However, he said that Li Xianzhi sent away the three generals, but still came back to sit, feeling uneasy, always afraid that the pirates would come back and another village would be robbed, so he ordered someone to invite Zhao Wenhui to discuss countermeasures. Not long after, Zhao Wenhui came in and bowed.

Li Xianzhi stretched out his hand to help him up and gave up his seat. Sit down, and show him the handwritten book of Futai. After he finished reading it, he asked, "What does Brother Guangshen think?" ”

Zhao Wenhui said: "At this time, the thief has sprouted, when the momentum of hitting the egg with a heavy fist, send troops to exterminate it, in order to prevent future troubles, if you delay like the governor, it will become a big trouble after a long time." ”

Li Xianzhi said: "The civil and military officials of the two Zhejiang provinces are unwilling to take on major responsibilities and protect the territory and the people, all of which depend on our own strength." Since Futai is unwilling to send troops because of the thieves' feelings, it is better for us to send people to the islands and reefs where the pirates have settled, and find out clearly. ”

Zhao Wenhui said: "The island is barren, except for pirates, there is no one to live, send people up, it is inevitable that they will not be discovered, if you startle the snake and hide elsewhere, it is not easy to find it again." ”

Li Xian also made a mistake at one time, and said: "You have to think of a perfect plan." As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly had an idea, and shouted: "There is!" ”

Zhao Wenhui was lowering his head and thinking about it, he was taken aback and asked, "What did the adults think, might as well come and listen?" ”

Li Xianzhi said with a smile: "The secret of heaven cannot be revealed, Zhao Dianshi will go back, select ten shrewd and clever people from the native soldiers and wait, and wait until tomorrow, and see for yourself." ”

Zhao Wenhui was confused, he didn't know what to do, and when he saw Li Xianzhi so ordered, he didn't ask any more questions, and went down to prepare according to the order. Li Xianzhi sent Zhao Wenhui away, summoned Han Chuan and Jin Shun, gave them thirty taels of silver, and asked them to rush to Jiaxing Fucheng, buy a few fine crystals, and then invite a master jewelry craftsman to come back.

Han Chuan and Jin Shun wondered in their hearts, but they didn't dare to ask more, took the silver, took the master's instructions in mind, and hurriedly went out of the city to Jiaxing. The two did not dare to delay all the way, and soon arrived in Jiaxing, entered the city, inquired all over the city, and spent a lot of effort to inquire about one of the largest jewelry and jade stores.

When they arrived at the line, the two slapped thirty taels of silver on the cabinet, shouting for the best crystals. Seeing such a generous guest, the man was busy offering tea and asking for a seat, and then ran to the back with a cigarette and invited the shopkeeper out. After a while, the shopkeeper came out, looked at the two guests with small eyes, and asked again and again with a goatee: "How many crystals do the two distinguished guests want for so much silver, and what kind of style do they want to make?" Where is the Guibao? When will it be delivered to you? ”

Han Chuan said: "You can buy as many as you can buy the best and brightest crystals." As for what style to make, my lord didn't say, saying that he would invite the craftsman to his home to do it, and if it was done, there would be another reward. ”

The shopkeeper said: "The two of you can rest assured, the crystals in our number are the best in condition, but they have always been delivered to the door in the number, and there has never been a rule to do it at the guest's home." ”

Han Chuan said: "It's not someone else who invited you, it's the county master of Pinghu County who invited you!" As he spoke, he took out the county government card ticket that he usually used to do errands and slapped it on a few.

The shopkeeper saw that it was really the official family who was invited, so he didn't dare to say more, so he hurriedly called the guy to come out and weigh the silver, and personally went to the back to take out the top crystal stone, weighed it in front of the two princes, and then said with a smile: "The two uncles sit down for a while, wait for the villain to settle down a little, take the guy, and set off with the two uncles." So saying, he went inside, and after a short time, he came out, and came out with another fellow, carrying a large wooden box on his back.

No further ado. The group went out of the city, took a boat to Pinghu, and returned to the county government in the evening. Han Chuan and Jin Shun led the shopkeeper in and kowtowed.

Li Xianzhi invited the shopkeeper to sit down, and took a piece of paper from the desk, on which a few patterns were drawn. Li Xianzhi explained, it turned out that he wanted the shopkeeper to make a few lenses. One is flat on one side and slightly convex on the other, with a diameter of one inch and two points. The other is flat on one side and slightly concave on the other, as the size of a copper coin.

