『Zhou Hu ......』

In the county office, in Ma Gai's class room, the county lieutenant Ma Gai sat in a chair and rested in the morning, only to see his hands on the pillow, resting his feet on another chair in front of him, closing his eyes and recuperating, while secretly thinking about what had happened recently.

For him, it can be described as a lot of things lately.

His entanglement with the Black Tiger Thief was already an old calendar, and even he himself had actually realized that since then, he had gradually stopped worrying about this matter - what that meant, it was self-evident.

In contrast, 'Wang's Daughter' has become his biggest headache at present.

About seven or eight days ago, Wang Fu, who ran the 'Wang's Inn' on Front Street, came to the county government and asked for an explanation from Liu Bi and Ta Ma Gai, and for his daughter.

In Wang Fu's words, now the whole county knows about his daughter, Liu and Ma, not only does no one dare to come to the door to talk about the matchmaker, but even those who once had this intention were scared away, so he asked Liu Bi and Ma Gai to deal with the matter.

…… Isn't that a joke?

Margai felt incredible.

After all, they didn't spread the rumors, and your Wang Fu's daughter had a bad reputation because of this, so you are looking for the black tiger thief who spread the rumors, what is it to rely on us?

And what made Ma Gai feel depressed was that Liu Bi threw this matter to him as soon as he turned his head: "You caused something, you go and solve it!" ”

Although I understand that this Liu Gong is afraid of guilt and doesn't want to be driven to sleep in the study by his wife anymore, he can't just throw his hand at him, who is he messing with?

In recent days, many people in the county government have secretly speculated, speculating about when he Ma Gai will propose to the Wang family, and it is said that even the county Cheng Li Xu is also involved in it, and Ma Gai feels quite powerless about this.

Speaking of which, his wife, the Zou family, is not as strong as Liu Xianling's wife, and she is not very resistant to his concubine...... Why are you telling me this?

The most infuriating thing is the wedding gift given to him in advance by the black tiger thief Shou Zhou Hu, a silver hairpin, a copper mirror, and a jade bracelet.

Looking at the current situation of the black tiger thieves, Zhou Hu, as the leader of this group of bandits, actually gave such a simple wedding gift, which really seemed a little shabby, but Ma Gai's heart was inexplicably comfortable, as if he had been praised from another angle

…… Speaking of which, isn't this guy the one who provoked this?!

"Tuk, tuk, tuk."

The door was closed, and there was a slow knock.

"Who?"

Margai opened one eye and asked casually.

As soon as the words fell, a voice came from outside the door: "County Lieutenant, it's me, Deng Ren." ”

Deng Ren......

Magai immediately remembered this man.

Because of the relationship between the black tiger thieves in the past two years, the officers and soldiers in his county government have suffered a lot of losses, so he has selected many newcomers, and Ma Gai does not dare to guarantee that they all know all these newcomers, but for old people like Deng Ren in the county government, Ma Gai is still very familiar.

Not to mention, the other party also has an unclear relationship with the black tiger thief......

Not?

Since when did I feel close to those who were associated with the Black Tiger Thief?

Frowning, Ma Gai said in a deep voice, "Come in." ”

As soon as the words fell, Deng Ren pushed the door in, and saw that there was no one else in the house except Ma Gai, so he smiled wryly: "County Lieutenant, are you resting?" ”

Ma Gai was puzzled by Deng Ren's weakness, nodded slightly and said, "It's okay to be idle, take a nap...... Something? ”

Hearing this, Deng Ren cautiously looked outside the house, then closed the door and walked to Ma Gai.

Seeing this, Ma Gai became more and more sure that something was wrong with Deng Ren, and saw him put down his legs resting on another chair, and Nunu motioned for Deng Ren to sit down and said.

"Thank you."

Deng Ren hugged his fists and thanked him, then sat on the chair and looked at Ma Gai and whispered: "County Lieutenant, someone from the Black Tiger Thief has contacted me, it is the Chen Cai who was in charge of the Black Tiger Yishe before. ”

“……”

Ma Gai glanced at Deng Ren with some astonishment, and then asked in the same low voice, "What are you looking for?" ”

Deng Ren shook his head and explained from beginning to end: "A few days ago, he suddenly found me, and he didn't say what to ask me to do, but only asked me if I recognized it as a person from Black Tiger Village, how dare I resist, so I confessed, and then he threw me a cloth bag, which was full of money, and my mother-in-law counted it afterwards, and there was almost ...... Almost more than 1,000 ......"

