Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 92 Etiquette
The road leading to the distance was overgrown with weeds. The horse's hooves fell and crushed the half-exposed skeleton bones. The insects and ants panicked and fled in a hurry.

Nearly a hundred knights were escorting Gao Changgong on this road.

Even though it is an official road, there are no roadside forests on either side. It is empty and desolate, with only endless shrubs. At this moment, they seem to be withering, turning yellow and sparse. Under the bushes, you can see pairs of shining eyes and drooling from the corners of their mouths.

Looking ahead, there is no one else on the long road.

Gao Changgong rode his horse and gazed into the distance. The scenes he saw along the way made him feel sad.

When they walked up a high slope, a group of people appeared in the distance.

There were dozens of people blocking the road.

They were not bandits. They also rode war horses, wore armor, and had solemn expressions.

There was a man riding on a soldier. The soldier bent over and carried the man on his back, not moving.

Gao Changgong asked the knights to stop and rode his horse forward quickly. Soon, he came in front of the group of people, dismounted, and bowed to greet them.

"Gao Changgong pays his respects to King Gaoyang."

At this moment, King Gaoyang Gao Xi, who was riding on an armored soldier or lying on an armored soldier, stared at Gao Changgong viciously.

"Finally I got to stop you, kid!"

"Because of you, I was beaten with a stick. How do I account for this?!"

"Uncle, you were caned because you had private contact with the Murong family. What does this have to do with me?"

Hearing Gao Changgong's words, Gao Xi roared: "What the fucking black dragon, what the fucking monster, isn't it you who created it?! Do you think you can fool me?"

"You have such a vicious heart, do you want to kill me too?"

"I must discipline you on behalf of my elder brother!!"

Gao Xi lowered his head and looked at the soldier under his crotch, "Come closer! I can't reach him!"

The soldier took a few steps towards Gao Changgong, and Gao Xi raised the whip high and brought it down towards Gao Changgong.

"Snapped!"

Gao Xi widened his eyes in astonishment, and in his eyes he saw Gao Changgong, whose face was filled with anger.

Gao Changgong stood up, grabbed the whip that was coming towards him with one hand, his eyes cold.

Gao Xi was stunned. Over the years, relying on the favor of his second brother, Gao Xi acted tyrannically among the clan members. His favorite thing was to let his second brother cane the rest of the clan members, and he himself also liked to whip these relatives.

Of course, he didn't dare to bully the powerful brothers. He could only bully those who were easy to bully. In his eyes, Gao Changgong had always been the one who was easy to bully.

The eldest brother had passed away long ago, and Gao Changgong's mother was of humble origin, a lower-class Han Chinese, so his brothers were not on good terms with him. So they had no pressure in bullying him.

But now, this kid dares to resist me? ?

"King Gaoyang, I am following the order of His Majesty to go to Sizhou. I hope Your Majesty will not stop me, otherwise, I will not be polite."

"Okay, okay, I want to see how you can be rude. I am your uncle."

Before King Gaoyang could finish his words, Gao Changgong pulled him and caught him off guard, and he was thrown to the ground. The soldier who was carrying him on his back hurried forward to help him, and the people behind him also drew their swords.

The knights on Gao Changgong's side also hurriedly drew their swords, as if they were ready to start killing at the next moment.

"stop!!"

King Gaoyang got up and shouted to stop his subordinates. He looked at Gao Changgong again and said, "You kid, I heard that you were going to take office, so I came here to see you off. How could you hit me?"

"Don't you know etiquette and human ethics?!"

Gao Changgong's eyes jumped. "Isn't uncle the most open-minded? He always says that he doesn't care about Han Chinese etiquette, but now he is talking about Han Chinese things?"

Gao Xi pursed his lips, and finally, he laughed dryly, "Well said, you are worthy of being my nephew. I was just joking with you just now. I was worried that you couldn't control the place. Now it seems that you have grown up, and I am very relieved."

"Everyone, get out of the way and send County Lord Gao off!"

The soldiers looked at each other for a few seconds and slowly made way.

Gao Changgong turned around, mounted his horse, and saluted Gao Xi casually, "Uncle, goodbye."

He led the knights right past him without even a glance.

Gao Xi just watched Gao Changgong leave with a smile on his face. When they left, the smile on Gao Xi's face disappeared and he became extremely ferocious.

