Runzhou is today's Zhenjiang, under the jurisdiction of Dantu, Yanling, Jurong, Baixia, Qu'a and other six counties, there are 100,000 households, 660,000 population, also belongs to Shangzhou, Runzhou Taishou is Li Linfu's brother Li Fudao.

Although Li Fudao has Li Linfu's brother as the backstage, but his personal ability is also very strong, he has been an official in Runzhou for three years, but he has also left a bit of a clear reputation, the people of Runzhou live and work in peace and contentment, the population is growing steadily, and the state of Runzhou is in Dantu County.

Han Jinping is the exiled official who started with Li Qing'an in the fort, he was pitied by Li Longji because of his scholar's service in the army, pardoned his crime of exile, and granted the county order of Dantu County, and took office for more than three months, not only was he nourished by the Lingxiu in the south of the Yangtze River, but became darker and thinner, he inspected the villages and townships almost every day, handled official documents in the fields, tried cases at the gate of Caoshi City, did not collect a penny of foreign wealth, did not abuse his official power, and no one cherished this second life more than him.

In just three months, he won the reputation of Han Qingtian, whether it was an old farmer in the countryside or a big family, no one gave Han Qingtian a thumbs up.

Li Daofu was also very satisfied with this subordinate, and although he did not serve for a long time, Li Daofu still took the upper exam in the evaluation he received.

In the past two days, Han Jinping's biggest headache is the lack of cattle, which is his lack of experience, did not realize the seriousness of this problem in the winter, seeing that spring ploughing has entered the **, but many families are unable to carry out spring ploughing because there is no ploughing cattle, these two days, the county government gate is crowded with farmers who come to borrow cattle.

As a last resort, Han Jinping came to the state government to ask Li Daofu for help.

"I got the news yesterday that there are many townships in Qu'a County that have already cultivated the fields, and there is a surplus of ploughing cattle, can you please ask the envoy to come forward and coordinate and borrow some ploughing cattle from Qu'a County, and we are willing to pay some compensation."

Li Daofu smiled and waved his hand and said: "All counties have difficulties, Qu'a County will also have Qiu Dantu County in the future, don't mention any compensation, I will immediately write to Qu'a Zhang County to prepare for cattle ploughing, and come as soon as possible." ”

At this time, there was a sudden sound of rapid running outside the door, and a servant reported at the door: "Envoy, an army of more than 400 people has crossed the Yangtze River and is about to enter the city." ”

"Ahh Li Daofu stood up in shock, if it was the military department to transfer troops, he should have gotten the news in advance, but he didn't have any news at all, the army entered the city, it was not a joke.

"Where is the army, did they say?"

"It seems to be the Jiangdu regimental training camp."

Han Jinping's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly said, "Envoy, it may be that Li Qingan is here." ”

Hearing that it was the Jiangdu regimental training camp, Li Daofu's hanging heart was put down, and he smiled at Han Jinping and said, "It's your old friend who is here, let's go and see it together!" ”

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Outside the city of Dantu County, the regimental training battalion from Sizhou was already a little exhausted, and the war horses were so tired that they foamed at the mouth, they marched forcibly for three days, and finally arrived in Runzhou, and now they were going to catch Du Bosheng before the news of Duliangshan arrived.

Li Qingan did not let the soldiers enter the city, but let everyone rest in place, waiting for the government to come forward, He Yanming next to him couldn't hold back the excitement in his heart, and after three months of separation, he could finally see Lao Han.

"General, what do you think Lao Han will become? Will you look as fat as a pig, with three wives and four concubines around you, you don't need money to go to a wine shop to eat, and you will be beaten if anyone is not pleasing to the eye, grandma's, this county order is really enviable! ”

"Do you think that others will be like you when they become county magistrates?"

