Chapter 650 The Truth Comes to Light
Chapter 650 The Truth Comes to Light
County magistrate Zhao Houcai could not explain the reason, so Shi Xiaozhen suspended him from his post using the Jin Wang Golden Medal. County Secretary Yao Guang was temporarily appointed as county magistrate. In the afternoon, Shi Xiaozhen led 300 internal guards and headed straight for Wangjiawan Village.
Jing County is close to the Qingge River, and large tracts of arable land are mainly distributed on both sides of the Qingge River. However, Wangjiawan Village is not on either side of the Qingge River, but in the mountainous area forty miles southeast of the county seat.
Many things are one thing when you hear them from others, but another thing when you see them with your own eyes.
Along the way, there were large tracts of wasteland on both sides of the official road, and the population was sparse. Shi Xiaozhen felt more and more that something was wrong as he walked. Not only did he feel that something was wrong, but everyone felt that something was wrong.
Captain Huang Wu whispered to Shi Xiaozhen, "General, have you noticed that there are a lot of unowned wastelands here? There is no need for the Wang family to forcibly seize the Chen family's land."
Shi Xiaozhen nodded, "There must be something fishy going on here. The county magistrate must be hiding something from us. I can tell!"
The road soon became difficult to travel on. It had rained in the past two days, and the ground was muddy and difficult to walk on. It was also the hottest time of the year, and the weather was scorching hot. Mosquitoes were rampant in the mountains, and the guards had a very difficult time walking. They wanted to find a guide, but there were no houses around.
The sky gradually darkened and finally lights were seen ahead. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to speed up.
But at this moment, two people suddenly rushed out from the woods next to them, waving at them desperately and stumbling towards them.
"Go back quickly, there are bandits here!"
The accent was not that of a local. Shi Xiaozhen waved his hand and everyone stopped. Several soldiers came forward and supported the two men. They saw that the two men were disheveled and covered in wounds.
"Are you officers and soldiers?" asked the middle-aged man in the lead.
Shi Xiaozhen nodded, "We are the internal guards, who are you two?"
When they heard that they were the inner guards, the leading man hugged them and burst into tears. The inner guards quickly helped them sit down on a big rock on the road. Shi Xiaozhen asked, "Who are you?"
The man wiped away his tears and smiled, "Sorry for losing my composure. I'm Ma Yuan, the Inspector of the Ministry of Justice!"
"what!"
Everyone was shocked. Shi Xiaozhen said anxiously, "Didn't you die in Wuhu Town? I also saw your body in Dangtu County."
The man asked in a deep voice: "General, you don't know me, how do you know that I am the one who died?"
"I have your badge as proof!"
The man nodded. "I am indeed the chief officer of the Seventh Inspection Office of the Ministry of Justice. I am from Yuhang County. My immediate superior is He Zhu. The chief officer is Zhang Yunqiu, who is from Chang'an. He has a big black mole on his chin, which can't be covered by a beard. We just moved to the second office, but we made a mistake. That was the office of the Ministry of War, so we had to move to the third office."
After a pause, the man continued, "The head of your inner guard is Li Luming, a very tall woman, ruthless and protective. Last year, a group of your inner guards were drinking and causing trouble at the Baiyun Restaurant, but she protected them and the matter was eventually resolved."
"Okay! No need to say more."
Shi Xiaozhen was completely convinced that the person in front of him was Ma Yuan. It was impossible for an outsider to know so many details. He asked in surprise: "Why are you not dead? Why are you here?"
Ma Yuan looked into the distance and said hurriedly: "This is very dangerous. This is not the place to talk. Let's leave here first and we will talk in detail later!"
"What's the danger here?"
"There are two to three thousand bandits hiding here, and I just escaped!"
Shi Xiaozhen was shocked and quickly led everyone to retreat towards the county town.
At three o'clock in the morning, the three hundred inner guards retreated back to the military ship. Zhao Juaner came up to them and asked, "Husband, what happened?"
Shi Xiaozhen pointed at the Central Plains man behind him and said, "We found Ma Yuan unexpectedly!"
"Ah! He's not dead." "Let me ask about his condition!"
Shi Xiaozhen invited Ma Yuan and another man into the cabin, and the soldiers brought them meals and hot dishes.
