The Most Romantic of the Three Kingdoms

The third Lan and Hu/ping arrived in the village and dismounted outside the gate of the official temple. The village guards who guarded the gate asked about their intentions and went to report to Xun Zhen.

Xun Zhen had just held a small meeting with the clerks and the officials, - Zhengdan is coming soon, which is the New Year. According to the regulations of the empire, Zhengdan is a holiday, and some work must be completed before the holiday. Xun Zhen This is the first month of Ren Township's rank. Of course, I want to do a good job in order to avoid gossip, so I often summon my subordinates these days to ask them about the progress of their work and supervise them.

Just after the small meeting was over, he was flipping through the bamboo slips while talking to Xu Zhong and Chen Bao. ——Chen Bao is taking a rest today. Since Xun Zhen took office, he has not been here, because he came here today, first to have a look, and second to report the recent situation of Fanyang Pavilion to Xun Zhen.

The villager reported, "Report Xun-Jun, two people have come from outside the hospital."

"Who?"

"The third Lan of the third house and his guest Hu/ping."

Xun Zhen was stunned for a moment, and she thought to herself, "What is the third Lan doing?" Xu Zhong and Chen Bao were also confused. Unable to think of an answer for a moment, he said, "Please come in."

The village soldiers went to send orders, and the third Lan and Hu/ping came to the hospital and entered the hall. Xun Zhen saw that Hu/Ping was holding a lacquer plate in his hands, and the plate was covered with silk satin for some unknown thing. The third Lan held her head high and stood in the hall, looking left and right, looking at Xu Zhong and Chen Bao. Xu Zhong covered his face, and Chen Bao was also angry. If he didn't know him, he turned to look at Xun Zhen again.

Xun Zhen calmly covered the bamboo slips on the table and said with a smile, "Third lord, why do you have time to come to my temple today?" She asked jokingly, "But the money I gave you that day was fake. Is it?"

Hu / Ping followed behind the third Lan, freeing up a hand, and quietly tugging at the third Lan's clothes. The third Lan reluctantly knelt down on the ground, bowed her head in a salute, and said loudly: "Xunjun, I came to apologize to you on the order of my eldest brother. I was outside the door that day and offended Xunjun's friend. When my eldest brother found out, he reprimanded me Haosheng and asked me to apologize to Xunjun."

Hu / Ping followed him on his knees and listened to what he said. He lifted the lacquer plate high and pulled down the silk satin covering it, revealing five golden cakes. Xu Zhong and Chen Baofen sat on the left and right of Xun Zhen's throne, they looked at each other, and both roughly guessed the purpose of the third Lan. Xun Zhen also guessed it.

Sure enough, the third Lan Biya grinned and said, "The other day, Xun-Jun was 65,000 yuan. There is hardware here, which is barely 100,000 yuan. Please accept Xun-Jun." - He was forced by his brother. He came, he was reluctant, and there were many strange things on his face.

Xun Zhen said: "The money has already been given to you, why did you send it back? ..., what are you doing?"

He said, "My elder brother said that I did something wrong that day. The money you have been corrupted was returned as is, and the extra money is only my family's will. I just ask Xun-Jun to take care of our family in the future."

Xun Zhen smiled and said: "How can this be possible? According to the law: 'The officials who are punished and bend the law, all abandon the city'. Third gentleman, you are not apologizing for me, you are trying to harm me." He refused to accept it.

The third Lan raised his head with disdain, and said to himself, "I have never seen an official who is not greedy, what are you pretending to be?" Holding his temper, he said, "This money was given to Xunjun by my family, no It's greedy."

"Why not? According to the law: Whether it is an official who asks to thank him or does not ask for his thanks, it is all greed." Xun Zhen firmly refused and refused to accept it.

Third Lan became a little impatient, and said in a rough voice: "Xunjun, I have already apologized, so don't have the same knowledge as me. If you don't accept the money, I can't explain it to my elder brother when I go back."

Xun Zhen thought: "Based on the evidence collected now, it is not enough to punish the Third Clan. Well, since he pays me back, I will accept it." doubt. Moreover, this money is his, and there is no reason to push it out. However, although he was willing to accept it, he was only willing to accept his 65,000 money. ——He was about to find the third clan, how could he be willing to let the handle of "greed" be in his hands?

He made a concession and said with a smile: "Well, since you insisted on paying me back, I will accept it. ... However, I can only accept 65,000 yuan, and I will never accept the extra."

Third Lan said angrily, "You want as much as you want!"

His attitude was very rude, Xu Zhong pressed the knife, and Chen Bao frowned. As if nothing had happened, Xun Zhen smiled and said to Xu Zhong: "One gold is worth twenty thousand. Junqing, you accept four gold cakes, and then go to the backyard to get fifteen thousand to supply the third prince."

The third Lan has never apologized to anyone since she was a child, let alone making money to make amends. She has long been impatient. Hearing Xun Zhen say this, she simply shut up and ignored Hu / Ping's repeated remarks. He hinted that he just stayed in the hall, looked up at Liang, waited for Xu Zhong to come over with 15,000 money from the backyard, and gave Xun Zhen a sloppy bow, and put the remaining gold cake and money together. Son, just mention it and go.

Hu / Ping was helpless, so he had to bow to the three people in the hall upright, accuse him, and exited the hall, carrying his clothes, and trotting to chase the third Lan. Xun Zhen got up and sent Hu/ping out of the hall. Xu Zhong and Chen Bao also came over. The three stood in front of the hall looking at San Lan and Hu/ping. One staggered, the other hurriedly rushed out of the courtyard and disappeared. not see.

