Chapter 33 Chapter Thirty-Three

When we arrived at Jinpu Town, the scorching white sun that was hanging in the sky had turned into a huge red-yellow fireball and moved to the western sky.Bo Qinruo and the two servants, Wang Tang and Li Xing, covered in the twilight light, with sweat on their faces and covered in dust, crossed a corner of Qingpu Town diagonally and came to the gate of Lu's residence.The gate of the Lu Mansion was still closed tightly, pools of coagulated black blood remained in the open space in front of the gate and on the stone steps, and traces of fishy smell still lingered in the air from time to time.

Bo Qinruo, Wang Tang, and Li Xing knocked on the door, knocked for a while, and finally knocked on the door.When the gatekeeper's family heard that it was the relief committee sent by Master Futai, they did not dare to be negligent, first welcomed the four of them into the main hall of the courtyard, and then went to Master Xiaolian's study in a hurry, to do their best to Master Xiaolian reported.After the shock in the morning, Master Xiaolian didn't eat lunch, and fell asleep first. He just ate something and regained his energy. When he heard that Mr. Chayan came to the door, he felt a little bit more in his heart Surprised, he hurried to the main hall.

However, when he saw Bo Qinruo's face, Master Xiaolian was a little bit disapproving.The master felt that Pachinruo was covered in dust, so young, and he was not at all what he imagined, so there was inevitably a bit of contempt in his conversation. Bo Qinruo naturally saw this, but he didn't care about it. He just asked Wang Tang to take out the dispatch document with the official seal of Futai Yamen, and let Master Xiaolian look at it, and then he got to the point : "I served on the commission of the Master of Taiwan in a humble position, and went to inspect the relief. What I saw along the way was shocking. The people reported one after another, saying that the county magistrate Chen was greedy and hid 60,000 taels of relief money. Going to the county seat, does Lord Xiaolian know the circumstances of this matter?"

Master Xiaolian read the customs document, and when he heard this, he immediately put away his contemptuous countenance, and said in a nonchalant manner: "I know a thing or two! I know a thing or two! Just this morning, the gang of rioters in Qingpu were still fighting in front of my door. There was a lot of trouble! Four tolerances died at the hands of the rioters, and the remaining dozen or so were saved by the old man, who changed into casual clothes and left in the afternoon." Bo Qinruo seemed to be suspicious, and asked: "The rioters started the uprising against corrupt officials, why did you come to the door of the boss? Is it because the boss has a close relationship with the county magistrate Chen, which aroused the anger of the people? Do you know that the magistrate of Chen County has always been a normal person? Do you know the inside story of the embezzlement and hiding of the relief money? If the old man knows, I hope to tell you quickly."

Master Xiaolian became more and more flustered, and he thought to himself: The relief inspector in front of him must have heard the nonsense of someone below, and suspected himself. refreshing.The friendship between the master and the county lord Chen Rongjun is known to everyone in the four villages far and near.Ruan Dacheng, who led the rebellion this time, is the son of a classmate and friend of the master, and also lived in his house, which is really very, very troublesome.The master is loyal to the emperor, keeps filial piety, and acts benevolently and righteously, but the relief committee member in front of him doesn't know about it.He came to Lu's mansion not to sing praises for the master, but to embarrass the master.

Master Xiaolian felt aggrieved, but he had to suppress the grievance and injustice in his heart. He just dutifully excused himself, and described in detail the scene that took place in front of the mansion in the morning, so as to show his respect for the court. His loyalty is unmatched. Bo Qinruo didn't pay much attention to listening, while listening, he fiddled with the teacup in his hand, turning the teacup around to look at it. From the moment we met, Bo Qinruo found that Master Xiaolian looked down on him, and he also looked down on Master Xiaolian from the bottom of his heart. He heard that Master Xiaolian had also been the head of a county, so he thought, when Master Xiaolian was in office , must be a master who is good at holding money, otherwise, why does he have so many high-end houses, glory and wealth?

