"What's the matter, we haven't walked for a cup of tea yet?" Gong Changyu covered his mouth and said.

"General, my silver is hidden in this underground palace about five hundred paces away." Jing Zhigang held the torch and looked at the intersection in front of him, "Oh no, I can't remember where to go." ”

These three forks in the road, one is a dead end, one is the road to the underground palace, and the other is an escape road to the outside of the city. Confused, this Jing Zhigang county order, only drank a few glasses, and he couldn't figure out the east, west, north and south.

"Master Jing, tell me quickly. I will carry you the money. Gong Changyu urged.

"Hmm." He replied, "I really can't remember how old I am." General Gong, it's better for you to choose which way to go. ”

"I'll come, I'll come." Gong Changyu took out a copper plate from his arms and said with a smile, "Which way the copper plate rolls to, we will take whichever way." ”

"Okay." Jing Zhigang nodded in agreement. So Gong Changyu closed his eyes, threw the copper plate into the air, and then with a bang, it fell to the ground, rolled a few times, hit the wall of the tunnel, and rebounded back, and finally landed on the junction of the second road and the third road.

It can't be such a coincidence, right, should I take one way? Jing Zhigang was undecided.

Gong Changyu slowly opened his eyes and looked, he was not in a hurry, walked to the copper plate without saying a word, squatted down, and then spread his two fingers and pressed them on the top of the copper plate, and found that it was slightly biased towards the white line on the third side of the road, and couldn't help but be overjoyed: "Lord Jing, God let us go to the third one." ”

"The last time I came here to deposit money, it seemed like I was taking the middle road." Jing Zhigang sobered up a little more.

"You are really, why doesn't the silver exist in the bank, but you have to get it here." Gong Changyu complained.

"General, do you know that the silver obtained by this official is obtained by selling the treasures in this royal city, if it is stored in the money bank, I am not caught by others, I can't help it, I can't do it." Jing Zhigang stopped again and again.

"Don't you believe in the bank?" Gong Changyu picked up the copper plate and put it in the palm of his hand.

"The bank does not pay interest to the depositor, but instead charges a storage fee. If I keep my money there and pour interest on it, isn't it a loss? Jing Zhigang said with a smile.

"My lord, it seems that my uncle's Mao Sheng Xiang Qian Zhuang opened the business of depositing silver to pay interest in the early years of Xiantong. Why don't you give it a try? Gong Changyu said.

"Didn't I say it, the things in the royal city are all state-owned assets, and I secretly took them out before exchanging them into silver. If I go to Qianzhuang and be targeted by the people, won't I become a big rat? Jing Zhigang responded.

"The money bank wants to keep the money secret from the person who saves it, don't you say that it is the money from the resale of the treasure, who knows?"

"I still don't want to keep the money in the bank. When I was a county magistrate elsewhere, I never dealt with Qian Zhuang, because I didn't have much money in the first place. ”

"How much do you pay a year?"

"Not much, 45 taels of silver, 45 taels of Lu rice (5 buckets of a hu, about 200 catties now), of course, excluding the incorruptible silver."

"And the incorruptible silver? How come General Ben has never heard of it? ”

"Not much. Only 1200 taels. ”

"In the first month of this year, General Ben took 18 taels of silver, 7 taels and 5 millimeters, 48 taels of salary, 12 taels of silver for vegetables, candles, charcoal, and 12 taels of silver on red paper, totaling 90 taels and 7 taels and 5 millimeters."

"You're a garrison general?"

"That's right." Gong Changyu threw the copper plate on the ground.

"But I heard that in the Jingnan Army, those who have been officially appointed by the imperial court can get double silver, is it true?"

"Where?" Gong Changyu stalled his hands.

When the Qing Dynasty and the imperial court established the "Jingnan Army", there was no appropriation, and the military expenses of the Jingnan Army were maintained by selling officials and collecting protection fees, and the welfare of more than a dozen Jingnan armies was different.

In the eighth year of Xiantong, in Zeng Fan's troops, a soldier at the most basic level could get two taels of silver and six taels a month, and because of the strict management, there was no phenomenon of greed for military salaries, and a middle-level military attache could get more than 200 taels of silver a month. But Gong Changyu's treatment in the Jiang family army was only half of Zeng's, and the price of goods rose, and their treatment still did not improve much. In the years when Gong Changyu was in Jiang Changyi's Jiang family's army, he didn't get much silver at all. After being promoted to the general of the capital division last year, Jiang Changyi never gave him silver again, and he also took away the silver taels rewarded by the emperor, so he was angry when he thought about it.

"General Gong, how much salary do you get a year at most?"

"It's only 500 taels...... Don't talk about that, the two of us have to move the money out of the dungeon as soon as possible. Gong Changyu was embarrassed to say that he was the commander, and the pitiful military salary.

