As soon as Tang Ning opened the courtyard door, the official shouted at him: "Jiang Laosan, this is the new Lord Sima Liu, I heard that you are the only snake catcher in our Yongzhou, so I came here to ask." ”

This Lord Liu is naturally Liu Zongyuan, and I saw him stop the official and say, "Don't be so rude when you speak." Then he turned to Tang Ning and said, "Don't be afraid, I'm just a little curious, so I want to come and talk to you." ”

Although Liu Zongyuan said politely, Tang Ning didn't dare to be a little lazy, and hurriedly invited Liu Zongyuan into the house and served fragrant tea, and then said respectfully: "Lord Liu, if you have any orders, please say it." ”

Liu Zongyuan comforted him warmly: "I said don't be so nervous, I'll just take a look." By the way, I heard that you keep the poisonous snakes you caught at home, can you let me take a look? ”

Tang Ning casually agreed: "Of course this is okay, but please keep your distance as much as possible, after all, this snake is highly venomous." ”

Then he led Liu Zongyuan to a corner of the side room, opened a large clay pot, and said to Liu Zongyuan: "Lord Sima, please see, this is our Yongzhou specialty white flower snake." ”

In fact, the white snake is only the name of this time, the scientific name of this snake is called the sharp-nosed pit viper, and there is a very loud name called the "five-step snake", it can be seen that he is very poisonous, it can be said that if he is bitten in the wild and there is no suitable first aid measures, it is really dead, and it is currently a national second-class endangered protected animal.

This kind of snake dragon head tiger mouth, black and white flowers, there are twenty-four square Shengwen on the back, there are rosary spots on the abdomen, and there is a Buddha nail on the tip of the tail. In fact, not only Liu Zongyuan mentioned him in "The Snake Catcher Said", but Li Shizhen, a great physician in the Ming Dynasty, also came to investigate this snake and wrote a "Legend of the White Flower Snake".

Just when Liu Zongyuan was looking at the sharp-nosed pit with great interest, Tang Ning was also looking at him, speaking of which, Liu Zongyuan is a literary scholar that students are very familiar with, because several of his works have been selected into junior and senior high school texts, such as "Jiang Xue" (that is, the one where a thousand mountains and birds fly away), "The Story of Little Stone Pond", "The Donkey of Qian", "The Biography of Tong District", "Sending Xue Cunyi Preface" and "The Snake Catcher Said", it can be said that his number is about to catch up with Li Bai Dufu.

At the same time, Tang Ning was also sighing in his heart, why did he seem to be so close to the official Sima? The last time I met Bai Juyi in "Pipa Xing" was Jiangzhou Sima, this time I met Liu Zongyuan in "The Snake Catcher Says" and Yongzhou Sima, and I don't know which Sima I will meet next time......

"Jiang Ning, is this white flower snake really poisonous?" Liu Zongyuan suddenly asked curiously.

Tang Ning hurriedly replied: "Lord Qiyu, this white flower snake is also known as a five-step snake or a hundred-step snake, which means that if you are bitten by him, you will die of poison if you can't walk a hundred steps!" ”

"If it's so dangerous, how did you catch them?" Liu Zongyuan asked.

Strange to say, this white snake likes to eat a plant called heather vine the most, but he is most afraid of the sand next to the heather vine, as long as he grabs a handful of sand and throws it at him, he will shrink into a ball like flour meets water. At this time, we have to hurry over and put a wooden fork around his neck, and then grab the back of his body with our other hand, so that he will not be able to exert his strength. Tang Ning patiently explained.

"It's amazing that all things are born and overcome each other!" Liu Zongyuan sighed, and then asked: "Since there is such a good way, there must be no danger when arresting, right?" ”

Tang Ning replied with a bitter smile: "How can there be no danger, my grandfather and father both died under the fangs of the white flower snake, and even I almost died from it several times. ”

"Then if that's the case, then why don't you let me talk to the political officer and give you another errand, so that in the future, you only need to pay taxes normally, and you don't have to risk your life to catch snakes!" Liu Zongyuan kindly proposed.

Tang Ning hurriedly waved his hand and said, "Adults, don't, don't!" It's a dangerous errand, but it's nothing compared to recovering my taxes.

You may not believe it, but three generations of my family have lived in this township for 60 years. But the neighbors who lived with my grandfather back then have less than one of the ten families left; And there are less than two or three of the ten families that live with my father; Of the 12 years I have lived with them, there are less than four or five out of ten. Those who left were either forced to die by the taxes or fled with their families.

Whenever those violent officials came to the township to collect taxes, they disturbed the chickens and dogs, and everyone panicked. At this time, I carefully look at my crockpot, and as long as my snake is still in it, then I can sleep safely. After all, as long as I hand over the snake at the prescribed time every year, I can enjoy the food in my field without worrying about paying taxes. Although I have to take risks twice a year, it is better than my fellow villagers being scared every day, so Master Sima, don't change my errands! ”

In fact, Tang Ning is not short of that money, but this time's main quest is to "keep the right of the Jiang clan's snake catcher", if he pushes it out at this time, it will be tantamount to abandoning himself on the main quest.

Hearing Tang Ning's explanation, Liu Zongyuan said with emotion: "In the past, I read Kong Sheng's "Harsh Government is Fiercer than a Tiger", and I still had doubts, but now when I see what happened to you, I personally understand that this is all true, and the poison of this tax is actually more powerful than a poisonous snake!" Don't worry, I will report to the higher authorities after I go back, and strive to reduce taxes and reduce the pressure on the people! ”

Tang Ning said in his heart, how is this possible? But on the surface, he had to be grateful: "Thank you Master Sima for observing the people's feelings!" ”

After sending Liu Zongyuan away, Tang Ning continued to be busy with pre-wedding preparations, and a few days later, he began to greet his relatives, fortunately, the wedding of the commoners was very simple, and Tang Ning finally saw Yun'er and Yue'er, the twin beauties, in the cave room that night.

It can be seen that although the two little beauties are also very nervous and shy, they must have been trained by female elders before, and after blowing out the red candles, they took the initiative to serve Tang Ning to untie their clothes and sleep peacefully.

Speaking of which, although Tang Ning is definitely an old driver, this kind of twin beauty is really the first time he has tasted it, and he is now in charge of Zuo Cifang's middle technique, so the night of the candle in the cave room that night is naturally passionate and fierce (the specific details are inconvenient to write here...... ）。

But when Tang Ning woke up the next day, he suddenly found that something was wrong!