As the dog days of June begin, the temperature skyrockets. The sun hanging in the sky is like a flame, constantly emitting a wave of heat that is enough to scorch and melt everything in all directions of Kyushu. Even Jinan City, which is known as the Spring City, has now become a huge steamer, so hot that people dare not go out easily.

But Zhou Chaoxian and Ye Changfei only felt a chill in their backs at the moment, and they didn't feel the slightest heat at all. The two of them reacted like this, not only because there were several pots of ice cubes in the room, which made the heat lessen a lot, but also because the governor looked at them with cold eyes.

Lu Jin's attitude towards these subordinate officials has always been quite respectful, and he rarely looks at each other angrily, even when they openly and secretly opposed him and obstructed the opening of the sea, he also maintained a friendly face, and only secretly took their handle to threaten them. But today, he is obviously really angry, and he can't care about any face.

After staring at the two of them for a long time, he said in a deep voice: "How can this be? The area around Cao County is not a rich place, how could there be a ringing horse suddenly killed and did such a bloody case? There are nearly 500 households in Huangyan Town and Linshan Town, and 3,000 innocent people were slaughtered like this. Have we forgotten that protecting the land and the people is the top priority of our officials? ”

He did have reason to be angry, and when the two of them reported the bloody case, Lu Zhen couldn't believe his eyes. 3,000 people, 3,000 innocent people, they were all killed like this, this is really too big!

"Guilty of contemplation...... I didn't expect those bandits to be so frustrated this time, and they didn't have the slightest precaution......" Ye Changfei looked down on his face and lowered his head to lead the crime. This time there was such a big case, and he, as the capital of Shandong, was naturally the first to bear the brunt, because defending the land was his duty as a military attaché.

And Zhou Chaoxian on the side was also full of fear and remorse: "The lesson of Lord Futai is that it was the lower officials who did not do things well, so they gave the thieves an opportunity to take advantage of, and asked the adults to punish them." ”

Lu Zhen looked at the two subordinates who took the initiative to admit their mistakes, and did not react for a long time. In fact, he also knew in his heart that this bloody case could not be completely blamed on these two people, after all, no one would have expected that the bandits would be so unscrupulous, which is completely unreasonable.

In the famous book "Water Margin", Shandong has always been a place where strong men come out in large numbers, and there are many bandits who dare to confront the imperial court officials and soldiers and do not fall behind. But the reality is not so, at least in the Ming Dynasty, Shandong has always been peaceful, even if there are a small group of bandits, they are only blocking the road and looting, small fights, and have never done such an amazing evil.

Because even these bandits know very well in their hearts that if they really do something big, they will only trap themselves in a desperate situation. If it really annoys the government and sends a large army to encircle and suppress it at all costs, even if it can escape into the Taihang Mountains, it will be difficult to get out again.

But this time, these guys actually broke the rules and killed all the people in the two small towns, which is really beyond the scope of ordinary people's cognition.

After suppressing his anger and calming down his anger a little, Lu Jincai continued: "Since the tragedy has happened, what is the point of asking you for the crime now? What we need to do now is to ensure the safety of Cao County and other surrounding prefectures and counties so that the same thing cannot happen again, and the second is to quickly atone for the crimes and arrest these thieves to comfort the souls of the innocent dead. If you do these two things well, this official can still say a few words for you in front of His Majesty, and if something goes wrong, this official will first take you as the victim to die! After saying that, Lu Jin's eyes flashed with a hint of essence.

Although his words were quite heavy, Zhou Ye and the two of them were very wide in their hearts, at least there was room to make up for the turn of the circle. So the two hurriedly bowed their hands and said: "The subordinate will receive the order." We will take people to the place where the crime occurred to find clues, and we will definitely arrest these murderers under the condition of ensuring local safety. ”

"Hmm." Lu Jin's face softened slightly, and he nodded in response. Then he glanced at Zhou Chaoxian again: "Lord Zhou, do you feel that this matter is really a little strange?" ”

Zhou Chaoxian nodded immediately: "This matter is indeed very unusual. Although there have been cases of bandits looting places in the past, there has never been such a thing as slaughtering innocent people in a town. Whether it is a mountain bandit or a ringing horse, this is rarely the case. ”

"And as far as this official knows, these two towns are not rich, what are they trying to do to invade these two places?" Lu Zhen also raised his suspicions, and the two of them nodded again.

Ye Changfei hesitated for a moment before he said: "My lord, the only thing that makes sense is that these two towns are close to the Taihang Mountain area......

