Nongmen Shenjue

Liu Huan and his party stayed at the inn for one night and set off early the next morning.

Right now, the road is full of water and mud. It is definitely muddy and difficult to walk, and the wheels are easy to slip.The goods of the Liu family pulling the carriage like this are easy to roll over if they are not careful, which will not only damage the goods, but also startle the horse.It is precisely because of this that those caravans were forced to stay in the town and wait for the road to dry for another two days before leaving.

Liu Huan seemed very anxious.

"The murderer has been caught!" There was a well-informed yell early in the morning, which attracted many people to ask questions.

The case of the Liao family came to fruition, and the murderer was two master craftsmen and a coachman who worked in the Taoist temple.

It turned out that the three of them were indeed out of kindness for a while, and they took Father Liao and Uncle Liao along for a ride.Liao's father and father got in the car, and after thanking them, they started talking, but they accidentally missed the bottom line.Hearing that the two of them were ready to return home after receiving the payment for the goods, and seeing Liao's father subconsciously protecting his arms with bulging bags under his clothes, the two craftsmen could not help but feel greedy.

The coachman is a local, a widower with no children, father or mother, who loves to drink on weekdays, and has a similar taste with the two craftsmen.

The coachman's house is a mile outside the town, and the orchard is guarded, and there are no other people around.

When the three men had evil intentions, they stopped the car when they arrived at the driver's house, deceived Liao's father and Uncle Liao with words, led the two into the driver's house, and then beat them on the back of the head to make them unconscious.When he saw the more than 200 taels of white silver ingots wrapped around his waist by Liao's father, his eyes straightened.The three divided up the money, hacked Liao's father to death with an axe, tied the stones and sank the bodies into the river.

Because the coachman was the most obvious, he was afraid that Liao Zian would recognize him, so he divided the money and hid it in the county.

From their point of view, Liao Zi'an and his party were just passing through here, and the bodies of Liao's father and father could not be found, so they could only be counted as missing.

Unexpectedly, when the stone was tied, it was not tied properly, and the body floated up.

What's more, Liao Zian, a foreigner, found the carriage in the Taoist temple.

The local county magistrate also had some tricks, interrogating them one by one, and quickly determined the person who used the car on the day of the crime.A little more tricks were used to make the two craftsmen suspicious of each other, and they wanted to escape when they left the Yamen. The fast arresters caught the stolen goods and the driver was naturally caught.

The case was solved, the common people praised the county magistrate, and the merchants felt safe.

"Hey, why don't you see Liao Zian?" A guest suddenly asked.

"Come early in the morning to tell him the good news. He's gone to the yamen." The shopkeeper of the inn said, feeling puzzled. It's already afternoon, and the news from the county town has spread, why is there no sign of Liao Zian?

"Could it be that you are going to return home?" Someone speculated.

"The corpses of his father and second uncle are still parked in Yizhuang. Maybe they went to buy coffins and carriages."

While discussing, someone ran over and yelled loudly: "Big news! Big news! Liao Zian was arrested by the yamen!"

"What?!" One stone caused a thousand waves, and everyone was dumbfounded.

The sound downstairs was so loud that even Mu Qingyan could hear it in the room.

There was no surprise about the outcome of the case, but Liao Zian was arrested?

Even Wen Jixue was surprised: "Gao Tian, ​​go ask."

After a while, Gao Tian came back: "My lord, I found out that Liao Zian was arrested by the county government for smuggling spices."

"Smuggling?" Mu Qingyan became a little interested.

"Exactly. The Liao family sells furs, and the furs are all from outside the customs. The same is true for spices. However, the tariffs on spices are very high. The Liao family carried the spices on the truck to avoid paying taxes. This time their family has The county magistrate investigated the matter in secret, and the county magistrate investigated it calmly, and found the evidence from Mr. Liao's plan. This is also because Liao Zian's father's second uncle's accident happened, and he often ran to the yamen in a state of depression. The magistrate's design."

Mu Qingyan thought for a while and asked, "Is the tariff heavy? How much profit can there be?"

Wen Jixue explained to him: "Precious commodities have high tariffs, such as spices, ivory, pearls and jade, etc., the tax rate is higher than that of ordinary commodities. For example, the furs trafficked by the Liao family are collected from the border market. There is a tax to be paid at the customs, and the Liao family trafficked the furs to Huangqu County. Along the way, all prefectures and counties have to pay taxes. Passing a customs is a layer of tax. The tax itself is high, and the layers are added. , Naturally, a lot of profits will be lost.”

It's been the same throughout the ages, smuggling is very profitable, no matter how strict the law is, it can't resist people's desperation.

After pondering for a moment, Mu Qingyan said, "Do you think Liu Huan will do this kind of thing?"

He County not only produces medicinal materials, but also jade!

If it was really smuggling, then Liu Huan's wealth and wealth can be explained.

"After passing the checkpoint, don't you check?"

"Of course we need to investigate. However, some states and counties have strict inspections, while others have looser inspections. There are even well-connected people who work up and down. In order to make money, there is always a way." Wen Jixue has seen this a lot.

Two days later, Mu Qingyan and others left Chenqiao Town.

