After waiting for a while, I saw that no sound came from inside.

One of the dark shadows tried to reach out and knock on the door, and when they were sure that there was no movement, several people nodded to each other, inserted the tip of their knives and pulled the latch open, pushed the door open, and flashed in.

And then there was no then.

The next morning, the people of the town were surprised to find that on the parking apron in the center of the town, there were seven naked men hanging under the crooked-necked trees, bound hands and feet, gagged mouths, beaten to the point that their noses were blue and their faces were swollen, and they were wearing only a pair of shorts.

At first glance, it looks like a string of gourds hanging from a vine.

Everyone took a closer look, yo, they were all familiar faces. Isn't it just the group of people who are in trouble with Huo Duer on the Huai River?

The big-character poster next to it also pasted their detailed incriminating evidence, and at the end was written a sentence in a coarse and coarse font: At the dawn of tomorrow morning, a temporary public court will be set up here and a public judgment meeting will be held.

Let the people of Huaijiang redress their grievances if they have grievances.

There was a literate one who had the courage to read out the big-character poster. When everyone heard this, they immediately applauded loudly and cheered. It's too much iniquity at last. It's finally retribution.

Huo Duer has harmed too many people over the years, and the people on both sides of the river grit their teeth with hatred for him.

It's not that they didn't think about reporting to the officials, and every time they waited for the officials to come, they would have already fled.

As soon as the people from the government left, they came out to commit crimes again, and even retaliated against the informant. After repeating this several times, no one dared to report to the official again.

In any case, it is useless to report to the official, but to invite retaliation.

Jiang Yuqing and his entourage sat on a stall by the ping, eating and watching the excitement. If it weren't for the fear of frightening the big girl and the little daughter-in-law, the guys in Canghai would not even leave them a pair of pants.

And so it hung until the afternoon. The families of two of the criminals came to them, crying and shouting, to go up and get rid of them. He was stopped by the crowd of onlookers.

One of the old women, who was supposed to be the mother of one of them, was splashing and rolling on the spot to stop her from saving her son. In the midst of the chaos, a shiny sword rested around her neck.

The old woman was still making trouble, the ignorant sword blade shook slightly, and only a brush could be heard, and the entire bun on the old woman's head fell off instantly, and the hair fell to the ground.

Wuming said coldly: "If you dare to mess around, it will be your head that will fall!" ”

The old woman was frightened, and sat down on the ground, holding her head and crying.

None of the onlookers sympathized with her. Guy because this old woman wears gold and silver, and is so richly dressed, I am afraid that she has eaten a lot of bad money.

They all mocked loudly: "If you have the kung fu to cry here, you might as well think about how to collect the body of your bastard son!" ”

Another bitter master who had been robbed of money by them said: "What kind of corpse do they collect, don't they like to break people's hands and feet and throw them in the Huaijiang River to feed Wang Ba?"

I think it's better to lock up the pig cage and sink it in the river, so that these bastards can also taste the taste of feeding the fish. ”

The man's proposal was overwhelmingly echoed.

As the time slipped by, the sun set, the night gradually came, and the crowd in the small square gradually dispersed. Only these seven "gourd babies" are still hanging from the crooked neck tree, already dying. Only occasionally spasms of the muscles, showing that they are still alive.

In the middle of the night, someone tried to save them, but they were all knocked unconscious by the mysterious man, stripped naked and hung from a tree. At this time, the gourd baby has changed from seven to twelve.

It wasn't until the next morning that everyone noticed that there were a few more people in the crooked-necked tree. I guessed that it was an accomplice who was arrested together last night in an attempt to save people.

Taking a step back, even if they did not personally participate in the robbery and murder, anyone who got involved with these criminals was not a good person.

At the end of the day, the Huaijiang County Commander appeared on the Pingzi with a team of officials and opened a temporary court. After yesterday's day of fermentation, the people of Huaijiang who learned the news, and even some came from the other side of the river, surrounded the huge flat and couldn't get through.

The sufferers came forward to report the case. Some of them were robbed of their money, some broke their hands and feet after being robbed of money, and more than a dozen family members were robbed and killed by them and directly dumped their bodies in Huaijiang.

Counting the sins over the years, it is simply too many to mention.

The evidence was conclusive, and the master wrote a verdict of several thousand words. It's all about it, and the people don't quite understand it, but they still understand the last sentence.

The scene was immediately cheered, and people chanted Lord Qingtian.

In the end, the seven members of Huo Duer's gang, plus the five who were hung up last night, were woken up by a bucket of cold water and dragged all of them to the barren grass beach by the dock.

The latter was also identified by the sufferers and participated in several robberies. There's nothing to say about that, let's hit the road together.

As the executioner's sword, the twelve heads fell to the ground one after another, ending their sinful lives. Since then, this criminal gang, which has been plagued by the Huaijiang River for several years, has been completely wiped out.

Jing Yan stared expressionlessly at the Huaijiang County Order, who was kneeling on the ground trembling and his face was pale: "Are you guilty?" ”

The Huaijiang County Commander bowed his head and said in a trembling voice: "Weichen is guilty!" ”

"Knowing that there are water bandits under his rule, he has been harming the people for many years, but he has let it go and turned a blind eye. That's how you became a parent? Let's go up and excuse yourself! ”

After Huaijiang County Ling walked out of the inn, he finally couldn't hold it and was soft to the ground. The master hurriedly supported him: "My lord! ”

Huaijiang County Ling's face was sad: "It's over, it's all over." I hope my wife and children can keep it. “

The master also had a bitter face when he saw this, His Majesty's family of three was robbed and killed as soon as they entered the Huaijiang River.

As the master of Huaijiang County, he can't escape the involvement, it can be said that the mud bodhisattva crossing the river is difficult to protect, and he really can't say anything comforting.

