Heaven's Formula

"I'm Xia Fan, I don't know—"

"Ah, so it's Mr. Eunuch!" The door of the room opened quickly, and standing inside was a wrinkled old man in his sixties—in this day and age, a person at such an age can already be called a long-lived man. "Thanks to your help, my place can be saved. Please come in, please come in! Aren't you on duty today?"

"It's just a day off today, isn't Chow Tai Fook at home?" He vaguely remembered the name of the recipient.

"My unscrupulous son is still busy in the fields, benefactor has something to look for him?"

It turned out that this person was Zhou Dafu's father, Xia Fan thought, and at the same time he noticed the raised calluses on the other's fingers, as well as the brownish-yellow skin exposed outside his clothes.Apparently, this old man had also been farming in the fields for a long time, but now that he was old, he could no longer undertake heavy physical work.

"I just wanted to ask him about the situation."

"Oh hehe, it's the same if you ask me. I grew up here since I was a child. If Dafu knows it, I must know it too."

"So annoying."

"Hey, why is Engong so polite? I'm afraid that I have wronged Engong in this small place."

"I'll just guard the door." Li pulled down the brim of his hat and gave Xia Fan a look.

Xia Fan nodded, bent over and walked into the room.

The surrounding air suddenly became much cooler, and there was not much light inside, only a few gleams of light could be seen pouring in from the roof.The feet are uneven, obviously the ground has not been treated, and it still retains the muddy land from when the house was built.Its surface, however, has been darkened and hardened by decades of trampling.

As the old man said, this room is really not big, the hall is only three to four meters square, and a set of dilapidated cabinets and square tables have to be packed.Even if the back room, firewood room and latrine are added, it is estimated that it will not be very spacious.And from the ancient furnishings, it is enough to estimate the level of their family, it is hard to imagine that the other party is a person who has been farming here all his life.

"Engong, I don't have tea here, I only have well water to drink."

"Water will do." Xia Fan casually found a chair and sat down.

He staggered to scoop up a bowl of water, handed it to Xia Fan, then returned to the threshold and sat down, "Grandpa, what do you want to ask?"

"I mainly want to know about Xie Chong's news. Do you remember any unusual things that have happened in these years? Especially before and after Xie Chong's appearance."

"Well... I have to think about it." After pondering for a moment, the old man slowly began to describe the evil events in Gaoshan County. Although his speech was slow, his words were quite clear, and it didn't sound difficult to understand.This lecture lasted more than two hours, and the time span spanned nearly eight years.

In the whole narration, Xia Fan didn't get much information about the abnormal death.In addition to routine deaths such as death of old age and illness, the deaths and injuries caused by neighborhood disputes, petty theft, and secret affairs mentioned by the old man are also extremely limited, and most of them have been quickly dealt with by Huzhi County.If you put aside the point of collecting "exorcism tax", Hu Huairen can be regarded as a diligent parent official.

Wei Wushuang was actually right—aside from being frequently attacked by evil spirits, there were almost no disturbances in life here.

Could it be that this place is naturally suitable for breeding monsters?

No, evil spirits are not some feng shui theory, but are actually formed by qi. Even if it is a recurring wild night, it must be based on tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dead.

And Zhou Dafu's father continued to talk about evil spirits harming people.

"Going forward, that's 16 years ago... Dafu was just a baby. At that time, it seemed that the Qujiang Mandi rushed a water ghost to our place..."

"Wait," Xia Fan suddenly noticed something strange, "The last time eight years ago was 16 years ago?"

"I won't remember this wrongly. Dafu was born not long ago, so he is only 17 now."

"Then—how to go further?"

"Well," the old man showed a pensive expression, "it's hard to remember, but it's five or six years at least."

Isn't this frequency difference too much?

Xia Fan estimated in his heart, if the evil incidents mentioned by the other party were counted, that is, there were only two cases from eight years ago to 20 years ago, and there were eleven cases from eight years ago to now, and the concentration became more concentrated as time went on. For example, there have been six incidents in the last three years.

What happened to this?

"So... Gaoshan County hasn't seen many evil spirits before?"

"That's not true," the old man rubbed his neck, "I had quite a lot when I was young, and I probably lived a stable life for more than ten years in the middle. But it was better than now, at least there was no evil tax, and the Privy Council If the officials are too busy, we will also pool money to invite the more famous Taoist priests in the state to relieve the disaster, but now, alas..." He sighed deeply, "There are not many good people like you. gone."

Chapter 65 规律

"So there was no evil tax before?" Xia Fan asked.

"Yes, this is something that Mr. Hu came up with after he took office. He said that evil spirits are becoming more and more frequent, and it is difficult to cope with the allocation from above, so he asked the county residents to share some. Benedict, can you talk to the big men above Is it? We really can't afford the money..."

