Father Han Gaozu

Chapter 719 The Horse Thief

Tang State, Yuezhi Road.

This is the first city built by the Yuezhi people after they moved here.

More than half of the residents are Yuezhi people in the past, but Yuezhi Dao is not the most developed animal husbandry city in the Tang Kingdom. Because of the fertile land, it has become one of the core granaries of the Tang Kingdom. Although the junction is a natural pasture in the hands of the Huns, it is a first-class fertile farmland for the big man!
The entire city is no different from those cities in the Central Plains, and it is even impossible to distinguish the Yuezhi people in the city from the Central Plains people with the naked eye.

On this day, just after dawn, the local Taoist chief hurriedly summoned many officials, and even the local pavilion chief.

The Taoist priest walked out of the courtyard with a big belly, and looked at the many pavilion chiefs in front of him.

Dahan has also reformed the system of pavilion chiefs. Today’s pavilion chiefs, in addition to passing the legal examination, will also give priority to recruiting soldiers who have retired from the Yellow Head Army of the Northern and Southern Army. Entering the North and South Army, of course, those who have performed well during their service, even if they are not from the North and South Army, can still get the priority to become the pavilion chief.This also led to a problem. In many places, the pavilion chiefs have high titles, are arrogant and brave, and even dare to fight with county officials.

When the Taoist priest went out, he couldn't help but cast a glance at the burly man standing among the crowd.

This guy is an old soldier who retired from the Northern Army. When he just returned to his hometown, the Taoist leader was quite happy. He felt that he had the capital to fight against his superiors. He wanted to reuse him and go along with the current restructuring. As a result, this guy's temper Very smelly, brought the bad habits of the general brigade to his hometown, did not respect himself as the local governor at all, targeted himself everywhere, and even led the rest of the people to ruin. If he was not the only old soldier here, the Taoist leader would have He was kicked out.

He cleared his throat, and said to many pavilion chiefs: "In the near future, you all have to be more vigilant. Our king is likely to come to our side when he comes back. Our place is the first Yueshi city! After you go back, Just send people to clean up, the station needs to be cleaned up, and the matter of those horse thieves in the near future, no one can talk, no one is allowed to talk! If anyone dares to make the king unhappy, I will punish his clan!!"

The pavilion chiefs were a little displeased, and a young pavilion chief couldn't help but said, "When will the county be able to punish people's clans?"

The rest of the pavilion chiefs suddenly burst into laughter, "The Taoist priest has said yes, so of course he can. The Taoist priest is familiar with the law, how could he not know?"

The face of the Taoist priest became even uglier. Looking at these rebellious guys in front of him, and thinking about the possibility that the king might meet them, he put away his anger and said with a smile: "Everyone, in these years, your heirs They have all benefited a lot from the Taifu. The Taifu cares about the children in his hometown and often sponsors them to go to school, so that the name of our Taoism often appears in the ears of the king. The face is also ugly, and this place will not be favored by the temple in the future, who will benefit from this? It will do a lot of harm but not a single benefit."

"As for those horse thieves that you often think about, I won't pay attention to them at the moment. When the king leaves, we will directly arrest them. I promise, this time I will do my best to help you wipe out these thieves!!"

As the Taoist master spoke, he couldn't help but glance at the old soldier in the crowd.

The old pawn didn't speak, the Taoist priest was overjoyed, and explained again.

"Remember, our Great King is Your Majesty now, but you can call him Your Majesty, and it will be more affectionate to call you Your Majesty. Your Majesty likes to be called this way. His carriage is drawn by six horses. As long as you see a chariot drawn by six horses , give it all to me."

The Taoist priest was still chattering, and a pavilion chief approached the old pawn.

"Brother Zhao, do you want to tell the king what happened here?"

"After our Taoist priest came here, he didn't do any of his business. This figure has become bloated for three times. He said every day that he was related to the eunuch, and he didn't do anything. He didn't allow us to do things. He said that governing a big country is like cooking small meat. If it wasn't for the king coming, how could he be so polite to us? It is so difficult to see him on weekdays. Why don't we wait for the king to come, and we will directly sign a letter to drive this guy away!"

