Volume 1 Chushan Bandits Chapter 76: Suspicion and Thunder
Although the heads of the prefecture and county had come to see the bodies several times with their subordinates, Deng Gui still did not dare to bury the bodies of Guo Caoling and the other two. To this day, the bodies are still sealed in coffins with lime and kept in the small courtyard where they were assassinated.
The eight ugly characters "The murderer is Chushan Yaksha Fox" written in blood had turned dark brown by now, and a faint fishy smell emanated from the room.
Cheng Lunying walked into the room, frowned slightly, stared at the words on the wall, and said nothing.
"This character is really ugly. How dare you call yourself a Yaksha Fox?" County Lieutenant Zhu Tong said with a playful smile.
Deng Gui stood behind Cheng Lunying without saying a word.
In the past ten days, Deng Gui had walked into this room countless times, and had personally examined the bodies of Guo Caoling and three others many times.
Guo Caoling's right elbow bone was fractured, his left neck was pierced with a hole, his fatal wounds were eleven stabs in the chest and his throat was crushed, and his unsheathed long sword also had a cut as big as a grain of rice. All these show that Guo Caoling was not completely unguarded when he was attacked, but after giving a warning, he struggled to draw his sword and fight with the assassin.
Guo Caoling's two men also entered the room in time and were killed by the same assassin.
Deng Gui didn't know whether he could match the assassin's skills at such a young age when he had just won the martial arts exam; perhaps he couldn't.
Deng Gui knew very well that even if he boasted that his skills were as good as Guo Caoling's when he was young, he would never risk doing such a thing.
Who is this "Chushan Yaksha Fox"?
Apart from Xu Wujiang and other rough and unruly warriors who have been bewitched and have no idea of the seriousness of the situation, who else is hiding behind the scenes to protect Wang Bing?
These days, Deng Gui himself was unable to leave Huaiyuan, but he wrote countless letters to "apologize" everywhere, but the successor inspector Guo Caoling died, and no one was willing to take up this position at this critical juncture.
But Deng Gui’s transfer order has not been officially issued yet.
According to his "crimes", Deng Gui should be demoted to a commoner. Deng Gui himself also urgently wanted to be demoted to a commoner, but from the Lu Si to the prefecture and county, they all decided to give him a chance to atone for his crimes and continue to keep him in the post of Huaiyuan Inspector. What could he do?
As the postmaster, Cheng Yi should have been held accountable and removed from his post, but the Lu Si and the county officials seemed to have forgotten about his existence.
Now that he saw that Cheng Lunying could not shirk his responsibility and had gone to Huaiyuan in person to inquire about the assassination case, Deng Gui felt a little relieved.
Cheng Lunying was a higher official than him and was also a government official, so someone would have to take the blame in the end. At this time, Deng Gui did not think that he was more qualified than Cheng Lunying.
"Has there really never been a person called 'Chushan Yaksha Fox' in Tongbai Mountain?" Cheng Lunying turned around and asked.
"Maybe there is, but I have been in Huaiyuan for more than two years and I am ignorant. I have never heard of this person?" Deng Gui said.
"If we haven't even heard of this person, where should we dig him out from and give an explanation to Lu Si and the Privy Council?" Cheng Lunying asked in a deep voice.
Deng Gui humbly said, "I am a stupid official. Please punish me, Mr. Cheng."
"Reduce the punishment, reduce the punishment! If you don't handle this matter well, Deng Gui, do you think you can get away with it?" Cheng Lunying was furious when she heard Deng Gui speaking in an official tone without any effect. Unable to suppress the irritation in her heart, she spoke rudely in a harsh voice.
Deng Gui smiled bitterly and was not annoyed by Cheng Lunying's bad tone.
Cai Ying is extremely powerful and he sends people to secretly control Hutouzhai. In Lu Si, Chen Tong and others act as his accomplices and are determined to take Wang Bing's life. They didn't want to be directly involved in this matter in the past, mainly because they didn't want to bear a bad reputation and become scapegoats to take the blame.
At this point it is no longer a question of whether or not to take the blame. If they dare to be accomplices in aiding and abetting the evil, will this "Chushan Yaksha Fox" be hiding in the dark and staring at their heads?
