Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 242 Ignite

When Gao Chong came out of the county office, his face was a little ugly and he was a little dissatisfied with Lu Linghao.

Although he is only the county magistrate, he thinks very highly of himself and has the mentality of a future minister. In Yanshi County, he did not compete with Lu Linghao for power. He almost ignored the land and taxes. He only focused on the Cao River and did not allow others to interfere.

To put it simply, he was in charge of a transshipment point on the smuggler's road in Fanzhen, Hebei Province.

He smuggled salt, iron, copper, silver and other goods to Fan Yang. At a small scale, it was just a case of the feudal town using his power to make some money; at a big scale, it depends on what Fan Yang Jiedushi thought.

As long as you don't guess Fan Yang Jiedushi's thoughts, it's really not a big deal. Lu Linghao had a kind of deceitful mentality. Sometimes he felt that he was giving convenience to Gao Chong. He also felt that Gao Chong did not fight for power in the county because he was a capable county magistrate.

In fact, Gao Chong looked down upon this little piece of land. He was someone who wanted to do big things.

It was fine if nothing happened before, but now that Xue Bai is here, he feels that Lu Linghao is not generous enough, and is very unhappy about this. It was difficult to express this feeling verbally, so I had to put on a mean face.

Therefore, Gao Chong did not notice that the concierge Zhao Liu was looking at him furtively at the gate of the county office.

"Xian Cheng."

As if he didn't hear the call, Gao Chong walked away vigorously and rushed to the post house again. He didn't see Zhao Liu waiting for him to leave and taking Du Wulang to find the county magistrate.

In the post house, the firewood has almost been piled up and is about to be lit.

"Wait a minute." Gao Chong instead gave an order first and said, "First form a formation to surround us."

He has eighteen officers under him. They have been in the county office for a long time and have become slick. They just shout and cheer and pretend to be thieves. They are not only afraid of meeting the palace ministers like Gongsun, but also afraid that the Zhang family is real. Cao Fu gathers one after another Nearly a hundred people were gathered, most of them using whistle sticks, not because they didn't have knives, but because they didn't want to show off in the city, and they didn't expect to need to use knives. There were about 20 people from the Guo family's servants still present, holding in their hands Those who have swords, if anything happens, these people will be the ones to blame.

In addition to this, there are six people who specially follow Gao Chong to protect him. Just looking at their aura, these six people are worth the hundreds or dozens of people in front of him.

If more manpower is needed, thousands of manpower can be mobilized if Gao Chong is given time. But how many manpower are needed to deal with a county captain who has only been in office for less than a month and a few liars? At first, Gao Chong only planned to use the guards to capture the people, but because he was worried that the guards would deliberately let people go, he brought the cattleman.

There is another fact that has to be said. No matter how many people there are, Gao Chong will not be able to command them at all. The servants are naughty, the porters are stupid, and the Guo family's servants do not belong to him. On the contrary, they are not as easy to command as the soldiers and horses in the border towns.

The kind of frontier soldier who only takes orders seriously. His sworn brother is Gao Gao and can command one or two thousand people with arms and fingers. He is confident that he can do it too.

To put it bluntly, tonight is still a brawl. Being able to command more than a hundred people to besiege dozens of people, and being able to pass on orders and get them executed is already very, very powerful.

"Before you put out the smoke, make sure they don't escape!"

"Ten of you guard the gate; you lead a team to light the fire; you lead a team to fan the smoke; and the rest line up for me."

"Also, you guys go immediately and tell all brothers to stay awake and listen to my orders at any time until I avenge you."

"Prepare water, sand and soil for me so that I can extinguish the fire at any time. Never burn it elsewhere!"

"..."

With such arrangements in place, Gao Chong stepped forward in person and shouted to the pavilion.

"Ms. Gongsun, maybe you have also been deceived by this group of demon thieves. Bring your disciples down and explain things clearly to the county government office. You will be fine. Otherwise, when I release the smoke thieves, you will be innocently implicated. .”

To deal with enemies, you need to divide and win them over, and he knows this very well. But after waiting for a long time, Aunt Gongsun did not respond.

"Block the door!"

Soon, the watermen brought the big vat, blocked the door, and started to light it.

