In April of the sixth year of Jianxing, Lu Xun, the governor of Soochow, returned to Jianye by water, and at the same time inspected the counties and counties along the way.

When they arrived at Chaisang, officials from all over the country came to pay their respects. Only Zhou Li, the governor of Poyang County, sent someone to tell him that although the bandit commander Peng Qi had been captured last year, there were still some remnants who raised his banner to rebel. He had to lead troops to encircle and suppress him and could not arrive.

When Lu Xun learned of this, he rushed from Chaisang to Poyang County to check on the military situation.

When they arrived in Pengze County, someone secretly reported to Lu Xun, saying that Zhou Li did not go to encircle and suppress the rebels at all, but because he thought the journey to Chaisang was too far and did not want to flatter Lu Xun, so he took advantage of the rebellion.

Lu Xun was suspicious but did not believe it, but after entering Poyang County, he kept an extra eye and deliberately understood the people's sentiments in various places in Poyang County.

Lu Xun originally didn't mind whether Zhou Li came to Chaisang to see him, but after he deliberately understood it, he learned that Zhou Li secretly used the new land reclaimed the year before to grow sugar cane, and he became furious on the spot.

The year before last, he had written to Sun Quan, King of Wu, to order the generals to expand their fields due to the prolonged war, which had caused the people to leave their farms and many fathers and sons and couples to be separated.

At the same time, this was also the beginning of the official farming of Wu State.

Not only did the king agree to his proposal, he even took over the land himself and changed the eight oxen used in the chariot to four oxen to show that everyone had equal access to their work.

Unexpectedly, just over two years later, this week the bream not only dared to occupy farmland privately, but even used it for other purposes.

Seeing his hard work being wasted like this, why didn't Lu Xun get furious?

He immediately summoned Zhou Quan and rebuked him in public, "A dog knows how to protect his family, but you are so greedy and fattening yourself, you are really worse than a dog pigging on you!"

Not only did he order Zhou Li to return to the occupied farmland, but he was still angry and repeatedly said that he would take a copy of him in front of the King of Wu.

Zhou Li was scolded horrendously, and was caught by Lu Xun. He did not dare to refute, he fell to the ground sweating, and begged for mercy.

In the end, Lu Xun let Zhou Yi go because he was in Wujun's favor.

Having lost all face in front of Poyang County officials, Zhou Li felt ashamed and ashamed.

When he returned to his house, a servant brought him some food. He took a bite and felt that the food was not tasty. Then he slammed his chopsticks and cursed loudly, "You dare to bully me!"

He was already very angry at Lu Xun, and he believed that his colleagues would definitely use this matter to ridicule him in the future.

Now when I returned to my own house, I felt that the food was much worse than before. I immediately became furious and ordered the cook to be tied up. I whipped him with a whip until his skin and flesh were bruised and he was willing to give up.

After the fight, Zhou Li cursed Lu Xun in his own house: "It's just because I am the son-in-law of the Sun family. If Shuru shows off his power like this, sooner or later I will make you look good!"

The cook suffered a terrible disaster and felt resentful. He escaped from the house at night, chased Lu Xun all the way east, and told him exactly what Zhou Li said.

When Lu Xun heard about it, he was so angry that he almost burst into smoke. After returning to Jianye, he told Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, all what Zhou Li had done in Poyang County.

Sun Quan then ordered his officials to go to Poyang and question Poyang County about various matters.

On this day, Zhou Li was drinking in the mansion, when he saw Bu Qu flying in and shouting loudly, "General, it's not good, the king has sent Shangshu Lang here, saying that he wants to check the farmland."

When Zhou Li heard this, he dropped the earcup in his hand and turned pale, "You came so quickly!"

Then he suddenly remembered something, and said angrily, "Lu Xun, didn't you say that this matter will not be pursued, didn't you? You went back on your word, and you think you are not the son of man!"

No matter how Zhou Li scolded Lu Xun, the official Lang sent by Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, rushed straight to the Poyang Prefect's Mansion without stopping.

Before Zhou Li had time to prepare, the land register in the prefect's mansion had already been brought out by Jianye with the order of King Wu and ordered to be taken out and counted in public.

At the same time, manpower was dispatched to conduct on-the-spot inspections of farmland in various counties.

Before the investigation of the farmland was completed, a second group of officials came from Jianye to inquire about the people's situation in various counties.

After waiting for two days, the third wave of Langguan arrived again...

For a time, Poyang County was in a state of panic and everyone was in danger.

Zhou Li knew that these officials were obviously here for him, so he stayed at his own house these days and did not dare to go anywhere.

Although no one restricted his freedom, he felt like a prisoner who had been captured and imprisoned.

Because Lang Guan would come to his house at any time and ask questions about various things.

Although these officials would not do anything to him until King Wu convicted him, their superior demeanor and sneer in their eyes had already made everyone in the Zhou family fearful and uneasy.

At this time, Han Zong, who took his mother and his tribe to the north the year before last, saved him.

Han Zong, the son of Han Dang, gave all his maids, concubines, relatives and aunts to his generals the year before last. Then he led thousands of troops to defect to the north and was named Marquis of Guangyang by Cao Wei.

Over the past year or so, in order to show his loyalty, Han Zong relied on his familiarity with the distribution of the population and military forces in Wu to invade the territory of Wu several times, killing the officials and people of Eastern Wu, much to the dismay of Sun Quan.

