Chapter 57: Murder with a Knife

When Zeng Ziren followed the gatekeeper and walked out of the house to see, there were already a group of villagers wearing linen and filial piety under the stone steps in front of the commander's door. In front of the villagers, there were seven straw mats, and the straw mats covered with white cloth were seven corpses, and even the two stone lions at the door were wrapped around several circles of white cloth.

Seeing someone coming out of the mansion, those villagers cried and screamed, especially the people kneeling in front of the corpse, they were crying one by one, grabbing the ground with their heads, and shouting wrongs in their mouths, attracting passers-by to stop and watch.

Xia Ang was tied with a strong hemp rope, kneeling on the steps with his head bowed, his face was blue and swollen, and there were blood stains on the corners of his mouth, and it seemed that he had been tortured by them last night.

This Zeng Ziren had just been sent out by his old man, and he was already unhappy in his heart, and then he was taken out by this porter to see this group of villagers wearing linen and filial piety and Xia Ang kneeling in front, and he felt his chest tumbling and blood surging, he pointed to these people in front of the door and said angrily: "This is the commander of the embassy, the imperial court is a heavy place, you are crying and making trouble here, and you also tied this court official in front of the door, don't you want to live!" ”

These villagers in front of the door were suddenly weakened a lot by Zeng Ziren's shouting, and the innate fear of the official family was deeply written in their bones. Gradually, only intermittent low sobbing remained, still kneeling in front of the government and refusing to leave.

When Xia Ang, who was kneeling in front, heard this voice, he raised his head and saw that it was indeed a familiar face, and he hurriedly cried at Zeng Ziren and said, "Young Master Zeng save me!" ”

Zeng Ziren glanced at him and frowned, "Untie him!" He motioned to the guard in front of the door, intending to let Xia Ang go first.

"Can't put it!"

A clear voice came from the crowd, Zeng Ziren looked up, and saw that the comfortable man in a plain brocade robe walked forward from behind, accompanied by a man in a purple and black robe, holding a short crossbow, and several guards.

"It's you again!"

Zeng Ziren saw An Yi's appearance, his eyes were about to erupt with fire, he felt that since An Yi came to this Chengdu Mansion, no matter what he did, he could be inserted, no need to ask, this Xia Ang must have been planted in his hands in Songling Village last night, he said a little angrily: "Hmph, what is your identity, tying a four-grade garrison general to command the envoy to make trouble in front of the door, how many heads do you have enough for me to cut off!" ”

An Yi looked at the angry young master, snorted coldly, pointed at Xia Ang and said: "In Xia Huayang County, I don't know any garrison general Xia Ang, I only know that this person is a bandit who killed the people and broke into the military camp in my garrison village last night!" ”

Then he arched his hand towards Zeng Ziren, "I don't know what your official position is?" Don't ask whether it's right or wrong, you have to pick off your head when you come out! ”

This sentence choked Zeng Ziren.

An Yi is obviously sure that this little young master is nothing more than using the reputation of the former commander to make a fortune, and he himself has no official position. Although according to the official system of the imperial court, comfort is also a small official who does not enter the stream, but for Zeng Ziren, who does not have any fame, he still has to be called an adult when he meets.

Zeng Ziren's face turned red after hearing this, but he couldn't say a word. What do you ask him to say? Do you say that you are the son of a commander? That's really going to be a laughing stock.

"Arrest all these troublemakers!"

I couldn't figure out how to answer the sentence of comfort after thinking about it, so I simply didn't want to, and waved my hand to the guards in the government behind me, and I was about to order the arrest of people.

An Yi had long known that Zeng Ziren was going to come to this set in the end, but needless to say, Jin Mingyin, who was already prepared behind him, took a few people and directly pulled out the short crossbow on his waist and aimed it at the guards who were holding crotch knives and wanted to rush up to get people.

For a while, the two sides confronted each other like this.

"Stop it!"

Zeng Hanru's old but thick voice came out from the commander of the capital and delivered it to the ears of everyone in front of the mansion. He was dressed in a red-bottomed silk official robe, with a leopard-like patch on his chest, and strode out of the door.

