Yongqing County, located in the west of Wuzhong County, is within the jurisdiction of Wuzhong County. Wuzhong County is the largest county in Jianghuai Province, although it is not the capital of Jianghuai, but it has the status of no less than the capital; Wuzhong County is located on the side of the Min River, with superior geographical environment and abundant products since ancient times, and its proximity to the river makes its environment more pleasant. During the rainy season, drizzle and mist on the river add to the hazy beauty. And because it has a unique rare bamboo--- square bamboo, it has become the yearning place of many people and ink writers. Wuzhong County was also named --- Bamboo City.

To say that this Yongqing County, although it is only a small county, its importance is comparable to other large cities. Yongqing County has abundant rain since ancient times, rich in rice and grain, and is the first granary of Jianghuai, and its importance is self-evident. It is in this way that the Liang State has attached great importance to this place since Emperor Wu, and usually directly appoints officials to manage it. This can not only ensure order management, but also make this place firmly in the hands of Emperor Liang, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

At this time, it is evening, the sky is dark, the fiery sunset has set down the mountain, followed by the unique "cool night" in the Jianghuai land, that is, the humidity and cold air are equally important, making people feel very cold.

Outside the gate of Yongqing County, Pang Zhong and his party of three people are riding horses galloping on the official road, and when they are close to the city gate, because it is evening, it is already the time of curfew, so the city gate has long been closed, and ordinary people cannot enter the city at this time, and violators will be punished; But the three of them had no fear, galloped towards the city gate, and arrived in front of the city gate in a blink of an eye.

The soldier guarding the city was taking a boring nap, and in the blink of an eye he saw three Chinese characters riding horses and rushing towards the city gate without saying a word, not only opened his eyes wide, as if he had seen it wrong, but after carefully seeing that it was indeed correct, he spat on the ground, and couldn't help but say: "Damn, I really don't want to die today." ”

He shouted to Pang Zhong in front of him, "Stop, stop! Who are you, do you know that it is a curfew period, and no one is allowed to go out or enter the city? ”

Pang Zhong gradually slowed down the speed of his horse, and when he heard this, he couldn't help but look at the guard, and said with a smile: "There is this little brother Lao, I didn't mean to violate the rules of the people, but I really have something important to report. ”

The guards were stunned, looking at each other, all suspecting that their ears had heard the wrong words, and the leading guard was not only dumbfounded, but shouted to this pang: "You want to see the Jin County Order, you said you have something important?" I also said I have something important to do, you can go into the city if you have something important? If it's all like you, then wouldn't the rules of my big beam be broken, please leave quickly, otherwise you will all be arrested and beaten! ”

"Big brother, why don't we wait for a night outside tonight, and then enter the city tomorrow, so as to save ourselves unnecessary trouble?" Zhao Cang thought about it and proposed to Pang Zhong.

"No, this matter is urgent, you and I are running through the starry night, we can't delay any longer, finish the matter early, let's go back to the business as soon as possible." After Pang Zhong finished speaking, he said to the guard again: "I'm sorry everyone, there is really an urgent matter here, please report the county order, the county order will definitely open the door after knowing it." Then he took out a letter from his bosom and raised his hand to wave it. I have a certificate here, you only need to hand over the county order, and the county order will know to open the door to us, please trouble you. ”

The captain of the guard was skeptical, thinking that it was really because he had delayed a major event and offended the county order, it was not just a matter of being punished, but a matter of losing his head; It's better to report it first, if it's really okay to let him in, if it's fake, he won't be able to escape, and then he will definitely know the pain of being boarded. So he sent a guard to take the letter and said to the three of Pang Zhong: "You stay here first, and I will send someone to inform the county order." After speaking, he sent a guard to the county government to report, and he stayed behind to watch and hold the three of Pang Zhong to prevent escape.

Jin County Order, whose full name is Jin Ren, is the county order of Yongqing County directly appointed by Emperor Wen of Liang today, so it can be seen that he is a person who the emperor trusts very much. This Jin Ren is an honest official, diligent and loves the people, and in the three years that he served as the county magistrate of Yongqing County, it was a good governance, strict law enforcement, and Yongqing County had a bumper harvest every year for three years.

At this time, although it was late at night, it was still quiet, except for a slight glimmer of light in the study, and this Jin Ren was reading carefully with a copy of "Yuzhai Travels" in his hand. This "Yu Zhai Travels" is a Liang literati "Yu Zhai Sanren" traveled all over the mountains and rivers and seas of the country for decades to write a travelogue, the travelogue not only contains the customs and customs of various countries and places, historical stories, but also has great literary value, but also many literati and scholars compete to read the object, deeply loved.

