In the blink of an eye, it was July, and there was still a month before the township examination, but the number of candidates in Fuzhou City gradually increased, and soon the major inns were full.

Originally, Shen Xi estimated that there would be four or five thousand students for this year's township examination, but because of the smooth weather in various parts of Fujian in the past year, and the peace in the local area, the people had surplus money in their hands, resulting in an increase in the number of students who came to participate in the township examination to try their luck, and it is estimated that there will be six or seven thousand in the end.

This further reduces the probability of admission to this year's township examination.

But this did not affect Shen Xi's preparation for the exam, and he was not in a hurry at this time, the only thing he could do was to enrich his knowledge as much as possible to cope with all changes.

Shen Xi warmed the books in the room every day, because the "Four Books", "Five Classics" and "Collected Notes" had already memorized a lot of melons, and he had memorized all kinds of current texts, he simply split the "Four Books" and "Five Classics" into sentences and sentences, and then matched them at will, to see how to solve the problem, and how to elaborate specifically, and enjoyed it.

At this time, Yin Wen always sat obediently next to him, if Shen Xi was hot, she would fan him, Shen Xi was thirsty, she handed over tea, Shen Xi wanted to write, she silently studied ink...... Xiao Nizi is ingenious, and the ink she developed is both symmetrical and delicate, which is highly praised by Shen Xi.

Shen Xi sometimes wanted to change his brain, so he taught Yin Wen to write.

When Shen Xi finished writing one stroke at a time, the little girl always happily sat on the side with the paper on which she wrote, writing and drawing, and slowly figuring it out.

If Shen Xi didn't have time to teach her, she would pick up the book and read it as if it were the same, and from time to time she would make a gesture according to the handwriting on the book, and Shen Xi would laugh dumbly every time she saw it.

Shen Xi occasionally came in a mood, and would also tell Yin Wen stories, she listened carefully, and after listening, her face was full of joy and yearning, but she would only smile lightly, and would not be entangled.

Shen Xi felt that it was very comfortable to have such a well-behaved and lovely girl with her red sleeves next to her. The most important thing is that Yin Wen is very quiet, not obsessed like Lu Xi'er and Lin Dai, he is very knowledgeable and knows how to advance and retreat.

On the ninth day of the seventh month. Shen Xi, as before, warmed up his books for a day.

At dusk, Mrs. Yin came over to bring the reluctant Yin Wen home, Shen Xi was about to pack up his things and prepare for dinner, Ma Jiu helped Shen Mingtang, who was covered in injuries, to the inn.

The two were covered in blood. It looks terrifying.

"What's going on?"

Shen Xi hurriedly helped the person into the room, bandaged the wounds of the two of them briefly, and looked at Ma Jiu with a cold expression.

Ma Jiu touched the shallow knife marks from the tip of his right eyebrow to the gap between his left lip, and said hatefully: "Our warehouse was robbed, and we lost a batch of silk and dozens of bags of rice grain...... Those people were very ruthless, and they injured many of our brothers, and some of them were seriously injured, and they are being rescued in the medical hall of the Chamber of Commerce at this time, and I don't know if they can be saved......"

"There is also a batch of comic books that have just been shipped in the warehouse, and the other party can't take them with them. The fire burned directly, and when I came back with the third master, the fire was being put out over there. I went out to run errands at noon, and when I went back, I happened to bump into it, and I was stabbed a few times before I could dodge, but fortunately, it was all flesh wounds. ”

Shen Xi's brows furrowed.

This is really a tree that wants to be quiet and the wind does not stop, and you can't calm people if you want to calm down!

Song Xi'er's people are becoming more and more presumptuous, even more arrogant than bandits and robbers, bandits and robbers are just trying to make money, they can only sneak around. And Song Xi'er directly robbed it in the provincial capital, and he also wanted his life.

In the first year, there was a move to burn down the headquarters of the Fuzhou branch of the Chamber of Commerce, and several brothers died here, and the matter was investigated by the big government. Song Xi'er's talent stopped for a while.

As the rumors passed, Song Xi'er's people became active again, and two months ago, they robbed the cargo ship of the Tingzhou Chamber of Commerce, causing deaths, and then there were many disasters. Now it has developed into a knife robbery. Or in broad daylight, it's simply lawless.

Shen Xi asked, "Have you reported to the official?" ”

Ma Jiu smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Little shopkeeper, it's useless to report to the official, now the people in the yamen know who did it, but no one dares to care." Even if it is reported to the government, as long as there is no one to testify and no evidence can be produced, the government will have no choice. And also...... Behind that group of people is the commander of the envoys, who dares to act rashly......"

In the land of Fujian, because of the perennial Japanese invaders and frequent wars, the Dusi Yamen needs to constantly mobilize the troops of various guards to encircle and suppress.

