Dressed as a young lady, she became rich by relying on Pinxixi

Chapter 137 Gold Mine

As Xu Siyu questioned, the guards who came from the military cooperated and made the weapons in their hands make intimidating sounds.

The superior's aura is captured perfectly.

Qu Chengzheng was obviously frightened and knelt on the ground again: "I dare not."

You have already done it, so why bother talking about whether you dare or not?

Since Emperor Ming had assigned Lezhou City to Xu Siyu, these people who stayed in Lezhou were no longer considered court officials.

In fact, the court gave them the choice to change their original positions, but I heard that they chose to stay.

It is not surprising for an ordinary soldier to make this choice, but it is strange no matter how you look at it that an official appointed by the imperial court would end his future in such a small town.

Investigating these matters was a matter for the future. Xu Siyu took advantage of her prestige to ask, "More than ten days ago, my stewards went to Lezhou City on business. Have you seen them?"

"I have met her. The lady leading the group said that she wanted to select a site for the Marquis of Anle's residence in the city, and to understand the situation of the city's common people, farmers and merchants. I personally accompanied them for two days to help them understand the situation." Qu Chengzheng answered humbly.

"and after?"

"Later...did anything happen later?" Qu Chengzheng raised his head artificially, and then immediately lowered his head when his eyes met Xu Siyu's.

"I don't know. They left early on the fourth day."

"The fourth day? Which day exactly?"

"The twenty-second day of the first lunar month." She remembered it very clearly. Today was already the sixteenth day of the second lunar month. Xu Siyu couldn't even imagine what had happened to Rui'er and the others.

Lin Yiqing then asked, "How did they leave? Which direction did they go?"

"I don't know, my subordinate."

County Magistrate Qu kept a low profile, his slight trembling showing his fear, but Xu Siyu didn't think he was really afraid.

He answered every question, but the information he gave was useless.

Xu Siyu and Lin Yiqing exchanged glances and decided to stay in Lezhou City first, with the accompanying guards surrounding the city to search for information.

Qu Chengzheng wanted to invite them to his home, but Xu Siyu refused and placed them in the dilapidated backyard of the county government office.

This backyard is even older than the front yamen. There are a lot of weeds growing in the corners of the walls, and a thin layer of dust has accumulated inside and outside the house. Both the house and the furniture look very old.

It was obvious that no one lived in it and no one cleaned it, and it had not been repaired for some years.

After Xu Siyu dismissed Qu Cheng and the others, Lin Yiqing looked around and confirmed that no one was around before saying, "This magistrate is unavailable."

This is what Lin Yiqing thought when he saw the gate of the county government office.

It is not a big deal to build a private courtyard to live in if you are not used to living in the backyard, but it is a slap in the face of imperial power for an official of the court to not work in the official court.

Qu Chengzheng did this for ten years, which clearly showed that he did not take the court seriously, whether it was the current Ming Dynasty or the previous Li Dynasty.

Xu Siyu thought so too, "He is a local emperor here."

"So do you think this local tyrant will attack us?"

The couple smiled at each other and thought that living in this shabby government office was just to force them into desperate situations.

"We're clearly setting a trap for him, he won't come. Unless..." Lin Yiqing thought for a moment, looking at the mountains and forests outside the city, "unless someone comes from the mountains."

The person has disappeared. Why would Xu Siyu and Lin Yiqing come to Lezhou to ask for him without finding out anything in advance?

Right now, they are blatantly staying here as targets. Although it seems reckless, they are doing so with confidence.

The disappearance of Rui'er and the others is enough to illustrate the danger in Lezhou City.

Xu Siyu was not capable of handling the situation on her own, so she had to ask Daming, given to her by Jiaocheng, to help her deal with it while things were still hot.

This time they came to borrow Pingxiang's troops to liquidate the forces in Lezhou City.

……

Qu Chengzheng returned to his residence next to the stone quarry and discussed the matter with his trusted subordinates.

"Mr. Qu, I'm afraid I have to leave."

Before they sat down, Chief Clerk Feng Ping spoke hurriedly, saying that in all the years he had been in Lezhou, he had never seen so many officers and soldiers coming.

What they had done was a capital crime. He didn't want to say that he had felt a chill down his spine when he was in the county government office, which almost prevented him from retreating completely.

As soon as Feng Ping said this, everyone immediately agreed. Qu Chengzheng looked solemn and nodded, "Indeed."

But he was unwilling to give up. He made a lot of money from the salt well, but he had just dug out a gold mine at the quarry, and only a corner of it had been mined so far. He just needed a little more time.

It was all the fault of those Qiang people, who only knew how to be cruel and murderous. Before killing someone, they didn't even confirm with him whether they could kill their servants.

It was also because these people in Anle Earl's Mansion were too shrewd. They took the county annals and matched them one by one. They even had to investigate the salt mines marked as exhausted on the spot. They went around the mountain and stepped into the Qiang people's territory.

This salt well, located at the bottom of the valley at the junction of Lezhou and Qiangshan, had long been reported dry by him.

For the past ten years, the "secret business" between him and the Qiang people could not be known to outsiders.

"As soon as it gets dark, we'll retreat." They had already made fake identities and were just going to start over in another place.

These days, they have been concentrated at the gold mine, transporting gold out day and night. Unfortunately, they cannot take all of this huge wealth away.

"Dad, should we notify the people on the mountain?" Qu Chengzheng's son Qu Qian said unwillingly.

"She was fine, but she made Anle Bo for no reason and robbed our Lezhou City. Doesn't this woman deserve to die? Besides, creating chaos for them will make it easier for us to leave."

"My son is right. Go and find someone who's quick. The rest of you should pack up your own business and remember not to leave any trace behind."

At this time, Qu Chengzheng and others did not know that the King of Southwest had been summoned by Earl Anle, and they could no longer escape.

……

In the middle of the night, the county government office caught fire.

The figure who came out of the quarry and into the forest looked at the fire a few hundred meters below the mountain and just breathed a sigh of relief, but he didn't expect that he had already entered the circle.

When Qu Chengzheng and his trusted subordinates encountered the 300 soldiers in the Yicheng camp who were waiting for an opportunity, the torches they lit together burned away all their hopes.

Pingxiang sat on a high horse and looked at the person who came teasingly.

"County Magistrate Qu, climbing the mountain in the middle of the night, what a delight!"

I met Qu Chengzheng when I was patrolling the border in Pingxiang.

He had been a bandit for several years and came to realize that bandits were not necessarily bad people, but officials who colluded with bandits were definitely corrupt officials.

In the afternoon, Qu Chengzheng's men "led the way" and helped them find the village hidden in the mountains.

When the bandits came down the mountain to commit crimes, Pingxiang took over the village.

At this time, Pingxiang was waiting for someone to escape at night.

Not all of Qu Chengzheng's men just sit there and wait to die.

The thirty or forty strong soldiers who were protecting them rushed forward in an attempt to break the deadlock, but when they were stabbed and screamed, bleeding, and died on the spot, there was a sudden silence all around, and the remaining few soldiers laid down their weapons and surrendered.

Qu Chengzheng knew that he really had no way out.

Ping Xiang's judgment came to my ears: "You have been living too well these past ten years, you are unwilling to obey orders."