The other party stretched out his hand and helped Tao Shiyong up, Tao Shiyong slowly stood up, she lowered her head, not daring to look at the people around her.

Although he didn't see the face of the person who helped her, she looked down and caught a glimpse of the shiny leather boots, and the texture of the clothes on her body, she knew that the other party should be an officer.

And the officer's voice, as if he was not very old, should be a young man like himself.

The scoundrels of the militia seemed to be in awe of the officer, and these people crowded around him and Tao Shiyong, but no one let out the unbearable silver evil laugh just now, although Tao Shiyong could still feel that the malicious gaze was encroaching on his body.

The officer helped Tao Shiyong out of the woods, she easily calmed herself, raised her head, and peeked at the officer next to her with the corner of her eye, what she saw was a tall and thin young man, with a slightly dark complexion and a kind face, although he was not as handsome as Liu Desheng, but his face was as sharp and angular as a knife, but it was also unforgettable.

Thinking that he had saved himself from the humiliation of the scoundrels just now, Tao Shiyong's heart felt a little calm.

But when she saw another group of people appear in front of her, her heart tensed again.

Among the team, the first thing she saw was Liu Desheng, who had been tied up with five flowers.

At this time, Liu Desheng has lost his handsome and scholarly temperament, his face is gray, his face is bloody, and his body is full of stains, obviously he was captured after a struggle, when he saw Tao Shiyong, he was startled at first, and then his eyes flashed with anxiety and concern, Tao Shiyong glanced at him meaningfully, lowered his head, he understood what she meant, and lowered his head.

"Hehe, Chief Liu, you are also here!" The man in black saw the officer and greeted him with a smile.

"Hmm." The officer surnamed Liu nodded, "I just happened to be passing by." He turned his head to look at the militia around him, his eyes flashed with a fierce light, and said, "In the future, ask your people to be more restrained, if I see this kind of thing again, I will definitely not be polite, understand?" ”

Dahan made him look a little annoyed by his unprovoked training, but when he saw Tao Shiyong in military uniform, he immediately understood what was happening, he laughed dryly, waved his hand, and motioned for his subordinates to bring Tao Shiyong over.

"Chief Liu, don't worry, when the brothers arrested her just now, that ...... My hands are a little thicker, I'm here to accompany you for them. Dahan said, "Thank you Chief Liu for leading the team in time and allowing us to catch these two ...... Oh...... Thief. Thank you, brother. ”

"You say they're thieves?" The officer surnamed Liu said quietly, "Is there any evidence?" ”

"There is no evidence." Dahan looked at the officer and said, "However, they have been wandering around the Liu family's compound for a while, and they have inquired about Director Liu's situation everywhere, asking people this and that, and making it clear that they want to be unfavorable to Director Liu." He glanced at Tao Shiyong, and then at Liu Desheng, who was on the ground, "I'll take them back and let Director Liu ask, there's nothing wrong with it, right?" Chief Liu is a celebrity in front of Director Liu, so he doesn't want to watch Director Liu have an accident, right? ”

Listening to Dahan's words, the officer surnamed Liu frowned and did not speak, but Tao Shiyong's heart sank suddenly.

"Isn't this girl known to Chief Liu before?" Seeing that the officer surnamed Liu did not speak, Dahan asked half-jokingly and half-seriously, "If that's the case, it's ......."

"I don't know this girl." The officer surnamed Liu said, "I just can't get used to seeing your subordinates treat a weak woman like this, and they stopped it with their hands." ”

"She's not a weak woman." The big man lifted the leg of his trousers, revealing the black blue on one of his hairy legs, "It's with my body, my leg still hurts." ”

"Let's go, let's go see Director Liu together." The officer surnamed Liu turned his head and glanced at Tao Shiyong and said.

Tao Shiyong and Liu Desheng were escorted into the Liu family compound, Liu Desheng was tied to the stone pillar tied to the horse by several people, and Tao Shiyong was taken to a separate room, the officer surnamed Liu obviously had a good status in the Liu family, he gave a few instructions, and several servants brought clothes to Tao Shiyong, and the officer surnamed Liu immediately took back his military uniform and put it on, and left, while several people from the militia group guarded the door of the room to prevent Tao Shiyong from escaping.

After a while, there were bursts of hurried footsteps outside the room, and Tao Shiyong's heart suddenly became nervous.

The door of the room opened, and several people walked in, and then, Liu Desheng, who was tied, was also dragged in.

"These are the two people you're talking about?" A middle-aged man with a rectangular face and a long horse coat at the head glanced at Tao Shiyong and Liu Desheng, and asked in a voice that was not too high.

Tao Shiyong immediately recognized that this middle-aged man who always seemed to have a smiling expression on his face was Liu Wencai.

"That's them. They've been wandering around the area these days, asking about the Commissioner. The man in black reported to Liu Wencai, "They have knives on them, and they can hit them twice, and when the brothers caught them, they were almost injured by their hands." ”

"Oh?" Liu Wencai looked at Tao Shiyong, and a look of surprise flashed in his eyes.

"This kid has a very hard mouth, I just don't say who sent him, I think they should be from the student association." Dahan said again.

