Please don't force me to be a god.

Judging from his appearance and age, it must be Xu Wen's second uncle Xu Jingye.

Xu Jingye was thin, but his skin was loose. It was obvious that he was a fat man before he went in.

Dragging the chain, Xu Jingye came to the hall weakly, and knelt down naturally without looking at who was in the hall.

"Greetings, sir."

Xu Wen hurried forward, ignoring the dust on the ground, sat on the ground and looked at Xu Jingye, saying: "Second uncle, second uncle, are you in good health? I am Wen'er."

Xu Jingye looked up and was surprised and happy, saying: "Wen'er? You came to save me? Did you pass the imperial examination? What place did you get?"

"Second uncle, it's not time for the imperial examination yet."

"Oh? Then how did you find me?"

In Xu Jingye's opinion, it must be that his nephew passed the imperial examination and had a reputation, so that he could get himself out of the prison.

Xu Wen said: "I begged the immortal master to help me, and the prime minister and the minister of the court also helped me, so I found you."

"Ah?"

This short sentence contained too much information, which scared Xu Jingye a little confused.

What is an immortal master? Could it be that his nephew worshipped a very powerful teacher? But shouldn't he be called a teacher?

As for the prime minister and the minister, they are even more like heaven.

In the past, it was a big deal to have a little relationship with them, but now they come to help me?

Looking up, I saw a row of court bigwigs sitting on both sides.

Judging from the official uniforms, they are all first- and second-rank officials, and those fourth- and fifth-rank officials are all on the edge.

Xu Jingye had sent portraits of the prime minister and others to Xu Wen, so he naturally recognized Prime Minister Cai and others, and hurriedly knelt down and saluted, saying: "I am Xu Jingye, a commoner, and I greet the prime minister, the minister, and all the lords."

Prime Minister Cai smiled and said: "Mr. Xu, please don't be polite. We are here with Master Zhang to listen to your case."

As he said, he turned to the prefect of Lin'an who was sitting in the hall and said: "Master Teng, I see that the prisoner is weak. Why not remove his chains and give him a chair so that the prisoner can have the strength to state the case."

Prefect Teng hurriedly said: "Of course."

As the prefect of the imperial capital, the streets are full of bigwigs and dignitaries, which is actually the most difficult job.

According to historical records, there were 150 prefects of Lin'an Prefecture in the Southern Song Dynasty, and the average term of office was less than one year.

It can be seen that this position is dangerous.

Although the timeline has now forked and the Southern Song Dynasty has become the Nan'an Dynasty, the situation has not changed much.

Seeing that the prime minister had spoken, the prefect would not confront Prime Minister Cai on such a small matter.

Xu Wen and Xu Jingye bowed hurriedly: "Thank you, Prime Minister."

Soon, a yamen runner untied Xu Jingye's chains and brought up a chair.

Xu Wen said: "Uncle, this is my nephew's immortal master, his surname is Zhang and his name is Tianshangxian."

"The immortal master is an immortal from the nine heavens, and his immortal power is boundless. Uncle, you must not be disrespectful."

"Immortal... immortal?" Xu Jingye was still a little confused.

Wasn't his nephew a scholar? How did he get mixed up with "immortal"?

Xu Jingye naturally thought that this "immortal" was a respectful title for those high monks and Taoists.

However, this Taoist master was neither a monk nor a Taoist, his appearance was strange, and his age was about the same as Xu Wen, which was really different from the image of an immortal in his imagination.

"Uncle." Xu Wen gestured to Xu Jingye to kowtow.

Just as Xu Jingye was about to kowtow, Zhang Tian came over and gently helped him onto the chair.

On the one hand, Zhang Tian didn't like others kneeling, and on the other hand, he was also showing an attitude to all officials.

"No need to be polite. Xu Wen is my disciple. In fact, Mr. Xu and I are still a family."

Xu Jingye hurriedly said, "I don't deserve it... the immortal calls me Mr., just call me Xiao Xu."

