The winter of the fifth year of Wanli came earlier than usual, and even Jiangnan had clearly felt the invasion of winter at the end of October. Although it didn't snow www.biquge.info, the cold north wind was blowing, and it still made people feel cold, and they didn't even want to go out of their homes.

But for the Xu family, this winter is not the coldest, what is colder than this is the human heart, the human heart that has undergone a 180-degree transformation.

At the beginning of October, when it became known that the high-ranking officials of Jinyi Wei had counted the Xu family's major crimes in the court, the people and local officials began to discuss it, and their attitudes towards the Xu family were different. Especially those who are officials, they are the most good at seeing the wind and steering the rudder, and when they see that the situation has changed, they immediately stop coming to the Xu family to greet them as before.

And then, things deteriorated even further, Xu Ying's trip to Beijing gave people a signal that the Xu family's crime could not be changed, so the officials finally showed their true colors and began to conduct a thorough investigation of the Xu family's property, but if there is a little violation of the law, it will be blocked by the government.

This is just the beginning, with the government's actions, the people also received a signal that the Xu family is about to end, so those poor people who were bullied by the Xu family in the past have complained to the yamen like Deng Bo before, and this time, the yamen's response is much faster and more powerful than before.

In just half a month, dozens of slaves of the Xu family or distant branches of the same clan were imprisoned by the government for various reasons, and what awaited them was prison and confiscation.

And this result gave more people the courage to take revenge, and many of the bitter masters who had been robbed of their land and homes by the Xu family before, or who had been ruined by them, immediately vented their anger completely towards the once unattainable wealthy families who did not even dare to show hostility - beating, smashing, robbing, and burning...... Countless properties belonging to the Xu family were attacked by the angry people, and the valuable things inside were moved clean.

In the past, the Xu family was a family that everyone admired and feared. Now, the Xu family has become an existence like a rat crossing the street. Even the government, when faced with such a situation, only said a few words as if it were a hypothetical matter, and then turned a blind eye.

And in this way, it greatly boosted the arrogance of these people, those who did not actually have a grudge against the Xu family, but only because of greed and other ruffians and the like quickly participated in this crazy riot against the Xu family, and many shops and restaurants became a mess and ruins, and even a few lives were killed in the middle.

Seeing that the situation was in danger of getting out of control, the government dispatched people to suppress it. But this action was too late, and nearly half of the Xu family's industry came to naught, and many guys and shopkeepers who originally relied on the Xu family to make a living also took the opportunity to sweep away the floating wealth in the store, and then fled.

In fact, it is not only these people outside, but also the inside of the Xu family's house, when things continue to deteriorate and the government continues to convict people, there are also people who have the courage to flee Huating County after stealing their family's belongings, and they don't know where to go.

Although Xu Ligong and several other Xu family stewards did their best to maintain order in their homes, in today's situation of internal and external difficulties, how could they have the ability and courage to deal with the continuous changes? If Xu Ying is still here at this moment, maybe relying on his prestige, he can temporarily stabilize the situation. It's a pity that he has already been sent to the capital to apologize, so there is no one in the family who can really preside over the overall situation.

As for Xu Jie, the former cabinet chief assistant who is over eighty years old and has experienced many ups and downs in his life, but he is now ill and has been on the couch for more than half a month. Although his mind is still sober, he no longer has the ability to come out and preside over the overall situation.

Whether it is the difficulties of the family or the experience of his son, it has exhausted the old man in his last years. In addition, he was already sick, so he completely collapsed.

Losing this last pillar, the Xu family was completely chaotic, and they also completely lost the ability to protect themselves, and they could only watch the family business accumulated over the years be lost little by little, but there was no way at all.

The building will fall, and the sun will be thinning, which is the first reaction of many discerning people after seeing the current situation of the Xu family. And Xu Jie, who is in it, knows this very deeply, for the sake of his family's many years of foundation, and in order to give an explanation to his ancestors, Xu Jie, even if he can't walk at the moment, he still struggles to get up from the bed.

"Master, you haven't seen a good body, but you must not go out......" After hearing Xu Jie's intention to go out, Xu Ligong immediately panicked and quickly knelt down: "It's a little incompetent, please rest easy, there will always be a solution to things." ”

"Hehe......" Xu Jie's response was a miserable laugh, and his gaze fell on the copper beast warm basin in the room. In the past, whenever the weather turned cold, in order to keep warm, the best gold charcoal fire would be born in his room, so that the whole house was as warm as spring. But now? This room is like an ice cellar, even if he is wrapped in several layers of silk quilts, he especially feels cold and unbearable.

