Flourishing of the Ming Dynasty Novel - Chapter 64

Chapter 64 Who on Earth Are You
Lu Zhen had made such a great contribution to the Imperial Court for the Border Army. Hu Sui naturally didn’t want to use him again. Finally, he publicly announced that he would let Lu Zhen go back and generously gave all of Xiao Mo’s land wealth in Guangling County to the county government for disposal.

Was this a generous move? Maybe. After all, Xiao Mo had been greedy for a lot of silver these past few years. There must be thousands of silver taels in his family. This was a huge income for the poor Guangling County Government. Moreover, he had also made the decision not to pursue Lu Zhen for trespassing into the barracks.

However, in the eyes of many people, his reward seemed to be too light. The airship meant nothing to the frontier army and the Imperial Court. Even killing 100,000 enemies was no match for this invention. As a result, Lu Zhen had only obtained such a small benefit. It seemed that he was truly wronged. Even if the Imperial Court would definitely receive a reward after receiving Hu Sui’s memorial, General Hu would probably get more benefits than Lu Zhen on this matter.

However, Lu Zhen did not complain about this. Instead, he was somewhat grateful to Hu Sui. The reason was not because he was cheap, but because he had figured out something.

During the few days he spent building airships in the barracks, Lu Zhen thought of some secrets behind it-Hu Sui’s previous reaction was completely forced by the situation, because pointing out Xiao Mo’s various wrongdoings had actually exposed the dark side of the Border Army!

It had been nearly a hundred years since the founding of the Great Ming Empire. On the surface, it looked like a peaceful and prosperous era, but in fact, it had long since been tainted and decayed. The situation in the army was also ordinary.

Xiao Mo, who always dared to openly embezzle and sell rations and ordnance to his enemies in the north, was not because he was stunned, but because the entire environment was like this. He was just an extremely inconspicuous bug in the frontier army. There were too many similar insects around this little bug. Although they didn’t seem to be harmful on the surface, they had actually condensed an extremely terrifying power.

This power was enough to make Hu Sui, the Great Harmony’s general soldier, not dare to do anything to them.

Although these people’s status wasn’t high, they were all on the frontlines of the enemy. If Da Ming fought against the Mongols, these people would be the root of the matter. If Hu Sui wanted to make a contribution, and if he wanted to preserve the peace of Datong Shanxi, he would need these people.

Therefore, even though he knew that there were many problems in the army, he could only pretend that he could not see them. This patrol to the frontier corps was likely to have a knocking effect. However, once the matter was exposed, he was afraid that the impact would be too great and panicked. After all, a single move would affect his entire body, and even his main soldier might be implicated in this matter.

Thus, in the end, General Hu sent a move to abandon the guard car and directly killed Xiao Mo without even asking a single question. His intention was naturally to dispel the uneasiness of others, otherwise, it would not be a good thing for the army to be unhappy.

At the same time, as the culprit to uncover this matter, Lu Zhen would naturally become a thorn in the side army generals’ side. If Hu Sui did not deal with him, he would give others an impression that exposing the drawbacks in the army was not a big deal.

However, this was definitely not the case. Therefore, in order to calm down everyone’s resentment, he could only attack Lu Zhen. Although the reason was just that it was ridiculous for him to trespass into the barracks, if he really wanted to pursue it, it would be enough for Lu Zhen to drink a pot of wine. It was not surprising that he even lost his life because of this.

If Lu Zhen hadn’t taken out the airship map in time, it might have been like that. When he understood all of this, he was covered in cold sweat. Originally, he thought that he was doing this to protect himself, but unexpectedly, he exposed such a fatal problem.

Now that Hu Sui was willing to withstand the pressure to protect himself, Lu Zhen was naturally very grateful to the other party. To General Hu, this was the biggest concession he could make.

At the same time, Lu Zhen had truly experienced the darkness of this prosperous era. He sighed with emotion, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Although he was a transmigrator, his status was too humble. He was only a county magistrate of a small border county, so he could not protect himself, let alone change all of this. Although Lu Zhen had ambitions, he was even more self-aware. There were some things that were too deep for him to easily touch, so he decided to let it go.

Even if he was unwilling, there was nothing he could do …

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However, the outcome of this matter was still good. Lu Zhen’s safe return from the barracks caused the entire county government and even the people of the county to heaved a sigh of relief.

To be honest, Lu Zhen and Lin Lie’s direct barracks incursion had already had a great impact on the city that day. After realizing that Lu Zhen and Lin Lie had never returned, many people believed that he was doomed. Even if Xiao Mo didn’t bite him to death, this official would probably be the end of it-there was no news in the army, and the citizens and officials in the city didn’t know that Xiao Mo had been beaten to death a few days ago.

