Chapter 625: Zhou bream breaks hair
In April of the sixth year of Jianxing, Lu Xun, the governor of Soochow, returned to Jianye by water and inspected the counties and counties along the way.
When they arrived at Chaisang, officials from all over the country came to pay their respects. Only Zhou Li, the prefect of Poyang County, sent someone to tell him that although the bandit commander Peng Qi had been captured last year, there were still some remnants who raised his banner to rebel. He had to lead troops to encircle and suppress him and could not make it there.
When Lu Xun learned of this, he rushed from Chaisang to Poyang County to check on the military situation.
When we arrived at Pengze County, someone reported to Lu Xun secretly, saying that Zhou Li did not go to encircle and suppress the rebels at all, but because he thought the journey to Chaisang was too far and did not want to flatter Lu Xun, so he took advantage of the chaos.
Lu Xun was suspicious but did not believe it. However, after entering Poyang County, he kept an extra eye and deliberately understood the people's conditions in various places in Poyang County.
Lu Xun originally didn't mind whether Zhou Li came to Chaisang to see him, but after he deliberately understood it, he learned that Zhou Li secretly used the new land reclaimed the year before to grow sugar cane, and he became furious on the spot.
The year before last, because of the prolonged war, the people had to leave the farm, and many fathers, sons, and couples were separated. Therefore, he wrote to Sun Quan, King of Wu, and ordered the generals to increase the number of acres.
At the same time, this was also the beginning of the official farming of Wu State.
The king not only agreed to his proposal, he even took over the land himself and changed the eight oxen used in the chariot to four oxen to show that everyone worked equally.
Unexpectedly, just over two years later, Zhou Li not only dared to occupy farmland privately, but even used it for other purposes.
Seeing his hard work being wasted like this, why didn't Lu Xun get furious?
He immediately summoned Zhou Li and scolded him in public, "A dog knows how to protect his family, but you are so greedy and greedy. You are really worse than a dog pigging on you!"
Not only did he order Zhou Li to return to the occupied farmland, but he was still angry and repeatedly said that he would take a copy of him in front of the King of Wu.
Zhou Li was scolded horrendously, and was caught by Lu Xun. He did not dare to refute. He fell to the ground sweating and begged for mercy.
In the end, Lu Xun let Zhou Yi go because he was from Wu County.
He lost all face in front of his colleagues in Poyang County, and Zhou Li felt ashamed and ashamed.
When he returned to his house, a servant brought him some food. He took a bite and felt that the food was not tasty. He suddenly threw his chopsticks and cursed loudly, "You dare to bully me!"
He was already very angry with Lu Xun, and felt that his colleagues would inevitably use this matter to ridicule him in the future.
Now that I have returned to my own house, I feel that the food is much worse than before. I immediately became furious and ordered the cook to be tied up. I whipped him with a whip and beat the cook until his skin and flesh were bruised.
After the fight, Zhou Li cursed Lu Xun in his own house: "It's just because I am the son-in-law of the Sun family. If you show off your authority like this, sooner or later I will make you look good!"
The cook suffered from the unexpected disaster and felt resentful. He escaped from the house at night, chased Lu Xun all the way east, and told him exactly what Zhou Li said.
When Lu Xun heard about it, he was so angry that he almost burst into smoke. After returning to Jianye, he told Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, all what Zhou Li had done in Poyang County.
Sun Quan ordered his officials to go to Poyang and question Poyang County about various matters.
On this day, Zhou Li was drinking in his mansion when he saw Bu Qu running in and shouting loudly, "General, it's not good, the king has sent the minister here, saying that he wants to check the land for farming."
When Zhou Li heard this, he dropped the earcup in his hand and turned pale, "How fast it came!"
Then he suddenly remembered something, and said angrily, "Lu Xun, didn't you tell me not to pursue this matter? You went back on your word, and you think you are not the son of man!"
No matter how Zhou Li scolded Lu Xun, the officials sent by Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, were already rushing straight into the Poyang Prefecture.
Before Zhou Li had time to prepare, Jianye’s envoy Jianye had already ordered all the land in the prefect’s mansion to be moved out and counted in public.
At the same time, personnel were dispatched to conduct on-the-spot inspections of farmland in various counties.
Before the inventory of the land was completed, a second group of officials came from Jianye to inquire about the people's situation in various counties.
After waiting for two days, the third wave of Langguan arrived again...
For a time, Poyang County was in a state of chaos and everyone was in danger.
Zhou Li knew that these officials were obviously here for him, so he stayed at his house these days and did not dare to go anywhere.
Although no one restricted his freedom, he felt that he had been captured and imprisoned.
Because Lang Guan would come to his house at any time and ask questions about various things.
Although these officials would not do anything to him before King Wu convicted him, their superior demeanor and sneer eyes had already made everyone in the Zhou family fearful and uneasy.
At this time, Han Zong, who had fled to the north with his mother and his tribe the year before last, rescued him.
Handang's son Han Zong gave all his maids, concubines, relatives and aunts to his generals the year before last, and then led thousands of troops to defect to the north. He was named Marquis of Guangyang by Cao Wei.
