Haishi (21 o'clock) Wu Family Courtyard in Linhai County
It's usually quiet and peaceful at this hour, but today the front yard is brightly lit.
The hall was brightly lit, and five or six people dressed as warriors were enjoying a drink. The cups and plates on the table were messy, but the rest of the people were drinking slowly.
What they were talking about was murder and looting.
The entire open space in the front yard was filled with all kinds of ronin and warriors. Some were grabbing chicken legs and pig trotters to chew, and some were waving short knives, picking up the pieces of beef on the plate with the tip of the knife and sending them to their mouths.
The head butler of the Wu family quickly walked into the hall, stood in front of the head of the Wu family and said:
"Master, the people from the Inspection Department have left the county.
It's coming towards us."
"How many people came?"
"The spy said that the entire patrol department's soldiers were mobilized."
After hearing that it was all soldiers, the head of the Wu family beamed with joy.
"Where is the person named Lin?"
"I heard from the spies that if I didn't follow him, he should still be in the county government office."
"I heard that his martial arts skills are pretty good, but I didn't expect that he is afraid of death.
Humph, but there’s no use hiding anywhere.”
At this moment, a middle-aged warrior sitting on the right side of the hall spoke:
"Executive member Wu, you are too careful. It's just a small, broken city. If we start fighting in the afternoon, we'll already be drinking in the county government office."
Another warrior dressed as a warrior also shouted:
"The captain is right, we have done this kind of thing a lot in the past. In such a small county town, we have to capture countless cities every year, so there is no need to go to such trouble."
"Last year, we conquered big cities like Jiangcheng and Qucheng. Member Wu, you are just too careful. There are only two to three hundred soldiers from the Inspection Department. As long as you send a small team, you can kill them all."
The head of the Wu family thought to himself: How could he not know about this? Just based on the strength of these Japanese pirates in front of him and their family,
It is not a big problem to directly capture the county seat.
But if you really want to do this, after a battle,
There must have been many casualties.
At that time, you will not be able to pay out a large sum of money for pension.
The head of the Wu family hurriedly said:
"Captain Liu, after Lin took office, he trained his soldiers very strictly. The combat effectiveness should not be very bad, so we should be careful with the Wannian Ship."
Captain Liu smiled and nodded, picked up the wine glass and started drinking with several other warriors.
He had already guessed Wu Yuanwai's thoughts, but using money to help others eliminate disasters would mean that the two parties would continue to do business in the future, and there was no need to pay for pensions, which had soured everyone's relationship.
A young man sitting on the left side of the hall saw this situation and hurriedly said:
"Dad, after today, no one will dare to come to our Linhai County to take office."
The head of the Wu family sneered:
"After a while, I will help you, Jue'er, get the position of Linhai County's magistrate.
Several others will also occupy a position in the county government office.
At the beginning of the year, I suggested doing this, but several other families were reluctant to part with the money.
Look at the past half year,
How much money did our family lose?"
Thinking of Wang Lidong coming to Linhai County,
The Wu family's losses, coupled with the money they spent on today's matter, made the head of the Wu family feel heartbroken.
Originally, after the Qian family was destroyed, they wanted to transfer Wang Lidong away. Unfortunately, the magistrate accepted the money but did not do anything. The reason was that the money was insufficient and they needed more money.
Several owners of the house calculated it and found that it was not worth it.
It would be better to endure it for two more years, then spend a small sum of money to upgrade Wang Lidong to a higher level, and then send this plague god away.
Unexpectedly, news came out from the county government that before the end of the year, the county government would demand all tax arrears from previous years, and would also conduct an inventory of the population and land after the new year.
This incident made several families in Linhai County take the initiative to kill.
They cannot accept any of the three, let alone practice all three.
The Wu family has already owed summer and autumn taxes for nine years, which amounts to more than four thousand taels.
If the population and land area were further investigated, their family would have to pay more than twice the tax every year.
In order to protect one's own interests, killing a small county magistrate is really not a big deal.
In the Qing Dynasty, facing the Manchu Tatars, these Jiangnan landowners and gentry dared to do all kinds of tricks in order to pay less taxes.
However, the Manchu Qing Dynasty was not the Zhu family dynasty and knew how to deal with these gossips.
The gentry and landlords in Jiangnan who were killed with the sword were all paying as much as they were required to pay, not even a penny less.
Thinking of giving away so much money, the head of the Wu family thought about how to make up for it.
The Wu family will be allocated more than 2,000 acres of land in Linjia Village.
In the past six months, the entire county government's money has been flowing out like water from the Min River.
The little county magistrate must still have a lot of money in his hands.
Thinking of this, the head of the Wu family said to the middle-aged man sitting on the left hand side of the lower hall:
"Deng Chongfeng, when we arrive at the county government office, Lin Pingzhi will trouble you."
This man is none other than Deng Bagong, the divine whip of the Songshan sect, Zuo Lengchan’s junior disciple.
He is the foreign affairs chief of the Songshan Sect in Fujian Province, so he stays in Fujian Province all year round.
Over time, I got to know many local landowners and gentry.
Not long ago, Tian Boguang was captured by Linhai County. When these families found out that Wang Lidong was responsible, they guessed that his martial arts skills were not weak.
I was worried that Wang Lidong would run away tonight, so I found the junior brother of the leader of the Songshan Sect.
Hearing the big benefactor speak, Deng Bagong smiled and replied:
"You're so polite, Member Wu. Deng will live up to his trust."
I didn't expect that this rich country man was so rich. Asking him to deal with a small county magistrate cost him five hundred taels of silver.
However, he didn't agree at the time. After all, he wanted to kill an official. But after hearing the plan and adding another three hundred taels, he reluctantly agreed.
When he found out the reason for asking him to take action, he sneered. He didn't believe that Wang Lidong had caught Tian Boguang himself.
He knew Wang Lidong's origins clearly, he was the young escort chief of Fuwei Escort Agency.
He had also dealt with Lin Zhennan in the past two years, and his martial arts skills were second-rate.
So how strong is the martial arts ability of the son who was taught by Lin Zhennan himself?
Later, he inquired about it and heard that when Tian Boguang was arrested, Linghu Chong, the top disciple of the Huashan Sect, was standing by.
The daughter of Wang Lidong and Yue Buqun got engaged not long ago.
It was obvious that this old man, Yue Buqun, wanted to give credit to his son-in-law.
At this moment, a young man dressed as a warrior ran in from outside and informed everyone that people from the Inspection Department had arrived nearby.
The head of the Wu family said to the middle-aged captain:
"Captain Liu, I'll leave this inspection department to you."
Then he said to the butler beside him:
"After a cup of tea, you go and send the signal."
At this moment, shouts rang out from outside the compound:
"Commissioner Wu, please open the door immediately and surrender and accept inspection, otherwise you will be punished as a traitor!"
Captain Liu took a few warriors and walked outside the hall:
"It's late at night. Who knows if you are from the Inspection Department? If you have anything to do, we can wait until dawn."
Inspector Guo’s voice sounded:
"I suspect that your house is harboring Japanese pirates. Count to three. If you don't open the door, don't blame me for being rude."
"Bah, who do you think you are? You can't convict us with just your words."
Inspector Guo waved his hand and shouted directly: "Give it to me!"
Dozens of soldiers rushed forward, only to be firmly blocked by two closed vermilion doors.
The middle-aged samurai poked his head out from the wall, saw this scene, and joked: