! ”
…
"Husband?"
Zhuang Yan took his leave, and Wei Jing took Shao Qing out. She was worried and whispered, "What about Qu San?"
Although this person only looked good at a glance, her face was obviously a woman. If we take this store book back, the Qu family will be able to find out the clues soon?
Fake identities are the biggest weakness of the two.
"No problem."
Wei Jing said in a steady voice: "Let's go to Qu's house now."
In the darkness of the night, he tapped his toes lightly, and his figure quickly swept out, landing very lightly in the shadow of the roof of the Qu family's front yard.
The layouts of the courtyard houses are almost the same. Wei Jing looked around for a moment and quickly locked onto two places that were suspected to be Qu Chengwai's study.
The first one is it.
The house was brightly lit, and the Qu family father and son were still there. Qu Cheng frowned and said, "You said that Yang Ni is really a woman."
He opened the store brochure on the table again and his eyes fell on the word "Yang Ni".
"Absolutely true!"
Qu Gan was still terrified: "Father, that Yang Ze was too scary! I almost couldn't come back! The silver hairpin pierced straight into the wall, at least two inches deep!"
"Father, why do you think County Magistrate Yang was transferred to Pingtao? This shouldn't be the case!" Brother Qu Gan was puzzled.
Yes, for a person like this, it’s easy for him to find a good job. Why would he come all the way to the southwest?
It's unreasonable!
How many years has Pingtao been established as a county? In remote border areas, people with no background or connections are always appointed to office, like the previous county magistrates.
How come such a powerful person suddenly appeared?
Could it be, it’s fake?
Qu Cheng stood up suddenly and said, "Call Chen Ting!"
Chen Ting, the captain of the county barracks, was one of Qu Cheng's most trusted confidants. Once summoned, we arrived as quickly as possible.
"You should immediately select your men and rush to Liang County, Yiling County, Yuzhou to verify Yang Ze's identity and go immediately."
"No, you need to add two more groups of troops, making a total of three groups. We will set off tonight!"
"yes!"
Chen Ting left immediately after receiving the order. The Qu family father and son were still discussing other matters, but Wei Jing stopped listening and followed Chen Ting.
The three groups of people left the city one after another and headed in three different directions. Wei Jing looked down at them coldly.
"Ah Qing, I'll be back soon."
He found a sheltered place, placed Shao Qing there, and left.
Shao Qing watched his back and let out a long sigh.
It's not that she didn't know what he was going to do, but she didn't stop him. Qu Cheng had been rampant for many years, and his trusted henchmen must have had a long history of bad deeds.
It didn't take long for Wei Jing to come back. He brought Shao Qing back to Qu Mansion.
It was past midnight, the night was dark, and the lights in Qu Chengwai's study had long been turned off. There were guards in the courtyard and there were also people who were responsible for guarding the outer study, but these ordinary warriors could not stop Wei Jing at all.
He held Shao Qing in his arms and stood silently in the outer study room.
The room was pitch black, with only a small ray of hazy moonlight filtering in through the screens of the two front windows, and visibility inside the room was extremely low. However, Wei Jing's eyes were sharp, and his gaze moved slightly, scanning from the bookshelf to the desk, inch by inch.
If we talk about secret rooms and hidden compartments in the world, none are more sophisticated than those in the Imperial Palace. Due to Wei Jing's background, it was impossible for a county lieutenant's study to have any sophisticated secret compartments, and he soon found his target.
Half of Mr. Duobao's wooden cabinet was secret compartments. He reached in and fiddled with it for a while. Then Shao Qing heard a slight "click" and the secret compartment opened, revealing a large stack of account books.
Wei Jing raised his lips and showed a cold smile. He took out all the things. Shao Qing wanted to take off his coat to pack it, but was stopped by him.
He took off his coat and wrapped it quickly.
Shao Qing smiled awkwardly. In her nervousness, she forgot that there was a big difference between men and women here. If a woman was seen going out wearing only her underwear, it would have a bad impact.
