Tan Erhu sneaked up to Yue Pengju, carefully tugged at the corner of his clothes, and whispered, "Brother Yue, is Zhu Li the young man really the General of the Left Guard who recaptured Chang'an?"
Yue Pengju looked back at his useless appearance and said helplessly: "This can be true, but the general is now framed by the powerful eunuchs and is in a difficult situation. You must take good care of him and don't make any mistakes. This is a rare good official."
He certainly wouldn't understand what was righteousness or right and wrong when discussing with Tan Erhu, so Yue Pengju used words that he could understand and directly gave Zhu Li the title of a good official.
Upon hearing that Zhu Li was a good official, Tan Erhu immediately became serious and said righteously, "Don't worry, Brother Yue, a good official is a blessing to us ordinary people. I will do my best to protect Zhu Li. No, no, it's General Zhu Li who is thorough."
After making such a solemn promise, Tan Erhu realized that Yue Pengju had suddenly come with his family. He didn't know why, so he quickly asked, "Brother Yue, you brought your family to the mountain today. Did something happen?"
Upon hearing this, Yue Pengju's face changed slightly, becoming somewhat gloomy, and he sighed, "It was that kid Yang Zaixing who beat that bastard Li Hu to death."
"Ah, what, Zaixing, he killed someone?" Upon hearing this, Tan Erhu was even more shocked than hearing that Zhu Li was a general. However, he was secretly puzzled in his heart. Wasn't Li Hu always on good terms with Yang Zaixing? How could he be beaten to death by Yang Zaixing? This made him very puzzled and horrified.
"Forget it, let's go inside and talk." Yue Pengju had no choice but to call his family and walk into Tan Erhu's yard first. Tan Erhu's wife, Zhao, heard the noise outside early in the morning and had already set up the table and chairs and served hot tea.
Everyone took their seats directly. Yue Pengju insisted on letting Zhu Li sit in the main seat, and then he sat down without any intention of avoiding Zhu Li. He directly said to Tan Erhu: "Do you know Song Yun, the Confucian scholar in the county?"
"Of course. The Song family is a family of scholars and a wealthy family. There is no one in Wangwu County who doesn't know this." Tan Erhu interjected.
"Mr. Song had no children in his old age. He only had two daughters. The eldest daughter, Song Fuyin, married Li Hu, and the second daughter, Song Fujin, was intended to betrothed to Zaixing. Although Miss Fujin and Zaixing did not get married, they had a deep friendship. Although Zaixing was naughty and reckless, he loved the young lady of the Song family very much. The bad thing was caused by that bastard Li Hu." Yue Pengju looked embarrassed and sighed helplessly.
Zhu Li looked hesitant when he heard this. As for Song Yun and Song Fuyin, he had never heard of them, but he had some impression of Song Fujin. It seemed that this woman was a queen of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. As for whose queen she was, he couldn't remember clearly. However, Yue Pengju did not avoid him and naturally believed him, so he didn't want to interrupt casually.
But Tan Erhu was different. When he heard that it was Li Hu that bastard who caused Yang Zaixing to lose the lawsuit, he immediately asked, "What's wrong? What bad things did Li Hu do again?"
Even if Tan Erhu didn't ask, Yue Pengju would have said it. Hearing this, he said with a bit of disdain: "This Li Dalang is a piece of shit. Since the eldest lady of the Song family married into the Li family, she has been virtuous and capable, and is well-known throughout the county. She also gave Li Hu a son and a daughter. No matter from where, there is nothing to criticize about her."
"But this Li Hu, his family has just been able to
"After having enough food and clothing, he started to keep a mistress outside. When Mrs. Song heard about this, she didn't believe it at first. Later, under the instigation of someone, she went to catch the adulterer. This time, she caught the adulterer and the adulteress on the bed. No matter who it happened to, no one would feel good. Mrs. Song was so angry that she slapped the woman twice. "Yue Pengju narrated slowly.
"They deserve to be beaten. They are shameless sluts and a bad family. They deserve to be thrown into a pig cage." Upon hearing this, Tan Erhu's wife Zhao interrupted indignantly.
"Xiao Qian is right. This kind of woman is shameless and has no self-respect. She should have been sold to a brothel long ago and trampled on by others. She is not worthy of being a wife." Tan Erhu echoed viciously.
Upon hearing this, Yue Pengju gave a bitter smile and continued, "This fight caused trouble. Li Hu immediately became furious and helped his mistress to fight back against the Song family's eldest lady. In front of everyone, he slapped the Song family's eldest lady twice. Not only that, this bastard even sued his wife to the county government."
Upon hearing this, everyone present shook their heads and sighed, cursing Li Hu for being a good-for-nothing and his mistress for being shameless. Even Zhao, who was a little more emotionally involved, got so angry that her fat face turned red and her whole body was shaking. She swore at him and kept shouting and cursing.
