The catcher smiled and said, "Naturally, a gust of wind blew Lao Tzu here!" Master Jiang of the Yamen was ordered by the magistrate of the county to escort a distinguished guest to the inn to rest. Tell your shopkeeper Feng to come out to greet him, and tell him to pack up all the best guest rooms. Prepare a late-night snack and hot water. Lord Zhixian and Master Pan both said that if they are a little neglectful to your guests, let Lao Feng clean up and get out of the bed tomorrow!"

The guy was startled, poked his head out and looked out of the gate, and saw Master Jiang standing outside the door with more than a dozen fast catchers. He knew that what this catcher said was true, so he made a gesture to Master Jiang in a panic, turned around and ran towards the courtyard. The catcher quickly turned to Master Jiang and smiled: "This monkey cub is more clever than before. ”

Before Master Jiang could speak, a catcher standing beside him snorted and said: "Two months ago, Lord Zhou, the Tongzhi of Liaoyang Mansion, came to us on a business trip, and when he checked into the inn at night, this kid didn't know the identity of Lord Zhou, and he offended Lord Zhou by speaking disrespectfully. When Lord Zhou left Dongliao County and returned to Liaoyang, he told Master Pan about it. Master Pan was furious and whipped him severely. If this monkey cub doesn't learn to be more behaved, and Lao Feng drives him out, he won't have to starve to death?"

Xiao Dong listened to the gossip of the two catchers, turned his head to Master Jiang and said, "Do the lords of the Liaoyang Governor's Yamen and the Liaoyang Governor's Yamen often come to Dongliao County?"

Master Jiang replied respectfully: "Our Eastern Liao County is a border land, and the officials of the Liaoyang Prefect Yamen and the Liaodong Governor Yamen do not come here often. Except for occasional important matters, only when Dongyi sent envoys to Beijing to face the saints, the yamen of these two prefectures would send people to our Dongliao County to greet the Dongyi envoys in accordance with etiquette. ”

Xiao Dong nodded, and said: "In the past two years, the governor of Liaodong and the general army of Liaoyang have changed frequently, and you county officials, I am afraid it will not be easy to serve these adults." ”

When Master Jiang heard Xiao Dong say this, he smiled bitterly and said, "Lord Xiao understands his feelings, and the villain is grateful. The fact is indeed as Lord Xiao said, every adult comes to our Liaodong to be an official, and as a rule, the county magistrates go to Liaoyang to see him. These adults are still talking, but the attachés they bring with them are difficult to serve. ”

Master Jiang paused slightly when he said this, and secretly glanced at Xiao Dong's face. Under the light of the torch, seeing that Xiao Dong had no uncertainties on his face, he continued: "Lord Xiao is an official in the capital, so he is naturally well-informed, and these stereotypes and bad habits of officialdom are naturally better known than villains. As the saying goes, 'Hades is good-looking, but the little ghosts are difficult', in fact, all the Shangguan lords have been promoted one by one, and they naturally sympathize with us little officials. It's just that some of the entourage guards are difficult to deal with, and they only want to blackmail the local officials, and if they don't deal with it properly, they will cause great trouble. In March and April of this year, a general under the account of Zhang Daren, the chief soldier of Liaoyang, came to our Dongliao County to inspect the guard station, and one of his personal soldiers thought that the food given by the yamen was not good, so he lifted the table with the strength of wine, and even framed the county government officials to beat and scold them. The general listened to the rumors, and even transferred 300 soldiers from the guard post outside the city to surround the county office, and almost caught us quickly. In the end, it was the magistrate who gave the money and sent these plague gods away. ”

Xiao Dong snorted and said, "There is such a thing?"

Master Jiang was about to speak, but he heard the sound of footsteps in the door of the inn, so he stopped talking. After a while, I saw two guys each carrying a lantern and walked out, followed by a short and fat man, with a smile on his face, he walked quickly to Master Jiang, slammed to the ground, and said with a smile: "Oh, I don't know that Master Jiang is here, and I hope that Master Jiang will forgive my sins." ”

Master Jiang said: "Shopkeeper Feng, this Lord Xiao has come to our Dongliao County on business, and he has been staying in your store for the past few days. You must greet you well, and do not slack off. The shop money and meal money are paid by the county yamen, and you only need to take care of Lord Xiao and his party. ”

Although Shopkeeper Feng is short and fat, his eyes are extremely flexible. Although Master Jiang did not explicitly say which one was Lord Xiao, it was just that he looked at his face and saw that Xiao Dong had an extraordinary bearing, and he was standing beside Master Jiang, and he already knew it in his heart. I saw Shopkeeper Feng bow to Xiao Dong and say respectfully: "The grass people have seen Lord Xiao. ”

