Chapter 480: Death escape
Chapter 480 Escape
“Hurry, bring water to put out the fire, don’t let the people inside die!” Zhu Bantou was so frightened that he broke out in cold sweat and shouted at the government officials he led.
Among the three leaders of the county government, he is the only one with the least strength and background. This time, he finally found out that the guard had committed another crime against his family members. As long as he waited for someone from the capital to come and hand him over properly, he would be able to make a great contribution. But now that the Zou family suddenly caught fire, his credit is gone, and he may still be in trouble.
"Yes, yes, yes!" The government officials were also panicked and hurriedly went to the Zou family's well to get water. However, there were only thirty people in a group of government officials. It was impossible to transport water to put out the fires in the three courtyards.
Zhu Bantou shouted: "Go and gather the Zou family's servants to put out the fire."
However, the yamen servant wiped his sweat and said anxiously: "Board leader, except for the three courtyards where the Zou family masters like Zou Yuzhen live, the Zou family's large kitchen, front yard study room, and back-seat room where the servants live are all on fire. The intensity of the fire It’s very big, and the Zou family’s servants are putting out fires in these places.”
Zhu Bantou felt like he wanted to die when he heard this. What's going on?
He hurriedly pointed to a government official and said, "Go back to the county government office quickly and find someone to put out the fire. We can't let Zou Yuzhen and the others die in the fire."
"Yes." After receiving the order, the Yamen servant immediately ran out of Zou's house.
But when I came out to take a look, I found that several houses in alleys and shops on the streets in the county were on fire, and Team Leader Yang and others were leading people to put out the fire.
The yamen servant was so frightened that he slipped to the ground, got up in a hurry, and ran to the county yamen. Before arriving at the county government office, they bumped into County Lieutenant Jiang and Magistrate Xu, who were rushing in with county soldiers.
Jiang Xianwei and the others had already seen the fire on the Zou family's side and rushed over immediately. When they saw the yamen servant, Jiang Xianwei grabbed him and asked: "What's wrong with the Zou family? Which courtyard is on fire?"
The yamen servant trembled and said, "It's the back-to-back house where the masters and servants of the Zou family live, that caught fire."
"The yard where Mrs. Zou and Zou Yuzhen live is on fire!" Magistrate Xu was so frightened that his face turned pale: "I'm really afraid of what will happen. Seeing that things are almost over, how could such a disaster happen again? The Zou family is so damned. It doesn’t make me worry."
County Magistrate Xu even swore bad words.
Jiang County Lieutenant Lao La, when he heard that the yard where the masters of the Zou family lived was on fire, he immediately thought of something and said hurriedly: "Sir, there is something fishy about this fire. It is most likely that the Zou family wanted to escape and set the fire deliberately. Please, sir. Immediately ordered the city gates to be closed tightly, and no one could open the door no matter what handwriting they had to leave the city. In the next few days, no entry or exit was allowed in the county. Only after a thorough search of the county could a decision be made whether to open the city gates. Otherwise, if they really escaped, this We can’t bear the responsibility!”
County Magistrate Xu was shocked when he heard this: "Master Jiang is right, Lao Tian, hurry up and take my official's handwriting to the city gate to watch. No one is allowed to leave the city. If anyone makes a fuss and wants to leave the city, he will be arrested immediately and taken to the county government."
"Yes." Master Tian immediately led five guards and went straight to the city gate, telling the county soldiers guarding the city not to open the door.
Magistrate Xu and Lieutenant Jiang hurried into the Zou Mansion. Magistrate Xu asked, "Has anyone put out the fires in the shops and houses in the streets? You can't burn people to death, otherwise this will happen again." It’s going to be big.”
Jiang County Lieutenant said: "Bantou Yang, Bantou Jiang, and Luo Wu have already led other government officials to put out the fire. Moreover, the rule in the county is that once a house catches fire, the entire alley and street must come out to put out the fire. We have enough manpower, don’t worry, sir.”
