"Uncle, excuse me, is Shanbutou Village in this direction?" asked a sturdy man who was about twenty-eight or nine a year, leading a jujube red plantation horse to stand still in front of an old man. Not far behind him, eight men of various ages rode slowly on horseback.

The old man was walking on the path with a large load of dry firewood on his back, and when he saw a sturdy man in a standard robe coming to ask, he hurriedly put down the firewood and replied, "Yes, sir." After walking along this path for five or six miles, there is a small fork in front of the right, and you will arrive at the small fork for another two miles. ”

The sturdy man in the robe held his hand and thanked, "Thank you uncle for showing the way." This is just the beginning of the year, and the cold is in full bloom here, I have a pot of hot wine here, and I will give it to the uncle to warm up!" When did the old man see such a battle, he was afraid of his hands and feet, where did he dare to take it, "The official has tormented me, how dare I ask you for wine and food!"

The sturdy man didn't allow it, put the wine pot and food bag on the firewood, and then thanked him and left. Not far away, the oldest man on horseback smiled and said to a middle-aged man in a Chinese costume, "Master, I'm afraid that our second brother Fu will be hungry at noon." ”

The middle-aged man in Huafu looked at the sturdy man who was coming and said with a smile, "Haha, although the second brother Fu is from a martial arts background, he is kind and warm-hearted. If he was kind enough to give away his own food, how could he be hungry and eat with me for a while? Everyone laughed happily when they rode up.

The sturdy man rode his horse, stopped in front of a group of people, and reported, "Sir, follow this path for five or six miles, then turn right and the small fork in the road and go two miles." ”

The middle-aged man in Chinese clothes took off the wine jug and food bag from his waist and threw it at the sturdy man, and said with a smile, "Second Brother Fu, I will invite you to have a meal of wine and meat at noon!" Fu Cheng took it and looked at everyone blankly.

A group of people rode forward, and when they passed the old man, the middle-aged man in Chinese clothes grabbed the reins of the horse, waved his hand at him, and began to drive the horse away.

The nine people here are Mei Siyuan, the newly appointed secretary of Anxian Salt Transportation, Yun Kite, Yun Hu, Yun Harrier's father and son, Fu Punishment, four servants of the Mei Mansion, and four cronies and guards brought from the Qingxi Prosecutor's Mansion. This trip was from the Yamen of the Fuzhou Salt Administration Department to the vicinity of the blind mountain in Fuyang Town, looking for a site to build a salt farm.

"Among the six states under the jurisdiction of Anxian, Fuzhou is the richest, but as I have seen along the way in the past few days, the people have lived a lot of hardship, so it can be seen that the livelihood of the people in the other five states is as good as Si. Mei Siyuan sighed. "How not!" Fu Zhi continued. Everyone talked all the way, driving Xu Xing.

After five miles, I saw that there was a small road extending on the right side outside the hundred zhang, and Fu punished him, and took the first step to drive the horse forward quickly, and he was on the small road, but there was no trace. The eight horsemen arrived at the fork in the road, and saw Fu Zhi driving his horse fast on the path.

"Huh~~", Fu Le Ma stopped and reported, "Master, Shanbutou Village is just ahead, and I have asked the chief to wait at the entrance of the village."

"Very good, let's take a look at the geography of this mountain village!" Mei Siyuan said. A group of people came to the path in a mighty way, Fu Punishment opened the road in front, and the cloud kite hall was at the end.

There is still a mile away from the entrance of the village, a thin middle-aged man led the four old men to greet everyone, looking panicked, and kneeling on the ground more than ten zhang away from Fu Punishment's mount, shouting, "Li Facai, the chief of Shanbutou Village, and the four clan stewards visited the political secretary!" These five people have obviously never seen this kind of scene, and it is impossible to know what kind of official the Yanyun political secretary is, but they feel that these nine people are dressed in gorgeous clothes, and the robes are powerful and exquisite, and they must be big people who have stood up to the sky, and they are prostrate on the ground at this moment, and they dare not look at everyone, for fear of causing trouble.

"Baochang Li, get up quickly! We have a lot of disturbances here, and we are tired of leading the way, and we will pack up a few more rooms for us to settle down," Mei Siyuan said softly.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Xiao Min will do it!" After speaking, he got up and pushed the old man on the side, who had listened to what Mei Siyuan said, and had to be hinted at by the chief of the body, and had already understood, so he ran to the village with all his strength, obviously to arrange the accommodation of a group of pedestrians. Without waiting for Mei Siyuan's orders, Fu Zhi rode his horse and followed.

Shanbutou Village is a large village in Fuyang Town, with more than 500 households registered and more than 2,400 people. The richest man in the village is a wealthy family surnamed Zhu, who has nearly 2,000 acres of land at the foot of the blind mountain. The clan steward who arranged a place for everyone hurriedly came to the rich family surnamed Zhu and explained the reason. The rich man surnamed Zhu saw the old housekeeper, listened to it and said, where do you dare to have an opinion, and hurriedly call the female dependents and the little maid Zhang Luo's food and residence.

The old steward got Zhu Fuhu's promise, so he hurriedly reported to the Fu outside the door. "Lord Guan, Shanbutou Village is a small country land, only this Mr. Zhu's mansion can be entertained, and Lord Wanwang will bear with it!"

"Where, the old gentleman is polite. You will lead me to meet the master of this house!" As Mei Siyuan's personal companion, Fu Punishment has always been rough and meticulous.

The old steward made a hundred promises, led Fu Zhi and turned back to Zhu's mansion.

"Xiaomin Zhu Youyuan, I have seen the official master!" Zhu Fuhu was about to bow down after speaking, Fu Fu hurriedly went to pull, took out a silver ingot from his belt and said, "Mr. Zhu is polite." My adults may take a place to rest at noon and night, and bother to clean up five clean rooms. This has five taels of silver for official ingots to offset the fee. ”

"The people do not fight with the officials", the ancient people were afraid of the officials like rats and cats, no matter the old or the young, regardless of the rich and the poor. Although Zhu Youyuan is the richest man in a village, he thinks that he is really not worth mentioning in front of the official family. At this time, when he saw Fu Punishment handing over the money, he was surprised and suspicious, and hurriedly said, "The official is tired from afar, and the people are fortunate to entertain, where can I ask for the adult's wealth?"

Fu Zhi still had to greet everyone, but he didn't want to say more, so he put the silver ingot on the table and walked out quickly.

"Master, this is the place!" Fu Zhi took everyone over, and there were still twenty or thirty zhang away from the gate of Zhu's mansion, pointing to the door of the mansion. Zhu Youyuan led a group of family members to wait in front of the door, and when he saw Mei Siyuan's nine horses coming closely, he immediately knelt on the ground and bowed, "Zhu Youyuan of Shanbutou Village and his family members are waiting for the Yanyun political secretary!"

"Mr. Zhu is very polite. If you are tired, please get up!" said Mei Siyuan.

Where did Zhu Youyuan think that this adult would be polite, so he got up in thanks, and led Mei Siyuan and his party to the mansion.