The two were very hungry and ate voraciously. Shi Xiaozhen sat beside them and waited patiently for them to finish eating.
After finishing their meal, they drank some hot tea and finally recovered.
Ma Yuan introduced a person next to him and said, "This is Kong Qingming, the county court lawyer. He was the one who wrote the Chen family's petition. Thanks to him, I was able to find out the truth."
Kong Qingming is about thirty years old and looks like a very calm person.
Shi Xiaozhen smiled and asked, "Let's talk about Wuhu Town first. What happened?"
Ma Yuan sighed and said, "When we boarded the boat that day, the captain brought us some iced sour plum soup, saying it was a specialty of Wuhu Town. We had just drunk some wine and were feeling very hot. The sour plum soup came just in time. Everyone drank it and soon fell down. I was the last one to fall down. I had no strength left in my body. I watched helplessly as the captain and two boatmen searched our badges and luggage.
Later I also fainted. When I woke up, I found myself in the water, my hands tied behind my back, and the boat had capsized. I struggled to break free from the rope and swam to the other side. I hid there for a day and found several boats searching in the water. There were some vicious people on the boats. Later I took a cargo ship to Jing County, hoping to get to the bottom of the case. "
This is more like it. What Ma Yuan said should be the truth. The three boatmen are in the same group. This is in line with common sense. They used other people's bodies to pretend to be two boatmen.
Shi Xiaozhen pondered for a moment and said, "There is another problem here. How did the other party know you would come? How did they accurately arrange for the captain to pick you up?"
Ma Yuan shook his head. "I don't know. I think it's just a coincidence. The three boatmen were actually river thieves. They heard us discussing the case on the road. When they arrived at Wuhu Town, they asked for instructions from the other party, took their money, and then attacked us."
"What happened in Jing County? What does it have to do with the Chen family?"
Ma Yuan said to Kong Qingming beside him: "Brother Kong, please speak!"
Kong Qingming pondered for a moment and said, "I wonder if General Shi still remembers the Dongting rebel Liu Yuanjin?"
Shi Xiaozhen nodded, "I remember that they were destroyed by the army led by His Royal Highness Prince Jin in Anxiang County."
"At that time, Liu Yuanjin also had an army stationed in Qingfeng Village, led by his son Liu Zhongxing."
Shi Xiaozhen pondered for a moment and said, "It seems that Wang Junkuo led his army to wipe out Qingfeng Village."
Kong Qingming nodded. "I was in Qingfeng Village at the time. I was an aide to Liu Yuanjin. The Jin King's army set fire to the mountain. The fire engulfed Qingfeng Village. I followed Liu Zhongxing and more than a thousand people to hide in a deep cave. The Jin King's army did not search the mountain carefully, so we escaped."
"and after?"
"Later, Liu Zhongxing took us to Shi'an County in the south to seek refuge with Lin Shihong. Lin Shihong was doing well there, and Liu Zhongxing was appointed General of the Left. Then last autumn, Xiao Xin led an army to attack us. Lin Shihong could not resist, and the army was defeated. Liu Zhongxing fled to Guiyang County with thousands of people, but soon, Xiao Xin's army attacked us again, and we had to continue to flee north."
"Why didn't Liu Zhongxing surrender to Xiao Xian?"
Kong Qingming shook his head. "Xiao Xin's top general was called Dong Jingzhen. Dong Jingzhen was from Huarong County, Baling Prefecture. When Liu Yuan attacked Huarong County, he raped and burned people. Dong Jingzhen's parents and sister died tragically under Liu Yuan's knife. How could Dong Jingzhen let Liu Zhongxing go?"
"go on!"
"That's when I was dispersed. I returned to my hometown, Jing County, and used my connections to get a job as a lawyer in the county government. Three months ago, Liu Zhongxing led two to three thousand people to Jing County. He wanted me to be his military advisor again, but I refused outright because I wrote a complaint to the Chen family and asked them to go to Jingkou to file a complaint. This angered the Wang family, so they notified Liu Zhongxing to send someone to arrest me and put me in the dungeon. A few days ago, Master Ma was also arrested by them and put in the dungeon. It just so happened that he was imprisoned with me. Tonight, we teamed up to kill a guard and escaped together."
Shi Xiaozhen nodded, "What's going on with the Chen family?"
(End of this chapter)