Han official!

Chapter 34 People’s support
"She Jia is in front."

The Tinghou spoke with a touch of pride. He knew that although Guo Jie was a county hero, he was from a humble family. He pointed to Jiashe, a nearby house, and said, "That house with the whitewashed walls is where my uncle lives. I know that Tingchang Guo likes to drink horse wine, so I've prepared a small amount of wine and am waiting for you to come and enjoy it."

All the houses we saw along the way had rammed earth walls. Even in the neighborhoods of Gao Street, most of the houses had rammed earth walls.

Walls are an important part of a good home.

A poor house without walls or corridors is criticized by people.

The powerful would first plaster the walls with mud and then apply chalk, which is white lime. The nobles and marquises even used ash made from burned clam shells to paint the walls, which was even more extravagant.

Guo Jie was surprised, but soon he was filled with joy.

Most of the houses in Chang'an had their walls painted white with chalk, which not only looked beautiful but also served to prevent moisture.

Jia Ziguang was so extravagant that he even painted the rammed earth walls outside white.

Guo Jie was even more excited about the amount of millet stored in the house's granary.

"My uncle came back from the official temple that day."

The Tinghou thought of the slapping incident at the Chang'an official temple and said with lingering fear, "I have been locked up in the main room, not daring to go out, not daring to see anyone, not even daring to open the windows to let in the sunlight. If it weren't for Zhang Wei's reputation, I probably wouldn't have come out to see anyone. If I have offended you, I hope you will forgive me."

At the end of the corridor is a house used to receive guests.

The sitting tables, desks, wine cups and other utensils had been set out. Guo Jie sat on a sitting table and was surprised to find that there was a wall in the room that blocked his view and he could not see the figure of the person in the main seat.

The Tinghou knelt on the opposite table and explained the reason: "My uncle dares not face anyone, so he can only move a fence to block the way. I hope that Chief Guo will understand. Although my uncle is a hero from Nanyang, the person he offended is the Dou family, a relative of the emperor. He is terrified and can only resort to this last resort, moving a fence to block the way so that he can come out to see others."

He suddenly remembered something.

Guo Jie's clan killed the Yangdi Yuan clan, which was even worse than Jia Ziguang's offense against the Dou clan, his in-laws, but he never showed any fear.

After all, he was born into a commoner family, so he had nothing to fear and was much braver than the powerful.

Guo Jie glanced at Tinghou, as if thinking about something. It seemed that since Jia Ziguang had offended his in-laws Dou family, the Nanyang Jia family had already developed a rift. Many of the clansmen were dissatisfied and resented Jia Ziguang for offending Dou Pengzu.

He looked at Zhang Qian and Wei Guang and said, "Go out and check the men in Jiashe Courtyard to see if anyone is hiding their age and trying to avoid corvée by not reporting their age. Remember, count the age of every man in the household."

Officials in government offices often need to have very strong abilities. Take the household department, one of the various departments in the county government office, for example.

The Household Department is responsible for household registration, name registration, weddings, and ancestral worship.

It is necessary to master the ability to judge age based on teeth to prevent people from concealing their age and escaping corvee labor after being registered.

Zhang Qian understood what Guo Jie meant. He was not really going to check the population, but to use the check as an excuse to find the location of the granary and guard it to prevent Jia Ziguang from burning it down.

It was extremely dangerous for one person to guard the warehouse door, as he had to face dozens of Jia family knights holding sharp swords.

Whether you can survive depends on just two words.

Life.

Zhang Qian held down Wei Guang, who was about to stand, and said solemnly, "You are the most courageous among the men at the Gaojie Duting. Only if you stay by my brother's side can I rest assured. Leave the trivial matter of investigating Fu Ji to me."

The most courageous sentence.

Wei Guang's face was flushed, and he said cheerfully, "Go ahead and check the family register. I'll be guarding my brother. No one can get close to me. The iron halberd with the inscription "卜" in my hand is enough to wipe out all the thieves."