After sending the Huaijiang County Order, Jing Yan took up the pen and wrote a letter to the capital. After writing, he rolled it up, stuffed it into a small bamboo tube and handed it to Canghai: "Pass it to the Emperor Taishang." ”

Canghai took the things and retreated.

A few days later, news came from the capital. The Emperor Taishang summoned and mobilized manpower to severely crack down on water bandits and road tyrants across the country.......

After crossing the Huai River, further north will be Gai County.

Gai County also belongs to the Huaijiang alluvial plain. Hundreds of years ago, when the Huai River was not diverted, it was the sea that entered the east through Gai County. Therefore, the land is flat and very fertile, and it is also a large grain producing county.

At this time, it is June, and the fields on both sides of the official road are full of greenery, and the rice is growing very well.

Because the weather was too hot, everyone was afraid that the horses would suffer from heat stroke, so they stopped the carriage and drank a bowl of mung bean soup in the small tea shed on the side of the official road to relieve the heat. By the way, he led the horse to the ditch on the side of the road to drink water.

Not far away, several peasants wearing hats scattered to work in the fields.

Jing Yan stepped on the slippery ridge and walked over and chatted with an old farmer who was pulling weeds: "Uncle, this year's rice is growing very well!" ”

When the old peasant raised his head, he saw a young man standing tall on the ridge of the field, talking to him, and secretly saying that this young man was really good-looking.

The old farmer smiled and said, "It's not bad." Now the rice is good, as long as there are no natural disasters, the hands and feet are diligent, and the grain collected is taxed, which is enough for the family to eat, and more can be sold for money. ”

"Listen to you, my father-in-law's family also planted a lot of fields?"

The old farmer said: "There are more than ten acres. It can harvest 10,000 catties of rice a year. In the next life, do you also grow crops at home? ”

Jing Yan said with a smile: "Planted, rice and wheat are planted." My parents and my wife both like to farm, and the garden at home is full of things, ordinary fruits and vegetables, and there is almost no need to buy. ”

The sea behind him and Wuya thought of the crippled Imperial Garden, and the corners of his mouth twitched. No, it would be more appropriate to call it "Imperial Vegetable Garden".

The old farmer said, "That's a good feeling." We, ordinary people, still have to farm well. Eat what you want and grow what you want, and feel more comfortable. ”

"That's what my husband said."

Jing Yan saw that the sun was big, so he invited the old farmer to the tea stall and drank a bowl of mung bean soup together. The old peasant did not refuse, and went ashore generously, washed his hands and feet with the water in the ditch, put down his pants and put on straw sandals, and went to the tea stall.

Jiang Yuqing invited the old farmer to sit down. The stall owner brought a large teapot full of mung bean soup and poured a large bowl of mung bean soup for the old man.

ridiculed: "Master Cheng, you are really lucky, go down to the field to pull grass and the nobles invite you to drink mung bean soup." ”

Mrs. Cheng said: "That is, my old man's luck has always been good. But it turned out that the stall owner and Mrs. Cheng were both from a nearby village, and the two were still neighbors not far away.

Everyone sat together drinking soup and talking. However, before the bowl of mung bean soup was finished, a large black cloud pressed over the sky, and it seemed that there would be a heavy rain in the near future. It's really a June child's face, and it changes when it is said.

Old lady Cheng asked Jing Yan: "In the future, your family is going to the county seat?" ”

Jing Yan nodded yes.

Old lady Cheng said: "There are still forty or fifty miles to go to the county seat, but I am afraid that you will have to rain heavily halfway through, if you don't dislike it, you will go to my house to stay for one night." ”

Jing Yan and Jiang Yuqing glanced at each other: "Won't it be too troublesome?" ”

Old lady Cheng smiled and said, "No trouble, no trouble." My family has just built a new house, which is spacious, and there is a place to live. ”

The stall owner also helped: "Distinguished guests can rest assured that they will not be able to eat him." The youngest son of his family is a doctor, and he has learned a good skill, and I heard that he is also a famous doctor in the capital, and he is living a good life.

This old man, he will be 70 years old in two days, and you can stay for two more days in the past, and you can still have a happy life by the way. ”

When Jing Yan heard this, he immediately arched his hand towards his father-in-law: "Uncle, congratulations." ”

Old lady Cheng hugged her beard with a smile: "Haha, happy and happy!" ”

Because they were afraid of rain, everyone quickly drank the mung bean soup in the bowl and cleaned up. Invite Mrs. Cheng and Doctor Qiu to get into the carriage together.

Jiang Yuqing hugged his son and shared a horse with Jingyan, and under the leadership of Mrs. Cheng, he went to his village, Chengjiazhuang.

When I arrived at the door of Mrs. Cheng's house, I found that Cheng's house was actually a big blue brick mansion with three courtyards, and its area was no less than the Jiang family's old house in Qingzhou.

The old man pushed open the door and invited everyone in. The family was surprised to see that the old man had just gone to the field to pull a weed, and brought back such a large group of people.

But seeing the demeanor of the person who came, it was not like an ordinary person, so he did not dare to underestimate it, and greeted him respectfully and warmly.

At that time, a rather elegant middle-aged man came out of the room.

As soon as Fang met, he was stunned on the spot.

He rubbed his eyes in disbelief, and blinked when he saw Jiang Yuqing smiling, only then did he make sure that the person who came was real, and he hurriedly stepped forward to greet him.

"Cheng Feng greets Jing Ye and the little boy!" gave Jiang Yuqing and Qiu Shenyi a disciple salute: "Students greet teachers and ancestors!" ”

He arched his hand at a few people in Canghai: "A few brothers are polite!" ”