There were still thousands of beggars stranded in Chengwu County, and when they learned that Li Mao was temporarily taking charge of the government, the beggars gathered on the street in front of the county yamen day and night, demanding that the county lieutenant Cui Li be punished. The beggars who suffered a big loss, this time they were very well-behaved, they just sat in protest, did not dare to make trouble, not only that, but also took the initiative to work and contribute to scrub the wall of the county yatang, so that the smelly county government can regain the majesty of the past.

Li Mao and the county Cheng Feng Yin and the chief bookkeeper Wang Rui touched their heads, and the next day they began to burn the three fires of his new official taking office:

The first fire sent the rebel army back to the camp in Gushan Town.

The source of the chaos in Chengwu County has gone, the chaos has subsided, and the Qing navy has lost the reason to continue to stay. Li Mao mobilized the people of the city, raised dozens of carts of cattle, wine, rice and noodles, and sent them to the barracks of the Qing Navy outside the city to reward the officers and men of the three armies.

Li Mao led the officials of the government, the officials in the township, the meritorious scholars, and the elders of the city and countryside to toast the meritorious soldiers.

Hundreds of boys and girls dressed in neat new clothes and flowers wore flowers on their heads, and hung straw hats and bast shoes woven by their mothers and sisters around the necks of the soldiers to express their condolences for their hard work.

Yin Mu was willing to readily agree to send troops to quell the chaos, but the wishful thinking in his heart was that he would not leave Chengwu County after the matter was completed, and turn Chengwu County into a bridgehead in Gushan Town, and strategically defend the safety of Gushan Town. At this moment, he was forced by Li Mao's carefully planned warm offensive, and he looked a little embarrassed, and he wanted to turn his face but couldn't pull it down, so he had no choice but to perfunctory say that he would return to Lonely Mountain one day.

Among the elders who came to the banquet were proficient in the calendar, and they were counted on the spot, and it was an auspicious day three days later.

Yin Mu had to give in again, and promised in public that the class teacher would return to the headquarters in three days.

The second fire that Li Mao burned was to condemn Chen Daxi and other leaders of the beggar gang to the army.

The beggars gang made a big fuss in the city, and someone was killed and injured, someone had to be responsible for it, Chen Daxi, as the leader of the beggar gang, he didn't go to prison, who went to prison. As for the other beggars who made trouble, "they were originally instigated by others, but the government was lenient and did not pursue them." ”

While punishing Chen Daxi, Li Mao severely punished Cui Li and his henchmen. These people have been entrenched in Chengwu County for many years, and they are full of crimes, and the people are full of complaints. Li Mao withstood the pressure, was ruthless with an iron face, was guilty of recounting crimes, and returned to his hometown after being dismissed without guilt, and would never be hired; Innocent and innocent stay for observation and use.

As for the culprit Cui Li, Li Mao filed a complaint for impeachment in Caozhou and Yunzhou in both public and private capacities. The county order and the county lieutenant are both imperial court officials, both elected and appointed by the Shangshu Provincial Officials, and the county magistrate has no right to directly appoint and dismiss the county lieutenant, but has the right to impeach. In Ziqing, Li Mao, the official of Jiedu, represents the authority of the Jiedu envoy, and his impeachment is similar to a verdict.

Knowing that Cui Li was suspended from his job to be served, the people of Chengwu County rushed to tell each other, the wine shop and restaurant were overcrowded, and the rotten eggs in the egg shop were out of stock.

Cui Li knew that he could not escape, and late one night, he hung a rope from the beam of his house and committed suicide.

The unity soldiers of Chengwu County have been confirmed to be unable to pacify the locality, and the third fire burned by Li Mao is to ask Caozhou to transfer a famous general to guard Chengwu County. After Thorn Shi Mi Rulong and the regimental training envoy asked Yunzhou for instructions, he recalled Zheng Hu and sent the humble general Li Yingtan to lead 300 state soldiers into Chengwu.

The three fires are in line with the rules and conform to human feelings, and no one is given a handle to grasp. Li Mao's three moves immediately impressed Jia Zhiyan, who was secretly observing him.

The open and secret struggle between the Qing Navy and Yunzhou has been going on for a long time, and Chengwu County looks calm on the surface, but in fact it is a torrent and an undercurrent. Faced with the crisis in the city, Li Mao suggested that Xue Rong introduce external forces, and the alternatives were the Qing Navy of Gushan Town, which was close at hand, and Li Shigu, who was far away in Yunzhou.

Chengwu County is governed by Yunzhou, and the risk of offending Li Shigu is obviously higher than that of Hualong.

