The thin eyebrow-like moon hangs in the sky, and the sky is full of stars.
Although it was late at night, the vegetation on the ground could cast shadows, and it was very bright, a rare bright night.
With a flash of light and shadow, Su Hanshan appeared in the courtyard. The moment he raised his head, he had already looked at the stars and determined the directions of southeast, northwest and northwest.
He didn’t understand the stars in his previous life, nor did he know what the stars of the earth were like in his previous life.
However, in terms of light, the stars displayed in the night sky are different from the Wude world and the Dachu world, but they are very consistent with the Southern Song Dynasty.
It seems that it should also be a place that can be called earth.
To the south of this courtyard is the back door of a majestic palace.
On the east and west sides, there are two rows of large houses, divided into many rooms. The doors and windows are now closed, there are no lights, the wood is patchy, it is old, and it has not been painted well.
Such two rows of large houses are qualified to be connected to the main hall. It seems that the main hall is not an imperial palace, but the main hall of a temple.
To the north of the courtyard, there is still a row of large houses, but the separated rooms are more particular, and the doors and windows are larger.
There is also a bright red paper with the word "福" upside down on the window pane.
A light was on in one of the rooms, illuminating two figures.
Just when Su Hanshan came to this courtyard, there was a sound of a sharp knife piercing flesh in the lighted room.
Crack! ! !
In the room, a man with scruffy hair, swollen eyes, and yellow face had just stabbed a dagger into the old Taoist priest's waist. He was about to grab the handle and twist it, when he suddenly heard a sound at the door. .
Before he could turn around, a hand was already on his wrist.
The hand was dry and clean, with slender fingers. There was no sense of exertion. It was more like pinching a handful of flour with the thumb, index finger, and middle finger and placing it on his wrist.
But his wrist was completely unable to turn, push, or pull back.
There is also a strong sense of numbness that spreads from the wrist to the whole body.
Su Hanshan flicked his wrist, and the yellow-faced man involuntarily let go of the dagger, staggered back two or three steps, and fell to the ground, unable to lift himself up at all.
"Who, who? Is it a human or a ghost?!"
The yellow-faced man kicked his legs to crawl back, his expression was horrified, and then he could barely see clearly that the person blocking him was a man who looked like He is a young boy who is not yet twenty, with fair skin and quite tall appearance.
That face, if you meet him on the street in broad daylight and take one look at it, you will definitely say a few secret praises, this boy is so well-behaved.
But now, the yellow-faced man felt that the man opposite him was not a human being at all.
He also discovered that there was a large human-shaped hole in the door.
After being knocked out of such a big hole, the door actually only made a slight sound just now, and the smashed wreckage was not visible at all.
Su Hanshan didn't care how scared the man was. Anyway, the moment he made contact, he had already injected a burst of infuriating energy. The other person couldn't get up or escape.
First he pulled out the dagger, checked that it was non-toxic, and applied acupuncture to stop the bleeding. It was all done in the blink of an eye. Then he helped the old Taoist priest turn around and sit on the bed.
The old man was a little overweight, bloated, with two small eyes and sparse beard. He was stabbed just now, his face was pale, his lips were trembling, and he was speechless.
Su Hanshan pressed his right hand on his shoulder again, pouring in a burst of Qi to close the flesh and blood at the wound and relieve the pain.
However, in the process, Su Hanshan discovered that this old Taoist also had martial arts skills and good internal strength, at least the level of Qi Hai Dacheng, but there was a lot of secret poison accumulation in his body.
If he really allowed him to develop his skills on his own, I'm afraid his skills would be extremely scattered, and even any Qi Hai Xiaosheng might not be able to compare with him.
“Thank you so much for this benefactor!”
The old Taoist took a breath and glanced at the big hole in the door. He wisely did not ask about the origin of his benefactor, and only said, "My benefactor is a great favor for saving my life, and my path is prosperous." , I have nothing to repay. I still have some silver in this house, and I am willing to give it all to my benefactor.”
If this person who appeared out of nowhere was really kind-hearted, he just happened to be passing by.
Even if he has some bad intentions, Taoist Fuxing thinks to himself that there is absolutely nothing wrong with his behavior. He is sincere enough.
“No rush.”
Su Hanshan only replied lightly, looking thoughtfully at the yellow-faced man.
"What's going on with you guys? Why is he plotting to assassinate you?"
Taoist Fuxing's face immediately showed a look of sorrow and anger: "I don't know either!"
"This old man is the head of the handyman in our temple. He lost his job back then, and it was I who recruited him. Being promoted to this position, I have not done anything in these years. You treated him badly."
He said angrily to the yellow-faced man, "Old Ding, why do you think you had such evil intentions and stabbed me with a knife?"
Old Ding! After hearing this, not only was he not ashamed, but he also became angry.
“I have gone through many hardships in the wind and rain these years when I have been looking after your home and nursing home to collect accounts. Even the most humble apprentice in the factory should have a salary increase.”
