Secretary Zhu gently stepped across the threshold of the study room and saw about ten people in the room gathered around the table to discuss. At this time, they all looked directly at him, and no one spoke.
Zhu Shuban felt uncomfortable all over, so he had to bite the bullet and ask, "When will the county master come?"
"Isn't that right? I sent someone to invite you. They'll be here in a moment," the executioner stood up and said, "But what is that hanging on your waist?"
"Isn't this... a sword?" Zhu Shuban opened the corner of his clothes, untied the sword, and showed it to them.
The prison clerk walked around him and asked coldly: "We are all humble officials, where did this thing come from?"
Secretary Zhu's face tensed up nervously: "The person from the Inspection Department gave this to me yesterday. I think the quality is good, so I put it on my body. Is there any problem?"
"Of course there is a problem!" the secretary of the execution room shouted and snatched the sword away. "These things of unknown origin should be handed over to the magistrate and the censor first. How can you be allowed to take them for yourself! We have to wait for something big to happen. It’s over, I’ll be the first to ask you about your sin!”
After that, he took advantage of the situation and pulled out the scabbard, revealing seven characters faintly engraved on the back of the blade: 'Xuanhua Governor Zhang Chenghuai'. He was so frightened that his face turned pale, and he hurriedly retracted the scabbard, turned around and said to everyone: " This object is very suspicious, so let's hang it in the back room first." Then he pretended that nothing happened and asked someone to take it elsewhere.
Not long after Secretary Zhu sat down and exchanged a few words with everyone, he heard a clear voice outside shouting: "What happened in the Yamen?"
Fortunately, they all understood it, so they were led by the secretary of the execution room and hurriedly greeted them outside the door: "Master County, something is not going well! Mr. Dong issued a document, forcing me to hand over twenty With the remaining ten thousand taels of silver, we will recruit civilians to build the city, otherwise we will be punished for 'disobedience' and be punished to the end!"
"I think Dong Sheng wants to take this opportunity to eliminate dissidents, control the border, and deliberately creates problems for us!" Someone else said this, causing an uproar in the surrounding area.
Seeing such a scene, the magistrate was obviously panicked. He grabbed the execution room secretary's arm and asked, "Is this true?"
"If it's not true, why are so many of us gathered together!" After saying that, the clerk took out the note, "This is written by Dong Sheng himself. It was received by Cun Sijin yesterday, and he ordered the villain to hand it over Watch with you.”
The county magistrate took it and took a look. It was indeed Dong Sheng's handwriting, and it was not bad at all.
"Do the people know about this?" Even though he was frightened, he didn't forget to ask about it.
"Cun Sijin sent someone to read it in the market, and the people immediately became excited. The city was full of uproar and order was unstable. Yesterday, the Inspection Department even arrested one person."
The magistrate shook his head and said: "The anger among the people is so great that it must be impossible to implement it; but Dong Jianjun's attitude is so eager, and I can't afford to offend him. Do you want me to sit back and wait for death?"
Seeing that the time had come, the Clerk of the Ministry of Punishment held up his hands and advised: "Actually, the Cun Si Jin couldn't stand Dong Sheng, so he proposed to close the city gates and cut off money and food, so that Suidi would be in chaos without a fight, and Dong Sheng would be burdened with the loss." As long as he is gone, we can breathe a sigh of relief."
The magistrate looked at the crowd, hesitated for a while, then stamped his foot and said: "Dong Sheng is not kind to me, so we don't have to think about him. That's all we can do now! You quickly send someone to ask the chief inspector to have him together in the study." Discuss!”
The clerk said: "It's not too late. Your Excellency, you should make all preparations first and declare martial law. Don't sit in the Yamen and wait in vain. If you miss a good opportunity because of this, it will be too late to regret it."
The magistrate nodded repeatedly and ordered the military department to draw up documents and deploy troops to establish martial law. Secretary Zhu thought it would be safer to go to the Inspection Department in person, and with everyone's unanimous consent, he went out together with the Secretary of the Prison Department and went their separate ways.
"You are finally here!" The magistrate looked forward to Cun Zhao like his parents, and immediately knelt down respectfully to him, "I hope you can save our lives!"
Now Cun Zhao's face was full of joy. He bent down a little, helped him up and said, "I came here for the sake of Huai'an, why do I need to do this big ceremony? I wonder if I can go to the barracks to transfer people?"
"I sent a clerk to the Inspection Department, but for some reason he still hasn't come back. He is really slow in doing things." The magistrate looked out the window with anxious eyes.
"I have to say that his behavior is extremely suspicious." After hearing the magistrate's words, the secretary of the execution room became more suspicious. "He just brought a sword..."
"Sword?" Cun Zhao stood solemnly, "Please let me have a look."
The clerk walked into the back room and came out immediately holding a sword. Cun Zhao glanced at it with a cold eye and was surprised: "This is not the sword Zhang Chenghuai carries with him, why is he living here?" Could it be that...Dong Sheng has sent him here, one step ahead of me? 'My heart couldn't stop ringing, and my expression was a bit weird. Although I still managed to smile, it was extremely stiff.
He stretched out his hand to take the sword, looked at it several times, then snorted coldly, pretending not to know: "What's so strange about this thing?"
"You should take a look."
Cun Zhao turned around and asked, "What's on the sword?"
The clerk reported loudly: "The name of Governor Zhang is engraved on it!"
After hearing this, the magistrate suddenly raised his head and looked at Cun Zhao. Unexpectedly, the latter took his time, put the sword aside, and laughed a few times: "Captain Zhang's sword is not like this. I'm afraid someone is trying to scare me. Don't let it mess up your mind. event."
The county magistrate and others had great trust in Cun Zhao, so they naturally surrendered and obeyed his orders: "Cun Si Jiguo is knowledgeable. I don't know what to do next?"
Cun Zhao quickly walked to the gate and looked around, making sure that no one was there. Then he came back and said to everyone: "As long as the county magistrate issues a document describing Dong Sheng's cruelty, but don't tell Cun's story." Name it, just say that it was you alone. Otherwise, if the person named Ye Thief finds out, he will scold me as Party Chen’s eyes and ears, and if he investigates further, the matter will be ruined."
The magistrate felt that it was justified, but was afraid that he would not be able to bear this great responsibility, so he called the secretary of the execution room to draft and sign the document together. Cun Zhao crossed his legs, spread his fingers and calculated something, his eyes wandered around, as if he no longer cared about their affairs.
I don't know how much time passed, but Cun Zhao's ears suddenly heard the sound of footsteps getting closer and closer. He immediately stopped moving, and the pen of the magistrate next to him also stopped.
"How brave! How dare you carry out a secret conspiracy behind Dong Supervisor's back? Are you trying to resist the decree?"
I saw Zhang Chenghuai striding in, and Dong Sheng rushed in one after the other. Dozens of soldiers from the Inspection Department followed, and they immediately surrounded the study, not allowing anyone to escape.
"Get it!" Cun Zhao's expression suddenly changed and he yelled at the magistrate angrily, "I should have known that you don't act like a gentleman. Now that we have all the witnesses, what else do you have to say!"