Over the past year or so, Han Zong, in order to show his loyalty, relied on his familiarity with the population and military distribution of Wu to invade Wu territory several times, killing the officials and people of Eastern Wu, much to the dismay of Sun Quan.
Just when Jianye kept sending Lang Guan to explore Poyang, Han Zong once again led his army to invade Lujiang County.
Zhou Li was perked up when he heard the news.
After thinking about it, he finally stepped out of the house for the first time.
Although no one stopped him from leaving the house, he knew very well that there were many eyes staring at him at this time.
Those eyes were not just staring at his face or his back, but directly staring at his heart, making him feel extremely heavy.
Under scorching eyes, he finally arrived in front of the Poyang County Mansion.
First I glanced to the left, then to the right, and then tentatively entered the door. I only took two or three steps and stopped again, as if I no longer had the strength to lift my legs and feet.
Although he was still the nominal governor and the master of the governor's mansion, at this moment he was actually looking inside with some fear, as if he didn't know what to do.
“Hey, isn’t this Governor Zhou? What? I’m finally free to come on duty today?”
An officer with sharp eyes saw Zhou Li standing at the gate and came towards him with a smile, "I'm sorry, Prefect Zhou, I guess you will have to stay in your own house for a few more days. Things in this prefect's house are not yet open." I’m not done yet.”
When Zhou Li heard this, he finally made up his mind. He gritted his teeth and pulled out a dagger.
Lang Guan was so frightened that he quickly backed away and exclaimed, "What do you want, Zhou Yi?"
Zhou Li didn't answer. He raised the dagger and slashed his head, cutting off a lot of hair.
I saw Zhou Li holding a dagger in one hand and holding his hair in the other, with a sad face, "Dear officials, since I promoted Xiaolian, I have served as county magistrate, general commander Shi, and western captain. I killed Peng Shi and captured Peng Qi. Even if there is no There is hard work as well as credit.”
"It's really unbearable to be humiliated when you offend a villain and be bullied like this! But please report back to the King of Wu. The matter of the land is indeed a temporary confusion of the bream. However, the King of Wu has reduced the punishment, and the breams are willing to admit their guilt."
"I just ask you, for the sake of being an official in the same dynasty, please don't humiliate me like this again. If a villain can humiliate me today, how do you know that he can't humiliate you tomorrow?"
“Four years ago, Ji Yan only used personal love and hate, acted without reason, and dismissed many officials. If someone hadn’t resisted, how many of you would still be standing here?”
"The same principle applies today. If you let the villain deceive the king, instead of stopping it, you will help him to do his harm. How can you know that Zhou Li's incident will not happen to you in the future? Who will speak for you then?"
Zhou Li's sad and angry words shocked the officials who originally wanted to see the joke.
They are either the descendants of veteran heroes of the Sun family, or they come from the powerful Jiangdong family. In their view, occupying some land is really not a big deal.
Whose family doesn’t have fertile farmland?
Whose house is not filled with slaves and maidservants?
Where did the fertile farmland come from?
How did the slave come?
"Now the Cao thieves are invading the Lujiang River. Poyang across the river, instead of being able to help, is falling into chaos. This is really wrong. This is all Zhou Li's fault."
“I also ask you to take national affairs as your top priority and do not let the officials and people of Poyang County panic because of Zhou Li’s fault.”
Zhou Li felt happy when he saw the silence of the officials, and added to his anger, he bowed deeply to them.
Seeing Zhou Li's apology, and then hearing his words, and it was true that no other illegal activities had been found in Zhou Li these days, the officials felt a little sympathy in their hearts.
In the following days, Zhou Li was treated more leniently, and at the same time, some people returned to Jianye by boat to report to King Wu.
At the same time, in a village in Lujiang County, bandits from the north had just left.
There is smoke hanging over the village. This is not the smoke coming from the chimneys when women are cooking dinner, but the thick smoke from the fire. It also carries the smell of burnt human flesh, which is pungent and unpleasant.
The peaceful village in the past has become dilapidated and desolate, with only the ruined walls that have been burned black, suggesting that people lived here before.
I don’t know whose wall the wall collapsed, and whose hall was burnt black. Could the blackened wood be the beams of the roof?
The sky was obviously clear and clear, but a gust of wind blew up and raised bursts of dust. It seemed that the clouds suddenly became dense and the sun was dark, dull and dull.
Han Zong is leading the troops and is retreating towards the north.
Many of them were riding horses, with women straddling them in front of them and behind them.
Some people even put their hands into the woman's clothes, with an unspeakable smile on their faces.
Each woman on horseback was dressed in messy clothes, with wet tears on her face, and her eyes were numb and lifeless, like a lifeless walking corpse.
Everyone in Cao's army was carrying baggage, which was full of gold and silver. They were the harvest of looting from the south these days.
In the past, in Soochow, the most you could do was rob business travelers secretly in private, and you had to worry about being discovered by others. How could you rob openly and openly like now?
After confirming that Wu Jun had not caught up, Han Zong ordered the pots to be buried and cooked, and he was ready to eat before he left.
“Your Majesty, we caught a spy!”
The vigilant scouts scattered around brought a man over to report.