"I've talked to you so many times, are you willing to get more than one copper? How much income does your temple make every month, but you won't even give us a small change."
"Part 1 Months later, Cui Laosan, who owned Laohu Zao, sold his shop, taking his wife and several children with him. , we also sold him, but we still couldn’t get enough money for cigarettes, so he went crazy and bit one of our brothers, Lao Qi, to death. You see, Lao Qi’s family has no one, and he didn’t even want to give him any free money.”
At this time, Lao Ding no longer cared about being afraid of Su Hanshan, he just sneered.
“I still have some strength now. Although you don’t give me a salary increase, every time I talk to you, you either give me a pair of shoes or an old set of clothes, take me to a banquet, and ask me to I moved to a tile-roofed house near you. I was really attracted by you. I was fooled, and I finally figured out that these things are useless in the first place."
"In less than half a year, when I am no longer useful, you can still fool the next unlucky person if you take them back. Egg.”
"Hey! The temple has been running low on inventory recently. It's almost time to get the cash to buy the goods. I predict that there will be money hidden in your room now, which will kill you. I can live happily with this money. The remaining six months."
Taoist Fuxing looked ugly, trembling with anger, and cursed "ungrateful" and "shameless" over and over again.
Leng Buding heard a voice next to him asking, "cigarette money, what kind of cigarettes are sold in this temple?"
"Big smoke!"
Fuxing Taoist replied smoothly After saying something, he realized what he was doing and turned to look at Su Hanshan, "Is my benefactor from out of town?"
"Smoke is very valuable in other places, but in Songjiang Prefecture, it is widely available. Even for a small temple like ours, there is no shortage of goods every month."
Su Hanshan suddenly smoked He turned his right hand back and looked at his palm with a somewhat displeased expression. When he rubbed his hands together, a handful of ice and snow appeared inexplicably. It made a rustling sound, as if he was washing his hands.
Taoist Fuxing lost Su Hanshan's skill to suppress him, and felt a sudden pain in his wound again. He was at a loss and had some ominous premonition in his heart.
"My benefactor..."
His mind was racing, "Although this old man stabbed me, he is an old man next to me after all. I can't bear to retaliate with my own hands, so why not Send him to court?”
"Oh, you also have friendship with the government?"
Su Hanshan didn't even raise his eyebrows and was still wiping his hands carefully.
Fuxing Taoist said to himself: "We have hundreds of temples, big and small, in Songjiang. No matter whether we are monks or Taoists, since we are engaged in the tobacco business and have a lot of money, of course we must be filial to the prefect."
"To be honest, every year we have to get together to talk about which company did well this year and which company did well this year. If a family does something bad, it needs to be corrected. There are rewards and responsibilities. With such a talented rookie, you can talk to the magistrate in person. "
"My dear friend, you don't have to wait until the party. , I will use Lao Ding’s story as an introduction, and I will surely rise to the top.”
Su Hanshan looked up at him and seemed to be smiling. Taoist Fuxing also smiled.
Suddenly, Su Hanshan raised his hand and grabbed him from the air. Taoist Fuxing felt as if he was being wrapped around his whole body by an invisible huge iron claw and lifted up into the air. , hit the ground.
Bang! !
Taoist Fuxing's body hit the ground hard, and the wound on his back tore. Before he could cry out in pain, a mouthful of blood spurted out from his mouth. He rolled twice and landed right next to Old Ding.
He let out a shrill scream, which shocked the old man next to him to cover his ears.
But the voice failed to reach the room.
At some point, the gaps in the doors and windows of the entire house, as well as the big holes in the doors, were covered with frost. Even the gaps between the roof tiles were frozen by black ice.
“Fortunately, it’s easy to make up for the mistake of saving people.”
Su Hanshan patted the snow flakes on his hands, and a warm jade-like Xuanbing seat appeared behind him, lazily He sat down, crossed his legs, and said with a smile, "You answer whatever I ask, so you don't have to suffer more."
"If you scream again, the wound will double."
Taoist Fuxing immediately suppressed it, his arms were shaking, and he barely supported himself and sat on the ground: "Well, what do you want to ask me?"
Su Hanshan said: "Now it is Which dynasty and which emperor reigned?"
Old Ding was confused by this turn of events. When he heard the question, he quickly said: "It's Emperor Xu."
Su Hanshan. Frowning: "Xu?"
"No, no, Emperor Xu is the emperor of Guangdong and Guangxi, not our Songjiang."
Fuxing Taoist said eagerly, "But, but, but we don't have an emperor in Songjiang."
"Three Forty years ago, the Xiantian Sect invaded the Forbidden City. After the death of Emperor Jiaqing of the former Qing Dynasty, chaos broke out everywhere. The sects started to rebel. "
"The Baiyang Sect, the Kangua Sect, the Shuoyuan Sect, the Qingshui Sect, those who worship Wusheng Old Mother, those who worship Luni Bodhisattva, those who worship Patriarch Piao Gao, and those who worship Gaitian Ancient Buddha are everywhere. "
"There are also governors from Liangjiang, Guangdong and Guangxi, who have successively said that there are descendants of the Aixinjueluo family who are around and want to support the new emperor."
