"The reason why the horse bandits in Xiangzhou are rampant is because they rely on the Li family to support them. The Li family dares to do this. Although there is no conclusive evidence, Mr. Lin..."
Ouyang Ke said meaningfully: "The Li family is an affiliated family of the Taiyi Clan. They dare to be so unscrupulous in Xiangzhou. Do you think there is any intention from the Taiyi Clan behind this?"
After hearing this, Lin Ji suddenly became a little interested.
"What's the reason?"
"Horse bandits are rampant, so the government must step in to suppress them. If the bandits are not eliminated, Xiangzhou will never have peace."
Ouyang Ke shook his head and said: "Xiangzhou is not peaceful, so the Taiyi Sect goes out to do chivalry and righteousness, leaving a great reputation. When Xiangzhou is not peaceful, the people become more and more dissatisfied with the government and rely on the Taiyi Sect."
"Is this your guess?" Lin Ji asked.
"Bandit trouble has been going on in Xiangzhou for many years. Successive town officials have tried to eradicate it, but it didn't take long before it resurfaced. Now if the people of Xiangzhou are in trouble, few of them will seek help from me, the Supervisor.
, I can’t even fight a few lawsuits.”
"They would rather believe in the disciples of Taiyi Sect who are said to be doing justice for heaven, rather than tell the government about their troubles."
Hearing this, Lin Ji's face showed a bit of surprise.
Ouyang Ke's speculations were reasonable and he could understand them.
But in the final analysis, this kind of thing is still not compatible with Taiyi Sect, who is known as the leader of Taoism.
It's too low-grade. The key is.
Ouyang Ke seemed to see Lin Ji's entanglement. He chuckled and said: "This is to take Xiangzhou away from Da Qin. What kind of underhanded tactics can this mere horse bandit use? If you stay in Xiangzhou for a long time,
, you will know that all crows in the world are as black as black, even the Taiyi Sect is no exception."
"Is that so..." Lin Ji couldn't argue, and he had no position to argue for the Taiyi Sect. "In this case, Lin is short-sighted. But listening to Mr. Ouyang's explanation, it does make some sense.
"
"In this case, the Li family is really difficult to deal with... After all, even if the Taiyi Sect treats the Li family as abandoned children for the sake of Jian Tiansi, with their power, if they support the Wang family, the Zhang family will come out
It’s not a big deal.”
"That's right." Ouyang Ke agreed, "So since I took office in Xiangzhou, in the past ten years, except for the first few times when I was interested in horse bandits, I could only let it go.
.. In short, as long as those bandits do not harm the people, I can only turn a blind eye."
As he said that, Ouyang Ke suddenly laughed.
"Anyway, if they go too far, there will naturally be Taiyi Sect disciples who come down from the mountain to train and target them, and then kill them with their own hands."
"Heh, what does this mean? You produce and sell it yourself." Lin Ji said a cold joke.
Since this so-called horse bandit involves the Taiyi Sect, Lin Ji can no longer control it.
No matter how hard he tried, he would only treat the symptoms but not the root cause. Since Taiyi Sect already had a tradition of dealing with horse bandits, he didn't have to worry about it.
As for those innocent people who were victimized by horse bandits, I'm afraid they can only admit that they are unlucky.
The world is like this. Ordinary people have no other choice but to blame others.
...
Say goodbye to Ouyang Ke and leave the government office.
Lin Ji and Lu Zhaoer went to the horse market in the city to sell the carriage and the old horse, and then found an inn to stay.
"Going south from Xiangcheng for more than a thousand miles is Yangzhou. We were delayed in Liangzhou for a while, so we can go faster after that." Lin Ji said casually.
Lu Zhaoer nodded, she naturally didn't care.
In the evening, after resting, the two of them wandered around the city for a long time. Feeling bored, they found a restaurant and ordered some Xiangzhou specialties.
While waiting for the food to be served, Lin Ji said: "After dinner, you should go back to the inn first. I have to visit Zhong Mansion."
"Oh, I thought you were going to pretend you didn't know and wait until night to go secretly." Lu Zhaoer glanced at Lin Ji with a bit of disdain in his eyes.
Lin Ji was stunned.
"You have expected it."
"Isn't your sweetheart a member of the Zhong family? She went all the way to Xiangzhou to find you. Now that you are in Xiangcheng, why not go and meet her?"
Hearing the slight dissatisfaction in Lu Zhaoer's tone, Lin Ji shook his head and said: "What you said was what I told you on the way. Now that the matter is over, you can't run away anyway, so I can't help but make you jealous.
."
Lu Zhaoer rolled his eyes.
"If I had known that you were such a virtuous person, I should have asked grandpa to teach you a few more lessons when I was in the capital."
"It's too late." Lin Ji grinned.
While he was talking, Lin Ji suddenly felt like someone was looking at him.
When he looked up, he saw a young man squinting at him at a table on the second floor of the restaurant facing the stairs. When he saw Lin Ji raising his head, his eyes were startled, and then he quickly retracted his head.
"What's wrong?" Lu Zhaoer asked.
"The guy upstairs keeps looking at me. I always think he looks familiar."
Lin Ji didn't pay much attention to this trivial matter. Maybe some young master saw Lu Zhaoer's beauty and was jealous of him.
Just as the waiter was serving the food, Lin Ji had no time to think about it.
...
The second floor of the restaurant.
"Brother Hong, that's the boy." The young man who had just looked at Lin Ji said to his companion at the same table, with a bit of resentment in his eyes.
"Supervisor Tian Si Youxing Lin Ji! He was the one who caused me to lose my official status in the first place... This is a small matter, but because of this, my brother and I lost an adult at home, and even my father became a lot more indifferent to me.
."
The person who spoke was none other than Li Fei, the head catcher who was kicked off his official post by Lin Ji for colluding with the horse bandits.
Opposite Li Fei, sitting was a man who looked to be in his early twenties but had handsome eyes.
His name is Li Hong, and he is Li Fei's younger brother.
Compared to Li Fei, a mediocre person who could hardly survive in the third realm, Li Hong was an inner disciple of the Taiyi Sect.
After listening to Li Fei's narration, Li Hong also poked his head out and glanced downstairs, then withdrew his gaze.
"That kid? Brother, this is in Xiangzhou. It would be too embarrassing for you to be dealt with by wandering stars elsewhere." Li Hong sighed, "I have only been in seclusion for a few years. How come my brother can't even talk about cats and dogs?"
Can you step on your head?"
As soon as these words came out, Li Fei lowered his head in shame. Being ridiculed by his brother like this would not be a good feeling.
"Then... then Lin Ji has some background in Jiantiansi, and his family pushed me out as a scapegoat."
"Huh, no matter how great your background is, can you be as big as Taiyimen in Xiangzhou?" Li Hong snorted, drank the wine in the glass, then stood up and said, "I'm going to vent your anger right now! You Xingguan
...It’s just the fourth realm, nothing to be afraid of!”
Li Fei looked happy when he saw this.
But right here, a hand suddenly rested on Li Fei's shoulder.
He turned around and saw Lin Ji's face that seemed to be smiling but not smiling.
"I remembered, you are Li Fei."
As he spoke, Lin Ji's smile became even brighter.
"Colluding with the horse bandits is nothing short of an afterthought... Can you tell me how you survived?"