After counting the accounts, Chen Zikun was dumbfounded, there was still some stock of guns and ammunition, there was not much grain and cash left, he brought 200,000 oceans from Beijing, and there was still a monthly coal income and the income of Shanghai at night, all of which were spent completely.

"Where the fuck did all this money go?" Chan slammed the ledger to the ground.

Zhao Yufeng is a person with a criminal record, he once resold military rations during the Zhiwan War, Chen Zikun knows him well, and he has no doubts.

"Dashuai, wronged, although I am greedy for money, at most I can get 100 yuan of pocket money, I don't dare to be greedy for such a huge amount of military funds, the recent expenses are a bit bigger, and let me calculate it for you slowly." Zhao Yufeng fell to his knees with a thud, crying.

Chen Zikun also knew that Zhao Yufeng was not so bold, and settled down to listen to his explanation, it turned out that the recent expenses were large, and the provincial army had a fierce battle, although the casualties were not large, there were as many as 100 people, and it cost money to settle the wounded and compensate the dead, and it also cost money to replenish ammunition and equipment and military uniforms, and the two regiments of men and horses were in Jiangwan Tuntian, and the initial investment was also quite huge, and it took hundreds of thousands of dollars to go down, and that bit of family foundation had already been ruined.

Yan Su said: "Our family has a thin foundation, and the expenses are indeed a bit larger these days, just buying poppy seeds costs a huge amount of money, and this money is not spent." ”

Chen Zikun also sighed: "I can't make ends meet......"

Although he has opened several mines for mining white coal, and the reserves are also considerable, the mining relies entirely on manpower, the output is limited, and it is limited by the transportation capacity, and the coal cannot be transported, and at most more than 10,000 yuan per month can be imported, which is not a drop in the bucket.

As for night Shanghai, not to mention, that little income is okay to subsidize the family, and it is a joke to use it to march and fight.

Yan Su said: "Otherwise...... Harvest the land. ”

Chen Zikun shook his head and said: "No, I promised the people that they would be exempted from land levy, and they must not change the order overnight." ”

Yan Su spread his hands: "That battle must be fought after all, the protector makes you have to find a way to come out." ”

Chen Zikun paced back and forth in the official room, and finally said after thinking for a long time: "Yes, eat big, take Xia Dalong to open the knife, this pig has been raised for so long, it should be slaughtered." ”

Yan Su said: "Didn't you promise Gong Zijun not to kill his father-in-law?" ”

Chen Zikun said: "The death penalty can be avoided, the living crime is inescapable, the old thing has been against me many times, I haven't settled accounts with him yet, this time he has to be punished for bankrupting his family." ”

……

The Xia family's mansion, the glory and wealth of the past were blown away by the rain and wind, last year a fire burned down almost half of the house, and it has not been repaired until now, the Xia family is finished, the bodyguards of the courtyard are scattered, the courtyard is cold, the car and horses are sparse, and the biological daughter and the son of the rival are far away, leaving only one braincase that has been bulleted, and Qiu Fuzhao, who has been demented, sits in the yard all day long, drooling and stupid.

Under the eaves, the old man Xia sat in a wheelchair, with a blanket on his knees, and there were still two iron galls in his right hand, but they were very hard to turn, and the iron galls fell to the ground and rolled out, at this time, Qiu Fuzhao would run over and pick up the iron galls and send them over, which was also Xia Dalong's only fun.

Suddenly, a group of people broke into the door, and many of them were familiar faces, who used to be like pugs in front of Xia Dalong, but now they are showing off their might.

Xia Dalong's eyes narrowed slightly, like an old lion who was pretending to sleep, although he was old, Yu Wei was still there, and no one dared to touch him.

"Are you finally going to attack the old man?" Xia Dalong sneered, "When you go under the knife, you are sharp, and the old man doesn't want to toss." ”

A small leader said: "Master Xia can't help it, someone sued you, we came to invite you with the order from above, don't be like us." ”

After speaking, with a wave of his hand, the two Tuanding came up to fight Xia Dalong, but Qiu Fuzhao pounced on him, said something inarticulately, and pushed the Tuanding aside, and the Tuanding were furious, beat him violently, and still took Xia Dalong away.

