I'm the villain in the book

"This……"

Hearing the words, the thin county magistrate put down his chopsticks with some guilt, his face blushed and he was speechless.

Liang Zhen did not take official positions to oppress him, but only had a hard-to-read scripture in his family.

"Master Wang, don't take it to heart, I just ask casually, if you don't want to say it, forget it."

"Ugh……"

The thin county magistrate opened his mouth and finally sighed, as if he wanted to say but didn't dare.

But at this moment, Wei Changtian suddenly asked, "Master Wang, the bandits in Zhongling County are probably serious, right?"

"This……"

The thin county magistrate was taken aback: "This son...why did you say this?"

He didn't know Wei Changtian's true identity, and thought it was Liang Zhen's family or something.

Of course, Wei Changtian didn't take the time to introduce himself - I was the son of the Wei family who killed the prime minister, and he just explained while eating:

"We passed several villages along the way, but when we passed the village, we didn't see a single villager. Every household had their doors and windows closed, but it was obviously not a deserted village."

"It can be seen that these villagers should have hid after hearing the sound of hooves."

"Ordinary people are so afraid of horses, I can't think of any other reason other than mountain bandits."

"In addition, although it's cold clothes today, there are too many people who worship ancestors and burn paper along the way, and most of those graves are new ones, so I have such a guess."

After Wei Changtian said a few words, everyone on the table looked at him with surprise.

They have seen all these things, but they have never thought about it so much.

The thin county magistrate's expression was also somewhat surprised.

He hesitated for a while, and finally nodded bitterly.

"This gentleman is right. In recent years, the county has indeed suffered a lot of bandits, and many people have fled in misery, which is why they are so dejected."

"Since there are bandits, why not suppress them?" Liang Qin wondered.

"Miss doesn't know something, it's not that I don't suppress it..."

The thin county magistrate's tone was very painful: "And it's really powerless!"

"There have been bandits in recent years, large areas of farmland have been abandoned, and many farmers are even unable to pay their land allowances."

"The people are poor, and the yamen are also poor. Where can there be money to support officials..."

"I'm not afraid of your jokes... There are less than [-] officers and soldiers in the entire Zhongling County, so how can they dare to suppress the bandits..."

"Knowing that there are bandits, but not being able to suppress them, seeing the hundreds of thousands of people in Zhongling suffer... It's my incompetence, it's my incompetence!"

"This……"

Seeing the thin county magistrate who was beating his chest and feet and was about to cry, everyone was silent.

This Zhongling County is too miserable, isn't it, such a big place can't even support a hundred officers and soldiers?

"If you can't suppress it yourself, why don't you report it to the state government and let them send someone to suppress it?" Liang Qin asked again, frowning.

"Naturally, it is reported, but the expenses required for the state government to send troops are borne by the county government. It is really difficult for Zhongling County to collect that much money."

The thin county magistrate gritted his teeth, clenched his fists and trembled and said, "Furthermore, it's not enough to collect enough military salaries, and you have to have money to manage those masters in the prefecture."

"I-I'm really..."

"..."

The room was quiet, and everyone silently looked at the thin county magistrate in rags, not knowing what to say.

Until Wei Changtian suddenly spoke again: "Master Wang, no matter how small Zhongling County is, there should be no shortage of shops and shops in the city. If each of them donates a little money, it will almost be enough to invite the state government to send troops."

"I haven't tried it anywhere."

The thin county magistrate shook his head: "But except for a few families, others are not willing to pay even a penny."

"They all feel that they are safe in hiding in the city, and they don't care about the lives of the people outside the city!"

"Don't want to pay?"

Wei Changtian looked at the thin magistrate like a fool: "Then use a knife and force them to dig it out!"

"This……"

The thin county magistrate was stunned for a while, and after a long while he said: "Master, son, this is against the law..."

When he said these words, everyone immediately understood why Zhongling County had come to this point.

There is no money to suppress the bandits, so the bandits are rampant, so the people are running away, so there is no money, so the bandits are more rampant...

What a vicious cycle!

At this rate, it is estimated that it will not take a few years for the entire Zhongling County to become a den of bandits.

In fact, the solution is very simple - try to get money, feed the stomachs of the people above, and ask the state government to send troops to suppress the bandits.

As long as the bandits are eliminated, all problems will be solved.

But the problem is that this Lord Wang is too "clean" and too "right".

He is unwilling to spend money to compliment the master of the state government office, and is also unwilling to force merchants to donate money through "illegal" methods.

The result of this is that the bandit problem has not been solved for a long time, and it has become more and more serious.

Wei Changtian smacked his lips and suddenly thought of what Kangxi said——

A clean official is not necessarily a good official.

Now it seems that it really makes sense.

……

After the meal, it was a bit dull.

