The setting sun sprinkled the last afterglow on the moon flowers in the courtyard, which were fiery red, and a few bees took advantage of the last time to "buzz" around the flowers. Xu Mingyuan stood up and came to the Yueji flower, as if looking at the blooming flowers with infinite affection.

Scar waved his body to let the three of them leave, and when he saw Xu Mingyuan looking at Hua silently, he shouted a little reluctantly: "Big brother, what do you say?" Or let the brothers be the dog officers. ”

Moving to the body and cultivating the qi, Xu Mingyuan is no longer the big brother who can only fight and kill in the eyes of Scar. Ten years ago, after Xu Mingyuan became the largest underworld force in Fuluo County, he began to ask Mr. to read for himself, read history books, read biographies, and comment on the gains and losses of characters.

Six years ago, Yan County Commander arrived, and after several exchanges, Xu Mingyuan concluded that Yan Kaichen, who was in his fifties, was no longer motivated, and was only interested in making a fortune. So, he reached an agreement with Yan County Ling at the cost of 3,000 taels of silver per year, and contracted the entire medicinal material business in Fuluo County, and the profit brought by the medicinal material business in the past six years was nearly 200,000 taels of silver.

In the past, the brothers spent a lot of money, and they had to fold in a few brothers every year, and the profit they got was only half of what they are now, which made Xu Mingyuan convinced that sometimes it was much more cost-effective to use a brain than a knife.

Yan Kaichen was leaving, the new county order was coming, and Xu Mingyuan knew that his medicinal material business was facing a test. These days, he is thinking about how to deal with the new county order, in the final analysis, it is nothing more than money and coercion, which can be solved with money, Xu Mingyuan feels that he might as well give in a few more steps, four thousand taels or five thousand taels a year is finally enough. If the new magistrate refuses to ask for money, then sometimes it is more convincing to use a knife than a brain.

The newcomer Jiang Xian Ling actually disguised himself as a pharmacist, and he also had a conflict with his subordinates, and it seems that things are not going well. Xu Mingyuan's hand was like lightning, and his two fingers pinched the bee's wings, and the little bee struggled in vain, and the stinger on its tail could not stab the target.

Seeing that Xu Mingyuan didn't speak for a long time, and still had time to tease the bees, Scar urged: "Big brother, what should I do, you give me a word." ”

Letting go of the bees, Xu Mingyuan commanded: "Scar, you let people keep an eye on the inn, tell me if there is any movement." ”

"Ah, let that kid go." Scar was visibly unhappy.

Xu Mingyuan turned around and looked at Scar, and sneered: "Scar, you have such a big breath, the brothers have been smooth sailing in the past few years, and they probably forgot about the power of the government." That person is the newly appointed county commander, don't forget to destroy the county commander, you still refuse to let him go, now we are begging others to let him go. ”

Scar woke up after being scolded by Xu Mingyuan, remembering the days when he was chased by the officials to hide in Tibet a few years ago, he cursed a few times in a low voice, and said, "Big brother, I know." ”

"If you ask someone to send a letter to Yan County, just say that I will visit the second watch tonight."

When night fell, Jiang Anyi and others in Yuehe's old store were already full of wine and food, and the shopkeeper looked around countless times, but still did not see the figure of Xu's mansion. When Jiang Anyi and the bearded man said goodbye, the shopkeeper's heart was not settled, so he simply got up and ordered Xiao Er to pick up the lantern, went to the door early, and went back to the room to rest.

Back in the courtyard, Jiang Anyi opened the closet to change clothes, and found that the copper lock was hanging on it, and someone had touched it. Hurriedly found the closet, fortunately the body and the body are there, but the placement is a little messy, someone should have moved. No wonder the Xu Mansion didn't send someone, it turned out that he had secretly sent someone to investigate his identity, Jiang Anyi thought about it, and said to the stone: "Sleep at night and be vigilant, I'm afraid something will happen." ”

"What, the guy will come in the evening?" Stone excitedly authentic. The newborn calf is not afraid of tigers, since he learned martial arts from Jiang Anyi, Shi has always wanted to find a chance to try his skills, and just now he tried his knife in the hall, which made him more and more confident, and he wished that someone would come to stir up trouble.

Jiang Anyi glared, took out the majesty of the teacher, and said: "At a young age, I am blindly brave and ruthless, go and copy the last three articles of the master's words for me." ”

"Yes," Stone replied listlessly, and went back to his house to copy the book.

After washing, Jiang Anyi sat cross-legged on the bed, pranayama and meditated, and every move around him was clearly reflected in his ears.

On the second watch, there was silence on the streets of Fuluo County, and the entire county fell into a deep sleep early. The sound of horses' hooves mixed with the turning of wheels and footsteps came from the street, and Jiang Anyi's ears moved, listening attentively. The sound stopped diagonally opposite the inn, where is the back door of the county government (with the county government as a reference, interested friends can go to the Internet to view).

Xu Mingyuan followed the lantern of the door and walked into the back garden of the county office, and came to the third hall through the road, the left and right sides of the three halls are the east and west flower halls, and Yan Zhixian lives in the east flower hall. Under the lights, the houses of the county government look gloomy and old, with dark shadows, like lurking man-eating monsters.

Xu Mingyuan is a frequent visitor to the East Flower Hall, and knows that this thing Flower Hall is in disrepair, and few houses are good. This old man Yan is from Mengzhou, his wife and several sons are in his hometown in Mengzhou, and he accepted a concubine after arriving in Fuluo County, and Xu Mingyuan gave it to Zhang Luo. Master Yan only brought two servants with him when he arrived, and he usually asked the officials to do it for him. As for the quality of the residence, Yan Xianling didn't care, let alone what the concubine and the two servants thought.

