After inspecting the wheat fields, Fanning headed for the county seat, accompanied by Xie Wensheng, the county commander, and about ten miles away from the county seat, Fanning saw a castle-like manor in the distance, which covered an area of thousands of hectares, and the core castle was surrounded by high walls.

Fan Ning stared at the manor for a long time without saying a word, and at this time, Xie Wensheng said in a low voice: "That is the ancestral property left by Zhao Yanhui, the founder of the country." ”

"Isn't Zhao Yanhui from Dingzhou, Hebei? How did the ancestral property end up here? ”

"The prince of the house does not know, the Song Liao war in the Dingzhou area is frequent, Zhao Yanhui died of illness and was buried in Yingtianfu, his three sons moved the family temple to Yingtianfu, and then separated, the old three Zhao Wuliang moved to Gushu County, the flowers bloomed and the leaves were scattered, and Gushu County was divided into seven branches, occupying tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land, but never paid a penny of taxes."

Fan Ning knew that Zhao Yanhui's evaluation in history was 'not sympathetic to civil affairs, specialized affairs, and private money was huge.' ’

It's just that Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin saw that he had a meritorious role in founding the country, and did not posthumously seal his property, and after his death, his children and grandchildren all lived extremely luxurious lives.

Fan Ning snorted coldly, "Is Jingdong Road's appeasement envoy Zhao Qian's home here?" ”

"Exactly!"

Xie Wensheng shook his head and said, "Don't hide it from the prince, I have served as the county commander in Gushu County for three years, and I have never been to the Zhao family's manor. ”

"Why?"

"The Zhao family has thousands of Zhuang Ding, trained according to the way of the army, and I heard that they are well-equipped and have their own domain in their territory, and the government is not allowed to enter their territory."

Fanning frowned and asked, "What if the thieves commit a crime and escape into their territory?" ”

"This kind of thing has happened many times, the Zhao family has a big grain shop in the county, we have to contact the manager of the grain shop first, and then they will report to the Zhao family, but the result is often that there is no such person, and then it is over, and it has been like this for decades."

Fan Ning snorted and said: "It's simply a country within a country, there is no big Song law, let's go, let's take a look!" ”

Fanning urged his horse to run towards the castle in the distance, which was actually far away from the official road, and because it was built on a grand scale, it could be seen clearly from a distance of nearly twenty miles.

There were still three miles from the castle, and they were about to pass through a forest, when suddenly dozens of Zhuang Ding rushed out of the woods, carrying long knives at their waists and holding ash spears in their hands, blocking their way, and the leader of Zhuang Ding shouted: "This is a private territory, and outsiders are not allowed to enter?" ”

Xie Wensheng obviously had experience, and he urged him to step forward and said loudly: "You can't be rude, this is the prefect of Ying Tianfan, come to visit the master of your mansion!" ”

The roadblocker Ding looked at each other, after all, Ying Tianzhifu and Gushu County were not officials at the same level, so he hesitated for the first family and said, "Then please wait for a while, we will inform the master!" ”

Xie Wensheng was about to speak, but Fan Ning stopped him, "Needless to say, what should I do with them?" ”

Zhuang Ding, the leader, gave an order to his subordinates, he turned around and ran towards the castle three miles away, while Fan Ning waited patiently, he wanted to see how the Zhao family moved stones to hit their feet?

He looked at the castle three miles away, estimated for a moment, and asked Xie Wensheng, "That castle is higher than the city wall!" ”

"It's not only higher than the city wall, I heard that the Zhao ancestral hall in the castle has eight big pillars, which are seven zhang high, which are picked from the deep mountains in the south, plus the top building, the castle should be more than ten zhang."

Fanning snorted, "Wouldn't that be even higher than the Guide Palace!" ”

Ying Tianfu is also known as Nanjing, the ancestral hall of the Great Song Dynasty royal family is located here, and built Hongqing Palace, the main hall of Hongqing Palace is called Guide Palace, it is the highest building in Songcheng County, here is also the implementation of the provisions of the capital, any building subject of Ying Tianfu can not exceed Guide Palace.

In fact, the whole world is this regulation, but many places are far away from the emperor and are not strictly controlled, but Kaifeng Mansion and Yingtianfu are the most strictly managed places, in Songcheng County, there is no building height that exceeds the Guide Hall, including the main tower of the temple does not exceed.

Of course, there are several hills in the city, and pavilions and pavilions are built on the top of the hills, which does not count, mainly refers to the main body of the building.

The highest part of the Guide Hall is only eight zhang, and the main hall of the Zhao family's castle is obviously more than eight zhang.

Although this is not Songcheng County, this is Yingtianfu, and the Zhao family is already suspected of trespassing.

"Has the Zhao family ancestral hall been approved by the imperial court?"

