Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 117 Angel
"Lou Gong!!"

Zhao Kai knelt down in front of Lou Rui and cried bitterly.

I saw his head was wrapped in cloth, his nose and face were bruised and swollen, it was very indecent.

Seeing him like this, Lou Rui was horrified, "Zhao Juncheng? How did you become like this? Who did this?"

Zhao Kai paused, raised his head and looked at Lou Rui, "It was my subordinate who fell down."

Lou Rui wanted to ask a few more questions, but suddenly remembered his instructions a few days ago, and quickly changed his words, "So that's how it is. You have to be more careful in the future."

Zhao Kai hurriedly said, "Lord Lou! The Chongguang Temple was massacred by Liu Taozi, from top to bottom, not a single one was spared. Their heads were hung outside the city, forming a forest of human heads. It was really terrifying!"

"This fellow also told the people of the county about Chongguang Temple. I wanted to dissuade him, but I didn't dare to see him. I wanted to come to you to tell you, but was... Lord Lou, what should I do now?"

Lou Rui was also confused and frowned as he listened to Zhao Kai's accusations.

"I thought he would only pay the big customers, but who would have thought that he would even go after Chongguang Temple. This has caused me a lot of trouble."

"Lou Gong, the last time the Queen Mother came, it was me who accompanied Lord Yang to greet her. She also consulted those masters about Buddhism and was very polite to them. But now..."

"Ugh."

Lou Rui sighed.

Zhao Kai found the right opportunity and hurriedly said, "Lou Gong, this is all Liu Taozi's fault!"

"I was sincere to my cousin. I never thought that I shouldn't have trusted Liu Taozi so much. I should have listened to you and chased him away earlier. It turns out that even relatives can't be trusted these days."

Lou Rui looked at Zhao Kai and said, "Don't take my scolding to you seriously."

"I dare not! Lord Lou's teachings are all for my advancement. I am grateful to you."

"Help me think about what to do now?"

After hearing what Lou Rui said, Zhao Kai moved forward a little and whispered, "Lou Gong, in fact, the King of Changshan may not be so trustworthy. You claim to be a relative, but you are of the Lou family after all. In my opinion, you should find a way to punish Liu Taozi and let the Queen Mother deal with Liu Taozi and the King of Changshan. With the Queen Mother around, what can the King of Changshan do? If you avoid them everywhere, these people will think you are really easy to bully!"

Zhao Kai then talked about his plan.

His idea was simple, to put the blame of everything on Liu Taozi and then hand him over to the Queen Mother for disposal.

But Lou Rui was unmoved by this idea.

This is really rough.

The person is already dead, and the Queen Mother is bound to be angry. What's the point of handing him over? Although he is also a royal family member, he is the King of Changshan, and he is the recognized leader of the nobles at the time.

Lou Rui had a terrible headache.

Zhao Kai hurriedly said, "Lou Gong, you can't hesitate. If you hesitate any longer, I'm afraid you won't have a chance in front of the Queen Mother."

At this moment, a knight suddenly walked in quickly and bowed to Lou Rui, "Master! An angel has arrived! He is now outside the county government office!!!"

Hearing this, Lou Rui felt dizzy and his face turned pale.

When an angel is coming, they usually notify us in advance and receive us along the way. How could he suddenly appear?

There is only one possibility, that the other party is here to call you to task, which is why he shows up without informing you in advance.

The Queen Mother sent someone to question me.

How could it be so fast?

Lou Rui stood up slowly, his face became serious, and he said to his left and right: "Send someone to guard the gates of the county government."

After saying this, he put on mourning clothes and walked out the door quickly.

He walked all the way to the front yard, had the gate of the county government office opened wide, and then knelt beside it to welcome the angel.

The angel stood on the chariot, holding a long wooden stick in his hand. The top of the stick was tied with animal hair, which was fluttering in the wind. This was the emperor's scepter.

"Your servant, Liyang Governor Lou Rui, greets the angel!!"

Lou Rui hurriedly bowed deeply to greet him, and the others followed his lead.

The angel on the carriage looked to be in his early thirties, not old, but he was tall, handsome and dignified. He frowned and looked very solemn.

He looked at Lou Rui who was saluting, and took out the imperial edict from his arms.

"Let the world know: The crown prince has taken the throne in the Xuande Palace in Jinyang. A general amnesty will be issued. All officials inside and outside the country will be promoted to higher ranks. Those who have lost their official titles will be restored! The Empress Dowager will be honored as the Grand Empress Dowager, and the Empress as the Empress Dowager. It is decreed that all soldiers in the nine provinces who are over 70 years old will be given a commissioned post. Military officers who are over 60 years old and those who are unable to be driven due to imprisonment will be dismissed! All civil engineering, gold, copper, iron and other miscellaneous works will be stopped!!"

