That Person In That River and Lake

  Chapter 5 The Conspiracy Under the Ledger

  Gu Qingci raised his sword and placed it on Pang Shilong's shoulder. Pang Shilong trembled all over, and subconsciously wanted to resist, but restrained his impulse.

   "I know you are a smart person, and I know you are useful to me. I won't kill you, but I don't trust you, so you have to give me a nomination certificate!" Gu Qingci said.

   "I wonder what my lord needs my subordinates to do?" Pang Shilong asked.

  Gu Qingci said coldly: "Ma Shilian listens to the order!"

   Ma Shilian immediately said respectfully: "The next official is here!"

"Take Zhang Xu to the Pang's house, and ask Captain Pang's family to go to a safe place. Recently, Changling County is not peaceful, so that Captain Pang will not have any scruples in his heart," Gu Qingci said without a trace of eyes Feeling, looking at Pang Shilong, asked: "Pangxian Lieutenant, should you have no objection?"

Pang Shilong was shocked. He didn't expect Gu Qingci to be vicious. He not only threatened him with poison, but also asked his family to be hostages. However, he didn't dare to refute, because the sword in Gu Qingci's hand was very sharp. Agreed: "Zhang Xu, you can go with Master Pang, please leave Madam and Master with Master Ma."

Ma Shilian and Zhang Xu left the room immediately, and Gu Qingci also slowly put away the long sword. This result was within his expectation, because he knew very well that Pang Shilong's character was no longer as energetic as when he was young, so he enjoyed it. For more than ten years, the current Pang Shilong is very afraid of death.

   "Get up, what do you mean by kneeling all the time? If you don't know, you think the county is treating your subordinates badly. Come sit down and drink tea!" Gu Qingci said.

  Although Pang Shilong wanted to kill Gu Qingci, he didn't dare to disobey him. He immediately stood up and sat opposite Gu Qingci.

   "Don't worry, the county promises that as long as you are obedient, I will give you the antidote and release your family, but if you dare to betray me, I don't need to say more about the consequences!" Gu Qingci said.

   "Subordinates dare not!" Pang Shilong said helplessly.

   "Okay," Gu Qingci said: "Go and order 300 soldiers immediately, and arrest the county magistrate Liu Qian for me. By the way, tell me all the evidence of his corruption. The county will be imprisoned tomorrow!"

   "Yes, this subordinate will go now!"

For Liu Qian, the magistrate of Changling County, Gu Qingci will not be as troublesome as dealing with Pang Shilong, because this Liu Qian, like Ma Shilian, is just a literati, and the reason why he can control the county government's finances is because the Cheng family is behind him. Now that he has broken his face with the Cheng family, Gu Qingci doesn't have to worry about the Cheng family. It is still very easy to simply take down Liu Qian.

  …

  Pang Shilong was still fast. Gu Qingci had only been home for less than an hour, and he brought a stack of ledgers and Zhang Xu to Gu Qingci's mansion.

  The role of Zhang Xu is to invite the Pang family to come out, and Zhang Xu should not know where Ma Shilian will take them later, so Zhang Xu will appear here now.

   "My lord, Liu Qian has been taken down by his subordinates and locked up in the county government prison. His embezzlement books have also been brought by his subordinates." Pang Shilong handed the books to Gu Qingci.

  Gu Qingci waved his hand and said: "Zhang Xu, it is said that you are the military advisor of Lieutenant Pang County, and you are a cultural person. Tell the county about these corruptions, and be concise."

"Yes," Zhang Xu immediately said, "My lord, this Liu Qian is really daring, colluding with the Cheng family, selling official food, and using the convenience of the court to make weapons for the Cheng family, etc., and taking advantage of his position, Accepting bribes, and even embezzling public funds, over the years, the amount of embezzled silver is probably no less than two hundred thousand taels!"

   "Fuck! Two hundred thousand taels!"

   Gu Qingci almost choked on a sip of tea, even Pang Shilong on the side was shocked.

  You know, as a magistrate of a county, Gu Qingci’s annual salary is only four hundred taels of silver, and this Liu Qian is just a county magistrate, and he actually embezzled no less than two hundred thousand taels of silver.

   "That's right," Zhang Xu said affirmatively, "The subordinates have already checked it, and there is absolutely no mistake!"

   "It's all people's fat and people's anointing, it should be killed!" Gu Qingci said coldly: "Have you ever found those silver taels?"

   "Most of them have been found, and some are under verification." Zhang Xu said.