"You dolls, you don't want to study in school, why are you here to make trouble?" Liu Wencai sat down on a chair, looked at Tao Shiyong and Liu Desheng, and asked with a pleasant face.

"It has nothing to do with her, it's me who wants to check you." Liu Desheng was worried that Liu Wencai would be unfavorable to Tao Shiyong, so he replied first.

"You want to check on me? Why? Liu Wencai's gaze turned to Liu Desheng, and a trace of astonishment flashed in his eyes.

Liu Desheng looked at Liu Wencai, and he also had a feeling in his heart that he seemed to have known this person for a long time, but he couldn't say what he knew, where he met, and how he met.

Of course, Liu Wencai would not know that the person in front of him, who was once worshiped by thousands of people in another time and space, once branded himself as a negative example of the landlord class, and wanted to step on 10,000 feet, so that he would never be able to turn over.

"What you do, you know in your own heart." Liu Desheng said loudly, "You Liu Wencai is a wealth ...... cut off your children and grandchildren."

Before he could finish speaking, the man in black strode forward and slapped Liu Desheng in the face, his hand was as thick as a fan, and his strength was great, and this slap actually knocked Liu Desheng unconscious. Seeing Liu Desheng being beaten, Tao Shiyong rushed up desperately and hugged Liu Desheng's head in his arms, the big man wanted to reach out and pull her away, but somehow he couldn't help but glance back at the officer surnamed Liu, smiled bitterly, and retreated.

Liu Wencai looked at Liu Desheng, who was bleeding from the corner of his mouth and fell into Tao Shiyong's arms, and shook his head helplessly.

"You dolls, you're just fed up." Liu Wencai sighed and stood up, "I built a school for you and paid for your education, what else do you want?" Alas......"

At this time, Tao Shiyong seemed to be deaf to Liu Wencai's words, she looked at Liu Desheng with tears in her eyes, caressed his face with her hand, and called his name softly.

"Wait for him to wake up, untie him, and change his clothes." Liu Wencai said to a person who looked like a housekeeper, "Give each of them a room, and let them stay here before the matter is over." Be hospitable, don't beat or scold, don't ask them anything, don't let them escape. ”

"Yes, sir."

After Liu Wencai finished giving the order, he walked out of the room, leaving only Tao Shiyong and Liu Desheng together.

Liu Wencai and the others walked through the winding corridor and came to another elegant house, and a person who was also wearing a robe and a horse coat who was sitting in the room for a long time saw Liu Wencai and immediately greeted him.

Liu Wencai saw him coming, smiled and waved his hand, and motioned for him to sit down.

"I heard that I just caught two annihilators?" The visitor asked.

"It's just two students who don't know the height of the sky."

Seeing Liu Wencai's preoccupied appearance, the visitor asked again, "What's the news in Beijing?" ”

"Yes." Liu Wencai took a sip of the teacup and nodded, "And it's not good news." ”

"Oh?"

"The Kyosato tour has ended the meeting, you know?" The little fan's didn't even die. Liu Wencai said, "Whether he dies or not has nothing to do with us, but what he brought up has a lot to do with us." ”

"What did he bring up?" The other asked, with a look of concentration on his face.

"He took advantage of Feng Jishan's matter to propose to cancel the post of patrol envoy and town guard envoy in various places." Liu Wencai said.

"What?" Hearing this news, the other party was obviously taken aback, "Isn't he himself the Northwest Patrol Envoy?" Why ......"

"He said that he was willing to take the lead and take the lead in resigning from the post of Northwest Patrol Envoy." Liu Wencai said, "In fact, it is better to remove the patrol envoy, and the town guard envoy is also withdrawn, which is a great disadvantage to our Liu family." The sixth child is now holding the position of the envoy of the southern Sichuan town, and I am helping him to plan to take over the envoy of Xikang town, but I didn't expect such a thing to happen. ”

"It's not good news." The other party thought for a moment and said, "However, I think there must be a lot of people who oppose it, right?" ”

"Nope." Liu Wencai shook his head and said, "Zhang Zuolin, the Northeast Patrol Envoy, Chen Er'an (Chen Eun, the Southwest Patrol Envoy) and several other Patrol Envoys actually expressed their approval, only Cao Kun, the Zhilu Yu Patrol Envoy, and Wu Peifu, the Lianghu Patrol Envoy, did not express their position. ”

"That is to say, the contradiction between the direct line of the old Beiyang and the central government has not yet been made public." The other party said.

"People say that our Liu family made a fortune from guns, I don't deny it." Liu Wencai sighed, "But in this world, without a gun, you can't play anything." If our Liu family didn't have the sixth child, it would have been over a long time ago. ”

Hearing Liu Wencai's words, the other party suddenly became silent.

"You are also from the rivers and lakes, and you know the stakes here." Liu Wencaiwu said to himself, "Since ancient times, if you want to gain a foothold in this river and lake, which one is not mixed up like this? ”

"We can't interfere in national politics." The other party said, "I'm afraid this matter is not something you and I can control." ”

"Of course, we can't influence the decision-making of the political axe, but in order to keep the Liu family's industry, I'm afraid we have to think of some last resort." Liu Wencai sighed and said, "You have also seen it, and now someone has come to check on me." ”

"Today these two are just student ......"

