On a June day in the world, the grass and trees splashed with the most flourishing green between the heavens and the earth, and the official road to Fuluo County was invaded by crazy weeds, leaving only a two-foot-wide path and ruts showing human tracks.

The two horses came galloping along the vague official road, and the birds in the grass were startled, and the stones bent their bows and arrows on the horses, and from time to time the birds were shot down by him. The stone galloped forward with a smile, and as soon as the whip was rolled, he took the bird with the arrow in his hand, and took out the arrow and carefully inserted it back into the quiver, and threw the wild bird down in the bag by the saddle, which was bulging, and had already gained a lot.

"Childe, when you get to Fuluo County, you can drink pheasant soup beautifully." The stone smiled proudly and showed off to Jiang Anyi.

It has entered the territory of Fuyang County, June is the busy season of farming, but there are not many farmers working in the fields on both sides of the official road, all the way to gallop, there are not many people on the official road, this Fuyang County is very deserted. Before coming, Jiang Anyi had made sufficient preparations, knowing that Fuyang County was the easternmost part of Lizhou, bordering the sea on one side, and there were seven mountains, two rivers and one field in the territory, which was a poor county.

This time, Jiang Anyi took a large team of people, Zhang Keji was brought by him, this duke has been a county magistrate in Huangren County, Huazhou, and he is very familiar with the business, Jiang Anyi will definitely borrow him; Xinfei rushed to the capital with Siyu one step earlier, and Lingwei's name was hidden in the snow for two months; Siyu's departure made Jiang Anyong feel stunned, and his family couldn't do without him, otherwise he would also want to follow his brother to his post, Jiang Anyi comforted him and persuaded Master Hongxin to accept him as a lay disciple and let his younger brother learn art from the master; To say that Dong'er is the happiest, Xinfei is gone, but she can accompany Jiang Lang to Fuluo County, as for what mountains are high and the roads are far away, those are not problems.

Zhang Keji proposed to go to a strange place to be a county magistrate, and it was difficult to move an inch without his own people, so the third uncle asked his youngest son Huang Dongquan to follow his cousin for a long time. Jiang Anyi also selected sixteen clever servants in Jiang and Huang's two houses, which were managed by Wang Niu, the youngest son of Wang Bo, plus Zhen'er, Dong'er's girl Xi'er and several servants, the whole team had more than 20 people, and there were eight carriages alone.

Jiang Anyi first went to Jingyang Mansion in Lizhou to meet Zhao Shulun, the assassin of the assassin, and received the edicts, confessions and fish talismans of the Ministry of Officials by the way, which are necessary for taking office. Jiang Anyi saw that his body was written on his body: medium stature, slightly dark skin, and a scar on his right eyebrow; As for the fish talisman is a fish-shaped silver talisman issued by the court, engraved with Jiang Anyi's name, and then an official position, Jiang Anyi found that his Chongwen Pavilion straight scholar was on it.

The meeting gift of ten bottles of perfume is not small, and Zhao Tingshi is always smiling, asking people to find relevant documents on the geography, population, and taxes of Fuluo County, so that Jiang Anyi knows it in his heart. Knowing that Jiang Anyi was going to work with his family, Zhao Tingshi took the initiative to ask He Sima to send a hundred officers and soldiers to escort him, and there were many mountain bandits in Lizhou.

Fuluo County is more than 270 miles away from Jingyang Mansion, and the mountain roads are rugged and difficult to travel, and it is only 40 or 50 miles a day. Jiang Anyi was a little impatient, and told Mr. Zhang and Dong'er to walk slowly, and he took the stones and rode to Fuluo County first. There are few people along the way, Jiang Anyi was a little surprised, he remembered that the "Fuluo County Chronicle" recorded that Fuluo was rich in medicinal materials, tea and timber, and it was said that June was the time to buy medicinal materials, why didn't he see a few traders along the way.

Approaching Fuluo County, the weeds have finally become much thinner, and they have become more or less popular. Hitting the horse and coming to the city wall, Jiang Anyi looked at the county seat he would govern, and his first impression was that it was dilapidated. Not to mention the low city wall, it looks like a seventy-year-old man, with scattered teeth, gaps everywhere, grass growing on the wall, one bush on the left and one on the right, like a feathered chicken, obscene.

Shi exclaimed beside him: "Childe, this is Fuluo County?" It's far worse than our Xinqi County. Jiang Anyi was full of displeasure, got off the horse, led the charcoal and followed the flow of people into Fuluo County. The two officials leaned on the city wall and gossiped, and the words that came made Jiang Anyi slow down and listen carefully.

"Did you hear that? The county is going to change the grandfather. ”

"Listening to what Chen Lao Liu said, just asking for the new master is not like 'Yan asking for money', he only cares about pulling everything into his pocket, and he doesn't even give us a few pennies for our lives. If it weren't for some regular money, who the would want to be this errand. ”

"Chen Tou drinks all day and doesn't care about anything, and the rest of the house said that Yan County ordered to be discharged in March, and now he is waiting for the handover, and the salary of these months let us find the new grandfather to go. As the saying goes, new officials ignore old things, and I estimate that the money in the past few months will be wasted. ”

"Alas", two sighs sounded at the same time.

Jiang Anyi's heart moved, according to the rules of the "Da Zheng Law", the county set up an order (from the seventh grade) one person, Cheng (from the ninth grade) one person, the main book (from the ninth grade) one person, the lieutenant (from the ninth grade) one person, as well as the record, the household, the warden, the doctor and other small officials, these people are issued by the court, as for the six rooms of the officials and the court officials do not give money, but the counties give some subsidies according to the situation, Jiang Anyi knows that the small officials in Xinqi County and the county officials give two taels of silver per person per year.

