At night, in a city in Yuanling County, a group of sect warriors from Nan County were living in a big family's home.

"Thank you so hard, brothers."

The head of this family specially held a celebration banquet for these sect warriors. He sat in the main seat, picked up a wine glass to toast these people, and then said, "In just three days, you have dug all the railway tracks around Guyang City. This is really ineffective."

"Haha, the master of the Tao family is polite."

A warrior laughed and took over the conversation, saying, "We have dispatched thirty people in Cangyuan Sect this time, and there are seven warriors in the Youzhao Realm. If you smash him and break the rails, you can still get it right."

"Yes, yes, Brother Wu is right, it's the elder brother who underestimates the brothers."

The head of the Tao family quickly apologized. He first punished himself with a glass of money, and then said, "It's really thanks to my brother this time. Otherwise, we would have smashed the cotton cloth that we had accumulated for half a year."

Speaking of this, the head of the Tao family said a little hatefully: "This is Mo Zizai. It's all right to cut off the roots of our aristocratic family. He also made these strange things and ran over our regular businessmen, which would not give us any way to live."

"There are those untouchables. The court just gave them a little favor and immediately turned to the court. Not only did they separate the land of my Tao family, but they also wanted to be on an equal footing with my Tao family. They were simply ignorant of life and death!"

"That's right."

Wu Liang, the senior brother of Cangyuan Sect, slapped the table hard, and then said, "Mo Zizai did things against the enemy. Not only did he kill ministers, but he also killed the aristocratic families, but even our sects did not let us go. He didn't care about us at all."

"I heard that he had made some new policies and wanted to make those mud legs turn over. I wanted to see what he would do to resist the army this time. Would he take those mud legs? Haha"

"He can't count on those mud legs."

The head of the Tao family couldn't help but laugh sarcastically when he heard this, "Those mud legs will only support the winners, and they also want to win the hearts of the people with a little favor. He is still too tender."

Speaking of this, the head of the Tao family grabbed the wine glass with some confusion, poured himself a few big mouthfuls, and then said viciously: "When the court is defeated, I will definitely cut down all the untouchables who took my land."

"I dare to divide the fields of my Tao family. I want them to know who has the final say in this Great Zhou!"

"Yes, yes."

When the group of people from Cangyuan Sect heard the head of the Tao family be angry, they also echoed, "I shouldn't have given those mud legs a good look. As long as I kill a group of them, they will naturally know that they are afraid."

With the idea of ​​both sides, the meal was filled with guests and guests. After the banquet ended, Tao Yuran, the head of the Tao family who was slightly drunk, shook his body back to the study room. In the study room, his housekeeper had been waiting for a long time.

Tao Yuran picked up the sobering soup prepared by the butler, drank it, closed his eyes and rested for a while. When his consciousness gradually became clear, he opened his eyes and asked, "How is the cotton cloth business?"

“Business is good.”

The butler said with a little excited feeling: "Now that the track is broken, the steam train cannot enter, and each company is starting to lack coal."

"Now those poor people have no coal and cannot buy firewood, so they can only buy more cotton cloth from us to keep warm."

Originally, the coal in each store was not too small, but now winter is almost over, and the coal in each store has been almost consumed. Now that the railway tracks are broken, they suddenly have no heating.

But the problem is that spring is not here yet, and the weather at night can still freeze people to death, so those who have no things to keep warm can only buy some cotton cloth and sew more sets of bedding.

"Hmph, a slut."

Tao Yuran snorted coldly and cursed: "I asked them to buy them when they lowered the price, but now there is no coal. I know I'm anxious. I double the price of cotton cloth for me. I want them to know the price of not buying it at the beginning."

“Double?”

The housekeeper hesitated slightly, and he said hesitantly: "Master, our cotton cloth price is already several cents more expensive than in previous years. Now I'm still asking, isn't it a bit too high?"

"High? Not high at all!"

Tao Yuran glanced at the butler, and then said coldly: "This year, the weather is a bit cold, and the railway tracks have been completely destroyed. It is definitely not well laid in less than a month or two."

"So, no matter how high the price we raise, they have to buy it. If they don't buy it, they all have to freeze it to death!"

"The master is wise."

Listening to Tao Yuran's decisive words, the housekeeper quickly flattered and said, "I will inform each shop to raise prices early tomorrow morning. If the situation is good, let's continue to increase."

"This is right."

Tao Yuran nodded in praise, and then continued to ask: "What is the purpose of letting me go there today?"

During the day today, the county magistrate sent someone to ask him to discuss matters. If it were normal, Tao Yuran would have rushed over without saying a word.

But this is not the case at this time. The millions of troops of the aristocratic family are waiting for the battle. Once the troops are used, the court will undoubtedly be defeated. Therefore, the court has no time to take care of himself now and will not have time to deal with him. Naturally, he is too lazy to be silly with the new county magistrate and directly sent the steward, and he did not show up at all.

"Go back to the master, some special envoys came from the capital."

When the housekeeper talked about this, he felt a little nervous, "Those people seem to be coming for... those people."

When the butler said that the pause was about to point the direction of the yard, it meant that the people from the sects who had just drunk alcohol in the yard.

"For those people from the sect?"