Otherwise, Deng Gui really couldn't imagine why the assassin would dip his lips in blood and leave the eight-character name "Murderer Chushan Yaksha Fox" after killing Guo Caoling?
Are you thinking about becoming famous?
"When Prime Minister Wang was demoted to Tangzhou, he should have gone south from Xuchang, passing Fangcheng to Biyang, but he went from Xuchang to Shangcai, and then from Shangcai to Xinyang, and finally walked into the Tongbai Mountains..." Deng Gui thought for a moment and whispered to Cheng Lunying.
When Wang Bing was demoted from the capital to Tangzhou, his food and lodging were provided by the post stations along the way, so there is a clear track available for reference.
If Wang Bing went from Bian Jing to Tangzhou, he could cross the Yingshui River from Xuchang and take the post road directly on the western foot of the Funiu Mountains, passing through Fangcheng to Biyang. The road would be smooth and the distance would only be 360 to 370 miles.
After arriving in Xuchang, Wang Bing went south along the Yingshui River, crossed the Huaishui River to Xinyang, and then went from Xinyang through the Tongbai Mountains to Biyang, which was almost 600 miles.
At the beginning, others might have thought that Wang Bing was frustrated in his career and devoted himself to nature, and no one would bother him for taking a few more days off on the road.
Deng Gui now believed that Wang Bing’s change of route from Xuchang was not without reason.
Seeing Cheng Lunying remained silent, he whispered, "Prime Minister Wang has been staying in the military camp for more than three months. Although he has only Lu Xiong to protect him, I have never seen him worry about banditry..."
"Are you trying to say that this 'Chushan Yaksha Fox' is not actually a character in Tongbai Mountain, but like Lu Xiong, he actually followed Mr. Wang all the way from Bian Jing to Tongbai Mountain?" Cheng Lunying asked.
"I am just speculating randomly. Mr. Cheng, just listen to it and don't take it seriously. I am just thinking that Wang Xiang was a Jinshi during the Yuezheng period. He had a reputation as a writer before that. He has been an official for more than 30 years and is upright. Although he is not liked by his colleagues, the ignorant people in the martial arts world and his former students have been bewitched by him. Perhaps it is not just Lu Xiong - otherwise, Wang Xiang would not be feared by someone?" Deng Gui said.
"Mr. Deng, are you saying that when the great gods fight, we small fry will suffer?" Cheng Lunying asked with a sullen face.
"I, a humble official, would never underestimate Mr. Cheng. I just think that this matter may require guidance from an expert to clear up the confusion." Deng Gui said.
In the current society, people respected culture and suppressed military power, and in the court, civil officials who came from the scholarly career held absolute dominance and formed their own cliques.
Deng Gui had been wandering around the local grassroots for many years and was not very clear about the factional struggles among the officials in the court, but he was also aware that Cheng Lunying, as a scholar-official, probably had supporters in the court.
As for this case now, Lu Si and the state government still want to stay out of it. Deng Gui doesn't know how terrible a storm will brew if he continues to delay, but he knows that it may be impossible to reverse the situation relying solely on his and Cheng Lunying's personal efforts.
"Really?" Cheng Lunying asked hesitantly.
"Thump, thump!" The sound of horse hooves came quickly from far away.
Deng Gui frowned and looked towards the yard.
Fast horses would gallop directly into the military camp, usually because of urgent documents sent by the Lusi and Bian Jing, or because there was extremely urgent military intelligence to be transmitted from the surrounding areas.
Hearing the sound of horse hooves heading towards the inspection office, Deng Gui felt a sense of gloom in his heart.
Speeding up the delivery of official documents would involve exchanging horses and getting food from the post station, and had nothing to do with the Inspection Office. Now the fast horses were going directly to the Inspection Office's office. How could Deng Gui be happy?
"Mr. Cheng, please come this way." Deng Gui invited Cheng Lunying and others to go to the government office together.
As soon as they entered the posthouse, the messenger came from the inspection office and saw Deng Gui reporting: "There are about 600 to 700 people in Hutou Village, and they are heading to Zhongjiazhuang in Mopanling..."
A chill ran up from his coccyx, and Deng Gui looked at Cheng Lunying at a loss.
