The gate of Nantai County was wide open, the drum music was noisy, and a group of gentry wearing robes and horse coats walked out accompanied by the drummers, all with smiles on their faces, lined up on both sides, and welcomed the arrival of the Jiangbei escort envoy.

The standard-bearer first swaggered into the city gate with the tooth flag of the Chen name, and Chen Zikun gave in: "County Magistrate Liu, please." ”

"Chen Dashuai, please." County Magistrate Liu also said, the two laughed and walked side by side, but Liu Youjin stepped back a distance of a horse's head very interestingly, letting Chen Zikun take the first step.

The drummers in the countryside played the song of the soul drama "General Order", which was majestic and majestic, but also suitable for the occasion, the fathers and elders of the county town were wearing new horse coats, smiling very restrainedly, there were a few white-haired old men, and there were small pigtails hanging behind the melon skin hats, Chen Zikun dismounted and greeted them one by one, and the approachability of the escort envoy made their stiff smiles slightly more natural.

The next car to enter the city was the car that Jian Bing and Yao Yilei were riding, obviously the fathers and elders of Nantai County had never seen this kind of foreign thing that was not pulled by animals, and the numb face showed a slightly surprised expression, but it instantly regained its composure.

"Hee-hee, look at them, they still have braids." Yao Yilei said in a low voice, she looked at the scene outside through the gap in the curtain, and with the appearance of the tiger's mouth, she no longer dared to show her face in public.

"yes, they're all old men, lifeless." Jianbing echoed.

The road is paved with bluestone slabs, horseshoes are banging on it, making a crisp sound, and the doors on both sides of the road are planted with five-color national flags, which looks like some lanterns, but there are too few people attending this welcome ceremony, and it seems a little deserted.

The reinforced company sent by Chen Tiaoyuan really gave Chen Zikun a lot of face, and the soldiers were in good spirits and the firearms were also very sophisticated, compared to the armed forces in the county, which were not in a unified manner -- in fact, the gang of people wearing black uniforms was not the police, but the county regimental soldiers.

The twelve bandits who were escorted by the soldiers greatly attracted a lot of attention, and the guards made the flag victorious, and at the beginning of their tenure, they captured so many bandits, and there were some cheers from the welcoming crowd, Chen Zikun heard the prestige, he was a young man in a beige suit, combing his hair separately, and he looked particularly abrupt in a group of robes and horse coats.

"Who's that guy?" Chan asked.

"Oh, he is the young master of the Gong family, a big family in the county, and he is studying in the provincial capital." County Magistrate Liu introduced.

Chen Zikun remained silent and looked at the young man surnamed Gong twice.

The county seat is not big, there are only two streets, a large courtyard in the center of the city, the brick wall is in disrepair, some places have collapsed, in the middle of a majestic three-bay gate, is facing the gate is the Xuanhua archway and the wall, the county magistrate of Liu said, this is the county government of Nantai County, built during the Qianlong period of the former Qing Dynasty, it has been many years ago.

The county government is the largest and most decent house in Nantai County, the guards make the entourage a large number of people, only to live here is suitable, the outermost gate is the county gate, after entering is paved with stone slabs, a long road, there is a low house on the left, it is said that it is the location of the county prison, there is a small prison temple inside, and the guards can keep the captured bandits in it.

On the right side of the road is a white-walled and gray-tiled house, which looks much more magnificent than the prison, and the county magistrate Liu said that it is where the county yaguan post and the yashen temple are located, and is responsible for the affairs of the yamen to usher in the delivery, and the furniture is relatively new, and the military envoy can temporarily live there.

Further on, there is an extraordinary three-bay door, this is the county government's instrument gate, strictly speaking, into this door, is the real county office, the outside is just the annex of the yamen.

There were two five-color national flags on the instrument gate, the security regiment in black uniform and white leggings saluted with guns, Chen Zikun got off the horse, Yao Yilei and Jian Bing got out of the car, and walked into the Yimen surrounded by the guards.

"The house on both sides is the six rooms of the Yamen, and the scribes of the military and criminal workers are working in it, and the back wall on the left is the place where the horse number and the third class of officials rest, and the four rooms on the right are the Dianshi Yamen, and then there is the main hall of the Yamen."

Everyone looked up at the tallest building in the county government together, the weeds were overgrown in the middle of the cyan tiles on the roof, the gate was flanked by high wooden fences, the color had long faded, above the main hall, there were still hanging water and fire sticks on both sides, behind the public seat, hanging plaques, and the gloomy four big characters "Mirror Hanging" seemed to be wordlessly pouring out the story of the past.

On the left and right sides of the main hall are the main book office and the county office, and behind it is the house gate, and after passing through is a vacant lot, and there is a large water tank in the center, which must have been used to raise fish, but now it is full of rainwater, and there is green moss on it.

The second hall is the place where the county magistrate returns to see the distinguished guests and the office, and now it is the place where the county magistrate Liu's office is located, with brown beds, writing desks, basin stands and other furniture, all of which are the simplest styles, with newspapers and documents on the table, a sword hanging on the wall, and a few pots of flowers and plants on the windowsill, it seems that the county magistrate is still an elegant person.

"Ladies and gentlemen, there are a lot of empty rooms in the county office, where the brothers can rest, but the bed boards and bedding cannot be solved for the time being, and the county is too poor." Liu Youjin said apologetically.

