Han official!

Chapter 122 Everyone
During the Qin and Han dynasties, the feudal system of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period was transformed into a county system. The most important manifestation of this was that ordinary people could also establish a family.

The government registered the people in all counties and divided them into large families, middle-class families, small families, and poor people.

The family under the county system is different from the family under the feudal system.

In the feudal system, a family was the fief of nobles such as the dukes and officials. Only the dukes and officials could call themselves families, so they had retainers. The common people at the bottom of society were not qualified to call themselves families.

The main classification of the registered citizens in the Western Han Dynasty was based on family wealth. Families with a zi (family property) of less than 20,000 coins were considered poor, families with a zi (family property) of less than 100,000 coins were considered small families, families with a zi (family property) between 100,000 coins and 1 million coins were considered middle families, and families with a zi (family property) of more than 1 million coins were considered large families.

Everyone is also called the rich, the cunning, and the powerful.

The Du family of Ba Ling in Gu Shuli is a powerful family with a net worth of over one million. One million is just the bottom line, and it is also the lowest net worth among the powerful families. It is common for the net worth of three million to be among the powerful families, and some even have ten million or twenty million coins.

The Du family of Baling enjoyed the convenient transportation of grain through the Wei River and the huge profits from the hemp paper business. They had accumulated a fortune of more than three million yuan long ago, and were considered wealthy and extravagant among the powerful.

Guo Jie passed by the bullet room in Qili and secretly raised a finger to hint to his brother-in-law Yi Zong, telling him that if he had not returned to Chang'an in one day, he should immediately take the thief catcher and the prison clerk, as well as half of the officials in the county government's temple, to Gushuli.

The county government needed to leave half of its officers to guard the temple, but the other half, one military official and ten officers, were not enough. Fortunately, Yi Zong was an official close to Zhang Tang and could request to go to Baling Town to capture the fugitive.

The officials in Chang'an had no right to arrest the officials and citizens of Ba Ling Yi, unless they were arresting the people of Ba Ling Yi.

However, he was able to capture people from Chang'an who had fled to Baling.

Guo Jie and others pretended to be guests of Chong Huangrou, rode the Hexi horses that the knights coveted, and went to the grain trees on the south bank of the Wei River, east of Baqiao, trying to find Du Ji, the mastermind behind the rumor.

The fields around Gushuli are all flat and beautiful, with crisscrossing ditches and canals, making irrigation convenient. This is a rare and fertile land, and large areas of corn should be planted, and trees should be planted on the hills.

There are grain trees, hibiscus and mulberry trees planted in the grain field. It is really strange that in this fertile land with crisscrossing ditches and well-connected water conservancy projects, millet is not grown, but instead there are trees that cannot be eaten.

Guo Jie was riding on a horse in Hexi, looking at the grain trees, and he knew clearly that Du Ji not only knew the mastermind of the rumor case, but was even involved in the rumor case that slandered Princess Pingyang for having an affair with a riding slave.

The main material of that piece of hemp paper is the bark of the corn tree.

Guo Jie turned his head and looked at Chong Huangrou's charming and seductive face. She nodded slightly at him and exchanged glances.

Chong Huangrou nodded gently and immediately pretended to be excited. "Come on, my friends, follow me into the grain tree. I'll buy out half of the workers and take them to the hemp paper workshop near Baqiao. From now on, Chong's mansion will also have a profitable business from hemp paper."

Chong Huangrou ignored Du Junao's anxiety, shook the reins, and rode the Hexi horse towards the gate of Gushulili at the end of the road.

Before the village official, Tian Dian and Wu Ren could react, they saw a Hexi horse rushing into the granary. The heavy and tall village gate had no time to be closed before it was rushed into the village.

In the sentry post next to the inner gate, the village official and Tian Dian were sitting around the horseshoe stove and were startled by the sudden intrusion of Chong Huangrou.

The village official hurriedly picked up a wooden hammer and prepared to knock on the cauldron to remind the villagers to come quickly with their plows and hoes to round up the bandits.

Tian Dian and several other men stood up hurriedly, holding the two-foot swords at their waists, ready to surround the bandits who suddenly rushed into the granary to rob.

"Not a gang of thieves?"

The local official saw the man wearing a deep red robe, seemingly made of silk, and riding a Hexi horse worth 15,000 coins from the market. He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "This must be one of the young men from Wuling who enjoys riding horses."

Tian Dian looked at the Insect Emperor's soft and charming profile and exclaimed in a low voice, "Perhaps she is the concubine of some noble or powerful man."

The village official and several soldiers nodded continuously, also surprised by Chong Huangrou's beauty, which was even more beautiful than Du Ji.

"Insect Lord! Insect Lord!"

Du Jun'ao was anxious. He rushed into the inner gate, shouting, his face full of anxiety: "We had agreed to watch the fight between Gongcheng and Chongjun's guests at the inner gate. Why did Chongjun suddenly break into the granary? The clerk had already said that the granary was where the hemp paper workshop of the Du family of Ba Ling was made, so it was not convenient for outsiders to see it."

Du Junao was a Lie Cao. There were many Lie Caos in the county and the town. He was the water officer of the official temple in Baling town.