After listening to the situation in Zhongling County, Liang Zhen and others expressed their deep sympathy, and then continued to eat and drink, not intending to help suppress a bandit.

After all, this is the territory of Tanzhou. He, a general of Shuzhou, led people to suppress bandits on other people's territory... Although the thin county magistrate will definitely be grateful to Dade, but what the adults in Tanzhou Prefecture will think is unknown. .

Except for Liang Qin, everyone didn't take the bandits in Zhongling County too seriously. After eating and drinking, they said goodbye from the Shou County Magistrate's house, returned to the inn to rest, and prepared to get up early tomorrow to continue their journey.

But what everyone didn't expect was...

They don't want to cause trouble, but trouble comes to them.

chapter 81

Wei Changtian was almost awakened by the noise outside when he was ugly.

Dazedly sat up from the bed, put on his coat and shouted.

"Wang Er!"

"Squeak~"

The door was gently pushed open, and the dark shadow who stepped into the room replied in a low voice, "Young Master, I'm Zhang San."

"Oh, I'm used to it."

Wei Changtian rubbed his forehead and asked indifferently, "What happened outside? Why is it so noisy?"

"It's the magistrate Wang who is here."

"What is he doing here in the middle of the night?"

"There is a mountain bandit slaughtering village outside the city."

Zhang San is different from Wang Er, there is not so much nonsense, basically he answers whatever Wei Changtian asks.

"The magistrate Wang has come to ask Mr. Liang to send troops to suppress the bandits."

"So coincidentally?"

Wei Changtian was stunned for a moment, but he was also a little sober: "Liang Zhen promised him?"

"not yet."

Zhang San shook his head: "Master Liang doesn't care about this, it's mainly because Miss Liang Qin wants to help."

"However, Master Cao is very opposed to it. The two are arguing outside at this time."

The Master Cao mentioned by Zhang San is called Cao Shu, who is the supervisor who "escorted" Wei Changtian to Shuzhou this time.

He must be afraid of extracurricular problems, so he is not willing to give Liang Zhen assistance.

"I gonna go see."

Wei Changtian thought for a while, and finally put on his clothes and rolled over and got out of bed.

I never imagined that one day I would also be able to enjoy the protagonist treatment of "accidents can happen on the way".

I just don't know whether the harvest or the crisis is hidden behind this.

……

When I walked to the lobby of the inn, everyone was there.

The thin county magistrate was standing beside Liang Zhen eagerly, his forehead was flushed red, and there was even blood oozing out.

Obviously, he should kneel and kowtow just now to beg Liang Zhen to send troops.

Regardless of the county magistrate's ability, but for the people to achieve such a degree, this love for the people has nothing to say.

"...Miss Liang, Lord Wang, I am not that cold-blooded person. It is also very uncomfortable to see the people of Zhongling County die in vain under the knife of bandits."

On the other side, Liang Qin seemed to have just finished speaking, when it was Cao Shu's turn to express his opinion.

He looked at Liang Qin, who was looking at him indignantly, and explained in a deep voice, "But I have a heavy responsibility for this trip. If something happens because of meddling..."

"How can saving lives be called meddling!"

Liang Qin responded quickly, and immediately grasped the wording problem in Cao Shu's words.

"Master Cao, you are an official of the imperial court, so you would actually say such a thing!"

"I……"

Cao Shu was dumbfounded for a while, and Liang Zhen just saw Wei Changtian walking down the stairs at this time, and quickly interrupted:

"Nephew, woke you up?"

"No, I just didn't fall asleep either."

Wei Changtian shook his head: "I heard that some bandits massacred the village?"

"Yes."

Liang Zhen said helplessly: "Master Wang wants to ask us to send troops to drive away the bandits."

"This kind of thing..."

Wei Changtian smiled: "Uncle Liang, your idea is, what's so noisy?"

"Oh, I'm not... nephew, what do you think it should be?"

Liang Zhen looked at Liang Qin, and Wei Changtian immediately understood what he meant.

It seems that Liang Zhen is inclined to help by the way.

He was not interested in taking the initiative to take people to suppress the bandits, but since it was just in time, he still couldn't bear to ignore it.

From this point of view, the temperament of the father and daughter is similar.

Wei Changtian didn't express his position immediately, but first looked at the thin magistrate and asked, "Master Wang, how many bandits are there? How strong are they?"

"According to the official who came back to report, there are about a hundred people, and their strength is no more than sixth-rank!"

The thin county magistrate saw that Liang Zhen seemed to attach great importance to the young son's opinion. Although he didn't know the reason, he fell to the ground again with a "pop", leaning over and kowtow tremblingly.

"I beg your son to persuade Master Liang to save those people!"

"I am so grateful, I am so grateful!"

"..."

Someone around immediately went to help, but Wei Changtian still stood there and glanced at Liang Zhen again.