Judge of the Lamp

Chapter 419
Zhao Shancai, the magistrate of Luohuai County, was drinking in the outer house.

The concubine Cuizhi brought a plate of sauced meat, a plate of roasted duck, and a plate of vinegar fish, and served the county magistrate with wine.

Cuizhi is Zhao Shancai's favorite concubine, and she has nothing to say to her.

Because Cuizhi did not get along with his main wife, Zhixian Zhao bought her a house alone.

Zhao Zhixian drank two cups of wine, smacked his lips and said: "That bird boy Zheng Qi has become more and more arrogant with me in the past two days, and he has become more and more fussy about money, and when this matter is over, I have to give him a good blow." fan."

Cuizhi picked up a piece of sauced meat and stuffed it into Zhao Zhixian's mouth: "Master, I heard from you last time that more than [-] people in the county were affected by the disaster. No matter how I think about it, I feel terrified. If it is really hidden from the court..."

"What are you afraid of?" Zhao Zhixian snorted coldly, "I didn't want to hide this matter, it was the magistrate who wanted to hide it. After all, I was right after listening to the magistrate's orders."

"But this matter, can the magistrate handle it?"

"If the magistrate can't carry it down, there is Liao Shangshu in the capital. If Liao Shangshu can't carry it down, there is also Grand Master Yan, the chief assistant of the cabinet."

"What if Grand Master Yan can't bear it?"

Zhao Zhixian pinched Cuizhi's face, and said with a smile: "What nonsense are you talking about, let's declare that apart from the emperor, who else is older than Grand Master Yan?"

Cuizhi was still worried, so she brought another roasted duck to Zhao Zhixian: "If the emperor asks about this, what should we do?"

"After all, you are still a woman!" Zhao Zhixian chewed the duck meat and said, "Why would the emperor ask about this matter? He has just ascended the throne, if there is a natural disaster, wouldn't it be embarrassing for the emperor?"

Cuizhi sighed, "I'm afraid that the golden cicada from Gao Zhifu will escape its shell and finally catch you as a scapegoat."

"Catch me?" Zhao Zhixian sneered, "Last year, the Ministry of Industry rebuilt the embankment, only picked a few stones, dug a few shovels of soil, and spent tens of thousands of taels of silver.
Everyone knows this matter in their hearts, and everyone has a share of the money. If I make a mistake, he, Gao Shengchang's Usha, won't even try to keep it! "

"But I'm just worried..."

"Don't worry about it, it's related to the general here. A few ordinary people are not farts in front of the general, so it's worth mentioning?"

Cuizhi took another piece of roasted duck for Zhao Zhixian. Zhao Zhixian chewed a couple of mouthfuls, spat it on the ground, and pushed the plate aside: "Throw it away, this duck is not cooked well."

Cuizhi took a sip by himself: "Master, this is Yuefuju's roasted duck, it's just right for me to eat!"

Zhao Zhixian said with a smile: "You have never eaten a good furnace duck. The furnace duck roasted by Yuefuju. Among the ten ducks, at least three are overheated, and six are underheated. At most, there is one that is overheated." Just right, if I send someone to buy it myself, this duck must be kept for me.”

Cui Zhi took another sip and said, "Why is this heat just right? Why can't I eat it?"

"Let me teach you, this duck meat is divided into three grades. It melts as soon as you put it in your mouth. This is the first grade. It melts after one bite. This is the second grade. It doesn't melt after three bites. Such a duck , at my master’s place, there is no way to enter it, so throw it away quickly, I feel bad about it!”

Cui Zhi was just about to leave with the plate, when Xu Zhiqiong walked into the room and took the plate over: "Zhaozhi County, let's make do with one bite, I won't be able to eat any more in the future."

Zhao Shancai looked at Xu Zhiqiong, dumbfounded with fright, and Cuizhi called out on the spot.

Tao Huayuan suddenly appeared behind Cuizhi, and covered her mouth: "Don't make a sound, it will kill you, come out with me, I have something to ask you."

Tao Huayuan took Cuizhi out of the house, Xu Zhiqiong sat at the table, looked at the food and wine on the table, first tore off a duck leg, tasted it: "Zhao Zhixian's mouth is really mouthy, I will eat duck meat too It’s been a long time, but I think it’s pretty good.”

Zhao Shancai shouted loudly: "Who the hell are you?"

Xu Zhiqiong ate another piece of sauced meat, and exclaimed in admiration: "This meat is also well cooked, tasty!"

"The county asks who are you? Who gave you the courage to break into the county mansion?"

"Is this your mansion?" Xu Zhiqiong looked around, "I heard that your mansion is not here, how many mansions do you have, let me hear?"

