People are always forgetful, and no matter how deep their memories are, they can't withstand the polishing of time. And once it is restarted, it will leave a deeper imprint again, and it will never be out of control from then on.

The same is true for Li Yuan, when this long-sealed memory strikes again, and he appears in front of him as a living person, he is even a little at a loss. Although the "Li Yuan" in the past is not really himself, the resonance in his heart is still shocking enough for Wang Jingyao's appearance.

When she was young, Wang Jingyao was cheerful and lively, and the little girl was very clingy and loved to laugh, so that after she left, not only the Li Yuan brothers, but also the Liu family felt empty in their hearts, and they often remembered it in the following years.

Now that more than ten years have passed, Wang Jingyao reappeared, but at this time she knelt down in front of him, calling her "adult" in panic, and her desperate and helpless expression was like a sharp blade, cutting him fiercely in the heart.

Regardless of Li Yuan and Liu Jiangsheng, Wang Jingyao was still struggling, she couldn't afford to live or die, and she cried and cried to ask Li Yuan to agree to her request.

In this world, it is difficult for the people to live, and the soldiers of the forbidden army saw the joy of a meeting, and suddenly it became this scene, and many people were emotional, afraid that it was another master who had no place to redress his grievances, and it looked at Lord Li and Lord Liu.

Li Yuan's face turned red, and he even lost his temper and reprimanded: "What are you doing? ”

Liu was the most unbearable, and said distressedly: "Sister Yao, don't worry! If there is anything difficult, just talk to Brother Yuan and them slowly, and my aunt will let them call the shots for you! ”

Hearing Liu's words, Wang Jingyao said slowly.

It turned out that since she left Wangjiazhuang when she was a child, her father Wang Hui took her back to Chuzhou City. After all, Wang Hui is a scholar, although the outside is not peaceful, but by teaching some children everywhere to enlighten them, she can still provide for the whole family to live a life. Soon Wang Hui's wife was pregnant again, but in the end, she was old and suffered from the cold, so she couldn't survive the birth, but fortunately, the child in her womb finally picked up a life and came back.

His beloved wife died suddenly, Wang Hui seemed to have lost her faith, and she has been in a state of collapse ever since. It's like a different person.,Stay at home and drink all day.,Soon I ended up depressed.。 At this time, only Wang Jingyao, who was only seven years old, and his younger brother Wang Jingguo, who had just passed the age of one, were left in the family.

Fortunately, God took pity on the lonely sister and brother, and Wang Jingyao's uncle took them home. Xu has lost his father and mother since he was a child, and for more than ten years, although Wang Jingyao has cherished his younger brother in every way, his younger brother Wang Jingguo has become more and more angry, wandering on the streets all day long, often interacting with some indiscreet people, and causing trouble.

It wasn't until the beginning of the year that after the death of their uncle, Wang Jingguo completely let go of himself, and after making a group of "brothers" somewhere, he shouted all day long that he wanted to go out and make a living.

A month ago, no matter how hard his sister Wang Jingyao persuaded him, Wang Jingguo took his deceased uncle's long sword and insisted on leaving home. A few days later, someone from the government came, and Wang Jingyao learned that her younger brother had been sent to prison, arrested for trafficking in illicit salt, and sentenced to an autumn execution.

Wang Jingyao collapsed now, his uncle was not married, and now he has no relatives in Chuzhou City. After hurriedly going to the official office to inquire, he gritted his teeth and sold all the things in his house together with the house he lived in, in exchange for some cash, and went around to make a living just so that Wang Jingguo could have a way to live. During this period, the official errands encountered were either prevarication or blackmail, Wang Jingyao scattered all the money, and in the end there was no result.

Until a day ago, the first "kind" wealthy businessman in Chuzhou City, claiming to have a way to help her, but deceived her to her home and forced her to be his concubine. Wang Jingyao didn't obey whether she was alive or dead, she found an opportunity to scratch the rich businessman, and escaped alive. The rich businessman did not succeed but broke his appearance, where is he willing to give up? And he offered a reward, and ordered all the servants to pursue him.

Wang Jingyao hurriedly remembered the Wangjiazhuang where she lived with her father when she was young, so she inquired all the way to the past, and unexpectedly learned from passers-by that Li Yuan and others had returned to their hometown.

Today is the time for Li Yuan and others to return to Beijing, Wang Jingyao also heard some news, so he followed the official road in advance.

Speaking of this, everyone was moved, although such things are endless, but when they heard it with their own ears, they still lamented the injustice of fate and sympathized with what happened to this woman.

Liu never expected Wang Jingyao's experience to be so miserable, and he was suddenly so excited that he didn't slow down and almost fainted.

Luo Erhu, a black man, was already angry at this time, his neck was bruised, and he raised his long sword and roared loudly: "These dog officials and profiteers! It's all evil eggs that eat people and don't spit out bones! Big brother, hesitating to do anything! Hurry up and order, I will immediately lead the soldiers and horses into that prison and rescue the younger brother of the Wang family! ”

Seeing Luo Erhu take the lead and shouting, even Liu Jiangsheng, who has always been steady, had red eyes, and led a group of forbidden army soldiers to ask for justice. Li Yuan couldn't help but turn pale, and roared angrily: "Stand for me!" You're an official now! You reckless scoundrel, don't you want to trap us all? ”

In the end, it is the eldest brother of the brothers, and the biggest official here, seeing that Li Yuan was angry, Luo Erhu, Liu Jiangsheng, and the forbidden army stopped the noise one after another, and did not dare to make another mistake.