"At that time, the Dutch sent troops and occupied our Songjiang. Within two years, the Dutch were driven away by the British again."
"Later, those who were incompetent everywhere were After being defeated and incorporated, Emperor Xu of Guangdong and Guangxi became more powerful and sent troops He came to the British people and said, "You can live in this place, but you have to pay."
"The British people refused, so many of them were beaten to death by Emperor Xu, so they had to pay. As a result, the Xiantian Sect in the Forbidden City... After hearing the news, he also sent someone to say, "You have to pay."
"The British people didn't dare not pay it at the time, but when the third time, Marshal He from the two lakes also sent people to ask for money, the British people, the Francois, and the Ni The people of Delan and Fusang joined forces to fight and moved forward. The opponents declared war twice."
"After less than half a year of fighting, the foreigners sued for peace, saying that if this continued, no one would receive any money, so they approached Emperor Xu, Marshal He, and the Xiantian Sect to negotiate. Get a local magistrate’s office.”
"On weekdays, the matters on the ground in Songjiang Prefecture are all under the control of the prefect's Yamen. However, the Prefect's Yamen must give a sum of money to the gentlemen from all over the world every year."
Fuxing Taoist said for a long time, and it was right. Very messy.
Su Hanshan refined it, and now there are many warlords on the land of China.
There are three most powerful warlords, but they don't care about the affairs of Songjiang Mansion and only collect money every year.
The foreigners headed by the Britons cannot take care of it, but the foreigners also collect money.
Even so, the prefect's Yamen still has no worries about lack of money.
Because every year, 70% of the raw silk from the mainland, as well as a large amount of tea, porcelain and other in-demand goods, come here for sale.
If cigarettes, cotton fabrics, arms, guns, etc. from overseas are shipped to the mainland, most of them will go through Songjiang Prefecture.
Although the prefect's Yamen has to pay four taxes every year, it also means that it has four major backers. Regardless of whether they are from outside or from within, or what their background is, as long as they come here to do business, they have to pay taxes.
From the mountains of gold and silver, a little leakage of juice is enough for the prefect’s Yamen to live a moist life.
In fact, there are thousands of people from other places who have heard about the prosperity of Songjiang Prefecture, are envious of the opportunities that may exist everywhere here, and work tirelessly to make money and start small businesses.
Everyone is making money, so who is losing?
Every advancement in production, transportation, and trade can indeed create a situation where everyone can make money in the early stages of progress.
The only problem is that when some people make money, they can become industrial forces and make themselves stronger and stronger.
But what some people have worked hard to earn is deceived and robbed in the blink of an eye, and flows into the pockets of those fat people.
Big smoke is the best tool used by those who are already fat to control other people and control the flow of assets to their own pockets.
"You two must have been smoking heavily."
Su Hanshan looked at the two people slumped on the ground with dark eyes.
A man who clearly has the inner strength of Qi Hai, but is so bloated and slow that he cannot even react when someone stabs him in the back.
The other was a thug in an opium den, forcing people to buy and sell their children. The moment he drew the knife, he also burst out with good energy, but he was deficient inside and suffered from tuberculosis and seven injuries. He knew that he would survive. Only half a year.
"Oh, if I give you a pleasure directly, it will be easier for you."
As Su Hanshan spoke, the palms of his hands silently changed on his chest, forming a faint and lingering afterimage, like a flower. The fog is like a furnace or a well.
Until the end, those afterimages suddenly split into two and shot into the eyebrows of the two people.
The two of them looked at each other in horror before they had time to escape.
They saw a lifeless gray sword-shaped mark on each other's forehead.
"This is the "Xuanyin Six Hearts Sword and Plague Curse". You can also just call it Xuanyin Sword Plague."
"The person who falls under this curse is within a hundred feet of me. I just thought about it." , it will make your life worse than death.”
“ If you are more than a hundred feet away from me, and I don't personally relieve the spell every half month, it will also attack. After three attacks, the whole body will fester and there will be no body."
When Su Hanshan said this, He clapped his hands.
The two cigarette sellers completely collapsed on the ground, their limbs paralyzed and unable to move.
They didn't feel any severe pain at first, but they could clearly feel that life was passing away from their bodies bit by bit.
Something seems to be growing out of their bodies.
The fear of being replaced by unknown death is far more terrifying than simple pain.
Pop! !
Su Hanshan clapped his hands again and after pausing the spell, the two of them were still in that feeling for a long time, unable to extricate themselves.
After a while, Taoist Fuxing came to his senses first, trembled, got up and kowtowed to Su Hanshan, begging for mercy.
“Since you like to be someone else’s tool so much, why not come and be my tool too.”
Su Hanshan clasped his palms together, like Buddha holding flowers and smiling, showing endless compassion. , said, "What are you afraid of? You will have more companions soon."
(End of this chapter)