Although guarding the warehouse was a gamble with one's life, the profit was extremely high. The position of the gatehouse chief vacated by Jia Ziguang was taken over by the person who gambled with his life.

A true man must die. Even if he dies, he must die a worthwhile death.

Bet on it.

Zhang Qian bowed solemnly, walked out of the main room holding a two-foot sword, and headed towards the warehouse in the Jiashe courtyard to guard the most important profit of their brothers' trip.

"Ting Hou, cough cough"

Jia Ziguang was a renowned hero in Nanyang County, a man of great physique, but he became ill from the shock brought by his in-laws, the Dou family. He said, "You and your men will guard the granary. Remember, bring firewood and oil and pile them inside. If Guo Jie's men behave in the slightest, immediately ignite the firewood and oil and burn all the grain inside, leaving Guo Jie with nothing!"

Ting Hou was startled and said with trembling lips: "Uncle, there are 20,000 stones of corn stored in the granary. If they are all burned, will it be..."

"Um?!"

Jia Ziguang's brows knitted together, and he stared at Ting Hou intently, holding his two-foot sword. "You don't even listen to your uncle's words? Are you having second thoughts? Do you want to poison me and become the head of the Nanyang Jia family yourself?"

Ever since he offended his maternal relative Dou, he not only became afraid to see people, but his temper also became erratic. He suspected that someone wanted to assassinate him and replace him.

Jia Ziguang would draw his sword and kill people at any time. He had already stabbed to death two servants and a maid, so that the servants were trembling with fear when they went in to deliver food, fearing that they would be stabbed to death by the patriarch at any time.

"Don't dare."

Ting Hou took a step back in panic and said hurriedly, "Don't worry, uncle. I will be guarding the warehouse myself with a goose-foot lantern. If anyone breaks in, I will immediately ignite the firewood and oil, and all the millet will be on fire in a moment."

He hurriedly left the main house, and when he walked out of the house, he took a look at the white walls and breathed a sigh of relief.

Ting Hou's eyes flickered.

Regardless of whether the miser around Guo Jie would come or not, he simply burned the warehouse directly. However, before burning the warehouse, he secretly hid one thousand to three thousand shi of corn.

Burning down the barn would destroy all evidence.

No one knew that he secretly hid three thousand shi of corn.

"What are you doing in the barn?"

After Ting Zuo had bandaged his right arm, he met Ting Hou on his way to the warehouse and asked in confusion, "My uncle is entertaining Guo Jie at a banquet, and you weren't there to protect him from Guo Jie's assassination. Why did you suddenly go to the warehouse?"

Ting Hou was only thinking about embezzling 3,000 shi of millet, and he absentmindedly gave the reason.

A sinister look appeared again on Tingzuo's wolf-like face.

The Magistrate of Maoling came to see Jia Ziguang a few days ago and asked to borrow 20,000 dan of corn from the warehouse so that he could take the lead in the plan. Many counties in Chang'an collected the highest taxes.

As long as the Maoling Magistrate comes out on top, he can squeeze out Zhao Yu and become the Chang'an Magistrate through the connections of the Dou family, his foreign relatives.

Zhao Yu was good at criminal law but not good at collecting taxes and levies.

As long as there are 20,000 more stones of millet, it will be no problem to squeeze out Zhao Yu.

Jia Ziguang knew that although it was ostensibly a loan, in reality it was a gift of 20,000 dan of millet to the Magistrate of Maoling. He was reluctant to give up such a large amount of millet, so he did not agree to borrow the grain from the Magistrate of Maoling.

Ting Zuo sneered. Jia Ziguang had offended the Dou family, the in-laws, and Ting Hou was a fool. As long as he secretly sent all the millet to Maoling Ling, he would be a confidant who helped Maoling Ling to be promoted to Chang'an Ling.

By that time, Chang'an ordered all the officials under his command.

There is a place for him!
(End of this chapter)