Gou Zai Xianwu Wenjing Search for Opportunities

The Xu family.

Lin Yuan and Master Xu discussed the principles of mathematical classics in the study. After several months of discussion, they decided not to pursue the establishment of a new school of thought, but to innovate on the basis of their predecessors.

Today is the winter solstice. Xu Shan returned to his hometown to visit his parents and had the opportunity to discuss things with them. He fully supports his father's annotations.

If the Xu family had a family heirloom, even if it was just mathematics, it would be enough for them to establish themselves in Linyuan County. At the very least, their descendants would be guaranteed to become the chief officials of the six departments of the county government.

If one can go further, there is hope that one can be evaluated as a scholar and registered as a citizen, becoming a ninth-rank official.

Xu Shan had been studying arithmetic since elementary school and was naturally proficient in it, but he didn't delve into it. Therefore, he was not as theoretically advanced as the two of them. After listening for a short while, he couldn't quite digest the information and had to grind ink and hand paper to them.

After discussing the matter for the morning, Master Xu finally decided, "Let's resolve the difficult issues concerning the Six Ministries!"

Lin Yuan also thought this was a good idea. He didn't seek to surpass his predecessors, but only to make some achievements in his own little corner of the world.

"It's already noon, let's have some dumplings for the Winter Solstice!" Xu Shan reminded him.

Lin Yuan ate lunch at the Xu family's house. It was unusual for them to have meat dishes, such as pork and dried vegetable dumplings, along with some side dishes.

The three of them were in good spirits and chatted freely, eventually talking about Zhang Dengyun.

Xu Shan said, "A few days ago, Zhang Dengyun, the clerk in charge of the granary, was tricked and killed. Now he has retired to his hometown."

"Why didn't the granary official speak up for him?" Master Xu asked.

The position of Cangcao Yuan is equivalent to that of the director, while the position of Shuzuo is similar to that of the director's chief secretary; the two are essentially one entity.

"If he hadn't said anything, Zhang Dengyun would have been in jail. With grain prices rising so much these days, their granary officials wanted to make some money by reselling old grain, but..." Xu Shan chuckled.

Master Xu said nonchalantly, "They've been doing this every year for so many years. Did they finally get caught this year?"

"It's strange, we only have leverage over Zhang Dengyun," Xu Shan said, somewhat puzzled.

"Only sue him?" Master Xu put down his chopsticks, pondered for a moment, "Then he has offended someone! Do you know who he has offended?"

Xu Shan shook his head and said, "How would I know who it is?"

"Being able to retire and return to my hometown is a way of saving my life." Master Xu knew that the county government was not as easy to navigate as he had imagined.

"No way? That person wants to kill him?" Xu Shan exclaimed in surprise.

"Even the warehouse clerk couldn't protect him; he must have offended someone who is not simple."

Lin Yuan ate his dumplings and listened silently for a while. He suspected that it might have been the work of the masked man's organization. After all, Old Master Zhang had just been poisoned, and not long after, his second son was investigated. There was something fishy about it.

However, their methods were too secretive; it seemed they intentionally didn't want outsiders to know their purpose.

I have no idea what Zhang Dengfeng did to offend them like this.

in the afternoon.

Lin Yuan and the other two were drafting the detailed outline of the book when Zhao Sheng suddenly ran over to find them.

"Uncle, something good has happened! Come quick!"

"What's up? I'm busy right now."

"It's a good thing, a profitable business. My uncle told me to call you."

"What is it?" Lin Yuan asked, hearing that it was Li Shi who had mentioned it. It was a profitable deal, so how could he refuse? But out of caution, he still asked for the reason.

He spends money like water these days, and only has fifty or sixty taels of silver left. He can't hold on for long, so he's naturally happy to earn some extra money.

"I'll find Senior Brother Hu later and we'll discuss this in detail," Zhao Sheng said.

Lin Yuan immediately gave Xu Fuzi a brief outline of tasks, took on the work to do that night, and asked for leave to go out with Zhao Sheng.

The two of them went together to the Hu family to look for Hu Cai.

Zhao Sheng then explained, "The pavilion is recruiting martial artists to wipe out the bandits on Yuanhu Lake. Each of us martial artists below the late stage of Body Tempering will receive a reward of twenty taels of silver."

"This is great! I'm just about to try this boxing technique!" Hu Cai immediately perked up.

"Suppressing bandits?" Lin Yuan asked with some worry. "I'm only at the early stage of Body Tempering. What if I end up killing them instead?"

Firstly, the money is too little; secondly, you have to be alive to earn money before you can even think about spending it.

"Uncle broke through! That's wonderful!" Zhao Sheng congratulated him, but said casually.

"I've been there twice before, even though I don't know martial arts. This job isn't dangerous at all! They're just a bunch of refugees from the countryside who have banded together on the island. None of them have any martial arts training, let alone martial arts masters. There aren't even two martial artists among them. They can't even beat the guards on merchant ships, so they can only rob the villagers around here. As soon as we arrive, they'll have to run away. This job is easy."

"Really?" Lin Yuan asked doubtfully.

