The prefect then asked, "Can you personally point out the four thieves to me?"
Although Magistrate Luo felt guilty, he still pointed his finger at Chen Jinghuai and the others tremblingly.
The prefect showed no other expression except that his face became gloomier. He then asked, "Who is the master of suffering?"
Magistrate Luo glanced at the prefect, and when he saw that he didn't say anything, he pointed at the gangsters again.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he pointed his hand at the gangsters, the prefect's face darkened when he saw the faces of the gangsters. He threw the file in his hand on the ground and said, "I think you are referring to a deer as a horse! What nonsense!"
As soon as his file was thrown down, Magistrate Luo immediately knelt down and said, "My lord, I don't know what's wrong with lowering my rank."
And the prefect was too lazy to talk to Magistrate Luo. He just ordered someone to pass several arrest documents to Magistrate Naluo to read.
Magistrate Naluo just unfolded the documents one by one, with a look of panic on his face.
This document depicts the faces of several victims in the hall, and only the physical characteristics of these people and the crimes they committed are noted below.
Although there are some differences between these people and the portraits on the documents, the physical characteristics of these people all match.
He knew at a glance that he was making the decision for the thief.
And because those bandits were regarded as the victims by the county magistrate, they were not shackled. Now they were free to come and go. Now that they saw that this situation was not right, they naturally wanted to leave from the Yamen.
Unexpectedly, before they could take action, the prefect gave the order, "Arrest him!"
As soon as his words fell, the group of people immediately ran away. Unfortunately, the government soldiers had already blocked the entrance of the government office, and the onlookers dispersed as soon as they saw something was wrong.
And even if they wanted to kidnap the emperor to order the princes, the county magistrate and the prefect were both protected and surrounded.
Therefore, the leader of the bandit could only take advantage of the situation. He grabbed the lonely Song Chuchu by the throat and shouted, "Don't come here! Otherwise we will kill her!"
Song Chuchu didn't expect that she would become a hostage. She took a few steps back like a little chicken when the bandit leader pinched her neck.
The prefect was really hesitant when he saw this situation. After all, Song Chuchu was with Chen Jinghuai at first glance.
Therefore, he could only wave his hand to signal everyone not to move.
Seeing that the prefect did not dare to attack him, the bandit leader threatened, "Hurry up and prepare some good horses for my brothers and let us leave the city! Otherwise, this girl will die in my hands."
After saying this, the man just squeezed Song Chuchu's throat a little tighter. Song Chuchu's throat was squeezed so tightly that he almost rolled his eyes.
Seeing Song Chuchu like this, the prefect quickly said, "Don't do anything yet. I will just do as you say."
After hearing this, the gangsters were still extremely vigilant until they took Song Chuchu out of the Yamen. He couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief when he saw someone actually leading a few tall horses outside the Yamen.
However, he did not put Song Chuchu down at the moment. He only said loudly, "I will take him away first. When we confirm that it is safe ten miles away, we will put her down."
After saying this, the bandit put a dagger against Song Chuchu's throat and only motioned for Song Chuchu to climb onto the horse's back first.
Song Chuchu didn't dare to disobey. She just obeyed the bandit leader's arrangement and wanted to climb on the horse. However, it was her first time riding a horse, let alone sitting on it. She didn't even dare to climb.
However, the bandit leader's dagger was pressed against her waist again, and as soon as Song Chuchu wanted to climb on the horse's back, the horse began to take two steps back and forth uneasily.
Song Chuchu looked at the situation in front of her and was almost torn to tears. She was really afraid that the bandit leader would stab her directly with a knife.
The bandit leader also urged impatiently, "Hurry up and climb up!"
Song Chuchu looked at the bandit leader pitifully and said, "I can't climb up."
The gangster was furious.
Chen Jinghuai on the side saw this and whispered, "I'd better carry her up!"
Upon hearing this, the gangster immediately looked at the other person warily, but Chen Jinghuai whispered, "If you can't trust me, you can put a knife against my back."
After hearing what he said, the gangster thought that this was a good way, so he quickly cooperated with Chen Jinghuai and only let Chen Jinghuai approach.
At the same time, the dagger pressed against Song Chuchu's waist was quickly moved to Chen Jinghuai's waist. Song Chuchu couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Chen Jinghuai.
Chen Jinghuai just comforted Song Chuchu and said, "Don't be afraid. I'll carry you up first. You hold on to the reins and clamp the inside of the horse's belly to prevent it from falling."
After saying this, he helped Song Chuchu onto the horse's back, and Song Chuchu had just tightened the reins, and the bandit leader had only just wanted to climb onto Song Chuchu's horse's back.
Unexpectedly, Chen Jinghuai slapped the horse's butt hard at this moment. The horse was frightened and ran forward.
