Han official!

Chapter 153 Yan Nu
"There seems to be some movement there!"

Su Jia had been anxiously looking for Yao Ji. He looked around and saw that there seemed to be a person hiding in the cowshed where the cattle were raised.

Large-scale oil pressing requires the use of a grinding trough, which is made of stone and is usually pulled by oxen.

Next to the oiling workshop was a cowshed where more than a dozen oxen were kept for pulling the millstone. In a corner of the cowshed filled with oil residue and dried cakes, a young lady in a tattered jacket and trousers was curled up, tied to a wooden plank.

"Yao Ji!"

Su Jia exclaimed and rushed towards the cowshed, climbed over the front half of the fence, and walked into the cowshed on the top of the cliff behind.

While Xijun was in a daze, she heard footsteps coming from the cow prison. She suddenly woke up and backed away in fear, not wanting to be defiled by the villagers.

When she saw the person's appearance clearly, she was stunned at first, and soon she burst into tears and screamed.

There was a hemp rope tied in Xijun's mouth, so she could only make whimpering sounds and couldn't scream out loud.

Su Jia rushed into the cowshed, enduring the stench of fermented oil residue and dry cakes that had been piled up for a long time. He quickly took a few steps forward, picked up a dagger and cut the hemp rope in Xijun's mouth.

There were two bloody scars on Xijun's fair and tender face. She was almost disfigured by the abuse she suffered.

"Yan Nu?"

Su Jia saw Xijun's appearance clearly and said in astonishment, "Why are you imprisoned in the cow pen in the oil press room and not with Yao Ji? Could it be that Yao Ji met with an accident?"

Yan Nu was the only slave who stayed with Yao Ji. The rest of the slaves and maids were divided up by the three brothers Yao Youzhi. Only Yan Nu, who had a weak leg and walked with a limp, was left to depend on Yao Ji.

The two are nominally master and servant, but in fact they are like sisters and have always been inseparable.

There was only Yan Nu in the cow prison.

Su Jia was completely panicked: "No, it's impossible. Yao Ji is Yao Youzhi's niece. She won't be killed by her uncle."

He said it was impossible, but he was extremely panicked in his heart, thinking that Yao Youzhi, that inhuman beast, was capable of killing his concubine.

Su Jia seemed to be crazy, and kept repeating "It's impossible"
Unable to bear the fact that Yao Ji was killed.

"Su Jia!"

Guo Jie's loud shout was like a slap in the face, which immediately woke up Su Jia who was almost crazy. It also showed that Su Jia was loyal and righteous.

"How come you are locked up in a cow jail?"

Guo Jie was holding up Yan Nu's skirt. She looked like she had reached adulthood, but she was light and didn't weigh much. She was so skinny from hunger that he easily lifted her up outside.

Mang Tong walked into the oil-pressing room and, in front of many craftsmen, stole a large cauldron used for pressing oil.

When Mang Tong came back, a temporary horseshoe stove had been built at the entrance of the cow pen, with dry cakes that were easy to ignite placed at the bottom.

Mang Tong placed the cauldron on the horseshoe stove, lit the dry cakes, took out a handful of corn from his bag, brought a bucket of water, and began to cook porridge.

"Thief! What do you want?"

When the housekeeper saw that the slave Yan had been rescued from the ox-prison, his face was filled with panic. He drew the two-foot sword at his waist and shouted, "Everyone, take up your weapons! Capture these bandits who have come to the Pingshan Township government office to plunder! Ah!"

He had not yet finished his words to encourage the more than one hundred craftsmen around him.

Guo Jie drew the two-foot sword from his waist and threw it with force. There was only a whistling sound of wind.

The two-foot-long sword pierced through Jiacheng's mouth and nailed him to the wooden plank.

The more than one hundred craftsmen in the oil-pressing workshop were all terrified. They stood there blankly, holding various oil-pressing tools.

Shocked.

He was shocked by Guo Jie's murderous intent.

Even the bandits in Pingshan Township would not kill people at will. Robbery and murder are two completely different punishments.

The laws of the Han Dynasty were strict.

Killing someone is a capital crime punishable by beheading and public display.

More than a hundred craftsmen scattered in panic, running in all directions, not daring to stay in the annointing room.

Guo Jie took one look at the corpse of the housekeeper, whose eyes were still open, and said impatiently, "Shut up!"

When Su Jia entered the cow prison to save someone, they had already fallen out. There was no way he could continue to hide his identity unless he was willing to give up his wife who was in the cow prison.

It’s a pity that the Xijun imprisoned in the Ox Prison was not Yao Ji.

"Whoops——"

Guo Jie tore off the cloth covering his face and looked at Yan Nu, who was sipping corn porridge. He asked, "Do you know where Yao Ji is imprisoned? Or where she hid after escaping?"

Yan Nu was tortured and abused, and her mind was a little dazed. With her little hands covered with oil residue, she was holding a ceramic bowl and swallowing corn porridge. She had little strength in her body, and she drank the porridge subconsciously out of the desire to survive.

When she heard the name of Queen Yao Ji, a line of tears flowed from her thin face and dripped onto the corn porridge in the ceramic bowl.