At the end, his eyes wandered slightly.

Seeing this scene, Ma Gai of course guessed that this kid must have lied about the amount of the bag of money, but he didn't care, and asked in a deep voice, "Did they contact you afterwards?" ”

"Nope."

Deng Ren shook his head, then looked at Ma Gai and whispered: "I didn't dare to say this matter, but in the past two days, when I was chatting with Xu Wu and Sun Gong, they suddenly asked me privately if anyone from the Black Tiger Thief contacted me and whether they had received money from the Black Tiger Thief, and I realized that they were all bribed by the Black Tiger Thief......

『Xu Wu, Sun Gong......』

Ma Gai stroked his short beard, and a figure came to mind.

He knew that the people mentioned by Deng Ren were all county officials who were captured by the Black Tiger Thieves during the last crusade against the Black Tiger Thieves and were forced to sign the petition, and it was precisely because of this that the rest of the people in the county government had prejudices against them, and the two sides were not in harmony.

But what did the black tiger thief do when he bought those people?

Just as Ma Gai was thinking to himself, he saw Deng Ren lower his voice and said, "County Lieutenant, you have to be careful, the black tiger thief may be coming for you......"

"Huh?"

Ma Gai didn't pay attention for a while, and his reaction was a little dazed.

Seeing this, Deng Ren's face showed a little confusion, and explained: "You think, you have led people to conquer the Black Tiger Thieves several times and killed many of them, and now the Black Tiger Thieves have made a comeback, and they are secretly bribing the unwilling county officials, and their subordinates feel that it is very likely that they are coming for you and want to be unfavorable to you." ”

"Oh...... Oh......"

Ma Gai suddenly realized, stroked his beard and lowered his head, trying not to let Deng Ren see the strange look on his face.

After calming down, Ma Gai comforted Deng Ren and said: "Okay, I know about this matter, don't make a noise, so as not to get into trouble, I will investigate this matter." ”

Hearing this, Deng Ren left.

Personally sent Deng Ren out of the class room, and watched him walk away, Ma Gai closed the door and shook his head with a smile.

He sat back in his chair and closed his eyes.

In all fairness, he wasn't worried that the Black Tiger Thief would be bad for him, after all, according to Zhou Hu's words, he Ma Gai was also at the level of a 'big boss' - well, it wasn't something to brag about.

『…… Do you really plan to take full control of Kunyang? Zhou Hu?'

Margai thought to himself.

According to his observations during this time, the Black Tiger Thief has indeed changed a lot, of course, in the direction of 'terrifying'.

Let's not talk about the Black Tiger Yishe, the most popular news in Kunyang now is the fact that many Yexian businessmen took the initiative to build workshops in the city.

In just half a month, many Yexian businessmen have built workshops in his Kunyang County, like mushrooms after the rain, although the horizontal plaques hung by these workshops have family prefixes such as 'Huang', 'Liang', etc., but without exception, these workshops have an additional sign engraved with the words 'Kunyang Brotherhood Cooperative Workshop'.

This incident reminded Ma Gai of the rise of the Luye Freemasons a few years ago.

When the Luye Freemasonry was first established, the merchants of Luyang and Yexian frantically expanded to the neighboring counties, and he Kunyang was also impacted at that time, and in just a few days, countless shops with the plaque of "Luye Gongji" appeared in the city, and these shops joined forces to suppress the local merchants of the Kunyang people, and the latter was defeated and retreated.

Up to now, there are still at least 30% of the shops in Kunyang City with the plaque of 'Luye Freemasonry'.

It is no exaggeration to say that in the nearby counties, only the black tiger thief dares to touch the brows of the Luye Freemasonry, and in addition, even he and the county magistrate Liu Bi have to be polite to those Ye County businessmen.

Previously, Ma Gai thought that the situation of 'Luye Freemasonry is a monopoly' would continue, but he never expected that he Kunyang killed a brotherhood, which was no less rapid than the rise of Luye Freemasonry back then, so that there were many workshops and shops in the county with the words "Brotherhood Cooperative Workshop".

The brotherhood, which was newly established, suddenly had a group of workshops and shops in Kunyang that were no less than those of the Luye Freemasonry.

