Wei Yong saw that there were two other prisoners in the other cell who were curiously sizing them up. He lowered his voice and said, "Erlang, you really can't blame us brothers for this. We've been running around for a long time and finally arrived at Fangzhou. Everyone can finally catch their breath. We just wanted to walk around the streets, so there's nothing wrong with that. Who would've thought that the damn locals would bully strangers. As soon as they heard our foreign accent, hey! You took his things and only glanced at them. Even if you didn't want to buy it, you couldn't. Moreover, that damn scrap metal can be sold for gold. You didn't want it, so he beat you up. Do you think we brothers can bear this? "
Yang Fan frowned. He really didn't want to blame them for this matter. With the arrogance of Bai Qi, now that they were in this small place, they had to bow their heads to a few ruffians in the streets? It was impossible. Yang Fan didn't need to ask to know what had happened between them. It wasn't like Yang Fan hadn't seen these ruffians' shameless faces when he was working as a shopkeeper.
This time, Yang Fan wanted them by name to create an opportunity to pull his former comrades to his side. If he reprimanded them for a few ruffians now, it would inevitably cause them to resent him. Then the loss would outweigh the gain. Besides, there was no point in making them admit their mistakes. The most important thing now was to find a way to leave.
At this time, the two prisoners carefully observed them for a while. They felt that these strong men didn't have a ferocious aura, so they became more courageous. One of them shouted, "Hey, newcomers, what did you do?"
Wei Yong glanced at them but didn't say anything. But Yang Fan's heart moved. Looking at them, they were old prisoners who had been locked up here for a long time. They must know a bit about the local situation. Yang Fan said, "My brothers were a bit rash and got into a conflict with a few locals. They injured a few ruffians who tried to blackmail us. In the end, they were locked up here by the constables without any reason."
The two old prisoners looked at each other. One of them said, "Among the ruffians who blackmailed you, is there a man called Cao Manzi?"
Zhang Xitong said curiously, "That's right, the guy whose ribs were broken by me is called Cao Man, could it be that you know him?"
When the two old criminals heard this, they immediately shook their heads and clicked their tongues. One of them said, "Then the few of you are finished. Just stay here and accompany us brothers."
"What do you mean?" Yang Fan asked.
One of the old convicts sighed and said, "To tell you the truth, the two of us were originally merchants from Lingnan. When we passed through this place, we were extorted by these people. In a moment of anger, we started to fight. Speaking of which, it was the two of us who suffered a loss. In the end, we were still captured. We've been locked up for more than a year now. We don't even know when we'll be released."
Yang Fan was greatly alarmed, "Those ruffians in the streets are just picking a quarrel and stirring up trouble, how could they have such ability to imprison you for such a long time?"
The old prisoner forced a smile and said, "What can we do? That ruffian Cao Man's sister is married to our county's supervisor, Lin Er, and Lin Er's sister is the fourth wife of our county's magistrate, He Haijiao. With all these layers of connections between them, us lowly commoners … sigh! "
Zhang Qi said angrily, "Outrageous! Just because of this small matter, they detained you for such a long time. Is there no law in Fangling County?"
The old prisoner said, "Law? The sky is high and the emperor is far away. Who knows what happened here. Young man, don't look at how there are many officials under the Emperor's rule. This kind of lawless people and lawless things are actually fewer. It just so happens that everywhere in the prefectures and counties, which one doesn't have lawless people? Sigh! Originally, the two of us would only be able to return to our hometown after a few years. Even now, our families still don't know that we've been imprisoned here. "
The taciturn prisoner said angrily, "When we were locked up, our money and goods were confiscated. I originally thought that since they had vented their anger and gotten their money, they would let us go. Who knew that we wouldn't be able to get out of this prison. Maybe those heartless people have already forgotten about our existence!"
Yang Fan frowned when he heard this. This was a bit troublesome. He originally thought that since no one died, as long as the people on the outside moved a bit, handed over some money, and bribed them, they would be able to turn a big problem into a small one and a small one into nothing. Now it seemed that these black-hearted local tyrants wanted both money and lives.
Not to mention that they didn't bring a large sum of money with them this time. Even if they did, using such a large sum of money to bribe those corrupt officials, even though they were greedy, they weren't stupid. How could they not notice something fishy?
The two prisoners had a few new companions who were in the same boat, so they became more interested in talking. The talkative prisoner said, "The local county magistrate, He Haijiao, was originally a steward of the hot spring soup in the capital …"
Hearing this, Yang Fan was secretly surprised, "So this county magistrate He was my predecessor."
The prisoner said again, "You don't know what kind of position this hot spring soup steward is, right? That's where the hot springs and fruits and vegetables are managed for the royal family. Before the Empress Dowager ascended the throne, auspicious signs frequently appeared all over the world. The hot spring soup steward is also a blessed place, unexpectedly it also produced auspicious signs. "
"Among the golden peaches that were planted on the mountain, there were two strange fruits. One of the fruits had a natural 'wan' character on it, and the other had a 'sui' character on it. When put together, it means' long live the emperor '. He Haijiao presented these two peaches to the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager was overjoyed and let him be the next county magistrate …"
The quiet prisoner immediately said, "So, our Fangling County has one more scourge."
