Chapter 172
Lu Heng picked up the keyhole and looked at it, then threw it away calmly, signaling the person behind him to unlock it. Jin Yiwei stepped forward, took out an iron wire from his sleeve, drilled a hole in the keyhole, and the copper lock popped open.
Li Zheng was stunned to see this scene, his mouth was open and he was speechless. While Jin Yiwei had already opened the door, Lu Heng calmly patted his sleeve and stepped into the threshold.
This kind of lock is too simple, and he finds it boring to look at it. Lu Heng walked slowly through the house. Wherever he went, the crowd behind him followed. Cheng Zhifu didn't know what Lu Heng was looking at, so he accompanied him carefully and said, "Lord Lu, this is a simple dwelling. It's really wronging you to stay here. Do you want to go to the county to set up a table of banquets... …”
Lu Heng interrupted him lightly: "Isn't this kind of simple dwelling under the rule of Lord Cheng?"
Cheng Zhifu was instantly stuck, speechless. Lu Heng swept the surrounding walls, and when he passed through the main room, he flicked the table unintentionally.
A gray streak appeared on the table, Cheng Zhifu was embarrassed, and hurriedly said: "Didn't you see that Lord Lu's hands are dirty, why don't you bring hot water to the Lord..."
Lu Heng took out the veil, wiped his fingers clean, and said, "Cheng Zhifu, I won't be so delicate, so I don't need to bother. Besides Liu Shan, Liu Shoufu and his son, who else died?"
Cheng Zhifu was at a loss, looking at the magistrate of Qi County, and the magistrate looked at Lizheng. Li Zheng stepped forward tremblingly and said with a stiff smile: "There are fifty-two households in the village, each with two males, and a total of 102 people were swept away by the flood."
Lu Heng immediately asked, "Where are the other two?"
Li Zheng smiled awkwardly: "The old man's son passed the exam as a scholar and entered the county school."
A scholar who has passed the entrance examination has gained fame and fame, and even if he cannot become an official, it is enough to exempt his family from corvée and taxation. Lu Heng tapped his chin lightly: "So it is. Where is the accident, take me there."
Everyone looked at each other, but no one spoke. Lu Heng was not in a hurry, just looked at them with a smile but waited patiently. In the end, Cheng Zhifu couldn't save face, and scolded: "Didn't you hear what Master Lu said, where is the accident?"
The county magistrate Tao Yiming stepped forward and said, "Report to the commander, the Hegu Village labor force was wiped out on the way to the state capital, and no one knows where they were killed."
"Oh?" Lu Heng asked, "Then how do you know they were swept away by the flood?"
The house was silent. Lu Heng looked at Cheng Zhifu and urged slowly, "Cheng Zhifu, what do you think?"
Cheng Zhifu looked embarrassed: "Qi County reported it like this, and the lower officials didn't think much about it... Tao Yiming, what the hell is going on?"
Tao Yiming lowered his gaze, paused for a while, and said, "Xiaguan neglected his duty. The prefectural government did not receive the news of the arrival of the villagers in Hegu Village. During that time, there were many floods in the mountains, and Xiaguan felt that they should be washed away by the flood."
Lu Heng glanced lightly in his eyes: "How many torrents do you have here?"
Li Zheng responded indifferently and nodded slightly. Lu Heng then said: "Since there are frequent flash floods here, I must be very familiar with Lizheng. With Laurie leading the way, I want to see the most frequent flooding places in this area."
Cheng Zhifu hesitated: "Master Lu, the mountain road is difficult..."
Lu Heng interrupted Cheng Zhifu lightly: "If the prefect is too tired, just keep it here."
Cheng Zhifu choked to death with the remaining half of his words. Lu Heng has a higher official position than them. He is a celebrity by the emperor's side, and he also controls Jinyiwei. For local civil servants like them, Lu Heng is tantamount to holding life and death to seize power. The officials did not dare to talk nonsense any more, and hurried out to make arrangements.
The villagers who were watching the lively outside the courtyard saw the adults entering the room and talking. After they came out, the yamen officers led the horses and the sedan chairs, as if they were going to go out again.
The villagers asked in confusion: "What is going on inside?"
"I don't know, maybe the Liu family got into something."
"What a disaster this has caused, why is the county magistrate here?"
"The county magistrate, did you see it? That's our prefect. The one next to him is said to be a high-ranking official in the capital."
The onlookers were amazed, and for a while you said one sentence and I guessed one, it was very lively. The people behind wanted to know what happened, and kept squeezing in. A village woman was squeezed and fell and hit the person next to her. The village woman stood firm and scolded, "You little bastard, what are you squeezing?"
The initiator was a group of half-old children, and the leading child made a face at the village woman, and soon disappeared. The village woman scolded, turned around to see a girl, stunned, and muttered: "Did I bump into you just now... I'm sorry, I blame those boys for being so noisy. Which family's daughter-in-law are you? "Why have I never seen you before?"
Wang Yanqing nodded and smiled at the village woman, and said, "I came from the prefecture with the adults, not from here."
The village woman snorted, her expression not surprised at all. She said that they couldn't grow such beautiful people in their village. If it weren't for the blue sky and daylight, the village women would have thought they had seen a strange person just now.
Lu Heng came out surrounded by a group of people. He saw Wang Yanqing and walked straight here: "Qingqing..."
As Lu Heng approached, the people didn't know what was going on, and they automatically retreated, as if it was an instinct to encounter dangerous creatures. Just as Lu Heng touched Wang Yanqing with his hand, Wang Yanqing suddenly let out a soft cry, frowning and covering his abdomen.