Da Xuan has been seen for forty-three years, and the first month is seventeen.

100 households in Longshu County, Gaocheng Prefecture, Luzhou.

A spacious and bright signing room.

Wu Haifu, the chief official of the 100 households here, was sitting in the big case of the signing room, and on the table in front of him were two celadon tea bowls with open tea lids, and the rising heat wafted out from the tea bowls, covering half of his face.

The young man sitting across from him was sitting on pins and needles, half of his buttocks didn't dare to sit on the chair, his hands kept rubbing nervously, and the sound of his skin rubbing was extremely harsh in this silent place.

Wu Haifu looked at the young man's nervous expression, smiled slightly, picked up the bowl in front of him with his left hand, held the bowl lid in his right hand and slowly skimmed the tea foam, and gently blew away the heat, then took a sip of tea unhurriedly.

"Good tea! The aroma is clear, the taste is fresh and mellow, the aftertaste is sweet, the soup color is clear and crystalline, the bottom of the leaf is tender and green, this leaf is brewed with boiling water, it really resembles melon seeds. I have long heard that this Gaocheng melon slice is the 'best of tea', and today it seems that it is indeed worthy of its name - Shen Xiaoqi, you should also try it. Wu Haifu praised the tea on his lips, but his eyes kept staring at the young man sitting opposite.

The young man picked up the bowl with both hands, and instead of skimming the tea foam and blowing hot air like Wu Haifu, he directly took a sip of tea, smiled reluctantly, and said: "It is indeed good tea, but the month of picking is not right." Gaocheng melon slices should be picked before and after the rain in the valley, at this time its top buds are developed, the young leaves grow and mature, and it is the most delicious to brew and taste. This tea was picked at least half a month late, and it should have been picked around the beginning of summer, so the tea leaves are older, and there is a slight bitterness in the tea soup. ”

As if sensing that he had said the wrong thing, the young man immediately put the bowl back on the table and complained to the hundred households: "The subordinates are talkative, and after the subordinates go back, they will send a few packs of melon slices in the rainy season to the adults to taste, and I hope the adults will not blame the subordinates for their gaffes......"

Wu Haifu raised his hand to interrupt the young man's words, nodded and smiled: "Shen Xiaoqi has a heart, I heard that Ling Zun is the tea merchant of this Gaocheng Mansion, no wonder Shen Xiaoqi can have such knowledge." He paused for a moment, and then asked casually: "Shen Xiaoqi has only served in the hundred households in Longshu County for less than three years, right?" Being able to be promoted to Xiaoqi so quickly, it can be seen that Ling Zun has helped you a lot. ”

Without waiting for the young man to explain, Wu Haifu continued: "At the age of eighteen, this official entered the Luzhou Thousand Households Office, and at the age of twenty-five, because of his meritorious work in investigating the case, he was transferred to the Hundred Households Office of Langxi County, Wanling Prefecture and became the general banner, and then he was valued by the former Thousand Households of Luzhou Thousand Households Office, and at the age of twenty-eight, he was promoted to the Hundred Households of Huaiyuan County, Dangtu Prefecture. The sea has been up and down for more than ten years, and now I am thirty or three years old, and I have served as a palm print for 100 households in Longshu County, Gaocheng Prefecture, which can be regarded as an achievement. ”

Shen Xiaoqi hurriedly opened his mouth and complimented: "Lord Wu's resume is really impressive to his subordinates, and in the future, the adult will be promoted to a thousand households, which is also a reasonable thing." ”

After listening to this sycophancy, Wu Haifu was not happy or angry, he still looked like he was smiling, staring at Shen Xiaoqi's eyes tightly, which made people's hearts furious.

I saw him take another sip of tea and said, "So, this official's resume shows that he still has some skills...... Shen Xiaoqi, this official is inviting you to come over for a cup of tea today, there is nothing else, you don't have to be nervous, drink tea quickly. ”

The young man nodded in response, picked up the tea bowl again, ignored the hot tea, drank several sips of tea soup in a row, and then put the tea bowl back on the table, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, as if he had something to say.

Wu Haifu looked at his reaction, chuckled, put down the bowl in his left hand, habitually clasped the bronze tiger head on his waist with his right hand, and tapped his index finger lightly, making a "knock" sound.

