In the early morning, the sun has just emerged from behind the gray mountain tops, and the warmth of its first few rays communicates with the coolness of the fading night, making people feel a sweet tiredness.
Zhu Kui rubbed the faint dark circles under his eyes and sighed: "I'm so tired from not getting enough sleep!" He lowered his head and patted his face with water from the basin to wake up.
Today he planned to go to Piaoxiang Tower to resign from his job, and made an appointment with Ma Jun to wait at the city gate while they went to Wanling County, Danyang County Office, so he hurriedly washed up and went out.
Yesterday, he and Ma Jun broke up after they came out of Tianfeng Tower. Zhu Kui found a carriage for Ma Jun and asked him to quickly go to Kaohsiung to take out the wealth of the Gaojia Water Village for many years, and go to Wanling County along the way.
It’s time to spend a lot of money.
As soon as he returned home, he went to bed early and slept until dawn. Yes, he lacked sleep for several days in a row and almost fell down from exhaustion.
Arriving at Piaoxiang Building, Zhu Kui walked around inside and outside and found that Zhao Bancheng and Zhao Ying'er were nowhere to be found. He came to the counter and asked shopkeeper Wu: "Why aren't the boss and the second lady here?"
"Oh, my boss has been to Xuzhou for two days and won't be back until a few days later." Shopkeeper Wu replied while arranging the counter: "Second Miss just went out, will she look for you? You have disappeared again in the past two days.
,Didn’t she go to your house to look for you?"
"Haha, I've been out of town for the past two days, so I haven't seen her for two days." Zhu Kui shook his head and replied with a smile, and returned to the backyard again, thinking that he must have crossed the street with Zhao Ying'er, so
Didn’t meet.”
"This little girl, if she knows that I quit my job, she will definitely be very angry. Let's wait until we come back from Wanling County." In the backyard, Zhu Kui took the brush that A Zhan gave him, and put it in a
On the small bamboo slips, he wrote quickly and tied it with a thin string. He called out: "Azhan, you must work hard in the future. You are very talented in creating stories. From now on, Piaoxiang Building will be entrusted to you."
.”
"Teacher, what are you saying? A Zhan should work hard and not obey the expectations of his boss and the teacher."
Zhu Kui nodded approvingly, and without telling him about his resignation in detail, he went back to the counter in front and placed the small bamboo slip in the hands of shopkeeper Wu.
"Uncle Wu, this is a letter from the boy to thank the eldest boss and the second lady. Please help me give it to one of them. I will be out for a few days. See you again when I come back." Zhu Kui said begging.
"Don't worry, Storyteller, I will hand it over to the Second Miss and the others for you."
Zhu Kui thanked him again and left.
At the gate of Moling County, Ma Jun was driving a carriage, with Gan Ning and Zhou Tai sitting beside him. After all, the carriage was carrying a large amount of money, which was the hope of the Gaojia Shuizhai for this recruitment move, and Kaohsiung was not too worried either.
Don't worry about Ma Jun. What should you do if you encounter bandits on the way? Gan Ning, Zhou Tai and the others were ordered to help see him off. If Zhu Kui is also included, the four of them will join forces. Ordinary two hundred bandits may not be able to do anything.
them.
When the three of them saw Zhu Kui approaching with his horse from a distance, they all got out of the carriage and greeted him. After a few greetings and greetings, Ma Jun then asked Zhu Kui to get on the carriage and took the extra horse.
Let Zhou Tai ride, and Gan Ning will act as the driver and drive for them.
Without making any further stops, four people, one horse, and a car full of dust left the city and traveled far away.
In the carriage, Zhu Kui saw three large boxes of wealth. Ma Jun did not shy away from him. He opened the boxes and showed him gold, jade, bead chains, and not a single copper coin. How much was the total value really?
More than one million five baht. This was the first time he saw such a huge wealth in the Han Dynasty, and his eyes were straight.
The greedy gaze did not exist in Zhu Kui's eyes for a long time. In a few breaths, he suppressed the restlessness in his heart. Therefore, he did not ask any more questions. The wealth here was accumulated by the Gao family water village for many years.
