Zhang Mengcheng decided to take the military attache line, and he exchanged his military exploits for a thousand-strong job as needed.

In fact, Zhang Mengcheng's position could have been higher, but he used his military merits to exchange some silver for a thousand households, so Zhang Mengcheng's current identity is a thousand households in Yan'an, the capital of Shaanxi.

Although it is just a bad street with thousands of households, legally speaking, it is also an official of the five products. Nominally, the military attaché of the fifth rank is larger than the county order of the seventh rank, but in reality, most of these military attaches who are several grades higher still have to bow and kowtow to the county order. (Note 1)

After listening to Zhang Mengcheng's words, Hou Sanguang suddenly felt angry.

I came to Jinding Mountain to give you face, but I didn't expect you to be so rude. Don't say that you, an embarrassing descendant with a thousand households, are an official, military and military attache with a higher official background than you, and you have to kneel and kowtow when you see the magistrate.

So Hou Sanguang looked at Zhang Mengcheng angrily and said angrily: "Leader Zhang has been a martial artist for a few days, and he is so arrogant and ignorant of etiquette. If you are bad for a while, then you don't even need to pay attention to the governor. ”

"Emperor Taizu personally determined the grade of military officials in the world, and thousands of households knew seven grades of counties. Is this how you talk to a fifth-rank official, are you more noble than His Majesty Taizu. ”

Zhang Mengcheng insisted on the level of the official, and even moved Zhu Yuanzhang's name out, just to overwhelm the other party in momentum.

Hou Sanguang was choked speechless, although everyone in the world today is accustomed to these things. But the law is the law, if the other party insists on taking advantage of this truth and saying things, he can't insist on the other party saluting him, but if he talks about it in detail, he, the magistrate, wants to bow to the other party.

But Hou Sanguang was not a fool after all, he forcibly suppressed his angry emotions and calmly thought about why the other party suddenly found fault. Zhang Mengcheng was quite polite when he met him before, could it be that the other party found something!?

After thinking of this, Hou Sanguang planned to ease the relationship between the two sides, and asked Zhang Mengcheng in a calm tone: "Zixin (Zhang Mengcheng's words), I don't know where Hou offended you, why did you react so much?" ”

"Hmph."

Regarding Houzhi County's initiative to show weakness, Zhang Mengcheng just snorted and did not reply.

And Cai Zhongde, another person who was present and also had the identity of a hundred households, asked at this time: "Houzhi County, how do we treat you on weekdays?" ”

Just looking at this situation, Hou San knew that most of what he was doing was discovered by them. It's just that Hou Sanguang doesn't know how much the other party knows, so he plans to continue to pretend to be stupid.

"Naturally, there is a lot of care, and Hou Mou is also thanks to the help of two families, so nothing big happened under the rule."

Cai Zhongde saw that the other party was still pretending to be stupid, and he didn't break it immediately.

Instead, he continued to go around in circles, and said without blushing: "In the past few years, there have been thieves everywhere in northern Shaanxi, not to mention that taxes cannot be paid, and other counties are thinking about how to stabilize the situation in their counties." However, there are two of us in Baoan County, and although the people may not be able to settle down and work, they do not have to worry about thieves and robbing. In addition, we also lent grain seeds and cattle to the villagers, so that they could farm smoothly, which is also due to Sangzi. ”

"The two families of Jinding Mountain and Artemisia do have great merit to the people of the security guards."

Although Hou Sanguang said so on the surface, he had another feeling in his heart.

There is a fart merit, how many people you killed in the security guards before, and how many food and livestock you robbed the people. After that, you followed Shen Yiyuan to conquer the county seat, and let Mongol Dazi make a lot of prostitution in the city. It was only after recruiting that some thieves were distributed to the people, and the thieves who sent troops to drive away the invaders just didn't want their territory to be robbed, and you were embarrassed to say that you had meritorious service.

