Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 230 Helping Hand

Luoyang.

Du Youlin has rented a house in Daodefang and settled it properly.

He was neither poor nor rich. He didn't get much of the land left by his ancestors, and he only had a false position in the past. But his two daughters run Fengwei House, and their money bags feel unfathomable. They are the ones who bought this first-class house.

For this reason, Du Youlin was not dignified enough in front of his daughter, while Du Jin had a gentle personality, and Du Jin did have some airs.

At noon that day, I just came back from attending the government office. Du Jin was already sitting in the study, which seemed like she was the head of the family.

"Grandma, are you going to a banquet tonight?"

"How do you know?"

Du Jin asked, "Master, why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"You asked me this, but you still know how to call me 'grandpa'." Du Youlin still tried to control the authority in the family.

"Luoyang Commander Zhou Mian invited Grandpa?"

"How on earth did you know? Who around me told you?"

Du Jin didn't deny it. Now her family members are more convinced by her. Moreover, Xue Bai sent Du Youlin to Luoyang just to get the news about Luoyang. How could there be no reason not to arrange someone beside him?

"My father has something to do with his official duties, so he must discuss it with his daughter. My daughter is worth ten of your staff."

"You." Du Youlin had a headache, so he could only pretend to be a loving father who doted on his daughter, and sighed: "Yes, Zhou Mian invited me to a banquet, and said that Aunt Gongsun was invited to perform at the banquet."

"Yes, Aunt Gongsun has temporarily resigned from her post as a minister. She is going back to her hometown of Yancheng to visit relatives and is passing by Luoyang."

"You also know this?" Du Youlin thought for a while, knowing that Du Jin had already planned to open Fengwei Restaurant in Luoyang, and asked: "You got the news from the restaurant? How is the Fengwei Restaurant in Luoyang?"

Du Jin raised her hand and made a sign with the word "three", indicating that she wanted to open three businesses, and said thoughtfully: "But how can a Luoyang County magistrate like Zhou Mian hire Aunt Gongsun?"

"How do I know?" Du Youlin asked, stroking his beard. After a while, he said in shock: "What? Do you want to ask for my father?"

"Master, please take Wulang with you."

"he?"

When Du Wulang was mentioned, Du Youlin's momentum finally rose.

"Things that don't live up to expectations..."

~~

Du Wulang actually didn't want to go to the banquet with Du Youlin.

Although others look down upon his trivial matters, he is indeed very busy. If he had not received the instructions from his second sister, he would not have spent his time listening to his grandfather's lessons.

It's strange that his grandpa likes to teach him more and more, even though he has done nothing.

"Ah, the view is so nice."

After passing Luoshui and entering a large house in Chengfufang, Du Wulang couldn't help but sigh.

Du Youlin immediately scolded him again: "Don't make a fuss, it will disgrace the Du family in Jingzhao."

"Oh."

Du Wulang stopped talking and glanced at the slaves in Zhou Xian's house with squinted eyes. A five-foot-six-inch figure with a slight limp appeared in his mind.

Because his second sister said, "The person who knew that Xue Lang came to Luoyang that day must have gotten the news from Linghu Tao or Zhou Xian, and that person was probably hiding under an impersonation, and it was very possible that he was living as a slave. You’ve seen his back, go take a look.”

At this time, the banquet has not yet started, but there are many guests in the court, and a stage has been set up, which is reserved for Aunt Gongsun to perform.

When they arrived at the hall, the host Zhou Xian came forward to greet him with a young man who was slightly fat and dressed in a rich robe.

"Du Gong is also here. Come and introduce him to you. This is Guo Yuanliang, a descendant of the Guo family in Taiyuan, the son of Wanjin, haha."

"Calling me 'Erlang' is just a small gift, not respectful, so please accept it with a smile."

"This... I can't do it, I can't do it." When Du Youlin saw a beautiful maid approaching with a box filled with exquisite gold foil, he was so frightened that he turned pale and waved his hands repeatedly, "It's really too precious."