"call--"

The firewood was poured with kerosene, and the torch ignited immediately. The fire quickly spread along the kerosene to the entire firewood pile, and it suddenly spread out, making a "crackling" sound, and the smoke immediately rose.

A large fan was opened, and smoke rose into the pavilion. The flames burned on the bricks and lit the windows.

……

"Cough cough cough."

In the attic lobby, there were still some injured people lying on the ground, and there were three or five corpses.

Although both sides are dedicated to their lives, most of the ruthless men these days have gone to recruit soldiers, and the rest can only be described as brave and ruthless.

There are a total of thirty-eight people at Fengweilou here, twenty of whom were selected from the refugees. On the contrary, they are more generous than the original eighteen casino thugs. They will use the knife if they disagree with each other during the fight. , many enemies were killed, and many were injured here.

The families of these people are raised by their bosses and live a good life, but they regard their own lives very cheaply. At this time, he was smoked and felt that he could not escape, so he asked his companions to give him a good time.

"Come on... it's too uncomfortable to be smoked to death..."

"What's the rush? I just had a fever."

The situation was very chaotic, and Shi Zhong couldn't control it. He quickly asked someone to get water and covered his mouth and nose with a wet cloth, while he hurried up to the attic and asked Du Jin for instructions.

"Cough cough cough... Er Niang, what should I do?!"

Du Jin's eyes were still looking into the distance.

This place is not too far away from the county office. From a high place, she can see the movement of the county office... She has already seen the signal given by Du Wulang.

"hold on."

"But it's so smoky that it's going to burn to death soon."

"Look at the signal, coming soon."

"Okay." Shi Zhong asked, "Should I ask everyone to prepare for a breakout?"

"Not a breakout."

"Cough cough cough..."

The fire outside had already wrapped around and burned the paper windows in the attic.

Shi Zhong could no longer open his eyes, but he didn't know what Du Jin was waiting for.

There might still be a chance of survival if we fight out right now, but by waiting like this, isn't it like waiting to die?

The time was actually very short, but it felt very slow. Finally, a team of people from the county office came out with torches. Du Jin breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Finally."

The fire was getting bigger and bigger, and the beams at the corners of the eaves were already on fire. The wind blew and fanned the fire, carrying ashes and sparks flying around. The furthest ones reached the county school in the south before it dimmed.

Unfortunately, the fever did not reach the county school, but Du Jin had regained his composure, closed his eyes and said calmly: "Get out."

"Wha...what?"

"It's okay, you can go out now."

~~

"Be prepared, they are coming! Kill one of them for me!"

Gao Chong stared at the door, just waiting for the other party to come out.

The smoke also blew up to him, making him almost shed tears, and the firelight in front of his eyes was scorching.

suddenly.

"You dare to burn the daughter of Shangzhu Kingdom?"

"The old lady, Gongsun, is honored by the emperor and would like to go to the county office to ask questions!"

Gao Chong narrowed his eyes, raised his hand and rubbed it twice. He didn't know why, and felt like he was punched in the air.

It feels ridiculous. If these people are willing to surrender, why bother to resist in the first place? He is neither a timid person nor a coward, and even if he is having a fierce fight at this time, he is not so ridiculous.

He still didn't know why Xue Bai dared to let them pretend to be royal relatives, but he could use witnesses to turn the matter into a major rebellion.

"Let them put down their weapons and come out one by one with their heads in their hands."

"Put down your weapons! Come out one by one with your head in your hands!"

"Cough cough cough...don't kill me!"

Soon, a group of people who were most afraid of death rushed out, indeed without weapons.

The watermen, servants, and especially the guards outside also breathed a sigh of relief and quickly used the prepared ropes to tie up the people.

Gao Chong asked the people around him to protect himself and the Guo family servants to be ready with knives to kill at any time.

Before Aunt Gongsun came out, an old man in his forties with a round face and no beard came out with a disgraced look. He was the so-called manager of the Zhang family.

"Get it!" Gao Chong needed the person in charge to testify against Xue Bai as an explanation afterwards.

"do not move!"

Several officers were also extremely excited and rushed forward together, scrambling to hold Shi Zhong down.

"I..."

"You must be the mastermind, it's settled."

However, just at this moment, there was a loud shout from behind everyone.

"What are you doing?!"

"Why don't you put out the fire yet?!"

Everyone turned to look and saw Lu Linghao, Guo Huan and others being surrounded.

