A few days later, in the early morning, Li Gui took several villagers from Lijia Town to Hare Mountain, and began to transport the produced shochu to the bottom of the mountain with a few livestock pulling wooden carts.

Before leaving, Xiao Jiu also sent Zhang Ben with a few subordinates to escort these villagers back to Lijia Town, which was also to prevent the enemies of Wild Wolf Mountain from robbing goods.

Just as the cart loaded with soju was being transported to Lijia Town, a fast horse with a red flag galloped on the official road from Qingzhou Mansion to Lingshui County.

Drove to the Lingshui County Post Station, a guard in armor took out the letter from the horse, and the handyman in the post station saw the fire paint on the letter and rushed to the Lingshui County County Office.

……

"Returning home?"

Lingshui County Ya, the county magistrate Liu Hong touched the mustache on the corner of his lips, read the letter carefully, and secretly tasted the information in the letter.

Liu Hong, who was born in a poor family, served as the commander of Lingshui County for three years, although he did not have any major political achievements, but he was not a wine bag and rice bag, on the contrary, he was a little clever, and he analyzed a lot from a short letter.

This Li Li is a famous Qingliu in the capital, and he is an important minister of the two dynasties, and even the teacher of the prince of the dynasty, which can be described as a high power, although he is nearly sixty years old, but he will step down at this time, and there must be an inside story.

Subsequently, the county commander Liu Hong summoned the master and the county lieutenant to prepare to make some arrangements.

"Master Yang, County Lieutenant Zhang, Kyoto Li is engaged in telling the elderly, and will arrive in the county in a few days, what do you think of your insight?"

Hearing this, the tall and sturdy County Lieutenant Zhang just hugged his arms and said nothing, while the short and fat Master Yang touched the goatee on his chin, thought for a while and then slowly spoke.

"Lord Liu, Kyoto Li is known for his name, and he is still the teacher of Yin, Qingzhou Mansion, and he is high and powerful in the court, so I am afraid that there is another hidden reason for retiring at this time."

Liu Hong only nodded lightly when he heard this, "It is a national affair above the court, and I don't dare to discuss it, since Lord Li has returned to his hometown, I have to make some preparations." ”

When Master Yang heard Liu Hong say this, he already understood that the county commander was preparing to do some rectification.

He is responsible for taxation and labor on his side, and there is no problem with the accounts, and the usual slight greed for ink cannot be found above, but the two mountain bandits in Lingshui County have seriously affected the security in the territory.

The county lieutenant Zhang also heard Liu Hong's thoughts, and frowned slightly, if the county government can come up with some money and food, it would be easy to say, but if you want a little benefit, you don't let yourself go out of the city with a group of officials, it is asking for hardship.

Besides, although he has a superior-subordinate relationship with Liu Hong, he has a brother-in-law who guards the county, and Liu Hong doesn't dare to do anything with himself.

Sure enough, Liu Hong, the county commander, immediately spoke: "There are two groups of strongmen entrenched in Lingshui now, and they have to be controlled and cracked, so don't affect the livelihood of the people." ”

County Lieutenant Zhang could only stubbornly reply: "Lord Liu, the county government is also short of manpower, and the bandits in Hare Mountain and Wolf Mountain are quite huge. ”

When the county magistrate Liu Hong heard this, he trembled slightly, knowing that the county lieutenant Zhang Qing could not count on it, and the last time the officers and soldiers crossed the border, he had just raised two silver taels in the name of suppressing bandits, and at this time, it was impossible to collect the money from those landlords.

Liu Hong did not consider the money in the county government, and used the money of the landlord to suppress the bandits, which was to spend other people's money to accumulate his own political achievements, but after spending the money in the county government, the above had to be interrogated.

As for County Lieutenant Zhang, Liu Hong couldn't force it anymore, so he could only speak: "Bandits are rampant, and we are all derelict in our duties. ”

The implication of these words is that there is no money in the county office, you can take more people down to hang around, don't let these bandits make trouble, that county lieutenant Zhang hugged his fists and said yes.

……

Li Guitou had just returned to Lijia Town from the cottage, and on the second day, he took his two sons to the restaurant in the county seat to send wine, and when he arrived at the "Wanzhen Building", it was already noon.

This time, before Li Gui and the three of them entered the door, the fat shopkeeper who was waiting at the door took the initiative to greet him, calling Brother Li in his mouth, Li Gui didn't dare to hold it up, and hurriedly hugged his fists in return.

"Brother Li, how many jars of good wine have left the factory this time?" , the fat shopkeeper asked with a smile.

Li Gui didn't hide it, saying that there were two hundred altars of burning knives in his hands, and the fat shopkeeper smiled even more, thinking about how to swallow them all.

You must know that he is not only running a restaurant, but also has a caravan, since he tasted the burning knife himself, he firmly believes that if this kind of wine is sold in other counties, it will definitely be able to fetch a sky-high price.

In the end, the two finalized the price and sold all the drinks to Wanzhen Restaurant at a price of two taels per jar.

Li Gui roughly calculated, except for the silver taels handed over to the cottage, and then removed the cost and transportation, basically each altar of burning knives can net about 3 yuan.

For the price given by Wanzhenlou, Li Gui is not surprised, the entire Lingshui County can eat such a huge share, this is the only one, but if it is a long-term cooperation, it is still a huge profit.

But Li Gui remembered Xiao Jiu's warning in his heart, and only took half of the fixed money, and exchanged the other half of the silver money for grain to pay, even if it was more expensive than the market price, it didn't matter, the fat shopkeeper agreed, he was a businessman, and the most important thing he lacked was food.

In the retention of the fat shopkeeper of Wanzhen Building, Li Gui and his two sons stayed in the county seat for lunch, and the shopkeeper personally accompanied the reception.

The wine was slightly drunk, and the fat shopkeeper began to want to get some information about the refining of soju from Li Gui, but Li Gui only cared about other things, and Li Gui's two sons remembered their father's teachings and only cared about eating with their heads in their heads.

Seeing that he didn't get any useful information, the fat shopkeeper didn't try anymore, just chatted casually with Li Gui, and Li Gui echoed from time to time.

When talking about the city and preparing to go out of the city to suppress bandits, Li Gui instantly hit a spirit.

"Bandits? Didn't the officers and soldiers just kill them some time ago, and this is from the county again? Li Gui asked.

"No, yesterday County Lieutenant Zhang came to the shop to eat and drink, and accompanied him, and I happened to hear that there was an adult in this Beijing division returning to his hometown, so the county planned to arrange some manpower and strengthen some patrols, as for the real suppression of bandits, it was beyond the reach of the whip." , The fat shopkeeper sipped the wine cup and couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

Although his family is very wealthy, he is still very inferior to the real official master, and he is in business, and what he is most worried about is that the strongman robs the goods, and he has to leave some money to buy the road when he crosses the mountain on weekdays.

But these county officials and masters don't care, they can't deal with bandits, and they have a hand in squeezing themselves.

Li Gui kept the words of the fat shopkeeper in his heart word by word, and after a while, he said to the shopkeeper that he would return to the town while the sky was bright, so he left in a hurry, and the fat shopkeeper also instructed Li Gui to send the good wine from the factory next time, and Li Gui agreed.

Li Gui's father and son left Lingshui County, and did not return to Lijia Town, driving their cattle straight to Hare Mountain.