"Geography alone makes thieves go on a killing spree, and this reason is unreasonable." Lu Zhen said, he had already stood up, walked to the somewhat rudimentary geographical map of Shandong on the side, and slowly slid his hand around Cao County: "There should be some other reason." As he spoke, he faintly thought of something in his heart, as if the two towns had some familiar feelings, but for a while he couldn't remember what it was.

It stands to reason that I shouldn't pay attention to these two small towns. After all, he Lu Zhen is now the governor of a province, and he can't take care of many major things, so how can he pay attention to such two small towns.

The two subordinates also leaned over, and after Ye Changfei was slightly stunned, he said again: "In addition, there is another ...... At the time of the incident, the lower officials had sent a hundred officials and soldiers to rush to that vicinity, and it stands to reason that those bandits would not dare to commit murder under the noses of the officials and soldiers. ”

"And this?" Lu Jin's attention immediately diverted from the map: "Why did you suddenly make this decision?" Could it be that you have heard some rumors a long time ago? ”

Ye Changfei quickly shook his head and denied it, he couldn't afford this responsibility, and then explained: "Actually, this is Gao Fantai asking the lower officials for help, and I sent a hundred and ten soldiers to deal with it." ”

"What does this have to do with Gao Fantai?"

He said that there was news from Shanxi, saying that an officer who had committed an accident had fled into Taihang Mountain, and then colluded with local bandits, and it seemed that there was a possibility of stealing into our Shandong to do something wrong. Just in case, I asked the subordinate to send someone to guard that area. At that time, Xia Guan didn't expect things to turn out like this......" Ye Changfei finally explained the cause and effect of the incident.

And after hearing this, Lu Zhen was also stunned in the local area. It was only then that he suddenly came to his senses, and he felt that the two towns were somewhat familiar, but it was because he had seen their names in the documents not long ago. To be precise, he had a deep impression of Huangyan Town, because this town was the hometown of the deserter named Yao Gan who Shi Heng mentioned in the document and let the Shandong government send people to closely monitor it!

It is said that after directly asking Gao Duzhong to reject Shi Heng's request, Lu Zhen put this matter behind him. Because in his opinion, this is just a trivial matter, can Shi Heng still sue himself to the court because of this? As the governor, he had other more important things, even if it was writing a few letters to his family in Beijing, which were much more important than this.

It's just that...... How did things suddenly become so serious? That deserter named Yao Gan, as the news from Shanxi showed, actually colluded with the bandits hiding in the mountains, and then united them to kill in Shandong and committed such a big crime?

No, it's weird and hard to believe. Even if this Yao Gan has a deep hatred with the people in his hometown, he will never do such an inhumane thing. That's thousands of villagers, and most of them can't make enemies with them, how could he let those thieves kill them?

Subsequently, Ye Changfei's words made him even more convinced that there was another hidden truth in this matter: "Xia Guan thinks that the murderers who committed such a bloody crime this time should be far more than thieves all the way, otherwise with their only one hundred and ten people, it is simply not enough to slaughter the people of Manzhen." In my Shandong province, there are also many martial arts practitioners, and when such things really happen, there are always some young people who will rise up to resist......"

Lu Jinshen nodded thoughtfully: "You are right, this is indeed a suspicious point." What kind of person can entangle so many Xiangma Mountain bandits to do such a thing? If they were just thieves along the way, the little wealth of a small town might still make them take risks, but if they had a few more people, it would be more than worth the loss. ”

After such an analysis, the three of them realized more and more that things were strange, and there must be some secret hidden in them. However, they were in Jinan, and it was obviously impossible for them to really find out the truth of the matter, so Zhou Chaoxian and Ye Changfei decided to lead the people to quickly rush to the local area under Lu Jin's instructions, find out the matter, and arrest the murderers for questioning.

It wasn't until the two subordinates left that Lu Jin's gaze fell heavily on the map, and finally settled on the blank area across the Taihang Mountain that only had the word Shanxi written in general terms. A somewhat crazy idea, which even he couldn't convince, suddenly jumped out of his mind: "Could this incident be Shi Heng's revenge for refusing his request in my Shandong region?" ”

After this idea was born, Lu Zhen was taken aback. How is this possible? Although Shi Heng is indeed not a good person, he would not have done such a heartbreaking act, right? But this idea seems to be the most plausible explanation for this, because it is not something that a deserter can do to order so many Xiangma mountain bandits, but the government does have such energy......