The sky was bright and the sun had just risen.

Han Tong, the chief bookkeeper of Heyang County, looked at the booklet in his hand, only to feel cold all over his body, and the cold sweat on his forehead fell like rain.

"How is it possible, how is this possible, how can tens of thousands of stone grains in Chang Ping disappear?"

He forcibly suppressed the panic in his heart, and hurriedly went to Changping to check in person.

But when he saw the situation here, he was directly frightened and sat down on the ground, and the whole person was like falling into an ice cave.

There really wasn't even a grain of rice left.

That's an exaggeration, rats are going to starve to death here!

"I checked it out last month! How so? What should I do now?

"If the news leaks out, the local clans and merchants will definitely raise the price of food, and I don't know how many people will die at that time.

"It must be kept secret and must not be known to anyone...... Hey, how can it be kept secret, I don't know how many of the county officials are from these big clans and merchants......

"I have to report to the county immediately, no, before that, I should think of a way to solve this problem.

"By the way, the foreign affairs director of the Zixiao faction just arrived a few days ago, maybe you can ask her for help and sell some grain in Heyang County first, it should be feasible!"

When Han Tong thought of this, his eyes suddenly lit up.

It was as if a drowning man had grasped a life-saving straw, and the whole person was cheered up.

Immediately got up from the ground, took the booklet and ran wildly towards Fang Qian's house.

Now this time is too early, and the county has not yet come to the yamen.

I had to go to my house to find it.

Fortunately, Fang Qian's house was not far away, and Han Tong quickly rushed here.

"Huh? How come there is no concierge? Han Tong was a little surprised, but he didn't think much about it, and just pushed the door and walked in.

As the county chief bookkeeper, he often comes to the county commander's house to report on his work, and Fang Qian has long allowed him not to hand over the worship post.

Along the familiar road, Han Tong came to the guest hall, which was still empty.

"What's going on? If there is no porter, why is there no servant to entertain guests? ”

Han Tong looked around in disbelief, very puzzled.

In normal times, even if the prefectural order is not ready to entertain guests, a servant will come and pour tea to greet them.

What's going on today?

It's so deserted, it's weird inside and out.

"It's broken!" Han Tong suddenly slapped the chair, and had an ominous guess in his heart, "Could the county zun have already found out about Chang Ping's position and run away directly with his servants and relatives?" ”

The grain that is often closed disappeared out of thin air, and there was not even a grain of rice left, and this kind of thing must have been investigated and dealt with in prison a long time ago.

However, the main responsibility is generally with the prefectural order.

But if the county order runs away, the responsibility of the county and the chief bookkeeper will definitely increase.

"I have to go find Qian Shaoyin, don't they all run away in the end, I'm the only one left!" Han Tong thought so in his heart, so he was going to leave Fang Qian here and go to find the county Cheng Qian Liu.

The first leader ran away, and the second in command had to stay behind and take the blame!

Otherwise, wouldn't his third-in-command be unlucky?

But as he ran, Han Tong suddenly stopped again, slapped his head with the book in his hand, and scolded in a low voice: "Han Tong, Han Tong, you have read all the sage books in your stomach in vain, and at this time, you are really not a thing."

"Hey, the county zun is not here, I'll go find that Fairy Pei from the Zixiao faction myself. I hope she can be reasonable and transfer grain to sell to Heyang County as soon as possible, if the price of grain is really raised by those businessmen and clans, the consequences will be unimaginable. ”

Although the second-in-command of Heyang County is the county Cheng Qianliu, this is a Beijing official who has been demoted to this point, and he is over fifty years old.

In fact, Han Tong, the main bookkeeper, has been acting as the county leader.

Therefore, since he no longer planned to find someone to take the blame with him, he naturally did not go to Qian Liu.

But just as Han Tong was about to leave, he suddenly heard a voice from the guest hall, "Why do you have to leave so soon, but you dislike me for not treating guests well?"

"County Honor!" Han Tong was overjoyed, it turned out that this county magistrate didn't run, so he hurriedly raised the document in his hand and said, "County honor! The lower officials have a big event to report, and the grain in the Chang Ping warehouse has disappeared! ”

"Hugh is nonsense!" The voice came again, and he said in a deep voice, "Han Tong, haven't you woken up yet, there are hundreds of thousands of stone grains in Changping, how can you disappear out of thin air?" ”

"County Zun, I have personally checked it, it is indeed empty, and there is not a grain of rice!" Han Tong hurriedly explained, "After confirming this matter, the lower official came to your side as soon as possible, intending to report to you." ”

"Is that really the case?!" Fang Qian's voice was full of astonishment, as if he was extremely shocked by this.

After a long while, he said in a deep voice, "I'm afraid this matter can't be hidden, the merchants in the city will definitely be dishonest, you will temporarily take the post of county lieutenant, lead people to keep an eye on them, and if anyone dares to raise the price of grain, go and warn them." But if you don't listen, come and report it to me. ”

"Yes, county honor, the lower officials will not disgrace their mission!" Han Tong hurriedly bowed and left.

……

After Han Tong left, calm returned to the guest hall.

Fang Qian, who now had only one arm left, sat tremblingly on the chair, looked at Lu Heng with fear in his eyes, and asked, "Just now, are you still satisfied with my performance just now?" ”

"It's okay." Lu Heng nodded.

What Han Tong heard just now was indeed Fang Qian's voice, but it was Fang Qian, who had been controlled by him.

Actually, he originally planned to kill Fang Qian directly.

But after some consideration, I still plan to let this prefectural order live for a while.

Otherwise, it will be very troublesome for the whole county to lack people.

