I

"Master, master, my uncle has been arrested!"

The housekeeper rushed into the house. Before Zheng Hongyi could say anything, his wife came in crying.

Seeing that, Zheng Hongyi got a headache.

He is indeed very defensive and often protects his relatives. But this does not mean that he likes his relatives to cause trouble every now and then. His brother-in-law has long made Zheng Hongyi extremely annoying.

"What happened again?" Zheng Hongyi asked angrily.

His wife Feng Shi said in panic: "It's Shu Da's case, Ming Ju was arrested again!"

Zheng Hongyi suddenly became unhappy: "This case was concluded last year, how come it was brought up again? Is it that Mr. Fu is leaving office and wants to make a fortune before leaving?"

"It has nothing to do with Mr. Fu," Ms. Feng said. "It belongs to the Shu family. They went to the government to lodge a complaint. Mr. Fu asked someone to report the matter and asked our family to use some more money. We should not go to the prefect's office."

"That's unreasonable!"

Zheng Hongyi said angrily: "In the case of Shu Dana, money has been given to the Shu family. It has only been a year, and the case has to be overturned again. Is it possible that they complain every year and our family gives money every year? This money cannot be given. Once it is given, It’s over, it’s endless!”

Feng said worriedly: "What if the trouble comes to the magistrate's office? Mr. Li (common magistrate of the prefecture) said that the prefect has already suspected Hedi. If Shu Da's case is also targeted by the magistrate, I'm afraid... I'm afraid... "

"Don't be afraid," Zheng Hongyi raised his hand and said, "This Magistrate Huang is a maid of His Majesty. Our daughter-in-law is the grand-niece of Mr. Li Ge. Magistrate Huang and Mr. Li Ge are both ministers of Conglong and their own family members. Are you still going to have trouble with your own family? Even if Magistrate Huang doesn't give me the Zheng family's face, I still have to save some face for Mr. Li Ge."

Zheng Hongyi said to the housekeeper again: "Go to the court and watch to see what is going on. Also, ask the Shu family why they want to overturn the case. Do they not want to live anymore?"

Two hours later, the housekeeper came back and reported: "Master, the Shu family said that they did not reverse the case. It was the Fan family who filed the complaint herself."

Zheng Hongyi frowned and murmured to himself: "A woman who has remarried, why would she risk offending the Zheng family and suddenly come out to complain to her ex-husband?"

The steward hesitated to speak.

"Say!" Zheng Hongyi scolded.

The housekeeper said: "Master, I heard that all the money we gave was swallowed up by the Shu family, and not a penny was left for Fan. Not only that, the Shu family also forced Fan to remarry to Longyou. A widower. The widower is fifty years old. In order to marry Fan, he gave the Shu family a full five taels of silver as a betrothal gift."

Zheng Hongyi was startled when he heard this, and then he didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "The Shu family is eating both sides!"

Shu Da, who was accidentally beaten to death, was originally a drunkard and a prodigal, and his family had already had enough of him. Family ties have faded, and it would be better to be beaten to death, not to mention getting compensation.

The Shu family swallowed up the money and almost sold Shu Da's widow to a widower in the name of remarriage.

Inside and out, making money twice, of course they will not overturn the verdict.

Zheng Hongyi said: "Send a boy to contact Fan secretly. She must have not received any money and was forced to marry an old widower. The more she thought about it, the more angry she became, so she went crazy and reported it to the official. Give her two Shiliang, tell her not to make trouble again, otherwise... what does her current husband do? "

The steward said: "Run an iron shop in Zhupeng Town."

Zheng Hongyi said: "If she makes trouble again, her blacksmith shop will be unable to open!"

…

There are two levels of courts in the capital city of Quzhou.

One is the Xi'an County Court and the other is the Quzhou Prefecture Court.

The official position of the futifian official in charge of the prison was abolished and replaced by the futifian judge and the futixingguan (prosecutor).

The arrest of Zheng Hongyi's brother-in-law was approved by the criminal officer, and the police arrested him and held him pending trial.

In the prison, Feng Risheng lived in a single room and was drinking with the jailer.

