Hu Zhong returned, and also brought with him two men on horseback and with guns.

"These two are Jin Zhigang and Jin Zhijian, their father is a descendant of a pioneer, and their mother is Jin, and they were also there when they went to Heishui County."

Hu Zhong found a lot of people, and those who were willing to follow directly when the situation was still unclear were these two people.

Jin Zhigang took the initiative to say: "Our brother was looked down upon by the people of the county because of his blonde hair and eyes, and was driven out by the people of the clan. ”

Jin Zhijian also said: "I am willing to serve adults!" ”

Wang Lanling nodded and said, "Those two are invited to join the team and familiarize themselves with the things here first." ”

These two people used to follow Mu Sheng, and after Mu Sheng was recruited to the county government to do business for the nobles, these people had nowhere to go.

In addition, mixed-race people are mongrels in this era, and when others don't want to divide the family, they give their wealth to these mongrel brothers, so they naturally try their best to squeeze them.

Wang Lanling's subordinates include Jin and Muzhou, and they don't have the arrogance and contempt of ordinary people for some red-haired and alien people, so after Hu Zhong said it, the two followed directly.

Jin Zhigang said: "My lord is now serving as a county magistrate here in Shanhai County, I happen to know one thing, the leader of the horse thieves in the nearby valley Shanton is going to come to Shanhai County to take it away, it should be ten days later!" ”

Wang Lanling frowned and looked at Jin Zhigang, "Shanton...... Why did he come and take us captive? ”

This question is so logical that Jin Zhigang can't answer it.

Jin Zhijian replied: "These horse thieves do all kinds of evil, and it has always been normal to do a vote before the harsh winter. ”

Wang Lanling is strange that others want to deal with him, and he thinks that there must be a reason why others want to deal with him, such as people from the surrounding counties who don't deal with him.

He was used to thinking about things more complicated, so after hearing Jin Zhijian say that this was a normal thing, he nodded.

"How many horse thieves are there?"

Jin Zhigang replied: "There are about thirty people, and there are normally more than forty laborers, but there are still a few people left to guard the cottage, counting the old people and women in the village, almost a hundred." ”

Wang Lanling asked: "In Muzhou, is there a lot of horse thieves like this number?" ”

Hu Zhong explained: "It is a spark, the place of Muzhou is very large, and the horse thieves are mainly concentrated in several mountains outside the village county, the most is Jinshan County, where it is said that there are one million mountain thieves, and the horse thieves at the foot of Jinshan add up to almost two or three hundred thousand. ”

Wang Lanling said suspiciously: "When the Shanzhou army came over last time, didn't you kill these people? ”

Hu Zhong said: "At that time, I heard that it was for a quick victory, and basically the people who were hit were the ones who couldn't run away, and the ones who ran fast were basically not chased, and the main ones who died were horse thieves near Tianmu County and the county capital, such as Shanhai County and Yanshan County, which basically had little impact." ”

"Not only that, but at that time, many horse thief leaders and herdsmen took the initiative to confess some of the people who participated in the rebellion, and no one dared to shield those people."

At that time, the imperial court was really serious, so whether it was the officials and soldiers of Muzhou or the grass people and thieves, they were very aware of the current affairs and actively cooperated, and the efficiency was unprecedentedly high.

Even so, in order to vent their anger, many people died.

After learning that there are still many small problems in Muzhou, Wang Lanling said: "Actually, I have learned a little about this before, but the main reason is that because of the cumbersome relationship between my family, it will attract the attention of horse thieves, but I didn't think that there would be horse thieves who would invade Shanhai County after I took office." ”

Hu Zhong said: "My lord, for the sake of today, it is better to repair the city wall first, after having the city wall, it will be difficult for horse thieves to invade the county, at most, it is the same as other places, and they will retreat after plundering some of the villages outside." ”

Wang Lanling smiled, "It's just more than thirty horse thieves, this kind of thing doesn't need me to solve it personally, Hu Zhong, you take ten people with me to see the county guard, there are also things about the horse thieves here, and the people below will solve it themselves." ”

Hu Zhong also felt that more than 30 people were not a problem, and when he heard Wang Lanling's order, he nodded and said, "Yes!" ”

Wang Lanling went out to meet a hundred of Hu Zhong's men.

"In a few days, more than thirty horse thieves will come to attack, some thieves are not worth my own hands, I have something to go out for a few days, if the horse thieves come to attack during this period, whether it is you or others, even if it is a peddler pawn, as long as I can destroy those horse thieves, I will reward them."

"This time, I'm giving you a chance to perform!"

