Xu Liang saw Lu Xiancheng's smug expression, and felt a burst of disgust in his heart for no reason. This Lu Chengyuan has been in Jianchang County for more than a month, and the county affairs have not seen him much innovation, and he has been nesting in the county Cheng's house all day long, with a false head and a sinister calculation, which is incompatible with Xu Liang's style of doing things. Xu Liang remembered a sentence in his previous life, fighting outsiders outside, fighting insiders, and talking about people like Lu Xiancheng.

Xu Liang took a deep breath and said, "Then Lu Xiancheng thinks we should talk about it, and ask Lord Lu to draw a line, whether it is dead or alive, I Xu Liang will follow." ”

Lu Xiancheng looked at the officials in the hall with a complacent look, took out a note from his sleeve, stretched it out under his eyes and nose to look at it, and then said: "Before talking, this official first asked Lord Xu, in the approval document issued by the Yamen of Jiujiang Branch Shoudao on the formation of the patrol battalion, it is written in black and white that the patrol battalion is self-raised, yes or no?" ”

Xu Liang nodded and said, "Not bad." ”

Lu Xiancheng said: "Then, the actual situation is that the silver two that formed the patrol battalion have always been exclusively managed by you, Lord Xu, and have never entered the account of the county yahu, is this or not?" ”

Xu Liang nodded again.

Lu Xiancheng saw that Xu Liang deserved to be simple, and he was contemptuous in his heart, but he smiled even more on his face, and said: "Well, in that case, what reason does the patrol battalion have to go to my arsenal to receive weapons in vain?" ”

Xu Liang frowned and said: "What Lord Lu said is the truth, but the lower officials feel that it is natural for the patrol battalion to go to the county treasury to take military weapons, and there are two reasons: First, the approval document of Jiujiang Province says that the food and salary are self-raised, but if there are no weapons and armaments, they are also self-raised, so if there is no such armament and armament, then it will be forgotten, if there is, it is okay to pay some." Second, although the patrol battalion is a subordinate official who is appointed as a patrol envoy, the approval document does not say that the patrol battalion will not be under the control of the county government, and the patrol battalion is still under the direct management of the county lord. ”

Before Lu Xiancheng could speak, the head of the house sitting below spoke, he arched his hand towards the top where Wang Zhixian was sitting, and said with a smile on his face: "The four adults are above, and the lower officials are the heads of the households, and in the matter of food and weapons, the lower officials think that what Lord Lu said makes a lot of sense, not to mention the others, the lower officials only know the long-term workers and tenants of ordinary people's families, if they don't earn money from the owner's house, then the owner naturally has no reason to eat three meals a day for nothing." Although the words are vulgar, the reason is that since the establishment of Lord Xu's patrol battalion, he has neither paid a single copper plate to the county government house, nor has he submitted a single account book to the house, so the house has no obligation to inquire about the affairs of the patrol camp. ”

Lu Xiancheng glanced at the head of the house approvingly, and secretly said that the head he promoted really had some skills, and he was able to stand up clearly to support him at a critical time, which is good, not bad.

The owner of the house noticed Lu Xiancheng's approval in the afterglow of his eyes, and was greatly encouraged, picked up the teacup in front of him and drank the tea in one gulp, spit out a piece of tea powder, flicked his cuffs, and swept his eyes around, and the officials who were sitting around were only watching the excitement and not saying a word, and continued in high spirits: "You adults know that this armory warehouse has always been a large part of my household management, and now since the patrol battalion is not under the management of the household, then this armory has no obligation to provide weapons to the patrol battalion in vain!" ”

As soon as the head of the house finished speaking, except for Lu Xiancheng and Jiang Dianshi, the rest of the people were like old monks sitting in meditation, looking at the nose and nose, the nose and the heart, the head of the house did not wait for the expected cheers, raised his eyes and saw the head of a county sitting above Lord Xu's eyes gloomy and scary, and his heart sighed, and he secretly said that this time he would offend Lord Xu miserably, and glanced at Lu County Cheng uneasily, and suddenly thought that Lu County Cheng was a seventh-grade county Cheng, which was four levels higher than Xu Liang's main book of the ninth grade, and his uneasy heart was slightly lowered. Sit down with your butt smiling at the edge of the chair.

