Chapter 254 Xie Shaoyin's Work Diary

Xie returned to Jingzhao Prefecture today, but no one had time to pay attention to him for a long time. The prefect, Lord Su, went to court five times in the morning. To put it bluntly, he had to hold it in even if he wanted to go to the toilet.

Xie Hui had just arrived, so naturally he couldn't do anything casually, so he had to stay in Zhou Zhongan's duty room for the time being. Zhou Zhongan's duty room was very simple, with just a table, a chair, and a shelf. The only thing left was a pot of jasmine by the windowsill that had been dead for who knows how long.

In the middle of winter, the tea on the table was stale. It was not difficult to guess that the owner of this duty room had not sat down properly for a long time. It was the same when Xie came back today. At that time, Zhou Zhongan didn't know what he was going out to deal with. He only had time to shout, "You go sit in my room by yourself." Then he hurried out.

"There's a date. Come on, come with me." Zhou Zhongan hurriedly opened the door and greeted Xie Hui.

"What's wrong?"

"Come with me out of town. Let's go and talk as we go."

There were already yamen runners waiting at the gate with horses. Zhou Zhongan got on the horse first, then pointed at one of the horses and said to thank him, "This horse was originally given to Lord Wu. As you know, he rarely leaves Jingzhao Prefecture, so he has rarely ridden this horse. Now it belongs to you."

Xie Hui took another look at the thing in front of him that was said to be a horse, "Is this a horse?"

To say that there were four sticks stuck under a carrot is being polite. How did Jingzhao Prefecture raise horses into pigs?!

"Hey, what else is this if not a horse? It's a good horse, but it's a little fat because it hasn't been walked for a long time. You have so many problems, so just ride mine." Zhou Zhongan muttered to himself and gave his horse back. "We have to hurry. There is a fight among the villagers in Qingxi Village in the northern suburbs. I'll take you there to see. You just arrived and don't know how to deal with such a thing, so just follow me first."

As Zhou Zhongan spoke, he mounted the big fat horse, and Xie Hui had no choice but to ride Zhou Zhongan's horse as well.

"Well, this horse is pretty good, isn't it? It's just a little fatter."

The horse was so fat that it was unbearable to look at it directly. Xie Hui turned his eyes away and said to Zhou Zhongan, "Let's talk about the fight first."

There was no time to wait or ride horses in the city. The two of them and the yamen runners behind them rode slowly on horseback. Zhou Zhongan told Xie Hui about today's events as they walked. "It's a long story. In the previous dynasty, Qingxi Village was inhabited by people with the surname Jiang. There was a Tangjiayuan in the valley on a hilltop across from Qingxi Village. There were about a dozen families in Tangjiayuan. They used to rely on hunting for a living and were often harassed by wild beasts in the mountains. In this dynasty, the magistrate of Luoqiu County, who was in charge of the two villages, moved all of Tangjiazhen to Qingxi Village for the convenience of management and for the safety of the people there. He also took them to open up wasteland near Qingxi Village and divided up arable land for them to farm. Gradually, outsiders only knew about Qingxi Village and had forgotten the original Tangjiazhen. However, most of the villagers still had the surname Jiang, and the remaining few had the surname Tang.

This had been going on for more than a few decades, and the villagers had lived in peace and harmony. But last year, the village elected a new Li Zheng, and this Li Zheng messed things up. Li Zheng's original surname was Jiang, and he was the first person in the village to pass the imperial examination. After passing the imperial examination, he never took the exam again and was sent out to work as a minor official. Last year, he retired and returned to his hometown. Because he was the most educated person in the village, he was naturally elected as the head of the village. But who knew that a few months ago, this Jiang official changed his surname to Tang, and even wanted to build a Tang clan ancestral hall next to the Jiang clan ancestral hall. This made the Jiangs in the village very upset, and they made a fuss for several months, and even went to the county magistrate, but the problem was not resolved. ”

Xie Hui frowned and asked, "Why did he change his surname to Tang? Did the Tang family in the village promise him benefits?"

"What? No matter how good it is, it's not easy to change the surname casually. He changed his surname to Tang because his father's surname was Tang and his mother's surname was Jiang. He was also surnamed Tang at first, but only the Jiang clan would give money to support his study in the ancestral hall. He received support from the Jiang clan, but changed his surname after becoming the head of the village, and also wanted to build an ancestral hall. The Jiang clan in the village naturally didn't want to, so the two families started fighting. There were also two teenagers surnamed Tang who were irritable and went to the Jiang clan's ancestral hall during the fight. This time, the fight was even more intense. The county magistrate sent all the runners from the county government to stop the fight, but they couldn't stop it. Moreover, the county government itself had runners from these two villages, and they all followed the villagers to fight. Anyway, it was a mess. The county magistrate had no choice but to ask Jingzhao Prefecture for help."

Zhou Zhongan didn't catch his breath. He almost suffocated himself after he finished speaking in one breath. Once he got out of the city, the horse could run. Zhou Zhongan then realized something was wrong. "Oh my god! The horse is moving! Tsk... I'll make you lose weight when I get back!" Zhou Zhongan looked distressed. He took out a token from his pocket and threw a transfer order to Xie Hui. "There's a deadline. You go first. We are just delivering food. You go to Beiwei City Office to transfer a team of people. We will meet in Qingxi Village."

Xie Hui nodded, tightened the reins, and rode away in a cloud of dust, splashing dirt all over Zhou Zhongan's face.

With the token and the transfer order, Xie Hui quickly borrowed a team of twenty people from the Beiwei City Division.

General Pan of the Beiwei City Command said confidently, "It's just a fight. Twenty people are enough. If not, I will lead the troops myself."

The group rode fast and soon arrived at the border of Qingxi Village. Before entering the village, they heard a loud noise. Xie Hui led his men towards the sound. They were stunned from a distance. Xie Hui glanced at a sergeant who came with him. The sergeant opened his mouth... "Master Xie, I will go and ask the general to come."

The villagers were fighting fiercely, shovels and flat spoons were flying everywhere, pots, shovels and manure ladles were flying in the air, and you could smell an inexplicable odor even from a long distance away, mixed with all kinds of cursing. Xie Hui had heard the old soldiers who had been on the battlefield swearing in the army, and he thought that was the dirtiest and most vicious thing he had ever heard in his life. He didn't expect that there were masters among the people.

Moreover, the villagers' fighting was very organized. Men fought with men, women fought with women, old people spit on old people, children stood on one side and threw unspeakable things at each other, and even dogs stood in front and bared their teeth.

Xie Hui frowned and began to wonder if coming to Jingzhao Prefecture was a mistake.

However, he could not remain stunned by the scene. He rode forward and shouted: "—Jingzhao Prefecture is investigating a case! Stop!"

"Thank you, sir. You can't do this."

A Jingzhao prefecture official who had followed Xie back stepped forward to remind them, then he pulled out a gong from behind and knocked it hard, and the crowd quieted down.

Xie Hui and the people from the City Defense Department quickly rode forward and separated the villagers on both sides.

Xie Hui dismounted and showed his token: "Jingzhao Prefecture is investigating the case!"