The whole topography of Kaiyang County is high in the south and low in the north, the south is the Qinling Mountains in the south, and a water runs through the whole county in the middle, and then a tributary of Jingshui in the north, it is the irrigation of these two rivers that makes Kaiyang County distribute endless wheat fields, which has always been an important grain production area in the Guanlong area.

The Wei family is the same as other families, their land is also distributed on both sides of the water in the form of a grange, there are special people to manage, among them in Kaiyang County, there is a grange on the bank of the water river twenty miles away in the west of Kaiyang County, the name is Sheng Toyota Village, this is the most fertile grange of the Wei family's land, with 5,000 hectares of Shangtian, nearly 1,000 slaves, and countless tenant farmers, year after year, the hard work of the farmers provides countless grains for the Wei family.

On the ninth day of the first month, this day is the day of the peasants' sacrifice to the sky, the sky is still numb and bright, the villages on both sides of the water are beginning to get busy, sincerely pray for the blessing of God in the coming year, there is a Dongguo village next to the Shengtoyoda Village, it is a medium-sized village of more than 200 people, most of the people in the village are tenant farmers of the Shengtoyoda Village, the men in the village gathered in the Grange Courtyard located on the north bank of the water at the time of the fourth watch, this is actually the warehouse of the Grange, the high wall surrounds dozens of huge warehouses, There were hundreds of guards in the house, and there were many houses in them for the stewards and servants of the Grange to live in.

Before dawn, a bell rang, and the gate of the courtyard opened, and groups of farmers gathered from various villages poured out. They carried sacrifices such as cows, horses, flour fruits, etc. Walking reverently towards the altar on the north side of the water, several white-clothed priests walked solemnly at the front of the procession.

On both sides of the water, hundreds of miles long, there are many scenes of farmers spontaneously offering sacrifices to the sky, and it is not until noon that the sacrifice ends, and the villagers begin to return to Dongguo Village one after another.

At the same time that the villagers went to worship the heavens. A few men on horseback came to Dongguo Village, judging from their attire, the leader had a fat round face, a lovely smile, dressed in a breasted robe, and wore a soft-footed hood, as if he was a passing merchant, while the younger ones behind. It's all short dress. All of them were in good spirits and seemed to be his entourage.

At this moment, the village is very quiet, the men have gone to the river to worship the sky, only some women, children and old people are left behind, every family is busy making lunch, a few people ask the way, all the way to the village chief's house, the village chief's house is on the edge of the village, and the Grange courtyard can be seen in the distance. Like the traditional house, the village chief's house also encloses a courtyard with a mud wall, and there are three or four thatched huts in it, which is no different from the ordinary small courtyard of a farmhouse, but there is a hundred-year-old locust tree in the yard. It's winter though. But the entire hut was covered by a huge canopy.

The gate of the courtyard was not closed, and there was only one old man chopping wood in the courtyard. An attendant stepped forward and asked, "May I ask if Village Chief Wang is at home?" ”

The old man put down the firewood knife, looked at them suspiciously, and said, "I am, is there anything wrong with you?" ”

At this time, the fat round-faced man stepped forward and smiled: "We are from Jincheng County, and I heard that the harvest in Kaiyang County is very good, so I want to come to the village to collect some surplus grain, I don't know if it is convenient for Village Chief Wang?" ”

"What's the use of a good harvest!" Village Chief Wang sighed, he shook his head and said: "This year's tenant rent has risen by one percent, and many families are struggling to make ends meet. ”

"Shall we have a sip then?"

"Then please come in!" Village Chief Wang went into the house and took out a few small stools, placed them under the locust tree, beckoned everyone to sit down, and brought a few large porcelain bowls to put them around, and poured some hot water for everyone.

"The contemptible person is also surnamed Wang, and he is the third in the family, so the village chief will call me Wang Sanlang." The fat merchant pointed to the people behind him again, "They are all my buddies." ”

"It turned out to be the king's shopkeeper, disrespectful." The village chief poured himself a bowl of water and sat down.

