"Oh, that's not a pony!" Hearing the call, Song Ting looked up to see that this person also recognized it, but it was Cao Bin, the head catcher.

Cao Bin raised his hand and shouted, "Open the city gate quickly!"

The small city gate creaked open, Song Ting led Lu, Yan, and Hu to beat the horses into the city, and just entered the door, he saw the rejection of the horse, one by one sharpened wood against the four horses, looking at the people and horses were frightened, fortunately just slowly swayed in, if they rushed in, the horses would inevitably bump into the rejection formation.

"Damn, don't move out of the way!" Dressed in clothes, Lieutenant Shi and Cao Bin, who was carrying a tasseled gun, came down from the city tower together, and Cao Bin shouted at the thirty or so people standing on both sides of the city gate.

Song Ting and the other four people dismounted, and those people moved away some of the horses, and after the four horses passed, the county lieutenant Shi Gong and Cao Bin came to pay homage with more than a dozen pikemen: "See the horses!"

Song Ting looked at the dozen or so spearmen who were in high spirits, smiled slightly, helped Shi and Cao up and asked, "Why are you engaged in such a battle?"

Shi Gong clenched his fists and said: "Fang La in the south is in chaos, we have to guard against it." The county lord has already played to the court, but unfortunately he did not receive instructions from above, and now Mr. Zhu, who is now in charge of the county government, let us take precautions, especially at night, to prevent the Fang La army from attacking the city while it is dark...... Therefore he called dozens of archers and gunners, and gathered a hundred or so people to line up on the tower. ”

"Mr. Zhu?" Song Ting's eyes flashed with a trace of doubt, but he quickly recalled that when he left Yongtai County in June, he handed over the work of the county government and asked Chen Gui to ask Mr. Zhu to take over his work as the master of the county government. At that time, I mainly took a fancy to him and Mr. Xu to compile the ten articles of the "Civilized Township Covenant", but I didn't expect that now it seems that he is also quite talented. The area where Fangla rebelled was She, Mu, Hangzhou and other places, five hundred miles away from Yangzhou, and across the Yangtze River, it was impossible to sweep over for a while, but it was possible to think of such precautions in advance, which can be regarded as a rainy day, and Mr. Zhu can indeed be regarded as a good material.

"Mr. Zhu is now sitting in the county government, and he is quite like Master Song...... Oh no, there is quite a legacy of the horse master at that time, not a single unjust case has been made, and now the entire Yongtai County is under the governance of the horse master and Mr. Zhu, it can really be described as a smooth wind and rain, and a bumper harvest! Master Horse, please take a look at these people, they are all taking time out of the busy fields, and they take turns to defend the city from house to house, and they are very enthusiastic! Cao Bin chattered endlessly, the look in his eyes for Song Ting, there was a hint of complexity, but more of a fanaticism and admiration, I couldn't imagine that the original master was now a dignified concubine, which was really unexpected.

At first, I just thought he was just an ordinary reader, and his head was full of wisdom. Who would have thought that he would be the husband of the Ninth Princess. When the news spread from the capital to this small Yongtai County, the villagers of the entire county were boiling! "Master Song of Yongtai County Ya turned out to be a dignified horse!" This news made the villagers who had received the favor of Master Song celebrate in a carnival, and for this reason, the Hongqiao on the Xiaoqinhuai River was specially renovated and renamed "Horse Bridge"!

Song Ting looked at Cao Bin with a little doubt in his eyes: "You said that it is Mr. Zhu who is now in charge of the county government?" What about Chen Zhixian? Still doing research in that hut? ”

Cao Bin replied: "The little one doesn't know if Chen Zhixian is doing research in the hut, the little one hasn't seen Chen Zhixian for three days, and I saw him go out of the house to go to the toilet five days ago, and it is estimated that he is still in the hut now......

"This bearded Chen ......" Song Ting smiled, led the horse to the front, patted Cao Bin's shoulder, and said: "Cao Zhutou, you and I were like in the past, and now we are still like that, don't be stubborn." Well, these three will be introduced to the two of you, 'Hebei Jade Qilin' Lu Junyi, 'Prodigal Son' Yan Qing, and 'Yizhang Qing' Hu Sanniang. As he spoke, Lu, Yan, and Hu identified Cao Bin and Shi Gong one by one.

After listening to his introduction, Cao Bin and Shi Gong looked at Lu, Yan, and Hu, their faces were shocked, and Cao Bin shouted: "It turned out to be the hero of Liangshan!" I have admired the name for a long time, and it is said that it is better to be famous than to meet, and when I see it today, it is really amazing! ”

"Luckily!" Lu, Yan, and Hu clasped their fists.

The two sides exchanged pleasantries and said some polite words. When Cao Bin looked at Song Ting, the admiration on his rough face was even stronger, and he said in his heart: I can't imagine that he is not only a horse, but even a famous knight like "Hebei Jade Qilin" is willing to bend down to be his personal bodyguard......

Thinking of this, he immediately stepped forward and took the reins from Song Ting's hand, and said, "Master Ma, let Cao give you the rope!"

Song Ting smiled faintly, led by him, and a group of six people walked in the direction of the county government, and the people behind him shouted to move the horse rejection array back to its original position. When he heard Cao Bin say that these people were all taking turns to come out to defend the city, instead of thinking of rebelling like Fang La, Song Ting still had a sense of accomplishment in his heart, and he didn't stay long in Yongtai County, but he only tried some cases, arrested a few robbers, promulgated ten articles of the "Civilized Township Covenant", and exempted two unnecessary taxes, these villagers are so grateful to Dade, which shows the simplicity and kindness of the peasants in this era.

