Chapter 33: 33. Distant Water Cannot Save Near Fire

33. Distant Water Cannot Save Near Fire

"Why has Xiao Shimei been looking at me?"

In the carriage, Ouyang Rong closed his eyes to rest and asked calmly.

Xie Lingjiang hesitated: "Ru Shixiong's actions... are somewhat beyond Xiao Shimei's expectations."

She also lifted the carriage curtain and silently watched the knights escorting the two back to the county government office for a while. Swords, crossbows, armor, and helmets were all complete, and the discipline was strict. This was the Black Armor Iron Cavalry of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Xie Lingjiang now felt her head was still buzzing a bit. It wasn't because she hadn't seen the world, but because everything was too sudden. Remote things suddenly jumped in front of you, and before you could react, they crushed you... No wonder the wealthy gentry lords inside the Yuanming Tower were even more terrified, their legs trembling and their posture disgraceful.

From the moment Ouyang Rong pushed open the window to "show his cards," to the later very polite threat of copying their families, and then to flicking his sleeves and walking away, Xie Lingjiang had followed behind and watched the calm back of Ru Shixiong's head the whole time. She was a bit dazed and wandering, and only after following him out the door and getting into the carriage did she come back to her senses a bit.

Ouyang Rong didn't open his eyes, as if he was thinking about other things, and said casually: "It seems Xiao Shimei still doesn't understand me."

This Xie family noble girl's eyes were a bit complicated, looking at him: "I understand a little now... But why didn't Ru Shixiong tell Xiao Shimei in advance?" Was it because he wanted to see the shocked and dazed demeanor of others?

There was another sentence that was about to come out, but she held it back, because the tone felt a bit too much like a woman acting like a spoiled child and complaining.

"Forgot to say."

"?"

Xie Lingjiang seemed to be angry, turned her head away, and didn't want to pay attention to Ru Shixiong at all today. But Ouyang Rong opened his eyes and looked at her with a smile, taking the initiative to confess:

"Actually, I didn't expect it either. I didn't expect them to come, and the momentum was so big. Hey, Liulang is getting better at handling things."

Xie Lingjiang, who was turning her head and acting cold, couldn't help but glance at his helpless expression. The girl in men's clothing couldn't help but hum and smile, "So it was beyond Ru Shixiong's expectations. But it did shock the whole scene just now, and it was quite impressive... Next time there's something like this, you must bring me along."

Ouyang Rong couldn't help laughing. "Okay, next time I'll arrange a domineering line for Xiao Shimei."

Xie Lingjiang glared at him. "What domineering, Ru Shixiong is making up words again."

The two chatted and joked for a while.

Xie Lingjiang turned her head and asked earnestly:

"So, Ru Shixiong sent Yan Liulang to Jiangzhou, not only to supervise the transfer of the 3,000 shi of disaster relief grain, but also to mobilize troops? But... how was this achieved?"

She frowned in confusion: "Also, that Captain Qin just said he was assisting in handling the case. What case is he going to handle?"

The young magistrate smiled without saying a word.

He actually just wrote a letter and had Liulang send it to Jiangzhou.

"Greedy for money, greedy for sex, greedy for power, he must be greedy for one of them. Could it be that a saint has come to our Longcheng County?

"Even if he is a saint, he must be greedy for his mother's holy name! What exactly does this dog-shit top-scholar magistrate want to beg for?

"Acting like a chaste woman here, dawdling, and acting up when given face. Flipping the table? Isn't it just wanting more? Fuck his mother!"

Liu Zilin was in a violent state again, angrily poking his index finger at the county government office to the east outside the door.

It was just that he didn't smash things randomly today, because both of his elder brothers were in the room.

One was wiping a sword with a white cloth. It was Liu Ziwen, who looked plain and unremarkable and had a gentle temperament.

One was examining the sword the other was wiping. It was a sickly young man in brocade clothes.

This young man had a pair of triangular eyes. It should have been a fierce face, but his eyelids were drooping, and he looked desireless all day long, like a sick tiger.

The sickly young man stared at the famous sword in Liu Ziwen's hand and nodded, saying: "Copying the family as soon as he took office. What great courage."

Liu Zilin turned his head abruptly: "What was Second Brother doing earlier? When I was framed that day, you should have found the place back immediately. Nothing would have happened later. Now it's good, this Ouyang Lianghan has become more and more presumptuous and really treats us as soft persimmons, and has no awe for our Dragon King Liu clan at all!"

That day when he ascended the hall on the street, the most infuriating thing wasn't having his leg broken by that fierce little girl, but being made to kneel to a barbarian slave as the Third Young Master of the Liu family. Liu Zilin was simply beaten with broken teeth and had to swallow them into his stomach.

