When Zhang Xiaowu learned the news that Liu Hou's family had been killed, it was already noon the next day, and although the Ma Governor's Mansion was drunk last night, the other officials of the Yangquan Mansion Yamen insisted to the end at the wine table. Although these local officials are not capable, they drink very strongly, and Zhang Xiaowu and others did not relax their vigilance, so they did not drink, but they could not resist them from taking turns to persuade them to drink.

Everyone slept until noon the next day, and finally had a good night's rest, but the next day the head of the Yamen Mansion came to inquire with a strange face. Zhang Xiaowu learned that Liu Hou's family of seventeen was wiped out last night, from the eighty-year-old mother to the five-year-old son. Liu Hou was lustful and lustful, but he only raised the little woman at the outer gate and did not bring her to the house, so his old mother, wife and sister-in-law were all killed, but the concubine and concubine who were raised at the outer gate were spared.

According to this inference, the yatou said that it was most likely the work of the ghost guards, and they did not know about Liu Hou's other side rooms in the city, so they just killed Liu Hou's old mother and wife. In addition, after the ghost guards entered the city last night, in order to prevent Liu Hou's men from retaliating, they then controlled the defenders of Yangquan City, so Ma Zhifu was even more sure that Liu Hou did it.

Of course, although the prefect of Ma believed that Zhang Xiaowu made people do it, the purpose was to cut the grass and eradicate the roots, but he could not report the matter to the imperial court, so he wrote a note, saying that this was the work of Qingfeng Village, but he still sent the head of the government to report to Zhang Xiaowu.

Seeing the strange face of the yatou, Zhang Xiaowu couldn't cry or laugh, and said, "Do you suspect me of doing it?" ”

Yatou hurriedly said: "Don't dare! Can't! ”

Xia Ming said: "We were in the post station last night and never left, and the post guards in the post station can testify." ”

Yatou hurriedly apologized: "I don't suspect it." ”

Wang Yijin said: "Your expression is clearly suspicious. ”

Zhang Xiaowu smiled bitterly: "What did Governor Ma say?" ”

"He said it was the rebel of Qingfeng Village."

"You all use it as an excuse?"

"Don't dare to ......"

"Tell the truth!"

The yatou nodded and said: "Everyone said that those who can quietly wipe out the seventeen people must be people with extraordinary abilities, and there is no such person in the entire Yangquan Mansion." Apart from...... Alien. ”

Xia Ming stepped forward and questioned viciously: "So you think in your hearts that we did it?" Think about it with your head, is it necessary for us to do this? He was already hateful, and with a mask on half of his face and anger in his eyes, he was so frightened that the head of the yatou took a few steps back and sat on the ground, and said in horror: "Don't dare, don't dare—no, no, no, it's definitely not your doing." ”

"Don't scare him." Zhang Xiaowu pulled Xia Ming behind him and explained: "The ghost guard is not enough to kill even a five-year-old child, and we stayed at the post station last night, where will we go out to kill." The postman and the surrounding neighbors can testify that we did not go out. As for the ghost guards in the barracks and city gates, they supervised each other with the township army, and there was no chance at all. ”

The post guards also confirmed their innocence, and the yatou hurriedly apologized, saying: "This Liu Hou has offended too many people in his life, and he deserves to be killed and avenged after death." ”

Zhang Xiaowu has never done such a thing, he will not secretly send people to other people's houses to destroy the door, if he wants to kill Liu Hou, he will kill him openly, and he will never do it secretly.

But if he doesn't do it, it doesn't mean that others don't do it, especially Qingfeng Village has more than a dozen secret posts in Yangquan Mansion, and these people are all internal directors of Qingfeng Village, who are responsible for selling stolen goods, procurement, and finding out news, etc.

Although Qingfeng Village is just a bandit cottage, the owner of the village has a foresight and plans early. Once there is any noise in the city, Qingfeng Village can prepare in time, a few days ago Liu Hou gathered the soldiers who came forward, but it scared Qingfeng Village a lot. After Liu Hou assembled the army, he set off north, as if he had no intention of attacking Qingfeng Village, but Nei Ying said that Liu Hou did not specify who he was going to attack, but only told his subordinates that he would meet a fierce battle.

Song Chong, the owner of Qingfeng Village, believed that the only thing that could be called a vicious battle in Yangquan Mansion was to attack Qingfeng Village, so Song Chong thought that Liu Hou wanted to attack the east and west, so he ordered to strictly guard against the defenders of Yangquan Mansion. A day later, they got the news that Liu Hou was defeated and killed - Qingfeng Village was dumbfounded, and the owner of the village personally brought people to Yangquan Mansion to find out the truth.

Soon after Song Chong entered the city with the eighteen Arhats of Qingfeng Village, he learned that the prefect of Yangquan Mansion went out of the city to meet the ghost general Zhang Xiaowu, and heard that Liu Hou's death was because of the attack on Qingfeng Village, but he was killed by Qingfeng Village. Song Chong and the others were so angry that they shouted, when did they kill Liu Hou, and when did they carry this black cauldron. Fortunately, there were too many people who fled that day, and Qingfeng Village learned from the mouth of the landlord who fled back that Liu Hou wanted to intercept and kill the ghost general Zhang Xiaowu because he didn't know the height of the sky, but he was killed by him.

