Make peace with the Lord of the Prairie

On the third day after leaving Jin County, Ming Heng and his party arrived at Qinghe County.When they arrived in Qinghe County, they didn't go to the county magistrate immediately. They found an inn near the yamen to rest for a while, and sneaked into the yamen quietly in the dead of night.

At midnight, the entire yamen was shrouded in silence.Everyone has fallen asleep, only the study in the backyard is still a little bit dim.

Qing Feng pried open the window and jumped in with Ming Heng, followed by Lu Fangzhi, who closed the window after entering.

Jiang Zhuo, the magistrate of Qinghe County, was at his desk writing the crimes against the prefect of Chengzhou, so he sent away his servants.The three of Mingheng and the others quietly appeared in the study room, scaring the feeble scholar so that he fell to the ground, only holding a pen in his hand.

"You, who are you?" County magistrate Jiang was almost scared to death. His first reaction was that the prefect of Chengzhou came to kill people and silence him. When he recovered, the first thing he did was to hold the indictment tightly in his arms. Li, "Did Jiang Zhifu send you to kill me?"

Ming Heng didn't expect that this little county magistrate was quite courageous, so he comforted him: "Master Jiang, don't be afraid, I'm from Kyoto, and I'm here to investigate Jiang Taisheng by His Majesty's order."

"You were sent by His Majesty?!" County magistrate Jiang was pleasantly surprised, he hurriedly got up from the ground, straightened his clothes, and raised his hands in a bow, "Your Majesty, Jiang Zhuo, see you all."

"Your Excellency, there is no need to be too polite," Mingheng warned, "Our trip is an unannounced visit, so it is inconvenient to reveal our identities, and please cooperate with your lord."

"The lower officials understand, the lower officials understand." Jiang Zhuo, "My lords' visit late at night must be to deceive people's eyes and ears, and the lower officials will definitely not say anything."

Ming Heng nodded in satisfaction, and moved his eyes to Jiang Zhuo's slightly protruding chest, "What are you doing in the study so late?"

"This is why I'm down from office." Jiang Zhuo took out the indictment from his bosom and handed it to Ming Heng.

Mingheng took it and read it: "The indictment? These are all things that Jiang Taisheng committed."

"Exactly," the county magistrate said, "Jiang Taisheng is rotten to the core. He has been in Chengzhou for more than [-] years, searching for the people's anointing, colluding with bandits, and bribing his colleagues. To the bone, I only hope that one day the court will be able to bring this villain to justice."

Ming Heng looked at the dozens of crimes, and his heart was quite shocked.The memorial submitted by Jiang Zhuo to the court only mentioned Jiang Taisheng's crimes in general terms, and it was far less shocking than the present one.

Ming Heng didn't have a deep impression of the prefect of Chengzhou, he only met a few times in the courtroom where the local officials went to Beijing to report on their duties. The only impression he had of him was that he was honest and low-key, timid, submissive in his words and actions, as if he was afraid of making mistakes.However, Jiang Taisheng in Jiang Zhuo's indictment seems to be a different person, greedy for money, lustful, selfish and treacherous, and has done all kinds of bad things.

Ming Heng slapped the indictment on the armrest of the chair angrily after reading it: "This Jiang Taisheng is really crazy! Why has no one impeached him for so many years in Chengzhou?"

Jiang Zhuo sighed, and said sadly: "The sky is high and the emperor is far away. To put it bluntly, Jiang Taisheng is a local emperor in Chengzhou. Even the murderous bandits that the people fear most are brothers with him. Who dares to risk impeachment. What's more, Jiang Taisheng This man is good at dancing, and has a deep scheming mind. Over the years, he has won people's hearts by bribing officials from all over Chengzhou. These people are grasshoppers on the same boat as him, and no one will lift a stone to shoot himself in the foot."

Mingheng looked at Jiang Zhuo: "Listen to what Mr. Jiang said, you are not with them?"

