Chapter 33 Waiter, serve the wine

Yang Chang sent Dai'an back to the yamen, and after handing him over, he went to the mourning hall to look for Wu Song.

Just when he was halfway there, he ran into Wu Song who was going to surrender himself.

"elder brother?"

"Thanks to Sanlang's advice, I was able to get my revenge. Now I have to go to my lord to confess my crime. I will have to trouble you for my brother's funeral tomorrow."

"Brother, don't be so polite. This is what I should do. In addition, you can ask the county to allow you to bury my eldest brother."

"No need, you are the same as me. If my brother knows about this, he will not blame Wu Er."

After Wu Song finished speaking, he bowed to Yang Chang, then turned around and left with an open mind.

After returning the greeting to his back, Yang Chang also walked straight to Wu Da's mourning hall. In his heart, he admired Wu Song's free and easy attitude and felt that he was a tough guy with flesh and blood.

In a flash, they arrived at the mourning hall. Ximen Qing's head was very conspicuous on the altar, but Yang Chang was able to face it directly.

The ancient times were cruel in themselves, and there were countless villains in the Water Margin world. Some of the worst were those who killed people by disembowelment and made human meat buns. If you were too kind and compassionate, you might not be able to survive.

The executioner's profession is to behead people, and the sky burial master's profession is to dismember people.

What Wu Song said just now was right. There is not much difference between humans and animals. Especially in the eyes of the powerful, the common people are nothing more than cattle and sheep.

"Rest in peace, big brother. I will remember your last words and take care of big brother. In fact, big brother has always been taking care of me. His martial arts and experience are far better than mine, but I also have my strengths."

Wu Song kept chattering like this that night when they stayed in the ruined temple, and Yang Chang was also talking to Wu Da like this at this moment. His so-called strength was not picking up corpses, but his foresight of the plot of Water Margin.

Wu Song started out as a tiger-fighting hero, but ended up becoming a murderous demon who went up the mountain. This is definitely not what Wu Da wants to see.

Yang Chang hopes that his existence will allow Wu Song to avenge his enemies while still maintaining his conscience and not killing innocent people, just like Lu Zhishen who became a Buddha instantly, so that the two brothers would not be in vain.

After talking to Wu Da's spirit tablet for a while, Yang Chang suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to check the attributes, and immediately raised his hand and pointed to his forehead.

Name: Yang Chang

Cultivation: Mortal

Fate: Corpse collector

Attributes: Strength of a tiger, drug-suppressing body (that is, granting drug resistance, reducing the effectiveness of all drugs by half)
Skills: Hunter Apprentice, Cook, Gun and Stick Skilled (Proficient in gun and stick skills, but can only apply the learned moves, lacking personal understanding and practical experience, can deal with ordinary robbers and soldiers)
Note: There are eight levels for survival skills: novice, beginner, trainee, apprentice, expert, master, and grandmaster; there are eight levels for combat skills: beginner, skilled, minor success, proficient, major success, perfect, extraordinary, and perfection.

[Skilled with Guns and Sticks] has a clear meaning, which is enough to deal with ordinary robbers and soldiers. Yang Chang did not expect Ximen Qing to be very good at martial arts, but what does the passive attribute [Drug Inhibition Body] mean?
The efficacy of all medicines is halved, which means I have to take more medicine after I get sick? Did I pick up a garbage attribute?
Wait, all medicines? Doesn't that include poisons?

Yang Chang suddenly realized, the biggest highlight of this attribute is to avoid poison? This is very useful for roaming the world. If this skill was given to Wu Da in the original novel, would he not die even if he drank arsenic?
"Okay!" Yang Chang slapped his thigh and stood up. He bowed to Wu Da's spirit tablet and said seriously, "Brother, I will come to accompany you later. Let's go see how the second brother is doing first."

After saying this, he walked out of the mourning hall, said a few words to his comrades outside the door, and went straight to the lobby of the yamen.

When we got there, we looked inside.

But Wu Song and Dai'an were nowhere to be seen, and even the county magistrate who was sitting in the court was not there.

"What are you looking at? If you're not guarding the funeral hall, what are you doing here?"

"My dear brother, where are the Wudutou and the magistrate?"

Yang Chang was stopped by the guard in front of the hall. He hurriedly clasped his fists and asked for news with a smile.

"The captain just surrendered himself and was taken into custody to await trial. The county magistrate and Li, the steward, are in the second hall behind the palace."

"Thank you, brother."

"Hey, my husband won't let me."

Before the guard could finish his words, Yang Chang quickly slipped in.

