At the villager's house, Gu Bei appeased the lonely old man, and then took Ye Wei and walked to the crowd, until he walked in front of the fat-headed and big-eared tax official.

"Your Royal Highness, why are you here?"

The tax collector had a flattering smile on his face, which was completely different from the swaggering performance just now.

"If I hadn't come, I wouldn't have seen you collect taxes like this." Gu Bei's face was slightly cold, and he was extremely disgusted with this tax official.

The tax official said with a face full of grievances: "Your Royal Highness, the lower officials are also to collect enough taxes, otherwise there is no way to pay the difference over there in Xihai City." ”

Half of the taxes of Thorn City will be paid to Xihai City every year, and Xihai City will retain another part, and then hand over to the household department along with the taxes of other cities.

The tax official specifically pointed out Xihai City, hoping that Gu Bei would have some scruples and not pursue his arrogance just now.

"Really?" Gu Bei glanced at the tax officer's fat and sneered, "I think you haven't been less than a little rich, right?" ”

"Wronged, His Royal Highness the Prince, the lower officials have always been honest and honest, and they have been conscientiously collecting taxes, how can they do such a thing as filling their pockets, please let His Royal Highness the Prince know."

The tax official shouted loudly, as if he was really a clean official with clean sleeves and a clean heart for the country.

Gu Bei didn't plan to talk nonsense with him, Thorn City is now his fiefdom, and everything in the fiefdom belongs to him, including the tax collector.

"This prince announces that you will be immediately relieved of your official position, and your official seal, official uniform, and mansion will be withdrawn."

The tax official's face suddenly turned pale, he knelt in front of Gu Bei, and shouted loudly: "Your Royal Highness, I am loyal to the imperial court, you can't treat me like this!" ”

Gu Bei didn't want to listen to his pig-like cry, so he waved his hand and said, "Ye Wei, take his official uniform and official seal, and throw him out!" ”

"Yes!"

Because he came out to collect taxes today, the tax officer's official seal was carried with him, Ye Wei directly took off the tax officer's official uniform, and the official seal was also snatched, and then lifted the obese former tax official with one hand and threw it directly out of Cotton Village.

The retinue he brought with him also fled in disgrace.

"Good!"

"His Royal Highness the Prince is wise."

In the cotton village, the villagers erupted in cheers, they had been oppressed by the tax collector for so many years, and now they finally saw him step down.

Gu Bei stretched out his hand to suppress it, so that everyone gradually quieted down.

"This prince announces one more thing, that is, all villages that have been ransacked by bandits will be exempted from taxes and forced labor this year!"

When the villagers heard this, they immediately became even more excited, and they were grateful to Gu Bei.

……

Northwest of Thorn City, thirty miles away, Black Fox Mountain.

There is a black fox village in the Black Fox Mountain, which is a famous bandit den near Thorn City, which hides more than 300 bandits, who make a living by robbing the nearby people and merchants.

At this time, in a cave behind the cottage, a thin old man, dressed in a black robe, holding a spirit flag in one hand and a soul bell in the other, limped around the fresh nine corpses in a circle.

He was chanting a dry incantation in his mouth, and there was a black gas swirling around his body, and he looked eerie.

"Jingle bell!"

"Up!"

After the old man finished reciting the incantation, he suddenly shouted loudly, and suddenly shook the soul bell, and the spirit flag waved back and forth above the nine corpses, and bursts of black mist emanated from the spirit flag.

I saw that among the nine corpses, each of them had a ghost rising in response, and was led into the air by the spirit flag, and his eyes were empty and numb.

The old man took out a snow-white human skull from the magic weapon bag he carried, and said in a hoarse old voice: "Come out, it's time to eat......

"Shhh

From the human skull, a vicious ghost floated out and immediately pounced on the nine fresh ghosts, devouring them all.

After eating, this vicious ghost was obviously much stronger, and the ghost aura on its body was even stronger, and it stared at the old man coldly.

"Go back when you're full!" The old man's face was very indifferent, holding the human skull in his left hand and the soul-attracting bell in his right hand.

The vicious ghost looked at him again, and then burrowed into the human skull, where the old man put it in his magic bag.

This old man is the great master of the Black Fox Village, a rare fourth-order ghost path cultivator, and he can be described as an absolute powerhouse in a border place like Thorn City.

