Chapter 259 Landlord Friendship

Luhun Villa.

Song Mian walked into Yueyan Pavilion and saw a middle-aged man sitting opposite Song Zhiti. He had a stern appearance, a straight nose, and an air of confidence and calmness all over his body.

"noble."

After subconsciously pronouncing this name, Song Mian felt a little scared and said: "It is indeed you. I advise you not to cause any more trouble to the Song family."

In fact, he had already guessed from the tone of Song Zhiti's words when he changed his attitude that Gao Shang might be here, but he did not tell Xue Bai. After all, before he could become the owner of Lu Hun Villa, he was first a disciple of Lu Hun Villa.

"I'll just say a few things." Gao Shang said, "My sworn brother did not kill Ba Lang."

"Say it as if you saw it."

"My sworn brother is guarded by the old pawn Fan Yang sent by Lord Jun. The old pawn doesn't need a second blow to kill Hachiro, let alone a third blow. He has no intention of killing Hachiro's life, and it's impossible for him to still have strength.

Write down the murderer’s last name.”

Gao Shang talks eloquently. In addition to the content of his words, his confident and sincere attitude also adds a lot of persuasion.

"I assert that Eighth Lang was killed by Xue Bai's envoys. The word 'Gao' written in blood is proof. No one else will blame him in Yanshi County."

"It's all based on guesswork," Song Mian said.

Gao Shang did not answer. Do the Song family really need a piece of evidence to prove who killed Song Li? No.

Song Mian pointed out that Gao Chong was the murderer because it was in line with the interests of the Song family at that time; he pointed out that Xue Bai was the murderer, which naturally brought greater benefits. In other words, finding out the murderer of Song Li represented a change in the attitude of the Song family.

.

Gao Shang then asked a question, saying: "Since Xue Bai can get rid of my sworn brother and Guo Wanjin, after using the Song family, won't he dare to get rid of the Song family?"

"How could he?!"

"The imperial concubine's sworn brother, the new champion, went to Yanshi to take up the post, and he did drastic things. His ambitions are not small. Why do you think he let you go?"

Song Mian couldn't answer.

Because he has never thought about this issue, the reason can be summarized as people at his level simply cannot think of this level.

Gao Shang stared at him until he could see Song Mian's uneasiness, and asked: "By the way, is Xue Bai using personal gain to deceive you? Or are you too loyal?"

"No!"

Song Mian shouted quickly.

The next moment, one of his uncles stood up and slapped him in the face.

"Crack!"

The clear slaps made the entire Song family wake up.

"I didn't." Song Mian's cheeks felt hot and he didn't dare to cover it. He said in the most sincere manner: "I was indeed stupid, but I had absolutely no selfish motives."

After being quiet for a while, Song Zhiti spoke up and said, "You are too impatient. Sit down."

"yes."

Song Mian sat down in shame and waited, although he didn't know what they were waiting for.

Until a servant reported: "Alang, Cui Gong and Zheng Gong are here."

After Cui Jun and Zheng Bian arrived, the gentry also arrived one after another, the least of which had more than two hundred acres of land.

"I have met Song Gong. Gao Langjun is also here. Is it safe to talk like this today? Xue County Lieutenant is a reckless person."

"It doesn't matter, he should have guessed that I'm coming."

While he was talking, another old voice sounded. He was still panting as he spoke, and said: "I am not strong enough. I am walking slowly on the mountain road. I am late. Please forgive me."

"Is this Taigong Guo here?"

The gentry began to discuss, saying: "Since Guo Huan has taken refuge with Xue Bai, how can we still invite him?"

Gao Shang said: "It doesn't matter, I don't mean to talk about shady things, we are all aboveboard people."

After saying that, he helped Taigong Guo to come in very gracefully.

Everyone sat down, and Gao Shang was the first to speak, saying: "I first went to Luoyang to meet with Linghu Shaoyin. When he talked about Yanshi County, he used three words, 'unstable'..."

Song Zhiti listened and closed his eyes again. While listening, he thought about old things.

If we talk about Gao Shang, Xue Bai is a capable person, and everyone is obviously more familiar with and trust Gao Shang. When it comes to Gao Shang, we have to mention another person - the former Henan Yin, the land and water transport envoy Li Qiwu.

In the 24th year of Kaiyuan, Li Qiwu served as the governor of Huaizhou and recommended Gao Shang. Others only paid attention to this appreciation, but rarely realized that it was because of Gao Shang's suggestions and repeated achievements that he was appreciated.

For example, in the first year of Tianbao, Li Qiwu opened a water conservancy project in Sanmenxia and threw rocks into the river, which caused the water to become turbulent and the boat could not enter. However, Gao Shang bribed Wu Huaishi and told the saint that Li Qiwu would build water conservancy projects and benefit the people. The saint

Long Yan was greatly pleased, and was given a mink fur collar, three hundred bolts of silk, and a special silver Qing Guang Lu doctor, who was also Honglu Qing, and a jade ruler. The edict said that he was given this gift because of his ability.

In this way, after three years of Tianbao, Li Qiwu was promoted to Henan Yin. At that time, he often came to Luhun Villa. Gao Shang accompanied him several times, so Song Zhiti got acquainted with them.