The fat merchant took a sip of water, and when he saw that there was no one in the house, he asked with a smile: "Today is the day of worship, why don't the village chief go, but stay at home alone." ”

"My legs and feet are old and useless, my son went for me, and my wife and daughter-in-law went to the other courtyard to help cook." Village Chief Wang said while secretly looking at these people, although they claimed to be merchants who bought rice, but they always felt that they did not have the shrewd philistines of merchants, especially a few entourage, all of them were burly, with a long knife at their waists, standing there with their backs straight, their eyes were cold, none of them sat down, saying that they were soldiers It would be more suitable, thinking of the recent changes in Longyou, Village Chief Wang had a slight vigilance in his heart, and repeatedly warned himself not to talk nonsense.

"The village chief has always been a native of Dongguo Village!"

"Yes! I was born and raised here and have lived here for over sixty years. ”

"Sixty years? There are a lot of things that the village chief should know. The shopkeeper stood up, walked to the far door with his hands, he looked at the courtyard of the Shengtoyoda Village from a distance for a while, and walked back slowly, glanced at the village chief, and suddenly asked: "I remember that this area used to be the land of the imperial court, and the land should be owned by the government, when did it become a grange?" ”

The village chief's heart jumped suddenly, and he was so frightened that he waved his hand again and again, "I don't know about this matter, don't ask me!" Don't ask! ”

"It's just that others don't know, and the village chief can't say it if he doesn't know." Shopkeeper Wang's face sank, and he said coldly to Village Chief Wang: "I advise you to tell the truth!" ”

Hearing this threatening remark, the village chief's face changed greatly, he took a step back sharply, stared at the so-called merchant and said, "Who are you?" ”

"Didn't I just say that? We are from Jincheng County. The shopkeeper smiled faintly, and made a gesture to the entourage behind him, one of them went to close the door, while the others slowly approached the village chief with their hands on the hilt of their knives.

"What do you want to do?" Village Chief Wang retreated again and again in horror, he already understood that these people were probably from the official government to investigate the affairs of Weijiadi, and he had already been targeted by them. Take advantage of the fact that the men are not in the village to catch themselves.

"Since the village chief refuses to say. Then we'll have to invite you to Jincheng County. The shopkeeper waved his hand, "Take it away!" ”

Several entourages stepped forward and grabbed the village's arm, clamped him firmly like iron tongs, and grabbed the thin village chief like a chicken, and when the village chief Wang saw that they had opened a sack, he shouted in a trembling voice: "Wait! ”

"Put him down first!" The shopkeeper walked slowly up to him. He smiled coldly and said: "I won't hide it from you, we have invited a lot of people away, many of them have broken arms and legs, if you cooperate well, not only will you not suffer, but you will also have a reward, but if you want to die to the end." Then there is only one word for you. Think for yourself! ”

Village Chief Wang listened to them, no matter what he said, he had to go, and now, this difficulty can't be avoided, he thought about it, gritted his teeth and said: "I know what you are talking about, to be honest, I don't know what happened in the middle." I can tell you a man who not only knows very well, but he probably has evidence in his hands. ”

"Who is it?"

The words had been spoken, and he was not allowed to continue, and the village chief sighed and said, "It's the Zhao Grand Steward of Sheng Toyota Village." ”

Chief Steward Zhao is in his early forties. Both father and ancestor are descendants of the Wei family. He served Wei Ge since he was a child, and after Wei Ge became the head of the family. He also followed the chicken dog to ascend to heaven, rising step by step, and was sent to Shengtoyoda Village as the chief steward five years ago.

Here, he was the Emperor of the Earth, and not only could more than a thousand slaves and hundreds of tenants be slaughtered by him, but he also became a rich man with the food he embezzled every year, and year by year, his wealth swelled rapidly, just like his body.

Five years ago, when he first went to work, he was a thin lone man, and five years later, he was like a winter bear and a group of wives and concubines, today is the day of worship, he did not go to the sacrifice, for him, the quality of the harvest has nothing to do with him, the Wei family has fallen, which means that his good days will also come to an end, although he has the responsibility to defend the Wei family's field, but he himself has too much property to make his sense of responsibility be divided by most of it.

At this moment, Steward Zhao was lying in the room with his fat body in tow, counting the account books, calculating his remaining family property in the grange, and his wife was also busy packing a ingot of gold and jewelry into a box, they had bought a large amount of land and houses in Xiangyang County, and in the next few days, they would flee to Xiangyang.

