But why hasn't this relationship continued? The reason is very simple: the imperial power is not an empty house, it must be built on a certain political and social basis, in other words, the imperial power must have a group of staunch supporters in the society in which it is located, and in return it must give economic and political privileges, generally the propertied class of society. In the early period of the Western Han Dynasty, there were two reasons why the relationship between the imperial power and the local powerful was so tense: 1. At that time, it was still in the early stage of the Great Unification Empire, and the structure of the empire itself was not stable, especially in the vast Kanto region, where a large number of vassal states with the same surname were distributed, and the Western Han regime in the early middle and early period was actually a Guanzhong-based regime, and many local tycoons in the Kanto were regarded as potential separatists rather than supporters, and the emperors of the Han Dynasty had forcibly relocated a large number of local tycoons in the Kanto region to live in Guanzhong. to weaken potential rebels. 2. The Western Han Empire was facing an extremely powerful enemy, and in order to ensure the survival of the empire, it was necessary to squeeze the economic resources of various places to the greatest extent and defeat the enemy. After the Western Han Dynasty, the main enemies had been defeated, and the expansion had reached the limit of the technical conditions at that time, even if more economic resources were invested, it could not continue to expand the territory, but would harm the stability of the empire. It is better to cede a part of the economic resources in exchange for the support of the local tycoons for the empire.

"Lord Liu, Lord Liu?" Seeing that Liu Cheng was caught in his thoughts, Qu Duan shouted twice. He has always had an unfathomable feeling about Liu Cheng, and his boldness and recklessness are not so much like a military general, but like an outgoing governor, but the problem is that those governors are all from Jinshi, and there are a bunch of the same year and the master to rely on, and after playing the most, he will go home to raise a few years, and there will always be a chance to rise again. The generals are different, what kind of character is Qi Nantang and Qi Shaobao? As soon as Zhang Juzheng died, he was immediately dismissed and went home. Sick and dead at home. Can there be an end to such a toss?

"Oh, I'm thinking of something else." Liu Cheng smiled apologetically and asked, "Then what is the name of this Chi Lechuan's family?" ”

Hearing Liu Cheng ask like this, Qu Duan couldn't help but secretly rejoice in his heart, he had long wanted to clean up a thorn like Chi Lechuan, but he was a foreign county order, and that guy colluded with the three classes of head catchers in the yamen and the black and white in the county. Now that there is a fast knife like Liu Cheng, it would be a fool not to borrow it and use it. So he pretended to be surprised: "Lord Liu." You're not going to do anything to Chi Lechuan, are you? ”

"Huh!" Liu Cheng laughed: "Then I want to see if that guy knows each other, if he doesn't know each other, then I have to wronged him as a chicken, let me scare the monkeys." ”

"This, it's just a talented younger brother, and there is nothing else, Lord Liu, don't you really want to cut him, right?" Qu Duan pretended to hesitate, and Liu Cheng impatiently patted a few cases: "Qu Xianzun, don't delay." It's also good for you to clean up this guy, at least the next time someone wants to default on their taxes, they'll touch a few of their heads. ”

"But there's always to be a crime, right?"

"The crime? Defaulting on taxes, oppressing the good, colluding with bandits, and sheltering hermits-" Liu Cheng deducted seven or eight hats from Chi Lechuan, who had never met before. He asked impatiently, "Qu Xianzun, are these enough?" ”

"This-" A thin layer of sweat was already oozing from Qu Duan's forehead, and Liu Cheng's proficiency in "business" shocked him, this didn't look like a military general at all. It's like a master. He hurriedly dismissed his original idea, and said with a wry smile: "Enough is enough, but there is no evidence-"

"Proof. That's easy to say. Liu Cheng smiled and said: "Do you want physical evidence or human evidence?" If you pick a reluctant official in the yamen to give me, you can just make up for what you lack, and it will definitely not make you embarrassed. If you don't feel at ease, I'm afraid that those guys in the yamen who collude with that guy on weekdays will play tricks, so just give me a list, and I'll help you deal with everything. ”

Qu Duan couldn't help but be dumbfounded when he heard this, but he soon began to consider his Liu Cheng's suggestion, he would stay in Yichuan County for at least four or five years, if he disposed of those guys who got in the way as Liu Cheng said, his next life would definitely be much better. It's just that it will fall under Liu Cheng's hands because of this, and there will be endless troubles in the future?

