Feng Xing

Luo Zhixian personally led the group in.

I went to the second hall to drink tea first, and saw that it was getting late, and I had to deal with the settlement and banquet.

This can make him very busy, he is a small official in a remote area of ​​seventh rank, he has never seen such a noble person as a prince, he is afraid that he will do something wrong, or he will violate the taboo of nobles He and his servants were called around by him.

That's all, I'm afraid of neglecting.

Fortunately, the king of Wei ordered that everything be kept simple during the work. But can it be kept simple? Even if he was told to keep it simple, he wouldn't dare.

It wasn't until King Wei thought he was annoying and asked him to retreat with a cold face that he retreated tremblingly.

The next day, before the king of Wei got up early in the morning, Luo Zhixian led the county magistrate and other officials of the county government to wait outside the door, and the solicitous ones had to go in to wait for the king of Wei to wash and have breakfast. Dewang was furious It's not easy, whoever is robbing him of his job.

After some trivial matters, Wei Wang cut to the point.

This Luozhi County is also good at handling affairs, explaining the ins and outs of the case one by one, even the leader of the robbery he ordered to be arrested, and the recorded confession were all presented.

The king of Wei was reading the confession here, and someone came to report that it was businessman Meng Xinyang who asked to see the imperial envoy.

This Meng Xinyang was the owner of the robbed army rations. Knowing that the matter was important, he personally escorted the rations. Who would have thought that such a thing would happen halfway.

Meng Xinyang was deeply hit, and repeatedly asked the county government to arrest the real culprit and recover the robbed military rations to make up for his losses.

It's just that this matter is doomed to be difficult, and Luo Zhi County can't do anything about it.

It turned out that the person who robbed this batch of food was none other than the villagers of Nayangxingzhai Village and several surrounding villages.

With so much grain passing through the official road, the victims of the disaster in several nearby villages had long been eyeing it. It just so happened that it was freezing rain that afternoon, and the convoy transporting the grain stopped in Yangxingzhai Village.

There has been a drought in Shanxi for so long, although since the imperial envoys for disaster relief arrived, very few people have starved to death. What they can eat is disaster relief food, and they are destined to survive, so there is no need to think about eating enough. For a group of victims who have not had enough food for a long time, seeing so much food is like a mouse falling into a rice bag.

There is no reason at all. These victims, together with the villagers of Yangxingzhai Village, put medicine on the food and water of the food team. scramble.

It is said that because there were too many people at that time, it was impossible to identify who had robbed the food. In desperation, Luozhi County had to arrest a dozen people who took the lead in drugging.

These people are now being held in the prison of the county government. They confessed to the robbery of food, but the food they robbed was not much, and each of them was only a few tens of catties when converted, and the rest of the food was robbed by others .

That is to say, this is destined to be a case without merit, because the law does not blame the public.

Originally, many local villagers had died because of the disaster, but now it is impossible to tell who was the one who robbed the food and how many people participated in it. It is impossible to arrest all the villagers from several nearby villages.

And the food can't be recovered, just like the dozen or so main criminals, because there are too many people who came to grab the food, but in fact, everyone didn't get much food.

The most was no more than a few dozen catties, and the least was no more than a few handfuls. There were more than one person in every household, and the food they grabbed was only enough to fill their stomachs.

So, where else can it be recovered?

It is impossible to cut open a person's stomach, even if it is cut open, it is useless, because it has been digested long ago.

Meng Xinyang was probably aware of the situation, the big man was crying so hard that he couldn't make a sound. According to what he said, he had thrown all his family fortune on this trip, and this time he might go bankrupt.

In this regard, the king of Wei could not say a word of comfort.

Meng Xinyang was taken down, but he still wanted to cry with King Wei, but it was a pity that King Wei didn't want to listen at all. Wei Wang was so quarreled that his head hurt, so Luo Zhixian and others also went down.

Seeing that King Wei's face was serious, Wang Cheng was thinking about how to tell the imperial envoy that this matter could not be resolved by manpower, and that the Yangqu county government only dealt with the chief culprit, which was the safest way so far.

Suddenly, King Wei knocked on the case a few times, and soon a person came in from the outside.

"Your Highness."

"Order people to prepare horses, go to Yangxing Village, and then order people to interrogate the villagers detained in this case."