The bandit leader was naturally aware of Chen Jinghuai's intention to do these actions. He stabbed Chen Jinghuai's waist angrily, and blood stained his clothes in an instant. However, Chen Jinghuai let Song Chuchu run away and immediately turned around to deal with the bandit leader, while the others When he saw the current situation, he naturally just helped Chen Jinghuai to subdue the bandit leader and the gangsters.
Although Chen Jinghuai was stabbed in the waist, it did not affect his fighting ability at the moment. He only competed with the bandit leader and said to the soldiers next to him, "She can't ride a horse! Go chase the horse! Don't let anything happen to her." "
The others did not waver. In the end, the soldier who had followed Song Chuchu in the past few days climbed onto a horse. After the soldier got on the horse, he only raised his whip and whipped the horse's butt hard. Then he quickly chased after him with the whip. Towards the horse under Song Chuchu.
Song Chuchu didn't know how to ride a horse. When the horse was running, she was almost thrown off the horse several times. The only thing she could be thankful for at the moment was that maybe there were not many people on the long street here. Pedestrians heard her shouting and had time to escape.
It's just that Song Chuchu was so scared that she had long forgotten what Chen Jinghuai taught her when she got on the horse.
And because she was nervous and her hands were slippery, she couldn't hold the reins.
Seeing that Song Chuchu was about to fall off the horse, a red-maned horse passed by her. At the same time, a big hand grabbed her waist and took her on the back of his horse.
When Song Chuchu came to her senses, she was already sitting sideways on the back of the red-maned horse. The man held his waist with one hand and held the horse rope with the other.
When Song Chuchu looked up, she realized that it was the soldier who had saved her just now.
In shock, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you for saving me." Song Chuchu just now had some of the coquettishness of a daughter.
The soldier didn't say anything and just led the horse to move forward. However, this time, perhaps considering Song Chuchu, he let the horse move slowly.
Although the horse's back was still bumpy, at least Song Chuchu was not as scared as she was at first.
When the two returned to the county government office, the gangsters had been arrested and escorted to the lobby.
At this time, the county magistrate actually knelt down, and the prefect was sitting where he once sat. He was trembling all over and sweating profusely.
However, even though he was very frightened, he did not forget to defend himself: "Master Taishou! I was deceived by a few of them, and I mistakenly thought that the captain was a bandit! At most, I am just a lax investigation, please investigate clearly." .”
Hearing that Magistrate Luo, in order to protect himself, only put all the blame on a few of them, how could those bandits just let it go? ..
The bandit leader shouted in the hall, "Master Luo! Yesterday you took our money! It was your subordinates who said what you wanted! Let us cooperate with you to bite back the captain! If not! We wouldn't dare to do that!" Fight with others in court!"
"How could I collude with gangsters like you! It's obvious that you are the ones slandering others! You are trying to drag me into trouble!" In order to save his own life, Magistrate Luo naturally only spoke righteously at this moment.
Both sides held their own opinions, and the noise in the hall was endless.
The eunuch immediately slapped him hard and said, "Everyone, be quiet!"
The two parties had just calmed down at this time. The prefect had heard about Magistrate Luo's matter before, but for Hu Xu's sake, he had never formally pursued the matter, but now he can no longer ignore it.
He only turned to look at the bandit leader first and said, "Falsely accusing an imperial official is a crime of beheading! Do you have any evidence that Magistrate Luo accepted a bribe from you?"
The bandit leader raised his head and glared at Magistrate Luo fiercely and said, "Of course there is evidence. I
Last night, the brothers gave Magistrate Luo's lover a jade Buddha, a gold comb, and a string of white jade pearls. They also promised to give Mr. Luo a hundred taels of silver as a gift after leaving the city! Since these things were given to him last night, I think they are still in Sister Rui's house. You can just send someone to check in Sister Rui's house to see if what I said is false. "
"You are talking nonsense! These things were given by Sister Rui's guests! You are clearly framed!" Naluo County Magistrate shouted loudly.
Not wanting to hear this, the bandit leader suddenly laughed strangely, "Whether it's a frame-up or not, I'll find out once you find out."
The prefect didn't say much after he learned about the bandit leader. He just asked the government officials to search Xichun Tower.
Soon Sister Rui from Xichun Tower was brought to the court along with the stolen goods. It is not known whether the government officials were intentional or not. In addition to these, they only carried several boxes of gold and silver jewelry. come over.
Sister Narui initially yelled at the government officials who detained her and was extremely uncooperative.
However, when she saw Magistrate Luo kneeling downstairs and the red-clothed official sitting at the head of the hall, she also turned pale and did not dare to play any more tricks.
She wrinkled her little face, clearly looking pitiful, "This little girl is just a prostitute. She has always been a well-behaved person. I don't know where I offended the adults, but she is being tortured and sent to court!" Please, sir, have some mercy on the little girl."
After saying this, Sister Rui prostrated herself in front of the hall.
Seeing her figure as if she was singing an opera, the eunuch and everyone in the hall were indifferent.