Originally thinking that his brothers had their own arrangements, and the eldest brother also said he wanted to boil the scholar magistrate, but now it was good, he had really been boiled into a hawk, and directly pounced to peck their eyes!

So he was angry the more he thought about it after enduring for a moment, and his heart was anxious after retreating a step.

"Fuck, when have we ever suffered this kind of anger? Eldest Brother, Second Brother, we are dragons, we are tigers, not sheep!"

Liu Ziwen wiped the sword silently. He was focused, wiping the sword body with a clean white cloth very meticulously, as if he hadn't heard his brothers talking.

"Not seeking wealth, not seeking sex, not seeking power, not even seeking fame, only seeking disaster relief and water control." Second Young Master Liu, Liu Zi'an, shook his head: "To deal with such a gentleman, hard knives are troublesome, soft knives are handy."

Liu Zilin paced back and forth in the room, anxious: "Does it matter whether he chooses hard knives or soft knives? They have already put the knife on our necks. Checking accounts is just an excuse. He can flip the table and copy our family as he pleases! Let's hurry to the prefecture to call someone to cure him..."

Liu Zi'an didn't look at his restless third brother, turned his head to continue to the eldest brother:

"This matter is very strange. How did he mobilize the iron cavalry of the Jiangzhou Zhechong Prefecture? The Jiang Nan Circuit has a total of only six military prefectures. Mobilizing more than ten people or ten horses requires the imperial court's central edict and copper fish. How could he, a demoted Grade 7 magistrate, have the ability to reach the sky? Then why would he still be short of this little grain and silver for disaster relief and water control?"

Liu Ziwen finally paused wiping the sword and nodded, opening his mouth: "People have already been sent to investigate. This is the key to this game. Breaking the current game is not difficult. What is difficult is that there are bigger games waiting for us later."

Liu Zi'an suddenly said: "Could it be that family is helping?"

Liu Ziwen shook his head: "I don't know if Ouyang Lianghan is their person, but if they dare to touch the military power, even the Master Di of the imperial court can't protect them."

He continued to lower his head and wipe the sword, "Just continue to pretend it doesn't exist."

Liu Zi'an thought for a moment and nodded.

Liu Zilin couldn't help but interrupt: "Bigger game? Who gave him the courage to set it up? Does he know who is behind our Liu family? Looking for death! If it delays a sword for the noble..."

Liu Zilin suddenly stopped and immediately closed his mouth and lowered his head, because the gazes of his two elder brothers were cast over suddenly, one frowning, and one cold.

It seemed like a moment, and it seemed like a long time. The three Liu brothers seemed as if nothing had happened, returning to the original topic.

Liu Ziwen signaled to his second brother.

Liu Zi'an received it, turned to the only muddled egg in the room, Liu Zilin, and said coldly:

"Still not convinced? The game he set up now, is it useful to compare whose noble is bigger? Could it be that Ouyang Lianghan doesn't know that we local gentry and noble families have people above us? He dared to flip the tables of thirteen families at once. Why?"

"He is looking for death!" Liu Zilin gritted his teeth.

"That's right, he is looking for death." Liu Zi'an finally smiled once, but the smile was more fierce than not smiling: "But even if he is looking for death, he still wants to drag a few families to die with him. Idiot! Our family has a large business, can we accompany him to die together?"

"Does he deserve it?"

"But he can."

Liu Zi'an rubbed his face, feeling a bit tired of teaching his brother:

"Because of the Jiemin Granary rice case, the officials we are on good terms with in Jiangzhou are either suspended or dismissed. No one in the prefecture can intervene in Longcheng immediately. But Ouyang Lianghan now has three hundred Zhechong Prefecture iron cavalry in his hands.

"This is near fire. We have distant water outside Jiangzhou, but how to pour it now?"

Liu Zilin seemed to have been poured a basin of cold water, suddenly calmed down. He no longer paced back and forth, sat back at the table with his two elder brothers, leaned over and asked:

"Three hundred iron cavalry, can't our high walls and courtyards and private soldiers block them?"

"This is an elite force that has just withdrawn from the border rotation, and the Qian knives are still stained with the blood of the barbarians."

"Then what to do?"

Liu Zi'an turned to look at his eldest brother and simply stated one thing: "Can't let him check the accounts."

Liu Ziwen finally finished wiping the sword. He carefully put this short sword with excellent quality into the scabbard. The scabbard was inlaid with emeralds, agates, pearls, and gemstones, which was extremely luxurious; this sword was to be regularly prepared and sent to a noble in Luoyang.

Liu Ziwen said calmly to his two younger brothers:

"The Liu family is not just a fat sheep with fertile fields, beautiful houses, gold, and jewels. The Liu family is this scabbard, and what is wrapped inside... is a sword!" ===== CHAPTER 34 =====