Hu Ban ordered the people to clear out the study and bedroom first.
After buckets of well water were rinsed, the ground finally returned to its original color. Dust and filth such as rat droppings flowed out along the sink under the eaves. All the doors and windows were opened, and the cold wind poured in and swept away the room.
The original damp and rotten smell.
However, it may not be possible to move in right away.
In the side room, Feng Chao burst into tears.
"I don't want to be a thief, but I have no choice but to do it."
Deng Ji asked: "What does it mean to do it as a last resort?"
Feng Chao burst into tears when Deng Ji asked.
It turns out that more than two years ago, Feng Chao's father, Feng Yuan, was originally an aide to Xuzhou Mu Tao Qian. At that time, Xuzhou was not as chaotic as it is now, and the problems in Haixi County became Tao Qian's personal trouble. This Haixi County
Although the county is located in a remote place, it is a hub for the salt road connecting the two Huaihe areas. Due to the chaos in Haixi County, the salt road between the two Huaihe areas was blocked, and it was controlled by local wealthy families, resulting in a huge loss of salt tax in Xuzhou. Tao Qian thought
In order to rectify Haixi, he recommended Feng Yuan to the imperial court in Chang'an at that time as the order of Haixi.
Since Dong Zhuo moved his capital to Chang'an, he has been trying to repair the relationship with the Kwantung princes and divide the power of the Kwantung princes. Therefore, Tao Qian was easily appointed by the imperial court, and Feng Yuan took the imperial edict to serve in Haixi.
Feng Yuan is a very serious and responsible person.
As soon as he took office, he began to rectify the chaotic situation in Haixi County.
However, Feng Yuan was so vigorous and decisive that he touched the interests of many people.
Two months after taking office, a group of thieves suddenly raided Haixi. Feng Yuan hurriedly responded to the challenge, but he could not stand alone and was killed by the thieves. His body was hung on the lintel of the reception hall outside Haixi County for three days before anyone discovered it.
Feng Chao was serving as the governor of Haixi County at the time. After learning the news, he was furious. But the thieves came and went without a trace, and he didn't know how to take revenge.
I originally wanted to pass Tao Qian, but I didn't expect that this year, Tao Qian's generals killed Cao Song.
Cao Cao avenged his father and sent troops to attack Xuzhou...
When Tao Qian faced Cao Cao's troops approaching the city, how could he care about Haixi's affairs?
Soon, Cao Cao had to withdraw his troops and return because Lu Bu captured Puyang. Tao Qian fell ill and entrusted Xuzhou to Liu Bei before his death.
Mentioning Liu Bei, Feng Chao suddenly gritted his teeth.
"General Zhendong doesn't care?"
"Don't mention that national thief!"
Feng Chao roared angrily, "Liu Xuande, you are a national thief!"
Cao Peng couldn't help being shocked when he heard this.
Influenced by "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Cao Peng's impression of Liu Bei was not too bad overall. In his memory, Liu Bei should be a gentle and elegant elder. Even though he later lost a lot of love for Liu Bei, he was reborn.
Later, it was discovered that Liu Bei was not as famous as what was passed down in later generations. Sima Hui praised Liu Bei for his great ambition, but Guo Jia believed that Liu Bei was a hypocrite.
There are different opinions on this version.
But this was the first time Cao Peng heard the term "national traitor".
There was doubt in his heart, but Cao Peng did not rush to ask, but sat aside and listened quietly.
“Feng Chao, where does this term ‘national traitor’ come from?”
"Do you know, sir, does Haixi suffer from the 'three evils'?"
Deng Ji had never heard this statement before, so he quickly asked: "I would like to hear the details."
"Pirates, salt lords, and merchant beetles." Feng Chao took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "The pirates are the subordinates of Guangling Thief Xue Zhou. He has ten thousand people under his command and several sea ships. He is entrenched in the wilderness overseas.
They landed on the island and raided the villages and towns. Moreover, Xuezhou's troops were extremely powerful and were connected with many bandits on the mainland. Therefore, they came and went without a trace and could not be eliminated... After my father took office, he carefully studied Xuezhou.
, and told me privately that it is difficult to eliminate bandits, but it is even more difficult to eliminate sea pirates. Their whereabouts are strange, they can enter into the mountains, and retreat into the sea. Moreover, no one knows where they landed. If you want to eliminate Xuezhou's bandits, you must
You have to be patient enough.”
Deng Ji heard this and frowned.
"What did Yan Xiao say?" Pu Yangkai asked.
"Do you know, sir, who is the biggest private salt dealer in the East China Sea?"
"Uh... I'm really not sure about this."
"That's the Mi family in Qu County."
"Qu County, Mijia?"
Feng Chao nodded, "The Haiqumi family is the leading wealthy family in Xuzhou.
The Mi family has been selling goods for generations, with assets of over 100 million, and thousands of children and customers... Externally, people only know that the Mi family does business all over the world, but they don't know that since Guangwu, the Mi family has been secretly selling private salt, almost controlling the two Huaihe Rivers, and even Private salt in the Jiangdong area. They cooked the sea in Qushan, colluded with officials, and sold private salt. They had a huge influence in Xuzhou. Even Tao Gongzu was afraid of the Mi family.
Haixi is an important place for the Mi family to sell private salt to the Huaihe River, so in Haixi County, the Mi family is the dominant one.
After Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, the head of the Mi family, Mi Zhu, introduced his sister to Liu Xuande, and then gave two thousand slaves and countless gold and silver coins to help Liu Bei gain a foothold in Xuzhou. After Lu Bu captured Xuzhou, he kidnapped Liu Bei The family members later had to be returned to Liu Bei. The Mi family's dealings played an important role. You think Liu Bei is so close to the Mi family, how can he take action against the Mi family?"
