Chapter 169 Return to Dongjiang Mansion
Early the next morning, Fang Maang, who was about to start working after dinner, was interrupted by the bell next to him.
Sighing, Fang Maang slowly came to the door, but he didn't expect that this time the person coming was not an ordinary person, but a member of the government.
"Please inform me that the official document was personally written by the magistrate of Dongjiang Prefecture."
After confirming his identity, Fang Maang also signaled to the policeman stationed at the city gate to take the messenger to the city to meet the man. The puppet magistrate.
"Here it comes, brother Fang, hot tofu pudding!"
A policeman brought the hot tofu pudding dripping with oil and two crispy sesame seed cakes to find Fang Ming.
"Thanks to your help these days, no matter how well disguised the evil spirits are, they can't hide it from your eyes."
Fang Maang nodded with a smile, but did not refuse too much. .
In fact, in the eyes of ordinary people, the disguise of those evil spirits is already perfect.
It's just that his spiritual awareness is too high, and he can easily see through the illusions and disguises of these evil things.
Therefore, these evil spirits need to use more elaborate and cumbersome disguises.
However, these measures become darker and darker, revealing some exaggerated flaws.
Just as I was about to taste the hot tofu puffs with a spoon, another visitor came outside the door.
“Well, more and more people are coming into the city these days.”
The policeman who delivered the meal hurried back to the city, leaving Fang Ming alone to enter the house with tofu pudding and sesame seed cakes.
As the inner city gate closed, the outer city gate slowly opened a crack, and a woman of about ten years old came in.
But unlike ordinary people, this woman does not have any organs on her face.
Only a dozen eyeballs were set like gems on this woman’s face, which looked like a sesame seed cake at first glance.
Fang Mao was extremely helpless at this time.
This evil spirit seems to have been worn out, and the decoration on its face is almost careless...
That's right, it would be too difficult for them to hold them to human standards.
I was about to call the team in the city to quickly clean up this evil spirit.
Who knew that this demon disguised as a woman would suddenly explode on the spot.
A large number of maggots and eyeballs shot out from the woman's body and fell to the ground with clatter.
The white and tender skin made Fang Maang feel nauseated until the team got the news and rushed to clean up the scene.
I found a bead the size of a fingernail and stepped on it until it exploded in all directions.
[Refining a demon from the three realms and obtaining 400 strands of Yin Qi. 】
[The evolution value of the fierce land is +0.2%, the current level is level four (death restricted zone), and the current evolution degree is 28.2%. 】
It wasn’t until the passage looked brand new again and everyone confirmed again and again that there was no residual evil spirit or pollution that they returned to the city.
But at this time Fang Ming still had not recovered from that disgusting scene.
This evil spirit just couldn’t get in, so it came here to disgust people.
Looking at the cold tofu pudding and sesame seed cakes in front of him, Fang Mao had lost all appetite.
I had no choice but to put down the food and walk around near the inner city gate to relax, breathe some fresh air, and adjust my mood.
At the same time, the messenger from Dongjiang Mansion had also rushed to the county government office and met the county magistrate Lin Zhongwen who had just arrived.
After taking the official document and looking at it, Lin Zhongwen couldn't help but take a breath.
“Nonsense! Does the magistrate think that the people in Tianhu County are all grown from the ground?”
Xu Ke also switched his perspective to the county government at this time and saw After reading the contents of the official document, I understood the reason for Lin Zhongwen's anger.
It turned out that the official document stated that the border was in turmoil, and the imperial court urgently mobilized money, food, and young men from surrounding states and counties to serve.
Fifty thousand taels of silver, eight thousand shi of grain, plus three thousand adult men...
Calculated, this amount of money was Tianhu County's fiscal revenue for nearly a year in the past.
The tax on grain is enough for a whole year.
You must know that these are additional levies and taxes, which are separately included in the side rates.
As for the usual strict taxes, the court would still collect them all.
The imperial court's taxation was already extremely heavy, not to mention these additional levies of money and grain, which were the last manhole cover that broke the camel's back...
But these two requirements can only be said to be harsh, forcing Tianhu County to quickly impose additional taxes and perhaps still be able to barely pay these astronomical figures.
At most, a few households would starve to death, forcing most of the people to eat their grain and sell their fields in order to survive.
The last one even forced Tianhu County to object.
Tianhu County has a population of more than 30,000 people, excluding women, children, sick and disabled people, and some elderly people.