After Xia Dalong was arrested, Chen Zikun's guards raided Xia's house, searched through boxes and cabinets, and even smashed the sandwich wall, and found very little, only a few hundred oceans, more than a dozen copper coins, some tin porcelain, calligraphy and paintings, and the legendary Xia family, which had a lot of money, turned out to be just an empty shell.

It's no wonder that after Xia Dalong had a stroke, his aunts and wives ran away with a soft roll, and spent some money when they dismissed the bodyguards to protect the hospital, but there was no cash money, but there were still some land deeds, and the Xia family had taken more than 3,000 acres of fertile land over the years, of which there were as many as 150 acres of watered land alone!

The guards took the title deed and happily returned to Chen Zikun.

In the prison of the outer courtyard of the county government, an old man who was paralyzed was left in a dark cell covered with rotten straw and no one cared about him, and Xia Dalong, who had been beautiful for most of his life, finally understood that his death was approaching.

But Chen Zikun did not execute him quietly, because it was illegal to do so, and he wanted to put Xia Dalong on trial.

The plaintiff is easy to find, Chen Shou, the lieutenant colonel of the first regiment, is ready-made, when the Chen family and the Xia family clashed, Xia Dalong bullied people and destroyed the Chen family's family, but the evidence is ironclad.

As soon as the matter of Chen Shou's complaint against Xia Dalong spread, the whole county was boiling, Xia Dalong had accumulated a lot of enemies for many years, the wall fell down and everyone pushed it, and the county government's drums of grievances were about to be broken.

"County magistrate, Xia Dalong and you have a grudge against killing your father, and it's time for you to take revenge." Chen Zikun said to Liu Youjin.

Liu Youjin was a little embarrassed: "You can't declare a personal vendetta." ”

Where did Chen Zikun allow him to resign, he insisted on pushing him to the court, fortunately, the county magistrate Liu is very knowledgeable, the head of the law is the way, and he has a very good way of interrogating prisoners, but Xia Dalong does not eat hard and soft, and does not admit those cases at all, he has no scruples about his life, and Liu Youjin is not good at torture a dying old man, so he has to end it hastily.

Chen Zikun was in a hurry, there was news from the provincial capital that since the second division of the provincial army left Maicheng last time, Sun Kaiqin went crazy to buy arms, recruit troops and horses, and he sent people to Henan, Shandong, Anhui and other places to recruit 20,000 young and strong, formed two divisions and a mixed brigade of new troops, and bought tens of thousands of Mauser rifles.

At present, the enemy's opium sales channels have been cut off again, and it is difficult to make ends meet, and the fertile land has been planted with opium poppies, causing the grain prices in Jiangbei to soar, and the common people are already complaining.

That night, Chen Zikun brought a person to the cell, and the old-eyed Xia Dalong did not recognize that the man in front of him was the son of Zeng County's order, and thought it was the jailer who came to deliver food, and said: "Put the meal down and get out." ”

Zeng Jiao said with a slight mockery: "Uncle Xia, you noble people are so forgetful, don't you remember who I am?" ”

Xia Dalong looked at it for a long time and shook his head: "I don't remember." ”

Zeng Jiao said: "On the night of August 15 of the previous year, I went to the house to greet your old man, and you forgot about it?" ”

Xia Dalong raised his head: "It turned out to be you, who are you?" Why kill me. ”

Zeng Jiao said: "I am the mixed river dragon." ”

Xia Dalong was still puzzled: "I have no grudges with you in the past and no enmity in the near future, why are you struggling with each other?" ”

Zeng Jiao said: "I think Uncle Xia really forgot, I used to play with Jing Xi when I was a child, and you joked that you wanted to marry Jing Xi to me, but I also forgot?" ”

Xia Dalong's body was shocked, his pupils contracted, and he finally realized that it was Zeng County's son who was standing in front of him, but how could a polite young man in the past become a fierce water bandit, he couldn't figure it out.

