Du Youlin has rented a house in Daodefang and settled it properly.
He is neither poor nor rich. He doesn't have much of the land left by his ancestors, and he only had a vacant job in the past. But his two daughters run Fengwei House, and their money bags feel unfathomable.
, now this fine house is purchased by them.
For this reason, Du Youlin was not dignified enough in front of his daughter. Du Xuan's personality was just gentle. Du did have a tendency to put on airs.
At noon that day, I just came back from attending the government office. Du was sitting in the study, which made her look like the head of the family.
"Grandma, are you going to a banquet tonight?"
"How do you know?"
Du Miao asked in return: "Master, why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"You asked me this, but you still know how to call me 'Grandpa.'" Du Youlin still tried to control the authority in the family.
"Luoyang's order, Zhou Mian, invited Grandpa?"
"How did you know? Who told you?
JAJ·JI
P in February
Du Miao did not deny it. Now her family members are more convinced by her. Moreover, Xue Bai sent Du Youlin to Luoyang because he wanted to get the news about Luoyang. How could he not arrange someone beside him?
"My father has something to do with his official duties, so he must discuss it with his daughter. My daughter is worth ten of your aides."
"You." Du Youlin had a headache, so he could only pretend to be a loving father who doted on his daughter, and sighed: "Yes, Zhou Mian invited me to a banquet and said that Aunt Gongsun was invited to perform at the banquet."
"Yes, Aunt Gongsun has temporarily resigned from her post as a minister. She is going back to her hometown to visit relatives and is passing by Luoyang."
"You also know this?" Du Youlin thought for a while, knowing that Du Miao had already planned to open Fengwei Restaurant in Luoyang, and asked: "Did you get the news from the restaurant? How is the Fengwei Restaurant in Luoyang?"
Du raised her hand and made a sign with the word "three", indicating that she wanted to open three businesses, and said thoughtfully: "But how can a Luoyang County magistrate like Zhou Xian hire Aunt Gongsun?"
How do I know?" Du Youlin stroked his beard. After a while, he suddenly said: "What? You want to ask for my father?"
"Master, please take Wulang with you."
"he?"
When Du Wulang was mentioned, Du Youlin's momentum finally rose.
"Things that don't live up to expectations...
Du Wulang actually didn't want to go to the banquet with Du Youlin.
Although others looked down upon his trivial matters, he was indeed very busy. He would not have spent time listening to his grandpa's teachings unless he had been told by his second sister.
It's strange that his grandfather likes to lecture him more and more, even though he has done nothing.
“Ah, the view is so nice.”
After passing Luoshui and entering a large house in Chengfufang, Du Wulang couldn't help but sigh.
Du Youlin immediately scolded him again: "Don't make such a fuss, it will disgrace the Du family in Jingzhao."
"oh."
Du Wulang stopped talking and glanced at the servants in Zhou Xian's house with squinted eyes. A five-foot-six-inch figure with a slight stoop appeared in his mind.
Because his second sister said, "The person who knew that Xue Lang came to Luoyang that day must have gotten the news from Linghu Tao or Zhou Xian, and that person was probably hiding under an impersonation, and there was a high possibility that he was living as a slave.
You have seen his back, go and see."
At this time, the banquet has not yet begun, but there are many guests in the court, and a stage has been set up for Aunt Gongsun to perform.
When they arrived at the hall, the host Zhou Xian came forward to greet him with a young man who was slightly fat and dressed in a rich robe.
Duke Du is also here. Come and introduce him to you. This is Guo Yuanliang, a descendant of the Guo family in Taiyuan and the son of Wanjin. Haha."
Calling me 'Erlang' is just a small gift and not respectful, so please accept it with a smile."
This... I can't do it, I can't do it." Du Youlin saw a beautiful maid approaching with a box filled with exquisite gold foil. He was so frightened that he turned pale and waved his hands repeatedly, "It's so precious. The whole novel???
???????.????”
