While the two were talking, Captain Hu came in and reported that most of the people had dispersed, but there were still a group of people kneeling and refusing to leave.
"Why don't you leave?" Wei Zhixian asked.
"They were the ones who forced the old man to sell his land that day and drove the victims out of their homes." Hu Captou replied: "Maybe they thought that if they went back like this, they would be scolded by the neighbors, so they had to beg the old man.
forgive."
"Let them kneel down!" Wei Zhixian still held grudges.
"Sir, let's meet them." Wang Xian quickly advised: "There is no need to be angry with the people."
"Hmph..." Wei Zhixian was just saying something angry, so he asked someone to call Li Guan over. After Li Guan arrived, he asked someone to call in a few representatives.
It was still the same old people as last time, but their expressions changed from full of grievance to full of shame. They knelt in front of Wei Zhixian, kowtowed and apologized, and cried: "We dogs bite Lu Dongbin, but we don't know the heart of a good person.
, I’m sorry, sir…”
Since Wei Zhixian asked them to come in, he certainly didn't want to show off to them. But there was a question that he had to know. He said with a straight face: "Can you tell me who they are now?"
"Yes, it's Mr. Li and the others." The old man would no longer help the big households hide it. Instead, he said bitterly: "They are not human beings. They obviously had to wait a few more days for the food to arrive, but they lied to us and said that the county's food ship was being attacked in Suzhou."
He detained us, encouraged us to drive the victims out of our homes, and made us kneel in the county government office... This is using us as spearmen to stab the big boss!"
Wei Zhixian said in his heart, if they ask you to die, why don't you go too? Looking at Li Guan beside him, Li Xingshu wrote the record and gave it to a group of elderly people, asking them to sign and stamp it.
Most of the elderly people had been village chiefs and were basically literate. When they saw the transcript of the confession they just made, they thought, "Can I not sign it?"
"It's your responsibility if you don't sign." Li Guan said coldly: "Blatantly disobeying the county's orders and gathering a crowd to cause trouble has already violated the king's law. Do you know that?!"
"I sign, I sign..." The elderly people didn't dare to offend Weizhi County again. They all signed and stamped their signatures on the transcripts, and those who couldn't write also took their fingerprints.
Wei Zhixian then showed a friendly smile and said: "Everyone, please get up quickly. You are also thinking about Fuyang's father. How can I blame you?"
The elderly people were so relieved that they said they would never dare to do it again, and offered to invite the victims back to live there, promising to treat them like their own family members.
"Hahaha, okay, okay..." Wei Zhixian laughed happily, saying in his heart that he really has a good grasp of the chess game, and everything is alive. It is really great! "People who accumulate good deeds will be happy, and all the elderly will be blessed with longevity!"
"
The elderly people went out with great gratitude, and in the afternoon, each family invited the victims back. Whether it was out of guilt or because the pressure of survival was relieved, in the following days, there was no friction between the people of Fuyang and the victims, and even
Many families have also developed relationships and become in-laws, but of course this is a story later.
.
The atmosphere of panic and uneasiness in the Li family is still strong, but it has reached the most critical moment, and we cannot just sit back and wait for death. All members and outsiders have to brace themselves and discuss countermeasures.
"Everyone, there is more than one Fuyang County in Zhejiang Province, and the price of food in each county is very high." Li Yuanwai gritted his teeth and said: "We can't sell rice in this county, we can sell it elsewhere!"
"Sold to other counties..." Everyone's eyes lit up, but then they said sadly: "There is no airtight wall in the world. Other counties will soon know what happened in Fuyang, and the price of food will definitely fall accordingly, which is even more difficult for us.
If you want to drive the price down as hard as possible, it would be good if you can sell it for two taels and one stone."
"Hurry up and get a good price before the news spreads." Li Yu said: "We will sell to Chun'an County. The price of grain there is five taels and one stone. We should have no problem selling it for three taels and five cents!"
"That's right." Everyone nodded and said, they can only treat a dead horse as a living doctor. Instead of being trapped to death in the county, it is better to go to other counties to try... Now they no longer seek to make a lot of money, but only want to get back their money.
So they quickly split up and loaded warehouses full of grain onto ships. At the third watch, they quietly set off towards Xin'an River.
Tonight, the moon and stars are sparse and the waves are dull. The water breaks on the side of the boat, making a slight splashing sound. A cool breeze blows, bringing with it the fragrance of reeds.
In order to get to Chun'an as soon as possible, several outsiders personally escorted the ship. At this time, on one of the ships, there were solitary lights like beans in the cabin, and the atmosphere was very gloomy. Several outsiders were drinking and talking in low voices...
"Even if everything goes well this time, we won't make any money. If we don't make money, we will lose. We will definitely pay." Yu Yuanwai drank a cup of strong wine, which was so spicy that he burst into tears. "It's such a big joke."
"Yes." Several members of the party nodded gloomily: "If I had known that the government could buy rice from Huguang, it wouldn't have done this to us if we were killed."
"Actually, if we had taken action a few days earlier, we could have made a lot of money, but some people are just..." Someone said angrily: "We are too greedy! We have to wait, wait, and now something will happen."
.”
"I don't think he's thinking about us at all. He just wants to pull us to fight with the county magistrate." Another person said angrily: "For a ruthless person like Wei Zhixian, it's too late to hide from him. Why bother with him?"