There are only about 6,000 real young adults in total.
And nearly half of these people are from the government or standing soldiers stationed in Tianhu County.
If three thousand people were really taken away, it would be equivalent to taking the adult men from every household in Tianhu County to the border to serve as corvees.
By then, I’m afraid there won’t be many adult men in Tianhu County.
Besides, the dangers at the border can be imagined. Over the years, almost no one who has been sent to do corvee can come back intact.
Being able to survive and escape is already worthy of the family members praying to gods and worshiping Buddha, and kowtow to fulfill their wishes.
What's more, the danger level at the border is increasing day by day. At this time, removing all the adult men in Tianhu County is equivalent to killing the lives of the people in this county.
Three thousand men are the backbone of three thousand families, and affect the rise and fall of thirty thousand people behind them.
Although this order must not be respected, Lin Zhongwen didn't know how to respond to the messenger for a while.
It wasn't until Xu Ke whispered in his ear that Lin Zhongwen made up his mind to respond to the messenger:
"This is an arbitrary order, I will not obey it!"
< br>
Fortunately, the imperial court had already issued an order when the natural disaster struck many years ago.
If there is obvious chaos in various state capitals, you can temporarily ignore its orders and wait for the court to send officials from the Yamen to judge both sides and see who is at fault.
The messenger sneered, cupped his hands, and then left the county government office.
Leave the city directly and prepare to rush back to Dongjiang Mansion overnight.
Xu Ke sighed helplessly:
"It's really like one wave after another."
Xu Ke had a guess in his mind that the so-called order sent by Dongjiang Mansion to collect money, food and people was not as simple as it seemed.
Maybe the entire Tianhu County will not be peaceful again.
So Xu Ke directly ordered Li Sian to select a smart and capable person in the county.
Hurry and go to Dongjiang Mansion with some banknotes, and be sure to find out the news about this so-called increase in taxes.
Sure enough, it was not what Xu Ke expected.
Three days later, the person responsible for inquiring about the news rushed back to Tianhu County at night and reported what he saw and heard to everyone.
At this time, the appearance of Dongjiang Mansion has undergone earth-shaking changes.
First of all, the prefect Zhao Wenze actually began to do little in the Dongjiang Prefecture, and like the county magistrate Zhu Lou, he began to implement virtuous policies.
It attracted a burst of support and applause from ordinary people. In addition, the so-called additional collection of money and food is indeed a task assigned by the higher-level government.
It’s just that the 50,000 taels of silver, 8,000 shi of grain, and the share of 3,000 adult men are actually the standards distributed to the entire Dongjiang Mansion.
Placing these amounts in a county will certainly shake the foundation, and may even force the local people to rebel.
But if it is digested by one house, it is not a serious loss of vitality...
"Then Zhao Wenze is not a short-sighted person who is greedy for small profits."
"So he must have done it intentionally and deliberately targeted Tianhu County."
After thinking about it again and again, Xu Ke roughly guessed two possible reasons.
First of all, the prefect implemented benevolent government inexplicably and started to show off. He was probably just like Zhu Lou at the beginning, plotting to sacrifice and refine the lives of the people in the prefecture.
Therefore, this method was deliberately used to force Tianhu County to lose the support of the people and induce residents to flee.
It should be noted that several counties around Fangyuan have experienced more or less population outflows due to Tianhu County.
Even in Dongjiang Prefecture, which is a prefectural city, a large number of people fled to the safer Tianhu County to seek a way out.
If Tianhu County is not destroyed and ruined, the population of Dongjiang Prefecture will never increase.
On the contrary, once Tianhu County is destroyed, the first choice of a large number of people who have nowhere to go will naturally be the more prosperous Dongjiang Mansion.
As for the second reason, Xu Ke guessed that the other party most likely wanted to avenge the original attack.
Since even Tang Song, the general judge of Dongjiang Mansion, is a member of the so-called ‘Yinsi’ organization.
The prefect who is the top leader also has a high probability of being a minion of this underworld organization.
Originally Xu Ke thought that by killing Tang Song, he could temporarily repel the underworld and gain a peaceful life for Tianhu County for a while.
Unexpectedly, this Yin Secretary was really unwilling to suffer, and immediately found a reason to rectify Tianhu County.
Although the Yin Division did not know the existence of Xu Ke, they could probably guess that there was another powerful force behind Tianhu County.