Cai Zhongde knew that the other party would definitely have disdain in his heart, but these were not important.

"You may still have other thoughts in your heart, our two families are indeed from Dingding, and what we did in the past was not honorable. But we did make a lot of efforts for the imperial court after recruiting An, not to mention the heads of those thieves. It's the taxes of last year and this year, and both of us have paid all the taxes that should have been paid. ”

"And Houzhi County, you can flip through the previous numbers, our two families have paid more than before. As for the apportionments you want to collect, they are meant to be for thieves. We helped you clean up the thieves in this county, so naturally there is no need to pay it again, and we haven't asked Houzhi County for money yet. ”

Hou Sanguang continued to pretend to be stupid, and continued to compliment the two former thieves: "This is indeed the credit of the two families, and the apportionment a while ago was indeed Hou Mou's thoughtlessness." ”

Seeing that the other party was still pretending to be stupid, Zhang Mengcheng didn't want Cai Zhongde to continue to be verbose. Instead, he directly put on a straight face and asked coldly: "Then why do you still want to secretly find the two of us unhappy, and you still want to seize the family business of our two families." ”

"I don't know what Zixin said, Hou doesn't understand."

Hou Sanguang was not intimidated by Zhang Mengcheng's somewhat cold tone, and still chose to continue to pretend to be stupid.

"Don't pretend to be in Houzhi County, we all know about the fact that you sent someone to Fucheng to copy the yellow book a few days ago. You are bent on snatching the property of our two families, which is too unjust. But do not expect that the things that your servant will give you after that have been copied from the Yellow Book will not contain anything useful. ”

Since his companion Zhang Mengcheng didn't plan to go around in circles, Cai Zhongde made his words clear, and at the same time hinted at Hou Sanguang. Seeing the other party's surprised expression, Cai Lao Er at the top of Artemisia was very proud.

"Your servant is surnamed Zhang, and he should tell you later that he wants to go home and rest, and his body is really not very good. Your wife and children should also pay attention to their health, northern Shaanxi is indeed prone to some problems. ”

Hou Sanguang really asked his servants to go to Fucheng to copy the archives there. Because the last time Baoan City was captured by Shen Yiyuan, the yellow book in the county had been destroyed. Jinding Mountain and Artemisia Peak occupied a lot of land, although they killed many of the original owners. But Hou Sanguang Sea found some surviving sufferers.

But these are not important now, Hou Sanguang cares more about the hint that the other party just had. "What did you do?"

Regarding Hou Sanguang's question, Zhang Mengcheng changed his expression at this time, and said calmly but heart-wrenching.

"We didn't do anything, we just gave some people a sum of money and at the same time we lent some debt to some people. Houzhi County, your servant seems to be a little poor, but some of your wives and concubines and relatives are spending too much money, and you really have to take care of it. Many of our brothers from Jindingshan and Artemisia are indigenous to this county. And we are quite righteous, and we naturally know a lot of friends in this county. It's just that these people don't necessarily have the eyes of Houzhi County, so don't talk about it. ”

After listening to Zhang Mengcheng's words, Hou Sanguang remembered the faces of some people in and outside his county office, and also remembered some of the recent abnormal behaviors of his family and servants.

As a local county parent, the county government and family were infiltrated into a sieve by the two descending forces. I still have to know from the other party's mouth that Hou Sanguang suddenly felt his scalp tingle.

Seeing that Hou Sanguang seemed to have figured out something, Zhang Mengcheng took out a piece of paper and handed it over.

"This IOU will be brought back by Houzhi County, and the money on it will not have to be repaid, and it will be regarded as a little heart from our two families to Houzhi County." As for the rest, the number is indeed a bit larger, and Second Brother Cai and I are not good at making decisions privately. But please rest assured, before you leave your job, we will definitely persuade our brothers to waive all this money. ”

Hou Sanguang saw the number on the IOU, and this one that was exempted was actually his own one-year salary. Seeing the reason for the IOU again, Hou Sanguang suddenly couldn't help but say: "You, you, you actually do this, what is a lewd ......." ”

"Houzhi County!"