The "Da Zheng Law" stipulates that the tax in the world is divided into three parts, and the upper (for the central government), the third for sending (sending to the state capital), and the retention (for retaining the place) are each one-third. Fuluo County is a lower county, and the annual tax is less than 3,000 yuan, and the county can only keep about 800 taels of silver coin. Eight hundred taels of silver were needed to build water conservancy roads, repair government schools, and pay the salaries of officials, officials, and officials, which can be said to be stretched. In addition to not daring to be greedy for other people's money, Yan County Ling tried his best to put other money into his own pocket, this thing flower hall, every year from the book to draw twenty taels of silver to repair, and finally out of twenty Wen let people paint the matter, and the rest of the money fell into his pocket for peace.

Coming to the main house where Yan Xianling lived, Xu Mingyuan stepped into the house, under a dim oil lamp, Yan Kaichen was wearing a shabby gray cloth coat and shrunk in a chair, three fingers holding his beard, and mung bean eyes looked at him brightly. Seeing Xu Mingyuan enter the house and salute, Yan Xianling stroked his beard and said coldly: "The wind is tight right now, what are you doing here with me?" It's inconvenient to see. ”

Xu Mingyuan sneered in his heart, when he first gave the silver, he wished he would come eighteen times a day, but now he wants to draw a clear line with himself, can he draw a clear line? Xu Mingyuan smiled slightly, Gu Zi sat on the guest seat, looked at Yan County's thin face under the lamp, and said, "Lord Yan, didn't I come in the dead of night?" I have important news to tell you, do you know that the newly appointed county magistrate Jiang Anyi lives in Yuehe Old Shop. ”

Yan Kaichen was startled, and with a force in his hand, he pulled off two gray beards. Heartache put his beard on the table, Yan Kaichen calmed down, and said quietly: "The old man has stepped down as early as the end of March, waiting for the arrival of the new county order, he will be relieved a day early when he arrives early, this is a good thing?" ”

"Hey, hey, hey, it's a good thing", Xu Mingyuan sneered and said, "Lord Yan, this Jiangxian Lingke has been here for several days, and today he even made up a pharmacist to go to Daxing Village. My lord, you read a lot, why did you say that this new county order could not be taken over by the Yamen, so you went to the countryside? ”

Yan Kaichen's hands tightened again, and two more beards said goodbye to his chin. Yan Kaichen was angry and anxious, and shouted sharply: "What does the old man care about him." ”

Xu Mingyuan was silent, sneered disdainfully, and stared at Yan Kaichen tightly. Under the invisible pressure enveloping Yan Kaichen's body, the old man couldn't support it, leaned back on the chair, and said indifferently: "Tell me everything you know." ”

Xu Mingyuan put Jiang Anyi and a group of pharmacists in makeup to the countryside to collect medicinal materials, and the scar on his house came to the door to ask to be beaten, and when he sent someone to check the details, he found that Jiang Anyi was actually the newly appointed county magistrate, and when Jiang Anyi's name was mentioned, Yan Kaichen was shocked and asked: "What is that person's name?" ”

"Jiang Anyi."

Yan Kaichen stood up from his chair and asked anxiously, "How old are you and what do you look like?" ”

"In his early twenties, he looks delicate, a little dark, and there is a shallow scar on his right eyebrow."

"It's broken, it's bad", Yan Kaichen stood under the lamp and shook his hands, "It's a bad thing, why is this 'second stunned' here, isn't he a foreigner in the capital as a member of the Ministry of Rites, how was he relegated to the ghost place of Fuluo County." The old man's life is hard, how did he meet him. ”

Xu Mingyuan had the impression that Yan Kaichen was wealthy, but he was scheming and very calm, how could he be shocked when he heard Jiang Anyi's name, and looked at Yan Kaichen in surprise, waiting for him to explain.

Sitting back in the chair, Yan Kaichen muttered: "This Jiang Anyi may have heard of it, he is the champion of Fengle for nine years, and the first champion of the Great Zheng Dynasty, he was only eighteen years old when he was the champion, and he is a model for my generation of scholars." ”

"It turned out to be him", Xu Mingyuan had really heard of Jiang Anyi's name, and said: "Could it be that the official who can make perfume?" ”

"It's this person. I heard that this son is highly valued by the Son of Heaven and the Prince, how could he be demoted to Fuluo County, could it be that there is something wrong with the old man who was found out by the Son of Heaven? Yan Kaichen shook his head again and again, and said with a wry smile: "The old man is about to be a man of grass and trees, how can the Son of Heaven hear about it, let alone send important ministers to Fuluo County to investigate and deal with me, if it is to investigate Zhao Tingshi, it will be almost the same." ”

Yan Kaichen was puzzled, but Xu Mingyuan on the side put aside his distracting thoughts, stood up after making up his mind, and said: "Tomorrow at noon, I will hold a banquet in the mansion to invite this Jiang County Commander and make a break with him." ”

Hearing Xu Mingyuan's murderous words, Yan Kaichen was taken aback, mung bean eyes turned a few times, returned to a half-dead state, and said lightly: "You just do it, don't worry about the yamen." If there is an investigation afterwards, the old man will not know anything. ”

Xu Mingyuan got up and clenched his fists to leave, but Yan Kaichen stopped him and said, "I have some things to store with you, and you will return them to me when the matter settles down." ”

Heavy ruts rolled over the stone slabs of the street, and Xu Mingyuan followed behind the carriage, which carried eight heavy boxes, which were Yan Kaichen's private pockets. The carriage slowly drove towards the Xu Mansion, and in the dark, Jiang Anyi followed closely on the roof.