"Oh?" Han Zong glanced over with sinister eyes and said calmly, "Just kill him, what are you bringing him here for?"
"Reporting to the prince, he said that he had something extremely important and wanted to tell the prince face to face."
Han Zong then looked directly at the plain-faced Xizuo, waved his hand to let the scouts go down, and then raised his sword and asked, "Who are you?"
Xizuo, who had been silent all this time, glanced at the people around Han Zong and then lowered his head.
Han Zong's heart moved and he looked at the captain next to him.
The captain nodded slightly, and then Han Zong asked his people to disperse further to prevent them from hearing the conversation.
“Tell me, who sent you?”
Hosazuo looked at the captain next to him again.
Han Zong was not so good-tempered this time. He pulled out his sword with a clang, pointed it at Xizuo, and shouted sternly, "How dare you pretend to be so mysterious! Do you think I can't really kill you?"
Speaking, he stepped forward and was about to stab him with his sword.
Xizuo saw that Han Zong's sword didn't look like a fake, so he immediately said, "General Han, I have important matters, so I can only talk to the general."
Han Zong's sword drew a thin red line on Xizuo's neck, and he could only hear him sneer, "I don't have anything to say to anyone, so tell me quickly!"
Hearing this, Xizuo moved his lips, then closed his eyes and remained silent.
Han Zong exerted more force on his hand, and bright red blood began to flow onto the sword, but the delicate hand did not move.
Han Zong looked at the captain next to him with questioning eyes.
The captain nodded again, turned and left.
“Okay, you can say it.”
Hosezuo opened his eyes and made sure that no one around could hear their conversation, and then he said, "Does General Han remember General Zhou Li?"
"Zhou Yi?" Han Zongsu frowned, "Of course I remember, maybe you were sent here by Zhou Yi?"
He defected to Cao Wei. In order to show his loyalty, he even took the initiative to lead troops south to plunder Soochow. Naturally, he did not want to have any contact with the people in Jiangdong.
"If Zhou Li sent you to persuade me, he made a wrong decision. I can't help but want to lend you a head."
Han Zong said with a ferocious smile, but the hand holding the sword became harder and harder.
Hearing this, Xi Zuo had a sneer on his face, "General Han is making rash guesses before the villain has even explained his intention. Aren't you afraid that he will become a villain in vain?"
When Han Zong heard this, his anger rushed from the bottom of his feet to the top door, his eyes glowed red, and he couldn't hold back his anger, so he wanted to kill the guy in front of him who dared to mock him with a sword!
But he knew that there was someone watching from a distance. If he killed this person like this, some things might not be explained clearly.
At the moment, he had to resist the urge to break Zizhu's neck, and gritted his teeth and said, "Then let you state your intention first. If you can't tell me, I will cut off your tongue!"
Xi Zuo then raised his hand and said, "General, please listen to what I say: General Zhou wants to learn from the general and return to the north of Yiyi. I would like to ask the general to be an introduction."
The sound was not loud, but it was like thunder, making Han Zong's ears rumble.
"What did you say?"
Han Zong couldn't believe his ears and asked again.
The sound was so loud that even the captain in the distance could not help but look sideways.
Han Zong's second reaction was disbelief: "Zhou Li is a prefect of a county and has a long history of military exploits. Furthermore, his ancestral home is in Wu Commandery. How could he rebel and come here? Could it be that you are lying to me?" ?”
Xizuo sneered and said, "General Han attacked the old general Han's title. His future is limitless. Why did he suddenly defect to the north again?"
These words simply opened up Han Zong’s scars and poured salt on them.
His face immediately turned red, his teeth were chattering, and he wanted to poke a transparent hole into the sharp-toothed creature in front of him!
"Sun Quan cannot tolerate others, how can I wait to die?"
This was originally his excuse, but Xi Zuo actually nodded in agreement, "This is the truth! Sun Quan is narrow-minded, and he would like to be killed if he violates the slightest disobedience."
"General Zhou made some minor mistakes a few days ago, and Sun Quan even sent a lieutenant to interrogate him. General Zhou was forced to apologize in public, and he was lucky enough to escape."
"Now General Zhou has lost all face in Jiangdong and has become the laughing stock of everyone. Although he is full of sorrow and hatred, it is not enough to explain the resentment in General Zhou's heart. Therefore, General Zhou wants to surrender the county and hopes that General Han will see the disgrace of his former colleagues. For the sake of friendship, I will introduce you to you."
When Han Zong heard that the other party was actually scolding Sun Quan, he couldn't help but feel a sense of confidant in his heart.
Then when I heard about Zhou Yi, although I didn't believe it immediately, I felt excited in my heart: It was the best for Sun Quan to betray his relatives and leave, which means that his choice was right.
“How do I know that you were not sent here by Zhou Li to pretend to surrender?”
When he heard this carefully, he immediately became furious and gnashed his teeth. He pointed at Han Zong and said sternly, "The hair and skin of your body are the result of your parents. General Zhou was forced by Sun Quan to cut off his hair in public. Is it still false?"
“I’m afraid this matter will soon be known to everyone in Jiangdong. If you don’t believe it, go and ask around and you will know the truth!”
(End of this chapter)