Flourishing of the Ming Dynasty Novel - Chapter 26

Chapter 26 Li Daitian (2)
On the surface, Lu Zhen was confused at this moment, but in fact, he had already thought a lot about his internal situation and had fully considered the pros and cons.

He knew very well that if he denied this identity, it would definitely bring him a lot of trouble. After all, this dress belonged to County Magistrate Lu. Even if he brought the two of them to find the corpses, when he convinced them, he would probably be regarded as the murderer by the other party. At that time, he would truly be unable to argue with them.

Therefore, it was better to confusedly accept this identity first and temporarily overcome the current difficulties before speaking. Moreover, he was currently experiencing problems with his identity, so it was the most convenient and safe way for him to enter the Central Plains as County Magistrate Lu.

Of course, there were also many drawbacks to this. Once someone saw that he was a Sibe, the trouble would be huge. However, Lu Zhen felt that he might be able to use the excuse of hurting his head, so he couldn’t remember what had happened before to perfunctorily prevaricate. From the looks of it, the two people in front of him seemed to be able to be dismissed, and even his not-so-fluent local dialect didn’t arouse their suspicions, did it?

There was another consideration that Lu Zhen deliberately ignored, and that was the value of the county magistrate’s identity. He didn’t want to start at the bottom after returning to the Central Plains. Not to mention that he didn’t have the ability to survive in this era, he couldn’t tolerate being a soldier and farmer just because of his pride as a transmigrator. Being an official was obviously the best way to survive.

It was precisely because of these considerations that Lu Zhen made this decision. All of this was troublesome, but in fact, it was settled in his mind with a swift spin, and his expression did not change much.

Seeing that he was silent, the two of them finally nodded and let out a sigh of relief. They hurriedly stood up and looked at him with concern, “My lord, where have you been these past few days? Did you suffer any injuries?”

“I … I fell from the mountain and my mind is still in a daze. I don’t know where I am, but I’m just walking with some vague thoughts …” Lu Zhen had to make up an excuse to prevent them from seeing the problem. “Actually, I don’t remember my identity very much. Am I really the county magistrate?”

“Ah” The two of them looked at each other, unable to react for a long time. Who would have thought that the county magistrate he had worked so hard to find would not even remember him? Could it be that his brain had really fallen silly?

‘”Sir, you must be frightened. That’s why you’re a little confused. As long as you go back to the county and let the doctor take a look, you’ll be able to recover.” The two of them didn’t dare to reveal their faces and hurriedly comforted.

“Yes, my lord. Right now, the entire county government and the garrison in the city are searching everywhere for you.” “Let’s go back to the city now,” Lin Lie nodded. As he spoke, his gaze turned to the horse behind Lu Zhen again. He was somewhat puzzled as to why there was such a horse next to the county magistrate.

Lu Zhen wisely chose to turn a blind eye to this. Since he couldn’t explain it, then he wouldn’t explain it. When someone really asked, he could say that he was unconscious and didn’t remember where the horse came from.

Han Si let out a sigh of relief. He only wanted to hurry up and escort his lord back to the county. In this way, he could be considered to have made a significant contribution.

Just like that, the three of them set off again. Under the leadership of these two, Lu Zhen no longer had to worry about finding a way.

Along the way, Lin Lie probed Lu Zhen and asked him about his experiences in the past few days, but he was perfunctory on the ground that he couldn’t remember the details. His current identity was the two superiors, and he was also an official. Naturally, they did not dare to ask too much. They could only bring along some doubts and uneasiness, temporarily accepting the fact that Lord Lu could not remember too many things.

On the other hand, Lu Zhen had used quite a bit of Han Si’s words along the way to roughly understand the situation in the county.

It turned out that he was going back to a county called Guang Ling. This was a small county located on the border between Great Ming and Mongol Prairie. Apart from hundreds of local residents, there were also hundreds of troops stationed there. Apart from the county magistrate known as the Grand Old Master, there was also a county magistrate as his deputy, and a master book. These two people were surnamed Hou and Shen … He did not pursue any further questions about other things, deeply afraid that asking too many questions would attract suspicions from the other party.

Because they were located in a remote area, there really weren’t any decent official roads near Guangling County. After walking for a long time, they could only walk forward with one foot deep and one foot shallow. Not to mention, they almost tripped over rocks and weeds several times.

It wasn’t until Lin Lie took the vegetation from the side and lit the torch that the situation became slightly better. But what Lu Zhen did not notice was that Lin Lie’s eyes, which were covered by the flames, were sneakily looking at him suspiciously, as if he had seen something.