Tao Yuran couldn't help but look a little solemn when he heard the butler say solemnly. He looked at the butler and asked, "Did you say something missed?"

"Don't worry, sir, I'm not the kind of person who doesn't know the importance of it."

Seeing that Tao Yuran was a little suspicious of himself, the housekeeper quickly promised: "They basically didn't interrogate me in the county government, so I didn't say anything, let alone about those people."

"That's good."

Tao Yuran nodded after hearing this and said, "There are all our people in the village. As long as you don't say it, they will definitely not be able to find out here."

"By the way, those who are guarding the city gate, please send some more money in the past two days and tell them not to let them talk nonsense."

"Master, this matter is probably a bit difficult."

The butler said with a hint of embarrassment: "Although the people from the capital did not interrogate, they offered very generous conditions."

"They said that as long as someone can provide useful clues, they will be rewarded with one hundred taels of silver. If someone is caught based on this clue, then if one person is caught, the person will be provided with a clue of one thousand taels of silver."

"If you catch it directly and send it to the county government, you will be offered a price of 2,000 taels to each person. If your strength exceeds the Ningyuan Realm, it is said that you will also give additional money."

"Although those guards of the city gate were originally from our family, they are now separated and we can still control them in a short period of time. If it takes a long time, I am worried that someone will report it."

"Two thousand taels per person?"

Tao Yuran heard the price of the reward and moved slightly. He stared at the butler and asked, "Are you sure they will really give it?"

"I'll give this one."

The housekeeper thought for a while, and then answered: "When I went to the county government today, those people from the capital went directly to the money house to exchange 100,000 taels of silver, and placed it in the county government government, saying that as long as I gave clues, I could cash it immediately after verification."

"Moreover, above their documents, there are also seals from the county magistrate. Logically speaking, they will definitely not break their promises."

"Two thousand taels, two thousand taels..."

Tao Yuran pondered in his heart for a long time. Now that the railway tracks have been damaged, the people in these sects are basically useless except wasting his food.

Rather than that, it would be better to sell them all. There are thirty people from the Cangyuan Sect. If there is no one, no one will be 2,000 taels, no, even if it is calculated at 1,000 taels per person, those thirty people will be 30 taels of silver.

Although this money is not too much for the Tao family, the money doesn't have to be paid at all, and it's simply a waste of time.

Thinking of this, Tao Yuran was instantly moved, but he did not act rashly, but instead reminded the housekeeper: "Tomorrow you tell them that this place is not safe, take them to another village."

"Remember, you must go quietly, and don't let people discover it, do you know if it is?"

"I understand, lord."

The housekeeper nodded and asked in confusion: "Master, you want to..."

"Don't worry."

Tao Yuran shook his head and did not say much, but went to rest directly.

Early the next morning, Tao Yuran came to the county government alone.

"I have met the county master Tao Yuran."

After Tao Yuran bowed to the county magistrate, he said apologetically: "I felt a little uncomfortable yesterday, so I was unable to come to see the county magistrate in person. I am so sorry."

"So, I have improved a little today and immediately rushed to apologize to the county master. I hope the county master can forgive me."

"Yeah?"

This county magistrate was promoted directly from the Jinshi by Yang Weishang. He had not been in the officialdom much, so he did not have the kind of official sleekness. He looked at Tao Yuran, who was full of energy and knew that he was just pretending to be sick.

He knew even more about his willingness to summon Tao Yuran, so he replied in a bad tone: "It seems that the head of the Tao family is still in good health."

"It's okay, it's okay."

Tao Yuran smiled awkwardly. What he hated the most was that no matter what he did, he would not show mercy to others. Like the previous county magistrate, no matter how dissatisfied he was in his heart, he still looked kind on the surface.

It’s not like this young boy, who can just expose your true feelings without saying a word, and you don’t have any face left for you. You often get rid of others and can’t get rid of them.

Logically speaking, such a person who is not a worldly person is generally stupid, and he can be fooled by just using some means.

But this county magistrate was born as a Jinshi. Not only was he not stupid, but he was so smart that he was dying. Many times, you didn’t have to talk at all, and he could guess your intentions.

It’s like this man doesn’t understand the worldly ways, but he knows everything, but he’s too lazy to do this and disdain to be with the world. This makes Tao Yuran, who has been in the world for a lifetime, feel disliked no matter how he looks at him.

"The envoys from the court are in the back yard, you can go find them yourself."

The county magistrate did not greet Tao Yuran at all, and just said sternly, "I have something to do, I don't have time to chat with you, please give me your own advice."

Tao Yuran's expression froze when he heard the county magistrate's words straight to the point. However, he had long been accustomed to the county magistrate's speech style that was not merciless, so he laughed awkwardly and said, "Since that's the case, I will say goodbye first."

"idiot."

After Tao Yuran walked away, the county magistrate narrowed his eyes and looked at his back, cursing in his heart, "It's really a way to die when he's rushing his neck to the bottom of someone else's knife."

However, the county magistrate was happy about this matter, so he had no intention of reminding Tao Yuran. After all, under his rule, these aristocratic families did nothing good except to make trouble with him.

It’s just that he was limited to laws and could not attack them, so he kept letting them exist. Now that there are people from the court who come to deal with them, he is too happy to be too late, so he naturally won’t care about their life or death.
To be continued...