"Mr. Feng, I have swept this room several times, but the musty smell cannot be removed. You are old and have to suffer for a few days." The head jailer said with a smile.

Feng Risheng sipped the wine and nodded in approval: "It's a good job, and I owe you a lot."

The jailer leader quickly toasted: "Thank you, Mr. Feng, for your cultivation!"

Feng Risheng said: "Have you found out what happened?"

The head jailer explained: "The Shu family collected the money but did not distribute it to Fan. They also forced Fan to remarry an old widower and took the opportunity to receive a betrothal gift. Fan must have been dissatisfied, so he came out to file a complaint and complain. The sentence was proposed. The master sent a message to ask Master Feng to stay here for a few days, and the case will be solved when Mrs. Fan is calmed down."

"What's the trouble?" Feng Risheng felt that he had been wronged.

The head jailer sighed and said, "Master Feng, today is different from the past. After Magistrate Huang was transferred to Quzhou, many things are not as easy to handle as before."

Feng Risheng sneered and said: "A woman who doesn't take care of her husband and raise her children actually came to be an official. What are you afraid of her doing, Si Chen?"

"This Magistrate Huang is, after all, the hero who followed His Majesty in the uprising in Wuxing Town," the chief jailer said. "If she were a man, she would have been a central minister. If she really pissed her off, she could bring the matter directly to the emperor. There."

Feng Risheng was also helpless about this. He shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Forget it, just think that I am unlucky to meet such a prefect."

…

Government office.

Huang Fei, also known as Xiao Hong, was chatting with a "merchant".

"How bad is Quzhou's officialdom?" Huang Fei asked.

Dai Wenmeng said: "The sentencing officers, judges, and sheriffs at the prefectural and county levels are basically rotten. This time, Fan was encouraged to appeal and reverse the case just to test the situation. The result was very bad. Although Feng Risheng was arrested, he was still There was good food and drink inside. The reason why we knew what he was like in prison was because we went in under the pretense of visiting the prisoner. We could bribe the jailer with one tael of silver, and then we walked around casually without even asking which prisoner we were visiting. .”

Huang Fei suppressed the anger in his heart and said: "It has been half a year since I was transferred to Quzhou. No matter what the matter, officials at all levels are very cooperative. The Longyou merchant gang is growing day by day, with business trips coming and going, and some factories have been built. Quzhou government pays The taxes have been rising year after year. Alas, I thought Quzhou was already under great rule, but I didn’t expect that I was just a confused official."

"Huang Fuzun does not need to blame himself," Dai Wenmeng said, "The corruption of Quzhou's officialdom did not happen overnight. It is not easy for the Fuzun to take the initiative to pick out the pustules. In the cases we have investigated, many local officials did not dare to open the windows. Paper pierced."

Huang Fei asked: "How many corrupt officials can the Metropolitan Procuratorate detect every year?"

Dai Wenmeng said: "It's hard to talk about. It happens more and more often. Last year, the corruption case of the Deputy Transport Envoy in Henan Province involved two to three hundred officials, which was much larger than the case in Quzhou. Of course, officials engaging in malpractice for personal gain, corruption and accepting bribes are generally It was done very covertly. I have never encountered someone like Quzhou who made such a fuss that the whole city knew about it in the past two years."

"Your responsibilities are more interesting than governing the local area," Huang Fei suddenly laughed, "When the Quzhou case is concluded, I will ask the Metropolitan Procuratorate to be transferred. Maybe we will be colleagues in the future."

Dai Wenmeng was stunned for a moment before he remembered that Huang Fei had a very tough background. As long as she made a request, she might be directly transferred to the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Dai Wenmeng advised: "Huang Fuzun, the censor of the New Dynasty of Datong, is not the censor of the Ming Dynasty. He is often sent to travel around the provinces, and sometimes he even sleeps in the open air. It's not that I despise women, but... women are really inconvenient. . What’s more, where my husband is..."

Huang Fei said calmly: "I'm divorced."

"Uh..." Dai Wenmeng was suddenly speechless.

