This is a waist card carved from ivory with a smooth color, and a big brocade and guard are engraved on one side. If someone who knows the goods sees its texture, they are afraid that they will be even more flustered, because the identity of the person in front of them can be deduced from the material of the waist card alone.

Although the brocade guards wear waist badges on the top and bottom, their materials are completely different. Ordinary school captains or those below the general flag can only use wooden waist cards, and then there are copper waist cards, and when they reach more than 1,000 households, the texture of the waist cards has been improved, and they have been replaced with green jade or white jade. And this waist card made of ivory is the only one in the entire brocade guard, and only Lu Jin, the commander of the brocade guard, can wear it.

Of course, even if these local officials can't see the clues because of their lack of knowledge, it does not prevent them from being in awe. Today's Jinyiwei's reputation in the world is getting bigger and bigger, and both Beijing officials and foreign officials are afraid of them, for fear that they will take some handle, and the end will be miserable.

So at this time, after seeing Lu Jin's identity suddenly revealed, Wang Ningxian and the others weakened their knees, and immediately knelt down to salute. At the same time, he carefully recalled his words and deeds before with some worry, but he had offended these superiors, but this time he thought about it, but it made them more and more panicked, because some things they did were really not fair.

Lu Jin's eyes only turned around on these county officials who were uneasy and didn't even dare to raise their heads, and then waved his hand: "You all get up and talk back." If you hadn't forced us to ask for our identity, the official wouldn't have shown this waist card. ”

"Next...... The lower official knows his mistake. After kowtowing to Lu Jin, these people stood up with some trepidation, and then looked at him with fearful eyes: "I don't know what the Shangcha came to my Xingze this time?" At this time, of course, they can't think that the other party is here to help the victims. Even if people really have this kind intention, they don't have to run this trip themselves.

"Do you know that some time ago, my Jinyi Wei had a secret agent here, and he was found dead in the Dragon King Temple along the river outside the county seat. This is precisely for this purpose. At this time, Lu Zhen no longer hid it, and directly threw out such a statement.

And after hearing this, everyone's faces changed greatly, and they were almost about to kneel down again, and after hesitating for a while, someone shouted: "My lord Mingjian, the lower officials and others dare not be disrespectful to the superior of Jinyiwei, let alone ......."

"This official knows that you can't do such a thing, but in your Yingze County, there are such bold and crazy people. Not only did they dare to assassinate our Jinyiwei spies, but they even dared to destroy the embankment of the Yellow River, causing the land to be flooded, the people to be killed and injured, and the people to be displaced. Lu Zhen said, his expression had become extremely serious, and his body also revealed a strong oppressive force, which made the people in front of him more and more uneasy.

After looking at each other for a long time, Wang Ningxian boldly said, "My lord, is this true?" Is there a misunderstanding here? "If it had been as they had been said, even if they had nothing to do with the culprit, there would have been no escape from a single crime of negligence.

"Whether it's a misunderstanding or not, I think we'll have an answer soon." Lu Zhen was not angry because of their doubts, but just said meaningfully: "But last year's flood was indeed man-made but it is a fact, we have not only found relevant clues, but now we have also found witnesses who witnessed this scene." ”

"What? How is this possible? Everyone was startled again, and subconsciously shouted.

"Why, do you still have to play stupid at this point? If the dam accident was really caused by the water level of the Yellow River, then why did your Liang County Commander and those who went with him to inspect the safety of the levee all be swept away by the flood and died in this flood? Have you never had any doubts about this? Moreover, it is clear that this Xingze County was not the most flooded state and county in Kaifeng earlier, and your county government is extremely dedicated, why did it turn out that your embankment here broke, thus alleviating the water situation in other states and counties upstream and downstream, have you never suspected that there is another hidden secret? Lu Jin's face was serious, and he pointed out some of the doubts one by one, and the officials were so stunned that they didn't know how to reply.

In fact, these people are not so stupid that they can't even see the slightest problem, but because they have concerns, they never raise it, and even deliberately avoid these doubts. Over time, they even began to deceive themselves, believing that the Yellow River embankment outside the city was caused by natural disasters, and perhaps this was the best way to protect themselves.

And now, this lie has been ruthlessly exposed by Lu Jin, so that this official does not know how to face it. If ordinary people brought this up to them, they would definitely deny it, and even put him in prison on the charge of bewitching the public. But now, it was the big men of Jinyiwei who said this, and they couldn't even say anything against or deny.