When it came to the end, the old man stood up tremblingly supporting the door frame, as if he wanted to kneel down, Xia Fan quickly stood up and supported him.

"I will find a way, you don't have to rush for a while. By the way, when did the magistrate take office?"

"I remember it was... ten years ago."

Ten years and eight years... the difference is not that far apart, plus the later evil tax, is this some kind of coincidence.

Wait any longer!A flash of lightning suddenly flashed in Xia Fan's head. If this guess is followed, wouldn't the stable life of the past ten years be——

He picked up the bowl and took a sip of the cold well water to make his voice less dry, "Do you remember how many prefects have been changed in Gaoshan County?"

"This..." The old man hesitated, "I don't know the generation of my parents, but in the past few decades, there should be four or five. The short ones are three or four years, and the long ones are more than ten years."

"How long has the county magistrate before Mr. Hu worked?"

"It's quite long, about fifteen or six years."

Fifteen or sixteen years, isn't this a perfect connection with the frequency of evil spirits appearing?

Xia Fan suddenly felt a chill down his back.

He has always wanted to find clues from abnormal cases or disappearances, but now he realizes that the clues may be right in front of him.

"By the way, do you still remember the name of that county magistrate? Was he promoted and transferred away, or..."

"Back to Engong, the lord's surname is Zhu, and he has passed away."

"How did you die?" Xia Fan asked subconsciously.

"I heard that it was entangled in unclean things, and finally died of illness."

……

Xia Fan returned to the inn when the sky was turned a blood-like orange by the afterglow.

In order to avoid omissions and wrong information, he deliberately visited a few more families who had received funding.

The answers were basically the same.

There is a strange correspondence between the frequency of evil spirits and the replacement time of local officials.

After settling down the fox demon first, Xia Fan called the other companions into a wing room, and explained everything he had learned from the beginning to the end.

After listening to the last narration, Wei Wushuang gasped, his eyes widened in disbelief, "Do you suspect that Huzhi County is related to this matter?"

"It's just speculation at the moment, and I'd like to hear everyone's opinions."

"But there really hasn't been any major problems in the county—"

"The problem is that there are no major problems," Wang Renzhi interrupted Wei Wushuang. "If you want to make a dozen lives disappear quietly, it will be more convenient to have an official cover."

"Where did you come from?"

"Shipped from outside!"

"Ah?" Wei Wushuang didn't expect the other party to answer like this, so he couldn't help but pause, "What is the magistrate planning..."

"Picture money! Isn't there a tax to get rid of evil? I think he just wants to use it to make money!" Wang Renzhi patted Xia Fan's shoulder appreciatively, "Oh, you are quite courageous. I made a mistake before. I count on you."

"But...that's actually not much money." Wei Wushuang whispered.

"What? Not much?" Young Master Wang frowned.

"Just now, while listening to Brother Xia, I made some calculations in my heart. The evil tax is only collected from the neighbors who have been attacked by evil spirits. Each household is ten taels of silver, and there are only about three hundred households in a block. And the sale of land can be discounted. The magistrate’s land farming can also be exempted, and it would be good if 2000 households can receive 35 taels. In addition, he will distribute this money to the families of the victims, and each person who dies can receive [-] taels, plus guards, For the hard work of the catcher, the county magistrate can probably keep this amount—” Wei Wushuang stretched out a finger.

"one thousand?"

"Almost, and this is already a high estimate."

"Is there only so much?"

"Of course we can't say that 1000 taels of cash is a small amount—" Wei Wushuang sneaked a glance at Xia Fan, "It's just that it's obviously not very cost-effective compared to what we have to do."

"If it's not for the money?" Shangguan Cai said suddenly.

"Then what else?"

"If you just want money, it's unreasonable to collect taxes uniformly. Instead of setting up so many reductions and exemptions, it's better to expand the scope of apportionment and get more money from big families." She pulled out half of her spear and stroked it lightly on the ground, "He The purpose of this line is to push those who are in dire straits into a corner without affecting the majority of the county."

"You mean...fields?" Wei Wushuang quickly realized.

"That's not accurate. He wants both fields and people. In other words, what he wants is the grain produced in the fields." Shangguan Cai raised the corner of his mouth slightly, "You may not know that the locust plague occurred in Fengguo last year, affecting several states in the west. , Foods that can be eaten have been fired to sky-high prices, and this year has not completely subsided, so that riots have occurred in many places. Similar things happened seven or eight years ago."

"Where did you hear this news?" Wei Wushuang asked in surprise, his family was selling grain, and they didn't even know about it.

"There is no shortage of well-informed people in Beijing, as long as you can find them." She spread her hands, "Of course, if you want to resell grain at this time, you are asking for death. Those who are approved by the government like yours, do you know?" There is no difference. What can be sold at a high price is only unstated private grain, and there must be a channel to transport it to Fengguo. A small magistrate is probably just a partner."

