After a quarter of an hour, two guards came back with the bandit leader, whose arm had been reattached.
"Sir, they said that there is a trading company supporting them. They came from other places to make a living. As for which trading company it is, they don't know. That trading company will send different people to contact them.
In the beginning, they were given some money so that they could eat their fill. Later on, they were told to stop people on the river. When there were more of them, they would start to rob the goods. These goods would be shipped away by boat and they would be given less money than the value of the goods.
Those people said that when there are more of them in the future, they won't have to do this kind of thing anymore. They will find better jobs for them to do. They can earn at least 200 copper coins a day. "
The guard told Zhang Zhong what he had just interrogated.
He didn't know what the guard did just now. The bandit leader's face was pale, but he didn't seem to be injured. Zhang Zhong couldn't figure out which trading company was behind this. Since they hadn't shown up yet, he would wait and solve the problem in front of him first.
"Have you found out where they are staying? Go and arrest them directly. The river can't be chaotic. We still hope that there will be more merchants. These people will be detained at the dock first. When the others are arrested, they will be sent to the yamen of Huayuan County together. "
Zhang Zhong instructed the yamen runners of Sanshui County. To him, the yamen runners of Sanshui County were no different from the yamen runners of Huayuan County. In fact, they were even more useful.
The yamen runners of Sanshui County also thought the same. They felt that they were the yamen runners of the Zhang family. Instead of being angry, they were very happy when the Zhang family asked them to do something. The yamen runners patrolling the river didn't only patrol, but also occasionally helped to transport goods. They didn't need to give the money to others. They just needed to divide it among the yamen runners.
After arranging the arrest, Zhang Zhong found the person who was waiting at the dock and had his goods stolen. The boat was fine, but the goods were stolen.
This person had also teamed up with others to form two fleets. They had set off from the port and were preparing to sell their goods in the capital. After their goods were robbed, everyone discussed and ran to the docks. They told the people at the docks what had happened, and the people at the docks quickly passed the news to the county.
Zhang Zhong's arrival made them feel a little flattered. They didn't expect the county magistrate to come in person. Each of them respectfully told Zhang Zhong about how they were robbed that day and how many things they lost. They didn't expect the county magistrate of Huayuan County to compensate them. They just wanted the county magistrate to catch the robbers and retrieve as many things as possible.
However, Zhang Zhong knew that those things had already been transported away. If he wanted to follow this line, he wouldn't be able to find anything. Nobody knew where the ships that transported the goods had gone. Moreover, many ships looked the same. There were all kinds of goods that were transported to the capital every day.
After thinking for a while, Zhang Zhong said to these merchants, "The goods are gone. The approximate price is 420 strings of coins, right? This money will be paid by the yamen of Huayuan County. In the future, you can rest assured that if you encounter the same thing, the goods will be taken care of by Huayuan County. After all, it happened in Huayuan County. "
"Sir, you are really good." A merchant heard Zhang Zhong's words and knelt there and shouted.
"You don't have to do this. Continue to do business in the future." Zhang Zhong had his own plans. These bandits had more than 200 people, and they could be used to work. He didn't need to give them wages. As long as they didn't starve to death, he would give them whatever they lacked. There would be enough wild vegetables.
It was easy for the yamen runners to catch the bandits who didn't have weapons. He just needed to wait at the docks.
*****
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan received a large sum of money today. It was 80,000 strings of coins. There were silver, copper coins, and some silk. They took out what belonged to them first and put the rest in the warehouse. They sent more people to look after them.
They picked out the best silk and divided it according to the population of Elm Village. Regardless of the size, each person was given ten feet of cloth to make clothes. There were 322 people, so they needed 80,000 and a half silk bolts. 81 bolts were enough.
The silk used as money was not all that accurate. Some of them were even worn out and worm-eaten. After picking and choosing again, he finally found 81 bolts of silk that were of better quality. As for the rest, he would use them when he paid the tax in Huayuan County.
In order to maintain the monetary value of the silk bolts, the imperial court could let the heavily damaged silk bolts continue to have the same purchasing power, which was equivalent to 200 copper coins.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan didn't plan to keep the silk bolts. Usually, when they bought things at home, they would use the silk bolts if they could. They were all large transactions. If they were exchanged with others, not only would they take up space in the warehouse, they would also be worried that they would rot or be eaten by insects.
The two of them packed up, called their family members, and took a car to Elm Village.