"There are actually such heartless, shameless and scoundrel people in the world. This is what Li Hu did. He is really capable of doing this. Everyone in Wangwu County knows that the wife of the Song family is virtuous. When she was young, she was a well-known scholar. Now she has fallen to this point. It makes people feel unfair just thinking about it," Tan Erhu muttered indignantly.
Yue Pengju saw the expressions of the crowd, he sighed and continued, "How could Song Fujin, as her younger sister, feel good when her elder sister suffered such a great injustice? She complained about her annoyance while chatting with Zaixing. You all know Zaixing's temper, he is like a firecracker, he gets ignited at a touch, and he immediately went to cause trouble for Li Hu without saying a word. Originally, with their relationship of drinking and eating, it would not be to the point of life and death, but Li Hu not only had no remorse, but also threatened to teach Miss Song a lesson, which angered Zaixing, and he pulled Li Hu over and beat him, and then something happened. He was always ruthless, and after a few punches, Li Hu was beaten to death on the spot."
"This bastard, he didn't even hold back when he hit me." Upon hearing this, Tan Erhu felt happy but also very worried. He kept complaining about Yang Zaixing for not going easy on him.
"Brother Yue, what should we do about this?" Zhao was at a loss for a moment when she heard this. After all, Yang Zaixing was her man's brother in life and death. The ancients' brother in life and death was not just talk, but a friendship of sharing life and death and prospering together.
Yue Pengju was silent for a while after hearing this, then he sighed and said, "This incident happened a few days ago, and you were all in the mountains and couldn't help much, so I didn't inform you in time. With Governor Kangshi's temper, the officials at all levels under his rule would only act in accordance with morality, and at most they would only rebel against Zaixing and accidentally kill someone. Such a crime would not cost them their heads."
"But just a few days ago, the court suddenly ordered Zhu Wen to be the governor of Xuanwu. Zhu Wen was a general in the rebel army and Huang Chao's right-hand man. He took office for less than two days.
Over time, he replaced almost all the governors of various states and counties with his cronies. The new county magistrate was also surnamed Song, and he was a corrupt official with insatiable greed. Regarding Zaixing's case, he did not say that he would sentence him to death, but he asked for a lot of money. Even if the Song family and us put it together, we couldn't get the amount he wanted."
"There is no other way. I plan to take a risk and entrust my mother and wife to you first. I plan to use my connections to steal Zaixing and the eldest lady of the Song family out of prison." Yue Pengju looked at everyone and expressed his plan.
"Ah, is this really possible? Forget it, Brother Yue, do you need help? I can go with you. Just let Aunt, Sister-in-law, and Yun Xiaolang stay on the mountain, and I will go to help you." Upon hearing this, Tan Erhu looked at Yue Pengju. He was a little timid at first, but finally spoke without hesitation.
"Well, eldest brother Yue, let Erhu accompany you. Usually not many people come to this mountain, so don't worry about our safety." Although Tan Erhu's wife Zhao was worried, she still spoke up in support. This couple is really down-to-earth.
But at this moment, Zhu Li spoke up, he stretched out his hand to stop everyone and said: "Wait, Brother Yue, Brother Erhu, I admire your loyalty and willingness to take risks for your brothers, but isn't it a bit inappropriate to sneak Yang Zaixing and the Song family's wife out?"
These words left everyone speechless.
If they didn't know Zhu Li's identity, perhaps these people would have ignored him. But now that they knew that he was the world-famous General Zuo Wuwei, his words had a different meaning in everyone's mind. Now no one thought of him as a young and down-and-out boy, but his image as a general who was once famous all over the world is now deeply rooted in everyone's hearts.
"What do you think, sir?" Yue Fei was also forced into a desperate situation, and was planning to sneak the person out and flee with his family. However, when he saw Zhu Li speaking, a gleam of expectation suddenly appeared in his eyes, and he hurriedly asked for advice.
Zhu Li ignored his look and said solemnly, "Even if you stole the two people out, without the written proof from the government, it will be difficult for them to live a decent life in the future. Since you said that County Magistrate Song is a corrupt official, then raise money to redeem them."
"Ah, young man, no, General, we have no money?" Tan Erhu turned his head and looked at Zhu Li in a daze. Was it possible that this envoy hid his wealth and buried some money somewhere else? This simple man couldn't help but start to have wild imaginations.
"How much does he want?" Zhu Li looked at Yue Pengju.
Yue Pengju was stunned when he heard this, but he did not hesitate and quickly replied: "Madam Song, because it was only intentional injury, the fine was thirty taels of silver, and Yang Zaixing, because he accidentally caused a death, the dog official asked for five hundred taels of silver."
"It's because he asked for too much money from Yang Zaixing, and Mr. Song, considering that both his hands are made up of flesh and blood, can't just save his daughter and ignore Yang Zaixing for the time being, so the two of them are still imprisoned in the county jail until now."
"Will he be released immediately if he pays the money?" Zhu Li confirmed again.
"Well, he said that as long as we collect enough money and send it over, he will release the person." Yue Pengju affirmed.