Wang Cheng was still a little puzzled by Monk Zhang Er, and a man who looked like a master sitting next to him stroked his beard and smiled softly: "A group of disaster victims who can't even eat enough can give medicine to a group of people. Down? If the old man remembers correctly, there is a limit to open Chinese law, at least 5,000 shi each time, so as to prevent those small merchants from wanting to share a cup. A shi of grain is calculated on the basis of 120 catties, and 5,000 shi is Six hundred thousand catties.

"What they said was the nearby villagers. Presumably there should be no more than ten villages in the vicinity. Based on the calculation of 300 people in a village, 3,000 people come to grab grain, and each person can get 200 catties. But they also said that each person But it’s only a few tens of catties, and some people can only grab a few handfuls, is this because the Luo Zhi County is too stupid to be deceived by the merchants, or the two of them partnered up to read a book from heaven?”

Wang Cheng was shocked in vain.

Yes, this story seems to be well-connected, well-founded, and has cause and effect, but in fact there are still loopholes.

Where does the medicine that poisons people come from?

The victims couldn't get enough to eat. Where did they get so much drugs?

Of course, it can be said that it was bought, but this was a temporary act. The amount of medicine that can cure so many people is not something that can be obtained in a short time.

In addition, it is obvious that the person who tried this case is not familiar with the Chinese law, or does not know how to count. This person is calculated as 3,000 people, and each person can get 200 catties of grain. In fact, Wang Cheng knows that the nearby villagers absolutely have no The number of three thousand.

Because the land in Shanxi is so barren, there are not too many villagers in each village, because there is no nearby land to feed so many people.

Unable to think too much, King Wei set off with his people.

As soon as there was a movement here, Luozhi County received the news, and they couldn't stop it. They could only watch helplessly as a group of people galloped away.

He turned to look for Meng Xinyang, his face changed immediately, "If something happens, please don't get me involved!" As he said that, he also grabbed a handful of things from his sleeve and threw them to Meng Xinyang.

The paper fell to the ground, and it was some silver bills.

Luo Zhixian kept these bank notes on his body all the time. After the imperial envoy arrived last night, he realized that something was wrong, and kept muttering in his heart, tossing and turning all night.

In fact, he was worried that it was not unreasonable. Their plan was actually not that perfect, and there were loopholes, but these loopholes were not impossible to fill.

However, the imperial envoy came in person, making it difficult to fill these loopholes for a while.

So it becomes fatal.

Who would have thought that the imperial envoy would rush to Yangqu County for such a matter, with all kinds of opportunities to deal with every day. How did they know that the king of Wei has not relaxed the supervision of the various places, and they are afraid that someone will take the opportunity to instigate the victims to cause civil unrest. When they heard that the army rations were robbed, and the victims were the victims, the king of Wei smelled a hint of conspiracy.

This is why he came to investigate in person.

Meng Xinyang had been sweating profusely for a long time, his face was as white as paper, and the muscles on his cheeks trembled uncontrollably, showing five points of ferocity and three points of haste, and the remaining two points were ferocious.

"Now you want to shirk the relationship, what did you do? After you accept these bank notes, you have no room for repentance. Once the imperial envoy finds out, I can't run away from me, and I can't run away from you. Without your help, I can do it." What happened?!"

Luo Zhixian stopped immediately and turned his head to look over. Apart from a look of panic, there was also a bit of ferocity on his face.

"Then what do you want to do? Think, what to do..." At the end of the sentence, he still lost his breath. That's right, if you can't escape Meng Xinyang, how can you escape Luo Zhe'an?

Meng Xinyang came up a few steps and grabbed Luo Zhixian by the collar.

"The only plan for now is to strike first. You go and order people to deal with the villagers locked in the prison, and then take them to Yangxing Village with the imperial envoy to find an opportunity..." He made a cross-cutting gesture, Swallowing his saliva, he continued: "I think the imperial envoys came here, but they only brought a dozen or so people with them. You recruited the yamen guards, and then summoned the village warriors trained by the local regiment to kill those people in the name of suppressing civil unrest." Afterwards, the Jin man sneaked in with the intention of provoking turmoil as an excuse, and the death of an imperial envoy is not a big deal in a place far away from the emperor."

"But he is not only an imperial envoy, but also..." Prince.

The rest of the words were covered back by Meng Xinyang.

He said fiercely: "I have already thought of the solution for you. Whether you want to do it or not is your business. If you agree, I will ask someone to help you summon Xiangyong, and I will make up for you afterwards, and I will give you back after the event." A sum of money. If you don't want to, I will die anyway, and you will be indispensable."