Li Maochun begged to see Jia Zhiyan at night, and asked him to mobilize the Caozhou Prefecture soldiers into the town to suppress the Moshu and the beggar gang, and then forcefully purge the officialdom of Chengwu County after the situation stabilized. Mobilizing state troops into Chengwu County is not a big deal for Jia Zhiyan, and he will probably not be interested in suppressing Moqi and beggars, but taking the opportunity to purge Chengwu County officialdom and bring Chengwu County, which has always been controlled by local forces, into the direct jurisdiction of Yunzhou, or it can impress him.

But to Li Mao's surprise, Jia bluntly rejected him euphemistically, and his reason was very sufficient: there was a garrison in Gushan Town in Chengwu County, and there was a civil uprising in the place, and if the united army was not enough, it was the right way to ask the garrison for help.

Li Mao has never been able to understand Jia Zhiyan's intentions, which makes him inevitably feel a little unconfident in the face of Jia Zhiyan.

Jia bluntly said that the purpose of coming to Chengwu County was to spy on Yu Hualong of the Qing Navy, spy on his attitude towards Yunzhou, and provide reference for Li Shigu's next move. The civil unrest in Chengwu County is undoubtedly a good touchstone, and although it is beneficial to Yunzhou to mobilize state soldiers to seize Chengwu County, it is also easy to expose the intention of his trip, so when Li Mao asked the state army to assist in quelling the rebellion, he politely refused, and instead persuaded Li Mao to go to Gushan Town to ask for troops.

The Qing Navy is a famous division in a hundred battles, and it is easy to quell the rebellion in Chengwu County, Jia bluntly said that he is not interested in how to quell the rebellion, he is interested in Yu Hualong's actions after quelling the chaos, whether to stay in Chengwu County and not leave, or to accept it when it is good and withdraw to Gushan.

This is crucial, and he has to see it clearly.

It is precisely for this consideration that Li Mao was recommended to temporarily take the government affairs of Chengwu County, this is a figure acceptable to both parties, no matter whether he welcomes Yin Mu or sends him out of the country, he will not overly stimulate the other party.

Now look at it, this move is the right move, Li Mao is a smart man, he ended the temptation of both sides in a very tactful way, and each side has probed the bottom line of the other party, and there is no hurt and anger, which is undoubtedly a very satisfactory result.

After the settlement with Li Mao, Xue Rong packed up and rushed to Yunzhou to take office, before the trip he had a long talk with Wei, the storm in Chengwu City was still brewing, Xue Rong secretly sent Weishi out of the county, and lived in the west of the city in the home of her godmother Dingtao Mrs. Su Granny, although the change in the city did not hurt Wei's in the slightest, but after learning what happened, Wei's still broke out in a cold sweat, and she couldn't help but be a little disheartened, she persuaded Xue Rong: "Since you are determined to resign, why go to Yunzhou again, just go back to the river." ”

Xue Rong held Wei's flexible waist with both hands, and said softly: "Have you forgotten your mother's explanation when she left, just go back like this, how can you and I explain to her?" Wei's face turned red in an instant, she took a sip of Xue Rong, and said with a red face: "The land is a first-class cooked land, and if the farmer doesn't work hard, what can he do?" ”

She twisted herself and sat on her husband's lap and murmured, "You have your plans, and I will depend on you." But I can't go to Yunzhou, I want to bring Qin Niang with me, so that I can be a companion. Xue Rong exclaimed: "How does this make the two of them young and affectionate, how can they break people up." Wei Shi laughed and said: "What kind of affection is like fire, Qin Niang is still a virgin." ”

Xue Rong was taken aback and said in amazement: "This ...... Maohua is so ignorant?! ”

Wei Shi smiled: "It's not ignorance, it's a little stupid, what is Qinniang young, he can't bear to hurt her, and he won't be willing to have sex with her until she turns eighteen years old." ”

Xue Rong exhaled and said with a wry smile: "I don't know which allusion is in this Buddhist scripture, I think he is stupid to read." After pondering for a moment, he said: "In this case, take Qinniang with you, and leave Qingmo and Zhang Shuan to him." When you go out as an official, there must always be a few people around you who know the roots and believe in them. ”

Wei said: "I went to Qingmo and Zhang Xuan, and there was a lazy old Gu left by me, what should you do?" Xue Rong smiled: "I'm different from him, I'm a fool, what about him, the road is still long." ”

Merriam-Webster agreed.

In midsummer June, Xue Rong left Chengwu County to go to Yunzhou, Qin Niang went with him as a companion, and Kuaishou Supplement Qingmo also officially resigned from the Chengwu County Ya errand and became an envoy entourage. Xue Rong's other confidant, Zhang Xuan, also stayed in Chengwu, but Li Mao considered that the road to Yunzhou was far away, so he still sent Zhang Xuan to escort him, and then returned to Chengwu County after Xue Rong and his wife settled in Yunzhou.