"Well killed, well killed!" Song Chong laughed, and several brothers even cried with excitement.

Many people in Qingfeng Village were forced by Liu Hou to ruin their families and become convicts, and Liu Hou often extorted money from the people under the pretext of exterminating Qingfeng Village, which led to the deep desire of Qingfeng Village and Liu Hou.

"Liu Hou is dead, but Liu Hou must have a lot of money buried in his family, the owner of the village, it is not as good as us ......"

"This moth, you have to kill him, but don't touch the money."

"Why, village master?"

"Money is a trivial matter, this time the defenders of Yangquan Mansion have suffered heavy losses, in the future, we will casually attack a rich and unkind landlord, now the ghost guard is in the city, we are carrying gold and silver and it is easy to be found." Song Chong was a smart man and asked his subordinates not to steal a penny from Liu Hou's house. That night, the people of Qingfeng Village rushed into Liu Hou's house overnight and killed 17 members of Liu Hou's family together.

When the people of Yangquan Mansion saw that the enemy only killed people, in order to make money, they mistakenly thought that it was the ghost guard who killed Liu Hou's family, and it was Zhang Xiaowu who ordered the grass to be cut down and eradicated.

Zhang Xiaowu framed the killing of Liu Hou to Qingfeng Village, and Qingfeng Village reported it back and reported it, and framed him for killing Liu Hou's family, so that although the Yamen of Yangquan Mansion heard Zhang Xiaowu say that it had nothing to do with the ghost guard at this time, he believed that he did it in his heart. The officials and heads of Yangquan Mansion did not continue to investigate deeply, they were afraid that they would be killed by the ghost guards, and the Ma Governor's Mansion issued a messy wanted warrant in the name of revenge for the knights of the rivers and lakes, and reported it to the imperial court and the Lord Zhizhou.

Zhang Xiaowu knew that no matter how much he explained, it would be useless, so he simply didn't explain. After the ghost guard rested for half a day, he was about to leave Yangquan City, but at this time, Ruan Qingwen came running with an excited expression and laughed: "Enough comfort, enough comfort." ”

"Mr. Ruan, have you found any money?" Wang Yijin said with a smile.

Zhang Xiaowu said: "If you can make Mr. Ruan lose his temper, he must have discovered something unacceptable, I guess." ”

Ruan Qingwen said with a smile: "Then you guess, if you guess correctly, I will have a prize." ”

Bao Yin and Jas also pulled Xia Ming over and said, "We guessed and there was a prize?" ”

Ruan Qingwen stroked his beard and said, "Naturally." ”

Zhang Xiaowu said: "Mr. Ruan was born rich and noble, and he was once a member of Gu Junshi's staff, so he will never be surprised by a little money. ”

Bao Yin said: "That's not necessarily, if the money is enough." ”

Jas also laughed, "You think everyone is like you." ”

Zhang Xiaowu said: "If it's not money, how can there be? The pursuit of life is nothing more than wealth and luxury, not wealth, not expensive, and Mr. Ruan has nothing to do on the road - ah! I understand, Mr. Ruan is in love with a woman?! Congratulations, Mr. Ruan is alone in Mucheng, I have long felt that you should take a concubine to accompany you. ”

Wang Yijin immediately applauded and said, "I support Mr. Ruan's concubine." ”

"Accept your size!" Ruan Qingwen couldn't cry or laugh, and then explained, it turned out that Ruan Qingwen had found the son of the old man, and the son of the old man was still the only son of Ruan Qingwen's enlightenment teacher Kang Shen.

Kang Shen was affected by the rebellion of King Ning in his early years, and was eventually exiled to Lingnan, and he had long lost contact with Ruan Thanh Van Wen. After Kang Shen was exiled to Lingnan, it happened that the deacon knew that Kang Shen was extremely knowledgeable, and that most of the people in Lingnan were outcasts, prisoners, and barbarians, and they needed to be educated in the Central Plains, so Kang Shen made the local teaching. Kang Shen taught the people the Central Plains culture in Lingnan and spread civilization, and because of his meritorious service in teaching the people, Taiqian was exempted from his crime when he was 20 years old and became a Lingnan citizen.

Kang Shen's son Kang Tianen was exiled to Lingnan with his family at the age of five, and was carefully educated by his father since he was a child. However, when he was 20 years old, his father Kang Shen died of illness, and Kang Shen knew how dangerous it was in the court, so he asked Kang Tianen not to continue to participate in the imperial examination before his death, and only served as an official in his life.

Kang Tianen reluctantly agreed to his father, so after the recommendation of Kang Shen's old friend, he went to the teaching department of Yangquan Mansion as a scribe in charge of teaching evaluation.

