fast and ferocious

Chapter 385 The Purpose of the Banquet (Third Watch)

"The man's name is Zheng Shicai. Like the deceased Mei Zhongchun, he is from Lishui County in the south of the Yangtze River. He has been a Jinshi for 15 years. That is, eight years ago, Zheng Shicai returned to Beijing to report on his work. He has been a county magistrate for several years. Now he has just been promoted to the prefect of Lichang Prefecture in Southwest Province, and he left Beijing to take up his post that day."

"The county magistrate for eight years, and now he is promoted to the magistrate, what rank is he?"

"The prefectures are divided into three classes. Those with a grain of more than 20 shi are the "Shangfu" prefects, the prefects are the third rank, those with less than 20 are the "Zhongfu" prefects, and those with less than [-] grains are the "Xiafu" prefects, and the prefects are the fourth rank." Pin, the Lichang Mansion that Zheng Shicai went to was an official of the 'Xia Fu' from the fourth rank."

"Isn't it a bit too fast to go directly from the seventh rank to the fourth rank?"

"Exactly! The magistrates have to hold a 'big plan' every three years. If they rank first in the assessment, they will be promoted as usual; Those who are in the third class stay where they are; those who are below the third class are demoted or dismissed. But before the promotion, there is a crucial step of "introduction"...the emperor needs to meet, and the promotion will be decided after the meeting."

"You mean, the emperor has seen this Zheng Shicai?"

"I must have seen it."

"The emperor asked him to leapfrog promotion?"

"Maybe it is, or maybe it's not. Before the 'introduction', the emperor first read the governor's recommendation letter. If this person has got through the joints, how to deal with the 'introduction' in person, maybe..."

"There is a shortage of officials in the southwest. Is this Lichang Mansion very close to Xichuan?"

"It is within the jurisdiction of Xichuan."

"Let's check that Zhu Baoqing first! He has been promoted from the seventh rank to the sixth rank. It seems that he has not leapfrogged, but the time is too fast! Does this kind of promotion need to be seen by the emperor?"

Guo Zheng shook his head and said: "The Ministry of Officials will definitely explain to the emperor through the booklet. This is also a routine matter, but it's just a matter of responsibility. The Emperor may not meet with him. The Ministry of Officials can handle it by itself."

Qin Wubing nodded and said:

"Master Guo, please think about the murder at the posthouse in Tonghui County. Among the murderers, some of them lived in the posthouse on the day of the crime. There is no doubt about it! When I was in Tonghui County, I felt that they delayed the report to stagger the time. One day, they wanted to forcibly change the time of the incident to the next day. In this way, it would be completely impossible to match who was at the posthouse on the day of the incident. If they really thought so, then this person must have some relationship with the deceased. The origin can be found at a glance."

Guo Zheng agreed very much, saying:

"I originally thought to check the people around Mei Zhongchun first, ask some useful questions, and then see who else is suspicious in the register, now, let's talk to Zhu Baoqing first!
"No hurry! That's what I think. When they were in Tonghui County, they used a lot of people back and forth, some of them were found from the local area, but they had to use their own people when it came to killing people and making arrangements afterwards."

Guo Zheng nodded.

Qin Wubing said again:
"Killing Mei Zhongchun was a temporary idea. At this time, the person who lives in the post house made a quick decision to do it. But, the next day, the people above this person will definitely send someone to help him finish, clean up the mess, and make suggestions. You From the capital city to Tonghui County, we have traveled for more than a day, but we can really go fast without stopping, and we should be able to get there in half a day!"

"what do you mean……"

"Look at that fake county magistrate, he never saw the person behind the scenes, but suddenly a stranger came with a token and asked him to submit obediently. What does that mean?"

Guo Zheng's eyes lit up and he said: "It means that they have arranged people to serve the fake county magistrate these years."

"Yes! But it's okay for people around the county magistrate to leave a note or something, but they can't reveal their identities. What should I do? Do I have to find someone to come forward? And that beast of the Zhao family who didn't even save Father Yin. Who is it? And those men in black, although they were all found locally, someone must arrange things for Yinzi, right?"

"They said there was a Daoist..."

"The Taoist priest is just a cover. Besides the Taoist priest, there must be other people they have met."

"did you mean……"

"I'm going to let Marquis Yongcheng hold a banquet, enjoy chrysanthemums, eat crabs, drink wine and compose poems, and invite some people from the capital to Marquis Yongcheng's mansion. These people must bring some servants, right?"

Guo Zhengteng stood up: "The people you want us to bring back...recognize them?"

Qin Wubing nodded and said:
"The fake county magistrate Tian Yougui didn't see the person from the capital this time, but he had contacted him back then, and I think there is a chance to meet again in these years, but he didn't know who the other party was; that bastard from the Zhao family met when the corpse was collected. The person did not come from the capital, so the time did not match, but someone must have looked for him the next day and added some money to let him be buried as soon as possible, so Zhao Yicheng died in the afternoon of the next day."

Guo Zheng was a little excited: "As long as someone can recognize even one person, we will know how to go next!"

"Master Guo, don't worry, there are two very important things right now. One is that among the people we brought back from Tonghui County, we can only bring two or three people to identify people. In addition to the false county magistrate, there are at most four people. Are they willing to identify carefully? Second, who will Yongchenghou invite? We have to make a list, and I will go to Yongchenghou to decide who can be invited. I can’t show up for this Hongmen banquet, or I will startle the snake. In the same way, before the banquet, that Zhu Baoqing can't ask questions, if it's really him, the people above him must be careful, some people may not be able to invite Yongchenghou."

"It's reasonable, it's reasonable! It's easy to make those people truly identify. The fake county magistrate is not in my hands. If you get him to the Ministry of Criminal Justice as soon as possible, I will naturally have a way to get them to cooperate. It's just that it's difficult to make a list. We can say that we have no clue now, how to write?"

"So, Mr. Guo will stay at my house for a while today. What is certain is that there was a problem with last year's Chunwei, and there was a problem with the year of the scientific examination of the fake county magistrate. If the emperor adds Enke next year, there must be a problem. , let's start with these three places first, and we can always find some clues. These people must be high-ranking and powerful, please ask more, and I would rather ask for mistakes than let them go!"

……

(End of this chapter)