Fenghou

Chapter 1525 Hidden
Back in the back hall of the inner guard, Zhong Huan summoned several groups of people to meet. Zhong Huan was especially concerned about tracking down the journey of businessman Liu Jun. It's not that being coerced can explain it, it can only explain that he is one of the accomplices.

Commander Zhang Hongwen was in charge of investigating Liu Jun. He bowed and said, "General Qi, Liu Jun has been missing for half a month, and there is no news at all until now. I asked his wife and children, and they didn't know Liu Jun had gone. Where? They also expressed their great concern, and Beizhi sent people to search his study room, but found nothing suspicious."

"What did they say?"

"His wife said that she hadn't been able to sleep well for several days, and his son said that he was worried these two days because he was afraid that something would happen to his father!"

Zhong Huan nodded, then turned around and asked another commander, "Is there any news from the paper?
The commander bowed and said: "We went to Xianyang to check the papermaking workshop. It is a government-run papermaking workshop. The steward said that the output of this special paper is very small, and it is only provided to the imperial court and the Yongjing cabinet workshop. They do not supply paper to the outside world. , but apart from Jingzhao, there are at least seven factories in the south of the Yangtze River that can produce paper of this quality, and some small workshops in Suzhou can also produce paper, so it may be difficult to find clues about paper.”

"Since that's the case, stop the investigation on paper!"

Zhong Huan turned his head again and said to Zhang Hongwen: "There are loopholes in what Liu Jun's wife and children said, didn't the commander catch it?"

Zhang Hongwen hastily bowed and said: "The lowly position is stupid!"

Chong Huan said indifferently: "It is common for businessmen like Liu Jun to go out to buy and sell goods. It takes two or three months to go there. It is impossible to report to the family all the time. He has only been out for half a month. Do you think his wife Will he be so worried that he can't sleep? Will his son worry about his father's accident?"

Zhang Hongwen slapped his forehead, "That's right! Their mother and son lied."

Zhong Huan sneered and said, "I suspect that Liu Jun is hiding at home. Going to his house to lurk in the middle of the night may yield something."

At night, dozens of internal guards quietly deployed around Liu Jun's house, and three master internal guards even prostrated themselves on the roof of the main hall.

Liu Jun is a wealthy businessman. His house is located in the new city in the south of Jingzhao. The house is newly built and covers an area of ​​about one mu. There are only two front and back entrances. Since Liu Jun has not yet received an honorary officer, his family can only invite two There are servants at home, a little maid and an old domestic servant.

The honored officer system in the Yong Dynasty became more and more perfect. In order to encourage taxation, encourage the rich to do good deeds, encourage education, and encourage soldiers to serve in the army, Yong established a [-]-level honored officer system.

Honorary officers are not only related to social status, but also related to the size of the house, whether they can take concubines, the number of servants in the family, and so on.

Liu Jun is a typical example. Although he is a rich businessman, he is reluctant to donate money to charity, and because of various tax reductions, he does not pay much tax, so that he is still in vain and has not been awarded an honorary officer.

Even though he bought three acres of land, he can only build a house on one acre of land, and the other two acres of land are vacant, and he cannot marry a concubine. Some people may say that it is unnecessary to go to a brothel if you want a woman. marry a concubine.

People who say this don't understand. The ancients married concubines not for the lower body, but for the succession of the family and the prosperity of the descendants. The ancients did not have a caesarean section, and giving birth to a child was like hell. The first relationship, if the wife of the main house dies due to dystocia, the loss will be very heavy. Generally, the main house will not have more children, at most one or two, what should I do if I want to raise more sons?The only way is to marry a concubine.

Therefore, the use of honorary officers to restrict concubines has hit the heart of many wealthy families and wealthy businessmen, so the honorary officer system can also be implemented smoothly.

But this Liu Jun is a special case. Not to mention being stingy, he still tries to take advantage of loopholes. For example, his family has a cook at home. This is a workaround, buying the service of cooking at home.

Time gradually reached the third watch, and the surroundings were silent, and almost everyone was asleep.

At this time, the door of the left wing room in the courtyard creaked open, and a middle-aged woman came out of the room, holding a small food box in her hand. It was Liu Jun's wife.

The inner guard soldier lying on the roof regained his spirits, and three pairs of eyes fixed on this woman.

