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Chapter 182 No good feast

Liu Xiu urged his horse, took two steps forward, and asked, "Who are you? Why are you robbing civilian girls here?"

"What the general doesn't know is that the father and daughter owe us food and refuse to pay it back. We really have no choice, so we have to arrest his daughter to pay off the debt."

Lu Laosan and Jia Laoliu raised their heads, looked at Liu Xiu cautiously, and then hurriedly lowered their heads.

Liu Xiu snorted and asked, "How much grain did the father and daughter borrow from you?"

"Yes...it's a fight."

Ten buckets of dendrobium is one hu, which is one stone. If one stone is one hundred and twenty kilograms, one bucket is only twelve kilograms.

Liu Xiu shook his head and said: "I just lent you a bucket of grain, and now I want to arrest my daughter to pay off the debt. Isn't it too unfair?!"

Before Lu Laosan and Jia Laoliu could speak, the young and beautiful woman stumbled out of the yard. When she got outside, she knelt down on the ground in front of Liu Xiu and said with a choked voice: "Master Jun, the father of the slave family was just

I lent them a bushel of grain, and only a month later, they asked my father to return a bushel of grain. Master Jun, my family really can't afford so much food, so I want Master Jun to make the decision for the common people!"

A bushel of millet has multiplied tenfold in one month. To pay back a stone of millet is not even usury. It is a robbery with open eyes.

Ma Wu's face darkened and he shouted: "You are so brave!"

Lu Laosan and Jia Laoliu trembled in fright and stammered: "Borrow a dou of grain and pay back a stone of grain in one month. This...this is a clearly marked price. We...we did not force them to come."

Borrow food!"

The young woman said anxiously: "Master, they are hoarding food and taking the opportunity to raise the price of food. In the past, food cost four or five hundred yuan per stone, but now four or five hundred yuan can't even buy half a bucket of food. The people have no choice but to

If you can go to them to borrow food, but if you can't exchange it, you will lose everything, sell the land deed, and sell your children..." At this point, the young woman broke down in tears.

Liu Xiu squinted his eyes, glanced at Lu Laosan and Jia Laoliu, who were sweating like rain, waved and said: "Take them back to the county government office and ask them what is going on!"

Ma Wu said: "My lord, I don't think it's that troublesome, let alone another trial. They must be using their power to bully others. In my opinion, they should be punished on the spot to serve as a warning to others!"

In today's world, why can't the people make a living? Why can't the common people survive? Natural disasters are on the one hand, and the court's disaster relief is unfavorable on the other. There is also a very critical factor, which is the existence of people like Lu Laosan and Jia Laoliu.

They hoard supplies in various ways, monopolize the market, raise prices, and make huge fortunes. The people can no longer survive, but they are extremely rich. In Ma Wu's eyes, and so on, they will not be able to survive even if they are cut to pieces.

That's too much.

Liu Xiu took a deep breath and said, "We'll talk about it later when we take it back to the Yamen!"

Seeing Liu Xiu's insistence, Ma Wu could not say anything more, so he waved over two cavalrymen and asked them to escort Lu Laosan and Jia Laoliu back to the county government office.

The young woman kowtowed to Liu Xiu and others repeatedly and said with a tearful voice: "Thank you so much, military masters! Thank you so much, military masters!"

Liu Xiu didn't say anything more. He urged the black horse on his crotch and walked towards the county government office. Ma Wu looked at the young woman who kowtowed repeatedly, sighed softly, reached into his arms, took out a money bag, and bent down

He lowered his waist, placed it in front of the young woman, and said, "Take it and give it to your father."

The skinny middle-aged man who was kicked by Jia Laoliu just now is still lying in the yard, unable to stand up.

Looking at the money bag in front of her, the young woman burst into tears and kept saying: "Thank you, Master Jun, thank you Master..."

Ma Wu sighed again, shook his head helplessly, and urged his horse to follow Liu Xiu.

