Chapter 62: The county magistrate is having a good time
He was a neatly dressed young man with sharp eyes.
I had never seen Zhang Mingtu in the past seventeen years, but when I frowned and thought about it carefully, there was a vague impression in my mind.
He felt that the young man looked quite familiar.
Zhang Mingtu will stay in Jianyi for the next ten years and will only investigate within the Wang and Li families.
When thinking of the Li family, Zhang Mingtu felt a stronger sense of familiarity in his mind.
With a sudden thought, he immediately understood that this young man should be from the Li family.
"Why are the Li family here now? Did they find my investigation report?"
This was the first thought in Zhang Mingtu's mind, but he quickly dismissed it.
He changed his appearance and went to the Longmen Escort Bureau to deliver the escort, and the Jianyi investigation report was not placed at the top, but was marked with a special code word and placed between different books.
In addition, the Longmen Escort Bureau thought this was an ordinary escort trip, and the person in charge of the inspection was not very talented.
I accepted this order after the discharge examination. Logically speaking, there shouldn't be any problems there.
"Or am I showing off in other places?"
Zhang Mingtu's thoughts were racing in his mind, and he was no longer in a hurry to help carry the goods.
Just in the hall, he closed his eyes slightly and pretended to rest.
In fact, most of his energy is focused on that young man. If the secret is really leaked, then of course he will immediately change his plan and try to kill the Wang and Li families in the shortest possible time.
Zhang Mingtu, who had learned a lesson once, knew very well how terrifying it would be once these wealthy and aloof families took action.
Their family business did not appear out of thin air, but was accumulated bit by bit in the past. During the growth process, they did not know how many of their peers were swallowed up by them.
You can't be careless when dealing with them. As a result, Zhang Mingtu secretly observed for a long time and found that the young man's attention was not on him most of the time, or he basically didn't pay attention to him.
Instead, he spent most of his time with the diners in the restaurant. Every time someone ordered Yu Hu Chun, the young man's energy would become more concentrated.
After many times, Zhang Mingtu discovered that the young man was really not paying attention to him, but was paying attention to Yu Huchun in the restaurant.
"Did the Li family send someone here to investigate?"
Zhang Mingtu's heart moved, he breathed a sigh of relief, and then immediately picked it up again.
This young man's behavior clearly showed that the Li family seemed to be interested in the Zhang family's Yu Huchun.
And Zhang Mingtu remembered that after the Yuhuchun formula was handed over, even though he did not go against the Wang and Li families, he submitted the relevant investigation report.
The Zhang family will also face a devastating blow after about ten years of development.
When the river embankments collapsed and refugees spread, the Zhang family was mobilized to annihilate them, most of whom were known for harboring traitors.
Zhang Mingtu couldn't figure it out before, but now he recalled the bitter smile of the patriarch when the Zhang family was shattered, and he suddenly had a guess in his heart.
"Whether or not the Zhang family has harbored the rebels, at a time when refugees are everywhere, the Zhang family has a lot of wealth and possesses such an attractive jade pot spring, so it is normal for it to attract the attention of the Wang and Li families..."
Zhang Mingtu is well aware of the high profits of drinks.
Yuhuchun only needs a simple, purified rice wine to be quite mellow, making it a first-class spirit.
Normal spirits were quite difficult to brew in this era. Yuhuchun only needed a few copper coins per pound of rice wine to deposit it, and the cost was quite low.
The purified Yuhuchun can easily be sold for more than one tael of silver, and everyone around thinks that the price is very reasonable. These days, several bottles of Yuhuchun can be sold in restaurants every day.
Ordinary people may not care, but Zhang Mingtu is very familiar with the Li family, maybe even more familiar than the heads of the Li family of this generation.
The foundation of the Li family is food. He owns the largest and most extensive land in Jianyi. He harvests a lot of food every year. At the same time, his subordinates are all tenants and long-term workers.
Many of them have already sold themselves to them, and the grain they need to hand over is very little, which can even be said to be less than what ordinary wealthy households in ordinary villages pay.
After all, the country still collects taxes on a household basis, not on a land basis. The people registered in the Li family are only members of their family. As for the servants and long-term workers in their names, to the Li family, those are not people.
Many people's household registrations have been actively concealed by them.
In the prosperous land of Jiangnan, the overall registered population is not very large.
Grain is the foundation of the Li family, and if you have enough grain, you will naturally get involved in the brewing industry. Wine is also one of the goods that the Li family often exports.
"It's normal for them to send people over to investigate."
Zhang Mingtu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time he took another breath.
Being targeted and investigated secretly by the Li family is not a good thing.
But at the same time, Zhang Mingtu also knew that the Li family could not rush into action at this time.
At least it is impossible to openly go to war with the Weiyuan Escort Agency. After all, the Weiyuan Escort Agency is known for its force and has dozens of registered escorts, many of whom have extraordinary martial abilities.
A head-on collision would be quite detrimental to the Li family.
I think it's just an investigation now, and the action will be taken in the future.
But Zhang Mingtu glanced at the young man, and still felt a sense of urgency and a trace of uncontrollable anger in his heart.
The Zhang family is conscientious in their work, and there is no oversight in everything they do.
There were no problems in the overall process. His parents are also simple ordinary people, busy every day, just to have a happy future.
As a result, people who live their lives diligently are being targeted simply because they are too good and have an excellent wine-making formula in their hands.
Zhang Mingtu has seen such words many times in ancient texts about the crime of holding a jade, and now he truly realizes it.
There is murderous intention in my heart, and there is a tiger roaring up to the sky in my mind.
But when Zhang Mingtu thought about the event that would happen in the future, the murderous aura in his mind gradually disappeared, and the misty clouds and mist condensed into the shape of a fish again.
The clouds and mist condensed into a pair of indifferent eyes, as if looking down at the heaven and earth.
The dragon and the tiger were fighting inexplicably. When the dragon roared and the tiger roared, Zhang Mingtu felt something in his heart.
The inexplicable colorless true energy that had been refined by practicing the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's Original Vow Sutra appeared in the body again, but it did not conflict with the black Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's Original Vow Sutra.
It's just walking along an inexplicable path in the body, misty and uncertain, mixed in the black infuriating energy, and you can't find it without careful sensing.
"What's going on?"
…
Jiangnan West Road, Jiangzhou, Longxing Prefecture, Xingguo County.
A group of escorts from the Longmen Escort Agency walked out of the house next to the county government office. The leading middle-aged escort still had a dazed expression on his face when he left.
"Is this the residence of the head of a county?"
A young escort next to him couldn't help but speak, with surprise and confusion in his tone.
"Maybe it's just pretending, there are not even a few servants to serve the whole family, even my family is worse..."
"The furniture is old. Is this really the residence of the county magistrate?"
"Shut up, don't discuss these things here."
The middle-aged bodyguard stopped the discussion among his subordinates. In fact, he was also full of doubts.
I turned my head and glanced at the old door that was still resolutely fulfilling its mission. The moth marks on the top seemed to be mocking passers-by.
Thinking of the county magistrate with patches on his clothes, the middle-aged escort shook his head and was completely confused: "The journey has been completed smoothly, let's go up and celebrate!"
Hearing the cheers of a group of young escorts, he felt relieved.
He turned around and looked at the dilapidated house again, and thought to himself: "Is this another new trick played by the county magistrate, to show that his family is poor and dilapidated, and to ask the local gentry for some charity?"