But he finally accepted it, otherwise the others in the hall would lose face.
Zhou Mian was then satisfied and said with a smile: "To be honest, Guo Erlang also introduced Aunt Gongsun to me. This is a great gift."
Being able to invite Lady Gongsun to dance with the sword also shows the prestige of the Ming Dynasty." Du Youlin felt embarrassed and asked, "I wonder what kind of relationship Guo Erlang has with Lady Gongsun?"
Guo Yuanliang then slowly talked about the past events.
Aunt Gongsun is a kind-hearted person. Whenever she sees children from her hometown living in Chang'an, she wants to help. Many of her disciples were bought by my grandfather and sent to her to learn skills."
"Mr. Guo is such a kind man... Aunt Gongsun is from the city, right?"
"Yes, thanks to Duke Du's praise."
Guo Yuanliang responded, looked up and saw a girl in red trying out a sword on the stage, and he couldn't help but chuckle.
"That's Li Twelve Niang, also from the city."
A shed was set up between the stage and the room, surrounded by a curtain, and several women in sword dancing uniforms stood on their feet and looked out.
"What are you looking at?"
Li Twelve Niang held a single-handled long sword with a sword flower on her arm and said, "The show is about to begin."
Among Aunt Gongsun's disciples, she is the youngest, but her skills are among the most superb, so she often dares to supervise her senior sisters.
But they ignored her and kept chattering.
"I really heard that the Number One Scholar went to Luoyang. Why didn't you invite him to this banquet?"
"As I said, Xue Lang went to Yanshi County."
"It's boring. I came here specially wearing new clothes. Do you think I'm going back to the city this time, but I'm going back to Chang'an again?"
"What? You still think that Aman and Xue Lang are married, and you and her are brothers?"
"It's so embarrassing, don't say it...
Li Twelve Niang shook her head when she heard this and interrupted: "Hey, you only think about men all the time, how can you master your skills?"
"Xiao Twelve, you will understand later."
Li Twelve Niang didn’t understand. She held a sword flower in her hand and walked to Aunt Gongsun.
He took a belt and tied Mrs. Gongsun's sleeves.
Aunt Gongsun asked: "What? Are you unhappy?"
"I don't believe it even if I tell the master. Guo Yuanliang and the others are not good people." Li Twelve Niang said, "Master danced swords for saints, but he danced swords for them."
"How can Nu Yalang be a good person? But it is true that people are kind to you." Aunt Gongsun said, "Being a teacher is not just about dancing swords for saints. When I was as old as you, I was suffering on the streets of Chang'an. Haha.
They performed and earned a penny for a penny. Now that they are old and their skills are no longer good, why are they putting on airs? "
"Master.
"Okay, go and get the sword that Guo Erlang gave you this morning, and then bring a bottle of wine."
"Here."
Li Twelve Niang agreed and went to get the sword as instructed.
The sword is very heavy, made of sufficient materials, and well made. The hilt is carved with pear blossoms and inlaid with turquoise. The craftsmanship is very exquisite... just like the gilt-plated six-curved silver given to the master by the saint.
The box is said to have been cast by Fan Yang Jiedu with great effort.
Holding the long sword in hand, she walked to the side courtyard, called a maid, and asked: "Can you give me a pot of wine, strong liquor? It's cold, and my master needs to warm up before dancing with the sword."
"Yes, please wait for a while."
Li Twelve Niang waited. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw two men behind the flower hall. They suddenly covered the mouth of another maid and dragged her to the backyard.
Without thinking, she hurried over there.
Behind the pink wall was a long path, with a row of houses behind it. She bent down and
I walked quietly from room to room and heard the noise inside.
"Come on, the manager has found you. Do you know Wang Yansiam?'
"Yes, the county captain saved my life three years ago.??520.??"
"Did you hide Wang Yi?"
"No...no...
"Still making excuses! The key to the back yard has been found in your house. Where is he hiding?"
