract much attention, but in fact they wander around the city all day long and see a lot of things. Although they are not secrets, they can effectively help Xue Bai, an outsider.
After getting rid of Gao Chong, Xue Bai already gained preliminary strength and gradually became more comfortable doing things in the county. He could easily deal with a small person.
He called over Lao Liang and Xue Xin and said: "Go to the brothel in the city gate and ask about Luo Bin. People like this always like to go whoring, so they will inevitably owe some debts..."
Xue Xin was very puzzled and asked: "Brother, why?"
"This is years of experience. I can't explain it in just one or two sentences." Lao Liang smiled knowingly and patted Xue Xin on the shoulder, "Just learn from it."
Xue Bai did have experience, but he had experience in handling this type of case. However, he couldn't explain it in one sentence or two and just let them do the work.
Lao Liang didn't want to go, so he asked Xue Xin to find Jiang Hai and take him there. Xue Xin couldn't help but ask, "But is his injury healed?"
"You call him and he will be healed."
Early the next morning, Zhao Liu actually revised all the official documents related to the forging of farm tools compiled by Shi Cao, and picked out all the deceptive parts.
Xue Bai read the official document, glanced at Zhao Liu's dark circles again, and asked, "You haven't slept all night?"
"Back to the county captain, yes."
"Do you know all these situations?"
"My grandfather is an old official in the county. He used to take me to build canals and pave roads in the county, so I understand."
"Take me to see it."
Zhao Liu quickly bowed and walked in front to lead the way, leading the county captain to see the old blacksmith he recommended.
Not long ago, he was just a concierge. At that time, he thought that he would wait for a few years to wait for seniority. Now, with the first opportunity, his mind is gradually becoming more open.
There are people in the world who have a high starting point and have great ambitions early on; there are people who have a low starting point and gradually broaden their horizons. Zhao Liu is the latter. The reason why he stayed up all night last night was that he suddenly realized that he might become a county captain.
Confidants and others thought, "What about the No. 1 scholar, it has nothing to do with me." Only by associating himself with the No. 1 scholar did he realize that Xue Xianwei's promising future was related to him.
On the way there, Zhao Liu talked about Luo Bin's activities again, no longer hiding them.
"Several craftsmen recommended by Director Luo were not very skilled in craftsmanship, but they had a good relationship with him. They found many people to pretend to be apprentices and tried to steal the county department's money for forging farm tools."
This method is not new, it is the same as the empty registration quota in the military.
Since Luo Bin took up the job, he actually only yelled at Zhao Liu in front of him. When facing Xue Bai, he was still very humble and acted diligently. In other words, if Xue Bai is really a newcomer to the officialdom, he will not care to stare at him anymore.
, it was easy for Luo Fan to deceive him.
At that time, the county office paid the money and handed the iron and stones to the craftsmen arranged by Luo Bin. Here they paid the craftsmen's wages, and there they resold the iron and stones, mixed with some tin, lead, and even gravel. When spring came,
, farm tools were rented to farmers, and when a hoe was swung into the mountainous area to be reclaimed, the hoe broke into two sections, and all the infamy had to be borne by Xue Bai.
"The county captain is still too young. He spends money and food that are already in short supply in the county office, insisting on making farm tools and opening up wasteland just for his own merits, regardless of the life and death of the people."
"There were five thousand stones of grain in the warehouse, but the county captain replaced them with useless iron stones. They are going to kill us all!"
The reality will only be more terrifying than imagined. If a young, passionate, and ignorant official steps into this power field and dares to disobey the people in this interest chain, he will only be devoured to the point of death.
There were countless people like Luo Bin among the more than 360 state capitals and more than 1,550 counties in the Tang Dynasty, and you could easily meet one of them.
~~
There is an iron shop in the alley south of the Wenhuo Temple in the south of the city. Looking at the knives hanging on the wall, the craftsmanship is definitely not as good as the craftsmanship of Chang'an General Supervisor, but it can be said to be the best in the county.
Of course, Xue Bai couldn't let the craftsmen from Chang'an forge iron for him.
The blacksmith introduced by Zhao Liu was named Lu Sanshi. He was almost fifty years old. Not only was he skilled in skills, he was very helpful, and he was quite famous among the craftsmen in Yanshi County.
"What does the county captain want to build?"
Zhao Liudao: "The county captain wants to turn more than 8,000 kilograms of iron and stone into farm tools."
"More than eight thousand kilograms?" Lu Sanxi couldn't help but glance at Xue Bai again, thinking to himself that at his age, the county captain was so generous in doing things.
Wiping the sweat from his hands in the warm iron shop, he said: "There are so many iron stones to be made. If you want to tell me, the forge must be set up by the Yi River, and the waterwheel must be used to blow the air. It must also be burned."
It will take a lot of charcoal fire."
Xue Bai saw that the first thing he thought about after hearing this was what to do. He was initially satisfied, and then handed over the drawing he drew.
Although his painting skills are not very good, Lu Sanxi is not like Lu Linghao, who can understand it at a glance.
