A guard standing in the lobby of the Yamen touched one of the wooden boxes with his hand and said with emotion: "No wonder even the ship's planks were crushed. Such a heavy box and even the ship's planks cannot bear it."
Several other Jin Yiwei nodded in agreement.
No one doubted that Xu Tong was killed, and they believed that the ferry was broken by so much gold and silver that it sank into the river.
Not long after, Zhou Captou came back from outside.
When he came to Yuan Hong, he said: "Sir, the carriage is ready and waiting outside the Yamen."
Yuan Hong took a look outside and saw that there was indeed a carriage parked outside the door, with a driver standing next to it, holding a whip in his hand.
"Sir, what do you think I should do if I am still young?" asked Captain Zhou.
Yuan Hong thought for a while and said, "Find a few servants to carry all the evidence onto the carriage."
The physical evidence is the wooden boxes in the lobby.
"You guys, come here." Zhou Baotou waved to the officer not far away.
As the head catcher, his status in the yamen was only lower than that of the principal of the Six Houses. In the yamen, ordinary yamen servants and servants did not dare to disobey his orders.
Six or seven police officers came over.
These are all white servants, which are very different from serious yamen servants. They are considered as helpers, and their status is considered to be the lowest among the yamen.
"Captain Zhou, what are your orders?" One of the guards said to Capt Zhou humbly.
Captain Zhou pointed to a few wooden boxes in the lobby and said, "You guys carry these boxes onto the carriage outside."
"Can you carry them all over?" one of the guards asked.
"Yes, carry them all over." Captain Zhou nodded.
Originally, these boxes were carried to the lobby by these officers. Now that they heard that they were about to be carried out on the carriage outside, several officers skillfully lifted a wooden box and moved it outside the lobby.
Zhou Captou stood in the lobby, reluctantly watching the last wooden box being carried onto the carriage.
Others didn't know it, but he knew that these wooden boxes were filled with silver. The dozen or so taels of silver that were originally allocated to him were also in these wooden boxes.
There was still some gold, but neither the county master nor the head of the sixth house mentioned it, and he didn't dare to ask. He just pretended that he didn't know about it and just took the money back.
He also led people to put the seal on the wooden box overnight.
After all the wooden boxes were loaded onto the carriage, Yuan Hong said to Zhou Captou: "Tell Mr. Wu for me that I have returned to Beijing."
"Don't worry, sir. I will definitely bring the words to you." Zhou Captou forced a smile on his face.
Yuan Hong took out a piece of silver from his sleeve, handed it to Zhou Captou through the sleeve, and said, "You have worked hard these past two days, so use this little silver to drink."
The hand was cold, and when Zhou touched it he knew it was silver. His eyes lit up immediately, and he smiled and said: "It's not hard, everything is for the imperial court, it's a small job."
Weighing the silver in his hand, there were almost ten taels, which made him feel much more comfortable.
Yuan Hong turned around, called the other Jinyi guards, and walked out of the Yamen.
Zhou Captou walked all the way to the yamen, watching these royal guards get on their horses, and walked away along the street with the carriage pulling the wooden box, before he looked back.
But at this moment, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a somewhat familiar figure among the crowd at the Yamen Gate.
When he looked over again, he found that the figure had disappeared, as if it had never appeared.
"I've been busy all night, and my eyes are a little blurry." Zhou Captou muttered, then turned and returned to the Yamen.
Not far from the Yamen, there is a tea stall.
A man sat at the tea stall and said to the people in front of him: "As soon as these Jin Yiwei leave, Xu Tong's case should come to an end. You can no longer stay here. The above has given you two choices. One is to go Doing things on the grassland, and the other one is taking a boat to Da Yuan Island.”
"I used to be a boatman. I usually carried people across rivers. I'm afraid I'm not used to going to the grassland. I'd better go to Da Yuan Island! Maybe I'll have the opportunity to continue rowing in the future." The speaker was a middle-aged man. .
If Assistant Liu were here, he would definitely be able to recognize him as the boatman of the ferry where Xu Tong drowned.
The man said: "I will report your choice to the superiors, but there is a sea on the other side of Da Yuan Island, which is very different from the ferry you were at before."
The boatman said with a smile: "I have become accustomed to dealing with water over the years. Whether it is a sea or a big river, the word "water" cannot be escaped from left to right."
The man said: "Okay, since you want to go to Da Yuan Island, hurry up and pack up. Go to Lingqiu first. The people above will arrange for you to take a boat to Da Yuan Island."
"Don't leave in a hurry. Those Jin Yiwei just took away several wooden boxes, which contained Xu Tong's ill-gotten gains over the years. I want to take action with our people." The boatman said.
The man shook his head and said: "No, you can't show your face. Who knows if any of those Jinyi guards have seen you or seen your portrait. If someone recognizes you, Xu Tong's case will have twists and turns again."
The boatman thought for a while, then sighed and said, "Okay, I'll go back and pack my things to go to Lingqiu now."
The man nodded, then stood up and shouted into the tea shop: "Shopkeeper, the tea money is here."
"Okay!" the tea stall owner agreed from inside.
The boatman picked up the tea bowl, drank the tea in one gulp, stood up and walked into the crowd of people on the street, blending in and disappearing.
Yuan Hong led Jin Yiwei out of the east gate of the county and headed east.
Because there were several boxes of silver on the carriage, the carriage could not move very fast, and a few guards in royal robes could only follow along and move forward slowly.
After driving for most of the day, we were only a few dozen miles away from the county seat.
If it weren't for the carriage, just a few of them would have entered Beizhili territory by now.
"Sir, why don't we find a place to rest first? Even if we are not tired, the horses will be tired after running for so long." A guard in Jinyi said to Yuan Hong who was walking in front.
Yuan Hong turned back and glanced at the carriage following him, and then said: "Drive forward a little further and wait until there is a place to rest in front of you."
The driver of the carriage said at this time: "If you want to take a rest, there is a Tiger Flag Mule and Horse Company fifteen miles ahead. You can rest there."
Yuan Hong said: "Okay, just go to that mule and horse store to rest."
Several Jinyi guards were all wearing brocade clothes, with embroidered spring knives hanging on their waists. They looked like they were not easy to offend, and pedestrians on the road gave way to them when they saw them.
Some businessmen traveling south and north knew that these people were Jin Yiwei, and they were all members of the official family. They would rather not take this road than go with these Jin Yiwei for fear of causing trouble.
There were not many pedestrians on the official road, but when there were some people hiding from them, there were even fewer pedestrians on the road.
Half an hour later, Yuan Hong took his royal guards and carriage to a mule and horse shop named Hu Ziqi.
When they stopped, the clerk from the mule and horse shop ran out and said, "Are you guys going to eat or stay in the hotel?"
"Eat." Yuan Hong said, and then added, "Feed our horses with good feed. After dinner, we have to go on the road."
"Guests, don't worry, I promise to take good care of you." The store clerk promised.
