Time flies, and a month passes in the blink of an eye.

It has entered the winter, the winter of Chongzhen's seven years seems to be particularly cold, at first it was a light rain, and after falling for five days in one breath, it turned into crystal snow particles, which hurt a little on people's faces.

The winter in the south of the Yangtze River is different from that of the northern provinces, there is no white snowflakes, only the ubiquitous humidity. The clothes, the quilts, the shoes and socks were as if they were in water. The cold penetrates through the bones, and the body is not warm all day long.

Like this icy weather, the current political situation in Daming has also begun to enter the abyss, and the situation in the northern provinces has reached the point of being out of control. First of all, the invasion of foreign invaders, after Jin Jiannu's army went south from Xuanfu through Mongolia, robbed in Beijing, Hebei, and Shandong for more than two months, and then returned with a full load and returned to the northeast for the New Year. Only the ruins and ruins were left, and the mourning was everywhere.

The peasant army of Shaanxi had already entered Henan after the confluence, and the total strength reached an astonishing two or three hundred thousand. At present, the armies of Zhang Xianzhong and Gao Yingxiang have accumulated in the areas of Luoyang and Nanyang, and there are signs of attacking to the east. At that time, the generals Zhang Quanchang and Qin Yiming of the Henan Ming Army, and there were only more than 1,000 soldiers who could be sent to the scene by various brigades, so how could they dare to go into battle to kill the enemy?

It can be said that the whole of Henan, with the exception of a few large cities such as Luoyang and Henan, has fallen into the hands of the peasant army. The rule of the Ming Dynasty in Henan has already existed in name only.

Mountains and Shaanxi are eroded, Hebei and Henan are eroded, and most of Shandong is eroded, and the whole of North China is shrouded in an apocalyptic atmosphere.

However, in the south of the Yangtze River, especially in Yangzhou, because of the distance from the war and the prosperity of the market, there has been a song and dance, but the north of blood and fire are two completely different worlds. There are two months left before the Spring Festival, and the streets are full of happy people. The intoxicating aroma of new brew wafts from the restaurant, and the sound of silk and bamboo is faintly heard, flowing with the meandering water that winds between the pavilions.

Yangzhou Mansion is the thriving area of culture and education in the south of the Yangtze River, and there are especially many scholars.

The sound of wind and rain, the sound of reading, the sound of the ear. State affairs, family affairs, world affairs, everything is concerned.

In fact, what happened in North China was well known to the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River. Scholars also have the habit of caring about national affairs, and as soon as each issue of the newspaper is published, it is copied and read by countless scholars.

It's a pity that since Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, the good news in the palace newspaper has been decreasing day by day, and then there has been a succession of bad news.

At the beginning, everyone also patted all over the gangan, fierce and fierce, talked in front of friends, pointed out the country, and offered a good cure. But gradually, the blood in the cavity was gradually smoothed out and annihilated by the cruel reality.

Then, still in a poetic and wine-like manner, he poured the red cup of the daughter into his throat and poured it out of his heart. I don't care about the day, I am drunk and look at the flowers, and I only listen to the music.

War, that's the business of the northerners, is far, far away from us.

……

Lei Tai's kidneys are deficient, and his body is weaker than ordinary people. As soon as the weather is cold, I feel unbearable, and I will build a big stove in the house all day long, from morning to night, it has not been broken.

The air is so hot that if you sit in it for a long time, you will sweat.

As a result, the main hall is unusually dry unlike the other rooms in the yamen.

Sit in it and drink tea cup after cup. As a result, the burden on the kidneys is heavier. After a few days, Lei Tai's heart was on fire, his emaciated face was always flushed, and his temper was much bigger than before.

"What's going on, the autumn grain in your district can be ready, when can it be shipped?"

"Back to my brother-in-law's words, the autumn grain ......"

As soon as Mao Cheng was about to make a statement, Lei Tai unceremoniously interrupted him: "This is the county government, call me the lord Bo." ”

"Yes, Lord Thunder." Mao Cheng has always been afraid of his brother-in-law, and hurriedly replied in a low voice: "Although this year is a bumper year, but after the imperial court has increased the salaries and salaries, it has now increased the salaries, and more than half of the harvest in the people's fields will go to the official warehouse." Many people are unhappy and even resist paying taxes. I also punched the foot, and tossed for a long time before I collected the grain that should have been harvested. Also, in recent years, the people have not trusted the government as much as before, and when they heard that the official family was going to hire everyone to be porters and send the autumn grain to Fengyang, they were not happy, worried that they would not be able to receive the money. ”

Lei Tai hugged the teacup and snorted: "Why is it that the two outer and three districts are going so smoothly, and only your area has been delayed so far?" "The grain of the Mao family and the Xin family has been successfully delivered to the ground, and the task of matching the 20,000 stone grain is completed.

Only Sun Yuan's district has not set off for a long time, and the upper authorities have come to urge.

Mao Cheng smiled: "Lord Bo, what is the identity of our Mao family and the Xin family, rich and powerful, the road is short, and the porter is not afraid of not getting money." Rest assured, though, we'll be ready to go in a few days at most. ”

According to the old system of the national dynasty, the autumn grain was transported to Beijing, and the grain chief was responsible for escorting it. But in the area under the jurisdiction of the chief of grain, the li and the bao shall go with them. Thinking of going to Fengyang on a cold day, he was a little unhappy.

