Chapter 333 Four Great Thieves

In winter, thousands of trees are depressed, and it is not just thousands of trees that are depressed.

As soon as you enter the Bazhou territory, a large area of ​​wilderness comes into view, and it looks particularly desolate in the endless snow. The dead branches tremble in the wind and make a whimpering sound.

Yang Ling was still the imperial envoy, but the imperial envoy was different from the imperial envoy. Now that he was just ordered to search a corrupt official, there was no big delegation. Yang Ling's ceremonial guards mainly came from the yamen officers of the Ministry of Justice, and the two flag officials were also appointed by the Ministry of Justice. There were only twenty generals in the Duke's Mansion, led by Liu Dabangcui, and were with him.

In addition to the family generals brought out from the Duke's Mansion and the people from the Ministry of Justice, according to Liu Jin's octopus character, he now has the right to intervene, so of course he will not miss this opportunity.

Although he had never thought about getting any benefits from the money he had found out to build the Princess Baiyi Temple, he still sent a eunuch Liang Hong, appointed him as the admiral of the right guard of Jinwu, and asked for an order to be the deputy envoy of the imperial envoy to cooperate with Yang Ling to handle the case.

During the Song Dynasty, Bazhou was the border area between the Liao and Song dynasties, and it took nearly 50 years to build a city with military defense as its main function. In 120 years after the signing of the Chanyuan Alliance in 1004, the Song Dynasty designated it as a tentative market for Liao and traded with Liao. The Central Plains and Jiangnan region exported agricultural products, handicraft products and overseas incense medicines to the north. From then on, Liao imported livestock, fur, medicinal materials, pearls and jade, etc. to the Central Plains, and the Song Dynasty imposed a lot of tentative market taxes.

Logically speaking, such a place should have been very prosperous, but in the past century, a large area of ​​grain fields in Bazhou has been encircled by the royal family and government governments to become imperial villages and government villages, and land annexation has reached an unparalleled level. Since the 11th year of Yongle, in order to strengthen the cavalry to fight against the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, this plan has been planned to raise horses and implement horse politics after the implementation of horse politics of raising horses and raising two horses for more than 15 cents. Local officials took the opportunity to collect intensive taxes and feed the people, and the people of Bazhou have become even more poor.

As soon as he entered the Bazhou territory, Yangling got out of a sedan chair and transferred to a horse. On the vast snow, several dilapidated villages occasionally appeared. The dilapidated houses in the village were closed with doors and windows to protect against the severe cold. Occasionally, one or two pedestrians were wearing bloated and tattered black cotton jackets. He watched the team of armored team passing by the roadside with his hands, his eyes dull like clay sculptures. He could occasionally see them moving, and he raised his sleeves and rubbed the snot flowing to his mouth.

This is the hometown of Hongniangzi! It is the hometown of Cui Yinger, who is ignorant of the big words but is as cute as a piece of uncarved jade? Her age is only smaller than Cheng Qiyun, and she has been mingling among bandits since childhood. She is used to blood and ugliness, but her heart and temper are still straightforward and simple, like a clear spring rippling in the mountain stream.

It was this land that gave birth to her? Her thieves were scattered on this land, but why can’t they see a mountain? When the trees were revived, this large area of ​​empty land should be either fertile fields or pastures?

The green grass is higher than the horse's belly. An unrestrained horse carries an unrestrained person on this grassland. The horse is like a dragon, the person is like a fire, and the flying and dancing red clothes are like dancing flames. The man is immediately the earth is her. The Red Lady.

The slim waist without restraint, the bright Zhanlu Wu hook, the bunch of black hair, the crystal eyes, and the black eyebrows like distant mountains...

Such a woman full of wildness and self may only be cultivated by such wild landscapes. Just like Lian'er, Lian'er knows how to read, but her temperament is not the case? Perhaps it is precisely because they come from similar places that they have similar spiritual energy and the courage and courage that ordinary Ming women do not have.

Thinking leisurely, a snowflake fell slowly, falling on his face, with a sweet feeling in the coolness. It was about to snow again. Looking into the distance, a black dot came into view, and Bazhou City arrived...

The eunuch guarding the Bazhou township, Zhang Zhong’s mansion.

His house stretches from West Street to the South River bank. It covers an area of ​​100 acres and has more than 500 houses. The houses in the house are clearly layered and arranged in a staggered manner. The pavilions are majestic and extraordinary. When you enter the main door and the middle door, you will face you with a living room with stone-based wooden pillars, with square flower windows, partitions and doors, and large pieces of wood carved flowers and birds in the inner and outer beams, making them look antique.

