Nowadays, Liu Jing is no longer a newcomer, and his reputation has become so great that even the prefect Zhang Xian and the meritorious Cao Huanjie are afraid of him. The officials in the chief clerk's office even admire his name, fear his authority, and regard his words as "imperial edicts."
In this way, Liu Jing gained the trust of Zhang Xian and the love of all the officials. He was able to handle the position of chief clerk, which was regarded as onerous by others, with ease. Of course, this had a lot to do with his bold delegation of power.
The only bad thing is that he often has to run errands for Zhang Xian, such as reading books, delivering letters of request, welcoming distinguished guests, etc.
Time flies, and August has entered in the blink of an eye. Liu Jing has been working as the chief registrar for a month and a half. He can be described in eight words: "His sharp edge is restrained, and he is quite satisfactory."
First of all, the position of chief clerk is mainly to fill in the gaps for Zhang Xian, and the word "stability" overrides everything else. With Wu Juwu's light and strong character, he was also honest when he was the chief clerk, and there was never any trouble.
Secondly, it is natural that Liu Jing does not care about the position of chief clerk. He did not regard the chief clerk position as a long-term solution from the beginning, so why bother about it.
What really caught Liu Jing's heart was Liu Zhu. After nearly fifty days, Liu Zhu finally returned with his fleet.
Although all six ships returned safely, the hulls of three of them were covered with scars, apparently being attacked by bandits along the way.
"Liu Jun, I am fortunate to have lived up to my command..."
Liu Zhu is 19 years old, one year older than Liu Jing. She used to have quite outstanding appearance, especially a pair of red and phoenix eyes, which are very eye-catching. But now her facial skin is dark and rough, and she can no longer look as handsome as before.
appearance.
Liu Jing held his hand tightly and said a thousand words, all of which turned into one sentence: "Thank you for your hard work."
Liu Zhu smiled and showed his white teeth, and said: "I was originally just a thief. Liu Jun did not consider my despicable body to be taken out of the rivers and lakes. He cultivated me with all his heart and was kind enough to rebuild me. The ancient assassin Yu Rang once said: 'People
"If a man of my country meets me, I will repay him to a man of my country.' This is also my intention. Mr. Liu has entrusted me with cargo worth millions. Even if I die, I must fulfill Mr. Liu's trust."
Liu Jing pressed his shoulder hard and asked: "Wenxiu, tell me quickly, what dangers did you encounter along the way?"
Liu Zhu said eloquently: "The Xiangshui section of Changsha is relatively calm. Only the Dongting area near the Yangtze River is infested with thieves. Once entering the Yangtze River, especially in the Yunmengze area, there are many thieves. No matter when leaving or returning, the fleet was attacked
Bandits attacked."
"I see." Liu Jing nodded, not too surprised. Yunmengze has been a lawless place since ancient times. Thieves thrive and no one can control it.
In the past, King Zhao of Chu was attacked by the State of Wu and fled to Yunmengze. "Zuo Zhuan" records: "The king slept in the palace, stole it, and attacked the king with a sword. Wang Sun Yao received it on his back and was hit in the shoulder."
In other words, the Yunmengze bandits attacked King Chu Zhao when they came up. Fortunately, Wang Sunyao blocked his sword. Then King Chu Zhao took advantage of the thieves to snatch the jewelry and fled ashore. It is not difficult to imagine the embarrassment of the scene.
Liu Jing asked: "Wenxiu, how were the casualties on the ship?"
Liu Zhu replied solemnly: "The fleet was attacked by bandits four times, with a total of five people killed and eighteen injured."
To be honest, the casualties were smaller than Liu Jing expected, but if you think about it carefully, it is not too small. The total number of people on the six ships was less than 200, and there were more than 20 casualties, more than one
become.
Liu Jing groaned and said: "Wenxiu, don't be stingy with money. The deceased must be well cared for. We must not let them die in vain and die with their eyes open."
Even though only five people died, the compensation was definitely not a small amount, because people in the Han Dynasty believed that the soul would not perish after death and would continue to live in another world, that is, "death is like life", so everyone from the emperor to the emperor
Rich burials are popular among the common people. In order to give the deceased a "grand burial", the family members of the deceased did not hesitate to sell their houses and land, or even borrow usury, which caused extremely serious social problems. During this period, there were many wise people who set an example and called for a sparse burial. However, in the end
It’s hard to change the world’s trends.
Liu Zhu said with a serious face: "Don't worry, Mr. Liu, I will arrange this properly."
Liu Jing added: "The injured should also be comforted."
"promise."
Since the two met, Liu Jing has always asked about people from beginning to end, as if the hundreds of thousands of goods on the ship did not exist. It was Liu Zhu who took the initiative to mention:
"When I went to Xiangyang this time, all the rice, leather goods, medicinal materials...as well as pearls, tortoise shells, jade and other South China Sea treasures were all sold out. From Xiangyang, I brought back cloth, silk, silk, copperware, and gold.
He bought four horses and twenty-two oxen."
Liu Jing heard about the horse and asked curiously: "What kind of horse did you buy?"
Liu Zhu narrowed his phoenix eyes and said with a smile: "Looking back at Liu Jun, they are all good horses nearly six feet tall."
Liu Jing was greatly surprised. You must know that in troubled times, horses are the most important resource. In Changsha, even if you want to buy a southwest pony, it is not an easy task.
Liu Zhu explained: "Originally, there were no good horses in Xiangyang City. These four horses were sold to me by Guanzhong people living in Xiangyang."
Liu Jing suddenly realized that this was no wonder. He could even guess that the entire transaction must have been completed on the Han River. If a good horse appeared in Xiangyang City, it would either be forcibly requisitioned by the state government or taken by a powerful family.
Liu Zhu was the one who got the advantage in the robbery. Then Liu Zhu's words proved his guess exactly.
Seeing that Liu Zhu couldn't hide his tiredness, Liu Jing asked him no more questions and asked him to go home and have a good rest. If he had anything to do, he could wait until tomorrow.
Liu Zhu politely declined Liu Jing's kindness and insisted on completing the finishing touches. When everything was settled, it was already evening. Liu Zhu went home and fell asleep. As soon as he slept until dawn the next day, he was busy again.
Liu Zhu's smooth return made Liu Jing half relieved. He originally thought that Wang Qiang would come back at the end of August, but he looked around but never saw anyone. He couldn't help but feel worried. It wasn't until September 2nd that he came back.
, and the fleet only has five ships.
Even though Liu Jing was a little upset, he did not get angry at Wang Qiang for losing the cargo. He asked with concern: "Zijian, what happened?"
The more Liu Jing showed no concern, the more ashamed Wang Qiang became. He wanted to find a crack in the ground and crawled in. He gritted his teeth and said: "Although there were some twists and turns when the fleet went south, it went smoothly. When it returned, it passed through Ling, Gui, and Changsha.
The waters of Lingxian County at the junction of the three counties were attacked by Jingman. There were thousands of them and they used bamboo rafts to besiege the fleet. If the villains had not broken through the siege in time, more than one ship would have been lost."