Chapter 313: Passing the Buck

Liang Qu grabbed his collar; he was tall, forcing Lu Xinqing to stand on tiptoe.

Facing Magistrate Yu, Lu Xinqing was so panicked that his whole forehead was hot with sweat, reflecting a layer of light under the oil lamp.

No, no, he was just a water bandit, how could he deserve the attention of two great officials!

It was like a mouse shaking in front of a cat.

Lu Xinqing hugged Liang Qu's palm, trying to pry his fingers open, but found them hard as steel, motionless, and hurriedly smiled at Yu Dayi: "The lord is joking, I am just a water bandit, a guy who deserves a thousand cuts, haven't read a few books, how could I understand right from wrong..."

"Good!"

Yu Dayi shouted loudly.

Lu Xinqing almost bit off his tongue.

"Since this is the case, I want to hear what name the River Bo Office's Water Minister Liang can say!"

Yu Dayi lowered his head and glanced at the waist token; his cultivation of Qi was excellent, and he wasn't half angry at being scolded by Liang Qu, appearing like two different people from the "furious" look before Liang Qu entered the door.

Lu Xinqing was terrified, only wishing he could kneel down and kowtow for mercy.

Today was truly the unluckiest day of his life.

Robbing a River God wouldn't be this difficult, right?

Liang Qu's face was calm, his gaze glancing at Lu Xinqing.

"I ask you, when did you become a water bandit?"

Lu Xinqing was puzzled: "Three and a half years ago..."

"Who did you rob the first time! How much silver did you rob! What was the result for them! Dead or alive!"

"A father and son preparing to go home to get married, a total of eight taels of silver, the result..." Lu Xinqing swallowed his saliva, "The result was dead."

Yu Dayi roared: "Robbery and murder, should be executed!"

Lu Xinqing trembled all over, hurriedly waving his hands: "I didn't kill them, I didn't kill them!"

"Hmm? If not you, then who?"

"It, it was Magistrate Yu, you..."

Yu Dayi was stunned.

"That father and son were robbed by me and then let go; later, two days passed and I found out that after they were robbed by me that day, they knew the marriage was ruined, and they were unwilling, so they went to rob others!

Lu Xinqing braced himself and told the experience of that father and son intermittently.

He had been a water bandit for less than four years, but Magistrate Yu had been the magistrate of Huazhu County for the fifth or sixth year.

The father and son water bandits were caught, and it was Yu Dayi who sentenced them to be beheaded.

"There was actually such a thing..."

Yu Dayi fell into deep thought.

Three years ago wasn't too long, and he had a slight impression upon recollection. It seemed that he had indeed sentenced a pair of father and son water bandits before.

As river bandits, both father and son were sentenced to death.

"Water Minister Liang is trying to say that my judgment has a problem?" Magistrate Yu didn't know Liang Qu's thoughts, "Although that father and son were robbed first and became bandits later, and have excusable circumstances, crime is crime; I believe my judgment has no problem, and I have a clear conscience!"

"Magistrate Yu judged according to the law, naturally no problem, but what I want to say is not the law! Lu Xinqing! You think the death of this father and son, who caused it!"

Who?

Lu Xinqing scratched his head, testing carefully: "Me?"

"Wrong! It's Magistrate Yu!"

Liang Qu's answer stunned Lu Xinqing.

"The one who caused the father and son to become water bandits is Lu Xinqing, no doubt! But the one who caused Lu Xinqing to become a water bandit is Magistrate Yu, you!"

Yu Dayi frowned fiercely: "What does it have to do with me? Could it be that this person stole martial arts, and I instigated it? Going to be a water bandit, was I the one who sent him?"

Lu Xinqing shook his head vigorously.

Liang Qu's gaze fell again: "Lu Xinqing, why did you steal martial arts?"

Why did I steal?

Because that old thing wouldn't teach me!

Lu Xinqing slandered, but his neck was almost out of breath, knowing he definitely couldn't say that: "Because... because the small one didn't want to waste his life in the martial arts hall, and wanted to find a way out."

"Since you wanted to find a way out, why steal martial arts? There is no hope in the martial arts hall; can't you enter the government office? Can't you enter the Three Judicial Departments? Can't you go to the Six Doors to make contributions and learn better martial arts? There are so many ways out, why dig your own foundation?"