Just when Jianye kept sending Lang Guan to explore Poyang, Han Zong once again led his army to invade Lujiang County.

When Zhou Li heard the news, his spirits were lifted.

After thinking about it for a while, he finally stepped out of the house for the first time.

Although no one stopped him from leaving the house, he knew very well that there were many eyes staring at him at this time.

Those eyes were not just staring at his face or his back, but directly staring at his heart, making him feel extremely heavy.

Under scorching eyes, he finally arrived in front of the Poyang County Mansion.

First he glanced to the left, then to the right, and then tentatively entered the door. He only took two or three steps and stopped again, as if he no longer had the strength to lift his legs and feet.

At this time, he was still the nominal governor and the master of the governor's mansion, but in the eyes of others, he looked inside with some hesitation, as if he didn't know what to do.

"Hey, isn't this Governor Zhou? What? Are you finally free to come on duty today?"

A man with sharp eyes saw Zhou Li standing at the gate and came towards him with a smile, "I'm sorry, Prefect Zhou, I guess you will have to stay in your own house for a few more days. Things in the prefect's house are still busy."

I’m not done yet.”

Zhou Li gritted his teeth and suddenly pulled out a dagger.

Lang Guan was so frightened that he quickly backed away and exclaimed, "What do you want, Zhou Yi?"

Zhou Li didn't answer. He raised the dagger and cut off his head, cutting off a lot of hair.

Zhou Li was seen holding a dagger in one hand and holding his hair in the other, with a sad face, "You gentlemen, since I promoted Xiaolian, I have successively served as county magistrate, general and commander of history, and captain of the west. I beheaded Peng Shi and captured Peng Qi."

"It is really unbearable to be humiliated when you have offended a villain and been bullied like this! But please report back to the King of Wu. Regarding the farmland, it is indeed the case that the bream was confused for a moment. The king of Wu only reduced the punishment, and the breams were willing to admit their guilt."

"I just ask you, for the sake of being an official in the same dynasty, please don't humiliate me like this again. If a villain can humiliate me today, how do you know that he won't be able to humiliate you in the future?"

"Four years ago, Ji Yan only used personal love and hate, acted without emotion, and dismissed many officials. If someone hadn't stood up to resist, how many of you would still be standing here?"

"The same is true today. If you let the villain deceive the king, not only will you not stop it, but you will help him to do evil. How can you know that Zhou Li's matter will not fall on you in the future? Who will speak for you then?"

Zhou Li's words of grief and indignation shocked the officials who originally wanted to see a joke.

They are either the descendants of the Sun family's veteran heroes, or they come from the Jiangdong family. In their view, occupying some land is not really a big deal.

Whose family doesn’t have fertile land?

Whose family is not full of slaves and maids?

How did fertile land come about?

How did the slave come?

If it was really because of this incident that I was humiliated so severely, it would indeed be a bit much.

"Now the Cao thieves are invading the Lujiang River. Poyang across the river, instead of being able to help, is falling into chaos. This is really wrong. This is all Zhou Li's fault."

"I also ask you to take national affairs as your top priority and don't let the officials and people of Poyang County panic because of Zhou Li's fault."

Seeing the silence of the lieutenants, Zhou Li was overjoyed, and added to his anger, he bowed deeply to them.

Seeing Zhou Li's continuous apologies, and hearing his words, and it was true that no other illegal activities had been found in Zhou Li these days, the officials felt a little sympathy in their hearts.

In the days that followed, Zhou Li was treated more leniently, and at the same time, some people returned to Jianye by boat to report to King Wu.

At the same time, in a village in Lujiang County, bandits from the north had just left.

The sky above the village was filled with smoke. This was not the smoke coming out of the chimneys when women were cooking dinner, but the thick smoke from the fire. It also carried the oily smell of burnt human flesh, which was pungent and unpleasant.

The peaceful village in the past has become dilapidated and desolate, with only the ruined walls that have been burned black, suggesting that people lived here before.

I don’t know whose wall it is that collapsed, whose hall it was that was burnt black, and whose roof beams the charred wooden pieces could be.

It was obviously a clear sky, but a gust of wind blew up the dust, and it seemed that the clouds suddenly became dense and the sun was dark, bleak and dull.

Han Zong is leading the troops and is retreating towards the north.

Many of them were riding horses, with women riding in front of them and behind them.

Some people even put their hands into the woman's clothes, with an indescribable smile on their face.

Almost every woman on horseback had disheveled clothes, wet tears on her face, and numb eyes. She seemed unaware that anything was wrong with her.

Everyone was carrying baggage, which was full of gold and silver, the harvest of looting from the south these days.

In the past, in Soochow, the most you could do was stealthily rob business travelers in private, and you had to worry about being discovered by others. How could you rob openly and openly like now?

After confirming that Wu Jun had not caught up, Han Zong ordered the pots to be cooked and prepared to eat before heading out.

"Your Majesty, we caught a spy!"

The vigilant scouts scattered around brought a man over to report.

"Oh?" Han Zong glanced over with sinister eyes and said calmly, "Just kill him, why bring him here?"

"Reporting to the prince, he said that he has extremely important matters and wants to tell the prince face to face."

Only then did Han Zong look directly at the plain-faced Xizuo, waved his hand to let the scouts go down, and then raised his sword and asked, "Who are you?"

Xizuo, who had been silent all this time, glanced at the people around Han Zong and then lowered his head.
To be continued...