Fang Yankai just left the county office and planned to go to the south of the city to inspect housing.
Considering the time, it was up to him to save Li Xia.
This is the time when he, as the chief bookkeeper, shows his style and magnanimity.
Not long after he left the county government office, Huang Shi quickly came up to greet him and said: "The chief secretary is done."
Fang Yankai nodded, looking understanding, and continued walking forward without stopping.
"Then it's better to go over there. Don't let Feiyu lose face too much." He said, "Let's talk about it while we're walking. What's going on?"
Huang Shi followed up with small steps, deliberately falling a few steps behind, bending down and whispering: "The leader of Wu squadron and others shouted, 'Brother Bao shouldn't have blinded one eye and bumped into Lieutenant Li'. Lieutenant Li couldn't stand it.
Said he wanted to make a bet with them."
"Young man, you are so angry that you can't calm down. A bet?"
"If Li County Lieutenant loses, he will resign and leave."
"What if he wins?"
"He didn't say."
Fang Yankai was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "What he is asking for is nothing more than for the entire class to follow his instructions, so it goes without saying."
"I don't know why you don't need to say it, villain?"
"This is the power of the county captain, and it should be taken for granted. How can it be used as a bet? Not to mention, it is to show his demeanor, and if he wins, everyone will naturally obey him."
Huang Shi said: "But from the villain's point of view, he can't win."
"How to bet?"
"He said that in a wheel battle, one person is against forty-four."
Fang Yankai mumbled: "How dignified is it for a dignified official to fight with soldiers?"
"Yes, Leader Wu also thinks that fighting will put the archers at a disadvantage, which is inappropriate."
"Li Xia made such a big bet and pitted one against many. I'm afraid he will have to set the rules."
Huang Shi said: "In the end, we decided to fight with swords, which is a change to an elegant way."
Fang Yankai stopped and was slightly surprised.
"Sword fight?"
~~
Han Chengxu and his son took Liu Jinsuo for a long walk along the Fujiang River, and chatted with several big merchants on the dock before returning to the county seat in the afternoon.
"There are so many bamboos here." Liu Jinsuo said, "If we can't reach an agreement with those merchants, can't we make bamboo rafts ourselves?"
"Brother Liu, don't say it's useless. You should practice your water skills, otherwise there will be a water fight..."
"That's right! It's time for me to practice water." Liu Jinsuo said loudly, "My mother said that fire defeats metal and water defeats fire. I have to practice."
The three of them talked about what they had, and walked into the east city gate. They saw a group of people shouting and running into the city.
"Go and see, the new county captain is going to be embarrassed..."
When Liu Jinsuo heard this, he strode up to pick up a thin man and asked, "What happened?!"
The man was lifted up like a chicken, and he was a little dazed. He murmured: "We want to watch the new county captain compete with the archers."
"Where to compete?"
"Over there on the stage."
"How?"
"It's a sword fight. One county captain is against forty-four people. Whoever hits the opponent fifteen times first loses."
"What do you mean? Sword fighting?"
"Of course it's not a real sword. There's a cloth bag tied to the wooden sword and it's stained with flour."
"That's good." Liu Jinsuo asked: "The county captain wants to stab forty-four fifteen swords? How many swords will he need?"
"Six...six hundred?"
"It's six hundred and sixty swords." Han Qi'an said.
"Yes, but... you don't need to stab him so much. Lieutenant Li only needs fifteen swords to lose."
"Ah? Does it count if forty-four people stabbed him fifteen times in total?"
"Yes."
"Damn, what a shame! Are you sorry?"
Liu Jinsuo cursed loudly, scratched his head, and looked at each other with the Han family and his son.
"You're trying to be brave." Han Chengxu sighed and said, "Alang is impulsive. No matter how much he suffers, he shouldn't be like this."
"Yes, the hard-earned official position... should actually resolve conflicts in a more secure way." Han Qi'an said with some confusion: "Alang always makes decisions before acting, why are you so impulsive today?"
"Let's go and have a look."
"oh."
Liu Jinsuo put the thin man down and said, "Lead the way."
He was still puzzled and murmured to himself: "You should take me with you. Why don't I stab you with a gun three to four hundred times?"
The group of people walked towards the stage in the middle of the county town. The further they walked, the more people they saw around them, and they were talking a lot.
Many vendors have also moved their stalls to the roads nearby. Unlike Lin'an, the stalls in Qingfu County mostly sell dried bamboo shoots, citrus, bamboo baskets, etc., and the business is not very good.
There were crowds of people in front of the stage.
