Gushu County County Office, two counselors are checking the data in the mountain of information in the county office, one counselor reports the number, and the other counselor is responsible for recording.

"The thirty-fourth volume of the complete record of the land deed, in April of the third year of Dazhong Xiangfu, Zhao Ruinian purchased 3,244 acres of land in the east of Zhangcun, and the land deed number is 1447 ....... of the valley deed."

Zhao Ruinian is Zhao Qian's father, the two officials spent three days to find evidence of the Zhao family's purchase of land in the full record of the land deed over the years, they have counted 8,400 hectares, accounting for eighty percent of the total amount of land of the Zhao family, and the lie that the Zhao family's land comes from Taizu will not be broken.

"There is also the tax payment of the current year, Dazhong Xiangfu three years, the Zhao family's actual payment of field tax is ......."

The expressions of the two officials were very solemn, they had been counting for 30 years, and the land tax paid by the Zhao family over the years was even worse than that of a small farmer with only 100 acres of fertile land, and the children of the Zhao family did not have any record of serving hard labor, and the situation was so serious that it could only be described by the words 'shocking'.

At this time, there was a knock on the door outside, and an official went to open the door, and the Gushu County Charge Division stood at the door with a heavy stack of papers, "This is a total of 20 years of field tax records from the first year of Qingli to this year, and all the information you want is here." ”

"Thank you! Thanks a lot! ”

The counselor took the heavy paperwork and asked, "Do we have any news from Liu Jisi?" ”

"At noon, a message came from Xie County's order, saying that Liu Jisi would come back in the evening."

"I see, please pour me some more hot tea."

Oshiji nodded and went out, a pot of hot tea was delivered in a moment, and the two counselors closed the door and continued to count their stats.

.........

It has been three days since Liu Chu arrived in Gushu County with three counselors, and their troops were divided into two routes, Liu Chu and one counselor were responsible for investigating the Zhao family's encroachment and raising private troops, and also learned about the situation of the cattle mutual aid group by the way.

The other two officials were responsible for collecting the Zhao family's land deeds and land tax records in the county office.

After three days of visits and on-the-spot observations, Liu Chu basically confirmed that the private army in the report letter was true, and they saw with their own eyes that at least 3,000 Zhuang Ding were training in a group, using spears, some Zhuang Ding were wearing leather armor, and at least several hundred crossbows.

Maybe the Zhao family didn't think that this was an army, but in fact, this Zhuang Ding team completely matched the characteristics of the army, with an organization and a leader, and a large number of prohibited armor.

At this time, the county commander Xie Wensheng took several officials to accompany Liu Chu and the others to the north of the Zhao family manor, that is, behind the manor, there is a low mountain about 20 zhang high, and the Zhao family manor mansion is built against this low mountain.

The low mountain is called Jingshan, it does not belong to the Zhao family, of course, the Zhao family has always wanted to merge this Jingshan into their own manor, but the owner of Jingshan is also a meritorious family, people refuse to sell, and the Zhao family cannot buy it.

Xie Wensheng has been here several times, he is very familiar with this place, to visually check whether the height of the Zhao family ancestral hall is illegal, this low mountain is the best reference, two years ago in order to measure the height of the ancestral hall, Xie Wensheng really put a lot of effort.

The ancestral hall of the Zhao family is located in the northernmost part of the manor, close to Jingshan, in front of a small river, which is also close to the mountains and rivers, and the feng shui is very good.

When everyone followed a path up the mountain and climbed to the halfway point of the mountain, Xie Wensheng pointed to a big stone on the halfway up the mountain and said: "Liu Jisi, please look at the big stone, the big stone is called Shizhang Stone, which means that its height from the ground is exactly ten zhang, we have asked someone to measure it, and the bottom of the boulder is exactly ten zhang away from the ground." ”

Liu Chu nodded, stood directly next to the big stone, from the side of the big stone, you can clearly see the Zhao ancestral hall about a hundred steps away, the contrast is obvious, the top of the Zhao ancestral hall is just level with the ten zhang stone, and the visual inspection is only a few feet away, but Liu Chu can think that this is not a coincidence, but the height of the Zhao ancestral hall is built according to ten zhang. This is at least two zhang higher than the Guide Hall in Songcheng County.

Liu Chu shook his head secretly, he was shocked by the audacity of the Zhao family, you must know that the Guide Hall is in a sense, it is the ancestral hall of the Zhao royal family, if the mountain is high and the emperor is far away, it will be enough, but the Zhao family ancestral hall is built in Yingtianfu, so unscrupulous transgression is simply arrogant.

"How long has this ancestral hall been under construction?" Liu Chu asked.

"In the second year of Qingli, the old ancestral hall was burned down by fire, and the then head of the family, Zhao Ruinian, asked the Son of Heaven for instructions, and rebuilt the ancestral hall, which is now this ancestral hall, which has been built for almost 18 years."

