White-robed Minister

Chapter 130, Episode 0128: [The Top Scholar Draws a Knife and Cuts People Down]

The Eastern Hall of the Criminal Investigation Department.

After reading Xu Lai's letter, Shen Qi got up and paced back and forth. After thinking for a while, he said, "We need to impeach Wang Jichen, who is in charge of the Nanjing Garrison Command and the Censorate, and try to reduce his interference as much as possible."

"He must avoid this kind of thing," Gong Dingchen said.

Shen Qi said, "I need a joint petition to impeach him."

Gong Dingchen said, "Okay. We'll sign together when Judge Xu returns."

Yingtian Prefecture, as the birthplace of the Song Dynasty, also had its own Censorate, called the Nanjing Garrison Censorate. Its chief official was Wang Jichen.

Wang Jichen was a cousin of the late Prime Minister Wang Yaochen, and their family lived in Yucheng County, Yingtian Prefecture.

The Wang family of Yucheng is 100% involved in this case!

Wang Yaochen and Han Qi were the same age and were very close friends.

Wang Zhu, who came from the Wang clan of Songcheng, was a colleague of Ouyang Xiu during his lifetime, and the two had a fairly good relationship.

The Wang clans of Yucheng and Songcheng actually belong to the same family, the Wang clan of Suiyang.

In addition, Wang Zhu and Zhao Gai had an excellent relationship, and Zhao Gai was also from Yucheng, Yingtian Prefecture.

This investigation might even lead to the family of Zhao Gai, the current prime minister. Even if they don't find any close relatives of Prime Minister Zhao, they will surely find his extended family.

Therefore, there are many aristocratic families in Yingtian Prefecture, which have produced too many top scholars and prime ministers!

Wang Zhichen, the third-ranked scholar in the imperial examination two years before last, was also from the Wang family of Yucheng. At this time, he was serving as a judge in Gaoyou.

There is also Wang Chunchen, a good friend of Sima Guang, who is currently serving as the Transport Commissioner in Liangzhe.

There are also Zhang Fangping, Cai Kang, and Cai Ting, all from Yingtian Prefecture. Who knows if their relatives were involved?

Xu Lai has stirred up a hornet's nest this time.

Otherwise, given Gong Dingchen's temperament, why would he have so many concerns when setting questions for the Imperial Academy's annual examinations, as he would have both the Grand Secretary and the Censor?

Shen Qi also knew that the case was very difficult, and that Gong Dingchen was trying to use him to draw attention away from the problem.

But Shen Qi wasn't afraid.

He not only had a close personal relationship with Wang Anshi, but his temperament was also similar to Wang Anshi's.

Shen Qi added, "I have only been in office in Yingtian Prefecture for a short time, and my authority has not yet been established. My subordinates will surely leak information. Therefore, I will simply investigate the case openly and boldly, and post notices to encourage the people to appeal. The Provincial Judicial Commissioner and the Prefectural Government will post notices together to make a bigger splash."

"Okay." Gong Dingchen couldn't help but smile; he liked Shen Qi's drive.

Shen Qi continued, "First, make a show of investigating the household accounts in each county. Once you arrive at the local area, directly seize the account books of cloth merchants. Control as many as you can; I expect some people will burn the accounts."

Gong Dingchen said, "We should mobilize all the troops we can, just in case."

The two continued to discuss the details and agreed to take action the day after all the summer taxes from each county were deposited into the treasury.

This is their battle to establish their authority.

In particular, Gong Dingchen, seven county magistrates joined forces to defy his orders. If he doesn't take action this time, he will be unable to govern Yingtian Prefecture in the future.

After seeing Gong Dingchen off, Shen Qi muttered to himself, "My friend Cunzhong (Shen Kuo), this top scholar, has really given me a big problem!"

Shen Kuo and Shen Qi were not from the same clan; one was from Hangzhou and the other from Ningbo.

But they had a very good personal relationship.

Shen Qi later passed away, and his epitaph was written by Shen Kuo.

When Shen Qi left the capital a while ago, Shen Kuo specifically asked him to take care of Xu Lai. He hadn't even had a chance to meet Xu Lai before he had to deal with the hornet's nest that Xu Lai had stirred up.

The days passed by.

Before the deadline for storing summer grain had arrived, all the summer taxes due from each county had already been delivered to the prefectural city.

Gong Dingchen summoned Bu Chao and handed him a letter, saying, "Before nightfall today, you must deliver this letter to Judge Xu."

""

"Yes, sir!"

Bu Chao quickly took the letter.

Bu Chao seems to have become addicted to acting.

