Troubled times: Start practicing spiritual practice by taking care of your sister-in-law

Less than a hundred miles out of Tianchuan City, the road became a little difficult to walk on.

The corruption of the Song Dynasty's officials began in the reign of Emperor Ling. In addition, due to the sea voyage, the treasury was not rich, and naturally there was no extra money to maintain the official roads.

For a long time, except for the section of the official road in the capital, which was still intact, the official roads in other states and counties were all in tatters. Now, potholes can be seen everywhere. After several months of spring rain, the official roads were muddy.

Not to mention the bumps, if the wheels accidentally fell into the puddle, the packhorse could not pull it out.

And this situation has happened several times in a row.

Seeing that the wheels fell into the pit again, Chen Mo frowned and got out of the carriage, intending to ride a horse to hurry on.

His horse, Xuelongjun, was old. According to Xia Zhining, he was already seventeen years old, which was already old for a horse.

Therefore, this time when he returned to Xiangyang, Chen Mo did not ride Xuelongjun, but left it in Tianchuan as a "stud horse" to spend his old age.

Chen Mo rode a horse and galloped, leading Xia Zhining, Nalan Yiren, Wu Changlin, Nangong Xian and his personal soldiers to Huaizhou. As a large force, the Yulin Guards were definitely not as fast as Chen Mo and his men, and fell behind.

During the day, they passed through the city and town, and stayed in a hotel at night, without disturbing the county government along the way, and without setting up ceremonial guards.

After seven days, they arrived at the border of Hexi.

When they were in Tianchuan before, many counties in Hexi submitted several memorials, reporting that there were bandits in their jurisdiction, robbing on the roads they had to pass through, not only taking the money of passers-by, but also killing people. Because of their strong mobility and insufficient manpower in the government office, they had no way to deal with these bandits, and requested the court to send troops to suppress them.

Thinking of this, Chen Mo made up his mind. He changed into the clothes of a rich young man, asked Xia Zhining to change into a skirt and sit in the carriage, and then took Sun Meng, Luo Yong and five or six personal soldiers with him. He asked the personal soldiers to change into casual clothes and go ahead, leaving the personal soldiers camp behind.

When they arrived at the place where the bandits mentioned in the book passed by, as expected, dozens of figures rushed out from both sides of the road and surrounded Chen Mo and his group.

Some people even chanted the slogan of robbery in the local dialect: "I opened this road and planted this tree. If you want to pass through here, leave money for the road."

"Boss, it's a woman with white skin. It seems that we have met a fat sheep this time."

"Bang"

A bandit lifted the curtain of the carriage window and saw Xia Zhining inside. Before he could finish his words, Sun Meng, who was pretending to be a servant beside the carriage, took the lead and punched the bandit in the stomach. Suddenly, the bandit flew out like a cannonball and hit a big tree beside the road, vomiting blood and dying.

"King insect."

When the other bandits saw this scene, they were shocked at first, and then furious. The leader of the bandits frowned and shouted: "It's a martial artist. Come together. Leave the woman behind and kill the rest."

After a fierce fight, dozens of bandits who surrounded Chen Mo and his men all fell to the ground, wailing in pain.

Chen Mo and Xia Zhining didn't do anything. Sun Meng, Luo Yong and a few others alone took care of all the dozens of bandits.

These bandits seemed fierce, but in fact they were ordinary people who couldn't survive and wanted to make a living. It's just that they have been doing this business of robbing people for a long time, and they have lost their conscience and gathered together to bully passers-by.

Killing people, raping women, etc.

After the personal soldiers arrived, Chen Mo asked people to hand over these bandits to the local government office, so that the government office could deal with them and ask them to see who should die and who could live.

Seeing that this method was useful, Chen Mo did the same thing in several places where bandits appeared.

If they didn't meet them on the spot, they would go directly to the mountains to suppress them until these bandit gangs were defeated.

During this period, an interesting thing happened.

In order to survive, the leader of a bandit in a certain area confessed that there was a Black Wind Village in Hun County, dozens of miles away, and the head of the village, Black Wind, was a martial arts master.

They said that Heifeng was much more ruthless than us, and he also engaged in robbery and human trafficking.

In Hun County, Heifeng was a local tyrant.

And this news was not reported to the court.

Then Chen Mo asked around and found out that Hun County was located in a remote area. Since the court had weak control over the local area, since the death of the previous county magistrate of Hun County, the county magistrate of Hun County was recommended by local gentry and took office directly without reporting to the court.