@ @ @ @

It wasn’t until around 2:00 that the three of them arrived in front of the county town. At this time, the road beneath their feet had become much smoother and wider. Although it wasn’t considered a proper official road, it was enough for the horses to gallop freely.

Although it was dark night, Lu Zhen could still see the blurry outline of the northern city of this small county through the fire. This was a thirty meter tall tower. Not only did it not look very tall, it also looked rather damaged and cratered. Clearly, it had been left behind by many attacks.

As they approached, they could even see a few gaps above them. On top of that, there were two large words engraved on the city gate, Guang Ling, which was vigorous but mottled. All of this seemed to be telling people about all the hardships that this city had experienced, causing Lu Zhen’s heart to be unable to calm down for a long time.

As a history lover, Lu Zhen had been to some museums before and had seen many collections from hundreds or thousands of years ago. But no matter how well preserved those things were, they always gave him the feeling that they were unreal and too far apart.

But now, although it was only a broken and old city wall, it allowed him to fully appreciate the simplicity of real history. That kind of historical precipitation that had experienced many vicissitudes and stood firm was truly impressive.

Seeing that he suddenly stopped and looked up at the city wall for a long time, Han Si couldn’t help but shout.

Only then did Lu Zhen pull out his divine sense from his sigh and casually said, “I seem to have some impression of this place” As he spoke, he continued to walk forward and quickly arrived at the city gate.

This kind of small city did not have any moats, but because it was on the side, its defenses were quite careful. Not only were the city gates tightly closed, there were also a bunch of rejecting horses piled up outside. It was obvious that they were used to deal with the Mongol cavalry that might invade.

Just as the three of them were approaching, a flame suddenly lit up on the city wall. A rude voice sounded, “Who dares to approach my Broad Spirit City in the middle of the night?” His voice sounded especially loud in the silent night.

“Chief Lu? I’m Han Si from the county government … We’ve finally found the county magistrate.” Han Si didn’t dare to be arrogant, so he hurriedly reported his name and identity.

“So it’s you brat” Lu Ba laughed, but then he was stunned, “What did you say? Did you really find County Magistrate Lu?”

“Exactly. Please open the city gates and let us in.” Han Si nodded in agreement.

A few discussions immediately came from above, and then Lu Ba said, “Wait!” There was no movement.

After waiting in front of the city gate for a while, he heard a series of creaking sounds. The old but strong city gate was slowly opened up by someone. Under the illumination of several torches, Lu Zhen saw a tall man in brown uniform walking towards him.

While he was carefully examining the bearded general, who couldn’t even recognize his age, the other party also looked at him for a few times before laughing, “It’s indeed County Magistrate Lu. You’re back. If you don’t come back, the brothers will really have to go to the north to find you!”

Lu Zhen knew that this was Chief Lu on the city wall just now, so he smiled at him and said, “I’m letting Chief Lu drag you down.”

“Nothing.” The rough man waved his hand and said disapprovingly, “County magistrate Lu, it’s always good that you can return safely. It’s getting late. Hurry up and go back to the county government.” As he spoke, he made way.

Lu Zhen nodded and brushed past him along with the other two people. He passed through the city gates about twenty feet away and walked towards the city.

Only when he saw them leave did Boss Lu suck his teeth and tilt his head thoughtfully. A strange smile flashed across his face.

This Guang Ling County was really not big. It was only half a mile from the north gate to the county government in the city. In a short while, they had arrived in front of a yamen that looked rather dignified, but was somewhat dilapidated.

A large red-painted and white-faced drum stood beside the gate, and a plaque with the words “Guangling County Government” hanging high above it. At this moment, half of the red paint on the door was peeling off, and the door was tightly closed.

Han Si didn’t stand on ceremony either. He immediately pounded on the door and shouted loudly, “Old Li, open the door quickly. Eldest Master is back!”

This voice came from far away in the empty and quiet county. Very quickly, a fierce bark sounded from all directions, and it immediately became much livelier.

After he knocked on the door for a long time, the door was opened. An old man in flower armor with a bent body stood there with a surprised expression. When he saw Lu Zhen, his face quickly revealed a pleasant surprise, “Master, Master, are you really back?”

Following this greeting, the calm yamen quickly became lively. A few lanterns came from far to near. More than ten men with hurried expressions also came out one after another. When they saw Lu Zhen, they all revealed expressions of surprise and joy.

Seeing this, Lu Zhen’s heart tensed up. At this point, he had to put all his strength into putting on this Li Dai Tao Jian play.