"Is this little Hu'er crazy to dare to do this to me?!"

"Laishun!" A soldier hurried to Gao Xi's side, "Your Majesty."

"You should go to Cheng'an now. There are so many dead people gathered there. If something happens, won't I, your son, be implicated? Go and help him."

The soldier was stunned, "Does the king want me to really help him, or..."

"Idiot! Idiot! Come, come, let me help you first, and then you will know how to help."

Seeing Gao Xi pick up the long sword from the side, the soldier hurriedly saluted, "Your Majesty! I know what to do!"

Tian Zili was standing in Nancheng at this moment, bargaining with someone.

"Thirty thousand coins, it can't be any lower."

"No, my house is old and has not been occupied for many years. It is leaking everywhere. It will cost a lot of money to repair it. Just give me a few thousand."

The man standing in front of Tian Zili was in his thirties, well dressed, with a long beard and a sad face.

"No, if I give you a few thousand for such a big house, wouldn't that be considered robbery? Just listen to me and I'll give you thirty thousand!"

"You have been very kind to me. You helped me get back the money that was owed to me over the years. So what if I gave it to you?"

"How can you do that? Besides, it was You Jiao Gong who helped you get the money back. I was just following his orders. If you want to be grateful, you should thank You Jiao Gong."

"I've made note of this."

"Then it's settled, thirty thousand, no bargaining."

Tian Zili said, "I will send someone to deliver the money to you, and then you can give me the key. It's settled."

After Tian Zili finished speaking, he turned around and left.

The merchants hurriedly bowed and saw him off.

The servant at the side stepped forward and said, "This is really strange. This is the first time I've seen someone bargain like this."

The merchant couldn't help but murmur: "This is a good official. If all officials in the world were like this, how great it would be."

Tian Zilie hurried back to the county government office and reported everything to Taozi.

"Brother, I bought two houses in the south and west of the city. One house covers an area of ​​two acres, and the other one cost a total of..."

Taozi said, "Since the money has been given to you, you can use it without reporting it."

"That won't do, brother. No matter what you do, you have to follow the rules."

"I want to buy four houses in the city. People like Chu Jiande can be arranged to live in these places. They will be our own residences in the future. You can't stay in the county government all the time. In addition, I plan to hire some craftsmen, buy some wood and bricks, send them to Zhang Village, build a village wall outside Zhang Village to resist bandits and wild beasts, and store some food."

"I heard that bricks and tiles in Anyang are the cheapest, two cents cheaper than in Cheng'an. I want to send someone to buy some from there."

Liu Taozi nodded slightly.

“I also sent some people to the refugees.”

Tian Zili was about to say something else when he was interrupted by a minor official who suddenly arrived.

"Youjiao Gong, the county magistrate summoned you."

When Liu Taozi rushed to the backyard, everyone had already gathered there. There were seven people in total. Lu Qubing and Changsun Zheng were standing together chatting, while the registrar, the chief recorder, the secretary, the county magistrate and four other clerks were standing together. There was also a chief clerk, who was the strategist who came with the county magistrate, and he was standing alone.

As soon as Liu Taozi arrived, the clerks hurriedly bowed to greet him.

"Mr. You Jiao, thank you for the Polygonatum odoratum you sent me. My father has taken it and is getting better."

The recorder bowed and said this, and the others also greeted him.

"Zhizhi! Come here quickly!!"

County Lieutenant Changsun waved his hands and shouted, and the officials hurriedly made way and dared not surround Taozi anymore. Taozi walked quickly in front of the two of them.

Changsun Jiaye held Taozi's hand and said to Lu Qubing with a smile: "The living Buddha that Taozi found has profound Buddhist teachings. It's a pity that I didn't meet him when my leg was shot by an arrow. Otherwise, if he had chanted sutras, maybe my leg could have been saved."

Lu Qubing hesitated for a moment, still skeptical about this.

As Chang Sun spoke, he suddenly lowered his voice, "Be careful of this county magistrate. That Qian came to me this morning and said some weird things, all the words of a scheming Han villain!"

"Now that the county magistrate has left, there's no guarantee that this guy will attack us."

"This is only in Cheng'an. If it was in Jinyang, I would just pick up a few soldiers and drag them to the streets to fight!"

(End of this chapter)