Flourishing of the Ming Dynasty Novel - Chapter 149

Chapter 149 Tough to the End (1)
Lu Tu finally made his move!

Actually, he didn’t want to do anything extreme. That day, when his anger burst forth, he did intentionally provoke Ying Ding and the others who had been reformed to cause trouble in the county government. However, after calming down, he didn’t feel any misgivings. After all, this was Beijing City. Once the situation expanded, he wouldn’t be able to get over it.

Especially after Shuntian Prefecture threw all three hundred victims to the county government, he felt that Lu Zhen would make a big fool of himself this time. At that time, taking the opportunity to push him would be enough to make the new county magistrate lose his position.

Unexpectedly, not only did Lu Zhen not get muddled because of his departure, he even managed to handle everything in an orderly manner, and even won the respect of the county government. After learning of this result, Lu Tu was completely shocked and could not sit still. He finally understood that this young man was indeed not a kind person. If he continued to let things go, he would soon completely cancel out the prestige that he had painstakingly built up.

Therefore, even though Lu Tu knew that there would be a lot of trouble after doing so, he still secretly instructed Ying Ding and the others to go to the county yamen to cause trouble. As long as things were going to get out of hand, the county magistrate Lu Zhen would definitely be regarded as incompetent by the city officials. Even if he couldn’t stop his official, it would be enough to disgust him for half a day.

After receiving the news that Ying Ding and the others were actually making a fuss at the entrance of the county government, Lu Zhen sneered, “What other tricks does he have? Is that all? No wonder he, Lu Tu, has only been a small county magistrate these past few years. His situation is really too small.”

“Sir” He was calm, but the messenger in front of him had a nervous expression on his face. “It’s better for you to make a decision. Now that the yamen is about to start a commotion, it will alert people elsewhere very soon.”

Lu Zhen nodded, “Let’s go back to the yamen.” At the same time, he turned around and said to the man, “Go to the Three Purities Temple first and send a letter to Zeng Zhubu and the others, asking them to rush to the county government as well.” Zeng Guang and Yue Liqiu were leading some subordinates to set up a porridge shed over there to help the victims.

The servant hurriedly agreed and left. As for Lu Zhen, he was alone and didn’t ask anyone else to rush towards the county government. He wasn’t worried about the situation there, because Lin Lie was still watching from the county government. He was already wary that Lu Tu would make trouble while he was out, so Lin Lie had always stayed at the county government. With his ability, those yamen attendants wouldn’t even think of making too much noise.

Sure enough, when Lu Zhen returned to the county government, he saw a confrontation. On one side was Lin Lie and the four remaining yamen attendants. On the other side was the twenty plus people led by Ying Ding. Half of them had been removed from the county government by him earlier. The rest of them could tell with a glance that they were gangsters on the streets.

At this time, Ying Dingzheng shouted loudly, “The county government is unfair. Can’t we seek justice for ourselves? That county magistrate Lu has reformed us at will because of a small mistake. We are already people of the county government from the generation of our parents. Why should he drive us away?”

“That’s right. Tell him to come out and talk to us. Otherwise, we’ll bring the case to the Ministry of Justice and bring it to Emperor. We’ll make sure he gives us justice!” The others also echoed with a threatening look on their faces.

These people shouted loudly, alarming the people around them. Many people surrounded them and carefully watched this scene, but none of them dared to go forward to persuade them. After all, these people were all related to the county government, and no one could afford to offend a commoner like him.

Seeing this, Lu Zhen’s expression of disdain became even more intense. These fellows kept saying that they were here to ask for an explanation from him, but now that he was clearly not in the county government, it was entirely because they had figured out the time that they had come. Also, even though their shouts were fierce, they were still a long way from Lin Lie. Obviously, they were afraid of this ruthless man.

In terms of fighting, Lin Lie alone was enough to deal with them all. However, in terms of eloquence, he no longer had the ability to do so. Although he was so angry that his face darkened, he could only shout, “If you want justice, you can only wait for your lord to arrive. What’s the point of being noisy here now?” As he spoke, he took a step forward.

‘”What, do you want to hit us? This is Beijing City, your county government dares to bully the people?” Ying Dingmeng shouted even more happily.

Just as the veins on Lin Lie’s forehead were throbbing with rage, but he couldn’t do anything about it, a voice suddenly came from the side, “Lin Lie, knock them all down and ask for their guilt!”

Hearing this, the surrounding people were shocked. They hurriedly turned around and saw Lu Zhen standing there with a calm face. After Lin Lie heard this, he hesitated for a moment before flying forward.

Although he was limping, he usually looked like he was trembling unsteadily, but this pounce was as fast as a galloping horse, and he arrived in front of Ying Ding who was the first to do so with a whoosh.

