Dusk is falling.

Zhouxifang in the south of the city, Fangkou.

In a tea shed at Fangkou, there were more than a dozen or twenty soap-clothed hat-winged yacha, and there were about three or four tables of people. There were chains, water and fire sticks on the table, and so on.

And sitting at the middle table is the leader of this gang of yacha, the head catcher of the fast catcher in the third class of yamen - Song Genhai.

Song Genhai is about thirty years old, with thick eyebrows, big eyes, wide forehead, and a big golden knife sitting in the center, and a seven-inch long cowhide sheath horizontal knife is placed on the table, which is very majestic. Song Genhai cherishes this horizontal knife very much, and in addition to sleeping on weekdays, he basically does not leave the knife.

Because this horizontal knife is not only the only knife in their fishing class, but also a status symbol of his head-hunting. Looking at the other officials in the capture class, they are either equipped with water and fire sticks, or ordinary officials such as iron chains and iron rulers.

There was a small stove on his desk, on which was a jug of wine. The other catchers are all drinking tea soup, but as a head catcher, he must be different, and he must drink two sips to enjoy it.

Song Genhai has two hobbies in his life, one is to drink two sips of wine regardless of whether he is on duty or not, and the other is to boast about the origin of his horizontal knife with his subordinates while drinking small wine.

After waiting for his uncle Song Wen to come to Zhouxifang for a while, he had already drunk a pot of wine, and the warm wine opened up in a loud voice, raised the sheathed horizontal knife high again, and said to himself in a thick voice: "Let me tell you, this horizontal knife of a certain family is not the same as the broken knife in the hands of the guys in the Zhuang class. Don't look at the group of people in the Zhuang class who have longbows and straight knives, but compared with this horizontal knife of a certain family, it is a fart! ”

Speaking of this, Song Genhai poured himself a glass of wine, took two sips beautifully, looked around left and right, and asked, "Do you know the origin of this horizontal knife in a certain family?" ”

The officials next to him are all Song Genhai's subordinates, and when they hear Song Genhai mention the origin of this horizontal knife, where will it be unclear? Don't say that you know the roots, you just need to hear the cocoon.

However, because this guy is their head catcher, they have no choice but to sing and harmonize with him.

I saw one of the lean yacha sneering in a very timely manner: "Song Zhutou, hurry up and tell the brothers, how did this horizontal knife come from?" ”

"Hmm, then today's head catcher will let you have a long insight~"

Song Genhai stood up, held a horizontal knife and played a flower in his hand, stepped on a bench and shouted: "That was five years ago, at that time, I was just an ordinary poor person in your family. I remember that at that time, there was a felony in Quanzhou Mansion who absconded to our Qingyuan County. Good fellow, this is not an ordinary felon, but an extremely murderous and dangerous murderer with twenty lives on his back. This guy was full of people in Quanzhou City back then, tsk, it was a sensation in the entire Quanzhou Prefecture at that time! ”

Speaking of this, Song Genhai swallowed and foamed, directly picked up the warm wine jug and poured it into his mouth three times, and only after being addicted to alcohol did he continue: "In order to arrest this fugitive, the Quanzhou Mansion sent hundreds of tolerances and sergeants to our Qingyuan County, and it was also a team personally led by Lord Changshi of the Quanzhou Thorn Mansion. Lord Changshi, how big an official does that have to be? Even if our county magistrate sees it, he has to be called a subordinate official, understand? ”

"Could it be that this fugitive arrived at the boundary of our Qingyuan County, but in the end he was captured alive by Song Zhutou?" At this time, a younger yacha really didn't want to listen to Song Genhai's chatter anymore, and directly accelerated the development of the storyline.

