Dragon map of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 20 Alarming the County Mansion

A fire blazed, and people's voices were boiling everywhere in Wuyin County.

"Where is the fire?"

"Isn't that direction Zhu's mansion?"

"The Zhu family is on fire!"

"Zhu's mansion is magnificent, how could it catch fire?"

"If you want me to say it is God's punishment, the children of their family have done so many bad things, so there should be retribution. If the government doesn't accept them, God will also punish them!"

"You're right, they just did too many wicked things!"

"It's such a pity that the Huanghuang Zhu family was burned like this!"

"Why didn't anyone escape, did they all burn to death?"

When the Zhu family's mansion was burned, many people couldn't help but walked out of the house. Looking at the raging fire, watching the incomparable Zhu family burn to the ground in the fire, some people rejoiced, some felt sorry , whispering.

This fire burned for a whole night.

When the flames were extinguished, the centuries-old mansion was reduced to ruins.

……

Its daybreak.

After dawn, a round of red sun appeared in the sky, the brilliant sun, with golden light, poured down, penetrated the heavy clouds, broke through the dark clouds, and covered the earth with warmth.

The winter sun makes many people feel warm, but in Wuyin County today, even the warmth of the sun can't dispel the chill in some people's hearts.

South of the city.

Gu's mansion.

In the middle hall of the mansion, more than a dozen important people in Wuyin County gathered together again, each with solemn faces, and the atmosphere seemed a little gloomy.

They are all Wuyin gentry heads.

The so-called gentry refers to the famous families who have been officials for generations. It is a little stronger. For example, the Yuan family, named after the four generations and three princes above the imperial court, is called a family. The Yuan family is known as the first gentry today. They are called aristocratic families. The so-called aristocratic families pass on knowledge from generation to generation. There are many aristocratic families in the world, such as the Guanzhong family, the Yingchuan family, the Jingzhou family, the Jiangdong family, and the Hebei family.

And once again, the first class is called a local tyrant.

For example, the gentry who gathered in the mansion of the ancient family are basically local tyrants.

Wuyin is a large city with a large population, a profound historical background, and a strong reading atmosphere, so there have been many officials, even if the number of officials in the county government exceeds two figures.

No matter how promising or how high an official is, returning the fallen leaves to their roots is the eternal thought of the descendants of Yan and Huang. Therefore, many officials who have become official careers like to buy land in the clan land, open clan halls, and educate their children. Over time, it has formed One by one the gentry.

The Central Plains has been home to the world since ancient times, so this concept of gentry has been passed down from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and has been strengthened by Confucianism to form the current pattern.

There are also many gentry in Wuyin.

In addition to the Zhu family in the east of the city, the more famous ones are the Gu family in the south of the city, the Chen family in the south of the city, the Wang family in the north of the city, and the Luo family in the west of the city... these are a handful of families.

Among them, the Gu family in the south of the city, whose ancestor was Gu Heng, was a filial and incorruptible official during the period of Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty. He became the prefect of Hejian, with a rank of two thousand stone officials. It has been passed down to this day for more than a hundred years.

Although the Gu Clan is not as powerful as the Zhu Clan, they are still very important in Wuyin County.

The patriarch of the Gu clan is Gu Peng.

Gu Peng is over [-] years old this year, with white hair like silk, face as old as a dead tree, a cane in his right hand, and a cold light in his cloudy eyes. His eyes swept away, looking at each family The patriarch: "Last night in the bloody battle in the northern suburbs, the patriarch of the Zhu clan led his troops to fight against the rebels. The entire army was wiped out, and then the Zhu clan was wiped out. Do you all know these things?"

It is not that Wuyin County has not experienced catastrophe. It has fallen once before and was breached by the Yellow Turban Army. It can only maintain the county seat, and cannot send troops to slaughter them, so the Wuyin gentry did not suffer a serious setback that time.

Therefore, even if Wuyin County was breached this time, they were not very worried.

But no one expected that the most powerful Zhu clan, the number one gentry in Wuyin, would be wiped out overnight, which immediately made more than a dozen families tremble with fear, fearing that they would not know when the disaster of extermination would fall. own body.

"How can you not know such a big event!"

"I am the closest to the Zhu family's mansion, and I even sent troops to rescue. When I led the troops to arrive, the Zhu family had already turned into a sea of ​​flames, and now it is even more ruins!"

"Zhu Zhan insisted on exterminating the rebels, and even borrowed a hundred young men from our family, but now they have gone and never returned. Pity the good guys of our family!"

"My family also lent him fifty soldiers and horses, but now they are nowhere to be seen, so sad and angry!"

"Before the county government sent troops to suppress the bandits, we have already borrowed a lot of soldiers. Adding this battle, the family's government soldiers are already very few, and it is dangerous!"

"Who is so vicious, not only defeated the soldiers of the Zhu family, but also slaughtered the entire family of the Zhu family. Such a cruel and ruthless person is really rare!"

"Could it be the Yellow Turban Rebels?"

Everyone spoke one after another, their gloomy voices were full of endless anger and a trace of fear.

The matter of exterminating the family frightened them.

