The villagers of Pinecone Village busied themselves for a day, but didn't wait for the imagined great flood.
The river water spreading from the Songliu River stopped just outside the village, not even crossing the cofferdams.
Li Shoutian waited for a long ti. Finally, unable to wait any longer, he asked his son Li Guangmao to take two people to the river to see the situation.
After a long ti, Li Guangmao returned excitedly, shouting loudly: "So we have a Water God of Songliu protecting us here! Four flood discharge channels appeared overnight and passed the flood peak!"
"Water God of Songliu?"
The villagers looked at each other in dismay. They had passed down from generation to generation here, but had never heard of such an immortal deity.
Li Guangmao was tall and sturdy, especially his two arms, which grew like an ape's.
He also had a lot of body hair. When he was about ten years old, he already had a face full of whiskers.
Now at thirty years old, his beard was even denser.
According to his wife, in winter he didn't even need to cover himself with a quilt; his chest and back were like a layer of fur blanket sewn on.
This even drew teasing from the village won: "Then when you two are doing the deed, doesn't he rub you until you itch all over?"
Now Li Guangmao was gesturing and dancing with joy, making everyone listen in a daze.
Zhang Anxiu stood on her tiptoes, pricked up her ears, and listened with a burst of excitent.
She turned her head and said to Chu Xun: "Brother Xun, we actually have a Water God here! Then won't we have to be afraid of floods in the future?"
Chu Xun smiled and said: "Perhaps we don't have to be afraid anymore."
He didn't expect that his overnight labor would actually lead people to fabricate a Water God of Songliu.
The villagers of Pinecone Village couldn't hold back and ran to the Songliu River to see the novelty.
Although separated by a river, and with the flood passing through, no one dared to go over.
But many people from other villages had already gathered on the bank. Many people even directly brought incense and candles and set up a row on the bank.
After lighting them, they brought their families, old and young, to kneel and pray for blessings.
Chu Xun originally had no interest in coming over, but was dragged by Zhang Anxiu, who insisted on imitating others and offering sacrifices.
Even Lin Qiaoxi was called over by Zhang Sanchun.
Zhang Anxiu excitedly brought Huan'er, set up a few candles, a bowl of rice, stacked a few stead buns, and cut two pieces of at.
Then she waved to Chu Xun: "Brother Xun, co quickly, let's kowtow to the Water God of Songliu together, so he can protect us in the future!"
Chu Xun couldn't help but laugh. Is it okay to kowtow to myself?
Crows flapped their wings and landed on the tree branches in the woods.
A few rabbits squatted in the grass, occasionally poking their heads out to take a look, seemingly not understanding what these people were doing.
The villagers also didn't notice that in the river water, the figures of two huge pythons were bobbing up and down underwater.
Li Tianjian's family also ca. His wife believed in matters of immortals and deities the most.
She brought her sons and grandsons and set up a formation, getting seven or eight oil lamps alone.
The two sons, who had already married and had children, heard the cawing of the crows.
Looking up and seeing that dense black patch, they imdiately instinctively shrank their necks.
The shadow of being "hunted" by the crows a few years ago hadn't completely healed even now, and they felt timid seeing anything with wings.
Li Tianjian's wife glared at them and scolded: "Worthless things, co over here. After worshiping the Water God of Songliu, our family will have smooth sailing in the future!"
A group of people hurriedly ca over, followed her to kneel and kowtow.
While kowtowing, Li Tianjian's wife muttered sincerely: "Lord Water God of Songliu above, protect our family to make a big fortune, have everything go smoothly, and beco the one with the most silver in the village!"
The others followed suit, each making a wish.
The two sons even muttered: "Water God protect us, let there be no more crows in the village!"
The news that there was a Water God in the Songliu River quickly spread out.
Even from villages further away, people ran over to see the novelty.
There were even wealthy households donating silver to build a Water God Temple on the bank.
Not long after, news ca from the county office.
It was said that the Lord Registrar flipped through the county gazetteer and found a long-ago record with just a few words on it.
"Songliu has a spirit, its shrine was destroyed by the flas of war, and its traces have long been obliterated."
It didn't explain clearly what it was, nor were there any descriptions of its deeds.
But everyone believed that this was the record about the Water God of Songliu!
So, even more people ca to donate silver, and villagers ca spontaneously to work without asking for wages.
In their view, helping the Water God build a temple was accumulating rit for themselves.
If they encountered any difficulties in the future, they would be protected by the Water God of Songliu.