Bo Qinruo waited for Master Xiaolian to finish his nagging, and asked again: "The commotion has reached the point where the common people turned against each other, the commotion is really not small, not to mention Lord Futai, even the court sage should know about it." Yes, this matter is very important! In this rebellion, whether the relief money was stolen or not is the key plot, do you think the county magistrate Chen dares to hide the 60,000 relief money?" Master Xiaolian was silent for a while, pondered for a long time with himself as the axis, and finally made up his mind to sell that Chen Rongjun.He knew very well that no matter whether Chen Rongjun was greedy or not, he could not escape being responsible for the chaos in the county, but he could not be tied down by him.

Master Xiaolian said: "From my point of view, it is indeed possible for Mr. Chen to embezzle 60,000 yuan in relief money. This gentleman looks honest on the outside. I don't know what he is doing behind the scenes. I heard that there are some people on the slope of the South Temple. There are rumors from the businessman that this man is a man of the world, he talks to people when he sees people, he talks nonsense when he sees ghosts, and there are also things that are corrupt and illegal! Now, this man will retire and return to his hometown. It is only logical that he will hide some money when he leaves office. !"

After saying his best opinion, Master Xiaolian sighed again: "It's not my old man who is cynical, the current bad atmosphere in the officialdom is indeed getting better every year! When the old man was in power in Tongling, he sent out disaster relief. , the directors of the case are always careful and caring everywhere, and they always remember to live up to the imperial order and the high expectations of the people. In the eighteenth year of Jiaqing, bandits rushed into Tongling, and the master of Futai led his troops to massacre the city. The old man held Wusha in his hand, and knelt in front of Lord Futai..."

Master Xiaolian couldn't help but drag the time back to the Jiaqing period, talking about his many political virtues to show how extraordinary he is. The master spoke sincerely and movingly, which moved Bo Qinruo to some extent, but Bo Qinruo was very anxious at the moment, eager to know the truth of the matter and the turmoil, and had no time to look back on the past with the master, so Bo Qinruo had no choice but to filial piety. When Master Lian paused to catch his breath, he interrupted his words, and asked again: "I heard that Qingpu took the lead in the uprising, does your lord know who the leader of the uprising is?"