The Water Cao was in charge of water conservancy, and the sections of the Wei River in the Baling area were all managed by the Water Cao Du Junao.

"outsider?"

Chong Huangrou had a savage look on her face. She raised the scabbard of her two-foot-long sword and slashed it directly on Du Junao's back. "Hmph, you little cunning fellow dared to stop a marquis like me. You're quite courageous! Tell me, are you hiding some idler from the Xiongnu?"

Chonghuangrou looks like a little lady, but she is very strong and her hand strength is far greater than that of ordinary people.

The scabbard hit Du Junao's back and it hurt.

"Ok!"

Du Junao groaned, his face full of pain, but he didn't cry out. After all, he was a famous hero in Ba Lingyi.

He endured the severe pain and said, "I am a guest of the Prime Minister, and I am also on good terms with many of the nobles and marquises in Baling. Chong Jun is only a marquis's son and has not yet inherited the title of Marquis Qucheng. It is unacceptable to bully him like this."

The powerful people in the Chang'an area were different from those in local counties and prefectures. They had families worth millions, were good at swordsmanship, often went in and out of houses of all sizes, and had seen the high-ranking officials and marquises.

I won't be scared by a marquis.

"Ok?"

Chong Huangrou pretended to be irritated. "Second brother, go and select the craftsmen who make hemp paper. I want to fight this guest of Prime Minister Dou Ying and see what he is capable of. He dares to be so arrogant in front of me."

Du Junao felt relieved. The more arrogant Chong Huangrou was, the more it meant that he was just here to ask for the craftsmen who were good at making hemp paper.

It was not to spread rumors that Princess Pingyang had an affair with a riding slave.

While Du Junao breathed a sigh of relief, he couldn't help but feel secretly happy that Chong Huangrou actually wanted to fight him with swords.

Chonghuang Rou is the grandson of Chongda, one of the eighteen marquises.

Chongda was the most skilled swordsman in the Han Dynasty, a fact acknowledged by all the founding dukes and princes.

As long as Du Junao can defeat him.

No.

If Du Junao and Chong Huangrou fight to a draw, he will become famous and become the best swordsman among the guests of the Prime Minister's Mansion.

By then, he would be able to jump from a low-level guest in the Prime Minister's Mansion to a middle-level guest in the Lucky House. With the status of a Lucky House guest, he would be valued by Prime Minister Dou Ying, and it would not be difficult for him to get a Qianshi official position.

Du Junao's heart was burning with enthusiasm, and he was even more confident in his swordsmanship. He readily agreed, "Okay, today, I will let Chongjun see the swordsmanship of Ba Ling Du Junao."

Gongcheng was stunned.

It was agreed that he would compare swordsmanship with Chong Huangrou's guests.

How did it become Du Junao and the Insect King fighting with swords?

Gongcheng was just a knight-errant kept by the Du family of Ba Ling. He had no way of interfering with Du Junao's decision, so he could only secretly curse Du Junao to have his tendons cut by Chong Huangrou's sword. That would be his chance to become famous.

On the way here, Chong Huangrou followed the strategy suggested by Guo Jie, pretending to be angry and wanting to fight with Du Junao with swords. She held back Du Junao and many knights, and asked Guo Jie and several other guests to go and select the workers of the hemp paper workshop.

Selecting the craftsmen was just a cover. Guo Jie's real purpose was to find Du Ji who was hiding in the granary and find the culprit who spread the rumor that Princess Pingyang had an affair with a riding slave.

Guo Jie and his companions headed toward the northern corner of Gushuli. Making hemp paper required a large amount of water, and Gushuli's gate faced south, with two heavy gates on each side. They followed the rammed earth road toward the north gate and soon came upon a cluster of houses shrouded in mist.

Gu Shuli did not dare to divert the Wei River and Ba River without permission, and even the small tributaries did not dare to come in.

Gushuli is located in the downstream area, and is afraid of rising water levels during the flood season, when the Wei River and the Ba River will directly flow back and submerge all the houses in Gushuli.

If it is located in the upper reaches of a river like Jincheng Luli or Shuqili, there is no need to worry about the river water backflow during the flood season.

The hemp paper workshop built seven or eight wells, and the market price of digging wells was very high. One by one, the villagers, with their upper bodies bare and only wearing hemp trousers, walked into the storage warehouse next to them and carried out bundles of grain bark, mulberry rabba (rang, mulberry bast), and hibiscus membrane (hibiscus bast).

The bark of grain trees is often peeled off in late spring and early summer. After the bark is peeled off, the old tree is cut down near the root and the remaining roots are covered with soil. When new branches grow out next year, the bark will be more beautiful.

Hundreds of workers carried out bundles of grain bark, mulberry pulp, and hibiscus membranes and threw them into a small pond for fermentation, also known as leaching.

Another dozen workers brought out the fermented grain bark.

Mulberry pulp and hibiscus membranes are boiled in a large pot until they are soft, and finally put into the papermaking trough to start papermaking.

Guo Jie and others left their Hexi horses at the inner gate and walked into the papermaking workshop. Inside the papermaking workshop where a lot of white steam was rising, they looked around for Du Ji.

