Came to the "good again" restaurant in the left district of Xishi, the shopkeeper took Zhao Ziliang and others to the private room on the second floor, and when he passed the first floor, the loud fist strokes and bustling voices of the drinkers made Yang Yuhuan very curious and kept watching.

The private room is next to the street, and from the window, you can see the scene of Juxianfang opposite and the street downstairs.

After wiping the table with a white towel, the shopkeeper asked with a smile, "What do you objectively want to eat?" ”

All the generals and officials looked at Zhao Ziliang, and Zhao Ziliang said to the shopkeeper: "Put ten kinds of specialty dishes in your restaurant, and then a jar of good wine, and roast a sheep and a bucket of rice for me."

The shopkeeper looked at Zhao Ziliang with a strange face, and asked carefully: "Objective, although you are mighty, you are not so able to eat, can you order so many meals?" ”

The others didn't know that Chen Qing had been following Zhao Ziliang for a while, and he knew Zhao Ziliang's appetite, so he immediately slapped the table and shouted, "You are the second little shopkeeper, are you afraid that we won't give money if we eat?" What nonsense? Don't go yet! ”

was so fierce by Chen Qing, the shopkeeper was immediately stunned, and immediately smiled and said: "Yes, yes, the little one will go to the back kitchen immediately and let the master do it, you wait a minute, the villain will send tea immediately."

After the shopkeeper left, Zhao Ziliang looked at everyone and said: "The morning inspection, you have all seen it, but it is not a certain one who asked them to gather to gamble and squat at the street corner to chat lazily!" After shopping all over the West Market, I didn't see a team of soldiers patrolling the streets, all of them were squatting at the intersection, sitting and chatting, or staying in wine shops and teahouses, drinking tea and drinking wine, while listening to small songs, it was really unhappy! ”

Gao Huaide, Jia Mingyuan, Wu Huizu, An Peidong and others were silent one by one, and they didn't dare to speak out.

The atmosphere in the private room was a little awkward. Seeing this, Yang Yuhuan played a round and said with a smile: "Zhao Gongzi, there are so many troops in the capital, some problems are very normal, if there is a mistake, you can correct it, don't be angry about it." Now the event of eating and drinking. Let's not talk about being unhappy. By the way, five days later, there will be a poetry meeting in the Great Ci'en Temple, and my aunt is also going to go, and there will be many young talents to participate, will Zhao Gongzi go? ”

Zhao Ziliang shook his head with a wry smile when he heard this: "Miss Yang, I am just a rough person, I can't chant poetry, but I can't do it, what am I going to do?" Those sour literati are only ashamed to be with me. So-and-so, don't be bored."

In the face of Zhao Ziliang's obvious refusal, Yang Yuhuan did not give up, and still persuaded: "It's nothing, Zhao Gongzi can't chant poetry against him, just drink, and it's good to listen to other people's poems."

In view of Yang Yuhuan's repeated invitations, Zhao Ziliang was not too faceless, so he had to agree. I thought that after I went, it would be a big deal to pretend to be deaf and dumb, just eat and drink. Anyway, I'm not afraid of losing face.

After having lunch in the restaurant, Yang Yuhuan said goodbye and left first, and the others followed Zhao Ziliang to continue to inspect the streets and alleys of Chang'an County to inspect the streets and alleys of Zuo Jin Wuwei Bingding, which made the school officials surprised by Zhao Ziliang's huge appetite, and they all thought to themselves that it was no wonder that this barbarian who killed in the Western Regions was terrified, and he was the only one who ate like this. Sure enough, it's not a mortal.

The sun after lunch was vicious, Gao Huaide, Jia Mingyuan, An Peidong, Wu Huizu, Chen Qing and Changshi Pei Mingqing and others were sweaty from the sun, Zhao Ziliang and Bai Xiaode and several other servants were no exception, but they still walked slowly on the side of the street, while watching the scenery of Chang'an streets and alleys. While checking out the soldiers' patrolling the streets.

After lunch, the temperature is high, the sun is poisonous, the pedestrians on the street are sparse, and the soldiers patrolling the streets are basically nowhere to be seen, and the patrol soldiers on each street patrol point, Zhao Ziliang and others have made inquiries, this noon, most of the soldiers are either gambling at the rest point, or sleeping, until the temperature drops after three o'clock in the afternoon, and after the pedestrians on the street are more, the street patrol soldiers can be seen on the street.

Wandering until four o'clock in the afternoon, Zhao Ziliang and others twice found a street herbal tea shop to drink tea to quench their thirst, everyone came to the street on the east side of Guiyifang, and saw that many nearby people began to set up stalls to do business to support their families, Zhao Ziliang walked over to see what these people were selling in stalls.

When he got closer, Zhao Ziliang found that the vendors were selling daily necessities and some pastries and snacks, and saw that a stall owner was selling cold noodles, Zhao Ziliang stopped and said to the people behind him: "Please eat cold noodles, one bowl per person, you're welcome!" ”

Everyone is really welcome, each person asked for a bowl from the stall owner, these people are also some people with status, the things they eat on weekdays are naturally not ordinary people can eat, they have never eaten the food of these ordinary people, but they feel that the taste is very good, they all eat and praise, praise the stall owner's craftsmanship.