Suddenly, Wu Haifu slapped the table with his left hand, pointed at the person opposite with his right hand, and shouted: "Shen Nanhe! You are guilty! ”

The young man who was about to confess to the hundred households heard this loud shout, immediately fell down from the chair and stool, knelt on the ground with a "plop", his head was tightly pressed to the ground, and confessed to Wu Haifu: "Lord Baihu, Shen Chai confesses!" His subordinates should not go to the banquet set up by the soup shopkeeper at the knife board, let alone accept his official ticket and promise to help him. The subordinates were confused for a while, and broke the rules of Qingluanwei, so I beg the adults to spare Shen Chai this time for the sake of his subordinates who are first-time offenders! ”

After that, he took out a large ticket from his arms, raised his body slightly, and handed the large ticket upwards with both hands, staring at the floor with his eyes, not daring to look up at Wu Baihu's expression at all.

Wu Haifu squinted at Shen Chai who was kneeling on the ground, then looked at the big ticket in his hand, and sighed: "Shen Xiaoqi, how much is your money, and you have at least ten yuan of Taiping money every month, right?" Don't you think it's not worth it to sell all your great future and life for a mere 100 peace and 10 months? ”

Shen Chai lowered his head even lower, and said in a trembling voice: "Lord Mingjian, my subordinates are really helpless, my father's tea house has been running poorly recently, and I urgently need Taiping money to turn over, so my subordinates were confused for a while, and accepted the bribe from the soup shopkeeper...... If it weren't for his father's business, Shen Chai would never accept money from others. ”

Wu Haifu shook his head, sighed, stretched out his hand to hold the big ticket in his hand, and said in a low voice: "Do you think this official wants to punish you for the crime of corruption and bribery?" I, Wu Shixing, have been in Qingluanwei for a long time, so I naturally know that everyone in Qingluanwei has something pickled. If you really want to be punished for accepting bribes, I am afraid that there are few innocent people in this Luzhou Thousand Households, and even the official will inevitably receive some 'favors', and the amount is not a small number. ”

Wu Haifu put the big ticket on the table, took a sip of tea soup and moistened his throat, and continued to speak: "What I regret is that a young man with a bright future like you would collude with the 'Heavenly Court' demon without knowing whether he is alive or dead? No one can save you from this capital crime! ”

Shen Chai raised his head suddenly, looked at Wu Haifu with a shocked face, and saw that his words did not seem to be fake, so he hurriedly kowtowed and begged for mercy: "Lord Mingjian!" 100 Households! Even if you lend me two more guts, I won't dare to go along with the 'Heavenly Court' demons, and ask Lord Baihu to ......" Before he finished speaking, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Wu Haifu leaned down, stretched out his hand to help Shen Chai up from the ground, while he himself was still sitting upright on the chair, took out a confession from his sleeve, and handed it to Shen Chai.

Shen Chai hurriedly took the confession, his eyes eagerly scanned the confession up and down, and he couldn't help but feel dizzy and almost fell to the ground.

Heaven and earth can be seen, this is really the first time that he Shen Nanhe has accepted bribes, but his luck is really bad, and the first time he accepted a bribe, he received it from the people of the "Heavenly Court".

The soup shopkeeper who invited him to dinner and begged him to do something yesterday was the demon of the secret association "Heavenly Court".

"This ...... This confession ...... Is it credible......" Shen Chai's body shook, and his voice trembled even more - he knew that Wu Baihu would not take a false confession to ask him for his guilt.

Wu Haifu drank all the tea in the bowl, looked at Shen Chai who was in a trance, sneered, and said: "The 'Ding Sishen' of the 'Heavenly Court' was arrested in Huzhou not long ago, and the colleagues of the Huzhou Thousand Households Office tried their best to almost use what they had learned all their lives, and finally pry out a lot of news from her mouth, and this confession is one of the many news she confessed. ”

In the Daomen system, the highest deity is the Taishang Dao Ancestor, which can be seen from the word "Taishang" alone. The rest, such as the Emperor of Heaven and so on, are still under the Dao Ancestor. However, the "Heavenly Court" did the opposite, imitating the human court to form a so-called "Divine Court", in the Divine Court, with the Jade Emperor at the head, corresponding to the emperor, and the other immortals and Buddhas were courtiers and had to obey the will of the Jade Emperor, which even included the Taishang Dao Ancestor and the Buddha. Several others, such as Buddhism, Confucianism, and the Holy Court, were not spared, and the gods they worshiped were also included in them.

And the so-called "Liuding Liujia" gods are not very conspicuous among the "gods" of the "Heavenly Court". Six Ding are the Yin God Jade Maiden: Ding Mao God, Ding Ji God, Ding Wei God, Ding You God, Ding Hai God, Ding Chou God; Liujia is the yang god jade man: Jiazi God, Jiaxu God, Jiashen God, Jiawu God, Jiachen God, Jiayin God.

Although "Liuding Liujia" is not very important in the "Heavenly Court", after all, it is also a middle-level member of the "Heavenly Court", so the news of the confession of "Ding Sishen" still has some value.

