end song

Chapter 229
The next day, the county government.

Li Xia walked through the corridor and heard a "click".

He looked down and saw a pebble fell to the ground.

Looking back, I saw a small head poking around the small door of the back office, and then quickly retracted.

"Mr. Jiang, wait a moment, I will see the owner of the house later."

"Yes……"

Li Xia then turned around and walked towards the back office, bypassing the tea room and passing through the small door, and saw Han Qiaoer looking there, beckoning to him.

"what happened?"

As soon as Li Xia went over, she was hugged by this little girl.

"Brother Li, I haven't seen you for several days."

"Why don't you wait in my public room?"

Han Qiaoer lowered her head and muttered in a low voice, "I'm wearing women's clothes today, I can't go to the front office, you didn't even notice."

She has been hanging out with Jiang Di recently, and Jiang Di took several pieces of clothes she wore before and gave them to her.

Because she heard from her father that Li Xia would return to the city today, she changed it on purposely, but he didn't notice it...

"I found out, I'll cut some bolts of cloth to make new clothes for you later."

"No, no, my sister gave me several clothes, don't they look good?"

"Well, for Chinese New Year, make a few more, and make a few more for your father and grandfather."

"I don't need it." Han Qiaoer said, "I still want to grow taller."

"You usually eat more to grow taller."

Han Qiaoer thought for a while, and said in a low voice: "Yingxiang Building was burned down. Brother Li also said that he would guard the county and take me to eat fried vegetables."

"There are other restaurants in the county, and I'll take you there to eat after the war is over."

"Isn't the war over yet? I thought you forgot."

"I didn't forget, the war is not over yet..."

Han Qiaoer had been busy all morning, but in fact, she only had a few words with Li Xia like this.

Afterwards, Li Xia turned back to the front office and walked into Fang Yankai's private room.

~~
After a few words, the atmosphere in the public room froze again.

"You use Zhang Yuanming's money and food to make friends?" Fang Yankai stared at Li Xia, and said, "Feiyu, you make friends with other people's money and the county's credit?"

"How does the house owner know?"

"How do I know? Ha, I counted the first level myself. Besides Zhang Yuanming, I know the number of land in the whole county best except for himself. How can I know how many grains he has? You..."

Li Xia nodded, and said, "Well, how about this time, the county magistrate and master book will be the first credit for defending the county seat?"

"You broke the enemy, why is that so?"

"I wish you could transfer away as soon as possible," Li Xia said.

Fang Yankai was taken aback.

Li Xia said again: "There is no need to doubt the owner of the house, I am sincere."

"Feiyu misunderstood, I didn't want to compete with you for credit."

"But I want you transferred."

"..."

Fang Yankai took a few deep breaths, waved his hands, and said, "We'll talk about these things after the war is over. The battle in Hezhou is imminent, not a time to fight for success."

At this point, he emphasized his tone, and said: "You shouldn't provoke the county gentry. The New Year is approaching, and the people are already dissatisfied with being trapped in the city. If Zhang Yuanming instigates public opinion at this time, I will not give credit to the county magistrate. It is also possible to commit a serious crime..."

Li Xia said: "I burned the Jiuqu Garden, and I also robbed Zhang Yuanming's grain, so it has nothing to do with the county magistrate or master."

"Li Feiyu, stop joking!"

"I'm not kidding, I've always been serious. I have a big backer, so I'm not short of this little credit, and I'm not afraid of this little guilt."

"Being an official is not a nonsense like you."

"The situation is critical, and there should be extraordinary measures."

Fang Yankai slammed his sleeve, managed to contain his anger, took a few steps, and said, "The county will send another sum of money to Zhang Yuanming in addition to next year's summer tax."

"Why?"

"Why? You burned someone's garden."

"It's just to repel the Mongolian army. This time, not only his family was burned, but also the tea garden in Baiyan Miao Village. Why didn't Xiong Chun ask the county to pay for it?"

"Baiyan Miao Village is outside the household registration."

"Didn't the owner's book keep saying that there is no money in the county?"

"It's true that there is no money in the county, so who is suffering?" Fang Yankai sighed and said, "You are too impulsive."

"Do you have to pay?"

"With Zhang Yuanming's contacts, what if someone in the court impeaches us for burning down houses and killing good people? I can't do anything about it. Even if I report it to the court, I have to pay for it. You and I have to bear the responsibility. It's not appropriate to say Yes, you and I have been officials for only three years, but he is the governor of the county. Feiyu, can you understand my difficulties a little bit?"

"This is the responsibility of the landlord. I reserve my objection, but I will not interfere."

"Don't tell me if there are any of these things. How about it, the county magistrate has a banquet in Qingfu Tower tonight, and you go and apologize to Zhang Yuanming."

"Ok?"

Fang Yankai was also afraid of showing Li Xia's arrogance, so he moved closer and said, "After all, you burned down his house, so what if you pay him a gift?"

