One of the officers brought a basin of water from a brass basin and placed it on the hall. Sun Chuanting ordered all the money in the money bag to be thrown into the water.

As soon as the money entered the water, a layer of oil splashed on the surface of the water.

He Laogu looked at it and was immediately dumbfounded: "This ...... This ......"

Lu Er was overjoyed: "If you have the surname He, you will lie, but money will not lie." You don't sell meat, where does this oil come from? ”

He shouted upward: "The villain takes the money with his hands when he sells meat, so there is oil on the money, which proves that the money is the villain, and he is the thief......"

He Laogu was full of anxiety and wanted to say a few words, but he couldn't say anything.

The people in the hall accused He Laogu one after another, this guy is usually honest, and whoever wants to steal will steal.

Sun Chuanting ordered the servants to tie up He Laogu and escort him down to the court. He Laogu shouted that he was wronged, but no one paid attention to it and was dragged down.

Sun Chuanting returned all the money in the water to Lu Er, and Lu Er thanked him for his kindness, and was about to leave the court, but Sun Chuanting kept him: "When the official first arrived in Huayin, the geography was not familiar to everyone, you have been selling meat here for ten years, you must know this place very well, and stay for a while, the official wants to ask you something." ”

Lu Er got the money back, and he was happy: "The adults just ask, as long as the villain knows, he will definitely know everything." ”

Sun Chuanting carefully asked about the price of meat, rice, wheat, and the customs of this place, Lu Er said happily, foaming at the mouth, Zhang Yi listened below, frowned tightly, and secretly thought that this person is very close to the people, and this Huayin City will be a difficult bone to gnaw in the future, and the top priority is to move this person away.

I only heard that Sun Chuanting in the hall was still asking this and that, and the people below were a little annoyed when they heard it, and many people already wanted to leave.

Suddenly, Sun Chuanting changed his words and asked: "When you put oil on the money in your money bag, no one saw it." ”

Lu Er didn't react for a while, and said casually: "No one saw ......" Sun Chuanting then asked: "How did you wipe it?" Lu Er replied: "The villain just ...... with his hands"

When he said this, he realized that something was wrong, and he fell for someone else's job, so he hurriedly stopped.

But these two sentences are enough.

Sun Chuanting's face sank like water, and he was shocked: "Be bold and reckless, dare to tease the official law." He Laogu lost the money bag to you, if you don't return it, you can just return it, and you actually framed it, and you didn't invite it from the truth. ”

A cold sweat broke out on Lu Er's head, but he still denied it. Sun Chuanting shouted angrily: "You still dare to deny it!" He glanced to the left and right, and two messengers stepped forward and threw the torture instrument in front of his eyes. Lu Er was so frightened that he almost peed his pants, and hurriedly kowtowed: "The villain has recruited, the villain has recruited...... Everything is exactly as the adults say......"

After he finished confessing, Sun Chuanting asked him to draw a detention, and then patted him in shock: "The prisoner Lu Er, framed others, the evidence is conclusive, the confession is true, although the case is light, the situation is hateful, according to the law of the Ming Dynasty, the rod will be punished for forty years, and the labor will be carried out for one month, and it will be executed immediately." ”

Several messengers dragged Lu Er to the bottom of the hall, pressed him to the ground, and beat him with a stick. Everyone looked at it and praised it one after another, saying that Sun Chuanting's heart was bright, and he was a demon clown, and there was nothing to hide.

At this time, Sun Chuanting brought He Laogu back, returned all the money and money bags, declared him innocent, and ordered him to return home. He Laogu knelt on the ground and shouted to the sky.

After the case was closed, everyone dispersed, and Sun Chuanting was about to leave the court, when he suddenly heard someone in the hall shouting: "Slow down, adult, I have a grievance appeal." ”

When Sun Chuanting looked at it, a white-faced scholar came up from the hall and asked, "What grievances do you have?" ”

It was Zhang Yi who came, he looked at the messenger in the hall and the people in the hall, took a few steps forward, and said in a low voice: "There are many people here, and I would like to ask the adults to move to the back hall and talk alone." ”

Sun Chuanting sneered: "You are afraid of a lot of people, do you want to bribe this official in private?" If this is the case, the scholar can retire, go home and read more about the Tao of Confucius and Mencius, and then come out to be a man. ”

This is already very harsh and very polite.

