The Wen family hall was originally used to entertain guests.
At this time, Zheng Michang was sitting at the top, sipping tea leisurely, and in front of him, everyone from the Wen family was kneeling. As for the slaves, they were taken away as accomplices.
"Pay more attention to your steps, and don't be impatient when doing things! If there is any damage to anything in this room, I will ask you for it."
Seeing the clumsiness of his men, Zheng Mi Chang put down the teacup in his hand, frowned, and scolded.
"This is the chief envoy, my subordinates must pay more attention, must pay more attention!"
Seeing this, the person pointed by Zheng Michang quickly put the things in his hands aside and said respectfully.
"Forget it, go and get busy."
Seeing that the man had a good attitude towards admitting his mistake, Zheng Michang did not intend to pursue the case, but waved his hand and sent him away.
"Zheng Michang, you are so brave. Why do you raid my Wen family?"
At this moment, Wen Pingyi's hands and feet were tied up with thick ropes, and he could not move. There were still several bruises on his face, which must have been injured by the guards during the previous struggle! He also lacked the aura that he usually had as the head of the Wen family.
"Hmph, you dare to speak harshly even when you are about to die! Your youngest son Wen Rong has already confessed everything in prison."
After Zheng Michang finished speaking, he took out the piece of paper recording the Wen family's crimes from his arms and showed it to Wen Pingyi: "Here, see for yourself, there is your youngest son's fingerprint on it."
"You...you, this is obviously a false accusation! You must have used some tricks!" After reading the contents on the piece of paper, Wen Pingyi suddenly became furious and retorted.
"Of course this is a false accusation. To tell you the truth, the backer of your Wen family has fallen! That old guy Li Zhiquan went to jail last night." Zheng Michang took back the piece of paper, sneered, and explained for Wen Pingyi.
"What? This... this is impossible. He is the general envoy, a high-ranking official of the imperial court, and besides..." After hearing this, Wen Pingyi looked completely incredulous.
In fact, Wen Pingyi has believed it since Zheng Michang said what he said, because if the Wen family's backer does not fall, then Zheng Michang will never dare to take action now! It is even more impossible to rashly search your home in broad daylight.
After thinking about all this, Wen Pingyi's face showed a look of despair, and then he asked: "What do you want?"
"I want you to hand over all the account books in recent years!" Zheng Michang calmly sat back on his chair, stared into Wen Pingyi's eyes, and said.
Of course Wen Pingyi knew what Zheng Michang wanted. What he wanted was the records of the Wen family's bribery of officials in recent years! And among them, his share was naturally included.
Wen Pingyi thought for a long time, then gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice: "I can promise you, but you have to let my wife go! She doesn't know anything."
"No, it is not up to me to judge whether she knew or not. After the investigation is completed, if she does not know, the government will naturally not make things difficult for her!" After hearing the conditions proposed by Wen Pingyi, Zheng Michang didn't even think about it. , refused directly.
"Hmph, do you believe what you said? If you don't agree to Wen's condition, you won't want those account books!" After Wen Pingyi finished speaking, he tilted his head to the side and stopped talking.
"Hmph, do you think I have no way to punish you? Come here, drag him out for me!"
After Zheng Michang finished speaking, a guard came forward and dragged Wen Pingyi's eldest son, Wen Tao, out alone.
"What do you want to do?"
Seeing Zheng Michang's behavior, Wen Pingyi couldn't help but feel a hint of panic in his tone.
"I'll hit you dozens of times. If you don't speak, I'll have his fingers chopped off one by one!"
Zheng Michang said word by word with a gloomy face.
"Father, save me, save me!" Wen Tao looked at his father, his face full of panic. Because he was too scared, his body began to tremble uncontrollably.
Soon, Wen Tao was forcibly controlled by the guards, and his right index finger was forced to the table.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six..."
Zheng Michang immediately began to count down, while Wen Pingyi closed his eyes tightly, unable to bear to look any further, and turned his head to the side.
