Leng Yi hurriedly helped him up and said, "Knowing people and faces but not knowing their hearts, this is not to blame on the head catcher." ”

Wu Zhutou walked up to the platform again, and said to the people below: "Last time, it was because of our poor security that the tax collected was robbed by thieves, and the eldest lord regretted everyone's hardships and did not let you share it, and he took it alone, because the amount was too large to bear at all, so he embezzled everyone's food silver, it stands to reason that the tax was robbed due to the poor guard, and everyone should pay for it." The eldest lord said that he would bear it alone, but he could only temporarily borrow everyone's food money to make up for the loss, and when he had the money in the future, he would return it to everyone. Think with your conscience too. I'm here to say ugly things ahead, if anyone dares to show off this time, don't blame Lao Tzu for turning his face and not recognizing people! ”

Song Zhutou said loudly: "Wu Zhutou is right, everyone has a scale in their hearts, and they must do things according to their conscience!" The lord is benevolent and righteous to everyone, and everyone must be kind to the lord! The old man said that he would repay everyone's money in ten days, and I also believe that what the big man said this time is true! But! If there is another problem with the tax money this time and it is robbed, then this time, I am afraid it will be shared by everyone. I can't let the eldest master bear it alone, and he doesn't have the ability to do it anymore! ”

Hearing this, the soap subordinates and scribes below all nodded, indeed, their yamen could not withstand such a blow again, otherwise they would have crossed the whole country. Then they said: "We also believe that the eldest master is talking this time." I will definitely be able to make up for the food and silver for everyone within ten days. We must also work together to take a good look at this batch of tax money. Nothing must happen again! ”

After listening to these people's words, Leng Yi showed a satisfied smile and said: "Everyone is looking at the silver this night, as the head of a county, of course I can't lag behind, and I and Humble Jing also guard the tax and silver with everyone!" ”

Wu Zhutou smiled: "There are already so many people here, the eldest master doesn't have to stay here anymore, you can go back and rest." The subordinates personally inspect and see which bastard dares to be lazy! ”

Leng Yi shook his head and said: "It's not that I don't believe everyone, to be honest, I'm scared of stealing, I don't look at this silver, my heart is not steady, and I can't sleep at all." ”

Everyone laughed.

Master Dong said: "In this case, move the silver two to the inner house, and we will surround the entire inner house to protect it, and don't let even a single mosquito fly in, isn't this foolproof?" ”

Wu Zhutou nodded and said, "That's a good idea!" What do adults think? ”

Leng Yi also nodded: "That's it." ”

So, the officials carried several boxes of silver and copper coins to the inner house and put them in Leng Yi's bedroom. Then, the head of the armed forces made a division of labor, and arranged the ordinary people and scribes on the periphery of the inner house. Relying on the large number of people, the entire inner house of the yamen was surrounded like an iron bucket. It can be described as three steps and one post, five steps and one post. At the same time, he arranged all the catches who knew martial arts in the key parts of the inner house. Each person is responsible for one tablet. And he and Song Zhutou are responsible for the outer and inner houses respectively. In the past few days, the yamen has stopped handling official business, and unless it is urgent official business, it will be handled by Master Dong.

That night, looking at the several large boxes of silver money piled up in the room, Zhuo Qiaoniang was very happy, and said to Leng Yi: "With this money, will we be able to pay off all our debts?" ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang was not next to me at the time, and I didn't know where the silver came from. So ask. Leng Yi smiled bitterly: "These silver are just taxes that we should collect. The taxes we collected earlier have been stolen, and although the silver of the servants and servants has been misappropriated to pay the taxes, it is still not enough, and the money owed must be posted. But don't worry, I'll have a solution. ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang smiled and said: "The ability of the official, this time the concubine really realized that those cases that have not been solved by the arresters for so long, you will solve them in one day, you should have known that you should have done it yourself earlier." We don't have to worry about it these days. ”

Leng Yi said: "I have already told them that in the future, I will personally investigate and solve the murder cases, and I will not fake them again." ”

The two of them talked around the money box, and it was late at night, so they closed the doors and windows, and fell asleep listening to the wind and snow outside.