On the way back to the county government office, Ma Wu asked: "My lord, there is no need to try again for scum like them, right?"

Liu Xiu smiled and asked, "Zizhang, do we have enough food now?"

Ma Wu shook his head. They went into battle lightly. They arrived in Nanyang from Yizhou. There was not much food in the army. To be more precise, the food each brother carries now is only about two days of rations.

Liu Xiu asked again: "Is the military salary sufficient?"

Military pay? Ma Wu was almost happy. Ever since he and Yao Qi formed the cavalry, they didn't know what military pay was and they had never been paid. It wasn't that they didn't want to pay, but they had no money at all.

Liu Xiu said: "Now we need money but no money, and we need food but no food. But running the army cannot be short of money, let alone food, so where will our money and food come from?"

Ma Wu said: "The county government should have a lot of money and food, right?"

"That's not enough! If we want to get enough money and food, we have to start with these big households in Chaoyang City." As he spoke, Liu Xiu raised his head to Ma Wu and smiled.

Ma Wu was puzzled by Liu Xiu's laughter and did not understand what he meant. He turned to look at Deng Yu, Yan Guang, Yao Qi and others. They all smiled tacitly but said nothing.

Returning to the county government office, Liu Xiu immediately interrogated Lu Laosan and Jia Laoliu. Neither of them were leaders. Above them, there was a man named Zheng Da, who was the boss of Lu Laosan and Jia Laoliu.

Zheng Da is a relative of Nanyang Prefect Zhen Fu. Here in Chaoyang City, he is basically a swaying figure. No one dares to provoke him. Even the county magistrate Yi Zhen and the county lieutenant Xie Sheng met Zheng Da.

Everyone must be courteous.

After a widespread drought occurred in the south, Zheng Da united with several large merchants in Chaoyang City to take the opportunity to hoard food and drive up the price of food. The price of food, which was originally only a few hundred yuan per stone, should have been raised to 10,000 yuan by people like Zheng Da.

One stone of money.

The people couldn't afford to buy food at all, so they had to sell their land, and those who sold their sons and daughters to exchange for food. Zheng Da would either keep the land deeds of the people himself or sell them. As for the children of the people's families, the same was true. If he

If you see something you like, you will keep it; if you don't like it, you will resell it to other places and make a fortune from it.

With such a scourge like Zheng Da in Chaoyang, the lives of the people are miserable.

Yi Zhen and Xie Sheng were very aware of Zheng Da's activities, but neither of them dared to interfere. If Zheng Da really came into conflict, Zheng Da would not be able to do anything, but they would lose their official positions.

Lu Laosan and Jia Laoliu were both capable men under Zheng Da, but this time they were unlucky, and I don't know what bad luck they had, and they were accidentally met by Liu Xiu.

Without being tortured to extract a confession, Lu Laosan and Jia Laoliu were frightened and told everything they knew.

After reading their confessions, Liu Xiu nodded and said to Deng Yu: "Zhonghua, please make arrangements to invite the wealthy gentry in the city to come to the county government office for a meal. We won't be able to leave for a while.

But Chaoyang County, which is so big, also needs someone to manage it."

Deng Yu nodded and said, "Yes! Princess!"

In the evening of that day, the invited wealthy gentry families arrived at the county government office one after another. Chaoyang was not a big county in Nanyang, but it was not a small county either. There was a population of thirty to forty thousand in the city!

There are many large gentry families in Chaoyang City. At least there are more than 20 clan heads from each family, including Zheng Da.

Chaoyang was now occupied by the Chongling rebels, and Zheng Da was a relative of the prefect Zhen Fu. Logically speaking, he should have run away or hidden himself and not dared to see Liu Xiucai, but Zheng Da came anyway.

He believes in a saying that money can make all the difference. As long as he can give enough benefits to the Chung Ling rebels, the Chung Ling rebels will respect him and support him. What's more, he has hoarded a lot of money in his hands.

