Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 90: The King of Balance
Although Xia Lin did not get a change of cell in the end, fortunately the jailer was capable and asked someone to clean Xia Lin's cell. The originally tiny air vents were chiseled into small windows, the floor was washed and a bed was put in the cell, and curtains were hung on the surrounding cages and incense was lit.

As for the padlock, why bother locking it when it's already like this. He served him three meals a day and even came to ask Xia Lin secretly one night: "Master Xia, there are a few good-looking girls in the county, and the price is cheap. I see that you have lived here for a few days and you must be bored. Why don't I find some for you to have some fun?"

Xia Lin was scared. He opened a vegetarian chicken restaurant, but he didn't know the quality of the chickens in the county town. Some of them smelled bad after farm work. What did she mean by good looks? If she was really good-looking, she would have been taken home as a concubine by the playboys in the town.

Never mind. I appreciate your kindness.

On the fourth day, he still hadn't received any news. At this moment, the cicadas were chirping outside. Xia Lin was lying comfortably in the cool prison, which was like an air-raid shelter. But the prison warden said mysteriously, "Master Xia, there is a very beautiful woman outside looking for you. Should I avoid her?"

"Extremely beautiful? Is she tall, short, fat, or thin?"

"She had a small round face. I didn't dare to look closely. She was dressed very well. I have never seen such a wealthy woman."

A small round face? Isn't that Miss Tang? Xia Lin was immediately happy. He had always thought that the first person to come to visit would be either the little princess or Chun Tao, but who would have thought it would be Miss Tang.

"Go and help invite her over."

"okay."

Not long after, Miss Tang walked into the cell gracefully. She came to Xia Lin and looked him up and down, as well as the style of the cage. Then she smiled and said, "It seems that you have a good life here. You seem to have gained a lot of weight."

"Who wouldn't get fat if they ate the last meal of their execution every day?" Xia Lin leaned against the cage and smiled at Miss Tang, "Has everything been going well these days?"

"It's OK, but I'm not here to discuss business with you today." Miss Tang took out a basket from the table at the back: "I brought some fruits and meat for you. I thought you were suffering here, so I brought them for you. Who would have thought that you were enjoying yourself here?"

"How can this be called a blessing? It would be a blessing if Miss Tang were here with me." Xia Lin laughed and said, "How about Wanqiu come and enjoy a few days too?"

"You are so frivolous." Tang Wanqiu reached out and poked Xia Lin's forehead. "I won't say any more to you. My boat is still waiting for me by the river. I have to go to Hongdu Prefecture. There are some problems with the accounts of the store over there. A big shopkeeper swallowed up more than 30,000 taels of surplus and ran away."

"Look at the people you chose." Xia Lin shook his head and said, "When I have time, I will recommend some people from the academy to you."

"Don't tell me all this. You're fine. You promised me a surprise in the middle of summer. Now there's less than a month left. I've kept everything you said in my heart."

Hearing this, Xia Lin smiled instead: "Did you really remember everything?"

Miss Tang was stunned for a moment, then she snickered: "I know you are going to say those cheesy words again, I don't want to listen, I'm leaving. The basket is here, come out and get it when you want to eat."

"I'll give it to you."

Xia Lin opened the cell door. Miss Tang took a look and said jokingly, "You really have a good prison sentence."

"Oh, it's just a formality."

He escorted Miss Tang all the way to the gate of the government office: "It will be inconvenient for me to go any further, so why not hug me in this late autumn to ease the pain of missing you."

"You're so careless all day." Miss Tang giggled and patted him, but she still reminded him: "Officialdom is treacherous. If you are not careful, you will be crushed to pieces. You can't trust people completely, but you can also trust them. Be careful when you speak and do things."

"That won't work."

Xia Lin reached out to hold Miss Tang's hand. Miss Tang instinctively pulled back but in the end she didn't say anything to shake it off and let him hold it.

"I don't hold back a single word when I speak or do things to Wanqiu."

"Alright, alright." Tang Wanqiu smiled and slapped Xia Lin's hand away: "I should leave now. It would be embarrassing if others saw me."

After saying that, she turned around and got on the carriage, then lifted the curtain and waved to Xia Lin: "Don't be too ostentatious, life is the most important."

"I know, I know."

After Tang Wanqiu left, Xia Lin rubbed his hands, then put them under his nose and sniffed them, then walked back to the cell. When he opened the basket, it was really full of food, with meat, eggs, and fruits. There were ten big chicken legs pressed there, and fifty boiled eggs, as if they were afraid that he would not be full.

The eggs were fine, but the chicken legs couldn't be kept in this weather, so he quickly asked the jailer: "Go, get some wine, let's drink together."

The jailer uttered an "ah", with some anticipation and some trepidation: "This... Sir Xia, this is not good." "Just go if I tell you to go, don't waste your time talking nonsense!"

Not long after, the jailer brought some wine. The two of them sat there eating chicken legs and peeling eggs, drinking wine and enjoying the breeze. It was quite pleasant. However, the jailer's eating manners were not good. He could eat a chicken bone more cleanly than a dog. Seeing this, Xia Lin shook his head and said, "Do you not get to eat meat on weekdays or what? Look at your behavior."