Li Qingan snorted disdainfully and said, "See for yourself!" Han County's order is coming. ”

A large group of officials suddenly appeared at the gate of the city, Li Daofu and Han Jinping rode out of the city, and from afar, Li Daofu laughed and said, "General Li, don't come to harm?" ”

Li Qing'an hurriedly greeted him and said with a smile: "Envoy, farewell to Chang'an, I didn't expect to meet so soon." ”

Seeing Li Qing'an again, Han Jinping's eyes turned red, he hurriedly stepped forward, lifted the corner of his official robe, and half-knelt down and said, "See the general!" ”

Li Qingxin was also very emotional, he hurriedly helped Han Jinping up, "Old Han, don't be like this, get up quickly!" ”

Seeing that Han Jinping had lost weight to a handful of bones, he couldn't help but sigh secretly in his heart, it was not easy for this county official to be a county official!

He Yanming in the back was greatly surprised, he looked at Han Jinping for a long time before stammering: "Old Han, why did you become like this?" ”

Han Jinping smiled bitterly and said, "It's hard to say!" ”

At this time, Li Daofu walked over, looked at the army, and asked Li Qingan: "General Li, what are you crossing the river to Runzhou for this time?" ”

Li Qingan whispered a few words in his ear, and Li Daofu was greatly surprised, "General Li, what you said is true?" ”

Li Qingan nodded and said in a low voice: "The news should be accurate, this matter is urged by Li Xiang to be done by me, the matter is urgent, please cooperate with me to arrest the fugitive immediately." ”

"Good! I'll arrange for this to go to Qu'a County now. ”

Li Qingan flew on the horse and smiled at Han Jinping: "Old Han, I have urgent official business, so I will get together with you again and drink bitterly." ”

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In less than half an hour, Li Daofu personally led hundreds of officials and led Li Qing'an's brigade to Qu'a County, which is today's Zhenjiang Danyang, less than 100 miles away from Dantu County, and less than 30 miles away, the sky gradually darkened.

Everyone marched unhurriedly in the silent night, the regimental training camp slowed down the speed of the horses, and Li Qingan ordered Nan Jiyun to lead twenty people first.

He slowed down his horse and waited for Li Daofu behind him to step forward.

"Li Yuanjun, there is something I want to inquire about."

"General, please!"

"I want to know how high-ranking officials like Taishou and Transit Envoys will be dismissed?"

Li Daofu smiled and said: "When ordinary officials are dismissed, they are generally immoral or derelict in their duties, and dereliction of duty is more important than dereliction of duty, but General Li must know that if a high-ranking official is generally too shou or transferred, there will generally be people behind him, and small immorality and dereliction of duty will not move them, and they will not commit major dereliction of duty, so if you want to remove them from office, only special circumstances will occur." ”

"What special circumstances?"

"The first is that he is greedy and stolen, the amount is huge, as long as the incident happens, the court will never tolerate it, and the second is that there is a problem in his background, the so-called tree is falling and scattered, except for these two, it is difficult for other things to shake their position."

Li Qingan nodded, he was just about to ask again, when there was a sound of horses' hooves in the distance, it was Nan Jiyun and they were back.

"General, there is a situation!"

"What's going on?"

Nan Jiyun stepped forward and put down an old man from his horse, and said, "General, he is the Li Zheng of Pingdu Town, and he has important information. ”

"What important information do you have?" Li Qingan leaned over with great interest and asked.

The old man hurriedly said: "General, dozens of people suddenly came to the town this evening, noisy and shouting, most of them are accents from the Sizhou area, the leader is very fierce, injured the innkeeper, the villain is ready to go to Qu'a County overnight to complain, but met the general on the way. ”

After saying that, the old man timidly glanced at Nan Jiyun, who had fled in the night, but was almost killed by an arrow from this officer.

Li Qingan asked anxiously: "Are you sure it's the accent from the Sizhou area?" ”

"It must be, the villain spent seven or eight years in Sizhou when he was young, so he can hear it."

"How far is Pingdu Town from here?"