Master Xiaolian had no choice but to sweep away the memories that had spread out in his head, put them away, and returned to the topic: "The leader of Qingpu's disturbance is a man named Ruan Dacheng! This man is nothing! Gathering people to rebel is really killing talent!" Master Xiaolian sold the nephew of the Ruan family after selling the county elder for the sake of relationship.After selling it, it seemed that he felt a little guilty, and the master blushed for a while. If Bo Qin didn't notice Master Xiaolian's face, he only noticed the leader of the rebellion called Ruan Dacheng mentioned by Master Xiaolian, and immediately asked: "Who is this Ruan Dacheng? But a local? How is he?" Do you have the patience to wait for everything?" Master Xiaolian said: "This Ruan Dacheng is from the family of my Ruan family, and he can be regarded as a son of a scholarly family. He was smart when he was young. I have seen it. Later, his father was admitted to the university because of his anti-poetry. He was exiled to the border of Nanyang, and did not come back until the second year of Daoguang. It is said that he made a fortune. After that, he opened a warehouse in the town to sell some goods from the north and the south. The scoundrels of various teachings and nine-rates gradually formed a force. A while ago when the pirates went ashore, his storehouse and family property were all robbed. He was anxious, and then he heard that the magistrate of Chen County was greedy and hid the relief money, and he was furious. After that, he led all his subordinates to rebel against him! I heard from the family in the mansion that there are more than a thousand people rebelling against him in Qingpu Town alone!" Bo Qinruo was startled, and immediately thought of many problems, thinking that things are not as simple as Master Xiaolian said!This Ruan Dacheng was able to make more than a thousand ordinary people rebel against him overnight, there are many schemes and strategies in it!He and his subordinates must have made long-term preparations!Since he has a certain power, he will definitely use this power as the basis for conspiracy, instigate everywhere, and set fire from all directions. "Then, is there any connection between the rioters elsewhere and Ruan Dacheng?" Bo Qinruo asked again. Master Xiaolian thought for a while, and said: "Yes! Yes! Ruanjiaji and Xinshiji all have Ruan Dacheng's henchmen. When the incident happened in the morning, Qi Mingda of the Qifu of Xinshiji was called Du Tianxing. The people from here also came. Qi Mingda was also a county magistrate, and he was in a place called Guiping in the north of the Jiangbei..." Bo Qinruo was even more suspicious, knowing that the current turmoil had a profound background and was no small matter.He naturally thought of the bandits in the Southern Congress, and he began to wonder: among this group of rioters, would there be any Xiangtang forces who know how to bandit?How powerful should this Xiangtang be?If this rebellion caused by the tidal disaster and the release of relief is indeed led by bandits, then what will happen next? He couldn't think about it anymore... Undoubtedly, he is approaching a sinister vortex, which has now involved the corrupt official Chen Rongjun and many ordinary people.In the next step, Zhu Jianning, the prefect of Linjiang, and Yu Lianrong, the governor of Futai, must be involved!If there is an incident caused by gangsters, and the incident becomes serious, Mr. Yu's governor's throne will be thrown off!But he, Bo Qinruo, hadn't been involved in this vortex, and it was still too late for him to withdraw.He just needs to go back home and report everything in person to Master Yu, and this mission of checking relief will be considered an confession.No matter how big a disturbance is in the future, it has nothing to do with him. He can still wait in peace and stability, and he can still be the lord of a county in a certain paradise in the future... However, he couldn't do this, Mr. Yu had the grace to know him, and the majesty of the court gave him the highest honor, so he couldn't protect himself wisely at such a time.Even if he risked his life, he still had to be worthy of Mr. Yu and his Majesty the court! He decided to rush to Jinkou County overnight. As soon as he heard that Boqin wanted to go to Jinkou overnight, Master Xiaolian couldn't sit still, and hurriedly dissuaded him, saying: "Don't do it! Don't do it! First of all, Jinkou County is tens of miles away from here, and it won't be late in the middle of the night. .Secondly, I don’t know anything about the current situation in Jinkou—on the bright side, even if the county seat is not breached, the chaos is terrifying enough, and you might lose your life. Thirdly, Brother Bai, you just It’s useless to go to a relief committee member! The county head surnamed Chen won’t listen to you, and neither will the gang of rioters!” Bo Qinruo said: "Civil chaos is like wildfire. If it is not stopped in time, as long as it spreads, it may be too late to save it in the future! Although the lowly position is just a vacant relief committee member, it is still the order of the court. The lowly position cannot Sit and watch." Master Xiaolian said: "If you want to go, you have to wait for the officers and soldiers to arrive before you go! What's the use of you going alone, I'm afraid you will lose your life in vain!" Bo Qinruo stood up angrily, and said impassionedly: "The lowly position is greatly favored by the country, and it cannot be retreated when the country is in trouble. Even if the lowly level is unfortunately lost to the hands of the rebellious people, it must do its best for the country of the Great Qing Dynasty! Don't persuade me, my lord! " Master Xiaolian was deeply moved, and couldn't help but looked up and sighed: "Brother Bai is indeed a man of benevolence and righteousness, and a real man! If all the court officials in the world are like Brother Bai, then our Qing Dynasty will be very lucky, and the people will be very lucky!" Master Xiaolian's touch naturally moved Mr. Bai Qinruo, and Mr. Bai returned Mr. Xiaolian's praise of the same quality: "My lord is too much! Back then, my lord dared to stop Mr. Futai with Wusha. He saved more than 100,000 people in the next county, and he should learn from the old man in his late life, not afraid of life and death, and serve the country and save the people!" Master Xiaolian ordered his family to order the servants and men of each courtyard to prepare swords and lanterns and gather in front of the main hall. After that, he prepared a four-carried sedan chair with the emblem of the Lu Mansion for Bo Qinruo. While the Lu family was busy preparing, Master Xiaolian talked with Bo Qinruo about the evolution and history of the Lu family, from the ancestor who "went out of farming to study" and talked about the old servant who illuminated the descendants. Finally, Then we talked about Master Xiaolian himself.Bo Qinruo listened in awe, and his impression of Mr. Xiaolian and this prosperous family improved accordingly. Mr. Xiaolian's contempt for him at the beginning has been like a wisp of faint smoke in his mind. no trace. At this time, the night fell and the moon was in the sky.The master arranged for Bo Qinruo, Wang Tang, and Li Xing to have something to eat casually, and then personally sent Bo Qinruo out of the house and onto the big sedan chair...