Xue Rong had already returned to the middle hall and was washing his face. He may have stayed up late last night, his eyes were red, and his face was tired. Seeing the ceremony, Li Mao made his intentions clear, Xue Rong lowered his head and pondered for a moment, and said with a smile: "Forget it, Maohua, I advise you not to fight this idea." As he spoke, he beckoned Li Mao to sit down and drink tea.

Xue Rong said: "Chengwu is a small county, and it is also a poor county, the people are poor, and the wealthy families are not easy to mess with. If you want to let the horses run and don't let the horses eat, then how can you do it, if you cut off other people's financial routes, who will work for the government? ”

Li Mao smiled awkwardly, he also thought of this section, but he felt that he should not abolish the public for personal gain, and since Xue Rong opened his mouth, he no longer insisted. Xue Rong said: "It's been a close year, there is nothing to do in the ya, you can take the time to go to Su Xiaodu Township to see, I recently connected to a few pieces of paper, saying that there is a big family named Su Cheng, who is very domineering, not only seizing the land of the host household, but also built an earthen dam on the ditch dug by the county during the summer drought last year, cut off the water flow without authorization, and only irrigate his own fields, regardless of the life or death of other people's families. ”

Li Mao said: "The Su family is a big family in Chengwu County, there are seven squires with names and surnames, and the biggest name is naturally the Su blacksmith family, but the Su blacksmith is still a good person, and after suddenly becoming rich, he doesn't strike iron, and he skates every day, drinks tea, and enjoys himself." As the county lady, that Granny Su has not forgotten her own business, and often gives people media and fiber. Su Zhen of Su Nu Township in the south of the county is also very famous, the eldest son is a Jinshi, and now the Imperial History Observatory is supervising the imperial history. Su Zhen is a scholar, he doesn't care much, he hasn't heard him do good, and he doesn't seem to have done great evil, but he has a brother named Su Dong, but his reputation is very bad, and he is rampant in the township and has done many unsightly evil deeds. This person named Su Cheng is not in the same vein as Su Zhen, he has lived in Su Xiaodu for generations, the home of his great-grandfather, his father Su Gui has served as a judicial assistant in the county for 20 years, and returned to his hometown seven years ago, Su Cheng is Chinese New Year's Eve one year old today, and took over the family business from Su Gui two years ago. ”

After Li Mao finished speaking, Xue Rong laughed and praised: "Pay attention everywhere and learn, it's rare that you can touch the big households in the county so clearly in such a short period of time, it's amazing." Li Mao said: "People say that the county order is a herdsman official, the people are good herdsmen, and it is the head of the people who are difficult to herd, these squires are not only the support of the government, but also often some thorns, how dare they be careless?" ”

Xue Rong nodded approvingly and said, "You go to Su Xiaodu for an unannounced visit to see what kind of person this Su Cheng father and son are." Remember, don't startle the snake first, we are new to the city, and it is better to be still. ”

Li Mao responded, went home and packed a few clothes, wrapped them into a burden, took a pen and left a note for Qin Niang, and then locked the door and walked out of the yard. As soon as he was discharged from the hospital, he bumped into Qingmo, and the little guy was carrying a burden and a wooden stick, and was wandering outside the door with his head down.

Li Mao asked curiously, "Are you going to go far away?" Qingmo replied dejectedly: "Bad luck, bad luck, it's really bad luck, I let Lao Gu tell me a bad story early this morning, saying that I have nothing to do at home, and it will inevitably ruin my good future in the long run." The eldest lady listened to his nonsense, so she sent me out and asked me to go out with you to experience the experience. ”

Li Mao glanced at the little guy and said, "It's okay for you to go with me, but let's make it clear first, you have to listen to me on the way, and you must not make any claims." ”

"Make." Qingmo responded happily, snatched the burden from Li Mao's hand and carried it on his back.