Liu Cheng saw Qu Duan's hesitant appearance, and had already guessed the other party's mind by six or seven points, so he smiled slightly: "Master Qu, I am a military attache passing by, and I don't know what year it will be when I come to Yichuan next time." Now that there is a shortage of soldiers outside Yichuan City, I will take people out and find a deserted corner at will-" Speaking of this, Liu Cheng made a gesture of "killing": "Report that you were killed by thieves, and the county will praise you, just a few officials, and who is to blame you." Unless you don't have a spare candidate in your bag, why don't I transfer a few competent people to you? ”

"No need, no need!" Qu Duan hurriedly waved his hand again and again: "I have someone here, so I won't work for Lord Liu's elite." "Nonsense, he knows Liu Cheng's powerful skills too well these days, if there are people around him who use Liu Cheng, I'm afraid that when his head falls off, he won't understand how he died.

"Huh!" Liu Cheng snorted: "How is it, Master Qu, have you made up your mind?" ”

Qu Duan pondered for a while, took a pen and paper, sat on the desk for a while, and then handed a piece of paper to Liu Cheng: "I'm tired of Lord Liu." Liu Cheng looked at it, but it was a list of the main members of Chi Lechuan's family, as well as the charges that were ready to be listed, and the list of officials who needed to be disposed of. Liu Cheng took a closer look and asked, "That guy's younger brother is a showman, do you want to go to his fame first?" “

"No!" Qu Duan shook his head: "That guy has a wide range of friends, if he asks Xuezheng to go to his fame, I'm afraid that the news will leak first, so that he will be prepared." It's better to deal with it first, and then find Xuezheng, just a showman, and he can't cause much trouble if he thinks about it. ”

"Chop first, then play?"

"No, it's two arrows." Qu Duan shook his head: "I will write to Master Xuezheng on the day you do it!" ”

Liu Cheng laughed, Qu Duan's shrewdness and ruthlessness made him quite happy, after all, no one likes to have an extra pig teammate behind him when doing big things, as for the extra blood on his hands, he doesn't care, in such a post-apocalyptic world, only by thunderbolt means can chaos be cleared. Reorganizing the world, hesitating and hesitating, only promises, will only perish together when the catastrophe comes.

In the afternoon of the same day, the three classes of the Yichuan County Ya were all summoned, and the county magistrate Qu Duan selected more than 30 people from them. Tell them that from tomorrow onwards, they will be sent to Liu Cheng as a guide. As usual, these old fritters began to complain one after another, saying that the yamen had not been paid for a long time (which is a fact), that they were poor, and that many of them had been cut off at home (this is a lie). I really don't have the strength to be a guide. Qu Duan generously gave each person 500 wen straw sandal money, and those officials gave up.

"Sir!" The old servant added tea to Qu Duan, and said quite indignantly: "Look at the oily faces of those silverfish, where there is a broken look, it is obvious that they are dead and asking for money." ”

"Huh!" Qu Duan laughed: "Since it's death and asking for money, how can I not give it?" Do you see that I am such a stingy person, sir? Can't even afford to pay a mere 500 straw shoes? ”

"But—" The old servant was about to refute, but was interrupted by Qu Duan: "There is nothing that cannot be done, you can find a trustworthy person to exchange my silver yesterday for fifty taels of pineflower silver." ”

"Yes, sir!"

For the vast majority of the people of Yichuan County. Chi Lechuan is a thunderous name, and unlike the vast majority of gentry, he did not make his fortune by relying on the political privileges that come with fame in the imperial examinations, in the strict sense of the word. He could not even be included in the ranks of the gentry, because he had neither served as an official nor was he qualified to be a showman, and the channel through which he made his fortune was a very old trade, usury.

