In late October, the weather is getting colder.

The small mansion in Yanshi County is obviously not as comfortable as the big mansion in Chang'an, and it is cold and swishing at night. Du Wulang couldn't help but be glad that he had married a wife, and it was not so cold to sleep with Xue Yunniang, and he was also glad that she was not a squeamish daughter of a high-ranking family, so she didn't dislike here.

When the rooster crowed that day, the sky was not completely bright, Xue Yunniang felt that Du Wulang turned over, and when she looked again, she couldn't help but be surprised to see him lying there with his eyes wide open.

"Transcription, woke up so early?

"But sober." Du Wulang yawned, but he really couldn't sleep, and said, "Alas, I'm thinking about Wang Yi, what does Wei Fuyin mean by 'assisting in handling cases'?" The case is almost over, but the people won't let it out...... Also, how can you say that there are so many things in this small county, Chang'an is not so annoying, it really fits the sentence that the temple demon is big, and the king of Chi Qian is more. ”

"That's when Transcript began to take on political affairs." Xue Yunniang has endured hardships, but she knows that the prosperity of Chang'an is a special case, and the heavy burden of the people is the norm.

After chatting for a few words, Du Wulang simply turned over and got up.

There is a lot to be done at the moment, the iron and stone are coming quickly, Guo Wanjin's family wealth is still being confiscated, and there is no clue about the private minting of copper coins, and we have to consider how to improve the lives of farmers and workers in the county...... In short, there are a lot of things to do.

"With a little salary, it's too tiring to be a staff member.

Du Wulang muttered, went out of the house to the front yard, and saw Xue Xian fetching water by the well, wearing only a single coat in the cold weather, but he was much stronger than him at a young age.

"Brother-in-law.

Initial website https://

"Is the ass alright? You're doing such heavy work, and I'm left alone. It took a lot of effort for Du Wulang to pour the bucket of water into the tank, and he almost didn't catch his breath, and sighed: "The place sharpens people." ”

"The servant woman sent by Lu County's order has been sent back, if you want to avoid being controlled, you have to do more things for the time being." Xue Xin got Xue Bai's teachings, remembered them in his heart, and limped towards the lobby.

"You order me.

When the two arrived in the lobby, Yin Liang, Lao Liang, Jiang Hai and others were already having breakfast, their expressions were relaxed, talking and laughing, and they happened to evaluate the county order Lu Linghao.

Lao Liang scooped the minced meat into the cake, and when he looked up, he saw Du Wulang coming, and said, "In my opinion, Lu Linghao's ability is comparable to that of Wulang."

Du Wulang didn't know whether to praise him or scold him, so he sniffed and said, "Today's steamed pork is fresh." ”

"Don't underestimate the Lu County Order." Yin Liang said: "He doesn't seem to be strong, he can subdue the big families in the county, but now he is less noble, and the county office wharf is running as usual, which shows his ability, you can see the recent rumors." ”

"What's wrong with the wind?"

Lu County ordered the hope that the big thing would be small, and the news that circulated was according to his wishes, and everyone only said that Guo Wanjin was guilty, and Gao Chong absconded in fear of the crime.

Du Wulang asked, "Isn't that because this is exactly the result that the people above want?" ”

"It is also a skill to be able to guess the intentions of the officials and the court. Water is impermanent, Lu Linghao's cultivation is deeper than Gao Chong, Gao Chong is a torrent, and he is a drowning pool. ”

"Sailing against the tide is the real skill." Du Wulang saw a lot, but he was also a little arrogant, and took a bite of the meatloaf.

But when he arrived at the county office, as soon as the official documents were processed, he was immediately worried.

At the hour, Xue Bai came over according to the hour, looking like he was sleeping well.

"You don't have to worry about it." Du Wulang couldn't help but say: "There are a lot of things in the county, more than a hundred outlaws with knives are almost here, you still have to go to Luhun Villa, you can still sleep." ”

Xue Bai had a lot of life and death events brewing in his heart, but he was not as troubled as Du Wulang in the face of the general affairs in the county.

"It's okay, I'm a county lieutenant, and the court supports me."

Du Wulang said: "Why don't you see the imperial court supporting Wang County's lieutenant?" Wang Yi's business, you can have a snack. ”

"Yes, it will be done in a day or two."

Xue Bai took a sip of tea soup, knowing that this place was so chaotic, he had to eat both black and white, so that he could walk steadily...... I don't have much to say with Du Goro.

"Huh? This tea is good.

