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It has been seven years since Su Changzhen assumed the high position of governor of Southern Zhili.
During these seven years, Su Changzhen used various methods such as forming a party for personal gain, corruption and bribery, and plundering. He did everything possible to amass money, and the Su family quickly became the leading wealthy family in Southern Zhili. There are endless streets, high gates and deep courtyards, and clusters of shops. Even in Nanzhili, where there are countless rich people, Su Changzhen's family wealth is among the best. On weekdays, the lives of the children of the Su family are extremely luxurious, with rich clothes and fine food.
But on this day, the glory of the Su family finally came to an end!
Just three days ago, the former cabinet minister and imperial envoy Huang Yourong came to Nanzhili and announced Emperor Deqing's decree to investigate and try Su Changzhen's various crimes.
It stands to reason that when trying to deal with a frontier official like Su Changzhen, one should proceed with caution. Repeated investigations, detailed evidence collection, open and covert visits, complaints and confrontations would take at least two months to complete the process and convict Su Changzhen!
However, Huang Yourong acted vigorously and resolutely. In just three days, he completed all the case handling procedures and confirmed all the charges against Su Changzhen!
Although he was a little hasty, Huang Yourong knew that no one would blame him. After all, Su Changzhen's downfall would be good for everyone! The common people will applaud when they see the downfall of corrupt officials. Officials in Southern Zhili have hope of further promotion. Emperor Deqing can obtain Su Changzhen's huge family property. Huang Yourong himself and Zhao Junchen behind him can also take the opportunity to reap many benefits!
Therefore, no one will question Huang Yourong's arbitrary handling of the case. Perhaps Su Changzhen and his comrades will be dissatisfied, but these people have completely lost power now, and no one will pay attention to their ideas.
After Su Changzhen was convicted, Huang Yourong was even more impatient. He immediately led a large number of soldiers to the Su Mansion and started ransacking the house!
This is Huang Yourong's fundamental goal, and the so-called trial and conviction is just a trivial prerequisite.
At the same time that Guo Tang's house was ransacked, the same disaster also hit the house of Su Changzhen, the former governor of Southern Zhili.
At this time, the originally gorgeous and luxurious Su Mansion was now in shambles. The originally pampered Su family members were now all detained in the front yard of the Su Mansion. Those servants of the Su family who had always acted like a fox and a tiger were forced to Kneeling with hands tied, everyone trembled tightly around Su Changzhen. Everyone in the Su family felt that disaster was approaching and the end was coming. As for Su Changzhen himself, his face was full of despair and numbness at this time, without any resistance, he just looked at everything in front of him quietly.
After the soldiers broke into the Su Mansion, they began a cleaning-like search. Inside the Su Mansion, there were sounds of doors being kicked, boxes and cabinets being rummaged, as well as rude yells and heavy footsteps. It was full of misery and panic. atmosphere of. The soldiers searched house after house, and all the valuables were taken away, while all the worthless things were thrown on the ground. If anyone in the Su Mansion dared not cooperate, they would be beaten with fists and kicks.
Nowadays, the Su family is no better than a phoenix, and the soldiers have always been rude, so naturally they will not be polite.
Huang Yourong, who was commanding the soldiers to search the house, had a proud face at this time. He looked at the magnificent Su Mansion and secretly calculated in his heart how much benefit he could gain this time!
At this moment, a sudden change occurred.
In the backyard of the Su family, there was suddenly a violent quarrel and yelling, and it seemed that someone was still fighting.
Huang Yourong, who was disturbed by this movement, was naturally unhappy. He turned to a householder next to him and said, "Go and see what's going on! Could it be that the soldiers were talking to each other when they saw a certain piece of valuable property?" Can’t fight for it? All of Su Changzhen’s property will be confiscated, tell them to keep their hands and feet clean!”
After receiving the order, the man from Baihu quickly went to check the situation.
It didn't take long for this man from a hundred households to come to Huang Yourong with more than a dozen soldiers and two young women, and reported to Huang Yourong: "Your Majesty, the imperial envoy, it's not the soldiers who are fighting for property, but the soldiers under the low-ranking subordinates. When he was about to search a house, he was blocked by several officials from the Metropolitan Procuratorate. These officials seemed to have been ordered by the deputy envoy Mr. Gu Quangu to protect the women in the house. However, the soldiers under his subordinates were rude and ignorant. , he only wanted to search his house, so he got into a conflict with these government officials."