Xiao Dong saw that this fat man was very shrewd, and secretly thought that this person was extremely shrewd, but don't show him any flaws. Immediately, his right hand was raised, and he said, "The store doesn't have to be polite. ”

Shopkeeper Feng made a gesture, then stood up straight, and said with a smile: "Lord Xiao, Master Jiang, the grass people have instructed the guys to clean up the best rooms in the shop, and the back kitchen is preparing supper for all the adults, how much hot water you want." Please invite Master Xiao and Master Jiang into the inn to rest. ”

After listening to what the shopkeeper Feng said, everyone thought that Lao Feng was the most thoughtful, and he prepared a supper for Lord Xiao, and we must be indispensable. We were also hungry this night, just in time for a big meal.

Unexpectedly, Master Jiang shook his head and said, "We still have something to do tonight, just greet Lord Xiao and his party." ”

Shopkeeper Feng was stunned for a moment, and then said with a sneer: "Yes, the grass people know." ”

Master Jiang bowed his hand to Xiao Dong and said, "Lord Xiao and everyone, please go to the inn to rest." The villain took the brothers to the docks. ”

Xiao Dong was very satisfied when he saw that Master Jiang was going to investigate the case overnight, and said, "Then there is Master Jiang." ”

Hearing what Master Jiang said, they were all quite disappointed in their hearts. Some people secretly thought in their hearts that although Master Jiang was fair, he was just too rigid, and it was better to work with Master Pan to reap many benefits. In the middle of the night, I had to go to the dock to drink the sea breeze, and if I knew this, it was better to pretend to be injured by that kid and hide in the yamen and not come out.

Master Jiang bowed to Xiao Dong, turned around and was about to leave with the catcher, but heard Xiao Dong say, "Master Jiang will stay for the time being." ”

Master Jiang stopped in amazement, turned to Xiao Dong and said, "What do you command?"

Xiao Dong said: "There is Master Lao Jiang and all the brothers tonight. The official thought that everyone was not beaten by iron, and he had to eat something to have the strength to handle the case. However, the matter is urgent, so I can only ask Master Jiang to lead the brothers to the dock to investigate first. After the check, if you want to come to the day, you might as well find a restaurant to drink a few glasses, and you can also drive away the fatigue. ”

When Xiao Dong said this, he turned his head to the shopkeeper Hu and said, "Old Hu, take twenty taels of silver and bring it to Master Jiang, which can be regarded as a thank you gift from us to Master Jiang and the brothers." ”

The crowd was overjoyed to hear it. They all know that Master Jiang is a square person, although it is quite hard to run errands with him, but if he gets the benefit of the silver reward, Master Jiang will definitely not swallow it alone, and must divide the silver reward equally among everyone. As soon as this Lord Xiao made a move, he was twenty taels of silver, and there were more than ten people who came to handle the case with Master Jiang, and each of them could almost get one or two taels of silver. That's a lot of money for these catchers. It is because everyone is overjoyed, and the unhappiness of Fang Cai is swept away.

The shopkeeper Hu cursed secretly in his heart, but Xiao Dong had already ordered, and he didn't dare to disobey, so he had to take out a few silver tickets from his arms, and by the light of the lantern hanging on the door of the inn, he put a few silver tickets in front of him and carefully checked them, and finally took out a silver ticket and handed it to Master Jiang reluctantly.

Master Jiang stretched out his hand to borrow the silver ticket, thanked Xiao Dong and the shopkeeper Hu, turned his head and handed the silver ticket to a catcher next to him, and said: "After dawn, you take the silver ticket to the money bank to exchange it for loose silver, and divide it among the brothers." ”

The catcher took the silver ticket with a look of surprise on his face, carefully put it in his arms, and said, "Please rest assured that Master Jiang, the villain will definitely handle things properly." ”

Master Jiang nodded, and said quickly to the crowd: "Lord Xiao is so sympathetic, we have to handle the case well in order to live up to Lord Xiao's trust." ”

The crowd saw that the silver had arrived, and their hearts were happy, and when they heard Master Jiang say this, they nodded yes one after another. Only then did Master Jiang say goodbye to Xiao Dong and go straight to the dock with the crowd.

Shopkeeper Feng saw that Master Jiang and the others had already left, so he said to Xiao Dong with a happy face: "Lord Xiao, please go to the inn to rest." ”

Xiao Dong nodded, and walked towards the inn with Shopkeeper Feng. Shopkeeper Hu looked unhappy, and said to Zhang Shi in a low voice: "Outside Zhang, you have to remember for me that Hu took out twenty taels of silver for everyone." I can't pay this money alone, and everyone will have to make it up for me then. ”

Zhang Shi said: "Shopkeeper Hu can rest assured, Zhang will remember it for you." ”