Chapter 256: Raising an Army to Punish
The spring breeze brings good news, the winter jasmine has bloomed, and the thunder and drums of spring are beating on the earth in February.
On this day, under Lu Desheng's deliberate guidance, the entire Houcheng fell into carnival, with laughter and joy everywhere.
Shi Tao was no longer in a hurry. After the road was open, he slowly headed towards Houcheng and even sent someone to the Liaodong County Governor's Mansion to invite Zheng Xun to Houcheng.
When he was about to reach Houcheng, Zheng Xun was already waiting there.
The two of them entered Houcheng together in a carriage, followed by twenty or thirty followers with solemn expressions.
They are out of tune with the current atmosphere of Houcheng.
"Quick, go and inform the county magistrate that Governor Shi and County Magistrate Zheng have arrived." The young officer at the city gate ordered the guards.
"Yes!" The city gate guard ran towards the county government office.
The conversation between the two was quite loud, and two or three ordinary people nearby heard it. They were inexplicably worried and followed him spontaneously, praying in their hearts that nothing would happen to Lord Lu.
These common people followed the governor's convoy, and those who knew him couldn't help but ask questions. Several people did not hide their worries and plans.
"Let's go and take a look together."
As soon as Lu Desheng arrived, he negotiated with the Xianbei and won a three-year peace period for Liaodong County and Houcheng, and immediately gained the support of many people.
For a time, more and more people followed suit, and the team became larger and larger.
Jiang Changyun and others naturally had to report this situation.
Shi Tao said nothing, but Zheng Xun said with a slightly sour tone, "I didn't expect that Lu Desheng would be so popular as soon as he arrived."
When the two arrived at Houcheng County Government Office, they saw Lu Desheng leading Chen Ping, Liu Heshan and other officials waiting for them, with Le Guicai standing beside them.
Xuan Tao: Very good, everything is ready. These people are quite sensible.
"Your humble servant respectfully welcomes the Governor and the County Magistrate!"
Shi Tao got off the carriage and walked straight to the county government office, "Everyone come in!"
Zheng Xun glanced at them and hurried to catch up.
Lu Desheng gave way to Le Guicai, who nodded and went in first.
Lu Desheng followed closely behind without any hesitation.
Chen Ping and Liu Heshan looked at each other and saw the same message in each other's eyes. As expected, those who come with evil intentions will not be welcomed by those with good intentions.
As soon as Shi Tao sat down, he began to question him, "Lü Desheng, do you admit your guilt?"
Lu Desheng asked curiously, "Sir, what crime have I committed?"
"You took the initiative to form a negotiation team to negotiate with the Xianbei royal court without the consent of Zheng Xun, the governor of Liaodong County, or me, the governor of Pingzhou. This is an act of exceeding your authority—"
Le Guicai stepped forward and pleaded for Lü Desheng, "Sir Governor, although Lord Lü made some inappropriate moves during this negotiation, please consider the significant results we achieved..."
"Wait--" Lu Desheng interrupted him directly.
Originally, Lu Desheng wanted to listen to Shi Tao's words and see what he could say, but he didn't expect that Le Guicai, a military general, would respond so quickly!
He accepted Le Guicai's good intention to plead for him, but he couldn't plead guilty.
"Sir Governor, before I decided to negotiate, I sent letters to both you and the county magistrate, explaining the matter and inviting you to come to Houcheng to preside over the negotiations. Unfortunately, neither of you showed up until the day the negotiations officially began. I had no choice but to come anyway."
So, in general, it was your dereliction of duty, not my overstepping of authority.
Everyone understood the implication of Lu Desheng's words.
Le Guicai, Chen Ping, Liu Heshan and others looked at Lu Desheng in surprise. When did he send someone to deliver the letter?
Guo Chunsheng lowered his head, looked at his nose and his heart, and wrote a letter of allegiance to the new county magistrate. He was serious about it, as he was the one who helped arrange for the county magistrate to deliver the letter.