Wei Jing held the bag in one hand and her in the other, and left Qu's house silently and returned to the backyard of the county government office next door.
After entering the room and lighting the oil lamp, Shao Qing let out a long sigh, "Oh my God, tonight was really exciting."
Fortunately, everything was resolved smoothly. Wei Jing was sharpening his pen and writing quickly. He wrote a letter himself, stating the matter and stamped it with the county magistrate's seal.
"Tomorrow, I will give these two items to Zhuang Yan."
"My husband, do you think this Zhuang Yan is trustworthy?"
After the tension was gone, he felt sleepy. Shao Qing wiped his long hair, which was now 80% dry, again, climbed onto the bed yawning, undressed and went to sleep.
The two of them had slept in the same bed for a long time, and Shao Qing was used to it. Besides, the inner garments of the ancient people were long sleeves and long pants, so the initial awkwardness had been forgotten.
However, today is destined to be a bit awkward.
She was in such a hurry when she was getting dressed that she didn't even fasten the laces of her inner garment properly, and when her outer garment was pulled, her neck was actually torn open.
The goose yellow small pocket covers a very plump part, full curves, and snow-white and smooth skin.
Shao Qing was quick to cover it up immediately, but Wei Jing happened to look over and saw it clearly.
His eyes darkened immediately, and a graceful figure of shoulders, neck and arms flashed before his eyes. The crystal-like white jade was dotted with two spots of crimson pink plum.
The subtle fragrance is in the air, charming and alluring.
Wei Jing's Adam's apple rolled rapidly for a few times, and after a long pause, he said, "It's nothing. From now on, the Zhuang family members will not dare to play tricks even if he is not truly submissive."
"It's late at night, go to bed quickly."
His voice was a little deeper and hoarse than usual, but Shao Qing, who was busy tying his belt with his back to him, didn't pay much attention to it and only responded with two "hmm".
She had recalled the extremely embarrassing scene before, her face flushed and she felt very embarrassed. She fell down, rolled up the thin quilt, turned her back to sleep, and didn't say another word.
Wei Jing blew out the oil lamp with a "puff" and lay down.
Everything was the same as usual, except that the faint scent of the girl was particularly clear tonight, surrounding him densely and entering his body through the nose. The blood in his veins seemed to be pulled and became more turbulent than usual.
Wei Jing was not repulsive at all, but felt particularly at ease.
He silently turned his head and looked at Shao Qing. He saw a familiar bulge in the darkness. After a moment, he closed his eyes.
…
Shao Qing thought she would have to toss and turn for a while before she could fall asleep, but in fact she was so tired and sleepy that she fell into a deep sleep as soon as she touched the pillow.
After a good sleep, she woke up the next day and found Wei Jing as usual, so she was optimistic and thought that he didn't notice it at all and she shouldn't think too much about it.
Thinking of this, she felt much better and quickly put that awkward idea behind her.
They still had things to do, the first thing was to deliver the account books and Wei Jing's letters to Zhuang Yan.
Zhuang Yan immediately sent his trusted aides to secretly escort Ping Tao out.
Gaoling, the seat of Anyang County, is more than 200 miles away from Pingtao. It has open water and land routes. Under normal circumstances, it would take at least seven or eight days to make a round trip. Zhuang Yan's men hurried all the way and brought back news in the evening of the fifth day.
"Your Excellency, this is the reply written by Magistrate Bao." Zhuang Yan respectfully handed over the two wax-sealed reply letters.
Wei Jing took it, lowered his eyes to see that the sealing wax was intact, and opened it and unfolded it.
"... Qu Cheng has been stealing the salt from the government for his own benefit for more than ten years. He must have been instructed by someone to deceive his superiors and subordinates. I have sent a letter to Gucheng, vowing to bring this daring person to justice. Zi Kuang is the only one who has the final say, and he has made great contributions. I will select the county soldiers to rush to Pingtao to capture Qu. If there is any change, Zi Kuang can act according to his own discretion."
