Chen Congzhi is a smart man, and after hearing that Mengjiazhuang was holding a banquet for thousands of people and burying the corpse by the way, he stopped far away and sent someone to find a sentry from Mengjiazhuang to spread the word.

After waiting for the sentry to talk back, saying that they were all kind and simple people, and inviting him to come over to speak, Chen Congzhi took two hundred officials and village warriors and cautiously moved closer to Mengjiazhuang.

Of course, he didn't believe the other party's nonsense, and the word kindness and simplicity had nothing to do with that group of people who killed people without blinking an eye and even dared to kill officers and soldiers.

He even suspected that this group of people was thieves, and Master Meng had already been held hostage by them.

When he was still two hundred steps away from the Mengjiazhuang gatehouse, Chen Congzhi stopped and did not dare to go any further.

After looking at the gatehouse, and vaguely saw the person named Qin Chuan standing on it, Chen Congzhi tore open his throat and shouted: "Contemptible Jingle Chen Congzhi, I have seen Mr. Qin." ”

Qin Chuan only thought it was funny, thinking that the appearance of the master in a Confucian robe tearing open his throat and shouting was a bit funny.

Chen Congzhi shouted again: "The county magistrate has heard that Mr. Qin has both civil and military skills, and his talent is outstanding, and he has heard that Mr. Qin once led the township to kill two hundred bandits, in order to show the loyalty of the imperial court, and sent contemptible people to reward the villagers, especially Mr. Qin, who should be rewarded and encouraged." ”

After shouting these words, Chen Congzhi's face was not red and his heart was not beating, but he always felt a little awkward.

He is a guest of honor under the seat of the dignified county magistrate, and he is admired by tens of thousands of people in Jingle County, and all the gentlemen in the county are respectful to him, but now he wants to flatter a mountain man, which feels really wrong.

However, this is not the county seat, but Lou Fu Town, and the reckless man in the mountains is a ruthless character who does not play cards according to common sense, and he still holds the heads of two hundred old bandits in his hands, so he can only be aggrieved, first coax the other party to be happy, and get the head in his hands.

Upstairs, Qin Chuan laughed for a while before shouting: "Master Chen, let's talk openly, I want an official, and I want to be stationed in Lou Fu Town, you can make it clear, can you do it?" ”

"Yes." Chen Congzhi agreed without hesitation, "With Mr. Qin's both civil and military skills, and his courageous ......"

"Okay, just flatter and fart, let's get down to business."

Qin Chuan interrupted him unceremoniously, and then said, "Master Chen, you take five hundred taels of silver first, and I will give you two hundred heads, all of which are old bandits with easy to identify with teeth." ”

"After the magistrate sends my official hat, I will return the five hundred taels of silver to you, and the so-called one hand will pay the money and deliver the goods with the other, and there will be no credit."

"Huh?"

Chen Congzhi was stunned, and he even had to put five hundred taels of silver first?

What he said was not enough for the other party to be trusted?

As if seeing through his thoughts, Qin Chuan smiled again: "Master Chen, it's not that I can't trust you, I just can't trust you officials, five hundred taels of silver will be used as an advance, and the money will be paid when the money arrives, and the official hat will be repaid when it arrives." ”

Chen Congzhi's originally polite face collapsed.

As we all know, the Ming Dynasty emphasized literature over military force, and some people spent 5,000 taels of silver to become the governor of any place, and some people only needed to spend 800 taels of silver to find a position in the military department.

As for the position of the military officer in the guard, there are very few people who are willing to spend money, if there are 100 vacancies, not to mention 500 taels, a general banner only needs to spend 350 taels of silver, and it can be promoted to 100 households.

Now that the army is in chaos, and the salary is deducted in arrears all the year round, how much oil and water can the petty officers of the guard post have.

If the other party's two hundred heads were worth two hundred taels of silver, he could have agreed to it, but it was worth five hundred taels of silver...... Although those heads may be able to bring a lot of merit to the magistrate, this amount of money is not a lot, and he doesn't dare to promise casually.