Lou Rui was stunned for a moment, then bowed again, "I obey your order!"

This is to announce the news of the crown prince's accession to the throne.

Lou Rui immediately breathed a sigh of relief, as he thought the angel was here to question him. After the official handed the imperial edict to Lou Rui, Lou Rui slowly stood up and looked at the angel with a smile.

"The angel is meeting the emperor. Whose son is he?"

The angel looked at him calmly, "I am Cui Zhan, the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat."

Lou Rui was stunned and suddenly felt that something was wrong. It was just a message, but why did it involve the Minister and the Emperor's Staff? What was going on?
"Ah! It's Mr. Cui! Please get off the car, Mr. Cui. I'll prepare food for you."

"No need."

Cui Zhan said this indifferently. He took out another imperial edict and looked at him. "Liyang Governor Lou Rui, accept the edict!"

"Your Highness, Liyang Governor Lou Rui, respectfully listens to your orders!!"

Lou Rui knelt on the ground again.

Cui Zhan picked up the imperial edict and began to read it, "There is an official who assassinated the governor of Liyang, Lou Rui. During his tenure, he indulged the powerful and wealthy, bullied the people, occupied farmland, accepted bribes, framed people, bullied officials, colluded with monks, played tricks, deceived the people, and emptied the county treasury, making the people live in misery."

Lou Rui suddenly raised his head, his eyes full of astonishment, but he didn't dare to interrupt.

Cui Zhan's speech speed was getting faster and faster. He mentioned Lou Rui's crimes one after another. Finally, he said: "Specially dispatched Minister Cui Zhan to carry the emperor's staff to investigate Liyang. If the crime is true, Lou Rui will be taken back to Ye to be punished! ”

Lou Rui sat there in a daze, and Zhao Kai beside him was also stunned.

"Please ask Governor Lou to accept the imperial edict!"

Cui Zhan urged him, and Lou Rui slowly raised his head and looked at him, "Is this your Majesty's decree, or Yang Yin's handwriting?"

Cui Zhan did not say anything, but a large group of knights broke into the county government office. They quickly occupied several exits, holding powerful crossbows in their hands and wearing armor. Lou Rui looked behind the angel and found that the entire road seemed to be covered by armored soldiers.

"In order to catch me, Yang Dadu sent so many people?"

Lou Rui asked disdainfully.

Cui Zhan raised the staff in his hand and said coldly: "During my inspection, both the county and prefectural governments must close their doors and no one is allowed to go out."

"Okay."

Lou Rui smiled and nodded. At this moment, there was no fear on his face.

The doors of the county and prefectural governments were blocked, groups of soldiers directly blocked the road, and the county soldiers were controlled immediately.

In the county government office, Tian Zilie and others surrounded Liu Taozi.

"Brother, are you here to arrest us?"

"Why haven't you rushed in yet?"

"What's going on outside?"

Everyone was very confused at the moment. This group of people came very quickly. After they appeared, they blocked off Liyang County and the county government office at the fastest speed. As a result, everyone was blocked inside the door before they could react. They were extremely terrified.

Yao Xiong couldn't help but say: "These are the elite of the imperial court. They work several times faster than the county soldiers!"

Tian Zili frowned and fumbled for his sword again and again to relieve his nervousness.

At this moment, Kou Liu walked in quickly and saluted Liu Taozi breathlessly.

"Brother, I saw it clearly. The county government office was surrounded. The people in the car were holding something that seemed to be the emperor's staff. I saw a soldier taking Shi Jun out. Yang Xiang had said the 15th day. Could it be someone sent by Yang Xiang?"

Everyone was stunned and looked at Liu Taozi.

They just thought that the soldiers were attracted by the massacre of Chongguang Temple, but they never thought of this point.

Liu Taozi said calmly, "It is still unknown."

Although Liu Taozi did not give everyone an accurate explanation, but seeing his indifferent expression, everyone suddenly became less nervous. Even if they came to kill us, so what? With Brother Taozi here, why should we be afraid of these bastards?

"What does it mean?"

Cui Zhan's face turned pale. He stood in front of the warehouse, looking at the mountains of grain inside, and slowly looked at Shi Yao standing beside him.

Shi Yao was at a loss as to what to do when looking at the piles of food.