Deng Ji took a breath of cold air, and looked at each other with Puyang Kai, and couldn't help but look at each other.
I really am not in the situation and I don’t know the harm.
If you are not a local, who would know that there are so many twists and turns here?
Cao Peng more or less figured out why Feng Chao harbored resentment towards Liu Bei... Could it be that Feng Yuan's death had something to do with the Mi family?
"What is Shang Zhizi?"
"He is the Jia from Haixi County."
In ancient times, people who acted as merchants and sat as merchants, together they became merchants.
"Jia people have been around since ancient times, how can they be considered a harm?"
"If they were doing business honestly, they would not be considered a harm. But most of the Jia people in Haixi County are bullies and domineering people.
For example, in the first year of Xingping, Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou.
The Haixi Jia people took the lead in stockpiling grain, causing prices to skyrocket. At that time, many refugees came from the East China Sea and other places... Those Jia people took their young men as thugs, dominated the commercial market, and drove up food prices. In ten days, hundreds of people fled from the East China Sea. The price of one dendrobium per huo increased to 21,000 yuan per huo of coarse millet. When someone came out to quarrel with them, the business gangsters called thugs to beat them up. What's more, they destroyed their homes and destroyed their lives. The government can only sit back and watch, unable to do anything to deal with these business thieves. If the suppression becomes too severe, they will join forces to strike."
Feng Chaoyue became more and more excited as he spoke, and in the end he almost roared.
"Who dares to provoke such a domineering person?
Moreover, there are people behind these business thieves who are secretly supporting them. Someone once brought a lawsuit to Xiapi, but within two days they were found dead in the market...
The villain also read books when he was young and understood that this is neither good nor evil, but what can the villain do?
My father organized a patrol of 100 people, but they were forced to disband within half a year. In Haixi County, everyone has no way out, what else can they do if they don't become thieves?"
Deng Ji and Puyang Kai were both silent!
Cao Peng sighed and stood up.
"Feng Chao, you are a thief because you want to avenge your father, Magistrate Feng."
"ah?"
"Magistrate Feng died at the hands of bandits, but you don't know who to seek revenge from.
So, you pretended to be a strongman and wandered through the mountains and fields. You want to use this method to get close to the bandits and get information, right?"
Feng Chao did not answer, but lowered his head.
Cao Peng suddenly cursed harshly: "But have you ever thought about the crimes of those merchants and passers-by who were killed by you?"
"I have never killed anyone, only robbed things."
"But if you rob their things, it is equivalent to killing their lives!" Cao Peng angrily said: "Not everyone is from the Mi family, and not everyone is rich. Those businessmen may have used their wealth and life to escort them.
A batch of goods earns you hard-earned money and hard-earned money! But you robbed their goods, have you ever thought about what they will do? What will their families do?"
"I……"
Feng Chao opened his mouth, but didn't know how to argue.
"It is natural for a son to avenge his father. But if you base your desire for revenge on the suffering of others, who are you? You have taken revenge and you are happy... But those who have lost their property and are desperate
Who should we look for for the dead? Do their sons also want to become bandits and imitate your behavior? There will be retribution, and Haixi County will become more and more chaotic in the end... Let me ask you again, those who have been implicated for this
What crime do the Haixi people have? Why do they want to get involved in this whirlpool of hatred for your own selfish interests? Everyone behaves like you, so where is the majesty of the court? Where is the prestige of the law? "
Feng Chao was speechless and lowered his head...
Cao Peng snorted, tossed his sleeves and walked out.
Pu Yangkai sighed, stepped forward and patted Feng Chao on the shoulder, and walked out of the room.
Deng Ji looked at Feng Chao and said, "Feng Chao, I can understand your eagerness to avenge your father. But I still hope that you can solve this matter in the right way. If you gather people to become thieves like this, I'm afraid if Magistrate Feng Quan knows about it,
I can't rest in peace... You are confused, confused!"
After that, Deng Ji waved his hands towards Wang Mai and Deng Fan, turned around and walked out of the room.
Wang Mai and Deng Fan also let go of Feng Chao. There was a trace of pity and contempt in his eyes, and he followed Deng Ji and walked out...
"Brother-in-law, just ignore him?"
"Let him think about it."
Deng Ji said softly: "When we first came to Haixi, we were obviously short of manpower. The fact that Feng Chao can gather so many people shows that he still has some prestige. If he is willing to help us, he may be able to help us integrate into the Haixi environment as soon as possible and stand in the right place.
Keep your footing."
On the other side, Pu Yangkai looked at Cao Peng with a smile.
"Youxue, what's the plan?"
Cao Peng shook his head, "What's the trick?
But, I really didn’t expect that Haixi County would be so complicated...pirates, salt owl...and those merchant beetles?"
Han Feizi listed merchants as one of the five beetles in "Five Worms".
Presumably this is where Shang Zhizi came from.
Moose family!
Liu Bei...
Ha, this seems to be getting more and more complicated and interesting!
Mi Zhu had a high reputation in history, and even Cao Cao also admired Mi Zhu.
However, no one expected that this Mi Zhu was actually a private salt dealer.
So after Mrs. Mi's death, Guan Yu seemed to have contempt for the Mi family and did not care about the relationship between the Mi family and Liu Bei, so it becomes reasonable...
No matter how much help the Mi family gave Liu Bei, and no matter how great his contribution was, Mi Zhu was still a private salt dealer when it came to his background.
"Afu, come with me to the inner office to check the documents."
Deng Ji said and went to the inner office.
Cao Peng took the torch from Deng Fan and whispered: "Fifth brother, please clean up briefly first and settle down. We will talk tomorrow."
"good!"
Cao Peng nodded, held a torch, and walked side by side with Puyang Kai towards the inner office.