"Naturally." Jiang Zhuo said, "The lower official was assigned to Chengzhou a few years ago. I have not been here for a long time, and I have not had a close relationship with them. But... Jiang Zhifu has sent people to invite me to visit him many times. We got together at the house and said it was to introduce my colleagues to me, but the snowstorm in Qinghe County was raging in those days, and I was busy resettling the people affected by the disaster and I didn't have time to attend the appointment, so I didn't make it. Now that I think about it, it's really a great luck."

Ming Heng nodded in agreement—with Jiang Taisheng's cautious temperament, in order to avoid his affairs being known by the court, if a new official takes office, he will definitely win people over to his side as soon as possible, and maybe he will resort to all means. Speaking of which, the county magistrate Jiang was really lucky to have escaped.

It's just that Mingheng still doesn't understand one thing: "I think the crime written in the indictment is Jiang Taisheng's crimes for more than 20 years, but you have only been here for less than half a year, how did you know about the past?"

Jiang Zhuo didn't hide it either: "Don't hide it, my lord, these were all told to me by one of Jiang Taisheng's confidantes, otherwise I wouldn't have the ability to know these things."

"Jiang Taisheng's confidant?"

"That's right," Jiang Zhuo said, "that confidant is a servant of the Jiang family. He grew up with his father in the Jiang family. His father is the housekeeper of the Jiang family and Jiang Taisheng's confidant. He helped him do many outrageous things. Five years ago, After the housekeeper died of illness, he inherited his father's business and helped Jiang Taisheng continue to do things. Jiang Taisheng was very kind to him at first, and he was loyal and dedicated to doing things for him. But then he found out that his father did not die of illness but was poisoned by Jiang Taisheng The one who died, and his mother who hanged herself in the early years were also forced to death by Jiang Taisheng. The man was so sad that he didn't want to work for Jiang Taisheng anymore, so he escaped from Jiangfu. When Jiang Taisheng found out, he sent people to hunt him down, and was seriously injured later He fell on the ridge of the field and was carried back by my men. After saving him, he told me about Jiang Taisheng and begged me to report his crimes to the court."

"Where is that person now?"

"I placed him in a very safe place and sent officers and soldiers to protect him day and night." Jiang Zhuo asked, "Your Excellency wants to summon him?"

"He is a key witness and should be seen, but it's getting late today, let's wait until tomorrow."

"Alright."

As the night was getting darker, Jiang Zhuo left everyone to rest in the government office, and went to witness together at dawn tomorrow.

Ming Heng just wanted to take a closer look at the indictment, so he agreed to stay.

After Jiang Zhuo settled the three of them in the guest room, he went back to the room to rest.Ming Heng didn't turn off the light for a long time, and sat at the table looking at the indictment over and over again.

"Your Highness, it's time to rest." Lu Fangzhi came in with a bowl of ginseng soup, "Your Highness is exhausted, let's have a bowl of ginseng soup."

"En." Ming Heng took the bowl, drank the ginseng soup in one gulp, then put the empty bowl on the table, and asked Lu Fangzhi, "Where is Qingfeng?"

"Qing Feng went to bed first, I will guard His Highness in the first half of the night, and he will guard him in the second half of the night."

"No, you can go to sleep too. It's safe here, there will be no danger." Ming Heng said, "You are tired after driving for so long, go and rest."

"Subordinates are not tired." Lu Fangzhi didn't move.

Ming Heng didn't want to be persuaded, so he just let him go, picked up the indictment and continued to read it.

Lu Fangzhi stood beside him and guarded him without making a sound.However, Lu Fangzhi's size is too big, even standing behind Ming Heng, he has a strong sense of presence, so that Ming Heng can't ignore him.

Ming Heng read a few lines and looked back at Lu Fangzhi, but his eyes were drawn to the knife at his waist: "Is this a machete?"

"……Yes."

"Can I see it?"

Lu Fangzhi untied the knife and handed it over.

