"explain!"
"explain!"
"Say it or not?!"
The sounds of interrogating prisoners came from Liangchengfu Yamen Prison located on the coast.
"Yo ho, you have a tough mouth."
Seeing that the person in front of him was so harsh, the prison head glanced at the jailer on the side, waved his hand and said: "Come here, torture me!"
"yes!"
This cell leader, whose surname is Zheng and whose given name is Cang, has a fat figure and a thick yellow face with a thick beard that almost covers his face. He does look a bit majestic when he walks.
The somewhat thin people tied to the humanoid frame were the people who broke the sea ban, that is, Zimo, a man from He Zhai in Xitong County.
He was thin and frail, but now he had many wounds on his body. These wounds were all caused by being beaten in prison in the past few days.
Before Zimo could relax, a soldering iron was pressed against his belly.
The hot red soldering iron touched Zimo's body, and suddenly thick smoke billowed out, and the smell of barbecue filled the air.
It was so hot that there was a lot more sweat on Zimo's forehead, and a loud cry changed the air in the entire prison.
Seeing the prisoner's unbearable pain, prison head Zheng continued the interrogation: "Will you tell me?"
Thinking about the safety of the second young master and He Zhai, Zimo chose not to say anything.
Since the sea ban was implemented, there has been a new case in every coastal state capital almost every day.
"You boy, you are really capable. It's been a few days and you still don't want to talk about it, right?" After saying this, Prison Head Zheng looked at the jailer aside and ordered: "Continue."
Just as he was about to continue, a voice came over: "Put it down!"
Looking back, it turned out to be the prefect. Seeing the prefect approaching with a smile on his face, he seemed to know what was going on. The jailer put the soldering iron in his hand back into the charcoal basin and continued to burn it.
This prefect, whose surname is Gu and given name is Jiantong, has a figure that is neither thin nor fat, but his face is really ugly. When he smiles, his face becomes even uglier.
But he is the prefect, and some people dare to laugh at his appearance in front of him.
Coming closer, Magistrate Gu sat on a chair in front of the prisoner Zimo, looked at the prisoner with a smile, and said, "Your name is Zhu Zimo, right?"
Hearing the words of the official in front of him, the servant Zimo raised his head in disbelief and looked at the prefect with a surprised face.
"You don't have to look at me like that." Magistrate Gu smiled slightly, and then continued: "Let me tell you this, I have already found out your identity."
After saying that, Magistrate Gu stood up, clucked his lips, sighed, and wandered in front of the prisoner Zimo: "Hey, this is a violation of the sea ban, and my head is not safe. What kind of house is this? It won't last more than a few days. It's a pity, it's a pity. You said, the inheritance of these generations is now destroyed by a servant like you, what will the ancestors of the He family think of you?"
Listening to the words of the official in front of him, the servant Zi Mo began to panic and begged for mercy: "My lord, my lord! Please do me a favor and keep this matter private. Do you think it's okay?"
"Private?" Magistrate Gu looked at the prisoner Zimo with a smile on his face: "I have been an official for so many years, and I have never seen any cases. It seems... this is... the first time someone dares to be so bold. I have a personal complaint with you." After saying this, Magistrate Gu smiled.
After sighing, Magistrate Gu continued: "Privately
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...This...it's okay...but this..." Magistrate Gu made a gesture.
That gesture seems to mean money. Who doesn’t love money?
"How much do you want?" the prisoner Zimo asked.
"This is the number." Magistrate Gu made a gesture.
Looking at that gesture, prisoner Zimo suddenly became happy: "It's just twelve liang. I'll give it to you when I get back."
Hearing what the prisoner Zimo said, Magistrate Gu became anxious: "What ten liang? Send me away?"
"One hundred taels?" the prisoner Zimo guessed.
Magistrate Gu shook his head: "One hundred taels less, this is not enough for me to stuff my teeth."
"One thousand taels?" Prisoner Zimo continued to guess.
This time, Magistrate Gu finally nodded: "Yes, yes, one thousand taels, how about it?"
Listening to what Magistrate Gu said, in the past, one thousand taels was not a big sum, but the He family's business was only one or two hundred taels a year. How many years of hard work would it take? The annual tax collected by the court was less than one hundred taels of silver this year. Especially in the past few years, when I only earned twenty or thirty taels of silver a year, I suddenly felt that this was a large amount.
The prisoner Zimo suddenly took away his smiling face and became dejected.
Seeing the dejected look on the prisoner Zimo's face, Magistrate Gu also removed his smiling face and sat down on the chair.
"It's a pity, no one can be protected now." Magistrate Gu said.
Looking at the proud look of the official in front of him, thinking about the one thousand taels of silver he had just mentioned, and thinking about the current situation of the He family, he began to beg: "My lord, my lord! Please do me a favor, and please give me some more." Lower it."