"It can be regarded as doing a good deed for the people here!"

The two pavilion chiefs seemed to be filled with righteous indignation, but the old pawn shook his head, "You can't act rashly. You have to bear great consequences if you speak in front of His Majesty. Don't have such thoughts. Speaking of which, Tang Guo is so arrogant. If you are big, you may not be able to meet the great king who comes to us."

After the Taoist priest gave the order, everyone retreated.

The old pavilion chief gathered his own pavilion soldiers, a total of six people, riding on horses, dressed in the unique attire of a big Han pavilion chief, and began to patrol within his jurisdiction.

Just as they passed a village, they saw several horses tied to trees.

The old pavilion chief Zhao De jumped off his horse and stepped forward quickly, looking at the tied horses. The rest of the soldiers also dismounted one after another and came to his side. Looking at these horses, they couldn't help admiring , "They are all good horses. They are all good BMWs."

As soldiers who have been on the battlefield, they can naturally recognize the unusualness of these horses.

But Zhao De's brows immediately frowned, he bent down, looked at the horse's hoof seriously, and even opened it to look at the bottom layer.

He got up, and very calmly called the chief here.

"Is there an outsider here?"

"Yes, among the Hanoi people passing by, the leader has a Tang accent, and their identities have been verified. There is no problem, so let them rest here."

Zhao De looked at the soldiers and quietly motioned them to take out the crossbows on their horses.

The few soldiers were stunned for a moment, realizing the seriousness of the problem, they turned back hastily, and one of them left on horseback, apparently to report to others.

Li Zheng was a little scared, and hurriedly asked: "Pavilion chief? Is there any problem?"

"No, it's just that the Taoist priest ordered to strictly investigate the people who come and go. It's just a formality. Don't be afraid. Take me to meet those people. I want to ask them about their situation."

Li Zheng breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly led the pavilion chief to the room where the guest was.

When Zhao De followed Li Zheng into the room, there were three people sitting inside.

The figure of the head man is extremely exaggerated, with big shoulders and round waist, one person can occupy the positions of three people. At the moment, he is eating meat, and the two are sitting beside him. One of them is younger, in his early 30s, with a dark and burly complexion. , the other has a white face and no beard, and looks feminine and cunning.

Seeing the three people who came in suddenly, the three of them were obviously a little surprised, and the young man even put his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Zhao De narrowed his eyes, then smiled.

"Meet the three nobles. I am the head of the pavilion here. I heard that there are nobles coming, so I came here to greet you."

Hearing what he said, they lowered their guard. The leader laughed loudly, his face full of ferocity, "What are you doing here to welcome us? Are you here to investigate us?"

"I do have a few words to ask you, do you know where the nobleman comes from?"

"It's from Hanoi."

"Where are you going?"

"Xia Guo!"

"Oh, can I check my credentials?"

"That's natural!"

The three cooperated very well. Zhao De looked at their IDs with a smile, rubbed them with his fingers, and returned them to them.

"That's right, those horses outside are your horses?"

"Yeah. How?"

"One of the horses was kneeling on the ground just now, and it seems that something went wrong. I just came in to disturb you after I saw it."

"what?"

The three were a little surprised, the leader hurriedly got up, the three also forgot to eat, and hurriedly walked towards the door.

"Stop! Hands up!!"

As soon as they walked out of the door, they saw a neat group of soldiers. Each of these men was holding a strong crossbow and aimed at the gate, and the three of them had no armor to protect themselves. The expressions of the three of them changed drastically, and they hurriedly raised their hands.

Liu Chang swallowed the meat he ate just now, and looked at the soldiers in front of him in surprise.

At this distance, unless you hold Lu Lu on the side to block it, you will be shot to death.

And Lu Lu hurriedly asked: "What does this mean? As a big Han official, do you want to intercept and kill passers-by?!"

"Hehe, don't think I don't know who you are!"