Those workshops that have sprung up in the city like mushrooms after a rain mean a stable errand for the people of Kunyang, and for the county government, it is a political achievement that is difficult to refuse......

Ma Gai still remembered that the day before yesterday, the county magistrate Liu Bi summoned him to discuss privately with the county governor Li Xu.

At that time, Liu Bi asked Li Xu to take care of every businessman in Ye County, persuade the other party to stay in Kunyang for a long time as much as possible, and even give some special care to those businessmen for this purpose......

He even remembers Liu Bi's slightly emotional remark at that time: "This is an opportunity. ”

Yes, this is an opportunity, an opportunity to strengthen his Kunyang, an opportunity to dig the corner of Ye County, and an opportunity to be rewarded by the county, Ma Gai has no doubt that this Liu Gong has no doubt that he can't care about the black tiger thief at this time.

It's no wonder, after all, although he Kunyang and Ye County are close to each other, they belong to two different counties, and this is destined to avoid some people comparing Kunyang and Ye County.

Of course, he Kunyang is not comparable to Ye County, at least so far there is no chance to catch up.

But in the past two years, a lot of things have happened in Ye County, such as the violent death of the county order Mao Gong, and the imperial court has not yet sent a replacement candidate, so it can only be temporarily managed by the county Cheng, in addition, the once huge Lu Ye Freemasonry has also been divided, it is no exaggeration to say that today's Ye County is far less powerful than two or three years ago.

Now, there are various signs that the businessmen of Ye County intend to transfer some of their workshops to his Kunyang County, and Kunyang, as the county magistrate, naturally wants to seize this opportunity.

"What about the thieves?"

Afterwards, Ma Gai asked Liu Bi alone.

As he expected, Liu Bi had no time to care about this matter, so he only dropped one sentence: "You look at it." ”

Hearing this, Ma Gai asked again: "If Lu Kuang doesn't give up, what should I do?" ”

Liu Xianling said without hesitation: "Let the person surnamed Zhou find a way." ”

As soon as he heard this, Ma Gai knew that this Liu Gong had followed in his footsteps, and was unknowingly 'bought' by the black tiger thief.

Then ...... Let's see.

At noon that day, Ma Gai closed his eyes and took a comfortable nap.

It's not that he is not dedicated, in fact, he also wanted to organize the suppression of thieves before, at least on the surface, to make an appearance, to stabilize the hearts of the people in the county, not to make people panic, but the embarrassing thing is that the people of Kunyang don't seem to realize that the black tiger thief is a threat, especially in the county, almost no one talks about the black tiger thief.

And in recent days, it has been even better, as soon as those Yexian businessmen came, the people of the whole city were talking, and they were pleasantly surprised that there were many stable errands in the county at once, which made Ma Gai unable to recruit people at all.

The rangers of Anfen were hired by Chen Zu and became the caretaker of the rich man Chen and the good man of Chen......

The restless rangers have defected to the Black Tiger Village and become a member of the Black Tiger Thieves......

As for the commoners and villagers who had to take risks in order to support their families, they joined the Brotherhood one after another, and through the recommendation of the Brotherhood, they found a stable job in those workshops in the city......

In this way, the 'officers and soldiers' who could have been recruited to crusade against the Black Tiger Thieves were almost wiped out by the Black Tiger Village, so that he couldn't even muster a team of 500 officers and soldiers to pretend to be.

From the beginning of his disobedience to the Black Tiger Zhaiyang, to the fact that he can't even pretend to be enough people now, Ma Gai witnessed the rapid growth of the Black Tiger Thief in his Kunyang, and the speed of growth shocked him.

Just like him, Liu Bi also thought that he could block it secretly, but it was obvious that Liu Gong was wrong......

After sleeping for an hour and a half, Ma Gai woke up and stretched out in the class room.

Look out the window at the sky, well, it's not too late.

Ma Gai thought about it for a while, and decided to go around the street and buy some jewelry for the wife of the family by the way—after all, the leader of the black tiger thieves who lacked virtue only gave him a wedding gift, and it was clearly given to the daughter of the Wang family.

Isn't this just to stir up discord between his husband and wife, and want to see his horse gai's jokes?

Secretly scolding himself, Ma Gai suddenly heard the sound of fighting in the class room in front of him, and a few shouts and curses.