"You mean, you asked the official family for instructions?" Liu Chu discovered the key problem here.

Xie Wensheng nodded, "I checked the county records of the second year of Qingli, and the Zhao family did ask the Son of Heaven for instructions, but it was very vague, just one sentence: 'After the request, it will be rebuilt, and the next year will be completed'." ”

"How tall is the ancestral hall?"

"Five feet and five feet, there are records in the county office, covering an area of twelve acres, and now it covers an area of twenty acres."

This is interesting, it was actually rebuilt after asking for instructions, which gives people an illusion, it seems that the height of the Guide Hall is agreed by the Son of Heaven, and it is estimated that it is this illusion that the successive governments think that they have obtained the consent of the Son of Heaven, so everyone ignores it.

But Liu Chu knew very well that no matter how tolerant the official family was, they would never allow the ancestral hall of the courtiers to exceed the height of the Guide Hall, and the Zhao family must have concealed the height of the ancestral hall.

But it can also be seen that the Zhao family knows very well what it means to build this ten-zhang ancestral hall, and the Zhao family wants to make their descendants prosperous.

It is estimated that they think that this is Gushu County, the two buildings are more than 100 miles apart, it is not good to compare the heights, and it is difficult to be found, so they built the ancestral hall in Gushu County, but did not dare to build it in Songcheng County.

Then again, if it weren't for the battle for the throne involving Zhao Qian's 30,000 troops in Yingtianfu, the imperial court would really not pay attention to the ancestral hall of the Zhao family.

Liu Chu then asked his subordinates to draw a map of the Zhao ancestral hall and Jingshan, which would be used as evidence for the impeachment of the Zhao family.

…………

At the same time, the battle for the marshal's mansion in Songcheng County also reached a climax.

In order to show his allegiance to Zhang Yaozuo, Zhao Qian did not hesitate to use the army to confront Ying Tianfuya.

There are 17 Zhang's grain shops in Songcheng County, all of which had been sealed up by the Songcheng County government the day before, and seals were affixed, but early this morning, groups of soldiers appeared on the streets of Songcheng County.

The soldiers tore off the seals on the grain shops, and stood guard in front of the grain shops to prevent the government from sticking the sticks again, and the grain shops reopened, but no people came to buy rice, and Zhang Xing, who was in charge of Yingtianfu, immediately ordered to lower the grain price by 50%, from 35 wen to 20 wen for doumi.

Zhang Xing finally found out that it was because the army was standing guard that made the people uneasy, and a shopkeeper gave him the idea to introduce a festive gong to encourage the lion team to cover up the army's slaughter.

Zhang Xing adopted the plan, and soon, gongs and drums were beaten in front of each grain store, firecrackers were bursting, and the lion dance team was flying up and down, which attracted the attention of a large number of people.

The news soon spread to the government office, and in the official room, Wang Anshi was very angry and said to Fan Ning: "Actually used the army to tear the seal of the official mansion and openly confront the official government, is this Zhao Qian crazy?" ”

Gongsun Xuance, a staff member next to him, said: "According to the information we have received, Zhang Yaozuo's nephew Zhang Xing is currently in Songcheng County, and it is estimated that Zhang Xing put pressure on Zhao Qian, and Zhao Qian used the army to fight against us regardless of the consequences." ”

Fanning sneered: "This is called self-inflicted sin, I hope they are a little more crazy." ”

Wang Anshi suggested: "We should go and negotiate with the Shuai Si and order them to withdraw their troops, otherwise we will report the matter directly to the Privy Council." ”

"No need!"

Fan Ning rejected Wang Anshi's suggestion, "Zhao Qian is not a three-year-old child, he is very aware of the consequences of using the army to confront Ying Tianfu, I have officially notified the Transit Envoy and the Criminal Division, asking them to state this matter to the imperial court, and Ying Tianfu will also complain to the Privy Council." ”

"Fujun, does this make a big deal out of it?" Zhixian Hou Wen whispered on the side.

"I don't think it's big enough."

Fan Ning smiled and said, "Since the Zhang family sells twenty wen and one bucket of rice, where can I find such a good thing?" Hou Zhi County, please dispatch the government to mobilize the people to go door to door to buy rice in Zhang's grain shop, twenty wen a bucket, I believe that there will be a rush of rice in Songcheng County, I want to see how the Zhang family ends! ”

Hou Wen suddenly understood, he was overjoyed and said: "This is a good way, if Zhang's grain shop can't cash in, the brand will really be smashed." ”

Wang Anshi shook his head secretly beside him, this method of fighting poison with poison was also something that Fan Ning could think of.

Hou Wen hurriedly went, and Fan Ning quietly returned to his official room and brought Zhu Long's four guards.

Fan Ning said with a smile: "Find something for you to do, you go to the river to pick up a few bags of dry sand, pretend to be a common person who buys rice, and find a way to blend into the Zhang family's grain depot......"

.。 m.