Looking at Shen Chai, who was dizzy and about to faint in front of him, the corners of Wu Haifu's mouth hooked up a subtle arc, and he said at the right time: "Although 'Ding Sishen' confessed to this Tang Da Tang shopkeeper, there was no mention of you in his confession, so this official believes that you were just innocently implicated by Tang Da, the 'Heavenly Court' demon, and did not really take refuge in the 'Heavenly Court' sect." ”

Shen chased like a pardon, and said again and again: "Yes, it is extreme, if his subordinates had known that this Tang Da was a demon of the 'Heavenly Court', they would have been the first to arrest him, and they would not have dared to have anything to do with him. ”

Seeing that Shen Chai was going to pat himself again, Wu Haifu interjected: "This official believes you, but I don't know if Lord Qianhu will believe you Shen Nanhe?" If someone stabs you to the Lord of Qianhu, I'm afraid that you, Shen Xiaoqi, will still be in trouble. ”

After experiencing the initial panic, Shen Chai's mind gradually calmed down, and he knew very well that Wu Haifu was now holding his handle in his hand but not reporting it, it was definitely not because of how deep his personal relationship with him was, but because he Wu Shixing had other plans.

Thinking of this, Shen Chai pretended to be panicked and said to Wu Haifu: "Lord Wu, you must help your subordinates, I am really innocent, I am definitely not a 'Heavenly Court' demon!" ”

Wu Haifu saw that the fish was "hooked", and he couldn't help but feel at ease, his left hand clasped the tiger's head on his waist, and his right hand pointed to the chair and stool opposite him, and said with a smile: "Nanhe, let's sit and talk, I remember that you are working under Li Xianbaihu, right?" ”

Shen Chai's posture was lowered this time, almost more than half of his buttocks didn't dare to sit on the chair, and when he heard this question, he said again and again: "Lord Baihu has a good memory, I am indeed under the command of Lord Li, and it will be almost a year if I calculate the time." ”

Wu Haifu nodded, and said meaningfully: "In this way, it has been almost a year since this official was transferred to the 100 households in Longshu County. ”

Shen Chai's eyes rolled, and he also thought about it in his heart.

Wu Baihu seemed to be wooing him.

At the beginning, this Wu Baihu and Li Xian Baihu came to work in this Longshu County Baihu almost at the same time, but the slight difference is that Wu Baihu was transferred from the Baihu of Huaiyuan County, Dangtu Prefecture, and Li Xian Baihu was sent from the Luzhou Qianhu located in Huainan Prefecture, the capital of Luzhou

Although Longshu County is under the jurisdiction of Gaocheng Prefecture, because it is close to Huainan Prefecture, Shen Chai has still heard some gossip from the thousands of households in Luzhou.

It is said that this Li Sanxin Li Xian Baihu was born in the Li family of Taiping Dao, and is a close confidant of Zhao Guangji, the current palm print of Qianhu in Luzhou, and is expected to be promoted to the position of Baihu before being transferred to the Baihu Office of Longshu County, but it seems that because he did a certain errand, he was disgusted by the top management of Taiping Dao, and Zhao Qianhu also had to send him to Longshu County to calm the anger of the upper echelons.

In the Baihu Office of Longshu County, Wu Baihu and Li Xian Baihu are two forces that are incompatible: Wu Haifu's backer is the former Qianhu Zhang, even though Zhang Qianhu has now been transferred to Wuzhou Qianhu, he still has some connections in Luzhou, which can bring a lot of help to Wu Baihu - for example, the current palm print of the Baihu Baihu in Wannian County Zhang Baihu is Zhang Qianhu's nephew; Li Sanxin's backer is the current Qianhu Zhao Guangji, although he seems to have offended some big man, but Zhao Qianhu is still very optimistic about him, maybe one day this Li Xianhuhu will be favored by nobles and soar to the sky.

Thinking about it a little deeper, those two thousand households also have their backers, so it is worth pondering behind the fight between these two.

Zhang Qianhu's surname is Zhang, born in Wuzhou Shangqing Zhang, and his backer is the Zhengyi Zhang family; Although Zhao Qianhu was not born in a big family, he took refuge in the Li family of Taiping Dao, and the base of the Shen family in Taiping Dao was Huainan Mansion, so the help that Zhao Qianhu could get in Luzhou was very considerable.

In the final analysis, this is still a continuation of the three infighting of the Daomen, but the two sides of the battle are not people in the Daomen, but the infighting between them Qingluanwei.

As for why Zhengyi was able to insert nails like Zhang Baihu and Wu Baihu in Luzhou under the control of Taiping Dao, it is not difficult to understand.