Liu witnessed everyone's reactions, and saw that Li Yuan always had a gloomy face, as if he was thinking about something, so he calmed down and spoke: "You two brothers, calm down, Brother Yuan must have an idea, don't disturb him!" ”

Li Yuan was in turmoil at this time. It's not that he's hesitating to help Wang Jingyao, but her uncompetitive younger brother Wang Jingguo, isn't this the kind of pure pit goods in later generations? I fell into it, and even my sister almost got into the pit. Now let's not talk about how to solve this matter, just talk about his crime of trafficking in illicit salt, which is a very headache.

You must know that the official camp of salt and iron has a history of more than 2,000 years, and the financial income brought by official salt to the imperial court every year is no exaggeration to say that it can even determine the fate of the dynasty in ancient times. "New Tang Dynasty Book Food and Goods" said: "The endowment of the world, salt is half of it." ”

Compared with the cost of salt production, selling salt is a real "profit". In ancient times, the people used a lot more salt than now, in addition to table salt, they also used a lot of salt to pickle food, and the purity of salt in ancient times was not high, so the sales of salt were extremely large.

The price of salt remained high, and although the imperial courts of successive dynasties issued extremely severe penalties to restrain them, there were still many people who were tempted by huge profits to take risks and engage in the illegal salt trade. These outlaws were either relatives and nobles in the court, or eventually became thieves, such as Huang Chao at the end of the Tang Dynasty, Xu Wen, the adoptive father of Liezu in the Southern Tang Dynasty, Zhang Shicheng at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, etc., all of whom were illicit salt dealers.

Today's Southern Tang Dynasty basically follows the Tang law, and the land of Huainan, such as Chuzhou, where Li Yuan and others are located, is an important place for salt production. The Criminal Law clearly stipulates that a person who steals and sells a stone of salt will die. According to Wang Jingyao's description, Wang Jingguo was arrested on the way to transport with others, and the government confiscated five truckloads of smuggled salt, and the stolen goods were seized.

Although Wang Jingguo was only 14 years old at this time, the Tang Dynasty was not a later generation, and according to the "Tang Law Discussion", the age limit of "caring for children" (seven years old) had already been exceeded, and for "minors" under the age of 15 and 11 who committed capital crimes, it was clearly stipulated that the law should be enforced. What's more, this crime of selling illicit salt, which is what the ruler hates the most!

Therefore, the only way now is to understand the ins and outs of Wang Jingguo's salt trafficking, where did he get such a huge amount of private salt at his age and ignorance of the world, there must be someone behind the command or guidance, if you can find clues and find out the people behind the scenes, maybe you can redeem yourself with merit; At the same time, try to deal with it and delay it as much as possible, otherwise once Wang Jingguo is escorted to Jinling Dali Temple for review, there will be no turning point in this matter.

Li Yuan made up his mind, and said truthfully to Wang Jingyao, who was crying with pear blossoms and rain: "Sister Yao, the rich businessman who persecuted you, I have my own way to clean him up." However, in the case of Yasukuni, people have obtained stolen goods, and no matter how anxious you are at the moment, it will not help. This trafficking in illicit salt is a very serious capital offense in our dynasty. The first offender will be punished by the three clans! Now although I have an official status, I can't be reckless, otherwise I won't be able to save people, but I will miss a big thing! Now we can only hope that Yasukuni has been deceived by others, if he can tell the mastermind behind it, we can find the key evidence, and there will be a glimmer of life! ”

Wang Jingyao has been a nightmare every day since January, and now she is even more frightened when she hears Li Yuan's words, and she cries sadly: "My younger brother must have been deceived by someone, no matter how stubborn he is, he is definitely not that kind of evil person!" How much courage do you give him, and he will never dare to do heinous things! Please help me! Please, little girl! Please! If the adult saves my brother's life, the little girl is willing to make a cow and a horse for you! ......”

At this time, everyone understood the difficulty of this matter, and also agreed with Li Yuan's caution. After all, everyone is eating the bowl of rice of the imperial court, and they are rashly involved in danger, and the consequences are indescribable.

Liu looked at Li Yuan with a sincere face, sighed and said, "Brother Yuan, Jing Yao is a hard-working person, now that you are an official, you will definitely help the Wang family's sisters and brothers!" ”

Li Yuan no longer hesitated, nodded solemnly, then helped Wang Jingyao up, wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, and said softly: "You are serious about Sister Yao, you don't have to be so angry." Don't call me an adult in the future, I'm still your brother Yuan! Don't cry, I agreed to this. ”

Then he pondered for a moment, and suddenly thought of a person in his mind, shook his head and said with a bitter smile in his heart, I never thought that I would bother him so soon...... He turned around and ordered his subordinates to take a silk pen and write a letter hastily.

"Erhu, put this letter away! Listen, immediately take two personal soldiers and ride fast horses back to Yangzhou! Go find my father-in-law, Mr. Zhou! Last time we went to the banquet together, he should have known you, and remember that this letter will be delivered to him personally! ”

Luo Erhu looked grim, put the letter into his breastplate, immediately turned around and got on his horse, and ordered two scouts to gallop south.

Li Yuan then ordered: "Jiang Sheng, you take your mother to the post station outside the city to stay for the time being, and wait for my news!" The rest of the people, etc., carefully guard my mother and Liu Du, and do not move without my orders, and do not disturb the people! Sister Yao, I'll take you into the city immediately, let's go see Lord Shi He! ”