When they left the county office and reached the intersection of the market, they saw several carts full of mules and horses parked on the side of the road, and a group of people were surrounding the carriage at the front, where they were shouting and arguing.

The three of them walked over, stood by and listened for a while, only to figure out that it was a few soldiers who wanted to inspect the goods, and the handlebar style said that there were too many goods on the car, and it was too inconvenient to move them up and down. The leading soldier was a fat man, and he glared and said, "If you don't let it be checked, how will you know if you have smuggled contraband?" ”

"Uncle, the car is loaded with mountain goods and medicinal herbs, and there are no contraband at all."

Zhang Zheng, who was standing next to Li Zhiyun, whispered in his ear: "These guys can't blackmail, and they are deliberately looking for trouble." Li Zhiyun saw that the fat man's face was ruddy and shiny, and it seemed that he usually fished for oil and water.

There were three soldiers, except for the fat man, the other was a tall man, stout and stocky, and the other looked like a thin monkey. They were all dressed in gray linen uniforms, with a white circle on their backs with the word "regiment" written on them. Li Zhiyun knew that these people were regimental soldiers. The full name of the regimental soldiers is the unity soldiers, they are not professional soldiers, but civilian armed forces, similar to the regimental training of the Qing Dynasty and the modern militia. After the outbreak of the Taiping Rebellion in the Qing Dynasty, the regular army of the Qing Dynasty was defeated and retreated in the face of the Taiping Army. As a result, large landlords such as Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang recruited a large number of regiments to form a powerful armed group, and it was these regiments that trained their armaments and finally defeated the Taiping army.

The regimental training system of the Qing Dynasty was borrowed from the regimental military system and the government military system of the Tang Dynasty. Like the government soldiers, the regimental soldiers are not separated from agricultural production, they usually work at home, train intensively during the slack time, and bring their own dry food and weapons to go out in case of war. The difference between the regimental soldiers and the government soldiers was that the government soldiers cultivated the state's land, while the regimental soldiers cultivated their own land, and in return, the imperial court exempted their entire family from taxes. In addition, the government soldiers were under the jurisdiction of the Zhichong government, and the regimental soldiers were under the jurisdiction of the states. Of course, the government can also pay for long-term service of regimental soldiers, such as guarding city gates, guarding warehouses, patrolling guards, etc., and this may be the case with these three regiments.

Li Zhiyun saw them arguing, so he walked over and said to the fat man: "It's not easy for outsiders to do business, don't embarrass them, let them go!" When the fat man heard this, he thought, "Oh, there's a grievance." His eyes widened and he said, "You little hairy child, the hanging hair is still complete, do you have a part to speak here?" When Zhang Zheng next to him heard this, he glared and said, "How do you speak?" ”

At this moment, someone next to him shouted, "What's the matter? Li Zhiyun turned his head and glanced at it, only to see a person dressed as a military attache walking over. He is in his twenties, with a tall figure, thick eyebrows and big eyes, and a square face. He walked up, glanced at Li Zhiyun, and said, "What are you arguing about?" Li Zhiyun pointed at the fat man and said: "They stopped the carriage and didn't let them go, so they had to let the family unload the goods, saying that they wanted to check what contraband." When the military attache heard this, he glared at the fat man and said: "Lord Assassin Shi has an order not to harass the people, are you knowingly committing a crime and want to eat military sticks?" When the fat man heard this, he shrunk his neck and didn't dare to say anything.

The military attache saw that Li Zhiyun was born with smooth muscles and bones, his plump spirit was very different, and the guards behind him were martial and strong, so he said: "This prince has an extraordinary bearing, dare to ask your honorable surname?" Before Li Zhiyun could answer, Zhang Zhengdao on the side said: "He is His Royal Highness the King of Chu." When the officer heard this, he was shocked, and hurriedly hugged his fists and said: "Pizhou joins the army Lu Sifang, see His Royal Highness the King of Chu." ”

The full name of joining the army is "joining the military", and he is the assistant officer of the assassin history, and the grade is not high, in most cases it is eight or nine grades, and occasionally there will be seven grades. It is the entry threshold for the officer, and generally those who are new to the career will start from joining the army. This position itself is not a duty, and since it does not have a defined scope of duties, it has a lot of power to manage miscellaneous matters, and the extent of this flexible power depends on the trust of the governor.

Li Zhiyun nodded with a smile and said, "Lu joined the army, hello, hard work." When the fat man heard that this young man was the famous King of Chu, he was so frightened that he hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed like pounding garlic: "The villain has eyes and doesn't know Mount Tai, so he collided with the king and begged the king of Chu for forgiveness!" The other two regimental soldiers also knelt down.

Li Zhiyun said with a smile: "Don't blame those who don't know, you all get up quickly." After the three of them got up from the ground, Li Zhiyun looked at the fat man and said, "What's your name?" ”

"Back to the King of Chu, the villain is called Diao Dagui."

"What about you?" Li Zhiyun turned to the tall man again.

"The villain's name is Li Er."

"The villain's name is Ruan Xiaoqi."

Ruan Xiaoqi? When Li Zhiyun heard this, he looked at the thin monkey and said, "Your name is Ruan Xiaoqi?" ”

"Yes, the villain's surname is Ruan, Xingqi, so he is called Ruan Xiaoqi."

"Okay, Diao Dagui, Li Er, Ruan Xiaoqi, let's know each other, let these cars go."

"Yes."