Zhao De's eyes were full of anger, "A nobleman from Hanoi? Why does he speak with a Tang accent?! Three of them, none of them have a Hanoi accent!!"

"Why do you bring a horse from the Tang Country Racecourse? There are marks left by the horseshoe on the horseshoe!"

"You guys did this test temporarily, do you think you can fool me?! The three of you are clearly horse thieves!"

Zhu He was shocked. He wanted to explain, but he was speechless. The identity was really made temporarily, and the horses were really taken from the official racecourse of Tang State. They really are not from Hanoi. , Why do I feel that I am really a horse thief? ?

Lu Lu was about to explain, but Zhao De said angrily: "Don't think that you can walk on the road so swaggeringly by bribing the county officials. Do you really think I don't know what you have committed?!"

"Since you have fallen into my hands, don't think that those people can save you out!!!"

"Ni Hushu! Go find Duyou immediately! Tell him that I want to sue the county officials!!"

Hearing these words, Liu Chang slowly loosened his fist and gave Lu Lu a look. Lu Lu understood what he meant and closed his mouth.

Liu Chang raised his head with a proud face, "Do you really think I'm settled? I'd like to see if everyone dares to deal with the county officials!"

"Ah!"

"How dare you be arrogant!"

The young man named Ni Hushu kicked Liu Chang's leg. Liu Chang remained motionless, but Lu Lu was stunned. He was about to reprimand him when Liu Chang glared at him again.

Zhao De frowned and reminded: "The law of the great man prohibits beating a thief who has already been caught. If he is injured, he will say that you tortured him to extract a confession! Arrest him!!"

Several soldiers stepped forward and tied Liu Chang and others tightly. Liu Chang didn't care at all, but Lu Lu was worried.

Soon, Liu Chang got into the prison car and set off in the direction of the county.

"Your Majesty, stop playing, something big is going to happen, if you die here, that's okay."

"What are you afraid of? These officials are disrespectful and don't know the reason for body searches. If I want to get away, I can do it anytime!"

Lu Lu was overjoyed, and then murmured: "But I can't!"

"No problem, when I escape back to the forest, I will call my brothers to avenge you!"

Lu Lu suddenly wanted to cry but had no tears, what should I do.

Zhao De escorted Liu Chang and others back to his office. The pavilion was set up outside the city, and there was a special place for detaining criminals. The three of them were imprisoned in different rooms, and soldiers were watching them, and they were not allowed to They talk.

Looking at the horse thieves who had finally been caught, Zhao De heaved a sigh of relief. Looking at the burly man, he couldn't help but said, "Such a strong man can't do anything good. Why do he have to be a thief?"

Liu Chang seemed a little moved, "I can't help myself."

Zhao De shook his head and didn't say anything more.

They are waiting for the arrival of Duyou, but Liu Chang and others can only wait in this temporary prison. The food here is not bad, although there is no meat, but the wheat rice is still fresh, Lu Lu and Zhu He can eat enough Although Liu Chang didn't have enough to eat, he was very curious about what the pavilion chief said, so he endured the hunger. He was very curious whether the county magistrate here really had an affair with thieves, and he also wanted to know, Whether the monitoring system here is complete.

He really hoped that the group of "horse thieves" including himself would be caught.

This can prove that his efforts over the years have paid off, at least some things have changed.

Everyone is waiting anxiously.

On the next day, a group of people quickly appeared near the pavilion, and Liu Chang only heard a very sharp voice.

The Taoist priest almost rolled down from the carriage, his face was extremely ugly, he gritted his teeth, yelled something loudly, and was about to rush into the house, but was stopped by the soldiers here.

"Zhao De! Zhao De! Get out!!"

The Taoist priest cursed loudly, but Zhao De walked out without haste.

"Do you know what you are doing?! Ah? The King is coming, His Majesty the Emperor is coming, do you know? His carriage frame is not far away, there is only one day left, you can do it for me This? Horse thief, horse thief, when did I get in touch with them?!"

