Flourishing of the Ming Dynasty Novel - Chapter 31

Chapter 31 Astonishing Discovery
It wouldn’t be too difficult for him to understand a person he wasn’t familiar with in the future generations. As long as you can get your target’s phone or a range of social accounts, this person doesn’t have much of a secret for you.

However, this method was obviously useless in the Great Ming Dynasty hundreds of years ago. If Lu Zhen wanted to know more about County Magistrate Lu’s past, there were only two options. One was to dig out more information from the people who were familiar with him. However, this rule was obviously very risky. In order not to be suspected, he had even deliberately disappeared from Chu Yunrong during this period of time. How could he ask her about his husband?

Then there was only a second option left, which was to look for clues from County Magistrate Lu’s written words. Unfortunately, it was not popular for people to keep diaries at this time. Lu Zhen searched through his study room and public house, but he could not find any decent words. In the end, he could only sit at his desk and be dumbfounded.

‘”Ah, I shouldn’t have made this decision. It’s a good thing now. It’s completely a situation where it’s difficult to get rid of a tiger. Once they really catch a flaw, they won’t be able to leave even if they want to. They might even be treated as murderers and save a lot of formalities. They can be directly thrown into prison.” Lu Zhen, who was rather dejected, sighed in his heart, and his face was filled with sadness.

The more he thought about Zheng Fu’s words and performance, the more he felt that he was trying to probe him. This view made Lu Zhen even more uneasy. In addition, there was no more harvest, so he couldn’t sit still any longer. He just wanted to get up and walk around the room to relieve the depression in his heart.

However, just as he stood up, his knees were raised before he could pull them out from under the table. He heavily smashed into the bottom of the book table, causing Lu Zhen to cry out in pain. He grinned in pain.

However, his expression immediately changed. Because of the collision just now, he noticed that the bottom of the desk that his knee hit was not flat, as if there was something hidden. This discovery made his heart skip a beat. He didn’t care about rubbing his aching knee and immediately reached out to grope under the desk.

With this fumble, he really discovered that there was a thin book sticking to it with the feel of his hand. This made Lu Zhen even more surprised. Could it be that county magistrate Lu still liked to hide his diary in such a secret place?

Without thinking too much, he immediately pulled hard and smoothly took out the things that were stuck under the table. When he looked around, he discovered that there was a layer of oily paper wrapped around it. He opened the wrapped oil paper and revealed the true appearance of the items inside. It was a handmade book. In terms of the quality of the paper, it was no different from what was normally used in the yamen.

Lu Zhen pressed down his excited heartbeat before he could not wait to open the book and read its contents. At this glance, he frowned again, “Why is it just an account book?”

This book was not a diary as he thought, but a very primitive and crude book. It did not raise its head. It only recorded the amount of food it had received on a certain day, a certain month, and then after a period of time, the amount of food it had received, as well as the balance after that, and so on. It was a very general record. In fact, this wasn’t even an account book, it could only be considered a digital record.

Lu Zhen quickly flipped through a few pages and discovered that the records were all digital records that couldn’t see any specific content or meaning. This made him a little surprised, “What exactly is this? Why did County Magistrate Lu hide it so secretly? Could it be …”

A bold idea popped up in Lu Zhen’s mind. Perhaps this was the record of corruption and bribery in the county government. Perhaps County Magistrate Lu didn’t want to live such a puppet-like life anymore, so he had been investigating the people below and recording them down. After he had enough evidence, he would take action to deal with them!

This deduction was indeed consistent with County Magistrate Lu’s identity, but it was obviously not of much help to Lu Zhen. He had no intention of seizing power at all. Even if there was any evidence, he would not produce it, let alone the record in his hand, which even he could not be sure of.

“Sigh, I’m happy for nothing.” Lu Zhen muttered to himself. He shook his hand and threw the book on the desk. Not wanting to throw this, a corner suddenly appeared in the originally neat book under the tremor.

“Huh?” Curious, he reached out his hand and took the book again. He turned to the protruding page and discovered that there was actually a piece of paper inside. Lu Zhen wasn’t polite either, and immediately opened the folded note. Looking at it, his eyebrows twitched.

This piece of paper looked like an ordinary piece of paper used in the yamen, but the words on it weren’t tiny characters that Lu Zhen was already familiar with. Instead, it became a bit clumsy, just like the words that a child had just learned to write. It could be seen that this person didn’t really know how to write.

