Pawn Crossing the River

Finally, the paper crane stopped in front of a dilapidated house.

Qi Xuansu was not in a hurry to make any move, and just asked: "If we capture this person, should we hand it over directly to Qingluan Guards?"

Zhang Yuelu glanced at him: "Do you pity the fragrance and cherish the jade?"

"What's the matter?" Qi Xuansu said righteously, "You can't mess with this kind of wild goose. They can defraud people of money, and naturally they can manipulate people's hearts. They have the most insight into the weaknesses of human nature. You think I said I can't control it? Nonsense?"

Zhang Yuelu said "Oh" in a long tone, and then asked: "Then what do you think it should be."

Qi Xuansu said: "I think there must be a lot of ill-gotten wealth in the hands of these scammers. Instead of handing these scammers to Qingluan Guards, we should take this opportunity to make up for the shortfall. It is the horse without night that grass will not fatten, and the man without windfall." Not rich."

Zhang Yuelu didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "I wrongly blamed you. You didn't fall in love with that female liar, but you fell in love with her peace money. But this is stolen money and must be returned to the owner of the crime."

Qi Xuansu said disapprovingly: "What do you expect from Qingluan Guard's ethics? It's good that they don't ask for money. Rather than taking advantage of Qingluan Guard, it's better to take advantage of us."

Of course, Qi Xuansu's words were not without purpose. Not to mention other things, the Qingluan Guard Qianhu Station in Luzhou colluded with Taiping Dao and killed people openly and exterminated families. What is a county magistrate who broke his family? Compared to Qingluan Guard, it pales in comparison.

Zhang Yuelu was a little hesitant. She also knew that the Taoist sect on the mountain and the imperial court at the bottom of the mountain could not be compared. The third-grade Youyi Taoist priest of the Taoist sect would be ordered to resign for abusing his servants, but it was nothing for the dignitaries of the imperial court to kill a domestic slave at will. The situation Qi Xuansu mentioned does indeed exist. But if they were asked to find the sufferers, firstly, they would not have the same energy, and secondly, it would be difficult to find all the sufferers with just two people.

As for Qi Xuansu's thoughts, Zhang Yuelu was not surprised.

The disadvantage of being a so-called flower garden Taoist priest is that he cannot withstand the slightest bit of wind and rain because he has been in the flower garden and greenhouse for a long time. The advantage is that he follows the rules and regards all etiquette and dogma as golden rules and dare not go beyond them. The advantage of a wild Taoist priest like Qi Xuansu is that he has weathered many hardships, can withstand various setbacks, and is extremely tenacious. The disadvantage is that they act casually and disregard rules and etiquette. Most of them are not good people in the ordinary sense, half black and half white.

Among the nine halls, the other halls are just that. Beichen Hall and Tiangang Hall are the fists for beating people. The Yujing Taoist priests have gradually degenerated from the elite who defeated the Confucian sect into the flower garden Taoist priests. From the beginning, elite Taoist priests from the local Taoist government were constantly mobilized into Tiangang Hall and Beichen Hall to fill the vacancies. This gave people like Qi Xuansu the opportunity to enter Jiutang Hall.

Because of this, Taoist priests like Zhang Yuelu who can withstand wind and rain and abide by the rules are becoming more and more valuable. As long as their abilities are not bad, most of them will be promoted and reused.

While the two were talking, a figure rushed out of the house at an extremely fast speed.

However, Zhang Yuelu was faster, and the "photoless paper" in his palm had turned into a soft whip. As Zhang Yuelu's wrist shook, it intertwined into a cage, covering the figure.

Then this figure turned into a paper man and fluttered to the ground with a bang.

Immediately afterwards, another paper crane flew out of the house, flew staggeringly, and landed in front of Zhang Yuelu.

Zhang Yuelu waved her hand, and the paper crane turned into pieces of paper and returned to the "photo paper" in her hand.

Qi Xuansu asked: "What does this mean? We lost track of you? We were tricked by Yanweizi?"

"Absolutely, she must have discovered my paper crane, deliberately left it here, and then left a paper man. And she herself has already left this place and is nowhere to be found." Zhang Yuelu said, "She underestimated it. This female liar.”

Qi Xuansu said: "There are indeed some methods. No wonder the eagle-clawed grandsons of Qingluan Guard Qianhu Station can't catch her, but I don't know if she has any accomplices."

"Probably." Zhang Yuelu said thoughtfully, "I still can't figure out what she wants to deceive by setting up a grass platform to dance in broad daylight."

Qi Xuansu said: "If I knew, I would be a wild goose. But we should also be careful and beware of the revenge of these wild gooses."

"How dare these liars take revenge?" Zhang Yuelu was slightly surprised.

Qi Xuansu said: "The ancient immortal dared to retaliate against the Taoist sect, and the liar naturally dared to retaliate against us. If you kill the snake, there will be endless troubles."

Zhang Yuelu nodded: "Speaking of killing a snake, it reminds me of the Jiangnan case. It really has to be guarded against."

Qi Xuansu only knew the final result of this major case from the Di newspaper, but did not know the specific process. He couldn't help but ask: "I remember that the Jiangnan major case seemed to embezzle payment for goods by forging the sinking of merchant ships. Didn't they think about this? Is it a long way to go? Zuting will find out sooner or later."

