Jingshan County, from Yundu County in the early Han Dynasty, was called "Jingshan" in the third year of the Sui Dynasty, and got this name because of the source mountain of the city.

Although Jingshan Castle is an earthen city wall, it is more than one zhang high, and the bluestone brick road in the city runs through the four gates, and the shops on the main street are quite prosperous, and the south of the city is even more lively.

"Don't squeeze, line up one by one!"

"Don't worry, everyone, we still have more salt?"

"Don't worry, as long as the door of our store is still open, we will never increase the price indiscriminately!"

……

In front of a salt shop in the south of the city, people gathered to buy salt, and two shopkeepers with long cameras were selling salt, while shouting at the eager crowd.

Most of the people here are in shabby clothes, and although they seem anxious, they are also lining up in an orderly manner, staring at the piles of white salt in the store.

At this time, the white salt fell in their eyes, and it was like gold with golden light.

Salt, this is the embarrassing situation that many of them face, and after the harvest this autumn in exchange for money, they want to buy salt to live a stable life.

After an old man bought the salt, he said very excitedly: "A pound of salt in Anluzhou City costs 500 yuan, and the price of salt in Jingshan County today is only 250 yuan a pound, which is simply a living Bodhisattva!" ”

"This is natural, our shopkeeper is kind-hearted, even if he earns less, he must let everyone eat low-cost salt!" Xiao Er, who was working, looked at the people in line, and invited his shopkeeper to be famous.

Lying on the bamboo chair and drinking tea leisurely, the shopkeeper Zhao couldn't help but reach out and pinch his mustache, and the whole person looked very proud.

The two shopkeepers worked very neatly, and after putting the salt into the cloth bag, they also specially tied a beautiful knot, so that customers could not easily sprinkle salt.

Nowadays, salt can be described as comparable to gold.

Although Jingshan County is located in the remote part of Huguang, it is only because the salt price here is lower than that of the surrounding areas, which attracts many people from other counties to come to buy salt, and also helps the entire Jingshan City to increase its popularity.

Li Si saw an old man in cloth with an extraordinary bearing in front of him come to buy salt, and greeted him very enthusiastically: "This lord, how many catties of salt do you want?" ”

"Do you remember this man, did he come to you to buy salt?" The old man in cloth was tall and handsome, and he took out a portrait from his arms and asked.

Li Si looked at the person in the portrait, and couldn't help but say in amazement: "It's strange, although you use very little ink, but you are more expressive than the painters in the government!" The villain remembers this old man, he came to our store to buy salt a few days ago, and he wanted to buy a pound with 240 yuan! ”

"Did you sell it to him?" The old man in cloth quietly withdrew the portrait and asked seriously.

Li Si turned his head and glanced at the shopkeeper with a weak heart, then nodded solemnly and said, "Cough, the shopkeeper is kind, let me sell it to him!" ”

"This master, are you here to buy salt, if you don't buy it, please leave, don't stop the people behind!" The shopkeeper who was drinking tea noticed this, and said with a calm face.

Now the price of salt he sells is low, not to mention the entire Jingshan County, even if there is no opponent in the entire Anlu Prefecture, so there is no need to worry that the salt in his hand cannot be sold, so he doesn't need to have a good face for this old man in cloth.

"Buy!" The old man in cloth took out the silver, and said happily.

Li Si thought that he had met a broad guest, but when he saw that it was only two hundred and fifty yuan, he couldn't help but show a wry smile, so he put away the silver money and began to weigh the salt.

It's October, and although the sun is blazing overhead, the temperature is still very low.

"Grandpa, do we want to go and meet the magistrate of Jingshan now?" Wang Yu saw his grandfather coming over with salt, so he stepped forward from the teahouse.

Hu Jun was also here, and the whole person looked worried.

Wang Yue handed over the salt he had just bought to Hu Jun who came with him for safekeeping, looked up at the county government in front of him and said, "Let's not alarm Xiao Zhi County first, let's go to the prison to visit Hu Daniu!" ”

When the group came to the Jingshan County Ya, Wang Yu stuffed a few copper coins into the Ya Officer, and then went to the county prison smoothly to see Hu Daniu who was locked in the cell.

At this time, Hu Daniu is no longer the first expert in rice harvesting in ten miles and eight townships, the wound on his forehead has not healed, and the whole person looks sick, and he seems to have suffered a lot these days.

"Grandpa!" When Hu Jun saw Hu Daniu's appearance, he immediately burst into tears with great distress.