At that time, Gao Shang had not met An Lushan, but he had already shown unusual ambition. He was also extremely keen. From some anomalies in Luhun Villa, he discovered that the Song family was secretly casting copper coins, but he did not expose it and instead helped the Song family.

He hid it, and later recommended his sworn brother Gao Chong to help the Song family cover it up.

Two or three years later, Li Qiwu was demoted and Gao Shang defected to Anlu Mountain, but he still did not forget the people he was familiar with back then.

This time, Gao Shang made the truth clearer, and Song Zhiti understood... It was Song Mian, a fool, who was taken advantage of by Xue Bai, and he was also confused, and was almost deceived.

"All the princes have heard this story about the false Taoist attack on Guo, but before it happened, no one would realize that they had become the Duke of Yu. Yesterday, Xue Bai seized the Guo family's land; today, he liquidated the household registration of the land and forced him to

You pay rent and taxes; tomorrow, he will take away all your fields!"

Gao Shang said, waving his fists passionately to stimulate everyone's emotions.

But he was very calm in his heart. To get things done, he had to make others excited, but he had to stay calm.

On the other hand, he actually understood Xue Bai's thoughts very well.

He thought the same way once upon a time... He lived in Hebei when he was a child, and the taxes in Hebei were much heavier than those in Henan. Besides land annexation, his hometown had more and bigger problems.

As soon as the war broke out, the imperial court forced conscription; a large number of Hu tribes moved inland, and they were robbed and kidnapped everywhere if the governance was not properly managed; what he hated most was a vague prejudice that even the noble families of Hebei looked down upon after they arrived in Guanzhong.

They are civilians in Hebei.

But at that time, he also thought that everything could still be managed. At one time, he also wanted to use gentle means to change the injustice within the rules. He followed Li Shizhi and tried it.

If it doesn’t work, it can’t be managed.

Therefore, today Gao Shang wants to get rid of Xue Bai to avenge his sworn brother, which is equivalent to killing his former self. It is very simple, extremely simple.

He didn't come up with any new ideas, he just repeated the methods these gentry usually used to control local areas.

"Xue Bai's tricks are useless. All you need to do is react and work together to make him helpless. Most of the fields in Yanshi County are yours, the food is yours, and the money is yours. Even the money is yours."

The officials in the county office are all from your branch, so why should he fight with you?"

"Tai Gong Guo, your fields and houses can be returned to you. The only thing is to persuade Guo Huan to betray Xue Bai. Guo Huan knows the county affairs very well. Fortunately, everything he has is given by the Guo family."

"Spend money, give away women, and bribe everyone around him at any cost, including staff, officials, servants, and servants, even concierges and slaves. Those who don't want to accept anything, frame them, make false accusations, and get them into trouble."

"Whose house does Xue Bai live in now? Take back the house and drive him out. Don't think this is a trivial matter. It can destroy his prestige, undermine his confidence, and allow us to better monitor him."

"We should make Yanshi County no place for him. When people who work for him are walking on the road, you should block the road, because even the shops along the street in Yanshi County belong to you."

"There is no need to be reluctant to spend money, take out the food from the warehouse and distribute it to the people in the city, ruining his reputation. These people are the most stupid and unjust people, making him realize that even the people are not on his side.

On the one hand, it was the biggest psychological blow to him."

"What we did is all within the rules. We should let him sink into a quagmire and be unable to extricate himself..."

Gao Shang was dazed for a moment, recalling his past experience of assisting Li Qiwu. He deeply understood that it was absolutely impossible for an official to resist the power of the local gentry when he arrived.

…

After the meeting, Gao Chong's head and body were dug out.

At that time, Diao Geng brought the head and the corpse together, and the body was buried in a mass grave. The head was given to the Song family to pay tribute to Song Li. As for whether it can still be found now, it depends on what the Song family says.

, it is impossible to recognize Gao Shang.

Song Zhiti took out the nanmu coffin he had prepared for himself, covered Gao Chong with rich clothes, and buried him again in Mang Ling.

When Gao Chong died, it was extremely careless. A few months after his death, the second funeral was extremely luxurious, with the coffins of the princes and important ministers lying in the coffins.

"Sworn brother!"

"The soul is back!"

Gao Shang prostrated himself in front of the grave and burst into tears.

"I lost my father when I was young, and I was alone. It was my sworn brother who took me in, introduced me to the Gao clan, and made me a naturalized brother. My identity and name were all given by my sworn brother... I'm so sorry!"

"A deep kindness has not been repaid, a deep kindness has not been repaid! Those who kill my sworn brother are irreconcilable. If I don't avenge this revenge, I swear that I will not be a human being!"

Three incense sticks were placed in front of the tomb and had not yet burned out. The steward came to report that someone was looking for Gao Shang.

"Looking for me?"

Gao Shang was very surprised and had an intuition in his heart that he should be Xue Bai's man who could be found so quickly. But what came was a young and vigorous man who claimed to be a subordinate of Erlang Shan Fan Lao.

"Fan Lao?"
To be continued...