Li Xia nodded and said, "That makes sense, then I'll meet him tonight."

"Your attitude..."

Fang Yankai frowned, and said again: "In terms of seniority and inferiority, you should also apologize to him. Didn't I tell you that he is a non-member? He was a Jinshi in the Bingxu year. He was awarded an official position and received a salary, but he did not make up for his shortcomings. , as an 'alternate member Wailang', his qualifications and rank are still higher than the county magistrate and me!"

Li Xia often heard people say "Zhang Yuanwai", and he thought Zhang Yuanming was an ordinary squire. Only now did he know what "Yuanwai" meant, and he was really an official.

Thinking back to Zhang Mingyuan's first respectful and then condescending attitude when they first met, and his surprised and angry attitude, it turned out that he was angry at him for not knowing etiquette.

It can also be seen that the official system of the Song Dynasty was complicated and that there were many officials awarded by the imperial examination.

Even if you don't do anything, you will receive a salary...

~~
"It turns out that Zhang Yuanming is an official."

"Yes, doesn't Alang know? I thought Alang knew." Han Qi'an smiled awkwardly, and said, "However, according to the practice of the Song Dynasty, there are too many people who usurped official titles, so Alang must have misunderstood it."

Han Chengxu shook his head, and said: "It's just an official who is 'other than an official'. I think Alang doesn't care whether he is an official or not."

Han Chengxu knew Li Xia better than Han Qi'an, so he explained a few more words.

"Officials in the Song Dynasty must have a rank of Jilu, which means that they can receive a salary and be an official. But there are too many redundant people, and there are not so many real vacancies in the court. Often only three or four officials can fill one real vacancy."

Li Xia understood a little bit, and said, "There are three or four times more officials who are idle than the ones normally needed?"

"It's... hard to say, because there are also 'Yin Bu' and 'Tian Chai'."

"What's the difference?"

"For example, in our Tongchuanfu Road, there are two superiors, 'Tongchuanfu Road Pacifier' and 'Tiancha Tongchuanfu Road Pacifier'. The latter one is extra."

Li Xia shook her head and walked into the inner room.

Soon, Han Qi'an followed in.

"Have you checked?"

"Yes, but let's talk about another thing first." Han Qi'an said: "Zhang Shifei hired a group of murderers to assassinate A Lang."

"What a coincidence."

Li Xia looked outside, only to see Han Chengxu leaning over his case and writing the account books, and occasionally glanced outside the door.

Han Chengxu knew about these things, but he was old, and he didn't want to get involved in the fights and killings. He took care of them and didn't ask much.

"The leader of this group of thugs is called 'Chu Fu', nicknamed 'Ugly Butcher', who has been cutting trails on the southwest border all year round. There are a few Bo people under his command..."

"When are you going to do it?"

"They seem to have thought about it and plan to find opportunities."

Li Xia said: "Let's do it first."

"If Zhang's family is confiscated, the land will become county government land. It's better to assassinate Zhang Yuanming and his son and secretly control Zhang's family."

"Is there a way?"

"Zhang Yuanming has several clan brothers, but they are not in Qingfu. Zhang Shifei has a son named Zhang Daikun, who is four years old. If all three members of the Zhang family die, the family business should go to the eldest grandson Zhang Daikun."

At this point, Han Qi'an murmured: "At that time, as long as we control Zhang Shifei's wife Yang, we can get the land in the name of Zhang Daikun, and we can deceive people."

"Can you control Yang Shi?"

"It should be possible, but it will take some time."

Li Xia said: "We will do it tonight."

"Isn't it too hasty?"

"This kind of thing doesn't need to be too careful. There will be a banquet tonight, and the Zhang family father and son will attend the banquet. They will kill them on the way back."

Han Qi'an said: "But we haven't controlled the mother and son of Yang and Zhang Daikun yet."

"Kill first, I will arrange the killing, and it will not be too late for you to slowly control the Zhang family."

"Yes." Han Qi'an thought for a while, and said, "I'm asking too much, who does A Lang want to use?"

"Ginger rice."

"I'm afraid it's inappropriate. Although Jiang Fan has never dealt with Zhang Yuanming, he has been greatly favored by Fang Yankai. He will handle this matter. I'm afraid we can't hide it from Fang Yankai... A Lang also knows that our landlord's book, eyes It's poisonous. In addition, if you want to sell smuggled salt in the future, if you want to deal with Fang Yankai, you should not use Bao San, Jiang Fan, Hu Hu and others."

"It doesn't matter." Li Xia said, "It doesn't matter if Fang Yankai knows."

"But this..."

"Think about it carefully, as long as the matter can be justified on the bright side, will Fang Yankai expose it? Is he really willing to lose money to the Zhang family?"

"Yes, but how will Ah Lang make things justified on the surface?"

"Simple, some of the prisoners we captured escaped..."

(End of this chapter)