When I arrived in He County, it was October [-]th, and it was a warm and sunny winter day.

There are many mountains and forests around Hexian County. It can even be said that two-thirds of the entire Hexian County is wrapped in mountains and forests.He County was much colder than Fenglin County. It had snowed a few days ago, and the mountains and forests were still covered with a layer of residual snow. However, it was sunny for a few days and the road was safe.

It was a peaceful journey, and occasionally met some caravans.

"Are these people also smuggling?" With Liao Zian's previous convictions and speculation about Liu Huan, it is inevitable that he will think more about seeing other merchants now.

Wen Jixue said: "That's not the case. The imperial court is very strict on smuggling. Ordinary people may not have the courage, and big businessmen don't have to take risks. However, it is normal for these people to carry one or two with them."

It is quite similar to the prosperity of the county and Fenglin, a spacious and lively street with many pedestrians.

He County is also different from other places. After all, it is a place rich in medicinal materials. There are many large and small drug shops in the city, and there are also many drug dealers.However, these shops specializing in the sale of medicinal materials in large quantities are mostly concentrated in one place, which is called Baicao Street by outsiders.

"Let's take a break in the city for two days to see how lively the city is. I asked Jin Lilin for help and found a hot spring village. I will send him a post later, and I will meet you at the door." Wen Jixue said about the itinerary here Already arranged.

"Okay." Mu Qingyan relied entirely on him.

Gao Chun and Gao Dong were in charge of packing the luggage at the inn, while Gao Tian went to Jin's house to deliver greeting cards.

After riding a carriage all the way, Mu Qingyan still felt rusty and exhausted even though he used his powers and mental skills from time to time.When I got to the room, I stretched my muscles and bones, and waited until Gao Chun prepared hot water for a good soak, and then I felt comfortable all over.

Wen Jixue lived next door, and also came here after taking a bath.

Mu Qingyan just washed his hair by the way, and was wiping the water from his hair with a dry cloth towel.

The face towels of the ancients were greatly influenced by wealth. Ordinary people used cotton cloth, and most of them were leftovers cut from the material used to make clothes.Cotton cloth is also graded, plus it is soft and water-absorbent, so it is very popular even with rich and noble families, but it is made more finely, embroidered and trimmed.There are also silk and satin ones, just to look rich.

Of course, there is a better one besides this, which is the prototype of the towel in the previous life.

At present, there is a fleece technology. With the popularization of cotton, some people gradually use the technology on cotton cloth to produce single-sided or double-sided fleece towels. The comfortable effect of wiping the face is better than ordinary cotton cloth, but the price is also very expensive. The people have never heard of it.

The reason why Mu Qingyan knew it was because he saw Wen Jixue using it.

When I went out this time, I brought several fleece towels like this, and Mu Qingyan had two here.But to wipe his hair, he is still used to using cotton towels, there are a lot of them, and he changed seven or eight of them in a short while, if Mu Wan saw it, I don't know how to feel distressed.

Mu Qingyan is not that extravagant and wasteful, cloth towels are different from others, they can be reused, not disposable.It is winter now, and the long wet hair is fixed on the head, which is really uncomfortable, so I keep wiping it with cotton cloth.

The inconvenience of not having electrical appliances always pops up inadvertently.

Relatively speaking, Mu Qingyan felt that his ability to adapt was quite strong.

Wen Jixue glanced at those drenched cloth towels and asked with a smile, "Do you want me to help?"

Mu Qingyan glanced at him, mainly looking at his hair. A jade hairpin tied the hair into a bun. There was no trace of water on the hair, but there was a faint fragrance in the hair, which was the fragrance in the shampoo powder. Proof that he just washed his hair.

"Did it so quickly?" Mu Qingyan couldn't help but think of the plot of drying clothes and hair in martial arts dramas.

Wen Jixue walked behind him, held his half-dried hair in her palm, and gradually a faint white air came out.

Mu Qingyan smelled the fragrance carried in the water vapor, which was the smell of shampoo powder he used himself.

"What did you do?" Because his back was facing, Mu Qingyan couldn't see it.

"Gather the inner strength in the palm, and dry the moisture in the hair." Wen Jixue replied.

Mu Qingyan was surprised at first, but then felt weird, and couldn't help laughing: "Thank you. Is your hair like this too?"

Wen Jixue raised her eyebrows: "Of course not, that's not how internal force is used."

Exposing the internal force to the outside can indeed increase the body surface temperature, but to the extent of drying clothes and hair, the internal force consumed is huge, and even if it really has that ability, it is not worth the consumption.Wen Jixue saw that his hair was already half-dried, using internal energy to help it would not consume much, and the speed was much faster than using cotton cloth.

Sitting there quietly, Mu Qingyan was very sensitive to the hands that shuttled through his hair. Whenever the hair was slightly pulled, it was as if the apex of his heart had been plucked.

He coughed lightly, and stopped Wen Jixue's movements: "Okay, it's almost done, there's no need to waste your internal energy."

"That's good." Wen Jixue followed the good advice, but picked up the wooden comb again: "The hair is a bit messy, I need to comb it again."

Mu Qingyan seemed to want to say something, but he finally held back and let him do it.