Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 74: Appeasement
In the south of Zhaoqing City, Liu Heng was walking out of the alley with a bag on his back.
Behind Liu Heng followed a woman in a thorny hairpin and a cloth skirt and a boy about eight or nine years old. They were also carrying a bag on their backs.

Behind the three of them were two burly men, who seemed to be guards.
Liu Heng looked straight ahead, his expression natural, but the woman behind him, although she was trying to remain calm, still had a flash of panic in her eyes, and her eyes kept glancing at the two big men behind her.

It was early morning, and people in and outside the alley had already gotten up and were about to go out to start their daily business.

A peddler in coarse linen clothes was standing at the entrance of the alley, loading fruits and vegetables onto a cart. Seeing Liu Heng's appearance, he asked

"Master Liu, are you going on a long journey?"

A trace of surprise flashed across the face of the man in sackcloth clothes. Liu Heng had only moved into the alley three years ago. Not long after moving in, he opened a school to teach children. That was why everyone in the alley called him Master Liu.

However, Master Liu's school was only open for half a year before he closed it on his own initiative. It was said that Master Liu planned to study behind closed doors and concentrate on his studies.
Although Mr. Liu no longer teaches, he often writes letters for people in the alley or reads letters to them, and he doesn't charge much, so he is very popular in the alley.
At this time, seeing Master Liu carrying a lot of things out of the house, several men from the alley nearby also poked their heads out and asked about his condition.

"Yes, a cousin in Guangzhou wrote to me, saying that he opened a maritime trade shop and needed someone to be the accountant. He wrote to me a few days ago, asking me to come over."

"Xiao Ke is going to Guangzhou today. I'm afraid I'll live there permanently. Thank you for your care during this period."

Liu Heng, wearing a long gown, bowed to the crowd of neighbors who were watching him. The neighbors in the alley wiped their hands and bowed to Liu Heng in return.
"So that's how it is. Otherwise, Master Liu is a scholar. Guangzhou City, Master Liu is going to be prosperous. I wish Master Liu a bright future."

The peddler looked at Liu Heng, who was wearing a Confucian robe, with some envy and sighed softly.
The two guards behind Master Liu were huge and strong, and their eyes could send chills down one's spine. Even Liu Lao Hu, the manager of the streets in South City, didn't have such power.

To be able to support such a servant these days, Mr. Liu's cousin must have a very large family.

The Haimao shop was the property of Mr. Liu's cousin, and Mr. Liu was appointed as an accountant, an important position. Wouldn't this be a meteoric rise?

"What's the point of being rich? I just want to help my family and make a living," Liu Heng said with a smile, waving his hand.
The peddler thought for a moment. Zhaoqing is not far from Guangzhou. Now Mr. Liu has gone to Guangzhou and works as an accountant for a big company. If he can find out where Mr. Liu is, it may be a good opportunity for him in the future.

The peddler thought of this and came forward, wanting to make further acquaintance.
But the two big men behind Liu Heng, seeing someone coming up, suddenly looked stern. They had been standing still like wooden stakes, but now they suddenly stepped forward, surrounding Liu Heng on both sides.
Liu Heng, who had been looking calm, suddenly changed his expression. Without thinking too much, he bowed to the people at the alley entrance again, and then spoke loudly.

"The store's carriage is already waiting outside the city. We can't miss the time. Thank you all for your support over the years. I'll go ahead. Sorry for the rudeness."

After Liu Heng finished speaking, he walked out of the alley without waiting for the people at the alley entrance to react, and the women and children behind him followed closely.
The two big men behind him saw Liu Heng walking away quickly, looked at each other, nodded slightly, and then slowed down their pace.

Then he followed the three people in front of him slowly, and the five of them soon disappeared outside the alley.
The five of them left the alley and circled most of the city. After confirming that no one was following them, they did not leave the city, but turned to the west of the city. Not long after, they stopped in front of a quiet courtyard.

In front of the courtyard gate, two soldiers in scarlet military uniforms were guarding the gate. People in military uniforms kept coming in and out of the gate. All of them looked hurried.
Although people kept coming in and out of the gate, strangely there was no noise inside or outside the courtyard. Instead, it was extremely quiet, with a heavy and solemn atmosphere blowing in.
Liu Heng and his two companions were waiting at one side of the door. There were two guards behind them. One was waiting to watch over the three of them, while the other went forward to negotiate with the person at the door.
Liu Heng, who had always been calm, finally showed a hint of fear when he got here.

He looked up at the plaque hanging above the courtyard, and saw a black lacquer plaque with gold characters blatantly hung on the top of the courtyard gate. On it were four large characters: "Southern Pacification Office".

Liu Heng felt a little panicked, but before he could think about it, the strong man who had come forward to negotiate had already returned and led Liu Heng and his family into the courtyard.

After entering the courtyard, Liu Heng and the other two were separated by two guards.
The woman was about to be separated from her husband, and the panic on her face could no longer be concealed, but now that they were here, they could no longer let them do whatever they wanted.

Liu Heng only had time to pat the woman's hand before the woman and the child were led away by the big man beside them.
Liu Heng's eyes flashed with anger, and he stared at the strong man who was escorting his family. However, the strong man showed no reaction and directly escorted Liu Heng into the mansion.

The two of them passed several courtyards, and the number of pedestrians on the road gradually decreased. Soon Liu Heng was led by the strong man into a quiet courtyard.

The big man entered the study room for a moment, then came out again and told Liu Heng to go in. Then the big man who had been escorting Liu Heng and the other two just left.

Liu Heng looked at the half-open door in front of him, swallowed his saliva, took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, pushed the door open and walked into the room.

