Chapter 74 Liu Fu: It's over, I, a prince, have become a fugitive.

That very night, Liu Fu released several treasure-hunting rats and hundreds of his little rat minions.

Every letter in the entire county government office that was even remotely useful was sent to Liu Fu.

The prefectural magistrate sent letters to the county magistrate requesting that he find a scapegoat to clear his nephew's name.

Account books for bribing high-ranking officials, accounts for embezzling disaster relief funds and their appropriations, accounts for embezzling funds for river embankment repairs and their appropriations...

There were even secret letters from the prefectural magistrate asking the county magistrate of Fei County to help him commit murder.

The county magistrate had indeed hidden these letters quite well; even his spendthrift wife didn't know about them. He had sealed them in an iron box and buried them more than two meters deep in the ground.

Unfortunately, Liu Fu had a treasure-hunting rat, which quickly uncovered all of his secrets.

Moreover, after receiving the letter, Liu Fu immediately began reading it aloud in the prison:

"Your Excellency, I am aware of your request to clear your nephew's name. However, the time is not yet ripe. I will find a few suitable prisoners to take your nephew's place and clear his name. I will do my utmost to serve Your Excellency and ensure that nothing goes wrong. Please wait patiently for good news. — Fei Zhengshu, Chunhe County."

"In the first month of spring in the year Jia Yin, I presented to the magistrate of the prefecture, Zhou Chunxuan, ten thousand taels of silver, all of which were obtained by extorting the people."

"In the first month of spring in the year Jia Yin, I presented to the Prefectural Magistrate Liu Qianglin five thousand taels of silver, all of which were obtained by embezzling disaster relief funds."

…………

As Liu Fu read these letters aloud in the dungeon, the jailer guarding the dungeon could no longer sit still and immediately ran to report to the county magistrate.

"What?"

"You mean that kid we arrested during the day was reading through my account books?"

Magistrate Fei immediately went to the dungeon. He did not go in right away, but instead made sure that Liu Fu would not be disturbed and let Liu Fu continue reading, while he eavesdropped from the side.

As a result, Fei Zheng was startled every time Liu Fu read a sentence, and the more Liu Fu read, the more terrified Fei Zheng's expression became.

He was immediately terrified, thinking to himself:

"Not a single word is different! Not a single word is different! How could he know these things that concern my life and fortune?"

Fairbank is now truly panicked!

As a county magistrate, holding these things in his hands is both a guarantee of his life and the irrefutable evidence that could lead to his own destruction!

If you are not an honest official, you will inevitably be complicit in corruption and commit many heinous crimes.

But after doing these things, you must keep evidence, that is, a handle, and record all the details. For example, if the governor asks you to help kill someone, and you help them kill that person, when the matter is investigated, the governor is very likely to pin the blame on you and use you as a scapegoat to take your life.

However, if you have this evidence of collusion, it's like having a handle on the prefect. If you're going to die, expose it and everyone will die together. Faced with the power of this ledger, the prefect will have to do everything he can to protect you and save your life. From then on, you'll be in the same boat.

When this thing doesn't cause trouble, only heaven, earth, and the person behind it know. If you never cause trouble in your life, you can just burn it when you die and that's it. But if you do cause trouble, you'll need it sooner or later.

But if this ledger falls into the hands of outsiders and is submitted to the imperial court, what a storm it will cause.

This is exactly what Fairbank fears most.

He immediately ordered his men to go in and gag Liu Fu, but Liu Fu quickly knocked all the jailers who had rushed over to the ground.

With Xiao Ying'er and all the innocent people in the dungeon by his side, Liu Fu smiled smugly:

"Magistrate Fei, you treat human life like dirt! You're such a good magistrate! You're a beast in human skin! King Zhongwu is about to take up his post in Liaodong and establish his fiefdom. I'm going to King Zhongwu's royal carriage right now to block his road and file a complaint. I'm determined to deal with all of you corrupt officials who treat human life like dirt!"

