"Quick, quickly transport water to fight the fire, we can't let the people inside die!" Zhu Bantou was so frightened that he was in a cold sweat, and yelled at the officials he led.

The head of the third class of the county government, only he has the least strength and background. This time, it was not easy to guard the family of a felon, as long as he waited for someone from the capital, he handed over the person well, and he could make a contribution. But now that the Zou family is suddenly on fire, his credit is gone, and he may have to eat and hang.

"Yes, yes, yes!" The officials also panicked and hurriedly went to the Zou family's well to get water, but a group of officials was only 30 people, and it was impossible to carry water to extinguish the fires in the three courtyards.

Zhu Bantou shouted: "Go, gather the Zou family to fight the fire." ”

However, the official wiped his sweat and hurriedly said: "Team leader, except for the three courtyards where Zou Yuzhen, the master of the Zou family, lives, the Zou family's big kitchen, the study in the front yard, and the inverted seat room where the subordinates live, all of which are on fire. The fire is very big, and the descendants of the Zou family are fighting fires in these places. ”

Zhu Bantou heard that he wanted to die, what is going on?

He hurriedly pointed to a government official and said, "Go back to the county government and find someone to put out the fire, but you can't let Zou Yuzhen and them die in the fire." ”

"Yes." The official received the order and immediately ran out of the Zou house.

But when I came out to take a look, I found that there were several alleys in the county, and the shops on the streets were on fire, and Yang Bantou and they were leading people to put out the fire.

The official was so frightened that he slipped and fell to the ground, and hurriedly got up and ran to the county office. Before he arrived at the county office, he bumped into Jiang County Lieutenant and Xu County Ling, who hurried with the county soldiers.

Jiang County Lieutenant They had already seen the fire on the Zou family's side, so they immediately rushed over, and after seeing the officer, Jiang County Lieutenant grabbed him and asked, "How is the Zou family?" Which yard caught the fire? ”

The official shuddered and said, "It's the upside-down house where several masters and subordinates of the Zou family live that are on fire. ”

"Mrs. Zou and Zou Yuzhen's yard where they live is on fire!" Xu Xianling was so frightened that his face turned white: "I'm really afraid of something, seeing that the matter is almost over, why did such a disaster come about?" The Zou family really fucking doesn't let the official worry. ”

Xu Xianling even scolded foul language.

After hearing that the courtyard where several masters of the Zou family lived was on fire, Jiang County Wei immediately thought of something and said busily: "My lord, there is something strange about this fire, it is very likely that the Zou family wanted to die and deliberately set it on fire." Please order the gates of the city to be closed immediately, and no matter who has a handwritten letter to go out of the city, they will not be allowed to open the door. In the next few days, the county is not allowed to enter or exit, and the county must be searched before it can be decided whether to open the city gate, otherwise if it is really a death, we can't afford this responsibility! ”

Xu County's order was stunned when he heard this: "Lord Jiang is right, Lao Tian, hurry up and take the official's handwritten letter to the city gate to keep an eye on, no one is allowed to leave the city, if someone is making trouble to get out of the city, immediately arrest the county office." ”

"Yes." Master Tian immediately went straight to the city gate with five courtyards, so that the county soldiers guarding the city were not allowed to open the door.

Xu Xianling and Jiang Xianwei hurriedly rushed into the Zou Mansion, and Xu Xianling asked, "Has anyone put out the fire on the side of the shops on the street and the houses in the alleys?" You can't burn people, or it's going to happen again. ”

Jiang County Lieutenant said: "Yang Bantou, Jiang Bantou, and Luo Wu have already taken other officials to fight the fire, and the rules in the county are that once a house catches fire, the entire alley and the whole street will come out to fight the fire, and the manpower is enough, so rest assured." ”

As they spoke, they had already rushed to Zou's house, and before they reached the courtyard where Mrs. Zou's mother-in-law and grandmother lived, they heard a burst of miserable screams: "Ahh ”

The screams made people's hearts tremble.

Xu Xianling's feet were weak, supported by Jiang County, and rushed to the courtyard where Mrs. Zou lived, looking at the skyrocketing fire, his body was even more shaky, and after stabilizing his mind, he pointed at Zhu Bantou and scolded: "How do you guard the Zou family?" Is the fire so great that you are asleep? The surname is Zhu, you are dereliction of duty! ”

Zhu Bantou hurriedly knelt down and shouted injustice: "My lord, my lord has been guarding the Zou family with people, and he didn't nap and sleep at night, let alone eat and gamble, and the Zou family found out as soon as it caught fire, but when we rushed in, the fire in the yard was too big to rush in to save people." ”

Jiang County Lieutenant smelled the smell of the surroundings, frowned and said to Xu County: "My lord, this fire was deliberately put by someone, and it smells of pine oil." ”

It was the addition of pine oil that made the fire burn so fast, so that Zhu Bantou and they could not save people.

Xu Xian Ling listened, smelled the smell of the surroundings, and sure enough, there was a smell of pine oil, and his anger towards Zhu Bantou finally disappeared a little, and he looked at him kneeling on the ground, and shouted: "Hurry up and get up to fight the fire, kneel what kneel!" ”

Zhu Bantou immediately went to carry water to fight the fire.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Buckets of well water were poured into the burning house, but the house was drenched with pine oil, and the officials and county soldiers tossed for a long time to extinguish the fire.

By the time the fire was completely extinguished, Mrs. Zou and Zou Cheng's stepbrother had been burned to black charcoal.

Zou Yukun's daughter-in-law still has a breath, but the skin and flesh on her body are burned so much that she can't see it, and she lost her breath after a while, and she still has her eyes open when she dies, and she can't look at it.

Zou Yuwan was luckier than them, there was a large wooden basin for bathing in the bathroom in her house, and the bath water in it had not yet been poured, and she was hiding in the wooden basin when it caught fire. But even so, it was smoked so that there was more gas and less air intake, and it was estimated that it would not be.

Xu Xianling looked at the tragic situation of the Zou family, vomited several times, fainted once, and was rescued by Dr. Zhou.

After waking up, he immediately asked County Lieutenant Jiang: "How is Zou Yuzhen?" ”

With a calm old face, Jiang County Lieutenant pointed to a charred corpse in the courtyard and said, "This corpse has a jade wrench on its hand, and Zou Yuzhen's name is on it. ”

The family of Zou County Chengxiang Xuefu City made a jade wrench with a name written on it for each of their children and grandchildren, which was used as a token for the male of the Zou family.

But......

"Xia Guan believes that this corpse is not Zou Yuzhen's, he should be dead." Jiang County Lieutenant said: "This fire came inexplicably, it must have been put by the Zou family themselves, and among the remaining masters of the Zou family, only Zou Yuzhen can do this kind of ruthlessness." ”

Zou Yuzhen really fooled them like fools, did he really think he was very smart? Do you really think they're stupid enough to believe his shoddy tricks?

Zhu Bantou said weakly: "Lord County Lieutenant, when the courtyard where Zou Yuzhen lived was on fire, the officials who put out the fire kept hearing screams......

Jiang County's eyes sank and interrupted him: "Those screams are not Zou Yuzhen's, but this charred corpse." ”

County Lieutenant Jiang was very disappointed in Zhu Bantou, and it was just a matter of letting the Zou family catch fire if the guards were not good, and he was so naïve, thinking that this scorched corpse with a difficult face was Zou Yuzhen.

Does Zhu Bantou want this matter to end here and stop chasing Zou Yuzhen?

If he really has such an idea, it is to deliberately cover up, so that Zou Yuzhen can successfully escape!