In a courtyard three miles away from here, a crow just fell from the sky and was standing on the roof. Inside, two men in black walked out of the house. It flew onto the shoulder of one of the men in black and chirped. Talking.
The two men in black couldn't help but change their expressions.
"Damn it!" The man in black robe looked extremely ugly: "This Qi Hongxin deserves to die!"
"The gangs we have spent many years supporting, the gentry we have infiltrated, and the officials we have bribed are all gone now."
"Not only those humans, who just received the report, but also many of our demon clan died in this government encirclement and suppression operation. It is really hateful that the dignified demon clan suffered such an end."
"Even if it were like this, we would tolerate it. After all, the locust issue is more important now. With Qi Hong's new major case, no one can control the locusts. As for those roots, as long as we are here, we can build them again."
"I don't want to lose Qi Hongxin, who claims to be upright and incorruptible. He is the biggest corrupt official. He immediately protected officials from all over the county and the turmoil disappeared."
"This is really intolerable. Do we have to endure the big loss and continue to be arrogant?"
The man in black robe opposite meditated for a long time without saying a word. After a long time, he sighed: "Alas, the human race has so many talented people, but it is my demon race's blessing."
"The surrounding locusts have gathered together and are almost in position. It seems that the locust plague must be launched in advance and Qi Hongxin cannot be left to prepare!"
Shun'an Mansion·Yujia Restaurant
This is a famous restaurant. Business has been very good in the past two days. The shop owner and even the waiters are all smiling and busy, so happy.
Separated by a screen on the second floor, in the west room, the waiter quickly served eight dishes. The guests at the table frowned and looked frightened, not in the mood to enjoy.
Reluctantly raising his glass to drink, a middle-aged man with fat on his face sighed sadly.
"Have you heard what happened in the house?"
"Deputy Inspector He Bi was beheaded on the spot, and more than 20 yamen bosses were captured. Do you think the government will... will they arrest us too?"
"After all, when the Longhu Gang was running rampant, they still collected protection fees from us every year. Some businesses had to give out a share of their profits when they received dividends. If we really look into it, we brothers might not be able to escape."
The thin man sitting sideways wearing a silk scarf is also a businessman with some shops and businesses in Shun'an Prefecture. He is even worse. Not only is he involved in the Longhu Gang in business, but he also had ties with two gangs in order to take the waterway. Every year, at least two to three hundred taels of silver are sent to me for exchanges, and now I also sigh.
"Who says it's not the case! Brother Sun, I'm worried about this too! I thought we were being oppressed, so we wouldn't have surrounded and suppressed three gangs and come to trouble us, the poor people, right? But Lian Dang The officials were all chopped off, so what do we, small businessmen, matter?"
"I heard that the houses of those who were old cadres were ransacked. You must have heard about the fact that Shun'an Mansion is now short of hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, right? This is probably true, otherwise the government would not suddenly take action. Isn’t it because they have mines in their hands and money in their treasury that they have captured the three major gangs?”
"You think, if we really want money, can we people run away? No matter how small a mosquito's legs are, they are still meat, right?"
The two people sitting opposite also looked ugly after hearing this, with restlessness in the corners of their eyes and eyebrows.
"Hey! What's the use of talking about this now? Can we still influence adults to do things? Even if the knife may be chopped off and the head moved in the future, at least we are not in that situation now. Let's eat and drink well first, okay?"
"If you have wine today, you will get drunk today. Don't let it go. Let the waiter serve all the special dishes here. Then there are two jars of daughter's red. We will not go back until we are drunk today!"
"Brother Zheng is right. Damn it, do whatever you want. Anyway, I want to have a good meal first, so just drink! I won't come back until I'm drunk!"
Then I called the waiter, added more dishes, and served wine.
Not only that, through the screen, you can also hear many people talking privately, and many people are shocked and panicked. The businessman at this table drank two jars of daughter's red wine. He drank a lot, and he was also drunk. He complained about the government's actions.
"When we were bullied by the three major gangs, the government didn't care. Now that the three major gangs have been wiped out, it makes no sense to come and cause us trouble!"
"Okay, okay! Hiccup! Let's drink here for today! I see, it's getting dark too, it's time to go back! Let's go, if you don't go back, haha, I'm afraid the tigress in our house will You should think that we were arrested by the government, haha!"
The businessman surnamed Zheng saw that the conversation was getting deeper and deeper. He burped from wine and stood up unsteadily.
The three of them also drank to vent some of their fears and frustrations. After eating and drinking enough, they threw a piece of silver to the waiter without any change, and went out of the restaurant together.
The bullock cart they came in was parked in the open space outside the restaurant. The driver was waiting in the cart, but before the four of them could stagger over, they were suddenly stopped by several people.
"Damn it, what are you..." He was confused and almost bumped into the person on the other side. The furious businessman was about to raise his head and yell at him, but when he blinked, he finally saw the person who intercepted him clearly. After who it was, I was so frightened that I almost woke up from the wine.
It turned out to be two government officials, wearing official uniforms and holding iron rulers in their hands, looking at them coldly.
"My lord, what orders do you have?"
"Stop talking nonsense, my lord wants to see you, come with us." The leader of the Yamen said. The county magistrate has his own Yamen, so naturally he also has his own Yamen.
But the place we went to was not the Yamen. It was not far away and we just walked around a few rooms.
I already felt guilty, but I was "invited" to where Su Ziji was waiting. As soon as I entered the courtyard, I saw a young man wearing a sixth-grade official uniform standing on the steps. Four businessmen were mostly sober. Immediately, he knelt down in the courtyard with a puff.
"This is our Lord Chancellor!" someone reminded the yamen servant who brought them here.
"Fu, Mr. Fu Cheng, I'm wronged!" The businessman surnamed Zheng reacted first, knelt there and cried out: "I was just talking casually, not really dissatisfied with the government, please forgive me." It was an honest mistake on the part of a villain!”
As soon as he cried out, the three people, who were so frightened that their whole bodies were shaking, started to cry too.
"Don't make any noise." Su Ziji hurriedly raised his hand to stop him. He looked at the four people below who were wearing silk silk but knelt down at the first sight and sighed inwardly.
It is true that businessmen have money but low status.
After walking a few steps, he said: "I called you here because of the loss of Shun'an Mansion..."
I had mentioned in the restaurant that these businessmen who had contact with gangs were probably the second batch of fat sheep to be targeted by the government. Not long after we finished talking about this topic, we heard the Prime Minister talking about this. For these four businessmen, it was like hearing the sound of a drumbeat.
The four people immediately trembled like chaff and kowtowed repeatedly. The businessman named Zheng reacted the fastest and shouted: "I am willing to donate three hundred taels!"
