turmoil

Fan Cheng, the prefect of Jinan, learned of the arrival of the Marquis of Dingbian after an hour. In fact, he had received the news that "Marquis of Dingbian entered the border of Qilu" early in the morning, and he was ready to welcome him. Unexpectedly, the people sent there were in a hurry After a long time, it was only a general from the Hou's family who came back to greet him, and the Dingbianhou himself was nowhere to be found.

Fan Cheng's shock was no small matter, he knew very well that the Marquis of Dingbian's visitors were not kind, and nine out of ten they came for the group of "thieves" who fled here.He made a good plan, after welcoming the person to the government office, he would serve him with delicious food and drink, as long as he coaxed Dingbian Hou to be happy, half of the errand was done.

It can be seen that Fan Zhifu was also kept in the dark by Pei Guogong and his son. If he knew that it was not "vagrants and bandits" who were intercepted and killed in the explosion, but an imperial envoy sent by the imperial court, he would not have dared to go if he had three guts. Blending in.

It's just that he didn't expect that the Marquis of Dingbian had seen through his plan early in the morning, and actually played the game of "secretly concealing Chencang". While sending the generals to play the banner of "Marquis of Dingbian" to blatantly attract people's attention, he quietly sneaked into the people, calling Fan The magistrate's fanfare came to nothing.

When the news spread to Fan Cheng's ears, he broke out in a cold sweat—the name of Marquis of Dingbian was heard in all four regions of the Great Yin, let alone Fan Zhifu.He never expected that the person he made up his mind to please would be completely offended as soon as he came.

Prefect Fan took a deep breath, sank his heart back into his stomach, and stood up suddenly: "Come on, come with me to meet the Marquis of Dingbian!"

Although Great Yin paid attention to using literature to control martial arts, the difference between a third-rank magistrate and a first-rank military marquis was too far away, and he couldn't even see the back of his neck, so he could only humbly be a grandson.When he rushed to the small restaurant, he saw two tall and burly guards standing guard in the lobby, blocking the prefect Fan and his party with knives: "Your Majesty is here, no one else can make trouble!"

The prime minister's disciple is a seventh-rank official, and in front of the guards of the Hou's mansion, the third-rank magistrate can only apologize: "The next official is the prefect of Jinan, please see the Marquis of Dingbian."

The general's face was expressionless: "Master Hou is resting upstairs and doesn't see any guests."

Prefect Fan gritted his teeth with hatred, but he didn't dare to make a fuss in front of Marquis Dingbian: "I am very honored to hear that Lord Hou is here... I would like to ask everyone to inform you that the guest room in the government office has been prepared, and I came here on purpose. Come to welcome the Marquis."

The general didn't accept this, and said coldly: "It's good for Master Hou to live here, and I don't want others to disturb you. Please come back, Prefect Fan."

The Hou's family would not accept softness and hard work, Fan Cheng had no choice but to stay or leave, he could only froze in place in a dilemma.

At the same time, a carriage quietly drove into the alley, turned a few turns in the narrow streets, and headed straight out of the city.Dingbianhou, who made Fan Cheng frown, opened half of the car curtain, looked outside, and said without turning his head: "If you are so injured and still refuse to be honest, do you think your life is too big?"

The car was covered with thick cushions, Zhang Jingche leaned on the soft pillow, picked up the water bladder with trembling fingers, tried to bring it to his mouth a few times, but trembling almost slipped off.Yang Fan couldn't stand it anymore, snatched it away, and fed it to his mouth with his own hands. Zhang Jingche drank a couple of sips, and then said weakly: "Hearing is believing, seeing is believing...Actually, based on the confession of that old couple alone, It is enough to testify against Duke Pei and his son, but without seeing it with my own eyes, I can't be completely at ease."

At this time, it has entered September, the autumn wind is gradually rising, and the coolness is deep.Yang Fan shook off his cloak and put it on Zhang Jingche's shoulders.Zhang Jingche rolled up his collar, and suddenly remembered something: "Why did the emperor send you to Shandong? Are Jinyiwei and Youyunwei missing?"

Yang Fan smiled: "It's not His Majesty's intention, it's my own request."

Zhang Jingche was taken aback: "You asked for your life? How did you know?"

After pondering for a while, he had already guessed the cause and effect closely: "Xu Shen told you? Then you ran into the palace aggressively and told the emperor that you want to come to Shandong?"

Yang Fan was very calm: "Yes!"

Zhang Jingche was silent for a while, and looked at Yang Fan with an almost speechless expression: "You...cough cough, do you think that the Dingbianhou Mansion is not big enough to attract people, and the emperor is not afraid of you enough? You...you are telling the emperor clearly, you Is there any eyeliner in You Yunwei!"

Yang Fan pursed his lips: "You Yunwei's news was transmitted easily. When you received the news, your life or death was unknown, and I..."

Zhang Jingche's eyes were wide open, and his ribs were tingling with pain. At that moment, he suddenly had an unbelievable thought: He is for me!

Zhang Jingche's lips trembled uncontrollably for a long time. Just as he was about to say something, You Yunwei, who was driving the carriage, suddenly reined in his horse.Zhang Jingche was caught off guard and fell forward involuntarily. Yang Fan caught him quickly, took the opportunity to get close to his neck, and took a light breath.