Seeing that the prisoner in front of him wanted to save the lives of everyone in the He family, Magistrate Gu said: "Then eight hundred taels."
Upon hearing the price, the prisoner Zimo still felt that it was a bit high: "Master, please do yourself a favor and make it lower, lower."
Magistrate Gu had a look of reluctance on his face: "Lower? Eight hundred taels is already very low. Now you are short of two hundred taels of silver, so why don't you tell me to keep it low?"
The prisoner Zimo begged for mercy again: "Master, this... this is mainly because it is too much. If we could have collected it a few years ago, but in the past few years, the court has collected too many taxes, and this... family property is not much. , you go lower."
Seeing the prisoner Zimo pleading like this, Magistrate Gu finally lowered the price a little: "Then it's seven hundred taels, and we can't lower it any more."
Listening to this price, the prisoner Zimo knew that he was hopeless. Although the He family could earn a hundred or so taels of silver every year, once the court collected taxes, they would only earn one or twenty taels of silver this year. When the magistrate of Shangzhi County took away the people's wealth and anointing, there was not much money left that year.
"What? Is it still too high?" Magistrate Gu asked.
Seeing the dejected look on the prisoner Zimo's face, he knew he couldn't take it out: "Oh, it's over, it's over now."
"Master, is there any way to save me besides money?" Zimo asked again with hope.
"Well." Seeing how loyal Zimo was to the He family, Magistrate Gu thought of a way: "Then it depends on whether you are willing."
"Master, please tell me." The prisoner Zimo looked at Magistrate Gu expectantly.
"Isn't it because you can make a lot of money overseas that you secretly want to sell the brocade? You can do this big deal."
"Really?" Zimo was a little afraid.
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A trusting face looked at Magistrate Gu.
"but……"
"But what? Guan Ye, tell me."
"But how about sharing half of the money earned with me?"
Upon hearing this, Zimo smiled and said, "Okay, okay."
Seeing Zimo's happy face, Magistrate Gu said: "Don't worry, I haven't finished speaking yet."
"Master, please tell me."
"How about selling all the brocades from your He family overseas?" Magistrate Gu asked.
In this way, Zimo is not a fool. Although he does not have much education, how dare he do this as he knows how to settle accounts and know the law.
Since the implementation of the sea ban, it has been stipulated that neither local officials nor ordinary people can go to sea. Those who go to sea to fish will receive forty boards. Those who go to sea to do business, if the amount is relatively small or cannot be traded, once discovered, the whole family will be hanged; The whole family of those who commit a large number of crimes and repeat the crime will be punished with languishing.
Although both are dead, the difference is that the method of death is different. The latter is more miserable than the former. The former can at least leave a whole body, but the latter has no such chance.
No matter how much brocade is sold and no matter how much silver is obtained, the money will probably be in the hands of those officials before it becomes hot.
"Don't agree?" Magistrate Gu asked again.
Seeing that the prisoner Zi Mo remained silent, Magistrate Gu lost his patience: "Just don't agree, that's all. In short, the people of the He family can't be saved." After saying this, Magistrate Gu turned around and walked out of the prison door, leaving behind Next words: "I will continue to torture him without asking any more questions until he dies."
Gu Zhifu's words made Chief Zheng and the jailers who were doing the torture suddenly feel a lot more relaxed, because they didn't have to ask, they could torture him however they wanted until he died.
"Boy." Prison leader Zheng looked at the prisoner Zimo with a smile, and then said: "You are the most capable and loyal guy I have ever seen. It's a pity that you are with the wrong master." After saying this, prison head Zheng waved his hand, and the two jailers began to use torture.
It was getting darker and darker, and kerosene lamps were lit in the streets and alleys of Xitong County.
The streets and alleys were illuminated by kerosene lamps, which made the road much clearer.
Of course, these kerosene lamps were not hung by that kind person, but by the money provided by the county government, which was obtained from the mouths of the people.
"Isn't it too much for what you did today?" His wife Xu Yiling's voice came from a room in He's house.
In the room, a very weak kerosene lamp was still shining with all its strength, but there was not much oil in the lamp.
He Hansheng stood by the window, looking at Jing'er outside the window without saying a word.
Thinking that her husband couldn't hear, his wife Xu Yiling asked again: "Isn't it too much for what you did today?"
After waiting for a moment, but seeing that her husband still had not answered her, the wife walked over, stood beside her husband, and said, "I just asked you, didn't you hear?"
Husband He Hansheng sighed, turned around, looked at his wife who was a little angry, and came back: "But it's still too light. Think about it, just because of him, the whole He family has to lose their lives." , do you think so?"
After hesitating for a moment, his wife asked, "But if you let him go, what will you do if the government comes to ask who ordered it?"
"Don't worry, I have a way. Go back to sleep."
(End of chapter)
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