"Yo he~" Song Genhai raised his eyebrows, raised his thumb and praised the smiling Yacha, "You kid is an unpredictable prophet, you actually let you guess the result!" That's right, don't look at the Quanzhou Mansion dispatched hundreds of people, and finally arrived at the boundary of our Qingyuan territory, we have to rely on these tolerances of our locals! In the end, a certain family found the traces of the fugitive while patrolling the streets at night, and secretly followed him, and fought the murderous murderer with his bare hands in an inn for 300 rounds, and captured the thief alive! Hmph, the murderer of the dog day, he actually dared to abscond from us, is it really bullying me Qingyuan has no boy? ”

In the end, he played the horizontal knife in his hand majestically, turned a knife flower, and said proudly: "See? This horizontal knife is a special reward for a certain family when Lord Changshi remembered that we had a meritorious service in capturing thieves! It is said that this horizontal knife is made of quenched steel, hum, at that time, Lord Changshi said to a certain family seriously, Genhai, the so-called sword gift hero, and only you are worthy of this hundred refining sword! ”

"Wow~"

For a while, all the officials present praised one after another: "Song Zhutou is a real hero!" ”

"The sword is given to the hero, and only our Song Zhutou can be worthy of this sword!"

"In the entire Qingyuan County, who dares not to give a thumbs up to our Song Zhutou and praise a good man?"

……

In addition to the praise, a few thin-skinned yacha lowered their heads in shame, and secretly vomited a little disgustingly: "The bullshit treasure knife is matched with the hero, the bullshit captures the murderer with his bare hands, we have followed you for a few years, and I have listened to you blow for a few years...... Damn, your horizontal knife was obviously accidentally left behind by you when the Quanzhou government was evacuating Qingyuan County, okay? ”

However, now that Song Genhai is their top boss, they are afraid that Song Genhai and his uncle Song Wen are the most confidant of the county commander, and no one present will break it!

Song Genhai's boastful words fooled the people of Qingyuan County, and it was okay to deceive businessmen from other places, as for these people who knew the roots, it was really like a drama in life, and it all depended on acting skills. The big guys are all mixed food, just listen to it.

"Ahem, Genhai, are you blowing it here?"

A gloomy voice woke Song Genhai from everyone's praise in an instant, and saw the short and thin Song Wen walking into the tea shed accompanied by the left and right.

"Ah, uncle!"

Song Genhai grabbed the horizontal knife with a smile on his face and stepped forward, bowed down and said, "Hehe, uncle, my nephew has gathered fifteen fast players in the capture class, and I am waiting for my uncle's dispatch!" ”

Don't look at Song Genhai like a big tiger in front of this group of yacha, but in front of Song Wen, he is absolutely docile like a house cat.

Song Wen glanced at the people in the tea shed, and he didn't have a good face, so he sighed, turned around and walked out of the tea shed with his hands behind his back, and said, "Let's go, take your people and follow the official into the workshop!" ”

Song Genhai sighed and waved his hand: "Let's go, follow Lord Cao into the workshop!" ”

Out of the tea shed, Song Genhai did not forget to turn his head and shouted to the shopkeeper of the tea shed: "Shopkeeper, go and sell two catties of wine to a certain family, the slow fire is warm, and a certain family will come back to drink after finishing business!" ”

The shopkeeper of the tea shed wanted to cry without tears when he heard this, and said with a bitter face: "Lord Catcher, the wine money and tea money just now have not yet been settled, and if you let the small one go to sell wine, the small shop will be ruined by you on credit!" ”

"Don't be verbose, this head catcher will lose your wine money and tea money?"

Song Genhai glared at him with a pair of big eyes like copper bells, and shouted like a big tiger: "Go and get a certain family to drink, and when a certain family comes back from running errands for a while, they can't see your warm wine, so they will tear down your broken tea shed!" Don't worry, when a certain family sends a monthly money, it will be settled for you in time. ”

The shopkeeper of the tea shed didn't dare to refuse anymore, and muttered in his heart, you said the same thing last time, but it took three months to settle the shop.

Reluctantly reluctant, the shopkeeper still picked up the empty jar and went to a wine shop diagonally opposite to sell wine.

……

……

In less than half a cup of tea, Song Wen had already led a group of fast catchers to the gate of the small courtyard rented by Cui Geng.

At this time, the winery was still being rebuilt, because Cui Geng had increased his wages, so at this point, the craftsmen were still working in a hurry, just to build the winery as soon as possible.

Watching the coolies in the courtyard moving around, and the craftsmen sawing wood and mud, Song Wen said in his heart, this kid surnamed Cui is quite fast. But, hehe, I'm afraid you're useless.

