Chapter 33 Distant water cannot quench a nearby fire
Why is my junior sister staring at me like that?
Inside the carriage, Ouyang Rong closed his eyes to rest, and calmly asked.
Xie Lingjiang hesitated for a moment: "Senior brother's actions... are somewhat beyond my expectations."
She lifted the carriage curtain again and silently watched for a while the knights escorting the two back to the county government. They were fully armed with swords, crossbows, armor, and sturdy gear, and were very disciplined. These were the Black Armored Iron Cavalry of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Xie Lingjiang's head was still buzzing. It wasn't because she was naive, but because everything was too sudden. Things from a distant past suddenly appeared in front of her and crushed her before she could even react... No wonder the wealthy gentlemen in Yuanming Tower were so terrified and embarrassed not long ago.
From the moment Ouyang Rong opened the window and "revealed his hand," to his polite announcement of the raid on his home, and then his abrupt departure, Xie Lingjiang followed behind, watching his senior brother's calm back of the head. She was somewhat dazed and lost in thought until she followed him out the door and into the car, at which point she belatedly came to her senses.
Ouyang Rong didn't open his eyes, seemingly preoccupied with other thoughts, and casually said, "It seems that Junior Sister still doesn't understand me."
The noble lady from the Xie family looked at him with a complicated expression: "I understand a little now... but why didn't you tell me beforehand, senior brother?" Did you want to see her shocked and stunned?
She had another thought she was going to say, but she held back from saying it because she felt her tone sounded too much like a woman's coquettish complaint.
"I forgot to mention."
"?"
Xie Lingjiang seemed annoyed and turned her head away, not wanting to talk to her senior brother anymore. But Ouyang Rong opened his eyes, looked at her with a smile, and took the initiative to confess:
"Actually, I didn't really expect them to come. They just showed up and made such a big show of it. Hey, Liu Lang is getting better and better at handling things."
Xie Lingjiang, who was tilting her head and looking aloof, couldn't help but glance at his helpless expression. The woman in men's clothing couldn't help but hum and smile, "It was unexpected, Senior Brother, but you did manage to impress everyone just now, quite impressive... Next time something like this happens, you have to take me with you."
Ouyang Rong couldn't help but chuckle, "Alright, next time I'll give my junior sister a line that exudes domineering power."
Xie Lingjiang glared at him, "What domineering aura? Senior brother is just making up words again."
The two bickered and joked for a while.
Xie Lingjiang turned her head and asked seriously:
"So, Senior Brother sent Yan Liulang to Jiangzhou not only to oversee the transportation of the three thousand shi of disaster relief grain, but also to mobilize troops? But... how did he manage that?"
She frowned, puzzled: "Also, that Commandant Qin just said he would assist in the investigation. What kind of case is he referring to?"
The young magistrate smiled but said nothing.
He simply wrote a letter and had Liu Lang deliver it to Jiangzhou.
...
"He's greedy for money, lust, and power. Surely he's greedy for one of them. Could it be that a saint has come to our Longcheng County?"
"Even a saint would covet his holy name! What kind of meal does this damn top-ranking county magistrate want?"
"Trying to act all virginal, dawdling and begging, putting on airs. Flipping the table? You just want more, damn it!"
Liu Zilin was in a berserk state again, angrily jabbing his index finger at the county government office on the east side of the door.
He didn't throw things around today, because both of his older brothers were inside.
One of the men wiping his sword with a white cloth was Liu Ziwen, an ordinary-looking man with a rather mild temperament.
One of them was examining another who was wiping a sword; he was a sickly young man in brocade robes.
This young man had triangular eyes, which should have given him a fierce appearance, but his eyelids drooped, and he always looked like a sick tiger, with no desires or wants.
The sickly young man stared at the famous sword in Liu Ziwen's hand, nodded and said, "He just took office and already ransacked the house, how audacious."
Liu Zilin turned around sharply: "Second brother, where were you all this time? I should have immediately sought revenge when I was tricked that day, and nothing would have happened afterward. Now look what's happened! This Ouyang Lianghan is really taking advantage of us, treating us like pushovers. He has no respect for our Dragon King Liu Clan at all!"
That day, when the court was held in the street, what was most infuriating was not that his leg was broken by that fierce little wench, but that he, the dignified third young master of the Liu family, had to kowtow to a barbarian servant. Liu Zilin was so badly beaten that he had to swallow his anger.
I originally thought my brothers had their own plans, and my eldest brother even said he would put that scholar-magistrate through the wringer. But now look what's happened, he's really turned into an eagle and is swooping down to peck at my eyes!
So he could only endure it for a moment, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he became; when he took a step back, his anger flared up.