Zhang Yi smiled slightly: "I want to bribe adults, but not with money, but with 10,000 heads." ”

Sun Chuanting was taken aback: "What do you mean by this?" Zhang Yi didn't say anything, but still looked at the people around. Sun Chuanting instructed the officer: "Leave the hall and bring this person to the back hall for questioning." ”

After a while, Sun Chuanting changed into civilian clothes and came to the back hall, where Zhang Yi was standing in the hall, looking at the calligraphy and paintings on the wall. Seeing that Sun Chuanting was coming, he stepped forward and saluted. Sun Chuanting invited him to sit down, and he also returned to his seat, and then asked: "The scholar is here, there must be a big event." ”

Zhang Yi arched his hand: "Not bad." Under the surname Zhang Mingyi, it is the Baozheng of Huazhuang in the twenty miles outside Huayin County. ”

Sun Chuanting sneered: "As far as I know, the people of Yuehuazhuang have already been killed by thieves, captive, and the whole village is burned, where is there still Baozheng." Zhang Yi nodded: "My lord is right." My baozheng is self-appointed, and there are thousands of people in Yuehuazhuang now. Sun Chuanting was not surprised: "Where are you all from?" ”

Zhang Yi replied: "I am all the people of Xianyang, because my hometown was ransacked by thieves, so I fled here." When we arrived, several villages were burned, and we wanted to put out the flames and reorganize the villages, but this required the approval of the government, so we came to ask for help. ”

Sun Chuanting looked at him, and his words seemed to be with ice blades: "How do I know that you are not thieves?" ”

Zhang Yi smiled: "My lord, wherever the thieves went, after burning, killing and looting, they roared away, have you ever seen and heard of the settled thieves?" The reason why the thieves are difficult to catch is that they have no fixed place to live, they plunder everywhere, and if they settle down, they will be exterminated by the official army in a few days. I think that, they know very well. ”

Sun Chuanting nodded slowly: "If you want to settle down, it's not difficult." But you must be sent by the government. Taxes, money, food, and hard labor are all indispensable. ”

Zhang Yi said: "This is natural, I will come to Huayin to settle down, and I will be from Huayin in the future, and everything should be obeyed by the government." ”

Sun Chuanting stared at Zhang Yi intently: "But all this is just your empty words, there is no evidence, there are still doubts about whether you are good citizens or not." To clear up this doubt, I have an idea. ”

Zhang Yi stood up and saluted: "Please also ask your lord to instruct ......" Sun Chuanting took out a Tang newspaper from his sleeve: "Yesterday, there was an emergency military intelligence coming, there was a stream of rogues in Baishui, led by King Qi, he heard that the thieves who lit the lamp and other thieves had fished a lot of oil and water in Huayin, and his eyes were tight, so he hurried here with a whip, and he could arrive the day after tomorrow at the latest." Our army is under-strengthened, and can only defend the city, not meet it. Therefore, I would like to ask you and the other exiles to organize their troops and intercept the King of Neatness. If you can repel the thieves, it will be a great achievement, and I will allow you to settle down. ”

Zhang Yiyi frowned: "We are all hungry people, how can we defeat the thieves?" In case you can't win......"

Sun Chuanting sneered slightly: "If you can't win, I'll bother you to settle in other counties, Huayin County will not take in bloodless people." ”

Zhang Yi thought for a while: "The thieves are coming from afar, they must be prepared, the equipment is complete, we are hungry and unarmed, how can we fight?" Please allocate some weapons and horses to support the enemy. ”

Sun Chuanting sneered: "The blacksmith shops in your villages are non-stop day and night, I know that they are for making farm tools, but they are used to make some weapons, so it's not a problem." ”

Zhang Yi secretly said in her heart: What a powerful Sun Chuanting, it seems that before this person arrived in Huayin, he had already sent spies to find out the situation of the entire county. Fortunately, those spies did not go to the village to investigate carefully, and if they found that most of the weapons were made, Sun Chuanting would definitely be suspicious.

After Sun Chuanting finished speaking, he picked up the tea bowl, which is called serving tea to send guests. Zhang Yi said goodbye, went out of the county office, called Suicong, and didn't even return to the inn, and hurried back to Yuehuazhuang.

After seeing the King of Qin and telling him about the matter, the King of Qin immediately summoned Bai Qi, Wang Jian and Fan Ju to discuss countermeasures.

Fan Ju listened to what Zhang Yi said, and frowned: "As the right minister said, this Sun Chuanting is really a strong opponent. It seems that this battle will not work if it is not fought. ”

Wang Jian smashed his fist on his leg: "The soldiers have long been able to suffocate and jump up and down, and they will fight happily to establish our prestige, so that other thieves will not dare to harass again." ”

Fan Ju shook his head: "This battle must be fought." If we can't win, of course, we can't, but once we win easily, Sun Chuanting will be suspicious again. ”

Bai Qi smiled: "What's so difficult about this, as long as you pretend to be a miserable victory, you can deceive the surnamed Sun." Fan Ju asked, "How to pretend to be a miserable victory?" Bai Qi stopped talking: "I have my own opinion on this." The king and the two prime ministers don't have to worry. ”

At this moment, a sentry ran in outside the door: "Your lord, seventy miles to the northwest, there is a group of men and horses, looking in the direction of us." ”