"Whoever captures the leader of the horse thieves, Shan Ton, before I return, whether dead or alive! You can become a hundred-person leader! He got a military coat, a leather shoe, five sheep, and an iron pot. ”

"This is your performance opportunity and everyone in Shanhai County, I will give you the opportunity to get ahead, whether you are willing to continue to be a small soldier slave for a lifetime, or be active for a few days, fighting for your life in the future, it depends on your own choice."

Wang Lanling gave the right to choose to these people, and also hoped that someone could take the initiative to show their talents.

Hu Zhong's face was worried, and on the way to the county government, he said: "My lord, you directly said that you would reward the leaders of those horse thieves, I am afraid that you will be hated by some horse thieves around you." ”

Wang Lanling said strangely: "That Shanton has a good relationship with the surrounding horse thieves?" ”

Hu Zhong said: "No, the horse thieves have divided their territory with each other and have their own set of grazing rules, but if you call on the people of the county to deal with them, it will make them hold a grudge." ”

Wang Lanling smiled, "Just allow them to come and kidnap me, and don't allow me to resist?" ”

Hu Zhong explained: "I didn't mean that, those horse thieves deserve to die, but now your lordship directly calls on the people to deal with them, which will cause all the horse thieves in the vicinity to retaliate, and these horse thieves like nothing more than to torture those who come out of the way." ”

Wang Lanling nodded, "The more crazy they are, the more scared they are, and it is me who is afraid of them, but also the people around them who are willing to resist. ”

In the end, the people of Muzhou are different from the people of Shanzhou, if they encounter thieves in Shanzhou and want to take them captive, they must at least eat a shuttle of bullets.

Even if there are no guns and bullets, the most important thing in Heishui County is martial arts masters.

However, it is not that Heishui County is good, those martial arts masters are to some extent the people who collect protection money, but they are just frightened by the imperial court.

The confidence of Heishui County is mainly due to the ruthlessness of the imperial court, and the common people are afraid of being officials, but they are not afraid of those hooligans and bandits.

Muzhou is a little different, the existence of the army has weakened the authority of the official master, and the horse thieves and mountain bandits who are more in line with the regional characteristics have become derivatives under the rules.

The army of Muzhou mainly sucked the blood of the imperial court, because the territory of Muzhou was very large, and those officials and soldiers preferred to go to the city rather than go to the countryside to grab worthless things.

But occasionally there are people who go hunting, catch some aliens to sell, or play with.

Shanhai County is too far away from the state capital, and the existence of pioneers itself is strange, so basically the most serious security problem here is horse thieves.

Hu Zhong actually wanted to stay and kill those horse thieves, he just felt that Wang Lanling's call on the people to fight the horse thieves was easy to cause the revenge of the other horse thieves, and he didn't think there was any problem with killing the horse thieves.

But compared to killing the horse thief, it is indeed more important to go to the county capital.

Wang Lanling has to go to the county government this time to get the support of the county guard, whether it is infrastructure or diplomatic issues, or various material issues, the consent of the county government must be obtained.

From Shanhai County to Giant Whale Island, you need to transfer twice.

First of all, starting from Shanhai County to the shore of the lake of Xianshui Lake, the topography of Shanhai County is high on the outside and low on the inside, and the water flow on the mountain and the rain from the sky come together to form Xianshui Lake.

There are many big crocodiles in Xianshui Lake, but they have been tamed, and Wang Lanling and the others took a crocodile boat to the other side of the lake.

The crocodile boat is a large crocodile that is fixed under the boat with its mouth tied as an engine, which is much slower, but it is indeed natural.

Because the board of the boat is very important, there is no need to worry about the crocodile capsizing the boat.

Maybe it's not a relationship between being keen on expanding territory or hunting wild animals, and there are a lot of large animals in many places.

There are quite a few nobles in the empire who like to raise larger animals, especially beasts of prey.

Xianshui Lake is very large, but there are no water thieves, so it is indeed dangerous to be a water thief in such a place where there are large water beasts.

However, the main reason is that there are no islands in Xianshui Lake, and this kind of lake that cannot be used as a hiding place is naturally not patronized by water thieves.

After arriving on the other side of Xianshui Lake, Wang Lanling and the others staggered through several valleys and went down to the seaside.

time, two days.

Yan Village is a salt-making village, which is responsible for drying seawater for salt purification.

Wang Lanling has learned the corresponding technology, and the salt official belongs to the junior official who can take the exam, and Wang Lanling has done this question in his chemistry class.

To remove the impurities contained in the coarse salt, you can add excess barium hydroxide solution to remove magnesium sulfate, add excess sodium carbonate solution to remove calcium chloride and excess reagent barium hydroxide, remove insoluble substances in water by filtration, add an appropriate amount of hydrochloric acid to remove excess sodium carbonate, and remove hydrochloric acid by evaporation.

