Wu Xiaoren led the county's wealthy businessmen and some local celebrities to wait for Fatty Liu's arrival at the city gate under the scorching sun. The newly appointed Hunhe County Police Chief Dao Scar led a group of policemen to maintain order. Seeing that
It was almost noon, but there was still no sign of the army coming.
"Have you sent someone to check? Why haven't you come yet?" Wu Xiaoren called Scar over and asked while wiping his sweat.
Scar looked away and said: "I have sent several groups of people, but no one has found me. If you are tired, just go to rest under the shade of the tree over there. I will call you when people come?"
Just as Wu Xiaoren moved his buttocks, the sound of horse hooves was heard not far away. For a moment, drums blared and firecrackers sounded, and the people who greeted him all cheered up again from the decadence they had just been there, stretched their necks and looked at
Ahead. This place is so fucking weird. A nice road is actually completely blocked by thatched houses. When you look up, it's all walls. You can only hear the sound of horse hooves, but you can't see it at all.
The long-awaited army.
Scar looked at Wu Xiaoren's face: "Don't worry, Second Master, tomorrow I will have people drive away these refugees and demolish the houses here!"
"Go! Go, go!..." The sound of horse hooves became louder and louder. Wu Xiaoren hurriedly adjusted his tunic suit, hung up the collar, patted the dust on his body, and prepared to welcome.
"Sumi...!" A cavalryman wearing a gray military uniform, with a rifle slung across his body, parked his horse not far from the welcoming crowd.
Scar looked behind the man and saw nothing. The cavalryman circled twice and stopped his horse. He looked at a group of people with unique clothes, including Chinese tunic suits and long-distance running jackets. They were well behaved.
Standing there, the drummer next to him played the ancient music vigorously, with a contemptuous smile on his lips.
"Who is Shangguanqing!" the cavalry shouted. Scar waved to the band to stop playing.
Hunhe County Magistrate Shangguanqing squeezed out from the crowd, walked up to Wu Xiaoren, and raised his hand to the cavalryman. The cavalryman glanced at him and said, "Are you Shangguanqing?"
"Xiaguan is here! Where is Battalion Commander Liu? I have already prepared some wine in the county house, just waiting for..." Shangguan Qing smiled, his humility was genuine.
Wu Xiaoren looked at Shang Guanqing with eyes full of hostility and anger. Shangguan Qing just pretended not to see him and kept talking about his preparations. The cavalry on the horse hurriedly interrupted him: "Okay, I am just a messenger, we
The battalion commander didn't come, so he led his troops directly to Huangzhuang and asked you to send food and military pay immediately!"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Shangguanqing's head was like a chicken pounding rice, and he kept clicking: "Brother, please go back and tell Battalion Commander Liu that we will send the food to Huangzhuang immediately!"
"There is also military pay!" the cavalryman reminded.
Scar and Wu Xiaoren looked at each other, smiled slightly and swallowed what they were about to say. Shangguan Qing was confused: "Didn't you just say that you want 10,000 kilograms of grain? This military pay...?"
The cavalryman smiled contemptuously: "You guys asked me to work for you without even preparing military pay? Our battalion commander said that it's a total of five thousand oceans, and it won't be a penny less!"
"This...!" Shangguan Qing turned around to look for Wu Xiaoren. Wu Xiaoren had already disappeared. He was angry that Shangguan Qing had stolen his limelight. He just wanted to use this matter to punish this old boy, and let him know what was going on in this muddy river.
Who has the final say.
"My words have been brought to you. If you don't see food and military pay within three days, don't blame our battalion commander for turning his back on us!" The cavalryman turned his horse's head, whipped the horse's butt, and drove away. The horse's hooves
The soil brought up rose very high, blocking the sky and the sun, which was scary.
Wu Xiaoren was sitting on the grand master's chair in the main room, holding a teapot in one hand and an ancestral pipe pot in the other. Scar quickly filled the pipe pot with smoke foam, pressed it with his thumb, picked up the match and "Stab it."
"With a stroke, he gently placed it on the tobacco. Wu Xiaoren turned his head and took two strong puffs. A stream of smoke came out from Wu Xiaoren's mouth and nostrils.
Scar blew out the match in his hand and threw the remaining half into a bamboo ashtray on the small table. He walked up to Wu Xiaoren with a smile on his face and said, "Second Master, Shangguan Qingna
Does the old boy no longer want to be the county magistrate, yet he is so disrespectful to the second master!"
Wu Xiaoren smiled slightly: "This Shangguanqing is a scholar from the former Qing Dynasty. He has never been in the officialdom. Naturally, I don't know how deep the water of being an official is. It is because of this that I did not take him into consideration."
Drive away, I didn’t expect this old boy to want to ride on my head, okay! Let’s see what he does this time!”
Scar rolled his eyes twice: "After all, he is the county magistrate, and five thousand oceans is not a big sum. If Shangguan Qing contacts a few big families, he can get it together quickly! Second Master, we'd better be on guard.
If Shangguan Qing and Fatty Liu collude, then we will be at a disadvantage!"
Wu Xiaoren suddenly sat up straight, looked at Scar, took a long puff of cigarette, and let the smoke slowly come out from the inside. After a long time, he nodded: "Yes! What you said makes sense. Send someone down immediately to let him go."
Those wealthy households have all pointed out to me that not a single penny can be given to Shangguan Qing!"
"Yes! I'll do it right away!" Scar agreed, got up and left.
Shangguan Qing paced back and forth in his study. Originally, he thought that Fatty Liu only wanted food. Since the food was already available, he could use this opportunity to take back some things from Wu Xiaoren that should belong to the county magistrate.
I didn’t expect that these bastards of officers and soldiers would actually ask for money. Five thousand oceans is not a small sum. Where can I get it? Isn’t it possible that Wu Xiaoren can’t move it?
"Master! Stop turning around. This has been going on all afternoon. Everyone who is watching is dizzy!" Qiao Da, Shangguanqing's book boy, held a cup of tea and looked at Shangguanqing who was pacing back and forth.
"You know what the heck! This time is the key to moving to Wu Xiaoren. I calculated everything, but I missed one step. These stupid officers and soldiers are all vampires!" Shangguan Qing glared at Qiao Da, angry.
roared.
"Isn't it just five thousand oceans? We don't have it, and the rich households in Hunhe County don't have it yet?" Qiao Da put down the tea cup and pulled Shangguan Qing to sit on the chair: "Listen to me, who are we suppressing bandits for? Not yet.
Those rich families, since it’s for them, they should give some money, right? As long as the master calls them all, I think we can definitely collect the five thousand oceans!"
Shangguan Qing looked at Qiao Da with an incredulous expression, and the anger on his face slowly turned into a smile: "Yes! How could I forget this, yes, yes! You hurry up and bring Hunhe County to
All the wealthy households in the country should come to the county government for me, and remember to be polite!"
Reputable people from Hunhe County walked into the county house one after another. They all understood what was going on. Everyone sat in silence with a tacit understanding. Shangguan Qing accompanied everyone with a smile and served tea to everyone in person.
: "Everyone, our Hunhe River has been plagued by bandits. Now the provincial capital governor has assigned Fatty Liu to come to our county to suppress the bandits. This is also for the benefit of the people in the county. You may have heard this morning. If we want to suppress the bandits, we must
I have spent five thousand yuan in military pay. I understand that none of you are rich, but for the sake of the people of Hunhe, I hope that everyone will donate generously to eliminate the banditry. It will also be of great benefit to you. What do you think?"