If Yang Ling saw this house, he would not have been surprised by the large area of ​​the princess's temple. Although the rich man in the north may not be as good as the rich gentry in Jiangnan, the size of the house is beyond the reach of the exquisite and elegant gardens of the rich gentry in Jiangnan.

At this moment, two teams of men stood in the hall, one with distinctive armor, holding swords and arrows, full of murderous auras. The other side had a smaller number of people, and they were just ordinary people, but they still held weapons and were more fierce than officers and soldiers.

There was another scene in the hall. The room was as warm as spring, with silver lamps hanging high on the four walls. On the main seat, there was a man sitting at a height of about fifty years old, with a good appearance, a rosy complexion, and a round and round face. He was wearing a purple satin copper coin robe. He looked like a wealthy and sage.

On his left was a row of burly men, with a square face, heavy eyebrows and tiger eyes, and he was arrogant without anger, and looked down on his face. On the other side were a row of lieutenant generals, who were also included in the ranking of the ranks of generals when they were dressed.

There was a beautiful woman sitting next to each of them. In the winter, she actually wore a spring outfit made of Qiluo. She had a narrow sleeves and a scarlet spring shirt, which exposed the beautiful curves of breast augmentation and thin waist.

The walls in the room were burning warm, and there were eight hidden copper tripods in the hall, and there were smokeless animal charcoal inside to emit heat, so they felt warm in their spring shirts, while the officers and soldiers and the big men sat on both sides could not help but sweat from their foreheads.

The women showed off their beautiful bodies like snakes and teased the men they were responsible for serving, but everyone was staring at each other with a fierce look, as if they were about to fight at any time, and they turned a blind eye to their teasing, and even their hands were tightly held onto the weapon at their waists.

The beauties had to take the initiative to pull their spring shirts open, and their breasts were half exposed. They used their breasts to grind their shoulders charmingly, but they could play a tempting role through thick armor and cotton robes.

The gentry wearing a purple satin copper coin robe smiled and said, "Everyone, I, Zhang Zhong, promised that I, Zhang Zhong, won't fight in my house. Why should I be so nervous? When I enter my door, I am Zhang Zhong's guest. What kind of great hatred do you have? Why do you have to fight to the death?"

"Father-in-law, the man opposite is a thief. He once led the crowd to plunder the big families in Hejian Mansion. The lower officials followed him all the way. My father-in-law asked me to have a seat with him. I hope my father-in-law will explain it to the lower officials."

"Oh......Haha, you said this. Misunderstandings and misunderstandings. He just had some personal grudges with the rich family and had taken revenge from several brothers. Didn't there be no big deal? It seems......"

He tidily clenched his ears and said, "It seems that he would kill two servants to protect the hospital. Didn't he hurt others?"

The leading man on the opposite side hurriedly said, "Yes, we will kill two of them, and they will still be dog slaves."

"Father-in-law, as far as the officials know, this person is a thief who is in several places in Bazhou, and he is robbing him in that family..."

"General Yuan Shen!" Although Zhang Zhong's gentle face was grim, he shouted sternly. When General Yuan Shen touched his poisonous eyes, he couldn't help but have a cold war.

"Hahahaha..." The evil spirit on Zhang Zhong's face disappeared, and it became gentle again: "General Yuan Shen has just been promoted, and we are not very familiar with him. If you have too many interactions, you will know my Zhang Zhong's character. I, Zhang Zhong, are all over the world, are good at making friends, and have close friends. Yesterday, our family was having a drink with you Deputy General Zhang."

A maid in front of him poured a glass of wine for him, and Zhang Zhong held the glass and smiled: "General Yuan, our family has been revered for a long time. A few days ago, we returned to Beijing. More than ten generals who were promoted to the Ministry of Education were stopped and only three people passed. One of them was Zhou De'an, who was promoted to Jinling; the other was Datong Jiang Bin, who was promoted to guerrillas; the other was that you, General Yuan Biao, was promoted to the general of the rank of Qianhu.

When Liu Yu from the Ministry of War asked for an appointment, our family happened to be there. We watched Eunuch Liu sign the custody with his own eyes. We only met in a few days. It was a fate to talk about it. We should get along well in the future."

