Under Guanye Cliff in the northwest of Tongcheng, there is a road leading to Touzi Mountain. The North Gate and Yimin Gate are close to the mountainous area, and the outside of the city is deserted than in the southeast.
At this time, the autumn wind was chilly, and fallen leaves were flying among the dense trees under Guanye Cliff, almost covering the road.
Two riders came from the direction of Yiminmen and passed by a small road heading north. After running for half a mile, they suddenly stopped and turned back.
Pang Yu stopped before the intersection and observed the road ahead and behind him. He and Pang Ding left the city from the south gate and made a large circle outside the city. They turned back and changed directions repeatedly along the way to confirm that there were no followers before arriving at Guanye Cliff.
Down.
At this time, the city wall was blocked by Guanye Cliff, and there were no pedestrians on the road in front or behind. Pang Yu waved his hand with relief and led Pang Ding into the path covered by grass. After turning the first corner, Pang Yu signaled Pang Ding to dismount.
"If someone comes, shoot him directly. If someone you don't recognize leaves, shoot him too."
Pang Ding nodded silently and hid the crossbow in a bamboo forest.
Pang Yu watched Pang Ding hide it, then pulled the empty horse and walked deeper into the road. Not far away was the end of the path. There was a dilapidated wall. There was half a plaque hanging on the lintel, and the word "an" remained on the plaque.
, you can see several houses with mud walls and tiles inside the door, which have collapsed in many places.
It was quiet around the hut. Pang Yu did not dismount and looked around carefully.
"Second brother."
He Xianya's voice sounded in front of the hut, and then the heads of He Xianya and Jiao Guozha appeared in front of the door on the right.
Pang Yu then dismounted and said hello to the two of them.
He walked directly to the cellar at the back of the house and opened the large dustpan to reveal the entrance of the cellar. An unpleasant stench came to his face. Pang Yu waved his hand to disperse it and squinted into the cellar.
I saw a figure lying on his back in the cellar.
This is the place where Wang Guohua was imprisoned. It is an abandoned nunnery. In the early years, there were rumors that the area was haunted.
Coming in to rest, it became the most suitable place to imprison Wang Guohua.
"Thank you for your hard work, brother."
Pang Yu turned to look at Jiao Guozhao. This eldest brother had been guarding Wang Guohua for these days, and was only replaced by Pang Ding for two days.
Because he had been in the fast class before, he always had some fighting experience. Compared to the two weaklings Pang Ding and He Xianya, Pang Yu could only rely on this elder brother, who basically guarded Wang Guohua.
Jiao Guozhao spent these days in the wilderness and was so haggard.
Wang Guohua looked inside and cursed, "When will we kill this turtle grandson with a knife? A living person will be in more trouble than a dead person."
"Pang Gongzha, haha."
Wang Guohua, who was on the ground, raised his head with difficulty. He was unkempt and skinny, and his whole face was shriveled.
At this time, his eyes were blood red, he stared at Pang Yu and smiled laboriously, "Wang, a hero, died today at the hands of a dog official."
Pang Yu didn't go in, so he laughed at the entrance of the cellar and said, "Brother Wang, how did you know that I came to kill you today?"
Wang Guohua dropped his head back to the ground, opened his eyes and looked at the roof of the cellar and said, "Apart from you, only Wang is the only one in the world who knows that you got the money. Naturally, you rats will not leave any survivors."
Pang Yu said noncommittally, "Since Brother Wang knows, then Pang will do a good deed and let Brother Wang go away happily.
But Brother Wang should pay attention to his words when he speaks, Pang is not worthy of the word "rat"."
Wang Guohua coughed twice and laughed and said, "You have the nerve to say good things, but Wang was already poisoned that day, and you guys wanted to break Wang's legs. You are nothing but rats."
"Brother Wang is tyrannical, so of course he needs to break his legs to be more secure, so that we won't be suspicious of each other and we can live in peace these days."
Wang Guohua heard that Pang Yu had no guilt. He knew that words were of no use to these people, so he didn't bother to argue anymore. He squinted his eyes and rested for a moment before asking, "I just want to know that when you left Wang that day, you had to make sure that the Fang family would be put off."
