The road to Jianghu started from the martial arts hall

Chapter 429 Measuring the Land
Dongting Prefecture, Zhangjia Town.

Originally this place was not called this name, but a hundred years ago, a man named 'Zhang Juren' emerged in the town.

After he passed the imperial examination, some wealthy families in the county took the initiative to come to him to make friends with him, and people from Zhangjia Town and nearby villages also came to him and pledged their land to Mr. Zhang, which instantly made the Zhang family a wealthy family in the local area.

Later, Mr. Zhang married a young lady from a powerful family in the county and had several sons. He passed on poetry and literature to the family, hoping that his descendants would also be able to pass the imperial examinations and bring the Zhang family to a higher level of prosperity.

Forty years ago, the Zhang family produced another Jinshi (a scholar in the imperial examination). This time, the family became unstoppable. Even some prominent families in the county came with expensive gifts to celebrate. Most of the land here was also annexed by the Zhang family, and this small town became Zhangjia Town.

At this time, on the outskirts of Zhangjia Town, two minor officials in uniform were walking on a dirt road.

One of the two men was strong and sturdy, while the other was thin. Although they were both wearing official uniforms, their eyes were sharp and their expressions were fierce, and there was still a faint smell of the gangsters on them.

"Brother Zhao, why did His Highness suddenly want to measure the land?"

When the burly man spoke, there was a look of confusion on his face. The thin man shook his head and said, "Whatever His Royal Highness the King of Yue says, we have to investigate. What's the point of thinking too much?"

"Don't you think taking off your pants to fart is unnecessary? If you really want to find out something, why would you wait until now?"

The burly man muttered.

"In my opinion, no matter how much we investigate, we won't find any more land. But we can still get some benefits, so it's not a wasted trip."

The thin man glanced at him and said, "You are the only one who talks too much. Let me remind you that we are now wearing this official uniform, so you'd better be careful about some things, otherwise you will not only lose your skin, but also your life."

The two were originally independent martial artists who roamed the world. They came to Dongting Prefecture a year ago with the mentality of giving it a try. They didn't expect that the government would really treat them equally and let them work as minor clerks in the yamen.

It is said that it is easy to practice in the government, and the two of them have tasted the sweetness in this year.

Although the monthly salary is only a little, as soon as he takes office he can choose two innate-level superior martial arts secrets, and he will also receive elixirs and spiritual rice every month.

A year ago, both of them were a little short of reaching perfection in the acquired realm, but a year later, both of them broke through to the innate realm.

The thin man cherishes days like this especially. He is usually cautious and will not accept any money even if he has to.

The burly man was much more unrestrained. He had close contacts with local gentry and even married a young lady from a prominent family in the county. He made a lot of money on a regular basis.

Now, after hearing his companion remind him again, he immediately shouted in dissatisfaction.

"Hey, Brother Zhao, why are you so timid? This has been the rule since ancient times. How can we, the petty officials, support our families if we don't make some extra income?

I'm not the only one like this. Eighty percent of the people in the yamen are the same as me.

Brother Zhao, please listen to my advice. I heard that Mr. Liu from Linxiangji intends to arrange a marriage for his daughter and is particularly fond of you, Brother Zhao. It is said that men should get married when they are old enough and women should get married when they are old enough. Brother Zhao, why should you let down others’ kindness?”

The burly man couldn't stop talking once he started, and he talked a lot incessantly, which made the man surnamed Zhao feel helpless. Finally, he couldn't help but interrupt his companion.

"Let's talk about this later. For now, I'm only focusing on martial arts. It won't be too late to get married after I've achieved a breakthrough."

"Hey, getting married and practicing martial arts are not in conflict, Brother Zhao, you are..."

Seeing the burly man start nagging again, the man surnamed Zhao felt nervous and quickly interrupted, "Look, someone from the Zhang family is coming!"

The burly man looked and saw a middle-aged man in silk clothes walking towards him, followed by several servants.

The middle-aged man walked up to the two of them, put on an apologetic smile, and took out two silver pieces and stuffed them in.

"You two have worked hard on the journey. I am Zhang Da, the manager of the Zhang Mansion. Why don't you go to your house and have a cup of tea first?"

