After Duanmu Xinmiao left, the guard chief Ying was about to go back to his yard before he went out. The little maid Shi Yu who was standing outside came up to him and reported: "Master Bo Shen is outside asking for an audience. He asked the maids to wait for only the young lady." Just say it when you are there.”
Shiyu was recruited together with Zhu Yi and Zhu Luo. The other three little maids with her were named Xiaoyu, Yanyu, and Feiyu. When the candidates were originally selected, they had to be given other names according to the rules. Ying named the ambassador Zhu Yi and Zhu Luo, and the little maid named He. He looked at the rain outside the eaves and thought about it for a while before he came up with these four names.
Siyu was only twelve or thirteen years old, a time when his innocence and temperament were out of control. However, after all, they are not like Zhu Lan and others, who grew up serving Wei Changying. They have a deep relationship between master and servant, and they do not make big mistakes, even small mistakes, they are confident that they will be forgiven. Therefore, they have always been very cautious in front of Wei Changying.
At this moment, Shi Yu showed a bit of apprehension while reporting, fearing that Wei Changying would blame him for agreeing to Shen Lun without asking for permission.
"I was thinking about whether to send someone to invite him over, but I didn't expect him to wink at me!" Wei Changying heard this, but did not pursue Shigure. He just snorted, turned around, and ordered, "Let him come in." Bar!"
After a while, Shen Lun stepped through the door and heard the guard commander Ying above said lukewarmly: "What do you want?"
Although Shen Lun is older than Wei Changying, he is the same generation as Shen Youyi. In other words, like brother Shen Youyi, he had to call Wei Changying his aunt. At this moment, he respectfully greeted his aunt and said cautiously: "About the Lord of Cao Family Fort, my nephew has something to say to his aunt. "
Just now in front of Mu Chunmian, Shen Lun called Wei Changying "young lady". That was based on the official relationship. Now he calls himself aunt and nephew, based on the private blood relationship.
Wei Changying was very unhappy that he had not given any reminder or introduction to him before, so he just led Mu Chunmian towards him and said calmly: "Why haven't you finished talking about Caojia Fort before? "
Shen Lun had not told Wei Changying the details of Caojia Fort. Now he naturally understood that this was an irony. He was embarrassed for a while and said with a smile: "Aunt, please forgive me. It's not that my nephew meant to neglect my aunt. In fact... it was my nephew who had done it before. I was told by someone to tell my aunt. But... I just heard my aunt ask Na Mu why the owner of Caojia Fort is a woman, and my nephew knew that Brother Twenty-Fifth... I think he forgot. "
Wei Changying frowned slightly: Twenty-five, in Shen Lun's generation, the twenty-fifth one is Shen Youyi!
She couldn't help but glance at Shen Lun in the hall, and saw that this nephew was standing with his sleeves folded obediently, with a look of helplessness on his face.
It turns out that he came back not only to make amends, but also to file a complaint
Wei Changying pondered for a moment, but did not mention asking Shen Youyi to confront him. He only said: "Did you ask Youyi to tell me something before? What was it?"
"My nephew thinks that the identity of the owner of Caojiabao is a bit special, so he has to tell his aunt first." Shen Lun said hurriedly, "Also, Caojiabao seems to be a bit like a group of gangsters in Taohua County over the years. relation."
Wei Changying frowned and asked: "Taohua County? Which government is under the jurisdiction of this? Why hasn't it been wiped out yet?"
"Returning to my aunt, Taohua County is not our county in Xiliang." Shen Lun said, "Auntie wants to know that the Mengshan Mountains where Caojiabao is located are not all in our Xiliang territory. The three highest peaks of the Mengshan Mountains are all nearby. State. This Taohua County is a county bordering Xiliang. Mengshan Mountain passes through the county. The entire county is built on the mountain! The bandits are hiding in Mengshan County. Even though they failed to exterminate them, they didn’t ask us for help, so we couldn’t send troops.”
Guard Chief Ying Ai said: "So it's not in Xiliang... I mean... just how did Caojiabao get involved with this group of bandits?"
Shen Lun lowered his voice: "This group of bandits are actually not all about robbing homes. Their main thing is smuggling!"
"Smuggling?" Guard Chief Ying Yi raised his eyebrows, "Is it smuggling private salt?"
"That's what my aunt said." Shen Lun introduced in detail the process of setting up the line between the two parties - in fact, it was just a few words in a nutshell: The Shen family has blocked Caojiabao decades ago, although it can be self-sufficient nearby. Although it is self-sufficient, it still has to rely on going out to purchase salt, which severely limits the development of Caojiabao.
With this hand, Caojiabao was forced to submit to Shen's hands in order to buy salt in time, although in name he did not need to pay heavy taxes... Although Shen Lun's words were euphemistic, Wei Changying still heard it. Every time Caojiabao sent someone out to buy salt, they had to bring money, silk, firewood, rice and other items to bribe Shen, so that the purchase would not be fruitful.
In fact, this bribe is no different than the taxes they pay... It's just that the people in Caojiabao have long been blackmailed by the government, and they can't return to their place of origin even if they want to!
In this case, Caojiabao had to find another way out. It just so happens that there is a group of private salt dealers who are also bandits in Taohua County... Could it be that they got together
"Mr. Mu doesn't look much older than me. She's just a woman, but she's really courageous... She actually thought of being a private salt dealer." Wei Changying twirled the bracelet on his wrist and said a little casually, "Since you Knowing this, the clan must also know about it? Why are they still allowed to collude?"
Shen Lun hurriedly explained: "My aunt doesn't know, but the clan originally decided to deal with Caojiabao immediately, but the private salt dealers in Taohua County have some background. After the twenty-fourth brother found out, he specifically ordered not to touch Caojiabao for the time being. , maybe we can use Caojia Fort to conquer those people!"