Xu Liang glanced at the owner of the house with a calm face and said quietly: "Yo, where did this official come from?" What is the rank? Where is the official looking at the face? He glanced at Gong Deyan, the head of the official room who was sitting on the side, and then said, "Is the head of the official room palace here?" ”

"Humble duty!" Gong Deyan responded loudly with a very eye-catching look.

"Who is the official who stood up and resigned just now? That's really exciting, reasonable, well-founded, and associated, the official listened to it and thought it was a commissioner sent by the Nankang Mansion or the Political Envoy Division, and he was startled just now, but he took a closer look at this official robe, there was no complement, it was so green, and it didn't look like a serious official, why was the official authority so big? ”

As soon as Xu Liang's cold words fell, the officials sitting around him suddenly let out a burst of snickering, and the face of the head of the house suddenly turned the color of pig liver, and he was so ashamed that he wanted to find a crack in the ground to get into.

The palace master couldn't help but laugh, knowing that the time had come for him to express himself, and when he put on a full official robe, he said loudly: "Hui Yu, the person who just spoke is the new head of the house, Liu Yuan, Lord Liu, cough, Lord Liu must have just entered the yamen, and he is not very clear about the rules in our yamen. ”

"Oh......" Xu Liang let out a long sigh, as if he had just understood, and said to himself: "No wonder you don't understand the rules so much, it turns out that you are still a chick!" He smiled at Lu Xiancheng, who had a calm face on the opposite side: "Lord Lu, you said this is really strange, how can this house be ignorant, last time there was a thorn in charge of Qian Yiqian, the head of the eyes was superior, he didn't listen to the greeting, and was sent to Liaodong to repair the city wall, why did he have a Liu Yuan Liu in charge this time?" ”

Before the words fell, the second hall of the county government suddenly burst into laughter, and the county instructors and instructors laughed so much that tears were about to come out, and even Wang Zhixian, who was hanging his head and napping, woke up from his "sleep" and slapped the table several times with laughter, and Liu Yuan, the head of the household, blushed as if he was squeezing blood with a pinch.

"Ahem," Lu Xiancheng coughed lightly, and said with a calm face: "Lord Xu, don't change the topic, although Director Liu said recklessly, but his words are not rough, if Lord Xu's patrol battalion wants to take weapons from the arsenal, in my opinion, there is no reason to send them away in vain." ”

"Lord Lu thinks what to do? Bah! Alas, what a big tea dump! Xu Liang spit out the tea and said.

A trace of gloom suddenly flashed on Lu Xiancheng's face, and he took several breaths before he said: "If the patrol battalion wants to take weapons and armaments from the armory, it still has to pay for them according to the price. ”

When Xu Liang heard this, he sneered coldly, didn't answer, and asked again: "What about the patrol battalion that selected the camp by the Jianchang River?" ”

"Naturally, we have to do things according to the rules, fight on the spot, and buy land at market prices." Lu Xiancheng said in a deep voice with a cold face.

Xu Liang listened, and did not speak with a calm face.

"If Lord Xu feels embarrassed, then we can discuss the specific price, after all, you and I are officials in the same court, and we can't see anyone who looks down and looks up, so it's convenient to be convenient." Seeing that Xu Liang didn't answer for a long time, Lu Xiancheng let out the resentment in his chest and smiled fakely.

"No need!" Xu Liang raised his head suddenly, gritted his teeth and said, "Just do what Lord Lu wants." However, Xu still has one condition. ”

"Oh?" Lu Xiancheng said: "Lord Xu just said." ”

Xu Liang snorted coldly and said, "Since Lord Lu has spoken today, then Xu Mou will make some plans clear in front of everyone." The conditions that Lord Lu just said, the official depends on you, it's just that the patrol battalion is not one or two people, it is also one or two hundred people who have to open their mouths to eat every day, Lord Lu today will patrol the battalion food and salary self-raising these four words so thoroughly, then the official will say the ugly words in front, how can Jianchang always give the patrol battalion a way to live, weapons, land to buy at the price, yes! However, after the patrol battalion is completed, a checkpoint will be set up at the Jianchang River estuary to collect the passage tax of ships coming and going, and in the future, the spoils obtained by the patrol battalion and bandits must also belong to the patrol battalion, and the county government must not interfere! Do you agree with these two points? ”

Lu Xiancheng didn't expect Xu Liang to say such two things, pinched his beard and thought for a while, and secretly said that the income of this patrol battalion to suppress bandits is nothing, but he didn't say it, other people in the county government want to come forward to ask for it, and they may not be able to get it, but this Jianchang River collects ship tax, and there are so many ships coming and going to Jianchang River every day.