Ming Heng took the knife and looked at it carefully.This scimitar was made of black iron, it was very heavy, and Ming Heng was trembling with his elbows raised in both hands.The knife is very simple, both the scabbard and the blade are as smooth as a mirror, without any embellishments, only a line of tiny characters engraved on one side of the handle, but not Chinese characters.

"What kind of writing is this?" Ming Heng pointed to the line of writing and asked.

"..." Lu Fangzhi hesitated for a moment, "It's the words of Ye Ruo."

"Ye Ruo?" Ming Heng glanced at Lu Fangzhi unexpectedly, and asked again, "What does this sentence mean?"

"It's the name of this knife - Jieyue."

"Jieyue," Ming Heng stroked the scimitar shaped like a crescent moon and praised, "Good name, who picked it?"

"The person who taught me martial arts, this knife was also given to me by that person."

"Your master?"

"No, he didn't accept me as an apprentice, but he taught me a few tricks by chance."

"It's just a few moves that are so powerful, is the person who taught you martial arts an expert?" Ming Heng asked jokingly.

Lu Fangzhi didn't answer.

Ming Heng asked again: "Could it be Ye Ruan who taught you martial arts?"

"...That's right." Lu Fangzhi said, "My family is in a small village under Jinxian County surrounded by mountains on three sides. The other side of the mountain is Yerou. The broken leg was rescued by a herdsman, and that man taught me some martial arts skills."

"No wonder your martial arts methods look different from others'." Ming Heng asked again, "Is the grassland beautiful? I have never seen a grassland when I grow up."

"It's beautiful." Lu Fangzhi said, "The scenery of the grassland is very different from that of Anling. You can look around at the grassland and snow-capped mountains."

Mingheng imagined the scene described by Lu Fangzhi, and smiled lightly: "I really want to see you if I have the chance."

In the middle of the night, Qing Fengshui woke up to change shifts.Ming Heng had already fallen asleep, Lu Fangzhi and Qing Feng whispered a few words and went back to their own room.

Pushing open the door, a vague black figure sat quietly at the table with his back to Lu Lu in the dark room.Lu Fangzhi's eyes flashed, and he turned his head to look at Qing Feng, who was holding a sword with his eyes closed not far away, entered the room, and locked the door with his backhand.

Lu Fangzhi didn't dare to light the lamp, and knelt down on one knee to salute in the dark night, suppressing his voice: "Profusely sweating."

"Get up." The man sitting with his back to Lu Fangzhi turned around slowly, and a gilt streak in the darkness flashed before Lu Fangzhi's eyes.

Lu Fangzhi stood up, approached, and was surprised to see the gilded half-face mask: "Khan, how do you know we're here?"

Tuobahong didn't answer, but asked instead: "What are you doing here?"

Lu Fangzhi hesitated, but did not answer immediately.

Tuoba Hong asked again: "Is it related to Ye Ruo?"

"No, our trip has nothing to do with Ye Ruo."

Tuoba Hong didn't ask any more questions after hearing the words.

Lu Fangzhi stroked the handle of the knife with his right hand, looking a little embarrassed.

"Have something to say?" In the darkness, Tuobahong clearly sensed Lu Fangzhi's emotions.

"Well," Lu Fangzhi paused, "Khan, the young man we met at the inn a few days ago..."

"I'm not bad," Tuobahong admitted bluntly, "Is there anything else you want to ask?"

"..." Lu Fangzhi actually wanted to ask him why he was so familiar with the sixth prince of Anling, but in the end he didn't ask, "No more. Da Khan came to see me, but he has something to tell me?"

"You are now a subject of Anling, how can I order you, but..." Tuobahong changed the subject, "I really want you to do something for me, but it has nothing to do with your position, it's just out of my personal wish."

Lu Fangzhi immediately said: "Let this life be given by the old Khan and the Great Khan. If I work for the Great Khan, I will die!"

"There's no need to be so tragic, I'm not asking you to die, it's just a trivial matter." Tuobahong said, "Come here with your ears."