For modern people, who are accustomed to the fact that the benchmark annual interest rate of banks is usually less than 10 percent, the vast majority of borrowing in ancient societies can be classified as usury. Nine out of thirteen, donkey rolling, lamb profit and other various types of borrowing methods are stained with the blood and tears of borrowers. But the difficulty of operating usury is not to lend out - in ancient societies with almost no social welfare system, there were too many poor people who had to accept extremely harsh lending conditions, but it was difficult to recover the principal and interest. Under normal circumstances, it is impossible for the borrower to repay the principal and interest in full, or even the interest as usual. In this case, the borrower has to sell the only livestock, tools, land, and even family members or even himself to pay off the debt. It is not difficult to imagine that such an act would inevitably provoke fierce resistance from the borrowers, and it was also contrary to the prevailing morals of the time. Only those villains who have strong power and are extremely fierce and dare to trample on all the moral bottom lines of human beings can continue to run this business, and Chi Lechuan is such a person, raising more than 100 ruthless scoundrels under him, specializing in money-lending and debt collection for him.

Therefore, it is not difficult to imagine what kind of reaction Chi Lechuan would have when he received the letter urging money and grain, he didn't even bother to read the letter in its entirety and threw it aside, if it wasn't for the dissuasion of his younger brother Chi Leshan, the unlucky messenger would have been driven out if he couldn't even drink tea, and even ate a few whips. In Uncle Chi's eyes, if he doesn't bully others, he is accumulating virtue and doing good, and when will it be the turn of others to come to him for money and food.

Compared with Chi Lechuan, his younger brother Chi Leshan is much more cunning, on the surface, he is an ordinary Tsing Yi talent, he always has a kind smile on his face on weekdays, if anyone owes Chi Lechuan a debt to him, he can still say good things to his brother, and he can also forgive a few days. But in fact, Chi Leshan is an extremely ruthless person, he relies on his status as a talent, and has close contacts with the gentry in the county on weekdays, helping them to do many things that they want to do but are inconvenient. Chi Lechuan has been able to get to where he is today, thanks to his cunning and wise young brother.

Regarding this tax donation, Chi Leshan's opinion is different from that of his brother, as a showman, his sources are much richer than Chi Lechuan, who is just a rich man. Judging from the known information, he felt that this time the matter was not simple, and instead of going back like his brother, it was better to take some money and food to deal with it, just to ruin the wealth and eliminate the disaster. And Chi Lechuan's reason is also very sufficient: if you give it, how much should you give? Is it given according to the number of acres reported to the government or according to the real number? What if I give it this time, what will I do next time? The most important thing is that with the close relationship between the Chi family and the third-class officials in the county, it is really too late to give it back.

In the face of his brother's attitude, Chi Leshan didn't hesitate, after all, the eldest brother is the father, and he himself has no tangible evidence to answer his brother's question, so he decided to go to the county seat in two days when he has free time, and find a few acquaintances to learn the inside story of all this.

This morning, Chi Leshan took a small servant, rode a mule and went out. Although he is a showman, but he is not the kind of weak scholar who has no power to tie the chicken, when he was a teenager, he learned some rods and sticks with his brother, and now he wears a long shirt, and it is no longer convenient to fight with people with sticks, so he is equipped with a Japanese knife at his waist, and the little guy carries a rod and stick, and carries a slingshot on his waist, and a pocket of stone bullets rides on a donkey and goes out with Chi Leshan. The two of them went out of the Chi family's village, crossed the mountain beam, and a gust of wind blew through the beam, Chi Leshan sniffed and asked, "Huh?" Do you smell blood? ”

The little guy also sniffed it carefully, and replied: "Yes, it may be that there is another road that has been gnawed by wolves, and the wolves are more fierce than usual." “

"That's not right." Chi Leshan shook his head: "There are at least a dozen people with such a strong smell, how can a wolf gnaw so many people, let's go over and have a look." “

The master and servant of Chile Mountain followed the smell and climbed over a mountain beam, and saw that there were many old crows flying up and down in the sky above the mountain col in front of them, making strange cries from time to time. Chi Leshan slapped the mule's buttocks, sped up and ran over there, and after a while, he bypassed the foot of the mountain in front of him, looked at it, and couldn't help but shout, "Bitter!" I saw that the ground was full of corpses, and I was afraid that there were no more than 30 people, and I looked like people from the yamen.

"Yikes!" A scream woke Chi Leshan from his thoughts, and when he looked back, he saw that the little guy had also caught up, and the donkey he was riding fell behind slowly, only to see that his face was pale and he looked like he was about to vomit. (To be continued.) )