amaotonovel Chapter 723 Home was stolen
Chapter 723 Home was stolen
The magistrate of Kunyang County has been serving in Kunyang for four years and will be transferred next month.
In other words, the time he served as the magistrate of Kunyang coincided with the time when Sun Lang responded to Guan Yu's call and wreaked havoc in Kunyang.
Therefore, the magistrate of Kunyang County had dealt with Sun Lang and participated in the Wei army's operation to drive Sun Lang to Jiangnan, so he had some understanding of Sun Lang.
Because of this, the magistrate of Kunyang County immediately thought of many things and muttered to himself, "Sun Lang knew we had an ambush, so he didn't come. Since he didn't come, he must have other plans. What could they be?"
"Wait a minute, it seems we've brought all the garrison troops from Ye County, Wuyang, and Dingling this time. If Sun Lang were to raid these counties now, it would be an absolute breeze, damn it..."
Thinking of this, the magistrate of Kunyang County turned and left. Seeing this, Zhou Sanpi disregarded his concern for his pension and quickly got up to follow him.
He made a big mistake this time. He didn't follow the magistrate closely and perform well. The magistrate will hold a grudge against him afterward.
The two rushed to the ambush point as quickly as possible. The magistrate of Kunyang County quickly summoned the other three magistrates to report the situation. Upon hearing this, the three magistrates all changed their expressions and summoned their troops to return to their respective counties.
They came to steal the credit, and if they didn't succeed, that would be fine, but if Sun Lang stole their house, they would suffer a huge loss.
Thinking of the consequences of their home being raided, the three county magistrates were extremely anxious and urged the army to return to the county town as quickly as possible.
This place is closest to Wuyang. The magistrate of Wuyang County led his army to hurry along, praying as they went, "Brother Sun Lang, if you want to rob, rob Ye County and Dingling. Please don't come and bring trouble to Wuyang. If Wuyang is really brought to disaster, my career will be over."
As it turns out, what you fear most is what happens. The magistrate of Wuyang County ran from sunrise to midday, and when he was less than twenty miles from the county seat, a group of refugees dressed in fine clothes but looking disheveled suddenly appeared on the official road.
The magistrate of Wuyang County had excellent eyesight. He recognized the figure of the leader from afar as his own county magistrate, and then everything went black before his eyes, and he fell off his horse on the spot.
Fortunately, there were more infantrymen in the group, so the warhorses did not run wild and those who fell off their backs were not injured.
Tragically, the magistrate of Wuyang County, ignoring the pain, quickly got up as soon as he landed and stumbled towards the oncoming refugee procession.
The fleeing crowd rushed forward as if they had seen a savior. After the two sides met, the magistrate of Wuyang County immediately grabbed the county clerk's hand and asked, "What's going on? Did Sun Lang attack the county town?"
The county magistrate's grievances were instantly swallowed back down by this question, and he asked in surprise, "You, the county magistrate, already know?"
The magistrate of Wuyang County was completely relieved. He quickly mounted his horse and shouted, "Speed up! Follow me to retake the county seat!"
There's no need to seize the county town, because Sun Lang has already left.
Upon arriving at the city gate and finding it wide open, the magistrate of Wuyang County immediately commanded his army to enter the city. They encountered no resistance during the entry process, but the situation inside the city broke the magistrate's, the county magistrate's assistant, the county constable, and everyone else.
On the inner wall of the city, many large characters were written, and the words struck a chord with the people.
"The traitor Cao Cao usurped the throne; this is an act against all reason and justice."
"Your Majesty's northern expedition will unify the Han Dynasty."
"Welcome the royal army! May the Han Dynasty live ten thousand years..."
The walls were covered with all sorts of random slogans. These words were propaganda slogans in the eyes of the pseudo-Han officials, but in the eyes of Cao Wei, they were definitely rebellious remarks.
The magistrate of Wuyang County felt his vision blur and his whole body trembled. It took a lot of effort to steady himself and he shouted, "What are you standing there for? Wipe it off now!"
They wiped away the slogans and continued on, but even when they were almost at the county government office, they hadn't encountered a single person. The magistrate exclaimed in astonishment, "Where are they? Although Wuyang is a small city, it still has thirty to fifty thousand people, right? Where are they...?"
It's impossible for Sun Lang to take people away. Sun Lang is on the run and wouldn't want to become such a burden, much less be killed. Sun Lang used to be a bandit but is now a general of the puppet Han. The puppet Han always treats the people well. If Sun Lang dares to massacre the city without cause, Liu Bei will have to deal with him first, even without the Wei army's intervention.