Twenty-four is Shen Youjia's ranking - although this nephew of the captain has been in the army all year round, is rough and bold, and is somewhat uninterested, but the guard chief Ying heard Shen Zangfeng mention that Shen Youjia is not mediocre. The person he was interested in seemed unusual, and he asked unexpectedly: "Is there such a thing?" He immediately asked, "What are their origins?"
"As far as my nephew knows, one of them is named Lai Dayong. He was a private soldier recruited by a large family in Guanzhou to guard against bandits." Shen Lun pondered for a moment and said, "This man is as his name suggests. He is extremely brave. He once served for The rich man had repelled the bandits many times, and he had done a lot of credit! As a result, the rich man's son had an affair with his father's concubine, and Lai Dayong happened to catch him. In order to silence him, the rich man's son instigated the concubine to frame Lai Dayong, and slandered Lai Dayong's traitorous master. Love my concubine…
"Lai Dayong had a good trick. He forced his way out of the encirclement of the pursuers sent by the big family and the government officials of Guanzhou Prefecture, and fled into Mengshan Mountain to escape. For this reason, Guanzhou Prefecture also issued a sea arrest for a period of time. However, because the truth was exposed later, the big family felt that it was shameful and asked the government to withdraw the document. After that, no one paid attention to Lai Dayong. When he attracted attention again, it was discovered that he had somehow entangled a group of people. The entire private salt trade in Guanzhou City is almost monopolized! They have also annexed all the smaller groups of bandits in Mengshan, occupying a piece of the boss’s territory, and named themselves Mengshan Gang.”
Shen Lun lowered his voice and said, "This man is quite scheming. When he annexes other bandits, he always leaves a group of people behind and keeps them in the gang! Whenever the government suppresses bandits, they break their legs and throw them away." On the road where the officers and soldiers passed by. Now that the officers and soldiers have gained credit, they no longer want to fight with him. "
The chief of guard Ying said clearly: "The governor of Guanzhou has shown his filial piety, hasn't he?"
Shen Lun smiled and said nothing, but his expression showed acquiescence.
Wei Changying thought for a while and said: "Since Yu Jia has the plan, I don't want to ruin his affairs. Mu Chunmian's place... Originally, today's gold was meant to be given to her, but now let's do this. Anyway, The Mengshan Gang is not in Xiliang, but Caojiabao cannot fly away. It would be ridiculous to send people to keep an eye on Caojiabao and not let them secretly go to neighboring counties and join the Mengshan Gang! "
Shen Lun said hurriedly: "Auntie, please don't worry. There is only one road up and down the Caojia Fort, but there are three thousand people living in it. It is impossible for them to sneak away!" Then he smiled and said, "Not to mention the Mengshan Mountain. Gang leader Lai Dayong is not a philanthropic person. He has no heart to accept the three thousand people from Caojiabao to Mengshan! If Caojiabao wants to defect to Mengshan Gang, he might as well surrender to our Shen family!"
Wei Changying nodded slightly and said: "Then how come the Cao Family Fort asked a female Taoist to take over the position of the fort master, and it is a female Taoist family with no children? Or maybe the bastard she was raising under her knees did not bring her here this time?"
"Reply to my aunt." Shen Lun shook his head and said, "Cao Bao, the previous lord of the Cao Family Fort, died young. It is true that there is only one daughter, Cao Ya!"
He added, "Then Cao Ya is the young master of the Cao Family Fort. This is recognized by the entire Cao Family Fort."
Wei Changying was greatly surprised and said: "How could this be so? Is that Mu Chunmian so powerful?"
Shen Lun coughed dryly and said: "The little news we have heard from the clan is that the Mu family seems to have had an affair with Lai Dayong, and even Cao Bao's death has something to do with these two people."
Guard Chief Ying frowned slightly and said: "When Cao Bao was here, he should be the one to contact the Mengshan Gang. Did Lai Dayong dare to enter the Cao Family Fort? If not, how could he meet the Mu family?"
"It is said to be like this." Shen Lun said, "Although Cao Bao inherited Caojia Fort from his ancestors, he was not a wise man. The decision to buy salt from the Mengshan Gang was made by the Mu family. At that time, Lai Dayong requested Cao Bao went to discuss it in person, but Cao Bao refused to kill him, and even accused Mu of harming him... Later, Mu became angry and went there in person! "
"As soon as we go...?"
Shen Lun shook his head again: "Not that time, because Mu was already pregnant at the time, so when she walked to the mountainside, she was chased back by Cao Bao's elders. In the end, an elder from Caojiabao took her place. Yes, the price was actually negotiated with the Mengshan Gang. As a result, the Mu family's prestige greatly increased, but Cao Bao disappointed the people in the fort. "
"Then what?"
"Then Caojiabao bought salt from the Mengshan Gang several times, and the middle price changed. Once, the elder who went to negotiate for the first time couldn't make the decision, so he went back and asked Cao Bao to negotiate in person. But Cao Bao was still afraid. She was willing to go forward, but it turned out that Mu was only one month old at the time. After knowing that, she went in person despite everyone's dissuasion, "Shen Lun said, "It seemed that she had a very happy chat with Lai Dayong, and not long after she returned to Caojiapu, Cao Bao suddenly fell ill and died. Originally, after Cao Bao's death, he had only one daughter, and according to the rules, Cao Bao's younger brother Cao Yan should take over as the master of the fort. However, the Mu family did not know what means they used to win over most of the people in the fort. The elder accused Cao Yan of not having any merit in the Cao family fort and was not worthy of being the fort master. He forced Cao Yan to step down and appointed himself as the fort master. He also used soft and hard tactics to make his daughter Cao Ya the young fort master." Continued)