Ying Ding subconsciously retreated and raised his hand to defend himself. But just as he raised his hand, a fist landed on his face and hit him heavily in the mouth.

The strength of this punch was so great that it directly sent such a man flying and crashed into the bodies of two companions behind him. The three of them simultaneously became rolling gourds. After landing on the ground, Ying Ding let out a whoosh and opened his mouth. He spat out a mouthful of blood and teeth. Once Lin Lie, who had previously been extremely aggrieved, was allowed to make a move, he would directly beat Ying Ding until he could no longer speak.

After defeating Ying Ding, his movements did not ease at all. With a flick of his body, he rushed towards the others like a cheetah pouncing on food. Only then did the servants beside him wake up. They also lifted their fire and water sticks and followed behind Lin Lie, pouncing towards these fellows.

Speaking of which, Lin Lie’s hatred towards those people was only their arrogance and words, but the enmity between these servants and them was quite deep.

Because Ying Ding and the others were originally Lu Tu’s trusted aides, their influence in the county government was naturally not small. They always assigned other people to do this and that, but in the end, they swallowed the benefits themselves. With Lu Tu backing them up, these ordinary servants naturally dared to be angry but didn’t dare to say anything, but now, it was clear that the situation was reversed.

Now that they had a backer, Ying Ding and the others had become the losing side. Previously, because they were worried that this would cause trouble for the county magistrate, they had endured it bitterly. With those words and Lin Lie’s first move, they no longer had any worries.

In this way, the few people who followed Ying Ding suffered a lot. Just Lin Lie’s swift and fierce attack had already caused them to stagger and complain endlessly. Adding on the sticks that were constantly sweeping over from the side, they naturally did not even have the ability to resist. In just a short while, more than ten people had already been brought down.

When the other hooligans who had been called over by Ying Ding saw this situation, their faces immediately turned pale with fear. They originally thought that with Ying Ding, the old man of the county government, and Lu Xiancheng as his backer, nothing would happen. Only now did he realize that he was completely mistaken, and the other party didn’t have any misgivings at all.

Once they saw the situation clearly, they decisively displayed their fine traditions as street gangsters, immediately abandoning their companions and turning around to run.

Lu Zhen and Lin Lie had no intention of pursuing this matter. They were just small characters waving flags and shouting. There was no need to waste any effort to take them down.

However, the surrounding people were completely dumbfounded. They never expected that such a full-scale martial practice would come today in front of the county government gate. Moreover, it was the result of defeating the crowd with a small number of people, causing them to be unable to afford it.

The people who recognized Ying Ding and the others looked at Lin Lie with obvious reverence. These people used to be unscrupulous in this place, but they were actually knocked down in front of him without even taking a single move. This was enough to show how powerful they were.

After the battle ended, only Ying Ding and the others were left on the ground. Lu Zhen sneered and said to them, “Bind them all up and bring them into the county government for questioning.”

The servants hurriedly agreed and wanted to step forward. “Wait, what’s going on here?”

Lu Zhen raised his eyebrows and looked coldly at the people who had come. This was a man in his thirties, dressed in a green official uniform. His thin face looked rather harsh, “May I ask who this lord is?”

“This official, Imperial Examiner Zhang Cheng, passed by this place today and saw people from your county government casually beating people up here. What is the reason for that?” The official looked at Lu Zhen and asked with a stern face.

Lu Zhen did not evade, and also looked back at the other party, “This official, Daxing County Magistrate Lu Zhen, they are causing trouble in front of the county government. Could it be that my county government can’t take people anymore?”

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple, is it?” Zhang Cheng replied unyieldingly, “Which citizen dares to cause trouble in front of the government? This is most likely because you, County Magistrate Lu, don’t cultivate morality normally.”

This person was eloquent and immediately put a disrespectful hat on Lu Zhen’s head. But Lu Zhen only smiled. Just now, he was only suspicious, but now he was certain that this person was probably Lu Tu’s backhand, in order to prevent Ying Ding and the others from failing.

Who is the most difficult person in the capital?

Different people naturally have different views on this issue. To ordinary people, those evil slaves from wealthy families were the hardest to deal with, and the gangsters on the streets were also a headache. However, for the officials in the dynasty, the most difficult things to deal with in this world were those officials who had low status but dared to speak.

Because Emperor Taizu had made rules in order to spread the word, Yan Guan could listen to rumors and not blame him for his mistakes. This made Yan Guan a mad dog-like existence who caught whoever bit them, and ordinary officials had no way to deal with them.

Lu Zhen had read a lot about this in history books before, but he didn’t expect that such a small county magistrate like him would be targeted by Yan Guan today!