At ten o'clock in the afternoon, which is the hour of the day when the sun is at its fullest and the sun shines the brightest, the wheels of the oxcart made a creaking and creaking sound.

It took a whole morning for the oxcart to drive from the main city of Yangzhou to Wangjiacun below Gaoyou. When they finally arrived, Liu Dapao felt that his body was about to fall apart from the jolts.

In ancient times, the average temperature in the south was slightly higher than in modern times. The temperature in the Yangzhou area was already close to that of the Guangdong and Guangxi areas in later generations. Although it was only spring in March (lunar calendar), it was still so hot that the skin was peeling off when the sun was at its most intense in the summer.

.

When Liu Dapao stepped out of the bullock cart, he couldn't help but put his hand in front of his eyes to block the sun that was burning his eyes. This was Wangjiacun, where he would collect the bill next, and the three people following him were Liu

Da Liu Er and Qiu Yan, who had come with him inexplicably in the morning, had particularly strange expressions.

Obviously he was just acting out of justice, but because he was worried about Wangjiacun's debt problem, he was forced to follow Black Heart Bear. Strictly speaking, he still had a hostile relationship with Black Heart Bear, but in the eyes of outsiders, even in the eyes of outsiders,

From his own perspective, he looked like the little brother of this black-hearted bear.

Following the black-hearted bear, because he no longer had any intention of taking the black-hearted bear's life, it was as if he was protecting the safety of the black-hearted bear.

As for Qiu Yan, behind him are naturally the two brothers Liu Da and Liu, who are facing formidable enemies. Originally, the two senior bodyguards were supposed to follow Liu Dapao in shifts, but because of Qiu Yan's inexplicable joining, they had to

Both are present at work.

After all, they are really no match for Qiu Yan when fighting alone. It can even be said that they have no power to fight back.

The weather is very hot, but you can still see village women from Wangjia Village working in the fields in twos and threes. There is sparkling green everywhere. The huge windmill at the entrance of the village is slowly turning, and you can even smell it from a distance.

The fragrance of rice flowers is carried by the wind.

As Liu Dapao got off the bullock cart, everyone who was working outside stopped what they were doing. The woman's eyes were full of fear, the old man's eyes were full of hatred, and the children's eyes were full of curiosity. Here

, and there was not a single mature man in sight.

Liu Dapao slowly walked up to a woman with a floral coarse cloth on her head, a thick pelvis but thin limbs tortured by life, and asked softly: "I am the money catcher Black Heart Bear from Yangzhou City, may I ask your village chief or...

Where is the person who can speak out? I'm here to collect the debt."

After a while, the white-haired village chief walked towards him on crutches. Behind him were two strong women, carrying what seemed to be an extremely heavy load on their shoulders, making every step they took take a step forward.

It staggered and shook so much that the fat chest shook randomly, but it was a pity that it had no sense of beauty at all.

The burden was put down at Liu Dapao's feet, and when he opened the tattered curtain above, he saw that it was filled with shiny new official coins.

"Here, how much does it cost?"

"Almost, a thousand guan."

"Is that enough?"

"not enough."

"What about the remaining two thousand strings?"

"No, we only have so much, and the pension from the court only has so much."

"If you don't have money, you can use land, girls, and children to pay off your debts."

"Then we have no choice but to default on the debt. Although I am nearly 70 years old this year, I can still hold a sickle and fight for my life."

Liu Dapao smiled and said: "Well, village chief, do you know the warrior Qiu Yanqiu next to me?"

The village chief turned his head and glanced at him, then shook his head to express ignorance.

"Then he is really a rare fool. This person came to me this morning and asked me to transfer your village's debt to him for you. For this reason, he even injured several of my brothers. I don't know how old he is.

Village chief, what do you think?"

This time, Qiu Yan, who was following Liu Dapao and was secretly clenching his fists, was thrown into confusion. His face suddenly turned red, and he seemed to suddenly become shy and at a loss.

He was a little confused and couldn't figure out what kind of medicine was sold in this black-hearted bear's gourd.

Liu Da and Liu Er looked at each other and thought to themselves, the boss seems to like this kind of murderous and heartbreaking method recently.

No, it should be said that the boss' methods seem to have become more sophisticated recently.

If the village chief was a smart man, he would never admit such a ridiculous thing. This naturally made what Qiu Yan did this morning a joke, and hit the root of what he did today.

Correctness, so-called killing one's mind, is nothing more than that.

And sure enough, when the village chief heard what Liu Dapao said, he was very surprised and stared at Qiu Yan from head to toe for a long time, and then slowly shook his head: "I really don't know him, dare I ask this little guy?"

Brother, what is the connection with our Wangjia Village?"

Qiu Yan cupped his fists and said, "We are strangers to each other. We are just doing this out of justice and seeing injustice on the road."

The village chief was stunned for a long time, then sighed, first put his walking stick aside, bowed deeply to Qiu Yan three times, then stood up and asked: "Can a strong man be able to afford two thousand guan in cash?

"

Qiu Yan's face turned even redder, and for a while, he hesitated and couldn't speak.

When the old village chief saw this, he sighed with disappointment: "So that's it. It turns out that the strong man is showing off his bravery and wants to pay for the more than a thousand old, weak, women and children in my village."

Qiu Yan said nothing, which was regarded as his acquiescence.

"Hey~, I understand the good intention of the hero. However, I would like to ask the hero not to do it like this. Otherwise, it will really harm the whole village, young and old."

When Qiu Yan heard what the village chief said, he felt like he was struck by lightning. Although after Liu Dapao's education to him in the morning and his own thinking on the way here, he more or less realized the inappropriateness of this move.