How much, how much? He was afraid that if he asked, he would really have evil intentions...
Then he changed the topic and said casually: "This morning, I went to Piaoxiang Building to quit my job, so I was late. I made my husband and brothers Gan Zhou wait for a long time. I'm really sorry."
"Quit your job?" After hearing this, Ma Jun was stunned. He was a little confused, a little surprised, and even more apologetic on his face. He said awkwardly: "Because of my water village, I am so tired that I have to do it."
We quit our jobs, and Jun feels very sorry. Otherwise, I can take some of the gold and jade here for myself."
In fact, Zhu Kui already had the intention of leaving. He would always serve others and always be dependent on others. He had long wanted to go out and do some business on his own.
"Don't say that. Kui worked hard to recruit security for the Gaojia Water Village out of righteousness. What I admire is the name of Bo Yuntian. Sir, if you say this, are you looking down on me, Zhu Kui?" Zhu Kui said
As he spoke, his face gradually became angry, and he looked at Ma Jun pretending to be indignant, explaining: "Actually, kid, I originally had the intention of leaving Piaoxiang Building. It has nothing to do with other people or other things. Life is like chess. This
A move in chess is a move that has been made in advance."
"But my boss and the others are not here today. I can't formally propose it to my boss until I come back from Wanling County. I just left a letter in the morning to let him know."
"After all these years, my boss has treated me well. At this time, I really feel reluctant to let go!" The expression on Zhu Kui's face changed like a cloud, no longer angry, but sad.
Ma Jun smiled and didn't know how to persuade. He stuck his head out and shouted: "Gan Ning, Zhou Tai, walk faster. I hope you can reach the county seat before sunset today. It's best not to sleep in the open."
"I understand, military advisor, my two brothers know what's going on, don't be careful!" the two men promised in response.
Just after Zhu Kui, Ma Jun and other four people roared out of the city, two girls appeared at the city gate. They were Zhao Ying'er and Xiao Qiu. Just now, Zhao Ying'er returned to Piaoxiang Tower and saw Zhu Kui staying in
When Shopkeeper Wu saw the letter that said she was resigning and leaving, she immediately became flustered. Why did he leave? Wasn't he going well the past few days? Why did he leave so suddenly? What was the reason? She was puzzled.
, very panicked.
Along the way, she led Xiaoqiu and inquired about Zhu Kui's whereabouts, and finally followed her to the city gate. Unfortunately, she was still late.
The maid Xiaoqiu interrogated the gatekeeper county soldier, then turned around and reported back: "Miss, the gatekeeper said he just got on a carriage and left the city. He should have gone a mile away by now."
Zhao Ying'er stomped her steps and took a look at the city gate. There were countless people walking in and out, but there was not a familiar figure that she wanted to see. She tugged on the handkerchief with her little hand, complaining, with some tears, and murmured in a low voice: "
You came back and you didn’t come to see me. Why are you so busy?"
"Why do you want to leave and resign? Why don't you tell me clearly?"
The indescribable sadness almost made her cry on the street, but he turned around and remembered that there was a place where he might be able to ask for the answer, and called Xiaoqiu: "Let's go, let's go find his elder brother."
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In 172 AD, which was the first year of Xiping, Xu Sheng, a native of Kuaiji, raised troops to attack the county and the counties in Kuaiji in the tenth chapter. The imperial court was shocked. Zang Min, the former governor of Wu County, was promoted to the governor of Yangzhou and joined forces with the counties in Jiangdong. With great strength, the rebellion was put down in three years.
He was well versed in military affairs and political affairs, and was highly praised by the world. He was known in history as "a good official of the Han Dynasty"
Danyang County, Wanling County, in the study of Yangzhou Governor's Mansion.
The eight-foot-long and four-foot-wide public case is covered with official documents. Zang Min, the governor of Yangzhou, holds a volume of notices in his hand, sipping tea and reading. He behaves elegantly and calmly, and has a calm mind. In fact, he is not very old, more than fifty years old. Wearing ordinary clothes.
At this time, a servant came to the door and whispered: "Sir, Mr. Lu Xian of the Lu family and Mr. Zhang Hong of the Zhang family would like to see you."…
"Lu Xian, Zhang Hong, why do these two people suddenly come to see you?"
