Chapter 66: Turning Bad Things into Good Things

  Dian Wei said in a low voice: "Young master, it seems that those people are going to retaliate, we must take precautions early!"

  Li Qin nodded slightly and said, "It's nothing, just consider it as taking a bullet for Tang Jie! Although Tang Jie's character... hmm, he has a good character, he will definitely be grateful to me for taking the hit for him, so there is still room for maneuvering, but I'm not sure who these people are!"

  He turned around and came to the entrance of the county government office, beckoned a small official over, and asked: "Do you know the details about that group?"

  The little official saw the whole process, and although he was secretly cheering in his heart, feeling that Li Qin's punishment was justified, he couldn't let people from the capital bully the rich people of Fuping. But he also knew that trouble had come!

  The little official said: "I heard privately that it seems to be a eunuch sent by the Ten Constant Attendants, and I guess County Magistrate is going to meet them, but didn't catch up. Li Lang, I told you this, don't tell others that I told you!"

  Li Qin nodded and said, "Of course I won't say anything." He took out his purse, grabbed a handful of five-copper coins and stuffed them into the small official's hand. He turned around to call for Dian Wei, and together they headed back to Fu Jiao Village.

  He can't wait here. If those people and Tang Jie come back together, they'll see him waiting here and the conflict will escalate immediately. We need to stall for time to mediate.

  Li Qin took Tian Wei out of the North Gate and went straight back to Fu Jiao Village, but there were only a few people left in the village. Everyone was rushing to catch up with the construction progress at the castle. The construction of Fu Jiao Castle would be completed in a few days, and then it would be time for spring plowing.

  He rushed to the castle, where he saw a bustling scene with people busy everywhere. Jia Yu was also dressed in short clothes, rolling up his sleeves and shouting loudly as he directed the craftsmen to carve stone tablets.

  Liu Sheng was also on the construction site, he had just arrived and was being carried by a stretcher to the top of the city wall, with an expression full of pride and satisfaction. Next to him stood over a hundred strong men from Dalang Village, who were all discussing something, but they weren't talking about repairing the castle walls, rather they were talking about where people would live inside the castle, and whether the stables should be built outside, and if so, should they also be built in the shape of a five-pointed star?

  From a distance, they saw Li Qin and Liu Sheng called out: "Li Lang, you're back! Have you seen Tang Jie?"

  Li QIN waved his hand on horseback, reined in the black horse, and slowly galloped towards the city wall. As he passed by, all the civilians waved at him and greeted him. Li QIN had a smile on his face, constantly nodding to show his appreciation.

  Rushing down to the wall, abandoning his horse and climbing up the wall, Li QIN called Jia Xun and Liu Sheng together, telling them about what had just happened in the city.

  "This time we've stirred up big trouble, you can't offend the eunuchs, they're all petty people! The power of the Ten Attendants is enough to rival that of the entire imperial court, and now that you've beaten their underlings, it's bound to bring about revenge!" After saying this, he let out a series of sighs. Just when good days were in sight, such a huge calamity has been stirred up.

  Liu Sheng listened, but glared with his eyes and said: "What is Mr. Jia talking about? We call ourselves heroes, but can't even protect our fellow villagers. What kind of hero are we? What kind of castle should we build? It's better to be a turtle hiding its head."

  He said to Li QIN: "Li Lang, you're doing the right thing! If you see something unjust and don't take action, that's a coward, not a good man! Don't worry, if those people dare to do anything to you, I'll gather our clansmen and rescue you, killing them all with one knife. At worst, we can just quit being officials and live freely on the grasslands, wouldn't that be better?" He was not a person who feared trouble, nor would he think of self-preservation first in any matter.

  "You're not afraid, why should I be? It's just that we've gotten into trouble for no reason, and it's annoying," he said after a moment's thought. "Li Lang, since that person is an eunuch and came to Fuping without letting Tang Jie meet him, it's clear that he's looking for trouble. I reckon he's here to extort money, but Tang Jie didn't run into them, and instead you were the first to encounter them!"

  Li QIN nodded and said, "I also estimated it this way. Now that things have happened, regret is useless, and there's no need to regret. As long as we think of a way to deal with it, nothing can't be solved. Brother-in-law, you're resourceful, what do you think we should do?"

  Jia Yu lowered his head, calculated for a while, and then raised his head to say: "This eunuch must have been instructed by the Ten Attendants to come to Liangzhou to collect money. He specifically looks for the weaknesses of local officials. If he has collected enough money, he won't come to such a remote place as Fuping. Since he came, it means that the money hasn't been collected yet, so the money must be useful. You didn't take action personally, so there's room for maneuver. Knowing oneself and knowing others can lead to victory in every battle. Now that we know his weakness, we can do this..."

  As an outstanding strategist, it's not necessarily feasible for him to take action, but if he uses his brain, there's no problem. He came up with a plan for Li QIN. Li QIN nodded and agreed while listening.

  They had just finalized their plan when they saw a cloud of dust rising in the distance, and a team of horses rushed over, led by none other than Tang Biao!

  Li Qin nodded and pointed at Tang Biao, saying: "I was just thinking earlier that it must be him, and I actually guessed it right!"

  Jia Yu furrowed his brow and said, "I'm afraid you're going to have a hard time!"

  Liu Sheng loudly said: "What bitter head, with me here, who dares to give Li Lang a bitter head to eat! Kids, get the stuff!"

