On the evening of the seventh day of February, Zhao Hongrun and his party were still about six or seven miles away from Yuxian County.
On this day, they encountered two more assassinations.
Last time, the assassins disguised themselves as business travelers and tried to attack Zhao Hongrun's team on the pretext of asking for directions. Unfortunately, the clan guards had long been suspicious of these passing business travelers and did not let them succeed.
The next time, the assassins hid in a forest beside the official road, and when Zhao Hongrun's team passed by, they actually killed them out.
This group of people, if nothing else, should be those profit-driven rangers. They were so brave that they were dazzled by the reward of 50,000 gold, and once again gathered a crowd to attack Zhao Hongrun.
There were more than a hundred people who came to attack this time. The sect guards and soldiers fought to the death before they were able to kill these people.
These successive assassinations caused heavy casualties to the soldiers in Zhao Hongrun's team. Not to mention them, even the clan guards were injured this time.
Gao Kuo's right leg was cut with blood, and Wei Jiao, Lu Mu, Mu Qing and others also suffered varying degrees of skin trauma. Especially the bravest Chu Heng, who was stabbed in the stomach by a ranger.
Fortunately, he grabbed the opponent's sword blade with his hand in time and squeezed it tightly. Otherwise, Zhao Hongrun might have lost a loyal Zongwei here.
However, as the price of a lucky survival, Chu Heng's left hand was severely cut by the sword blade. Under the blurred flesh and blood, there was something faintly green and white, which was the bone.
One can imagine how deep the cut was.
How could this not make sense! How could it not make sense!
Seeing that his side was being assassinated one after another, with the clan guards injured and soldiers sacrificed, the anger in Zhao Hongrun's heart grew stronger and stronger.
But reason forced him to calm down. After all, he also understood that this was not the time for an attack. However, when he got in touch with the Shang Shui Army and summoned the Shang Shui Army for reinforcements, then...
With a strong murderous intent in his eyes, Zhao Hongrun clutched the reins tightly, his face gloomy.
Worried that staying overnight in the wilderness might provoke assassins again, Zhao Hongrun and his party headed toward Yuxian County slowly even though it was already dark.
I just felt a little sorry for the soldiers who died on the way. After all, in order to reduce the burden, He Zhirong had to place the bodies of those soldiers in the wild. He would borrow county soldiers from Yuxian County tomorrow and later to collect the bodies for them.
, handle funeral affairs.
It was not until around Xu o'clock that day that Zhao Hongrun and others arrived in Yuxian County.
At this time, the city gate of Yuxian County had already been closed.
"Open the door! Open the door!"
Zongwei Chief Shen Yu rode his horse and stood at the foot of the city, shouting loudly.
After a while, a torch was thrown down from the city wall in Yuxian County, and then a head poked out from the wall and said cursingly: "What is it called? I don't know it's past the hour. Come back tomorrow!"
At this time, Zhao Hongrun was holding back a fire in his heart. Hearing the cursing reply from the county soldier on the city wall, he shouted in a rare angry voice: "I am King Su Hongrun, get down and open the door for me!"
"Su...King Su?" The county soldier on the city wall was startled. Then, several torches were thrown down from the city wall again, illuminating Zhao Hongrun and his party.
"You...you said you are King Su? What proof is there?"
When Zhao Hongrun heard this, he was not angry but smiled, and sneered: "When I throw you into prison someday, you will know what evidence I have!"
From the side, He Zhirong frowned slightly and couldn't help but persuade: "King Su, please calm down. I know that King Su is angry in his heart, and so am I. But why should I have the same experience as the city guard in charge?"
After hearing He Zhirong's persuasion, Zhao Hongrun also realized that he had lost his temper, so he nodded and calmed down his anger.
At this time, He Zhirong took a few steps forward on his mount and shouted to the county soldiers on the city wall: "I am the postmaster of a post station twenty miles away in the northern suburbs of the county. He Zhirong, have you ever heard of me?"
"Master He family?"
Another head poked out from the city wall, looked at He Zhirong carefully, and then said to the other county soldiers on the city wall: "Yes, it's Mr. He from the He family in the north of Yuen County. Please open the door."
A moment later, the city gate opened wide, and the county soldiers came forward with smiles. After all, He Zhirong's postmaster was also a big official. After all, he was responsible for a whole group of soldiers.
He Zhirong smiled at the county soldiers, then turned back and asked Zhao Hongrun: "Your Highness Prince Su, please."
Huh?
Is he really King Su?
All the county soldiers looked at each other, especially the county soldier who had just cursed on the city wall. He was even more frightened at this moment, lowering his head and not daring to speak.
Fortunately, Zhao Hongrun was just expressing his anger and did not really want to argue with this person, so he ignored these people at all and drove his mount directly into the city.
"In which direction is the county magistrate's office?" After entering the city, Zhao Hongrun turned around and asked.
Knowing that they had just offended King Su, the county soldiers were too afraid to speak. However, He Zhirongce came immediately and said: "Your Highness, King Su, don't be anxious. I am also from Yuxian County and am quite familiar with Yuxian County.
I will lead the way for King Su."
"Thank you." Zhao Hongrun took a deep breath and suppressed the anger in his heart.
Half an hour later, under the leadership of He Zhirong, Zhao Hongrun went straight to the county government office in Yuxian County.
The magistrate of Yuxian County has a surname of Huang, with a single name of "玙", and is a few years younger than He Zhirong.
When I heard that His Highness Su Wang Hongrun had arrived in Yu County and was outside the county government office, the county magistrate Huang Yu, who had already gone to bed and was about to have a rest, actually hurriedly walked out from behind wearing only a single coat and a pair of boots.
The government officials rushed to the front office, probably because they wanted to personally welcome Zhao Hongrun into the government office.