As soon as Liu Heng entered the study, he saw a young man in a red brocade robe sitting behind a desk, processing official documents on the desk.
But when Liu Heng saw the clothes of the man behind the table, his face became even more flustered. How could he not recognize the Feiyu suit on the man?
All the people who came in just now didn't dare to wear flying fish uniforms. They were all wearing scarlet military uniforms.

The young man in front of him was wearing a flying fish suit, and he was obviously a big shot in the Jinyiwei.

Now that I have fallen into the hands of such a person, my life and death are in his hands.

"I, Liu Heng, greet the governor."

Liu Heng bowed deeply, with a hint of flattery on his face, and spoke respectfully

But the young man above him seemed not to have heard it, and he did not even raise his head, continuing to review the documents on the table as if no one was around.
Liu Heng bowed down, but he didn't hear a reply for a long time. However, he didn't dare to say anything else, so he had to keep bowing his head.

This posture was extremely awkward. After just a short while, Liu Heng's forehead was already covered with sweat, but he did not dare to move at all.

After an unknown amount of time, until the sweat on Liu Heng's forehead had soaked the carpet and his body seemed to be shaky, a voice finally came from above, "Get up!"

Liu Heng finally breathed a sigh of relief and stood up straight, but he still stood aside with his head down, not daring to look at the young man behind the table.

"Are you Liu Heng?"

Li Chengzhi put down his brush, looked at Liu Heng, who was standing behind the table with his head bowed and looking pale, and spoke softly.

"Yes, I am Liu Heng."

"I don't know why you summoned me here, sir. Please tell me what you want to do. As long as I can do it, I will do my best."

"In addition, I have some small fortune hidden behind my house. As long as you ask, I will take it out and give it to you."

Liu Heng glanced at the young man above him, a flattering smile flashed across his face, and he said respectfully
“Is there anything that cannot be copied, is there anything that cannot be imitated?”

The man in brocade clothes behind the table ignored Liu Heng's floating wealth and asked an irrelevant question:
"That's not true, that's not true, it's all just flattery from my fellow comrades in the martial arts world, don't take it seriously"

When Liu Heng heard this, his expression changed instantly, and then he put on a flattering smile, but his body bent down more and looked carefully at the young man behind the table.

“You better hope they’re telling the truth.”

The man in brocade clothes above glanced at Liu Heng below, and his expression suddenly turned cold.

Liu Heng's heart suddenly sank when he heard the man's cold voice. His expression changed several times. After a moment, the flattering look on Liu Heng's face finally disappeared. He stood up and looked at Li Chengzhi behind the table. He bowed and spoke.

"Please tell me what you want, sir. I will certainly obey your orders. However, according to the rules of the martial arts world, my wife and children will not be harmed. They know nothing. After I finish my work, please let my family go."

Liu Heng's voice was still respectful, but his expression had regained its composure. He looked directly at the man in brocade clothes behind the table.

"The rules of the underworld? Once you enter my office, even if you are a minister or a minister, I will do whatever I want to you. You city foxes and community rats, every one of you will be strangled to death."

"If I want you to live, you live. If I want you to die, you die. How dare a rat in the gutter talk about rules with me?"

The man behind the table suddenly stared at Liu Heng below and spoke softly with a grim expression on his face.
The young Jinyi governor was still sitting on his seat, but Liu Heng suddenly felt as if a heavy weight was pressing down on him. A cold pressure came over him, making him want to kneel down and beg for mercy.

At this moment, Liu Heng's face finally became completely panicked, and his face turned pale in an instant.

He was originally a calligrapher of a counterfeiting gang in Zhaoqing City. This gang made a living by counterfeiting calligraphy and paintings of famous people in the previous dynasties. After the counterfeiting was completed, they set up their own schemes, pretending to be scholars fleeing from the war, or pretending to be old collections accidentally discovered in old houses, and sold the counterfeits as authentic works to those pretentious landlords in the countryside.

However, as their craftsmanship became more and more sophisticated, they finally became so good that even the dignitaries in the city could not tell the difference between the real and the fake, which made their appetite grow.

How much money can a country landlord have? The richest people are still the gentry and scholars in the city, and these gentry really don't regard money as money. They can earn more from one order in the city than from ten orders in the country before!
So their gang was no longer satisfied with hanging out in the countryside, and moved from the county town to the capital of Zhaoqing.
They settled in Zhaoqing, and their counterfeiting business was booming. Moreover, because the targets they chose to counterfeit were not popular, not a single transaction had any problems in the past few years.

As the officials from Fujian Province flocked to them in the past few months, their business grew bigger and bigger. The counterfeit calligraphy and paintings they made were in short supply and were often bought up as soon as they were put on the market.

Their group was also greatly encouraged and was preparing to become bigger and stronger and create greater glory.

But half a month ago, something went wrong. People in the gang kept disappearing. Liu Heng felt something was wrong and was about to run to the countryside to avoid the limelight. But before he could leave, someone broke into his house and caught him.
After seeing the badges on these people's clothes, he finally knew who was targeting him.

The ones who attacked them were the Jinyiwei's Tiqi!
God have mercy on them. They just forged some calligraphy and paintings to cheat some money. How could they be so worthy of the Jinyiwei to arrest them?

Could it be that their calligraphy and paintings had flowed into the palace and were discovered by His Royal Highness the Regent?

But no one would answer his doubts. After the Jinyiwei broke in, they took control of Liu Heng's family. Then they were instructed to make various arrangements, and finally they were taken to the Southern Pacification Office.
Liu Heng originally thought that the Jinyiwei wanted to squeeze money out of him when he saw that they did not take action. He had made preparations on the way here, ready to exchange the money he had buried for the life of his family.
But after entering the study and seeing the extremely young brocade-robed governor wearing a flying fish suit, he felt a sense of despair in his heart.

He knew that he would most likely not be able to leave the Southern Pacification Division.

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(End of this chapter)