After hearing Baihu's answer, Huang Yourong couldn't help but be stunned. Then he looked at it again and found that the soldiers in front of him were obviously divided into two groups. One group of people were wearing military uniforms and were military soldiers from Suzhou, while the other group was wearing military uniforms. The people who serve are dressed as yamen servants. They are the yamen servants of the Imperial Procuratorate brought by Gu Quan, the censor of Youqiandu, from the capital.
Then, Huang Yourong looked at the two women again, only to find that the leading woman was about eight years old, with a beautiful face, exquisite facial features, a slender figure, and a gentle and charming temperament. Although she looked panicked now, she also looked a bit more... The endearing smell was obviously that of a lady from a wealthy family, who seemed to be a direct relative of Su Changzhen, while the other woman was much inferior and was obviously the former's maid.
Then, Huang Yourong turned to Gu Quan and asked, "Master Gu, what on earth is going on? Did you really send officers from the Metropolitan Procuratorate to protect them? What is their origin that makes Master Gu care so much?"
Huang Yourong knew very well that Gu Quan was only his deputy in name, but in reality he was Zhao Junchen's spokesperson, so he was very polite when he asked questions. He just wanted to find out the reason and had no intention of questioning or accusing him.
Gu Quan did not answer Huang Yourong's question immediately, but nodded to the woman and said with a smile: "This girl must be Su Xiuning, Miss Su? Please don't worry, girl. Although the Su family has encountered a disaster, girl, you have a noble person." Help and you’ll never run into any trouble.”
Then, Gu Quancai turned to Huang Yourong and explained softly: "Your Majesty, this girl is Su Xiuning, the youngest daughter of Su Changjin. His Majesty personally acted as a matchmaker for Zhao Junchen and found three girls in total, and this Su Xiuning Miss Su is one of them. She and Mr. Zhao have met many times, and Mr. Zhao also has a very good impression of her. "
After hearing Gu Quan's explanation, Huang Yourong suddenly realized that this woman was actually attracted by Zhao Junchen. No wonder Gu Quan would send someone to protect her deliberately, presumably to please Zhao Junchen.
Then, Huang Yourong looked at Su Xiuning again and thought to himself: "If this woman finally enters the Zhao Mansion, then the Su family may not have a chance to turn around in the future..."
Then, Huang Yourong ordered the householder: "Let's handle this matter according to your wishes. Don't disturb this girl. We must send someone to take good care of her. We must not let the soldiers frighten her... Yes, this girl’s boudoir contains mostly her personal belongings, so don’t let anyone search it. After the Su Mansion is sealed, you will personally find a secluded and comfortable house for this girl to stay, and Send all this girl’s things over.”
Huang Yourong's decision was naturally against the rules of the imperial court, but he was now an imperial envoy, and this matter was not an important matter, so naturally no one dared to disobey his order. The hundred households respectfully agreed. After that, he went to do things according to Huang Yourong's instructions.
Gu Quan smiled and thanked Huang Yourong: "Thank you, Lord Imperial Envoy, for your help. I will definitely report your kindness to Lord Zhao."
Huang Yourong nodded slightly, but said nothing more. He just continued to direct the soldiers to search the Su Mansion.
On the other side, Su Xiuning could have returned to her room. With the special care of Huang Yourong and Gu Quan, no one dared to disturb her now. However, after Su Xiuning saw the trembling Su family members in the front yard, she finally did not He returned to his room, suppressed the panic in his heart, walked to Su Changzhen's side, and shouldered everything in front of him with his relatives.
Seeing Su Xiuning's choice, Huang Yourong and Gu Quan both nodded secretly.
At the same time, Su Changzhen, who was already numb and desperate, seemed to have thought of something after seeing the special treatment given to Su Xiuning by Huang Yourong and Gu Quan, and his eyes regained some brightness.
The Su Mansion was very large and had a lot of property. Although Huang Yourong had used a total of 300 soldiers and 20 accountants, the raid lasted for a full day.
It was not until evening that the accountants finally finished counting all Su Changzhen's property and registered all valuables.
"Imperial Envoy, Deputy Envoy, the counting results have come out." In the living room of the Su Mansion, an accountant reported to Huang Yourong and Gu Quan: "There are a total of 228 pieces of red gold jewelry, 21 hanging pearls, and inlays. Three golden ivory tendons, eleven pale gold plates, one hundred and seventy-seven precious calligraphy and paintings...eighteen black fox skins, six green fox skins, thirty-six mink skins, and twelve lynx skins , three rolls of velvet... one hundred and thirty rolls of silk and satin, one hundred and eighty-one rolls of gauze, thirty-two rolls of feather crepe, eight rolls of python satin... thirty-two jade toys, one hundred and forty gold and silver utensils Seven pieces, more than 500 pieces of copper and tin, and a fat jade ring... The hoard contains 375,200 taels of silver, 5,500 taels of red gold, and 7,163 taels of copper coins... In addition, , there are also thirty-seven land deeds, seventy-one shop deeds, thirteen house deeds, two hundred and eleven farm deeds, and nine debt notes..."
