Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 427 Too Arrogant, Too Presumptuous

"I'm sure everyone has heard the rumors in the market these past two days. I've heard them too. I can only say that these bandits are too arrogant and presumptuous! In broad daylight, they can actually do this. Is there any law? County magistrate, I'd like to hear what tricks you have."

The county magistrate immediately stood up and bowed, saying, "Your Excellency, there is no way. These bandits come and go without a trace. I have suppressed them dozens of times, but they still come every year."

"It seems that this is a group of bandits who have read books and know the art of war."

Xia Lin looked around at the wealthy families in the county and said, "Everyone, since I'm here, I must deal with this matter. However, the arrogance of these bandits is incredible, so I plan to transfer elite troops from Huangya Pass to suppress the bandits."

Many wealthy landlords echoed and praised Xia Lin for his benevolence, but Xia Lin changed the subject: "But it takes money to dispatch a large army, and the cost of food for the men and horses is also not small. What about the money? What should we do?"

"Oh... that's easy." The county magistrate immediately stood up and said, "It would be enough if each of the wealthy merchants in our county could chip in a few hundred or a thousand dollars."

Xia Lin waved his hand: "Not enough, not enough. As the saying goes, when swords come out, gold will pave the way. Not enough, not enough, far from enough."

The people present looked at each other. They knew that these officials were greedy, but they didn't expect them to be so greedy. The atmosphere became awkward for a moment and no one mentioned the money again.

At this time, it was the Ninth Master who broke the silence: "Mr. County Magistrate, I do have an idea. How about I take the lead and go to the county to ask for donations, and let the people also donate some. After all, suppressing the bandits is a good thing for them. What do you think?"

"Good! This is a good idea!"

"this is OK."

Xia Lin looked at their excited expressions without any hurry. Instead, he placed his hands on the table and said, "I don't have much time. I'll give you three days?"

"It doesn't take three days, just two days will do!" Master Jiu patted his chest and promised.

"Hahaha, good, good." Xia Lin nodded: "Then I will wait for your good news."

He swung his sleeves and turned away. After he left, a wealthy man in the county threw the teacup in his hand to the ground and broke it into pieces: "I have seen what greed is. How can there be such a greedy person in the world?"

"Why are you panicking?" Jiu Ye looked at him and smiled contemptuously. "I said in two days, I will raise seven or eight thousand taels of silver for him. I will say that the county has been plagued by bandits for many years and the people have been poor for a long time. If he has the ability, he can go and ask for the money himself. He must have official duties to attend to, otherwise he would not be so anxious."

"Yes, yes, yes, Master Jiu is still smart."

"This little brat who has received the grace of the Holy Spirit is not difficult to deal with."

After saying this, Jiu Ye took a sip from his teacup with a relaxed look on his face: "He doesn't look like someone who can get things done. Okay, let's all go. It's not a big deal, don't worry."

As soon as Xia Lin arrived at his accommodation, spies arrived. They remembered in detail what these people said and did after Xia Lin left, and even how many bites of food each person ate.

"He broke the cup and he broke the cup for me too." Xia Lin spat after reading it.

The man who smashed the cup was named Mao Zheng, formerly known as Mao Dejin. In his early years, he made his fortune by running a black shop on the road. Later, when he had some savings, he settled here and transformed himself into a "legitimate businessman."

There are no secrets in front of the Investigation Bureau, not to mention that these are the elite of the elite trained by Tian En, and each of them has unique skills.

"Deshun."

"I am here." The docile eunuch bowed and said, "What do you want, sir?"

Xia Lin pointed at the piece of paper he brought with him and said, "We'll execute him tonight. Leave a message and ask the county to hand over 200,000 taels of silver. Otherwise, we'll execute one a day."

"Order."

Early the next morning, a sharp and piercing scream startled the entire county. Soon someone reported the murder to the police. When the county government investigators arrived, they discovered that Mao Zheng had been hanged in his yard, and his three sons were executed along with him.

A blood letter was also found at the scene, which meant that the county should prepare 200,000 taels of silver and send it to the valley outside the city. If the arrival was delayed for one day, one family would be wiped out.

The people really applauded this. Mao Zheng and his sons opened a brothel in the county. No one knew how many girls were forced into prostitution by them, and no one knew how many people were ruined by them. A few years ago, when the brothel was booming, young girls could be seen floating in the river outside the city every day. There was no need for a coroner to examine their bodies, as one could tell at a glance that they were beaten to death. However, the government always said that they committed suicide for love.

"Ah, this is a thief."

"It's not a big deal. They're going to be in trouble this time."

The people were talking about it, but the county magistrate stood there with a sullen look on his face. How could he not know whether this was the work of a chivalrous thief or a bandit? Where did the bandits come from in this place? The so-called bandits were just servants of these wealthy families.