The Teaching Department is referred to as the Teaching Workshop, which is responsible for the imperial examination and teaching in the jurisdiction of a prefecture. The Shenghan Imperial Examination is divided into three levels, the township examination, the state examination and the national examination, the township examination refers to the examination attended by all candidates in a prefecture, and the first place in the examination is called Xie Yuan; The state examination is also known as the general examination, and the first place in the examination is called the huiyuan; The national examination is to select 90 people in the country, the middle is called the lifting of people, and then these 90 people are carried out the imperial examination, divided into three lists of heaven, earth and people, and enter the Hanlin Academy to learn the way of officials, of which the top 30 and the 30 heavenly lists enter the imperial study, taught by the emperor himself, and the first person in the national examination is called the champion. Therefore, if someone first takes the examination of the understanding yuan, and then takes the examination of the huiyuan, and finally wins the champion, it is called the three yuan of the lianzhong, and the three yuan of the lianzhong will be recorded in the history books, and widely praised by all the private schools and teaching workshops of all sizes across the country.

Now Kang Tianen is only twenty-six years old, and he married a wife early and started a family, but because he was only a small official, his family was poor and barely maintained. And Kang Tianen thought that he could be recorded in the history of the Holy Han Dynasty back then, but because of his father's death, he had to keep filial piety and promise to only be an official and not an official, resulting in today's embarrassment.

Kang Tianen was reluctant to ask Ruan Qingwen for help, but now the family is too poor, and his wife said that the family's grain and rice are no longer enough to support until next month. He had already recognized Ruan Qingwen, and he also knew that his father, an excellent student, finally abandoned Wen and followed Gu Yong in martial arts, he didn't want to ask Ruan Qingwen for help, but he had to turn to him.

Ruan Qingwen pulled Kang Tianen over and introduced it to everyone, but Zhang Xiaowu frowned, took everyone back to the house, and said with a wry smile: "Mr. Ruan, you are reckless at this time. ”

"What does the general mean?" Ruan Qingwen was puzzled.

Zhang Xiaowu said: "We killed Liu Hou, the garrison of Yangquan Mansion in Daizhou, and killed more than 100 of his subordinates, although they dare not fight back because we are still there, but if we leave, they will inevitably retaliate." Isn't bringing Mr. Kang in danger to the son of your mentor? ”

Ruan Qingwen was shocked: "This ...... I never thought about it. When Ruan Qingwen was found by Kang Tianen, he only thought of meeting with the son of his former teacher, but he did not think of the consequences, which brought danger to Kang Tianen. But at this time, Ruan Qingwen also realized his recklessness and was very anxious.

On the contrary, it was Kang Tianen who stepped forward and saluted, saying, "It's okay, it's okay." General Zhang, when he found Senior Brother Ruan, he had the intention of recommending himself. He spread out his sleeves and said with a wry smile: "The general looks at me, I am already poor and have nothing, and the children at home have no food to eat. I don't complain about Senior Brother Ruan this time, I have no choice but to take refuge with my family. I also hope that the general will not give up and take in a scholar. ”

Zhang Xiaowu looked up and down at the scribe called Kang Tianen, and saw that although his clothes were shabby, they were very neat, although there were patches, the needles and threads on the patches were embroidered very well, which shows that this person likes to be neat and tidy in his life, has excellent rules of life, and is a person with very strong self-discipline, and the needle show is excellent, which shows that his husband and wife Qin Se and Ming are in love, and it can also be seen that this person's character is excellent. Just a glance, Zhang Xiaowu concluded that the young man in front of him was ambitious, self-disciplined, and had a certain amount of conduct, and the way he recommended himself also made Zhang Xiaowu, a martial artist, feel good, so he asked: "You are now a scribe of Yangquan Mansion, don't you know that you will defect to me and face the choice of life and death at any time?" ”

Kang Tianen said with a smile: "General Zhang is serious, good birds choose trees to perch, Kang is just a scholar, and his name is like grass mustard." It's just that I can't bear the hunger of my wife and children at home, and I can't give my wife and children wealth and prosperity to them, so I can't let them starve to death in the wilderness. ”

Zhang Xiaowu said: "What are your specialties?" ”

Kang Tianen thought for a while and said: "In addition to studying, there is nothing else to do, but to learn how to govern civil affairs, build water conservancy, and educate ordinary people and students when I accompany my father." The ability of a certain family is really not enough to mention, and he is just willing to be a general scribe. ”

Ruan Qingwen said: "Senior brother, you are modest, if you participate in the imperial examination, even the middle and third yuan must be you, and the future prime minister is unknown." ”

Kang Tianen said: "My father is deeply involved in the rebellion of King Ning, and I am a family member of a criminal minister, so how can I be reused." My father saw this at the time, and was worried that the bigger I became an official, the deeper I would be caught in the future, and the more aggressive the attack would be, so I was not allowed to continue to participate in the imperial examination. ”

Zhang Xiaowu thought for a while and said, "Take your family and go to Beijing with us." ”

Kang Tianen was overjoyed, and said to the ground: "Thank you for the general's life-saving grace." Immediately, he handed over the farewell letter that had been written to the yamen, and hurriedly saluted with his wife and children, and left this Yang Spring with the army of ghost guards. As Kang Tianen left Yangquan and went to Beijing, Yangquan Mansion calmed down again, but this calm was soon broken by the broken city of Qingfeng Village.