"This is an iron plow, an iron shovel, and an iron shovel. This is a columbine, an iron shovel, and an iron hoe. This is an iron rake. We need to make more iron rakes."
"..."
Xue Bai stayed here for a long time, and then saw Qi Chou hurriedly coming to report, saying: "County Lieutenant, someone came to the county to report a crime, and the county magistrate asked the county lieutenant to arrange for the arrest of the prisoner."
"What happened?"
Qi Chou did not dare to speak directly, so he whispered in Xue Bai's ear: "The people who came to report the case were all the courtesans from Nanqu, the county town. They all said they were bullied, but they refused to name them. They insisted on asking the county magistrate.
I promised in public that I would strictly handle the case and make decisions for them, and then I was willing to name the defendant."
Xue Bai said: "If you don't even tell the defendant, the county magistrate will not accept this kind of case."
"That's true, but this case involves a lot, and several oiran ladies are well connected. I'm afraid this matter involves a fight between big families, and the county magistrate won't be able to handle it properly."
"Then how did he deal with it?"
"I just asked the villain to ask the county captain to handle this matter."
"Then I will investigate the case."
Xue Bai was about to leave for the county office, but before leaving, he did not forget to say to Zhao Liu: "You must complete the forging work."
"Here."
~~
When we returned to the county office, Jiang Hai, who had rested for several days, was also there, eating a pack of roasted hump in his hand, looking like he was watching the fun.
There were more people than usual in the lobby watching the trial, and there was still a faint aroma, but the case was not being tried.
"Where is the county magistrate?"
"There was a big incident on the canal. The Ming Dynasty has passed. Let the county lieutenant handle the case for questioning." Guo Huan still had the same smiling face and said in a relaxed tone: "A few cheap prostitutes,
They reported the crime but refused to tell the truth and refused to leave, which is disrespectful to their morals. The county captain should give them a few sticks."
Jiang Hai asked back: "Is the county magistrate unable to move his staff?"
Guo Huan smiled and said: "The county captain should control the mouths of his subordinates."
"Don't talk about Guo Lu anymore." Xue Bai said, "Let's ask questions and bring them to Wei Xie."
"The county captain can judge it in court."
"I said last time that only the county magistrate is qualified to hear cases in the lobby."
"It doesn't matter. The Ming Dynasty has given instructions and it will be tried in this court."
Guo Huan already roughly knew what was going on. Either the fourth son of Zheng Bian, a wealthy family in the county, was having fun in Huanchun Court not long ago and accidentally killed a prostitute while drinking. Or Cui Jun's sixth son was having fun in Huanchun Courtyard not long ago.
The wife made a prostitute pregnant, paid her to have an abortion, but the prostitute hid and lived, and died of one child and two others during childbirth... In short, there are many such things.
Today, I don’t know which family’s children are not dealing with each other, so they instigate these prostitutes to cause trouble and embarrass each other.
Guo Huan was too busy recently to recreate the field registers and household registers, and he was too late to collect the benefits. He never thought that this dirty thing had anything to do with the forging of farm tools that Xue Bai was busy with recently.
A moment ago, he was summoned by Lu Linghao to take over for him to calm down the situation.
"Crack!"
Xue Bai was stunned and asked: "Tell me, who are you going to sue?"
"Meet the county captain. The person the citizen girl is telling you about has a noble status. If the county captain agrees in public, he will definitely not protect him. Only the citizen girl dares to speak out."
Someone in the hall burst into laughter.
"Nonsense! This is a courtroom. Since you have redressed your grievances, how can you make fun of me?!" Xue Bai shouted, and then said: "If your accusation is true, I will have no protection at all."
"The women and others accused Luo Bin of bullying others, being strong... strong... wuwu..."
"As for the slave family, I would like to report to the county captain that Luo Bin took advantage of his position as a county government official. He defaulted on the wine money and drove away the guests of the slave family. He not only forced the slave family, he also forced the slave maids of the slave family..."
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
Can you lie to people?"
"The slave family also wants to sue Luo Bin. He took advantage of the slave family to dance in Zheng Gong's house, put on the slave family's clothes, covered his face, sneaked into Zheng Gong's back house, and had an affair with a concubine..."
As soon as these words came out, the whole hall seemed to be boiling.
Zheng Silang, who was originally worried, exclaimed and became furious, shouting: "What a prostitute, my grandpa's concubine dares to steal?!"
Guo Huan was still drinking tea in his leisure time. Seeing this unexpected incident, the tea soup spilled on his beard.
He had already realized that this was actually Xue Bai's deliberate frame-up, or a deliberate way to deal with Luo Bin. It was just an ordinary move by a superior to get rid of his subordinates, but how long had Xue Bai been here to Yanshi? He was caught off guard.
"Silang, please calm down. This matter will definitely be a slander. Luo Bin is ugly and short, so she will never be..."
"Crack!"
The gavel sounded again, and Xue Bai's face was as sinking as water.
There is a calculation in mind but not in intention, a high position is considered a low position, not to mention that Luo Bin has really done these things, is there any reason why he can't judge it?
"Team leader Xue Xin."