When Yuan Biao heard this, his face changed color. The eunuch in charge was too powerful. The deputy general was his boss. That's fine. He actually called the Minister of War, and seemed to be a celebrity in front of Eunuch Liu, who was powerful all over the world. Is this someone he could afford?

Zhang Zhong raised his glass and said, "Yuan Chan will come here to arrest the thieves, which shows his loyalty to the court. When our family returns to Beijing, we will definitely talk about the general's loyalty and courage in front of Eunuch Liu and the Minister of War. We sincerely make friends with the general, and we must talk about the current matter."

At this point, Zhang Zhong pointed to the stern man on the left and said, "This person is actually my brother of the local tribe, named Zhang Mao. He is a martial artsman. He is a hero in Bazhou. Please take care of him more! I personally gave him a cup of water wine. If the general is willing to give this face, please drink all the water wine in it."

The maid next to General Yuan Shen stood up, walked over and took the wine glass with both hands, returned to Yuan Biao, held the cup with both hands and knelt in front of the desk, and suddenly the hall was in a state of solemnity, and everyone's eyes were focused on him.

Yuan Biao looked around in panic and saw the murderous intent of the thieves on the opposite side, as if they would jump up at any time. Zhang Zhong, the head of the head, could not sit steadily, but his eyes narrowed slightly, and the faint eyes were indescribable and terrifying.

This brave and good general who has made many military achievements is not afraid of the powerful enemy, but in the face of this invisible pressure and this network of relationships composed of power and interests, he was sweating profusely and did not know how to deal with it.

So what if he is brave and good at fighting? He is very good at fighting, and the general is not young, but he might be able to continue himself with just one word, and his bright future is gone. At least with his power, just excluding him, his life in the army will be better.

Looking back on the years of chasing, most of them had lowered their heads and no longer had the murderous aura they had just passed. The beauty in front of them held the cup with her hands, her arms were trembling with soreness, and the wine splashed out, but she still did not move.

Zhang Zhong's face gradually looked ugly, and a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth.

The glass of wine in front of him was actually more pressured than a sharp sword. Yuan Biao took a long breath and finally slowly released his right hand holding the knife:

I am an official, he is a thief. Eunuch Zhang openly sheltered the robbers. She entrusted her face to face, and she was obviously very tough in the backstage and didn't care about my identity at all. If I really want to pursue it, I just asked for trouble. Even if this case goes to heaven, I am afraid that all the evidence of the crime will be destroyed at that time. Is Zhang Mao a good citizen or a thief? Will the court believe me or Eunuch Zhang?

Yuan Biao took the wine and suddenly dried it in one sip. The wine was bitter and could not taste any other taste.

"Hahahaha..." Zhang Zhong laughed out loud like a duck, poured another glass of wine. He raised his mouth to Zhang Mao and said, "General Yuan will have a good time with you from now on. Do not disturb General Yuan's jurisdiction again in the future, so that General Yuan will be difficult to do."

"Yes, I'll follow my brother's instructions!" Zhang Mao smiled happily, took the cup and walked to Yuan Biao. He knelt down on one knee and said, "General Yuan is so rude. As the saying goes, you won't know each other without fighting. In the future, I'm willing to be friendly with General Yuan's brothers."

The officers and soldiers captured the bandits, and they became brothers after being arrested. Yuan Biao smiled bitterly and raised his glass to respond. Zhang Mao returned to his seat after drinking all the wine in the glass. The tense atmosphere in the hall suddenly eased.

Zhang Zhong stood up and persuaded him to drink. He served the beautiful maid Qiao Yingying, who was serving Yuan Biao and other generals, got up and left the seat. After a while, each of them carried a tray. Each of them had a dozen gold ingots on each plate. The generals seemed to be squinting, but they secretly saw it. The expression on their faces eased a little.

With a beautiful woman with gold and wine, it is much easier to accept this friendship. Zhang Zhong occasionally talks about the senior military generals who he has made friends with, and the Chinese military officials in the court, and one by one. Hearing Yuan Biao secretly felt awe. Since he had decided to accept it, he also put down his posture and welcomed it. The guests and hosts all enjoyed each other.

After Yuan Biao and others captured the thief generals and returned with a full load, Zhang Mao said with concern: "Brother, this person surnamed Yuan will not regret it anymore, right? His official position is not low, if he goes back, he will make a statement..."

