After the fairy disappeared

"Okay, master, let me treat you to dinner. How about the newly opened Quan Fu Lou? The sign there is 'One Rabbit Three Eats' is very good."

"With such an ugly name, what kind of signature dish is it?"

Have a good meal.

After sending his wife home, He Lingchuan returned to the city guard and directly asked Kestrel for questioning:
"You've been in Panlong City lately, right?"

Woke up by He Lingchuan, Kestrel's voice was sleepy.It is a bird of prey that moves during the day, so it should be sleeping at this hour! "Yes, I went back and forth a few times to deliver the letter."

Carrier pigeons and cranes are used to send letters elsewhere, but only Panlong City makes them run errands back and forth bitterly.

"Have you seen General Red?"

"I see." Kestrel twisted its neck, "Do you have any message to send?"

"Where was the Red General in the past month?"

"I came back from the northern front line half a month ago. I stayed in Panlong City for nine days and then returned to the front line."

"Is she okay?" He Lingchuan added, "Is she not injured?"

In Panlong Secret Realm, the Red General did not show up, but turned his power into armor and lent him to deal with Naluotian clone and Sanshui real person.But he could see that this was not within the scope of Dafanghu's permission.

No matter how powerful the Red General is, he still lives in the generous pot.She blatantly acted against Dafanghu's will, how could it be for nothing?

Back then, the Hundred Faced Nightmare itself couldn't even escape the two chains of the giant red shadow, and was swallowed by it.

"Red General?" Kestrel tilted her head, "She is a demigod, and she will recover quickly after being injured. It's not like you don't know."

"So she's been acting as usual?"

"Still killing people on the front line like Mali, very vigorous."

It seems that General Red is fine.He Lingchuan let out a cry, and tore the meat to feed it a few chicken legs.

……

Four days later, Baicheng Station.

On the Southern Commercial Road, this is the station closest to Takigawa Lake, and it is built on the edge of the water dock.

More than ten years ago, banditry in Takigawa was rampant, and the place was abandoned. It was not until Panlong City took over the territory of Xiqiu that Baicheng Station was rebuilt.

If so, the caravan would rather take a detour than go here, so the Baicheng Station has not opened for the time being.

Only today, the inn is full of guests.

They are all uninvited guests.

Dozens of small boats sailed out from Takigawa, and there were special plate armors on the top and surroundings of the boats to prevent arrows.

They circled half a circle before stopping at the water dock, and more than a hundred people landed.

The scouts who had been sent out earlier had returned and reported to the first two people: "There is no ambush in the nearby forest, and there are nearly a hundred people inside and outside the inn. Butcher He is sitting outside the inn."

One of them sneered: "Hmph, what a guts, I might as well shoot him to death with one arrow."

Cutting off people's wealth is like killing their parents.Mentioning the surname He made everyone in Takigawa feel itchy with hatred.

"Gang Leader Xu, please be patient." Another person said, "Even if we kill him, Panlong City will send a new leader."

Everyone raised their vigilance and moved forward with subtle emotions.Sure enough, as the scouts said, the road was quite peaceful and there was no ambush.

After a while, the willows are dark and the flowers are bright, and the Baicheng Station is in sight.

The tables and chairs in the post station were moved outdoors, with mountains and rivers behind.A person sat at the table and waved to them with a wide smile, as if old friends were reunited.

Is this the Butcher He whom everyone talks about?Too young?

The two leaders looked at each other, ordered the bandits to spread their guard, and walked forward with more than a dozen of his followers.

Behind He Lingchuan stood only Hu Min and the door panel, and the other guards were several feet away to show their sincerity, otherwise the gangsters on the opposite side would not dare to come over.

The two leaders came across, one tall and one short, one fat and one thin.

He Lingchuan knew that the tall and fat one was Tao Lin, the owner of Qianjin Village, and the other short, black and thin man was Xu Zeshou, the leader of the Ball Flower Gang.

"Boss Tao and Xu, please sit down!" Two chairs were placed opposite He Lingchuan.

Tao and Xu looked at each other and sat down with their clothes shaken.The cronies behind him took a few steps forward, forming a half-encirclement around He Lingchuan.

These people stared at each other, but He Lingchuan turned a blind eye.

As soon as I sat down, I heard a sharp "woo" beside me.

Tao Lin frowned, Xu Zeshou's body trembled slightly, and he almost jumped up, but finally he squatted.

It turned out that the cast-iron kettle was boiling on the stove.

He Lingchuan had a panoramic view of the two people's reactions, and smiled while lifting the pot: "Oh, sorry, this is a special iron pot made in Mou Country. There is a reed on the lid of the pot, and it will chime when the water is boiled."

The local people use soup bottles to boil water, while the rich and noble people use porcelain, copper, and tin to boil water. The special product in the eastern part of Mou country is cast iron pots, with round heads and short mouths, which are simple and tough.

The products in the eastern part of the state of Mou don't pay much attention to novel styles and exquisite patterns.

He grabbed two teacups, and the tea leaves were already placed in them. When the boiling water was poured and the tea soup swirled, the warm and mellow aroma wafted out.

But Tao and Xu remained motionless.

Who dares to drink the tea of ​​the chief of the officers and soldiers?

Xu Zeshou said coldly: "You asked us to come, what's the matter?"