"It's true that they are students, of course, I'm not afraid of what big waves they can set off, but I'm afraid that if you want to check our Liu family, it's not just a few students who don't know the height of the sky." Liu Wencai said, "You don't know, right? The father-in-law of Minister Yang of the Ministry of Finance is the boss of the Sichuan Road Company. ”

When the other party heard this, he nodded, indicating that he understood what Liu Wencai meant.

"Their Huang family is very powerful." Liu Wencai said, "This railway construction is a fat difference, it is said that in southern Sichuan, this road repair should be our Liu family, but after all, ......there are people in the Huang family in the court."

"If they build the road, the transportation from us to Dian Kang will be all in the hands of their Huang family. Our Liu family's business, I'm afraid we won't be able to do it anymore when the time comes. You think, if the position of the town guard is withdrawn again, our Liu family's business will be even more insecure. ”

"Our business mainly relies on the line of Xikang, Yunnan," the other party said, "In this way, even if we don't take the railway in the future, the trouble will be big enough." ”

"Yes! At that time, it will be difficult not to be discovered. Liu Wencai sighed.

"What are you going to do?" The other party asked.

If someone else is present at this time, they may understand what they are talking about about "business" that they are afraid of being affected.

"No matter how much this day changes, business has to be done." Liu Wencai sneered and said.

At about the same time, in a classroom at Yunnan University, a lecture was being held about Liu Wencai's "business".

A young lecturer with glasses talks from slide to slide on the podium, while the students below take notes intently.

"In the history of world drugs, opium is second to none. The early use of opium in modern Europe formed the starting point of a long history that influenced attitudes and experiences towards opium in much of the world. Opium may well have been the first drug discovered by early humans. Its use certainly predates alcohol products, as distillation knowledge is required to produce alcohol. On the contrary, the production of opium is relatively simple, requiring only the opium poppy to be harvested and then prepared. Therefore, opium deserves to be introduced in special detail to students. ”

"Although there are 28 species of opium poppy known to exist, including many species, opium is the genus opium poppy. This Latin word means 'hypnotic poppy', is its botanical name, which was given to the Swedish botanist Karl Brown. Every? A term coined by Linnaeus (1707-1778) in 1753. While most opium poppies produce white milk and contain compounds called alkaloids that can have significant physiological effects on humans or animals, only opium contains biomorphine. It is morphine that gives the opium poppy its special effects. Alkaloids were extracted from raw opium in 1804, thousands of years ago, when humans learned about the magic of the opium poppy. Simple? Chardine describes the Persians harvesting opium poppies in the 17th century: "Although there are large numbers of opium poppies in other countries, there is no place where the poppy is as juicy and as strong as here. It is 4 feet tall and has snow-white leaves that ripen in June. They make an incision in the crown, from which the juice is taken. Out of superstition, the Persians always cut 12 openings to commemorate the 12 imams. They used a small hook knife with three blades like comb teeth, and cut three times one after the other. Then a slimy juice flows out of it. They gathered the juices together early in the morning, before they came out, and the smell was so strong that the people who collected them were like dead men who had just come out of their graves, and their faces were blue and thin, and their bodies were trembling, as if they had a stroke. ’”

"Although opium poppies are usually white in color, but can also be crimson, pink, bruised, or a variety of other colors, the juice oozing from the cut poppy pods is milky white and condenses and turns brown when exposed to air. The raw opium is dried for a few days, and after the water evaporates, the remaining sticky, stretched, dark brown solid is formed into blocks, cakes, or bricks. This can be stored for several months. Raw opium must be further processed before it can be used: raw opium is boiled in water, filtered out of impurities, and then boiled until it becomes a pure brown liquid; This liquid opium is then boiled to a thick paste called 'cooked', 'refined' or 'browned' opium. Cooked opium is dried in the sun into a thick layer of molded clay. It is much purer than raw opium. ”

"Scholars today can only speculate about the early history of the opium poppy. Knowledge of the poppy surname may have originated in Egypt, the Balkans, or the Black Sea region. It is clear that the earliest agricultural development of opium poppy was in the western Mediterranean region about 8,000 years ago. However, it was not possible to identify all the regions of the global system for the cultivation of opium poppy. The oldest surviving written language is Semitic, which is first confirmed to have appeared in northern Mesopotamia around 3100 BC. The Semitic language has a hieroglyph that means the opium poppy as a 'happy plant'. Some ethnographers believe that around the same time, opium production was introduced from Bronze Age Cyprus to Egypt, where it was used for medical purposes and to intoxicate during ceremonies - and possibly as an aphrodisiac. ”

The young lecturer seemed a little embarrassed when the word "aphrodisiac" was spoken, while the female students below all blushed and some of the male students laughed.

The young lecturer cleared his throat, put on another slide, and continued his lecture.

A piece of papyrus from 1552 B.C. shows that the Theban doctor was told about the uses of about 700 different opium formulations, including one that tranquilizes irritable children. Arab traders spread opium to Persia, India, China, North Africa, and Spain. ”

(To be continued)