Hu Daniu saw that Hu Jun was also in tears, but when he saw Wang Yue who came over, he immediately said with shame: "How can the old man He De bother the prince so far, but the prince doesn't need to worry about the old man, the old man is to blame this time!" ”

It is said that an honest villager in Anlu Prefecture will not come to Jingshan County, but this matter has to start with the price of salt.

When the price of salt in Anlu Prefecture was still high, the price of salt in Jingshan County was only 250 yuan, which was a full 150 yuan.

Hu Daniu and the villagers are people who have endured hardships, and after harvesting the rice for some money, several people came to Jingshan County to buy salt with a meal.

Although they could only eat dry food to satisfy their hunger on the way, they could only drink unclean water on the side of the road when they were thirsty, and even had to sleep in the wild, but after two days of trekking, the group finally came to Jingshan County.

After Hu Daniu bought the salt, he went to the teahouse next to him to ask for a bowl of coarse tea, and was ready to drink the tea before embarking on the return trip.

Just as he was drinking tea, the bag of salt he had just put on the table disappeared, and he saw only a scholar holding a bag of salt and preparing to leave.

Hu Daniu sat in the cell, and said with a regretful face: "The old man was also blinded by pork at that time, and he only thought that the scholar took the old man's salt, but he didn't listen to the other party's explanation, and he was so angry that he injured someone on the spot!" If you were calmer at the time, you would have known that it was a misunderstanding, how could this scholar steal the old man's salt? ”

Wang Yu learned the ins and outs of the matter, and found that this matter was very tricky, and couldn't help but turn his head to look at his very smart grandfather.

Wang Yue didn't say much, and after he came out of the county prison, he met the county magistrate of Jingshan.

The name of Jingshan Zhixian is Xiao Zhang, a jinshi who has been in Chenghua for 20 years, and his first appointment was Jingshan Zhixian, and now he is nearly fifty years old, and there is not much hope for his career.

"Uncle Nian, I have just verified this case, the scholar's name is Liu Jiamo, and he is a child in this county. He went to the salt store that day to buy salt, and then went to the teahouse next to him to drink tea, which is all witnessed. When he was about to leave the teahouse that day, he was openly robbed of salt by Hu Daniu, and was even beaten by Hu Daniu. This county didn't expect this foreigner to be so blind, and he should be severely punished tomorrow! When Xiao Zhixian saw Wang Yue, he told the ins and outs of the matter.

The network of officialdom is far beyond imagination, and it can "get involved with relatives" at every turn.

Wang Yue is Jingtai's five-year jinshi, and Xiao Zhixian is a Jinshi of Chenghua for twenty years, and it seems that the two have nothing to do with each other, but Peng Hua, the chief examiner who presided over the Chenghua twenty-year examination, is the first in Jingtai's five-year examination.

Even though Peng Hua is also inextricably linked with other high-ranking officials of the imperial court, his brother Peng Shi is the champion of orthodoxy for thirteen years, so Peng Shi is friends with Wan An and Liu Ji in the same year.

No matter how much the civil official group fights to the death, it has the blood intersection of "teachers and students, fellow villagers and the same year", and it is always an inseparable whole.

Wang Yue took a sip of tea and asked quickly: "The old man has something to understand, why is the salt here so much cheaper than Anluzhou?" ”

"Uncle Nian, do you know who Anlu Zhizhou is?" Xiao Zhixian did not answer this question head-on, but asked very seriously.

Although Wang Yue disdained to be in the same stream, he also knew that there were many factions in the officialdom, and Wan'an was in power to arrange a large number of party henchmen to govern the place.

Faced with this question, he also nodded knowingly: "Wan Zhizhou is the nephew of the Wan'an clan who is the head of the dynasty, so he is naturally a person from Wan'an." ”

"Wan An only knows how to slap the horse, meet the wishes of the superiors, occupy a high position and do nothing, and is even more greedy to the subordinates, and I don't know how many people are fished out of the people every year through the people below. Wanzhizhou arrived and received the benefits of the salt merchants, so the salt merchants were allowed to sit on the ground and raise the price. It's not my Jingshan salt cheap, it's actually Anlu Prefecture's salt is expensive, and this county is just doing its part! Xiao Zhi County criticized Wanzhi State Road.

Wang Yue knew that Wanzhizhou's reputation was really bad, so he took the tea cup and said straight to the point: "Don't hide it from Xiao Zhixian!" Hu Daniu has a little friendship with the old man, it is too early to conclude that he grabbed salt and hurt people, how can you conclude that this matter is not Liu Jiamo's slander? ”

"Prince, don't come unharmed!"

At this moment, an old man in fancy clothes walked in from outside and took the initiative to greet Wang Yue.