"I'm not in a hurry to drink tea. Take us to see your fields. After that, we can go back to the government office early to report. It would be best if we can go back to the county tonight so as not to delay my morning class tomorrow!"

Before Zhang Da finished speaking, he was interrupted impatiently by the man surnamed Zhao. He just wanted to finish the job quickly so that he could go back to practice. The burly man did not take the money from the other party, but snorted coldly: "Don't talk nonsense, hurry up and do your business. You delayed my brother's practice. Can you afford it?"

In his heart, he sneered with disdain. It was just two pieces of silver, not more than ten taels in total. He was giving it to a beggar!
Zhang Da was only at the postnatal perfection stage, and facing the cold gazes of the two Tongmai warriors, his face turned pale, but he still maintained his smile, quickly put away the two silver pieces, and patted his lips.

"Hey, look at my mouth, it's causing trouble, I deserve to be beaten, please forgive me, gentlemen, I will take you to see the fields now."

After saying this, he said no more and diligently led the way for the two of them.

Outside the city, a clear stream meanders by, which is pleasing to the eye, and both sides of the river are fertile land.

The two men surnamed Zhao were also surprised to see that the river banks on both sides were divided into neat squares by ditches.

"These are all excellent paddy fields. Your Zhang family must have quite a lot of background."

The man surnamed Zhao did not say anything either, and no one knew what he was thinking. The burly man sneered sarcastically when he saw him, which made Zhang Da break out in a cold sweat.

He quickly took out two more porcelain bottles and stuffed them in: "This official is joking. The thousand acres of fertile land on both sides of this river are the foundation of our Zhang family. Anywhere further away, they are all inferior land!"

The burly man did not refuse this time. He took the porcelain bottle playfully, opened it and smelled it, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

"You said that your family's only thousand acres of paddy fields are good fields?"

When Zhang Da saw that the other party had collected the porcelain bottle, he was secretly delighted and said quickly: "Yes, yes, the others are either exhausted or newly reclaimed, and they are all very poor!"

Seeing the burly man nodded, Zhang Da took the opportunity to continue, "Actually, there's nothing to see. People in the surrounding villages all know that my Zhang family only has those 1,000 acres of good farmland.

The time of both officials is very precious, how can you waste it on such trivial matters?"

The burly man laughed and said, "You are quite good at talking. Since they are all inferior fields, we don't need to look at them any more. Come on, take me to sign the seal and seal, so that I can report back!"

As he spoke, he handed one of the two bottles of pills in his hand to his companion. The man surnamed Zhao frowned slightly but didn't say much.

The group left the fertile land on the outskirts of the city. In less than half an hour, the man surnamed Zhao and the burly man left Zhangjia Town with a scroll.

Just at this moment, a wooden kite streaked across the sky from high in the sky, and Fang Xun and the other three standing on its back clearly saw the two men leaving.

Fang Xun smiled and joked to the other three.

"Haha, we can see it clearly from above. There are at least 4,000 acres of fertile land below. These two guys finished looking at it in half an hour. They are really efficient. Could it be that they have trained their clairvoyance and can see everything at a glance?"

Old Man Mo also laughed: "Yeah, it makes me interested too. What kind of extraordinary skills did these two little guys who only have meridians practice to be able to see four or five thousand acres of land so quickly?"

Xiao Zhen and Li Muzhi both looked at the man surnamed Zhao and the burly man below with pity. They were caught red-handed!
Li Muzhi immediately said, "My Lord, I will do it as soon as possible."

Fang Xun waved his hand and interrupted him.

"There's no need to punish them. I've said three chances is the limit. Everyone gets two chances."

Li Muzhi was stunned for a moment: "What does the Marquis mean?"

"It's not easy for these two outsiders to make a living in Dongting Prefecture. This is how the world works. If you don't accept money, you will be ostracized by others and have difficulty moving forward. You may even lose your life.

Many people do not have the capital to not charge money, so there is no need to blame them too much.

But the past can be forgiven, but if it happens again after the second time, then those who should be arrested should be arrested, those who should be killed should be killed, even if he is the king of heaven, his family will be confiscated and his clan will be exterminated!"

(End of this chapter)