But he finally accepted it, otherwise the others in the hall would lose face.

Only then did Zhou Mian feel satisfied and said with a smile: "Speaking of it, Guo Erlang also introduced Aunt Gongsun to me. This is a great gift."

"Being able to invite Lady Gongsun to dance with the sword shows the prestige of the Ming Dynasty." Du Youlin felt embarrassed and asked, "I wonder what kind of relationship Guo Erlang has with Lady Gongsun?"

Guo Yuanliang then slowly talked about the past events.

"Aunt Gongsun is a kind-hearted person. Whenever she sees children from her hometown living in Chang'an, she wants to help. Many of her disciples were bought by my grandfather and sent to her to learn skills."

"Mr. Guo is such a kind man... Aunt Gongsun is from Yancheng, right?"

"Yes, thank you for the compliment from Duke Du."

Guo Yuanliang responded, looked up and saw a girl in red trying out a sword on the stage, and he couldn't help but chuckle.

"That's Li Twelve Niang, also from Yancheng."

~~

A shed was set up between the stage and the verandah, surrounded by curtains, and several women in sword dancing uniforms were standing on tiptoes, looking out.

"What are you looking at?"

Li Twelve Niang held a single-handled long sword with a sword flower on her arm and said, "The show is about to begin."

She is the youngest among Gongsun's disciples, but her skills are among the most superb, so she often dares to supervise her senior sisters.

But they ignored her and kept chattering.

"I really heard that the Number One Scholar went to Luoyang. Why didn't you invite him to this banquet?"

"As I said, Xue Lang went to Yanshi County."

"It's boring. I came here specially wearing new clothes. Do you think I'm going back to Yancheng this time, but will I go back to Chang'an again?"

"What? You still think that Aman and Xue Lang are married, and you and her are brothers?"

"It's so embarrassing, don't say..."

Li Twelve Niang shook her head when she heard this and interrupted: "Hey, you only think about men all the time, how can you master your skills?"

"Hey, Xiao Twelve, you will understand later."

Li Twelve Niang didn't understand. She held a sword flower in her hand, walked to Aunt Gongsun, took a belt, and tied Aunt Gongsun's sleeves.

Aunt Gongsun asked: "What? Are you unhappy?"

"I don't believe it even if I tell Master. Guo Yuanliang and the others are not good people." Li Twelve Niang muttered, "Master dances swords for saints, but he dances swords for them."

"How can Nu Yalang be a good person? But it is true that people are kind to you." Aunt Gongsun said, "Being a teacher is not just about dancing swords for saints. When I was as old as you, I was suffering on the streets of Chang'an. Haha We performed and earned penny for penny, but now that we are old and our skills are no longer good, why are we putting on airs?"

"Master..."

"Okay, go get the sword that Guo Erlang gave you this morning, and then bring a glass of wine."

"Here."

Li Twelve Niang agreed and went to get the sword as instructed.

The sword was very heavy, made of sufficient materials, and well made. The hilt was carved with pear blossoms and inlaid with turquoise. The craftsmanship was very exquisite... just like the six-curve gilt silver box with a pattern given to the master by the saint. It is said that Fan Yang Jiedu spent a lot of effort to cast it.

Holding the long sword, she walked to the side courtyard, called a maid, and asked: "Can you give me a pot of wine, strong liquor? It's cold, and my master needs to warm up before dancing with the sword."

"Yes, please wait a moment."

Li Twelve Niang waited. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw two men behind the flower hall. They suddenly covered the mouth of another maid and dragged her to the backyard.

Without thinking, she hurried over there.

Behind the pink wall is a long path with a row of veranda houses behind it. She lowered her waist and walked quietly through the verandah rooms, hearing the movement inside.

"Come on, the manager has found you. Do you know Wang Yansiam?"

"Yes, the county captain saved my life three years ago."

