Cypress Boat Floating

"Waste, waste, you wastes, how come you can't even do such a small thing." Nan Chengyi, with a big belly, smashed everything that could be smashed in the study. Originally, seeing that only Liu Hanyun and others came down the mountain, he thought that Lu Ci Qiu was definitely dead, but who would have thought that he actually came back alive, and also caught Arnold who helped him do the dirty work.

Liu Hanyun knelt down below, trembling and not daring to say a word. Nan Chengyi might even kill him if he got angry, so how could he dare to say anything more? Beads of sweat kept falling from his forehead, and soon his face looked as if it had been soaked in water. He didn't dare to speak loudly, and could only mutter in a low voice: "This... This can't be blamed on us, who knew that even Arnold didn't kill him."

Nan Chengyi paced back and forth angrily, unable to stand still. Now that Arnold was in Lu Ci Qiu's hands, he didn't know if he would get anything out of him through torture. It seemed that he had been completely ruthless. Thinking of this, his eyes gradually became fierce. After making up his mind, he calmed down and sat down. Looking at Liu Hanyun who was kneeling on the ground and trembling, a trace of disgust flashed in his eyes, and he said viciously: "Liu Hanyun, remember, you must make Arnold unable to say anything, remember. You and I are in the same boat. If you don't want to lose your position and go to jail, you have to do it for me this time."

"Yes, yes, yes. I'll do it right away." Liu Hanyun agreed quickly and then fled from the City Lord's Mansion in a hurry.

Seeing him running so fast, Nan Chengyi snorted and cursed him as a waste. As soon as Liu Hanyun left, a man walked out from behind the side screen.

At this time, Nan Chengyi finally calmed down and picked up the only unbroken cup next to him and drank the tea in it. While drinking, he said: "Master Zhao, do you have any way to relieve my worries?"

Zhao Wenbin frowned as he looked at the ceramic fragments on the floor. After walking around, he went to the clean chair on the left and sat down. He opened the fan in his hand and fanned it in front of him. He said with disdain, "I don't know what you did in the past, and don't expect me to clean your ass for you."

Nan Chengyi was already troubled by Arnold's arrest, and now Zhao Wenbin's attitude was undoubtedly adding insult to injury. He wanted to burn his bridges, and Nan Chengyi would not let him off easily.

"Don't forget, you are on our ship now. Arnold is going to kill the Eighth Prince. If the Eighth Prince knows who ordered him to kill, do you think you can get away with it?"

Zhao Wenbin tightened his grip on the fan. He had never been threatened by anyone before, but Nan Chengyi was the first one. His disgust for Nan Chengyi went up a level. But soon, he calmed down. He thought that he was just a rich man. What was there to be angry about? He sneered and said, "Lord Nan, it's just that someone who has a grudge against you was arrested for murdering the Eighth Prince and framing you for the crime. What are you worried about?"

With just one sentence, Zhao Wenbin casually distanced Nan Chengyi from Arnold. At the same time, he attributed all the things they had done before to Arnold and found an excuse for Nan Chengyi.

Nan Chengyi thought about it, and suddenly understood what Zhao Wenbin meant, and laughed. Yes, no one knew about his connection with Arnold, and no one except Liu Hanyun knew that he had instructed Arnold to do the Shi Wenjie incident. In this case, he still had something to worry about. Zhao Wenbin was right, he was just a person who had a grudge against him and deliberately wanted to frame him. Lu Ciqiu had no evidence in his hand, and based on Arnold's one-sided statement, what could he do to him?

"Lord Nan, don't forget the deal between us." Zhao Wenbin knew from his expression that he had thought it through. He didn't want to get involved in Nan Chengyi's mess. He just wanted Nan Chengyi to do what he had asked him to do as soon as possible.

"Don't worry, although Arnold can't kill him, as long as he is in South City for one day, I will have plenty of opportunities to kill him."

Zhao Wenbin nodded with satisfaction. This was exactly the promise he wanted. The task assigned by his master had to be completed at all costs, and it had to be completed without his own hands.

......

Master Liu followed Liu Hanyun to the City Lord's Mansion, but he was not qualified to enter, so he had to pace back and forth at the back door of the City Lord's Mansion waiting for Liu Hanyun to come out. Finally, when his patience was almost exhausted, he saw Liu Hanyun walk out of the gate of the City Lord's Mansion.

"How is the county magistrate? What did Nan Chengyi say?"

Liu Hanyun looked at Master Liu with helplessness in his eyes. He sighed deeply and said in a low voice: "Nan Chengyi wants us to kill Arnold."