"General Huiyu, there are about ten miles or so."

"Pass the order, go full speed, and block all the exits of Pingdu Town for me."

The team of men and horses immediately accelerated, the sound of horses' hooves hitting the ground in the night, the horses galloped, the dogs in the huts on both sides of the official road barked loudly, and countless earth dogs rushed out and roared at them.

It didn't take long for the black outline of Pingdu Town to be faintly visible in the distance.

"General, the inn at the north entrance of the town!" Ri was pointing to a three-story inn and yelling.

The lights were already on in the inn, and the sound of horses' hooves alarmed them, and they saw someone rushing out of the inn and running desperately.

"Block the front and back, no one can be let go, those who dare to resist, kill!"

The Tang army swept towards the inn, the arrows flew in the air, two people were shot by the arrows, screamed and fell to the ground, the Tang army instantly surrounded the inn, Li Fei Shouyu shouted: "The people inside all raise their hands to come out, otherwise, we will release the rocket!" ”

There was no sound in the inn, and suddenly, a bowstring sounded, and an arrow was shot, hitting the shoulder socket of a Tang army, and the Tang army turned over and fell off the horse, Li Qingan was furious and ordered: "Release the rocket!" ”

A rocket rose into the air, with a blazing flame to the inn, the fire borrowed the wind, suddenly, the flames were blazing, the inn began to run out, some strong people ran over the wall to the town, the Tang army arrows rained, in a moment, more than a dozen people who fled were all shot dead.

Li Fei Shouyu shouted again: "One last chance, put your hands above your head and come out, otherwise you will be killed!" ”

"Spare your life! We dare not resist, spare our lives! "The fire grew stronger and stronger, and the people in the inn were cornered, and they were all crowded into the courtyard, which was filled with the sound of crying and pleading, mixed with the mournful neighing of the horses.

More than 30 men with raised hands and dozens of horses poured out of the courtyard, and Tang Jun stepped forward to lead the horses away, and more than 30 people knelt on the ground.

"Master Jun spares his life! We are all forced. ”

Li Qing'an saw that there was still a middle-aged man who was wounded by an arrow hidden among them, and asked with a whip, "Where is Du Boyun?" ”

Several men glanced at each other, and they all moved away in unison, revealing the injured middle-aged man, who snorted and stood up in pain.

"I'm Du Boyun."

After Du Boyun appeared in Xuyi County, he was so frightened that he fled from Duliang Mountain overnight, they galloped day and night, two hours earlier than the Tang army, and fled to Pingdu Town, both men and horses were extremely tired, Du Boyun thought that the Tang Army could not catch up again, so he decided to stay in Pingdu Town for one night and then left, but was surrounded by the Tang Army and suffered heavy casualties.

Li Qingan smiled coldly, and pointed at him with a horsewhip: "Take him down, count all the people, and see if there is any leakage." ”

Pingdu Town is still fifty miles away from Qu'a County, and it is one shift at night, so although there is a fire here, people from fifty miles away will never know.

In a moment, Tang Jun got the exact address they were going to from Du Boyun's son, Sunjia Lane in Qu'a County, the maternal uncle's house of the three brothers of the Du family, and the famous big family in Qu'a County, the big salt lord Du Bosheng was hiding in his house.

The target was locked, and the Tang army set off again, this time, the official was the vanguard, and Li Daofu took the lead and ran to the front.

About four o'clock, the sky was flushed with blue, and the group of men and horses who marched all night finally arrived at Qu'a County, which is a middle county, the city is not big, only open the north and south gates, at this time it is not yet time to open the door, but the city gate is already crowded with farmers who are ready to enter the city to sell vegetables.

When they saw the arrival of the large group of men and horses, they were frightened and dodged to both sides, and the messenger guarding the gate of the city had already discovered the anomaly below, and asked, "Who is down there?" ”

"Open the door quickly, I'm too shou Li Daofu."