Tea sent by the prefectural order. Yin Liang said, "He does know how to taste tea." ”

Xue Bai rarely drank matcha soup with salt, and he was a little unaccustomed to it.

When the aroma permeated, although he didn't understand tea, he still commented: "There are few people in the world who understand tea like this." ”

That morning, Xue Bai went to Luhun Villa, and talked about tea with Song Mian on the way.

"The one who really understands tea is Li Gong, the Shou of Jingling County." Song Mian said: "Li Gong is a distant relative of the clan, and he once served as the assassin of Huaizhou. Because of his friendship with Li Gongshi, the left minister, he was demoted to the tomb. He met a young man in Jingling, whose name was ...... Lu what...

Song Mian is erudite and memorized, but recently he has been overworking for his younger brother's spirit, and he doesn't sleep very well, so he can't remember it for a while.

Xue Bai said: "Lu Yu?"

Xue Bai said: "Lu Yu?

"Yes, the county lieutenant even knows?"

"I occasionally hear it, and it seems that I have heard it mentioned by the county order."

Song Mian saw that he knew, so he didn't say much, and said: "Lu Yu is proficient in the tea ceremony, so Li Taishou will have tea in his return gift every year."

"Huaizhou Thorn History?" Xue Bai pondered for a moment and asked, "Gao Chong has a righteous brother who was recommended by Li Taishou when he was in office in Huaizhou, right?"

"Yes.

"Gao Chong was also a subordinate of Li Taishou at that time."

Song Mian said: "It's just a friendship, Li Taishou definitely doesn't know about lofty and smuggling." ”

This must be true, when Li Qiwu brought Gao Shang, Gao Shang didn't know An Lushan yet.

Xue Bai also understood what Song Mian meant.

"It's like Lu County Ling received benefits and let Gao Chong go, which does not mean that he is an accomplice, nor does it mean that Gao Chong participated in the Lu County Order and the gentry's encroachment on good land. For another example, Gao Chong partnered with Guo Wanjin to smuggle and plunder his lover, and Guo Wanjin partnered with another person to privately mint copper coins, does it mean that this person is involved in smuggling? ”

Song Mian was stunned for a moment and said, "The county lieutenant likes to laugh more and more."

Xue Bai said: "Maybe the more rice you are, the more sincere you are?"

On the way, they didn't say anything else, there were not many people with Xue Bai, only Lao Liang.

When it was time to send off the funeral, hearing the Song family crying that sooner or later they would kill Gao Chong to avenge Song Li, Lao Liang lowered his head and covered up the ridicule in his eyes.

stayed in Luhun Villa at night, and he was instructed by Xue Bai that if a beautiful woman climbed into his bed, it would be acceptable.

After nightfall, Song Mian really arranged for them to live in separate rooms.

Lao Liang deliberately picked his teeth, sighed at the bronze mirror, and wiped his body again, but he lay there in the middle of the night and didn't see anyone coming, and he was about to fall asleep in a daze, and finally heard the door ring.

People who are accustomed to life and death do not have a good mother-in-law and mother-in-law, and when someone comes up like a slippery fish, he will press it and make a mess. At the end, I didn't forget to exclaim.

"It's bad, aren't you trying to harm my family?"

"County Lieutenant, please."

At night, Song Mian personally carried the lantern and led Xue Bai up the mountain road and climbed the Yueyan Pavilion in the mountain pavilion.

Xue Bai was here for the second time, his first time was during the day, but this time he came in the dark.

Looking around, you can't see the mountains and rivers, only the world is open, the morning star faintly shines on the outline of the mountains and rivers, and you can hear the waves of the Yellow River in your ears.

The attic is brightly lit, there is an old man with four middle-aged men sitting around the stove, stargazing, watching the snow, the five people are elegant and gentle, at a glance it is a noble reading home.

The old man was over the age of old, with white hair and white beard, and when he saw Xue Bai arrive, he said: "Old Song Zhiyi." ”

"I've seen Song Gong.

Song Zhiyi successively served as the envoy of Jiannan Jiedu, Taiyuan Yin, and the general of the right Yu Lin Wei, compared to Xue Bai, a small county lieutenant, he is obviously a big man.

His teeth had already fallen out, and he smiled amiably, and said: "The old man likes Xue Lang when he sees him, like my brother's demeanor when he was young, and he is famous all over the world." ”

It's like a style and a name, but Song Zhiwen failed to become the queen's guest in the curtain, so it doesn't seem like it.

Xue Bai said: "The younger generation will never dare to bear this praise. ”

"I heard that as soon as you took office, you investigated the case of smuggling and plundering good by Gao Chong and Guo Wanjin?"