"It smells like saponins," Yang Fanxin said, "It smells so good!"

Zhang Jingche came back to his senses, hurriedly pushed Yang Fan away, the red marks on his ears disappeared slightly, and he asked seriously, "What happened?"

You Yunwei, who was driving the car, turned his head: "My lord, there are officers and soldiers driving away the refugees in front. There are too many people, and they blocked the way for a while."

Zhang Jingche and Yang Fan looked at each other, and fell silent by coincidence, only listening to the constant shouting and wailing outside the car, Yang Fan raised a corner of the car curtain, and saw a group of ragged refugees running for the road, all of them sallow and emaciated, staggering.The officials and soldiers of the government government followed behind, driving them away with water and fire sticks from time to time: "Hurry up, don't procrastinate!"

Yang Fan took a closer look and saw that most of the refugees were old and weak women and children, so he couldn't help frowning: "Who are these people? Have they committed any crime?"

Boss Zong drove his horse to follow, and sneered when he heard the words: "What crime? It's just ordinary people who are suffering. Either their fields were taken away and they lost their livelihood, or they were fishermen who lived by the sea and were forcibly evicted by the government. I can only go into exile here..."

Zhang Jingche was a little puzzled: "It's all about annexing the people's fields. Why do you want to drive them away?"

Boss Zong said with a sullen face: "Why else? Naturally, it is to seize the sun-dried salt from sea fields... The sun-dried sea salt is transported to Liaodong and Jiangnan, and it can be sold for several times the price after reselling. It is really a huge profit!"

Yang Fan exclaimed in surprise: "Smuggling sea salt? The imperial court has the right to operate salt and iron. Who is so bold? This is a mind-boggling business!"

Boss Zong said with a half-smile: "Except for the sons and grandsons of the dragon, who would dare to touch such a head-scratching business? This business was first started by King Ping, and it went against the grain and made the coastal fishermen miserable. I thought that the people would finally be able to breathe when King Ping fell. In one breath, who would have thought that this business would be taken over by Duke Pei and his son, and it would become even worse, almost to the point of wrath!"

Zhang Jingche frowned slightly, and Yang Fan was already furious: "It's unreasonable, is Wang Fagangji really just a show!"

As soon as he gave an order, the guards on the left and right rushed forward like wolves and tigers, and subdued the officers and soldiers. The leader was always knocked to the ground, and he yelled: "Who dares to hinder the yamen from performing official duties?" What a gutsy dog, someone who will be named!"

The refugees were suddenly free, looked at each other in confusion for a moment, then suddenly came back to their senses, exclaimed and scattered in a crowd, the guards surrounded them to stop them, and finally carried back a bunch of them.Yang Fan got out of the car first, turned around and stretched out a hand to Zhang Jingche, blinking frivolously: "Master Commander, can I help you get out of the car?"

Zhang Jingche hadn't recovered from the panic just now, but now he felt uncomfortable when he saw Dingbianhou's face, he "snapped" the guy's claws, and got out of the car on his own.

Ding Bianhou, who was miserably disgusted, rubbed the bridge of his nose, and saw Commander Zhang walking forward unhurriedly, looking down at the general manager: "What crime did these people commit, to drive them away like this?"

Pushing the boss to the ground, he gritted his teeth: "These are thugs who gather to make trouble... Mr. Fan has said that there will be imperial envoys coming recently. To prevent surprise, we will drive them all away. You are sensible..."

Before he finished speaking, the guard's foot on his shoulder suddenly exerted force, and the boss screamed, and the unfinished cruel words collapsed halfway.

Zhang Jingche smiled, and said softly: "It turned out to be what Master Fan of the Jinan Mansion meant...In that case, the Commander will invite Master Fan to come over and ask him personally."

When Mr. Jiang heard the words "this commander", his eyelids twitched suddenly, and he looked at him in surprise: "You, you are..."

Dingbian Houhu pretended to be aggressive and scolded: "This is Mr. Zhang, the commander of Jinyiwei, who came here to investigate the case by the emperor's order... You are so brave, you dare to act presumptuously in front of Mr. Commander, do you want to take a walk in the prison?" ?”

Totally freaked out.

He was just about to say something, but Zhang Jingche didn't have the energy to listen to his ramblings, and gestured to his bodyguard, who understood, stuffed a ball of rags into the chief's mouth, and blocked his begging for mercy. go back.

Zhang Jingche turned around, changed his amiable face, and said to the trembling refugees, "Where are you from? Why did you gather a crowd to make noise in Jinan Mansion?"

The leading refugee was an old woman, dressed in rags, her shoes scuffed, and her bloody toes were exposed.She probably came from a good citizen, and her words and deeds were quite regular. Standing in front of the well-dressed Zhang Jingche, she rubbed her heels uncomfortably, trying to hide her broken toes: "We...we were originally fishermen in Binzhou, and we lived there. For most of my life, but half a year ago, I was suddenly kicked out by the government, and we had nowhere to ask, so we had to escape here."