Originally, everyone in the county government was worried that they would be implicated because of this. After all, it was the Great Harmony Commander-in-Chief who was here now. With this sentence, it was simply too simple to determine their life and death. It could be said that in the past few days, the people in the county government were really living like years.

Seeing County Magistrate Lu and the other two return, everyone couldn’t believe their eyes. They actually came back with all their beards and tails, unharmed? This was truly beyond everyone’s expectations!

When Lu Zhen returned to the Second Hall, surrounded by the crowd, and told Xiao Mo’s results in public, everyone was in an uproar. This was truly beyond their comprehension. At the same time, the way they looked at County Magistrate Lu was filled with respect and awe.

An official who dared to make an enemy of a general in the army might only mean that he was bold, but it was still possible. However, a person who had exposed the shortcomings of the army, put the other party to death, and safely left the barracks had never appeared before. With such a powerful county magistrate, everyone naturally felt admiration and fear from the bottom of their hearts.

“Your Excellency is indeed skilled. I admire you very much.”

“This is evil. Your Excellency is wholeheartedly serving the people and our Great Ming Imperial Court. I already knew that this would be the result!”

“Your Excellency, what orders do you have in the future? This lowly position will definitely do everything in its power …”

Flattering, patting his chest to show his loyalty … The faces of the people in the county government instantly changed, almost offering Lu Zhen up for worship. Lu Zhen only smiled indifferently. He did not feel arrogant, nor did he despise their willingness to follow the wind. In any case, that was the only thing that happened in the bureaucracy.

After a long discussion, someone whispered, “Your Excellency, these people are all in the barracks. Do you know what suddenly rose up in the army this morning? At that time, everyone in He County was stunned, and many people knelt down to it.”

Once these words were spoken, the originally divergent spectacles immediately quieted down. Obviously, everyone was quite curious and concerned about this matter. They all wanted to know the reason for this.

Under everyone’s gaze, Lu Zhen only smiled faintly. He hadn’t expected that this matter would cause such a storm in the city. It seemed that it was necessary to tell the truth to calm everyone’s hearts. “Actually, it was just a test flight of an airship. It wasn’t the descent of a god or devil. There’s no need for you to make a fuss about it.”

“Ah?” Everyone was stunned. They had never heard of an airship before.

‘”Moreover, this airship was my idea for Commander Hu. With this item, it is impossible for Dazi to launch a surprise attack on our Guangling County in the future. It can be suspended at a height of a hundred feet and see everything within a hundred kilometers.” Lu Zhen continued.

This time, everyone was excited. At the same time, they did not have any doubts. This was because County Magistrate Lu had done too many things that he thought he could not do in the past. It was nothing much to have one more.

While everyone was excitedly discussing all of this, a cute little girl outside the door opened her mouth wide, her face filled with disbelief. She was naturally Cuimei. After hearing the news that Lu Zhen An Ran had returned, she was sent out by the young miss to see what was going on. She did not want to hear such shocking news.

The strange thing that flew in the sky in the morning was something that she saw and frightened her into jumping up and down. Now that he knew that this was actually created by his master, Cuimei was dumbfounded. He didn’t even know how he got back to the backyard.

However, after seeing Miss, she quickly cried out excitedly, “Miss, not only is he back, but you must never have imagined that the ball that flew in the sky before was actually created by Uncle.”

“Ah? This is actually happening?” Chu Yunrong also asked in surprise. Then, her eyebrows, which had not been stretched out, grew even tighter. “In that case, it’s very likely that things are exactly as I thought …”

After talking to his subordinates for a while, Lu Zhen sent them away, and he turned around and went back to his back office to rest. He was a little tired of being in the barracks all these days, both nervous and bothered with building airships.

However, even after arriving at the back office, he still couldn’t sleep like this, because he still had to meet Chu Yunrong. After all, she was his wife in name, and the relationship between the two of them had become much closer.

“Master, you’re finally back.” Little girl Cuimei had already waited in the courtyard. When she saw him enter, she immediately bowed happily.

Lu Zhen only smiled and let him lead the way to Chu Yunrong’s room.

When Chu Yunrong saw him, she was stunned for a moment, and then she waved her hand to let Cuimei go out first. After the latter left, she went up and down again, carefully examining Lu Zhen for a long time. It was as if she was studying something, and seeing such a big man like Lu Zhen made her blush.

“Well … you don’t have to look so carefully. I didn’t suffer much in the barracks.” In the end, Lu Zhen could only say this.

However, Chu Yunrong completely ignored his words. Instead, she suddenly focused her gaze on his face and asked in a low and resolute tone, “Who are you?”

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I had to go out on a whim, so I sent it late. I’m sorry. . . .