"It's out of the way, it's convenient in the summer." Chan said.

Yao Yilei leaned on the windowsill and said, "What's the place behind here?" ”

It turned out that there was a wall behind the second hall, and a huge iron lock was hung on the hanging flower door, and the lock was covered with dust, and no one must have entered it for a long time.

"Here...... It is the back house of the prefectural government. For some reason, County Magistrate Liu's tone was a little weird.

"In other words, the family members of the magistrate live in it? I want to go in and have a look. Yao Yilei didn't notice the abnormality of County Magistrate Liu, and said with interest.

Liu Youjin hesitated for a moment, but still took out the key and explained: "It's daytime, it's okay to take a look, it's best not to approach here at night." ”

Now Yao Yilei was more interested: "Why? ”

Liu Youjin wanted to speak and stopped, walked over and tinkered, and finally opened the rusty iron lock, pushed the door hard, and the sound of squeaking came, the two doors slowly opened, and a yin wind came out of the courtyard, and the county magistrate Liu couldn't help but shiver.

Yao Yilei rushed in, Chen Zikun took Jianbing, Yan Su, Qingfeng and adjutant Ma Ben and others also followed, the courtyard is very spacious, the white-walled and gray-tiled houses are graceful and elegant, the walls are lined with vines, a pool of clear water, pale pink lotus flowers quietly bloom, two laurel branches are luxuriant, against the wall is a large bamboo forest, full of emerald green, extremely eye-catching.

"It's good here, clean up, let's live here." Yao Yilei said, she is a person who knows the goods, and she can see that the building of the county yahou house is from the hand of a famous artist, and the layout faintly has the style of Suzhou gardens.

But Jianbing paid attention to County Magistrate Liu's words just now, and said, "Wait, County Magistrate Liu, you haven't said why you can't approach here, I don't think this back house is anything special." ”

The county magistrate Liu smiled very reluctantly: "Actually, it's nothing, during the Xinhai period, the revolutionary army rose up, the then magistrate led his cronies to resist desperately, and finally ran out of ammunition and food, and was finally killed in this back house, the five wives and concubines of the county were bullied and humiliated by the rebels and committed suicide, some took scissors and cut their throats, some hung beams, some swallowed gold, some threw themselves into the well, in short, the deaths were miserable, and then I heard that the back house was not clean. ”

Yao Yilei suddenly lost her face and stopped talking.

Jian Bing also frowned deeply, glanced at Yao Yilei complainingly, and said, "County magistrate, is there really a ghost?" ”

County Magistrate Liu smiled bitterly: "I really don't know if there are ghosts, I only know that a few years ago, there was a bold drunkard who made a bet with someone to spend the night in the back house of the yamen, and the result was ......."

"What happened?" Yao Yilei asked timidly.

"As a result, he was found the next day, this person died behind the gate of the back house, his eyes were round, his tongue was sticking out, his mouth was full of green water, and the door panel dug out a strip of marks, all of which were dug by fingernails, and later the county did an autopsy, saying that it was a broken ......" County Mayor Liu sighed, as if he couldn't bear to recall that terrible story.

"Since then, no one has been in the back house." Magistrate Liu ended with this sentence.

Yao Yilei was frightened, tugged at the corner of Chen Zikun's clothes and said, "Don't live here, let's leave quickly." ”

Chen Zikun laughed: "I live here, I want to see what the ghost looks like, Lao Wang Lao Li, bring our luggage in, Qingfeng, find a broom to clean well." ”

County Magistrate Liu hurriedly dissuaded: "Protector envoy, I'd rather believe it than believe it, you still have two female dependents, in case you ......"

Yan Su looked around, silent.

"There is no case, ghosts are also afraid of the wicked, Lao Tzu has killed countless people, even if the ghost is coming, he must also weigh it." Chan was resolute.

Seeing that he couldn't persuade him, the county magistrate Liu said: "In this case, I will send someone to clean up, how can I let the people of the army envoy do it themselves." ”

Chen Zikun nodded and said, "It's okay." ”

……

The back house has been uninhabited for many years, and it takes a lot of time to clean it, so the county magistrate Liu asked Chen Zikun to go to the second hall to serve tea and report to him the basic situation of Nantai County.

"The household registration register in the county is all left over from the Qing Dynasty, and how many people there are now is a confused account." County Magistrate Liu said.

"What about the finances?" Chan was most interested in this.

County Magistrate Liu spread his hands: "Presumably the marshal has seen it, the fields are barren, ten rooms and nine empty, bandits are rampant, officials force the people to rebel, the common people have no money to pay taxes, no food to pay rent, and the powerful households support the army and self-respect, and they do not pay taxes. ”

Chen Zikun said: "Who is the security team to listen to? ”

County Magistrate Liu said: "The county gentleman, Xia Dalong Xia, the head of the security regiment was recruited by him, and the head of the regiment, Qiu Fuzhao, is his nephew, if it wasn't for the escort envoy this time, I wouldn't even be able to adjust a gun in the security regiment." ”

Chen Zikun's eyes rolled: "Has Xia Dalong come to welcome this military envoy?" ”

County Magistrate Liu coughed dryly, and said to him: "The envoy of the army drinks tea, drinks tea, this is the Longjing bought by the provincial capital."