Of course, the officials and officials did not rely on a few taels of silver from the yamen to support their families, and for example, the collection of market taxes in the market was no less than 20 taels a year, as well as the fees collected from prostitutes, slaughterers, casinos, etc., not to mention lawsuits, land measurements, and other collusion between the upper and lower levels to make profits. Jiang Anyi heard Tian Shoulou say that some officials can be greedy for nearly 10,000 taels of silver a year, and the county order is only 26 taels a year.

The county town is relatively deserted, there are not many cars and horses, and the shops on both sides seem to be lifeless, and the sound of selling is weak, giving Jiang Anyi the feeling that the whole city is like an old man who is about to die. The county government is in the center of the county, sitting in the north and facing south, the eight-character gatehouse, the black lacquered gate is mottled, and several officials sit under the corridor and laugh.

Jiang Anyi didn't step forward, he circled around the county office, and found a hotel at the back door of the county office. The guy standing in front of the store saw that there was business coming to the door, so he stepped forward and took the reins diligently, and greeted: "Guest officer, hello eyesight, our Yuehe old store is the premier old store in Fuluo County, not a small braggart, but the store door was like a market, like you can not find a room when you enter the store at this time." ”

The shopkeeper greeted him and said with a smile: "Two, the rooms of the small shop are divided into two types, A and B, a first-class hundred wen a night, B room fifty wen, and a cross-courtyard, five hundred wen a night, and food is counted separately." ”

Jiang Anyi looked at the storefront, the furnishings were a little old, but they were clean, the materials of the houses were very exquisite, and the window lattices were carved with floral decorations, which showed the luxury of the year. The price is not expensive, at least a place like Xinqi County, Shi understood the child's intentions, and hurriedly said: "Let's make a cross-courtyard." ”

"Haole", the shopkeeper agreed, took the key and led the way in front. Jiang Anyi saw that the store was very large, with nearly more than 100 guest houses on the upper and lower floors, which was not considered to be cross-courtyard, but he didn't see many people staying in the hotel along the way.

Jiang Anyi asked in surprise: "The shopkeeper, such a big store, if you don't have enough guests, wouldn't it be a waste." ”

The shopkeeper smiled bitterly: "Don't hide it from the guest officer, the little second mouth just now is telling the truth, if it was five or six years ago, the inn was full of guests at this time, and if you want to find a place to live, you have to ask for another master." However, it has not worked in the past two years, and the merchants are not coming, so this room is naturally empty, and if it continues like this, the store will be sold out. ”

The cross courtyard is very quiet, three upper rooms, a few fruit trees in the small courtyard, the trees bear green fruits, and there is a small pond in the middle, with lotus flowers blooming in the pond, Jiang Anyi nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile: "Not bad." ”

The man called for washing water, and the stone handed the bag containing the bird to the man, and told the man: "The small stew, the big one is braised in the big one." ”

Jiang Anyi asked the stone to take out a string of copper coins and give it to the guy, and said with a smile: "Little second brother, your surname?" I have a few words for you, and you sit down and say. ”

There are fifty or sixty copper coins in a string, Xiao Er made a small fortune, put the copper coins into his arms, and said with a smile: "Uncle, the small surname is Xu, known as Xu Kuaileg, if you have something to ask, the little one must tell you if you know." ”

"Brother Xu, I am a merchant who came from Texas to buy medicinal materials, I heard that the medicinal materials in your county are good, and I want to buy some, but I heard from the shopkeeper that the merchants have not come in the past two years, is there no medicinal materials on the mountain?" Jiang Anyi disguised himself as a merchant buying medicinal herbs and asked.

"Alas, Childe came all the way from Texas and is not familiar with the local situation, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to go on an empty trip this time." Xu Xiaoer sighed, "How can there be no medicinal materials on the mountain, but the medicinal materials business has been taken care of by Uncle Xu, and the merchants from other places can't receive the medicinal materials, and there are fewer people coming, so there is no business in the store." ”

"Oh, then I didn't run for nothing." Jiang Anyi sighed, secretly remembering this Uncle Xu who bullied the market. Jiang Anyi calculated in his heart that it would take three or four days for Mr. Zhang's brigade to arrive in Fuluo County, and he had to find out the situation in Fuluo County first in the next few days, so as not to be blind.

Xu Xiaoer hesitated for a moment, looked at the face of the string of copper coins, and said in a low voice: "Son, it is impossible for you to buy medicinal materials in the county, from the prince to the official in this county, all of them have the benefits of Uncle Xu, as long as the medicinal materials enter the city, they will either be sold to Uncle Xu at a low price, or they will be robbed and smashed." The medicinal herb shops in this county are all surnamed Xu. If you really want to buy it, go to the mountains more, maybe you can still receive some, but be careful when you enter the city, don't let people find out, this city is full of Uncle Xu's eyes and ears, if they are discovered, the medicinal materials will be gone. ”

It seems that this Uncle Xu is very powerful, Jiang Anyi asked, "Does the government care?" ”

"Official? The government is the dog raised by the Xu family, and it is almost the same as bullying the common people. Xu Xiaoer consciously lost his words, slapped his mouth lightly, and said: "Guest officer, I said nonsense, I'll go cook for you, you always rest." ”

Xiao Er left, Jiang Anyi admired the lotus flowers with his hands behind his back, it seems that the water in Fuluo County is quite deep, so he should be more careful.