Shao Xi's words stunned Cui Qi, yesterday's incident Cui Qi was mainly aimed at the Zhao family, although Shao Xi expressed dissatisfaction with his negligence, but strictly speaking, Shao Xi was not wrong.

Originally, he was at fault first, even if Shao Xi was a little overdone with what he said, it was reasonable. Besides, the first level of the official university crushed people to death, what kind of apology does this official level say? It's good that people don't come to you for trouble.

"My lord, you are serious, yesterday was indeed a rude to the lower officials, and they were negligent to the adults, and they should apologize to the lower officials, how can we talk about letting the adults apologize to the lower officials, this is really unacceptable."

"Master Cui, if I told you that I deliberately made things difficult for you yesterday, what would you think?"

Cui Qi shook his head with a wry smile and said, "The official rank of the adult is there, even if he deliberately makes it difficult for the lower official, the lower official will not have any ideas. Officialdom has always been like this, the official level can crush people to death, and the adults are dignified and four-grade, even if it is difficult, how can I, a seven-grade petty official, dare to have any dissatisfaction? ”

Shao Xi was happy, it seemed that Cui Qi was still a little wary of himself, and he didn't dare to open his heart and say his true thoughts.

"Master Cui, your performance today is very different from yesterday. Yesterday, in my eyes, you were a good official who was not afraid of power and dared to stand up and speak up, but why has you become a cowardly person who is timid and does not dare to speak? ”

Cui Qi seemed to be a little angry when he was scolded by Shao Xi, and said with resentment in his tone: "Good official? The subordinate never dared to think of himself as a good official, but at least he was not a corrupt official. Xia Guan is not a cowardly person, and sometimes he is just trying to keep his official status and do more for the local people. I was originally just a scholar, and I studied hard for ten years to become an official and enter the knighthood, and now I just want to do something for the fathers and villagers of Yujiang County, if it weren't for this, the officials would have taken off this official uniform and become a commoner. The lower officials just don't want to lose this opportunity to do things for the court and the people because of a momentary mood. ”

Shao Xi listened to Cui Qi's words, and couldn't help but nodded, although this person is straightforward, he is not an impulsive person, and he still knows that judging the situation is useful. He has his own principles but is not stubborn, and can stand up and speak generously and outspoken, but he is not reckless, and he can be said to be a good official who is both upright and wise.

At this time, Lu Ju, who had already brewed the tea, happened to walk in with a tea tray, and saw Shao Xi saying that Cui Qi was a cowardly person, so he couldn't help but hold the grievances for Cui Qi.

"Lord Shao, there is no one else in the house today, so I will say a few words. If Lord Shao thinks that Lord Cui is a cowardly person, he underestimates Lord Cui, and now in Yujiang County, if it is not because of the existence of Lord Cui and Lord Sun, then the Zhao family does not know what to make Yujiang County look like? It is precisely because of Master Cui that the Zhao family has scruples in acting. It's a pity that we don't have a deep foundation in the local area like the Zhao family, and if adults think that we are weak people because of this, it is really unfair to us......"

"Ahem...... ahem, Lu Ju!"

Cui Qi stopped the conversation without waiting for Lu Ju to finish speaking, and now he still has no idea about Shao Xi, so he doesn't know what the intention of this four-grade official from the capital is to visit today? So some words are not suitable to be said at this time, who knows if he is from the Zhao family?

Shao Xi saw that Cui Qi stopped Lu Ju from continuing to speak, and he also understood that the other party was still wary of himself, so instead of hiding it like this, it was better to be open and honest and make his position clear.

"Lord Cui doesn't have to stop him, I just want Lord Cui to be such a person. Don't hide it from Lord Cui, this official originally came to Yujiang County for other things, but because he learned in Yushui Town, the Zhao family of Yujiang County actually dominated one side, covered the sky with one hand, and privately increased the local business tax, which made the merchants and the people miserable. This reminds me of what the Zhao family has been greedy for ink tax silver for many years? I suspect that the Zhao family is raising a private army, what does a local official have to do to raise a private army? It was in order to find out this matter that the official deliberately approached the Zhao family, hoping to find out some clues, so as to find an opportunity to exterminate it and minimize the harm to the court and the people. Yesterday, at the banquet, I saw that Lord Cui was an upright person and had excellent official character, so this official came today to cooperate with Lord Cui to find out the evidence of the Zhao family's private army, and if possible, to exterminate this private army to prevent future troubles. ”

Hearing Shao Xi's words, Cui Qi suddenly realized that he had misunderstood the young "Jing Chengsi" supervision history in front of him.

Cui Qi hurriedly got up and bowed to Shao Xi and Lao Wu to apologize: "It turns out that this is the case, it seems that the lower officials did misunderstand the two adults." I'll just say it! The dignified 'Jing Chengsi' is the most powerful help by the saint's side, how can he be easily bought by the Zhao family? It turned out that the two adults had their own plans, but it was really the stupidity of the lower officials that they misunderstood the two adults, and asked the two adults to forgive them for the crime of ignorance. ”

Shao Xi waved his hand for Cui Qi to sit back, and continued: "Now that the misunderstanding has been resolved, I think it's time for us to talk about business. You have been an official here for many years, how much do you know about the Zhao family? Do you have any evidence of what the Zhao family has done in the local area over the years? ”

"Wait a moment, you two."