Su Xiaodu Township is 60 miles northeast of Chengwu County, with a population of 700 households, more than half of whom are surnamed Su, and more than 40% are under the name of Su Cheng, a large local household. The host household is also a tenant household, but it is different from ordinary tenants, the host has signed a secret agreement with the owner, and the owner has a secret agreement to put his land in the name of the owner, and uses the power of the owner to evade taxes or pay less taxes, and gives the large household a number of benefits as agreed every year.

Su Xiaodu Township is rich in goose down, Su Xiaodu Village, where Su Cheng's family is located, is an important goose down distribution center, every year after autumn, there are a large number of merchants come to negotiate business, big traders come in late autumn, when the goose has just been slaughtered, the quality of the fluff is the best, these big businessmen have strong capital, and are willing to spend money, the people of the four townships are willing to trade with them.

After the winter, the big traders withdrew, the small traders poured over, their capital is small, the amount of purchase is limited and like to lower the price, the villagers are not very happy to trade with them, but he is diligent and diligent, go to the village to buy door-to-door, the service attitude is much better than the big traders, so there is also business to do.

After Li Mao and Qingmo settled in Su Xiaodu Village, they disguised themselves as small traders who went from village to village, and secretly investigated Su Cheng's evil deeds in the name of purchasing goose down. Su Cheng has done a lot of evil in the local area, and there are many people who hate him, so it is not difficult to collect evidence.

The surname Su in Chengwu County is divided into two major families, north and south, and Su Zhen and Su Dong brothers live in Su Nu Township in the south of the county, which is called "South Su". The Su Cheng family has lived in the north of the county for generations, and is called "North Su".

Su Cheng's father, Su Gui, has been an official in Chengwu County for many years, has a wide range of connections, is low-key and cautious, builds bridges and roads in the township, is in harmony with neighbors, and has a good reputation. After falling and injuring his leg two years ago, he lived in seclusion behind the scenes, pushing his only son Su Cheng out to take charge of the house, Su Cheng is different from his father, he will never do anything about repairing bridges and roads, invading his neighbors, embezzling the land and property of the host household is his forte, and only two years of hard work will be lost in the good name accumulated by his father, and the public resentment is boiling.

One day, Li Mao came to a small village with only seven or eight households, and took the opportunity to ask for water to drink, and talked with a host family. Last year's summer drought, Su Xiaodu Township did not fall a drop of rain for 40 days, Su Cheng led a group of family members to build an earthen dam on the aqueduct on the west side of Su Xiaodu to introduce water into the Su family's rice field, resulting in the family's 30 acres of rice seedlings dried up, no harvest, the family ate bran and vegetables for half a year to survive the famine, speaking of the Su family, the old and young of this family gritted their teeth with hatred, eager to eat their flesh and sleep their skin. Li Mao took the opportunity to agitate: "I heard that there is a new county lord in the county, and the official reputation is very good, I am afraid that your hard life will come to an end." ”

The head of the family sneered, and said disapprerovingly: "You are foreigners, how do you know that the Su family is powerful, not to mention how Nansu is, even if Su Cheng is a dog, how can a small county order move?" He has worked in the county all his life, and he is an acquaintance of their family inside and out, which is his hands and eyes. The county is an outsider, and he is not familiar with the place, even if he wants to be the master of the people, he is afraid that it will be difficult to move him. His eldest son said: "The current officials can only take bribes and bribes, and they all just want to keep the black yarn, how can they be willing to open the big family to the small people?" ”

Qingmo said: "It's not right for you to say that, there are good officials in the world, you can't even live your life, so you just risked your life to go to the county to sue him, maybe there will be a day to get ahead." ”

The youngest son of the head of the household interjected: "If the county commander dares to beat Su Cheng Sanban, I will dare to risk my life to fight him." If the county magistrate doesn't dare to touch him, why should we be sent to death? ”

Li Mao smiled bitterly helplessly, Su Cheng is cunning and does not leave a handle, the people are afraid and do not believe in officials, even if he wants to help, he has no way to start, this is really an unsolvable situation.