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Chapter 253: Autumn Fu Eighteen
"This arrow is not very good. It is not the modern crossbow arrow you are used to. It's okay to download it."
"No problem, just take a look." Dai Xie picked up his beloved pulley crossbow. This crossbow was not his, but it had better performance. However, the crossbow arrows looked really awkward - the craftsmanship was too rough.
Of course, if they use their homemade crossbows, they will be asking for trouble.
Aiming carefully, he pulled the trigger.
With a "whoosh" sound, the crossbow arrow flew out. In the quiet, penetrating night of the seventeenth century, the sound was frighteningly loud. Then, there was a "bang" in the dark night. The dog immediately started barking. From near to far, the dogs in the Ximen Pass began to bark.
"On target," said the man who used an infrared telescope to monitor the shooting effect.
"Evacuate" With the order, everyone quietly disappeared into the night.
After a long time, the lights finally lit up in the dark Xiguan chamber. The family that made the noise was the Liu Dalin family. The Liu family did not have many servants, and Lingao was not a very peaceful place in the past, so after hearing the unusual noise in the yard, no one dared to come out immediately to investigate.
Several servants lit torches, carefully opened the door with sticks in hand, and walked along the yard to explore. The Liu family's place is not big, and they only entered the courtyard three times. After checking, there was nothing unusual. Walking all the way to the side courtyard, this is where Liu Dalin's study is located. There is no one else except the child servants at night.
"There's an arrow on the door," a servant inside exclaimed.
Everyone ran over in three steps and two steps at a time, and when they ran to the door of the study, they saw an arrow inserted into the wooden wall and penetrated deep into the wall. The servants were stunned with fright - although Lingao was not a place where people did not pick up lost things on the road or closed their doors at night, this was the first time they had heard of someone openly shooting arrows in the city. Not to mention the family of the top gentry in the county.
"Hurry, go and repay the master"
Liu Dalin had already gotten up at this time, and was dressed by his wife and maid. He woke up from the commotion just now, expecting that his family would definitely come to report back. Liu Dalin is very particular about being upright in everything he does. He must treat his family members and servants neatly and neatly.
He was surprised when his family came to report that an arrow had been found on the study wall. This is really something that has never happened before - even when the Li people were in rebellion and the county was in crisis, no arrows were shot into the city. Bandits and robbers have almost disappeared recently. Why did such a riot suddenly happen again?
He vaguely felt that this was related to what he posted yesterday. He said calmly: "Don't panic. Take off the arrow and wrap it up immediately. Everyone should go to bed and don't spread news randomly."
"Master, would you like to report to the official tomorrow morning -"
"Don't report it to the official," Liu Dalin objected, "just pretend it didn't happen." He knew very well that this matter was probably done by Chen Minggang and his group to intimidate him.
"Huh, what a despicable and despicable person," Liu Dalin said.
His wife was very frightened: "Master, let's report to the official. Master Wu gets along well with us, so he will definitely take care of us."
"Madam, Mr. Wu is naturally good, but the gang of foxes and dogs under him are mostly on the same page as Chen Minggang. The purpose of reporting to the official is just to come to a few government officials to investigate and nothing will be done. These cheap servants came into the house, I I’m also afraid of dirtying my house.”
"master--"
"Stop talking, I have my own sense of discretion." Liu Dalin said. After all this tossing, his sleepiness disappeared, he comforted his wife a few more words, and went outside to light a candle and read a book.
The book was just bought from Guangzhou by his trustee - since there are regular ships from Gaoguang Shipping Company, it has become much more convenient for his trustee to buy things from Guangzhou. This is a collection of several scientific examinations during the Tianqi period and Enkoli's Chinese-style imperial examinations in the first year of Chongzhen. They are all first-class eight-part essays. This kind of anthology is generally only interested in reading by scholars who are still eager for fame. However, those who have won the Jinshi have the same attitude towards this kind of books as students after the college entrance examination towards test questions. Liu Dalin was so enthusiastic about this because he wanted to teach a few disciples and win one or two more Jinshi for the county.
But in the imperial examination, there is a saying that there is no need to write essays in the field. Writing colorful essays does not necessarily lead to success in the examination. The higher the level, the more unpredictable factors there are. Not only must the article be well written, but one must also have a certain understanding of the examiner's temperament, writing style, and the court's intentions. Try to figure out the article that is most appealing to the examiner.
When Liu Dalin studied this book, he wanted to take a good look at the writing style in the academic field in the past ten years. Fortunately, there is targeted guidance during lectures.
However, I can't always read the book. The text that seemed wonderful at first seems to be extremely boring now.