"Damn it, when have we ever been treated like this? Big brother, second brother, we are dragons and tigers, not sheep!"
Liu Ziwen silently wiped the sword, his attention focused, using a clean white cloth to wipe the blade with exceptional care and shine, as if he hadn't heard his younger brothers speaking.
"I don't seek wealth, sex, power, or even fame; I only seek disaster relief and flood control." Liu Zian, the second young master of the Liu family, shook his head: "Dealing with this kind of upright gentleman is troublesome with a hard knife, but easy with a soft knife."
Liu Zilin paced back and forth inside the house, anxiously saying, "Now they don't care whether we choose a hard knife or a soft knife, they've already put a knife to our throats. Checking the accounts is just a pretext; they can overturn the table and confiscate our property at will! We need to hurry to the prefecture and get someone to deal with him..."
Liu Zian ignored his impetuous third brother and turned to continue speaking to his eldest brother:
"This matter is very strange. How did he manage to mobilize the iron cavalry of Jiangzhou Zhechong Prefecture? There are only six military prefectures in the entire Jiangnan Circuit. To mobilize ten men or more horses, one needs an imperial edict and a bronze token from the central government. Could a demoted seventh-rank county magistrate possibly have such extraordinary abilities? Would he really be short of the grain and silver needed for disaster relief and flood control?"
Liu Ziwen finally stopped wiping his sword, nodded and said, "I've already sent people to investigate. This is the key to this situation. Breaking the current situation isn't difficult; the real challenge is the even bigger situation that awaits us later."
Liu Zian suddenly asked, "Could it be that family helped?"
Liu Ziwen shook his head: "I don't know if Ouyang Lianghan is one of their men, but if they dare to touch military power, even the current Emperor Di cannot protect them."
He continued wiping his sword, head bowed, "Just pretend it doesn't exist."
Liu Zian pondered for a moment and nodded.
Liu Zilin couldn't help but interject: "A bigger scheme? Who gave him the audacity to set this up? Do they know who's behind the Liu family? They're courting death! If they delay that important person's sword..."
Liu Zilin suddenly stopped, immediately shut his mouth and lowered his head, because his two older brothers suddenly turned their gazes toward him, one with a frown and the other with a cold look.
It seemed like a moment had passed, yet also like a long time had gone by. The three Liu brothers returned to the original topic as if nothing had happened.
Liu Ziwen gestured to his second brother.
Liu Zian received the message, then turned to Liu Zilin, the only idiot in the room, and said coldly:
"Still not convinced? Does he think that this whole scheme he's set up, where everyone compares the power of their connections, will actually work? Doesn't Ouyang Lianghan know that we gentry and powerful families have powerful backers? Why does he dare to overturn the tables of all thirteen of us at once?"
"He's asking for it!" Liu Zilin gritted his teeth.
“That’s right, he’s courting death.” Liu Zian finally laughed, but his smile looked even more ferocious than when he didn’t laugh. “But it’s one thing for him to be courting death, he also wants to drag a few families down with him. Idiot! Our family is big and powerful, do you think we can die with him?”
"He doesn't even deserve it?"
"But he can do it."
Liu Zian rubbed his face, feeling a little tired from teaching his younger brother.
"Because of the Jimin Granary Rice Case, the officials we had good relations with in Jiangzhou are now either suspended from their posts or removed from office. No one in the prefecture can immediately intervene in Longcheng, but Ouyang Lianghan now has three hundred Zhechong Prefecture Iron Cavalry in his hands."
"This is a fire that's close at hand. Apart from Jiangzhou, we have water that's far away, but how can we quench it right now?"
Liu Zilin seemed to have been doused with cold water, and immediately calmed down. He stopped pacing around and, like his two older brothers, sat back down at the table, leaning over to ask:
"Three hundred iron cavalry, our high walls and private soldiers can't stop them?"
"These are elite troops who have just returned from their rotation duty on the frontier; their blades are still stained with the blood of the barbarians."
"Then what should we do?"
Liu Zian turned to look at his elder brother and simply stated one thing: "We can't let him check the accounts."
Liu Ziwen finally finished cleaning the sword. He carefully put the excellent-quality short sword into its sheath, which was inlaid with jade, agate, pearls and gemstones, making it extremely luxurious. This sword was to be given to a nobleman in Luoyang as a regular gift, and it was prepared regularly every year.
Liu Ziwen calmly addressed his two younger brothers:
"The Liu family is not just a fat sheep with fertile fields, beautiful houses, gold, and jewels; the Liu family is this scabbard, and inside it is... the sword!"
There will be another update at midnight!
(End of this chapter)
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