"How many days, what days are they?" Lei Tai was on fire, and the teacup was pestled heavily on the table.

Mao Cheng shrank his neck, and seeing that his brother-in-law was in a bad mood, he hurriedly said: "Lord Bo, Sun Yuan's family died by himself, and now we are taking this opportunity to take people." ”

To tell the truth, a mere Sun Yuan Lei Tai has not taken it to heart. Since setting up this poisonous plan, Lei Tai has not thought about this person again. Anyway, he is dead, my Lei Lord Bo is a small county honor, how many official duties do you have to deal with every day, and it is a waste of time to think about him again.

Now that he heard his brother-in-law mention this person, the new hatred and old hatred in Lei Tai's heart surged into his heart: "What's wrong with Sun Yuan?" ”

Mao Cheng took a step forward, leaned his head over, and said with a low smile: "This Sun Yuan has been in the market recently, and as soon as he became the chief of grain, he put away all the account books, and directly pinched the key to the grain warehouse in his hand. Recently, this guy has made a lot of noise. Didn't the porters worry that they wouldn't be able to get the money for their feet and refuse to send the autumn grain to Fengyang, this kid actually poured out more than 100 stones of white rice in the warehouse and sold it to a rice merchant in a neighboring county, and then slapped the money on the table and said, isn't it just money, and you will be indispensable when the time comes. ”

"Oh, that's it......"

Mao Cheng: "When they saw the money, the porters were naturally happy, so they agreed to go to Zhongdu with him." Brother-in-law, Sun Yuan's betrayal of official grain is a serious crime, why don't we take him down and charge him with corruption? ”

"Hehe, this Sun Yuan is not small."

"That's it." Mao Cheng smiled: "Not only is he bold, but he is also greedy." ”

"Tell me." Lei Tai became interested, and his face softened a lot.

Mao Cheng: "After this kid got money for buying rice, the first thing he did was to change himself into a new one." Also, he bought two good Songjiang cotton jackets for his mother, and all the utensils in the house were replaced. ”

"It's really bold." Retai nodded.

Mao Cheng continued: "Also, this kid doesn't know what kind of demon he has been obsessed with recently, he has been practicing martial arts at home all day long, and he eats very well, and he has never stopped eating meat three times a day." Every day, he and the old beggar in his family had to eat two catties of pork and half a catty of good white rice. Damn, he eats better than the county master. ”

Speaking of this, Mao Cheng became indignant. The material life of the ancients was extremely not rich, even in the rich areas of the south of the Yangtze River, ordinary middle-class and upper-class families could only see meat three or four times a month.

After saying it angrily, he looked at Lei Tai: "Lord Bo, what I just suggested?" ”

"You're talking." Lei Tai said lightly: "Sun Yuan is now the grain chief, and the 10,000 stone autumn grain can now belong to him, and others have no right to ask, what crime can we charge him?" ”

Hearing his brother-in-law's scolding, he was suffocated and shrank his head: "Yes, yes, Lord Bo is right." ”

"This person is really greedy, for the sake of money, he dares to do any head-killing business, and he is not afraid that he will not be able to make up for the deficit in the future?" Lei Tai couldn't help but sneer, and remembered the situation when the **** groveled in front of him and even reached out to borrow money. The disdain in my heart is even worse: he is just a country idiot who has never seen money, and he will not know how he died in the future. Perhaps, before he died, he was grateful to me Lei Tai for rewarding him with the position of grain chief, and he was finally happy in his lifetime.

"You don't have to worry about anything, try to cooperate with Sun Yuan, send the autumn grain to Fengyang, there are still two months to go before the New Year."

"Yes, then I'll go."

Looking at the back of Mao Cheng, looking at the snow particles that still kept falling, and remembering what he just said that Sun Yuan could eat two catties of meat a day, Lei Tai suddenly smiled dumbly: I can really fucking eat, a rice bucket. However, he's going to die, so he has to let the family eat a severed head for a while, right?

After laughing for a long time, he suddenly remembered Sun Yuan's humiliation of himself at the beginning, Lei Tai clenched his fists tightly, and his nails were almost pierced into his palms.

Suddenly, he slammed to his feet, closed the door, latched it, pulled open his trousers, and carefully stroked the object under his crotch with his hand.

There was a heavy wheezing sound in the room, and when he looked at Lei Tai again, his face was already red, so thin that he couldn't see the flesh.

I don't know how long it took for him to stop, still lifeless like a dead snake.

……

"Where are you going, Lord Bo?" A few wardens saw Lei Tai hurriedly go out and asked.

Lei Tai stopped, saluted back, and said with a smile: ""Red Sleeve Building" just arrived A woman named Qinghe is very delicate and knows how to serve men, and I have been living with her for a while now. This woman has a lot of means, and you can stir you up in just a few moments as soon as you're done. Yesterday, there was a spring breeze three times. Hehe, my old waist is about to break. ”

"Ah, the spring breeze is three degrees, the main body is really the spirit of Ryoma!" Several people's mouths opened in surprise.

Lei Tai smirked, arched his hand and turned out of the yamen.

When he turned around, his face was full of gloom.