It was said that they were surrounded because Lu Linghao was accompanied by many guards, and there were even two guards wearing light armor.

Today, the Tang Dynasty still has a government military system in name. The government soldiers are composed of county soldiers. The county soldiers are composed of men of suitable age in the registered households. They usually work as farmers. They train for two months every year. The number of soldiers in Yanshi County is one thousand, and they take turns to guard the capital. Or go out to fight, and the Sixteen Guards General's Yamen will be responsible for the world's soldiers and horses... But these are all things on paper.

The soldiers of the government have not fought for a long time, and Juntian has collapsed, so it has existed in name only. Most of the border towns recruited soldiers, and the military power was controlled by Jiedushi; the local governor used guards to maintain stability.

The same is true in the county. Lu Linghao is in charge of the household registration and enjoys the benefits of registering and registering together with the General Office of Henan Prefecture. He only occasionally hires some idle men to deal with inspections. The only weapons in the entire county are the guards under the county magistrate. .

Lu Linghao already knew that this water transportation area still needed to be armed, so he asked the guards to leave fifty troops. To be more vague, there were actually thirty-eight people under his command. They were usually only responsible for the city gates and city gates. Keep guard and show some filial respect to show the majesty of the county magistrate.

At this time, the county magistrate looked very unhappy.

"Quickly, put out the fire! Aren't you afraid of burning down the entire county?"

"Oh, Prime Minister Gao... don't you know that fire and water are ruthless? The houses in this county are all made of wood. Once the fire breaks out, it will burn down the entire county."

Along with Lu Linghao came two other wealthy gentry, Cui Jun and Zheng Bian, the branches of the Boling Cui family and the Xingyang Zheng family in Yanshi.

Gao Chong was a little confused, why did these two people arrive so quickly? His eyes glanced again and fell on the person behind Cui Han, that was Cui Youfu, the captain of Shou'an County.

He almost forgot about this person, because this county captain from a neighboring county had only been in office for a few months and actually did not have much prestige. But then I remembered that being a descendant of the Cui Youfu family was extremely useful at certain times. "Gao Xiancheng! Please answer me!"

Zheng Bian was very angry. It should be noted that the county school was directly adjacent to the south of the post house. It was he who funded the construction. Many of the teachers and disciples of the county school were relatives in his family.

"As a county magistrate, you openly set fire to the building, and the fire particles flew in the wind. Have you ever thought about how dangerous it is?!"

"According to the laws of the Tang Dynasty, anyone who loses more than ten pieces of silk by setting fire will be hanged! Hanged!"

"Quick, put out the fire!"

A group of servants shouted and surged up, disrupting the queue of watermen, and poured water from the wooden basins in their hands into the attic.

Cui Jun also rushed forward and cursed, spitting all over Gao Chong's face.

The Cui family has many shops in Nanshi, south of the county school, and the house to the west is also his property.

"Are you crazy? Are the fires set randomly? You, a county magistrate, don't understand the principle of playing with fire and burning yourself?!"

"Let me tell you, if this building burns down and the fire cannot be controlled, your whole family will not be able to afford the hanging!"

Gao Chong almost raised his hand and slapped these old guys, but he held back.

He dared to kill foreign county captains and worshipers. After killing people, how could he explain to the Chang'an court seven hundred miles away? He had one month to confuse right and wrong. In front of Xue Bai, he was a local snake; but in front of these gentry , he is just an outsider.

"It's getting more and more lawless!"

One sentence after another, endlessly, it took a while before Gao Chong had a chance to explain. In fact, if he dared to set a fire, he would be prepared to put it out.

"Don't worry, everyone, you won't be burned..."

"You said it can't be burned if it can't be burned?! One lantern can burn down the entire county!"

Gao Chong's clean face was sprayed with saliva again, and murderous intent suddenly arose in his heart. He decided to wait until the news of tonight's incident had passed, and then slowly drug Cui Jun to death.

"I'm on the case!"

"President Gao County." Lu Linghao said: "What case do you have to deal with that you have to shout like this to Mr. Cui?"

"A major treason case." Gao Chong said, "The murderer of the Lishan stabbing case is here. Can Mr. Cui and Mr. Zheng afford it?"

Several gentry didn't know why, but they were shocked by him.

Lu Linghao's attitude also softened a bit.

