At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 103 Blood
County government office, study room.

Zhou Zhan was silent for a long time after listening to Zhou Qi's narration.

"When the county magistrate first arrived in Anfeng, he didn't understand the actual situation, so he rashly offended the wealthy families. I'm afraid it wouldn't be good."

There was a little worry in Zhou Zhan's eyes.

He was born in the Zhou family of Pei State, so he naturally knew how powerful the local powerful forces were.

It is no exaggeration to say that, except for the highest local officials, the vast majority of officials are from local tycoons, even those jailers and servants, who may be related to local tycoons.

Zhou Qi hastily offended those people today, maybe he won't even have a meal tomorrow.

After hearing this, Zhou Qi opened the door, feeling the cold wind blowing in from outside, and said, "If the problem is not solved as soon as possible, many people may freeze to death every day."

"When we first arrived in Anfeng, we were alone and lonely. If we didn't make a surprise move, it would take a lot of time just to figure out the current situation in Anfeng County."

"How many people will die during this time?"

Although Zhou Qi is tactful and sophisticated, he treats his enemies cruelly, but he has a kind heart in his heart, and he doesn't want to see the people suffer.

Even if he doesn't think about his own future, he will do his best to save as many lives as possible in this cold winter.

It's not that Zhou Qi's Madonna's heart is overflowing.

After all, he grew up in a peaceful era, no matter how hard the people at the bottom were, they would not starve to death or freeze to death.

Since he happened to come to this era, in addition to wanting to make contributions, he also has no ambition to change the future of this nation.

At the very least, this nation will not experience more than a hundred years of wars, resulting in a population decline and eventually being taken advantage of by foreigners.

Zhou Zhan sighed: "Having said that, we are weak after all. The county magistrate should at least wait until the troops arrive before settling accounts with these people."

Zhou Qi closed the door and said, "It's the best time to lure the snake out of the hole because I'm alone and alone."

"If everything arrives, maybe our enemies will hide."

"I am not afraid of the exposed enemies, but I am more worried about those who are hiding in the dark and may launch a fatal sneak attack on me at any time."

"The first thing to figure out now is to know who is our friend and who is our enemy."

In terms of struggle, Zhou Qi has received that kind of education and has the experience of later generations, which is not much inferior to the old coins of this era.

Only by figuring out your real enemy, and then uniting all forces that can be united, can the enemy be completely wiped out.

Seeing that Zhou Zhan still had a worried expression on his face, Zhou Qi stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder, and said, "What Ziqing is worried about is that these tyrannical dogs are eager to jump over the wall and want to assassinate me, right?"

Zhou Zhan nodded.

Zhou Qi smiled and said, "Don't worry, although I showed hostility, I still wouldn't push them to that point."

"I'll just wait inside the county government office and watch the clouds rise and fall."

That night, a raging fire suddenly ignited in the place west of the county government office where household registration, account books, and documents were stored.

The guards hurriedly got up from the bed.

Some came to protect the county magistrate, while others went to put out the fire with buckets under the leadership of the county lieutenant.

However, the fire was extremely intense.

By the time the county officers put out the fire, it was already dawn, and the treasury where household registration documents were stored had long been burned to the ground.

To the east of the county seat, in the dilapidated house, the young man coughed from time to time, looking at the fire burning in the direction of the county government office, his eyes, which were already somewhat dead, seemed to have some light again.

He held his hands tightly, letting his nails dig into his palms and the blood slowly flowing down, but he still didn't feel anything.

He muttered to himself: "With this fire, it means that the county magistrate has not had sex with those people."

"However, with the means of those people, this fire is just the beginning, and I don't know if the new county magistrate will give in in the end."

There is hatred in the eyes of young people, but also expectations.

"This person's dereliction of duty caused the attic to catch fire, and the household registration, documents, and account books were all burned. I also ask the county magistrate to punish this person for his dereliction of duty."

County Captain Huang An picked up an old man, threw it in front of Zhou Qi, and said angrily.

Seeing this, Zhou Qi frowned slightly.

This old man was over sixty years old, he looked sallow and thin, obviously malnourished, with deep fear and confusion in his eyes.

Zhou Zhan walked up to Zhou Qi and said in a low voice, "This old man doesn't look like someone from the county government, but rather like a homeless refugee. He just got washed and changed his clothes temporarily."

When Zhou Qi heard this, his eyes immediately turned cold.

Zhou Qi didn't expect these people to be so unscrupulous.

Not only did they set fire to the attic where household registration, account books, and documents were stored, they even found an old man to take the blame.

It is actually easy to find out who was guarding the attic in the past.

However, since the county lieutenant dared to do this, it showed that the other party had the confidence to conclude that Zhou Qi could find nothing, so he dared to be so unscrupulous.

Zhou Qi looked around at the crowd, and sure enough, he saw the county government servants standing behind the county lieutenant, silent.

At this time, Zhou Qi was somewhat caught in a dilemma.

If the attic where important materials are stored catches fire, the person guarding the attic must be guilty. According to the law, it is considered light to sentence him to exile, even beheading him is not an exaggeration.

However, this person is obviously a refugee who was caught as a top bag.

If Zhou Qi hastily convicts him, not only will this person be harmed, but he will also be charged with harming the elderly regardless of right and wrong after the incident.