After a round of polite words.

Zhang Tian sat back in his original position, and Xu Wen stood beside him.

The prefectural governor, Lord Teng, was also very straightforward and said, "Xu Jingye, after investigation, your nephew Xu Wen, Xu Xiucai, came to testify that the portraits sent to Xiangyang were all sent to him."

"Therefore, there is no question of the crime of collaborating with the enemy. From now on, he will be acquitted."

"Xu Jingye, do you have anything to say?"

If it were in the past, Xu Jingye would burn incense and worship Buddha if he could get away. Now, this happiness came a little too suddenly and he couldn't react.

Xu Wen said: "Uncle, now there is the immortal master present, and the prime minister and minister of the current dynasty are also listening."

"If there is any grievance, please speak up, they will naturally make a decision for you."

When he said the word "must", Xu Wen deliberately emphasized his tone.

As long as you are not a fool, you will naturally know what to do.

Xu Jingye looked at Xu Wen, then looked at the smiling Prime Minister Cai and Minister Shi in the hall, gritted his teeth, and said: "I am indeed wronged, please make a decision for me."

The prefect's heart "stomped", knowing that the matter could not be resolved peacefully.

He could only say: "You tell me."

Xu Jingye said:"I'm originally from Xiangyang. I sold my land a few years ago and came to Lin'an Prefecture to do business."

"After a lot of hard work, I opened two shops on Chaoyang Street and I'm living a good life."

"It's a pity that there's no one in the court to back me up. Some people saw that my shop was doing a booming business and wanted to force me to buy it at a 10% discount on the market price."

"This is the foundation of my life, so I naturally refused. As a result, I was inexplicably arrested for treason half a year ago."

"To this day, I don't know who is behind it."

"If I'm right, the two shops are probably in the hands of others now."

Speaking of this, Xu Jingye looked lonely.

Doing business in the imperial capital without a backer, you really don't know how you die, even the people behind the scenes don't know.

Originally, he hoped to hold on for a while, and after his nephew Xu Wen passed the imperial examination, he could enter the court as an official.

At that time, the property will be registered under the name of the nephew, so that he can be relied on.

Generally speaking, unless there is a life-and-death feud, other officials will not seize the property protected by other officials, unless they want to get rid of that official together.

Otherwise, no one will look good in the face of the quarrel, and will leave an extremely bad image in the hearts of the emperor and officials.

Unfortunately, it is not as expected. Xu Jingye was imprisoned before Xu Wen came to participate in the imperial examination.

Zhang Tian sighed secretly.

This kind of dark means, let alone ancient times, even in the 21st century, there are still many people who use capital and power to use it, which is hard to guard against.

Zhang Tian asked, "How come you are still alive after being in prison for half a year? Did they torture you to extract a confession?"

Xu Jingye said, "Thank you for your concern."

"As far as I know, the current emperor is wise. Whether it is a death sentence or an unexplained death of a prisoner in prison, it must be submitted to the emperor for his review."

"So, when they tortured me, I pretended to be unable to bear the torture and fainted."

"I didn't expect that the jailers really didn't dare to torture me to death, so I survived until now."

Xu Wen also explained it a little in Zhang Tian's ears.

It turned out that although the power of the government was very great, it was impossible to arrest a person and let the prisoner disappear without a sound.

At this time, the administration was still clean and fair, and it was under the emperor's feet, with censors supervising, and political enemies watching covetously.

Such a matter of human life, once the prisoner's family made a fuss and reported it to the emperor, I am afraid that the people behind the scenes would not be able to bear it.

They just wanted to rob him of his wealth, and they would not put their family in extreme danger for a commoner.

Therefore, Xu Jingye's case has been delayed for so long.

They just wanted to wait until his property was completely devoured, and then release him, so that he would be helpless by then.

The government only investigated, and did not frame him for any crime, so he could not find a reason to appeal.

Zhang Tian smiled bitterly, this method was so familiar.