Zhang Mengcheng called out very solemnly, interrupting Hou Sanguang's questioning, and he patted the other party's shoulder and said: "Maybe you don't know, when I was studying in the county, I was not the best among all the people. But other classmates know that no one is my opponent in the understanding of the Great Ming Law. If you don't believe it, ask Xu Zhigao, who has always been by your side, his relatives and friends had a lawsuit that was difficult to handle, and it was only after asking me that it was handled. ”

At this time, Zhang Mengcheng put both hands on Hou Sanguang's shoulders, he stared at the other party's eyes and continued: "Now that our two families have prepared the evidence and physical evidence, we have no reason to lose." However, this lawsuit will make both sides a little embarrassed, we martial artists don't care, adults have to take care of Shilin's evaluation. ”

Hou Sanguang's heart was furious, and then he looked down at the reason for the IOU in his hand, and couldn't help but think of his family, and at the same time remembered his career.

He was unwilling to give up these, but finally sighed helplessly, and said to the two leaders in defeat: "The family is unfortunate, but Hou still admits it." I hope that the two adults can let Hou go this time, and Hou will never have another incident in the future. ”

Zhang Mengcheng let go of the other party's shoulder, turned around and walked away, and smiled at Cai Zhongde at the same time.

Cai Zhongde knew that the victory or defeat was doomed, and their lives would be easier in the future, so he walked up to Hou Sanguang and said, "We are not interested in those bitter masters that you have contacted. I just want to know what are the miscellaneous things that say bad things about us in the back of Baoan County, don't want to be bored, we also have a list in our hands, and Houzhi County had better be sincere. ”

In the time that followed, the three of them talked a lot, and Hou Sanguang got the promise of the two adults to let him go, and also found two extraordinary financiers for himself.

Zhang Mengcheng and Cai Zhongde, the two military attachés, also got what they wanted, and their efforts were completely insignificant. And the two former thieves can also make another profit from the other local tyrants of the security guard in the future plan.

When Hou Sanguang stepped out of the door, he felt that his clothes were already wet with sweat. But the two behind it still didn't end, and Zhang Mengcheng said something again, which made Hou Sanguang's heart cold.

"Houzhi County forgot to do something, little brother, I have already helped you deal with it. The concubine of the prefect of this prefecture recently gave birth to a lovely child, and the younger brother has already helped you make up the gift. But the eunuchs in the military town in the north, I don't know what to send, I don't know what to expect? ”

PS: Note 1: As mentioned before, there were quite a lot of hereditary military attachés in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. If you cut off a Mongol head, you can go up a notch, and the inland thief will be upgraded by one level with six heads. In detail, you can look at the 123 volumes of the "Daming Huidian", and the author will not list them in detail.

The hereditary military attachés are divided into those who are appointed as stewards and those who are in charge, and these people are all hereditary military attachés who are in charge of affairs.

Some people may think that even if it is not worth much, it should at least be a powerful class that eats and drinks. But in fact, the Ming Dynasty's guard officials did not come out much, such as Shaanxi Province, which was poor and had many soldiers. The imperial court really couldn't raise so much food, and it was not uncommon for the officers and soldiers of the guard to not receive food for several years, resulting in the fact that even the status of a thousand households was very poor.

For example, during the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a case in which the daughters of a poor family were sold, which is the "Mancanger case" in history. Originally, this was just a small matter for Daming, but I didn't expect that the Criminal Department, Dongchang, and Jinyiwei would be involved later, and the matter would get bigger and bigger.

In the end, this case was also recorded in the official history "Ming Xiaozong Record", as well as the wild history "Wanli Yeshu Compiled" and "Allusions and Records" and many other historical materials. The "Mancanger Case" is also a real historical drama that combines history, bitterness, anti-corruption, and ethics.