If it is said that burning the attic is a warning given by Anfeng County Haoqiang.

Then they launched this old man to take the blame, which was the first real confrontation with Zhou Qi.

Zhou Qi helped the terrified old man up, and asked gently, "Where were you when the attic caught fire?"

Perhaps Zhou Qi's gentle attitude made the old man feel a little relieved.

He first looked at the county lieutenant behind him who was holding a knife and sneering, then at the gentle and gentle county magistrate, knelt down on the ground again, and said, "When the attic caught fire, the little old man was resting inside."

Zhou Qi asked: "Then do you know why the attic caught fire?"

The old man said tremblingly: "I think the little old man was too careless. He didn't put the lamp in place and accidentally tipped it over, which caused the fire in the attic."

Zhou Qi couldn't help sighing secretly when he heard the words.

The old man voluntarily pleaded guilty, obviously there is something in the hands of the county lieutenant Huang An, and it is very likely that the old man's family has been controlled.

If this is the case, given Zhou Qi's current situation of being alone and alone, it will be difficult to rescue the old man's family.

As long as the old man pleads guilty, things will definitely be difficult.

As for starting from the identity of the old man, I can only think about it. With the power and means of the county magistrate and county lieutenant, everyone in the county office will definitely insist that the old man is the one guarding the attic.

Seeing Zhou Qi frowning and saying nothing, Zhou Zhan took the initiative to take two steps forward and shouted sternly at the old man: "You are lying!"

When the old man heard this, his whole body trembled, and then he knelt on the ground and said, "How dare you lie to the face of the county magistrate?"

Zhou Zhan sneered and said: "According to the regulations, it is forbidden to bring any open flames into the attic where important government documents are stored, but you say that there are lamps inside, isn't it ridiculous?"

The old man was obviously not aware of this rule, and immediately turned to look at the county lieutenant with some trepidation.

Before the county lieutenant could reply, he saw the county magistrate Zhu Bao striding over and scolded the old man, "What a dereliction of duty man, not only disloyal to his duty, but openly violating the government's prohibition, how dare he leave a piece of paper in the attic?" Lamp!"

Zhu Bao strode over, kicked the old man to the ground, and then bowed to Zhou Qi: "The county magistrate above, this kind of dereliction of duty old official, if you don't kill it, it won't be enough to anger the people, and if you don't kill it, it won't be enough to punish the old man." .”

"I also ask the county magistrate to order this thief to be killed, so as to make an example to others!"

It has to be said that Zhu Bao, the magistrate of the county, has extraordinary means. He began to force the palace as soon as he came up, trying to get Zhou Qi to kill the old man.

If Zhou Qi did not kill him, and the evidence was overwhelming and the old man had already confessed, he would be deliberately shielding the criminal, and Zhou Qi would be responsible for the burning of the attic.

If Zhou Qi ordered to kill the old man, it would be equivalent to hanging a sharp knife on his own head. Zhu Bao and the others could push out the real guards of the attic at any time, and punish Zhou Qi for killing innocent elders indiscriminately.

In either case, Zhou Qi would be extremely passive.

Facing the aggressive Zhu Bao, Zhou Zhan stopped in front of Zhou Qi, and said coldly, "There are still many doubts in this case, how can we kill the suspect so hastily?"

"The county magistrate is so urgent, could it be that he wants to cover up the truth?"

Zhu Bao smiled brightly when he heard this, and said: "Now that the attic has been destroyed and many important documents have been burned, people in the county are in panic. If we don't kill the perpetrators as soon as possible, how can we stabilize people's hearts?"

"It should be noted that without the household registration, account books and documents in the attic, there will be no way to collect taxes on a household basis in the coming year."

Having said that, he cupped his hands in the direction of Luo Yang, and said, "If you can't pay taxes on time next year, I'm afraid the county magistrate will not be able to explain to the court."

The meaning of threat is self-evident.

Zhou Zhan laughed lightly and said, "The household registration documents in the attic were burned, and there must be backups in every township and pavilion."

"Even if the household registration documents of each township and pavilion were burned, there is still a backup at the government. As a student of Yuan's family, the county magistrate, it is expected that the county guard will help to look up the documents."

Zhou Qi looked at Zhou Zhan's performance, a smile appeared on his face, and he said to Zhu Bao, the county magistrate, "What Ziqing said is very good."

"This case is still full of doubts, so we should lock up the prisoner first, and convict him after the trial is clear."

Zhu Bao's face was a little gloomy.

He didn't expect Zhou Zhan to know so much about local government affairs, and he knew that the method of scaring Zhou Qi would not work.

Seeing that Zhu Bao was at a disadvantage during the confrontation, the county captain Huang An secretly sneered, walked up to the old man, and deliberately threw away his saber.

Seeing this, the old man couldn't help showing a miserable expression, then picked up the saber, put it around his neck, and shouted loudly: "I know that I will definitely die, and I hope that I will not implicate the old family members!"

After speaking, the old man exerted force suddenly, his throat was cut immediately, and blood spurted out.

The old man's body fell to the ground, and the ground of the county office was soon stained red with blood.

　I don’t know if any of our book friends are taking the college entrance examination. If so, it’s better not to read novels these days, take a good rest, and take the exam. I hope that the brothers who take the college entrance examination can perform supernormally. Must hit, open the flag to win, and return in triumph! ! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)