This Jin Ren was reading and reading, and suddenly the butler's voice came from outside the door: "Master, the guards at the city gate hurried over, saying that there were three people outside the city gate who wanted to enter the city, and they said by name that they would write a letter to the master, so that the master would let them enter the city after reading it." ”

Jin Xianling was very puzzled, he was far away from the capital and his hometown, and he didn't know anyone here except for some officials around him, how could someone write to him by name? Thinking about it, he had already opened the door, took the letter in the butler's hand, and saw that the cover of the letter was neatly written with five big words, "Jin County Lingqinqi", just when he was about to open the letter, he suddenly smelled a fragrance in the air, smelled carefully, and found that this unique fragrance seemed to be emanating from the letter. Jin Ren hurriedly opened the envelope, pulled out the letter and looked at the words on it, the more he read, the more nervous he became, and when he read it to the end, his eyes were wide open and trembling. So he said to the housekeeper outside the door: "Tell them, hurry up and invite those three in, remember, have a good attitude, and besides, no one should know at this time, if you do, you will lose your head!" ”

This housekeeper has been following Jin Ren for three years, but he has never seen Jin Ren so out of shape today, so he knew that something terrible must have happened, so he didn't dare to be sloppy, so he hurriedly answered, turned around and trotted to report to the door.

Jin Ren looked at the back of the housekeeper who was far away, but his face suddenly relaxed, standing in his small courtyard, he raised his head and looked at the night sky of Yongqing, but found that the sky was so calm and peaceful, just like his appearance in the position of county magistrate of Yongqing in the past three years. Not only did he sigh a long sigh, but he went into the study again, and picked up his favorite book "Travels in the Imperial Palace", as if only this travelogue could bring him the greatest comfort on such an unusual night.

When the guards guarding the city were still vigilantly looking at the tall and tall three people, they heard the report from their subordinates that they should be released into the city and talk to the county commander face to face, and couldn't help but sigh that they were doing the right thing, so they said to the three of Pang Zhong with a smile on their faces: "The three masters, it is a small one who has eyes and does not know Mount Tai, blocking the important affairs of the three masters. "I guess I've been blocking myself for so long, if something important really delays, I'm afraid the first person to suffer is myself. So I took a major one and tried to take them in, and a few nice words along the way, so that I could save a little.

Pang Zhong seemed to see his intentions, and said with a smile: "Then there is Brother Lao." ”

The head of the guard suddenly smiled, and hurriedly replied: "No trouble, no trouble, three please." ”

Yongqing County is not big, but because it is an important town in Jianghuai and a big granary of Liangguo, the construction and infrastructure of the city are still relatively complete, which is very different from some other counties. Since Emperor Wu of Liang has been emphasizing literati and, so the social reading atmosphere is strong, this Yongqing county town is only a few streets, Pang Zhong and the three of them have seen large and small academies, ink shops and painting shops more than ten, and the streets are clean and tidy, the shops are lined up but orderly, making people look very comfortable, not only thinking in their hearts that this Jin Ren is a good official. Although they said that the matter was urgent, at this time, the three of them leisurely rode their horses and slowly rode up their horses on the street, as if nothing had happened to them.

The guard looked at it strangely, thinking to himself, why wasn't he in a hurry now? Then he asked, "What's the matter with the three of you?" ”

This Zhao Cangsha turned his head to stare at the guard, but before he could speak, he heard the Tong Biao say: "What should be asked, what should not be asked to you, don't you know?" What we have done is not something that you can know? ”

The guard, knowing that he had stepped on a thunderbolt, sighed that he had said the wrong thing, and kept his mouth shut and asked nothing more along the way.

Pang Zhong saw the strangeness of this guard, so he said to him: "Don't get in the way, don't get in the way, anyway, it's almost time to arrive at the county magistrate's mansion." After seeing that the guard relaxed, he began to ask the guard: "I heard that there is a Huang family in Yongqing County?" I heard that the Huang family is very powerful, do you know about this little brother? ”

As soon as the guards heard this, they knew that this was an opportunity for them to earn their own performance, so they responded to this Pang Zhong: "My lord, you don't know, this Huang family is really a prestigious family, this Huang family is a branch of the Huang family in the capital, what is it called...... Yes, yes, yes, it's a distant branch of the Huang family in the Gonggong Mansion, which is powerful in this county, and even our Jin County Commander usually doesn't dare to mess with it. ”

Pang Zhong didn't stop talking, and continued to ride a horse slowly while asking, "Then, this second young master of the Huang family, Huang Ji, have you heard of it?" ”

"Huang Ji? Oh yes, yes, this Huang Ji is not the second son of the Huang family, this guy is a domineering master, relying on his own identity, he is arrogant in the county and township, he dares to do anything, and he has done nothing illegal, but there is one point, this person is said to be affectionate enough, and he has nothing to say if he is good to the people under him, so he is more supported by their gang. As soon as the guard heard that it was Huang Ji, he replied indignantly.

Pang Zhong listened and thought, brushed the beard on his chin from time to time, and unconsciously, he was about to arrive at this county order, and when he saw this county order from a distance, he couldn't help but shudder, but he felt that tonight's Yongqing would definitely not be peaceful.