"Mr. Song Mian's credit for this matter is even greater."

Song Zhiyi was afraid of the cold, so he pulled the thick-fur policeman on his body, and immediately someone closed the doors and windows to make the fire more vigorous.

"It has been more than 30 years since Brother Lu Hun Villa was placed. The old man lives in seclusion here, and the county officials come and go........ and see a lot. ”

As he spoke, the old man blew the ashes from the stove.

Small movements, but the attitude revealed is very clear. As far as he is concerned, Gao Chong and Guo Wanjin are the ashes of Yanshi County, and they are blown away as soon as they are blown, which shows that the real master of this realm is him.

In addition, he also said that the Song family was absolutely not involved in the rebellion.

Xue Bai nodded to show that he understood, and everything was silent.

"Does the county lieutenant have something to ask the old man?"

"I want to ask Guo Wanjin about the private minting of copper coins."

"The founding of the Tang Dynasty has been strict in governing this matter, and if a thief is killed, his family will not be worthy. However, the previous dynasty was corrupt, and private casting swarmed up, and it was repeatedly banned. At the root of it, the Tang Dynasty is prosperous and prosperous, and the official money in the city is far from enough......

Song Zhiyi spoke slowly, and it took a while to get to the point.

"When I was young, private minting of copper coins became a common practice. Until the Kaiyuan Dynasty, the sage issued many decrees to strictly prohibit this matter.

Xue Bai guessed that Song Zhiyi should have minted copper coins privately very early, and it was not until the middle of the Kaiyuan Dynasty that the imperial court became stricter before it turned into the dark.

It was boring to go around, so he simply asked directly: "The official money is insufficient, can the Song family help mint coins to make up for this matter?"

Song Zhiyi smiled, as if laughing at this rhetoric.

They are all people from the Song family here, if you want to get rid of Xue Bai, you just need to push him down Shouyang Mountain, and there is nothing you dare not say.

"It's not easy to maintain this industry." Song Zhiyi sighed.

Although he did not answer, he answered again.

He was old, and after such a short conversation, he was tired, and he closed his eyes to recuperate.

After that, Song Mian talked to Xue Bai in front of several elders.

"The county lieutenant investigated this matter, for what?

Xue Bai only speculated before, and it was only at this time that the truth behind the private minted copper coins was really determined, the Song family was the one who minted the coins, the Guo family was responsible for the sale, and Gao Chong escorted him as a county official.

He asked rhetorically, "If I don't check, what can you give me?"

Song Mian smiled when he heard this, and said, "Then it depends on what the county lieutenant wants." ”

"Money, power." Xue Bai replied very simply, "I might as well say what I can do for you first...... Guo Wanjin,

Gao Chong is dead, Cao Yun is no longer safe for you, whether it is to bring in raw materials or to exchange copper coins, it is no longer convenient for you, I can replace them.

"The county lieutenant is afraid that he can't replace Guo Wanjin.

Is it?

"He brought light goods, grain, slaves, everything, can the county lieutenant go to Jiangzhun and Yangzhou to buy like him?

"Yes." Xue Bai said: "Don't forget that there is the Lady of the Kingdom of Yu behind me, and I have a lot of property in Chang'an." ”

Song Mian looked at Song Zhiyi, and saw that the old man seemed to be asleep and did not react.

With this small move, Xue Bai began to take more of the initiative, and said, "Do you still need me to prove that I can replace Gao Chong to hold an umbrella for you?" ”

"Can the county lieutenant close Guo Wanjin's case earlier?"

"Yes."

The wind was strong on the top of the mountain, and the wind blew the window, Song Mian heard the sound, turned around and looked at it, looking a little nervous.

"What does the county lieutenant want?

"Take your time." Xue Bai said: "I want to get the noble power first, do you know where his iron stone came from?"

Everyone in the Song family glanced at each other, and Song Mian replied.

"Yuncheng.

"Who in Yuncheng sold it to him?

Song Mian also did not answer positively, and said: "Datang Mining and Metallurgy is under the control of the Shaofu Supervisor, and there are ninety-six copper smelters, five iron mountains, two tin mountains, and four lead mountains. But private mining is also allowed, and the government levies a mining tax, one of the ten taxes, and the iron mountain in Yuncheng belongs to private individuals.

He replied a lot, which was equivalent to not answering, obviously because he couldn't believe Xue Bai.

Xue Bai said: "If I really want to check from the official face, a letter to Chang'an, even if it takes some trouble, I can always find it, why don't Mr. Song tell me directly?"

