"Damn, put out the torches, there's an archer in there!"

At this time, there was an earth-shattering "Officers and soldiers are here!" from the inner house. Kill the thief! The thieves had just lost their leader, and they were frightened by the arrows that came from nowhere, and they didn't know the reality of the house, and they thought that there were really officers and soldiers coming, so they couldn't help but flee out one after another. Fortunately, there was no one to chase them, and the robbers went outside, gathered up some of the belongings and cloth they had already had, and went out of the city from the broken part of the wall.

The next morning, Anyang County Yamen.

Shen Heng, the magistrate of Anyang, sat on the top, his eyes were bloodshot, and his forehead was dripping with sweat, as if he had a nightmare last night and had not slept all night.

"County honor, this official's house was robbed last night, and the grain in the treasury was looted." Han Xiaoxuan paused slightly when he said this. Then Shen Heng hurriedly picked it up: "This is all a dereliction of duty on the part of the lower officials, please ask Lang Jun to report the losses in the house, and the lower officials should compensate for themselves!" "It's no wonder that the magistrate is like this, this Han Xiaoxuan himself is a Beijing official, there are six or seven people in important positions in the Han clan alone, and any one of them mentions a few words, and he can make a small magistrate unable to turn over.

"It's okay to make up for it or something! My Anyang Han family also has a slight yield, and some grain is also compensated. Han Xiaoxuan had a reserved smile on his face, but the words that came out of his mouth next were not so good: "It's just that this day Jintang is a little legacy left by the ancestor Han Weigong, located in Anyang City, it was actually set on fire by a group of small people, and the bows and arrows were exchanged, but the officers and soldiers turned a deaf ear, and in the end, they had to rely on a servant of the official to shoot the head of the thief, this can't be said, right?" ”

"What Shangguan taught is what Shangguan taught, what Shangguan taught!" At this time, the magistrate was already sweating like pulp, and he had almost seen his own miserable prospects, the house built by the former important ministers was set on fire by bandits, but the officers and soldiers did not move at all, and he was absolutely unable to escape from the charge of "defending the land without appeasement" as the magistrate. He raised his head in despair and bowed deeply to Han Xiaoxuan: "Please also ask Shangguan to show you a clear way, Xiaguan is grateful!" ”

"Why should the county be like this, how can you say that the Han family is also the people under your rule, you can't deserve it, you can't deserve it!" Han Xiaoxuan got up and got out of the way, not knowing the county's gift, and said with a smile: "Actually, as long as the county honors the gang of bandits, the official will naturally be grateful, come here!" Speaking of this, Han Xiaoxuan shouted outside, and Yue Fei, who was standing outside, walked in, holding a tray in his hand.

"This person is my family's Tian Ke, surnamed Yue Mingfei, it was he who shot the bandit leader Zhang Chao last night to keep my family safe!" Han Xiaoxuan pointed to the tray: "Here are fifty taels of silver, which will be used as a reward bonus from the official to buy a few bowls of wine for the strong men who wiped out the bandits!" "This Han Xiaoxuan has been smooth sailing since he was a child, he has never been so frightened as last night, and deep down in his heart, he really hates that gang of bandits and this helpless magistrate to the extreme, and he must kill all those bandits, and this bonus, no matter how he blackmails this magistrate, no one can blame him.

Then Shen Heng hurriedly got up and excused himself: "The bounty bonus is within the scope of this county, how dare you ask Shangguan to break the fee!" Han Xiaoxuan didn't hear it, turned to Yue Fei and ordered: "Yue Fei, you stay here in the county and wait for the dispatch, if a thief escapes, you don't have to go back to the house, but don't let the officers and soldiers hurt the good people!" ”

"The villain obeys!" Yue Fei hurriedly responded.

"County honor, this official has resigned!" Han Xiaoxuan didn't wait for Shen Heng to answer, so he turned around and walked outside. The magistrate had to be polite and respectful. When Han Xiaoxuan walked out of the courtyard gate, Shen Hengfang raised his head, looked at Yue Fei and the fifty taels of silver in his hand, and sighed, where is this bonus, it is clearly a big stone hanging above his head that may fall at any time!

The county magistrate Shen Heng paced back and forth in the hall for a few steps, and suddenly ordered: "Come on, quickly invite the county magistrate and the county lieutenant to my study, and say that the official has something important to discuss!" ”

"Yes, county honor!"

Shen Heng gave the order and was about to go back to the study, but he happened to see where Yue Fei was straight, holding the fifty taels of red silver in his hand, he couldn't help but be angry, snorted coldly, flicked his sleeves violently, and rushed past and went straight to the study.