  The mighty men of Dalang responded in unison, took out their weapons, rode horses under the city, lined up in several rows outside the castle, and looked fiercely at Tang Biao and his party who were running.

  Tang Biao looked far away and saw the common people outside the fort, very surprised, how could there be so many people, were they all invited by Li Qin? If this continues for a long time, this castle will have the trend of replacing Fuping County, which is absolutely unacceptable!

  He hadn't even rushed into the crowd when he saw a large group of Qiang warriors gathered under the city wall, each with weapons in hand. Tang Biao was even more shocked - how could this be? How did Li Qin get the Qiang people to enter the city too? Did he invite them for mutton again? Where did he get so many sheep from?

  As soon as he saw the other side coming, Tang Biao quickly turned his head back, but found that the team of soldiers he had brought with him were actually a full twenty zhang away from himself! Tang Biao cursed in his heart, the soldiers he had brought were also too unreliable, keeping such a distance from himself, it was clear they didn't support him, which meant they supported Li Qin instead. If this happened on the battlefield, this would be a classic case of switching sides mid-battle! How did he end up with such a troublesome thing?!

  Tang touched his ribcage, his injury was healing quite quickly, but it still hadn't fully recovered. Now that things were taking a turn for the worse, the wound was starting to ache again. But with the situation at hand, how could he back down? If he retreated now, he would never be able to show his face in Fuping again and would have to flee to another land. He had some regrets in his heart, if only he had known earlier that Li QIN's power was growing so rapidly, he wouldn't have come, and let someone else do it instead.

  Tang Biao originally accompanied Tang Jie to welcome Zhang Jiu, who was a big shot. Everyone in the county with some status followed Tang Jie. However, they didn't manage to meet Zhang Jiu, as he played hide-and-seek with them. Tang Jie knew this was just a way of teasing him, but he was at a loss for what gift to present, so he felt bitter in his heart, yet dared not speak out.

  Tang Jie saw that he couldn't catch up with anyone, so he had to return to the county town. However, halfway through, he ran into Zhang Jiou. Unexpectedly, Zhang Jiou not only had a big bump on his head but also had a broken nose and insisted that Tang Jie go find the culprit who beat him up. As soon as Tang Jie heard the description, he knew it was Li Qin. However, he also let out a sigh of relief. Li Qin's chivalrous act was equivalent to taking the bullet for himself. Originally, Zhang Jiou was going to deal with him, but now he had become the target of Li Qin's wrath. Tang Jie even suspected that Li Qin, with his heroic personality, might have seen through Zhang Jiou's intention to deal with him and deliberately provoked a fight in order to take the hit for himself.

  No matter what, before things are clear, Tang Ji cannot punish Li Qin arbitrarily. If he does so to curry favor with the eunuchs and indiscriminately punishes his subordinates, no one will work for him again. He doesn't need Zhang Jiou to find fault with him; he will have ruined his own foundation.

  Tang Jie wanted Meng Mu to "catch" Li Qin, so Meng Mu would definitely go slower and first send someone to deliver a message to Li Qin, letting him prepare. But unexpectedly, Tang Biao insisted on going, and in front of Zhang Jiu, Tang Jie couldn't say anything, so he had no choice but to let him come.

  Tang Biao led a team of soldiers, hastily coming to capture Li Qin, but unexpectedly found such a scene here, which made him unable to get down from the tiger's back, and he had to rein in his horse outside the crowd, not daring to come over.

  Li QIN had made his preparations, whether good or bad fortune, he could not avoid it, and hiding was useless. He did not want to hide either. Li QIN jumped off the wall, mounted a black horse, and shouted loudly at Tang Biao: "Tang Tunzhang, have you come to arrest me, Li QIN?"

  Tang's face turned iron-green, he grunted and replied: "You know that's good, you offended the heavenly envoy sent by the imperial court, I was specially ordered to come and capture you!"

  Liu Sheng struggled to get up on the wall, shouting: "How dare you! Is Li Lang also worthy of your capture? How can you say such things, don't you have any shame! Children, let him see the majesty of my Da Liang Ke!"

  As soon as the words fell, the men of Dalangqiang drew out their curved knives and rushed towards Tang Biao, shouting in unison!

  Tang Biao was so scared that he trembled with fear, and when he turned his head to look back, he saw that the soldiers he had brought with him didn't even come over to support him. His relationships were really too poor! Taking a deep breath, Tang Biao said: "Li Qin, dare you follow me on this trip?" If Li Qin said no, he would immediately turn around and retreat, anyway, as a rascal, he was afraid of being beaten, not afraid of losing face!

  Li Qin hummed and said: "What are you afraid of? You go first, I'll be right there!"

  Tang Biao immediately turned his horse around and didn't say another word. When he galloped back, he fiercely glared at those soldiers. However, the soldiers completely ignored him, not even treating him as a human being. Someone even shouted: "Li Lang, is your fortress still short of people? Look at me!"

  Tang Biaoqi couldn't get through, so he bypassed the soldiers' formation and rushed all the way back to the county government office, refusing to stay any longer.

  Jia Xuan came down from the wall and said to Li Qin, "Let's go back to the village first and welcome the angel with drums and gongs!"

  Li Qinchao smiled wryly, an angel? That fat eunuch, even if he grew wings, really couldn't be compared to an angel!

  ——

  Wishing you a safe and happy collection! If brothers and sisters can collect the book "Master", give support, Ping An will be grateful, thank you for your trouble, thank you very much!