At night, Li Zhiyun sat by the bookcase, thinking about what happened during the day by candlelight. He didn't expect that Aunt Liu would be so strong that she would hang herself. Why did she choose to commit suicide? What kind of people are those hiding behind her? He felt like he was stuffed with a mess in his head, and he couldn't figure out the mess.

At this time, Liu Yinglian pushed the door and walked in, and when she saw him sitting next to the desk, she asked, "What are you doing?" ”

"Oh, nothing."

Liu Yinglian walked over, sat down opposite him, looked at him and said softly: "I see that you are very thoughtful, and you haven't eaten anything at night, have you encountered any headaches?" Li Zhiyun smiled and said, "It's a bit of a headache." Then, he told her what had happened, and finally said, "I finally caught one, but I died." I thought that if I caught the servant, I would soon be able to catch the other criminals, but it turned out to be a wasted joy. Now, I really don't know what to do. Liu Yinglian thought for a while and said, "I think you should find out the details of that servant girl first, otherwise your eyes will be black." As the saying goes, water has a source and a tree has roots. Where is that handmaiden? Does she have any other relatives? ”

"I don't know. I heard that she came to the door by herself, and now that the Lou family is dead, there is no place to inquire. ”

"Go find a nun," Liu Yinglian said, "didn't she stay in a nunnery?" ”

Li Zhiyun was right when he thought about it, although Liu Gu stayed in the nunnery for a short time, and those bhikshunis couldn't know too much about her situation, maybe they could ask something, and the dead horse should be a live horse doctor. Thinking of this, he nodded and said, "You reminded me correctly, I will go to the nunnery early tomorrow morning." You go with me, Cuiping Mountain has beautiful scenery, and you can also play by the way. ”

"Okay."

After breakfast the next day, Li Zhiyun took two subordinate officials and a few guards to go out of the city with Liu Yinglian and went to Cuiping Mountain. At the foot of the mountain, they climbed up a stone path, only to see the mountains and forests lush, birds chirping, purple mist filling the valley, and dewdrop-stained flowers and plants exuding a refreshing fragrance.

The group walked around and came to the nunnery and stepped into the temple gate. There was no one in the Buddha hall, and the surroundings were quiet. Everyone bypassed the Buddha seat, passed through the back door to the courtyard, and happened to meet the owner of the nunnery. Li Zhiyun clasped his hands together and said, "Master, it's polite." The owner of the nunnery also saluted: "Donor, are you here again?" How is Huijue now? Li Zhiyun hesitated for a moment, but still said bluntly: "Unfortunately, she knew that she was guilty and committed suicide by hanging herself." When the owner of the nunnery heard this, he was taken aback, and hurriedly folded his hands: "Amitabha, sin and sin." ”

After a pause, Li Zhiyun said, "Mrs. Shi, I want to talk to you a few words, can you find a convenient place?" The owner of the nunnery thought for a moment and said, "Then let's go to the squatter house of the poor nun." ”

A few people followed the owner of the nunnery into a room, which was quite spacious, and there was a Buddhist shrine against the front wall, which was dedicated to Guanyin Bodhisattva. In front of the shrine is a table of eight immortals, surrounded by several chairs. The owner of the nunnery invited Li Zhiyun to take a seat, then sat down opposite, twisted a string of Bodhidharma Buddha beads in his hand and said, "Donor, what do you want to ask?" Li Zhiyun looked at her and said, "Mrs. Shi, I want to inquire about Aunt Liu's situation, do you know anything about her life experience?" The owner of the nunnery shook his head and said, "She only said to the poor nun that she used to be a maid in a large family, and because she saw through the red dust, she decided to cut her hair and become a nun and take refuge in Buddhism." The day before yesterday, the donor said that she was the maid of the Lou family, and the poor nun knew that she was originally a maid in the Lou family. ”

"Mrs. Shi knows the building staff?"

"Lou donor is a great good person, devout to the Buddha, willing to give, often make some donations to the nunnery, so we met."

Li Zhiyun thought for a while and said, "Since Mrs. Shi doesn't know much about Aunt Liu, why do you still accept her?" Is it because you pity her? ”

"The donor didn't know that the poor Ni didn't want to take her in, but because of a grandson's donor, he left her."

"Master Sun? Which Sun donor? ”

"His name is Sun Fen, and he, like the benefactor, is also an official. Because the poor nun did not want to offend the government, he reluctantly made it difficult and left Huijue. ”

This is a new situation, and Li Zhiyun feels that it is worth the trip. After thanking the owner of the nunnery, he left the nunnery with his own people. They went to visit another temple on the hill and then descended the mountain.

Back in the city, Li Zhiyun said to Cai Hu: "You go and inquire if there is such a person as Sun Fen." Cai Hu said that he obeyed the order and turned away. After Li Zhiyun returned to the inn, after waiting for a stick of incense, Cai Hu came back and said, "Lord Wang, I have inquired, there is indeed a person named Sun Fen, who is a member of the state capital." ”

Joining the army, the status is lower than joining the army, most of them are recruited by the commanders themselves, the grade is nine grades or even out, many do not belong to the formal establishment of the imperial court, but they can obtain honorary titles, such as obtaining a certain grade of honor, so that there is also a salary. The power to join the army depends on the mood of the commander.

Li Zhiyun thought for a moment and said to Cai Hu: "You go and tell Zhang Zheng that we will go to the state government in the afternoon." ”

In the afternoon, Li Zhiyun took Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu to the state office. After the official went in to report, after a while, Zhao Tingshi came out and said with a smile: "Lord Wang, the lower officials are already waiting for you." ”