Only he and a handful of his confidants know where the grain is hidden. If he dies, the Chung Ling rebels will never find the batch of grain he hid, which is currently the largest one in his hands.

A trump card.

In the hall of the county government, people were seated separately. Liu Xiu was naturally sitting in the middle. The patriarchs of each family were sitting on both sides. Behind them were Deng Yu, Yan Guang and others.

The time for the banquet had come, and some people were still not present, so Liu Xiu didn't care. He cleared his throat and said in a loud voice: "We, the Zhutian Capital Division, have taken it as our duty to overthrow the traitors and restore the Han Dynasty. Although we have captured

Chaoyang, you can rest assured, as long as you don’t cause trouble or damage in the city, our Zhu Tiandu Department will never make things difficult for you."

After hearing this, people's eyes lit up and they raised their glasses and said, "With General Liu's words, I feel relieved! Let's all toast to General Liu!"

"Yes, yes! Respect General Liu!"

Liu Xiu smiled, picked up the wine glass, greeted everyone on the left and right, and then drank the wine in one gulp.

As soon as the drink was finished, Zheng Da bowed and said with a smile on his face: "General Liu, I heard that the general and my brother had some misunderstandings today..."

Before he finished speaking, Liu Xiu asked curiously: "Who is this gentleman?"

"Reporting to General Liu, the villain Zheng Da, my brothers' names are Lu Yue and Jia Liang!" Zheng Da said with a smile.

Lu Yue and Jia Liang were the real names of Lu Laosan and Jia Laoliu. Liu Xiu suddenly realized that this person was Zheng Da. He looked at Zheng Da. He was in his thirties, with slender eyes and a hooked nose.

At first glance, he is a scheming person.

Liu Xiu said: "Lu Yue and Jia Liang were lawless in the city and robbed women of the people. I want to punish them both. Mr. Zheng won't have any objections, right?"

"General Liu, please take a look!" Zheng Da took out a piece of silk cloth from his sleeve and handed it to Liu Xiu. Standing next to Liu Xiu, Jiu'er dressed as a little maid came over, took the silk cloth, and put it on the

In front of Liu Xiu.

The latter opened the silk cloth, and what was written inside was an IOU, and the IOU clearly stated that if you borrow a bushel of millet, you will return a stone of millet one month later, and at the end there is the signature and picture of the person who paid the grain.

By providing this IOU, Zheng Da wanted to make it clear to Liu Xiu that he was the one who acted and was not robbing women. However, he did not mention anything about the IOU, and then took out three brocade boxes from the side and presented them to Jiu Xiu.

Er gestured and said with a smile to Liu Xiu: "General Liu, I know how many of my brothers have been offended today. Based on their crimes, no matter whether General Liu is in Lu Yue or Jia Liang, he will not be punished by any punishment. However,

He and I are brothers who have worshiped each other after all, and I hope General Liu can be kind enough to spare his life!"

Liu Xiu looked at Zheng Da with some surprise, and thought to himself: This person is not simple!

He clearly had an IOU in his hand, and he was clearly the rightful party, but he didn't say a word about it. He only said that he captured Lu Yue and Jia Liang because they made mistakes and offended him.

By being open-minded and letting them both go, it can be said that you have given yourself enough face.

Just when Liu Xiu looked at Zheng Da with a smile and was silent in thought, Jiu'er walked over to Zheng Da and brought all three brocade boxes he had brought out to Liu Xiu. She glanced at Liu Xiu and asked in a low voice

Said: "Lord, do you want to open it?"

Liu Xiu nodded slightly.

Jiu'er opened the first and smallest brocade box. Suddenly, a green light emanated from the box. When people took a closer look, it turned out to be two green luminous pearls.

These two luminous pearls, at least the size of pigeon eggs, emit a single green light in the fairly bright hall.

When everyone present saw this, they were all shocked and exclaimed in their hearts, Zheng Da was such a big handiwork, these pair of night pearls can only be described as priceless?!


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