After half a day, the two of them arrived at the outskirts of Elm Village. As expected, there were many elm trees. Because of the rain two days ago, some coal had been washed away on the road. The black and yellow color mixed together, making people uncomfortable and very muddy.
"If there's a big fire here, will there be an explosion?" Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan got off the car. Looking at the mud and coal on their feet, they imagined that when the wind blew these coal bolts into the air on a hot day, there would be some sparks. With a bang, the whole village would be gone.
"Impossible. If there was an explosion, so many coal fields would have been blown up into the sky. We just need to walk forward and take a turn to reach the village." Wang Juan wanted to take a good look. She pulled Zhang Xiaobao and walked forward with difficulty.
After turning the corner, he could see from afar that there were many people working there. There were also children running around. When he got closer, he could finally see clearly that the people of Elm Village were repairing the road there. They were pushing carts of sand and stones from who knows where in the village.
When they arrived here and piled up on the road, a few people carried shovels and spread them out. They filled the gaps with sand. Some people found stones and pebbles and repeatedly pressed them there.
The children were in charge of bringing water and towels to wipe the sweat of the adults. The slightly older ones were in charge of sweeping behind with brooms tied with bamboo leaves.
When Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan's car turned the corner, the people in the village finally realized. For the past few days, there would be people driving carts to deliver meat to them every day. It was not easy to preserve meat, so they could only deliver it every day. Today's carts had not arrived yet. They thought that the carts that appeared were for meat delivery.
When the old man saw the carts, he called a few young men to welcome them. When they got closer, he saw that there were actually two children. The people driving the carts had never seen them before, so they were puzzled.
"They are from the Zhang family. Look at the rice seedlings on the cart. They are similar to the ones sent by the Zhang family. It's just that there is one more and the drawing is different." A sharp-eyed person saw the rice seedlings on the cart that belonged to Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan and said to the people beside him.
The few people were relieved. It was fine as long as they were from the Zhang family. The old man took two steps forward with the stick and asked, "Meat delivery?"
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan did not say anything, but a person beside him said to the old man, "It's not meat delivery. It's cloth this time to make clothes for the people in the village. It's time to work, so we need to make two sets of clothes."
"Work? Good, work is good. We are waiting for you to call us. We can't eat your food for free. " When the old man heard that there was work to be done, he said happily. He waved to the people behind him, and those people came forward to help carry the things down.
The road ahead was under construction. Many large gaps in the stones had not been filled, so the carts could not pass through. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan also walked into the village hand in hand. The others helped to carry the things together. A few more villagers ran over.
The old man looked at the two children strenuously walking on such a road and asked the person from the Zhang family who had just spoken, "Who are these two?"
"This is the young master of the Zhang family, and this is the young lady of the Wang family. This time, they are here to play for a while." The person from the Zhang family introduced them to the old man.
"Hey, you can't walk. Go and find some people to bring the frame that is prepared to carry the county magistrate and carry the two little ancestors."
The old man was surprised. The two children who came were of such high status. How could he neglect them? He asked the people to take the things.
"No, no, we can walk by ourselves." Zhang Xiaobao waved his hand there.
"That won't do. We have to carry them all the way. If they bump into something and can't explain it, the villagers will feel guilty." The old man did not give in at all. They had agreed that as long as the county magistrate came, they would carry him all the way and not let his feet touch the ground. Even the children had to do the same.
The old man blocked in front. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan could not play the game of eagle and chicken with the old man, so they had to stand there. After a while, four strong looking young men came, including Dog Tian. The four of them each had a piece of wood as thick as an arm on their shoulders. Two were in the front and two were behind. In the middle of the wood was a big chair with a shed.
"Put it here. One of you go back and tell the cook in the village to take out the dried meat we made in the first two days to cook. Take out everything else that can be eaten. Kill the chicken of Big Cat's family."
The old man pointed on the ground with the stick and called a person who carried a cloth to pass by.
The chair was placed half a foot above the ground. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan went up and sat side by side. The four people stood up steadily at the same time and lifted Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan up.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan were pretending to be children, so they could not say too many words that adults should say. They looked around and let people carry them all the way to the village. When they reached the place where the road was being repaired, the villagers stopped what they were doing and looked at Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan with respectful eyes.
"Everyone continue to work. We will eat together at dinner time. You, come here and call a few people to wait for orders."
The old man there ordered a thirteen or fourteen-year-old child to come over and wait to serve Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