"There is a person named Fan Jiao in Yuncheng, who was born in a humble family, but he also reads poetry and books. At the beginning of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, he was a Xu official in Huaizhong Mansion, and ten years after the Kaiyuan Dynasty, Huaizhou was in drought for several years, and the saint exempted the people from rent. In the fourteenth year of Kaiyuan, the government collected the arrears of taxes, the people resisted, and even Diao people killed the servants, Fan Jiao was ordered to capture, but because he released the thief privately, he was detained. At that time, Li Gong, the assassin of Huaizhou, admired him very much and let him go. Fan Gao returned to Yuncheng, entangled a few outlaws, and under the banner of Li Gong, occupied an iron mountain. ”

"I think he hadn't sold the iron and stone to Gao Chong at that time?"

"Gao Chong only came to Yanshi after Tianbao three years, but they were all in Huaizhou in their early years, of course they knew each other."

Xue Bai then knew that Gao Chong did not tell the truth and concealed the matter.

In this way, it can be inferred that noble, noble, and Fan Gao were originally old acquaintances in Huaizhou, because of various things, including Li Qiwu being suppressed, dissatisfied with the imperial court, and doing some desperate things.

The smuggling of iron tools and the private minting of copper coins may have started in the Kaiyuan Dynasty, but the real rebellion should be after Tianbao entered the An Lushan shogunate in the sixth year.

Xue Bai took out five brand-new copper coins from his arms and said, "You minted this?" The process is good, but with the addition of tin, lead, sand and other sundries, although the weight is almost the same as the official money, it is not easy to distinguish with the naked eye, but the copper content is small. ”

Song Mian took it and glanced at it, squinting slightly, but still habitually shaking his hand in denial.

Xue Bai asked Yin Liang that the technical difficulty of coinage in the Tang Dynasty was very low, and the "mother money sand casting method" was used.

Therefore, he thought it was a copper coin privately minted by a mine owner like Fan Gao, but he found a large number of brand-new coins in Guo Wanjin's home; I was suspecting that someone in Luhun Villa was minting money, but I met Diao Geng, who spent copper coins lavishly.

It wasn't until today's questioning that Xue Bai had an idea.

"I guess the copper mine should also be in Yuncheng, because it belongs to the official metallurgy, the supervision is strict, and it cannot be minted on the spot. Fan Jiao stole copper ore and sold it to you, while Guo Wanjin used the Luohe River to transport tin and lead. Coinage requires hydraulic blows, aren't you minting in Piling Shanyin?

Song Mian smiled, he revealed most of the information, and it was normal for Xue Bai to guess it.

"One thing to be clear, we only buy copper coinage. Later they smuggled iron and stone, which had nothing to do with us.

"Okay, count me in?

Song Mian asked, "How can you trust County Lieutenant Xue?"

Xue Bai said: "I can use the money and grain from the county office to buy iron and stone casting farm tools, this money and grain can be divided into three parts, I, the Song family, Fan Gao, one for each person, and you can give me my share with copper coins." I just took over from Gao Chong, and this first transaction should be a friend. ”

Song Mian nodded, thinking that this method was much safer than cooperating with Gao Chong.

To be honest, he didn't like Gao Chong's transportation of iron and stone to the border town to sell to the Jiedu envoy.

"Can the county lieutenant use the name of the Lady of the Kingdom of Yu to exchange copper coins for light treasures?"

"Yes."

Song Mian asked, "What does the county lieutenant plan to leave behind so that I can feel at ease?"

This is in Luhun Villa, he dares to say it frankly, but who knows what Xue Bai will do after leaving.

"No need." Song Zhiyi didn't fall asleep, closed his eyes, and said slowly: "Old man believes that Xue Lang is sincere cooperation. ”

Xue Bai is indeed very sincere, as far as he is concerned, the food must be eaten one bite at a time, and he must first digest the food in his mouth.

The head of the family spoke, and although Song Mian was uneasy, he still responded: "Okay." ”

He picked up the wine jug, set up several golden cups on the table, poured the wine, and handed one of them to Xue Bai.

"After drinking this cup, there will be a boat of people from behind."

Xue Bai is not worried that Song Mian will poison the wine, if you want power, you must fight, but after the struggle to seize power, profit-making is the norm in the world.

So several golden cups touched each other, and everyone looked at each other and laughed.

They stood on the top of Shouyang Mountain, overlooking the world, as if they were enjoying a gluttonous feast, and drank a glass of wine together, as if they were inviting Xue Bai to a banquet together.

Xue Bai will eat it well, one bite at a time.