There were many valuable items in the Su Mansion, and it took the accountant nearly half an hour to report them all. His mouth felt dry and his throat was on fire.
There are so many belongings, there are really mountains of gold and silver treasures! There were also unknown amounts of jewelry that the soldiers hid on their bodies and took away.
On the other side, Huang Yourong and Gu Quan were both a little stunned after hearing the accountant's report.
Among them, Gu Quan was just shocked by Su Changzhen's huge family fortune, but Huang Yourong was a little jealous in his heart. He felt that as a dignified former cabinet minister, he had not amassed so much money in the nearly ten years he had served in the cabinet. When it was time to retire and become an official, he respectfully gave them all to Emperor Deqing, but he did not expect that Su Changzhen's family property was even more than his own!
Then, Huang Yourong sneered and said, "With so much valuable property, I'm afraid it won't be less than a million taels in total? This Su Changjin is really good at amassing money and extravagant! However, the amount of gold and silver stolen was too little. With Su Changzhen How could it be possible that Zhen's net worth is only three to four hundred thousand taels of Tibetan silver..."
Gu Quan nodded and said: "It's not surprising that Su Changzhen can't hide all the money in his own house. I'm afraid he has other places to hide the money."
Huang Yourong stood up and said to Gu Quan: "It seems that Su Changzhen still needs to continue the interrogation, and he must spit out all the money! Mr. Gu, do you want to go with me?"
Gu Quan served as deputy imperial envoy this time. He originally wanted to monitor Huang Yourong and prevent Huang Yourong from secretly taking too many benefits. Now that Huang Yourong wanted to ask Su Changzhen where he hid his money, Gu Quan naturally wanted to go with him. Otherwise, if Huang Yourong secretly concealed it If there are several places where the silver is hidden, Zhao Junchen's interests will be damaged.
Therefore, Gu Quan also stood up, nodded and smiled: "Of course we will go together, how dare you trouble the imperial envoy to interrogate Su Changzhen alone."
Huang Yourong also understood Gu Quan's true thoughts, but he did not expose it and just walked out of the living room of the Su Mansion.
At this time, because the house raid had ended and it was getting late, everyone in the Su family was imprisoned in the rooms of the Su Mansion.
Among them, Su Changjin was the first offender and was given the treatment of solitary confinement.
When Huang Yourong and Gu Quan arrived at the room where Su Changzhen was being held, they found that Su Changzhen was sitting on a chair with his eyes closed, his expression much calmer than the previous few days.
After Huang Yourong entered the room, he returned to his former "smiling tiger" self. He sat down directly in front of Su Changzhen and said with a warm smile: "I have really offended Mr. Su these days, but as an imperial envoy of the imperial court, I , It’s just business, I hope Mr. Su can forgive me."
Su Changzhen slowly opened his eyes and said calmly: "It's nothing. Mr. Su is corrupt and perverts the law, and he deserves this retribution."
Huang Yourong still smiled and said: "Mr. Su, it's best if you can think about it! Now that the case has been concluded and the house confiscation has been completed, I will not deliberately make things difficult for Mr. Su. After all, there is a comradeship between you and me. Mr. Su If you have any requests, as long as they are not too excessive, I will try my best to satisfy them."
Su Changzhen suddenly smiled, with a hint of sadness in his smile, and asked: "Mr. Huang Ge came to see Mr. Su this time, probably for the sake of money, right? Mr. Huang Ge felt that the amount of silver hidden by Mr. Su was too small. You think Mr. Su must have another place to hide the silver, so you want to find out the news from Mr. Su?"
Huang Yourong sighed: "That's true. All this money will be confiscated. Naturally, I don't dare to let Mr. Su hide it, otherwise it will be difficult to explain to the court."
Su Changzhen was silent for a moment, and then said: "Su can tell Mr. Huang Ge where the rest of the silver is hidden, but Su has one request."
Huang Yourong's eyes lit up and he quickly asked, "Oh? If Master Su has any requests, just ask!"
As if he had made up his mind, Su Changzhen said slowly: "Su will have a private meeting with his daughter Su Xiuning for half an hour, and no one can disturb her during this period!"
"sure!"
Huang Yourong's expression changed slightly, and then he agreed to Su Changzhen's request.
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Well, second update!
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