The long-spirited face turned pale, and he immediately ordered, "Hand over the thief to me. You have made merit in catching the thief, and I will report it truthfully!"

Zhao De sneered, "The king is coming? Isn't that just right? Maybe he can come here before Duyou arrives. Whether you have an affair with thieves or not, they will find out when the time comes. Everyone is locked up here. , what are you afraid of?"

Daoist leader's forehead was dripping with sweat, he looked back at his servant, and then at the soldiers in front of him.

Zhao De slowly drew out his saber.

"Do you know who I am?! My surname is Tu!! I am a member of the imperial servant's family! According to seniority, I am still the uncle of the imperial servant! His father is my cousin!! How dare you provoke me? Do I think you have too many people?!"

"I'll give you one last chance to hand him over, otherwise"

"No way!"

The two groups immediately started to confront each other, Zhao De was not afraid of procrastinating, he had the chance to win, but the Taoist priest was so anxious that he gritted his teeth, waved his hand, and immediately led the people back.

Walking on the road, the Taoist priest looked gloomy, "Hurry up and contact those damned horse thieves! Once Duyou gets here, we will die. Let the horse thieves get rid of Zhao De and the others. This is the only way. When the time comes, I will I wrote a letter to the servant to get his protection. This damn thing, I should have killed him a long time ago and kept him, but unexpectedly, it has become such a disaster. His Majesty is coming, and these people must not be seen Your Majesty, otherwise our clan will not be able to keep it, kill them all, leave no one behind!!"

"Tell those horse thieves, don't think you can run away. If I am exposed, the king will use the whole country to hunt them down. Where can they go?! Only by dealing with these people and preventing them from seeing Duyou With the king, things will be successful!!"

As soon as the sky became dark, Liu Chang couldn't help shaking his head.

"According to the Taoist leader, he is afraid that he really has an affair with bandits. If so, he will definitely send someone to silence him tonight, but I don't know if these soldiers can stand up to it."

Lu Lu said loudly: "Your Majesty, since you know the truth, why don't you prove your identity, and don't let these soldiers be killed by bandits?"

Liu Chang narrowed his eyes and remained silent for a long time.

It was already dark, and there was silence around the pavilion.

There was a slight sound in the distant vegetation.

Zhao De squinted his eyes, lying on the ground, holding the crossbow in his arms, staring at the distance vigilantly.

Suddenly, the prisoner's voice came from inside the house. Zhao De was startled, and was about to turn his head, but there was a loud sound of horseshoes in the distance.

The voice became clearer and louder.

Zhao De was a little worried at first, but he couldn't help laughing as he listened.

A group of knights held torches and appeared on the road in the distance, and the noise among the vegetation became frequent, Zhao De hurriedly got up, "Brothers!! They are all here!! Kill the thief with me!! "

Everyone shouted and rushed out, and the knights brought by Duyou also joined the battlefield.

Soon, Duyou appeared in front of the bloody Zhao De. Duyou was a very serious person, with a straight face, and asked seriously: "Is it true that you want to expose the eight officials including the Daoist?" ?!"

Zhao De pointed to the corpse in the distance, the prisoner, "Didn't you see it too? These thieves are the best evidence!"

"You just have to interrogate them and you'll find out."

"However, I suggest that you'd better send someone to chase them now, otherwise I'm afraid the Taoist priest and the others will run away!"

Duyou ordered the prisoners to be taken down, and he warned solemnly: "You are now suing the county magistrate for adultery with thieves. of"

"Of course I know."

"That's good. Your Majesty will be here soon. Alas, what happened like this made me lose face in front of your Majesty. I really don't know how your Majesty will treat me."

Duyou also seemed to believe that the Taoist leader was related to the bandits, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

"Don't worry, the widow won't do anything to you. You're pretty good at everything."

There was a voice from a person in the distance, they all looked up and saw the three people in the distance clearly, their legs gave way, and they almost sat on the ground paralyzed.

ps: I took the medicine in the afternoon, and my health improved a lot, so I took another chapter of the time code.

(End of this chapter)