Actually, this was not strange. Although the Great Ming Dynasty had begun to attach importance to culture and education, the literacy rate among the people was still less than one hundred. Not to mention writing, even very few people could understand it. Most of the time, people would need to read the notice posted by the government to let the people know what was written on it.

Actually, not only was it Daming, but even the braided dynasty, and even after the Republic of China, the literacy rate in the country was pitifully low. Only after compulsory education was fully implemented did this problem be completely eradicated.

However, what surprised Lu Zhen was not the graffiti-like words themselves, but what was written in them. The contents of this paper were a little upside down because of the lack of expressive ability of the writers, but it was still easy to understand. In general, it was only one thing. The Guard Corps stationed in Guangling County had always been selling military rations, and the people they were selling rations to were the Mongols outside the fortress!

This news was enough to make many people’s hearts skip a beat. Even Lu Zhen’s heart skipped a beat, and it took him a while to suppress other heartbeats.

Although he had seen records of the Ming army selling grain, salt, iron, and even weapons to the Mongols from some historical documents, they were all things that happened after the Jiajing Dynasty. However, it was only during the Orthodox Era that the entire Ming court had not fallen to that level.

It could be imagined that if this matter was truly investigated and known by the Imperial Court, many people would have their heads landed on the ground, and the black veil on the heads of countless officials would be lost.

This matter was not something that could be convinced with just a single word of disclosure. Therefore, this note also mentioned that this matter could be verified through the accounts of the county government. Seeing this, Lu Zhen subconsciously turned his gaze to the account book that puzzled him, “So, what is recorded here is the so-called evidence?”

From the way County Magistrate Lu hid these two things, he was afraid that most of the things mentioned above were true. This recognition made Lu Zhen’s heart skip a beat, and his heartbeat quickened again.

Because he quickly thought of one thing, could County Magistrate Lu’s death also be related to this matter?

If someone in the army found out that County Magistrate Lu was investigating the matter of selling military rations, and even had a certain amount of evidence, it would be reasonable to kill people to protect themselves. Now, it was not decades later, but the military officials were far inferior to the civil servants in terms of status, and they did not dare to show any disrespect to the local officials.

At this moment, not only did the military officials have power and power, they were also bold. This was also a remote place from the Emperor of Heaven’s Boundary. Killing a rank seven county magistrate here really wouldn’t cause much noise, and it could even push everything onto the invading Meng people. In this way, they would be able to keep their secrets.

The more he thought about it, the more Lu Zhen felt that his thoughts were right. At the same time, he felt a chill run down his spine.

If that was the case, he would probably be remembered for replacing County Magistrate Lu. They didn’t know that the original county magistrate Lu had already died, so they would only think that his life hadn’t been harmed. In the case of fear, they would probably attack again, but the target was a fake.

“Damn, why am I so unlucky! To think that I would encounter such a thing!” Lu Zhen cursed in a low voice, somewhat grieved and indignant. Originally, he had thought that he would be able to earn money this time and become a county magistrate comfortably, but unexpectedly, he had fallen into an even more dangerous situation.

Lu Zhen’s first reaction was to hurry up and run. This place was not something he could stay in. But very quickly, he gave up the idea, because he soon realized that escape might not save him. He was completely unfamiliar with this area, and as long as he escaped, others would think that he was guilty of guilt. When those officers and soldiers chased after him, he would definitely have no choice but to die.

Is there another way?

Lu Zhen thought of pretending to be deaf and dumb, pretending that he really lost his memories and couldn’t remember anything from before. He hoped that those fellows would let him off? This didn’t seem to be too realistic. If it was him, this matter that concerned his own life would be better settled thoroughly. As an insider, County Magistrate Lu would naturally be the safest only if he died.

Thinking of this, Lu Zhen shivered again. Then, with a bitter face, he said to himself, “Then there is only one way left, and that is to completely expose the matter and confess their guilt first!”

However, this was not easy. Not only did Lu Zhen not have any foundation in the county government, he was not even familiar with the specific situation inside and outside. What could he do? How could he fight against those ferocious fellows when he didn’t even have the advantage of the times and the earth in his hands?

Speaking of which, if he couldn’t even find a helper, it would be really difficult for him to walk.

Lu Zhen scratched his head painfully and sighed again. However, when he thought of the helper, his gaze suddenly fell on the note. A glimmer of hope quickly flashed in his heart, “Although I don’t have a helper now, it’s not necessarily impossible for me to find a helper!”

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In addition, the real plot begins, I beg for all kinds of support! ! ! !