And now the gentry of Hun County is said to be in collusion with Heifeng Village, because Heifeng Village never attacked the gentry of Hun County, but some people who offended the gentry disappeared not long after.

In this way, wouldn't Heifeng Village cover the sky with one hand in the local area?

Even if the neighboring counties knew, they would not interfere.

Even if they interfered, the court was originally led by Xu Guozhong and Lu Sheng. Even if they reported it, they would not care. After a long time, they have become numb and even habitual.

Even if Chen Mo is in power now, no one is willing to give it a try.

Hun County was not a must-go place for Chen Mo to return to Linzhou. After learning about this, Chen Mo went to Hun County secretly.

Of course, after Chen Mo arrived, even if he went there secretly, he could not find evidence of collusion between the local gentry and the Black Wind Village.

But Chen Mo did not need evidence.

He just needed to confirm that such a thing happened.

He broke into the mansion of the local gentry Cai family at night, and after forcing Cai Yuanwai to tell him the location of the Black Wind Village, he went to the Black Wind Village alone the next day.

The reason why he didn't bring soldiers was that he was afraid of alerting the bandits in Heifeng Village and scaring them away.

In fact, Chen Mo's worries were not wrong.

When he went up the mountain, he found several sentries and secret sentries. If a large group of people went up the mountain, they would have been discovered long ago.

And even if Chen Mo didn't bring soldiers, he alone would be enough to wipe out these dozens or hundreds of bandits.

It was not even past noon.

Chen Mo grabbed Heifeng and the main leaders of Heifeng Village, went down the mountain, and came to the "downtown area" in Hun County. After explaining their identities, he dealt with them personally, which attracted a round of applause from the surrounding people.

At the same time, the personal guard camp also entered the city, raided the Cai family's house, and publicly tried the Cai family in the city.

After dealing with the Cai family, Chen Mo arranged for someone to temporarily serve as the county magistrate of Hun County until the court arranged officials to come.

The problems reflected in the events of Hun County made Chen Mo understand that it was urgent for officials in vacant county offices in various places to take office.

Later on the road, Chen Mo encountered another incident.

A teenager was being chased and met Chen Mo on the road. Chen Mo asked Sun Meng to rescue the teenager.

Chen Mo asked the teenager why he was being chased.

The teenager saw that Chen Mo was a good person, and after some hesitation, he told him.

It turned out that the bully in the city had set his eyes on his family's paddy field and wanted to exchange his inferior land with him.

His parents naturally refused, so the bully retaliated by breaking his legs and forcing his father to press the fingerprint of the land exchange deed.

The boy was so angry that he wanted to avenge his parents, so he sneaked into the bully's house at night and wanted to kill the bully, but the boy had never killed anyone before. He hesitated at the critical moment. After being noticed by the bully, he panicked and chopped the bully with a knife and ran away.

After such a big disaster, the boy was at a loss, and Liu Da's people were chasing him, so he ran all the way outside until he met Chen Mo.

After listening to this, Chen Mo frowned and said, "Why don't you report it to the authorities? Is there a vacancy in your county's government office?"

The boy said, "I did report it, but the government office said that since we signed the contract, we must abide by the agreement. My father said that he forced his fingerprints, but that dog-dog official asked us to produce evidence. Moreover, Liu Da did not admit that my parents had their legs broken by him. The villagers who saw my parents' legs broken before did not dare to testify against Liu Da, and the government office did not investigate. The government office does not care, so I am like this."

As he spoke, the boy began to cry, feeling very wronged.

After all, he was just a thirteen-year-old child.

The Liu Da in the boy's mouth was the bully.

Chen Mo frowned, "Did you kill Liu Da with that knife?"

"Probably not. I just cut his arm, and the kitchen knife was not sharp." The boy said.

"That's it." Chen Mo's face changed.

The boy asked, "What happened?"

"You injured Liu Da, and you ran away. Do you think he will take revenge on your parents?" Chen Mo said.

The boy never considered the consequences of his actions, and he did it with a rush. At this moment, after Chen Mo said this, the boy was like being struck by a bolt from the blue.

After being stunned for a while, the boy raised his hand to wipe the corner of his eyes, and ran towards home in a panic. He fell to the ground with a plop after just a few steps.

But the boy seemed not to feel any pain, and got up and continued to run.

Chen Mo caught up with him on horseback, pulled him in front of him, and asked, "Where is your home? Point me in a direction, and I'll take you there."