"Did you hide Wang Yi?"

"No...no..."

"Still making excuses! The key to the back yard has been found in your house. Where is he hiding?"

"I...I said, can you spare me?" The maid in the room had already burst into tears, crying: "Tui'er just made a small mistake and was beaten to death...I...I can still live. ?"

"You bitch, I have plenty of ways for you to recruit me."

"Ah, no……"

There was a "hissing" sound inside, and Li Twelve Niang immediately kicked the door in and went in without drawing her sword. She only used the scabbard to fight off the two strong men one against two.

"You go!"

The maidservant ran away immediately, and when she reached the courtyard gate, she bumped into someone. The other party immediately grabbed her hair and slapped her until her mouth was filled with blood.

"You humble servant, take me down here."

"Here."

In the veranda, Li Twelve Niang fought off the two big men, jumped over the door and took a look, her little face immediately tensed up.

"Isn't this Aunt Gongsun's disciple?" Guo Yuanliang smiled, raised his hands below his knees, and said, "Do you remember? You were only this tall when you were a child. I gave you a Dingsheng cake and saved your life."

He raised his hand and pointed at Li Twelve Niang, and said jokingly: "You are so greedy when you are a little older. You can't even walk when you see food."

The word "greedy" hit her ears, and Li Twelve Niang was a little angry, and she tightened her grip on the sword hilt in her hand.

"It's a pity that I didn't see that you were a white-eyed wolf." Guo Yuanliang said: "I have saved countless people in my life, but the one I should have saved the most is you. You are really unwilling to help at all."

"Let her go!"

"If the person I sent out gets into trouble, I have to take responsibility to the end. This is true for County Magistrate Zhou, and it is also true for Aunt Gongsun."

As he said that, Guo Yuanliang's face became solemn and he said: "If you are ignorant, don't worry about it. I only remind you that people cannot forget their origins. Being ungrateful will be despised by the world."

The next moment, a maid carrying a wine pot came running. “The show is about to start, come on over.”

~~

"Grandpa, I'm leaving first."

"The show hasn't started yet, where are you going?"

"stomachache."

Du Wulang leaned next to Du Youlin and whispered, then walked out holding his belly.

After leaving Zhou Xian's mansion, he hurriedly boarded the carriage, which immediately turned back to Du's house. Du Wulang got out of the carriage at some point and went to Fengwei Building in Daodefang alone.

"Second sister."

"Did you really find that person?" Du Jin was a little surprised.

"When a maid came over with wine, she told me that someone wanted to see me and asked me to go to Xingjin Bridge alone at three o'clock."

"Meet you? Why?"

"I am also the fifth son of Chunwei, with a high reputation."

Du Jin said: "Then you go, I will send someone to protect you secretly."

"Then I really went?"

"Well, let's go change clothes first."

……

At three o'clock in the morning, Du Wulang, dressed in ordinary cloth, walked onto the Xingjin Bridge on the Luo River. He turned around and looked at the crowds of people around him, suddenly feeling worried.

If you change your clothes, won’t the other party not be able to recognize you?

I don’t know how long I stood there. The setting sun cast golden light on Luoshui River. It was getting dark soon, and many pedestrians were rushing to go home.

Suddenly, a candied haws seller bumped into Du Wulang.

"The ship is under the bridge, jump off."

"Hey, you?"

Before Du Wulang could call him, the other party had already walked away.

He only had time to turn his head and glance around, but he didn't know who was the man sent by the second sister. Then the ship had already arrived under the bridge, and he missed the opportunity to jump off the ship on the left.

I really don’t want to jump…

"Ouch!"

The boatman was just rowing, and there was a middle-aged man sitting in the canopy of the boat, who looked both embarrassed and elegant.

"Who are you?" Du Wulang asked, "Is this the note you gave me?"

"Are you Du Qi, the fifth son of Chunwei?"

"You recognize me?"