In just a few days, the foundation of the temple was dug.
Chu Xun was even dragged by Zhang Anxiu to specifically take a look.
The scale wasn't considered large, but everyone worked very seriously. Soone who questioned whether the Water God really existed even got beaten up.
Chu Xun naturally wouldn't tell the truth. It wasn't a bad thing for the common people to have sothing to look forward to in their hearts.
He was just curious about what kind of thing these people would carve out when erecting the deity statue.
The county gazetteer only said Songliu had a spirit, but didn't say what it looked like.
Just as the construction of the Water God of Songliu Temple was in full swing, a squad of governnt troops hurriedly arrived in Zhangnan County City.
The doors of the county office were directly kicked open. Before County Magistrate Zhang Zhizhong could figure out what was going on, and without even adjusting his clothes properly, he was dragged out of his room.
Zhang Zhizhong didn't recognize the leading person. He only saw the other party wearing light armor with a few patterns embroidered on the edges, and knew the newcor was extraordinary.
There was a Pingshui Camp among the garrison troops near the county office, but the Battalion Commander leading the troops definitely didn't dress like this.
Zhang Zhizhong's heart pounded wildly, and he hurriedly went to welco him.
But that man in light armor with a cold expression directly said: "Arrest him!"
Zhang Zhizhong imdiately panicked and shouted: "My Lord, what is the reason for this? What cri has this lower official committed?"
A secret order sent directly from the Ministry of Justice was slapped right on his face.
"By order of the Ministry of Justice, arrest Lin Xianzong's accomplices and return to the capital to answer for their cris!"
Zhang Zhizhong was dumbfounded. Lin Xianzong's accomplice?
What did Lord Lin do?
He wasn't the only one arrested; even his family mbers were arrested along with him.
The County Defender and the Registrar were also locked up in prison.
Although they weren't directly taken to the capital, they suffered greatly in prison.
The people responsible for interrogation used extrely ruthless thods. If a sentence couldn't be answered, or if the front and back didn't match, it ant a few fierce lashes with a whip dipped in salt water.
How could these lords, who were used to living in comfort, endure this suffering? It didn't take long for them to confess all the mistakes they had committed.
At the sa ti, governnt troops also arrived in Pingshui Town.
Anyone surnad Lin, or relatives connected to the Lin family, regardless of n, won, old or young, were all arrested.
Over the years, relying on Lin Xianzong's connections, the Lin family had developed very well. From top to bottom, plus relatives within the five generations of mourning.
Counting n, won, old and young together, there were a full several hundred people.
Including Lin Qiaoxi's father, Lin Guiwan, was also among them.
These people were arrested without knowing what mistake they had committed.
It wasn't until that man in light armor arrived in Pingshui Town and publicly took out a glittering golden imperial edict.
Everyone hurriedly knelt down, only hearing a cold voice enter their ears.
"The Emperor decrees: Lin Xianzong bought and sold official positions, bent the law for bribes, and embezzled silver amounting to as much as three million!"
"Between the seventeenth year of the Kingdom of Jing and the twenty-first year of the Kingdom of Jing, he used the benefit of building dams to wildly amass wealth, substituting inferior goods for superior ones, causing over a dozen dams to be washed away."
"This act incurs the wrath of both n and gods, and is intolerable to Heaven and Earth!"
"Now ordered to arrest Lin Xianzong, grant him death, and execute his nine familial exterminations! All family property is confiscated, and dostic servants are exiled for a thousand miles!"
As soon as these words ca out, the several hundred old and young mbers of the Lin family all collapsed onto the ground.
Execute nine familial exterminations!
Such a great cri actually fell upon them!
Even those dostic servants and maids turned ashen-faced, trembling in terror.
They were not mbers of the Lin family, yet they were implicated because of the Lin family's actions and suffered exile.
Throughout the ages, during the process of exile, most people would die because they couldn't endure the tornt.
That wasn't as simple as walking a thousand miles to do hard labor.
People who were truly completely unrelated to the Lin family looked at each other in dismay upon hearing this.
Didn't everyone say Lord Lin was incorruptible and devoted to public duty?
I heard that when he ca back a few years ago, there were still patches on his official uniform, washed until it was almost white, yet he was still reluctant to change it.
He actually embezzled millions of taels of silver?
Indeed, you can know a person's face but not their heart!
No wonder His Majesty the Emperor was so angry he personally issued an edict, granting the great cri of executing nine familial exterminations!
[End of Chapter]
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