…

Longyou County, Zhupeng Town.

The blacksmith is forging farm tools, making a lively noise.

A few idle men walked into the iron shop, and the apprentice hurriedly greeted them: "What do you want to make? Iron pots, iron ladles, hoes, sickles... My master can make them, and his craftsmanship is very good."

The leading idler said: "You, get out!"

"Huh?" The apprentice didn't understand.

The idle man said: "We are here to collect debts today. Your master owes us ten taels of silver."

A blacksmith about fifty years old turned around slowly when he heard this, holding a hammer and said, "I don't even know you. When did I owe you ten taels of silver?"

The idle man took out an IOU and said, "I've established a written document, and you still want to deny it?"

The blacksmith said angrily: "That's nonsense, you are blackmailing people! Shuanzi, go and report it to the official!"

The idle man sneered: "Report to the official? In Quzhou Prefecture, which official dares to take care of the Zheng family's affairs?"

The apprentices had already gone out. They stopped when they heard this and turned around to look at the blacksmith at a loss.

There are several counties in Quzhou Prefecture, and the real power of the Zheng family is in Xi'an County, which is governed by the prefecture, and Longyou County, which is next to it.

Mrs. Fan suddenly walked out of the back room and said with a cold face: "If you come at me, don't embarrass my husband!"

"close the door!"

The idle men kicked the apprentice's feet and quickly installed the door panel of the iron shop.

The leading idle man looked at Fan and suddenly felt coveted. This woman was born delicate and beautiful, and remarried a fifty-year-old blacksmith widower. She was really like a flower stuck in cow dung.

"Little lady, how about living in the city with me?" The idle man chuckled, "You, a thin-skinned person, stay in an iron shop in a country town all day long, and you will be suffocated by the fire in a few years. She’s become a yellow-faced woman.”

Mrs. Fan glanced at the idle man's crotch, and blurted out the words "tiger and wolf", and said contemptuously: "Is it just the two ounces of meat in your crotch? Do you want to take off your pants and compare with my husband?"

"Ha ha ha ha!"

When the other idle men heard this, they were immediately amused and laughed.

The leading idle man was furious, feeling that he had lost face, and immediately shouted: "Hold the blacksmith down, I want this woman to know what's wrong!"

An idle man reminded: "Fifth brother, we are here to do something. Don't ruin my job."

The leader of the idle man said: "Don't worry, the money will be taken care of. If the woman sleeps, she will not dare to say anything, and the matter will be handled more smoothly." After that, he threatened the blacksmith and his wife, "If they dare to report it to the official afterwards, , so he killed the people and burned down the shop!"

The blacksmith was not a vegetarian either. He wrapped the handle of the sickle with a rag, held the rag with both hands and gestured: "Whoever dares to come here, I will kill him!"

The sickle had just been taken out of the stove, and the blade had been burned red.

The blacksmith stepped forward and waved, scaring the idlers into retreating.

The leader of the idle man retreated and shouted: "If you have something to say, you will have a good hand. As long as my wife withdraws the complaint, I will give your family ten taels of silver... Wait, don't do anything again. How about giving me fifteen taels of silver?"

"Get out, don't want the Zheng family's dirty money!" the blacksmith roared.

A few idle men got off the door and quickly fled.

After escaping from the door, the leader of the idle men shouted again: "If you don't drink a toast, you will be fined. Be careful that your iron shop catches fire in the middle of the night!"

The blacksmith and his wife looked worried and went to the back room and said, "Boss, I'm afraid someone set a fire at night."

There are two integrity officers sitting in the room. They are dedicated to protecting safety.

Liang Tingxin slowly put the sword back into the cloth bag and said with a smile: "Arson is a serious crime, and at least you can be sentenced to exile. If you burn property or hurt people, you can be sentenced to death if appropriate!"

Many honest government officials were born as swordsmen from the Datong Society!

After Zhao Han occupied Jiangsu and Anhui, hundreds of swordsmen were recruited into the central and local anti-corruption departments.

They are not afraid of fights. If they encounter someone who commits murder or arson, they will not even think about escaping.