This night, Leng Yi still slept in underwear, and did not hug Zhuo Qiaoniang. And during the day, Zhuo Qiaoniang had already felt her husband's care for her, so she didn't care. Satisfied, he lay down next to Leng Yi and fell asleep.

Early the next morning, Zhuo Qiaoniang still got up first to prepare breakfast as usual, she pushed open the door and went out, and screamed at the door. Leng Yi had actually woken up a long time ago, and quickly put his head out of the tent and asked, "What's wrong?" ”

"It's snowing! The ground is all white! ”

"Really?" Leng Yi hurriedly got up, got dressed, and went out the door, and sure enough, there was a silver-white world. Moreover, the sky is overcast, and it seems that it is going to snow.

Those big squires who received letters from Lai Yuanwai personally led people to pay taxes and silver money and stepped on thick snow to pay taxes in the yamen. They had already heard that Lai Yuanwai had been arrested, of course, most of them didn't know why, and the first thing that came to mind was that he was arrested for resisting taxes and not paying them. When he received Lai's letter, he thought it was an act of repentance. So they all obediently paid all the taxes they owed.

As soon as Master Dong counted, all the taxes that should be collected this year have been collected, of course, the taxes that were collected before and have been robbed by the bandits have not been recovered. However, just after this part of the tax is paid, it can greatly alleviate the pressure given by the prefect.

I heard that the magistrate collected a lot of taxes, and the creditors in the city came to ask for debts.

These are all big celebrities in the county, and it is very rare for people to lend money to themselves in their own crisis, although the interest rate is a little higher, it can be regarded as righteousness. So Leng Yi received these creditors very politely, invited them all to the study of the inner house, treated them with good tea, and patiently explained that these were all taxes to be handed over to the imperial court, and they couldn't touch a penny. The money you owe them is a private debt, and you can't use public funds to pay off the debt. Promise that your arrears will be paid off as soon as possible with principal and interest.

These big celebrities received such courtesy from the county magistrate, and repeatedly made guarantees, so they didn't say anything more, and politely said goodbye and left.

After the taxes were collected, Leng Yi called Wu Zhutou and Master Dong to discuss the matter of sending the taxes to Bazhou. After the agreement, the head of the armed forces personally escorted the tax money to Bazhou with the officials. The distance from Yinling County to Bazhou can be reached in one day, but if you walk, you have to walk for three days. The yamen had only two horses, which were used to pull the prisoner cart, and the rest of the people could only walk, which was estimated to take three days.

Because this time the matter is important, there can be no chaos, so this time, it can be said that the nest is out of the nest. The mighty team of dozens of people is almost all the force that the yamen can send.

When I set out, it was snowing again, and the wind was still rolling in a cold wind, and it was cold to the bone.

Leng Yi personally sealed all the boxes, loaded the prisoners Lai Yuanwai and Ding Zhutou into the prisoner car, and escorted them to Bazhou. After Leng Yi repeatedly told him at the yamen, he asked Wu Zhutou and Song Zhutou to escort the silver and the criminals, and set off in the wind and snow.

After they left, Leng Yi immediately went to the street in person, invited a number of migrant workers to the inner house, raised the wall, and rebuilt it according to his own design drawings.

The secretary of the workshop told him with a smile on his face that "the officials do not repair the government", and there is no way to pay for these silver coins from the imperial court appropriation. Leng Yi told him that this yamen was too old, and it must be repaired well, otherwise it might collapse when it would collapse and crush people, which would be bad. It doesn't cost much anyway, just pay out of your own pocket. It's not good to say anything more. But I thought to myself, you have a lot of debts that you haven't paid yet, but you can get the money to repair the yamen, but it's hard to say, after all, repairing the yamen is also a good thing.

Wu Zhutou and Song Zhutou carefully escorted the tax and prisoners to Bazhou. In order to prevent problems in the store, they braved the wind and snow overnight to rush to Bazhou. In this case, it only takes one day or two nights to arrive, and everyone does not have to work too hard. can survive, but everyone will work harder in the wind and snow. On the way, two heads are catching heads, and one is cheering everyone up. promised to go to Fucheng and warm up everyone with mutton soup.

The day and night ahead were fine, but on the last snowy night, something finally happened.