Now that the family can't even take care of themselves, there is no need to hide what kind of situation the Xu family has reached. After retracting his gaze, Xu Jie said in a hoarse and slow tone: "Things have come to this point, I'm afraid it will be difficult to stabilize the situation if I don't come forward." Moreover, I didn't want to go too far, just to go to the county government and meet the county order. ”

"Huh? Sir, what are you going to do to see that madman? If it weren't for him, we wouldn't be where we are! Xu Ligong couldn't help but ask in shock.

It was true that the matter was caused by him, but the old man could see that he was not as good at seeing the wind as other officials. Moreover, now the safety of our Xu family can only be guaranteed by him, the county order, otherwise ......" After the words, Xu Jie really couldn't bear to say anything, so he could only replace it with a sigh.

"Even so, with your body and bones, how can you go over in person? It's better to let the little one go and ask the county magistrate to come and talk. Xu Ligong hurriedly suggested again.

"Do you think we can still call a court official back and forth as we used to? I have to ask for others, and I should show my sincerity, how can I not even understand such a little truth? Hurry up and prepare as I want. When Xu Jie said this, he couldn't help but think of that scene many years ago.

At that time, he finally gained the absolute upper hand in the battle with Yan Song, and Yan Shifan would be condemned to death. At that time, in order to delay time in order to save himself, Yan Song dragged his eighty-year-old coercion to his door to beg for mercy, and even knelt in front of him.

At that time, although he agreed to speak for the Yan family on the surface, in fact, he completely threw the Yan family into the abyss of no return. It's just that I didn't expect that a few decades later, everything was staged again in my own family, and what I wanted to ask for was just a small Qipin county order......

The old man had made up his mind, how could he dare to stop him, so he could only quickly call someone to prepare the carriage, and then called a few people to carry the trembling old man into the carriage, and then went towards the county government with the howling cold wind.

Contrary to the current stormy situation of the Xu family, the current situation of Ling Yu Wenbin in Huating County has been greatly improved. As the first Huating county order that dared to oppose the Xu family and succeeded, it has not only become a feared and incomparable existence in the county yamen, but also has won the appreciation of the boss yamen, and the promotion is only in the wan.

But even so, Yu Wenbin didn't seem much happier than before, and even seemed more troubled than before. Everything is naturally because of the endless turmoil in Huating County during this period of time, as a county magistrate, when he sees the people under his rule acting so recklessly and arbitrarily, but he doesn't know how to control it, he is naturally troubled.

When the incident first appeared, the people in the county government also went out to stop it according to the meaning of the Lin County Order, and took some people because of it. But as things deteriorated further, and after knowing that most of the people here were indeed suffering masters who had been harmed by the Xu family, coupled with the hard persuasion of his subordinates, Yu Wenbin finally dispelled his mind of standing up for the Xu family and acquiesced in all this.

As long as those guys are only targeting the Xu family, but no longer extend the turmoil to other innocent people, the county government will turn a blind eye to this, and only can't see it. But this kind of practice made Yu Wenbin feel that he couldn't pass his own level, which always made him feel a little guilty and couldn't lift any spirits.

And for other people in the county office, Lin County's performance seems to be a bit of a drama - the result that led to this result is obviously you, the county magistrate, if it weren't for your bullet seal, how could the Xu family have fallen to such a point? Now, why do you bother to feel unfair for the Xu family?

In this regard, Yu Wenbin didn't know how to explain to the people below, so he could only smile bitterly.

Today, just as he was thinking about how to rectify the chaos in the county, a subordinate official came over with an official document: "My lord, it was sent by the prefect's yamen." ”

"Hmm." Lin Zhixian, who was having something on his mind, casually agreed, so he took the official document, unsealed the fire paint, and looked at it. Just one look, he was stunned on the spot: "What a fast speed...... But if that's the case, there is reason for the situation in the county to be brought under control. ”

Just when he was secretly making a decision, another errand officer walked in with a strange look on his face: "Master, the master of the Xu family is asking to see him outside, I wonder if you can see him?" ”

"Huh?" Hearing this, Yu Wenbin was stunned for a moment, and then he understood, and his eyes only turned to the official document in his hand, and then he nodded and said, "Please let them in." ”