Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

I spent a night in the East Palace, but didn't sleep well.

Li Yuanzhao was grinding his teeth, the clicking and clacking kept Fang Zheng from falling asleep.

Helpless, I moved to the study and made do for the night.

However, it wasn't without its benefits; at least it saved a lot of effort getting to court the next day.

After the court session ended, Fang Zheng immediately rushed back to Banshan Ward.

The Liu Xun case needed to be planned as soon as possible, but this time he wasn't planning on going himself.

After all, the journey was long, and with the textile factory about to be completed, there was no reason to go on a long trip.

Inside the Banshan Newspaper Office.

Fang Zheng sat opposite Xie Xian.

After briefly explaining the situation, Fang Zheng said with a serious expression: "This time... I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you to go out again."

"This matter is extraordinary, it concerns whether or not your master can marry a wife, do you understand?"

"Understood."

Xie Xian sighed helplessly.

He really didn't want to go; a long trip would practically cost him half his life.

But his master wanted to marry a wife, so he had to go on this errand whether he wanted to or not... It's only now that he's thinking about getting married, really...

"I didn't expect the Liu Xun case to involve the salt administration. The salt merchants in the localities are all wealthy tycoons."

"These local snakes have countless salt workers and canal workers in their hands, and have even colluded with the local government for a long time. If they really have problems and are discovered by us, they will definitely send people to hunt us down!"

"You go back to the county first and bring more people, take good weapons and go to Jianjiang first, and start investigating southwards from Jianjiang. The important salt-producing areas in the south cannot be ignored."

"We at least have some foundation in Jianjiang, use all possible channels with the local wealthy merchants and people."

"Also, His Majesty once said that you can go to the Eastern Depot to borrow people if necessary."

"But we don't trust the local forces. Since the mastermind behind the scenes can corrupt Liu Xun, the garrison eunuch is naturally not a problem either. If it's not an emergency, try not to contact them."

"Do you have anything to say?" Fang Zheng asked, taking a sip of tea after he finished speaking.

Xie Xian pondered: "Since there is no clear evidence, how can His Majesty be sure that there is a problem with the salt administration?"

Fang Zheng chuckled twice: "Heh, is there any business in the world more profitable than salt? If it's a huge greedy person with power, how can they not covet this piece of fat?"

"What's more... even if it's not related to the Liu Xun case, there are still many problems with the local salt administration. The national treasury has always been short of silver, so this opportunity can also be used to beat them a little, it's killing two birds with one stone."

Xie Xian nodded: "In that case, I can understand. However, further south is the former territory of Qian, so I want to transfer two suitable people."

"No problem, I've already prepared this for you. Go back to the county and find Zhou Tie and Qian Desheng. They two should be more familiar with the situation."

"This operation will last for one year. Report any useful information in a timely manner, regardless of success or failure, come back when the time is up."

"Also, when traveling outside, say that your identity is a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard!"

Embroidered Uniform Guard? Xie Xian had obviously never heard this term before, and asked doubtfully: "Master, what is the Embroidered Uniform Guard?"

Fang Zheng smiled slightly: "The Embroidered Uniform Guard solves the cases that the Eastern Depot can't solve, the Embroidered Uniform Guard kills the people that the Eastern Depot doesn't dare to kill, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard manages the things that the Eastern Depot doesn't dare to manage. In a word, they can act first and report later, with the emperor's special permission! Do you understand?"

The power and responsibility are so heavy!? Xie Xian felt shocked: "This... isn't this equivalent to establishing another depot besides the Eastern Depot...? But how come I've never heard of it before?"

"It was said yesterday, once you complete this mission, it will be announced to the world."

"If you kill someone while handling affairs, just say it was the Embroidered Uniform Guard who killed them. As long as the reason is sufficient and the evidence is reasonable, then go ahead and do it, I'll talk to His Majesty about it."

"I understand!"

Xie Xian took a deep breath, and now he felt that the seriousness of this matter seemed to exceed his imagination.

A task that the Eastern Depot couldn't handle! The emperor's authority is delegated, and the power of life and death is handed over to the master... It seems it won't be easy!

Seeing that he was a little nervous, Fang Zheng couldn't help but smile and said: "Don't take the burden too heavily, I won't blame you if you don't find anything."