?”
Everyone was convinced, but Yu Yuanwai was worried: "Keep your voice down, it won't be good if Brother Li hears it."
"What are you afraid of? He's not on our ship." The man said nonchalantly: "Besides, what if I heard about it? I don't plan to get involved with him anymore."
"Yes. Now I just hope that this time I can go smoothly, buy back the 200 acres of land passed down by my ancestors, live a peaceful life, and stop messing around." Others also agreed.
Under the heavy pressure of Yu Yuanwai, everyone already had their own ideas. He was also the leader. He wanted to say a few words to gather people's hearts and said: "Everyone, victory or defeat is a common thing for military strategists. With Meng De's strength, there are still defeats.
Take Huarong Road, but..."
"But it's not always about Yun Chang!" Obviously, this time the blow to the squires was greater than imagined. Although they still followed Li Yuanwai's pace due to inertia, they no longer had the slightest fighting spirit in their hearts.
'Alas...' Yu Yuanwai couldn't help but sigh to himself. His heart was shattered and his defeat was certain. Just when he was about to say a few more futile words, he suddenly heard a loud whistle outside, breaking the silence of the night.
Then there was the sound of gongs, drums, shouts and curses, and it was like a pot boiling on the river.
"What's wrong?" Mr. Li was in a bad mood. He ignored anyone and took a nap in the cabin. When he heard the sound, he rushed out immediately, "Have you encountered a water bandit?"
"No, it's the inspection department!" The ship's boss turned pale and said, "Let us stop the ship for inspection."
Officer Li took a closer look and saw torches shining in the sky on the river. Each speed boat carried a lantern with black characters on a white background and the word "inspection" written on it!
"Didn't I say hello to Inspector Zhao that they won't be patrolling the river tonight?" On another boat, Yu Yu asked anxiously: "Why..."
"We've fallen into a trap!" Mr. Li, his face whiter than a lantern, hissed: "They have been waiting for us..."
The grain ship is heavy and slow. In front of the inspection department's fast ship, they don't even have the idea of escape, and of course they dare not resist... They all have families and families. Who dares to kill officials and rebel? They can only watch a dozen fast ships
The boat came close.
In the imperial dynasty, every town, city, and key point at a pass had an inspection department, which was under the jurisdiction of the county magistrate. Its chief was called the inspection envoy, with a rank of nine, similar to the police stations of later generations. There were dozens or hundreds of archers under his jurisdiction, responsible for arresting smuggling and catching thieves.
, responsible for the failure of the inspection to lead people out.
The Inspection Department of this county is located at Dongzi Pass, which tightly controls the waterway leading to and from Fuyang. Anyone who takes a boat to the west must pass through this pass on the water. At this time, I saw the torches turned on, the bows on the water towers holding rockets, and the water on the river.
With the three iron locks up, no ship can pass through.
The Inspection Department's clippers surrounded the grain ship. The soldiers raised their bows and shouted: "The Inspection Department boarded the ship for inspection. Everyone lies down on the deck. Anyone who gets up will be killed!"
The armament of this era has not yet been weakened. Even the brave villagers and militiamen are very accurate with their bows and arrows. Even if they are inaccurate, no one dares to risk their lives. Everyone on the boat obediently lay down, including a few members of the crew.
It's all in vain, the archers can't tell whether you are Li Yuanwai or Li Laosan...
Inspector Zhao of the Inspection Department personally led people aboard the ship. He was tall, wearing a ninth-grade official uniform, and had a long horse face, which was quite majestic. Standing still on the ship, he glanced at the people lying on the deck.
Everyone on board said coldly: "What do you do?"
This happened to be the boat Li Yuanwai was on. The boss of the boat looked at Li Yuanwai. Li Yuanwai shook his head and motioned for him to speak. The boss of the boat had no choice but to say: "Master Zhao, it's me."
Inspector Zhao took the lantern, squinted at it, and said with a smile: "It's Boss Chen. You're just blinding yourself and not sleeping. What are you doing?"
"The villain is here to transport goods." The ship's boss laughed, got up, took out a wad of treasure money from his arms, and stuffed it into Inspector Zhao's hand.
"What kind of goods are you transporting? You have to transport them secretly in the middle of the night?" Inspector Zhao did not answer the question.
"This... is food." The boat boss gulped and spit.
"Food?!" Inspector Zhao's tone immediately became stern: "You are also a regular boater. Don't you know that this county has an order that food can only be brought in but not left out? No grain of rice is allowed to leave Fuyang!"
"I don't know..." the ship boss said, shrinking his neck.
"Then there's nothing we can do. The county master has a strict order, and our inspection department must implement it." Inspector Zhao said solemnly: "Detain it!"
"Wait a minute." Li Yuanwai finally couldn't help it, got up from the ground and said, "These grains are mine!"
"It turns out to be Mr. Li." Inspector Zhao hurriedly clasped his fists and said, "I didn't know Mr. Li was on the boat just now. I'm sorry."
"It doesn't matter, Mr. Zhao has worked tirelessly, of course we have to cooperate." Li Yuanwai said calmly: "I know the county's ban. But now and then, now that there is rice from Huguang, there is no longer a food shortage. This ban
It’s meaningless.”
"Haha, whether it makes sense or not is another matter." Inspector Zhao shook his head decisively and said, "But until the ban is lifted, I can't let you go."