Immediately, he waved his hand at Song Genhai and signaled: "Genhai, send someone in to make everyone in the courtyard stop, this official has something to say!" ”

When Song Genhai heard this, he immediately sent several capable catchers to go in to obstruct it, and in less than a moment, the movement of the work in the courtyard stopped.

Seeing this, Song Wen curled the corners of his mouth proudly, but put on a businesslike face: "Let the person in charge come out to see the official!" ”

The words are round and round, and the official authority is full!

However, this time Song Genhai didn't have time to send someone in, so Cui Geng led the crowd out of the courtyard as soon as possible.

As if he had foreseen that Song Wen would come, Cui He actually clasped his fists with a smile and said, "Song Hu Cao came so quickly, Cui also estimated that you would not come in a few days." ”

Song Wen was stunned for a moment, then looked up and glanced at him, and snorted: "Cui Erlang, don't you kneel when you see this official?" ”

Kneel?

Kneel on your mother's legs!

Cui Geng's face changed slightly, his knees were as hard as iron, and he said disdainfully: "Where did Song Hucao start with this?" Cui Mou is not your Song Mansion's slave, and the second is not a guilty body, where do you need to worship the official? Also, I have to correct Song Hu Cao Xiaoxiao, you are not an official, don't call yourself indiscriminately, you are just a Cao official! The officials and officials of this dynasty are clearly distinguished, and the officials are also miscellaneous! If I'm not mistaken, Song Hucao is now just a county household Cao Zuo, and the miscellaneous stream has not yet entered the product, where did you get the courage to dare to call yourself an official? ”

"You ......"

Song Wen's face turned red instantly, as if he had been slapped hard by Cui Geng!

Cui Geng is not wrong at all, officials and officials are fundamentally different things, literally, officials, chiefs! Officials, officials who do things! The official is divided into nine grades, and with the rank, he can call himself the official, the official of the imperial court, and it is also called the stream. And the officials are not in the stream, have no quality, and help the officials, so strictly speaking, they are not allowed to claim to be their own officials. It's just that if you don't dig deeper, no one will take it seriously.

Now that Song Wen is being compared to Cui Geng so seriously, in front of many people, he really can't wipe his face.

But fortunately, he didn't forget the purpose of coming today, and immediately changed his mood, pointed to the horizontal plaque hanging on the courtyard door with his hand, and shouted: "Hmph, the old man doesn't take advantage of your tongue!" Since you are so familiar with the laws and regulations of the imperial court, do you know that those who set up a private liquor shop without the permission of the county government can confiscate your family assets and send you to prison in the worst case? Hmph, Cui Erlang, do you know that you have already made a big deal? ”

This is Song Wen's real killer feature!

This is the reason why he is confident that he can get the secret recipe of Mulan Spring Wine.

Counting through the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and then going back to the two Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties, grain has always been the cornerstone of the country. Therefore, each dynasty has strict control over the use of grain to make wine for sale. Especially in the Tang Dynasty, because the Tang people were fierce and the style of wine and martial arts was more prosperous, the imperial court was more strict in controlling the opening of wineries. The koji used to make sake at each brewery is controlled every year. Therefore, without the permission of the government, it is not possible to open a sake brewery to waste grain and make sake.

And Song Wen, the household official, relying on the trust of the county commander Hu Zeyi, can be directly in charge of this stall.

Now Cui Geng dares to hang up the words "Cui's Liquor Workshop", indicating that he has already opened a liquor shop, although he has not yet started to sell, but to punish him for the crime of "openly flouting the laws of the imperial court and opening a liquor shop without the permission of the county government", it is definitely a famous teacher and a lawful sentence.

As for the light treatment or heavy sentence, as long as the pigtail is in Song Wen's hand, he has the final say.

