As soon as Lu Xiaoxian returned to the guest room of the post house, a postman came to report: "The head of the Criminal Department has arrested Leng Qing to see you!"

"It came so fast!" Lu Xiaoxian muttered to himself, and asked the postman to invite Leng Qing in.

Lu Xiaoxian stayed in Guangwu County to serve as a united soldier, and asked Leng Qing and his men to rush to Taozhou City with the escort team. He repeatedly told Leng Qing that he could investigate in secret after arriving in Taozhou City, but he could not act rashly.

Leng Qing arrived in Taozhou a few days earlier than Lu Xiaoxian. Could it be that he has already investigated clearly?

"I've met Mr. Lu!" Leng Qing came into the room and saluted Lu Xiaoxian.

"Mr. Leng, you're welcome, please take a seat quickly!"

After the two sat down, Lu Xiaoxian asked: "How is it? Have you figured out the matter?"

"I understand!" Leng Qing had an angry look on his face, "This Guo Qin is so disrespectful of human life that he is worse than a pig or a dog. If Mr. Lu hadn't told you in advance, I would have captured him long ago!"

"What's going on? Mr. Leng is arresting the head, please speak slowly!" Lu Xiaoxian comforted the indignant Leng Qing.

After listening to Leng Qing's explanation of the cause and effect of the matter, Lu Xiaoxian lowered his head and began to think deeply.

After a long while, he raised his head and said, "Mr. Leng, is the evidence you mentioned conclusive?"

"Not only are there witnesses, there are also physical evidences!" Leng Qing said loudly, "It's absolutely true! The evidence is as solid as a mountain!"

"Have you ever confronted Guo Qin? Does he know that you are investigating him?" Lu Xiaoxian asked again.

"He shouldn't know!" Leng Qing shook his head and said, "You told me not to alarm him first, so I didn't confront him!"

Lu Xiaoxian suddenly stood up: "Let's go! Mr. Leng is here to arrest the head. Let's go meet Governor Guo!"

…

The Taozhou Governor's Mansion served as the temporary commander-in-chief's residence for Wang Xiaojie, the general manager of the march, so Guo Qin moved to a larger private house and used it as the temporary Governor's Mansion.

Lu Xiaoxian and Leng Qing inquired all the way to the "Chief Governor's Mansion". Guo Qin was not in the "Chief Governor's Mansion". After asking the people in the Governor's Mansion, they found out that he had gone to the west gate of Taozhou to inspect the defense.

On the thick city wall at the west gate of Taozhou, Guo Qin stood with his hands behind his hands, looking into the distance silently, his light crimson official robe rising in the wind.

Guo Qin has been the governor of Taozhou for five years. None of the governors before him could stay for more than two years. They all found various ways to open up this desolate place. Only he stayed for five years.

Year.

Lu Xiaoxian and Leng Qing stood three steps away from Guo Qin, staring at his back silently without speaking.

For a long time, Guo Qin didn't look back and asked softly: "You are finally here?"

"You know we are coming to find you?" Lu Xiaoxian was slightly surprised.

Guo Qin turned around and looked at Lu Xiaoxian and Leng Qing. He lowered his eyes and said with a sigh: "What is supposed to come will always come. I never thought about avoiding anything!"

Lu Xiaoxian said nothing.

Guo Qin looked past Lu Xiaoxian and Leng Qing, looking in the direction of the city, as if saying to himself: "You come from the imperial capital, you don't know what the scene in Taozhou City was like back then!"

Regardless of whether Lu Xiaoxian or Leng Qing responded, Guo Qin said to himself, "Last winter, there was a heavy snowfall. I have never seen such heavy snow in the five years I have been here. Since the beginning of autumn,

It lasted intermittently until late winter. There was a famine in Taozhou City. I donated all my salary to buy grain for relief, but it was a drop in the bucket. The entire Taozhou City had less than 10,000 shi of grain. People died of cold and hunger every day.

Even in front of the governor's office, it is common to see the corpses of victims... However, I have already heard that there is something unusual in Tubo. At the same time, a document from the Ministry of War arrived, ordering me to do my best to collect grain and grass to prepare for emergencies. On one side, it is a matter of national affairs and the emperor's order.

As the people of Li, I have no choice but to order all the food to be transported to the military warehouse in Liangzhou."

"What does this have to do with you massacring people?" Leng Qing shouted sharply.

"Unless you are there, you won't understand the difficulties at that time!" Guo Qin slowly shook his head and said: "The news about the food adjustment was leaked, and the victims in the city actually wanted to unite to seize food. The situation in Taozhou City at that time was...

It was about to break out. After receiving the notification, I knew that under this situation, it was impossible to transport food to Liangzhou safely. For three days and three nights, I had trouble sleeping and eating, and finally made a plan and posted a notice in the city.

It was said that a warehouse would be opened for relief, but young people would need to be recruited to help carry the goods, so those people came to sign up enthusiastically."

Guo Qin's tone was calm, but there seemed to be a danger hidden in it, and Lu Xiaoxian felt something was wrong.

Guo Qin continued: "Before this, I had obtained the list of people who tried to rob the army food from the inside, so I selected people according to this list, summoned them to the rice warehouse cellar, and locked the cellar door. On the other hand, I ordered

The government officials disguised the grain trucks as firewood and quietly transported them out of the city. In this way, the grain was safely transferred to Liangzhou."

"So, those people..."

Guo Qin whispered: "If we open the cellar six days later, no one will survive."

"You!" Leng Qing pointed at Guo Qin, but didn't know what to say.

