The spring breeze travels from the humid south, across green mountains and fields, across the Yangtze River, and into the Central Plains, bringing peach blossoms like rain.

Farmers on the roadside drag their iron plows and sing ancient tunes.

The cowherd under the willow tree was reviewing the characters taught by his private tutor yesterday, his brow furrowing from time to time, then beaming with joy.

This place was the seat of Zhongshan Prefecture in Hebei Province.

In the first year of the Jingkang era, the imperial court took over all the fields in Hebei that had been abandoned due to the war, and also reorganized the land annexation in Hebei, selling them to farmers at low prices and rewarding soldiers on the front lines for their military achievements.

A year and a half has passed since this incident.

Today, the people of Hedong have gradually emerged from the shadow of war and are diligently cultivating their own fields.

Furthermore, the imperial court promulgated a new tax law, which abolished the poll tax, exempted corvée labor, abolished all miscellaneous taxes, and reduced agricultural taxes to one-tenth of their original amount.

Many farmers in Hebei who acquired land had surplus grain during last autumn's harvest, which they ate until this year; some even sold it at the market for money.

Zhongshan was originally one of the three major military strongholds in the north of the Song Dynasty. In the first year of Jingkang, the current emperor led the Song army to recover the Yanyun region, established Youzhou as the northern capital, and set up the Yanyun war zone. All the soldiers and civilians of Zhongshan then moved north and entered Jizhou.

Today, Zhongshan Prefecture is far from war and can be considered a place of peace and prosperity.

At the beginning of this year, the imperial court announced that another batch of public land would be sold at a low price. When the news spread, many families spread the word and planned to line up to buy the fertile land from the government.

Last year, the people of Zhongshan Prefecture had saved a little money, and the burly men at the village entrance had received their due salaries from the imperial court for the cement factory they had built in Youzhou for a year.

All the items that needed to be sent home were sent home, and the private banks and security escort agencies in Hebei made a fortune.

With the money arriving home, the family is considering buying some land to farm.

Therefore, in early March, farmers throughout Zhongshan Prefecture became active.

The new law of the imperial court stipulates that each person in a family can own a maximum of one mu of land, and a family of four can own four mu of land.

On the seventh day of the third lunar month, an event occurred in Renhou Town, Tang County, Zhongshan Prefecture.

A farmer named Li Si was hacked to death in the street by a group of thugs in town.

Those hooligans were arrested by the town's supervisor and convicted according to the laws of the Song Dynasty; those who deserved punishment were punished accordingly.

However, on the same day, March 20th, another incident occurred in Zhongshan, where local thugs and ruffians attacked people with knives on the street.

The victims were a mother and daughter.

The woman was slashed three times on the street, each slash landing on her back.

She shielded her seven-year-old daughter with her body, and the fourth blow was about to land on her head.

It was blocked by a knife.

Lin Jinfeng said coldly, "How dare you kill someone with a knife in broad daylight? Who gave you the courage?"

Upon seeing that the newcomer was a member of the Imperial Guard, those men continued to slash their swords, and seeing that they were about to kill the woman, they could not let her go.

If you kill him, you'll make a fortune; if you don't, your whole family will die.

So, regardless of whether they are from the Imperial City Guard or not, let's kill that woman first.

Lin Jinfeng was furious when he saw that these people were not even afraid of the Imperial City Guards. He shouted, "Kill them without mercy!"

Five Imperial Guards drew their crescent-shaped swords and began fighting in the street. Passersby quickly moved away, fearing they would be caught in the crossfire.

Who is Lin Jinfeng?

The Imperial City Commander stationed in Hebei Province concurrently served as the Commander of Zhongshan Prefecture.

He particularly loves steamed buns, especially those from Wang Mazi in the city. Today, he brought a few brothers out to buy steamed buns, but unexpectedly, they encountered a murder on the street.

Damn it, this is the first time in the past two years that I've encountered someone daring to openly attack a member of the Imperial Guard in the street!

These thugs and hooligans were no match for the Imperial Guards, the emperor's personal troops. They were hacked down in no time, howling in pain.

Seeing how formidable the Imperial Guards were, those men dared not linger and turned to flee.

Lin Jinfeng spared one of the survivors.

"Take them all back! Then notify the government office to have someone come and clean them up."

He paused again: "Send a doctor to the Ministry of Health."

While eating Wang Mazi's steamed buns and drinking a bowl of bone broth, Lin Jinfeng watched as his subordinates beat the surviving thug to a pulp.

"Sir, I truly had no idea. I was simply paid to kill this mother and daughter. I took their money and did their bidding!"

Tell me, who gave you the money?

"I don't know, I don't recognize them, they're definitely not from Zhongshan City!"

After finishing his soup, Lin Jinfeng said, "Stop hitting him, he won't get anything out of you."

"Yes, sir! This humble subject truly did not know. Thank you for sparing my life, sir!"

"Spare my life? You dare to lay a hand on the Emperor's personal guards, and you still want to spare my life!"

One of the Imperial Guards walked over, swung his sword, and the man was slightly startled before his head fell off his neck.

The little girl sitting across the table was so frightened that she started crying loudly.

"Don't be afraid, finish your soup first."

Lin Jinfeng turned his head away again: "What kind of work are you doing! Can't you see there are kids here? I'm telling you, you're going to get me into trouble sooner or later!"

"Boss, please forgive me, this guy is absolutely despicable!"

Lin Jinfeng started to soothe the child.

The doctor came out shortly afterward.

"Shangguan, the patient has woken up. The knife wound is deep in the bone and requires slow and careful treatment."

"Thank you for your help, Dr. Zhang."

"It is an honor for a commoner to serve his superiors."

"Come, see Dr. Zhang out."

Lin Jinfeng then led his men into the house.

"This is the Imperial City Guard. Before you is Lin Shangguan, the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial City Guard in Hebei Province. I am Zhang Jian, the Deputy Commander of the Imperial City Guard in Zhongshan Prefecture. Why do those people want to kill you?"

The woman did not know what kind of officials the Imperial City Guards were, as the Imperial City Guards had not yet expanded into the countryside, but she knew that they were officials.

As she was about to get up, she cried out, "I beg you, sir, to do justice for this woman!"

The little girl stood by the bed, seeing how badly her mother was injured, and immediately burst into tears.

"You should lie down. If you have something to say, just say it. The government will take care of what needs to be done."

"Thank you, sir. I am from Tianjia Village, Renhou Town, Tang County, Zhongshan Prefecture. Half a month ago, my husband was hacked to death in Renhou Town because of a land purchase dispute. They are now trying to kill me as well."

Upon hearing the words "buying land," Lin Jinfeng's ears immediately perked up.

This year, the imperial court has begun selling off large quantities of fertile land at low prices to rural households.

"The people buying land is a good policy of the imperial court, so why were they killed?"

“Our family had just bought three acres of land when someone came to our door and tried to force us to buy it at an even lower price. My husband refused, and most of the neighbors were also unwilling. So they killed my husband in the street and forced us to buy it!”

Lin Jinfeng's face immediately darkened.