I...I said, can you forgive me?" The maid in the room had already burst into tears, crying: "Tui'er was beaten to death just for making a small mistake...I...
..can I still live?"
"You little maid, there are plenty of ways for you to recruit me."
"Ah, no..
There was a hissing sound inside, and Li Twelve Niang immediately opened the door and went in without drawing her sword.
Using only the sword pin, he defeated the two strong men one against two.
"Go quickly!"
The maid immediately ran away and ran to the courtyard gate, but bumped into someone. The other person grabbed her hair and slapped her until her mouth was filled with blood.
"You bastard, take me down here."
"Here."
In the room, Li Twelve Niang just fought off the two big men, jumped over the door and took a look, her little face immediately tensed up.
"Isn't this Aunt Gongsun's disciple?" Guo Yuanliang smiled, raised his hands below his knees, and said, "Do you remember? You were only so tall when you were a child. It was I who gave you a Dingsheng cake and saved your life."
He raised his hand and pointed at Li Twelve Niang, and said jokingly: "If you are a little kid, you don't know how greedy you are. You can't even walk when you see food."
The word "greedy" hit her ears, and Li Twelve Niang was a little angry, and she tightened her grip on the sword hilt in her hand.
"It's a pity that I didn't see that you are a white-eyed wolf." Guo Yuanliang said: "I have saved countless people in my life, but the one I should have saved the most is you. You are really not willing to help at all."
"You let her go!"
If the person I sent out gets into trouble, I have to be responsible to the end. This is true for County Magistrate Zhou, and it is also true for Aunt Gongsun."
As he spoke, Guo Yuanliang's face became solemn and he said: "If you are ignorant, don't worry about it. I only remind you that people cannot forget their origins. Being ungrateful will be despised by the world."
Ж?520.??
The next moment, a maid carrying a wine pot came running.
"The show is about to start, come over quickly.
"Grandpa, I'm leaving first."
"The show hasn't started yet, where are you going?"
"stomachache."
Du Wulang leaned next to Du Youlin and whispered, then walked out with his belly in his arms.
After leaving Zhou Xian's mansion, he hurriedly boarded the carriage. The carriage immediately turned back to Du's house, but Du Wulang got out of the carriage at some point and went to Fengwei Building in Daodefang alone.
"Second sister."
"Did you really find that person?" Du was a little surprised.
"When a maid came over with wine, she told me that someone wanted to see me and asked me to go to Xingjin Bridge alone at three o'clock."
"Meet you? Why?"
"I am also a fifth son of Chun Nao, and I have a very high reputation."
Du Dao: "Then you go, I will send someone to protect you secretly.'
"Then I really went?"
"Well, let's go change clothes first."
At three o'clock in the morning, Du Wulang, dressed in ordinary civilian clothes, walked onto the Xingjin Bridge on the Luo River.
He turned around and looked at the crowds of people around him, feeling suddenly worried.
If you change your clothes, won’t the other person not be able to recognize you?
I don’t know how long I stood there. The setting sun cast golden light on Luoshui River. It was getting dark soon, and many pedestrians were rushing to go home.
Suddenly, a candied haws seller bumped into Du Wulang.
"When the ship comes under the bridge, jump off."
"Hey, you?"
Before Du Wulang could call him, the other party had already walked away.
He only had time to turn his head and glance around, but he didn't know who was the guy sent by his second sister.
And then the ship had arrived under the bridge, and he missed the opportunity to jump off the ship on the left.
I really don't want to jump...
"Ouch!"
The boatman was just rowing, and there was a middle-aged man sitting in the canopy of the boat, who looked as elegant as a wolf or a fox.
"Who are you?" Du Wulang asked: "Is this the note you gave me?"
"Are you Du Yu, the fifth son of Chun Nao?"
"You recognize me?"
"My Alang and Mr. Du Zimei are close friends. When Mr. Du was in Gong County and at Luhun Villa, he had a very happy chat with my Alang. Later, there were many letters exchanged and Wu Lang was mentioned."