"Presumptuous, come here! Take this villain down for me!"

After shouting for a long time, no one responded, Zhao Zhixian knew that he had met a ruthless person.

The servants he brought must have been brought down. Even if the servants in the yard were not dead, they were probably arrested.

Forget it, admit cowardly!
Zhao Zhixian wiped the sweat off his face and asked: "I don't know what kind of strongman you are, if you want to rob money, just tell me the number!"

Xu Zhiqiong nodded and said, "That's the right thing to say, first tell me how much you can give?"

Zhao Zhixian said: "How about two hundred taels of silver?"

Xu Zhiqiong smiled and said, "Is your life worth two hundred taels of silver?"

Zhao Zhixian said again: "Five hundred taels, how about it?"

Xu Zhiqiong said: "This is still unclear."

"One thousand taels. I only have so much. I will give it to you. This amount is quite a lot. Killing an official of the imperial court is a crime of Ling Chi. Why do you have to risk your life if you ask for money to get it?"

Xu Zhiqiong sighed and said, "Why can't you understand, that's all, let me tell you something that you can understand, let's talk about this stove duck!"

He picked up a piece of furnace duck and said to Zhao Zhixian: "You said that the heat of this piece of duck is not right, and you want to throw it away. If you say so, throw it away on such a whole plate. Do you know how many people can't eat this in their dreams?" mouth duck?

Not to mention this duck, even if he can eat a bite of pancake, he can close his eyes when he dies! "

"Who are you talking about?"

"Do you know how badly that old lady cried when he died?"

"Tell me, what old lady..." Zhao Zhixian was confused.

Xu Zhiqiong said: "Do you know how many people soaked in the mud for a few days, and just died in the mud like this? Do you know that even if a mother dies, she must Hold the child on top of your head?"

"You, you're talking about Helong Village?" Zhixian Zhao understood a little bit.

Xu Zhiqiong smiled and said, "Have you been to Helong Village recently? I just went."

"You, are you sent by the imperial court?" Zhao Zhixian understood it completely, and quickly got up to salute, "May I ask which adult you are?"

Xu Zhiqiong said: "What are you doing standing up? Sit down and eat some food. I am kind-hearted. You have to listen to what I advise you!"

"My lord, let Zhao say something more about this matter!" As expected of an old magistrate, the magistrate of Zhao County can calmly argue in times of crisis, "Luohuai County was hit by a disaster, and the county immediately reported it to the magistrate without a moment's delay. It is an order from the magistrate to not send it out, and this county is really obeying orders!"

Xu Zhiqiong said: "More than [-] people were affected by the disaster. How dare you keep it a secret? Just follow orders and it's over?"

Zhao Zhixian said: "It is the duty of the subordinate officials to obey the orders of the superior officials!"

Xu Zhiqiong said: "I am also your superior, I told you to die, are you going to die?"

"The next official is not guilty! Why should he die?"

"Are those more than [-] people guilty?"

The county magistrate was a little flustered and said: "The county didn't hurt those [-] people, it was caused by a natural disaster, and the county just left them to fend for themselves."

"Fend for itself?" Xu Zhiqiong gritted his teeth.

Zhao Zhixian said again: "This move is for the general..."

Xu Zhiqiong smiled and said, "Finally we've got to the point. I'm here today just to hear you talk about the general idea! Why don't you tell me about it, what, what is the general idea!"

"Generally, it is..."

"Don't talk about it here, let's talk about it in another place!" Xu Zhiqiong stepped forward and grabbed Zhao Zhixian's hair, and dragged him into the yard.

Zhao Zhixian screamed all the way, and saw the county magistrate Zheng Qi kneeling in the yard.

Zheng Qi lowered his head and said: "My lord, just tell me, this is Lord Xu from the capital, if you don't tell me, you must be dead!"

"Zheng Qi! If you dare to betray me, you will be bad..." Before Zhao Shancai could finish cursing, Xu Zhiqiong kicked him to the ground, turned around and asked Tao Huayuan, "Did you find out all the questions?"

Cuizhi was beside her with red eyes, and she didn't know what torture she had suffered. Tao Huayuan raised her hand a little, causing Cuizhi to collapse on the ground in fright: "I told you, don't hit me, I beg you, I told you... ..."

Tao Huayuan nodded and said, "She's said everything, and what she said is a bit different from the county magistrate's. It seems that Zhao Zhixian's family background knows more than the two of them."

While talking, Zhao Zhixian wanted to escape, but Xu Zhiqiong kicked his calf bone and knocked out a few old teeth: "Zhao Zhixian, I'm soft-hearted, tell the truth, don't hide it, sir Let me just say, I'll peel you a layer of skin, I want money and food, how much can you give me?"