Zang Min gave a suspicious sound and thought for a while. He didn't see anything involving them, nor did he see anyone from the Zhang family or the Lu family committing any crime. Normally, the four major surnames in Jiangdong didn't care much about him as the governor. .
In fact, since he was the governor of Wu County, he had had many interactions with the four major surnames in Jiangdong. These four families had connections all over Jiangdong, and many county officials and county officials were related to him. Many times, This governor of a single province had to compromise with the four major families in some aspects of governance of people's livelihood.
If it weren't for the fact that he had put down the rebellion of Xu Sheng a few years ago and established some prestige in Jiangdong, I am afraid that as the governor of Yangzhou, I would not be able to suppress the four families.
"Ahem, ask them to go to the living room and wait for a while first!" After waiting for a while, a voice came from inside.
Zang Min deliberately cooled Zhang Hong and Lu Xian, and continued to pick up the bulletin in his hand. He was going to read the above article before talking. It didn't matter. After reading it, it immediately caught his attention, and he thought in his heart: "These Changhuai River bandits actually asked for help? The Moling County Magistrate spoke vaguely and clearly, he is really a mediocre person. It seems that we need to send someone to inquire about it. Let's go and see what's going on with these two aristocratic families."
Zhao An was indeed very efficient in his work. He said that he would ask his uncle, the county magistrate, to help him file the petition. Sure enough, within two days, the petition was placed on Zang Min's case.
Zang Min was actually very interested in Gaojia Shuizhai's abandonment of the secret and turned to the bright side. However, as a governor, he naturally had to consider everything carefully, and everything had to wait until the situation and truth were found out.
Feeling that the time was almost up and the performance was impressive enough, Zang Min put down the announcement, opened the door, left the study, and walked to the living room.
Zhang Hong stood up and waited in the living room, whispering to each other softly. When he saw the governor arriving, he quickly raised his sleeves and bowed in salute: "Greetings to the governor."
Zang Min raised his head and said, "Ji Shou (Zigang), Zigang, there is no need to be too polite." Then he invited the two of them to sit down, and then said calmly: "Zigang, why are you two here this time?"
For Zang Min, Zhang Hong was more of a scholar than Lu Xian, so he was naturally more familiar with him.
Zhang Hong, also known as Zigang, was a famous scholar in Jiangdong. He was born as a concubine of the Zhang family. He was not so deeply ingrained in the family's familialism, so Zang Min once invited him to serve as an official. In terms of friendship, they were somewhat close, so Ask him first.
"Without him, I came here for the Gaojia Water Village on the Yangtze River." Zhang Hongji told his purpose.
The Lu and Zhang families finally agreed to the deal with Gaojiazhai, and Zhang Hong was dragged to Wanling by Lu Xian to help him speak, because he knew that Zang Min, the governor of Yangzhou, did not like the people of the four surnames of Jiangdong very much. With Zhang Hong, I could get closer to him and talk about some feelings. If he opened his mouth, it would often be filled with conflicts of interests.
"Oh, I just received the official document yesterday. I don't think Zigang already knew it, so I can tell you the details quickly."
Zhang Hong talked eloquently: "The thing is like this. In the Changhuai River Basin, water bandits are killing each other. Even the White Tiger bandit, who was the most noisy this year, was also involved. In the end, the White Tiger bandit retreated, but the Gaojiazhai was also very angry. He was injured if he died, so he wanted to be recruited by the imperial court. This group of water bandits was very capable, so they went to Brother Lu Xian's house and asked us to introduce him and intercede on his behalf."
Zang Min looked at Lu Xian in surprise, as if he was talking about how the Lu family had become so old-fashioned.
Lu Xian explained: "Actually, Kaohsiung asked the storyteller from Moling County to ask me for help. You must know that this person has a life-saving grace for me, and I am not allowed to make a trip for him within my ability."
Gaojiazhai asked for the phone bill promised by the Lu family, but he didn't mention a word. This was considered a shady deal.
"Now the two of them are waiting to meet you outside the government office. What do you think, sir?"