County Magistrate Zhou's legs went weak with fear. He looked at the Axe Gang leader with utter terror and said:
"You bastard, I should never have chosen you to cooperate with me in the first place!"
Upon hearing this, the gang leader was extremely angry and rebuked him:
"You still dare to say that? If we had continued to cooperate peacefully, nothing would have happened. But you've brought in ten bandits, trying to replace us. How can I let this go?"
Upon hearing this, Magistrate Zhou was taken aback. He then said:
"Wait, what did you say?"
The Axe Gang leader roared:
"Are you still pretending not to know? I told you that we were cooperating perfectly well. I was responsible for robbing and creating panic, and you were responsible for leading troops to surround and kill me."
Everyone's just putting on an act, chasing each other. Then you can apply to the court for money to continue playing along with me.
Everyone benefits; you cheat the imperial court out of its money, and I rob the people of their silver.
But then you inexplicably created ten bandits, trying to replace my Axe Gang. How can I tolerate that?
Upon hearing this, Magistrate Zhou hurriedly spoke up:
"I don't know those ten bandits, and I didn't cause it."
The gang leader sneered and said:
"Now that things have come to this, my broadsword is less than a step away from you, so of course you'll deny it outright, but I'm not easily fooled."
Upon hearing this, Magistrate Zhou hurriedly said:
“You’ve really wronged me. I don’t know those ten bandits. From beginning to end, I’ve only been cooperating with you.”
After all, working with you for so long has been very reliable, and I can't risk replacing you. So there must be some misunderstanding.
The Axe Gang leader sneered:
"Still trying to argue? If you didn't want to change your personnel, why did you bring these soldiers to massacre my Axe Gang today? Just now you kept telling me to die."
Magistrate Zhou began by saying:
"You still dare to say that? Isn't it because you and the new magistrate reached a consensus to kick me out? Have you forgotten how determined you were when you wanted to kill me?"
"It was clearly you and that Magistrate Zhu who conspired to continue their deceitful schemes and oust me, but now you're turning around and blaming me."
Upon hearing what Magistrate Zhou said, the Axe Gang leader was instantly stunned:
"What nonsense are you talking about? I don't even know your newly appointed Magistrate Zhu, let alone collude with him. How could I have ever thought of kicking you out? I always thought that your government had found someone else and didn't want to cooperate with our Axe Gang anymore."
Upon hearing the Axe Gang leader's words, County Magistrate Zhou was also stunned. Then the two looked at each other, both becoming confused.
However, at this moment, Zhu Yunwen slowly spoke:
"You two have explained everything very clearly, haven't you? Since you two are such scoundrels, capable of colluding with bandits, defrauding the court, and oppressing the people, and you both feel the other deserves to die, then... it's not too much for me to arrest you both, is it?"
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