However, the guard on the side noticed his intention and forcibly turned his head away, then opened his eyelids, allowing him to witness his son's fingers being chopped off.
"Five, four, three, two, one, chop!" As soon as Zheng Michang finished speaking, the guard on the side raised his knife and chopped off his finger.
"Ahhh! My finger!"
Soon, blood splattered everywhere, and a painful wail came. Wen Tao almost fainted from the pain. The intense pain made him burst into tears, and he wanted to use his other intact hand to remove that finger. Pick it up.
"Ahhh! Zheng Michang, you beast! Even if I, Wen Pingyi, become a ghost, I will never let you go!"
After witnessing the tragic situation of his own son, Wen Pingyi no longer regained his previous calmness and became hysterical.
"It's not my fault, it's your unwillingness to explain." After Zheng Michang finished speaking, he took out his handkerchief and wiped the blood splattered on himself.
"You have also seen that your father is unwilling to explain, so if you want to hate, then hate your father." After wiping the blood on his official uniform, Zheng Michang turned his eyes to Wen Tao and said softly.
"Dad, save me!"
At this time, Wen Tao looked at Wen Pingyi with eyes full of pleading.
"Okay, don't say yes, I'll just keep going!" Seeing that Wen Pingyi was still unmoved, Zheng Michang gave the order to his subordinates with a ferocious look.
Soon, just like before, Wen Tao continued to be controlled by the guards on the side, but this time he changed his hand to the index finger of his left hand.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six..."
As Zheng Michang counted down, Wen Pingyi looked at his son who was wailing not far away. His heart was full of unbearability. The reason in his heart told him that if he handed over the account books today, the Wen family would have no chance of making a comeback. , can only be slaughtered by others!
"Five, four, three, two..." Zheng Michang could not help but lengthen his voice as he counted.
At this moment, Wen Pingyi spoke: "Stop, I said, I said!"
Seeing that his goal was achieved, Zheng Michang asked the guards on the side to stop what they were doing. Wen Tao also felt as if he had been granted amnesty, and he breathed a sigh of relief, showing an expression as if he had survived the disaster.
"Tell me, where are the account books?" Zheng Michang stared into Wen Pingyi's eyes and asked.
"The account book is hidden under the third floor tile at the entrance of the Wen family ancestral hall."
After Wen Pingyi finished speaking, he seemed to have become much older.
"You two, go over there and have a look."
After Zheng Michang obtained the location of the account books, he immediately sent his cronies to the Wen family ancestral hall to check.
"Report sir, we found this under the floor tiles!"
After a while, two cronies rushed back from the ancestral hall, holding a thick account book in their hands.
"Well, you did a good job."
Zheng Michang's eyes lit up when he saw the account book in the hands of his cronies, and he immediately took the account book from them and started looking through it.
"On the third day of the first lunar month last year, the chief envoy Zheng Michang received 3,000 taels of silver! On the third day of the first lunar month last year, the general envoy Li Zhiquan received 6,000 taels of silver! On the fifth day of the first lunar month last year, the Qing official Si Guo Bin received 600 taels of silver... "
"Okay, this old guy Li Zhiquan actually gets twice as much money as me!" Zheng Michang couldn't help but cursed secretly after seeing the specific amount in the account book.
Zheng Michang gave up after flipping through a few pages. Without him, there were too many people involved! Every amount of money sent by the Wen family can be backed up here.
At this moment, a guard came from outside and reported: "I'm reporting to the Chief Envoy, the specific property of the Wen family has been counted, a total of 28,590,000 taels! The land owned by his name totals 85,000 taels." Thousand acres, in addition to house deeds, mansions, and some antiques and treasures.”
"What! There are so many!"
After listening to the report from his subordinates, Zheng Michang's eyes were full of horror and his breathing began to become rapid.
Just when he was about to lose control of his greed, he slapped himself hard and cursed secretly: "Zheng Michang, are you desperate for your life? His Majesty personally followed up on this!"
(End of chapter)