Chen Bao hesitantly smiled and said, "Is this the third orchid?"

Xun Zhen nodded.

Chen Bao also knew about Le Jin's robbery. He smiled and said, "Look at this stubborn arrogance, I don't know if he is here to apologize, or to make people angry?... Only this kind of person dares to be self-sufficient. There is a robbery outside the house, and even Xun Jun, you are not in the eye." Hehe, hehe laughed twice, and said, "It's really courting death!"

It was cold outside the hall, and Xun Zhen said, "Let's go back to our seats and talk." The three of them returned to the couch, and Xun Zhen opened the bamboo slips on the table again. These bamboo slips recorded all the evil things that Xu Zhong, Cheng Yan, Xiao Xia, and Xiao Ren had heard from the third clan before.

Xun Zhen looked as if nothing had happened, as if he didn't take Third Lan Shicai's rudeness to heart at all. He looked over and said, "These are all petty troubles, or the third Ming raped or raped his wife, or the third Lan beat and injured people, or the other clan members of the third clan hid themselves to death, Ji's father and wife and/or rape, burning people's houses, forcing people to sell themselves as slaves, the most serious thing is only robbery. These crimes, 'rape is not a crime', rape, rape, and rape, the crime does not lead to death Beating people will not kill you. Burning people's houses and forcing people to sell themselves as slaves will not kill you. Although robbery is a death penalty, it only kills one person. . . . These crimes are not enough to punish their clan!"

Xun Zhen paused, picked out a bamboo slip, and said with a frown, "Who came to investigate these?... Although cattle slaughtering, drinking gatherings, and gamblers are also against the law, many officials and temples do not hold them accountable, even if The light ones are just fines, and the heavy ones are nothing more than stealing money and moving for two years. Even if they kill a hundred cows and gather every night to drink and play, it will be of no avail. Such petty crimes should not be repeated. checked."

Xu Zhong replied: "Yes...., Xun Jun, this third clan is really guilty of heinous crimes. The reason why only these criminal evidences have been found so far is mainly because the time is short, and because we are just circling around the periphery." He Shen Yin said, "If you can get to know and persuade a guest of the third clan's family, you may be able to open a breakthrough."

Xun Zhen nodded and said, "You said it well, you can consider starting from this aspect." She explained, "Although this can't be done in a day or two, you can't slack off, it's better to be able to Before Wen Qian comes back, find evidence enough to destroy the Third Clan! In this way, when Wen Qian comes back, we can start."

Although Le Jin agreed to Xun Zhen to stay, but it will be the first day of the festival soon, he has parents at home, he can't spend the New Year outside, and he also needs to go home and tell his parents and brothers about his decision to stay in his hometown, so he went back the day before yesterday. The two agreed that after Zhengdan, at most fifteen days, he would return.

Xu Zhong knelt down on the couch, bent down slightly, and replied, "No."

Chen Bao listened to the conversation between the two of them, and was a little worried, and said: "Xunjun, although this third clan has committed a serious crime and bumped into you, the crime deserves death. Will the big surname in the village be rumored to be violent and cruel?"

Xun Zhen became an official, mainly to save his life and to gather people. If he didn't have a good reputation, how would he gather people? I won't do things in a daze and make my "reputation" worse. In this regard, not only did he think about it earlier than Chen Bao, but he also thought about it more clearly than Chen Bao. He smiled and said, "A Bao, you've been worrying too much."

In recent years, official governance has become more and more corrupt, the current situation has become more and more corrupt, and the local area has become more and more dark. Of course, this is because the eunuchs in the court are powerful, and there is a lack of local officials, but in turn, it has also deprived the court and the public "from On the one hand, the patience of slowing down the administration is to reverse the decline as soon as possible, and on the other hand, there is also the reason that the scholars and officials "invite false names", which leads to impatience in administration and competition in local governance. Harshness and violence have formed the wind of pursuit of short-term effects by the government and the opposition.

That is to say: "Today, the chief officials get off the bus for a hundred days, and there is no difference." The prefectures and prefectures "wait for malice". In this way, in order to gain a foothold and not be expelled, local officials can only do their best to make political achievements in the short term. How can they make political achievements in the short term? Only urgent. Only resort to coercion and violence. As early as the time of the two emperors Chong and Huan, there was a common situation in which "the chief officials killed many people to make a statement, and they must be moved and rewarded; those who kept wide and had no party support were often expelled."

In such a big environment, if Xun Zhen could kill a bully family in the township within a "hundred days" of taking office, he would not only get the sincere support of the villagers, but also the appreciation of the governor of the state and county.

Although Chen Bao is smart, after all, he lives in the village all the year round, and he doesn't know current affairs and the current political atmosphere. This is not as wide-ranging as Xun Zhen, who has lived in the county for more than ten years, and has such unfounded worries. However, the twists and turns are not enough for outsiders. Xun Zhen also just smiled and said simply, "You are overthinking", and did not elaborate further.

He put away the bamboo slips on the table, pondered for a moment, and said, "The third Lan Yongfu is not worth mentioning, but his brother seems to be a person."

"how do I say this?"

"Among the more than 20 pieces of bamboo slips, more than half of the evil deeds were directly or indirectly committed by his brother, far more than the third orchid. A person who dares to do so many evil deeds must have one" Boldness, having both 'audacity' and having the third Lan come to apologize to me, shows that he can 'bear' and 'bend his waist' at the right time. Such a person should never be underestimated."