In a moment, the city gate creaked open, and an errand came out to inspect it, and when he saw that it was Li Taishou, they were so frightened that they quickly opened the gate.

This time the Tang army did not ride horses, and the officials ran towards Sunjia Lane, and found their target in a moment, the big family plum house in Qu'a County, which is a large mansion with a wide area, a full fifty acres, the government officials and two hundred soldiers surrounded the mansion, and the rest of the soldiers climbed over the wall into the house, and suddenly there was an exclamation inside.

Mei Fanghe, the owner of Mei Mansion, had done Changzhou Thorn History in the Kaiyuan years, ten years ago he retired to live at home to raise his life, his sister is the mother of the three brothers of the Du family, the Du family is wealthy, and every New Year's festival will send a huge amount of money and things, so that Mei Fanghe is not only highly respected, but also rich in the party, so that in Qu'a County built this house larger than the county government.

Mei Fanghe is nearly 80 years old this year, and he is not sleeping well, and the screams of his family immediately woke him up from his dream, and when he heard that there were officers and soldiers entering the house, he was panicked and scared, and he trembled out with the support of his two grandchildren.

"We are good people, why do you break into people's houses at night?"

The main hall was crowded with the children, grandchildren and daughters-in-law of the Mei family, and each of them was trembling, and they didn't know what disaster had befallen the Mei family.

In the courtyard outside, there were hundreds of Tang soldiers standing in the dark, they were holding horizontal knives, murderous, and Li Qing'an, the leader, said coldly: "You have violated the criminal law of the Tang Dynasty by hiding the fugitive Du Bosheng, and you are guilty of the same crime as the fugitive, do you still want to deny it?" ”

"This general, the old man was also a state assassin and a school inspector of Guanglu Temple, although he has retired for ten years, but the purple gold fish bag rewarded by the saint is still there, I know the law of the Tang Dynasty better than you, you say that I am hiding the fugitives, but what evidence is there? If there is no evidence, then please show the will of God, otherwise you have no right to search my house. ”

"Humph! Do you want proof? It's easy. ”

Li Qingan turned around and ordered Li Fei Shouyu a few words, Li Fei Shouyu immediately took a few people and hurried away, Li Qingan didn't say a word, stood in the courtyard and squinted at Mei Fanghe.

Mei Fanghe didn't know what he was going to do, he was really nervous, he was old and frail, he couldn't stand still, a son brought him an embroidered pier and asked him to sit down, Mei Fanghe's mind was thinking quickly about countermeasures, how to deal with these officers and soldiers?

He has been a state official for a long time, of course, he knows that it is a felony to shield the salt lord, but he can't resist the temptation of the money transferred by the Du family, and finally agreed to hide his nephew Du Bosheng here, but in the end he was discovered by the officers and soldiers, and he felt a burst of regret in his heart.

Mei Fanghe hoped that Li Daofu or Zhang County Ling would come forward to intercede for his family, and everyone would find a step, but the magistrate never came forward.

About half an hour later, there were hurried footsteps outside the courtyard wall, and I saw Lifei Shouyu and more than a dozen officers and soldiers walking in, in the hands of Lifei Shouyu, carrying Du Boyun's son Du Xi.

He slammed Du Xi on the ground and handed Li Qingan a confession, Li Qingan waved his confession and said to Mei Fanghe: "Here is the confession of Du Boyun and his son, they have confessed that you are hiding Du Bosheng, with this confession, I dare to search your house." ”

Mei Fanghe suddenly saw Du Xi, he couldn't help but be shocked, and before he could speak, Li Qingan waved his hand and said, "Search for me!" ”

The soldiers suddenly agreed, scattered to search, they were violent, rummaging through the boxes and cabinets in Mei's house, from time to time there were screams and pleadings from the family, Mei Fanghe's face was pale, knowing that Du Bosheng would be searched sooner or later, he suddenly said: "General, how about we make a deal?" ”

Li Qing'an glanced at him and sneered, "Did you just think of making a deal with me now?" What did you just do? ”

Mei Fanghe helped his grandson to walk slowly, and begged in a low voice: "General, as long as you let my Mei family go this time, I will not only hand over Du Bosheng to you, but also Du Bosheng's 200,000 yuan of money hidden elsewhere and all his confidential documents, I will hand them over to you, and if you have any other conditions, I can agree." ”

Li Qingan smiled slightly, "Are you serious?" ”

"As long as the general lets my Mei family go this time, I will speak my word."