Yan Nu said in a daze, "Go and rescue the Lady, please, go and rescue her. The Lady is imprisoned in the big ox prison, not in the oil press. My ox prison has oil residue and dry cakes to eat, but the big ox prison has nothing. The Lady hasn't eaten for almost three days. If you don't rescue her, she will starve to death."

"A mediocre dog!"

When Mang Tong, Chong Huangrou and Su Jia heard that Yan Nu survived by relying on the rotten oil residue in the cow prison, they all looked furious.

Oil residue is something that livestock do not eat. It is piled together and fermented into fertilizer, which is used as compost for farmland.

Guo Jie, on the other hand, looked relieved. "I went to the prison this morning and found no trace of Yao Ji. There are only two possibilities: she was either killed or she escaped. If Yao Youzhi had the heart to kill, he would not have let Yan Nu go. Now that Yan Nu is alive and well, Yao Ji probably found a chance to escape."

When Su Jia heard his mentor say that Yao Ji was still alive, he breathed a sigh of relief, but soon his face was filled with anger again.

He took off the short spear from his back, removed the linen wrapping it, and prepared to kill.

Su Jia was not yet an adult and his body had not fully grown, so he was not comfortable using the cavalry's iron halberd, which was a long halberd used on horseback.

Guo Jie found a craftsman from the official temple and had a tailor-made iron halberd with the word "卜" in it of suitable length for him.

The iron halberd with the character "卜" in Su Jia's hand was shorter than the cavalry's long halberd, but much longer than a two-foot sword. It was a rare weapon for killing people.

"They were the ones who killed Jia Cheng!"

At this time, Yao Xiangzuo came with hundreds of soldiers. This was the township government office, which was well-equipped. Hundreds of soldiers wore red armor, held spears, and had ring-handled swords hanging from their waists. They were arranged in a tight military formation and pressed forward step by step.

Yao Xiangzuo's eyes swept across the entrance of the cow prison, and his gaze passed over the faces of Mang Tong, Su Jia, and Chong Huangrou in turn.

He was amazed when he saw the beautiful Insect Emperor Rou, and a bit of greed appeared in his eyes.

When Yao Xiangzuo saw the last person, his body suddenly shuddered, his legs trembled, and he screamed in surprise.

"Guo Jie!"

"Mr. Yan, it's almost lunchtime, why haven't your disciples returned yet?"

The fact that Guo Jie and his companions had not returned for a long time aroused Yao Youzhi's vigilance. It was not because he was suspicious, but because the new accountant was Guo Jie, and there happened to be mistakes in the account book of Pingshan Township.

Yao Youzhi had a vague feeling of uneasiness. In order to prevent Yan Yi's disciples from discovering Yao Ji, he could only call those disciples back under the pretext of lunch.

As long as they are under Yao Youzhi's nose, there is no need to worry about revealing Yao Ji's whereabouts.

The only consolation was that Yao Youzhi had arranged for Yao Xiangzuo to burn the old account book last night.

"When traveling through the counties, you must thoroughly understand the local customs and practices of each place. Don't pay attention to them. If you can't endure hardship, how can you continue traveling with me? Let's enjoy lunch first."

Yan Yi saw Yao Youzhi's alertness, and clenched the two-foot sword in one hand, ready to capture Yao Youzhi, the patriarch of the Beidao Yao family, at any time.

This trip to the Pingshan Township seat seemed to be a tour by Yan Yi with several of his disciples, but in fact it was a secret visit by the accountant Guo Jie, who concealed his identity, to find out the five calculations concealed by the Yao family in the north.

Tax evasion is a serious crime. Moreover, the inspector was Guo Jie, who had repeatedly exterminated the clans of powerful people and had long ago frightened them.

"Please use it, Mr. Yan."

Yao Youzhi glanced outside the guest room door and could only ask the servant to bring the food and place it on the table. "The Yao family of Beidao have killed a sheep and a goose to entertain Mr. Yan. Mr. Yan, please taste it and see how it tastes."

He sighed and said, "It's a pity that Yao Ji was so obsessed with meeting Su Jia in private that she ran off to who knows where. Otherwise, I would have let Yan Jun taste the famous dog meat in Pingshan Township."

When Yao Youzhi mentioned the dog meat cooked by Yao Ji, he looked a little smug, thinking that the dog meat could attract Yan Yi's praise.

At that time, the magistrate of Huaili was hosting a banquet for a prefect of a small family. He specially sent a junior official to drive a carriage and invite Yao Ji to cook dog meat, which was praised by the prefect.

"There is order!"

At this time, a military official from the Pingshan Township government office hurried in, his face filled with shock. "The township commander sent five men to find the official and ordered him to immediately burn the accumulated firewood and summon all the powerful people from dozens of Pingshan Township's villages. It is said that they have discovered Guo Jie's whereabouts."

Yao Youzhi's expression suddenly changed, and he looked up at the sky outside the guest room.

A billowing cloud of smoke rose into the sky.

The military official obeyed Yao Xiangzuo's order, burned the accumulated firewood, and called all the powerful people in Pingshan Township to eradicate Guo Jie, the plague god, together.

