At dusk, cheerdan returned to the official residence, ate half a roast chicken and drank a can of ale, and slowly recovered from the tension.
Manda smiled, "didn''t you say that no one can see through your disguise? Why are you scared like this?"
"I have confidence in myself, but I really don''t want to take risks. It''s unwise to do so. Unwise actions will be hated by the gods!"
Although there were many complaints, cheerdan completed his task. He lingered in the east of the city all day. In the morning, he saw the housekeeper of the foreign minister go to the dusk tavern first, and then to the residence of Sheriff Stanton. In the afternoon, he saw Stanton himself and Mirada go to the residence of the grand inspector together.
Obviously, Stanton was pressured by two senior officials. In addition, cheerdan noticed one thing. Stanton posted a notice in front of the official residence. He was recruiting craftsmen, which meant that he had to pay for the reconstruction of the evening tavern.
"My friend needs my help." Manda pondered for a moment, asked chuyt to change his clothes to monitor the evening tavern in the east of the city, and asked cheerdan to go outside the city to help him find a way to the begmia mountain.
"Begmia mountain? Why did you go there? Do you have territory there? I remember your territory is in Qixing mountain, Qixing mountain is in the southwest, and begmia mountain is in the East..."
"Why do you have so many questions?" Manda said angrily. "I told you not to speculate on my ideas! This road must be secret, people can walk and carriages can pass, and there should not be too many mountain thieves on the road."
"It''s too difficult. If there were such a road, I would have carried gold coins."
Manda said with a smile, "it''s because it''s difficult for you to do it. Now you''re no longer alone. A few mountain thieves don''t have to care."
Three days later, Manda took guatel to the east of the city and met Stanton, who was overseeing the work, in the dusk tavern.
This is not what the sheriff should do, which shows how much pressure Stanton bears.
One third of the nightfall tavern was burned. According to Manda''s judgment, it will take at least three months to complete the repair, but Stanton said one month is enough.
"This is the king''s capital. There are the best craftsmen here. If I can''t finish the work in a month, I''ll skin them!"
"I also have a good craftsman in my hand. Let him come here to help. I also have a long experience with the craftsmen in the king''s capital."
Guatel went to the construction site, chatted with a craftsman and stirred the clay with him.
Stanton sighed, "I''m glad you can help, but I don''t need craftsmen."
Manda took out her purse and stuffed it into Stanton''s hand: "don''t dislike it with a little heart."
"I''m not short of money..." he refused, but Stanton still took the money bag into his arms.
"You told me before that the general would say something nice for me. I don''t know about it..."
"The great general has said a lot of good things for you. Something similar happened in the south of the city, which made the nephew of the great general lose his official position, but the king didn''t investigate your fault. Don''t you understand the reason?"
"Things in the south of the city are different. Some nobles died and lost taxes, and the house of the government minister was burned. This thing in the east of the city is not worth mentioning compared with that in the south of the city."
Manda smiled: "since it''s not worth mentioning, you have nothing to worry about."
"You still don''t understand. Let me be frank. The foreign minister and the chief inspector asked me to recover his gold coins. If I can''t recover them, let me compensate them for their losses. Each of them has lost more than 10000 gold coins. How can I get so much money?"
Manda almost scolded. What a group of shameless people. Manda stole more than 10000 gold coins and doubled them in their mouth.
"I''ll give you a suggestion. Ignore them and help the foreign minister repair the tavern. If they are not convinced, let them argue in front of the king!"
Stanton smiled bitterly and said, "are you kidding? What am I in front of them?"
Manda also smiled: "in front of the general, what are they?"
"The general will not offend them because of me."
"It depends on your relationship with the general. If you are his loyal subordinate, he will naturally protect you."
Stanton was surprised, took Manda to a place where no one was, and whispered, "you may have misunderstood what I mean. I don''t want to take refuge in the general, I just want to be a friend and good friend of the general."
Manda shrugged and said, "with all due respect, I''m afraid we''re not qualified to be friends with the general."
"You know there is some conflict between him and the church. If I take refuge in him, I will become the enemy of the punisher."
Looking at Stanton''s nervous appearance, Manda leaned close to his ear and said, "are you afraid of God''s punishment?"
"Who is not afraid?"
"Are you afraid of the foreign minister and the grand inspector?"
"Of course."
"Which one are you more afraid of?"
Stanton didn''t know how to answer. Manda shook her head and said, "if you''re afraid of anything, I don''t think anyone can help you."
Manda left the east of the city and left guatel alone in the evening tavern. That night, he brought a craftsman in his twenties.
"His name is nassaud. He is a good craftsman."
Being recognized by guatel proved that the craftsman was really good. Manda came straight to the point and asked, "what''s your price?"
Mu Saudi Arabia was stunned, bowed his head and said, "my Lord, I am one of the best blacksmiths in Wangdu. I want 50 copper coins every day."
"It''s really not cheap."
The young man bit his lips, straightened his chest and said, "Sir, I think I''m worth it."
"Fifty copper coins a day, all year round, day after day, can earn almost two gold coins."
The young man nodded confidently.
"I''ll give you twenty gold coins, but will you go far away?"
Stanton was stunned. He didn''t know what twenty gold coins looked like. Unless he worked hard for ten years and didn''t eat or drink, he could save so much money. But he has a wife and three children, and he can save up to a dozen silver coins a year.
He felt that Manda was a liar. No one would spend so much money to hire a craftsman.
Unexpectedly, Manda counted twenty gold coins to his face and put them in his hand.
"Take it. If you like, start in three days. If you don''t want to, return the gold coin to me at this time tomorrow. If you are greedy and want to escape with the gold coin, I will bring your head back in two days. If you tell someone else about it, I will cut your tongue and let you eat it."
……
Returning to the official residence, the tired Stanton lay in bed. Recalling Manda''s words, he had a trace of heart, but soon gave up the idea.
A few months ago, the west of the city was full of fire racks, and the whole king was covered with disgusting smoke.
In any case, you can''t offend the divine punishers. They are too terrible. Let''s delay the current affairs first and always think of a solution
Sleepy until dawn, Stanton was awakened by his law enforcement officers.
"My Lord, the great inspector sent someone. He asked you to go to his residence."
Stanton rubbed his forehead, clenched his fist, put on his robe and got into the carriage.
Big inspector yevgen was having breakfast. When he saw Stanton coming in, he didn''t even give him a seat. In this way, Stanton stood embarrassed at the table.
After eating the last piece of bread, yevgen wiped his mouth and said, "did the robbers find it?"
Stanton bowed his head and said, "still looking, sir."
"When are you going to find it?"
"I did my best, my Lord."
Holding his chin, yevgen gently tapped the edge of the table with his hand, meditated for a moment and said, "resign from the post of sheriff. You don''t deserve it."
"My Lord, I..." Stanton''s head hummed, but yevgen didn''t want to give him a chance to speak.
"There''s no need to defend. Even if you don''t want to, I''ll suggest the king to dismiss you. You''re stupid, more stupid than your father. One of the stupidest things your father did was to win this office for you. He was hurting you because you really don''t deserve it.
I''ll give you three days. I''ll see a hundred gold coins in three days, or you''ll disappear from the king immediately and go back to your father''s fief! "