Chapter 72

This official was fair-skinned, with a few thin beards. As soon as he entered the room, he smiled and arched his hands: "Let the immortal Wei wait for a long time, I am really sorry. However, County Magistrate Sun is in seclusion, so I will receive the immortal. I am Ren Youwei, the county assistant of Quyang County. I don't know what instructions the immortal Wei has for coming here?"

The county assistant has a high position but no real power, belonging to an idle official, equivalent to a candidate for county magistrate. Don't look at this official's harmless appearance, he is also a Dao foundation cultivator.

Wei Yuan stood up and returned a salute, then went straight to the point: "I am here for the three hundred civilian braves in Shayang Village! They have been in the army for months, fought many bloody battles, and have not seen a tael of silver for military pay, let alone pensions. My trip is to ask where the food and pay are, and where the pensions are!"

Ren Youwei had a sudden realization and said: "So it is this matter. The immortal does not know that food and pay are the top priority. The imperial court has strict laws, and no one can violate them. Civilian braves are not something anyone can form. If you want to train civilian braves, you must report to the imperial court and get the approval document before you can. Otherwise, if everyone can train braves, wouldn't the world be in chaos? The power of approval for civilian braves in this county is not in the county government, but in the hands of Assistant Regional Commander Liao. In fact, the civilian brave list reported by Mr. Fang was transferred to Assistant Regional Commander Liao long ago, but for some reason, it has been delayed. Without approval, how dare we allocate a tael of silver? This is a matter of losing one's head!"

Ren Youwei was an old fox, and he kicked the ball to Assistant Regional Commander Liao at once, picking himself clean.

Wei Yuan was inexperienced and could not do anything about this slippery old oil. But he knew that if he left like this, it would be exactly what Ren Youwei wanted. So Wei Yuan sat still and said: "I will also visit Assistant Regional Commander Liao. Let's not talk about food and pay for now. Thirty-seven people died in battle in the past few months, and they should be compensated. What example does Ren prepare to compensate according to?"

Ren Youwei had a difficult expression: "It should be compensated for the death of civilian braves, but one must be on the list, and two must die in the war designated by the superior to be compensated. Forgive this humble official for speaking bluntly, I am afraid that none of these people in Shayang Village meet either condition."

Wei Yuan said again: "Many old people have starved to death in the village, and the imperial court should provide relief. I will not make it difficult for the adult, first allocate some food for emergency, this is a matter of saving lives."

Ren Youwei sighed for a long time and said: "Someone starved to death, and my heart hurts too, alas! Who makes it a troubled time now? Now it is wartime, and our county is on the front line. According to the imperial court's law, all food and grass are military supplies now, and no one can move a grain of food without the joint hand-written order of the county magistrate and the assistant regional commander. Now even the pancake stalls in the county have been closed. I really can't do anything about allocating food."

Wei Yuan's anger began to rise, his face sank, and he sneered: "Ren, you pushed it clean! The county government collects one Liao barbarian head for one tael of silver, and it turns into one thousand taels! The civilian braves on the front line have no food or pay, and their families have starved to death. Can you sleep with this money?"

"One thousand taels in and out? How can there be such a thing?" Ren Youwei was surprised, "Magistrate Sun and this official just saw that the common people had merit in guarding the land, and specially took out private silver to reward those with merit."

"What about those heads?"

"After being collected, they were sent directly to the county town, and they were all collected by the prefect. I don't know what happened later."

Ren Youwei did not know anything, and pushed everything clean. Wei Yuan became more and more angry as he listened, slapped the table heavily, and shouted: "Ren! Do you need Wei to let you understand how much your Dao foundation weighs?"

Ren Youwei was panicked and said repeatedly: "This humble official has a little rough magic power, how can I withstand the immortal's destruction! If the immortal must do it, then this humble official will die. It's just that the immortal always has to let this humble official die clearly, right? Is it possible that the immortal of the immortal sect can kill people indiscriminately without reason?"

This was Wei Yuan's first time seeing such a rolling knife meat that could not be poured in with oil and could not be cut with a knife, and this guy put on a posture of not fighting back even if beaten to death. Wei Yuan really could not do anything.

However, the countless history books in his stomach finally came in handy at this moment. Wei Yuan learned from the examples in the books and calmed down first. He was expressionless, just staring at Ren Youwei, until his eyes flickered.

Only then did Wei Yuan say: "It seems that these things have nothing to do with Ren. No matter, then please tell County Magistrate Sun that I, Wei Yuan, have been in the defense zone for two days, and only received ten garrison soldiers. According to the Tang law, someone must lose their head for this, and not just one. So within two days, I want to see two hundred soldiers in my defense zone! I don't care what method you or Magistrate Sun use, in short, not one soldier can be missing! If it's really not enough, it's fine to use your concubines to make up the number, and if it's still not enough, please trouble Ren to make up the number yourself! If Ren is in trouble, then I will report to the Fenhai Zhenjun and ask the Fenhai Zhenjun to send Dao soldiers to guard."

