South Zhili, Xuzhou, Peixian.
Yuyanju, a famous restaurant in Peixian County, is overcrowded today. Shopkeeper Wang of Yuyanju hired an actor as his concubine in a theater in Jiangnan a few days ago. This person is the leading actress of the theater, with outstanding beauty and graceful figure. Today, she only works as a concubine. After the last performance, she was about to leave the theater and get married.
On the street leading to Yuyanju, Zhang Ruoxi, the magistrate of Peixian County, was sitting on a sedan chair with a trace of anger lingering on his face.
In fact, there were many new-style carriages all over Peixian County at this time, but Zhang Ruoxi was unmoved. Even if the new-style carriages were more comfortable, she would not ride on them.
It's just because the imperial court vigorously promoted the New Deal in various parts of southern Zhili, and the source of the new carriage was the industry of the imperial commerce department.
According to the provisions of the new policy of the imperial court, the county magistrate Zhang Ruoxi not only has to return the more than 3,000 acres of cultivated land he has occupied and compensate for the taxes and grain and other taxes that have been owed for many years, but also exempts many miscellaneous taxes in Peixian County. The cost will be supported by several small taxes in commercial taxes.
This is tantamount to touching the "big cake" of Zhang Ruoxi and all the gentry, powerful people and officials in Peixian County, and no one will be willing to do so.
"Hmph! Want to implement the New Deal? I think the adults in the court are just like Mr. Liu Ge. They have lost their minds!"
Zhang Ruoxi was thinking secretly in her heart. The sedan had already arrived at the door of Yuyanju. The master hurriedly ran over to press the sedan and lift the curtain. Zhang Ruoxi stepped out of the sedan with pride. A group of wealthy businessmen and gentry who had been waiting at the door came over and saluted with smiles. It was natural. Zhang Ruoxi was surrounded by people, and everyone walked into Yuyan Residence while talking and laughing.
Then there will be a store
The waiter ran out and placed a "Today's reserved" sign at the door. Pedestrians coming and going on the street saw this, and they all commented that these officials were going to live and drink again, and they were all indignant.
At this time, in the lobby on the first floor of Yuyan Residence, Zhang Ruoxi took her master to the front row in the middle. Zhang Ruoxi sat down directly, and her master also sat next to him with a smile. Now everyone else took their seats.
Shopkeeper Wang of Yuyanju came over with a smile on his face and complimented: "Haha, thank you for thanking Mr. Zhang for coming here. My Yuyanju is really shining!"
Zhang Ruoxi smiled lightly and said: "This county still has to give Shopkeeper Wang some face, so why not start now."
"Okay, let's start right now!"
Shopkeeper Wang immediately went backstage, and soon the drama began.
Looking at the stage, the leading actress was really beautiful. Every frown and smile seemed to be imprinted in Zhang Ruoxi's heart. She had to sigh that this Jiangnan woman was really beautiful. Even the ten concubines in her family could not compare to her. At this time, she was already The troubles of the imperial court's implementation of the New Deal were forgotten.
Later, Zhang Ruoxi wanted to ask the master what he thought of the actor, but when he turned around, the master was nowhere to be seen.
That night, in the backyard of the county government office.
The master smiled and led Hua Dan, who was on stage today, and pushed the door into Zhang Ruoxi's room. Zhang Ruoxi understood what was going on, but she couldn't show anything on the surface, so she had to pretend to be angry and cursed: "You really don't understand any rules, my king The shopkeeper’s concubine, how could you bring her here to me? Send someone back quickly!”
At this moment, shopkeeper Wang actually walked into the door and shouted hurriedly: "Absolutely not! This Xiaochun'er just
I just told you that when I saw you, I felt that you were as beautiful as a tree in the wind. If I couldn't serve you, I would regret it for the rest of my life. Please accept my beauty as an adult, so please accept it. "
Zhang Ruoxi had heard this flattery so many times, and now she knew in her heart that shopkeeper Wang must be asking for something from her.
So Zhang Ruoxi asked the master and the actor to leave first, then smiled and exchanged a few words with Shopkeeper Wang, and then asked directly: "I wonder if there is anything that I can help with?"
Shopkeeper Wang said with a smile: "Haha, my business at Yuyanju is booming under your rule, but it's a pity that there is no place to open another branch. If you can let Jufulou go away, I will be better off if I make money." Honor your lord."
Zhang Ruoxi heard the name of Jufulou and immediately refused, because the shopkeeper of Jufulou also gave her a gift, and the money was quite large, so she couldn't commit the crime of cutting off her wealth for an actor.
So Zhang Ruoxi said: "Jufulou is a legal merchant just like you. He has never caused any trouble to me in the past few years. How can we ban him so easily? Besides, the imperial court is currently implementing the New Deal, and it is not easy for me to do this." Lots of hands and feet.”
Shopkeeper Wang said with a smile: "Haha, the so-called New Deal is just a joke of the imperial court. Who in the borders of Southern Zhili and the official circles of Jiangnan provinces will take it seriously!"
Zhang Ruoxi smiled and then said: "Well, I have remembered it. There are a few restaurants that are not managed well. They are occupying the toilet and wasting such a good position. They should be investigated carefully and let capable people On top.”
Shopkeeper Wang didn't insist upon hearing this, as long as there was a place, it would be fine.
So she hurriedly thanked her, and before leaving, she also presented a gift list. Zhang Ruoxi opened it and took a glance at it. The gift on it was estimated to be no less than two hundred taels. A smile suddenly appeared on her face, and she even got up and gave shopkeeper Wang a gift from a distance. Fan.