Zi Kuang, even if that was the name Wei Jing used now, he addressed him so intimately even though they had never met before. It can be seen how surprised Captain Bao was when he learned about this.
As for Gucheng, it is the location of the provincial capital. The privatization of official salt was no small matter, and Bao Zhong immediately reported it to the desk of Governor He, hoping to severely strike a blow against the Third Master He's gang. It would be best if they could kill the county governor Dong Du, so that they can take the opportunity to take control of the entire Anyang County.
The above is the struggle between two factions. Bao Zhong originally intended to use Qu Cheng as a fuse to strike upwards layer by layer. To this end, he has selected the county soldiers and went to Pingtao in person.
Wei Jing read it at a glance and raised his lip: "Okay, it's done."
Zhuang Yan was overjoyed when he heard this: "Marquis Bao has come in person, that's great, we just need to wait!"
The county soldiers' travel is never as fast as a single person's, but at the latest they will be delayed by only two days. His long-cherished wish finally came true, and he was so excited that his face turned red.
"Your Excellency is wise!" Thousands of words were summed up in this one sentence, and Zhuang Yan leaned forward and bowed.
"Why should Wengui be so polite?"
Wei Jing helped him up and smiled: "I have just arrived in Pingtao and I am unfamiliar with the people and the place. If Wen Gui is interested, you may help me a little."
He recruited Zhuang Yan to work as an official in the county government. After this battle, eight out of ten officials in the county would inevitably be gone. Zhuang Yan was quite handy to him.
Zhuang Yan's heart surged, and he lifted his robe and bowed: "Yan is willing to serve the lord at his service."
He simply served Wei Jing as his master.
Wei Jing helped the man up again. The new host and guest exchanged a few words of encouragement. He asked, "Wen Gui, how many guards do you have in your family?"
His second purpose in recruiting Zhuang Yan into the county government was to borrow some manpower so that he could take control of the entire Pingtao County before the county troops arrived.
Zhuang Yan just said to wait for two days, but in Wei Jing's opinion, this was passive and not a good strategy. After all, Bao Zhong said in the letter that if there were any changes, he could act as he saw fit. When he opened the other reply letter, it was a county lieutenant's order with a bright red seal.
Very good, very good.
It would be easy to capture or kill Qu Cheng and others, but the entire county still needs to function normally, which is the purpose of borrowing people from Zhuang Yan.
But now that Zhuang Yan has invested in him, there is no need to borrow any more money. He can just give the order directly.
The farmhouse has few guards, only a few dozen, but they also have caravans and cargo shops, and the number of young and strong guards and shop assistants added up to three or four hundred.
"That's enough."
…
The next step is to incite Qu Cheng.
It was very easy. The next morning, after Qu Cheng had breakfast, he received a piece of news that shocked and angered him.
"What! You said that Yang Ze had discovered the smuggling of salt?! He wanted to sneak out of Pingtao and go to Gaoling to expose it?!"
Gaoling certainly had his upstream prefect Dong, but he also had the county lieutenant Bao Zhong, and neither could overpower the other. Once Bao Zhong knew about this, it would be a disaster!
Regardless of what happened to Dong Du, Qu Cheng, who was directly in charge of the smuggling of salt, would immediately face the disaster of his entire family being overthrown.
We must not let this Yang guy succeed! We must not let it produce Pingtao! You can't let him continue to live!
Qu Cheng stood up with a leap, murderous intent in his eyes.
"Immediately select the county soldiers, surround the county government office, and execute Yang Ze!"
"No, Dad. Yang Ze is very skilled in martial arts. Even if all the county soldiers go, they won't be able to take him down!"
Qu Gan experienced it personally, and was particularly terrified when he spoke of it. Qu Cheng didn't quite believe it, but he knew his youngest son. He was fearless, so how could he have ever shown such an expression?
After a moment's hesitation, he said, "Doesn't the county government need to buy rice, flour, meat and vegetables every day? Let the vendors deliver them in person, and take the opportunity to put the knockout drug into the water tank in the kitchen and pour it down heavily!"