When the craftsmen saw Guo Jie, a strange face, few people paid attention to him. From time to time, they would see Du Junao bringing outsiders to check the production of hemp paper and buy a large amount of hemp paper.

But in recent days, for some unknown reason, Du Junao lied that the hemp paper workshop involved the Du family's secrets and stopped taking people to the hemp paper workshop.

The craftsmen always felt something was wrong. Making hemp paper relied on experienced workers, and it was not something that could be learned just by watching it once. It required skilled workers who had been trained through repeated failures.

There were no experienced workers, I didn't do it myself, and I experienced failure again and again.

It's no use just looking at it, no matter how many times you look at it.

"Ok?"

Guo Jie noticed that the door to the small hall in the nearby house was locked, but there was a rustling sound coming from inside the house. He said, "Let's go and take a look. The best hemp paper might be stored in the locked room."

There were five or six storage warehouses for storing hemp paper, all built together and side by side on the west side of a courtyard without a wall.

The room is a side room on the east side of the main house. There is a small hall at the back, which is a good place to hide.

However, when Guo Jie walked to the side, he felt that the situation was even more wrong.

Normally, a chapel is a small guest room with relatively large windows, so it is brighter when the windows are opened. However, the windows of this chapel are not only small, but also blocked with bricks, making it a closed house without windows.

It doesn't look like a small hall, but more like the county prison of the county governor's temple.

Guo Jie and Wei Guang looked at each other and signaled Wei Guang to lie down and take a look to see if there was anyone hiding in the closed house.

From time to time, a few workers in naked hemp trousers appeared near the storehouse, carrying the finished hemp paper into the storehouse. They glanced at the small hall from a distance, and a bit of tension appeared on their thin and yellow faces.

There was even a craftsman who ran to find the steward of the hemp paper workshop, looked at the small hall in the distance, pointed and talked about something.

Guo Jie held the hilt of his two-foot-long sword and stood beside the vegetable patch at the entrance of the chapel, staring outside to guard against the housekeeper and his five men coming over.

Wei Guang walked to the door of the chapel and looked inside through the crack. In the dim room, there was only a bean-shaped lamp emitting a faint light.

Next to the bean-shaped lamp, there were a lot of corn stalks spread out as a couch. A young lady in a tattered skirt was lying on the corn stalks. No, she was being forced onto the corn stalks by a man in a thin flat cap.

"Little brat!"

Wei Guang was furious. Born into a low-class cavalry slave family, he had seen some maids being insulted since childhood. He had not cared about such things before, but now seeing the poor people at the bottom of society being bullied, he was immediately filled with anger.

He lifted up his trousers and socks, hooked his shoes and kicked the wooden door of the chapel, and kicked the door open.

Wei Guang rushed into the hall in anger, picked up the bean-shaped lamp, and smashed it directly on the man's head with a flat hat.

"boom!"

"what!"

The man screamed and rolled on the ground. He touched his flat-capped head with both hands and found that his head was bleeding. His screams became louder.

"boom!"

"what!"

Wei Guang kicked the man in the crotch again, hitting the thing that was causing trouble for his wife. He felt relieved when he saw the man starting to convulse in pain.

"It's okay, don't be afraid."

Wei Guang walked over and wanted to help Xijun up, but he saw that she was a little crazy and opened her mouth to bite the hand that supported her.

"hiss--"

Wei Guang took a breath, his palm was bitten and bleeding, but he didn't want to force open Xijun's little mouth with his hands for fear of hurting her. He sighed and let the poor Xijun bite his palm.

"What are you doing!"

The housekeeper hurried over and saw the man wailing and screaming in the hall. His face suddenly changed. "Why did you hurt my son? Do you know that this is the hometown of the Du family of Ba Ling, and that Mr. Du is a guest of the Prime Minister? How dare you hurt him? You guests don't want to live anymore!"

The housekeeper was stopped by Guo Jie and could only watch his son's head bleed and his breath gradually weakened.

Gushuli is a big village with thousands of people. A few small guests dared to hurt people in the hometown of Baling Du family.

Relying on the fact that Du Shi of Ba Ling was behind him, Jia Cheng was certain that Guo Jie would not dare to hurt anyone, let alone fight back, so he started to shout and scold without fear.

"She's just a maidservant beside Du Ji."

The housekeeper pointed at Guo Jie's nose and scolded him, "She's just a slave. It's a blessing for me that my son likes her, you little brat!"

And wait for Jiacheng to finish speaking.

A flash of sword light flashed.

Accompanied by Jiacheng's screams.

Guo Jie cut off the housekeeper's fingers and palm with a knife, cutting them off at the wrist and dropping them to the ground.

"what!"

Jiacheng rolled on the ground in pain, his gauze jacket and trousers covered with dust and his own blood.

Guo Jie's shoe landed directly on the head of the chancellor. He said with a sinister grin, "You are mistaken. I am not a guest, but Guo Jie."

He swung the ring-handled knife in his hand and slashed at the neck of the chief minister.

How dare you kill people directly!
(End of this chapter)