, but the village chief didn't even hesitate for a moment, and refused so neatly, which he still couldn't accept for a while.

It was as if several big mouths were slapping him in the face.

Couldn't help but ask: "Why is this?"

The village chief said: "After all, there is no escape from the word "property" in the affairs of the world. All the young men in our village died for the sake of the country. The reason why the debt cannot be repaid is because there is a problem with the payment of the imperial pension. Although the debt cannot be repaid.

Money is a matter of course, but the Yangzhou government government should not persecute us orphans and widows too much, causing a civil uprising and causing a big mess. If it happens to God, it will be difficult for anyone at the top or bottom to answer."

"Therefore, if our village wants to default on its debt, what it has to face is actually Boss Xiong's Yizi Sect. Although Boss Xiong's Yizi Sect has strong soldiers and horses, our village has a population of more than a thousand, which is always a hard nut for him.

Besides, since we are wiping the butt of the prefect’s yamen in this matter, we have to be careful if the paper is torn and feces is exposed on our hands, Boss Xiong, are you right?"

His words were soft with a hint of hardness, and hard with a hint of softness. It seemed that he was talking to Qiu Yan, but in fact, he was talking about Liu Dapao.

This was because he was afraid that Liu Dapao would not understand the mystery of this matter in their village.

Of course, Liu Dapao understood that the water involved was so deep that it was bottomless, and he had already prepared for it, so he just smiled and said nothing, but Qiu Yan, the obedient one, heard a distorted sound.

Said: "Old man, since everyone is afraid of making a big fuss about this matter, why don't we just make it bigger? After all, the reason why this matter has become what it is now is not because of the pension.

Too late, too little?”

"The soldiers fought for the country, and their horses and leather bodies were stained with blood on the battlefield. The pension is the grace of the court and the mercy of the officials. Now that there is such a problem, there must be someone among them who has embezzled and enriched his own pocket. Why don't you just go to Kaifeng and report to the Yushitai?

Should the adults in Beijing investigate this matter thoroughly?"

"My lord, although Qiu has no special abilities, he is brave and considers himself unyielding to others. He is willing to escort you to Beijing through wind and rain."

As he said that, he gave the village chief a fist in a decent manner.

When Liu Dapao heard this, he couldn't help but want to laugh. The village chief looked like a grandson, shook his head helplessly, but simply ignored him and continued to say to Liu Dapao:

"We all know your reputation as Boss Xiong, and we don't really want to default on your debt. This is just a thousand coins. If there are more, I can only tell you, if you ask for money, you won't risk your life."

Ignoring Qiu Yan who was embarrassed, blushing and quite angry, Liu Dapao also ignored him and smiled at the village chief: "What's the point of taking your lives? What I want is money, and what I want is three thousand strings."

, not a thousand strings.”

"Is Boss Xiong really going to fight us to the death?"

"If we really want to defeat the enemy, I won't just bring these three people here. There is also a knight who stands up for you. Ah~, village chief, have you been to the main city of Yangzhou City?"

The village chief was stunned for a moment, then nodded.

Liu Dapao continued, "Enter from the south gate of Yangzhou City. There is a main road called Zhuque Street, which is straight and leads directly to the main entrance of the government office. There are a total of twenty-two squares on both sides. Almost all of the residents are government officials and some.

Middle-class families all have a lot of money in their pockets, but for the sake of the imperial court's dignity, the houses on both sides of this road are not allowed to open shops, let alone hawkers or vendors."

"However, government officials and even adults use this road to get to and from work every day. This road is also the road with the largest flow of people in the entire Yangzhou City. If nothing else, the demand for breakfast is always huge. On weekdays,

There are always some small vendors setting up stalls here selling biscuits and the like.”

"Speaking of it, a large part of our daily work as bad people is to chase these illegal traders and hawkers around. Of course, sometimes we will turn a blind eye and receive some benefits.

"

"You might as well use this money to buy a larger house on both sides of the road facing the street, renovate it, and turn it into a shop that opens on the street. Use the remaining money from this thousand dollars as the principal.

Let's do some business. Your situation is quite special after all. I will talk to both the superiors and the subordinates, both black and white, and be more lenient with you."

"After all, you are in a special situation. I will explain to the superiors, and the superiors will be more tolerant to you. It will be limited to half a year. Before I settle the accounts with the Yamen at the end of the year, how about you return this money to me with interest?"

The village chief was stunned and asked: "Then what should we do if we fail to return the money with interest before the end of the year, and even lose all the principal of this thousand guan?

"

"Then the only thing we can do is sell our houses, land, and children to pay off our debts. I've given you the opportunity. It depends on whether you want it. If you don't want to, or if you still can't pay the money by then, then we can only

The fish is dead and the net is broken. It is my responsibility. I am also a human being in the world and I can't help myself. I hope you can always understand."

The old man frowned and said, "With just one store, you can make so much money in just half a year?"

Liu Dapao smiled bitterly and said: "Old man, your family is the only one on the whole Zhuque Street that can be considered as a semi-legal business. Even if you are selling breakfast, at least for the government servants on the way to the top, if you want to eat breakfast elsewhere, you need to walk at least a little longer.

More than three hundred meters, if a store like this were to be auctioned, do you believe that I could sell it for at least five thousand guan without doing anything else?"

"But, what do we do? We are all ordinary farmers, and we don't know how to do business. We don't know anything. We can't really rent a shop and only sell breakfast, right?"

Liu Dapao thought for a moment and said, "I see there seems to be a windmill in your village. Is it a mill?"

"Yes, our village is a big village after all. I and a few children built the mill with money."

"Can I grind flour?"

"Of course you can grind flour if you have a mill."
Chapter completed!