As soon as the new county magistrate, Lü Desheng, arrived, he knew he was a man of great courage, unlike the original county magistrate, Zheng Qiao, who had always wanted to escape from Houcheng...
Shi Tao and Zheng Xun's faces turned black.
Shi Tao: "You said you would send someone to deliver a letter to me. Where is that person? This Governor hasn't seen him."
Zheng Xun quickly said, "I didn't see anyone either."
Lu Desheng: "That's impossible. I clearly sent out two groups of people."
At this moment, a yamen runner came to report something, "Sir, someone outside wants to see you, saying that they have something important to report to you."
Lu Desheng pretended to scold, "What are you meeting? Can't you see I'm busy?"
The bailiff was anxious, "Sir, that man said he was going to deliver a letter to the governor!"
Lu Desheng was shocked. "What? Please come in."
Shi Tao sneered. He wanted to see what tricks he was playing!
Soon, the man was carried in by several people who looked like villagers. His left leg was wrapped in circles of bandages.
When Lu Desheng saw the person, he stood up in shock and shouted exaggeratedly, "Li Rong, how did you get into this state?"
Li Rong looked guilty, "Sir, I have failed to live up to your trust."
"Don't be in a hurry to apologize. Tell me what happened to you first." Lu Desheng pointed at his leg.
"I was delivering a letter to the Governor of Liaoxi County. While passing Wangping, I encountered a landslide and was crushed under the sand and rocks. I fainted and only discovered my leg was broken when I woke up."
"Fortunately, I was lucky and was knocked unconscious on the side. If I had been in the middle, I would have died on the spot. I was also lucky that I was later rescued by fellow villagers."
The villagers who brought him in nodded when they heard what he said, proving that what he said was true.
Lu Desheng looked at Shi Tao with an embarrassed expression, "Sir Governor, what do you think about this matter?"
He had an accident, was crushed there and became unconscious, and his leg was broken. In the end, he couldn't deliver the letter. You really can't blame him.
Shi Tao slammed the table and said, "Lü Desheng, do you think you can fool this governor by just finding some random people to act?"
"Sir, how could you wrongly accuse me like this?" Lu Desheng looked humiliated.
Shi Tao was about to get angry when his sleeve was pulled by his subordinates, "Sir, the Governor..."
Shi Tao looked at Jiang Changyun unkindly.
Jiang Changyun whispered, "Sir, we have seen this person before. Didn't we save someone when we were organizing the villagers to clear the official road?"
Shi Tao looked at the man abruptly upon hearing this. After being reminded by him, Shi Tao also remembered. At this moment, he saw several villagers who seemed to be hesitant to speak.
Another subordinate followed suit, saying, "Yes, sir, I recognize the villagers who carried him in."
"Is this the person you rescued before?"
Several villagers nodded rapidly, "Yes, yes, sir, this man is indeed the one we rescued before. You were there at the time, sir."
"In that case, we can't blame County Magistrate Lu." Chen Ping and Liu Heshan spoke in a low voice, and both of them seemed quite decent.
The two of them thought to themselves, Lord Lu, we can only help you up to this point.
Lu Desheng looked at the two of them with gratitude, saying, "Thank you for your kindness."
He retracted his gaze and continued, "Sir Governor, can you have Li Rong carried down first? Find a doctor to treat his leg."
Shi Tao was silent for a while, then waved his hand and approved his request.
After the villagers carried Li Rong away, Lu Desheng looked at Zheng Xun and said, "We have also sent a letter for help to the county governor."
What? Zheng Xun suddenly realized that he was also involved in this? "I didn't receive the letter."
"No way?" Lu Desheng said exaggeratedly, "Could the person who delivered the letter to you have also met with an accident?"
"What's going on with Liaodong County? Is it incompatible with me?" Lu Desheng muttered.
"Go check!" Shi Tao ordered, "See where the person Lord Lu sent to deliver the letter to County Magistrate Lord Zheng is? If he's alive, I want him. If he's dead, I want his body!"
It was just right, he took advantage of this time to think about what to do next?
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