"Really? I thought he only praised Xue Bai." Du Wuji asked: "Then your Alang is the Wang County Lieutenant?"
"Yes, my name is Wang Yi, and I grew up with Alang."
"What do you have to tell me?"
"It's a long story."
Wang Yi turned to look at the boats on the Luoshui River, her eyes a little worried, and then she spoke.
"Alang heard about the assassination case in Lishan Palace. It's possible that some of the refugees were forced to rebel; it's also possible that there were rebels hiding inside."
"What's the meaning?"
"When Alang was ill, he said that the saint had not been in Luoyang for ten years, and all the money and food in the world were gathered in Luoyang. Henan Prefecture was full of chaos, and it was the first place to start to rot. If he could not make up his mind to cut off the flesh and cure the disease, he would not be able to live in Luoyang for ten years.
Year, the world will be in chaos."
"How is it possible?" Du Wulang was shocked. This was the first time he heard such remarks, and he blurted out: "Since ancient times, there has never been such a prosperous age."
"A prosperous age?"
These two words suddenly made Wang Yi blush and asked: "Do you know how this prosperous age came about?"
"I don't know how many years have passed since the land in Yanshi County has not been allocated to small households. The big households jointly recommended Guo Huan to serve as a recorder. He served for seventeen years and occupied fertile farmland on their behalf."
Wang Yi was very pressed for time and could only say whatever came to mind, mainly to let Du Wulang have a general understanding of the situation.
By making a false deed, they can seize a farmer's land; or when the other party is short of money, they can only produce three bolts of silk for forty acres of fertile land and three acres of homestead land, and only more than thirty dollars for one acres of land.
Just buy it. The fewer households there are, the more taxes will be shared among the people. In this way, the more households have fled, the more private slaves will work for them. Less than half of the original land in Yanshi County is still owned by the people.
On hand, less than 5,000 households pay the tax of 10,000 households, while the other fields are owned by large households in the county, temples, and government officials."
Not only that, they also colluded with merchants. Whenever a prefecture or county was hit by a disaster, they would use the grain from charity warehouses to buy acres of farmland and treasures from other places at low prices. The victims had no food to eat, so they had to sell their sons and daughters. Later, they used the proceeds
With money and beauty, they bribed more officials. From Yangzhou, Luoyang, Chang'an, Zhuozhou, they got through the entire water transportation checkpoint, smuggling, smuggling...
~~
Yanshi County Government.
Xue Bai put back the account book in his hand.
Although there is no concrete evidence yet, he can roughly guess how corrupt the governance from Yanshi County to Henan Prefecture was.
This is not an overnight problem.
From the time when the emperor could not reach Luoyang, but needed the world to supply Guanzhong, famous ministers built up a bloodline for blood transfusion to Chang'an.
First, Pei Yaoqing "transferred the canal to transport millet", which increased the efficiency of the canal; Li Linfu's method of harmonious harvesting, transporting light goods and then purchasing grain; the three brothers Yang Shenjin served as the governor, supervising the capital warehouse, and water and land transport envoys, and began to use the Caohe River to provide supplies to the emperor.
Private money was used to transport treasures; then Wei Jian opened the Guangyun Lake, and ordered the state to levy and assess money, and the states and counties to levy responsibilities, which continued over the years...
The emperor took the lead in amassing money crazily, and the prime minister crazily used bribes to persecute political opponents for this power, which would inevitably lead to the rapid erosion of the entire river administration.
In just over ten years, the situation has deteriorated beyond recognition.
He connected all the clues in his mind. Wang Yanxiang should have found the evidence, so he had been poisoned for many years and became ill. As a result, Wen Yin's changes in the Huaqing Palace caused these people to kill him.
However, Wang Yansiam may not have no backup plan. Since he has been ill for a while, he may have left evidence, so Wang Yi escaped.