Zhang Zhong sneered, "I'm just a young boy who has just been promoted. I'm just passionate. I want to sue our family and let him have no way to sue him! Don't worry, my brother has already sent someone to pay a visit to his boss and colleagues. When he returns, he knows how powerful our family is. If you want to be promoted again, you have to pay my respects. Today, I have to send the gold to you and complain to you. Hum!"

Zhang Zhong was in charge of the military and horses raised by the people of Bazhou, so he often dealt with officers, soldiers and generals from all over the country, and had a very large network of relationships and was arrogant in the local area.

After he finished speaking, he brushed his sleeves and lowered his face and said, "Why did he run to Hejian Mansion to make trouble? He was chased by others all the way? If it weren't for our family, your foundation would be gone, and it would be too careless to act like this."

Zhang Mao smiled bitterly and said, "Isn't Yang's broom coming? This guy is a big disaster. When he was far away in the capital, he made Bazhou unrest. Brother Yang Hu's clan was suppressed, causing him to flee to Shandong. Qi Yanming was also arrested by the bandit suppression officers and soldiers. He is too famous. Brother, you came forward and have not brought him out yet. Brother, don't dare to commit crimes in Bazhou, so he had to run to Hejian."

Zhang Zhong walked back and said disdainfully: "You think Yang Ling? He has been defeated by Eunuch Liu. Now he is just a duke with a false reputation. He came to Bazhou just to seize the property of An's house. Can he still take care of our family?"

Zhang Mao said cautiously: "Brother is careless. Have you heard of it? It is said that this person is a star who descended to earth. He will have a disaster wherever he goes. You said that there are no swords and blood everywhere he goes in the past two years? It is really evil, so be careful to sail the ship for ten thousand years.

Now that the imperial court and the three guards of Duoyan are trading together and raising horses through grasslands, it is estimated that in two years, a large number of war horses will be supplied to the army. By then, the horse government of our Bazhou Jiding horse raising horses will be cancelled. It is hard to say whether the elder brother can still guard this place. We have to make a big profit in the last two years."

Zhang Zhong laughed and said, "How to catch it? Just rob a few big families? Stupid! Look at our land. Eunuch Liu and I just asked for a job. Not only did we supervise the military horses of Bazhou, but we were also responsible for mining. We have been scrambling for two years and guaranteed to return from Jinshan."

Zhang Maoran said in surprise: "Mining? Do we have mines in Bazhou? Gold, silver or copper or iron ore?"

Zhang Zhong smiled but said nothing. He thought for a while and said, "But there are some reasons why you are concerned about it. There are still people in this world who are really powerful. This surnamed Yang became the Duke of the Kingdom for two years. His evil spirits are soaring to the sky. It is really evil. Well..."

He thought for a moment, "Let's go back to Longquan Temple to invite the four Buddhas to do a great ritual to eliminate his murderous aura of Yang's head. Our family will send someone to the magistrate's ruling yamen and tell them that they will sell all the An family's property, land deeds, and servants into cash as soon as possible... Forget it, let's just buy it, so that our family can send Yang Di back to Beijing early to avoid him being in trouble here!"

"What's the hurry? I don't have time to go back to Beijing for the New Year anyway. Let's stay here for a few more days. What do you think?" Yang Ling made up his mind to go out to Beijing to spend time, delaying the time to make Liu Jin mess up. In the past, he was decisive and decisive in his tolerance, and he wanted to finish the job as soon as possible. He wanted to finish the job and return to Beijing as soon as possible, but this trip was very leisurely.

It was just a matter of searching for property, but I couldn't think of any major events even if I broke my head. The key point was to be in the capital, but now I have to avoid it, but what can I do here be?

I usually go on a business trip and want to go back to Beijing early but can't leave. Now I don't want to leave but there is no reason not to leave. When I think of it, Yang Ling can only smile bitterly.

When Liang Hong heard this, he was right. The best way for the Beijing officials to make money was to go on a business trip. It was rare that Eunuch Liu sent him this job. If he cleaned it up in a few days and returned to the capital immediately, wouldn’t that be in vain?

Liang Hong quickly responded: "What the Duke of the State said is that the lanterns in Shengfang Town, Bazhou are very famous. Since we are here, we must see them."

"Looking at the lanterns? It's the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and the time is still too little. It's not enough for Liu Jin to make trouble. Let's think of excuses later." Yang Ling thought, and when he looked up, the magistrate of Bazhou led a group of officials to wait at the city gate.

