Last night, he took a convoy of carts to the county to deliver goods, but was stopped by bandits as soon as he entered Tongshan.
Not only did they steal everything without saying a word, but they also beat up Liu Tie and others who were responsible for the escort, and threatened to pay a toll of 100 taels every month from now on.
"Brother Feng, I can't bear the trust of you and Brother Liang for losing so many goods..."
Liu Tie said with shame.
After the textile workshop was expanded into a textile factory, the output was several times that of before, and the various raw materials required were also several times that of before.
Even if Jin Feng had more than a dozen carts made and tried to reduce the number of trips to the county office, he would still have to go to Jinchuan County Office every five or six days.
Since the bandits set up a checkpoint in Tongshan, sooner or later they will discover the secret of night delivery.
Jin Feng knew that Liu Tie was not to blame for this matter.
He patted Liu Tie on the shoulder: "Brother Tiezi, it's okay. If the goods are lost, they are lost. As long as the person is okay."
Hearing what Jin Feng said, Liu Tie slapped himself: "Brother Feng, Hu Zi..."
"What's wrong with Hu Zi?"
Jin Feng felt nervous.
Huzi is Zhang Liang's cousin, a fifteen-year-old boy who has been delivering goods with Zhang Liang from the very beginning.
Zhang Liang's two cousins both died on the battlefield. Huzi was the only child in their family. If something went wrong with him, Jin Feng wouldn't know how to tell Zhang Liang about it.
"Huzi's legs were broken by bandits and the bones were exposed. I thought that Lao Tan was not good at medical treatment and was afraid that Huzi would get the root of the disease, so I took it upon myself to send him to the county government."
Liu Tie said: "The doctor reattached his bones and said he should be able to recover. I was afraid that his bones would be broken due to the bumping back and forth, so I asked him to stay with the doctor for now."
"Brother Tiezi, you are right. No matter what, people are the most important."
When Jin Feng heard this, he breathed a long sigh of relief.
It would be nice if no one died.
Lao Tan was just a barefoot doctor in the village, and his medical knowledge was probably inferior to that of Jin Feng. If Liu Tie really sent Hu Zi back to Lao Tan, lameness would be the best outcome.
The weather is hot now, and a wound as big as a fracture can easily become infected, and there are no anti-inflammatory drugs, so a tiger might even die if it doesn't work.
"Brother Feng, the doctor said that Hu Zi won't be able to do heavy work in the past two years..."
Liu Tie added another sentence.
"It's okay. When he recovers, I will arrange some non-productive work for him until he fully recovers."
Jin Feng said: "Including his family, I will also make arrangements together."
"Brother Feng, let me thank you on behalf of Hu Zi."
Liu Tie bowed to Jin Feng.
The rabbit dies and the fox is sad. He and Huzi are doing the same job. Huzi's today may be his tomorrow.
These days, not being able to do heavy work almost means starving to death.
I added this just because I wanted to see how Jin Feng would handle this matter.
Now that he had Jin Feng's guarantee, Liu Tie was completely relieved.
"By the way, Brother Feng, all our money was robbed by bandits. When we arrived at the county house, we met Zhang Captou. I showed Huzi that the doctor's money was five taels of silver he borrowed from Zhang Captou..."
"knew."
Jin Feng casually took out a ten-tael silver ingot from his arms: "Zhang Captou, thank you very much this time."
"Mr. Jin, what are you doing?"
Zhang Captou looked a little displeased: "I sent Brother Tiezi back because I was afraid that the bandits would embarrass them. I didn't come to collect debts."
"Yes, if it weren't for Zhang Captou, we would definitely not be able to come back so easily."
Liu Tie also nodded.
"Then I have to thank Zhang Captou even more."
Jin Feng sent the silver ingot forward: "Zhang Captou, I can't thank you enough for your help. I can't ask you to pay for our medicine in advance, right? Otherwise, if something happens in the future, how can we dare to bother you again?"
Zhang Captou?”
In fact, Zhang Captou's salary is not high, and five taels of silver is a lot of money for him. It was just a shirk.
"Sir, if you say so, I will accept it shamelessly."
Zhang Captou glanced at the silver ingot and said with some embarrassment: "Sir, is there any broken silver here? I can't find it..."
"There's no need to look for it. I'll treat Zhang Captou to a drink for the rest."
Jin Feng put the silver ingot into Zhang Captou's hand: "Zhang Captou, don't be too little."
When the conversation came to this point, Zhang Captou no longer shied away and put the money into his arms, then winked at Jin Feng and tilted the corner of his mouth at Liu Tie and Guan Xiaorou.
Jin Feng understood immediately, turned around and said to Guan Xiaorou: "Xiaorou, go and get some money. Each of the injured brothers will be given 500 yuan to calm their shock. He will give another 2,000 yuan to Hu Ziniang and tell her to let her
Don’t worry, I will take care of Huzi to the end.”
"Brother Feng, apart from Hu Zi, we are all fine..."
Liu Tie quickly waved his hand.
"Brother Tiezi, listen to me. Everyone has worked hard this time. You first take the injured brothers to Lao Tan to get some herbal medicine for application, and then take a few days off."
Jin Feng said: "Go ahead, I have something to discuss with Zhang Captou."
"Oh well."
Liu Tie hugged Jin Feng and Zhang Captou and followed Guan Xiaorou away.
"Zhang Captou, sit here."
Jin Feng brought Mr. Zhang to the table and sat down, pouring him a glass of water.
"Sir, do you know where these bandits from Tongshan came from?"
Zhang Captou asked without drinking water.
"I know, from Tin Can Mountain."
Jin Feng nodded.
"Then do you know the origins of the Tin Can Mountain bandits?"
Zhang Captou asked again.
"I don't know about that."
Jin Feng shook his head: "Please give me some advice from Zhang Captou."
He heard from Qinghuai that several larger groups of bandits in Jinchuan had government backgrounds behind them.
However, the county government does not only have the county magistrate alone, but also has real positions of power such as the county magistrate who is responsible for the paperwork, the county lieutenant who is responsible for the security, etc. Various forces are also intertwined. Jin Feng really doesn’t know who the Tiegunshan bandits are.
of minions.
Since Zhang Captou took the initiative to ask this question, Jin Feng believed that he would tell him the answer.
Sure enough, Capt. Zhang looked around and lowered his voice and said, "The bandits from Tiegun Mountain belong to Master Zhou. Every year, 30% of the annual grain collected from Tieguan Mountain must be handed over to Master Zhou."
The Tiegunshan bandits have occupied almost all the towns west of Jinchuan County, and the sum of the annual grain payments paid by dozens of villages to the bandits is not a small sum.
Thirty percent of it is countless times more than a master's salary. Even for Qing Huai, this is not a small amount of money.
"Could it be that Master Zhou has a good background?"
Jin Feng asked with a frown.
Dakang's master is equivalent to the leader's secretary. He usually uses the name of the county magistrate to show off his power, and others may give him some face.
But when real money and silver interests are involved, it is almost impossible for a master with no real power to swallow such a large sum of money.
Jin Feng's first thought was that Master Zhou was the county magistrate's puppet, but he immediately rejected this idea.
If Mr. Zhou was a member of the county magistrate, Capt. Zhang would definitely say directly that the Tiegunshan bandits were backed by the county magistrate, and would not involve Mr. Zhou.