"Exactly!" Ma Rencheng stood up: "The few house slaves around that guy are all fugitive prisoners, each of them has a few lives in their hands, and the fight is very black, and the people in the bureau are a little afraid of him." “

"No, you are all famous, do those house slaves dare to do something to you."

"Naturally, you don't dare to do it to us, but you can do it to other people, and then you can use it, the stick doesn't have eyes, and it's not your own flesh and skin when you bump it?" Speaking of this, Ma Rencheng saw that Liu Cheng was still a little ignorant, so he hurriedly explained in detail. It turned out that the Ming and Qing dynasties monopolized grassroots politics by not only using their own legal economic and political privileges, but also sheltering fugitives and scoundrels in the township, and using these "people outside the law" to oppress other small and medium-sized landlords and yeoman farmers to obtain benefits that could not be obtained through legal means. For example, when Liu Cheng first arrived to clean up the military tun, Ma Ziyi and others colluded with the local hereditary thousand households and sent their subordinates to set fire to the city of the thousand households, but Liu Cheng grabbed the handle and forced him to spit out the encroached military fields and pastures. After that incident, Ma Ziyi was afraid of leaving a bane, so he dismissed all the remaining such people, but Zhao Laosan's family intensified and sheltered more slick people, wanting to rely on these people to compete with Ma Rencheng in the Pitang Bureau.

"So what, it's all my people who do the work anyway, and he can't stop him from digging anywhere, so if you want to stand in those few broken houses, let him occupy them, so what's the matter?"

"My lord, you don't know, the seal of the Pitang Bureau can be in the office, without that thing, you can't get money and food!" Seeing Liu Chengman's indifferent appearance, Ma Rencheng finally became anxious, it turned out that Lu Boqi and the gentlemen agreed that all the money and grain would be stored in the county treasury. The seal of the Pitang Bureau and the signatures of the director, assistant and co-organizer are issued as vouchers, and this Zhao Laosan will have the seal in his hand, and the money and food of the construction team will not be sent, which is a big deal.

"How can such a thing happen?" Liu Cheng sneered, secretly thinking that this Zhao Laosan was really dizzy, and he even dared to delay the money and food, didn't he know that the current situation in Shaanxi was already full of dry firewood, as long as a spark landed, it would be a prairie fire. The more than 3,000 Ding Zhuang in Dunzhou are all peasant troops who have been appeased, if they cause trouble. The first unlucky one was himself.

Ma Rencheng saw that Liu Cheng was moved, and he was secretly happy in his heart, and hurriedly added fuel to the fire: "My lord, it will be spring in two months, if the ditch is not repaired at that time, and the spring plowing is delayed, the loss will be great." “

"Humph!" Liu Cheng snorted coldly, picked up the saber and hung it on his waist and shouted, "Someone? “

"The last general!" Wang Xingguo walked in and saluted with crossed hands.

"You go and pick fifty sergeants. Come with me! “

"Yes, sir!"

"My lord, it's just a small thing, and it is enough to lend me twenty sergeants. Why bother you to make a trip yourself? Ma Rencheng saw Liu Cheng wearing armor and a fierce look, and he couldn't help but feel a little weak in his heart.

"Brother Ma Shi, build a pond. Cash-for-work, this is a military order handed over by Yang Zhijun, which is related to the overall situation in the northwest of the imperial court. Liu Cheng sneered: "If the distribution of money and food is delayed." Those thousands of men rebelled again, and my head on the neck will be lost, do you think this is a trivial matter? ”

"It's not!" Ma Rencheng was frightened by Liu Cheng's words and shook his head sluggishly.

"That's good, Brother Ma Shi, bother you to lead the way!"

The office of the Pitang Bureau is not far from Liu Cheng's workshop, only separated by two courtyards. Liu Cheng and his entourage arrived at the gate of the courtyard in a blink of an eye, only to see the main gate of the courtyard General Tie guarding the door, Liu Cheng frowned, turned his head sideways and glanced at Ma Rencheng, Ma Rencheng hurriedly said: "My lord, those scoundrels enter and exit from the side door on weekdays, the gate is locked, the side door is over there, you come with me." “

"No need!" Liu Cheng snorted coldly and shouted in a deep voice: "Mr. Wang." ”

"Mark it in!"

"You take ten people to block the side door, if anyone comes out of that side, they will all be taken down, and those who dare to resist will be killed!"