He immediately frowned and walked towards the class room where the voice came from.

As he expected, he saw that in that class room, there were several county guards facing each other with their necks thick, and although Ishihara and Yang Dang hurriedly shouted and stopped, those county guards still stared at each other.

Ma Gai took a closer look, and there seemed to be traces of a fight in the class room, and several tea bowls were broken.

"What's going on?!" He shouted in a deep voice.

Hearing the voice, the seven or eight people in the class room subconsciously turned their heads and saw Ma Gai standing outside the house, they didn't dare to make a mistake.

"County Lieutenant."

Yang Dang and Ishihara immediately walked in front of Ma Gai.

Ma Gai nodded, and turned his gaze to the county officials who caused the incident.

Two of them are Xu Wu and Sun Gong mentioned by Deng Ren before.

"Xu Wu, Sun Gong, what's going on?" Ma Gai asked in a deep voice.

Under Ma Gai's questioning, Xu Wu raised his head, only to see him glance at a county guard opposite with resentment, and explained: "It was that guy who spoke badly and hurt people first, I have endured him for a long time, but he has no intention of repenting at all......"

Hearing this, Ma Gai turned his gaze to the rest of the county guards.

Probably feeling the pressure from Ma Gai, the county guards were a little flustered, and whispered: "No, no, county lieutenant, I didn't say anything bad to hurt people, I just called him a coward...... This guy gave in to the black tiger thief at the beginning, right, I have called it a few times before, this guy didn't react so much, but now it's good, he gave me a backhand slap, I ......"

Under Ma Gai's fierce gaze, the county soldier's voice became more and more weak.

However, through his explanation, Ma Gai probably understood what happened, it was nothing more than these guys being idle and teasing Xu Wu and Sun Gong, Xu and Sun were angry, so the two sides fought.

In fact, similar examples have happened more than once, such as Deng Ren, who was also excluded and despised by the rest of the county officials in the county government, and only had a good relationship with Xu Wu, Sun Gong and a few other people, for a very simple reason, because they all experienced the same experience, and were unfortunately captured by the black tiger thieves at the beginning, and signed a letter of surrender.

Since then, Deng Ren, Xu Wu, and Sun Gong have not been able to carry themselves in the county government, and they are often teased by the rest of the county guards.

However, for the teasing and ridicule of the rest of the county guards, Xu Wu and Sun Gong originally just gritted their teeth and endured it, and it was hard to imagine why they dared to fight today......

『…… Is it because you have confidence?'

Recalling the secret that Deng Ren had revealed to him, Ma Gai immediately understood.

Xu Wu and Sun Gong, who were originally reluctant to swallow their anger, now have the Black Tiger Thief as the backstage, so they naturally refuse to swallow their anger anymore and let others ridicule them.

After pondering for a moment, Ma Gai said in a deep voice: "As a county pawn, if you fight in the class room, the crime will be increased by one degree, and you will be punished for thirty years, and you will be fined three months to set an example!" ”

Hearing this, whether it was Xu Wu, Sun Gong or the rest of the county soldiers, their faces turned pale.

Don't talk about the thirty years of responsibility, even if it's a real fight, gritting your teeth will pass, but the monthly salary of three months is ......

"County lieutenant, I don't accept it, it's obvious that they provoked me to wait first!"

Xu Wu pointed to the other people and said.

"I don't care!" Ma Gai said in a deep voice: "Since both sides have moved, then both sides are at fault. ”

Seeing this, Na Xu Wu said angrily: "I've had enough! I quit! ”

"Stupid...... Isn't it easier to get reused in the clothes of a county pawn than if you defected to the Brotherhood? I can't even think of this, so it can be seen that the black tiger thief is simply casting a wide net to buy these people......

Glancing at that Xu Wu, Ma Gai said without changing his face: "Then I also received thirty responsibilities first!" ”

“……”

Xu Wu looked at Ma Gai resentfully.

Seeing this, Ma Gai squinted his eyes and asked, "What?" Not convinced? ”

Probably because Ma Gai Jiwei was still there, Xu Wu didn't dare to make a mistake, and finally lowered his head: "Don't dare to ......"

On the same day, Ma Gai personally supervised the sentence, and ordered Yang Kang and Ishihara to personally punish the county guards who committed the crime, and the rest of the county guards and officials in the county heard the news and were in awe of Ma Gai's strictness in following the law.