"Put your own safety first when you go out, do what you can, and don't be greedy for success and rashly advance."

Then Fang Zheng took out a letter from under the table: "Take this letter back to the county, and get some good equipment from the armory. All the accompanying personnel must bring it."

Xie Xian solemnly took the letter: "Master, shall I go back to prepare now?"

"No rush! Finish handing over the things you have on hand today first, I'll give you a month to prepare!"

.......

The next day, Xie Xian appeared in the Taoyuan County government office early in the morning.

Ao Chen took the letter, his expression solemn:

"It seems that this matter is a bit tricky."

"Since the master wants you to recruit people, you can choose whoever you want. Have you thought about who to bring?"

Xie Xian said calmly: "The Dragon Group."

Ao Chen was silent for a moment: "Okay, wait for me to stamp it. They should be at the slaughterhouse now, go and take a look yourself."

Xie Xian nodded, waited for a moment, and then took the letter stamped by Ao Chen and rushed to the slaughterhouse.

Outside the slaughterhouse, a pile of pigs, cattle, and sheep waiting to be slaughtered were penned up in the corner.

Blood flowed all over the ground... Several burly men wearing shiny leather aprons were raising and lowering their knives against the carcasses of the livestock...

Seeing a stranger arrive, they immediately raised their heads with unkind expressions and said fiercely: "Who's here!?"

Xie Xian carefully stepped on a clean spot and walked up to him, raising his eyes and saying: "Me, Xie Xian!"

The burly man's expression froze, and then he showed a happy expression: "Yo! Why is Mr. Xie here!"

"I'm Zhao Lie, I'm the captain now! You taught me how to read and write a few years ago? Do you remember me?"

Xie Xian glanced inside, and there were actually many acquaintances inside, and replied: "I remember, I taught a thousand or eight hundred people, how could I not remember?"

Saying that, he took out the letter: "The master has ordered me to take some people out for a trip!"

Zhao Lie took the letter and quickly read it, nodding: "Yes, no problem. Are you picking yourself, or should I help you pick?"

Xie Xian looked at Zhao Lie suspiciously, and wondered: "The Dragon Group is killing pigs every day now, can they still fight? This time going out may be dangerous."

Zhao Lie laughed, tore off his apron, and a terrifying scar suddenly appeared on his chest.

Pointing to the scar, he said: "Sir, are you looking down on us?"

"We two hundred people train every day, in addition to killing pigs, we also have real knife and gun sparring, without a day of relaxation."

"This scar was cut out by a brother in the team a few days ago!"

"If you don't trust me, let's compare notes!"

Xie Xian quickly begged for mercy.

Isn't this sick? Showing off your heroism to me... I'm a scholar, you want me to compete in martial arts.

"Okay! Then you pick some people for me!".

Looking at Zhao Lie's back as he turned to leave, Xie Xian inexplicably felt a little more confidence.

This Dragon Group was specially selected by Fang Zheng from the county, two hundred strong civilians were trained.

They served as special forces, with a constant supply of meat every day, and constant training.

Zhang Biao and Zhou Tie are the instructors of this Dragon Group.

However, although they are special forces, they obviously lack real life-and-death fighting.

The daily drills are basically basic training, weapons training, plus sparring training... and also work as butchers.

However, it's not like there are no real combat opportunities at all.

Every year before the winter, these two hundred people will all go out... and slaughter all kinds of wild animals in the mountains near Taoyuan County, killing all that can be eaten!

This is done, firstly, to prevent people from being injured while chopping firewood in winter, and secondly, to increase the supply of meat.

Before long, Zhao Lie came back with twenty-odd people.

Twenty-five people stood neatly in front of Xie Xian, and a strong aura of solemnity inexplicably filled the air.

These people had just killed a lot of pigs, cattle, and sheep, but their methods were extremely crude!

They opened the cage, released the livestock, and chased after them with knives to chop, causing a lot of blood to splash on everyone's body.

What's even more excessive is that some people were covered in blood all over their bodies, like they had just crawled out of a pool of blood, with patches of dried dark red blood sticking to their bodies.

Xie Xian's lips moved slightly, wanting to say something, but he didn't dare to speak.

This scene... is a bit disgusting.

And it's stinky, with flies flying around... I hope there's no problem with the quality of the meat in the county...