As they spoke, they had already rushed to Zou’s house. Before they reached the yard where Mrs. Zou’s mother-in-law, daughter-in-law and grandson lived, they heard bursts of shrill screams: “Ah-ah-ah!”
The screams made people’s hearts tremble with fear.
Magistrate Xu's feet were weak. He was supported by Lieutenant Jiang and rushed to the yard where Mrs. Zou lived. Seeing the flames soaring into the sky, his body was even more shaky. After regaining his composure, he pointed at Bantou Zhu and cursed: "You are Why are you guarding the Zou family? The fire is so big, are you asleep? Zhu, you are derelict in your duties!"
Bantou Zhu hurriedly knelt down and cried out: "Sir, my lord, I have been guarding the Zou family with my men. I didn't sleep at night, let alone eat, drink or gamble. As soon as the Zou family was in flames, my lords discovered it, but when we rushed in, By that time, the fire in the yard was already too big to rush in to save people." Smelling the smell around him, Jiang County Lieutenant frowned and said to County Magistrate Xu: "Sir, someone set this fire deliberately, and it smells of pine oil."
It was the addition of pine oil that made the fire burn so fast, making it impossible for Zhu Bantou and others to save people.
After hearing this, County Magistrate Xu smelled the surrounding smell. Sure enough, there was a smell of pine oil. He finally lost some of his anger towards Bantou Zhu. Seeing that he was still kneeling on the ground, he shouted: "Get up quickly to put out the fire. Why are you kneeling? !”
Zhu Bantou immediately went to carry water to put out the fire.
Hush, crash, crash!
Buckets of well water were poured into the burning house, but the house was doused with pine oil. It took a long time for the government officials and county soldiers to put out the fire.
By the time the fire was completely extinguished, Mrs. Zou and brother Zou Chengyi had been burned to black coals.
Zou Yukun's wife was still breathing, but the skin and flesh all over her body were burned to the point where she could no longer see. She died soon after, and her eyes were still open when she died. She died with her eyes open.
Zou Yuwan was luckier than them. There was a large wooden basin for bathing in the bathroom in her house. The bath water had not been poured out yet, so she hid in the wooden basin when the fire broke out. But even so, the smoke caused too much air and less air intake, so it probably wouldn't work.
Seeing the miserable state of the Zou family, County Magistrate Xu vomited several times and fainted once, but was revived by Dr. Zhou.
After waking up, he immediately asked Jiang County Lieutenant: "How is Zou Yuzhen?"
Jiang Xianwei had a stern old face, pointing to a charred corpse in the yard and said: "This corpse has a jade ring on its hand with Zou Yuzhen's name on it."
Zou County Prime Minister Xiangxue Fucheng's aristocratic family ordered a jade thumb ring with a name written on it for each of his children and grandchildren as a token of the men of the Zou family.
But…
"The lower official believes that this body does not belong to Zou Yuzhen. He should have escaped to death." Jiang Xianwei said: "This fire happened inexplicably. It must have been set by the Zou family themselves. Looking at the remaining masters of the Zou family, , the only one who can be so cruel is Zou Yuzhen."
Zou Yuzhen really fooled them as if they were fools. Did he really think he was smart? Do you really think they are stupid enough to believe his cheap tricks?
Zhu Bantou said weakly: "My lord, when the courtyard where Zou Yuzhen lived was on fire, the government officials who put out the fire kept hearing screams..."
Jiang Xianwei's eyes darkened and interrupted him: "Those screams are not from Zou Yuzhen, but from this charred corpse."
Jiang County Lieutenant was extremely disappointed with Bantou Zhu. It was fine that the Zou family was set on fire because of the poor guarding. He was so naive that he thought that the charred corpse with an unclear face was Zou Yuzhen.
Does Bantou Zhu want this matter to end here and stop pursuing Zou Yuzhen?
If he really had such an idea, he was deliberately covering it up so that Zou Yuzhen could successfully escape!
(End of this chapter)