After Cui Qi said this, he got up and walked in the direction of the study again.

Shao Xi and Lao Wu glanced at each other, and they both understood that Cui Qi must be going to get some evidence related to the Zhao family.

A moment later, Cui Qi walked back with a thick stack of documents, files, and account books in his hand, and put them all in front of Shao Xi.

"What is in front of your lord is all the records and accounts of the Zhao family in Yujiang County that the lower officials have collected and sorted out over the years, including all the records and accounts of the government treasury, what they do in the county every year, and I secretly record the collection, distribution, and transfer of money and taxes. They think they're doing it seamlessly, but they don't notice I'm doing it for them while they're busy making fake accounts. ”

Shao Xi simply flipped through a few of them, and found that each one was a huge amount, and the Zhao family not only doubled the commercial taxes of all walks of life in Yujiang County, but also monopolized and controlled all walks of life, and incorporated all the most profitable industries into the Zhao family, making it difficult for the local merchants and people to survive.

This Yujiang County has almost become the private property of the Zhao family, no wonder Zhao Huajun's reaction was so strong when he mentioned that he was going to take over the cloud yarn industry yesterday, thinking that he moved their Zhao family's fattest piece of meat in Yujiang County and took away nearly half of their interests.

Now it seems that his original judgment was correct, Zhao Huajun's verbal promise to hand over the cloud yarn industry was just a delaying tactic, and what their Zhao family had to do next must be to eradicate themselves and the officials in the county who opposed the Zhao family, and it was not uncommon to kill people with knives in the officialdom.

"Master Cui, since you already have such a huge amount of evidence in your hands, why don't you go to the imperial court to impeach Zhao Huajun and attack the forces of the Zhao family in Yujiang County?"

Cui Qi smiled helplessly.

"Lord Shao, the Zhao family dares to be so blatant and crazy to collect money in Yujiang County, do you really think they have such great courage? Every year, the imperial court will send officials down to supervise and inspect, but in the end they all leave quietly, and it is needless to say how many benefits the Zhao family has done. The fact that the Zhao family secretly raised a private army in Nanshan is not your guess, but something that does exist, where did they come from? I'm just a small Qipin Juncheng, with no way out, no connections, if I rashly go to the court to impeach Zhao Huajun, I'm afraid I will be in the wilderness before I reach Kyoto. Over the years, Xia Guan has endured humiliation and secretly collected these evidences, just to wait for someone like you to appear, and we will discuss a good strategy together, so as to eradicate the Zhao family in Yujiang County in one fell swoop. ”

Shao Xi confirmed from Cui Qi's mouth that the Zhao family did indeed have a private army, and he was extremely shocked in his heart. It was just a speculation, a worry, but now it has become a reality, what do they want to do with their private army?

"Master Cui, do you have evidence in your hands that the Zhao family is raising a private army? How much do you really know about this? Tell me about it. ”

Cui Qi opened one of the scrolls on the desk in front of Shao Xi, it was a fairly detailed map, with special marks in several places, and numbers next to the markers.

Over the years, the Zhao family has secretly recruited a large number of blacksmiths from other places to manufacture a large number of armor weapons in the private military arsenal in Nanshan. He also paid a large sum of money to buy officials from all over the country to privately recruit all the death row prisoners and exiled prisoners to Nanshan for training, and about 2,000 people were recruited before and after these years, all of whom were trained to be elites, and all of them were not afraid of death. I once asked Lu Ju to sneak into Nanshan to draw a map of the places where the private troops were stationed scattered and hidden, and marked the specific deployment of troops. ”

"Do you know who is behind the Zhao family?"

"My lord's question, I'm afraid that even many Zhao family members don't know the answer, and maybe only Zhao Huajun knows about it."

Shao Xi has a big head for a while!

There's still a lot of in Kyoto that hasn't been resolved, and now there's a private army popping up here, which is not a trivial matter! Now what? Return to the Great Liang to explain this matter to the Holy Lord? But I still have the identity of this envoy, and the matter of the envoy cannot be delayed again and again!

At the moment, how can you exterminate these two thousand well-trained elites with your own ability alone? Although Xiao Changyi gave himself the right to play first, there is no one at hand at the moment! It is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, so how can she fight against these two thousand elites with the two or three thousand men and horses under the commander of Yujiang County? Not to mention encirclement and suppression!

In the past, I saw hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses fighting against each other at every turn in film and television dramas, but in reality, the other party's two thousand soldiers and horses are a very terrifying number, where should I go to transfer troops?

Shao Xi originally thought that there were only a thousand people, but he didn't expect that the Zhao family would be able to raise a private army of 2,000 over the years.

"Master Cui, are you in the same camp as the county lieutenant Sun Jue and the others? The stakes are very high, and if he is not reliable, you can tell me directly, and if he is reliable, I would like to find an opportunity to meet him and make arrangements as soon as possible. ”

"At this point, Lord Shao can rest assured, that Sun Jue was once the brother-in-law of Xia Guan."

"Ahh So you have a wife? ”