"You wrote to Prime Minister Yang, saying that the warehouses in Liyang were empty and the people were starving to death. It was you who wrote it, wasn't it?"

"It was me. But you don't know that something happened later. I didn't receive the food until after I wrote the letter."

Cui Zhan wanted to say something, his lips trembled for a while, then he turned around and left. Shi Yao hurriedly followed him.

"Mr. Cui, I'm really not talking nonsense." "Well, I believe you. There is nothing wrong with this granary. Take me to find those powerful families with the worst reputations."

"Gone."

"Ok?"

“They were all killed.”

"Thieves outside the city?"

"Gone."

"There are evil county officials!"

"Gone."

Shi Yao's voice became lower and lower, but Cui Zhan's expression became worse and worse.

"What about that Soko-ji Temple thing you mentioned? Take me to Soko-ji Temple!"

Shi Yao was silent for a while.

“No more.”

Cui Zhan looked at Shi Yao in front of him for several times, "What happened in this city?"

"This is all because of the new county magistrate in our county. Please listen to me, this is what happened."

Inside the county government office, Lou Rui was sitting in the courtyard. He spread a mat on the ground and lay down on it, basking in the sun with a very comfortable look on his face.

Zhao Kai, who was trapped in the county government office, was kneeling beside him at this moment, but his expression was very frightened.

"Lou Gong, what should we do now? The imperial court wants to punish you. It may be caused by the Queen Mother's anger."

"fart!"

"The Queen Mother is angry? Nonsense!"

"This is the person sent by Yang Dadu!"

Lou Rui lay on the ground and said disdainfully: "Does the Queen Mother need to do so much to punish me? Don't you think this Yang Dadu is ridiculous?"

"He wants to attack us, but he doesn't dare to arrest us directly. He also has to find some evidence and go through some procedures. He now has 300 to 400 soldiers, and I only have 50 to 60. If he wants to kill me, just arrest me and kill me. I can't beat him. He wants to kill but doesn't dare to do it openly. He wants to be greedy but doesn't dare to be greedy openly. What a bunch of shameless villains, cowards!!"

"With someone like him, he still wants to accomplish anything? That's ridiculous!"

Lou Rui loudly expressed his dissatisfaction with the prime minister, but Zhao Kai did not dare to respond, he just lowered his head.

"Why don't you speak?"

Lou Rui suddenly looked at him.

Zhao Kai was stunned, raised his head and looked at him, "Lou Gong. I..."

Lou Rui looked at him, and a sinister smile suddenly appeared on his face. "You just advised me to give Liu Taozi to the Queen Mother and to break up with the King of Changshan. Was it your brother who ordered you to do that?"

"He joined Yang Yin? Oh, yes, you are Han people, Han officials."

"You want to alienate me from the King of Changshan so that that old bastard Yang Yin can benefit from it?"

Zhao Kai's eyes widened, and he quickly knelt down in front of Lou Rui, "I dare not! I am wronged! I am sincerely thinking about you."

Lou Rui sneered, "Fortunately, my cousin sent people in time. I thought it was my cousin who was trying to harm me. Now I know that he sent people to protect me. He knew that I would not listen to advice, so he sent people to help me. I actually listened to you, a villain, and wanted to attack the good people."

"If it weren't for my cousin, I'm afraid I would have been in the prison van by now, right?"

"You are so vicious, Zhao Kai, just wait for me, I will kill your entire clan. When I followed the Emperor Shenwu to cut off the heads of the Western bandits, your brother was still eating shit in the mud! How dare you plot against me!!"

"Lou Gong! I am innocent! I really didn't! I have never done anything to let you down!!"

"Shi Yao has been sidelined and has no one around him to use. His letters can't reach Yecheng at all!! You sent the letters for him, right?!"

"Hahaha, I shouldn't have trusted you Han people, you are all the same! Just wait, I will kill everyone in your family."

Zhao Kai was so scared that he burst into tears, and at this moment, there was a noise outside, and Cui Zhan led everyone and slowly walked into the mansion.

Zhao Kai's crying stopped abruptly. Lou Rui sat up and looked at him rudely.

Cui Zhan said slowly: "The governor of Liyang, Lou Rui, indulged the officials and enforced the law too harshly. He killed them all without asking the reason or reporting to the court, and used cruel laws to harm people. Immediately dismiss him from his post and send him to Yecheng to be punished."

Lou Rui was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"I killed the tyrant who bullied the common people, and you want to dismiss me for this?"

"Now, everyone in the world can know what kind of people you are!"