Thinking of this, Lu Xiancheng smiled heartily and said loudly: "Lord Xu agreed so happily to the request made by this official, and the official can't make it difficult for Lord Xu." In this way, in the future, all the income of the nest bandits of the patrol battalion will be owned by the patrol battalion, as for the Jianchang River, which has collected the ship tax, well, after all, the Jianchang River is a river belonging to Jianchang County, and it is all owned by the patrol battalion, but I am afraid that the people below will not agree, so let's see that the patrol battalion will collect the ship tax, and pay the ship tax of 300 taels of silver to the county every month in the future, what does Lord Xu think? ”

Xu Liang's cheeks were bitten loudly, and he said categorically: "No, three hundred taels is too much, at most one hundred taels!" ”

"Two hundred taels, no less!" Lu Xiancheng shook his head and said, like a profiteer, biting the price and not letting go.

"Lord Lu!" Xu Liang said ruthlessly word by word: "One hundred taels is the limit that I Xu Liang can promise, if the adults agree, if they don't agree, then all the things mentioned above will be done, hmph, if Jianchang County doesn't give weapons, won't Jiujiang Dao and the political envoy give it?" Do you really mean that I have no way out? ”

Lu Xiancheng saw that Xu Liang's tone was strict, and he knew that he couldn't force him too hard, so he laughed and nodded: "Since this is the case, then it depends on Lord Xu, one hundred taels will be one hundred taels, and the household will suffer a loss." ”

Xu Liang sneered, and said to Ge Qiao, who was sitting on the side and didn't say a word from beginning to end: "Deputy Envoy Ge, you have written the opinion reached between Lord Lu and this official just now into two contracts, and give Lord Lu a seal for his eyes. ”

Ge Qiao responded: "Yes." Then a servant presented a pen and paper, and Ge Qiao sat there and picked up the pen and wrote the contract on the spot.

Lu Xiancheng was stunned and said: "What is Lord Xu doing, today's matter, all colleagues in Jianchang County can testify, Lord Xu is still afraid that he will not be able to change his mind in the future?" ”

Xu Liang sneered and said: "There is a way that is empty and unfounded, and the word is based on it, Xu is really afraid!" ”

One sentence choked Lu Xiancheng speechless. After Ge Qiao wrote the two contracts, Xu Liang read them, put them in front of Lu Xiancheng, and said, "Lord Lu take a look, if you have no opinions, please ask Lord Lu to print the official seal." ”

Seeing that Xu Liang was so serious, Lu Xiancheng had no choice but to read the contract carefully, and only after a while did he smile and said to Wang Zhixian, who was sitting at the head of the house: "Lord Xu, this contract is not signed with my little county Cheng, this needs to be sealed, and it should also be used The official seal of the county lord, county honor, you see?" ”

Wang Zhixian saw the whole process of today's second hall clearly, originally he made up his mind to put himself aside, let your county master book fighting method, this county sat firmly on the Diaoyutai, I didn't expect to come to this Lu County Cheng kicked the ball to his feet, Wang Zhixian couldn't help frowning, took a deep look at Lu County, and nodded slowly: "Come on, go to the lobby to get the official seal of the county." ”

After Wang Zhixian used the seal, Xu Liang took one into his arms, said goodbye from the second hall, stood in the aisle of the county office, turned his head and solemnly commanded Ge Qiao: "Deputy Envoy Ge, after you go back, you will immediately start to go through the purchase procedures with the ambassador of the library and the house, the silver must be paid clearly, hum, things must be seen clearly, don't buy back some rusty scrap copper and rotten iron, remember, our patrol battalion has paid a lot of money!" ”

Several officials who walked past Xu Liang laughed and laughed when they heard this, and they all looked frightened, and walked past with a stern face.