And if Wang Yi was able to escape, there must be some righteous people helping. Xue Bai needed their support right now. At this moment, Yin Liang came back.
"Young Master, Mr. Song from Shouyang Academy is here!
Yin Liang raised his hand and pointed out a handsome middle-aged man.
Luoyang, a boat floats on the Luo River.
Wang Yi whispered about Wang Yansiam's experience in Yanshi County.
"Alang discovered this after he took office, but despite their threats and inducements, he still refused to join in. So he was always excluded and isolated by them. All the people in the county government were Lao Xugeng, and his family was in Yanshi, and no one dared to listen.
A Lang responded. In the end, A Lang said that he was in Yanshi, like a blind, deaf, handicapped, unable to do anything."
He has no power, no power, and no money. Most of the people don't even know what he, the county captain, has done for them. They only blame him for wanting to open a charity warehouse to help the victims in other places. "
But Alang didn't give up. On the surface, he wanted to get promoted, lived decadently, and got angry at the eldest lady, the young lady and the husband. In fact, he was ready to fight with them desperately in order to send his family back home. He...
.Collected evidence.""
While saying this last sentence, Wang Yi bowed his back slightly, stared at Du Wulang with some vigilance, and held a small dagger in his hand placed in the dark.
Du Wulang didn't notice it at all, and his expression didn't change much. Then Wang Yi continued to talk.
There are two ways to hand over the evidence. One is to pass it to Li Gong, the county magistrate when Alang was in Yucheng; the other is to pass it to Henan Yinweigong. But after Tianbao was four years, Alang had not seen County Magistrate Li for more than three years.
Moreover, Magistrate Li occasionally sent letters, but he was inquiring about rumors about the Daxi family for the sake of power struggle. Therefore, Alang did not dare to trust him easily."
"So, Alang wanted to understand Wei Gong as a person. To this end, he found his only close friend in Yanshi County, Song Mian from Shouyang Academy. Song Mian was the grandnephew of Song Zhiwen, a famous official in the reign of Empress Wu.
One of his masters, he had a transcendent status and was an acquaintance with Wei Gong. Really... Since Alang took office, Song Mian was the only person who had helped him in the officialdom.
1
"Song Mian had agreed to introduce Alang to Wei Fuyin, and planned to hold a banquet at Luhun Villa in August. However, during this period, something happened. News came from Chang'an, involving the refugee situation, so Alang went to investigate again.
The disaster relief case that year."
Ah Ji secretly obtained some evidence, but discovered the greater guilt of these people.
He then told Song Mian about the matter, hoping to see Wei Fuyin one day earlier. This matter...
It completely killed Alang."
Du Wulang was stunned, not understanding what Wang Yi meant, and asked: "What do you mean?"
Wang Yi sighed: "Can you understand? Alang was isolated and helpless in Yanshi County... In the end, he didn't even have a friend."
"You mean, even Song Mian betrayed him?"
The night wind blew, and Du Wulang felt a chill down his spine.
He was particularly empathetic and had felt Wang Yansiam's despair and loneliness before his death. He opened his mouth and wanted to say something.
suddenly,
There was the light of torches on the shore, and someone shouted: "There! The boat is coming..."
"You?" Wang Yi shouted warily.
Du Wulang was stunned again, feeling the murderous aura coming towards his face, and said hurriedly: "It's not me!"
Yanshi County.
"I have long admired Xue Lang's name."
The gentle Song Mian slowly sat down in front of Xue Bai and said, "I am very lucky that a capable person like Xue Lang can come here, really."
"Mr. Song, can you help me investigate this matter and redress the injustice of Wang County Lieutenant?"
When Song Mian heard the name of Wang Yanxiang, his eyes turned red, he nodded heavily and said: "Don't worry, young master, I will do my best."
Xue Bai turned his head and glanced out the window at the dark night in Yanshi County.
"The night is too dark. It's enough that Mr. Song can illuminate it for me."