xymnovel Chapter 12 My Father Zhang Erhe
Chapter 12 My Father Zhang Erhe
A hero saves the damsel in distress?
Du, the head constable, cursed, "Who do you think you are, daring to play the hero and save a damsel in distress in my territory? Do you even know that they are my men?"
Wang Lun arrogantly declared, "This is your territory? This is the territory of the Great Song Dynasty!"
Zhao Yupan quickly responded, "That's right. Jizhou is not your Du family's territory. All the land under heaven belongs to the king. What is your Du family?"
Chief Du was furious: "Come here, arrest them and take them back to the yamen for punishment."
The archers behind him quickly stepped forward.
The guards behind Zhao Yupan immediately blocked his way, but Zhao Yupan grabbed them and said, "I want to see what kind of den of dragons and tigers the Jizhou government office is."
Gongsun Sheng originally intended to take Wang Lun away, but when he saw Wang Lun walk over and sit next to Zhao Yupan, he had no choice but to stop talking.
The group was then led to the government office, where passersby pointed and whispered about them, their eyes filled with pity.
Some whispers even reached the ears of the crowd.
"These people were taken to the yamen (government office), how could they possibly come back alive?"
"That depends on whether they have money or not."
"Oh, right, you can live if you have money."
The government office wasn't far, and we arrived in no time.
Once inside the government office, Chief Du became even more arrogant, as if he were the prefect himself.
He led his men straight into the back hall of the government office.
The so-called prefect was busy with his business at the time. When he saw that Chief Du had brought a group of people, he quickly got up to greet him: "Oh my, our Chief Du has captured another group of thieves. Are they the Liangshan bandits? With Chief Du here, our Jizhou can be peaceful and prosperous. It is truly a blessing for the people and a blessing for the court."
Wang Lun and the others were dumbfounded. Was this... the attitude a prefect should have towards a head constable?
Money really can make the devil turn the millstone.
Zhao Yupan cursed, "Bah, you corrupt officials! With you around, how can the court be blessed, or the people be blessed?"
The prefect was furious and pointed at Zhao Yupan: "Come on, give him twenty lashes first."
Zhao Yupan angrily retorted, "How dare you!"
The prefect puffed out his chest: "What's there to be afraid of? Come on, strike!"
Several archers were about to step forward when a figure flashed by, and Zhao Yupan's guards and Gongsun Sheng stepped in front of them.
Wang Lun cursed, "You corrupt official! You beat people without even asking what happened! You're utterly foolish! Come on, beat them! Give this corrupt official twenty lashes, and this constable forty lashes!"
With a creak, Zhao Si closed the back door.
The back hall of the prefectural government office was not a place where just anyone could enter; usually only the prefect and his trusted confidants were present. Now that the door was closed, there were only a few archers, along with the prefect and the head constable.
Gongsun Sheng acted swiftly, snatching a wooden plank and unleashing his Chaotic Demon Staff Technique, causing the archers to cry out in pain.
Zhao Yupan's guards were even faster. Before anyone could see clearly, he had already kicked the prefect to the ground and then beat the head constable Du to his knees.
The prefect kept shouting, "Rebellion! Rebellion!"
Wang Lun and Zhao Yupan slowly walked forward, looking smug.
Zhao Si snatched a plank, stepped forward, and asked, "Which one should we hit first?"
Wang Lun pointed at the fat Du Dutou: "Beat him first, beat him until he's barely alive, not a single breath more."
As Zhao Si raised his stick and brought it down, Du Dutou let out a pig-like scream.
Wang Lun sneered, "Don't shout. If you shout even once, you'll get ten more lashes."
The constable forced himself to endure it, having been beaten seven or eight times by Zhao Si. Cold sweat poured down his forehead as he cried out, "Do you know who I am? My father is Master Du."
Wang Lun feigned surprise: "Oh my, your father is Master Du?"
Du, thinking he had truly frightened the man, said happily, "Yes, yes, I am his only son, and he bought this position for me with his own money."
