Xiaohonglin is located about two miles southwest of Liwen Village. The terrain is flat. Xiaohong River, a tributary of Tangshui, crosses it from west to east, bringing abundant water to the land and making the land particularly fertile. It is one of the famous high-yield grain areas in Xiaohe Township.

There are thousands of acres of grain fields in this area, of which the 1,000 acres of the north were purchased by the Li family decades ago, while the more than 1,000 acres of farmland close to the west are the land of the Zhang family, another large clan in Xiaohe Township. The two pieces of land are separated by a ditch about a meter wide, so the wells and waters of each other do not interfere with the rivers, and the two families have been in peace for decades.

But a drought that was rare in a century had bottomed out the bottom of the soup, and only a trickle of water left in the Xiaohong River. The Zhang family simply built a dam to block the water. Seeing that the food was about to be short of water, the Li and Zhang families broke out in an armed battle with hundreds of people participating in the water source, and five people died. The two families formed a bond from then on.

Just three days ago, the Li and Zhang families had another conflict in order to compete for land. Li Dayin's second son was beaten to death by more than a dozen Zhang family young people, and the conflict began to intensify.

At night, Zhang Junbao once again brought more than 20 young people to the ditches and entered the Li family land. Zhang Junbao wanted to build a tomb for his father on this land. Tangyin had a tradition of recognizing the tomb but not the land. Once the tomb was completed, the land deed was transferred successfully. Both Li Wen Village and Qianshan Village Li clan members could only acknowledge Zhang Junbao's possession of this land.

In fact, this land has nothing to do with the Zhang clan, but was purchased by Zhang Junbao privately. He used his prestige as a patriarch for ten years to pay for money to hire a group of Zhang family descendants to work for him.

There were three yamen runners standing in front of the ravine. They were sent by the Luo County Magistrate to prevent the two families from fighting again. They were nominally neutral, but in fact they were protecting the children of the Zhang family to cross the border to build a ancestral temple. Once the children of Liwen Village came to negotiate, they would come forward to stop them.

It was already two o'clock. On the two acres of land near Xiaohong River, several ox carts were transporting green bricks toward this side. More than 20 young people from the Zhang family were busy carrying bricks. Several plasterers began to flex lines to build the exterior wall under the illumination of torches.

Zhang Junbao stood on a big rock and directed his children to carry bricks. Five large pots were built on the open space in front of him, and glutinous rice mortar was being made. This was the adhesive necessary for building the wall. Once they were dry, the wall would become extremely strong and would not collapse for a hundred years. This was Zhang Junbao's plan to permanently occupy this fertile land.

Zhang Junbaozhi looked at the vast fertile land in front of him with pride, and it was his dream for many years that he had taken this land for himself. When Li Wenyou competed with him for the Wang family's fleet at the beginning of the year, he proposed this condition and sold him ten hectares of fertile land on Xiaohonglin, but Li Wenyou refused. Unexpectedly, the land still fell into Zhang Junbao's hands.

However, Zhang Junbao was a little surprised. Tonight, Li Wen Village was very quiet, and no one came to stop him from building the tomb. Are they already scared?

But Zhang Junbao thought of Li Yanqing, and he felt that Li Yanqing would never surrender so easily. He must have made some ideas, especially Li Yanqing is the new Jie Yuan who was in the Xiangzhou trial. He is in the limelight and has a great influence in the government. He is definitely not comparable to a gentry like himself.

When Lianluo County Magistrate heard that the incident involved Li Jieyuan's fellow villagers, his attitude became ambiguous and left in a hurry, leaving only three yamen runners perfunctorily. Once an armed fight broke out, could the three yamen runners stop him?

Zhang Junbao gritted his teeth secretly. No matter what Li Yanqing wanted to do, he would first repair his father's clothes and tomb!

At this time, just a hundred steps away from Zhang Junbao, a black shadow was staring at Zhang Junbao's back. He slowly opened his bow and arrow, and a wolf-tooth arrow aimed at Zhang Junbao. "Bang!" The bowstring sounded, and the wolf-tooth arrow broke out and shot towards Zhang Junbao like lightning. The man in black threw away the quiver, turned around and ran towards Xiaohonglin, who was a hundred steps away.

Poor Zhang Junbao was not prepared for any defense. The arrow shot into the back of his head. He screamed, rolled down from the big stone, and died on the spot. The Zhang family members who were carrying blue bricks in the distance heard the screams and ran forward to check the situation.

An arrow shot into the back of the old patriarch's head, and the tip of the arrow came out from his forehead. The man was already dead. The Zhang family members shouted in horror and looked around. It was pitch black all around, and there was no trace of the archer.

.........

At noon the next day, a major incident broke out in Lushan Town. Zhang Junbao was shot to death with an arrow. After all, Zhang Junbao was one of the four major gentry in Xiaohe Township. His killing of him certainly caused great shock to the villagers.