In Qingluanwei, the real power held by the 100 households is not small, and it is even slightly higher than some of the deputy thousand households and much higher than the ordinary 100 households. Although the 100 households of the palm print will be controlled by the 1000 households of the palm print, the 1000 households of the palm print do not have the right to appoint, dismiss or detain personnel, only the right to participate, and cannot replace the candidates of the 100 households of each hundred households. Under this appointment system, although the palm prints of Luzhou Qingluanwei Qianhu are people from Taiping Dao, the entire Luzhou Qingluanwei is not monolithic.

If Shen Chai took refuge in Wu Baihu, it would be equivalent to taking refuge in Zhang Qianhu and the Zhengyi Zhang family, and it would be an enemy of Li Xianbaihu, Zhao Qianhu, and the Li family and the Shen family of Taiping Dao.

If it weren't for Wu Baihu's pinching of the handle, Shen Chai would definitely not have taken refuge in Zhengyi - now the two battles of Zhengyi and Taiping Road are fierce, and the people above are swinging knives and slashing at the people below - if they really get involved in this chaos, I am afraid that sooner or later they will die under the aftermath of the two internal struggles in the future, and they may have to bear some trumped-up charges, and even endanger their families.

But if he didn't get closer to Wu Baihu, he would be able to kill himself now on the charge of colluding with the demons of the secret association, after all, except for him and Tang Da, no one knew what the two had discussed, and Wu Baihu wanted to kill himself, he only needed to do something on Tang Da's confession to push him into the abyss of no return.

If you don't do anything, go directly to Li Sanxin...... As far as Li Sanxin's character of a yin dead man who does not pay for his life, I am afraid that his fate will not be too good, and he may be sold by this yin person one day.

Fengtai County, which was in a state of uproar in Luzhou before, is still in front of me, and Zhou Feilong, who went to Fengtai County with Li Sanxin, died unexplained, not only that, but I heard that the wives of Zhou Xian Baihu were all taken as concubines by Li Sanxin, and his son recognized Li Sanxin as his father, and changed his surname from "Zhou" to "Li".

After a burst of brainstorming, Shen Chai gritted his teeth, stood up, and bowed to Wu Haifu: "If the hundred households do not give up, Shen Chai is willing to abandon the darkness and join the adult!" ”

Wu Haifu smiled and waved his hand and said, "Sit down and drink tea, you kid is quite smart, but you invested in my subordinates for no reason, how do you feel about Li Xianhuhu?" I think you are still working under Li Xianbaihu, if the official needs anything, he will come to you here again to drink tea. ”

"The subordinates understand, please rest assured that the subordinates will definitely do things 'with their hearts' under Lord Li." Shen Chai didn't sit down, picked up the tea bowl, drank the tea soup in one gulp, and put the bowl back on the table, then he arched his hand to Wu Haifu and said: "The tea has been drunk, and the subordinates will retire first, so they will not delay the hundred households on duty." ”

He really figured it out, compared to a small flag official who took refuge in himself on the surface, Wu Haifu wanted to insert a spy who belonged to him next to Li Sanxin.

Wu Haifu nodded, and said casually: "Liu Zongqi of the Hundred Households Office is very old, and he has submitted his resignation to the Lord of the Thousand Households, and I will pay attention to the vacancy he left behind." ”

He looked at the "Long Sheep Knife" that Shen Chai was carrying on his waist again, and said casually: "Your saber has been some time now, and when you go down later, you will find a high-level test hundred households, and change it to a 'thin tiger knife'." ”

Shen Chai's heart suddenly suddenly, and he hurriedly bowed down to thank him: "Hundred households are kind, and the subordinates have nothing to repay, and in the future, the subordinates will definitely be the only ones who are the heads of the hundred households!" ”

Wu Haifu rubbed his forehead: "Go down and bring the door to the official." ”

Shen chased, quickly exited the signing room, closed the door with both hands, and then escaped from this place of right and wrong in three steps and two steps.

Standing on the bluestone slab paved on the ground of the hundred households, Shen Chai built a pergola and looked up at the sky - the sky was blue and cloudless, but his heart was turbulent.

Shen Chai looked into the distance, and sighed softly: "'The Queen Mother of Qi's family is evil, vicious, and the tiger is also the crown. 'It is said that our Qingluanwei is a vicious wolf who eats people and does not spit out bones, but these people who are trapped in the infighting of the Daomen are the real 'tigers and champions'! ”

This sentence comes from the historical collection made by Taishi Gong, and "the tiger and the crown" means "the tiger who wears clothes and hats".

A metaphor for a man who is as cruel as a tiger.