"If anyone fails to do this, I will kill his entire family!"
It was not until noon that the constable on duty in front of the county government office came quietly to report that it had been done! He went inside on the pretext of reporting something and saw that everyone around the table had fainted.
"Okay! Follow me to surround the county government office and kill Yang Ze and his group!"
Later, he was reported to have died of acclimatization, and the matter was completely kept secret in Pingtao.
The Pingtao County soldiers came out in full force, a total of 2,000, and surrounded the county government office, making it impossible for anyone to get in or out. Qu Cheng and his trusted subordinates, as well as a dozen captains of the county barracks, led their elite soldiers and rushed into the old and mottled gate of the county government office and headed straight for the backyard.
As soon as they turned around the screen wall, everyone was stunned.
I saw a tall man in black standing in the courtyard with his hands behind his back, with a calm expression and indifferent eyes. Not far behind, in the corridor in front of the county government hall, two men were standing, looking over here with serious faces, without a trace of panic on their faces.
The few clerks on duty at the county government office were thrown unconscious in front of the corridor, and no one knew whether they were dead or alive.
What else is there to not understand? Yang Ze is just taking advantage of the situation.
Qu Cheng's expression turned fierce, and he shouted sternly: "Everyone, come at me! Kill him! Don't spare a single one! Whoever kills this man will receive a reward of fifty yuan, and will be promoted three levels!"
He just didn't believe it. How could two thousand people not kill one person? !
"Brothers! Kill him!"
The captain of the corps, Yao Da, roared angrily, raised his sword and rushed towards Wei Jing first.
These words were like a switch. Immediately, shouts of killing arose, and the county soldiers rushed forward like flowing water, following Yao Da.
"You don't know your own limits."
The reversal came even faster. Wei Jing raised his lips and gave a sarcastic smile. Without even taking any action, he turned around and gave a side kick, hitting Yao Da in the chest and abdomen who was the first to come forward.
"ah!!!!"
With a short scream, Yao Dada spat out a mouthful of blood and instantly flew backwards in the air. He flew seven or eight feet away and hit heavily on the large stone screen wall with a relief of a landscape facing the sun. He fell to the ground with a dull "bang".
Yao Da's eyes were wide open, blood was gushing out of his mouth and nose, there was a dent in his chest, all his ribs were broken, and he died on the spot.
There was a moment of dead silence all around. The county soldiers who had been coming in with such force just now seemed to have been paused, their necks stiffened, unable to move.
"Everyone, listen to me."
Wei Jing's voice was not loud, but it was very clear to his ears. "Qu Chengmei has been stealing the official salt for personal gain for decades. Now the case has been reported to Gaoling. County Lieutenant Bao is leading the county soldiers to rush here overnight and will arrive tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."
He raised his hand and held up the two reply letters from County Magistrate Bao. The bright red seal on the county governor's order was particularly eye-catching.
"What is the crime of converting government salt into private property? What is the crime? I don't need to elaborate on this."
Wei Jing looked around and saw that everyone present, from Qu Cheng on down, had expressions of fear on their faces. Some ordinary soldiers even dropped their swords with trembling hands and feet with a clang.
A young soldier cried, "Your Excellency, Your Excellency, I didn't know anything! I was just following orders!"
Qu Cheng naturally kept the matter of smuggling salt a secret, so it was normal that these ordinary soldiers were unaware of it. It’s just that the Qu family has been rampant in the village for many years, and this group of people are indispensable to their abuse of power.
Regardless of whether they were complacent or had no choice but to go with the flow, the treatment in the Pingtao County Barracks was very good over the years.
However, it was not appropriate to get to the bottom of each case one by one at this moment. After all, Wei Jing could not kill all the county soldiers in one go.
He spoke in a steady voice, "Except for the main culprit and his confidants, if the rest surrender, we will forgive their past mistakes."
The author has something to say: The male protagonist will not let Qu San off the hook, this guy is in big trouble
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