"It's empty." Liu Dalin patted the table. Involuntarily, he thought about the arrow again. It was obvious that Chen Minggang and his gang intended to intimidate him, but they were too courageous to do so. Could it be that the Australians were behind this? I think it's unlikely. Australians don't need to go to such great lengths to deal with themselves. As long as you say "the report is not accurate", no one in the county can do anything. Why do you need to do this?
It seems that only Chen Minggang and his group can do this. Thinking that this person actually relied on the power of the Australians to do such a treasonous thing. Even when the Li people were in chaos and the county was in crisis, there had never been such chaos in the city, not to mention that it was directed against him. Liu Dalin's self-esteem was greatly affected. Stimulating - He has always been humble, regardless of the other person's status. The whole county also respected him. Now a subordinate official dared to threaten him so blatantly, which was simply unbearable.
"You think this ghostly trick can scare me." Liu Dalin said bitterly.
But when I went to accuse the Australians, it was an unfounded and unfounded case. He thought about it again and again and decided not to say anything for the time being. Immediately, the caregiver called the housekeeper and asked him to organize all the young men in the family and keep them on duty day and night to guard against anyone causing trouble.
However, early the next morning, the whole county was in great panic. It turned out that that night, in addition to the Liu Dalin family who was shot with an arrow, there were also several wealthy gentry families in the county who had knives thrown into them. There was a sticker on it, with words written in a messy manner, reminding them that "too much talk will lead to mistakes" and asking them to "be careful of dog heads". A knife was inserted into the gate of the dignified county school shooting garden. Knives were even thrown in front of the student dormitory of the county school.
This incident immediately caused a sensation in the whole city. In less than half a day, everyone in Dongmen City was aware of it. Such a thing had never happened before in this county. It brings a little bit of color to the boring life in this county. There was a lot of discussion everywhere for a while.
Almost everyone in the discussion agreed that this was done by Chen Minggang and his group. Some people were surprised by the boldness of Chen Minggang and his group, while others lamented that the gentry had lost all their prestige.
Although Liu Dalin told his family not to spread rumors about someone shooting arrows, by noon, many people in the county already knew that Liu Dalin's family was also warned about someone shooting arrows. Many people came to the Liu family in sedan chairs to express their condolences. Liu Dalin was confused - who leaked the news? Others came to greet him out of sincerity, but it was inconvenient for him to disappear, so he had to go out and deal with it, which made him exhausted.
Huang Xunkun also came to express his condolences. He was not afraid of being stabbed in the door - the bandits who were against the Huang family had sent all kinds of threats to the Huang family, and he laughed them all off. However, what Chen Minggang and his group did was beyond his expectation. Especially how dare they threaten Liu Dalin so nakedly
"Uncle was frightened"
"It's just a young man trying to jump off the beam. It's not worth mentioning." Liu Dalin didn't care about this.
"This matter should be reported to the official"
"There is no need to report to the official." Liu Dalin said his thoughts again.
"Uncle, you still have to report it to the police. We don't care whether the case can be solved or not. Now the news about your house being shot with arrows has spread throughout the city. If you just tolerate it like this, wouldn't everyone think you are afraid of these gangsters? ――I would rather make big things into small things than small things into nothing.”
Liu Dalin thought that Huang Xunkun was right, and it would be fine if no one knew about it. Now that the news has spread, it would be no good to pretend to be deaf and dumb, so I asked someone to go to the county government to report it to the official.
The county responded quickly. Not long after, Dianshi came to visit Liu's house. As usual, there were some inspection procedures to be completed. Dianshi pretended to look at the arrow marks in the courtyard of the study, looked at the arrows again, and ordered his men to put them away. physical evidence.
After the investigation, they inevitably had to say some polite words, saying that they would "solve the case within a time limit", and Liu Dalin also responded with a false story.
Everyone knows that this matter has nothing to do with the county government. The key is how the Australians plan to deal with the matter.
The answer came quickly, the day after it happened. The people at the city gate saw a group of people coming from the direction of Bairentan. One-color short clothes and long hair. Knowing that this was an Australian coming, he quickly sent someone to report to the county magistrate.
When the county residents heard that a large group of Australians was coming to the city, they flocked to the city gate to watch the excitement. I saw a team of more than thirty people, all wearing blue jackets and belts around their waists. There were many things hanging on the belts. Some had muskets on their shoulders, and some had swords on their waists and hips. The ranks were neat and energetic. They cheered up and looked really mighty. It was completely different from the county officers and soldiers they were used to seeing, who were in rags and looked like beggars.
"The Australian soldiers are indeed elite -" someone in the crowd watching the excitement commented.
"Why are you looking so fake?"
"Hush, you're going to die, Australian, Australian"
"Yes, yes, these Australian soldiers are recruited locally, and some are recruited from other provinces."
"It's really audacious to feed Australians and serve as soldiers," someone commented.
"Mr. Zhao, if you don't have enough food to eat, you must be braver than them."
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