Jiaozhou, a road in Futu Mountain, surrounded by grass and trees and thorns.

Two coarsely dressed civilians on the road, this coarse civilians at first glance wear or pierce meat, after wearing it for a long time, they will feel that it is the most economical mountain clothing, not only breathable and sweaty, but also wear-resistant, even if it is hooked to thorns, it will not be cut.

Li Men took two breaths: "He Niu, there is really a rattan that the official master wants here? Don't run in vain, there are many poisonous snakes here, what should I do if I get on the road?" Now that I think about it, I really regret following up!"

"Hmph, I heard my grandfather mention it when I was young, but there are a lot of poisonous snakes here, and most people don't come, how could I think of it here, and when I find it, I may get a bounty of a thousand taels and a seven-rank official!"

He Niu has seen the women and children of the whole village rush out and go up the mountain to find the scene of milk plants.

Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth, sped up the law under his feet, and urged: "Door, don't nag, the bounty is down, please visit the kiln" I don't know how many people are scrambling to find it, and they can't delay for a quarter of an hour.

He Niu listened to his grandfather's Futu Mountain, and there were rubber vines in the mountains behind Futu Mountain, and he was deeply impressed by his grandfather's nagging.

It is five or six meters high, and there is a large area in the ditch of the Futu Valley, and as soon as the knife cuts, there is milk flowing out slowly, thick and white, and they all think it is poisonous.

The two of them struggled to climb to their destination, where there was an uphill slope in front of them.

The slope is completely covered with forest, winding into the deep mountains, and on both sides it is densely wooded, and on the forest and rocks, is a brown vine, lush, three feet high, dark brown stem bark, no obvious skin holes, the upper part of the branch is pale green, the lower part is grayish-brown.

He Niu immediately shouted happily: "Li Men, look, see we have arrived!", Li Men pounced, took out a knife and cut the trunk of the tree, the thick white milk flowed out, touched a handful, and immediately was pleasantly surprised: "He Niu, we found the Lord who went back to the county government, if it is true, we will be rich!", He Niu was overjoyed, but frowned again: "We have to cut it now, or it is too late to walk the mountain road at night and it is easy to encounter big insects, and we have to rush to the county." ”

Such scenes were presented in the territory of the King of Chu one after another.

Jiaozhou, Panyu temporary yamen, this is the yamen where the officials sent by the Shaofu are located, this temporary yamen is not big, it is a courtyard, there are two officials in it, one is the thirteenth division of the banner, and the other is the officials of the Shaofu.

Shaofu, originally one of the Nine Qings, was in charge of the imperial handicraft industry and the income of Shanhaidi Ze as the emperor's private mansion, which was transferred to the Ministry of Industry, but now Wang Hongyi re-established it in order to control the industry and economy under his control.

Both men were in their thirties and wore official uniforms with red ornaments.

In particular, the Thirteen Siqi is of medium stature, with a rectangular face, and dark triangular eyes under his eyebrows with gloomy coldness.

There are still a few Fanzi and servants standing in the courtyard, Fanzi with a long knife with a calm face is silent, looking a little forest face outside the yard, lined up in a long line, all of them are common people, holding a large number of plants, full of anxiety and hope.

The young clerk stood, followed by two clerks.

In the middle of the field, there is a large pile of latex plants.

The young government official frowned: "This is not, go down, next!", a man hid his face and left when he heard the voice.

"Next!" shouted the officer.

A lean middle-aged man hurriedly squeezed forward and picked up the milk plant he found: "My lord, see if it's it, Lao Er has found a lot of places, and these legs are about to break!", the young government official raised his hand to stop his words: "This is useless, go down!"

Hearing this, the middle-aged man was stunned for a moment, and left with staggering disappointment.

The servant shouted loudly, "Next!"

From last year to now, hundreds of milk plants have been handed in, but there are very few that can extract gum, and some can be refined, but too few are unqualified.

The milk plant that is common nowadays, the clerk knows at a glance that it is not.

A man hurriedly stepped forward, stood opposite the officer, secretly looked at the standing Fanzi and the servant, and hurriedly stepped forward: "My lord, you see" is this what people are looking for, I spent a lot of effort, my old family went up the mountain to find this all day long, but it is difficult to find, adults can take a good look!", the young government official looked at it: "No, the next one!"

"Next!", the population of the county is not large, but because the reward of the king of Chu is too rich, nearly half of the population of the county has gone up and down the mountain to find milk plants, but now more than half a year has passed, and there are no qualified people.

There were hopeless people who set up stalls not far from the street.

There is also a constant stream of people who hand in the inspection, although this will not last long, because it is a temporary thorn and excitant luxuriance, this time the real rubber vine is found, the bounty is taken, this temporary lushness will disappear, but now it can still be a business.