His real name has long been unknown, and people only know his nickname as the Black Fox Old Ghost.

Cultivating the ghost path requires a large number of living souls, and sometimes they will dig graves to obtain ghosts and bones to refine ghost dao magic weapons, which are not tolerated by the world.

Because of this, the old ghost of the black fox ran to the remote Black Fox Mountain and became the leader of the bandits, the bandits do not need to scruple to act, killing people is also commonplace, and no one can take care of digging graves.

After collecting the human skull, the old black fox ghost bent down, took out a sharp knife, and dismantled the nine fresh corpses.

For ghost path cultivators, corpses are the materials for refining magic weapons, nothing more.

After doing all this, he walked outside the cave, washed off the blood on his hands, and walked towards the council chamber of the cottage.

In the conference hall, the second and third masters of Black Fox Village were waiting for him.

The second-master blood sword, the third-order sword cultivator, about twenty-seven or eighteen years old, carries a blood-colored sword all the year round, has a ruthless temperament, and is taciturn.

It is said that he used to be a disciple of a certain mountain gate, and later stole the treasure of the master's gate, betrayed the mountain gate, and after hiding in Tibet, he joined the Black Fox Mountain and became the second master.

The third master has a numb face, a second-order martial artist, full of pockmarks, and is good at using knives, it is he who led the territory to rob Cotton Village.

The reason why the Black Fox Village has been entrenched in this place for many years, and no one dares to provoke it, depends on the strong strength of these three masters, especially the big boss Black Fox Old Ghost, whose methods are ruthless and weird, which is terrifying.

The old black fox ghost walked into the council hall and sat on the Taishi chair above.

"Tell me about the recent situation."

The second master of the blood sword said: "The food and winter materials have been snatched up, and twenty more brothers have been added to the mountain recently. ”

The old ghost of the black fox said in a hoarse old voice: "In the future, if the manpower is damaged, we will recruit new people, the black fox mountain is too small to accommodate too many people." ”

Blood Sword nodded, not saying a word of nonsense.

The third master said with a numb face: "The six princes of Thorn City disbanded the original city guards, and recruited people to create a city guard army by themselves, with more than a hundred people, and the commander was a down-and-out second-order martial artist. ”

"In addition, the Sixth Prince recruited a third-order martial artist as a guard, and he got an earth dragon out of nowhere, and during this time, he often went to the mysterious forest to hunt demonic beasts."

The old black fox ghost said: "This sixth prince, who used to only eat, drink and have fun, was a famous waste prince in the national capital, did he suddenly open his mind?" ”

The old ghost of the black fox thought for a moment and said: "As long as he doesn't come to provoke the black fox village, don't care about him, after all, he is the prince of the Holy Dragon Kingdom, if something happens, the country will send a master over, and our black fox village will be finished." ”

Even if Gu Bei is downtrodden and unfavored, he is also the prince of the Holy Dragon Kingdom, the old ghost of the black fox is not stupid, and the cost of moving Gu Bei is too great.

Ma said with a numb face: "Big brother, I naturally know this, I haven't moved the 10,000 acres of grange in the City Lord's Mansion." ”

This year, the Grange of the City Lord's Mansion has a bumper harvest and has stored a large amount of grain, if this grain can be snatched over, the Black Fox Village will not have to worry about next year's grain.

But Ma Yan couldn't help it, he was ugly, but he was very smart, and he knew that once he robbed the Grange, he would have a grudge against the Six Princes, which might cause a lot of trouble in the future.

The old ghost of the black fox said: "I have a hunch that a breakthrough is imminent recently, and I don't have time to take care of the cottage business, so the two virtuous brothers should bother more, try to keep a low profile, and don't cause any trouble." ”

The numb face said in surprise: "Big brother is about to break through the fifth order?" ”

Blood Sword also said: "Congratulations, big brother, once you step into the fifth order, in this southwest land, you can be regarded as a real powerhouse." ”

The old ghost of the black fox was quite complacent in his heart, but his face was silent, and he waved his hand and said: "It's not certain whether you can break through, in short, let the little ones settle down a little recently." ”

"Big brother breaks through with peace of mind, and we will be optimistic about the copycat."

The old black fox ghost nodded, got up and left the council hall, he needed a lot of time to cultivate, seek breakthroughs, and have no time to worry about other things for the time being.