"Everyone who can go is one of our own, no outsiders. I wasn't a Body Tempering Martial Artist before, and I could only earn one or two taels of silver each time. Now that I'm a Martial Artist, I can earn more!" Zhao Sheng said.

"If those river bandits can't rob merchant ships, what profit can they possibly make? Why are they charging such a high price?" Lin Yuan was puzzled. Killing a poor bandit wouldn't be very profitable, and he didn't believe that the people in the pavilion were truly speaking up for the people.

"Every winter, the county sends people to suppress bandits. As long as they succeed in suppressing bandits, they get promoted. We subordinates just work and get paid."

Lin Yuan suddenly laughed: "I see. Is there anything special about this job?"

Zhao Sheng immediately explained the details. It turned out that this was the pavilion's annual winter hunt, firstly to report some achievements to the higher-ups, and secondly to earn some money per head before the New Year.

Killing a bandit earns one tael of silver, killing a bandit leader earns fifty taels of silver; everyone profits, since it's all paid for by the government anyway.

Of course, the pavilion also targeted those who were not properly affiliated with the lords and those who were weak.

Lin Yuan listened for a long time and felt that there wasn't much danger, except that he had to kill someone.

Fortunately, the ones they killed were river bandits, and they were the ones who robbed villagers. Most importantly, they were very weak.

The three of them immediately changed their clothes and went to the Carp Pavilion together.

Lin Yuan asked Li Shi for details in person to avoid any hidden risks.

"This job isn't dangerous, you don't need to worry. It's just some refugees and river bandits, not those mountain bandits!" Li Shi saw his concern:

"We received intelligence that there are only a few newly tempered martial artists in these bandit dens. You can just follow behind me tomorrow. I've noticed that you spend a lot of money practicing martial arts, so I'll help you earn some extra cash."

"Thank you, Senior Brother!" Lin Yuan and Hu Cai said in unison.

Li Shi immediately registered the three of them. Upon hearing that Lin Yuan had broken through to the early stage of Body Tempering, he praised, "Junior Brother is truly hardworking. He has broken through again so quickly. He has the potential to become a Martial Master. Congratulations! We can have a drink in the pavilion tonight."

"Thank you, Senior Brother." Lin Yuan was happy to get some food and wine at the Carp Pavilion and save a few taels of silver.

Li Shi then instructed, "According to the rules, everyone will rest in the pavilion tonight and set off together tomorrow morning. No one is allowed to go out in between, lest word get out. You will all receive weapons later. I know you don't know how to use them, but consider them for self-defense. Anyway, those river bandits don't have many weapons."

He then distributed weapons and armor to everyone, including swords and spears.

Lin Yuan didn't know how to use anything else, so he chose a knife and a bow and arrow. He couldn't wear heavy armor to fight the river bandits, and of course there was no heavy armor in the pavilion either, only light armor with two pieces of breastplate.

Everyone drank some wine that evening, but not much because they had things to do the next day.

Lin Yuan's elder brother is also in the pavilion now. He had just finished his one-month corvée labor and should have returned home, but Li Shi made him a pavilion soldier, just like Zhao Sheng, a corvée soldier.

The corvée labor service, also known as the short corvée labor service, is conducted every year in January during the autumn, winter, and spring seasons. Every household is required to provide male laborers.

The term of service for conscripts was one year, which was a long term. Not every family could send someone; instead, they were assigned on a rotating basis. They had to take care of their own food and lodging and did not receive wages. Many families were unwilling to serve and would pay someone to serve in their place.

The pavilion would take a cut and resell the work to someone else. It wasn't much money, but in the dead of winter, when you could only stay at home in the countryside, the older brother was happy to earn a little extra cash.

Lin Yuan understood that Li Shi was only doing this because of him. Tonight's gathering was only with people from the industry, and he hadn't invited his older brother over. He had just privately spoken to him a few words, telling him to be careful tomorrow.

"Don't worry, I'm not stupid!" The eldest brother patted his chest, then turned around and warned, "Second Donkey, don't be stupid and rush forward either."

The two brothers looked at each other and smiled.

……

At night, everyone squeezed together on a large communal bed, with a heated kang underneath, and slept fully clothed and wrapped in blankets.

Around midnight, the pavilion called for people to get up.

Everyone hurriedly came out to gather. Lin Yuan looked at the sky. Today was November 17th, a very auspicious day, and the moonlight was very bright.

The cook in the pavilion had prepared the meal, and after everyone had eaten some steamed buns and rice porridge, they immediately went to the dock.

The group split into three groups. The first group was led by Zhang Tingzhang, who, as an entry-level martial artist, led seven or eight martial artists at the late stage of Body Tempering, making him the strongest in terms of martial prowess.

The second team, led by Li Tingzuo, consisted of about ten ordinary body-tempering martial artists like Lin Yuan.

The last group consisted of the pavilion guards and their hangers-on, numbering thirty to fifty, led by various bandit catchers.

The group split into two boats, and under the bright moonlight, the lake surface was clearly visible.

The boat travels slowly at night, with guards on board.

Lin Yuan and his fellow martial artists could hide in the ship's cabin to rest and recharge.