At this moment, the window suddenly opened, and a gust of cold wind blew in, blowing the list he had just sorted out everywhere, and Steward Zhao hurriedly grabbed the list while shouting unhappily: "Lady, go and close the window!" ”

But after shouting twice, but he didn't see his mother's movement, Steward Zhao raised his head unhappily and scolded: "You are deaf."

found that her lady was trembling, pointing to the door in horror, unable to shout a word, as soon as Steward Zhao turned around, his body suddenly froze.

I saw that at some point, more than 20 masked men in silk clothes appeared at the door, all holding snowy steel knives in their hands, as if a wild beast had discovered its prey, staring at them coldly.

"Who are you?" Steward Zhao, who has always been known for his ability to speak, suddenly became seriously stuttering, "You, what do you want to do, what do you want to do?" ”

At this time, a man with a fat round face walked out from behind the big man, he glanced at the two of them coldly, and said: "We are the internal affairs battalion of the Xiliang Army, and we are here to investigate the case of the Wei family's encroachment on the imperial court Tuntian, you come with us!" ”

Steward Zhao seemed to have stepped into the abyss, he knew that the Wei family had fallen, and Zhang Huan would never let go of the family property that the Wei family could not take away, but he didn't expect them to come so quickly, would he be able to come back alive if he went?

At this moment, Steward Zhao remembered the family property he had not yet enjoyed, he still had the second half of his life, and his own women, who were going to divide their family property and run away with wild men

The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, and he trembled like chaff, and threw himself on his chest full of gold, and cried loudly, "My land is gold! My life! ”

At this time, seven or eight big men rushed up, first tied his wife into zongzi three times and two times, stuffed his mouth, put it into a sack, and then searched the room carefully, searched out all the belongings he had packed up in advance, including his house deeds and land deeds in Xiangyang, dragged him away, and snatched him away from the box full of gold.

Steward Zhao had stopped crying. I watched in a daze as I had accumulated over the past five years being searched away. He was completely desperate, as if he was demented, until a few people approached with a sneer with a rope, he suddenly woke up, and kowtowed again and again to beg for mercy, "Master Jun." I will say, I will say anything, but I beg you to spare my life! ”

A few big men ignored him, and began to strangle him hard, the rope was strangled into the meat, and Steward Zhao howled like a pig, "Title deed!" He suddenly remembered the opportunity to perform meritorious service. "I know the title deeds." The previous title deeds of the manor are hidden in the basement, and I will take you there!

"Let him go first and let him lead the way!"

On the 11th day of the first month, in the Jincheng County Jiedu envoy, the strategist Du Meixing rushed into Zhang Huan's room, he put a thick stack of testimony and evidence collected from all over Longyou in front of Zhang Huan, and smiled proudly: "The name is right, we can do it!" ”

Zhang Huan looked at the testimony covered with handprints in front of him with great interest, and he smiled at Du Mei with satisfaction: "You have done a good job in this matter. Now I'll see how their Wei family will explain to the world. ”

At this time, Du Mei hesitated and said: "However, not only the Wei family, but also Li Qiao in Hue County, Ma and even the Xin family in Anding County have all privately occupied the imperial court's tuntian, if this matter is publicized too much, I am afraid that the two of them will not be able to get rid of it." And in the Anshi Rebellion. Longyou's tuntian has basically been abolished, if it is really investigated. I'm afraid it's hard to convince people. ”

Zhang Huan smiled faintly and said, "If you want to add crimes, why bother?" We are just looking for an excuse, since their Wei family does not occupy the land in a straightforward manner, then why can't I re-use it as military land? Moreover, we can kill two birds with one stone and seize the opportunity to seize the local power of these rich states and counties. ”

As he spoke, Zhang Huan turned to the page of Kaiyang County, and also accused the Wei family of taking advantage of the barren Tuntian to occupy the family's ownership, and there were seven or eight fingerprints on it, all of which were the testimonies of Li Zheng, the village chief and others.

After reading it, Zhang Huan said coldly: "Kaiyang County is the nest of the Wei family, I will personally go to deal with this matter, and other places will be synchronized as planned, and all the Wei family's land will be taken back to me, and all the people of the Wei family will be arrested!" ”

On the thirteenth day of the first month, Kaiyang County Thorn History Mansion, the current Thorn History of Kaiyang County is still Wei Du, although the Wei family has moved to Hanzhong, but Wei Du is the official of the imperial court, before the court order, he is still the highest administrator of Kaiyang County, is the parent official of hundreds of thousands of people, but the patrol army coming and going on the streets of Kaiyang City is no longer the army of the Wei family.

