After a busy day, it was already dark, and several carriages took advantage of the night to pull grain and a few large wooden boxes and rushed towards the direction of Mujiazhai.

It turned out that after the villagers' congress was dismissed, Yu Xiang left the Red Lady, Mu Xiaoqing, A Niu, Li Gang, Jia Binjiu and the three Orion brothers to discuss transporting a part of the grain and silver to Mujiazhai to compensate the families of the villagers who died in battle and reward the soldiers who made meritorious contributions on the battlefield. Everyone agreed.

Yu Xiang specially instructed: "All this must be done in secret, not publicly." It is necessary to transport grain and silver to Mujiazhai while it is dark. ”

At that time, the common people lived in difficult conditions, malnourished, could not eat meat for a year, generally suffered from night blindness, and after dark, there was basically no one to move in the wild.

Everyone agreed with Yu Xiang's idea.

Yu Xiang arranged everything, it was completely dark, he felt exhausted, under the leadership of the red lady, came to a room, sat on the bed tiredly, leaned on the quilt, the red lady brought a basin of hot water in, put it in front of Yu Xiang, squatted down, to help Yu Xiang slippers.

Yu Xiang hurriedly leaned down, blocked the red lady's hand and said, "Red lady, let me come by myself." ”

The matchmaker glared at him with disgust and said, "Xianggong, do you blame the concubine for not serving well?" The red lady shouted "Xianggong" is extremely smooth.

"@#%¥#这-" Yu Xiang was speechless for a while, not knowing how to answer. At that time, women paid attention to three obedience and four virtues, and Yu Xiang didn't know if such humility hurt the matchmaker? So, it was inconvenient for him to push it any longer, and let the red lady call the shots with a pair of feet.

The red lady helped Yu Xiang take off her shoes, and saw that the material and style of the shoes were something she had never seen before, and obviously felt that these shoes were more durable than the cowhide shoes that only high-ranking officials and wealthy people could afford to wear in their era. I was amazed in my heart. However, the red lady didn't show it, after all, Yu Xiang brought her too much surprise, and now it's no longer strange.

Yu Xiang felt a pair of soft hands put his feet into the hot water basin, the water temperature was just right, relaxed, extremely comfortable, the red lady used her soft little hands, seriously helped Yu Xiang clean the sweat stains on his feet, Yu Xiang felt like floating in the clouds, indescribably comfortable, a period of tiredness came up, his eyes could no longer be opened, leaning on the quilt behind him, and fell asleep.

The red lady looked at Yu Xiang distressedly, knowing that she had exhausted him in the past two days, she didn't wake him up, helped him dry his feet, moved Yu Xiang's legs to the bed, helped him adjust his sleeping position, and covered him with a quilt.

She poured the water for washing her feet, moved a chair, sat on the edge of the bed, and looked at Yu Xiang tenderly and sweetly, when a wave of tiredness came up, she crawled on the edge of the bed, and fell asleep groggy.

Nothing was said all night.

When he woke up the next morning, Yu Xiang saw the red lady lying on the edge of the bed, and fell asleep deeply, obviously she slept on the edge of the bed all night, Yu Xiang suddenly had a lot of self-blame in his heart, he hurriedly lifted the corner of the quilt and gently covered the back of the red lady.

Yu Xiang looked at the red lady, she seemed to be still in a dream, with a sweet smile on the corner of her mouth, the sleeping position of the red lady can be described as beautiful, like a child who has just entered the world, innocent and innocent.

After staying in bed for a long time, Yu Xiang felt a little urgent, he got up gently, trying not to wake up the red lady, but the red lady was still awakened by his weak vibration.

The red lady raised her head and smiled shyly when she saw that she was asleep on the edge of the bed. When she saw that she was covered with a quilt, her heart warmed, so she didn't get up, but put her head in a posture again, leaning on the edge of the bed, and her beautiful eyes looked at Yu Xiang. Continue to enjoy this relaxing time.

