Ouyang Rong closed his eyes in the darkness, but couldn't sleep.
The more he thought about it, the more something was wrong.
Why did my merit suddenly increase in the middle of the night? He didn't do anything just now, he just gave a few random instructions.
Is it possible that he saved her by letting Banxi go back and rejecting her suggestion that she wanted to sleep on the bed, or that... by giving cakes to Lao Cui and other scribes and letting them take a rest, he saved them?
Doesn't that mean there are changes in the East Treasury?
Ouyang Rong immediately got off the table and rushed out the door.
When he rushed to the east warehouse, he caught a dark shadow flashing across the roof of the east warehouse from a distance. He immediately saw the silhouette of the little junior sister rushing out of the door below, leaping up to the roof nimbly, bending her bow and shooting arrows under the moon, and then chased after him. Going up, there was some chaos outside the east warehouse door below.
Ouyang Rong hung a dagger borrowed from his junior sister on his waist. He held the hilt on his side to be on guard. He immediately stepped forward and learned the specific situation from the soldiers and scribes he met. He was relieved immediately. But when he heard Old Cui Tou continued to work in the east warehouse, but was a little worried, so he went straight in without greeting Qin Heng outside the door...
Then Ouyang Rong saw a scene that made him silent.
"What are you doing?"
The old man, who had been operating quietly since just now, shook his body.
Ouyang Rong did not look back, but stretched out his hand to stop Qin Heng and other soldiers who were about to rush in from behind.
He said seriously: "Put down the lamp."
Old Cui Tou nodded silently, let go, and the lamp fell down, landing on the pile of account books filled with strange liquid.
In an instant, a volcano suddenly rose on the table.
It even spread along the edge of the table to the old man in front of the table. This strange liquid seemed to be more flammable than petroleum, and the fire spread very quickly. If Ouyang Rong hadn't rushed in and pushed Old Cui away immediately, the old man would have been engulfed in flames in the next second. engulfed by tongues of flame.
"Magistrate Ouyang, account book!"
Qin Heng grabbed a bucket of well water and was about to throw it on the table, but Ouyang Rong snatched it away. The first bucket of well water poured on Old Cui Tou's head, and the second bucket too. Fortunately, the strange liquid on his body Not much, the fire ignites quickly and goes out quickly.
However, even so, Old Cui Tou was severely burned. Most of his hair, beard, and eyebrows were burnt, like a carrot that had just been pulled out of the earth and had its roots soaked in mud.
The fire on the pile of ledgers on the table was not extinguished until the seventh bucket of water, leaving only ashes.
Qin Heng's generals stopped talking.
"Everyone get out."
Ouyang Rong didn't even look at them or the embers on the table. He walked over and dragged a chair. He threw his tired body on the back of the chair and stared at the old man curled up in pain on the floor in front of him. He clenched the hilt of his sword tightly with his fingers.
There were only two people left in the house.
"Why?"
asked the young magistrate.
"Yes...I'm sorry."
"No, no, no, it's not me you're sorry for." He shook his head, lowered his eyes and said word by word: "Tell me, why."
"I...have thought about refusing."
"But you didn't refuse."
"I escaped from the disaster that year, and my life was saved by the Liu family's porridge shed."
"Can their poor porridge shed still save people?" Ouyang Rong smiled.
"This is now. When Mr. Liu was still alive, it was not like this, and the three brothers are not allowed to do this... At that time, the Liu family's porridge shed did not cut off their wealth, and they did save some people."
"I thought you were a special chess piece of the Liu family. I had expected that someone would lead troops to check the accounts."
"I'm not a dead soldier. I found my own job in the county government. After Mr. Liu passed away, I haven't contacted the Liu family for many years. I even thought the Liu family had forgotten me, but... I still came to visit."
Old Cui Tou smiled sadly and shook his head, "Sir."
The young magistrate shrunk into the large chair and calmly responded "Yes."
"This love for the Liu family... I have to repay it."
"Self-immolation."
"The account has been burned, and the Liu family and I have canceled everything. But I feel sorry for the young master and the tens of thousands of refugees outside the city."
"What kind of bullshit is this?"
"Do you think this nonsense doesn't even make sense to you?" Old Cui looked up at the sky and murmured, "I've been calculating my whole life, but I still haven't settled this final sum."
"Is it worth it to just die?"
"My life is cheap..."
"You are indeed a bitch."
Ouyang Rong nodded, "You did something mean, so your life is cheap, but you could have been born with a bad life. It was you who fell."
Lao Cui was startled, and Ouyang Rong spoke firmly: "No man is born with a mean destiny. Whether he is mean or not depends on whether he has done noble or despicable things. What about you? Noble or despicable?"
"I..." Lao Cui's body started to tremble and he couldn't say a word.
Ouyang Rong leaned his upper body forward, supporting his knees with his elbows, and coldly looked down at his increasingly frightened eyes:
"Justice is less important to you than a bowl of porridge more than ten years ago?"
"I..." Old Cui Tou said cowardly: "I think Young Master can win... Only one family will be burned, and there will be twelve others, so it will not affect the disaster relief..."
"The Liu family is the chief culprit. If the Liu family does not fall, raiding the other twelve families first is tantamount to driving away wolves and raising tigers, and may even encourage tigers and wolves to conspire to achieve death. Besides..." Ouyang Rong asked calmly: "Can I win in the end? Does it have anything to do with whether you do something despicable or not?”
