It was only after Yue Fei finally relented that Han Mo seized the opportunity, making the decision for him without giving Yue Fei any chance to object.
"Thank you, sir!"
Hearing Han Mo's words, Yue Fei was so touched he nearly shed tears. This wasn't due to any particular sentimentality on Yue Fei's part, but rather because the times were truly chaotic. Even with Yue Fei's superior martial arts skills, after offending the government, he couldn't help but worry about his parents.
The reason Yue Fei had brought so many villagers with him when he went to receive his reward was, on one hand, a genuine sense of gratitude towards them, and on the other, a reluctant act forced by the Great Song dynasty's policies. The Yue family, to put it nicely, was a family that cultivated and studied, but to put it bluntly, they were half farmers, half scholars. Their life was undeniably poor. The fact that the family had been able to live peacefully until now, and allow him to study martial arts, was largely due to luck.
This was partly because his father, Yue He, had always been a decent person. Within the entire jurisdiction of Xiaoti, he had good relationships with everyone. Another part of it was truly thanks to the favor of his master.
You see, the "Yaqian Fu" (衙前役 - a type of forced labor or corvee duty) in the Great Song dynasty, although ostensibly targeting wealthy households with assets exceeding two hundred strings of coins, was only so when no one intentionally targeted them! In the past, the Yue family didn't qualify for such duties, but after receiving the imperial reward, things changed. Cui Hao and his associates only needed to re-evaluate the household's status, and Yue Fei would be at their mercy.
Without someone to protect him in secret, Liao Wenxing wouldn't need to do anything illegal. Simply assigning the Yue family a task to transport supplies to the front lines would be enough to ruin them! Despite Yue Fei's martial prowess, facing the direct and indirect attacks from the government, a single slip-up could lead to utter ruin.
It's known that someone who offended the county's Yasi (押司 - a minor official) was once tasked with transporting a thousand strings of copper coins from Qiong Prefecture to Bianliang City. It might not sound like much, but the distance from Qiong Prefecture to Bianliang was over a thousand li! All travel expenses had to be borne by the individual. Upon arriving in Bianliang, they needed to take the transported copper coins to the Ministry of Revenue to obtain a receipt, only then would the task be considered complete. The Ministry of Revenue of the Great Song dynasty handled countless official matters every day. How could anyone possibly attend to a matter involving a mere thousand strings of copper coins? That person struggled in Bianliang for over half a year, and when all his money ran out, he had no choice but to drown himself...
Such incidents were countless throughout the Great Song dynasty. With such examples before him, Yue Fei's profound gratitude towards Han Mo was entirely understandable.
"Alright, there's no need for such pleasantries between us. I see your martial arts skills and feel a genuine appreciation for your talent. Once you've settled your family matters, if you are inclined to join the army, just come find me!" Han Mo couldn't take him in himself at this moment, as people like Yue Fei were impossible to hide. No one could truly control these "children of destiny." Even for brothers like Wu Jie and Wu Lin, all Han Mo could do was help them through their difficult times when they were young.
"Thank you, sir!" With Han Mo's promise, the stone that had been weighing on Yue Fei's heart finally lifted. Seeing his grateful demeanor, even Han Mo, who had seen much in his life, felt as if he had eaten ice cream on a midsummer day.
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"Sir, Cui County Clerk from Tangyin County has arrived!"
At the posthouse west of the city, Pang Yue had just finished lunch and was about to take a short nap when someone reported from outside the door.
"Let him in!" Hearing it was Cui Hao from Tangyin County, Pang Yue's heart stirred, and he immediately gave the order.
"Your subordinate pays his respects, sir!"
"How are the preparations for what I assigned you?" Wang Daolu, that damned Taoist priest, was now completely finished. Regardless of whether Pang Yue was willing or not, he could only place his bets on them now.
"Sir, rest assured, all the documents are ready!" Cui Hao said, quickly placing a stack of documents before Pang Yue.
"Have you prepared the person who will cry injustice? Zhou Ding is currently in prison, and Han Mo will definitely increase his guard. The path of him personally crying injustice is definitely blocked!" Zhou Ding's case was a done deal. To forcefully help him change his plea, both sides needed to coordinate their statements. If any embarrassing incident occurred in court, even if Pang Yue wanted to help them, he would be powerless.
Han Mo certainly understood their intentions, especially after the messy incident last time. Pang Yue, even with his feet, could figure out that anyone trying to visit Zhou Ding at this moment would definitely attract Han Mo's attention.
"Sir, please be assured, we have found a distant nephew of Zhou Ding. All the statements have been coordinated, and he himself is from Tangyin!" Even though there were only two people in the room, Cui Hao instinctively lowered his voice as he spoke.
"You better think carefully, this is your last chance. If there are any more slips on your end, you can go explain yourselves to that person!" Documents were nothing special to look at; Pang Yue had seen the most of them in his life. After a brief glance, he lost interest, as these were all prepared in advance. What truly worried him was the psychological state of the plaintiff.
"Sir, please rest assured. That young man has committed a crime, and my lord holds leverage over him, so there will be absolutely no mistakes!" Cui Hao quickly replied.
"Good. Since everything is ready, tell your lord that we will proceed as planned tomorrow morning!" After lecturing Cui Hao for a while, Pang Yue returned the documents to him.
"Sir, then I..."
"You go tend to your own matters; you don't need to worry about me!"
"This is a small token of appreciation from my lord; please accept it!" As he was about to leave, Cui Hao took out a gift list from his sleeve.
"Leave it there. Go back and tell your lord that I appreciate his thoughtfulness!" After a brief scan of the contents of the gift list, Pang Yue nodded in satisfaction.
"My lord, why are there so many mosquitoes outside? Yet, there are no mosquitoes in the room at night?" As night slowly fell, Han Mo, after washing up, lay on the big bed in the bedroom, embracing Zhe Yourong. Just as Han Mo was about to make a move, Zhe Yourong suddenly asked.
"We can talk about that later; let's do something more important first..." With a beauty before him, Han Mo had no mind to talk about such things.
"No, explain it clearly first!"
"Whether you want to or not, you have to!"
"Ooo—"
A quarter of an hour later, the failed scholar, having failed to use force, could only look on with a mournful expression as he, along with Madam Han draped in a light veil, had to get up in the middle of the night to make mosquito repellent.