However, Zhao Hongrun suffered assassinations one after another, and Zhao Hongrun had no intention of putting on any airs. Before Huang Yu arrived, he had entered the government office through He Zhirong's relationship with the county government office.
A moment later, Huang Yu, the magistrate of Yuxian County, wearing only a single coat, met with Zhao Hongrun in the front office.
During this period, he also greeted He Zhirong: "Brother Zhirong."
He Zhirong smiled, cupped his hands, and called respectfully: "Your Majesty the County Magistrate."
Zhao Hongrun was surprised to find that He Zhirong seemed to have a good relationship with County Magistrate Huang Yu, so he asked: "He Yichang, have you and County Magistrate Huang known each other for a long time?"
He Zhirong smiled when he heard this and said: "His Royal Highness Prince Su, the county magistrate's wife is my clan sister."
Zhao Hongrun understood immediately after hearing this. No wonder He Zhirong could enter the county seat after closing the city gate, and could also enter and exit the county government office at will.
Of course, this is not surprising.
After all, generally speaking, county magistrates like Huang Yu were appointed by the imperial court as county magistrates of a certain place through the imperial examination or recommendation.
When these county magistrates took office, most of them were alone or accompanied by a servant.
Take Huang Yu, the magistrate of Yuxian County, for example. If he entered the official career as a civilian and had no backer, then the first thing he would do after taking office would not actually be to deal with local public security and people's livelihood.
Instead, he established good relations with the local nobles and gentry.
The best way is to marry a woman from a local wealthy family, just like Huang Yu in front of you.
In this way, the county magistrate, as an "outsider", will be accepted and supported by the local wealthy families, and will not deliberately cause trouble to tease the county magistrate.
The only difference is that some local wealthy families just want to have a good relationship with the county magistrate to avoid harming the family's interests, while some local wealthy families simply want to control the county magistrate and seek benefits.
Sometimes, local officials collude with wealthy families because of this nepotism.
And this kind of relationship cannot be said to be good or bad.
For example, the He family where He Zhirong belongs to, as a direct descendant, has been so miserable. It is not difficult to see that the He family is a relatively upright and simple nobleman in Wei. By marrying with him, Huang Yu, the county magistrate, can integrate into the county more quickly.
County, so as to start implementing his ambitions as soon as possible.
This is certainly a positive example, but it is undeniable that there will also be negative examples.
But no matter what, the imperial court has always turned a blind eye to this kind of thing, because this kind of thing has been banned repeatedly. Even if for a while the imperial court stipulated that only married officials could serve as county magistrates, it still did not comply.
It’s no use, even if you have a main wife, can’t you still marry a side wife?
What's more, the main wife can also divorce, right?
All in all, this phenomenon is difficult to eradicate. Even if county magistrates from various places are relocated every few years, the result will still be the same.
After some simple greetings, Huang Yu, the magistrate of Yuxian County, welcomed Zhao Hongrun, Zong Wei, and several female family members to Houya.
Because the front office is where cases are handled and offices are settled, the back office is where people live.
After arranging the residences of Miss Su and other female family members as well as the sect guards, Huang Yu invited Zhao Hongrun and He Zhirong to the study.
Although Huang Yu did not dare to ask Zhao Hongrun about his purpose, He Zhirong, as the postmaster of the post station in the northern suburbs of Yuxian County, was not allowed to leave without permission, let alone leave with the soldiers in the post station.
"Brother Zhirong, could something have happened?"
Since Huang Yu was not an outsider, He Zhirong did not hide anything, so he told the former everything about the past two days.
Huang Yu was dumbfounded and horrified.
Think about it, even His Royal Highness Prince Zhao Hongrun and the dignified Prince Su dare to assassinate him. What can't those assassins do?
"It's simply lawless! Lawless!"
Huang Yu is worthy of being a scholar. Similar to He Zhirong, his vocabulary for swearing is extremely limited and he can only say a few words back and forth.
After scolding for a few times, Huang Yu finally realized his gaffe, and quickly apologized to Zhao Hongrun, then asked: "I wonder if His Highness, Prince Su, has any instructions for his subordinates?"
Zhao Hongrun was not polite and said bluntly: "Magistrate Huang, I believe that the group of thieves will not stop just because I have arrived in Yuxian County. I would like to ask you to send someone to Yanling immediately. There are troops stationed there."
The Shang Shui Army in the area, please ask the Shang Shui Army to rush to this county to provide rescue immediately!"
"Transfer troops?" Huang Yu was surprised and asked for instructions: "I wonder how many troops your Highness wants to mobilize?"
Zhao Hongrun pondered for a moment. To be honest, he didn't have many troops available at the moment, because the Dangshan Army attacking Sanchuan and the 16,000 Shangshui soldiers who had been damaged in the battle had not yet returned to their garrison. Qu Cheng's 20,000 Yanling Army
He was also far away in Dangshan, watching the Song Dynasty for the Dangshan army.
In fact, the only troops currently available to Zhao Hongrun are the 10,000 Shang Shui troops stationed in Shangshui and Yanling.
But as long as we wait a month or two for the Dangshan Army, Yanling Army, and Shangshui Army to return to their respective bases, hum!
Although Zhao Hongrun could not directly mobilize the Dangshan Army without the permission of his father, Emperor Wei, but even with only the Yanling Army and the Shangshui Army, he still had 40,000 to 50,000 troops.
It's just a Yangxia, why should I care about it?
It's just that we have to wait another month or two, and Zhao Hongrun can't wait.
He couldn't wait to vent the grievances and resentment he felt over the past few days, or to put it more bluntly, he couldn't wait to find a way to take revenge on those Yangxia thieves. (To be continued.)