He jogged all the way back to Gushu County, bought half a liter of wine outside the city, found a back alley to drink and rinse his mouth, and then poured the rest of the wine on his clothes.

He threw away the wine jar and returned to the inn reeking of alcohol, drunkenly cursing at everyone he met.

Then he fell fast asleep.

As evening fell, after Xu Lai returned to the inn, Bu Chao quietly took out the letter.

After reading the letter, Xu summoned Wang Ke and Zhao Qian: "To prevent leaks, Magistrate Shen and Prefect Gong have been keeping a close watch on things these past few days—"

"Don't move. They'll be leading a team to investigate tomorrow. But by the time they make their move, the news will definitely leak, so we need to act quickly. Now, let me make some arrangements—"

After talking for a while, everyone went back to their rooms to sleep.

After leaving Xu Lai's room, Wang Ke whispered to Zhao Qian, "Why do I feel a little excited? I haven't felt this kind of exhilarating feeling in over ten years."

"More or less," Zhao Qian said. "I've been just drifting through life before, but this time I can finally do something worthwhile."

Wang Ke said, "I want to drink, to drink a few cups."

"Go to sleep, we have to get up early tomorrow," Zhao Qian said, yawning.

Wang Ke really couldn't sleep; he was so excited that he suffered from insomnia for half the night, and woke up the next day with dark circles under his eyes.

The officials and soldiers had no idea what to do. They ate breakfast as usual and were then led towards the north gate. Since they weren't going to the county government office, they thought they could go home.

The local officials also thought that Xu Lai was going to leave Gushu County.

The county magistrate even came to see him off, only to be publicly berated by Xu Lai.

Despite being scolded, Magistrate Liao Tong returned to the county office with a smile, finally having gotten rid of these plagues.

The clerks and soldiers followed Xu out of the city through the north gate, only to find that they did not go to the dock to take a boat, but instead went around to the east of the city and entered the city through the east gate.

Several of them didn't even enter the city; Wang Ke took them to a neighborhood near the city walls.

Xu Lai and Zhao Qian arrived at the cloth market street in the city, each leading their men to one end of the street and the other to the other, where they assigned specific tasks on the spot.

Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then they realized what was going to happen.

"What are you standing there for? Seize the shopkeepers, accountants, and ledgers of these cloth shops!"

After several urgings, the clerks and soldiers rushed into the shops. However, they encountered varying degrees of obstruction.

One of the shops was the most arrogant; the shopkeeper even ordered his employee to fight back with a stick, saying in a disdainful tone, "Don't you even know whose shop this is? Do you think you can afford to mess with the Zheng family of Gushu?"

The Zheng family of Gushu originated from the Zheng clan of Xingyang during the Tang Dynasty. During the mid-Tang period, a member of the Zheng clan served as the magistrate of Gushu County, and his descendants remained in the area and multiplied to this day.

The Zheng family was not prominent in the Northern Song Dynasty, but they produced several Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) and intermarried with other prominent families in Yingtian Prefecture.

Xu Lai, who had been directing operations from the street, rushed into the shop upon hearing this: "This is just an audit. If anyone resists the authorities with weapons, I will arrest them!"

The shopkeeper said in an unfriendly tone, "Try arresting someone! Don't you even know whose son-in-law my young master is?"

"very good."

Having made some progress in reciting the *Song Dynasty Criminal Code*, Xu Lai drew a soldier's sword: "You are now defying the law and can be arrested as criminals. According to the *Song Dynasty Criminal Code - Law on Arresting Fugitives*: 'When arresting criminals, if the criminals resist with weapons, the arresting officers shall kill them on sight. Get out of the way, or you will be killed without exception!'"

The men looked at each other, then instinctively backed away.

Only one person stood there dumbfounded, holding a stick and confronting Xu Lai.

"Arrest them!"

The moment Xu Lai spoke, he suddenly slashed out with his sword.

The man instinctively raised his stick to block, but the blade sliced ​​through the stick, severing his index and middle fingers.

"what!"

The man screamed in pain, and in fright, he dropped the stick and scrambled away.

Both sides were dumbfounded.

Who would have thought that a civil official would actually wield a knife and kill someone?

Especially their own clerks and soldiers, who knew Xu Lai was a top scholar in the imperial examinations. What kind of top scholar would so readily behead people?

Bu Chao was the first to react and quickly shielded Xu Lai, fearing that someone might violently resist the law.

The soldiers from the prefectural city finally reacted and rushed forward to arrest people. Anyone who resisted was met with a beating.

Xu Lai retreated to the street and carefully observed the situation of other shops. He rushed into any shop that wouldn't allow him to check their accounts.

