An old man sighed, "Our Jiangcheng is rich and rainy, and the harvest is good, but civilians and small businesses are still suffering. It is not a blessing for Taishou Tang to escape now."

Maybe the topic is too sensitive and no one answers his words.

Fang Yongyan took a sip of tea and waited for the storyteller to start speaking again, while the person was not paying attention, he sat next to the old man.

The old man felt a little disappointed. Seeing a young man approaching, Ding Qing saw that he was not an acquaintance and looked at the person in surprise, "I haven't seen him before, young man!"

Fang Yongyan smiled politely and raised his hand gently, "Brother-in-law, this is the first time I'm here in Jiangcheng."

"..." The old man looked at him as if he was looking at a monster, "Look at you, don't you look like a military soldier, is it a merchant from Ningguo?"

Fang Yongyan shook his head, "I am not from Ningguo."

"Then you are..."

"I am from the North."

"A native of Yan?"

"That's right, father-in-law!"

"Why do you want to come to Jiangcheng now?"

“It happened to be here when I went to study.”

The old man looked at Fang Yongyan in surprise again, "In the autumn of troubled times, he can still study abroad, and the younger generation is terrifying."

Fang Yongyan said: "The world has always been 'long-term unity will be divided, and long-term unity will be unified'. Wouldn't it be too late for us scholars to study again until the world is peaceful and want to become an official again?"

"This is a wonderful statement, young man!" the old man sighed as if he suddenly realized.

Fang Yongyan smiled and said, "This is not what I said to you, I heard it from another place."

"This is too intriguing, but unfortunately I wasted my time."

Fang Yongyan took a sip of tea, listened to a few words of storytelling, and waited for the old man to recover, and asked inadvertently, "Brother-in-law, you just said that it was a good thing for the prefect of Jiangcheng to escape, how could you see?"

The old man sighed as if he had some bitterness, "Jiangcheng has been slapped three feet from the ground by the prefect."

"Oh, how do you say this?"

The old man said angrily: "How can I say that Jiangcheng has many taxes and corvee labor, and he won't get a few layers of skin."

Fang Yongyan asked in a low voice: "The 'skin' he shaves now..."

"It's all gone, it's gone..." the old man sighed.

"when?"

The old man replied: "Half a month ago, when Ningguo's army came, he abandoned the city and fled!"

"Aren't he afraid of being punished by the court?" Fang Yongyan asked.

"Hmph..." the old man said fiercely, "Why do you think he was plundering so much money?"

Fang Yongyan's eyes tightened and understood. After a while, he asked casually, "Premier Fang is a corrupt official. Will other officials be like him?"

"Not...? It's strange, the Jiangnan Prefecture Office is full of people, and it's really... it's really..." The old man's face turned blue with anger.

Fang Yongyan quickly picked up his tea and relieved him.

The old and the young, sitting in the crowd, talking about the Jiangcheng officialdom in a hurry.

Night came unknowingly, and people who went out to inquire about the news came back one after another. They ordered food in the lobby. After the meal, several people arrived at Ling Qixuan and Fang Yongyan's room.

Lin Yiran asked, "Who will tell you first?"

Ma Tusan smiled and said, "I'll come first!"

"Okay, Brother Ma, then you can come first and tell me where you are."

Ma Tu replied three times: "Although Jiangcheng Wharf is very chaotic, there are still many people doing business. However, most of these business people will seek local gangs or local snake protection."

When Lin Yiran heard this, she nodded and understood that living in troubled times seemed to be indispensable.

Ma Tusan continued: "I paid attention to the ships, big, small, and a lot. If we get food, it should be fine to find a ship."

"Learn more and find a reliable one." Lin Yiran reminded.

Ma Tusan nodded and continued, "Tomorrow, I won't go back to the inn here."

Lin Yiran asked, "Have you found anything?"

Ma Tu replied three times: "I found a young man, who seemed to be looking for something like me."

"Why do you judge that he is like you?"

"That look!"

Lin Yiran smiled and said, "Okay, Brother Ma..."

Ma Tusan was embarrassed by Lin Yiran's praise and said with a smile, "I am used to being in society, so I have some eyesight."

"Okay, stay on the dock and be careful about everything!"

"Didn't Brother Su follow me? It's okay!"

"Brother Su is not following her closely. Even if she has a time to go to the toilet, don't be careless."

"Okay, I understand!" said Ma Tusan. "If there is any news, it is not convenient for me to come back by myself, and I may ask the beggar to send it here."

Lin Yiran asked, "What kind of beggar is it?"

Ma Tu replied three times: "I try to find someone who is about teenagers."

"Okay, I understand!" Lin Yiran asked, "Brother Fang, where are you?"

Fang Yongyan replied: "I found out some."

"Tell me, look—"

Fang Yongyan replied: "As you analyzed, there are no corruption officials in Jiangcheng's officialdom."

Lin Yiran asked: "Who are there?"

Fang Yongyan replied: "The biggest corrupt official is the prefect of Jiangcheng. Unfortunately, this person had abandoned the city and fled half a month ago. It is said that he took away all the gold, silver and treasures in Jiangcheng..."

"All the money...was he also taken away by the officials below!"

Fang Yongyan nodded, "Just before siege, the prefect of Jiangcheng took advantage of the name of Spring Society 1 (the day of worshiping the land god in spring), not only shaved the silver of civilians and vendors, but also the silver of the stingers. It is rumored that Jiangcheng had been scraped three layers of skin by him."

Lin Yiran asked, "What is the background of this person?"

Fang Yongyan replied: "I heard that he is the cousin of Concubine Xian of Lingguo."

"Cousin?"

"Um!"

Lin Yiran asked in confusion: "His he took away all the gold, silver and treasures in Jiangcheng?"

"That's what the old man who chatted with me said."

Lin Yiran narrowed her eyes, "You keep going--"

Fang Yongyan continued: "Except for the prefect, the officials in the government office, chief clerk, officials from all over the government office are all greedy, but the old man did not highlight who he said."

"Oh!" Lin Yiran thought for a moment, "What is the official who controls the army?"

"Prince!"

Lin Yiran asked, "Has this person escaped or surrendered?"

"I haven't heard of it."

"Tomorrow, you all go and inquire."

"good!"

Lin Yiran said: "Then let's come here first today."

The few people nodded and dispersed.

The next morning, after Ma Tusan finished his breakfast early, he avoided the people from the back door of the inn, and Su Dayi of course followed. Fang Yongyan continued to take the "Girl" to the teahouse to listen to books.

Lin Yiran and Ling Qixuan began to get busy. They drove mule carts and a mat to Nancheng to sell.

Several alleys in Nancheng seemed deserted. There were not many girls, servants and managers who came out to buy them. Lin Yiran turned around several alleys but no one bought a mat. This situation was really beyond her expectations.

"What should I do?" Ling Qixuan dressed in ordinary short brown and dressed like a coolie.

Lin Yiran looked at several long alleys, "Is it because of the war and everyone is unwilling to buy things?"

"It's possible!" Ling Qixuan nodded.

On that day, Lin Yiran and Ling Qixuan didn't sell anything, let alone in finding out the news.

Capital of Lingguo-Xuancheng, Chunping Hou Mansion

Tang Pincheng knelt in front of his uncle, Concubine Xian's father, Chunpinghou apologized and cried so hard that he snotted.

Chunpinghou snorted coldly: "You still have the face to cry, you have lost all the face of my grandson."

"Uncle, please save me, save me..." Tang Pincheng no matter how Chunpinghou cursed, he only had one posture, that was to pretend to be pitiful and let him save himself.
To be continued...