In the study, Shen Heng had already recounted the situation of Han Xiaoxuan's visit, and at this time, he no longer had to maintain that humble appearance, and shouted to the county lieutenant: "Captain Hu, there was such a big event in the city last night, why didn't you supervise the archers to capture it?" ”

"County Zun, the situation at night is unknown, if you go rashly, you will only be killed and wounded in vain, and it will not help!" The county lieutenant's surname is Zhu Mingzhi, he is a fat man, there is a scar on his face, from the right forehead to the bridge of his nose, the scar trembles slightly when he speaks, and he looks a little mighty. ”

"Nonsense, lieutenant police thief, today there are thieves who have entered the city and set fire, alarming the county's prominent clans, and you still make quibbles? If someone from the Han family stabs it, you will be the first to get out of it! Speaking of this, Shen Heng was already hoarse, and his dignity and bearing had already been thrown out of the clouds. The county lieutenant and the county Cheng glanced at each other, their eyes were full of helplessness, the two of them were different from the county magistrate, they were all from the rank of the official, and they basically came to the end when they reached this position, and Shen Heng was born in the same Jinshi of the hard state, although there were many ways to select officials in the Song Dynasty, but they were the most important, even if they were the children of famous officials and eunuchs, they had the qualifications to hide the officials, but they generally tried their best to obtain the status of a jinshi through the imperial examination. If something like this time is stabbed, the magistrate will be reprimanded by his boss at most, and he will be affected by his career a few more rounds; I'm afraid that I will be beaten back to my original form, and the Taoism of the previous decades will be lost, and I will become a common man.

"That's what the county said!" The county Cheng spoke for the county lieutenant and said: "But the matter has come to this point, there should always be a solution, no matter what, you are also the parent official of the Han family, even if the Han family is a prominent family in this county, it will always sell you a little face, right?" ”

"Humph!" Shen Heng snorted coldly: "Thin noodles? That Han Xiaoxuan will be an angel to the Liao Kingdom in a few days, where do you still need to sell the face of the official. No, he put down fifty taels of silver bonuses, saying that it was a reward for the strong man, to wipe out the bandits who attacked the Dayjin Hall last night. ”

"Fifty taels?" The county lieutenant's face showed greed, the Northern Song Dynasty is the price of silver, although there is always a saying that money is exchanged for one or two silver, but the actual price is much higher than this ratio, generally speaking, silver does not appear in the usual consumption, but only in the official reward or bulk trade, in terms of the income level of the county lieutenant, fifty taels of silver is a considerable number.

"Captain Hu, I don't care what method you use, how much money you spend, you must capture all those bandits in three days or five days, even if you don't take all the goods, you have to kill and capture all the backbones of their canals, otherwise I won't be able to explain to the Han family!"

"Yes, county honor!" The county lieutenant hurriedly got up to receive the order, and his mind was already fascinated by the county order's sentence 'no matter how much it costs'.

"Wait, just now that Han Xiaoxuan also brought a Tian Ke, saying that this person shot the thief leader last night to keep the family business safe, you take him there, there is always some use!"

"Yes, county honor!" The county lieutenant responded: "But the archers have not received the pickle money for a long time, if you don't advance some reward first, I'm afraid it will be difficult to die!" ”

Shen Heng waved his hand in annoyance, and said, "How much does it cost, you go to the master's book, don't bother me, remember, take down the bandits in five days!" ”

"Thank you, county!"

Zhu Zhi rushed to the main place with a few subordinates and received two hundred pieces of money, two hundred pieces of cloth, ten stones of rice, and three stones of wheat. He took Yue Fei back to the county lieutenant department, summoned all the men on duty, and ordered one by one: "You go to the street to buy two sheep, two pigs, more fish, and two barrels of wine, all of which are killed and sent back to the yamen." A few of you brought gongs and drums, and went to your respective townships, and told the archers in the township that the government had sent them, and whoever brought them with their belongings, they could eat the best cakes and corn as they wanted, and they would have wine and meat, and they would be given fifty yuan, and if they brought horses and mules, they would be doubled, and there would be a reward after the deed! As for you, Hu Er, go and take out the sword and armor in the library, and then cut ten catties of good meat and send it to Blacksmith Zhang, so that he can repair it with good iron, and the salary will be calculated separately. Grab your mules and look around for a great stream of strangers. Do you get it? ”

"Got it!" Everyone rushed out of the door, hearing that there was meat to eat, wine to drink, and rewards, but these people were full of morale and acted quickly.

This county lieutenant is not an incompetent person, he divided those subordinates by two, and there was no chaos at all, and in a blink of an eye, only Zhu Zhi and Yue Fei were left in the hall. He didn't have a bad feeling for Yue Fei because of Han Xiaoxuan like the magistrate, but he felt that he had a chance to make a profit, and he had a good impression of him. He looked Yue Fei up and down, and said with a smile: "You young man, where are you, I heard that you shot the thief leader last night and protected the main family's business, but it's amazing!" ”

Yue Fei hurriedly saluted the county lieutenant: "The villain's surname is Yue Mingfei, and he is a native of Yonghe Township, Tangyin County, Xiangzhou. Last night, in fact, it was just a fluke, the thief was arrogant, standing under the lamp and shouting, only to be shot by the small one! ”

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