"Master Jiu, things are getting tricky."

"Yeah." Jiu Ye took a deep breath: "I didn't expect this kid to be so cruel."

"How can this be good?"

"Give it to him!" Jiu Ye gritted his teeth and said, "Give him all the money!"

"No, Master Jiu. This man is greedy. We have already given him more than 100,000 taels, but he still wants 200,000 taels. Even if this county has mountains of gold and silver, it can't withstand such a toss."

"Here!" Jiu Ye glared and said, "Send this plague god away first."

At this moment, Xiao Douya was walking back and forth in front of Xia Lin with his hands behind his back: "I don't understand." "Why don't you understand?" Xia Lin was practicing calligraphy leisurely at this moment: "Go ahead, I'll explain it to you."

"If you really want to punish the county magistrate, just kill him."

"Oh..." Xia Lin put down the pen in his hand. "What's the point of punishing the county magistrate? I told you, the land is in the hands of these rich families. I want to return the land to the people. Killing people does not require any knowledge, but returning the land does. If I ask them to hand over the land deeds directly, I will break the rules. The land was bought legally by others. I can't break the rules. If I break the rules, many things will be difficult to do in the future."

"So what are your plans?"

"Of course we have to get rid of the most difficult one."

"Will they really give that two hundred thousand?"

"meeting."

Sure enough, that afternoon two hundred thousand taels were placed in a valley outside the city in a box wrapped in yellow cloth and filled with silver bills.

But this is not just about giving money. There are many guards of these wealthy families lying in ambush around, waiting to catch anyone who comes to take the silver.

The total amount was more than 300,000 taels, which was difficult to collect even for the wealthy families in the county. Some families whose scale was not large enough were almost selling off their belongings. Who could be willing to accept this?

Sure enough, a man in black came to pick up the package that night, but the people who were waiting there did not rush to catch them all in one fell swoop, but chose to follow the clues.

After the men in black left, they called a few good fighters to follow them quickly, but soon after, these men in black whooshed into the county town, and then actually walked to the outside of Jiu Ye's house, climbed over the wall easily, and were never seen again.

Once this news came out, it was like a stone that caused a thousand waves. Jiu Ye naturally also knew this news. He was stunned for the first time and punched the table: "What a cunning trick!"

He paced nervously in the room with red eyes. He knew that he could not explain this matter, and even if he explained it, no one would listen. Everyone would easily fill in all the details in their minds. And only Master Jiu had the ability and means to get rid of Mao Zheng's family silently.

He's going to get killed.

But he was not the kind of person who would sit there and wait for death. As soon as he heard the news, he did something really amazing. He changed into a servant's clothes and went to the post station to find Xia Lin.

"Oh, isn't this Mr. Feng? You came so early in the morning. What can I teach you?"

"Sir, please let me go."

"Eh? You can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want. I'm just here to suppress bandits. I have no conflict with you. Why should I let you go? Could it be that... you are the bandit?"

Jiu Ye's breathing became rapid at this moment. He knew that his life had been controlled by the young man in front of him overnight.

"Please tell me what you want, sir."

"I don't want anything."

He said this, but Jiu Ye clearly saw four big words in his eyes - I'm going to kill you.

"grown ups!"

Jiu Ye lifted up his clothes and knelt down with a plop: "Sir, spare my life..."

"Oh." Xia Lin shook his head. "I thought you could hold out for a few more days. You're not that good of a country gentleman. Be tough and fight for a few more rounds."

At this moment, Master Jiu was kowtowing like crazy. The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. He was suppressing bandits, suppressing bandits, but in the process of suppressing bandits, he became a bandit himself. Moreover, the chain of evidence of witnesses and material evidence was complete. Now his life and death depended on someone else's thoughts.

"I dare not, I dare not... There is no false reputation under a great name, the ancients did not lie to me." Jiu Ye prostrated himself on the ground: "I have heard of your name for a long time, but I still looked down on you. I hope you will be magnanimous."

Xia Lin chuckled and poured himself a glass of water: "Do you know what the only way you can survive is, Master Jiu."

Jiu Ye paused for a moment, then drooped his head like an eggplant that had been beaten well: "Bite all the people related to this county to death..."

"Smart." Xia Lin patted his shoulder, then stood up and walked out with his hands behind his back: "De'an, come and record his testimony."

After walking out of the door, Xiao Douya looked up at Xia Lin with sparkling eyes: "So simple?"

"What's so difficult about this?" Xia Lin put his hand on her shoulder and said, "Brother Dugu, how many days?"

"Seven days...only seven days..."

"Don't worry, we'll have to judge it later. We can't let you lose too badly. I'll collect the money for you in ten days."

"Annoying..."

Dugu Han pulled his hand down and walked away angrily.

"Hey, what's wrong with you? You're angry about this too, right?"

(End of this chapter)