The so-called additional tax on money, food and population is most likely caused by them throwing stones to explore the road and taking the opportunity to test Xu Ke's depth.
According to common sense, Xu Ke should be prepared at this time and be careful to guard against the next wave of attacks from the opponent.
But Xu Ke is not someone who just waits to die.
It is not Xu Ke’s style to always be beaten passively, and the opponent’s power is also extremely mysterious.
If Xu Ke didn't take the initiative several times to find out the other party's information, he would have fallen into a situation where he was at the mercy of others and could be manipulated at will.
This organization that calls itself the Underworld has caused great trouble and has been entangled with itself to this day. It must be uprooted as soon as possible.
As for who to send out, Xu Ke already had psychological expectations.
…………
Outside Dongjiang Mansion, Li Sian wiped the dew from his shoulders expressionlessly.
He let out a long breath.
After several years, he returned to this familiar place again.
The last time he left, it was because he passed the criminal examination and became the meal of those evil ghosts and evil cultivators.
So he had no choice but to escape from the city overnight in embarrassment.
Now that he is no longer what he used to be, he is naturally filled with emotion when he returns to his hometown.
And he is not alone here...
“Is there really delicious food here?”
Shiyi innocently glanced around the bustling streets inside the city gate.
This was the first time she saw such a big city, with people coming and going and it was extremely lively.
“Don’t drool, it will look weird.”
Li Sian reluctantly took out a handkerchief and wiped Shiyi’s mouth.
Sister Shiyi has watched their brothers grow up, so Li Sian also has a sense of belonging to this evil sister.
Now that I have the opportunity to go out to do errands with her, I feel a lot more at ease.
The two set out together, and the evil spirits that may exist in the gray mist are naturally no match for them.
Occasionally, little evil creatures with blind eyes come to seek death, and they all become Shiyi's delicacies.
Li Si'an also learned about the small jade pot in Shiyi's body, and understood that this sister Shiyi seemed to have another chance.
The jade pot can actually transform even evil objects that are usually twisted and filthy into extremely pure blood essence for them to absorb.
With such a wonderful function, it’s no wonder that it attracts many interested people to compete for it.
And it is true that only people with a physique like Shiyi can absorb these powers with almost no side effects.
If it were his current weak body, he would be like before if he sucked in two evil things.
Unable to withstand excessive force, leading to mental or physical collapse.
But at this moment, Li Sian found that there was already a long queue at the checkpoint entering the city.
A large number of people trying to enter the city anxiously urged the city guards to complete the verification as soon as possible and let them enter the city quickly.
On the other hand, those officers and soldiers seemed to be somewhat obedient, extremely honest, and worked hard and patiently to verify the identities of everyone and entered the city one by one.
"It's strange, these people are so brave."
Before coming to Dongjiang Mansion, Li Sian's fantasy scene should be that the people were miserable and low-key, for fear of offending the official.
And those officers and soldiers should also be arrogant and domineering, with their nostrils turned to the sky.
Why do the positions and attitudes of both parties seem to be reversed?
At this time, as the team gradually moved forward, Li Sian also saw clearly what the papers on the city wall were...
They were all wanted notices?
Li Si'an has seen a lot of wanted notices, and his father also had one wanted notice back then.
But Li Sian has never seen the spectacular sight of the city wall next to the city gate being covered with wanted posters.
The notices were written in either black ink or blood red.
Li Sian took a glance and saw that most of the black ink marks were ordinary murder cases.
Most of them are due to various reasons, such as neighborhood disputes, conflicts between men and women, who occupies how many inches of someone's land, and who borrowed something from someone but didn't return it.
They got into fights over these trivial matters, and ended up killing people. One party would sleep forever, and the other would be on the run.
The blood-red notice seemed much more serious.
Some were gangsters who killed at least seven or eight people in a row and wreaked havoc on the countryside.
Some are great liars who have deceived countless people into losing their lives and leaving their wives and children separated.
Other people believe in unknown evil gods and demons, and perform various evil rituals with extremely cruel methods, not only harming others but themselves.
It also often causes all kinds of extremely difficult and terrifying consequences, which are weird and unpredictable, and the casualties caused are also the most difficult to measure.
Behind every red wanted notice is blood and tears, and countless families have been destroyed as a result.
Looking at the wanted order that was covered up layer by layer, Li Sian also understood that the world today was really unsafe.
(End of this chapter)