Early the next morning, Li Yu, Zhang Haiwei and Chen Erdong came to Xiaolin Town to inquire about the news. Sure enough, there was a government official at the gate of Xiaolin Town, standing on a slightly higher stone platform holding a notice and shouting, while a group of people were watching.
Li Yu said: "Let's go and take a look." Chen Erdong and Zhang Haiwei nodded, and the three of them walked over together.
The yamen officer shouted to the people below: "Dear dear friends, the new magistrate of Xinyang County has arrived at the Xinyang City County yamen. Knowing that there are bandits near us, the county magistrate is very sick and can't sleep at night. Yesterday, he couldn't sleep at night. , our county magistrate’s subordinate Jiang Batou was extremely brave and led his men to capture a bandit, and the rest of the party had fled.”
At this point, the people below were cheering and talking.
"Ever since this group of bandits came along, my family doesn't even dare to leave the town. Even if the child wants to go back to his parents' house, he won't be able to go back!"
"That's right! This group of bandits has been rampant for so long. They should have been caught and brought to justice long ago."
For a while, the people below were talking a lot, and the government officials on the high platform continued to shout: "Don't worry, everyone, now our Xinzhi County has arranged people to guard each pass, so everyone can come in and out with confidence in the future. This time our Xinzhi County vows to Eradicate this group of bandits! If you have any news, you can report it to Li Zheng in our town, or you can report it directly to the Xinyang County Government Office."
"Really or not? Could it be that this Xinzhi County just came here and deliberately used false news to deceive us." A disdainful voice came out, and everyone looked in the direction of the voice.
I saw four bearers carrying a sedan slowly approaching. There were many servants guarding the sedan. The sound came from the sedan. A servant respectfully opened the door curtain of the sedan and saw that in addition to a middle-aged man, there were two women with heavy makeup sitting in the sedan. The man smiled evilly at the two women in the sedan and said, "You two, wait for me. Hehe." Both women winked at the man in a seductive and charming manner. When these people saw this scene, they showed scornful expressions.
The man looked to be forty years old, with a big belly and a wretched look on his face. He was wearing gold and silver. He had dark green emerald rings on the thumbs of both hands, showing his wealth. Several servants were behind him. Follow. The man walked near the high platform, but the onlookers didn't look at him and didn't even let him get out of the way. Seeing this, the man pointed at his servant, who ran into the crowd and pushed the onlookers. Although these people showed reluctance, they still opened a road leading directly to the high platform, and the man walked along this road proudly.
The officer asked: "Who are you?"
The man bowed perfunctorily to the yamen servant and said, "I am a tea merchant in Xiaolin Town, and I have a lot of money."
The yamen servant said, "What advice does Mr. Qian have?"
Qian Fufei complained: "Since bandits broke out here a year ago, my family's business has been sluggish. The previous magistrate kept talking about suppressing bandits every day, but in fact, there was no movement at all."
The officer said: "You can rest assured this time. Now our new chief has caught one of the bandits. It won't take long before we will catch them all."
Qian Bufei questioned: "Is it true? I'm afraid it's false news released by the new magistrate. So that we can think that he is a good official who does practical things."
After hearing this, the officer's tone became a little angry and said, "If you don't believe it, you can come to the Xinyang County Prison to see it at any time."
Qian Fufei said: "Okay! If this is the case, I will definitely prepare a generous gift to honor our new magistrate." Then he led the people back to the sedan chair. The two women inside greeted Qian Fufei with smiling faces and served him to get on the sedan chair. . The locals stared at the sedan as it left, and then spat angrily. The yamen officer who shouted looked at the man's appearance very angrily. He held his hand on the handle of the knife and was about to draw the knife to catch this man. When he was stopped by the old yamen servant on the side, he said: "Forget it, you can't afford to offend this man." .”
Li Yu asked one of the onlookers in the audience, "Who was that person just now?"
The man replied: "This man is the largest tea merchant here. Our tea must be sold through him every year."
Li Yu said: "Oh? What if you don't find him?"
The man said helplessly: "Then, that person's tea will not be sold."
"Why?"
"This Qian family is rich and powerful. We ordinary tea farmers don't have channels to send tea directly to the Tea and Salt Department, so we can only go through him. Alas."
"Then why was he so concerned about the bandits just now?"
"I heard that his goods were robbed by bandits several times. As a last resort, he hired some people with strong martial arts skills to escort them so that he could continue to do his business. But, you also know that people with strong martial arts skills cost a lot of money. "
Li Yu nodded. After the Yamen officer read out other information, the crowd slowly dispersed. Li Yu returned to Zhang Haiwei and asked, "Do you have any impression of that rich man?"
Zhang Haiwei and Chen Erdong shook their heads. Of course, this is to be expected. If they have an impression of every person they robbed, then their memory is too good. Li Yu asked again: "The yamen officer just said that the arrested person is in Xinyang County Prison. I think it is Li Chunlin."
Chen Erdong said: "What are you talking about? Let's go back and clean up, and go rescue him now."
Zhang Haiwei said: "I think we should understand the situation clearly before talking."
Li Yu nodded and said, "Brother Haiwei is right. Then have you ever robbed tea or other things?"
Zhang Haiwei said: "Yes. However, we don't drink those things very much, and we don't have a place to sell them. They are all thrown in the cellar behind our village."
Li Yu thought for a moment and said, "I have a plan, but I don't know if it is feasible."
Zhang Haiwei said: "Brother Ouyang, just talk."