When Fang Qian heard Lu Heng's evaluation, a trace of unrealistic hope suddenly ignited in his heart, and he said respectfully: "Then can you please open the net, if my relatives are confused and raise the price of food for a while, I am now warned and ordered to rectify?" ”

"Oh?" Lu Heng immediately laughed when he heard this, shook his head and said, "Sure enough, if you are too gentle, you will be considered discussable, rest assured, I will definitely focus on taking care of your family...... Never miss a single kill! ”

Fang Qian's face turned pale suddenly, and his whole person became paralyzed, muttering, "It's over, it's over......"

……

After Han Tong left Fang Qian's house, his whole face became red, and he felt that there was a stream of blood constantly surging in his heart.

This time he reported the problem to the county order, which made him feel an unprecedented excitement.

"It only took such a short time to set the tone for action." Han Tong thought back to the conversation just now, and deeply felt that this was really different from before.

Fang Qian was so crisp and refreshing this time, if he had put it in the past, he would have to delay it for two or three days before he could have a follow-up, and it had to be the effect of urging him countless times a day.

I don't know what's going on today, but it's going so well.

"I always feel like something is wrong, something is not quite right." Han Tong had already had a lot of doubts in his heart, but in the end, he shook his head and pressed down, "Now I don't have time to think about these things, it is right to supervise the merchants and clans in the city, so as not to ...... the people."

And just as he was thinking this, there was a sudden commotion on the road ahead.

Immediately afterwards, I saw crowds of people emerging on this road, dozens or hundreds of people, running after me, pushing carts of different sizes in their hands.

There is only one destination:

A rice shop on this road - Fang's rice shop.

"Grab the rice!!"

"Go grab the rice!"

"The government is out of food!"

Everyone shouted in their mouths as they ran to Fang's rice shop.

Seeing this, Han Tong immediately froze in place, stunned, and muttered: "What are you kidding, I actually know later than ordinary people, and I have already started to grab rice?!" ”

However, after a brief shock, he quickly regained his spirits and hurriedly joined the army of rice grabbers.

Because Han Tong was not wearing an official uniform, nor did he reveal his identity, he did not attract people's attention, so he rushed to the front of the team.

Of course, he didn't come to buy rice.

It's about the price of rice.

"One thousand two hundred wen and one stone of rice?!"

Han Tong couldn't help but exclaim in surprise after seeing the price of the rice shop, glared angrily at the shopkeeper of the rice shop, and asked, "Who asked you to set the price like this?" Yesterday, the price of rice was only 800 Wen! ”

It is true that 800 wen and one stone of rice are already very expensive, more than twice the price of 3 or 400 wen in a good year, but compared with the current price of 1,200 wen, it actually seems very kind.

The other people who came to buy rice were even more frightened by the outrageous price.

Ordinary people spend at most twenty or thirty yuan a year, and now they can't even afford to buy a stone of rice?!

"Where is all this nonsense?" The shopkeeper of the rice shop directly waved his hand to drive people away, and scolded Han Tong angrily, "Love to buy, don't buy and roll!" ”

"You're raising the price of rice!" Han Tong took out his official card, raised it above his head, and shouted, "I am Han Tong, the chief bookkeeper of Heyang County, and I was ordered by the county to picket the price of grain in the city, and ordered all shops not to raise the price of rice, and not to maliciously raise the price!" ”

When the surrounding people heard this, they were all relieved, fortunately, there was an official government, otherwise they would not be able to live this day.

1,200 yuan and one stone of rice, who can afford this.

But the shopkeeper of the rice shop was not afraid at all, but said to Han Tong with a sneering face: "Ridiculous, Fang Xianzun is the cousin of our lord's family, how can there be such an order?" I think you're talking gibberish! ”

"You!" Han Tong's forehead was bruised, and he was almost about to do it directly, and at the same time couldn't help complaining in his heart, "I don't know what kind of wind the imperial court smoked, and it was really fucking outrageous to let Fang Qian come to his hometown as a county magistrate." ”

"Ah Er, don't be presumptuous." At this moment, a middle-aged man who looked polite and polite walked out of it, drank away from the shopkeeper of the rice shop, arched his hand to everyone, and smiled at Han Tong, "Contemptible Fang Sheng, I don't know that Master Han is here, and I am far away." ”

"It turned out to be the owner of the house, and he has admired the name for a long time." Han Tong arched his hand.

Fang Sheng likes to paint bamboo, self-proclaimed bamboo forest master, Heyang County people often call him the owner of the house, there are many people called the house creditor, he is also the largest loan shark in Heyang County.

"Master Han, if you speak directly, you won't be polite." Fang Sheng was still smiling and looked very gentle, but his words were full of threats, "Since Master Han thinks that the price of the contemptible rice shop is unreasonable, then he won't sell rice today." Ah Er, get ready to close! ”

"Wait! What does the owner of the house mean? Han Tong hurriedly stopped, so many people are waiting here to buy rice for the pot, how can they suddenly stop selling it.

"If you don't do a loss-making business, you can do it." Fang Sheng said lightly, "One stone of rice and 1,200 wen is the price that we have discussed together with several major shops, but it is just barely so that we don't lose money, and if it drops again, it will be a loss, so it is better to close the store." Ah Er, send off! ”

"You mean that as long as you don't let you set the price for 1,200 Wen, you won't sell it?!" Han Tong trembled with anger, and said in a deep voice, "You are disobeying the government!" ”

"Your little master book can't represent the government!" Fang Sheng sneered, "Listen, you can't price 1,200 Wen a day, and the rice shops in the city won't open for a day."

"By the way, not only my Fang family, but also the Wen family, the Li family, and the Gao family's rice shops, are all like this, we can't do a loss-making business.

"Please go back!"