The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

This trip was a complete success and we returned with a full load.

At least that's the case for Qian Yu.

For the deceased yamen runners and family soldiers, each person received a pension of 100 taels, which was enough for their family to live for a lifetime if they spent it frugally.

Gou Sheng held a few light silver bills in his hand for a moment, then put them in his arms and discussed with the others, "When we return to Ci County this time, let's talk to Master Zhang and bring everyone in the village over. The gold we bring with these silver bills will be enough to buy some real estate and land in Ci County. There are also many bachelors among us who can get married and find wives."

"Okay!" The others nodded in agreement, no one had any objections.

The people of Heifengdu have always been very united.

"When the time comes, our village will have to spend some money to hire a fortune teller to take a good look at the feng shui and come up with a village name. We have to change our fortune. The name Heifengdu doesn't sound good. It sounds fierce and poor," Chibao said suddenly.

"Then we'll have to ask the village chief when the time comes," Gousheng replied.

After working all night and all morning, dinner was soon served.

This time it was a celebratory banquet, with wine and food. It was obviously more sumptuous than when we came here, and mostly meat dishes.

Everyone was really hungry, so they devoured the food in no time and carried out the "Clean Plate" campaign to the end.

The hostages brought back were locked up outside the yard and tied together with ropes, just like tying up grasshoppers, so there was no need to worry about them running away.

They can leave on their own only after the court session is over and their identities are verified.

Although the pirates locked them up in the dungeon, they still had to use them from time to time, so they didn't treat them too harshly in terms of food. Except that their complexion looked a little bad, they didn't have any injuries on their bodies and were in good spirits.

One of the young men with messy hair sat on the ground, squinting his eyes and staring blankly at the void not far away.

Because I haven't been exposed to the sun for a long time, I feel very comfortable even though I am tied up and sitting in the yard, feeling the breeze and smelling the scent of the sunshine.

Working with him was a businessman who did maritime business. He was very familiar with the coastal waters and knew a little bit of astrology, which was to determine the direction of navigation by observing the position of stars in the sky. He was also an expert in goods and could help the pirates look at the various antiques they had looted.

The most important thing is that his family is rich, and the pirates initially planned to extort some money from his family.

But the family didn't care at all, and the letter he sent was like a stone sinking into the sea. If he hadn't been smart, it would have been gone long ago.

When he was first robbed by pirates, this man weighed over 160 pounds and was the fattest man in the dungeon. He was nicknamed Fatty Wu by others. Now it is estimated that he weighs less than 120 pounds.

This nickname is not true.

Smelling the aroma of wine and food wafting from the inner courtyard, Fatty Wu's mouth was almost watering with greed. He weakly touched his stomach and said, "Damn it, I'm so greedy, I'm starving!"

After saying that, he nudged the young man next to him and said, "Doctor Chen, are you hungry?"

People who have been locked up for too long will always react more slowly. After a while, the young man next to him rolled his eyes and said speechlessly: "Isn't this nonsense!"

"I don't know when this county magistrate will let us go. When I go home, I will make sure to eat delicious food and drink spicy drinks every day, with eighteen dishes for every meal." Fatty Wu said hatefully.

"Let's talk about it when we can go home. Your family is almost rich enough to rival a country, but you haven't even offered money to redeem you," Chen Jianqiu said calmly.

"This is what happens when you have too many children. My old man raises sons and grandsons like he raises a poisonous insect. I'm just unlucky, but I won't die that easily," Fatty Wu said lazily.

After the people inside had finished eating, the hostages were given some dry leftovers. They were all mixed together, which made them lose their appetite at all.

But after being beaten by reality for so long, no one picked on them and they all ate the small bowl of rice in front of them with great care.

"It's really like a tiger in a desperate situation," Fatty Wu sighed as he reluctantly finished the last grain of rice in the bowl.

Chen Jianqiu didn't say anything else. After eating, he continued to lean against the wall to bask in the sun.

He didn't know that Zhang Ping'an was so close to him, and now he just felt that the road ahead was uncertain.

County Magistrate Zhu and his entourage did not delay and prepared to return this afternoon. After all, the bodies of their deceased colleagues had to be quickly brought back to Ci County for burial.

The dead are the most important, and Qian Yu understood this and did not force anyone to stay, although he was really curious about where weapons such as fire egg guns and crossbows came from.

But think about it, there will be plenty of time to understand the situation later, so it is better to deal with the piracy case first. This is a great achievement.

So he wrote two secret letters, one to County Lieutenant Zhu and one to Chibao, and asked them to take them back to Zhang Ping'an respectively.

Everyone hurried as hard as they could and finally arrived at dusk the next day.

County Lieutenant Zhu reported the situation in detail and was relatively objective and fair.

Zhang Pingan looked at the thirty or so corpses in the hall and was silent for a while before saying, "In addition to the 100 taels of compensation given by County Magistrate Qian, the county government will add another 50 taels to each of these people!"

After saying that, he looked at Tao Zhubu and said, "Tao Zhubu, this matter is up to you!"

Upon hearing this, Chief Clerk Tao stood up, bowed and accepted the gesture.

After County Lieutenant Zhu finished his report, he took out the letter written by Qian Yu from his arms, handed it forward with both hands and said, "Sir, this is a letter from Lord Qian to you."

Zhang Pingan took it but didn't open it immediately. He looked at the people in the hall and said gently, "You've all been exhausted from the journey and the battle at sea. Many of you have been injured. You've worked really hard. Each of you will go to the household office to receive a reward of two taels of silver, and the injured will receive five taels. I will also grant you ten days' leave."

County Magistrate Zhu immediately led everyone in bowing and expressing his gratitude: "Thank you very much for your compassion!"

Although he had collected a lot of gold and valuable jewelry on the island, he still thought even a fly was meat, and he was not picky.

After everyone left, he finished eating and then stepped forward to take out the letter in his hand: "Sir, this is the letter that Lord Qian asked me to give to you privately."

"Yeah," Zhang Pingan took it and could probably guess what the content was.

After eating and delivering the letter, he did not leave immediately. He was a little hesitant and seemed to be hesitant to speak.

"Is there something wrong?" Zhang Pingan asked, turning his head.

Chi Bao lowered his head and grumbled, "Sir, it's just...it's just...I've discussed it with the others and want to bring everyone in the village over. Now we have saved a little money, enough to buy a piece of land in a remote place in the suburbs to build a house, and then buy some thin land, so that we can barely make a living."

Seeing that Zhang Ping'an's expression hadn't changed, he continued, "Many people in the village died while fleeing the famine. Many of us are still single, so it's time for us to get married."

"Is that so?" Zhang Ping'an said, "When I came to Ci County, I told you that you could bring your families over after you settle down. I'm a man of my words. If you think now is the right time, then of course you can."

After saying that, he took out a stack of household registration documents from the bookshelf behind him and said, "This is for you."

"This...this," he was so excited that he couldn't speak coherently. He simply knelt down and kowtowed to Zhang Pingan several times.

It was the kind of real talk that made Zhang Pingan feel bad for him when he heard it.