On the twenty-first day of the lunar month, take people.

On the twenty-second day of the lunar month, take people.

On the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, every household was busy sending stoves (stove sacrifices), and the officials of the yamen were still taking people everywhere. The twenty-fourth day of the lunar month is the day of dusting, and the officials of the yamen are still taking people everywhere!

……

Compared with other places, Hai'an folk customs are really simple. The people are honest, there are not many traitors, there are very few who are brave and ruthless, and those who commit chaos have not heard of it for many years, and the yamen of the inspection department has locked up five or six criminals a year, and the old inspector who has just arrived in office actually sends officials to take people everywhere every day, and the people of ten miles and eight townships have to go to the town to see the excitement, and every afternoon they crowd in the Yunyan River to watch the officials take the captured prisoners to the yamen, which has become "the eleventh scene of three ponds".

Whether it is a squire with a well-to-do family or a poor person with a family on all sides, it is a big deal for them to suffer a lawsuit.

No matter how far away from the yamen of the inspection department, they had to rush to Hai'an Town with money, a change of clothes and dry food to inquire about the news, and even go to the door to ask someone to help intercede with the inspection master. Those who have money live in Santang inns or post shops, and those who have relatives join their relatives. Those who have no money in the town and no relatives can only tearfully beg the people in the town and even around to let them stay overnight.

Seeing that the Chinese New Year is coming, the people in the vicinity more or less want to come to the town to buy some New Year's goods, these days Hai'an is more lively than usual, with the arrival of hundreds of prisoners' relatives has become more lively, even the business of the merchants and vendors is better than in previous years.

However, what should be the busiest place is the loneliest.

No matter who the relatives of the prisoners asked to intercede, the inspector did not see him, and the two archers guarding outside the yamen did not even allow idle people to approach. The five big and three coarse, fierce and vicious family members of the inspection master still came out to inspect from time to time, and no one dared to make a loud noise, let alone make a fuss.

Dean Gu originally planned to go back to his hometown in the countryside for the New Year, but the opportunity was not as good as the change, not only Chen Youdao pestered him every day, but also some relatives of people who didn't even know him before also came to Fengshan Academy with New Year's gifts and begged him to help find a way.

As the most prestigious gentry in the local area, Dean Gu could neither ignore nor want to eat behind closed doors, so he could only come to the pawnshop diagonally opposite the yamen early every morning, while appeasing Chen Youdao and a few other relatives who were a little rich in the family, while waiting for news with them.

"How many locks did you take yesterday?"

"Fourteen, I heard that all of them are near white rice, but I don't recognize any of them."

The pawnshop shopkeeper couldn't help but interject: "Dean Gu, Master Han caught it from east to west, he caught white rice yesterday, and he should catch Jiang Yan today." ”

"With so many people, can the yamen be closed?" Dean Gu muttered while holding a teacup.

"Chu Chenggui, the six rooms they lived in when they were on duty before were all converted into class rooms."

"There are a total of six class rooms, and there are more than a dozen of them in one room!"

"It must be crowded, and the people in it don't know how much they will suffer." Chen Youdao sighed, and said hatefully: "Chu Chenggui of the dog day is rich, his mother-in-law burned so many people's prison food, I squeezed over to take a look when I sent food to the yamen at noon, the money and rice were all greedy by her, which rice was burned, I looked thinner than pig food!" ”

"Huang Deaf is happy, and he goes to the yamen every day to pick up five or six buckets of dung."

"Boss Wu, the feces and urine in the class room were poured by the yellow deaf?"

"yes, go every night, pick three trips a day."

"Why didn't you say it earlier, I would have asked him to help me bring something to Jing Jun."

"Don't look for him, it's useless to look for him."

"Why is it useless?" Chen Youdao asked subconsciously.

Boss Wu said helplessly: "I looked for it, but not only did he not dare to help, but he didn't even dare to help me bring it in." What do you say, Master Han has an explanation, and he is not allowed to bring things inside, let alone talk. He also said that he couldn't enter the class room, and every night he carried an empty bucket into the yamen, and the full ones were all placed outside the class room, Chu Chenggui and Master Han's family were all staring in the yard, he didn't dare to inquire, so he could only put down the empty bucket and pick up the full dung bucket and leave. ”

Dean Gu secretly thought that it was useless for you to talk about this, and the top priority was not to bring things to the class room, nor to bring a message to your sons who had a lot of debts, but how to ask Master Han to raise his noble hand before the yamen opened the seal.

Just when I didn't know what to say about them, a prisoner's relative suddenly asked, "Dean Chen, has Zhong Da Zhonger's nephew come back?" ”

"I'm back, I'm back at noon. said that he was going to Fu'an, the ghost knew where he went, the ghost knew what he was busy with, and brought a person into the yamen. ”

When Su Jueming was mentioned, he gritted his teeth one by one.

In their opinion, the reason why the inspector took people everywhere was all because of Su Jueming's badness.

Dean Gu felt that the new patrol inspectors sent officers to lock up and treat them as traitors were not only not a bad thing, but also very happy, but he also felt that it was enough to punish so many people, and escort so many people to the state government to ask Master Zhang to severely sentence him to hurt Tianhe, after all, cane punishment and exile are not a joke, and if you don't do it, you will really die.

Thinking that although Su Jueming was not a good thing, he could finally talk to the inspector, he suddenly raised his head and said, "Since you know that the third child of the Su family is back, why are you still sitting here, hurry up and go to the oil mill!" ”

"Dean Gu, don't mention it!"

"What's wrong again?"

"Zhong Da Zhong Er is as timid as a mouse, when he saw that we were all here, he was afraid that we would be angry with him, so he didn't even do business, and closed his door yesterday and went to the countryside."

Thinking that all this was all because of Zhong Da Zhong Er's nephew, and then thinking that there were at least a hundred anxious relatives of prisoners in the town at this time, Dean Gu realized that it was understandable for Zhong Da Zhong Er's shop to go to the countryside, after all, no one wanted to offend so many villagers at once.

Just as I didn't know what to say, there was a commotion outside.

Everyone thought that the servants had locked up and taken back the prisoners, and subconsciously got up and walked out of the pawnshop, only to see that there was finally movement in the yamen, and the family of the inspector was posting notices, and the half-grown son brought by the inspector when he took office was standing on the side and giving lectures.

"Twenty-three people, including Li Changsong of Mulberry Garden, Yu Limin of Jiao Gang, and Jiang Qunzhao of Jijiazhuang, were either first-time offenders, or were seduced and bewitched by others, or there were old fathers and mothers in the family, so they decided to show mercy outside the law and give these twenty-three people a chance to change their minds and repent and reform themselves. If you have relatives here, hurry back to find Baozheng and A Chang Gubao, and if your relatives are not there, please tell your parents on your behalf......"

When people are released, there are twenty-three. However, it is necessary to protect the integrity and the first chief, and if the crime is committed again in the future, the maintenance and the first chief will have to sit together.

Dean Gu didn't expect the young inspector to deal with it like this, and couldn't help but sigh: "Who said that Master Han is a cool official, Master Han is still reasonable." ”