Instead, Cui Youfu suddenly asked, "Is Aunt Gongsun the murderer of the stabbing case?"

Gao Chong was stunned.

If you think about it carefully, this is an extremely tricky question.

Although there was no royal law in Yanshi County, Gao Chong was allowed to smuggle, assassinate, and control Caohe, but there were still many people watching. The gentry could ignore other matters, but they had to intervene in the arson and conspiracy cases. If Gao Chong really answered, he would be openly testifying against Aunt Gongsun.

"They are pretending to be from the Zhang family..."

"no!"

Shi Zhong suddenly shouted loudly and said: "I am not pretending, I am the steward of the Zhang family! My master is a cousin of the saint, Dr. Yinqing Guanglu, Taipuqing, and Lord Zhang of Shangzhu Kingdom!"

"Now that things have come to this, you still dare to talk nonsense?!"

"My master lives in Yanzhengfang, Chang'an. My late wife is Dou, the wife of Yan State, the adoptive mother of a saint!"

When Shi Zhongcai said this, Zheng Bian was so frightened that he took a step back.

"Fu Jun's wife, the Dou family of Zhangyi County, has six sons and three daughters. The eldest son is Qing. He is appointed as the water envoy of the capital and is married to the head of Daning County. The second son is Qian. He is often selected by the Ministry of History and is married to the head of Yanhe County. "The eldest daughter will marry the direct descendant of the Li family in Zhao County, the second daughter will marry the current prince, but the third daughter will still be waiting in the harem."

Shi Zhong didn't say a word to prove that he was the real steward of the Zhang family, but his attitude in every word he said showed the style that a powerful man in Chang'an should have.

Once, his status was higher than that of the Zhang family steward.

When Concubine Wu Hui was still alive, he was the steward of Prince Shou's Mansion. At that time, even high-ranking officials in the court had to be respectful in front of him. When it comes to being domineering, among the slaves in Chang'an at that time, there were not many people who were more domineering than him.

Later, King Shou lost power, his temperament changed drastically, and he was almost beaten to death. It was Daxi Yingying who saved him, saying that he needed manpower to help King Shou make money. After that, King Shou of the Shiwang Mansion could not be seen for a long time, and he also wanted to draw a clear line with King Shou, so he became Da Xi Yingying's steward.

Unexpectedly, the publicity in the past could now be put to use.

"Fujun was born in Demen. He is fifty and six this year. He can still draw a bow with more than six jun guns, and he can drink up to one stone without getting drunk. In the early days of Jingyun Dynasty, he joined the army with the left guard and followed the dragon; in the early days of Kaiyuan Dynasty, he was granted the title of Zen retinue; in the middle of Kaiyuan period, he was sent as an envoy The Xiongnu specially gave me a purple gold fish bag and decorated it with the most royal crown of favor! I am the closest relative of the emperor and the confidant of the saint... You dare to attack me, what's wrong? What's wrong!"

The faces of Lu Linghao, Guo Huan, Cui Han, Zheng Bian and many people on the field changed drastically.

They no longer cared to think about whether this was the real manager of the Zhang family, their minds were filled with those words.

Gao Chong was furious, raised his hand and shouted: "The thief still dares to quibble, kill him!"

"stop!"

"Gouxian Cheng, are you a rebel? Do you dare to kill the Zhang family?! The county magistrate is here, what else do you want?!"

"kill him!"

"Stop it!" Lu Linghao finally got angry and shouted at Gao Chong: "They were all captured without any effort. Is there anything else that can't be found out..."

"County magistrate, if they had no conspiracy, why did they resist in the first place?"

Shi Zhong shouted: "Who took the knife first?! I serve the emperor's close relatives, can you let you kill people? I serve the emperor's close relatives, and the county magistrate is here, why should I not dare to put down the sword?"

"Did you hear that?" Lu Linghao shouted: "Put down your swords! Put out the fire, put down your swords, and this county will stop it! Whoever dares to attack again will be a traitor!"

Gao Chong was furious. After all, he couldn't do it in front of everyone, so he had no choice but to order: "Put down the knife."

Anyway, I already got someone.

"Quickly put out the fire!"

Following the order of the county magistrate, the plow workers also helped to put out the fire. The fire was gradually put out. Only then did Aunt Gongsun, who was hiding inside, lead her disciples out, and they all indeed put down their weapons.