However, the folk also have their own salt production methods, not directly drying the salt grains, which is not much different from directly adding seawater.

After eating salt for so many years, basically each region has a unique but similar salt production method.

The name of this village is Yan Village, and most of the people have the surname Yan.

Wang Lanling found the village official, a sturdy old man with a long beard and shabby clothes, and there were several old people behind the old man.

These old men have beards longer than their hair, and their heads are basically the kind of hair that is only as long as their fingernails, which is very suitable for work.

Those with slightly longer hair will also tie their hair on the top of their head and turn it into a hairstyle of the ancients.

In addition, some of the young men and young people around were barefoot and wearing loose pants.

Their clothes were all monotonous in that color, mainly white mending robes and gray linen clothes, and only fat women with small children on their backs wore a floral cotton jacket.

Whether it is the color of the skin exposed to the wind and sun, or the appearance that can only be described by a countryman, it is an era different from Wang Lanling.

Wang Lanling explained the intention, "I am the new county magistrate of Shanhai County, and I came here to visit the county guard. ”

Yan Ruhai, who was thin and strong, said: "The old man is the village chief here, and the county guard told us Zhuangzi a few years ago that no one is allowed to go to the island from here. ”

Wang Lanling said: "I am an extraordinary person, but I am a local governor appointed by the imperial court, and I have studied at the Tongzhou Official Academy, and I have written many letters to the saint, you take me up, and the county guard will not say anything." ”

Yan Ruhai looked at Wang Lanling's clothes, and at first glance, he was from the city, and his clothes were more polished than those on the island.

"Okay, I'll ask people to go to the island and ask, and they said it's okay, otherwise we'll lose our heads."

Wang Lanling nodded, "This is the letter I wrote, you take someone to hand it over to the islanders." ”

Wang Lanling wrote a resume, which recorded the glorious resume of Lord Wang, which was similar to the effect of a business card.

Yan Ruhai said: "Okay, it's not too early, it is estimated that there will be a reply tomorrow, you can rest in the village for a night first, we don't have anyone here, and we can't meet a single guest all year round." ”

The salt here is transported by special people, and the villagers have been working here for generations, and there is nothing extra to do.

The food in the evening is sweet potato porridge and noodle fish, and people here do not like to eat sea fish or big fish, preferring to eat a small dried fish that can be combined with flour.

Grilled fish is a simple food, fish soup wrapped in flour is a high-class food, and deep-fried fish is top-notch.

In addition to the food problem, several of Hu Zhong's subordinates also sowed seeds here......

Of course, Wang Lanling was not good at this, and Hu Zhong and several of his subordinates did not accept it, but they had to admit that there were still people in their team who were willing to leave descendants here.

Four out of ten laughed, after all, they slept with women under the age of thirty.

The movement of people in the village is restricted, and there are really no other villages nearby, so in order to prevent the same clan from getting married, they will naturally find ways to absorb some outside blood.

Although this village also intermarries with the people of Giant Whale Island, it is easy to get confused when there are too many of them, so if there are men from other places, they will have this kind of hospitality.

This tradition is not only shared by fishermen by the sea, but also by the pastoral and pioneer areas of Makishu.

The territory of the empire is far larger than any other era, and human beings like to live together, so many places are sparsely populated, and there is not a single traveler in the whole year.

In order to allow the official caravans to flow better in various areas, the imperial court made special regulations for this.

Local herders and village personnel needed to provide caravans and unofficial travelers with free accommodation and food and fodder.

On the other hand, caravans and travelers need to spread news and events from afar, such as possible plagues, storms, droughts, and insect infestations, and are also responsible for answering some inquiries and doubts from the locals.

The land is vast and sparsely populated, and the basic living materials are scarce, Hu Zhong and these pastoral people are very good to tourists, as long as the other party is not cheap, basically they will treat them well, and will also let some women entertain guests, so that the other party can come to trade from time to time.

This is a kind of rules that have evolved to adapt to life, and as long as you live here, you have to abide by these rules, and they have nothing to do with morality.

The premise of morality is to be able to live, and the moral norms that cannot make the collective live better are all fallacies that do not conform to the current environment.

Although there is no shortage of basic living materials in Yan Village, he is also willing to let a few more little babies in the village who are convenient to marry the rest of the children.

After eating, Wang Lanling also abided by this rule, and talked about the insect plague in Tianmu County, and what he saw and heard when he passed through several county towns on the way here.

Forget about sleeping, Wang Lanling didn't plan to leave a doll here, and rejected a little girl wearing a flower cotton jacket.