Seeing this posture, Han Chengxu's eyes became even more worried, and he murmured in a low voice: "I'm afraid these soldiers are deliberately spreading the news to make Alang look embarrassed."
He looked around and saw Li Xiazheng standing proudly on the stage. He had untied his bun and tied up his sleeves. He was wearing a blue official uniform with flowing sleeves and had a superb temperament.
Han Chengxu looked at it for a long time and murmured with relief, "Fortunately, Alang doesn't look like he was agitated..."
On the stage, Li Xia held up the wooden sword in his hand.
He closed his eyes, feeling the gazes of everyone, and feeling that the hilt of the sword in his hand gradually turned from cold to warm.
In my heart, I actually only had one thought.
"Finally I can compete."
"Bang!"
The gong sounded.
Li Xia opened his eyes, faced the man opposite him, and stabbed out with his sword...
~~
Han Qiaoer sat on the edge of the table with her feet together and watched, her eyes looking like she was crazy for a moment.
Li Xia's grace with this sword seemed to fly from her heart...
When the gong rang again and someone shouted "Li County Weisheng, next", Han Qiaoer came back to his senses.
"Oh, I seem to have forgotten everything I wrote down today..."
~~
"What?"
Jiang Chun thought he heard wrongly and asked again: "How many did you say you have picked?"
"Eleven."
"He was hit ten times?"
"It's four times."
"Looking around?" Jiang Chun took a few steps and asked again, "Has the landlord gone through?"
"It's over."
Jiang Chun stroked his beard and pondered for a while, then said, "It's time for me to go."
"That's right." Zhan Gang nodded and said, "Dong Weng can't pretend not to know about this matter. It's time to come forward."
"It's just this rhetoric?"
Zhan Gang hesitated for a moment and said in deep thought: "If Lieutenant Li loses..."
"If he loses, Fang Zhengshu will say it properly and pretend to save him in public, but in reality he is just pretending." Jiang Chun said: "But if he wins..."
"Win? Since you dare to propose a sword fight, Lieutenant Li's sword skills must be very good. Judging from the current situation, this is also the case. However, if you pick four swordsmen among eleven people... you will probably lose. After all, the further you go, the more likely you are to win."
His physical strength is getting worse."
"What if he wins?"
The two people in charge looked at each other and were silent for a while.
Zhan Gang said: "When the time comes, if Dong Weng feels that County Lieutenant Li is going to win, he can stop this bet."
Jiang Chun understood the meaning, but it was still hard to believe that Li Xia could defeat forty-four people by himself.
He turned around and walked out of the public room.
Behind him, Zhan Gang said again.
"Did Dong Weng find out? It's just the first day Li County Lieutenant took office. There are already many people in the county government who are not interested in official duties."
Jiang Chun sighed and said nothing.
When he walked to the Yamen, he was stunned again.
"Where's the sedan?"
"Reporting to the county magistrate, my wife has taken the young yamen and the young lady out, and the young man is preparing the sedan chair."
"Move quickly." Jiang Chun frowned.
Li Xia only needed eleven more hits before he was defeated. If he couldn't catch up, it would inevitably appear that he, the county magistrate, was deliberately avoiding trouble...
~~
"Bang!" There was another gong sound.
"Li County Weisheng, next!"
Wu Ang looked up, with a look of shock in his eyes, and murmured: "How many are there?"
"How many are there?"
"Ten...eighteen?"
"No way?"
"I really don't believe it."
"I don't believe it either, but damn, here's the thing."
"Goushuan, tell me, what's going on?!" Jiang Fan scolded, "You're a coward, seeing that he's an official, why did you let him go?"
"Brother, it's not like I didn't get stabbed. I really can't get stabbed. I can't chop or chop. I'm not used to it. Before I could react, I was hit fifteen times."
"Yes, me too, damn, I was stabbed by him as soon as I rushed over..."
"Brother Jiang, you go first." Wu Ang said, "But his steps are too fast. Let's change our approach to drag him down."
"I understand. Even though I'm a cripple, I don't want to stab him, so I just drag him."
"Watch your step, did you notice?"
"Um……"
Jiang Fan responded and strode towards the stage.
He listened to the shouts around him and felt an inexplicable nervousness under the gaze of everyone.
He was holding the wooden sword, and the hilt was wet.
The palms of the eighteen defeated people were sweating a lot.
Jiang Fan licked his lips and opened his mouth to say something to show his prestige.
However, looking at it, I saw that Lieutenant Li's face was still as sinking as water. The words "Gua Wa Zi" came to his lips and he finally swallowed them...