After listening to everyone's narration, Song Mian looked upright and said: "In the past, there were profit-seeking profiteers like Guo Wanjin and corrupt officials like Gao Chong in Yanshi County. After the county captain took office, they were eliminated in one fell swoop. Today, there are again

If such... corrupt officials are found, I believe the county captain will punish them impartially."

When it came to talking about corrupt officials, Song Mian hesitated. Although he and Guo Huan had no personal friendship, they were both local wealthy families and their families were close to each other. It was not appropriate to easily build grudges. However, thinking of the more than ten hectares of fertile land promised by Xue Bai, he still

Choose justice.

His words seemed to give Xue Bai confidence.

"As a county recorder, you use your power for personal gain, hide your land, and accumulate such appalling debts. Do you think the Tang Dynasty has no royal laws?" Xue Bai shouted: "Get Guo Huan first!"

These words were full of energy. In the first half of the sentence, many people thought that Xue Xianwei was just trying to increase his momentum, but the last words of "take it" shocked them all.

In the past twenty years, county magistrates and county captains have been like running water, but Guo Huan has always been in the county office. He neither strives for power nor is arrogant. He greets every county official with a smile, like a tree in the county office.

The welcoming pine remains standing.

Unexpectedly, Xue Bai would be so impatient to take action. Even Song Mian and the clamoring small landowners thought they were just making a fuss today.

Lu Linghao was even more stunned, and then his anger surged. He didn't even care about the county magistrate's restraint, and said angrily: "Who dares?!"

He regretted it as soon as he said the words, because Xue Xin had already pounced on him and directly pressed Guo Huan's old and fat body, and cursed: "How dare you move, old beetle."

I don’t know if he is scolding Guo Huan or Lu Linghao.

Lu Linghao became even more angry, raised his hand and shouted: "This county will remove Xue Xin from his position as squad leader! Take down this little brat!"

A group of officers were beaten until they were rolling on the ground. They had just heard the order from the county magistrate to capture Guo Huan. Several officers wanted to stand up, but they couldn't help but feel embarrassed after hearing the order from the county magistrate.

"Ouch!"

Qi Chou rolled on the ground and screamed out in pain, which seemed a bit abrupt, but it also attracted the attention of the guards. He then imitated a dog waving his paws and waved his hands to signal them to lie down quickly.

Suddenly, there were waves of moaning again.

Lu Linghao heard this and felt that he was provoking his authority as the county magistrate. He raised his hand and pointed at the Guo family members behind him and shouted: "You guys, take him down!"

Lao Liang stood directly in front of Xue Xin.

At this time, Jiang Hai also came over, pushed aside a few steps to pass through the crowd, and turned back to curse: "What are you looking at?! A good dog doesn't block the road."

He had scars on his face and looked ferocious, which immediately scared these big men who had never killed anyone into silence. He swung his shoulders arrogantly, walked to Lao Liang, grinned, and waited to see who dared to make the first move.

.

Lu Linghao was riding a tiger and couldn't get off. Instead, Xue Bai gave him a step and said: "County magistrate, please take Guo Lushi down for questioning first and find out the truth."

"This matter is very suspicious, and the county will definitely hold a trial in person!"

Lu Linghao shouted angrily and walked away, temporarily avoiding the edge to avoid being caught off guard by Xue Bai.

The Guo family members surrounded the county office and put pressure on the county captain. At the same time, someone ran to report the matter to Taigong Guo.

~~

"Well, before we take his new fields, let him take our fertile fields first. I have lived for seventy years, and I have never seen a county magistrate with such an ugly appearance."

Taigong Guo quickly saw through the conspiracy against the Guo family behind this incident, and invited all the county princes to gather at his home that night.

Although it was getting late, every family gave him respect and sent people, including the Song family from Luhun Villa. The person who came was Song Mian's nineteenth uncle.

"Song Shijiu, your nephew is ignorant, but I have to explain it clearly to you. If it were Guo Huan's fault today, he would have been killed by Xue Bai, and I wouldn't even blink an eye, but this time Xue Bai

Why are you white-eyed? Yin Tian! Which of you can dare to say that there is no Yin Tian?"

In the candlelight, Guo Taigong's old body looked very frail, but his eyes were full of experience and wisdom.

Who is the real owner of Yanshi County? Not the county officials, but the families who have lived here for generations.

Gao Chong thought he was righteous, but in fact he was just a victim they pushed to shoulder the saint's dissatisfaction; Xue Bai thought he would take power after getting rid of Gao Chong, but in fact Gao Chong was just a wave on the sea, and they were the silent and profound sea.

"A hungry tiger entered the village and bit a person. If others did not save him, after the hungry tiger finished eating the person, he would have the strength to bite everyone in the village to death, including women and children. If Xue Bai finds out

After killing the first batch of Hidden Fields, will he let go of more Hidden Fields?"

The Guo family could neither give up those fields nor make up for the backlog of taxes. The matter had no way out officially, so the only option left was to fight.

Taigong Guo stood up with his crutches and finally said: "The hungry tiger wants to eat people, we must work together to kill it."

Not long ago, he was hosting a banquet for Xue Bai to show his goodwill, but he didn't know that the other party was so ignorant.

But it doesn't matter, he has seen many people who are like moths to the flame in his life. How many people can accomplish something in the encirclement and suppression of a group of wealthy gentry?