  Gu Qingci pondered for a while, then suddenly raised his head to stare at Pang Shilong and Zhang Xu, and kept staring at Pang Shilong and Zhang Xu until their hearts became numb, before he said: "Remember, Liu Qian's stolen money is only one hundred thousand taels of silver, do you understand?"

   "What... what?"

Both Pang Shilong and Zhang Xu looked at Gu Qingci in amazement. They are both veterans, so it is impossible not to understand Gu Qingci's subtext. kind of thing.

  According to the rules of the court, all stolen money must be confiscated, but the subtext of Gu Qingci just now is obvious, meaning that only one hundred thousand taels will be confiscated.

However, according to Pang Shilong and Zhang Xu's understanding of Gu Qingci, this person is a true gentleman who really only reads sage books and has a clean sleeve, and it is impossible for him to embezzle stolen money, but now Gu Qingci really wants to do it. The two are not surprised.

   "Do you have any questions?" Gu Qingci said coldly.

   "No," Zhang Xu and Pang Shilong shook their heads hastily, while Pang Shilong said directly, "We only found one hundred thousand taels of silver."

   "Well," Gu Qingci nodded, and said, "Two of you are worth 10,000 taels each, so it's a gift for your hard work."

   "Ah," Pang Shilong looked at Gu Qingci in surprise, and hurriedly said: "My lord, this subordinate didn't mean that. It's all thanks to my lord, my subordinate..."

   "Stop talking nonsense, you can take it if this county gives it to you." Gu Qingci said coldly.

   "Yes, yes, thank you for your reward!"

Pang Shilong and Zhang Xu looked at each other, and there was a trace of surprise in their eyes. Not only did they just get 10,000 taels, but most importantly, they understood that Gu Qingci was not the kind of person they had thought before, so they didn't As for worrying about not being able to get oil and water in the future.

  The reason why Gu Qingci did this is because he understands two truths. When the water is clear, there will be no fish. The other is that if you want the horse to run, you must feed the horse.

The most important thing is that he is also very short of money now. The term poor culture and rich martial arts is not a joke, it is the Huashan mentality he has integrated now. If he wants to break through, he needs a lot of money to buy medicinal materials. Moreover, no matter what he does , all need money.

   "My lord," Zhang Xu said suddenly, "My subordinate, I also found something."

   "What?" Gu Qingci asked.

  Zhang Xu took out two books from that pile of ledgers, and said, "My lord, these two books are the ledgers of transactions between Liu Qian and the Feiying Gang, and they are evidence that Liu Qian is covering for the Feiying Gang to sell private salt."

   "Flying Eagle Gang!"

   Gu Qingci murmured, flipped through the ledger in his hand, suddenly smiled, and said, "I didn't expect Liu Qian to give this county such a gift."

  As soon as he put the account book away, Gu Qingci greeted him: "Come here, you two, there is something in this county that you need to do immediately!"

  …

  The news of Liu Qian's arrest spread out not long after. The Cheng family and the Flying Eagle Gang were the first to learn about it. After all, these two forces had colluded with Liu Qian, so they naturally paid more attention to Liu Qian than ordinary people.

There is a hall of the Flying Eagle Gang not far from Gu Qingci’s mansion, and soon someone came. The one who came was a leader of the Flying Eagle Gang, named You Biyu, whose appearance was comparable to that of Pang Shilong. He looked like a reckless man.

   Along with You Biyu, there was a young man who claimed to be You Biyu's subordinate, dressed in black, standing still as a mountain, not speaking.

   "Master County, if you can give me the account book, I promise, I will remember you as a favor. If you need any help in the future, just come to Feiying to find me You Biyu!"

  This You Biyu is full of quack aura, and in front of Gu Qingci, an imperial official, he can actually speak like this. It looks like a person who has never read anything.

  Gu Qingci smiled slightly, and said: "Then the county will remember the words of Hall Master You, and the account book will be handed over to you now!"

   "Okay," You Biyu took the account book, and said: "Your Excellency, You Biyu must remember your favor, but this matter is of great importance, so I will go back to deal with business first."

"Wait a minute," Gu Qingci stood up suddenly, patted You Biyu on the shoulder, and said, "Master You, this county reminds you that this ledger is extraordinary. , your Flying Eagle Gang is in big trouble."

  The six gates were specially established by the imperial court to restrict people in the Jianghu. Although there are great sects that can ignore the six gates, they do not include the Flying Eagle Gang that only occupies one county.

  You Biyu nodded and said, "Thank you for reminding me, sir, I understand."

  After You Biyu left, Gu Qingci sneered and muttered: "Flying Eagle Gang, Cheng family, hehe, this county is waiting to watch you dogs bite dogs!"

  (end of this chapter)