Good son-in-law of the Ming Dynasty

"Get up!" Yang Zilie helped Ma Quan up with a smile, his smile was serene and calm.

This is not the back garden of the Cangzhou Yamen, nor the Tongzhi Hall of the prefectural Yamen, but the signing room of the Changlu Salt Political Envoy.

There was no one else, and the entire Yansi government office was deadly silent.Everyone realized that what happened tonight was related to the lives of tens of millions of people. Officials and petty officials were on duty all night, but they all walked on tiptoe, not even daring to breathe loudly.

Although Yang Zilie is a co-prefect in Cangzhou, his personal fate has already been tied to Liu Kong and Yu Jingting, so he doesn't care about avoiding suspicion at the moment, and sits directly in the Yansi signing room and waits.

But what came back was such bad news.

It is conceivable that he didn't know what it would be like to be furious.

Ma Quan knelt on the ground, trembling uncontrollably, sweat dripping all over the floor.As long as someone leans into him, he can clearly feel a rush of heat.

The matter of the three elders was ruined, and Ma Quan knew that this matter could not be done well.His status is humble, so he can't go to Mr. Liu's place. As for Mr. Jing, he doesn't have the guts to face it.

After much deliberation, the only option is to plead guilty to Yang Zilie.

On the way here, he also expected that with his relationship with Mr. Yang, he would probably escape his life, but being punished by him was inevitable.

Unexpectedly, Yang Zilie was so kind, which made him feel a little uneasy: "This subordinate is guilty of death, please punish him!"

But Yang Zilie helped him up and sighed: "It's not your fault, it's my fault. I heard that Mei Fugui is the son-in-law of Wu Tui, the official of Yangzhou Prefecture, and Mr. Wu happened to pass by Cangzhou. Ordinarily, when Mei Fugui was sent to the Salt Division, when encountering such a thing, most people would intercede through his in-law's relationship; or they would simply run away and go to Yangzhou with his father-in-law to hide for a few years."

He touched his hot forehead: "But I don't want to, this Mei Fugui turned out to be a ruthless character, not only did not leave, but went into the armory to be a guard. That's all, he is going to die, we are the beauty of adults. But he He even teamed up with his father-in-law to capture the armory, which is always unexpected. What can we do when we meet such a person?"

Ma Quan's sweat subsided a bit, and he wasn't so frightened: "My lord, after all, Guan Wu Tui is also an official of the imperial court, he has soldiers at hand, and a villain with a humble status, but he dare not make mistakes, so he can only come back and report. "

Yang Zilie: "Well, you are right to do this, you have worked hard, go down and rest, everything is up to me, Lord Liu, and Lord Jing."

Ma Quan didn't expect this to happen like this, he didn't expect it, he stuttered a bit: "Master... what should I do over there?"

Yang Zilie smiled: "Don't worry, you step back!"

This is Ma Quan's complete peace of mind, and he is also grateful: Master Yang is indeed a kind person.

Then, he carefully reminded: "My lord, that official promotion is only the seventh grade, not as high as yours. Let alone compare with Liu Shitong and Jing Fushi. I'm afraid that a senior official will crush people to death." You have to go out yourself."

"Good idea." Yang Zilie patted him on the shoulder and dismissed Ma Quan kindly.

As soon as Ma Quan left, Yang Zilie's face turned cold, and he hurried into the back room of the signing room.

Two thick tallow candles were lit inside, and Liu Kong and Jing Ting sat suddenly. There were more than a dozen books on the table in front of them, and an abacus in front of them.And Jing Ting was holding a pen in his hand, apparently doing a final check.

The two of them sat in the middle of the matter of the armory just now, so naturally they heard everything without missing a word, and their faces were ashen.

Jing Ting was in a hurry, threw the pen in his hand on the ground, and cursed rudely: "It's time to make accounts and accounts, what are you doing now? Ma is incompetent and not good at doing things. We are all punished by him." Killed."

Yang Tongzhi also let out a long sigh: "My lords, the imperial envoy Yang Ting and your lord will be arriving in Cangzhou at the latest in the afternoon. There is such a big gap in the treasury, so we have to find a way to fill it up. I didn't expect such a simple matter, immediately. Quan can be messed up, what, what! Yang Tinghe will join the cabinet sooner or later. Now, such a big incident in Cangzhou is a good opportunity for him to gain political prestige, and I would not let it go. This time, we're in big trouble."

Hearing what they said, Jing Ting's face turned pale.

At this time, a silent Liu Konghe sighed: "Ma Quan should not have been allowed to handle this matter in the first place, and Mei Fugui should not have been involved for the sake of personal expense and revenge. Otherwise, if It’s not that Mei, who picked someone at random to be a scapegoat, and got things done without anyone noticing, how could it be cooked as raw rice?”

He shook his gray head and said, "I've heard about the case of Mei. This person was supposed to be an ordinary farmer who was conscripted to the front line of Datong. A future. For the sake of his own wealth, regardless of the family already has a wife, he put his face in his arms and married the daughter of a Yangzhou Tuiguan. It is really morally corrupt and shameless."

"That's all right. When the old wife at home came to the door, she was under house arrest and said that her first wife had lost her mind. This kind of shameless, lifeless, shameless person who knows what she wants and what she should do Is the villain so good-looking? Ma Quan is a scumbag, and even if he messes with this kind of person, even if he dies a hundred times, it will not be enough to cover his crime."

Speaking of this, Liu Konghe, who has always been generous, has already gritted his teeth.