At this time, everyone had just put down their weapons, and the Guo family servants also had a premonition that something bad was going to happen, so they quietly took a few steps back to the dark place on the edge to avoid falling into the eyes of the county magistrate.

Only the police officers were still detaining people in an orderly manner. They all thought they had to go to the county office to solve the problem through negotiation and questioning.

The thugs were all tied up, but when they were about to tie up Gongsun Auntie, a dispute broke out.

Lu Linghao heard that Guo Yuanliang said that Aunt Gongsun was real, and waved her hand so that she would not be tied up. When he glanced around, he saw that the women were all female disciples of sword dancing in red clothes.

He had met Zhang Sanniang and couldn't help but asked: "Why is there no Zhang Sanniang?"

"Still inside."

"Please come out quickly, don't let it get burned."

Suddenly three of the female disciples in red took out their short swords and waved them.

"Little lady, run! They are going to kill you!"

"Little lady, run!" Shi Zhongye shouted: "Only Lieutenant Xue County in Yanshi County can be trusted..."

"Don't make a move!" Lu Linghao exclaimed, "Don't even make a move."

He didn't have time to take a closer look just now. In short, he didn't see Zhang Sanniang among them. He must have ignored it and not let anyone stare.

At this time, everyone was only looking into the attic. The scene was chaotic. The two tall female disciples in red had already rushed out, protecting a petite one.

Only then did Gao Chong react and saw that their figures had disappeared into the night.

He was a little confused as to why he was doing this, but soon he realized that Zhang Sanniang was fake and couldn't stand trial... They had to be caught.

"County magistrate, can you send someone to find them?"

"The county will send people to look for it."

"it is good."

Gao Chong seemed to have listened to Lu Linghao's words, but he thought it was just him personally accompanying these county magistrates and gentry to try the case together, and Yanshi County was still under his control.

Lu Linghao's visit was just an additional interrogation process, and it was impossible for what was fake to become real.

When the county magistrate and the gentry turned around and walked towards the county office, Gao Chong stopped.

He also has six confidants who can really do things, and his chilling aura is incompatible with the other rabble in this county.

"If it's really a daughter of the Zhang family...you two, prepare for the worst."

"Here."

Two people understood, one went directly to the dock, and the other went directly to the arsenal.

If things go wrong, they must be prepared to arm the porter with a knife. Normally, Gao Chong would never dare to take this route, because actually nothing would happen if the smuggling case was discovered, and Caofu's rebellion would only make things more troublesome.

This was just a deterrent, a way to scare Lu Linghao. Even if the Zhang family daughter was real, he would have to let Lu Linghao judge her to be fake tonight.

"Yang Shishi, Shi Zhong, there is a secret passage in the secret house, Xue Bai doesn't know about it, go and kill him."

There are only six veterans under his command, and it is impossible for Hebei to send more people to this small dock. At this time, four of them were scattered, and he was a little worried about his own safety, and wanted to recall one of them. Thinking that Xue Bai also had good people around him, he gritted his teeth and let both of them go...

~~

"Gao Chong has entered the county office." Du Jin, dressed in red, ran through the night, "Let's go to Cui's house."

She and Xue Bai calculated that Du Wulang would definitely be able to invite Lu Linghao to protect "Zhang Sanniang" and "Gongsun Auntie". After all, accusing them was false and just a lofty one-sided statement.

Unexpectedly, the county office was so close, and Lu Linghao was almost late.

Fortunately, a fire alarmed those Yanshi gentry. In Shi Shen's eyes, all her people were captured and taken to the county jail. Xue Bai had no more force except a few guards around him.

In Yanshi County, only Gao Chong controls thousands of canal workers. He only does smuggling and killing officials with drugs. Tonight, he openly kills people and sets fires. He attacks the cousins ​​of saints, seizes worshipers in the palace, and hunts down the newly arrived county captain... Almost covering the sky with one hand.

Gao Chong had to set the fire because of their stubborn resistance, but in the eyes of the gentry, they only saw the Zhang family surrendering. Zhang Sanniang was afraid of being caught, and even the county magistrate did not believe it.

In this way, the situation is considered ignited. It is easy to light a fire, but can Gao Chong extinguish it?

(End of this chapter)