It was the first time An Yi had seen this old commander, his face full of traces of time had already been ravines, but his cloudy eyes had the firmness and unquestionability that belonged to people in the army.

He pressed his hand to his side, and motioned to Jin Mingyin and the others to put down the short crossbow in their hands, after all, they still mainly came to solve the problem with this commander today.

Of course, the guards on the steps still took the words of the commander as the first military order, and hurriedly withdrew their crotch knives back to their waists and withdrew to the side.

Zeng Hanru walked to the front of the steps, looked at Xia Ang who was tied up in front of him, and glanced at the corpses of the people wearing linen and filial piety in front of the mansion and the kneeling people, and asked An Yi with a blue face: "If the old man is not mistaken, you should be the new regimental training envoy of Huayang County." I don't know what you are making a fuss in front of the old man's yamen today? ”

The commander of the capital is a third-grade feudal official of the imperial court, and when he went out early in the morning, he saw the filial piety robe and the seven corpses on the ground, and he was inevitably a little unhappy.

An Yi listened to Zeng Hanru's question, and his heart was not panicked, he unhurriedly took out a roll of yellowed rice paper from his arms, walked to the bottom of the steps in two steps, stroked the hem of his clothes, knelt in front of the stage, raised the roll of rice paper above his head, and said loudly: "Tell the commander, in the official Huayang County regimental training to make Anyi, and now he is ordered to garrison Songling Village." Last night, during the garrison, he was suddenly attacked by the Wugu sect, and he hurriedly risked his life to resist in order to ensure that there were no casualties among the people. ”

He paused and then said: "After the bandit rebellion has been pacified, the Chengdu garrison general Xia Ang suddenly led the crowd to come, and the people and we all thought that the commander sent the officers and soldiers to assist us in pursuing the fugitives. As a result, dozens of ordinary people in Songling Village escaped from the hands of bandits by luck, but they died under the swords of the officers and soldiers, and the whereabouts of the eleven sergeants in our battalion are still unknown, and all the grain, grass, and houses in the army have been reduced to ashes. In Xia Doudou led the army to capture this thief, with the book of the people of the five hundred and thirty-two households in Songlin Village, and after hearing it, the adults fell! I hope you will see it! ”

Seeing this, the guards lined up on both sides of the door hurriedly trotted down the steps, took the book of the people from An Yi's hands with both hands, and presented it to Zeng Hanru.

"He's telling the truth?"

Zeng Hanru did not immediately take the letter of the people in the guard's hand, but looked at Xia Ang expressionlessly, with a trace of gloom in his eyes.

"No, my lord, I'm really going to suppress bandits, I don't ......." As he spoke, Xia Ang's voice gradually became smaller, not that he had given up arguing and pleading guilty, but that he saw that the chill in the old commander's eyes was getting thicker and thicker, and it was so cold that it froze the Adam's apple that he was still about to plead.

"So, that's true?"

Zeng Hanru slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath, but anyone present could see that his bulging chest was filled with slow anger.

Suddenly, he suddenly opened his eyes again and turned his head to look at Zeng Ziren, "Do you know about this?" ”

Zeng Ziren grew up in the palm of his hand by the old commander, he had never seen his father so terrifying, although his face looked ancient, but the extremely murderous eyes had spread out from the black pupils,

"Father, the child really doesn't know, I just asked Xia Ang to kill the Wugu Sect that collected the 'regular grain', and didn't let him kill these village names!" Zeng Ziren was so stunned by his father that his legs were weak, how could he remember anything else, knelt down in front of Zeng Hanru like this, and poured beans into the bamboo tube and said it all in one go.

Xia Ang, who was beside him, heard that he had even confessed to the Five Grains Sect, and secretly said bitterly in his heart, this little young master is really a master who can't support the wall, and this knot has become a sincere and good child.