Luo Zhixian lay limp on the ground, trembling.

It was the middle of winter, and the ground was very cold. After a while, his whole body was frozen as cold as an ice cellar. But he can be a parent official, and dare to follow Meng Xinyang to do such a major event of raiding the house because of Yinzi, which shows that there is a bit of desire in his bones that cannot be filled.

As soon as he heard that he would not be dismissed from office and he could get another sum of money, he gradually calmed down, apparently having made up his mind.

But at the same time, he also realized that things were not that simple.

Looking at Meng Xinyang staring at him with burning eyes, Luo Zhixian knew that he had fallen into someone else's trap. I'm afraid it's a lie that the army rations were robbed, and it's a lie that he was pulling him to cover it up. It's true that someone wanted the imperial envoy's life.

But it's too late to say anything now, he has already been forced to go to Liangshan, I am afraid that even if he does not agree, someone will force him to agree, or even kill him directly, and will plant him in the future.

Luo Zhixian didn't dare to reveal anything, and stood up tremblingly.

"That's it!"

When Luozhi County ordered his confidants to take people to the prison to deal with those villagers, he realized that things were out of control.

The imperial envoy actually retained someone to interrogate the villagers.

His confidants were not doing well, and the imperial soldiers noticed something was wrong, so they simply took control of the entire prison and closed the door from the inside.

This county government prison was originally a place to hold prisoners. In order to prevent prisoners from escaping, it was built so that it is easy to defend and difficult to attack. There is only one door in all, once it is closed from the inside, it is extremely difficult to break through.

In desperation, Luo Zhixian had no choice but to order people to stay outside, first to catch up with the imperial envoy who had already left the city.

On the other side, King Wei and the others seemed to be walking in a hurry, but slowed down after leaving the city.

Wang Cheng was just a scholar. After passing the examination of scholar, he entrusted someone to enter Taiyuan government office as a small official. He usually goes in and out by car, but he can also ride a horse, but even if he has ridden such a long distance on a horse, he still travels fast all the way. After arriving in Yangqu County yesterday, I felt that both legs were useless, and the inner thighs were also worn out.

But after all, he is a young man. After taking the medicine last night and resting overnight, he feels much better today.

Seeing that the imperial envoy was about to go out again, he could barely follow him. When he was on the road this time, he was still worried that he was not agile enough, which would slow down the imperial envoy's itinerary. There are all kinds of emotions in my heart, but I can't think of a reason, I only know that things are not simple.

Suddenly, I saw that the imperial envoy and his party looked quite leisurely as if they were out of the city for an outing, so I couldn't help but feel a little puzzled.

"Guard Huo, this...why are you walking so slowly?"

Along the way, Wang Cheng was also familiar with the guards under King Wei, especially Huo Wu, the head of the guards, who could speak a few words.

Huo Wu glanced at him, lazily holding a piece of grass in his mouth: "We drove so long yesterday, and everyone hasn't rested yet. Walk slowly, what's the rush."

Wang Cheng laughed for a while, and walked slowly.

Just as he was talking, a team rushed up behind him, and it was Naluozhi County who came with a group of yamen servants.

Luo Zhixian sat on the mule cart with a painful look on his face. When the cart stopped, he didn't care about his old waist that was about to be broken, and rolled and climbed off the cart.

"The imperial envoy is investigating the case, and you are not familiar with the place, so it is better for the subordinate officials to accompany you."

King Wei tightened his reins and did not speak.

The master with a long beard suggested: "My lord, what Lord Luo said is not unreasonable, why don't we let him go with us, so that we don't go the wrong way."

"Extremely, extremely. There are so many mountain roads in Yangqu County. If no one leads the way, I may go wrong. It's better for the officials to lead the way for adults."

Just like that, the group set off again.

Luo Zhe'an is a civil servant and doesn't know how to ride a horse, so he still rides in his mule cart. It was embarrassing for him to be alone in the car, so Huo Wu simply asked Wang Cheng to go in and sit with him.

Of the two people in the car, one harbored evil intentions and the other was secretly wary and uneasy, but they got along well with each other.

Yangxingzhai Village is about half a day's journey away from the county seat, and it would take an hour and a half to arrive by riding a horse, but because Luo Zhe'an took a car, it would inevitably delay the trip.

Just letting them walk like this, they didn't arrive until evening.