"If the Yellow Turban rebels, the old man is not very worried!"

With a calm face, Gu Peng smiled wryly, and said, "I'm afraid, it's not just the Yellow Turban rebels here, but someone is targeting our Wuyin gentry!"

As he said that, he took out a plain notice and handed it to everyone: "This is the notice posted by the yamen this morning. Let's all take a look at it!"

"The county magistrate Zhu Zhan colluded with the Yellow Turban rebels, captured the county seat, and slaughtered the people... The county magistrate, Mr. Cai, did not panic and gathered troops to resist. The county lieutenant Chen Feng took the lead, was beheaded and killed, and the county seat was breached."

"Zhang Chuan, the Wuyin righteous man in Wuyin County, led the young and strong village, and coordinated the county soldiers to resist the bandits. He was brave and good at fighting, and killed the rebel Mushan!"

"Great victory against thieves?"

"Nanyang Yellow Turban rebel Mushan was beheaded?"

"..."

The content of this notice made everyone feel chills and chills all over.

"This notice was issued by the county government. The old man arranged people, so I learned in advance. Now the county government should have started to stick the whole city. Now you can know what happened this time the Yellow Turban rebels entered the city. Alright!" Gu Peng said calmly.

"Magistrate Cai did it?"

Someone spoke in a low voice and asked eeriely.

"Why did he do this?"

"Of course it's for power, for controlling Wuyin County!"

"Zhu Xiancheng and Cai County Magistrate were at odds with each other. It would not be surprising to say that the Zhu family was exterminated by Cai County Magistrate. However, the Yellow Turban rebels broke through the city wall and entered the county. What he saw was not fake, and would he still dare to collude with the Yellow Turban rebels?"

The patriarch of a family did not dare to believe it and asked.

"I don't know if County Magistrate Cai is in collusion with the Yellow Turban rebels, and neither does the county government, but I know that when this notice is posted, County Magistrate Cai is defending the entire Wuyin County Magistrate. Yin's prestige is incomparably strong and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people!"

Gu Peng pointed out a focus, he doesn't care about Zhu's life or death, what he cares about is what will happen in the future, he sighed, and continued: "If he wants to trouble us in the future, what should we do?" good?"

"Are we still afraid of him?"

"I wasn't afraid before, but now... Patriarch Chen, do you think the Chen clan can be stronger than the Zhu clan?"

When Gu Peng said this, the patriarch's face turned ashen.

"Gu Gu, you are highly respected, and you are our role model. I still hope that you can decide what we should do!" One of them looked at Gu Peng and asked.

"Ha ha!"

Gu Peng smiled bitterly on his face, and after a while, he opened his mouth and said, facing everyone, his face was very dignified, and his voice was low, saying: "Juer is waiting here today, not to pursue anything, I just hope that in the future Everyone can keep a low profile, if the county government has any orders, I would rather suffer a loss than disobey them, our county magistrate does not seem to be easy to bully!"

"Are we admitting defeat?"

Some people are not reconciled, after all, they are the class that has dominated Wuyin for hundreds of years.

"Winning or losing doesn't depend on a moment, Wuyin is ours after all!" Gu Peng said in a deep voice with a gleam in his eyes.

"The old man is right!"

"A man can bend and stretch, so what if we bear it!"

Everyone also understands that the situation is stronger than people, and if they don't bow their heads, it may be their family who will destroy the family.

……

After a small meeting dissipated, the patriarchs of each family quickly returned to their respective families and began to adjust their attitudes towards the county magistrate.

Above the hall, only Gu Peng, the patriarch of the Gu Clan, knelt and sat on the bamboo mat.

A burly young man strode in and reported to Gu Peng, "Patriarch, out of a hundred children of our family, only sixteen of them came back. Most of the rest have already died on the hills in the northern suburbs!"

"Only sixteen came back?" Gu Peng's pupils were slightly red: "It shouldn't be a fluke!"

He also lent soldiers to the Zhu family. After all, they are both nobles. They are both prosperous and all damaged. This soldier must be borrowed. When the Zhu family was defeated, he had a slight premonition that the hundred soldiers had already More bad luck than good.

"There is one more thing. Last night, it was not only the Yellow Turban Army, but also the county soldiers who fought with our thousands of government soldiers!" The burly young man is Gu Qiu, styled Ziguan, Gu Peng's nephew, and the highest martial artist of the Gu clan. People also participated in the battle last night, but they reacted quickly and escaped with their lives.

"Cai Mengting is so brave, he actually dared to collude with the Yellow Turban Bandit, this time I will definitely sue him!"

Gu Peng sneered, and he shouted: "The Four Treasures of the Study!"

"exist!"

The left and right attendants sent the four treasures of the study.

He picked up the pen, swiped the pen and ink, and soon wrote a memorandum, stamped his own seal, sealed it with wax paint, and handed it to Gu Qiu: "Ziguan, hurry up and send it to Wancheng. Here you are Uncle Gu Ming, let him go to the county government!"

"promise!"

Gu Qiu took the order, held the letter in his hand, turned and left.

(End of this chapter)