Yao Youzhi turned to look at Yan Yi and said in a deep voice, "Who exactly is the disciple that Yan Jun brought to Pingshan Township? Could it be Guo Jie?"

The gate of the Pingshan Township Government Office was closed, and there were five people checking at the door, so no strangers came in.

The door was only opened last night, and Yao Youzhi personally welcomed Yan Yi in, accompanied by several disciples with their faces covered with cloth.

The excuse Yan Yi gave was that several of his disciples had killed someone in Langya County and could not show their faces, so they could only cover their faces with cloth.

Now it seems that it was not Yan Yi’s disciples who killed people, one of them was Guo Jie!

"It was Guo Jie."

Yan Yi was a gentleman of the Spring and Autumn Period. He did not lie and frankly admitted, "I came here to travel around, but I also had another purpose, to report to the clerk for his inspection."

Patrol plan!

Yao Youzhi's face turned pale, and he flipped over the table. "Go open the Five Armor Storehouses immediately, distribute the swords to the villagers, and arrest Guo Jie, who broke into the Pingshan Township government office without permission and attempted to burn the city."

The sin of burning a city is the same as treason.

Yao Youzhi threw a layer of dirty water on Guo Jie on the spot, with only one purpose, to find an excuse to kill Guo Jie.

Killed Guo Jie.

Afterwards, a storage warehouse at the Pingshan Township government office was burned down.

The cruel officials Zhao Yu and Zhang Tang had nothing to say and could only hold their noses and accept that Guo Jie was a prisoner sentenced to burn the city.

To die is to die in vain.

"Stop!"

Yan Yi, holding his scabbard, stood at the entrance to the guest room, blocking everyone inside. "No one is allowed to leave until Guo Jie arrives. You two, stay here quietly."

In the guest room, Yao Youzhi personally accompanied Yan Yi, and there were also more than ten guests kept by the Yao family of Beidao, all of whom were knights with superb swordsmanship.

Yan Yi, a Confucian scholar, actually dared to block more than ten knights.

Overcome!

"Ah."

The military official sneered and said, "You are a corrupt scholar who sits at home reading all day, and you dare to block the door? I can knock you down by myself without the guests having to do anything. Get out of the way quickly and avoid physical pain."

Yan Yi glanced at him without saying anything, with a look of contempt on his face.

"Little brat!"

The military official was furious: "Today I will teach you a lesson. You, a corrupt scholar, dare to look down on me. You deserve a beating!"

He drew the ring-handled knife from his waist, not daring to hurt Yan Yi, and slashed at Yan Yi's black cap.

The military officer was preparing to cut off Yan Yi's hair.

Let him suffer the humiliation of shaving his head.

"Snapped!"

A shadow of a scabbard flashed by, and before the military official could get close to Yan Yi, the scabbard hit the back of his hand.

"what!"

The military official screamed, covering his broken hand bones, and rolled on the floor of the guest room. His ring-handled sword fell to the side, and he no longer had the arrogance he had just had.

With just one sword strike, he defeated the military official who had been awarded the title of public official for his military merits.

Everyone in the guest room looked shocked.

I can't believe that Yan Yi, a mere corrupt scholar, has such superb skills in fighting and swordplay.

Yao Youzhi's heart sank, realizing he had neglected something, and he immediately made a promise: "Whoever can rush out and call the five people from the administrative center will be rewarded with a house with five mansions, a carriage, two servants, and a maid."

Money and silk touch people's hearts.

When Yao Youzhi mentioned the reward, the guests' eyes lit up, and they all put down their wine cups and drew their two-foot swords.

The guests rushed forward together and surrounded Yan Yi, who had superb swordsmanship, and were confident that they could capture the besieged Yan Yi.

The guests present were all famous knights in the Chang'an area, skilled in fighting and swordplay, and only five of them were needed to surround and kill a knight.

What's more, there were ten guests in the guest room.

Yan Yi is not the number one swordsman in Chang'an, Chong Huangrou, or the number one swordsman in Huainan, Lei Bei.

Yan Yi's swordsmanship is superb.

He will only be defeated by the swords of ten guests.

"Clap clap clap!"

"Ahhh!"

A series of bone-breaking sounds were heard.

Ten guests were lying on the ground in all directions. Not only were they unable to surround and kill Yan Yi, they couldn't even touch his linen shirt as they were knocked down one by one.

Yao Youzhi widened his eyes in shock.

"you you."

Yao Youzhi said angrily, "I heard that Yan Yi was a gentleman from the Spring and Autumn Period. How could such a virtuous gentleman like you be willing to aid the tyrant and protect the lawless Guo Jie?"

"Dingling——"

A breeze blew, blowing the jade ring on Yan Yi's waist, making a crisp sound.

Yan Yi's expression straightened.

"As the Analects says, 'If a man is without faith, I do not know what good he can be.'"

"A gentleman cannot go back on his word. I've already promised Guo Jie to defend this place. Even if it's someone sentenced to death by imperial decree, let alone a prisoner, I won't break my promise!"

(End of this chapter)