Ren Youwei's smile was a bit unnatural. This matter must have someone's head fall to the ground if it is pursued to death, but it is hard to say whose head falls. The Fenhai Zhenjun naturally cannot send Dao soldiers directly, and even if he sends them, they are here to cut off heads.

Wei Yuan said again: "Since Ren said that Assistant Regional Commander Liao did not give approval, I will trouble you to write a letter, and I will take it to ask Assistant Regional Commander Liao clearly."

Ren Youwei had no other way, so he had to write a letter and hand it to Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan did not stay long, stood up immediately, and said before leaving: "Ren, take care of yourself!"

Wei Yuan did not entangle with Ren Youwei anymore, left the county government, added a divine walking technique to himself, and rushed straight to the military camp outside the city. After a while, Wei Yuan arrived outside the military camp.

The military camp wall was two zhang high, mainly made of broken stones and grass pulp, which was a unique city-building method in the north, sturdy and easy to repair. The military camp wall was not high, but when Wei Yuan arrived outside the gate, he immediately felt several stinging pains on his body, which were aimed at by the masters in the army with hard crossbows.

After reporting his identity, a few soldiers took Wei Yuan into the main tent of the army. A burly man sat at the head of the tent, with a knife scar on his face, a short beard, eyes like an eagle, and a gloomy gaze. Wei Yuan knew the color of the clothes, and this person should be the assistant regional commander Liao Jingwu.

Wei Yuan saluted and said: "I am Grand Void Palace Wei Yuan, here to visit Assistant Regional Commander Liao!"

Liao Jingwu's gaze swept over Wei Yuan, and Wei Yuan immediately felt a group of scorching flames rolling over his body, his heart sank, knowing that this General Liao was not just entering the Dao foundation, but had mostly entered the second realm. Liao Jingwu was still an Earth-rank Dao foundation, which was a bit difficult to fight. Wei Yuan secretly evaluated that if he wanted to win, he was afraid that he would have to empty his Dao power.

After the two sides met, Liao Jingwu asked: "So it is the little immortal teacher of the Grand Void Palace, what is the matter with coming here?"

Liao Jingwu's voice had a metallic friction hoarseness, which was very unnatural.

As a disciple of the Grand Void Palace, Wei Yuan naturally would not fear other sect Dao foundations, even if he faced a Dharma Form, he would not be humble or arrogant. This is the confidence of the immortal sect. And although Liao Jingwu was an Earth-rank Dao foundation, Wei Yuan would not fear if they really fought. At this moment, Wei Yuan did not go around in circles, and directly stated his purpose, asking why the three hundred men in Shayang Village had not been listed as civilian braves until now.

Liao Jingwu's expression was as usual, let the captain bring the corresponding documents, and looked at them carefully in front of Wei Yuan. If it weren't for Wei Yuan knowing the various things behind the scenes, just looking at the current performance, he would mostly think that Liao Jingwu did not know at all. This Liao assistant regional commander, it seemed, was also an old actor who had been singing for years.

After looking for a long time, Liao Jingwu put down the documents and asked the captain a few more questions, then said: "Fang Hedong did report a list of civilian braves, but according to the investigation, the list reported and the actual personnel are inconsistent. This is the first point. The second is that the list is full of old and weak farmers, suspected of falsely reporting the number of people and cheating on food and pay. Now the war is in full swing, and this general is busy, unable to spare time to verify it personally, so let's put it aside first."

Wei Yuan's anger surged. What Liao Jingwu said was high-sounding, but in fact, he was also an old oil of the officialdom. The reasons he gave were far-fetched and could not stand scrutiny at all.

For example, the list reported by Fang Hedong did not match the actual situation. After the list was reported, they had already fought several battles. Every bloody battle had to die, how could the actual personnel and the initial list be consistent? Furthermore, the second point, which family's civilian braves are not farmers during peacetime? Most of the farmers are thin and weak, not strong as oxen. It's not like farmers, even the garrison soldiers Wei Yuan saw were old, weak, sick, and disabled.

This is not like Ren Youwei's ignorance, but just finding a reason to prevaricate, and he was too lazy to think about it.

The problem is, Wei Yuan knows Liao Jingwu is prevaricating; Liao Jingwu also knows Wei Yuan knows he is prevaricating; Liao Jingwu is still prevaricating.

This is unscrupulous.

(End of chapter)