After being tortured, Xu Wu and Sun Gong left with resentment on their faces, and at this time Deng Ren dared to come out and said to Ma Gai in private: "Xu Wu and Sun Gong are planning to retaliate against those who have humiliated them, and today the county lieutenant will punish them heavily, and they will definitely be resentful in their hearts, and maybe they will use the black tiger thief to disadvantage the county lieutenant......

"I'm not afraid." Ma Gai said lightly.

Well, yes, he's not afraid.

After all, he knew several big leaders of the Black Tiger Thieves in Kunyang, such as Chen Zu, Zhang Feng, and Chen Cai, including Ma Hong, who took over the Black Tiger Yishe, and they all knew each other's details.

How could the other side be against him?

Seeing that Ma Gai didn't care, Deng Ren wanted to persuade him again, but when he saw Ishihara and Yang Dang walking towards this side, he hurriedly bowed his head and left.

Glancing at Deng Ren, who was walking past him with his head down, Ishihara looked up at Ma Gai.

"You two think I've been punished heavily?" Margai asked casually.

Yang Dang and Ishihara both shook their heads, and immediately, after glancing at each other, Ishihara said in a low voice: "County Lieutenant, please take a step to speak." ”

Seeing that Yang Dang and Ishihara looked serious, Ma Gai nodded slightly, and brought the two of them to an unmanned class room.

After closing the door of the house, Ishihara Masasei said to Ma Gai: "County Captain, I suspect that there is a black tiger thief in the county office......"

“……”

Taking a deep look at Ishihara, Ma Gai frowned and asked, "What do you say?" ”

Ishihara lowered his voice and said: "County Lieutenant, I believe that my eyes will not recognize the wrong person, that Chen Hu is definitely Chen Zu, one of the nine thieves in Yingshan, otherwise it can't be explained why he funded the Black Tiger Yishe and planned to establish the Brotherhood, you know, behind the Black Tiger Righteousness House and the Brotherhood, they are all Black Tiger Thieves." If this is the case, his register in the county government must be deliberately forged......"

"Is there any evidence?" Margai asked calmly.

At the mention of evidence, Ishihara's momentum was immediately dissipated, and he shook his head and said, "I looked through the list of people who have entered and exited the treasury in the last six months, and there is nothing unusual, so I suspect that it may be the county official in charge of the register...... County lieutenant, it's not impossible, you look at Xu Wu and Sun Gong, originally they swallowed their anger in the county office, but recently, somehow, they suddenly dared to resist, I once asked my companions to secretly monitor these people, and found that they have been in and out of the restaurant in the city many times recently...... This is strange, where do they get their spare money to squander? ”

Ma Gai thought for a while and said, "Xu Wu and Sun Gong, it is estimated that they will not return to the county government again......

"The county lieutenant misunderstood." Ishihara shook his head and said: "I'm just taking the two of them as an example, showing that the black tiger thieves are vigorously bribing the people of the county government, but the two of them can't go in and out of the treasury freely, so it can be seen that they are not the ones who helped Chen Zu forge the register...... In this county yali, there must be someone who is the internal response of the black tiger thief. ”

“……”

Ma Gai licked his lips and asked, "What do you want to do?" ”

"Please allow me to continue the investigation and find out the guilt that helped Chen Zu forge the register!" Ishihara said in a deep voice.

Inadvertently glanced at the direction of the study where the county magistrate Liu Bi was, and Ma Gai nodded slightly.

"Whatever, Zhou Hu didn't care about it anyway......

Margai thought to himself.

At dusk, Ma Gai left the county office and went to a jewelry shop in the city with a sign that read 'Brotherhood Cooperative Shop' and selected a few good pieces of jewelry for his wife.

On the way back home, Ma Gai passed by an alley and happened to see Yang Dang follow a few people into the alley.

Out of curiosity, Ma Gai followed him to the entrance of the alley and took a look, and immediately saw Yang Dangzheng talking to a few men who were pretending to be dressed in ordinary clothes with a serious face.

Ma Gai spied on those men, no matter how he looked at them, he didn't look like some good people.

『…… Zhou Hu won.'

Shaking his head slightly, Ma Gai did not alarm them, and went home on his own.

In his opinion, this Kunyang is hopeless.