Zhao Shancai knelt on the ground, crying with tears all over his face: "I said, I said..."

He said it, he said it all, and he didn't hide anything.

Xu Zhiqiong thought that the magistrate should have [-] taels of silver, but he was wrong.

This old man is very cunning, he hid the silver in thirteen places in the county, adding up to more than [-] taels.

In addition, he also hid more than a thousand stones of grain.

One stone is one hundred and twenty catties, and more than one thousand stones is more than one hundred thousand catties, which can solve the urgent need.

Xu Zhiqiong immediately posted notices in the county seat, hiring civilian husbands to do his best for disaster relief.

Zhao Zhixian begged bitterly: "Master Hou, for the sake of the sincerity of the old man, let the old man live."

"It's easy to say!" Xu Zhiqiong simply agreed, "I'll let you live!"

On the same day, Xu Zhiqiong took Zhaozhi County to Helong Village. Looking at the indistinguishable corpses in the mud, Zhao Shancai's feet went limp and he fell to the ground.

Xu Zhiqiong grabbed Zhao Shuncai's hair, pointed at the large swath of mud and said, "Look over there, that's the mother I mentioned, have you seen the child in her hand?

Look over there again, a girl of fifteen or sixteen years old, like a flower and a jade, when she was dying, her hand was still stretched out, and she still wanted to climb the mountain,
Look at that man, he climbed up the hillside, was cut off by an officer, and threw it back into the mud,
In a village of more than [-] people, there is not a single person left alive. You say that this is going to die on your own, okay, I will let you die here too! "

Xu Zhiqiong kicked Zhao Zhixian into the mud.

The mud covered half of Zhao Zhixian's body. Zhao Zhixian struggled and said: "Master Hou, this county is ordered to act for the sake of the great court, for the general, and for..."

Xu Zhiqiong turned around and said to a white lamp man: "Be careful about Zhao Zhixian, listen to what he said carefully, don't let Zhao Zhixian come up, come up once, cut off one of his hands, and if the hand is gone, don't let Zhao Zhixian come up again. Cut off the feet!"

"Master Hou, Lord Hou!" Zhao Shancai desperately climbed up the hillside, just as he reached the hillside, Bai Denglang pulled out his saber and immediately chopped off his right hand.

Zhao Shancai wailed repeatedly, his leg was broken, but he couldn't stand still, he fell and staggered, and the mud kept pouring into his mouth.

……

Xu Zhiqiong rescued more than [-] victims in Fuzhou in three days.

On the fourth day, Ma Guangli came to report that Gao Shengchang, the prefect of Fuzhou, was approaching Luohuai County with [-] officers and soldiers.

More than two thousand officers and soldiers.

How many people does Xu Zhiqiong have?
Hired civilians don't count, they can't fight wars, and they shouldn't fight this war.

Apart from the folk husbands, Xu Zhiqiong only had thirty lantern bearers and sixteen onmyojis.

Dealing with [-] troops seemed a bit reluctant, so Ma Guangli suggested: "Master Hou, take a step back for now, let's move some troops to the surrounding states and counties."

Xu Zhiqiong shook his head and said: "Don't usually call him Lord Hou, we still call each other brothers, we can't move troops now, if we really bring soldiers from other states and counties here, this matter will become a civil strife."

There was another hidden worry, which Xu Zhiqiong didn't mention.

The imperial court has no money now, and once a civil strife is triggered, it may not have the ability to quell the chaos. It is hard to say that the Nufu Church will not stir up trouble.

Ma Guangli said: "But how do we fight this battle? There are two thousand people on the other side!"

Meng Shizhen snorted and said, "Afraid of the ball? What's wrong with the [-] people? Let's ask them, have they ever fought?"

Li Pu'an said: "Even if we have five hundred people, I'm not afraid of them, but if we add one piece, there will be more than forty people, which is really a little less!"

"Don't worry, I still have help!"

Xu Zhiqiong sent away the crowd, touched the servant ghost jade, and called Yang Wu and Chang Decai out.

With the help of the magic circle, Yang Wu went to Huntiandang, sucked up enough Yin Qi, and was covered in a layer of black mist.

Chang Decai borrowed Tao Huayuan's magic circle to drag over five hundred paper figurines and a lot of weapons.

Yang Wu said to Xu Zhiqiong: "I also brought you a good helper."

"Which helper?"

A thick fog lingered around Xu Zhiqiong, and a concerned voice came from his ear: "Zhiqiong, why don't you call me for such a big matter!"

(End of this chapter)