...

Not long after, Jiyin County.

Laoshan Village, the boy's home.

Fortunately, Liu Da did not kill the boy's parents, but he did not let them go.

Originally, the boy's parents only had one leg broken by Liu Da, but now, both legs were broken.

Liu Da also brought his lackeys to stand outside the boy's home to show his authority, and threatened the villagers who came around, saying that anyone who dared to offend him would end up like this.

When the villagers saw this scene, although they felt sorry and sympathized, no one dared to come forward to intervene.

Until Chen Mo rode over with the boy.

"You little bastard dare to come back, oh, and bring helpers?" As he said, Liu Da looked at Chen Mo on the horse, and did not rush to take action, but said: "Friend, this matter has nothing to do with you, don't meddle in other people's business."

"But I have to meddle in this business?" Chen Mo sneered.

"Then I'll offend you. Go, catch that little bastard, and I'll cut his arm." Liu Da only said that kindly because he saw Chen Mo riding a horse and wearing extraordinary clothes. It can be seen that Chen Mo wanted to intervene, so he was not polite.

"Bang, bang, bang"

In just a few blinks of an eye, Liu Da and the few lackeys around him were knocked to the ground by Chen Mo in a few strokes, looking very relaxed and leisurely.

The people watching nearby were shocked.

"I'm going to kill you." After seeing that his parents' other leg was also broken, the boy rushed to Liu Da like crazy, but was stopped by Chen Mo.

"Let me go, I'm going to kill him, kill him, woo woo." The boy cried and yelled, thinking that he had harmed his parents.

"Don't worry, I will give you an explanation for this matter." Chen Mo said.

"What are you going to do?" Chen Mo saved him and helped him beat Liu Da this time, so the boy trusted Chen Mo very much and gradually calmed down, but his eyes were still red and staring at Liu Da.

"Go to the government office and beat the drum to complain." Chen Mo said.

The boy: "..."

The people watching: "..."

Seeing Chen Mo's serious look, the young man said, "The government office won't care."

But Liu Da, who was knocked to the ground by Chen Mo, breathed a sigh of relief.

Liu Da knew exactly what the government office was like now.

Liu Zhubo of the government office was somewhat related to his family.

Liu Zhubo told him that the county magistrate and adults of Jiyin County were sent by Chong Wangfu and were considered Chong Wang's people.

After Chong Wang was knocked down by Wei Wang, He Da had been worried about being liquidated.

As the saying goes, a new emperor appoints new ministers. Even if there is no liquidation, He Da may not be able to be the county magistrate of Jiyin County.

So from that moment on, He Da gradually stopped caring about things. As long as no one died, he would turn a blind eye to what happened in the jurisdiction, so the affairs of the government office gradually fell into the hands of the county lieutenant and the chief clerk.

"If it comes to the government office, I will make him pay for it." Liu Da looked at Chen Mo with a hint of viciousness in his eyes.

"Don't worry, the government will take care of it." Chen Mo's eyes flickered.

...

The backyard of Jiyin County Government Office.

In the yard, there is a peach tree.

The peach tree is full of peach blossoms, but after April, they have gradually begun to fall and wither.

He County Magistrate sat under the peach tree holding a sage book, reading with relish.

He County Magistrate is nearly 70 years old, an old man with poor cultivation talent. He is only the seventh rank now. It is estimated that he will not be able to step into the middle rank before his death, but he does not force it and sees it.

In fact, the relationship between He County Magistrate and King Chong is not deep.

Although Jiyin County is not in Chongzhou, it also belongs to the influence of King Chong.

And He County Magistrate has a dream of becoming an official, so he paid money to bribe a person who can speak in the Chongwang Mansion and became the county magistrate of Jiyin County. This time, it has been more than ten years. Although there is no hope of promotion, he is also satisfied.

But what he did not expect was that King Chong actually fell.

In the final analysis, he was an official in the Chongwang Mansion, so he was naturally regarded as being in the same group with Chongwang.

He might be liquidated by the King of Wei at any time, and at the least he would lose his official hat, or at the worst his life.

So, he simply gave up, whatever he wanted, since he couldn't be an official anyway, why should he care about the affairs of this county, it had nothing to do with him.

In fact, he thought about running away.

But he was old and would not live long, so he was too lazy to bother.

Secondly, if the King of Wei really pursued him, he would have nowhere to run in this big world, so he might as well stay in Jiyin County and wait for his fate to come.