The reason why Fang Guan, the commander of the capital, accepted Song Xi'er as a righteous daughter, must be that he valued Song Xi'er's ability to collect money for him. It is impossible for soldiers to fight in vain, they need military merit and silver rewards, and it is obviously not enough to rely on the little money allocated by the imperial court. In addition, officials at all levels are working on their own hands, and funds are becoming more and more tight.

Under such circumstances, the local military yamen tried every means to "generate income" for themselves.

The army can't fight and rob with open fire, so they all command Fang Guan to cultivate local forces like Song Xi'er and "help" him rob. Song Xi'er did these things, even if it was not Fang Guan's idea, at least he acquiesced.

The government at the two levels of the prefecture and county has long seen this clearly, the Fujian Mountain is far away from the emperor, and it is the businessmen of the lower nine ranks, especially the Tingzhou Chamber of Commerce, which belongs to outsiders, so they simply turn a blind eye and deal with things casually.

The official and bandit family, the businessman not only pays all kinds of harsh taxes every year, but also has to pay filial piety to the people of Song Xi'er's power, and he has to be robbed at every turn, the life of the Fuzhou businessman is really difficult!

If you declare war with Song Xi'er's forces, you must take into account the Fujian Metropolitan Yamen behind Song Xi'er, and it is easy to lose all the games in one wrong step.

Shen Xi asked, "Brother Jiu, last time you asked you to find someone, how many brothers do you have in your hands now that can come in handy?" ”

Ma Jiu thought for a while and said, "With the new recruitment, there are fifty or sixty people who can be summoned after removing the injuries this time." Little shopkeeper, you are not going to take someone to Huaiyang Building to find a woman surnamed Song desperately, right? There are only fifty or sixty of us, and we are simply hitting a stone with an egg! ”

Shen Xi frowned: "Do you think I'm such an impulsive person?" Even if Huaiyang Lou is not prepared, and we go in with great fanfare, can there be no wind on the side of the Dusi Yamen? A bad situation is the annihilation of the whole army, and in the end, it is impossible to say that it will be charged with rebellion, and the gains outweigh the losses! ”

Ma Jiu had a bitter face: "Is there no way to take a woman surnamed Song?" It's nothing that happened today, and in a few days, maybe how many more shops will choose to quit the Chamber of Commerce for fear of being implicated...... Now we may really have to return to Tingzhou Mansion. ”

"Don't give up lightly until you reach the end of the mountains and rivers!"

Shen Xi said solemnly, and then asked, "I heard that Song Xi'er is also engaged in human trafficking?" ”

Ma Jiu was a little puzzled: "Huaiyang Building is a green building, what's so unusual about doing human trafficking?" I heard that many of the girls there were bought from Huaiyang and other places. ”

Shen Xi said: "I'm not talking about the girl from Huaiyang Building...... With the support of the Dusi Yamen, even if some of the women are of unknown origin, the government will not pursue them. I mean, did she have any connection with the Japanese people along the coast? Human trafficking ......"

Ma Jiu gasped, a little incredulous: "Little shopkeeper, where did you hear about this?" Collusion with the Japanese is a capital crime of raiding the family and exterminating the clan! ”

Since Hongwu banned the sea. The relocation of many islands along the coast, and the frequent civil wars in Japan, led to the departure of many defeated daimyo and their samurai and ronin to occupy these uninhabited islands, which was the main reason for the rampant Japanese pirates along the coast. However, the Japanese did not produce and could only survive by looting. But strong men are needed to build for them, and women are needed to reproduce.

By the Hongzhi period, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong coastal areas of the Japanese have shown a trend of flooding, and then there will be Liu Daxia as the right capital of the imperial history, in charge of Fujian and Guangdong military affairs, to launch a large-scale encirclement and suppression of the coastal Japanese robbers, the Japanese invaders gradually decreased, but in the Jiajing years again flooded, and rampant.

The Japanese were not only the Dongying people, but also the local bandits and water bandits along the coast of the Ming Dynasty. They are all under the banner of the Japanese Bandits.

The coastal areas of Fujian were garrisoned by the garrison army under the command of the Fujian Metropolitan Division, and the Japanese thought that it was not easy to rob the population in the interior, so they could only trade with local forces and spend money to buy people to go to the island.

Shen Xi had asked the shopkeeper Yin before, and learned that on the Jin'an River that flows through the provincial capital and the Min River in the south of the city, there are often cases where boats and boats disappear together with people, some people say that they are water monsters, and the water monsters knocked over the boats, and the people on the boat were eaten by monsters after falling into the water, so even the corpses could not be found.

But in Shen Xi's opinion. It is clear that someone is secretly abducting people and then selling them to the Japanese pirates.

