"Get aboard!"
Zhao Shou gave an order, and all the officers and soldiers jumped on the bow of the ship, rocking the oars when they should, and pulling the sails when they should. Because the boats chosen were all the size of small boats, they were easy to maneuver. After a while, more than a dozen boats set off from the shore, pushing forward like a long dragon.
When Lu Deguang saw the boats swimming to the center of the water, he ordered the sergeants on the shore to raise flags and drums, and the boats in the middle of the water quickly moved inward; the boats on both sides formed a circle, put regimental plaques on the wings, and leaned against the bows and muskets. , sounded together, causing waves to rise on the water surface and hit the warship.
Ye Yongjia was fascinated by what he saw on the shore. The formations of the warships were of various shapes, but he had never seen them before, so he was in awe of them.
After playing for half an hour, Professor Zhao's legs and feet were no longer sore. It could be seen that Magistrate Lu was still standing upright, so he did not dare to sit down. When the time came, he hurriedly shouted towards the center of the water:
"Get back to the ship!"
This was a clear cry. After hearing this, everyone on the warship responded with a "Yes!" and then formed a team with neat military appearance and swung towards the shore.
There was a boat following closely behind. On the boat stood ten veterans who had set fire to the house. If it weren't for the shocking scene that happened next, they wouldn't have been stared at with all the horrified eyes.
Just when the warship was about to leave the center of the water, it started to rock unexpectedly violently. Ye Yongjia immediately glanced there, but the warship tilted back quickly and unresponsively, and the ten men standing on it All of them fell into the water with a loud sound and were covered under the boat!
A few were still struggling on the water surface, clinging to the hull of the boat with their hands, but because they were in deep water and inaccessible to water, they had to sink; some were still fluttering their arms in the air, and the stern of the boat closest to them was still struggling. But the people stared nervously at the hands. It wasn't until they were completely submerged in the water that they saw Lu Deguang running around on the shore, dancing his arms in an exaggerated way, shouting: "Help!" Only then did some people risk their lives. They got into the water and tried their best to lift one person's body; the people standing in the other boat rowed over and worked together to pull the body into the boat and then carried it to the shore.
His whole body was pale and cold.
Lu Deguang touched his arm to confirm that the man would not wake up again, and then breathed out weakly. Then he carefully looked at the man's face. He didn't say anything for a long time. His eyes were hard and his eyes were red, as if he was brewing sadness.
Only Ye Yongjia saw the sincerity displayed by this false heart the most. He heard the chuckle and the empty cry at the same time.
Lu Deguang was really crying. Everyone could hear this, and their voices were almost hoarse; people stood aside wiping away tears and stared intently at Lu Deguang lying on the corpse, his body shaking from time to time.
"Brothers from the Inspection Department..." he said sobbing.
"How many people are there on this boat?" Lu Deguang said sadly.
"ten people."
"Not water-resistant?"
"Yes, they are just soldiers catching thieves..." The officer lowered his head and said.
Lu Deguang stood up and slapped him hard: "Then how could you let them come here? Don't you mean to harm others!"
He turned back to Ye Yongjia, who was looking at the place where the boat capsized, as if he felt something was fishy in the water.
The officer felt the burning pain on his face, but he still did not dare to say a word and replied truthfully: "I... I had no choice but to recruit them because of the insufficient number of people and for fear of damaging the dignity of the training troops."
"Then you should have reported it earlier!" Lu Deguang scolded. "You have to fish out all the people in the water, or I'll give you an additional penalty... I'll kill you!" With that said, he waved his hand, called Magistrate Zhao, and angrily returned to the county seat.
The ten people were finally fished out by the officers. The officer checked them over and over again until they were absolutely correct. Then he wrote their names on a piece of paper as requested by the prefect, and also stated the situation at home, and handed it to Lu Deguang.
Lu Deguang went on to give instructions one by one: for a wealthy family with many fields, give them five taels of silver; for a house that can support themselves, give them ten taels of silver; for a poor family without food and clothing, give them thirty taels of silver; if so, For orphans and widows, twenty taels of allowance will be added.
The family members of the deceased received the pension, and although they could not help but feel sad, they still praised Magistrate Lu for his benevolence and righteousness, and they were all grateful to him. The people in the state also spread the news word of mouth, and it became a good story. As for how the boat capsized bizarrely, many people, including Ye Yongjia, did not know and did not dare to investigate. So, in less than four and a half months, this old story came to an end.
Secretary Chen also spent such a peaceful four and a half months in the office. Until this letter - the letter in front of me appeared in front of me.
After opening the cover and scanning the handwriting, it became clear that it was Yuan Lun's own handwriting. This is what it says:
'Special submission to Clerk Chen of the Preparatory Office: Since Lu Deguang captured our Xihua, the situation has become more and more difficult. Fortunately, the governor sent people to get the facts about the arson case in the house. He knew that the person who set the fire was not the so-called Liu Shuban. That guy is Lu Deguang. All have clear proofs, listed as follows:...'
Secretary Chen looked at the evidence and saw that he wrote:
'The scribe can report this letter to the province. When the province sees the letter, he will send someone to Chenzhou to find out. Once the magistrate is deposed, our success will be accomplished. Remember to tear off the beginning and end of the letter, and only tell the scribes what you are saying. Handwritten by Yuan Lun of the Governor's Office. '
Secretary Chen read the half-written letter several times, and was about to tear it apart when he was suddenly tapped on the shoulder. He was so frightened that he took a breath and hurriedly hid the letter.
"Who wrote the letter?"
The person behind him was Li Yong, who greeted him with a smile.
"Brother Li, why are you free to come to the office? There are no arrangements with Prefect Lu?" Secretary Chen pretended to be familiar with him, smiled, and put the letter into his pocket.
"I can't say I'm very busy on weekdays. Today I'm here to see your brothers in the office." After saying that, he looked at the officials walking around. Seeing that no one was paying attention, he took out a ten-tael silver note and put it on the table. The clerk's eyes flashed, and he lowered his voice and said, "Can you let me have a look?"
Secretary Chen was stunned for a long time, then reached out to take the banknote, secretly rolled it into the bag, and then handed over the letter.
"You said the house was burned by Mr. Lu?" Li Yong glanced at it briefly and asked with a frown.
"Is this really happening?"
"Of course not." Li Yong sneered and handed the letter to him: "If you submit the letter to the province and the province comes to investigate, there will be no real evidence of this matter. If the time comes to accuse you of a false accusation, you will be stupid. Eyesight."
Secretary Chen didn't take it seriously when he saw that he was telling the truth, so he forgot about the complaint.
"You hang out with Yuan Lun and run errands for him, but you don't get any benefits." Li Yong seemed to be sighing for him.
"Master Lu has tricked me for a while." Secretary Chen said this with a somewhat angry tone.
"That was an old thing. Now I have found a good deal, and I was just about to ask Secretary Chen if I would like to do it?"
"What?" Secretary Chen immediately lost his resentment and stared at him greedily.
"There are too many people here, let's go outside to discuss."
Secretary Chen quickly stood up and followed him out of the office.
