Mei Xiaoren stopped.

"The county seat has been empty for a few days, and the people in the city have given up their livelihood and fled in vain, they will have no complaints, and the officials of the county government will have no complaints," Jiang Rong said, "Or let me go with you, at least your prefect will not dare to do anything to me." ”

"I gave the order, there is a debtor who is wronged, and you have a noble status, how can the prefect let you bear it." Mei Xiaoren lowered his hands, Ren Guang's sleeves followed the wind, and left a sentence, "Let's go, go back to Xuanzhou." ”

Jiang Rong asked again: "What about the people of Taki County?"

"When this flood is over, let them go home if nothing is unusual."

Mei Xiaoren chose to take the land route when she went back, although the carriage was slow, but it allowed her to think about how to explain to Lao Li.

In fact, Lao Li can understand what she thinks, but someone has to bear the fault for causing the loss of a county.

The carriage moved slowly, and it was raining heavily outside the window, wetting the curtains.

Mei Xiaoren was pondering all the way, not noticing that the water droplets were hitting the back of her hand drop by drop.

"Those yamen in Shangjing are not open, I didn't expect your yamen here to be the same, sure enough, the upper beam is not right, the lower beam is crooked" Jiang Rong knocked on the folding fan in his hand and sighed, "You said that Gao Tongzhi used his power for personal gain and took the lives of the people as a child's play, why did he press on your head"

Mei Xiaoren came back to his senses and couldn't help laughing, "You are sick, you are really jealous and hateful, but Gao Jingshu has been able to sit firmly in the position of Tongzhi for so many years, and he must have his background." She wiped the water stains from her hands with heavy eyes, and said, "What's more, this person still has some city government." ”

"If Wei Guogong is in Xuanzhou, I will definitely let him remove that guy from his post tomorrow," Jiang Rong said angrily.

Mei Xiaoren asked with interest: "Your uncle listens to you very much"

"That is, since I was a child, only he treated me best, and never criticized me for not being a weapon." Jiang Rong had no anger on his face, and there was no resentment, his expression became calm, and he said angrily, "He is a good person, and he is a rare good official and virtuous minister in the world." ”

"What about your rest of the family, they don't care about you"

Jiang Ei's face turned cold, and he waved his hand, "Don't mention this, in short, if they care about me, I will spend the New Year outside."

There are still three days left to Xuanzhou. Mei Xiaoren stayed at the post station overnight, and the rain became heavier and heavier, and the sound of sparse noise disturbed people.

She stood in front of the window of the guest room and watched the rain, and the raindrops of beans were inextricably linked, densely packed, making the already warm weather cool again.

It was late at night, she turned and walked back into the house, and suddenly a thunderclap exploded outside the window, she was startled, and looked back to see that it was already stormy outside, lightning and thunder.

Lightning streaked across the night sky, making people more and more uneasy, not to mention that thunder is extremely rare in February, and there is a colloquial saying that this is a bad omen

Xuanzhou Mansion.

Mei Xiaoren came back early in the morning and immediately changed into his official uniform and rushed to the palace.

It was still raining in the sky, and Ye Zhi held an umbrella to send her to the front of the mansion.

She had already told Ye Zhi about Takixian, and even Ye Zhi began to worry about her, insisting on coming to the mansion with her, and then waiting for her news outside.

Mei Xiaoren walked into the mansion, and the sound of raindrops dripping under the corridor was exceptionally crisp. There was no shortage of officials who saluted her all the way, and their expressions were the same, she looked left and right, and the government was as before, as if nothing had happened.

She had calculated the time before, the news should have arrived, and why was it so

The prefect and several officials were all talking in the second hall, Mei Xiaoren walked to the door, took a deep breath before stepping in, and arched his hand: "My lord, I have come back from my humble position." ”

Li Zhifu was drinking tea, put down the teacup and asked, "How do you look?"

The prefect's voice was very calm, as if he didn't know anything. Mei Xiaoren couldn't help but glance at Gao Jingshu beside him, Gao Jing

The book doesn't have any expression.

Even if the officials of the workshop did not bring a letter to sue her, the county government of Takixian County and those squires should always have a letter. If Lao Li was kept in the dark, it was very likely that Gao Jingshu hid the documents and did not report them.

So she guessed that Gao Jingshu knew, and he concealed the news because he wanted her to confess herself, after all, his complaint and her initiative to confess are two different things, and the complaint will appear to be at odds with her.

Lord Tongzhi really took great pains not to offend Lao Li's bottom line.

Gao Jingshu didn't dare to sue her, and in the same way, she couldn't speak first to raise Jingshu's fault, so she leaned over and arched her hand: "Lord Hui, I have the courage to do one thing this time." ”

"What's the matter?"

"It is"

Before Mei Xiaoren finished speaking, someone outside shouted: "Lord Futai, something is wrong."

Everyone looked back, only to see Zhang Liben running quickly from outside with the paperwork, he didn't care about his feet, stumbling all the way, and even the black gauze hat was almost turned upside down.

Zhang Liben covered his hat in one hand and held the documents in the other, ran into the hall, threw the etiquette and everything out of the clouds, and stuffed the documents directly into the hands of Governor Li.

"Panic, what kind of system" Li Zhifu reprimanded. He opened the paperwork with heavy eyes, and the gloomy look on his face suddenly dissipated, replaced by horror and panic

Governor Li's movements were very slow to close the paperwork, as if he was stunned and afraid.

"Lord Prefect" Mei Xiaoren was in a fog and tried to shout.

Gao Jingshu also tried to ask, "My lord, what happened?"

Governor Li had no intention of answering at this time, and Zhang Liben replied tremblingly: "Back to the two adults, it has rained heavily recently, the river has risen sharply, and the embankment in Takixian County has burst."

Gao Jingshu's face turned a little pale.

Mei Xiaoren frowned and asked, "When will it be?"

"The night before yesterday, the flood had swallowed up the entire county, and the casualties must have been light."

After listening to Zhang Liben's retelling, Governor Li closed his eyes, raised his hand to cover his forehead, and his fingers couldn't help but gently touch the black gauze hat on his head.

This embankment is a place for the canal river workers, and the river workers went out on a business trip, asking the Xuanzhou Mansion how to explain to His Majesty, not to mention the casualties of the people

The hall was silent for a moment, and no one dared to say anything more, all of them looked worried.

If the court asks about the crime, a few of the officials of the Xuanzhou Mansion will be able to escape

A servant walked to the door and handed Zhang Liben a book.

Zhang Liben took it and handed it to Governor Li, his hand trembled a little, "My lord, it's still a document from the county government of Luxian County." ”

Governor Li slowly stretched out his hand to take it, but he didn't open it for a long time. He knew that what this document was going to say was about the disaster, and it was what he was most afraid of seeing now.

A veteran of officialdom in Governor Li's Mansion is still so frightened, and the people below him are even more trembling. The other officials in the government also put down their errands and came here to check the situation and wait for the dispatch by the way.

A hall was full of people, Lao Li sat in the hall, and in front of him stood the officials of rank in the palace, and the leaders were Mei Xiaoren and Gao Jingshu.

Governor Li raised his eyes and looked at them, these were his subordinates, if he messed up, the government would be in chaos, so he calmed down and opened the paperwork in his hand.

Li Zhifu pretended to recount calmly while watching: "The night before the river embankment burst, the flood hit the city, and no one inside and outside the county was spared. ”

When Li Zhifu finished reading this sentence, his tone became more and more heavy, and he had to continue reading: "The people of Takixian County"

He paused again, his eyes condensed on a line of words, and his face was shocked, and he answered in disbelief: "There are no casualties among the people of Takixian County. ”