"These bandits are so bold. They have been quiet for a few years but are now ready to make trouble. It's really hateful. Mr. Deng, please go to Zhongjiazhuang to observe the situation. If the bandits are brutal, you should not rush to deal with them. But I will go back to the county to check the swordsmen and archers and teach them a lesson!" Cheng Lunying said angrily.
Deng Gui looked at Cheng Lunying in surprise. He didn't expect that when he heard that Hutouzhai was causing trouble, he was unwilling to stay in Huaiyuan for even a moment and wanted to flee back to the county immediately.
However, this time Cheng Lunying came to Huaiyuan accompanied by the county lieutenant Zhu Tong and others, and brought more than a hundred swordsmen and archers. He insisted on leaving, and Deng Gui had no reason to persuade him.
Jin Longquan and Tang Tiande were still unaware of the situation, and at this moment they did not forget to express their loyalty in front of Cheng Lunying, who was impatient to mount his horse and leave, saying, "The bandits in Hutou Village are becoming more and more rampant, and today they have disturbed the county lord. We will definitely deal with them."
"No problem. The soldiers of various clans have always been the backbone of the imperial court. However, if there is any spoils, I will write to the imperial court to request credit for these warriors." Cheng Lunying said some polite words, and urged Zhu Tong to leave quickly with the swordsmen, archers, and yamen runners.
Deng Gui hated Cheng Lunying for getting away with it, but he still took his men to see them off out of the west gate before returning to the government office to arrange the defense inside the military camp.
"Why not gather troops and rush to Zhongjiazhuang?" Tang Tiande was slightly stunned and asked.
Less than half a month ago, Deng Gui gathered local soldiers and defeated the bandits in Xiema Mountain in the north of Yuhuang Ridge, and the morale of Tang Tiande and others also became high.
Although Guo Caoling was assassinated afterwards, which made everyone unhappy, Secretary Lu had no intention of directly pursuing responsibility.
At this time, the bandits in Hutou Village started to move unusually. Tang Tiande thought that no matter what, they should check their troops and rush to Zhongjiazhuang to earn more military merits to redeem themselves!
Although the Zhong family has few people working in the Inspection Office, and their clan members are not as numerous as those of the Xu and Tang families, their village is located at the foot of Mopanling Mountain, and there are usually more than a hundred armed farmhands in the village to prevent banditry. In terms of clan soldiers and bravery, their strength is stronger than that of the Xu and Tang families.
In the view of Tang Tiande, Jin Longquan and others, the bandits from Hutou Village heading towards Zhongjiazhuang at this time was undoubtedly courting their own destruction, just like the bandits from Xiema Mountain who attacked Lutai Village and suffered a miserable defeat half a month ago.
How could Tang Tiande, Jin Longquan and others not want to grab the credit for suppressing bandits that was within their grasp?
Although no matter how great their achievements were, it would be difficult for them to directly join the ranks of military officials, but the last time they defeated the bandits in Xiema Mountain, as the leaders of the troops, they received nearly 200 strings of cash each from the rewards collected by the prefectures and counties as well as local clans, mainly the Xu family, which was considered a windfall.
They led their men to Zhongjiazhuang this time. Could the Zhong family express less?
Tang Tiande and Jin Longquan did not expect that Deng Gui was not only unmoved, but also ordered all the patrolling personnel outside to withdraw back to the military camp.
Deng Gui didn't know how to explain to Tang Tiande, Jin Longquan and others. Could it be that he had known in advance that the bandits in Hutouzhai were secretly controlled by assassins sent by Privy Councilor Cai Ying?
Could it be that Guo Caoling was assassinated before taking over, and he had long guessed that these people would not give up and would definitely do something big, and it was precisely because of this that he sent people to keep an eye on any movement in Hutouzhai, the several strongholds in Tongbai Mountain?
Can he say that?
Does he dare to make everything public?
Not to mention that Zheng Hui, Chen Tong and others had done things cleanly, he had solid evidence in his hand that involved the emperor's most favored privy councilor Cai Ying. Would the lord sitting on the throne believe that his most favored minister would do such a heinous thing?
When the time comes, Cai Ying will blame everything on party struggles, and Deng Gui, who has been rotating at the grassroots level for more than a dozen years, will be accused of falsely accusing a minister. How could he not imagine what a tragic end he will suffer?
