Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 132 Maelstrom

"Wait! Wait!"

At this moment, Cheng Zhe hurriedly stood in front of Governor Lu. He was really afraid that these crazy people under Liu Taozi would kill the governor as well.

Prefect Lu also came to his senses. He stared at Liu Taozi angrily, wanting to say something but not daring to open his mouth.

Cheng Zhe added, "The eldest branch of the Cui family secretly stored powerful crossbows and armor. They did have evil intentions. County Magistrate Liu was very observant and saw through their evil plan. Lord Lu didn't know that the county magistrate found a large number of powerful crossbows and armor in their house. It can be seen that they did have the idea of ​​treason!"

Governor Lu did not say anything. He just pulled the reins, turned the horse's head, and left. The knights followed him one after another. Cheng Zhe and County Magistrate Zheng also hurried to leave together.

"Please stay, both of you."

Liu Taozi called out to them.

The two men were stiff at this moment. They just turned around and looked at Liu Taozi, smiling awkwardly, "I wonder if Mr. Liu has any other instructions?"

"Come with me."

Liu Taozi turned and walked towards Wu Castle. The two men looked at each other and hurriedly followed him. The three of them walked into the gate of Wu Castle.

Inside Wu Castle, corpses were piled up like mountains, blood was everywhere, there was no clean place, and many doors were open. The knights were still driving the carriages, loaded with rewards, towards the parade ground.

Someone was piling up crossbows and armor in the front yard.

There is indeed a lot of this stuff.

County Magistrate Zheng and Cheng Zhe both looked a little uneasy. Although they had no conflicts with Mr. Liu and got along very well with him on weekdays, the impression Liu Taozi gave them was too bad and too crazy.

The Cui family is such a huge force, they beat and kill people at will, without considering the consequences at all! !

You have a lot of cavalry, so let's fight them, but what about later?
The Cui family has several ministers in the court, not to mention local officials. When all their connections and friends are added together, it is so terrifying. This has offended the Cui family so much. How to deal with their counterattack next? ?

County Magistrate Zheng was extremely afraid of Liu Taozi. He felt that this man was a lunatic who might hurt people at any time and should not be approached easily.

As for Cheng Zhe, he had some good feelings towards Liu Taozi and admired him very much. However, he also felt that Liu Taozi was too dangerous. He had been in the army for many years and had never seen anyone with such a style, except for those members of the royal family.

Neither of them was willing to have any contact with Liu Taozi, but at this moment, they were surrounded by Liu Taozi's knights, so they did not dare to refuse Liu Taozi's invitation.

Liu Taozi led them forward. There were houses burning everywhere and charred corpses lying at the door, as if they were about to run away.

County Magistrate Zheng took a deep breath. Half afraid, he looked at Liu Taozi secretly, "Mr. Liu, what do you want me to do?"

Liu Taozi finally stopped and said, "They have a lot of money and food."

"It's not just money and food, there are also many treasures. However, the most are things like land deeds."

Liu Taozi turned to look at them. "Most of the public land in Anping is in the Cui family's name, right?"

County Magistrate Zheng was a little confused, but still nodded, "Maybe that's the case."

"The county magistrate originally said that Anping was short of food, but I think that Anping was not short of food, it was just that the food had not yet entered the hands of the government."

"Can the government take back the farmland of the big family and give it to the people who don't have any land to cultivate according to the system?"

County Magistrate Zheng nodded, "Good, good, Envoy Liu is indeed kind and caring about the people. This is great."

His face was full of smiles, "I will do this when I get back."

Cheng Zhe hesitated and didn't say anything.

Liu Taozi did not try to persuade them to stay. She waved her hand and the two left in a hurry. Tian Zili wiped the blood off his face and looked at the two people who left. He said helplessly, "This county magistrate didn't take it seriously at all. They were both in a hurry to leave and didn't even think about doing something so unpleasant. Alas, there are still few officials like my brother."

Liu Taozi didn't say anything.