"My Alang and Mr. Du Zimei are close friends. When Mr. Du was in Gong County and at Luhun Villa, he had a very happy chat with my Alang. Later, there were many letters exchanged, mentioning Wulang."

"Really? I thought he only praised Xue Bai." Du Wuji asked: "Then your Alang is the Wang County Lieutenant?"

"Yes, my name is Wang Yi, and I grew up with Alang."

"What do you have to tell me?"

"It's a long story."

Wang Yi turned to look at the boats on the Luoshui River, his eyes a little worried, and then he spoke.

"Alang heard about the assassination case in Lishan Palace. It's possible that some of the refugees were forced to rebel; it's also possible that there were rebels hiding inside."

"What do you mean?"

"Alang said when he was ill that the saint had not been in Luoyang for ten years, and all the money and food in the world were gathered in Luoyang. Henan Prefecture was full of chaos, and it was the first place to start to rot. If he could not make up his mind to cut off the flesh and cure the disease, he would not be able to live in Luoyang for ten years. Year, the world will be in chaos."

"How is it possible?" Du Wulang was shocked. This was the first time he heard such remarks, and he blurted out: "Since ancient times, there has never been such a prosperous age."

"The prosperous age?"

These two words suddenly made Wang Yi blush and asked: "Do you know how this prosperous age came about?"

"I……"

"The land in Yanshi County has not been allocated to small households for countless years. The big households collectively recommended Guo Huan to serve as a recorder for seventeen years to occupy fertile farmland on their behalf."

Wang Yi was very pressed for time and could only say whatever came to mind, mainly to let Du Wulang have a general understanding of the situation.

"They can make a false deed and seize a farmer's land; or when the other party is short of money, they can only produce three bolts of silk for forty acres of fertile land and three acres of homestead land, and only more than thirty dollars for one acre of land. Just buy it. The fewer households there are, the more taxes are shared on the people. In this way, the more households have fled, the more private slaves are working for them. Less than half of the fields in Yanshi County are still in the hands of the people. On the land, less than 5,000 households pay the tax of 10,000 households, while the other fields are owned by large households, temples, and government officials in the county."

"Not only that, they also colluded with merchants. Whenever there was a disaster in a prefecture or county, they would use the grain from the charity warehouse to buy acres of land and treasures from other places at low prices. The victims had no food to eat, so they had to sell their sons and daughters; after that, they used the proceeds These money and beauty bribed more officials, and they cleared all the water transportation checkpoints from Yangzhou, Luoyang, Chang'an, Zhuozhou, smuggling, smuggling..."

~~

Yanshi County Government.

Xue Bai put back the account book in his hand.

Although there is no concrete evidence yet, he can roughly guess how corrupt the officialdom from Yanshi County to Henan Prefecture is.

This is not a matter of overnight.

From the time when the emperor could not reach Luoyang, but needed the world to supply Guanzhong, famous ministers built up a bloodline for blood transfusion to Chang'an.

First, Pei Yaoqing "transferred the canal to transport millet", which increased the efficiency of the canal; Li Linfu's method of transporting light goods and then purchasing grain; the three brothers Yang Shenjin served as the Taifu, Jingjingcang, and water and land transport envoys, and began to use the Caohe River to provide transportation to the emperor. Private money was used to transport treasures; then Wei Jian opened the Guangyun Lake, and ordered the state to levy and assess money, and the states and counties collected and paid tribute, which continued over the years...

The emperor took the lead in amassing money crazily, and the prime minister crazily used bribes to persecute political opponents for this power, which would inevitably lead to the rapid erosion of the entire river administration.

In just over ten years, it has become extremely bad.

Xue Bai connected all the clues in his mind. Wang Yansiam should have found the evidence, so he had been poisoned for many years and became ill. As a result, the changes in Huaqing Palace caused these people to kill him.

However, Wang Yansiam may not have no backup plan. Since he has been ill for a while, he may have left evidence, so Wang Yi escaped.

