Gu Chu County, Chengyuan County.

This time it is far away from the provincial capital of Tongzhou.

The sky was slightly overcast and hot, but it was clear that the rain would not fall immediately, and the dark clouds were blowing to the northeast.

On both sides of the muddy field, many farmers were planting seedlings in the fields, working hard.

Ning Jiang held a folding fan and walked on the ground full of loess, behind him, followed by a sword at his waist, holding two oil umbrellas, just in case of a rainy little dream.

In fact, Xiaomeng began to feel that his brother used his sister as a maid.

Of course, although she had a little belly in her heart, she still habitually followed her brother.

"Brother," she asked, puzzled, "what are we doing in this kind of place?" ”

When she arrived in Tongzhou, two days later, her brother took her out of Tongzhou and took a boat all the way to the countryside of Chengyuan County, which made her feel a little strange.

Ning Jiang said: "Find someone!" He walked to the side of the road and inquired about a farmer, who pointed into the distance.

According to the direction pointed by this person, Ning Jiang continued to walk forward with his sister, only to see that on the yellow earth in front of him, there were several thatched huts, where an obese man in brocade was scolding, and several officials twisted a young man while pushing and walking, and one of the officials put an iron rope on the young man's head.

An old, silver-haired old woman grabbed the fat man and kept kneeling and pleading. The man pushed his hand, and the old woman fell to the ground, and the young man turned back and screamed.

Xiaomeng couldn't stand it, so she rushed up and helped the old woman up. Ning Jiang stepped forward and blocked those people: "What are you going to do?" ”

The officials glared at him, but when they saw that he was wearing a silk luo and a pi mu on his head, he looked like the son of a rich and noble family, and he had a faint literati momentum on his body, and he was obviously a person of merit and fame, so he didn't dare to be embarrassed for a while.

The fat man also glared at him, with an arrogant expression: "The official errand, do you want to manage it?" ”

Ning Jiang frowned: "I don't know what this person has done, you want to arrest him?" ”

The fat man said, "I am the master of this county, he is in arrears of taxes, and I am about to escort him to the yamen." ”

The young man's hands were cut back, and he said loudly: "I am already a showman, but I can avoid Tian Fu ......"

The master sneered: "It's just an epiphyte, not to mention that even if you can reduce this year's field endowment, you haven't paid it all last year." ”

The young man said angrily: "The tax money is 20 yuan per mu, the land money is 20 yuan per mu, and I have paid all the land taxes stipulated by the imperial court, but you have vainly added envy, balance and luck money on the field money, which add up to more weight than the field money, how can I afford it." ”

The master scolded: "Everyone else can pay it, why can't you pay it?" Take! ”

Ning Jiang shouted: "Stop! Since he is a man of merit and fame, if you take him away as a prisoner casually, you are not afraid that I will bring this matter to the court? It's just Tian Fu, how much is he missing, I'll help him pay it all. He knew that it had almost become the norm for the local government to add miscellaneous items to the fields, even if it was sued to the imperial court, it was done all over the country, and the imperial court had nothing to do. It's just that the miscellaneous items attached to Tian Fu are even heavier than Tian Fu itself, and it can only be said that the face of the local government is really ugly enough.

However, he can't manage this kind of thing if he wants to, and the problem that the imperial court can't solve with three shen and five orders, what can he do with a show? can only talk about this young man's fame.

The master glanced at Ning Jiang, in fact, the tax money was just a trivial matter, he took the private money of a local squire, and forcing this epiphytes to sell the land was his purpose.

It's just that he can't figure out for a while what the young man in front of him is who suddenly intervened. Seeing that this person was nosy, he didn't dare to continue to be embarrassed for a while, so he had to snort twice and report a number. Ning Jiang paid the taxes owed by the young man.

The master left with those servants, humming to himself as he walked.

The young man got up from the ground, first went to help the old woman to the house to rest, and then came out, thanked Xiaomeng, and bowed to Ning Jiang: "Xiaosheng Baizijin, thank you Brother Tai for coming to the rescue, the money owed to Brother Tai will definitely be returned in the future." ”

Ning Jiang said: "Brother Tai is polite, you and I are both scholars, and supporting and helping each other is originally what the branch should do." As he spoke, he looked at the young man in front of him who was the same age as him, and saw that this person was delicate, a typical scholar, and he was also a little puzzled in his heart, thinking that it was just the same name?

A master, a weak scholar who can be bullied casually by a few servants, is really the one he knew in his previous life, after the collapse of Confucianism and Taoism, he gathered the seven-way righteous army in the southwest, stubbornly blocked the large-scale invasion of the Xiling Miao people, won a glimmer of life for the resurgence of China, and finally died under the assassination of the general Dazong Evil under the throne of the Yuan Demon Emperor?

Although he was a little puzzled in his heart, but his origin and name matched, Ning Jiang could only guess that Bai Zijin at this moment was young after all, and he had not been able to grow up. But in any case, since this young man, as a literati, can occupy a place in the era when the sky is turned upside down and many heroes emerge in the future, there must be something outstanding about him, and it is always good to make friends in advance.

Under his deliberate friendship, the two naturally "fell in love at first sight", and then, Ning Jiang went into the house to meet Baizijin's grandmother Feng with a younger generation.

In the evening, Ning Jiang asked his sister to go to the town to buy wine and meat, and outside Bai Zijin's thatched hut, he drank and chatted with him.

At this time, Bai Zijin already knew that the young man who helped him was also from Tongzhou, and he was the head of Linjiang County in this government examination, because there were still a few months before the autumn in September, so he took his sister to play in the mountains and rivers while studying hard, and came here unconsciously.

Hearing his brother's words, Xiaomeng actually wanted to complain a little, brother, didn't you say that you were here to find someone? How did it become a sightseeing tour again? And it's said to be a sightseeing tour, but why do I think you're coming directly here?

Although they are the same age and are all new talents, Ning Jiang is the head of the case in Linjiang County, and Baizijin is only the "end of epiphysis".

The epiphytes were originally the "end of all beings", and he ranked last among the epiphytes, but he barely survived. Ning Jiang intended to make friends, which naturally made Bai Zijin a little flattered.

And Ningjiang, seeing that although Bai Zijin and his grandmother lived alone here, guarding three thatched huts and a few acres of thin fields, their manners and conversation were polite, and they were obviously not ordinary peasant children, so they took the opportunity to inquire.

Under Ning Jiang's inquiry, Bai Zijin put down his wine glass, looked at the slanting sun outside the mountain in the distance, and sighed helplessly: "Brother Ning doesn't know, the younger brother was originally behind the gate, the ancestor of the family is Baichu, Xun to the Great Zhou Guozhu, the father of the family is Baiboliang, and the Xun is the captain of the light car......"