"This..." Master Liu clenched his hands in an awkward manner. "County Magistrate, do we have no other options?"

"Let's go back first and think of a solution." Liu Hanyun walked towards the county government office helplessly. Master Liu watched his back gradually blending into the darkness and felt helpless.

The two returned to the county government office one after another. As soon as they arrived, Mr. Liu asked hurriedly: "County Magistrate, is there really no other way? Do we have to kill Arnold? If we keep him, we will have more evidence."

"All we can do now is delay for a while. Although Nan Chengyi wants us to kill Arnold, the Eighth Prince is not a fool. He must have realized long ago that someone would come to silence him, so he sent General Zhang to guard Arnold so strictly. We have no way to contact him now. Let's delay for now. If Nan Chengyi asks, just say that we can't get close to Arnold." Liu Hanyun had no choice. This was the best solution he could think of.

"What should I do in the future?" Master Liu slumped in the chair in pain, covering his face with his hands.

Liu Hanyun sighed, walked up to him, and patted his shoulder: "Nan Chengyi has a deep foundation here, we can only take it slowly. We don't know what kind of person the Eighth Prince is yet, we can't be impulsive. Protecting ourselves first is the most important thing."

Master Liu looked up at him and sighed. He had been here for ten years. He didn't know how he had survived these ten years. He had outlasted many upright officials and finally waited for Liu Hanyun who knew how to hide himself. He had placed so much hope on him. He hoped that this hope would not turn into despair in the end.

"Okay, don't think too much. Go back and rest first. Keep your mouth shut and don't talk nonsense."

Master Liu nodded, and left the county office dejectedly and returned to his home. Looking at Master Liu's departing back, Liu Hanyun felt even more helpless. He hated his own weakness, his own weakness, and why the court sent him to the South City to be the county magistrate.

He had studied hard and tried hard to pass the imperial examination to successfully obtain this ninth-rank official position, all for the purpose of representing the people and being a good person. But why did the court send him to this southern city?

He came to Nancheng with full of passion and revenge, but was suppressed by Nan Chengyi on the first day. It was Master Liu who saved him at that time and told him that if he wanted to stay in Nancheng and save his life, he had to compromise.

He compromised and turned a blind eye to many things that Nan Chengyi did, and he even gradually became Nan Chengyi's accomplice.

Liu Hanyun looked down at his hands. Originally, these hands were just a pair of hands for holding a pen, but over the past few years, under the influence of Nan Chengyi, they slowly became a pair of hands stained with blood.

Liu Hanyun closed his eyes, his mind full of all the people who were harmed by Nan Chengyi over the years. He wanted to run directly to Lu Ciqiu and tell him everything Nan Chengyi had done. He was tired after so many years. But the evidence had not been collected yet, so he couldn't be so impulsive.

Liu Hanyun opened his eyes, which were full of hope and hatred towards Nan Chengyi.

But Liu Hanyun was not the only one who wanted Nan Chengyi to be brought to justice, Lu Ci Qiu also wanted to do the same.

In the City Lord's Mansion, Lu Ci Qiu was discussing what happened today in Ye Jianqing's room. They both felt that Shi Wenjie's death must be related to Nan Chengyi, and the murderer today was most likely someone sent by Nan Chengyi, but they had no evidence.

Originally, Ye Jianqing planned to go to the dungeon of the county government office to question the man in black, but because he was covered in injuries, he was stopped by Lu Ci Qiu and was asked to rest in the room.

Through Lu Ci Qiu's explanation just now, Ye Jianqing has roughly understood Nan Chengyi's purpose, but she doesn't understand why Lu Ci Qiu didn't take any action: "Since you know all this clearly, why don't you quickly collect evidence and apply to the court to detain him."

Lu Ci Qiu stretched out his index finger and shook it in front of her, pretending to be mysterious and said, "You don't understand this. He has the greatest influence in Nancheng, has a deep foundation, and is also a major taxpayer in Nancheng. If we kill him rashly, what will happen to his property? What about Nancheng's tax revenue? Moreover, we are outsiders now. We are on someone else's territory. How can we deal with him? We still have to slowly collect evidence."

Ye Jianqing muttered: "We can't just ignore him because he paid a lot of taxes."

"That's true, but you see he hasn't done anything in the past few days since we came here. How can we collect evidence?"

"Then...isn't that the murderer just one person?"

"Just wait and see. The murderer has been caught by us. Didn't you say he wanted to kill me? Then he will definitely find another way. Then we can charge him with murdering the prince. Then we can arrest him with good reason."