"I would think that neither of these may be the main motive."

Xia Fan spoke slowly after listening to everyone's speech.

"What's your opinion?" Shangguan Cairao asked with interest.

"It's not a good opinion, it's just that the county magistrate didn't mention the evil tax more than 20 years ago, and it's impossible for the locust plague to happen every year." Xia Fan looked around the crowd, "But at that time, evil incidents still occurred frequently, so we might as well put the matter in Keep it simple."

"Simplicity means..."

"Someone instigated, bribed, or needed the magistrate to do so, which already included risk compensation. Compared with his predecessor, the only difference between Hu Zhixian and his predecessor is that the former is more greedy."

His summary caused a brief silence in the wing room.

"That...Brother Xia," Wei Wushuang cleared his throat after a while, "I have said so much, after all, it is just everyone's guess. If there is no actual evidence, no one will believe us. If we say it, it will be slanderous. The suspicion of court officials."

"That's right, but at least we have a direction for further investigation." Xia Fan stood up, "The next step is to find out the opponent's flaws!"

"You already have an idea?"

"That's right," he decided to make a quick decision, not giving the opponent a chance to calm down, "the result will be known in a day tomorrow."

Chapter 66 Surprise the snake

In the early morning of the next day, residents of Gaoshan County witnessed a strange scene.

I saw two people wearing black robes of alchemists pushing a small cart, hanging banners, walking along the market area, and shouting as they walked to collect clues about the evil spirit of the day before yesterday. No matter who saw or heard strange Even if it seems to have nothing to do with evil, but as long as it is abnormal or bizarre enough, you can tell them, and regardless of whether it is useful or not, you can get ten copper coins as a reward.If it is considered useful, it will be one hundred pieces.

And what was loaded in that car was a box full of copper coins.

This kind of good deed, which is almost equivalent to giving money for free, immediately ignited the enthusiasm of the people, and everyone flocked to it, forming a large circle around the car.

"My lord, I have something to say! There was an abnormal noise at the Wang family next door that night!"

"My lord, I saw Zhang Mazi secretly carrying something up the back mountain!"

"Get out of the way, I came first!"

"I know this too, why do you monopolize this hundred articles?"

"My lord, I am the Wang family next door. I really have nothing to do with Xie Chong!"

All kinds of voices came and went, some were vying to tell the clues, and some were vying over who said the same thing first. The enthusiasm of the crowd was beyond imagination, and there was a tendency to develop from verbal communication to zero-distance greetings.

"Get out of the way, everyone avoid me!" Suddenly a team of yamen servants rushed into the crowd and dispersed the gathered crowd, the leader of which was the arrester who had led the alchemist to the scene of the crime.

"I have seen the two adults..." Seeing the standard black robes of the Privy Council, he immediately restrained his voice, bowed respectfully and bowed, "I wonder what investigation you are doing?"

"What else can it be, of course it's evil." It was Xia Fan who answered him, "Why, I shouldn't be hurting anyone by doing this, right?"

"Uh..." The head catcher glanced at the eagerly awaited crowd, and said with a little embarrassment, "Whatever you want to ask, you can just ask them directly, why spend so much money. Now that it's done like this, I'm afraid it will happen later. It affects the smooth flow of roads. Besides, if you want to investigate the case, you can go to the Yamen, and the county magistrate and Dian Shi will definitely cooperate with you."

"I don't think they know all about the situation in the county. Besides, what I want to know will definitely not be recorded, so I won't bother the yamen."

"But my lord, the evil spirit has been wiped out." The other party bit the bullet and said.

"But who can guarantee that they won't appear again? What I want to collect this time is any signs that may indicate the appearance of evil spirits. What, do you want to hinder the Privy Council's work?"

"Why, I dare not-"

"Then I'll continue."

Xia Fan pushed the cart through a group of yamen servants, and shouted to the crowd, "Do you have any weird things to say?"

"My lord, I have it!"

"Please listen to me first!"

Everyone quickly gathered around again.

They all understood a truth, that is, the head arrester dared not stop the Privy Council alchemist at all.

Then no amount of yamen servants can stop him from getting this money for nothing.

The same thing happened at the entrance of the county seat, but the people pushing the carts over there were replaced by Wang Renzhi and Shangguancai.

"Brother Xia, can we really collect any useful evidence like this?" Amidst the din, Wei Wushuang took the time to approach Xia Fan and asked, "Although it sounds strange, how can we verify it? I feel that there is no way to piece together these fragmentary rumors into a reliable testimony in one day."

"It's okay, because everything we do is just propaganda." Xia Fan said with a slight smile.He didn't expect that the most supportive of his investigation would be Young Master Wang. As soon as he proposed this idea, he immediately took the initiative to pay for it.