Zhang Jingche and Yang Fan looked at each other, and Zhang Jingche asked, "Why are you kicked out? Who gave the order?"

The old woman hesitated to speak, her eyes were red first, and she said after a while: "I heard that the sea salt from our place is very good, and the lord official has taken a fancy to it, so he wants to take the sea field away... But God damn it, we They are all good people who rely on the sea for their food. They were suddenly kicked out. How will they live in the future? My son was not convinced and wanted to argue with the officers and soldiers, but he was beaten to death... Our old couple only have such a son, this is not for me Fate!"

The more the old woman spoke, the more sad she became, and in the end she choked up sobbing. Zhang Jingche sighed slightly, and asked a few more refugees, and the words were the same.So he didn't ask any more questions, turned his head to call You Yunwei, gave a few instructions in a low voice, and You Yunwei understood, got on his horse and galloped away.

Yang Fan watched coldly from the side, not intending to intervene in the slightest, and finally twitched the corner of his mouth mockingly: "If you took Fan Cheng early in the morning, it wouldn't be such a big deal."

Zhang Jingche glanced at him: "Do you really think Fan Cheng is the culprit?"

Yang Fan pondered for a moment, then he understood: "You mean, behind Fan Cheng are Pei Guogong and his son?"

Zhang Jingche sneered, and didn't even bother to answer: This is so obvious, if there is no backer, Fan Cheng, a third-rank magistrate, would dare to engage in the business of smuggling sea salt openly?

"Pei Guogong's eldest son is Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Industry, and his daughter is a virtuous concubine in the palace. She is a family of great honor and hidden as the head of the Beijing family," Yang Fan mused. , even if it is for the sake of the court, His Majesty may not chase after him fiercely..."

"There is no need to chase after and attack," Zhang Jingche said calmly and confidently, "The reason why His Majesty is focusing on the aristocratic family's annexation of the people's land is because the treasury is empty. If the government returns some of the fertile land, it will be regarded as achieving the goal."

Yang Fan came to a sudden: "So you took Fan Cheng and deliberately opened your mouth like a lion, just to sit on the ground and bargain?"

Zhang Jingche: "..."

Although this is the meaning, why is it so unscrupulous when the words come out of Dingbianhou's mouth?

Zhang Jingche's name is the Commander of Jinyiwei, but he brought Youyunwei with him on this trip. A group of elites rushed into the Jinan government office aggressively, dragged out the bewildered Fan Cheng, and tied him into a big bewildered man. Zongzi.

Caught off guard by this move, the little fish and shrimps beside Zhifu Fan panicked and ran around like headless flies, and were caught by You Yunwei one by one.This group of people originally gathered because of profit, and scattered when the profit was exhausted. At this time, when the catastrophe was imminent, they only cared about it, and some even lost their positions. In the dark grid under the backlight of the rockery.

You Yunwei, who was in charge of taking people, was taken aback. According to what the master said, he searched for a while in the dark corner of the rockery, and he found a well-hidden secret compartment with a thick stack of ledgers hidden in it. When he opened it, he was shocked immediately one jump.He didn't dare to be professional, so he quickly handed over the account book to Zhang Jingche.

At first, Zhang Jingche didn't understand why he was in a hurry. After turning a few pages, he was speechless. He saw that the ledger was densely packed with records of Fan Cheng's profit share from smuggling sea salt over the years. Of the share, [-]% was naturally pocketed by the Prefect Fan. As for the rest, it was sent to Prince Ping's Mansion in the past few years, and in these years, it was collected by Duke Pei's Mansion.

Zhang Jingche was silent for a while before he said: "Fan Cheng's hiding is considered deep. When King Ping fell, You Yunwei sorted out the court one by one. Anyone who got close to King Ping would either be demoted from the capital or assigned to the border. Only this Fan Cheng , is tactful and cautious, even though he was the parent official of the Jinan Mansion, he was not caught by You Yunwei... I didn't expect this person to be in collusion with Ping Wang's Mansion as early as the first emperor's time, and it is really a talent to be able to hide it until today .”

Yang Fan scanned his eyes with his head, and smiled: "This man is clever enough. Seeing King Ping's downfall, he turned around and hugged Pei Guogong's thigh. With the big tree of Pei Guogong's mansion, it is not easy to get rid of him even today. The prefect's hat..."

Zhang Jingche closed the ledger and threw it into Yang Fan's arms: "You take it... With this ledger in hand and Fan Cheng's confession, no matter how deeply rooted Pei Guogong and his son are, they dare not swallow it." Spit out the fat in your mouth."

Ding Bianhou's attention was not on the brick-like ledger, but staring straight at Zhang Jingche: "What do you mean?"

Zhang Jingche sighed slightly.

It may be because of the battle experience, although Yang Fan behaved sloppily most of the time, he was much more sensitive than ordinary people. Zhang Jingche only revealed his voice, but he had already grasped the meaning behind Commander Zhang's words.

"You...want to leave?" Yang Fan said in a deep voice, "Give me the account book, do you want to take this opportunity to get out and go away and hide in the world?"

Zhang Jingche rubbed his forehead, not knowing how to answer.