If that's the case, why don't the people in the city go out at this hour?
The magistrate immediately ordered a search, and indeed several were found.
It's impossible for everyone in the city to have fled. At the very least, the families of the officials and yamen runners won't run away. Although these officials' families received their rations last night, they aren't worried about retaliation from the three major families.
They are the families of officials; the three major families would really have to think twice before seeking revenge.
Furthermore, they certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to announce that they were receiving grain rations. They would definitely say that it was all received by the lowly people and that they had no involvement. As long as they stubbornly deny it, the county government and the three major families, without any evidence, can only swallow their anger and suffer in silence.
So they didn't escape.
The magistrate of Wuyang County soon met up with the group and learned from them about Sun Lang's distribution of grain.
Upon learning the situation, the three families collapsed on the spot, angrily cursing Sun Lang as a scoundrel, saying that those were all the grain and property they had painstakingly accumulated, and he had just distributed them to those lowly people.
孽 孽!
Are those lowly people your biological fathers or something?
What terrified them and the magistrate even more was that the city's grain supplies had been completely looted, and there was no grain left in the official and private granaries. What would they eat for their next meal?
The soldiers who followed the magistrate to Kunyang, in particular, spent half the night in the wilderness feeding mosquitoes, and then ran back to Wuyang from Kunyang. They hadn't eaten a single grain of rice on the way and were starving. If they couldn't find food soon, they were going to strike.
As for the families of the officials who received the grain, they all received stolen goods; who would dare to give them up?
So the unlucky magistrate of Wuyang County, having no time to be angry or complain, quickly calmed himself down and contacted the three major families, asking them to contribute their stored grain outside the city to help everyone get through the crisis.
He then returned to Kunyang hungry to confront the magistrate of Kunyang County.
Such a big incident must be investigated and someone must take responsibility. The blame must be placed on the magistrate of Kunyang County. If he weren't the magistrate of Kunyang County, why would he have left Wuyang City?
Therefore, the primary responsibility for the fall of Wuyang lies with, and can only lie with, the magistrate of Kunyang County.
Not only did they want to shift the blame, but they also wanted the magistrate of Kunyang County to compensate them for their losses. At the very least, they wanted him to allocate some grain to help them get through the current crisis. They couldn't let his hundreds of men starve to death, could they?
The magistrate of Wuyang County returned to Kunyang on horseback with a dozen personal guards. As soon as he arrived at the county office, he pointed at the magistrate of Kunyang County and gave him a good scolding.
Knowing he was in the wrong, the magistrate of Kunyang County dared not argue and obediently listened to the scolding. From the process of being reprimanded, he learned about the situation in Wuyang, and collapsed to the ground, wailing, "Damn Sun Lang, you son of a bitch..."
Sun Lang has really screwed them over this time. He and the magistrate of Wuyang are both responsible for the fall of Wuyang, and no one can escape responsibility. The only thing to do now is to actively clean up the mess and at the same time write a letter to plead guilty and try to get leniency.
The magistrate of Kunyang County bit his tongue hard to calm himself down, then sighed weakly, "Brother, stop cursing. Let's figure out a way to clean up the mess."
The magistrate of Wuyang County said indignantly, "How can this be? All the people of Wuyang County have fled, and the huge county town has become a ghost town. How am I supposed to explain this to the prefect?"
The magistrate of Kunyang County said, "I have already thought this through. I will say that Zhou Sanpi is Sun Lang's accomplice and that he conspired with Sun Lang to deliberately frame us. Someone has to take the blame for this, and Zhou Sanpi is undoubtedly responsible."
The magistrate of Wuyang County angrily retorted, "Easy for you to say! This man is an old, childless man with no parents, no wife, and no children. He has no ties and no weaknesses. Do you think he'll obediently submit to our control?"
The hardest people to handle are those who have no weaknesses; how can you expect them to take the blame voluntarily?
The magistrate of Kunyang County said, "Let him die suddenly. The dead have no right to defend themselves. We can say that he tried to escape but we caught up with him and killed him. That way, we can at least give an explanation to the outside world. The rest is simple. Report to the prefect and ask him to contact the prefect next door to jointly surround and kill Sun Lang. As long as Sun Lang is captured, everything will be fine."
The magistrate of Wuyang County immediately changed his expression, reached out to help the magistrate of Kunyang County up, and said with a smile, "Tell me in detail."