Li Yu said: "Let's send all the tea back to Qian Mansion."
Zhang Haiwei said: "In exchange for some money, can I redeem Chunlin?"
Li Yu said meaningfully: "As a businessman, there is always room for bargaining."
After returning to the village, Zhang Haiwei took Li Yu and gathered a few more people to go to the cellar behind the village and carry out the five boxes of tea. Liu Cheng, who was helping carry the tea, came over, opened the box, looked at it, and said, "Fortunately, it was well sealed. If it got damp, no one would want the tea."
Zhang Haiwei said: "Old Liu, do you know about tea?"
Liu Cheng said angrily: "What do you mean I know tea! I used to be a tea farmer!"
Zhang Haiwei scratched his head and said with a smile: "Really? I remember you said you were farming, right?"
Liu Chengdao: "What's wrong? Isn't tea grown in the ground?"
After Li Yu heard this, he said to Liu Cheng: "Master Liu, then you just go with us."
Liu Cheng asked: "Where to go?"
Li Yu said: "Qian's Mansion in Xiaolin Town."
When Liu Cheng heard this, he became very angry and said, "No! Whoever wants to go can go!" Then he walked away angrily and sat on the ground to rest.
Li Yu walked over and asked, "What's wrong? Master Liu."
Liu Cheng said angrily: "I used to be a tea farmer. Last year, the money kept the price very low, so I quit. As a result, no one dared to harvest the tea I had worked so hard for a year. Our family just I pointed out that I could grow some tea leaves to make a living, but after what he did, my family's work was in vain for a year, and the land was taken away because they could not pay the rent. It was not theoretical for me to find money, but he not only dismissed it, He also fell in love with my daughter and said that as long as I gave her to him as a concubine, he would receive our tea leaves. Of course I refused to do this, so we started a big fuss, and finally the people from the Qian Mansion came out, and the tea leaves Just watching it get broken." Liu Cheng's words were not only angry, but also full of regret, as the fruits of his labor were just wasted.
After hearing this, Li Yu looked at Liu Cheng with solemnity and sympathy, and said, "Okay, I know, then you'd better not go." After saying that, Li Yu loaded the boxes of tea on the carriage and planned to take advantage of the night. , disguised as a tea farmer and sneaked into the Qian Mansion. When everything was ready and ready to set off, Liu Cheng said to Li Yu: "The tea from the tea farmers is not delivered directly to the Qian Mansion. There is a side door to the west of the Qian Mansion, and that is where the tea is collected. "Then, Liu Cheng left without looking back.
After hearing this, Li Yu looked at Liu Cheng's leaving figure, said thank you, and then drove the carriage out of the village with Zhang Haiwei.
In the jail in Xinyang County, Li Chunlin sat bored in the cell. He didn't know what to think about at this time. Maybe it was his father, maybe his brother Haiwei, or maybe his future destiny.
"It's time to eat." A jailer took a bowl of porridge and a plate of pickles and placed them in Li Chunlin's cell. Then he said: "I told you to stop being stubborn and tell me honestly where your hideout is. Then it will be regarded as meritorious service and your sentence will be reduced."
Li Chunlin said: "I will not betray my brother."
The jailer shook his head helplessly, walked out, and said to Jiang Hong at the door of the cell: "Captain Jiang, he still doesn't want to say anything."
Jiang Hong took a breath and nodded.
The jailer said: "Jiang Captou, with all due respect, this kind of person won't say anything without being punished."
Jiang Hongdao: "Actually, I also want to use torture, but the county magistrate said that we should treat this bandit kindly and cannot torture him to extract a confession."
The jailer said: "We, the county magistrate, are too kind. We cannot treat these unruly people well."
Jiang Hong glared at him, and his jailer quickly became respectful. Jiang Hongdao: "The county magistrate has his own arrangements, just do your thing well."
The jailer kept saying yes.
After Jiang Hong returned to his residence, he saw the light in the study room was on, and Jiang Hong knocked on the door of the study room.
"Come in." A voice came from inside. Jiang Hong opened the study door and saw that the magistrate was still processing the thick official documents on the table. Jiang Hong stepped forward and said, "Uncle, are you still doing your work?"
Jiang Zhixian raised his head, glanced at Jiang Hong, and asked, "Ah Hong, have you recruited the bandits?"
Jiang Hong shook his head.
Jiang Zhixian said: "It doesn't matter, take your time and don't rush." Then he continued to look at the official documents on the table.
At this time, there was another knock on the door. It was two servants carrying food. Jiang Zhixian motioned for them to put the food on the dining table aside. After putting it away, the two servants left. Jiang Zhixian left the desk, walked to the dining table, and said, "Ah Hong, let's sit down and eat together."
Jiang Hong sat down and complained: "Uncle! You are Lord Lu Duanlu's protégé. How could the imperial court let you come to this place to be the county magistrate?"
Jiang Zhixian was eating and holding his rice bowl, and said with a smile: "Ah Hong! What we have to do is to care about the people. No matter where we are officials, no matter how big or small the official position is, it is the same. Just like eating, delicacies from mountains and seas are the same. A meal, a simple meal is also a meal, the key is to fill the stomach. If the bandit can have a full stomach, will he become a bandit? "
Jiang Hong ate his food and didn't respond. Jiang Zhixian said earnestly: "A Hong, you have been practicing martial arts since you were a child, and you are full of energy, but many things cannot be solved by force."
Jiang Hong nodded.