Moreover, the four words "Liangshan Song Jiang" are engraved on the arrow shaft. Song Jiang is already well-known in Shandong, but his reputation is not significant in Hebei, not to mention the countryside of Tangyin small county. Almost everyone does not know who Song Jiang is, let alone where Liangshan is?

Everyone secretly speculated that Song Jiang must be a thief who was bought by someone to assassinate Zhang Junbao. Everyone couldn't help but think of the Li family. It is said that Zhang Junbao has been competing with the Li family for land these days. Although there is no evidence, the Li family is the most suspicious.

At noon, a team of mourning clothes and mourning came to the gate of Li's mansion. Zhang Junbao's family was coming. They were carrying a coffin, which was vast and dozens of people. They placed the coffin in front of the gate of Li's mansion and began to cry loudly, crying while asking Li Wengui to pay his life.

It’s not their fault for coming to find Li Wengui. Although the Zhang family suspected that it was people from Li Wen Village who were buying murderers, there were more than 20 Li clan members in Li Wen Village. Who should they go to?

The final goal was to target Li Wengui. First, Li Wengui was the head of the Li clan and forced Li Wengui to hand over the murderer; secondly, his property could be afforded. How could the Zhang family not understand this?

The Zhang family was crying in front of the Li Mansion gate. People from Lushan Town ran to watch the fun. Soon, hundreds of people were in a mess around. At this time, a crack was opened in the Li Mansion gate. Li Wengui walked out surrounded by more than a dozen servants. Li Wengui shouted with a blue face: "What does it matter to me if your family dies? What are you doing here!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Junbao's second son Zhang Mu jumped up and cursed: "Li Gou Thief, do you dare not take responsibility. My father is dead, your Li family must pay your life!"

The other children of the Zhang family also smashed Li Wengui with rotten eggs and stones. Li Wengui could not dodge and was hit by several rotten eggs. His body was stinking. More than a dozen servants hurriedly dragged him in and the door was closed.

Li Wengui returned to his room and took off his coat, and stomped his feet in anger, "It was clearly the good thing that the bastards in Li Wencun did, but I asked me to take responsibility. What's this called?"

The butler stepped forward and suggested, "In my opinion, the Zhang family is just making unreasonable troubles. It is just to blackmail money. The master should go to the county to report to the officials. I wish they would not dare to confront the government. This would also eliminate the responsibility of the master."

At this time, the servants came to report, "Du Baozheng is here!"

Before Xiaohe Township, the four major gentry were replaced by the four major gentry. They changed every six years. When it was Li Wengui's turn, he stepped down early because he moved to the county and was replaced by Li Zhen. After Li Zhen stepped down, he was turned to the Tang family, and now Tang Huai's grandfather Tang Lian took over.

Li Wengui was also about to send someone to invite Tang Lian to mediate. Since Tang Lian came to the door in person, Li Wengui hurriedly greeted him.

Tang Lian did not enter the intermediate court, but stood in front of the foyer waiting. After a while, Li Wengui hurried over. As soon as the two met, Li Wengui complained: "What does Zhang Junbao have to do with me? There is a wrongdoing and a debtor. They should go to find the real murderer. What is the purpose of blocking my door?"

Tang Lian said lightly: "Although this is the reason, the Zhang family believes that Zhang Junbao's death is related to you. They ask you to hand over the murderer, admit that it was your commander, and then compensate for all losses!"

"What!"

Li Wengui's eyes suddenly widened, and his nameless fire ignited in his heart. He said furiously: "What evidence do they have to say that this matter is related to me? He blocked my door with a coffin, and I want to sue them!"

Tang Lian shook his head and advised, "The matter will be a big deal after suing the official. I suggest you sit down and negotiate by yourself. I can help you."

"I can't accept it!"

Li Wengui refused at once. He knew very well that once he sat down to negotiate, it would be equivalent to admitting that Zhang Junbao's death was related to him. The sons of the Zhang family were all skin-skinning spirits. They would not let him go without extorting thousands of guan of money. From the very beginning, he must not show weakness.

"This is difficult. The Zhang family is unwilling to make concessions, and you are unwilling to make concessions. Even if I have the will to mediate for you, I can't do anything!"

"This is not a matter of negotiation or not. It is a matter of killing people to pay for their lives. It has nothing to do with me. Can I admit this? It seems that my hope for mediation is completely wrong. I should report to the official and let the government find out the case!"

As the two were talking, a sound of gongs and drums suddenly came from outside. Li Wengui was stunned and quickly ordered his servants, "Go and see, what happened again!"

The servant rushed away from the side door and ran back soon and said, "Master, County Magistrate Jiang is here!"

.........

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Chapter completed!