Chapter 98: The official law in Xuanzhen Temple is like a furnace, and the emperor is more important than the people by the Yongding River
Wang Yan temporarily set up a "flood prevention center" in Xuanzhen Temple, which is more than ten miles northwest of Lugou Bridge. The office is located in the main hall of Sanqing - this is probably in the hope of being blessed by the Three Pure Ones.
As for whether he wanted to protect the people on both sides of the river or the official position of himself, Lord Wang, Sun Shaozong had no idea.
As they galloped along, they saw the outside of Xuanzhen Temple. Sun Shaozong dismounted and rushed in holding the wax bamboo stick without waiting for any notification, shouting, "The upstream 'Yang Bao' sent a message, it's urgent!"
Logically speaking, the guards in this Taoist temple were all transferred from the River Administration, and they should know the rule that the "Sheep Report" should not be blocked, but after a slight hesitation, the patrolmen at the door still stepped forward to stop Sun Shaozong.
Sun Shaozong frowned and shouted, "Are you all crazy? You dare to stop the Sheep Report?!"
"Please calm down, sir!"
The leading patrol officer hurriedly explained: "How dare I intercept the Sheep Report? It's just that an angel has come in and is reading the emperor's decree. If I let you in like this, it would be really..."
Imperial edict?
Sun Shaozong looked inside through the doorway and saw several dragon guards wearing "Black Dragon Swallowing Cloud Robes" standing outside the hall.
Therefore, he had no choice but to stop and bowed to the patrolmen, saying, "Then please go and report it. Since His Majesty has sent angels here, he must want to know the latest water conditions!"
The patrolmen thought that this was indeed reasonable, and since intercepting the "sheep report" without authorization was a capital crime, they discussed it in a low voice for a few words and then sent a patrolman to go in and report.
Soon, three Dragon Guards came out with the patrolman. Two of them were familiar faces, Shen Lian and Jin Yichuan, who had chased the He family's daughter-in-law. However, the one in charge now was not them, but a tall and burly middle-aged man.
The man brought Shen and Jin closer, bowed and said, "I am Lu Jianxing, the chief flag of the Detective Department. I am honored to meet the Cavalry Captain!"
Then he made way inside and said, "Commander-in-chief, please come in and talk."
Commander?
Sun Shaozong knew who it was as soon as he heard it, and hurriedly followed Lu Jianxing into Xuanzhen Temple. When he reached the door of the main hall, he suddenly saw a familiar face - Ye Xingmao, the clerk who forced Xu Mingtang to death!
At this time, Ye Xingmao had long lost the efficiency he had in the River Office. He knelt on the ground with disheveled hair and dirty face, his two hands trembling in front of his chest. A closer look revealed that his skin and nails had been peeled off, leaving only two clumps of purple-black muscles with exposed veins.
Tsk~
It looks like it was peeled and then blanched in boiling water!
Although in modern times, Sun Shaozong also responded to the call of his superiors and asked his subordinates to put an end to the bad habit of abusing lynching - but when he saw Ye Xingmao's miserable condition, his mood could only be described by the word "refreshing".
Slowing down his pace, Sun Shaozong subconsciously asked, "Has this fellow confessed?"
"What do you think?"
Jin Yichuan said proudly: "After tasting the skills of our Detective Department, how many of them are not obedient..."
"Third brother!"
Lu Jianxing let out a low cry and said with a smile, "You will know if you go in and ask. Such things should not come out of the mouths of humble officials."
This is a cautious one.
“The craftsmanship is really good.”
Sun Shaozong praised casually, then stepped into the main hall, and saw two people sitting in the hall. The one sitting on the main seat was naturally Wang Yan, and the one sitting on the guest seat was Dai Quan, the eunuch beside Emperor Guangde.
He is the only eunuch who likes to call himself the Commander of the Dragon Guard.
"I greet the Minister and the Commander-in-Chief."
Sun Shaozong hurried forward to meet Wang Yan, and then saluted Dai Quan.
"Get up, get up quickly!"
Wang Yan was silent, but Dai Quan smiled and extended his hand to help Sun Shaozong. When Sun Shaozong stood up, he praised him, "The victim of yesterday's 'White Elephant Corpse Case' has been found. It's just as you inferred, he's a street juggler!"
Sun Shaozong forced a smile, and as if unintentionally, he changed his hand to hold the wax bamboo stick.
Dai Quan saw this and immediately slapped his forehead and said self-deprecatingly, "Oh my! Look at what I've done. I almost forgot what I was doing! Quick, quick, tell me what the emergency is, so I can report it to the emperor."
Sun Shaozong bowed and said in a clear voice: "The patrol officers found a barrier lake caused by a landslide upstream. According to the brave soldiers who delivered the 'Sheep Report', the barrier lake may collapse again at any time. Please ask the ministers and the court to make preparations early!"
“Ah~!!!”
Before he finished speaking, he heard a heart-wrenching howl from the corner. He looked over and saw Beihe Governor, the second-in-command of the River Administration, stamping his feet and beating his chest and crying loudly: "Twenty-seven years, a full twenty-seven years! Why did it happen to me, Zhao Rongheng? God is so unfair, God is so unfair!"
“Is God unfair?!”
Hearing this cry , Wang Yan immediately exploded. He grabbed the inkstone and threw it at the old man, cursing, "How dare you cry out for injustice in front of me? How dare you cry out for injustice in front of tens of thousands of people on the south bank?!"
The inkstone hit Zhao Rongheng's shoulder with a bang, causing him to stagger. However, he acted as if he did not hear anything and continued to cry and wail there, repeatedly shouting "twenty-seven years" and "God is unfair".
Seeing this, how not know that Zhao Rongheng was the man behind forcing Xu Mingtang to death?
As for the "twenty-seven years" and so on, it refers to the fact that there has been no real flood in the Yongding River for twenty-seven years - otherwise, they would not dare to embezzle the money of river workers so lavishly at the foot of the capital.
"You have committed evil yourself, and you still dare to blame God for being unfair?"
Just as he was wondering, he heard Dai Quan sneer, "Zhao Rongheng, it seems you can't escape this skinning and flaying!"
As he said this, he stood up and bowed to Wang Yan: "Minister Wang, after I return to report, I will send someone to bring all the prisoners here."
After saying this, he left without waiting for Wang Yan's response.
Judging from the situation, Wang Yan might not be able to wear the black hat on his head for many more days - no wonder he was so angry just now.
Sun Shaozong accompanied Dai Quan out of the mountain gate and watched him drive away before returning to the main hall.
But before he could even cross the threshold, he heard Wang Yan's instructions from inside: "Notify the Hebei Provincial Surveillance Commissioner and have him dispatch personnel to take all the prisoners, including Zhao Rongheng, to the south bank to await execution. If anything happens to the riverbank, execute them immediately!"
Sun Shaozong waited outside the door for a while, waiting for the messenger to leave in a hurry, then he stepped into the main hall. Seeing that there was no one else around, even Zhao Rongheng had been taken away, he could not help but stepped forward and bowed, saying: "My Lord, if you really want to destroy the South Dike..."
"hehe."
Before Sun Shaozong could finish his question, Wang Yan shook his head smiled bitterly: "Do you think that only Jia Fucheng knows that the North Dike is more important than the South Dike? To tell you the truth, even if I do nothing here, the South Dike will not last long!"
Sun Shaozong was silent for a while after hearing this, and finally bowed his hands again and said, "I request to go to the south bank to supervise the execution!"