An Yi, who knelt in front of the steps, understood it in his heart, and sure enough, it was a bad idea that Zeng Ziren came up with, although this time it may not be specifically aimed at himself, but if Jiang Ruyue was not there last night, An Yi might have taken everyone to guard Shuangliu Village, and in the end, Xia Ang was ruined, not to mention, maybe this little young master would have to think of a hat to button himself. At that time, I will be speechless, and the garrison regiment training can get rid of it? I'm afraid that if you don't die, you will have to peel off the skin.

After listening to his son's words, Zeng Hanru suddenly smiled bitterly as if he was self-deprecating, and then sighed and asked, "Ziren, didn't you say before that this matter was done by the displaced people in the northwest, and it has nothing to do with the Wugu Sect?" ”

Zeng Ziren subconsciously covered his mouth with his hand, only then did he realize his gaffe, and hurriedly kowtowed: "That's not the case, Dad, listen to me, in fact, it's ........"

Zeng Hanru didn't listen to him, so he waved his hand lightly, signaling him not to continue, and then stretched out his left hand, wanting to take the book of all people in the guard's hand.

Who knew that Zeng Ziren, who was kneeling on the ground, didn't understand what he meant, and was still explaining to himself: "Dad, it's like this, ..... at the time"

"I told you to stop talking!"

Zeng Hanru's words almost roared and sprayed into Zeng Ziren's face, so frightened that the latter knelt on the ground, and the arms supporting his body were trembling because of fear, since he was a child, he had never seen his father yell at him so angrily.

Of course, if he knew Zeng Hanru a little more like Xia Ang next to him, he would know that the anger of this old commander was not only full of disappointment, but also a trace of loneliness......

In fact, this time he was really a little wrong to blame this little young master, because Zeng Ziren's original intention was to let Xia Ang take the official army to suppress the Five Grains Sect, but he didn't know that his concubines Yang and Xia Ang were both members of the Five Grains Sect. It stands to reason that the matter of killing the people and taking their heads to invite credit was a bad idea given by the Yang family to Xia Ang, and Xia Ang disobeyed Zeng Ziren's words.

However, the original motive for Xia Ang's invitation to merit also stemmed from Zeng Ziren's unauthorized permission to give him an official position without the consent of the old commander, and he also accepted bribes, which was not considered to have wronged him.

Zeng Hanru slowly opened the book of the people in his hand, but there was not a single word on the dark yellow rice paper, only more than 500 large and small blood-colored handprints jumped on the paper.

An Yi saw Zeng Hanru's hand holding the Book of All People trembling slightly, and knew that his special "paper" had the desired effect, he tilted his head without a trace, and glanced at Jiang Ruyue, who was dressed in white linen clothes and had a filial piety belt on his head in the crowd.

Jiang Ruyue saw Anyi's eyes, and hurriedly instructed, put her arms forward, bowed to the ground, and cried loudly: "Alas, we are so miserable, the bandit didn't kill us, but the officials and soldiers killed my whole family!" ”

Along with his cry, the families of the deceased who knelt in front of him were even more grief-stricken, and for a while, the heartbroken cries in front of the steps came and went.

Zeng Hanru walked step by step from the ranks to the position of the commander of the capital, and when he heard the cries of the people, he couldn't help but think of the pain that the years of blood and tears and war brought to him, to the country, and to these people.

He slowly exchanged the Book of All People in his hand to the guard's hand, and his cold gaze slowly fell on Xia Ang's body.

Xia Ang raised his head, just in time to meet the old commander's gaze, which made his whole body feel like chaff. With his understanding of the old commander, he would rather have anger, disappointment, and indifference in his eyes than this now:

Refuse!

"My lord! My lord! I have followed you for so many years, and I have worked hard without merit, my lord! Xia Ang watched the old commander with a cold face slowly take the sword from the guard's hand, and in an almost hysterical voice, he tried to find a reason for Zeng Hanru to let himself go,

"It's too late, Chaon, and it's hard to be angry."

Zeng Hanru gradually showed the dazzling cold light from the gold-patterned scabbard, and said lightly,

"In the next life, be a good person!"

As Xia Ang's hoarse shouts came to an abrupt end, Zeng Hanru's sword left a deep blood mark on his face.

His face twitched, and he spat blood out of his mouthful, but soon, he stopped moving.