"I heard that Qianjinzhai's bayberry wine and Qiuhuabang's pearls are very popular outside. I personally like Qianjinzhai's bayberry wine very much, and I use it every time I entertain guests."

Needless to say, the wine of Qianjinzhai has been praised all the way from Yuheng City to Baishawan. The water pond where the Ball Flower Gang is entrenched produces pearl mussels. As long as they are raised well, they can produce pearls as big as longan, but unfortunately there are not many.There is a black and white pearl in the old palace of Xiqiao. It is a natural Tai Chi pattern, and it was also sold by the Qiuhua Gang.

He Lingchuan continued: "It can be seen that the two gang leaders are experts in business. Then, I want to discuss a good deal with you two."

Tao and Xu looked at each other again without saying a word, they wanted to see what kind of medicine he was selling in the gourd.

He Lingchuan took a box from the bottom up and put it on the table.

He knew that the two of them dared not open the box, so he also took care of this step.

The box was slowly opened, and the two saw two oval tokens lying on the brocade mat.

He Lingchuan took out his Commander's Order and shook it twice to let them see that the three tokens were made of the same material.

"Yuheng City wants to hire two guild masters to be the guards on our Takigawa Commercial Road."

"What are you doing?" Xu Zeshou was stunned, thinking that he hadn't picked out his ears for too long and was hallucinating, Tao Lin also frowned.

"Headmaster?"

"Not bad." He Lingchuan asked someone to take out the map of Takigawa and flatten it, and drew two circles on it.

The two bandit leaders saw that what he circled was the territory of his gang on the commercial road, commonly known as the hunting ground.

In order to avoid conflicts, Takigawa's medium and large gangs have already divided the entire South Road, and the small gangs can only make a living in the cracks.

The meeting place chosen by He Lingchuan, Baicheng Post Station, is the site of Qianjinzhai.

Of course, this division of power has never been officially recognized by the government.He Lingchuan sketched it very directly: "This is the looting area of ​​Qianjin Village. This is from the Qiuhua Gang, right?"

"..." Facing the officials, the two of them didn't want to answer such an embarrassing question.

He Lingchuan put the two tokens into the two circles respectively: "From now on, the Gui Gang doesn't have to loot anymore, just set up checkpoints to collect tolls."

What, what?
The two gang leaders thought they were well-informed, but they were still shocked by this sentence.

The cronies behind them also looked at each other in disbelief.

Everyone's brains were moving fast, desperately digesting the news.Xu Zeshou asked tentatively, "What does Commander He mean, from now on let us take the official card and collect and buy road money from passing caravans?"

"Master Xu summarized the essence, but this is not called road money, it is called road tax."

The two were dumbfounded.

Isn't the so-called road tax the tolls that the officials of various countries charge to caravans?
Water bandits often swear when they drink in private. What's the difference with what they do?Just because they have no official background, they dare to collect this money and call it robbery.

Commander He intends to recruit them and let them collect tolls for Yuheng City?
This is recruitment?

Is this a security recruitment?

Whimsical!

"The current situation on the commercial road is that the gang brothers are licking blood, and the caravans passing by are worried. My Yuheng City Army is also time-consuming and laborious to patrol back and forth, and everyone is not happy." He Lingchuan took a sip of tea, "We have to know Counting the cost, all the road tax I collected was used to fight, and there was not much left in the warehouse, and sometimes it was paid back; you guys play cat and mouse games with me every day, and you can’t make a lot of money, and your expenses are lower than It used to be high. With such a calculation, no one has made a profit."

"Actually, isn't it a matter of money in the final analysis? Why don't you just collect the road tax, and you don't have to fight and kill. How good is harmony to make money?"

When Tao Lin heard this, he finally couldn't help but said, "Why should we collect money for the government? How much does Yuheng City plan to give us?"

In the past, the old country of Xixiang also tried recruiting, and recruited several times, but the conditions offered were extremely stingy, and at most they were willing to work for Tao Lin, a small county official, so many of his subordinates would be scattered and resettled. throughout.

The water bandits don't read much, but they are not stupid.This obviously meant breaking them up into parts and weakening the team, and of course they didn't agree.

Seeing that history was about to repeat itself, the two bandit leaders remained calm, while the few cronies behind them couldn't help but laugh.

Still want to play this hand?See through your tricks early!

Just throw out a small shrimp and want to catch a giant whale?It's a beautiful idea.

He Lingchuan pretended not to see their contempt: "The tax collection standard refers to the official, don't overcharge or undercharge, but the money collected—"

He paused for a moment, then saw that everyone was paying attention, and then continued: "It's all yours."

All, all?Others couldn't believe their ears.Xu Zeshou's heart also jumped twice, and he exchanged glances with Tao Lin.

He looked calm on the surface, with his hands folded in front of his chest, as if he were negotiating: "How much money can I charge for passing by? There are so many brothers who need to eat..."

He Lingchuan interrupted him: "How much money? How cool it is to pay taxes, do you know?"

"We all know that murder and arson make money fast. But it's okay to do business once or twice. The more times you do it, the higher the risk and the lower the income. Not to mention that the pension in the gang is getting heavier and heavier, and sometimes the money returned from robbery Isn’t it enough to spread out?”

Speaking of this, the faces of the two bandit leaders darkened.

Happy Tanabata.

I originally wanted to take a day off, but you guys are too lazy to read today anyway.

After thinking about it, I should update it. People who have no festivals should not be double-criticized.