Zhao Ziliang asked the stall owner while eating cold noodles: "How much money can my brother make every day by doing this business?" ”

The stall owner was in his thirties, and when he saw that Zhao Ziliang and others were not dressed like ordinary people, he saw that his tone was easy-going, and he didn't care, so he said casually: "When business is good, you can earn 50 wen a day, and when business is bad, you can only earn 30 wen, and you can't do business on rainy days, so you can only stay at home!" ”

Zhao Ziliang asked again: "Can the money earned be used for family expenses?" ”

The stall owner smiled helplessly: "I can only barely make ends meet, thanks to this good location and many passers-by, there may not be such a good business in other places."

At this moment, a rough voice sounded from not far away, "Get the money ready, so as not to let the uncle urge you one by one, and then your face will not look good, come on, pay the money!" ”

Zhao Ziliang and the others turned their heads to look over when they heard the voice, and saw seven or eight soldiers wearing helmets and armor crookedly, one by one, carrying waist swords, five people and six people shouting loudly, and the first person was the person who shouted, and he was carrying a small wooden box in his hand.

The man walked up to the first vendor and stretched out the wooden box to the stall owner, who threw a handful of copper coins into the small wooden box with a bitter face, and the copper plate fell into the small wooden box with a clanging sound.

This group of soldiers walked all the way along the street vendors, and every time they passed in front of a vendor, the stall owner threw the prepared handful of copper coins into the wooden box with an ugly face, and when they arrived in front of Zhao Ziliang and others, the copper coins in the small wooden box were already half full.

When the group walked over, Zhao Ziliang asked the stall owner, "What's going on?" Why do they take money? ”

The stall owner was surprised: "The guest officer doesn't know? It has long been a common practice for this patrol soldier to ask the vendors to collect money, saying that we are operating here to occupy the land of the government, and it is natural for them to collect money. If you don't pay, you can't do it, if you don't pay, you won't let me wait for this stall, if you don't set up a stall, there will be no source of livelihood, and we can't do anything with the government, so we can only pay money to do business here. This is nothing, this place is indeed the government's, and the soldiers should collect some money, and a group will come to collect the money later, but it is better to wait until after dark."

Zhao Ziliang was a little surprised, and asked, "I saw that you paid ten cents just now, right?" Does each person pay 10 yuan, or does the amount of money be different for each family? ”

The stall owner said: "It's all the same, no matter what stall you set up here, what kind of business you do, you have to pay ten cents every day."

"I see!" Zhao Ziliang nodded, and said, "You just said that there will be a group of people who will come to collect money after dark, who is this?" ”

The stall owner was a little jealous, but he still whispered: "The people of the Evil Tiger Gang! ”

Zhao Ziliang understood that this evil tiger gang was one of the four major gangs in Chang'an, and the local head snake. He asked, "Then how much protection money do you have to give the Evil Tigers every day?" ”

The stall owner didn't expect Zhao Ziliang to know about the protection fee, and he was relieved after being stunned for a moment, and said: "Five cents a day."

Seeing that it was not early now, Chen Qing stepped forward and said, "Childe, it's not early, let's go back first and come back tomorrow, right?" ”

Zhao Ziliang's eyes widened: "What are you going to do when you go back?" They're all waiting here, and I'm going to see how the Evil Tigers collect money, huh! ”

When everyone saw Zhao Ziliang like this, they knew that he was really angry, and the group of soldiers just now not only collected money, but also ate and took it, which was slightly unsatisfactory, and even more fists and kicks. This kind of situation, even the generals and officials who don't care much about the people's livelihood and suffering, can't look at it.

Zhao Ziliang and his party found a restaurant near here, eating and drinking while waiting. At nightfall, Chen Qing, who had been sitting by the window, turned his head to look outside, and immediately said to Zhao Ziliang: "General, it's really here!" ”

Zhao Ziliang and the others got up and walked to the window, and saw five or six ruffians swaggering like crabs, and also began to collect money one by one from beginning to end, each stall owner paid five wen, not a penny less, two stall owners have not yet opened, there is no income at all, so I want the people of the Evil Tiger Gang to be accommodating and less hands, but I don't want not only to suffer an old punch, but also the stalls have been overturned, and the things on the stalls have fallen to the ground, while the people of the Evil Tiger Gang have collected the money and left.

"Let's go, go back to the palace!" Zhao Ziliang turned around and left, the others and everyone looked at each other, their eyes showed deep worry, they all knew that Zhao Ziliang was really moved this time, the new official has not been burned yet, once it burns, it will only be terrible, and then the entire left Jin Wuwei and right guard will be panicked.

Back to the Zuojin Wuwei Right Guard Mansion, Zhao Ziliang sat on the main seat of the lobby, and the others sat on both sides, everyone was worried and trembling, lest Zhao Ziliang would take his anger out on himself, especially Gao Huaide and Jia Mingyuan, the two Zhonglang generals who were responsible for the daytime street patrol task, and the left and right street envoys who were in charge of the night curfew were also panicked, and the curfew would start in another hour, would Zhao Ziliang take them to check the actual situation of the curfew?

The left and right street envoys are not really worried that Zhao Ziliang will go to inspect at night, but that a small problem will be infinitely magnified, after all, no matter which yamen, when they are more or less unruly, they may be fine usually, but they are afraid that the problem will be expanded. (To be continued.) )