"Yes, sir!" Wang Xingguo answered, and immediately led the sergeant to the side door. Liu Cheng pointed to the gate and shouted, "Knock it open for me!" “

The sergeants answered, lifted the stone that served as a step, slammed the gate open with two blows, and swarmed in. A scoundrel ran out when he heard the movement inside, and scolded in his mouth: "Where did the wild seeds run around and disturb the master's dreams!" He rubbed his eyes and went out just in time to see a large group of soldiers in armor and soldiers rushing in, and he was immediately stunned.

"Take it for me!"

Before the scoundrel could come to his senses, he was grabbed by the arms of the two soldiers who rushed up, kicked him hard in the crook of the knee, and pressed him to the ground, and then he came back to his senses and asked, "Who are you?" Why take random people? “

"Be honest! This is the guerrilla Lord Liu in Yansui Town! A sergeant scolded, and struck the scoundrel with the back of his knife.

"You are the Liu Dusi who fought his way out of the fire?" The scoundrel's expression suddenly changed greatly, others may not know, but this time the leader once participated in the arson and picked up a life, and when he drank and bragged on weekdays, he didn't mention Liu Cheng's hot hands.

"Where is Zhao Laosan, and where is the seal of the Pitang Bureau?" Liu Cheng shouted coldly.

"Master Zhao is in the backyard, and the seal is in his hand!" The scoundrel hurriedly replied: "The villain is just an errand runner, and he asked the adults to show mercy and spare the villain's life!" ”

Liu Cheng didn't answer, made a gesture, and the soldiers immediately rushed in, and after a while, there were quarrels and shouts inside, Liu Cheng sneered, turned his head and whispered to the scoundrel: "If it is not impossible to spare your life on weekdays, but I have to borrow your head today." Speaking of this, Liu Cheng suddenly raised his voice: "Someone!" ”

"In!"

"Kill this guy!"

"Yes, sir!"

Before the scoundrel could cry out loudly, his bun was grabbed and pulled down with force, and he involuntarily bent down, his neck exposed, and the sergeant next to him slashed off his head with a knife, and saw blood splattered everywhere, like a peach blossom blooming.

"Ahh Ma Rencheng was frightened by Liu Cheng's sudden action and screamed, and he pointed to the corpse on the ground with a trembling finger: "Why, why did you kill him?" “

Liu Cheng smiled slightly: "I have a reason." Don't talk nonsense later, just listen to me. ”

"Yes, yes!" Liu Cheng's voice seemed to have a kind of magic, which made Ma Ren nod his head in agreement. At this time, the soldiers had already dragged out the people inside one by one, and the rogue fugitives were still swearing and shouting loudly, but as soon as they saw the blood on the ground and the corpses of their companions, they immediately fell silent, and their faces were pale and their hands and feet trembled. A few timid ones simply got wet even their crotches.

The last one to be pulled out was Zhao Laosan, his face suddenly changed when he saw the scene outside, and he swallowed back the words that he was about to scold, and finally said a sentence: "Lord Liu, there is something to discuss, why make it so ugly?" ”

"Master Zhao!" Liu Cheng arched his hand to the other party and said with a smile: "Brother Ma Shi ran to me just now, saying that a group of bandits ran to the office of the Pitang Bureau and kidnapped you. As soon as I heard this, I hurriedly led the troops to come, fortunately you are still safe and sound, otherwise this official would have the face to go to see Brother Ma Shi! ”

"What?" Zhao Laosan's eyes were already cracked when he heard this, and a pair of eyes stared at Ma Rencheng. It looks like choosing someone to eat.

"Why is Master Zhao like this, isn't there something wrong?" Liu Cheng pretended to be surprised and asked Ma Rencheng, "Brother Ma, did you tell me that Master Zhao was kidnapped by bandits?" ”

At this time, Ma Rencheng had recovered from the initial shock. He knew that he had fallen into Liu Cheng's trap, but he also knew that even if he explained himself, he was afraid that Zhao Laosan would not forgive him. After all, it is a fact that he rushed into the courtyard with Liu Cheng's soldiers and killed his men. It's better to make this panic for Liu Cheng, otherwise if you anger Liu Cheng and leave with your own troops, it will be miserable.

"That's right, it was this group of people who rushed into the courtyard and kidnapped Master Zhao!" Ma Rencheng said in a deep voice.

"Brother Ma must be right when he says this, Master Zhao, are you frightened, I will invite a doctor immediately, but don't leave anything wrong!"

"You-" Zhao Laosan's eyes were about to erupt with fire, but the hero didn't eat the loss in front of him, there were dozens of bright steel knives on the opposite side, he forcibly suppressed the anger in his chest and whispered: "Nephew Rencheng is right, thank you Lord Liu this time." ”

"Master Zhao's words are bad, the first person to thank should be Brother Ma Shi, if he didn't give up his life to report, I didn't know that such a thing happened."