"That's fine." Jing Zhigang took Gong Changyu to the third road from left to right, walking, the road became more and more slippery, and at the end, a rusty iron gate blocked in front of him, only to find that there was no way out, it turned out to be a dead end.

"Damn, this official is mistaken." Jing Zhigang patted his head and said with a smile.

"Brother Zhigang, are you not playing with me?" Gong Changyu drew his saber and put it on Jing Zhigang's chest.

"Brother Jichang, what are you doing here?" Jing Zhigang's wine was immediately scared and woke up more than half.

"I've convinced you, man. You're not even fifty years old, and your memory loss isn't so bad. There are only three forks in this tunnel, and you can't tell them apart. I don't think you should be the county magistrate. After I went out, I gave the big seal of the county government directly to my cousin. Gong Changyu shook his head helplessly.

"Brother Jichang, it is impossible for the county government seal to be handed over to others casually. What's more, your cousin has no fame and can't be a county magistrate. Jing Zhigang said.

"It's okay if you don't pay it, then you can conjure up 50,000 taels of silver for me." Gong Changyu put the sword into the scabbard, "Shall we go forward or go back?" ”

"Go back, of course." Jing Zhigang answered.

"Lord Jing, why do I think the design of this iron gate is very similar to the door that came in, could it be that this is also connected to the underground palace?" Gong Changyu walked to the edge of the iron gate, raised his hand, and knocked up and down, but found nothing abnormal.

It seems that there is really no way behind this iron gate. He was about to leave, when a cockroach crawled out from the top of the iron gate, then spread its wings and flew up, landing on Jing Zhigang's cheek, crawling around on his face and beard, but he had no intention of leaving.

Jing Zhigang stretched out his hand and slapped his face, but where could he reach it, the cockroach quickly burrowed into his clothes. Jing Zhigang had no choice but to take off his clothes, wrap them up and put them on the ground, stomped on his clothes a few times, and then opened them again to see where there was the shadow of cockroaches!

"Lord Jing, cockroaches are on your boots!" Gong Changyu shouted, "Don't waste your efforts, you can't hit it." ”

"I don't believe that I can't even catch a cockroach." Jing Zhigang slapped his shoes hard, this time he finally hit, and then he let out a howl, "Oops, it hurts me to death!" ”

It turned out that the "cockroach" foot thorn pierced Jing Zhigang's palm. He pulled the cockroach's leg out of his palm and threw the cockroach on the ground, the guy wasn't dead yet, and a few legs were still kicking!

As soon as Jing Zhi raised his foot, he was about to step on it, but Gong Changyu hurriedly stretched out his leg to stop him: "Don't step on it." If you step on one, there will be more small cockroaches. ”

"How so?" Jing Zhigang looked confused.

"My lord, even if you trample a cockroach to death, its eggs are still alive, and the cockroach eggs are protected by a very hard protective shell. After a cockroach is trampled to death, some of its eggs remain in its body, and some of them will be adsorbed on the soles of their shoes, and it will soon continue to reproduce and more cockroaches will appear. Gong Changyu explained, "So if you trample on the cockroaches, there will be more small cockroaches." ”

"That's how I used to kill cockroaches." Jing Zhigang said with a smile.

"The only way to deal with this little animal is to use fire to make them lose their offspring." Gong Changyu held the torch flat, then pinched one of the cockroach's legs and placed it on the torch, and then emitted a burning smell.

After burning the cockroaches to ashes, Gong Changyu held the torch again, approached the iron gate, put his ear on it, and listened carefully for a while, as if he heard the sound of water leaking inside.

"Lord Jing, the back of this iron gate will be hollow. Here, put the handle, let's get this door open together. Gong Changyu said.

"General, this door must not be opened." Jing Zhigang said, "I have lived in the palace for more than two years, and I have entered this dungeon more than a dozen times. Inadvertently, on a stone wall, I found the construction drawings of the palace, and wrote that as soon as the door of death is opened, there will be a catastrophe in Wuyou City. It is estimated that there is a century-old monster locked up in this death door......"

"You are alarmist!" Gong Changyu said that he would not believe Jing Zhigang's nonsense.

"Brother Jichang, listen to me, don't open it." Jing Zhigang said.

"Whatever." Gong Changyu kicked in the middle of the iron gate, but he didn't move. But after a while, a puff of green smoke came out of a slit above the iron gate, and gradually, the green smoke became bigger and bigger, and then there was a loud sound of landslides and ground cracks around, and soon the sound disappeared again, and the iron gate slowly rose vertically from the mouth of the tunnel.

After the iron gate opened, a ramp appeared. Wow, this is still this thing from the Jingming Dynasty! On the slope was a row of Wugang cars, with scarves and covers, covered with cowhides, with large shields and spears on them, and a cannon on each car. Gong Changyu was very excited and walked up the slope with a torch. After walking less than ten steps, the Wu Gang car began to move slowly, shooting a whirring bow and arrow. Jing Zhigang was so frightened that he hurriedly lay on the ground.