"Brother Zhongping, since June, the situation has collapsed. After the government troops have repeatedly failed to suppress the bandits, the bandits have become powerful and can no longer be controlled. The leader of the bandits has said that he wants to take the seal of my county magistrate and order the people of the county. How can this be followed?
?Hengqiu is incompetent. He thought he could make a big difference, but after two years in office, Juchao County has ended up like this. I really feel guilty..."
"...Heng Qiu is determined to fight to the death with the bandits. It has been found out recently that Sun Tuzi and others from Beicheng are the spies and informants of the Feng Heizi bandit. I have decided to use my eyes and ears to spy on the bandits.
, spread false news, lure the bandits into the city, and annihilate them. If this plan is successful, it may be able to save the situation and clear out the bandits in the county in one fell swoop. I hope God will not let me down, and God will fulfill my wish. If it fails, I will definitely die.
.”
"... In view of the danger of this plan, Heng Qiu is not afraid of life or death, but is worried about the safety of his wife and daughter. When doing this, I will properly arrange for my wife and daughter, and if it succeeds, I will let it go. If it fails, please take brother Zhongping to take my wife and daughter in and take care of them.
You and I will meet each other and have the same spirit. Brother Zhongping will live up to me."
After Li Hui read this letter, he suddenly realized who those two skeletons were.
He quickly came to where the two skeletons were, lifted the rag on the cover, and revealed the two skeletons. The two skeletons, one large and one small, were leaning on each other, looking up at the hole above. The two skeletons
They were entangled together, as if they were hugging each other before they died.
When Azhu saw Li Hui squatting beside the skull in a daze, he was scared and confused. He stood not far away and did not dare to approach.
"Master, what's wrong with you? What are you doing looking at these scary things? Master," Azhu said in a trembling voice.
Li Hui sighed and said softly: "These are a pair of poor people."
Li Hui softly recounted roughly what was written in Magistrate Huang's letter. After hearing this, A'Zhu asked in confusion: "Sir, what does this have to do with these two skeletons?"
Li Hui said in a deep voice: "Don't you understand yet? That County Magistrate Huang was determined to fight to the death with the lake bandit Feng Heizi and his gang. He knew that things were dangerous, so he hid his wife and daughter in the secret room under the woodshed.
He prepared water, food, beds and other items so that his wife and daughter could hide safely. He wrote the letter and planned to send it to his friends, informing him of his arrangements and hoping that his friends would pay attention to his situation. If anything happens to him, please call
His good friend took care of his wife and daughter. However, his wife and daughter died here."
Azhu said in shock: "You mean, these two skeletons are the wives and daughters of Magistrate Huang?"
Li Hui nodded and said solemnly: "One big and one small, they are all women's clothes, so they are mother and daughter. The long hair has not decayed, and the earrings and steps are still there. Isn't this proof? Look at the position where they died.
, just under the entrance of the cave. They wanted to get out before they died, but they couldn't get out at this height. There were blue stones pressing on it and firewood piled up. They must have tried. You see, there is a
They wanted to stand on the desk and push the bluestone away. But they couldn't reach it, or they couldn't push away the bluestone. No one came to save them, so they died here. I guess
If you die of thirst, there is not a drop of water in the water tank. If you don't have water to drink, you will die of thirst in three days."
Azhu said blankly: "Then... what about Magistrate Huang, why didn't he come to save them? Also, since the letter was written to his friend, why didn't his friend come to save them?"
Li Hui smiled bitterly and said: "The letter was not sent at all, otherwise how could we see the letter?"
Ah Zhu said softly: "Yes, Ah Zhu is very stupid. If he sent it out, how could we see it?"
Li Hui pondered: "Perhaps Feng Heizi and others launched an attack before the letter was sent. Perhaps it happened suddenly and broke Magistrate Huang's plan. Magistrate Huang only had time to arrange his wife and daughter here, and the official seal
and some important files and documents were also transported and hidden here, which shows the urgency of the situation at that time. But maybe he only had time to make these responses before the county government was breached. I guess... he may have wanted to fight off Feng Heizi.
After that, the gang of thieves came to pick up his wife and daughter from here. However, the county government office was attacked by Feng Heizi and others. Everyone died, including County Magistrate Huang. So... no one knew about the county magistrate's wife and daughter.
The daughter is still in the cellar under the woodshed. The mother and daughter were trapped here to death."
Hearing this, Ah Zhu was shocked for a long time, speechless for a long time, and tears fell from his eyes.
"How pitiful. How desperate they must have been at that time. They were screaming at the sky and the earth, and they were trapped here to death. Poor people. How could there be such tragic things in this world? It is really unacceptable.
.”
Li Hui was also feeling sad in his heart. Thinking of the despair of the mother and daughter at that time, he felt so sad that it was hard to express.
