The Villain's Counterattack

Chapter 318 Wu Fang surrenders, the former magistrate is also a criminal

Wu Fang felt very tired. It was really difficult to lead a group of stupid teammates.

It is difficult to survive in the cracks. One wrong step will lead to eternal damnation. I never thought that those useless bastards would be so petty and blinded by the small profits in front of them.

At this time, he not only planned to destroy the Li and Yan families, but even wanted to swallow up their industries. However, he did not consider how elite the 100-man team led by the military captain was, not to mention that the new magistrate was the strongest person in the famous Gusu Academy in the past ten years.

Yes, the strongest!

The more Wu Fang got to know Murong Fu, the new county magistrate, the more unfathomable he seemed to him.

This man has extraordinary literary talent. Five years ago, he challenged more than ten academies and was unbeatable. Not to mention students, even teachers could not suppress him, which shows his attainments in literature. As for the seventh place in the first class of Jinshi, it was largely the result of being suppressed by others, otherwise he would definitely be in the top three.

However, what this person is most famous for is not his literary talent but his martial arts. It is true that the Song Dynasty suppressed warriors, but the style of a truly strong man cannot be concealed. This county magistrate is the head of the Murong family, and is known in the martial arts world as one of the strongest of the younger generation, "Northern Qiao Feng and Southern Murong": Murong Fu.

Such a strong man, with so many guards around him, is it really possible for a bunch of country bumpkins like them to plot against him?

They entered the city three days earlier than they expected, and immediately took control of the government office as soon as they entered the city. They then cleared out the undercover agents they had planted. The mistresses and young ladies of the Li and Yan families visited together. Although their stay was not long, it was definitely not too short. Afterwards, the two young ladies knelt down for a long time and could not get up. It is really hard to say what happened in the end.

It doesn't seem likely that the talks broke down, and it's even more ridiculous to say that they were settled. But what made them even more terrified was that they sent guards to beat half to death the spies lurking around Li and Yan's families and threw them into the river.

At this time, the group of bastards who were dazzled by Li Yan's two industries continued to rob the two industries while planning to join forces to intimidate the new county magistrate.

As for my own persuasion, not only others, but even my own father would not listen.

The more he understood Murong Fu, the more frightened he became. Looking at the two young ladies with tears in their eyes not far away, Wu Fang finally strode forward fiercely, walked past them and went straight to the government office. He bowed respectfully, introduced his name, and asked to see the county magistrate.

"The Patriarch has ordered that if other Patriarchs come alone, they should wait at the side gate until summoned. If several Patriarchs come together, they should be apprehended and await their fate. If the visitor is the young master of the Wu family, he should be invited to the main hall to meet them." The gatekeeper looked at the young man, who was about the same age as his master, and nodded. "You're quite good, young man, to be favored by the Patriarch."

A slap on Wu Fang's shoulder nearly knocked him over. His face was full of smiles, and he kept saying he didn't dare, but he was quite shocked in his heart. Then he saw a pink-dressed maid usher him in. In the main hall, two young men were arguing over a map, but they didn't even look up, let alone glance at him.

Wu Fang approached slowly, whispered his name, and then pricked up his ears without saying a word. The more he listened, the more terrified he felt. They had actually analyzed the entire Rongjing County's defense loopholes with just a map, and even proposed more than one defense method. Each method made him feel terrified.

At this moment, Wu Fang heard his name being called. He saw the newly appointed county magistrate Murong Fu looking at him with a smile and said, "If it is Master Wu, how many troops are you going to send and where will you attack the county?"

Wu Fang was startled and forced a stiff smile. "I don't deserve the title of sir. If I were a boy, I would most likely take the waterway. After all, this secret waterway was originally controlled by the Li and Yan families. It was used to connect with the native tribes for easy access. It was a secret to the average person, but now it has become a secret known to most of the natives."

"Then how many people do you think they need to eliminate before they can successfully break through the obstacles I have set up?" Murong Fu's smile froze his face. He thought to himself, you have mechanical traps, fishing nets and iron chains, and finally kerosene as a backup, plus nearly a hundred soldiers. Even if they have ten times the number of troops, it will be useless.

"If we work together inside and outside, with 300 family servants in the city and 3,000 natives outside, we might be able to succeed, but..." Wu Fang hesitated before saying, "It's only possible if you don't take action. If you take action yourself, I'm afraid we'll fail even if we have twice as many people. A truly powerful person cannot be defeated by just a few hundred or a thousand men. If you really give up your status to behead him, I'm afraid..."

"Have you ever seen a real master?" Murong Fu couldn't help showing curiosity when he heard that. Wu Fang said that he was a juren and had studied everywhere, even to Dali, where he had the honor of meeting the Duan-style royal master. After seeing them fighting, he knew what a real master looked like.

"It's true that the Song Dynasty suppresses warriors, but honestly, the martial arts masters of the Song Dynasty are even superior to those of Dali, Tubo, Xixia, and Liao. Your Excellency is even hailed as one of the two great masters of the new generation. Your shooting skills are probably not inferior to those of the Duan-style royal family. No matter how many ordinary soldiers there are, they may not be able to defeat Your Excellency. If Your Excellency really attacks without hesitation, he will definitely be able to turn the tide, unless other masters can restrain Your Excellency."