Wang Lun squatted down, patted Du Dutou's chubby face, and laughed, "Do you know who my father is?"
Du Du was taken aback, then shook his head and said, "I don't know."
Wang Lun said very seriously, "My father is Zhang Erhe."
Du Du tilted his head and thought for a moment, but he really couldn't remember who Zhang Erhe was.
The prefect was trembling with fear. After thinking seriously for a while, he finally said, "Could it be Minister Zhang of the Ministry of Revenue?"
In the Song Dynasty, all high-ranking civil officials were respectfully addressed as "Xiang Gong".
Zhao Yupan was also suspicious: "Is there a Zhang Erhe in the court?"
Wang Lun laughed and said, "Just kidding, you believe me? Keep hitting."
After a flurry of blows, Na Du's head was throbbing so badly that he fainted.
Zhao Si then brought over a pot of water and splashed it on him to wake him up.
Wang Lun snorted coldly, sat upright in the prefect's seat, and slammed his hand on the table: "Court is now in session!"
Zhao Yupan stood beside him with a grin, saying, "I'm going to hold court later too, to see what it's like to be an official."
Gongsun Sheng and Zhao Yupan's guards dragged the prefect and Du Dutou to kneel down, and also brought over the girl who was so frightened that she forgot to cry.
"What's your name?" Wang Lun asked the girl.
The woman quickly replied, "My name is Zheng Ke'er."
"Chief Du, tell me, how much money does this young lady Zheng owe your Du family?" Wang Lun pointed at Chief Du, his voice menacing.
Du, the head constable, had already been beaten until his skin was torn and bleeding. He dared not cheat anyone out of money and hurriedly said, "I don't owe you anything anymore, I don't owe you anything anymore."
Wang Lun then looked at the prefect: "Did you hear me clearly?"
The prefect nodded hurriedly: "I heard you clearly, I heard you clearly."
Wang Lun snorted coldly: "Then let's draw up a written agreement. You, the Prefect, will stamp it and you're not allowed to cause any more trouble for this young lady Zheng. Otherwise, I'll wipe out your entire Du family."
His last words made Chief Du tremble all over. Although he didn't know who the person in front of him was, he was definitely not a nobody and not someone to be trifled with.
The prefect hurriedly wrote the document with trembling hands and stamped it with his seal.
Wang Lun took it and saw that it simply read: "The debts of Du Fu and Zheng Ke'er in Jizhou have been settled." The seal of the prefect was next to it.
He handed the document to Zheng Ke'er and said, "Keep it safe and don't lose it."
"Yes, thank you, sir." Zheng Ke'er carefully folded the paper and put it in her bosom, keeping it close to her body.
Just then, shouts of killing erupted outside the door, and the inner hall was surrounded by hundreds of people.
Upon hearing this, the prefect became bolder and tried to stand up, but was kicked down by Gongsun Sheng.
A man outside shouted, "Listen up, you petty thieves inside! I am Huang An, the military commissioner of Jizhou. How dare you break into the government office and commit murder? You are incredibly audacious! Release my master immediately, and I may spare your lives."
Huang An?
Wang Lun had heard about this person from He Tao.
We don't have many men on our side, while the enemy has hundreds of soldiers. What should we do?
He felt quite regretful; he shouldn't have acted so impulsively.
Zhao Yupan was also startled and asked, "What should we do?"
Seeing her panic, Wang Lun noticed a slight blush on her face, which made her look quite beautiful. He paused for a moment, then said, "Using the prefect as a hostage, let's fight our way out."
Gongsun Sheng and Zhao Yupan's guards then arrested the prefect and each held a dagger to his back.
Wang Lun raised his long sleeves and led the way, with Zhao Yupan quickly following behind.
The gates opened, and hundreds of soldiers and archers were already waiting in full battle array.
Wang Lun strode forward and proclaimed loudly, "I am Wang Lun of Liangshan Marsh! Who dares to come up here!"