Chapter 146: Falling into a Trap
After he finished speaking, he looked at Su Qingqing dimly and added, "Seriously speaking, the queen was also at the crime scene, so she should also avoid suspicion."
Jixiang was immediately furious, but Su Qingqing stopped her. Looking at Zhao Bingchun, Su Qingqing slowly stood up and walked towards Zhao Bingchun step by step.
"Lord Zhao is right. I am also a suspect and should avoid suspicion. So... someone, take me away as well!"
Everyone present: Huh?
As Su Qingqing finished speaking, there was a sudden loud noise outside.
The soldiers who came with Su Qingqing to provide disaster relief surrounded the Hu family. Minghe was the leader and rushed forward. After saluting , he raised his hand and waved, ordering people to be arrested.
The scene, which had been eerie and silent just now, suddenly became noisy.
One side wanted to arrest people, the other side wanted to resist, and there were cries, shouts, and curses mixed together.
When Zhao Bingchun came from the county government office, he brought a lot of people with him. When there was a commotion here, more yamen runners rushed over from the county government office.
The two sides fought fiercely, neither of them took a step forward, and neither of them gave in a bit.
In the chaos, the body of the county magistrate's wife was left unattended and was kicked left and right. Her neat hair was disheveled her tightly-fitting clothes were loose. Zhao Bingchun tried hard to walk up to the body and pick her up, but the scene was so chaotic that he couldn't even move a step forward.
In the midst of the chaos, a county yamen runner suddenly rushed in from outside, with a trembling voice of panic, "Sir, it's bad, bandits are here and have attacked our granary."
Zhao Bingchun suddenly felt tinnitus and dizziness in front of his eyes, and he turned around in shock and looked at the yamen runners rushing towards him.
The noisy sounds all around continued.
The bailiff rushed over and reported in a loud and anxious voice, "Sir, just now, the bandits rushed into the city and directly attacked our granary, taking away all the grain."
Zhao Bingchun's ears were buzzing.
There were voices of yamen runners reporting back, shrill, panicked cries, and harsh, angry rebukes. All the voices seemed to converge into a sharp sword, piercing Zhao Bingchun's heart directly. He was stunned for a moment before he asked in a voice that didn't seem to be his own, "What?"
The yamen runners were in a hurry. "The bandits came and killed people and set fire to the granary. They killed the yamen runners and stole the grain."
puff!
A mouthful of blood spurted out of Zhao Bingchun's mouth.
Gangster?
How could there be a gangster!
How could there be a real gangster!
He made up the story about those bandits. He was the one who colluded with others inside and outside. How could the bandits who robbed the granary come from?
"Sir! Sir!" The bailiff who came to report the news shouted anxiously.
Zhao Bingchun's mind was in a mess.
Suddenly, bandits appeared over there and robbed the food, and over here the Crown Princess was arresting people. Zhao Bingchun was furious for a moment, and he vomited blood twice before he recovered a little.
"Stop! Stop it! Stop it!" Zhao Bingchun roared with red eyes at the top of his lungs.
When he shouted, his men stopped immediately, and the men on Su Qingqing's side also stopped their actions after seeing Su Qingqing's expression.
Su Qingqing looked at Zhao Bingchun with a half-smile, "Sir, do you agree to arrest him?"
Zhao Bingchun was on the verge of collapse. A terrifying thought came to his mind. He looked at Su Qingqing tremblingly, "It's you!"
Su Qingqing neither denied nor admitted it, and glanced at Zhao Bingchun lightly, "The grain used by the government for disaster relief was robbed by bandits. Are you going to fight the bandits now, or continue to solve the case?"
Su Qingqing told Zhao Bingchun directly what the bailiff had reported to him alone. Zhao Bingchun was immediately certain that it must be the work of this vicious woman.
It's her!
It was she who poisoned his wife and lured him here, using the pretext of arresting someone to attract the bailiffs from the yamen. When the yamen was empty, she took the opportunity to have people loot the granary!
At the moment when Zhao Bingchun's thoughts came to light, the ladies present were all shocked. The head of the Hu family pulled Zhao Bingchun's arm and said, "Zhao County Magistrate, was the granary of the government robbed?"
Before, everyone could still live a leisurely life because the county was not in chaos and they knew that the government had enough food to survive the famine.
But now all the food in the government office has been taken away.
If the county continues to block its gates, the food in the city will be eaten up sooner or later. If the county opens its gates, refugees from outside will pour in.
Just now, the Crown Princess wanted to arrest someone. Although everyone was panicked, they still felt that there was still hope.
After all, as the old saying goes, a strong dragon cannot defeat a local snake.
No matter how high and mighty the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess are, they are still mortal beings after all. This is their Nanchong County's territory. If they really want to do something, the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess may not be able to bear it.
When a person dies and turns to ashes, what does it matter how high his status is!
But it’s different now.
The food is gone!
Everyone looked at Zhao Bingchun, but Zhao Bingchun couldn't say a word.
He couldn't say that there were no real bandits, and he couldn't say that the food was all the Crown Princess's doing.
Zhao Bingchun couldn't say it, but Su Qingqing could, "Isn't County Magistrate Zhao going to suppress the bandits yet? If you delay any longer, the whole county will be taken over by the bandits. Who here will be spared?"
Right now, Lord Zhao, are you going to suppress the bandits by yourself and leave me to investigate the case for you, or are you going to investigate the case and I will take the yamen runners to suppress the bandits?
Or maybe, Master Zhao is very strong-willed, and you want to take both?"
Zhao Bingchun stared at Su Qingqing. He knew very well that the food was robbed by Su Qingqing.
If he doesn't let Su Qingqing bring people today, then the food issue will become his biggest handle, and the bandit matter will no longer be covered up.
At that time, he would not only have to bear the crime of falsely reporting grain, but also the serious crime of colluding with bandits to defraud the court.
He couldn't afford to offend either of them.
He was forced to stand on the same boat with the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess, but even if he was willing to surrender, could the Crown Prince give him a way to survive ?
Isn’t the reason why her wife is lying dead here today because the Crown Princess noticed something?
The Crown Princess knew that his wife wanted to kill her, but she still gave her a chance to live?
Zhao Bingchun didn't dare to take the risk.
After thinking it over, Zhao Bingchun made up his mind in a flash, "Your Highness wants to take the suspect away. I have nothing to say, but the Hu family is definitely not the murderer. I can guarantee it with my life."
He wanted to cling to the Rong'an Marquis's Mansion.
The head of the Hu family was stunned and looked at Zhao Bingchun with some emotion.
Zhao Bingchun patted his shoulder and continued, "Your Highness, if you want to take others away, go ahead. I also hope to find the real culprit as soon as possible, but I hope Your Highness will think twice about the people of the Hu family. The Hu family has contributed money and effort to this disaster relief and bandit suppression, and I cannot let their hearts down."
Zhao Bingchun had already made preparations to fight to the death if the Crown Princess insisted on taking the people away, but as soon as he finished speaking, Su Qingqing just said lightly, "Okay."
Zhao Bingchun was stunned.
Su Qingqing had already instructed Jixiang, "The people from the Hu family stay, and take everyone else away."
The ladies who were about to be taken away cried for help, but Zhao Bingchun didn't have the energy to care about them.
After pacifying the Hu family, he still had to pretend to go out to suppress the bandits. "Your Majesty, can you inform His Royal Highness the Crown Prince about the suppression of the bandits? I haven't seen His Royal Highness since we parted that day."