"When we first came to the county government office that day, there were many charms to exorcise ghosts posted in the county government office. Today I heard people say that the county government office was haunted by ghosts. Since Feng Heizi and his gang massacred the county government office, for more than a month, the people nearby have heard that the county government office was haunted by ghosts.
When I went to the county government office, there was a sound of a woman crying and shouting. Azhu, do you think it is possible that the sound that the common people thought was a female ghost crying was the sound of their mother and daughter desperately asking for help? It was just misunderstood." Li Hui said softly.
.
Ah Zhu was even more heartbroken after hearing this. She covered her face and burst into tears. Although she was a complete stranger, but upon hearing such a tragic experience, the girl couldn't accept it at all and almost collapsed.
Li Hui did not blame her for losing her temper. Azhu herself had suffered a lot and had just lost her mother. It was reasonable to empathize with the pain of others. Moreover, Li Hui also saw that her heart was kind and sensitive. She was a person.
Good girl.
After a long time, Azhu slowly calmed down. She said softly: "Master, I want to ask you one thing. Let's bury them. They are already so miserable. They can't die without being able to rest in peace."
Li Hui also had this idea. The mother and daughter died in despair and could not be buried in peace. It was really miserable. They could not let their bones be exposed here. At that moment, Li Hui took out a few clothes from the box and spread them on the ground, and began to follow the instructions
Bones are sorted by size.
Azhu said softly: "Perhaps... they would rather be buried together. If they are separated, the little daughter will be lonely and scared."
Li Hui nodded slowly, then stopped sorting and used several large and small clothes to make wrappings, put all the bones of the mother and daughter into them, and wrapped them together.
There is nothing to pack up in the cellar, but the box containing the official documents and the seal can be taken out.
When Li Hui was looking through it just now, he found that there were several books about the county and some transcribed notes. It recorded some things that might be useful in the future. Moreover, these things also proved Huang Tingbai's experiences here.
, maybe it can be used as some credentials.
The two worked for a long time, pulling the cage and the mother and daughter's bones up to the entrance of the cave with ropes. Li Hui also sealed the entrance of the cave again. The bones could only be placed in the woodshed for the time being, and they would be buried until dawn. The cage was heavy, and Li Hui
He carried the emblem on his shoulders and returned to the back hall, planning to take a closer look tomorrow.
When the master and servant returned to the back hall, Zhao Dachun and Guo Dazhuang were still snoring like thunder, unaware of everything.
Li Hui cleaned himself up, took off his dusty robe, and then went to bed. Thinking about this matter, he tossed and turned for a long time before falling asleep. The same was true for A-Zhu. Li Hui could hear her soft voice for a long time.
The sound of sighs.
Early the next morning, while Li Huishang was dreaming, Ah Zhu got up. She prepared paper money and incense candles, and asked Guo Dazhuang to accompany her to take out the bones of the mother and daughter and bury them in the creek north of the county government office.
In the woods by the side, she burned some paper money, lit incense candles, and bowed silently, finally settling the matter.
…
Li Hui didn't go out all morning. He sat in the room and looked through the books and files that he had moved out of the cellar last night.
Although Li Hui did not find some food supplies last night as he expected, and also learned about a tragic and depressing experience, Li Hui did not feel disappointed. On the contrary, he had a major gain.
Because, after carefully reading the books left by Huang Tingbai, Li Hui gained a lot. Huang Tingbai was a good county magistrate, or he really wanted to do something to benefit the country.
Among the information he left behind, those official documents and files are just that. The most important ones are household registration, population, land, acres, water conservancy, dams, etc. This information was re-created by him and registered in detail. From the time marked and the additional explanation, it can be seen that these
These are all real first-hand data obtained by personally taking measurements and conducting statistical inspections during the two years he arrived in Juchao County.
In response to the current situation and difficulties in Juchao County, he also wrote many strategies and methods for improvement. For example, the biggest problem in Juchao County is that the Yangtze River water backflows into Jiao Lake, causing frequent floods, causing people to dare not reclaim a large amount of wasteland in the planting dam area.
, fearing that the gain would outweigh the loss, he proposed a series of ideas such as building a dam leading to the Ruxu River and selecting low-lying tidal flats for flood discharge and pressure relief.
For some parts of the Jiaohu Dam, dam mounds have been built to preserve farmland and some low-lying land can serve as flood discharge during the flood season.
He also formulated some ideas for dredging local rivers and ponds and strengthening embankments to further ensure that floods will not occur so frequently.
Huang Tingbai even drew a simple map, marking where to cultivate, where to build cofferdams, where to discharge floods, and other ideas he had in mind.
Li Hui originally didn't know much about the mountains, rivers, landforms and population resources of Juchao County, but the records and notes left by Huang Tingbai gave Li Hui an extremely intuitive understanding of the overall situation, advantages and difficulties of Juchao County.
understanding of the image.
The more he read these records and notes, the more Li Hui admired Huang Tingbai.