"You are joking, sir. We are small soldiers, not even clerks. We have little salary and many things to do. We are lucky to have a meal of meat once a month. If we have some money, we will give it to our wives and children at home. How can we live as comfortably as a high-ranking official like you?"

Xia Lin laughed: "You are kidding me, right? The jailer is a lucrative position. If a prisoner is locked up, the family will pay for it, right? That's a lot of money."

"That being said, do you see any prisoners in this cell? I'll tell you straight, you're the first one to be in this cell in the past two years."

Xia Lin was shocked when he heard this: "Is the public security in Poyang County so good?"

"I don't understand what this is about. I just know that if you're willing to spend money to manage it, as long as you don't kill anyone, then it won't be a problem."

The jailer's words made Xia Lin curious: "This is not right. There will always be people who can't afford it."

"Those who can't pay..." The jailer said, then opened the cell door, looked around, and sat back down. "I will sentence those who can't pay to exile. Exile doesn't need to be reviewed by the Ministry of Justice. Then they can either sell the person or kill him on the way, and report the crime when they come back. The higher-ups won't review a few people who steal and cheat, and everyone does this these days. As long as you give some benefits to the people in the prison area, they will report it every year."

"The person was sold? Where was he sold to?"

"North." The jailer whispered, "Sell them to the border towns in Shanxi. Otherwise, where do you think the military achievements come from when the barbarians invade every year? It's from these prisoners! As far as I know, the border garrisons all do this. They receive the news before the barbarians come and run away at night. Then the barbarians take away their food and grass, leaving only one tenth or twelve. Then they come back and kill some prisoners, and then use this to seek credit from the court."

Xia Lin narrowed his eyes: "There is such a thing? How did you know?"

"Hey, I've also escorted prisoners. When I got there, I talked to the villagers in the border town and they all knew everything. Anyway, these prisoners will die suddenly from a plague or miasma in the detention center in a year or two, so no one cares."

Xia Lin was amazed after hearing this. These people really know how to make a fortune. Those border troops are really smart. Since fighting a war will waste food and grass, they might as well ask the northern barbarians to take the food and grass. They will take the food and leave, and the border town soldiers will be spared from the disaster. As for whether they will go to plunder other places, it is better to let friends die than to let me die. Finally, kill a few prisoners from all over the country, cut off their heads and ears, report a great victory, and the reward will be doubled the next year.

No wonder the Wei Dynasty was getting worse year after year despite the victory every year. It turned out that the problem was all here. If this continued, the Wei Dynasty would be doomed. It seemed that the dynasties with their capitals in the south were not running well. They were too far away. The mist and rain in the south of the Yangtze River blinded them and they could not see the freezing cold weather in the north.

It seems that everything is going well and peaceful, but in fact there are internal and external troubles. It's not easy for you, Great Wei.

"Why doesn't the court know about what you know?"

"I know all about it, so how could the court not know about it? But I can't say for sure. I don't know whether the emperor knows about it or not. I just know that many counties do this, and the county magistrate probably doesn't have the courage to do it."

Xia Lin looked the jailer up and down, and after a glance, he smiled and said, "Brother, you don't look like an ordinary jailer. I feel like you are coming to me to complain."

"How could there be an extraordinary jailer? I am not complaining to you, sir. I am just letting you know that there are such strange things in the world."

"The scholar implicated in the fraud case? Or the juren?"

"Junren." The jailer looked up at Xia Lin and said, "Master Xia has a very sharp eye."

"Oh, it's not so bad. The main reason is that my brother was implicated and couldn't hold an official position. You guys have one thing in common, which is that you wish all those officials would die and the court would be destroyed as soon as possible." Xia Lin waved his hand: "It's normal, I understand. If it were me..."

"Sir, be careful with your words." The jailer shook his head: "Don't say any more."

Xia Lin stopped talking now and looked the jailer up and down. "Why don't you come with me to Fuliang? My office is really short of a legal advisor. By the way, what's your name? I've been under your care for so long, but I still don't know your name."

"Ma Zhou, you can just call me Prince Bin. I'm originally from Bozhou. After being implicated, I came here with my wife. I spent some money to become a jailer. I'm grateful that Lord Xia didn't abandon me..."

Xia Lin slowly took out an inkstone from his pocket and stroked it. This is what Ma Zhou saw.

In Xia Lin's eyes, there is a line of words on the phone at this moment: Ma Zhou (601-648), courtesy name Bin Wang, prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. Emperor Taizong commented: Ma Zhou is quick to see things, very upright, and speaks directly when judging people. I have appointed him and he is always satisfactory, just like a bird flying on a person, people feel sorry for it. The teacher's evaluation of him is: Ma Zhou's "Chen Shizheng Shu" is the first wonderful article since Jia Sheng's "Zhi An Ce". The ten thousand word books written by Song people, such as Su Shi and others, are just empty talk on paper. Fu Yue and Lu Wang are not worth mentioning. Ma Zhou's talent and virtue are far beyond them.

"Ah?" Xia Lin looked up at the jailer in front of him and then looked down at the encyclopedia: "Are you really King Mabin?"

(End of this chapter)