At this point, Wu Fang smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying, "Rongjing County is just a small county on the border. How can it support a true master? If such a master really existed, why would there be such a chaos today?"

"It seems you know a lot. I wonder if it would be convenient for me to tell you one by one." Murong Fu said with a smile: "It's better to hear it from you than for me to investigate it myself. After all, once I find out, there will be no way to cover it up."

Wu Fang's face showed a trace of struggle, and finally he smiled bitterly and said, "Your Excellency is indeed an extraordinary person. In just one night and half a day, he has taken control of the entire city's defenses and sorted out many things. I'm afraid there are not many puzzles left. If I had come a day later, I'm afraid my whole family would have been captured by Your Excellency. I wonder if what I said is true?"

Murong Fu shook his head slightly and said, "That may not be the case, but at least the several family heads and managers are likely to be caught in this. I mean what I say. After all, colluding with foreign countries and Tibet to commit treasonous crimes is such a serious crime that I cannot pretend I didn't see it."

Wu Fang knew he couldn't hide it after hearing this, and a look of helplessness appeared on his face. "Who would be willing to be a lackey of a foreign race if possible? It's just that the Song Dynasty suppresses its military, resulting in insufficient combat power on the border. My Lord only thinks that our powerful families are lawless, but he doesn't know that the former county magistrate was also one of us. The reason why the Li and Yan families plotted against the former county magistrate was actually to silence him and make him bear all the blame. After all, he was indeed one of the masterminds behind the scenes."

Wu Fang's subsequent account nearly pissed Cao Yi off. The previous magistrate's backer was the Yazhou prefect, who had exploited the border troops' supplies from top to bottom, leaving little behind. Knowing the border troops wouldn't accept the supplies if they were simply sent, the previous magistrate resorted to a scheme, enlisting the help of several major Rongjing County families to rob them.

Several major families also had concerns, but finally reached an agreement that they would not take action but only ask the natives for help. The looted food and grass would belong to the natives, while other military supplies would have to be returned to Rongjing County. They also knew the importance of this.

But the problem happened here. An unknown force mixed in with the natives and stole a lot of weapons. This touched the sensitive nerves of many people. Later, the border army defeated the Tubo Kingdom and a small group of troops appeared around Rongjing County, which made them even more panic.

As the Tibetans entered the city and contacted them, the families realized that things had gone beyond their expectations and began to actively prepare a retreat. The Li and Yan families' strategy was to play both sides and use the former county magistrate as a scapegoat. They prepared all kinds of evidence, waiting for the right opportunity to spread it bit by bit to Cao Yi. However, before doing so, they needed to silence the former county magistrate, otherwise the spineless man would definitely betray them.

The Li and Yan families hadn't fully surrendered to Tubo. Rongjing County was still within the territory of the Song Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty's power was still superior to that of Tubo. They still had their master, so they didn't dare surrender easily. They were also scapegoats, pushed out by the other families. After all, they were the only ones with enough strength to accomplish so many things.

"The death of that Tibetan man is strange. You should know that none of our families have the courage to do such a thing. It is a bit unreasonable to say that he died at the hands of the native tribe. After all, the native tribe did not know of his existence." Wu Fang did not know everything.

When asked about stopping the former magistrate's son from taking away the daughter of the native tribe leader, Wu Fang smiled bitterly and said, "Such a crude method of borrowing a knife to kill someone, how can it be hidden from anyone with discerning eyes? The Li and Yan families are courting death, and simply handing evidence to a second-rate family like us. My father and others may not be able to bear not using such evidence, but if they do, the Li and Yan families will be hard-pressed to escape unscathed. After Rongjing County is reshuffled, my family will have no one to take the lead, and we will inevitably have to face Tubo directly."

Murong Fu and Cao Yi exchanged glances. They could hear sincerity in Wu Fang's tone. What he had learned was probably true, but not necessarily comprehensive. "The border army's food and weapons were planned by the previous county magistrate, and then looted by the natives. The previous county magistrate was killed by the Li and Yan families, and the Li and Yan families were then annihilated by other families using the natives' knives. Don't you think everything is going too smoothly?"

"Not only were the Li and Yan families completely unprepared, but how were those Tibetans killed?"

"There are people behind this!" Wu Fang thought for a moment and came to this conclusion, but he couldn't figure out which other force was involved. Moreover, the other party finally killed the Tibetans, which was beneficial to the Song Dynasty no matter how you looked at it.

"Jianghu forces?" Cao Yi's eyes lit up as he expressed his suspicions. Murong Fu glanced at him and said, "Do you think there are many people in the martial arts world who are so intelligent? Even if there are such people, would they not publicize their achievements afterwards? This doesn't fit the style of the martial arts world."

After a fruitless discussion, Murong Fu suddenly said, "Mr. Wu, you've come here to simply complain and explain the whole story, to exonerate your family, right? I've taken office at such a golden opportunity. The major families will inevitably be suppressed. This is non-negotiable!"

Wu Fang shook his head and said, "At this special moment, your Excellency's action is most appropriate. I am also very helpless and disappointed with that group of people, including my father. I am here for the sake of the young ladies of the Li and Yan families. Please..."

"That's easy." Murong Fu waved his hand and said, "Are you willing to be the county magistrate of this county? If so, I will grant them to you and let you stay in the government office for the time being."

Wu Fang: What I want to say is..., forget it, it’s better not to refuse such a good deal of buy one get one free.