"The scene in the cellar that day will be unforgettable forever." Guo Qin's voice was very soft, as if he was afraid of disturbing the underground ghosts, "Those corpses... do you know what it means to die with your eyes open? Day and night, it seems that you can see it when you close your eyes.

…”

Leng Qing couldn't help but shuddered: "Why? Why do you do this? They are all your people!"

Guo Qin looked at Leng Qing with sharp eyes: "If it were you, what would you do?"

Leng Qing opened her mouth, but didn't know how to answer.

The orders of the imperial court cannot be violated, not to mention that the food will be used to fight against Tibet in the future. As for the victims, from another perspective, since the intention to rob the food is rebellion, leaving them behind is a source of disaster, and killing them is not an exaggeration, Guo Qin

What he did could even be said to be devoted to his duties.

Calculating it this way, what Guo Qin did was to put the overall situation first and prevent a chaos.

Leng Qing seemed to suddenly understand why Mr. Di Ge insisted on letting him obey Lu Xiaoxian's arrangements. He must not have known how to deal with Guo Qin himself.

"Even so, your massacre of the people is a capital crime!" Sudden anger surged into his heart, Leng Qing glared at Guo Qin in front of him, "What's the difference between what you did and killing a good person and taking credit for it?"

Guo Qin met Leng Qing's condemning gaze without flinching, "I am from a poor family. I am not hereditary since I was born, and no one recommends me. If you want to get an official position, you can only rely on your own efforts. Otherwise, you will have no ambitions."

I use it everywhere. What’s wrong with me doing this?”

Leng Qing wanted to say something else, but Lu Xiaoxian stopped her with her eyes.

Guo Qin smiled silently: "None of you know how much this incident has affected me, and no one knows how I feel in my heart?"

Lu Xiaoxian asked: "How do you feel?"

Guo Qin was silent for a long time: "I am haunted by nightmares, and life is worse than death."

"Okay, that's it for now, let's not talk about it for now!" Lu Xiaoxian said calmly.

Guo Qin and Leng Qing were stunned and asked in unison: "Don't mention it?"

"Now that we are facing a powerful enemy, you should know clearly which one is more important! Let's put this matter aside for the time being. We will go all out to deal with the war at hand. When we return to Beijing to report to His Majesty in the future, Your Majesty will make a decision!" Lu Xiaoxian looked at it.

Xiang Lengqing, "I wonder what Mr. Leng's intention is to capture the leader?"

Leng Qing was speechless.

"President Guo will not run away in fear of being convicted, and even if he really wants to be convicted, he will not be in a hurry!" Lu Xiaoxian said angrily, "What's more, I will be your guarantee for Governor Guo. If you have any problems in the future, just come to me.

Why are you worried about Mr. Leng’s arrest?”

When Lu Xiaoxian said this, Leng Qing, no matter how reluctant he was, could only nod his head and said: "Mr. Di Ge gave orders to Leng when he came here. Everything must be obeyed by Young Master Lu. Leng just obeys!"

Lu Xiaoxian said meaningfully to Guo Qin: "Mr. Guo, what is right and wrong will be determined in the future. The top priority now is the defense of Taozhou, but we can't let it go! You are the parent official of Taozhou, and everything depends on your thoughts.

I hope you will cherish it!"

Lu Xiaoxian not only vouched for Guo Qin, but the meaning of his words was very clear. He hoped that Guo Qin could be convicted and meritorious.

Guo Qin and Lu Xiaoxian were strangers, so Lu Xiaoxian did this, which really made Guo Qin extremely grateful.

Before Qin could say his thanks, Lu Xiaoxian changed the topic and suddenly asked: "By the way! Governor Guo, I don't understand something, can you enlighten me?"

"Master Lu, please tell me. Mr. Guo will tell you everything he knows!"

"Taozhou City has been on the verge of a massacre in the past two years, and the victims were all Tuyuhun people who settled in the city. Is this possible?"

There was an unnatural look on Guo Qin's face. He nodded and said: "It is true! In the past two years, a total of fifty-nine people died mysteriously in Taozhou City, all of them were Tyuhun people. I personally attended the scene of each murder.

I have gone to see it, and the corpse has also been inspected. There are various ways of death, and it can basically be ruled out as murder."

"Master Guo, do you mean that they all committed suicide?" Lu Xiaoxian asked doubtfully, "How is it possible that so many people committed suicide? Governor Guo, don't you also believe that these Tuyuhun people were punished by God?

"Those are common people's rumors. Of course they are not credible!" Guo Qin shook his head and said, "But it is true. They either committed suicide or died in accidents. At the beginning, I also suspected whether there was murder, and I asked the Fa Cao to specially hear these cases.

, but no signs of murder were found! I even sent police officers and government officials to stay at the homes of the Tuyuhun people in the city, but it was of no use. They should be killed! Not only in Taozhou City, as far as I know

You know, there are also many strange deaths of Tuyuhun people in Liangzhou and Lingzhou!"

The more Lu Xiaoxian listened, the more strange he felt. He came from a later generation, how could he believe such nonsense as divine punishment? There must be something wrong with this.

After thinking for a moment, Lu Xiaoxian said to Guo Qin: "Master Governor, could you lend me the files on the deaths of the Tuyuhun people?"

"Of course!" Guo Qin readily agreed.

Logically speaking, Lu Xiaoxian had no right to access local criminal records, but he had just done a big favor for Guo Qin, and Guo Qin reciprocated the favor, so he naturally had to satisfy Lu Xiaoxian's request.
Chapter completed!