Lu Xinqing was speechless.

If he had this path, why would he steal martial arts?

In the silence, the meaning became clear.

"Does Magistrate Yu understand now?" Liang Qu let go of Lu Xinqing's collar, "It is you who didn't give him a choice!

Magistrate Yu is a magistrate! The parent official of the common people! If the administration in Huazhu County were clear, with capable people up and incapable people down, why would Lu Xinqing need to steal martial arts and become a bandit!"

Lu Xinqing's eyes lit up.

So it can be explained like this?

"It is precisely Magistrate Yu's inaction that caused Lu Xinqing to become a bandit, and then harmed that father and son returning to get married! How unfair!"

Yu Dayi frowned: "This is sophistry!"

Liang Qu laughed loudly: "I am sophistry! Magistrate Yu blames my River Bo Office for fighting with the Ghost Mother Sect and affecting Huazhu, not blaming the Ghost Mother Sect, but blaming my River Bo Office's behavior; how is it different from my sophistry?"

Yu Dayi was speechless.

"Even water bandits know how to find problems from themselves! With natural disasters raging, let alone the truth hasn't been found out yet, even if the Qiu Gong Dike break was really done by the Ghost Mother Sect.

Magistrate Yu doesn't look for the culprit, but hides in the room and makes insinuations; is it wrong for me to say Magistrate Yu is not as good as a water bandit?

If Magistrate Yu is really determined to blame my River Bo Office for being wrong in suppressing bandits, does he want to say that my River Bo Office suppressed the Ghost Mother Sect wrongly?

Since this is the case, it seems Magistrate Yu is very dissatisfied with the decision of the Holy One to send the River Bo Office to be stationed in Pingyang County?"

"Don't dare!"

Yu Dayi hurriedly lowered his head.

For a time, the room fell into silence.

Gulp.

Lu Xinqing swallowed his saliva.

He didn't understand, but he was deeply shocked in his heart.

Seeing Yu Dayi not speaking, Liang Qu also breathed a sigh of relief.

Successfully bluffed him.

That's all the goods in his stomach.

If they really argued, he might leak his flaws.

Can Yu Dayi really not distinguish between enemies?

Not necessarily.

With the flood raging, Yu Dayi didn't hesitate at all, decisively organized a fleet, transferred disaster victims, and reduced losses in the first time.

Not saying how well he did, at least it was standard, without major mistakes.

Doing things without major mistakes, he is definitely not an incompetent person, and he wouldn't do the absurd thing of blaming the River Bo Office at a critical juncture.

As for why he made insinuations and deliberately hid in the room to scold for everyone to hear.

Passing the buck.

Yu Dayi wanted to pass the buck of the Qiu Gong Dike break to the River Bo Office!

Can a county dike break be separated from the magistrate?

Can't be separated!

The hydrological station certainly didn't remind him, but with several days of heavy rain, even if the hydrological station didn't react, Yu Dayi should have sent someone to check.

But it can be reduced!

What if the dike break was due to the grudge between the River Bo Office and the Ghost Mother Sect?

There is only a thousand days of being a thief, no thousand days of guarding against a thief.

It is excusable if you can't guard against it.

Yu Dayi insisted that it was the Ghost Mother Sect and blamed the River Bo Office, completely wanting to shift the focus of the dike break from Huazhu County itself to the River Bo Office!

As an official of the River Bo Office, can Liang Qu watch Yu Dayi pass the buck?

Can't.

Don't you know whose rice you are eating?

It just so happens that Lu Xinqing provided a good story.

You say it's my River Bo Office's problem, it's equivalent to the father and son becoming water bandits, and you come to blame Lu Xinqing.

Then Liang Qu wants to dig, and then pass the buck back, firmly pressing it down.

Yu Dayi is definitely not a person who is truly for the people; he saves the common people to preserve himself, to preserve his official uniform and life.

Liang Qu's debate with Magistrate Yu is not about right or wrong, but about stance.

One wants to shift responsibility, the other wants to keep responsibility.

No matter how Yu Dayi's questioning is answered, it will help him shift attention.

If Liang Qu hadn't understood the situation before entering the door, it would have been really easy for Yu Dayi to pass a layer of big buck, which would then affect the situation of Xu Yuelong and others. ===== CHAPTER 314 =====