The situation in Fuzhou is obvious, and ordinary small forces can't hook up with the Japanese at all, only Song Xi'er. She is not only the leader of the local forces, but also has the support of the Fujian Metropolitan Division, so it is easy to send people out.

Shen Xi said: "You don't care where I inquire, capture the thief and capture the king first, what we have to do now is to trick Song Xi'er out of Huaiyang Tower." You must not divulge this to anyone. I'm going to ask you to do something, and you just do what you're told to do step by step, don't ask why. ”

Ma Jiu's face was full of surprise, and he looked at Shen Xi again.

If Shen Xi really had a way to trick Song Xi'er out of Huaiyang Tower, he would indeed have a great chance to kill Song Xi'er in one fell swoop.

Waiting for Shen Xi to tell Ma Jiuyi the detailed plan, Ma Jiu's eyes widened in disbelief: "Little shopkeeper, it's too risky to do this, we don't look like the Japanese people, why should the woman surnamed Song believe us?" ”

Shen Xi's brows furrowed: "Have you ever seen a Japanese person?" ”

Ma Jiu shook his head: "I haven't seen it, but I've heard others say that the Japanese people have three eyes and two mouths, they look like ghosts, they don't blink when they kill people, and they like to drink human blood the most......"

Out of fear of the Japanese people, the people described them as like devils. In order to ban the sea, the government added fuel to this rumor, which led to more and more mysteries.

Shen Xi said: "The Japanese look the same as us, you just need to send the letter to Huaiyang Tower." ”

In his previous life, Shen Xi liked to watch Japanese dramas, and after learning Japanese for a while, he could simply write in Japanese. It's not very authentic, but it's still easy to get by.

Most of them were illiterate, and the few who were literate were basically samurai or down-and-out daimyo. Shen Xi was going to write a letter in the tone of a widow that he was going to buy the population and let people take it to Huaiyang Tower.

It is not difficult to convince Song Xi'er that there is such a deal, after all, the Japanese are distributed on the vast islands from Zhejiang to the coast of Guangdong, and they are in their own affairs, and Song Xi'er is not connected to all the Japanese pirates. After Song Xi'er received the letter, she definitely didn't dare to publicize the matter, because even if Fang Guan supported her, if it was known that she had kidnapped people and sold them to the Japanese Kou, a few heads would not be enough.

In addition, it is impossible for Fang Guan not to install eyeliner next to Song Xi'er, Song Xi'er wants to avoid eyeliner and trade with the Japanese Kou, and there will not be many people who go out, as long as Song Xi'er leaves Huaiyang Building, there will be a chance to act.

In front of Ma Jiu, Shen Xi wrote a letter in Japanese, because most of it was Chinese characters, and it was not very difficult to write. Shen Xi handed the letter to Ma Jiu and explained it carefully, including hiding the letter in the crack layer of his shoe, and at the same time carrying a plausible letter on his body, first testing Song Xi'er, and finally taking out the Japanese letter.

What to say in this process, how to ask people, and how to answer Ma Jiu, Shen Xi came to a live scenario drill.

In the end, Shen Xi said: "Brother Jiu, this trip to Huaiyang Tower is very dangerous, if you feel that you can't bear the huge pressure, you can find another person." ”

Ma Jiuyi patted his chest: "Little shopkeeper, you don't believe me!" You also said that this mission is dangerous, and I don't know how to read nine words, but I know what righteousness is, and there is no reason to leave the danger to others. Besides, the Chamber of Commerce suffered heavy losses, and the brothers suffered a lot of casualties, all of which were instructed by the damned woman, and even if I took revenge, I had to go this time. ”

Subsequently, Shen Xi taught Ma Jiu to converse in Japanese.

Ma Jiuren is very smart and learns things quickly, and Shen Xi taught him simple Japanese conversations, which he learned in a few hours. Although it is still far from being able to answer the same question, it is still completely feasible to say a few words once in a while to scare people.

Shen Xi thought to himself, if he could really deceive Song Xi'er out, and the "beheading" mission would be a complete success, and he would be rewarded for letting Ma Jiu serve as the boss of the rudder of the chariot and horse gang in Fuzhou.

************

PS: The second update!

When the Son of Heaven arrived at the hospital, he checked his body temperature, 37.8 degrees, and the tonsils had severe inflammation, so he arranged an infusion. After the infusion, the Son of Heaven went to investigate the cause of the shoulder pain, and the result was diagnosed as tenosynovitis, and the doctor said that it was caused by overwork, and sweated!

It's five o'clock in the afternoon when I get home.,Hurry up and code words.,But this chapter is a little difficult to write.,It's not until now that the code comes out.,Hurry up and send it to everyone!

There should be another chapter today, please continue to subscribe and support the monthly pass! (To be continued.) )