"Okay, you write me a written guarantee admitting to hiding Du Bosheng, and I'll negotiate terms with you."

Mei Fanghe didn't know Li Qing'an's intentions, but the officers and soldiers had already searched the inner courtyard, and he knew that the situation was very critical, so he had to nod and say, "Okay!" I promise you. ”

Mei Fanghe went back to the lobby to write a letter of guarantee, drew a detention, and handed it to Li Qingan, admitting that he was hiding the fugitive Du Bosheng, Li Qingan accepted the letter of guarantee and immediately ordered: "Stop the search!" ”

The Tang army stopped searching, Mei Fanghe breathed a long sigh of relief, and said to Li Qingan: "General, please speak!" What conditions do you want. ”

"I only have two conditions."

Li Qingan stretched out two fingers and said: "First, secretly hand over Du Bosheng to me, no matter who asks you in the future, you can't say that Du Bosheng has been caught by me, and I naturally don't admit that you are hiding Du Bosheng." ”

Mei Fanghe was overjoyed, as long as he could get rid of the charge of hiding Du Bosheng, of course he would not admit it, he knew that Li Qingan wanted to use Du Bosheng to make a fuss, but this had nothing to do with him, he immediately said: "General, please rest assured, no matter how stupid I am, I will not take the initiative to admit that I have hidden important criminals in the court, and I will restrain my family members who know about it and ensure that no one will say it." ”

"It's good that you understand that."

Li Qingan smiled and said: "My second condition is that you hand over all the materials and property related to Du Bosheng, and these two conditions are the ones that I will leave you and Du Bosheng clean." ”

Mei Fanghe agreed almost without hesitation, even if Li Qingan didn't want it, he would destroy everything, and now as long as he can keep the Mei family, he doesn't care about anything.

"General, I can promise, I will hand over Du Bosheng to you now."

Li Qing'an followed Mei Fanghe to a pavilion in the backyard, Tang Jun had searched here just now, Tang Jun searched very carefully, all the rockeries were smashed, the walls were dug up, and the stables and cellars were all not let go, and this pavilion was stopped by Li Qing'an before it could be searched.

Mei Fanghe sighed, pointed to the pavilion with a cane and said, "The passage is in the pavilion, and you can see it by moving the stone table above." ”

As soon as Li Qingan waved his hand, he immediately went up to more than a dozen Tang soldiers and moved away from the stone table, and there was indeed a dark passage below, only to hear someone inside ask in a low voice: "Uncle, is it you?" ”

Li Qingan gave Mei Fanghe a look, and Mei Fanghe had to step forward and say, "Bo Sheng, come out!" The second and third children are here. ”

In a moment, a middle-aged man with unkempt hair and a pale face came out of the tunnel, he was the key figure in the Yangzhou salt case, the big salt lord Du Bosheng.

As soon as he appeared, he was hugged by Tang Jun, pressed him firmly to the ground, tied him up, and gagged his mouth, Du Bosheng stared at Mei Fanghe angrily, if his eyes could kill, Mei Fanghe had died countless times, Mei Fanghe turned away in shame, and did not dare to look at his nephew.

Li Qing'an walked over, looked him up and down, and said with a slight smile: "It turns out that you are Du Bosheng, and the entire Tang Dynasty is about to be turned upside down by you." ”

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(To be continued)