Just like if someone dares to drown into the sea, he will only be swallowed by the sea.

~~

County Office.

At night, in the Dianshi Office, Xue Bai was sitting across from Guo Huan and talking.

"There is no need to confess." Guo Huan's smile was still amiable, and he said: "If the county lieutenant wants to know anything, please ask the pen clerk out. How about I tell the county lieutenant clearly in private?"

"good."

Xue Bai simply turned away from others and asked someone to bring Guo Huan a jug of wine to warm him up.

"Thank you, County Lieutenant." Guo Huan happily took a sip of wine and said, "This little old man has never harmed anyone in his life. Every time he meets a beggar, he will give him a few copper coins. But it is a shame to be the chief of this county office.

They really do a lot of things, and the most common thing they do is to help occupy land, which is also the norm in various states and counties."

"Are you a bastard if you don't take advantage of it?"

"That's right." Guo Huan said: "No family in Yanshi County is a bad person. Most of them are kind-hearted families. They treat guests well, including women, servants, and slaves. At first, some farmers were jealous of the clothes worn by servants of wealthy families.

The food is better than theirs, and sometimes there are bad years, and people who can’t survive abandon their fields and sell their lives... To be honest, these are only a minority, and most of the time it’s because taxes are getting heavier year by year.”

Xue Bai said: "It is not so much that the tax is heavy, but that the tax system cannot continue."

"Yes, when the Tang Dynasty was founded, taxes were really not heavy. Eighty acres of farmland plus twenty acres of permanent land, only two stones of grain were collected. Farmers were very wealthy. Now, what can people say... In short, people who escape from their households will get more and more money.

Come more and more.”

Naturally, the long-standing shortcomings of a dynasty cannot be explained clearly in a few words. But Xue Bai always understood what Guo Huan wanted to say. There were loopholes in the system, and it was inevitable for wealthy families to expand their fields and hide their serfs.

Guo Huan thinks he is a good person.

"There are so many runaway households, and it is inevitable that the land will be involved. There are some requests that the little old man really can't refuse. At first, Cui Jun took a fancy to ten hectares of fertile land. Soon after, Luhun Villa sent someone to tell him that the landowner at the foot of Shouyang Mountain wanted to

After selling myself, Zheng Bian came to visit in person..."

This was considered a confession, but it was far more than just the Guo family.

"By the way, there are also temples. I know how many field magistrates there are in Xingfuku Temple."

Xue Bai interrupted: "Are you threatening me? Remind me not to offend the public."

Guo Huan took a sip of wine comfortably and said with a smile: "If the county lieutenant thinks so, that's right. But I have good intentions and don't want the county lieutenant's originally smooth career to be frustrated here."

"Thank you for your kindness. Sometimes I also think that many things will go away if I just turn a blind eye."

"Yes, the little old man was like the county captain when he was young. He insisted on being stubborn and made everyone around him unhappy. But looking back, why bother? Most things in the world are not worth being too persistent."

As he spoke, Guo Huan felt emotional and said: "It's just like the county captain thought he was making trouble in the sea and turning the world upside down, but looking further, what does the waves stirred up by the tides mean in the vast ocean?"

Xue Bai smiled and said, "Sometimes I really envy you."

Guo Huan said: "What does the county captain mean?"

"Let me tell you a story. There is a big river, and the water is very fast. People are going down the river, cheering, and they feel that they have traveled thousands of miles in a day. But there are also people who are rowing hard, and it is difficult to go against the current even if they are exhausted. People

Just laugh at him and ask him why he is doing this, let go, go with the flow, it will be smooth sailing, why should he be frustrated here, but why is he still paddling? "

"Why?"

"Because there is a cliff downstream."

Guo Huan shook his head.

Xue Bai said: "It's not a sea, it's just a cliff of ten thousand feet. If you fall down, you'll be shattered to pieces. I really envy you that you can't see anything. You cheer stupidly and crash into the abyss."

Guo Huan sneered: "Can the county captain see it?"

"Doesn't this cliff look like the Tang Dynasty?"

Guo Huan raised his head and took a sip of wine and responded: "This is the Tang Dynasty! There are no cliffs or abyss. The Tang Dynasty is a sea and a vast ocean."

There was no need for Xue Bai to talk to him about this matter as their thoughts were separated by vast distances.

"How about the young man's deduction for the county captain?" Guo Huan then brought the topic back and said: "It is impossible for any family to allow the county captain to touch the hidden fields, and they will immediately support the Ming government's order to release me. In terms of official position, the Ming government is the one

The Lord of the County; in terms of momentum, can the County Lieutenant’s men be as powerful as the many tribes and guards in Yanshi County?"

Xue Bai asked: "What if I still resolutely investigate the Guo family's hidden fields?"

"It's nothing more than forcing the Ming Dynasty to fall out of favor and take away all the county captain's errands."

"If I don't listen, will Magistrate Lu dare to take action?"

"Does the county lieutenant dare to fight against the officials? Once the matter gets serious, it will not be as easy to explain as last time. After checking the hidden fields, the county lieutenant offended not only Yanshi County, but Henan Prefecture, which owns a large number of hidden fields in the world.

These people can easily make you die without a burial place."

Guo Huan was not trying to scare Xue Bai, it was just the truth.
To be continued...