Jing Ting also glared at Yang Zilie: "Master Yang is indeed a good subordinate!"

There was already great dissatisfaction in his tone.

Feeling guilty, Yang Zilie bowed his head and said nothing. When he thought of the serious consequences of this matter, he became anxious again, and said, "The key now is how to wipe out the deficit within half a day."

Jing Ting said angrily: "Could it be possible that you and I will take the soldiers to take back the armory and then set fire to it. So, do you really think that Yang Tinghe is a fool? Not only is it not clear about the deficit, but I'm afraid he will He was charged with intentionally burning the arsenal."

Yang Zilie was at a loss for words: "The lower officials didn't mean to burn the arsenal."

"If you don't burn it, so what? Could it be that Mr. Yang still pays for the shortfall out of his own pocket?"

Yang Zilie was slightly angry, and said in a high voice, "I'm just a co-prefect of Cangzhou, and I can't blame me for the shortfall of this salt depot."

"It's a joke, you, Yang Zilie, didn't refuse when the money was distributed."

Seeing the two arguing together, Liu Konghe said: "Quiet, now is not the time to quarrel. Indeed, it is meaningless to burn the armory again. The most important thing now is to find a way to make up for the deficit. We must go to Cangzhou after Yang Tinghe It will be done before. By the way, how much money have we borrowed?"

Jing Ting: "It's only less than 10 taels."

Liu Konghe was slightly taken aback: "So few?"

Jing Ting: "Time is too short, and the salt merchants say they don't have much cash on hand."

"No, they have money." Liu Konghe shook his head: "As far as I know, although the salt merchants in Cangzhou City don't have much cash on hand, it shouldn't be a problem to collect 60 to [-] yuan in one day, so There is also room for relaxation. Now let’s stop gossiping and immediately split up to find people. Even if it is threats, we have to force the money out. Let’s just say, if we don’t give money, they won’t be able to get a catty of official salt from us next year. .”

Yang and Jing both nodded, saying that they would split up and go out immediately, and they must raise 60 million taels of cash for emergency before noon.

Looking up, the sky outside has already dawned, but this night has passed in a blink of an eye, it flies so fast!

At this time, a small official quickly ran into the signing room, and rushed straight into the back room: "Commitment officer, deputy envoy..."

The voice was full of panic.

Originally, not anyone could break into the signing room, let alone at this juncture.Jing Ting raised his eyebrows, and was about to reprimand him.

The little official said anxiously: "The imperial court..."

"What about the imperial court?" The hearts of the three sank, and they asked at the same time.

"The imperial envoy of the imperial court has arrived."

"Where is it now?" Liu Konghe asked urgently, and then repeatedly said to Yang Zilie: "Zilie, you are a magistrate, go to see Yang Tinghe immediately, no matter what reason you use, delay him all morning."

Before Yang Zilie could nod his head, the little official said again: "After the imperial envoy entered the city, he didn't go anywhere, and went directly into the silver treasury of our Salt Division!"

"What!" The three of them yelled at the same time, their voices full of despair.

It happened!

It happened!

"Mei Fugui!" The three of them spat out the name at the same time, because this small inspection was involved, it became irreversible.

……

Ma Quan came out of the signing room, thinking that it was inevitable that he would have to accept the wrath of Yang Tongzhi and the other two adults, but he didn't want to just gently expose it to the side.

He breathed a sigh of relief, grateful and proud at the same time in his heart, he thought: Master Yang still values ​​me Ma Quan very much, he treats me Ma Quan as his first-class caring person, naturally he is reluctant to have any punishment.

Ma Quan had his own resting room in Yansi. He also knew that the matter was very important today, so he didn't dare to sleep, so he made a pot of strong tea and sat on a chair in a daze.

After about an hour, I drank all the tea, and the sky outside also opened.

There was a knock on the door.

When I opened it, it turned out that they were two servants of the Yan Division.

These two people, Ma Quan, also knew each other, they were Deputy Envoy Jing Tingjing's confidants.One of them held a large stack of mulberry paper in his hand, which looked very strange.

Ma Quanqiang asked with a smile: "It turned out that it was Ah Da and Ah Er Ge who came here so early. Do the three adults have any orders?"

Before he finished speaking, Ah Da suddenly rushed forward, stretched out his hand and pinched his throat, and squeezed Ma Quan's scream back into his stomach.

What a big man, he was quick to move, and he took off Ma Quan's jaw in one stroke, and then "cracked and cracked" a few times, pulling Ma Quan's hands out of their joints.

It is actually a beautiful hand that splits the tendons and removes the bones. This technique can also be ranked among the top few in Cangzhou City.

Ma Quan was in so much pain that he was sweating like rain, but he couldn't cry out.

Just as he was about to resist, Ah Er came over with his legs like lightning and kicked his two calves off.

Ma Quan also knows this trick, typical skirt feet.

Looking at the toes of his official boots, I don't know when the stainless steel toe caps were installed.

This time the horse fell limply to the ground, and the fear in my heart surged up like a tide.

A piece of mulberry paper was placed on his head, and then a stream of cold water poured over him.

Then there is another one, another cold water.

Just like that, layers of green mulberry paper were covered on Ma Quan's face.

Ma Quan held his breath in his chest and couldn't get it out, as if he was about to explode.

Ah Da whispered in Ma Quan's ear: "Ma Quan, you messed up your errand, Mr. Jing said that you will not be allowed to stay any longer. It is also Mr. Yang's kindness, saying that he rewarded you with a dead body for Mr. Yang's sake. rest in peace!"