Old Cui Tou opened his mouth blankly, unable to speak.
Ouyang Rong stood up, looked out the window at the distant mountains, and nodded to his conclusion:
"Every favor must be repaid. I respect you as a man. It can be seen that you have forgotten your righteousness for a small favor. You have brought shame to the men of Wuyue."
Lao Cuitou's face was full of pain, he hugged his head and cried, his hoarse voice filled with regret: "Master, I... I was wrong... I miscalculated... I am sorry for you..."
"No, it's not me you're most sorry for. Go and say sorry to the refugees outside the city."
There was another glimmer in Lao Cuitou's eyes. This glimmer was very complicated. It contained guilt, regret, hope for life, and pain for the future: "Okay, I'll apologize, do something to atone for my sins, and spend the rest of my life." Make cows and horses for them..."
Ouyang Rong shook his head, "No need to go to such trouble, just go through part of it."
"What part..."
Before the old man finished speaking in confusion, the young magistrate walked over neatly, cut off a head with a slash of his sword, and the headless body fell to the ground.
The young county magistrate, who was cutting wheat in one go, stood there and looked down at the sword in his hand and "Old Cui Tou".
The cold light from the sword illuminated an eyebrowless face with charred flesh and blood.
It is a beautiful sword, but the white blade is not stained with blood, only droplets of blood like mercury slip off it.
He can slay dragons.
Ouyang Rong, who committed a murder for the first time, wiped the blood spattered on his face with the cloth on his shoulder. He stood there and sheathed his sword. However, after several attempts, he could not insert the sheath hole on his waist. He simply gave up and picked up the sword. Picking up a head, turned around and walked out slowly.
In the courtyard, Xie Lingjiang, Qin Duwei, Yan Liulang, and Diao County Magistrate were all there. Everyone quietly gathered outside the door. They opened their eyes wide and saw a frail and scholarly magistrate walking out with a head in one hand.
Xie Lingjiang raised the two broken bronze animal faces with his fingers, looked at his senior brother worriedly, and stepped forward to speak, but his sleeves were pulled by Yan Liulang behind him.
The blood-stained face of the young county magistrate looked frighteningly calm.
He casually threw a human head in front of everyone:
"traitor."
There was silence.
"Take it and hang it on the city wall," he added.
There was a complex look mixed with awe in everyone's eyes. As Ouyang Rong moved forward expressionlessly, the crowd in front of him spontaneously parted ways.
Only Diao Xiancheng, who had just arrived at the scene and didn't know the situation, was as talkative as ever. He walked up to him and said with a grimace:
"Oh Ming Mansion, my subordinates said that they can't investigate, they can't investigate. What if something is found? People will be killed. If there is any problem, let's discuss it peacefully. To govern such a large county with so many gentry and wealthy families, we have to Simmer over low heat..."
Ouyang Rong suddenly drew his sword and slashed forward, "Stew your mother's head."
"Ah... help, help..."
Diao County Magistrate was so frightened that the spirit of the dead emerged and ran away. Ouyang Rong pursued him with a sullen face and sword. Diao County Magistrate shouted for help at the top of his voice. However, no one dared to stop the rampaging magistrate at the moment. They all looked on blankly. , and even some people who were blocking the way of the two men made way silently...
As a result, under the watchful eyes of everyone, the magistrate of a county and the prime minister of a county staged a wave of life and death in the courtyard.
"Calm down in Mingfu... Calm down in Mingfu...ah!"
It's a pity that Diao County Magistrate is a social beast in the officialdom who is always sleepy at 8 o'clock in the morning and stays up late at night. He can't outrun Ouyang County Magistrate, who is the runner-up in the 100-meter race in the school sports meeting. Before he can run half a lap, he screams and is hit by a flying gun from behind. Kicked down, a dog came to eat shit, and the black gauze hat flew out of the courtyard wall.
Ouyang Rong was riding on Diao Xiancheng, holding down the thin head with his hands. The sword was thrust into his neck, which was longer than a duck, and the white blade was almost completely submerged in the soil.
The hairs on the skin of Diao County Cheng's neck could almost be swept away by the sharp edge of the sharp blade. He was so frightened that he was so frightened that he stretched his neck with his eyes wide open, just like a duck being pressed on a chopping board and beheaded.
"Mingfu, spare your life, Mingfu, spare your life, wuwuwu..."
"Chirp Wai Wai Wai Wai Wai Wai Wai Wai Wai ... all day long in my ears, kneeling down to beg for food and dragging me along?!"
"No, Xiaguan, Xiaguan is really doing Mingfu's good...Mingfu, calm down! Calm down!"
Ouyang Rong opened Diao Xiancheng's eyelids with his fingers, and stared at Diao Xiancheng's fearful eyes with his bloodshot eyes. His right hand was on the hilt of the sword next to his neck. As long as he pushed it forward slightly, he would You can also harvest a fresh head.
"Calm down?" The young magistrate tilted his head: "Tell me why I am so cold and so quiet. I can't tell you why. I'll chop off your head first and sacrifice it to the flag. Then I will lead my troops to knock on the door of Liu's house and ransack the houses one by one!"
"...!!!" Diao County Cheng.