"That's natural. If we talk about Brother Wang alone, Fang Kongzhen is kind to you, but what Brother Wang did is indeed to trap Mr. Fang into injustice."
"But after the incident, I never allowed anyone to disturb the Fang family, and I didn't even touch Feng Yili. Doesn't this count as repaying a favor?"
Pang Yu walked into the cellar with a bow, sat down in the direction of Wang Guohua's head, and said, "Brother Wang is also a smart man. You have collected fire-free silver from all the gentry in the city, except Fang Kongzhen.
You don't call this repaying a favor, you call it repaying kindness with enmity. You put the Fang family on the fire, how can Fang Kongzheng spare you?"
"Could it be that if we rob the Fang family and then take the fire-free money from him, I can be spared?"
Wang Guohua was silent for a moment and suddenly smiled bitterly, "If these two bastards Huang Wending and Zhang Ru had listened to me, how could they have reached this point today. They would have been recruited to become rich men long ago. No matter what happened, they could have fled to other places and regretted their mistakes.
"
Pang Yu tilted her head and looked at Wang Guohua, "I've always been curious. Brother Wang is superior to Huang Wending in terms of talents and virtues. Why is he willing to accept Huang Wending as the leader of the alliance, so that the power is ceded to others, and it is impossible to control it in the end."
"It was also my own selfishness that day. These people all succeeded more than failed. I thought that whatever the people below did would be blamed on the alliance leader, and I was afraid that it would be difficult to recruit people as the alliance leader.
Therefore, by luring Huang Wending as the alliance leader, I still had a chance to kill the alliance leader and redeem myself, but I never got the chance.
When Zhang Ru was arrested, I expected that the squires were going to take action. Since I had no hope of redeeming myself, I thought of taking some money to a foreign country, but I didn't know it would turn out like this."
After Wang Guohua finished speaking, he opened his eyes and looked at Pang Yu, "Then you want to kill me today, but you have already negotiated terms with the Fang family?
Do we still want to use Wang’s head to get more credit?”
Pang Yu nodded.
Wang Guohua panted for a while to calm down his breathing, and when he spoke again, his tone was lonely, "Can we tolerate death from illness? Wang won't be able to survive for a few days."
Pang Yu looked at the dark environment in the cellar, nodded and said, "I admire Brother Wang, so I will tolerate you for a few more days."
Wang Guohua's expression relaxed a little, but he coughed violently again, and it took a while before he stopped.
Before he could even breathe, a short blade suddenly pierced his heart from above. Wang Guohua opened his mouth wide and looked at Zaoli in front of him with wide eyes.
His head shook and he pushed himself up, which lasted only a short moment before his whole body collapsed to the ground.
"Finally killed."
Jiao Guozhao was sitting behind him, leaning against the cellar wall, "If he doesn't die, I will be tortured to death by him."
Pang Yu wiped Wang Guohua's eyes and said softly, "Don't blame me, it's the easiest way to go."
... When the sun was setting, Pang Yu returned to the county town from Yiminmen. He had not dared to go back to his own store these days because he was afraid of retaliation. He only visited it a few times when he passed by.
A few days ago, the door panel of Pang's pharmacy was smashed, and the inside was rummaged through. Nothing was lost, but as a result, Pang Yu didn't dare to go home. He had been living in the county government office.
After becoming the head of the fast shift, I stayed in the fast shift duty room.
I passed by my house today and saw that the door panel had been replaced. I was surprised and the neighbors gathered around me.
"Brother Yu, our neighbors collected some money and helped your house replace the door panel."
"Your parents can come back. I haven't seen Brother Yu for a few days. As expected, everyone is in high spirits now that they are the class leaders."
"Brother Yu, please listen to Aunt Xu. The girl from the Zilaiqiao family is still waiting..." Pang Yu thanked her repeatedly, but he still didn't dare to live on his own. After dealing with it, he hurried back to the Yamen.
Jiang Fan saw Pang Yu in front of the door and quickly came to greet Pang Yu and said, "Something happened in the hall today."
Pang Yu stopped and said in astonishment, "What could happen in the hall?"