After listening to this for a long time, the shopkeeper was puzzled and asked, "Isn't it a tyrannical thing to make such a good stone into such a thing?" ”

Li Xianzhi said: "The shopkeeper did as I said, and you were paid a lot." When the shopkeeper heard this, he didn't dare to say more, so he ordered his follower to take the guy and start working in the county office. It is nothing more than the processes of blanking, grinding, and polishing, and I was busy all night to make several sets of crystalline lenses with different thicknesses.

Li Xianzhi retreated left and right, leaving only Han Chuan and Jin Shun to help. Han Chuan and Jin Shun each took a lens, the convex mirror was in front and the concave mirror was in the back, Li Xianzhi looked into the distance through the two lenses behind the concave lens, constantly changing the distance and lenses until he saw the farthest and clearest, and noted the distance between the two lenses.

At the same time, Li Xianzhi ordered two messengers to go outside the city to cut some bamboo, and come back, the thickness was about an inch. By noon, a few officers came back with a few fresh bamboos. Li Xianzhi took off his official robe, only wore short clothes, dressed like a farmer in the field, personally handled the firewood knife, and began to renovate the bamboo.

He first chose a bamboo with the same inner diameter as the projected mirror, cut it off as the size to write down, opened the bamboo joints, polished the inside with fine sand, and then inlaid two lenses on both sides of the bamboo tube, and used it to look far away, more than ten miles away, such as close at hand, named "clairvoyant mirror".

Then, Li Xianzhi ordered the shopkeeper of the jewelry store to make two pairs of lenses of the same size and thickness, and made a clairvoyant mirror according to the same method. When he had finished, he took twenty taels of silver, and sent the treasurer away.

Early the next morning, Li Xianzhi sent someone to invite Zhao Wenhui and set up a ladder to invite him to the room. Zhao Wenhui didn't know what was going on, and he didn't move a step on the spot. Li Xianzhi smiled, took the lead in the room with the clairvoyant mirror, and then called Zhao Wenhui to come up. Zhao Wenhui hesitated and refused, and when he saw Li Xianzhi above the roof, he kept waving at him, so he had to climb up the ladder. Li Xianzhi waited for him to get to his side, handed the clairvoyant mirror to Zhao Wenhui and said, "Zhao Dianshi will look into the distance along here." ”

Zhao Wenhui only saw that it was a bamboo tube, and became more and more curious about how Li Xianzhi became so grotesque, thinking that he had lost his mind and gone crazy. Inadvertently, he glanced at the bamboo tube, saw the small lens, and felt that it was not simple, so he held the bamboo tube in both hands, and looked at the street in the distance through it, and saw that the pedestrians on the street seemed to walk in front of him, and they could see clearly with a smile on their faces. Two men got into a quarrel for some reason, and one of them picked up a stick and threw it at the other. Zhao Wenhui looked at it from the clairvoyant mirror, but it seemed to be smashed towards his head, and he was busy leaning over to hide, but he tripped over the tiles and almost fell off the house. Fixed, I couldn't help but laugh out loud at my embarrassment.

Li Xianzhi smiled at him and said, "This thing can be used to look at it from afar, more than ten miles away, all in the bottom of the eye." The thieves' nest is surrounded by islands and reefs, and people are sent to lurk in it, and they can use this to spy secretly, and within a few days, they can get the thief's feelings. ”

Zhao Wenhui praised the kindness again and again, and said: "Xiaguan will go to prepare and go to the island in person." Li Xianzhi said: "Zhao Dianshi can do it himself, naturally it can't be better." ”

With that, the two of them got out of the room and returned to the inner hall to discuss carefully. Li Xianzhi said: "That island and reef are very sinister, and it is inevitable that you have to worry about Mr. Zhou." ”

Zhao Wenhui said: "Xiaguan will go to Zhapu and ask Zhou General what he means." Saying that, he went out in a hurry.

Let's say that Zhao Wenhui rode a fast horse, and after a while, he went to Zhapu and handed the post in. Zhou always called "please". Zhao Wenhui entered, and said the meaning of asking for help. This week, the general soldier rolled out of the oil pile, and he had to respond to the request because there was a big case in the defense area, and he was afraid that he would be questioned from above.

Since the governor got off the paper, he understood the meaning of Futai, and naturally he refused to pay any more attention. Zhao Wenhui negotiated with him left and right, but he first said that the soldiers were tired and could not go to sea; He also said that the salary had not been paid, and the people below did not move. In short, it was the void and the snake that started Tai Chi.

Seeing this, Zhao Wenhui was impatient, but he had no choice but to resign and return to the county office to discuss with Li Xianzhi.