Tian Zili looked at the ruined Wubao and smiled bitterly. "If someone had said half a year ago that I would lead a group of Xianbei people to rob the Han people, I would have thought he was crazy. I didn't expect it. I really didn't expect it."

Liu Taozi glanced at him and said, "They are not Han people."

"what?"

"They are the source of the massacre and enslavement of the Han people."

"The Jin you longed for was destroyed by people like this."

"This guy is crazy, he is really crazy!!"

County Magistrate Zheng rode his horse and rushed towards the county government office at high speed, his face full of fear. "What are you talking about granting land? It will be difficult for him to survive this time!"

"He has offended everyone, so what is he trying to achieve?"

"Isn't this crazy? He could have gotten money and food by just threatening us, but he insisted on breaking into the family. Now this matter can't be suppressed at all. The whole world will know about it. This is bad, bad."

Cheng Zhe suddenly asked, "It's strange that he came here. It's obviously not the normal time for officials to be promoted, but he was suddenly appointed. Or he was directly appointed by the temple, and he came with Cui Gong. What do you think, he could be..."

Hearing these words, County Magistrate Zheng trembled all over, and he looked at the rough warrior beside him in disbelief.

He hurriedly stopped his horse and said dully, "Yes, the Xianbei people have always been rude and even the governor can't control them. How could he make the Xianbei people serve him as soon as he arrived?"

"And his transfer was sent by the imperial court. He started a feud with the Cui family. When Lord Yang was in charge of the imperial court, the two Lords Cui from the second branch who were close to the two kings were dismissed by him."

County Magistrate Zheng's expression kept changing, and at this moment, he suddenly remembered a lot of things.

His face turned pale in an instant.

He raised his head and looked at Cheng Zhe in despair, "Oh no, Mr. Cheng, we are involved in a big incident!"

Cheng Zhe didn't say anything, and the two looked at each other for a moment.

"We have to find the governor!!"

The two men rode their horses forward quickly, at a much faster speed than before.

At this moment, inside the county government office, Prefect Lu was smashing things crazily. He brutally attacked those things in the house that would not resist, and the entire house was made a mess.

But Governor Lu did not vent his anger. He touched the wound on his face and was almost crazy with anger.

"This bastard! This bastard!"

"Someone, come here, I want to file a petition to the imperial court, accusing the county lieutenant of treason!!"

Just as Magistrate Lu was about to pick up his pen, he saw Zheng and Cheng rushing in hurriedly.

As soon as they came in, they were both shocked by the mess in the inner room. Magistrate Zheng noticed what the prefect was writing, so he walked up quickly, knelt down in front of Prefect Lu, and held his hand tightly.

"Lord Lu! Calm down! Calm down!"

Seeing these two people, Lu Taishou was even more angry. He pointed at them and cursed: "And you two mediocre people, one gave orders to others, and the other didn't know how to stop them in time."

Magistrate Lu scolded them both, but Magistrate Zheng remained indifferent. When Magistrate Lu was tired of scolding, Magistrate Zheng said, "Major Lu, I'm afraid this matter is not as simple as you think."

He glanced at Cheng Zhe, and then slowly said: "This man was sent directly by the imperial court to take up his post. He then fought against the Cui family and quickly reconquered the local Xianbei people."

He told the other party several points he had just thought of.

Governor Lu was suddenly stunned. He pondered for a moment, and his anger suddenly disappeared. He suddenly picked up the memorial in front of him, tore it up and threw it aside.

"If that's the case, just ignore it for now and pretend nothing happened."

County Magistrate Zheng smiled bitterly and said, "But something has already happened to the Cui family. Even if we pretend nothing has happened, I'm afraid we can't escape responsibility."

At this moment, Lu Taishou was unusually calm, unlike his usual irritability. "Don't worry. With such a big thing happening, the governor will definitely come. The governor is... well, you all know his identity. Let's talk about it after he comes."

"If someone from the Cui family comes..."