The woman came to the well, put the food box in the bucket, put it down slowly, and pulled up the bucket after a while, but the food box was gone.

The three inner guard soldiers looked at each other in blank dismay, it turned out that there was something else in the well.

Half an hour later, the inner guard came to the door and knocked open the door. Liu Jun's wife and son ran out, and Liu Jun's son said angrily, "We told you during the day that we don't know the whereabouts of my father. What are you going to do?" How about it?"

Zhang Hongwen sneered and said, "Our soldiers are thirsty, and I want to borrow some well water from your family!"

He pointed to the well in the yard, and the expressions of the mother and son changed drastically. Liu Jun's wife plopped down on her knees, "Please let my officials go!"

Zhang Hongwen ignored her, and said to Liu Jun's son, "We poisoned him to come up, or he came up by himself!"

Liu Jun's son was helpless, so he had to go to the nearby sundries warehouse to take out a long ladder, put it into the well, and found a copper gong, and beat it three times in the well.

After a while, a disheveled man crawled out of the well, and complained as he climbed, "I told you to put less salt, so I can't remember."

As soon as he looked up, he saw the inner guard soldiers all over the yard. He was so frightened that his face turned pale and he didn't dare to move. Two inner guard soldiers directly lifted him out of the well.

Liu Jun kowtowed on the ground and begged for mercy, "I am not Korean, I was forced by them, there is no way!"

Liu Jun's words revealed important information, Zhang Hongwen immediately said: "Bring their family back to the inner guard!"

Liu Jun's son struggled desperately and didn't want to go. Zhang Hongwen glared fiercely, "I brought you back to the inner guard to protect you, are you staying here waiting to be slaughtered?"

The three of them hurried out, boarded an inner guard carriage, and quickly disappeared into the darkness.

. . . . . .
Zhong Huan slept in the inner guard. When he heard that Liu Jun had been caught, he immediately got up and interrogated himself.

Liu Jun didn't dare to hide anything, and explained what happened in every detail.

The incident happened three months ago. A few years ago, he had partnered with a Korean businessman to do business. Later, the two had conflicts over the distribution of profits, so they parted ways.

Three months ago, this Korean businessman found him suddenly and was willing to sell him a batch of high-quality cloth at [-]% lower than the market price. The county picked up the goods, and the counter ticket was also given to the other party.

Although it was strange to use counter tickets so recently, Liu Jun made a deal with the other party because of the cheapness of the goods.

But a few days later, the other party found him again, returned the counter ticket to him, and asked him to pay with copper coins. Although Liu Jun thought the other party was annoying, he still complied. gave it to the other party.

After another two months, the other party asked him to do business again, still under the same conditions as last time, and asked him to issue a money invoice, because Liu Jun had tasted the sweetness last time, so he readily agreed.

Unexpectedly, the other party put forward a new cooperation proposal, asking him to get a group of old soldiers and go to Japan to exchange for silver.

"Wait a minute!"

Zhong Huan suddenly heard something strange, and asked him, "Why did the other party ask you to engage in old soldiers? You have done this kind of business before?"

Liu Jun stammered, "I did a little business with Huaixi Zhang Jun before."

Zhong Huan said coldly: "The matter is very important, I advise you to tell the truth, don't let me threaten you with your son's hand and ear."

Liu Jun's face was pale, and he lowered his head and said, "Zhang Jun and I are from the same village. The Korean merchant came to me because he wanted to buy a batch of armor from Zhang Jun at a high price. Zhang Jun agreed and sold it to the Korean merchant for [-] yuan through me. A spear and [-] war knives, I took [-] guan for this business, which is the capital of my start-up, and I later changed to the cloth business.”

Chong Huan still feels that there is still a problem. Since he is no longer in the military business, what is the point of the Korean people looking for him?This Liu Jun still has something to hide. "

"If you don't tell the truth, we won't be able to catch the Koreans, and you will still be killed by them. If you continue to hide, you are harming yourself and your family. You have to think about it yourself!"

Zhong Huan hit the nail on the head, and hit the point in one sentence.

Liu Jun's lips trembled violently, and he suddenly knelt down and wept, "I confess, everything I just said is false. I will confess again, and I dare not hide it anymore."

(End of this chapter)