Zhao Laosan's lungs were about to explode, but the situation was stronger than people, so he had to bow down and bow: "Uncle Fool, thank you Rencheng nephew!" ”

"What is the matter, why is my uncle so polite!" Ma Rencheng hurriedly bowed down and saluted, and when he saw this sworn enemy bowing down to him, the resentment that he had just been fooled by Liu Cheng disappeared at once.

"In that case, these people are all bandits, right?" Liu Cheng suddenly pointed at those men and asked.

"This ——!" Hearing Liu Cheng say this, Zhao Laosan still didn't understand the other party's intentions, he was hesitating whether to save the lives of a few henchmen, and those men also heard that something was wrong, and shouted one after another: "Master, we are not bandits!" ”

"Sir, help!"

"Last time, I forced the Liu family to sell the land at a cheap price, but you told me to do it!"

"Master, you asked me Zhang Liuzi to do the thing about smashing Widow Wu's door, but you can't turn your face and deny people!"

Hearing that many ugly things he had done were revealed, Zhao Laosan's face suddenly changed, and he hurriedly nodded again and again: "My lord, these are the people!" They are all vicious people, and they must not be spared! ”

"What Master Zhao said is that to eliminate evil is to promote good, and to use thunderbolt means to make the Bodhisattva's heart! Come on, drag these guys to the outside wall and cut them down! ”

"Yes, sir!" Wang Xingguo responded, and then commanded his subordinates to drag the remaining ten people out, the more than ten people knew their fate, and immediately howled and cried, several people also pointed at Zhao Laosan and scolded, in the face of the scolding of his former subordinates, Rao is Zhao Laosan was very thick-skinned, and he couldn't stand it a little, and his body was shaking and almost unstable. After a while, the scolding and cries outside subsided, and Wang Xingguo came back with a bloody knife to pay the order. Liu Cheng nodded and said, "Send the head to the Zhizhou Yamen to make a sound, and then bury it with the corpse, don't let them be a headless ghost!" ”

"Yes, sir!"

"Master Zhao!" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "I see that your face is not very good, presumably you have just been frightened, it is better to go home and rest for a few days, transfer the seal, and wait until your body and bones are healed, and then take care of the official affairs of the Pitang Bureau."

Zhao Laosan had anything to say at this time, took out the seal from his arms and handed it to Liu Cheng, and staggered out of the house. When Zhao Laosan went out, Liu Cheng smiled and said, "Brother Ma, do you see that I have handled the matter this time?" “

Ma Rencheng smiled bitterly: "Lord Liu's disposal is naturally beautiful, but it is a little ruthless, and more than a dozen lives are gone at once, which makes people frightened." ”

"Brother Ma Shi's lesson is!" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "It's just that the relationship between you in this Pitang Bureau is complicated, like a mess, how can I have time to peel off the cocoon and break it up little by little?" It's better to hold a fast knife in your hand, and the chaos will be cut off, and it will be naturally smooth. That Zhao Laosan is also a kraft candy-like character, he won't let go of you, and he has a reputation, he can't beat or scold him, if you don't cut off his wings in one go, do you still plan to fight with him in this Pitang Bureau? ”

When Ma Rencheng heard this, he also felt that what Liu Cheng said was reasonable, there were some scholars who were famous at the bottom of the society in the Ming and Qing dynasties, because they were hopeless and had fame to rely on, as long as they were not stripped of their fame by the academic administration, the local government would not have much to do with them, and they would act without scruples. For this kind of character, neither the local government nor the people have anything to do with them, so they have to let them go, and the people of the time call them Sven scum.

"Take it, but don't let anyone else take it!" Liu Cheng smiled and threw the seal to Ma Rencheng.

"Thank you, sir!" Ma Rencheng hurriedly took the seal solemnly into his arms and made a deep gesture to Liu Cheng.

"That's it, you don't have to be so polite between you and me!" Liu Cheng waved his hand: "I see that there are still a lot of these gentlemen who have the idea of fighting this Pitang Bureau, so it is better for me to send a few subordinates to you, so as to save you from causing trouble for you who are not open-minded." ”

"Isn't that too good!" When Ma Rencheng heard this, he immediately showed a hesitant look on his face.

"What's wrong? Think about it, if there were a few capable people around you, they wouldn't have gotten such a field with Zhao Laosan, forcing me to come forward to kill so many people, and I couldn't be asked to come forward every time, it would be too ugly. (To be continued.) )

PS: Weber is here to wish everyone a happy new year and a happy family. Be healthy and all the best in the new year!