The next morning, Guoji Restaurant in Peixian County was investigated for tax evasion. The shopkeeper urgently needed 5,000 taels of silver for turnover. He could not come up with the money for a while, so he transferred the restaurant to shopkeeper Wang.
Just a few days later, Zhang Ruoxi happily sent out invitations, announcing that she was about to marry her thirteenth concubine, and she was the beautiful actress.
When the merchants in Pei County saw what happened to Guoji Restaurant, they naturally knew the inside story, so they hurriedly went to the only pawnshop in the city to buy the paintings that Zhang Ruoxi had concentrated on consignment here in the past few days.
On the day of Zhang Ruoxi's wedding, all the well-known local guests from Peixian County arrived, but no one brought gold or silver gifts. Their gifts were all paintings with poor painting skills and no sense of beauty. Even if the censor came to check, as long as he didn't know I can't say anything about the inside story.
But as soon as the guests entered the door, they were shown a painting in front of the master. On it was a picture of a chicken pecking at rice that the artist was worse than a child.
It’s just that the guests all praised the exquisiteness of the painting loudly. This picture of an eagle spreading its wings is really majestic and the painter is really good. But the master carefully counted the grains of rice on the picture. This grain of rice is worth one hundred taels of silver, little chicken. There are ten dots under the rice pecking chart, and the price is one thousand taels of silver.
But even on such a happy day, some people do bad things.
Just when the guests of honor were enjoying themselves in the backyard of the county government office, the government's grievance drum rang rapidly, and before Zhang could
When Ruoxi went to the front court, the county magistrate and the master reviewed the whole case clearly.
The wife of local farmer Zhang San was trampled to death by a horse. The young man who jumped on the horse and injured someone claimed to be the son of Magistrate Chen of Feng County, a neighboring county. More than a dozen people in the street saw the young man jumping on the horse and wounding someone. The evidence is conclusive.
Zhang Ruoxi sighed slightly, and then, under the honorable plaque, he rang the gavel and said: "There is insufficient evidence in this case and the facts of the case are unclear. When the government officials collect the evidence, the people will be restored to peace."
Later, the farmer Zhang San and the son of County Magistrate Chen were both imprisoned, while Zhang Ruoxi went to the back hall to write a letter telling County Magistrate Chen the whole story of the case and the young man claiming to be the county magistrate’s son. Within a day, you received In reply, County Magistrate Chen confirmed that this person was his son. In the letter, he hoped that you would be open to the Internet for the sake of being an official in the same dynasty.
It was already two days after Zhang Ruoxi received the reply. After reading the letter, she put it away. The room was full of gold and silver sent by the pawn shop. Then she overturned the boxes of gold and silver to the ground without paying any attention. Finally, she found them in the dark under the bed. I fumbled around and found an iron box. The box was full of letters from other officials asking for your help.
After Zhang Ruoxi put away the letter from Magistrate Chen, she locked it and put it in a secret compartment. Seeing that there were no clues from the outside, she went to the court with confidence.
When the two were interrogated again, Zhang Ruoxi had changed her face and scolded Zhang San for falsely accusing someone of riding a horse and injuring someone. She claimed that Zhang San's wife clearly fell off a cliff and died. If she admitted the false accusation and signed a signature, she could forget the blame. If you persist in your obsession, you will be beaten to death immediately with a killing stick!
Zhang San knelt on the ground and cried bitterly.
Then he shouted injustice loudly.
When Zhang Ruoxi saw that Zhang San refused to drink a toast and was fined, he directly threw down the execution order and ordered people to hit fifty big boards first. Seeing that Zhang Ruoxi was serious about it, the officials also gathered all their strength with the boards in their hands. Twenty strokes were enough to beat Zhang San until his skin and flesh were torn apart, and after fifty strokes, his bones were already bruised. He was then detained for another three days. The plaintiff Zhang San died of illness in the prison for unknown reasons, but the suspect was released without committing a crime.
A few days later, the child who came to take away Zhang San's body dared to stare at Zhang Ruoxi in the lobby. This made Zhang Ruoxi feel a little angry and asked the yamen officer to step forward and slap him until his mouth was filled with blood.
But what Zhang Ruoxi didn't know was that when the child who was beaten with blood all over his mouth was staggering out of the county office carrying his father's body on his back, he was stopped by two big men and took the child and the body to a nearby hidden corner. inside.
One of them frowned slightly and said: "This Zhang Ruoxi is really ruthless, he can even attack teenagers!"
Another person said: "Okay now, we have been investigating the magistrate of Peixian County for some time, and today we have another piece of evidence!"
Although the child was still young, he could still hear the clues. He directly placed his father's body on the ground, then knelt down and said, "You two adults, please make the decision!"
"Um."
One person said: "You take this child away, he is a witness. You take him back first, and at the same time take back the evidence found during this period. This is the first battle of our Military Intelligence Department's Nanzhen Fu Division." , finding evidence that Zhang Ruoxi was corrupt, perverted the law, and resisted the New Deal is the first victory to open up the situation, and there must be no room for error!"
"good!"
Then another
One person asked: "What should I do with this body?"
"Alas! This is also a miserable man. I will stay here for the next few days to continue to spy on Zhang Ruoxi. I will take the body away and bury it outside the city."
Then the man said to the child: "Don't worry, I will tell you the specific location later."
The child nodded vigorously, and then asked: "Two adults, are you high officials of the imperial court? Can you cure Zhang Ruoxi?"
"Haha! We are from the Imperial Military Intelligence Department."
"Military Intelligence Department? What kind of yamen is it?"
"Do you know Jin Yiwei?"
The child suddenly shuddered and nodded.
The two men smiled, and one of them said, "We are the Jin Yiwei!"
"ah!"