Cui Zhan's expression immediately became even uglier.

Yang Yin gave him an iron order, asking him to dismiss Lou Rui, but with so much evidence about Lou Rui's crimes, there was not even a witness to be found. The city of Liyang was so clean that it was frightening.

In order to complete the order, he could only arrest people in the name of practicing too cool a law.

Cui Zhan waved his hand and said, "Take them all away."

The soldiers rushed over. Seeing them, Zhao Kai went completely crazy. He jumped up and shouted, "Don't catch me! Don't catch me!!"

At this moment, Zhao Kai looked crazy and abnormal.

"I can testify! I have evidence that the prefect has committed evil! There is a large amount of money and grain in the county government office, all of which are bribes he has taken!!"

Zhao Kai shouted loudly. Cui Zhan was stunned for a moment, then ordered, "Take this man to the car, keep an eye on him, and don't let anyone get close to him."

Lou Rui looked at the frantic Zhao Kai coldly, "I knew it was you."

He stood up and slowly walked to Cui Zhan. "The imperial court has issued an edict to take me away, so I will go with you. Even if I have done something wrong, I will only be dismissed. I am not afraid. Before I leave, I want to say a few words to the Liyang County Magistrate. Please help me bring him here."

Cui Zhan looked at him coldly.

"You are not a governor now, but a scapegoat. You'd better get on the road as soon as possible."

Lou Rui suddenly pulled out the Hua Ting sword and pressed it directly against Cui Zhan's neck. The surrounding soldiers were shocked but did not dare to approach.

Lou Rui raised his head and looked at the other person with disdain. He patted the other person's face with his sword and said, "I asked you to find County Magistrate Liu."

Cui Zhan said nothing, but the official who came with him hurried out.

After a moment's stalemate, Liu Taozi, led by the clerk, quickly walked here.

Seeing him, Lou Rui's eyes softened a little, and there was even some guilt on his face.

"Zhizhi, I have wronged you."

He suddenly put away his sword and threw the Huating sword to Taozi. Taozi stretched out her hand and grabbed it.

"You can just take my previous words as bullshit. Don't take them seriously. This sword is my private property that you should use here. Please help me keep an eye on it and don't let anyone swallow it."

"I will go to Yecheng first to meet Yang Dadu. You can wait for me at ease."

After Lou Rui finished speaking, he signaled his followers to put down their weapons, then he pushed Cui Zhan in front of him away and walked towards the cars in the distance.

Liu Taozi stood there and watched the other party leave.

Cui Zhan walked up to Liu Taozi and looked at the young man in front of him.

"Although he is brave, his actions are too cruel and he is not fit for great use."

He made a comment, and then said: "However, if it can be corrected, it may become a pillar of society."

Everyone walked out. Cui Zhan lowered his voice and moved slightly closer to Liu Taozi, "Yang Xiang thinks highly of you, so don't let him down."

After saying that, he turned around and left with everyone else.

Liu Taozi stood where he was and watched them walk out of the gate of the county government office. Soon, the group of people left along the road. There was a knight leading the way in the front. The road was empty. They just galloped all the way and disappeared from everyone's sight.

When Tian Zilie and others rushed into the county government office, Liu Taozi was holding the Huating sword, frowning, and no one knew what he was thinking about.

When Shi Yao saw him, he breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and quickly walked to his side.

Shi Yao looked very excited.

"Mr. Liu, this is great news!!"

"Prime Minister Yang sent many people!!"

"At present, many incompetent and cruel officials inside and outside the court are being dismissed, their titles are being stripped, and they are being forced to return home in poverty. Lord Cui said that the court is cleaning up the inside and outside, leaving no traitors, and getting rid of redundant officials. Great order is being brought to the country!!"

"The people of the world are finally saved!"

ps: At the beginning of the Tianbao Period of the Northern Qi Dynasty, he was appointed as the Langzhong of the Ministry of Personnel. After his death, he was appointed as the subordinate of the Minister of the Interior. Yang Yin wanted to recommend him as the Minister of the Secretariat. He said: "Cui Sheng has a dignified appearance and should be worthy of Pei Zi." ————"Book of Northern Qi·Biography of Cui"

Moreover, since the eighth year of the Tianbao reign, there have been many excessive awards and honors. At this time, Yang Yin first presented a petition to rescind his title of king, and all those who had taken advantage of the favors and honors were dismissed. As a result, those who were favored and failed in their duties all turned to their second uncle. ————"Book of Northern Qi·Biography of Yang Yin"

(End of this chapter)