"When Mr. Zheng went to trial, he accused Mr. Zhao of the household of colluding with the domestic slaves. Mr. Yang was caught off guard."
"Is Mr. Ma present during the hearing?"
"It happens to be.
My subordinates thought that they must tell the squad leader earlier, because if Mr. Yang suddenly calls for the arrest of Secretary Zhao, the squad leader will not know anything about it."
Pang Yu patted Jiang Fan on the shoulder and encouraged, "Well done.
Pay attention to the development of this matter.”
When Jiang Fan left, Pang Yu showed a smile and said, "It depends on Tang Weimin's ability."
...In front of the office of the official behind the county school, Tang Weimin staggered to a courtyard door with a pot of wine in his hand, and kicked open the ajar door leaf.
Zhao Sili in the courtyard looked at Tang Weimin in surprise and quickly came over to help him, "Tang Dianli, what's going on?"
Tang Weimin said with a half-smile, "Master Zhao...I'm...I'm here to say goodbye to you today."
Secretary Zhao said in surprise: "Why do you say this for the sake of the people?"
Tang Weimin buried his head in silence for a moment, and said in a low tone, "In the past few years, this subordinate has been supported by adults, and it is Tang's good fortune to be able to work with adults for several years.
It’s just that things are changing in the yamen, and there are some things that petty people can’t do, so it will be difficult for them to follow the adults in the future.”
Director Zhao suddenly became a little angry, "But that person surnamed Ma is threatening you?"
"He wants his subordinates to sue Master Zhao and implicate him in this civil uprising.
He has already taken the confessions of Mr. Zheng and others. As long as there is another witness from the household, it will be a certainty.
How can a subordinate frame Mr. Zhao? We must act according to people's conscience and never act in both directions. If we can't have both, we are just an official. If Tang doesn't do it, it's fine."
Secretary Zhao's eyes were slightly red. He usually treated people in the household quite harshly, and only used each other with Tang Weimin. However, he did not expect that Tang Weimin could have such character at a critical moment.
His voice was choked with sobs and he said, "It's true that you and I have known each other for several years. Some people know people but not their hearts, and some people only see their true feelings in times of crisis.
There is no need to lose both ends to serve the people, I am prepared to let you take the lead."
Tang Weimin was shocked, "No, my lord is in his prime, how can he retire and return to his hometown at this time... Lord Zhao must not give up easily."
Secretary Zhao shook his head and sighed, "That surnamed Ma said that if Zhao doesn't leave the Yamen on his own, he will arrest me on charges of collaborating with thieves. If I am included in the civil turmoil, I will not be able to get the first piece of silver in the end."
Tang Weimin smashed the wine pot on the ground and shouted angrily, "How could Mr. Yang allow one of his secret comrades to disrupt our Tongcheng County government office?"
"Hey, he's from the governor's office. I've thought about it and can't force myself on him."
There were tears in Mr. Zhao's eyes, but he didn't know what the tears meant.
"For the sake of the people, listen to my advice and don't make such unnecessary struggles. Accepting me as a clerk is not in vain for you and me to get to know each other. I can give you the position of clerk, and I will feel better.
Needless to say, for the sake of the people, you and I draft a deed and ask Zhou County Prime Minister to give his opinion."
"Sir..." Tang Weimin was so choked that he couldn't say the next words and was almost in tears. Seeing this scene, Secretary Zhao couldn't help but have mixed feelings.
Normally, there are three officials in the household, but this time after Secretary Zhao was implicated, the two of them directly challenged him, and even threatened him, looking like a villain.
Only Tang Weimin still respects him, so letting Tang Weimin be the chief official should be the most correct decision.
About half an hour later, Tang Weimin and Secretary Zhao said goodbye in tears, and walked out of the gate to the right to the Minglun Hall behind the county school.
Pang Yu was sitting on the steps waiting, and Tang Weimin sat down next to Pang Yu.
"How was your conversation with Mr. Zhao?"
There were still tears on Tang Weimin's face, and he didn't bother to wipe them away at this time. He took out a deed and looked at it for a long time, then suddenly showed a cheerful smile, "I got the first deed."