And if Wang Yi can escape, there must be a righteous person helping him.

Xue Bai needs their support now...

Just at this moment, Yin Liang came back.

"Young Master, Mr. Song from Shouyang Academy is here!"

Yin Liang raised his hand and led out a handsome middle-aged man.

~~

Luoyang, a boat floats on the Luo River.

Wang Yi whispered about Wang Yansiam's experience in Yanshi County.

"Alang discovered this after he took office, but he refused to cooperate with them despite their coercion and inducement. As a result, he was always excluded and isolated by them. The people in the county government were all old subordinates. His family was in Yanshi, and no one dared to listen. Alang gave orders. In the end, Alang said that he was in Yanshi, like a blind man, a deaf man, his limbs were broken, and he could not do anything."

"He has no power or money. Most of the people don't even know what he, the county captain, has done for them. They only blame him for wanting to open a charity warehouse to help the victims in other places."

"But Alang didn't give up. On the surface, he thought about it, lived decadently, and got mad at the eldest lady, the young lady, and the husband. In fact, he was ready to fight them desperately in order to send his family back home. He... Collect Got the evidence.”

While saying the last words, Wang Yi bowed his back slightly, stared at Du Wulang with some vigilance, and held a small dagger in his hand in the dark.

Du Wulang didn't notice it at all, and his expression didn't change much.

Wang Yi then continued talking.

"There are two ways to hand over the evidence. One is to hand it to Li Gong Li Xi, the county magistrate when Alang was in Yucheng; the other is to hand it to Henan Yin Weigong. But after Tianbao was four years, Alang had not seen Li County for more than three years. Order, Magistrate Li is in Zhaoying County, and he occasionally sends letters, but he is inquiring about rumors about the Daxi family for the sake of power struggle, so Alang dare not trust him easily."

"In order to understand Wei Gong as a person, Alang found his only close friend in Yanshi County, Song Mian from Shouyang Academy. Song Mian was the grandnephew of the famous minister Song Zhiwen and one of the owners of Luhun Villa. He had a transcendent status. I also know Wei Gong, really... Song Mian is the only person who has helped Alang in the officialdom since he took office."

"Song Mian had already agreed to introduce Alang to Wei Fuyin, and planned to host a banquet at Luhun Villa in August. But during this period, something happened. News came from Chang'an, involving the refugee situation, so Alang went to investigate again. The disaster relief case that year.”

"Alang secretly obtained some evidence, but discovered that these people were more guilty. He then told Song Mian about the matter, hoping to see Wei Fuyin one day earlier. This matter... completely destroyed Alang's life. Life."

Du Wulang was stunned, not understanding what Wang Yi meant, and asked: "What do you mean?"

Wang Yi sighed: "Can you understand? Alang was isolated and helpless in Yanshi County... In the end, he didn't even have a friend."

"You mean, even Song Mian betrayed him?"

The night wind blew, and Du Wulang felt a chill down his spine.

He was particularly empathetic. He had already felt Wang Yansiam's despair and loneliness before he died, and he opened his mouth to say something.

suddenly,

There was the light of torches on the shore, and someone shouted: "There! The boat is coming..."

"You?" Wang Yi shouted warily.

Du Wulang was stunned again, feeling the murderous aura coming towards his face, and said hurriedly: "It's not me!"

~~

Yanshi County.

"I have long admired Xue Lang's name."

The gentle Song Mian slowly sat down in front of Xue Bai and said, "I am very lucky that a capable person like Xue Lang can come here, really."

"Mr. Song, can you help me investigate this matter and redress the injustice of Wang County Lieutenant?"

When Song Mian heard Wang Yansiam's name, his eyes turned red, he nodded heavily and said, "Don't worry, young master, I will do my best."

Xue Bai turned his head and glanced out the window at the dark night in Yanshi County.

"The night is too dark, it's enough that Mr. Song can illuminate it for me."

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(End of this chapter)