After speaking, a tunnel that had already been dug was revealed behind Liu Fu. He then took the death row inmates and Xiao Ying'er and escaped into the tunnel.

"Quickly, send men to chase them! Send men to chase them!"

Fei Zheng dispatched all the constables from the yamen, while he himself hurriedly returned to search everywhere.

It turned out that all the buried evidence had been completely stolen, leaving not even a single scrap of paper.

Fei Zheng was terrified. He knew that if this thing were leaked and fell into the hands of Liu Fu, the Prince of Zhongwu, not only he, but also the Prefect and the Governor would all die without a burial place!

He immediately summoned the county constable and released all three hundred-plus county soldiers of Chunhe County to search for Liu Fu's whereabouts.

Still unable to find him, Fei Zheng was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. Before dawn, he rode his horse to report to the prefect, explained the situation in detail, and requested the prefect to send troops to intercept Liu Fu.

On the other side, Liu Fu, who had escaped from the dungeon, bowed to the innocent people who had also escaped:

"Brothers, the government troops are currently searching for you everywhere. If you stay in the dungeon, you will only die unjustly. Now that you have escaped, it is best to find a secluded place to hide first. I will go to Prince Zhongwu to file a complaint. You just need to wait for the day when the prince upholds justice and presides over fairness. At that time, the prince will definitely summon you to court, and we will testify against those corrupt officials together and bring them all to justice!"

These death row inmates had nowhere else to go. Since they were going to die anyway in the dungeon, escaping might give them a chance to survive. So they immediately arranged a place with Liu Fu to meet up there later.

"Young man, this journey is extremely dangerous. We have some loose silver on us, so please take it with you. We hope you can find Prince Zhongwu and tell him about our grievances, so that we, the common people, can seek justice!"

"I have nothing more to say, young man, take care on your journey!"

…………

Liu Fu left a treasure-hunting rat there to guard the place and facilitate the exchange of information.

They took Xiao Ying'er with them and continued on their journey.

"Ying'er, which prefecture governs Chunhe County again?"

Xiao Ying'er recalled:

"It seems to be under the jurisdiction of Yanshan Prefecture, right?"

"Then let's go to Yanshan Prefecture."

Xiao Ying'er was taken aback:

"Aren't you going to run for your life?"

Liu Fu rolled his eyes at her:

"I am a prince, holding the Imperial Seal of the Loyal and Martial King in my left hand and the Imperial Sword bestowed by the Emperor in my right. You're telling me to run for my life? Are you crazy?"

Xiao Ying'er was also stunned for a moment, then quickly patted her icy forehead:

"Oh dear, everyone's frozen stiff. The weather here is even colder than in the Liao Dynasty. But are you planning to cause another big incident in Yanshan Prefecture? So you'll gather all the evidence against the high-ranking officials and eventually get them to come and arrest you themselves, right?"

Liu Fu discovered that Xiao Ying'er had actually become smarter:

"Not bad, not bad, you've made great progress. Now guess what I'm planning to do next?"

Xiao Ying'er understood after a moment's thought:

"You're just using a nested doll technique. A dignified prince disguises himself as a commoner to gather evidence of the crimes of high-ranking officials, luring them to kill you. Once they've all personally intervened, when you brandish the imperial seal and the imperial sword, they'll all be dumbfounded!"

"When the time comes, we'll take them all down in one fell swoop. We'll have plenty of evidence, and since a prince personally experienced all of this, the evidence is irrefutable! Once you've dealt with these corrupt officials, you can also raid their homes and wipe out the families of those high-ranking officials. In this way, you'll have accomplished so much so soon after arriving in Liaodong, and the people will trust you. It will be much easier to establish your own kingdom and get things done in the future."

Liu Fu was stunned. Xiao Ying'er was incredibly clever; she had seen through all his intentions.

"Let's go then, my dear Ying'er, let's go to the Yanshan Prefect's Mansion and cause trouble again!"