Boxes of account books were quickly carried out, and the shopkeepers and accountants of each cloth shop were also bound hand and foot and taken to the street.

After finishing all this, Xu Lai immediately took the account books and personnel out of the city, intending to take them directly back to the prefectural city for further investigation.

When they went around to the dock in the north of the city to board the ship, the county magistrate, the registrar, and the county constable came to stop them with their clerks and archers.

Xu Lai was intercepted on the way.

Magistrate Liao Tong's face darkened: "Judge Xu, what do you mean by this?"

Xu Lai said, "We will handle the case according to the law."

"These are all law-abiding businessmen. Even if they are involved in any cases, they can be tried in this county," Liao Tong said.

Xu Lai sneered, "Magistrate Liao can try to stop me. I'm still studying the 'Song Dynasty Criminal Code,' and I don't know what crime it is for a magistrate to bring people with weapons to obstruct the signing of judgments and the handling of cases. Why don't you explain it to me, Magistrate Liao?"

Those who disrupt public order and exploit the people, even if convicted, will at most be demoted a few ranks, or at worst completely stripped of their titles.

If someone brings armed men to obstruct the signing of judgments and the handling of cases, the nature of the case changes completely!

The imperial court did not kill civil officials, but there was a place called Shamen Island. Exiling them to Shamen Island was even more painful than killing them outright.

Liao Tong reminded him, "Xu, the judge, do you know what you're doing?"

"I'm investigating a case under orders," Xu said. "Get out of the way, or you'll be arrested too!"

Liao Tong looked at the chief clerk and the county constable. The chief clerk was terrified, and the county constable quickly lowered his head.

Liao Tong gritted his teeth and stepped back: "Let them pass."

"Walk!"

Xu Lai strode forward.

Once they boarded the official boat, the registrar Qian Kan said, "How dare he? Doesn't he know how many people he's going to offend?"

""

County Lieutenant Zhao Zhengqing sighed, "Alas, we're unlucky to have encountered such a rookie. Will those shops also record the regular fees?"

Liao Tong said, "They probably kept the accounts. Who could have predicted that someone would audit their accounts? Even if they did audit, they wouldn't usually focus on the regular expenses."

The seven counties of Yingtian Prefecture illegally obtained more than 20 strings of cash in profits from the conversion of summer taxes.

On average, each county receives about 3.5 strings of cash.

Note that it's the amount of illegal arbitrage that's so large, not the total amount of summer taxes.

The money was to be divided among officials and clerks, as well as among cloth merchants of all sizes.

Liao Tong, as the county magistrate, only received 1800 strings of cash.

The registrar and the county constable each received only 600 strings of cash.

The remaining county clerks, who together received a total of four or five hundred strings of cash at the clerk level, would also collude with landlords to acquire land; these profits need to be calculated separately.

Is 1800 strings of cash a small amount for a county magistrate?

There are so many!

A chicken is only worth a few dozen coins, and an ox is only worth five or six strings of cash.

On the official boat, Wang Ke and Zhao Qian had already heard about Xu Lai's attack on people with a knife.

They were secretly astonished, gaining a completely new understanding of this top scholar. They couldn't help but recall the memorial in the official gazette requesting the abolition of the silver reward, as if the top scholar had personally killed salt bandits.

-

People with blood on their hands are definitely different!

Officials and clerks couldn't wait to enter the cabin and immediately began to examine the account books.

Bu Chao and the soldiers were guarding the captured shopkeeper and accountant.

Speaking in heavily accented Mandarin, Bu Chao embellished his story of ambushing salt bandits years ago. What was originally just two salt bandits became ten in his words, and the one-sided ambush turned into a thrilling and fierce battle.

The soldiers were stunned and planned to tell their friends and family about it when they got home.

It is estimated that in another two or three months, with layers of exaggeration, it will be rumored that the top scholar fought against thirty villains alone.

Inside the cabin, Zhao Qian flipped through the account books, both amused and exasperated: "Those cloth shops, sure enough, recorded the regular expenses as deductions (current period expenditures), writing them down clearly, one by one. This is the account book of Tongtai Cloth Shop. In May, the regular expenses skyrocketed to 50 strings of cash, in June to 90 strings, and in July to 110 strings. This one cloth shop alone paid 250 strings of cash to the county government in just three months."

Xu Lai didn't know whether to be angry or amused.

It's laughable that the investigation was so simple; officials and businessmen colluded to do bad things, and they actually wrote it all down in the open books. They didn't even know to use a dual ledger.

The anger stems from the fact that investigating such a simple case is so difficult, yet few officials actually bother to do so. Those merchants are completely emboldened, having no need to use secret ledgers at all!

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