Seeing that the sun was gradually setting westward, the yamen was about to close.

At this time, He Niu and Li Men rushed up, only to see a few people scattered at the door, all holding milk plants, so they walked to the back of the foot team and looked forward to it slowly.

At this time, "at the stall not far away, someone saw it and said: "Two more are coming." ”

The shopkeeper who was a little inside was half lying on a bamboo chair, closing his eyes and recuperating, and he laughed, "I think it is also the same life as these people in front of me on the street" In the past six months, the county has found a few more, two people who eat soil, and they still want to turn the sky upside down, dreaming, forget it, I don't want to, lest I have a crow's mouth!", "Alas, yes, this is fate!", a moment later, "With a weak shout, He Niu walked forward quickly, and put down the rubber rattan grass that he and Li Men found with his back.

The young officials were a little tired, and they looked at it casually at this time.

I saw this plant, the stem bark was dark brown, the upper part of the branch was light green, the lower part was gray, and suddenly I was stunned, and leaned up, this is a new vine that I have never seen before.

The young government official stepped forward in two steps, picked up the knife, scratched the skin, and the milk slowly flowed out, thick white and white, with a large flow, the young government official's eyes tightened, and he looked up at He Niu: "What's your name?"

"Minhe Niu" Jiaozhou Yunding people!" He Niu bowed his head deeply, paused, and said: "I and Li Men found it at the same time, and we are also from Yunding!", the official turned his head to the deputy: "This is Xinteng, take it down and continue to check!", the deputy responded: "Yes!"

He Niu and Li Men again: "Record your name and household registration, as well as your growth address, and you can go back." ”

It is not a matter of time and a half to check the gelatinity of the new vine.

He Niu and Li Men were a little disappointed and had to retreat.

In the blink of an eye, "in the evening, it rained, a bright flash, thunder fell, and in a blink of an eye darkness returned, only a torrential rain poured down."

There are only three rooms in the temporary yamen, one in the east, the light in the room is very dim, there is a soybean oil lamp on the kang table, and the twist is not high.

The official of this young mansion was surnamed Lu Mingtai, and Lu Tai asked for a plate of beef and a plate of peanuts in a store not far away at this time, and drank alone.

At this moment, "the deputy came in, squinting to see clearly" and leaned to his ear.

"What?", Lu Tai was startled and stood up.

The deputy stood with his back against the windowsill and his hands down, pacing slowly through the room.

"My lord, these two people are just grass people" It doesn't take any effort to kill them, this is a seven-grade official, a thousand taels of gold!" Seeing that Lu Tai hesitated, the deputy whispered.

After a long time, Lu Tai made up his mind and said, "But the king has sent the banners of the thirteen divisions to supervise us. ”

"Pull down the water, the flag is not even an official" on the adult and this flag, the people searched for it to no avail, and "personally went out" to find it for the king of Qin. ”

"Share the burden, although it can't be a seven-grade" But everyone at least has an official body of eight or nine grades, and they are not afraid that this flag will not be moved.

The deputy also has selfish intentions, this time the rattan gum was found, and it was said that the road platform and the flag were meritorious, and "it is possible to reward the first level" could obtain the official status.

But this merit, the deputy will not share much of the profit, if you can kill the good and win the merit, the credit will be great, the two adults are sure to go up, and they can also be promoted.

And this is simply true, the flag is only at the level of a pawn, and there is a general flag on it, and the general flag is in charge of thirty people, and there is only a command level, and they are not officials.

According to the current Chu system, if there is no meritorious service, and there is no meritorious background, the official "must be at least three terms of nine examinations in the good wait, that is, nine years later" can be promoted to the official body.

Nine years, how many nine years are there in life?

This time, even if you report merit, the reward is only from the ninth grade, and it is far from the eighth or seventh grade.

More than ten years of struggle have been saved here.

Lutai is now thirty years old, if you don't seize this opportunity, maybe you can have the ninth grade or the eighth grade before retiring, barely an official family, but you can't restrain your son, so "if your son can't fail the imperial examination, you still have to start from scratch, barely better than your bare hands."

But now, if you kill people and win merit, you can get eight grades, and at the beginning of the establishment of the king, there is a lot of space on it, so that with the qualifications of the first batch of officials who are in office, before retiring at the age of 50, "there will be at least five grades, which can cover a son to become an official."

Lu Tai felt that this was a matter of words, and he couldn't help but shudder, "paced back two steps", and turned around suddenly: "We don't have soldiers in our hands, so we can't kill these two people." The deputy walked to a wax, blew it out in one gulp, and the light in the room immediately dimmed, and said: "There are soldiers in the thirteenth division, you can borrow a knife!"

At this point, I only heard a "crackling" sound, a lightning flash, and the room was instantly white.