Wei Du paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, these days, Wei Du's heart was slightly relieved, he was informed by the head of the family, Wei Ge, that the imperial court had decided to transfer him to Ruyang County as the assassin Shi, and after the new Thorn Shi came to handle the handover with him in early February, he could leave Longyou.

For leaving Longyou, Wei You is looking forward to and worrying, living under the supervision of Zhang Huan's army, he sits on pins and needles every day, and even has the idea of retiring from illness to return to his hometown, and now he can finally be transferred, this is a beautiful thing he has been looking forward to for a long time, but after he leaves Longyou, what should the Wei family do with more than 10,000 hectares of land in Kaiyang County? Whether the new assassin can keep the interests of their Wei family land makes him worry again.

After thinking about it for a long time, he decided to write a letter to the head of the family first, asking him to be sure to get the support of the imperial court and take practical measures to protect the Wei family's land in Longyou.

At this moment, there was a sudden sound of fierce footsteps outside the door, and then his attendant shouted, "What are you going to do? After a while, the shouting stopped.

Wei Du was surprised in his heart, he put down the pen, but he didn't wait for him to stand up, bang! With a kick on the ground, the door was kicked open, and dozens of heavily armed soldiers poured in from outside, stabbing him in a circle, and the small room was immediately packed.

"What are you going to do!" Wei Du was furious, he stood up abruptly and glared at the soldiers fiercely, "This is the Assassin Yamen, you must not be presumptuous!" ”

At this time, a general walked in from outside the door, it was Li Shuangyu, the envoy of Longzhou soldiers and horses, he took a piece of military order, and arched his hand to Wei Du and said: "Someone accused the Wei family of taking advantage of the national disaster to occupy the military field, and it has been preliminarily verified that most of the Wei family's land in Longyou is from the former imperial court tuntian, and the Jiedu envoy has ordered a comprehensive and thorough investigation of this matter, in order to prevent Wei Tingshi from interfering in the investigation of the case, Wei Tingshi is specially invited to Jincheng County to avoid suspicion. ”

"Good means! Good means! Wei Du sneered, "It seems that I have to leave if I don't leave, right?" ”

"Sorry! I was also ordered to do it, please cooperate with Wei Tingshi, I don't want to use force. ”

"Where is Zhang Huan now? I'm going to sue him to the court! Wei Du was helpless, he lifted the hem of his robe, and angrily walked out of the Thorn Mansion surrounded by soldiers, and the gate of the mansion was surrounded by thousands of soldiers, and a carriage had been parked under the steps, and hundreds of cavalry were closely guarded.

"Wei Thorn Shi please!" Without waiting for Wei Du to speak, two unusually burly soldiers on his left and right grabbed him by the shoulders and entered the carriage with him, the door was closed, locked from the outside, the carriage immediately started, and galloped away outside the city, all the way was already heavily guarded, the streets were full of dense soldiers, there was not a single civilian, and soon, the carriage went out of the city gate, until there was no trace.

As soon as Wei Du was taken away, Zhang Huan appeared in front of the Assassin Yamen, he stared at the highest authority in this place, and after a while, he smiled faintly and beckoned to the pro-soldier team, and a scribe in his thirties walked out and saluted Zhang Huan, "Please give orders to the governor!" ”

Zhang Huan looked at him and smiled slightly: "Zhao Tao, you are also a Jinshi, and you have been in our army for a year as a counselor in military affairs, I believe that you have the ability to control the government affairs of Kaiyang County for me, and now I will officially appoint you as the political counselor of Kaiyang County, and temporarily have the right to assassinate history." ”

"The subordinates will never let the governor down!"

Zhang Huan smiled and patted him on the shoulder, encouraging him: "Don't worry, I have already arranged it for you, Changshi and Sima and the county orders will follow your orders, and I will arrange two hundred more officials for you, even if the new assassin history of the imperial court is sent, he is in name only, Li Shuangyu will help you, as long as you give me diligence in government affairs, one day, I will make you a real assassin." ”

"Subordinates obey!"

Zhang Huan once again took a deep look at the Assassin Shi Yamen, slowly turned the horse's head, and ordered: "Go back to Jinling County!" "All in the hands of Zhang Huan, the military household field mu system was officially implemented in Longyou