By the time he realized what was happening and chased after him, he was already at the junction of the main hall and the second hall. The discussion between the magistrate and the steward was interrupted by the shouting. "Yang Sanlang rushed in without waiting for him to finish. I..."

"It's okay, you can go back."

"Yes."

The magistrate magistrately sent the guards away and asked Yang Chang meaningfully: "Yang Chang, I heard that you have a very good relationship with Wu Dutou, and he entrusted Wu Zhi's future to you, but why are you not guarding the mourning hall?"

"Yes, I am grateful."

Yang Chang clasped his fists and bowed, saying in a sonorous voice: "I want to ask what the Prime Minister will say. In fact, everything was caused by Ximen Qing's constant pressure. It's all his own fault. The servant Daian knows it very well. Wu Dutou and Wu Zhi have been dependent on each other since childhood."

"Okay."

The magistrate interrupted Yang Chang and frowned, saying, "I will judge the case impartially, and I don't need a little archer to teach me. By the way, I have something to ask you. Wu Dutou told Manager Li that he was going to the street to find the paper horse shop to argue, so why did he go to Lion Bridge to commit the crime?"

"I was indeed going to the paper horse shop, but halfway through the journey the headman heard something a passerby said and left me in a hurry."

"Okay, I understand."

Seeing that Yang Chang was evading the question, the magistrate waved his hand to signal him to leave: "Go back to the mourning hall quickly, be loyal to others, and don't let down Wu Dutou's trust. I will handle this case impartially."

"Thank you very much, Enxiang, thank you very much, Enxiang"

Watching Yang Chang bow and leave the door, Manager Li chased after him and took a glance, then turned back and stroked his beard and said, "I think Wu Song didn't do this on impulse. He may have done it on purpose in the past few days. He went to the streets today just to kill Ximen Qing."

"Wu Song is brave and resourceful. I underestimated him before and could not bear to sentence him severely, but I was afraid of Ximen Qing's support."

"Haha, don't worry, En Xiang."

Manager Li smiled and approached, saying calmly: "I have just sent someone to investigate. The so-called nobleman in Beijing that Ximen Qing mentioned is actually his father-in-law Chen Hong. He must have deliberately used this as an excuse."

"really?"

"When Ximen Qing's blood was splattered all over the Lion Tower, Chen Hong's carriage had just arrived. He saw his son-in-law's head being chopped off with his own eyes, and he was so scared that he ran out of the city in a hurry."

"Oh? Since he has no one to back him up."

The magistrate suddenly smiled strangely. Manager Li understood what he meant and pounded the table, saying, "Dai'an was so frightened that he confessed many of Ximen Qing's past crimes. According to the law, it is not excessive to sentence him to confiscate his property."

"That's exactly what I meant, but I can't convict him directly. Based on the clues in Daian's confession, you can quickly find a few victims to file a lawsuit. I can use this opportunity to redress the injustice of the people. If you want to do it, you must achieve both fame and fortune!"

"Great idea, Prime Minister. I'll arrange it right away."

The master and servant worked in perfect harmony, and in addition to making Ximen Qing's family disappear into thin air, everyone else benefited.

After Yang Chang finished taking care of Wu Da's funeral, he felt empty when he returned to his residence. He was careless about patrolling the streets and training. Whenever he had time, he would visit Wu Song.

It was not until the beginning of March that Yang Chang's worries were relieved when the magistrate completed the initial treason convictions, which was not much different from the original plot.

In the first verdict, Ximen Qing was found guilty of numerous crimes, and all his property was confiscated; in the second verdict, Wu Song accidentally killed Ximen Qing in a dispute, and was sentenced to 20 strokes of the cane and exiled to Mengzhou; in the third verdict, Yun Ge was found to be an accomplice and a rumormonger, but in view of his voluntary surrender and sincere repentance, he was fined 10 taels of silver and given 10 strokes of the cane.

After the initial judgment in Yanggu County, the documents had to be submitted to the two courts of the state government for review. The back and forth process took more than a month, and it was not approved until mid-May.

In order to take care of Wu Song, the magistrate appointed Yang Chang and Xu Ji as escort officers to escort him all the way to Mengzhou Prison.

It was summer and the sun was shining brightly.

The three men traveled during the day and stopped at night, and only covered thirty or forty miles a day.

At noon on the ninth day of June, the three men crossed a small ridge and came to a tavern to rest.

As soon as they sat down at the table, Wu Song took out some silver and slapped it on the table, shouting, "Waiter, serve some wine!"

(End of this chapter)