"I won't go to see him. If you go, just tell him that you have to wait for the governor to make the decision. Don't draw any conclusions or make any promises."

"Yes!!" Cui Mansion.

A servant was sitting beside him with an uneasy look on his face. Cui Jishu carefully took his pulse. While taking the pulse, he took out a medical book and began to read it.

"Master, I'm fine."

"Well, you are really fine, you just caught a cold. You should rest at home for a few days and don't go out again. I will write you a recipe and you will be cured in less than ten days."

Cui Jishu said this and started writing for the other party.

"Thank you, Patriarch. Thank you, Patriarch."

The servant wiped the sweat from his forehead. His master liked to treat patients, but if he was not caught by him, no one would dare to ask him to treat the disease. After all, there was a huge difference in their status.

Cui Gang walked in in a hurry, gasping for breath, "Father, it's bad! It's bad!"

Cui Jishu ignored him and handed the recipe to the servant in front of him, then told him to go back and rest. When he looked up at his son, Cui Gang's eyes were full of fear. He trembled and said, "Father, the main house was breached and the entire Wu Castle was almost burned down. It is said that more than a hundred carts of corpses were carried out from inside and are still being transported out. I don't know how many people died."

"The Xianbei people moved all the looted items to the parade ground. It is extremely lively there now. The people in the city are so scared that they dare not come out."

Cui Jishu frowned and hesitated for a moment before standing up.

"Then it's almost time now. Prepare the car for me."

"what?"

Cui Gang was a little confused. The eldest wife had been killed, so what was he going to do now? But his father had given the order, so he did not dare to refuse and hurried to prepare.

Soon, Cui Jishu sat in the car, driven by his son, with only four or five people following, and rushed towards the parade ground.

Cui Jishu sat in the car with a gloomy face, lost in thought.

Cui Gang, who was driving, interrupted his thoughts again and said, "Father, do we really not need to bring more people? If the five or six of us are held hostage by them..."

Cui Jishu ignored him completely.

At this moment, Anping’s most powerful steel knife is in Liu Taozi’s hand. What’s the use even if all the troops come out?
The carriage soon arrived outside the parade ground.

As soon as they arrived here, they were stopped by several knights. Cui Gang looked at the blood-stained and ferocious knight in front of him, with obvious fear on his face. He cleared his throat and said, "My father came to pay a visit to Liu Junwei. My father is the former Shangshu Pushe in the court."

The knight looked at each other and then hurried back to report.

The rest of the people were still looking at them viciously, which made Cui Gang particularly uneasy.

At this moment, a man suddenly rushed over on horseback. He got off his horse with a smile and immediately bowed to Cui Gang. "Greetings, sir. Is Mr. Cui in the carriage?"

Cui Gang was relieved to see that this man was quite polite, and hurriedly returned the greeting, "Hello, sir. My father is in the car."

The man then walked to the front of the carriage, bowed and said, "Bo Ling County Military Commander Tian Zi bows to Lord Cui!!"

Cui Jishu walked out of the carriage, looked at the young man lying in front of him, helped him up with a smile, and stroked his beard cheerfully, "It is said that Commandant Liu is a rough man who does not know etiquette, but now it seems that the leader of his subordinate is so polite, the rumors are wrong!!"

Tian Zili smiled broadly, "How dare I be rude in front of Mr. Cui?"

He took Cui Jishu and walked towards the training ground.

The parade ground today was extremely lively, with knights coming in and out, and all kinds of money and food piled up on both sides. Everyone's face was filled with smiles and joy, and they were talking and laughing.

Cui Jishu walked in front, ignoring everything around him, and Tian Zili invited him into the inner room.

Liu Taozi sat in the upper seat with no one else around her.

This was the first time Cui Jishu saw Liu Taozi.

The moment the two met, Cui Jishu was stunned. He stared with wide eyes at Liu Taozi, who was sitting in the upper seat, for a long time.

Liu Taozi stood up, bowed gently and said, "Greetings, Mr. Cui."