Lu Jin's gaze slowly swept over the tangled faces of these people, and then he saw some clues, and sighed in his heart. These people are actually pretending to be confused, no wonder they can see the flaws in the short time after they came, and they haven't found anything for months.

They couldn't find out the problem, they couldn't find out, and they didn't dare to find out the truth about the breach of the embankment. Because they know very well that since the other party dares to do something to remove Liang Xianling and the others together, if they dare to investigate the relevant things clearly, I am afraid that they will be the next to die.

Although he could understand their choice, Lu Jin couldn't accept these people's approach to protecting his life, so his face became heavy again: "Although you are not the murderers who caused the levee breaking, you can hardly escape the blame for letting the real murderer of this matter go unpunished." If this official really wants to investigate, he can take all of you down now and bring him back to the capital for strict interrogation. Even if you are convicted of being an accomplice, it is rightly deserved. ”

"Your Excellency, spare your life, Xiaguan...... The lower officials and others were also forced to helpless, so they had to pretend that they didn't know anything......" After hearing these threatening words, the county officials finally panicked, and quickly knelt down again, kowtowing desperately and begging for mercy.

Seeing this, Lu Zhen snorted again: "If you want this official to spare you, it depends on your next performance." You should know very well what I want, as long as you can do your duty, maybe after the matter is completed, this official can ask the court to spare you. However, you must also tell the truth about everything, and you must not hide anything. ”

"Yes, yes......" After a moment of hesitation, everyone nodded in response. They could see that the person in front of them was not joking, he really meant it, and he had the ability to condemn himself. Therefore, they didn't dare to have the slightest luck, so they quickly responded.

"Then tell me what you think first. I think that in Xingze, you must see more clearly than this official, or there are some things that I don't know. Lu Jin's tone slowed down slightly and put forward his own request.

Several officials looked at each other again, and finally Ding Le spoke: "My lord is right, in fact, when the embankment of the Yellow River in my county suddenly burst and Liang County killed them, the lower officials and others already saw that something was wrong. Because although the rain did not stop and the river water swelled sharply at that time, the embankment of the river in our county was just repaired in the spring and summer of last year, and it would not be easily broken. What's more, Liang County Ling is extremely concerned about this, and he takes people up to the embankment almost every day to see, and it is impossible for such a change to occur. ”

"Oh?" Lu Zhen replied noncommittally, but did not say much. Because he already knew about these things a long time ago, and even mentioned them just now, naturally they are of little value.

Seeing him like this, everyone knew that this statement alone could not satisfy him, so Wang Ningxian said: "In fact, there is another point that makes us feel that this matter is unusual. Just last year, when the heavy rain did not stop and the territory of Kaifeng Prefecture was about to become a flood, the prefecture and county officials were summoned to discuss countermeasures. As a result, when Liang County Ling came back, he was full of worries and was very dissatisfied. Speaking of which, he was beaten again.

When Lu Jin saw it, he asked, "Do you know why Liang County ordered him to do this?" But what happened in Kaifeng City? ”

"Exactly. As the prefectural lord said later, the embankments in each prefecture were already in a critical situation at that time, so the prefect meant that one or two prefectures had to be sacrificed to keep the embankments in the other prefectures safe. As long as the overflowing river water is allowed to drain out of a certain county, the originally high river water will subside with it, and the flood in my Kaifeng place will naturally be lifted. ”

"Sacrificing one land to save the whole land is a good deal. As a result, Xingze County was chosen? Lu Zhen had already understood, and immediately asked.

"yes. I heard the county lord mention that although several officials said that it was inappropriate, they could not stand the prefect's decision, and as a result, they could only decide which county should bear the monstrous flood by drawing lots. And in the end...... But it was our county that was unfortunately drawn. Although the prefectural lord strongly opposed it, he still could not change the result......"

"Because at that time, not only the prefect decided to do so, but even the officials of other prefectures and counties agreed to this decision, right?" Lu Zhen asked with a sneer.

"Positive...... Exactly. But the county lord still refuses to sacrifice the people of Yingze, so he will stay on the dam to take care of it. Unexpectedly, it ended like this. Moreover, this break came very suddenly, and we didn't have any precautions, which caused many people to lose their lives......" In the end, Wang Ningxian let out a long sigh, I don't know if he regretted that they didn't take better precautions, or didn't follow the agreement before regretting it......