Li Xianzhi said: "Thousands of miles of officials are only for money, and someone Zhou is so prevaricating, just because he wants some benefits." ”

Zhao Wenhui said: "Who said no, just give him something to do well?" Can't you open the official treasury? ”

Li Xianzhi said: "The treasury must not be moved, from the government to the county, there are many people, the nameless disaster last time, it took a lot of twists and turns to finish, and it must not be pinched to teach people to sit on the handle." He added: "In the past, the pawnshops and gentry in the county had sent 'Boxing gifts', about 100 taels of silver, which were stored in the account room and had not been used, and they could be used at this moment. ”

It turned out that in the officialdom at that time, every time Duanyang, Mid-Autumn Festival, Spring Festival and other major festivals, the local gentry and pawnshop firms would give gifts to local parents and officials, which was called a festival ceremony, although it was unwritten, but it had become customized.

Li Xianzhi was reluctant to accept it, but his predecessors accepted it without exception, and he couldn't change the rules of his successor, so he didn't return it, and it was stored in the account room. So he wrote a note and ordered Han Chuan to go to He Tai'an to bring the silver, a total of one hundred and twenty taels.

Li Xianzhi grew up in a pile of silver since he was a child, and he has always been used to being big-handed, so he wanted to seal it all and send it to Mr. Zhou.

Zhao Wenhui saw it and said: "Zhou has always loved money in the officialdom, but it is very rare to receive such a large amount at one time. If you give too much, it will encourage him to be greedy, and if you have something to ask for in the future, I am afraid it will not be easy. ”

Li Xianzhi heard it and felt reasonable, so he asked: "According to Zhao Dianshi's opinion, how much should be sent?" ”

Zhao Wenhui said: "An official like General Zhou has always snatched food from the mouths of soldiers, no matter how much, he will always look at it." ”

Li Xianzhi thought about it, took out thirty taels from it, sealed them together, and handed them over to Zhao Wenhui. Said: "Lao Zhao Dianshi worked hard again and went to Zhapu for a trip." As he spoke, he went to the bookcase and wrote a short message, which was nothing more than a few words of Asong, in order to borrow someone and borrow a boat.

Zhao Wenhui brought silver and letters to Zhapu again. When the two sides met, Zhao Wenhui presented the silver with both hands, and then said what he meant.

Zhou Jiang always saw the silver, and sure enough, his attitude turned around, and after pretending to excuse himself, he promised that he was willing to borrow ten elite soldiers and two boats.

Zhao Wenhui then said goodbye and hurriedly returned to the county government to report to Li Xianzhi. Li Xianzhi was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately ordered Zhao Wenhui to select the elite and prepare to go to the island.

That night, Zhao Wenhui also selected ten people, brought a clairvoyant mirror, and brought enough dry food and drinking water for ten days, rushed to Zhapu, and met with the people sent by Zhou Jiang, and after meeting, he found that it was the sentry officer who had led a few days ago, surnamed Chen. After a few words, the two separated their men and men and boarded two ships. It was still Sentinel Chen who led the way, and drove along the road to the island and reef.

The two small boats cruised between the islands and reefs, and before dawn, they arrived on a small island opposite the island where the pirates had landed. Officer Chen left two soldiers behind and returned to Zhapu.

Zhao Wenhui ordered the ship to hide in a leeward bay and set up camp in a sheltered place under the reef. He took a clairvoyant mirror and two of his own soldiers to the top of the mountain, hid behind a boulder, and peeked towards the opposite island. After looking at it for a long time, there was no one in sight. Zhao Wenhui couldn't help but feel a faint uneasiness in his heart, for fear that the thieves would move elsewhere. If that were the case, all these efforts would be in vain.

At this moment, he suddenly saw a cave in the middle of the mountain opposite, and Zhao Wenhui hurriedly looked there from the clairvoyant mirror, looming behind the grass, but it was a woman. In a moment, several more women appeared. After a while, a few wisps of green smoke rose from the mouth of the cave. Presumably, it was the women who had been taken captive by the thieves who were cooking for them. After a long time, the fireworks gradually became smaller, and only then did I see men in different clothes and with swords gathered from all over the place, and I followed the trail to see that there were several caves and grass huts hidden behind the grass not far away, and this was where they settled.

In this way, Zhao Wenhui stayed here for several days, and roughly explored the location and number of thieves. Just as he was about to pack up the ship and go back at night to report it, he suddenly saw the torches on the opposite island. Zhao Wenhui hurriedly climbed to the top of the mountain again and looked at it with a clairvoyant mirror, but saw that the thieves left the lair one by one, went down to the coast, and sailed inland by boat, with a total of five boats and no less than dozens of people.

Zhao Wenhui exclaimed: "Not good! Isn't this gang of thieves going to Pinghu again?! The busy soldiers and sailors untied the cable and boarded the ship, and quietly followed.