Cui Jishu finally reacted, "Oh, I lost my composure, I lost my composure, the appearance of Liu Junwei is very similar to an old friend of mine, very similar."

He actually walked a few steps to the left and sat down directly, with no intention of sitting in the upper seat. Liu Taozi was even more rude. Seeing him take a seat, he also sat in his own seat. He looked like the monarch of Cui Jishu! !
Tian Zili sat opposite Cui Jishu.

After the three of them sat down, Cui Jishu began to speak: "I have heard that there was a Liu Shanxiao in Cheng'an. He was upright and strong, and he cleaned up the local area. The bandits were deeply afraid of him. I didn't expect that he would meet Liu Gong so soon."

Liu Taozi didn't say anything, he just looked at Cui Jishu in front of him.

Cui Jishu stroked his beard and said, "Liu Junwei is curious about why I'm here, right?"

"exactly."

"Liu Junwei has broken into the eldest house. I'm afraid he will attack the eldest house next?"

"Correct."

"I am from the second branch of the family. Does the county lieutenant want to start with me?"

"Mr. Cui is here to stop me?"

Both of them spoke very fast, and Tian Zili, who was sitting opposite them, could hardly keep up with their speed. After they finished chatting, they fell silent at the same time.

Tian Zili frowned. The Cui family's affairs were indeed very troublesome, especially the second branch, which was the most powerful. The old man Cui Jishu had a great reputation. If he was killed, who knows how much trouble it would cause.
Cui Jishu spoke again at this moment, "I did come to stop you, but I'm not here to stop you from doing anything, I'm here to stop you from killing people."

"Oh? What's the difference?"

"I know why you came here. You want to take back the granted land and distribute it again, turning Cuishi City into Anping City again, right?"

"I can help you."

Cui Jishu said kindly, "Look, you have people under your command now, and now you have weapons. It can be said that no one in Anping can suppress you at present. However, your attack on the main house scared the other families. If you want to attack the other families again, it will not be so easy. They will definitely fight to the death. With your cavalry, if they fight to the death, even if you can break through, you will pay a huge price."

"Besides, the Cui family's strength does not only come from its own servants and guards, but also from external forces."

"When one official impeaches you, Yang Yin may be able to save you, but when ten or a hundred officials come to impeach you, what will you do? If the court wants to arrest you, will you have to go up the mountain and become a bandit?"

"The court will use all its strength to capture you. If Jinyang can send out 3,000 cavalrymen, they will definitely be able to take you to Yecheng to be punished!"

"That is to say, if you want to attack by force, there will be great resistance. Moreover, if you act so recklessly, the officials in the city may not follow you. If they don't come to help you, can you distribute the land yourself? You are just a county lieutenant. To break Cui's city, don't you need the help of officials?"

"So, the best way now is for me to help you. Some people in the Cui family have indeed gone too far over the years. It's time for them to stop and hand over their things."

"What do you think?"

After hearing what Cui Jishu said, Tian Zili felt shaken. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that what the old man said made a lot of sense.

Liu Taozi also looked at Cui Jishu quietly. He suddenly asked, "Why did Mr. Cui come to help me?"

Cui Jishu raised his head and said nonchalantly, "Ah, I don't want to see you slaughter my people like this either, but the Cui family should really be more restrained. Using your hand to make them restrain themselves and avoid bloodshed, isn't that good?"

"How is it? Is my idea okay?"

"No."

Liu Taozi replied.

Cui Jishu was stunned. He asked again, "Why not? Don't you still understand the reason?"

"Mr. Cui is intelligent and a capable minister in the court. I am just a hunter and a dull person, so I dare not listen to your advice."

What does that mean? ? Are you saying I’m too smart and you’re afraid I’ll fool you? ?
Cui Jishu was stunned for a long time, and he changed his mind again, "Could it be that you don't want to stabilize Boling County?"

"That's what I thought."

"Therefore, please stay in the training ground for the time being and don't go out."

(End of this chapter)