Ye Jianqing thought about it. Although she felt that what he said made sense, she still felt that something was wrong. However, these were not the main points. She was more concerned about the subsequent water management issues.

"I went to Sannan Mountain today to check the situation. Do you have any ideas about water control?"

"Based on the situation of Sannan Mountain observed today, I think we still have to divert the water into the sea. We need to open a big hole in the middle of Sannan Mountain to divert the flood water into the sea." Lu Ci Qiu took out a map of Nancheng from his arms. He gestured with his hands and told Ye Jianqing his thoughts.

Ye Jianqing took a look and proposed another possibility: "If we dig the mountain, I'm afraid it won't be safe enough in the long run if there is no perfect method. It's better to be safer and dig two river channels through the two sides of the mountain to divert the water from the Sannan River."

Lu Ci Qiu questioned: "But, in this case, the people will still have to go by water to get to the other side, which is equivalent to turning Sannan Mountain into an island. If it goes directly to the middle, the people can choose whether to go by water or mountain road."

"If you want to dig a mountain, the process will take many years. Digging a mountain is not something that can be solved in a short time." Ye Jianqing was still opposed to digging a big hole in the mountain. Although there are many tunnels through the mountains in modern times, that is modern times. There is enough capacity to support it. There is enough explosives to blow up the mountain directly, and the speed will not be too slow. But this is ancient times. Where can you find explosives? If you rely on manpower, it will take at least five years to dig through a mountain.

"We were in the secret passage today. Do you remember the collapse of the secret passage?" Unexpectedly, Lu Ci Qiu didn't seem worried at all. Instead, he asked Ye Jianqing about the collapse of the secret passage today.

Ye Jianqing nodded. Of course she would not forget this incident. Her foot injury was caused by this incident.

"Do you remember how the secret passage collapsed?"

Ye Jianqing thought for a moment and said, "I remember there was a sudden bang, cracks began to appear in the secret passage, and then the secret passage began to collapse. Speaking of which, the smell in the secret passage at that time was very similar to gunpowder."

"Yes, the murderer today probably used gunpowder to blow up the secret passage, causing it to collapse."

"and then?"

"Although gunpowder is precious, it is not unavailable. We only need to gather enough gunpowder to blow up the mountain."

"Where can I find gunpowder?"

"Then we have to ask the murderer. If he was able to blow up the secret passage, he must have gunpowder."

Seeing him like this, Ye Jianqing knew that he must have had a plan a long time ago and just told him about it now. In that case, all he had to do was cooperate with him.

"Since you already have a way to control the flood, how do you plan to tell the King of Nanlin?" Ye Jianqing leaned on the edge of the bed and asked curiously while eating the pastries handed to him by Lu Ci Qiu.

At this point, Lu Ci Qiu's face darkened. He was not particularly worried about meeting the King of Nanlin. He learned from other people that the King of Nanlin was a serious person, diligent in government affairs, educated his children, and cared about the people. He often went on private visits just to find out how the people were living. He was a wise ruler who was willing to do anything for the good of the people.

Lu Ci Qiu was not worried about communicating with such a wise monarch who loved his country and his people. What's more, what they were going to talk about were things that would be good for the people and would be good deeds to save the people from dire straits. He believed that the King of Nanlin would not refuse.

The most important thing is that he doesn't know whether his father will let him make the decision on this matter in Da'an.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Ye Jianqing thought he was worried about the meeting with King Nanlin.

Lu Ci Qiu sighed, "I'm not worried about meeting the King of Nanlin, but if we want to use gunpowder to blow up the mountain, the amount of gunpowder required is not a small amount. Nanlin has agreed, but I don't know if Daan will agree. I want to report it to my father first."

Ye Jianqing raised his eyelids, and an idea suddenly came to his mind: "How about this, you write a letter to your second brother first and see what he says. At the same time, you also write a memorial to your father, telling him the situation and the solution. If your second brother thinks your idea is good, you can ask him to submit this memorial to the emperor for you. If your second brother thinks it is not okay, then submit another memorial, and that memorial will only describe the situation."

Lu Ci Qiu shook his head, disagreeing: "This memorial can only be delivered by the postman, and it is against the rules for my second brother to submit it."

In this case, Ye Jianqing would be helpless. Her brain was wired to think in a modern way, and she had no idea about the complicated things in ancient times. She didn't have any scheming or anything like that. It was okay for her to go to the battlefield, but she couldn't play those palace schemes with the leaders in the court.