Chapter 947: Breaking the Family

A team of about a hundred government soldiers, escorting several carriages, arrived in front of an old and dilapidated county town. At this time, the carriage curtain opened, and a white, fat official looked forward, seeing two large characters engraved on the city tower: Ye County. The two characters were already mottled, and the "Ye" character was missing two dots.

This person sighed and said, "It has become this dilapidated?"

Then the motorcade entered the city and headed straight for the county government office, where they completed the handover with the incumbent county magistrate.

The paperwork had just been completed, and before the former County Magistrate had even left the city, this fair-skinned official summoned the Assistant County Magistrate, the Private Secretary, the Head Constable, and the County Commandant, saying: "The rebel Liu Heihu's military force is at its peak, claiming to have a million troops; what countermeasures do you all have?"

The small officials all said it didn't matter; the rebel army was still far away from here, and besides, the county had suffered disasters for years, with nine out of ten houses empty, and the rebels had no food; wouldn't they starve to death if they came?

The fair-skinned county magistrate shook his head and said, "The main force won't come, but I expect they will likely send some light cavalry to sweep the area, which we cannot resist. So we still need to prepare early and raise some military pay and food."

The small officials understood clearly that this Magistrate Yu was going to scrape the land as soon as he took office. And looking at his meaning, he was probably waiting for the rebels to arrive before abandoning the county and fleeing.

According to the Tang Law, local officials have the responsibility to defend the land, and once they abandon the land and flee, it is an immediate execution. But over time, the Tang Law has also become lax, and many officials have countermeasures.

But the small officials also had their own way of survival; if the magistrate wanted to scrape, let him scrape; anyway, it wouldn't scrape onto them. If the magistrate scraped ten taels, he would always distribute one or two taels to the people below, right? As for the life and death of the common people, who cares about that?

At the moment, the private secretary presented the roster of wealthy families in the county, saying that the common people were now destitute, with no food for the next day, and only the wealthy families' mansions had some oil and water.

The county magistrate opened the roster and saw that the first page was written: Wei Youcai.

He looked down: Wei Youcai, 61 years old, no children. Family property includes two mansions, 1,900 mu of land, 120 strong guards... total family property is about 11,000 taels of silver.

The second page was Liu Shounu, the third page was Jia Tianci...

After reading, the county magistrate smiled and said, "Before I took office, someone pointed me out, saying that I should first ask for the 'Yama Roster' when I arrive. This book is the so-called Yama Roster, right?"

The private secretary touched his mouse-like whiskers and smiled, "Exactly! As the saying goes, if Yama wants a person to die at the third watch, who dares to keep them until the fifth watch? Since they are registered in the book, when the people on this book die is just a matter of your word, Magistrate!"

The county magistrate patted the roster and asked, "Are there any relatives of big figures missing from this?"

"In this poor place of ours, where would there be relatives of big figures?"

The county magistrate nodded, then smiled, "This Wei Youcai, with such a large family property, why doesn't he even have a descendant? Wouldn't it all be cheaper for others in the end?"

"This person was born unable to have children, and there were no adoptions. It is said that many people have come to climb relatives over the years. But he looks rich, but actually, it's all mansions and land, and he gives porridge to help the villagers every year, so there shouldn't be much money and food."

The county lieutenant snorted and said, "Adoption is not biological after all, the bloodline is different, that is a difference of 100,000 miles! If I were Wei Youcai, I would rather spend all my family property than give a penny to an adopted one!"

The county magistrate pondered for a moment and said, "My predecessor was a loose-handed one, and he left something for me... well, it's a hundred or so retainers, which is a bit tricky."

A fierce light flashed in the county lieutenant's eyes, "They are just country bumpkins, as soon as the armored government army arrives, they can be leveled immediately! I now have 500 garrison soldiers under my command, which can completely sweep one side. Magistrate, just give an order, should we pretend to be soldiers or bandits this time?"

The county magistrate laughed, "Do soldiers need to pretend? You have been recruited for so long, why hasn't the bandit spirit changed? This time, we will leave the city in the name of training, and after leaving the city, we will change clothes, and then..."

The county magistrate made a throat-slitting gesture, and the county lieutenant understood.

A day later, 500 garrison soldiers left the city, and a scattered team headed toward the countryside. Although it was said to be 500, counting the heads, there were not even 300. Fortunately, this unit was considered the face of the county, so the armor was barely complete.

The county lieutenant walked all the way, seeing houses collapsed, fields abandoned, nine out of ten houses empty, and even the official road was overgrown with weeds, making it difficult for carriages and horses to travel. The county lieutenant couldn't help but shake his head and sigh, "With such heavy taxes in this kind of ghost place, even if the Heavenly King came, he wouldn't be able to survive."

Several lieutenants nodded.

The team walked for half a day and gradually entered the mountains. The county lieutenant looked at both sides and said, "Everyone be alert, both sides look like good places for an ambush! Back in the day, before I met Magistrate Zhuang, I liked to ambush wealthy merchants passing by in such places the most..."

Several lieutenants pretended not to hear.

Just at this moment, the mountain peak next to them suddenly became noisy, and many heads appeared. Among a group of bandits in extremely ragged clothes, there was a sharp-mouthed, monkey-cheeked guy who looked wretched but was dressed like a scholar.

He looked at the government soldiers below and said, "If this group of man-eating ghosts reaches the countryside, I don't know how many lives will be lost! Everyone can't survive anyway, so just rebel with me!"

A burly man like an iron tower next to him was somewhat fearful: "I heard that there are immortals in the Ji Kingdom. Wouldn't it be like stepping on an ant for an immortal to crush us to death?" ===== CHAPTER 948 =====