Xie Wensheng shook his head, "Even the temple doesn't approve it, let alone the ancestral hall." ”

Fan Ning sneered in his heart, Song Ling really said it well, the Zhao family has a lot of tricks, and it seems that he is worth the trip.

After about a quarter of an hour, the head Zhuang Ding came panting, bowed down and said, "My master is invited!"

Fan Ning said coldly: "Your master has such a big face, don't you come to the gate to greet him?" ”

"My master is indeed waiting at the gate of the mansion!"

Fanning's face changed, and he turned his horse's head and said, "Let's go!" ”

He and his men immediately turned around and left, and the Zhuang Ding were all stunned, not knowing what had happened?

Xie Wensheng was also puzzled, Fan Ning said lightly: "I really don't dare to enter the arrogant building, since his master refuses to come three miles away to greet him, it's okay not to visit this one!" ”

Xie Wensheng was a little worried, "Fujun, if you are held accountable for trespassing, will I also be responsible for negligence in this county order?" ”

"There is indeed this possibility, I suggest that you better write a detailed report, and when the imperial envoy arrives, I can speak for you."

…………

The Zhao family has a total of three branches in Yingtianfu, which evolved from the three sons of Zhao Yanhui, distributed in Songcheng County, Gushu County and Ningling County, Gushu County This branch is the main sect, and the ancestral hall of the Zhao family is built here.

At present, the Zhao family in Gushu County is called Zhao Jian, and he is the elder brother of Zhao Qian, who is appeased by Jingdong Road, and when he heard that the prefect Fan Ning arrived, Zhao Jian reluctantly brought a few clansmen to the gate to greet him, which was also to give his brother face, and did not want his brother to make enemies in the officialdom, otherwise Zhao Jian would not pay attention to the magistrate at all.

But Zhao Jian waited for Fan Ning to come on the left and the prefect on the right, he began to be a little impatient in his heart, and several clansmen behind him were even more impatient, shouting to ignore the official mansion.

At this time, the leader Zhuang Ding ran over, bowed to Zhao Jian and said, "Patriarch Qiyu, Governor Fan has gone back." ”

Zhao Jian was stunned and asked, "Why don't you come?" ”

Of course, the leader Zhuang Ding didn't dare to tell the truth, but just shook his head, "I told him that the head of the family was at the gate to greet him, and he didn't say a word, turned the horse's head and left." ”

"What!"

Zhao Jian was suddenly extremely dissatisfied in his heart, what is this, he is here to entertain myself? Going out to greet him himself has already given him face, what else does he want?

Although he was dissatisfied in his heart, he did not say it, and his face became very ugly.

A few clansmen next to him said gossips: "Big brother shouldn't give him any face, our Zhao family has been meritorious for generations, even if the prime minister comes, he has to give three points, what is he a prefect, give him face!" ”

Zhao Jian's face became more and more ugly, he snorted heavily, and turned back.

The local tycoons are used to it, and their political sensitivity has also decreased, and they do not realize the real reason why the prefect refuses to come to the door.

Fan Ning entered Gushu County, came directly to the county office, and first asked Xie Wensheng to take out the tax payment records over the years, Zhao Jian's name was on the tax payment list, and there were thousands of hectares of land records under his name, but the tax payment records were blank for many years.

"Did they say a reason for not paying taxes?" Fanning asked coldly.

"They said that the land was given by the Son of Heaven, and Taizu promised to exempt the generations from taxes, but we have evidence that their land was not given by the Son of Heaven, but obtained through mergers and acquisitions.

Fan Ning took a few steps and immediately said to Xie Wensheng: "You immediately write a complaint now, three aspects, one is to complain that they have resisted taxes for decades and have not paid them, falsely spread the will of Taizu, and ruined Taizu's reputation, the second is that the ancestral hall far exceeds the Guide Hall and openly trespasses, and the third is to complain that the Zhao family relied on Zhao Qian's power to form a private army, openly confronted the local government, and had an unscrupulous attempt. ”

Xie Wensheng knew that Fan Ning was going to do something to the Zhao family, and if he didn't clear it up in time, he wouldn't be able to escape the responsibility of negligence in the end.

He nodded, "I'll write it!" ”

Xie Wensheng immediately wrote a complaint of several thousand words, and Fan Ning read it, and the complaint listed a large number of facts, which were justified and very detailed.

Fan Ning beckoned Zhu Hu to come, handed him the complaint, and said: "You go back to the capital quickly, this complaint will be handed over to Wang Weizhen, the doctor of Zuo, and ask him to file a case, and send an envoy to Gushu County to conduct a secret investigation." ”

Zhu Hu bowed and saluted, "The humble duty must be done!" ”

He collected the letter and urged his horse to gallop in the direction of the capital.

Fan Ning didn't expect that he would catch Zhao Qian's handle so quickly, this matter was relatively big, and at the right time, he would have to go to the capital in person.

.。 m.