Seeing that Cui Geng didn't reply for a long time, Song Wen bared his teeth and smiled, stepped forward and whispered in Cui Geng's ear: "Fight with me?" Hehe, Cui Erlang, you're still tender! I said, I have a hundred and a thousand ways to get you out of Qingyuan County! Believe it or not, let someone arrest you back now, and let Hu County Ling Shengtang sentence you to five years in prison? ”

At this time, Mao Bo and Chu Jiu beside Cui Geng had been shocked by Song Wen's hand, and Erniang's expression was also shocked, and she shouted: "The surname is Song, are you helping Mei Ji to be cheap. People come to deliberately rectify our Cui family? ”

Song Wen glanced at Erniang, who had been dressed more and more like a country woman recently, and she couldn't arouse any interest at all, but she still replied openly: "It's just deliberately rectifying you, so what?" But ......."

Song Wen whispered in Cui Geng's ear again: "If you know each other, hand over the secret recipe for brewing Mulan Spring Wine, hehe, not only will I not cure your crimes, but I will also give you a sum of money to let you leave Qingyuan County safely." You should weigh it up for yourself. ”

"Hey, your mouth stinks, it's disgusting, stay away from me!"

Cui Geng suddenly pushed Song Wen who leaned over away, and then raised his finger and pointed to the horizontal plaque hanging high on the door of the courtyard behind him, with a breezy appearance, and said: "The surname Song, if your eyes are good, you can go and see who the words 'Cui's Wine Workshop' come from!" ”

"Huh?"

Song Wen was taken aback by Cui Geng's sudden move, then glanced at Song Genhai and asked him to take a look.

Song Genhai stepped forward a few steps, glanced at it carefully several times, turned back with some unnatural expressions on his face, and said, "Uncle, it's good to leave the inscription... It seems to be a county... The name of the prefectural lord! ”

County Cheng?

Dong Yan?

Song Wen was a little unconfident now, and said secretly, why is this Cui Erlang still involved with the surname Dong?

At this time, Cui Geng took out a letter from his arms, unfolded it and handed it over, and said, "Song Wen, who said that I opened a wine shop without the permission of the county government?" This is a document personally issued by the county lord in the name of the county of Qingyuan County, allowing me to open a workshop in Zhouxifang to make wine. Cao Cao, the county yahu, is in charge of the tax and grain collection of the county's merchants, which is true. But you have forgotten that the county is the bureaucrat of a county's order, and all the things of the county are under the control of the county. In other words, when it comes to opening a sake brewery, the county lord can also be in charge! ”

Song Wen's face was like a pig's liver at this time, and he was so angry that he shouted: "You, you actually went to find Dong... Dong Yan? ”

"By the way, I forgot to tell you that Lord County Cheng will take my family's Mulan Spring Wine and leave for Chang'an tonight."

Cui Gengwan smiled, looked at Song Wen with disdain, and said with a smile: "Maybe in less than a month, our family's Mulan Spring Wine will be selected as the royal tribute wine, and our Cui's Liquor Workshop may become Qingyuan County, no, it should be the only royal tribute liquor workshop in the entire Quanzhou Prefecture." If you delay the reconstruction of my winery and delay the output of the imperial tribute wine, this responsibility is not something that you can afford to be a small unruly official! ”

"What?"

"Dong Yan wants to bring Mulan spring wine into Beijing?"

"Imperial tribute wine?"

Song Wen's eyes were dark, and he suddenly felt that the sky was dim, Cui Geng's news was so exciting that he almost closed his breath.

No, the old man must report this matter to Hu County, damn Dong Yan, actually, he secretly colluded with the surname Cui... Let the old man plant such a big heel today! Wait, Cui Erlang, and Dong Yan, this revenge will not be avenged, I Song Wen swear not to be a person!

At this time, Song Genhai saw that Song Wen had not expressed his position for a long time, and seeing that it was getting late, and he estimated that the hot wine in the Fangkou tea shed was going to be cold again, he was quite anxious, and gently urged: "Uncle, this person, can we still catch it?" ”

"Catch? Grab a fart! ”

Song Wen felt that he had no face to continue to stay, so he turned around and left quickly, scolding as he walked: "What are you doing stupidly?" Don't want to bring your people and get out of here? ”

"Oh......" Song Genhai replied innocently, and soon led a group of officials to leave the courtyard of Cui's Distillery.

This book was first published in Reading Books