"It's not that simple." Zhang Yuelu shook his head and said, "The cause of this case is that the ancestral court and the Holy Court reached a treaty to expand trade exchanges, and the ancestral court ordered the Jiangnan Provincial Government to be responsible for the matter. Because it was to expand business exchanges, the silk, The quantity of tea and porcelain was to be doubled. However, due to time constraints, Jiangnan Provincial Government proposed a strategy to temporarily make up for this year's shortfall by transporting corresponding goods from other provinces. After Jiangnan Provincial Government completed the increase in production, it would then return the goods. To other Taoist authorities.”

"Zuting agreed with the strategy of Jiangnan Province and decided to transport goods from Liaodong Province and Qizhou Province to fill the gap in Jiangnan Province. Tianyuan, you should know that as long as lard passes through your hands, there will be a layer of oil on your hands. , so there is a problem in this link. You touch one hand of lard, I touch one hand of lard, and he touches another hand of lard. The lard is a little smaller after being exploited layer by layer. When the goods to fill the gap actually arrived in the hands of the Jiangnan Province, there were not enough. Seeing that the delivery date agreed with the Western Continent merchants was approaching, these people had no choice but to cause a shipwreck in order to wipe it off their books. Make up for these shortfalls.”

"However, because there are too many goods involved, unless more than a dozen ships are sunk at once, the books will be uneven. But once more than a dozen ships are sunk, even a fool will know that there is something fishy, ​​so they came up with another one. The method was to secretly collude with the demons of the secret association and let the demons of the secret association burn the warehouse of Jiangnan Province. The warehouse was empty, but they could use this to hide the fact that the goods in short supply were burned by the demons. Just neglecting to take precautions, the charge of neglect of duty is far less than the charge of corruption. The key is that the benefits have already gone to their pockets. "

"Duzhitang noticed something was wrong and reported it to the ancestral court. The ancestral court ordered Beichen Hall to investigate the matter, so Beichen Hall sent people to Jiangnan Daofu. They jumped over the wall and killed people in the name of a secret association. A case of embezzlement was turned into a major case of the local government against the ancestral court. A major case of corruption, a major case of collusion with secret societies, and a major case of antagonism to the ancestral court. These three cases were collectively called the Jiangnan Major Case. Only a few heads fell to the ground.”

After listening to this, Qi Xuansu said with emotion: "I forgot to shrink my hands when I was behind me, but I have no way to turn back."

Zhang Yuelu also sighed: "You asked me just now, why do they think the ancestral court will not find out? In fact, seriously speaking, it may not be a dead end. Everyone understands one thing, you can take the opportunity to enrich your own pockets, but you can't go too far. , at least have some restraint. These principles are extremely simple, so simple that even an outsider like me knows them, and they are even considered semi-open secrets.”

"The problem is, everyone is looking to others to practice this."

"The senior officials of Jiangnan Daofu hope that the people below can stop, understand the difficulties of the Daofu, and put the overall situation first."

"The fundamental reason is that, headed by the original master of Jiangnan Daofu, the senior officials of Jiangnan Daofu are eager for quick success. Their ideas are very direct. As long as the ancestral court orders it, I will definitely complete it. As for how much it will cost to complete the ancestral court's task. , or even deviating from Zu Ting’s intentions is none of my business.”

"So the original head of the Jiangnan Dao Palace knew that there was a lot of trouble going on, but he didn't strictly check and restrict it. In his opinion, as long as he could fill the gap and complete the transaction with the Western Continent merchants on time, he didn't consider the ancestral court signing the treaty at all. Deeper intention. He just didn't want to think about it. After the business was completed, Jiangnan Daofu made a great contribution, but was this the original intention of Zuting? The income of millions of Taiping money and a Jiangnan Daofu that was riddled with internal problems, which was more important? What's more important?"

"Because of this, he was transferred out of Jiangnan Daofu after this incident."

"The people at the bottom hope that the people at the top will turn a blind eye and understand the hardships of little people like them. If the sky falls, it is best for the tall people at the top to hold it up."

"Those who were executed by the ancestral court, after the shipwreck, they knew that the situation was very dangerous. Both Duzhitang and Beichentang had noticed Jiangnan Daofu, but they still refused to spit out some goods to pass the customs. As long as they passed After passing this level, the people from Duzhitang and Beichentang left, and the Jiangnan Daofu still belonged to them. However, these people refused to let go. Even if they died and ransacked their homes, they did not spend their own money to survive the disaster. They all hope that others will spit out some, just as they hope that others will be less greedy when they first pass the lard. "

"Everyone is guarding their own one-third of an acre of land. They know clearly that no one will be happy when the sky falls, but they still dig into the corner of Optimus Prime the moment before the sky falls."

Qi Xuansu didn't speak for a long time.

The facts of this case are not complicated, but it interprets human nature very deeply.

Compared with the twists and turns within these sects, the disputes over interests in the Jianghu are like children's quarrels, which are really not on the stage.

Zhang Yuelu said softly: "After experiencing this, I understood my ambition in this life. The Taoist sect has reached the point where it must be rectified. If you want to rectify the Taoist sect, you must ascend to a high position. One Zhenzhi Zhenren is not enough, and one Pingzhang Da Zhenren is not enough." It’s not enough, we have to have three deputy heads or chief heads.”

Qi Xuansu felt a little ashamed. His ambition was just to get married and start a career. Compared with Zhang Yuelu, there was a huge difference.