Yu Xiang was about to get up, but when he saw that the red lady was awakened, he simply lay down again, and saw the red lady's beautiful eyes looking at him, looking extremely pure and charming, and couldn't help but kiss the red lady on the forehead, and the red lady smiled sweetly. Just as Yu Xiang was about to take further action, there was a knock on the door.

The red lady quickly stood up, tidied up her clothes, and pulled her hair.

Yu Xiang slept in his clothes last night, so he quickly got out of bed and put on his shoes.

Then he asked, "Who?" Can I help you? ”

A Niu's voice came from outside the door: "Village master, are you up?" Breakfast. ”

"Okay, I'll be right here. You go first. Yu Xiang took Ah Niu. Ah Niu came at a really good time, if he didn't come, he might do something out of the ordinary. Every time he is alone with the red lady, that kind of thought always rises in his heart, and he can't press it.

Yu Xiang tidied up his clothes and asked the red lady: "I haven't brushed my teeth for two days, my mouth is so uncomfortable, how can I have toothpaste and toothbrush?" ”

The red lady looked at Yu Xiang suspiciously: "Toothpaste toothbrush? ”

Yu Xiang was speechless for a moment, knowing that he had said something wrong, in this era, how can there be a toothpaste and toothbrush, wait for yourself to make time and invent a toothpaste and toothbrush yourself. So I had to change my statement: "I feel uncomfortable in the morning, how can I get it?" ”

The red lady understood and said, "Rinse your mouth, someone will give you mouthwash in a while." ”

The red lady wanted to help Yu Xiang make the bed, Yu Xiang remembered that the red lady's arm was still injured, and said distressedly: "Red lady, your arm is still injured, let me make the bed by myself." ”

The red lady was happy to hear that Yu Xiang cared about herself so much, she stood aside obediently, and looked at Yu Xiang folding the quilt curiously.

The quilt of the ancients was thick and heavy, unlike the modern duvet, which was thin and soft, easy to fold, Yu Xiang originally wanted to fold it into tofu blocks, but it was unsuccessful for half a day, so he had to fold it into strips.

The red lady watched Yu Xiang toss for a long time, but she didn't get it right, she laughed out loud and said, "This is not a man's job, let me come, my arm is not in the way." ”

After that, she got started herself, and made the bed neatly and neatly in three clicks.

Yu Xiang said in his heart: The family is still inseparable from a woman, and the matter of making the bed and folding the quilt is still done by a woman, and Yu Xiang has a strong desire to have a home in his heart.

After the red lady tidied up the room, she took Yu Xiang to the restaurant.

Ding Dafu prepared breakfast and served it on the table, Shengying, Zhang Erhu and others were sitting at the table, waiting for Yu Xiang, and when they saw Yu Xiang coming in, everyone stood up.

When Yu Xiang saw it, he understood, and everyone was waiting for him to eat. It seems that this concept of hierarchy is the same in ancient and modern times, and it is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

At this time, a woman brought a bowl of salt water and said, "Please rinse your mouth, the owner of the village." Yu Xiang looked at the woman and immediately recognized that he was Wu Yaozu's wife Zhang, Zhang's face was radiant, and the spirit of the whole person had completely changed. The whole person has a temperament, looking at her speech and demeanor, Yu Xiang vaguely feels that she may have been a beautiful girl before, not like an ordinary woman.

Seeing that everyone was waiting for him, Yu Xiang didn't think about it anymore, he took the salt water and rinsed his mouth, and then had breakfast with everyone.

After breakfast, Yu Xiang came to the conference hall. He ordered someone to call Wu Yaozu, Hou Fangyu, and Wu Boyi, and he wanted to know about the organization of their account books.

The three of them had to rush over and bring a large stack of account books, Wu Yaozu said: "According to the instructions of the owner of the village, we have sorted out those account books all night, and the results of the sorting are recorded on the list. ”

Yu Xiang was very satisfied, so he asked, "What was Gu Batian's income last year?" ”

Wu Yaozu said: "Excluding all expenses, the net income in a year is 500 taels of silver and 200 stones of grain, of which 20 taels of silver and 50 stones of grain are collected by the government on behalf of the government. ”

When Yu Xiang heard this, he immediately understood in his heart, why Gu Batian's urging to pay money and grain would lead to the destruction of so many families, it was not easy for these families to pay the government's taxes and silver, and Gu Batian had to take a cut from it, which undoubtedly made these families even worse.