“… These people will be arrested and killed every official, and those who are caught will have their flesh cut off, cut off their bodies, take their lungs and intestines to cook, or boil them into anointing oil, and pierce them with arrows...... The wives of those who are officials are inevitably tortured......" Recalling the words of the storyteller in his mind, Song Tingwu shook his head, it was really hard to believe such a description. How much hatred and resentment is this to get to this point?

Unconsciously, everyone walked to the gate of the county government, the two stone lions on both sides of the door are still majestic, and the drum of grievances is still there, and the original inscription on the monument is "false accusation plus three grades", "five hundred flogging for the more sued" and the like, and now a new monument has been erected, and the eight characters of "abiding by the township covenant and suing according to law" have been re-engraved.

"This is also what Mr. Zhu asked people to re-erect?"

"Yes, Mr. Zhu said that this is according to the spirit of the 'law' of the master of the horse, and he is not afraid of false accusations, but he is afraid that no one will dare to sue, so it was changed to 'sue according to law'!"

Listening to Cao Bin's words, Song Ting couldn't help nodding: "Good change!" Well changed! Mr. Zhu is talented! In my heart, I corrected the spirit of "law" for Cao Bin, which is actually the "spirit of the rule of law".

handed over the horse to the official and took it to the stables to feed, Song Ting took Lu, Yan, and Hu into the second hall with Cao Bin and Shi Gong.

"Mr. Zhu?" Song Ting walked in, looking at this old man who was nearly fifty years old, with some gray hair on his head, and his face was obviously beyond his actual age.

Mr. Zhu raised his head from the case when he heard the sound and exclaimed, "Oops! Master Song, oh no, no, old and confused, Master Ma! I didn't expect you to come! "Hurriedly kneel down and kowtow.

Song Ting helped him up and said sincerely: "Mr. Zhu, you are the hero of this county!" There is a rebellion in the south, but every family in this county has sent strong men to take turns to defend the city, and Mr. Zhu has a good governance! ”

Mr. Zhu hurriedly arched his hand and said respectfully: "It all depends on the county management strategy of the horse master!" If there is no horse master, how can there be a good day in this county! The villagers of this county are talking about returning to their hometown every day! ”

Speaking of this, Mr. Zhu raised his head, with deep concern in his eyes, and ordered left and right: "Has Master Ma had dinner?" …… Cao Zhutou, hurry up and tell the kitchen to fry some good dishes, Ah Bing, go and get the bottle of good champion red in the cellar...... "Ah Bing is the little stream boy he brought, and he will use it as a long."

Song Ting smiled lightly, and did not refuse Mr. Zhu's kindness, pulled him up, and walked towards the compound of the workshop: "This Chen Zhixian ...... Still doing research in the hut? ”

Mr. Zhu shook his head, his face embarrassed: "This ...... This one...... I don't know, the county lord often doesn't go out once every three or five days...... I really don't know his situation, anyway, the meal will be delivered every day......"

Song Ting bowed slightly, he knew the temperament of this bearded Chen very well, so he was not surprised at all, took Mr. Zhu, followed by Lu, Yan, and Hu, and went to the independent courtyard in the courtyard of the Ministry of Industry, and when he pushed the door open, he smelled a pungent smell of gunsmoke.

The house is in a mess, there are wooden strips and bamboo pipes on several tables, the ground is full of fireworks, the floor is full of black smoke powder, behind the partition screen, there is a head that appears in everyone's field of vision, the house is lit with lights, in a big black box, you can see several arquebuses that have been preliminarily formed, Song Ting picked up one, the main structure of this gun is a wooden bar and an iron hook, and there is a long iron pipe in the wooden bar, which is considered a barrel...... Looking at the shape, it is very close to the arquebus.

Song Ting picked up the half-finished product and carefully observed it for a long time, only to find that the gun had no lead rope, so he put it back in the big black box.

Crossing the screen, I saw the person sitting inside reading the drawings under the candlelight, but it was not Chen Dabeard, but a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy, with the same virtue as Chen Dabeard, unkempt, only revealing a pair of shining brown eyes, Mr. Zhu opened his mouth and asked, "Ah Chang, where is your master?" It turned out that he was one of the two apprentices newly recruited by the old rules, his nickname was Ah Chang, and the other was called Ah Ping.

Ah Chang raised his head, wiped the sweat on his face with the placket of his clothes—this kind of drawing was difficult for him, a young apprentice, to understand, and said, "Master took Ah Ping to Suzhou three days ago to buy parts."

"What? Going to Suzhou? ”

Song Ting was shocked and looked at Mr. Zhu.

Behind him, Yan Qing asked aloud: "Suzhou is very close to Hangzhou, if Fang La's army captures Hangzhou, will it also take Suzhou?"

Song Ting shook his head and muttered: "I'm afraid that Fang Lajun has already taken Hangzhou, but as for whether Suzhou has fallen, it is difficult to say ......."

Then he turned around and said decisively: "Go!" We rushed to Suzhou in the starry night! ”

The elementary school apprentice Ah Chang also seemed to realize the seriousness of the matter, and hurriedly told everyone the specific location where the old rules went, and then sat down in a panic.

(End of chapter)