When Yang Fan was in Luoyang, he had personally experienced all kinds of chaos before and after Wu Zetian ascended the throne. At that time, offering auspicious signs was popular throughout the country. One of the most absurd things was that a doctor named Zhu Qianyi wrote a letter to Wu Zetian, saying that he dreamed that the Empress Dowager became the Emperor and ruled the world for 800 years.
Such a preposterous fart made him promoted from a doctor to a gleaner. Who would have thought that this County Magistrate He was also promoted by offering auspicious signs. Yang Fan didn't believe in auspicious signs, but he couldn't understand why there were words on the peaches. Perhaps it was like an illusion, there was some trick to it.
While Yang Fan was talking to the two old prisoners, Tian Yan kept looking around. At this time, he raised his head and stared at the vent of the upper cell. He suddenly shouted, "Who said we can't leave? How about we get out of here? "
Hearing this, everyone turned around and saw him pointing excitedly at the vent on the top of the cell. In this small county, the construction of the prison was not up to standard. The vent was wide enough for people to crawl through, but … the vent was right in the middle of the top of the cell, about three to four feet from the ground. No one could jump up, and there was no place to climb.
But, what kind of people were locked up in this cell? The few of them changed their minds and quickly thought of a solution. They cried out involuntarily, "That's right, that's a good idea!"
Although the vent was high, if the few of them stacked on top of each other, with the height of six people, they would definitely be able to touch the vent on the top of the cell. As long as one of them could get out, it would be easy for the others to get out. When the two prisoners in the cell next to them heard that they could get out, their eyes immediately widened like copper bells.
The talkative prisoner said repeatedly, "You can get out? It's so high and you don't have anything to rely on, can you really get out? "
At this time, the taciturn prisoner was no longer taciturn and said repeatedly, "Everyone, everyone, we are all fellow prisoners and can be considered to be in the same boat. If you can get out, you must take us with you. The two of us have some money at home, so we will definitely not forget to thank everyone."
Zhang Qi took a long time to gather his Qi at the bars between the two cells, and said helplessly, "This bar is as thick as my thigh, and it's made of pear wood. Do you think I can break it?"
Yang Fan was first delighted, but then he thought of the difficulty. Breaking out of prison was of course easy, but it would definitely cause a large search by the Fang Province government. In this era, there weren't many people moving around, so no matter where they went, they would be shining targets. How could they talk about quietly making contact with the Prince of Luling?
If he had to use this method, then it would be better for Yang Fan to reveal his identity and have that scoundrel County Magistrate He respectfully invite him out. When Yang Fan explained the difficulty, everyone looked puzzled. Wei Yong couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Captain, why did we come here this time? Why must we be so secretive and not reveal our identity even if we are entangled by a group of corrupt officials? If Captain doesn't explain it clearly, we brothers really won't be able to understand! "
Zhang Xitong and the others all stared at Yang Fan. After a moment of silence, Yang Fan said in a low voice, "This is Fang Province. Think about it, what does Fang Province have?"
"What does Fang Province have?"
The guards looked at each other and thought hard for a long time before Yue Ziqing suddenly reacted and cried out, "The Prince of Luling!"
Yang Fan immediately shouted, "Silence!"
Only now did Wei Yong realize that the objective of this mission was so important. He couldn't help but nervously lick his lips and ask in a hurried and low voice, "Captain, we … we came here on imperial edict to … to harm … Luling?"
These low-ranking soldiers didn't have any political foresight or strategy. In their view, if the emperor wanted to release the Prince of Luling to return to the capital, he only needed to send a eunuch and announce an imperial edict. Why would he need to be so secretive and troublesome? Now that he had sent them to Fang Province in secret, it was likely that they were going to harm the Prince of Luling.
Yang Fan said in a low voice, "We'll talk about the details after we get out. Before the operation, I'll tell you the plan. Right now, we have to think about how to get out. I only hope that Huang Xuchang and Xu Liang won't use the method of revealing their official status to rescue us! "
Tian Yan pointed at the top of the cell and said, "Captain, with our skills, can't we put up a frame? As long as one of us can go up, we can use a belt or robe to tie a rope and pull us up. "
Yang Fan said, "Of course it's easy to get out. The difficult part is how to not alarm the local authorities. If they mobilize the people to search everywhere, where will we, the foreigners, be able to hide? If this matter could be publicized, why would we need to go through so much trouble and use a theatrical troupe as a smokescreen? "
Everyone was speechless. With his hands behind his back, Yang Fan slowly paced around the cell. Sometimes, he would look at the door, and sometimes at the ventilation holes on the ceiling, his brows knitted into a deep frown.
Although Wei Yong and the others still couldn't guess the specific mission, they already knew that this matter involved the Prince of Luling and that this was a political struggle of the highest level. No matter how slow they were, they could still tell that this matter was of great importance. With bitter expressions, they looked at Yang Fan, who was pacing back and forth, hoping that this resourceful star could think of a perfect solution.
"I have a solution!"
Yang Fan's eyes suddenly lit up. Upon hearing this, Wei Yong and the others immediately surrounded him and excitedly asked, "Captain, what's the solution?"
Yang Fan pushed aside his brothers and walked to the other side of the cell. The two pitiful peddlers were currently grabbing onto the bars, pressing their thin faces against the rough wooden posts as they stared at Yang Fan and the others.
A smile slowly blossomed on Yang Fan's face, and like Satan luring them to hell, he gently asked, "Sirs, do you want to be released from prison and reunite with your families? Do you want to receive a reward?"
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