"exist!"
"Come Abrogun."
"Here! You guys, come with me!"
Xue Xin was furious and quickly pushed Luo Bin to the court.
Luo Bin has been in the entertainment scene all year round and has countless connections with these prostitutes. Once they are given the opportunity to bite them, not only will they hand out the evidence one after another, but they will also all be sharp-tongued and exaggerate.
Bite him to death.
"You... bitches! You bitches are heartless! I will strangle you to death, bitch..."
"Roar in the court, commit murder in front of the court, the crime will be increased, and you will be detained!"
Luo Bin wanted to pounce on a prostitute, but Xue Xin strode forward and swept his killing staff across the prostitute, knocking Luo Bin to the ground.
"Bang!"
"County Lieutenant, we got it!"
"According to the law, I will travel three thousand miles, agree to redeem my sentence, be thrown into prison, and withdraw from prison!"
Xue Baili acted decisively and settled the case.
As a county captain, he wanted to replace a six-cao chief in an upright and public manner to further establish his prestige in the county office.
This time, it was not the power he asked Lu Linghao for, but it was taken away from him.
On the other hand, Xue Bai didn't think this was much progress. There were countless evil officials in the world, and Luo Bin was far from the worst.
~~
Lu Linghao really didn't expect that he had only been able to avoid it for half an hour, but in the blink of an eye, the chief officer was removed.
He was even more surprised when Guo Huan conveyed Xue Bai's proposal for the candidate to be the chief scholar.
"Who are you talking about? Zhao Liu?"
"yes."
"That's a concierge."
"Reporting to Ming Mansion, that's why. Xue Bai just found the person in the county office who is most likely to be dissatisfied due to his low status."
"It seems that Zhao Liu is completely his." Lu Linghao said: "This county treats Zhao Liu very well, but he doesn't understand that only confidants can be the concierge. This county cherishes talents. It's a pity that he
not understand."
"Yes." Guo Huan said thoughtfully: "Perhaps the county magistrate should agree to this first?"
Lu Linghao was unwilling and pondered.
Guo Huan said: "The Zheng family does not want Luo Bin to redeem his sentence, and is discussing with Xue Bai. So many things have happened in succession, and now is the time when this boy's prestige is rising. The Cui family, the Zheng family, and the Song family are all very close to him.
…”
"They were deceived by him. Xue Bai is not from the same group at all."
"Having said that, since the Ming Dynasty is preparing to transfer him in the spring, why bother to offend the princes?"
Lu Linghao nodded, thought for a while, and then said: "In the evening, this county will personally visit Zhao Liu's old mother."
"Wonderful!" Guo Huan said with a smile: "In this way, the uninformed people will think that Zhao Liu is supported by the Ming government, and perhaps they can also plant suspicions between him and Xue Bai. The Ming government is so smart as Gao Shang.
.”
"There is no need to compare this county with that dead man. There is no reason why we should be in bad luck."
~~
Two days later, Zhao Liuyi became the chief of the county's military affairs. Although he was only a subordinate, his sudden rise to the sky was still very eye-catching.
He had something to say to Xue Bai at that time, but he hesitated.
"County Lieutenant, I..."
Xue Bai waved his hand and said: "Don't be embarrassed. I know what you are going to say. Trust my judgment and do your best."
"Here!"
Having this sentence can put Zhao Liu's mind at ease more than anything else.
Of course, it is not easy for him to convince the officials and officials, but everything is difficult at the beginning. At least there is a group of people in the county office who support the county captain.
When it comes to forging farm tools, Zhao Liu plays more of a miscellaneous role. He is familiar with Yanshi County and the county office, and can write and do calculations. He is busy with setting up blacksmiths, loading and unloading raw materials, preparing food and accommodation, etc.
thing.
The people who really controlled the important links behind the scenes were, in addition to the county captain Xue Bai, there was also the Yang's Trading Company. According to the manager of the Yang's Trading Company, in order to support the county's forging of farm tools, they were willing to pay to build workshops and support blacksmiths, as long as the county
After making farm tools, some of the iron stone is left over and can be used to make iron pots for them to sell.
When people mentioned this, they were afraid of the power of the Yang family and simply said, "This Yang's Trading Company is the Fengwei House that first started cooking. Isn't it normal to sell iron pots?"
~~
In this way, before entering the winter moon, the iron stones were transported to the shaft furnace, and the strong men pulled the bellows to burn the coals in the furnace red.
When the fire is at its hottest, the iron stone begins to soften and flows into molten iron.
"bite!"
As soon as the hammer sounded, sparks flew, which was extremely dazzling in the dark room.
Xue Bai stood aside and watched, inexplicably thinking of a poem.
"The fire in the furnace shines on the sky and the earth, and the red stars are scattered in the purple smoke."
"On a bright moonlit night, Nanlang's songs move the Han River."
Because I saw the craftsmanship of the Tang Dynasty, I thought of the poetry of the Tang Dynasty, the vibrant poetry.
He finally completed the first step to succeed Gao Chong, and it was also his first practical act in governing a county...