Thinking of this, Chen Congzhi arched his hand towards the gatehouse and shouted: "Mr. Qin, I'm really sorry, this amount is not small, and the contemptible people really can't make the decision, can you let the contemptible people go back to the county seat and ask the county magistrate to make a decision?" ”

"Yes." Qin Chuan readily agreed, "But I can only give you two days, if I don't see five hundred taels of silver before noon the day after tomorrow, the two hundred heads can only be sent to Taiyuan Mansion." ”

"It's easy to say, it's easy to say, the contemptible people will definitely give Mr. Qin an answer within two days."

"Then Master Chen, please do it, I won't send it."

"Goodbye, Mr. Qin."

……

Chen Congzhi did not return to the county seat, but returned to Jingyou Town to live, and wrote a letter, sent two officials and two horses, and rushed back to present it to the county magistrate for several days.

And He Changbao was anxiously waiting for Chen Congzhi to come back in the county office.

He had already seen Han Mao, who had taken three hundred guards with him when he went, and when he returned, there were only less than two hundred old and sick people who had lost their souls, and the nearly 100 private soldiers added up by several officers were already one or two.

As soon as he asked, Han Mao told him with an angry expression that the Meng family colluded with thieves, laid traps in Loufu Town, ambushed the army, and waited for Han Mao's guards to kill them in all directions, with more than 1,000 people, sweeping the sky.

Han Mao led 300 soldiers to kill the enemy bravely, fought fiercely for several hours, killed 100 soldiers, due to the strength of the thief army, Han Mao had the intention to kill the enemy and was unable to return to the sky, so he had to break through the siege and go north, and return to the army Jingle.

After making an angry statement and beating his chest for not being able to suppress the bandits, Han Mao hurriedly withdrew to the Ninghua Qianhu Office with his people.

This can scare He Changbao a lot, Han Mao was defeated, and the two hundred county yamen and township Yong led by Chen Congzhi will only be more auspicious.

Today, there are less than 100 white servants and village warriors guarding the city in the county, if Chen Congzhi's people are all wiped out...... I'm afraid it will be difficult for him to protect Jingle County.

Thinking of this, He Changbao hurriedly asked his family to pack up and prepare to run away, while waiting anxiously for Chen Congzhi.

Eventually, he waited for a letter.

After reading the letter, He Changbao first breathed a long sigh of relief, then scolded Han Mao's family all over again, and finally paced back and forth in the room with the letter.

There were two paths before him.

The first is to wear a pair of pants with Han Mao, and send the urgent report of Lou Fumeng's collusion with thieves to ambush Han Mao to Taiyuan Mansion.

In this way, his relationship with Han Mao will go further, but he will definitely not be able to escape the charge of lax guarding.

The second is to give 500 taels of silver to Mengjiazhuang, exchange the head of the 200-level old bandit to invite merit, and truthfully report the matter of Han risking to kill good and robbing the villagers.

In this way, his merit is low, and the black gauze hat on his head will definitely be able to keep it, and if he does it up and down, he may be able to take advantage of the situation to be promoted and make a fortune.

Moreover, Lou Fu is the southern gateway of Jingle County, according to the master, the reckless man named Qin Chuan has some ability, and now he has gathered hundreds of homeless people and villagers, and it is estimated that he can pull out three or five hundred villagers.

However, Han Mao will definitely be incompatible with him, and even the generals of Shanxi Xingdu and the subordinate guards will not want to see him.

Moreover, according to what the master said, that Qin Chuan is a difficult person to control, once the power is great, he will either become the second Hong Chengchou Cao Wenzhao, or stand on his own or be like Zijin Liang Lao Hui and others.

For He Changbao, this is a dilemma.

After thinking about it, he finally decided to keep the black gauze hat first.

As for whether that Qin Chuan is a pillar of the country or a thief of the monstrous kingdom...... That's a later story, it's also a gamble, the bet wins, he He Changbao added the official to the knight, and if he loses the bet, he will stay away at most.

So, He Changbao took five hundred taels of silver and handed it to the officials, and sent Chen Congzhi to him quickly.

The next morning, after Chen Congzhi got the silver, he hurried to Loufu Town.

But when he arrived outside Mengjiazhuang, he shouted, and the people inside said that the Qin Steward was not in the village.

In desperation, Chen Congzhi could only wait patiently.

Qin Chuan went to Montenegro.

He took twenty-five old bandits from Jiuji Mountain, rode war horses, carried firearms, and took Meng Guiming to clean up Meng Zhonghei.

The Black Mountain Mine is definitely going to get it.