The city also looked very depressed. Fan Moli, the magistrate of Bazhou, was with Yang Ling and Liang Hong, and entered the city while introducing the situation in Bazhou. Yang Ling was concerned about the civil affairs of Bazhou, the situation of the horse thieves in Bazhou, and how much property Yan Ye had. He just entered the city. It was inconvenient to inquire about these matters, and he just listened to Fan Moli's introduction at will.

"Whose chastity archway is there? Why is it so ruined that the archway is crooked, and the government will not come forward to renovate it?" Liang Hong suddenly saw a chastity archway and asked in an official voice.

Fan Moli laughed at the sight and said, "When I go back to my father-in-law, this archway... was established by a widowed mother from Bazhou in the fourth year of Jianwen. Unexpectedly, his widowed mother later committed adultery and became pregnant. She was convicted of deceiving the emperor and was confiscated.

Before the archway was smashed, it was crooked. Everyone said that there were gods in the world in the dark, so the archway was crooked and could not deceive people. So it was not smashed, just to give people a warning to later generations, saying that it was a gentleman who was openly a righteous man, and secretly a man and a thief and a prostitute, and people knew that the heaven and earth had eyes, and the gods were free, so don’t do anything to deceive the heaven and the king.”

The fourth year of Jianwen was the year when the King of Yan rebelled. The world was in chaos, and it would be strange if someone cared about such a thing. No wonder the chastity archway of the lost priest has been established until now.

Liang Hong was very interested when he heard this and hurriedly asked, "Oh? Is this really a matter? Is it really a mess by the gods?"

Eunuchs are more eager for the world, ghosts and gods than ordinary people, and they are more eager for the next life. They are naturally particularly interested in hearing ghosts and gods.

Seeing that the Jinwu Guard admiral was very interested, Fan Moli couldn't help but smile and said, "It should be that there is a land. There is also a joke about this. In the fifteenth year of Hongzhi, a local filial piety and honest man wrote a letter to ask for a archway for his widowed sister-in-law, saying that his sister-in-law had been widowed since he was nineteen years old and did not go out of the door. He educated his son to be filial to his parents-in-law and was very virtuous. The late emperor issued an order to allocate 500 taels of silver to establish the archway.

Unexpectedly, his widowed sister-in-law was extremely frightened after hearing about it. She had also heard of the unfaithful person. The archway could not stand, and she had no choice but to tell her brother-in-law that she had an affair with others.

When his brother-in-law heard this, he was shocked and scared. The criminal was going to behead his head and search the house. At this time, he didn't bother to pursue his sister-in-law, so he had to spend a lot of money to ask for a Taoist priest.

The Taoist priest collected the silver and performed a ritual, saying that his sister-in-law had stolen people a few times, so she sprinkled a few soybeans under the archway to break the method.

The Xiaolian asked his sister-in-law how many times he had stolen someone when he went back. His sister-in-law said for a while: "Uncle, don't talk about it. Just take the dustpan and pour it into the pit. Two dustpans are definitely enough."

When Yang Ling heard this, he couldn't help laughing out loud. The Admiral Liang laughed so hard that he couldn't straighten his waist immediately. He asked, "What happened later? Haha. Did you really break this method later?"

The magistrate Fan smiled and said, "When Xiaolian heard that his face turned purple, he couldn't do anything. In order to avoid accidents, he secretly sprinkled three dustpans of soybeans into the pit, and then he stood up the archway.

He was worried about setting up the archway and went to see it with his sister-in-law every day. In a few days, the archway began to become crooked. Xiaolian was angry and killed his sister-in-law and his nephew who was not sure whether he was his brother's blood. He also found a short-sighted view."

"Ah!" Liang Hong exclaimed: "So it's really so magical. Oh, this god is really unrestrained, it's impossible to deceive."

When Yang Ling heard that it was later caused such a tragedy, he couldn't help but sigh secretly, "What kind of god is showing his saints?" Soybeans sprinkled soybeans under the archway, and sprinkled three dustpans. The soybeans sucked the air of the ground, ate the water, and swelled and sprouted. How could they not be raised? Alas, although this woman was shameless, she did something harmless and she ended up in such an ending.

Because after hearing this joke, Yang Ling couldn't help but look at the chastity archway that was about to fall. There was a man sitting under the archway, wearing a torn cotton jacket, struggling to stand up with a wooden stick. There was a big bowl on the lower edge of the archway, which seemed to be a beggar floor.
To be continued...