Zeng Jiao approached his face, lowered his voice and said viciously: "Do you think of it, the blood is deep, I haven't forgotten it for a moment, because my father trusts you so much and promotes you, but you will take revenge and kill my whole family, this account will be settled with you sooner or later." ”

Xia Dalong was stunned, and then sat in the corner with tears in his eyes: "Retribution, retribution." ”

Chen Zikun knew that Xia Dalong's psychological defense had collapsed, so he pulled Zeng Jiao away.

"My lord, let me kill him, I have entered the city several times to kill him, but this old thief has escaped." Zeng Jiao's hatred has not disappeared, he is a water bandit, he can't pounce on the shore, and he has tried to assassinate Xia Dalong several times, but he has failed.

Chen Zikun said: "You are not the only one who has a grudge, and it will be a pleasure to punish the old thief another day, and then let you be executed." ”

Zeng Jiao thought so.

Chen Zikun said again: "At the beginning, Xia Dalong forced the county order to be full of men, it was said that it was for treasure, but I don't know if I succeeded. ”

Zeng Jiao was stunned and said: "My father is a clean official, and his sleeves are spotless, so how can he say that he has treasures." ”

Chen Zikun smiled: "I also said it by hearsay. ”

……

The next day, Xia Dalong was tried again, perhaps out of guilt for his old superior, Zeng County, or because he believed in the theory of karmic retribution, Xia Dalong poured beans into a bamboo tube and entertained all the crimes he had committed, from bullying men and women during the Guangxu period, to forcing the county order family to death in the early years of the Republic of China, and then to forcibly seizing and robbing, relying on power to kill innocent people, colluding with bandits to poison the people, and even poisoning his own concubine.

Liu Youjin immediately announced the verdict, Xia Dalong's crime was unforgivable, his family property was confiscated, and he was immediately decided.

The people were jubilant, in fact, there were not many bitter lords present, most of them were watching the excitement and coaxing, surrounded by everyone, Xia Dalong was tied up and beheaded outside the south gate, everything was in accordance with the rules of the former Qing Dynasty, and the head was cut off with a ghost head knife, this is a rare scene, the people of the county poured out of the nest, surrounded by layers of layers, and happily watched the skull.

The security regiment pressed the order, and used a stick to make a ten-zhang square open space, Xia Dalong knelt in the middle, a gust of wind blew, the white beard fluttered, and the faint old eyes looked around, everywhere were numb smiles and impatient eyes, these poor sticks, anxiously waiting to see the head cut.

The county magistrate Liu Youjin was in charge of the beheading, he walked up to Xia Dalong unhurriedly, bowed his head and said, "Master Xia, I'm sorry." ”

Xia Dalong said lightly: "It has nothing to do with you, I can't live if I do my own sin." ”

Liu Youjin said: "Let me ask you something, when you copied the county government's house, did you ever find the treasure of the county order?" ”

Xia Dalong opened his slitted eyes, looked at Liu Youjin, and smiled disdainfully: "County magistrate, county magistrate, I didn't expect you to be such a person." ”

Liu Youjin said: "Master Xia, you don't have much time, you might as well make a deal with me, you tell me the whereabouts of the treasure, and I will help you take care of Ling Yan, you know, these bitter masters are not very happy that they haven't turned over the money in your house." ”

Xia Dalong hesitated for a moment and said: "The back house has been rummaged through, and there is nothing, only the well has not been found...... Seeing the manifestation of the Zeng County Order...... Retribution. ”

A cloudy old tear flowed from his eyes.

Liu Youjin suddenly realized and said, "Thank you, I will take care of Miss Xia and never let her be bullied." Then he got up, picked up the arrow, and said, "The hour has come, and the execution will be carried out." ”