Yu Xiang asked, "How much money and grain did Gu Batian collect for the government?" ”

Wu Yaozu said: "Gu Batian collected one hundred taels of silver and two hundred stones of grain for the government in a year, and Gu Batian took the initiative to hand over fifty taels of silver to the government. ”

After hearing this, Yu Xiang calculated in his heart: "One tael of silver can buy two stones of rice during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, and one stone at that time was about 94.4 kilograms."

Yu Xiang asked, "How much rice can I buy for one tael of silver now?" Wu Yaozu was vague, obviously didn't know the market, his family was held by his daughter-in-law in the past, how did he know, he really didn't know that firewood, rice, oil and salt were expensive.

However, Hou Fangyu said: "You can buy a stone of rice." ”

"According to modern weights and measures, it is equivalent to 190 catties of rice." Calculate in your heart. He was quickly calculating how much grain the seized silver taels could be converted into, and he had an intuitive feeling in his heart.

Yu Xiang continued to ask, "Where does Gu Batian's silver mainly come from? ”

Wu Yaozu replied: "The main sources of Gu Batian's silver income are tea, field rent, and usury, of which tea has an annual income of three hundred taels of silver and one hundred taels of usury. ”

Wu Yaozu continued: "There is also a huge amount of silver of unknown origin, it is estimated that it was looted! ”

Yu Xiang nodded, and said in his heart: "It can't be done after looting, but tea can earn so much in a year?" It seems that I have to use my brain and manage it well. ”

Gu Batian said to Wu Yaozu, Hou Fangyu and Wu Boyi: "You have worked hard, after breakfast, you go and take a rest." ”

At this moment, Mu Huoniu came in and said: "Someone outside the city is looking for Wu Yaozu, a thin and quiet young man. ”

Wu Yaozu was so excited, he begged Yu Xiang: "He is my younger brother Wu Yaoguo, please be gracious to the owner of the village and let him in to reunite with me!" ”

"Then let him in, it's so early, I guess I haven't had breakfast yet, you two brothers go to breakfast together." Wu Yaozu is very grateful.

Yu Xiang arranged for someone to take the three of them to breakfast, and asked Mu Huoniu to take Wu Yaoguo directly to the cafeteria to meet his brother.

At this time, Shengying came to the council hall and said to Yu Xiang: "Zhang Cijin has confessed, the killing of the former prefect and the peaceful destruction of Zhangjiacun was indeed committed by Gu Batian, and several captives have confessed, their confessions are the same, and what they said is true!" Physical evidence has been found, and now the human and physical evidence are there, the case has been confirmed, and the facts of the case have been revealed. ”

Yu Xiang was overjoyed in his heart, Gu Batian harmed one party, the people's anger was already very deep, and the government actually let the murderer collect taxes on his behalf, if this matter was shaken out, the local officialdom would have a big earthquake, and the prefect's black yarn hat was only afraid that it would not be protected, so he had to make good use of this bargaining chip to win more official support for the construction of Zhangjia New Village.

Yu Xiang knew that if the construction of the new village did not receive official support, something big would happen sooner or later, and the construction of the new village must be officially recognized and supported.

Yu Xiang calculated in his heart: Dongshuanghe Town is close to the government, as the saying goes, "the king of Hades is easy to see, but the little ghost is difficult", Yu Xiang decided to bypass the prefect and negotiate directly with the prefect.

As for how to go to the prefect, you have to think carefully. Yu Xiang narrowed his eyes, thought carefully, and said to himself, "It's time to meet this prefect!" ”

In the end, Yu Xiang decided that after burying the eleven martyrs, he would immediately go to meet the prefect.