The pottery owner Bo asked for a price, and Zhou Zhixian sat on the ground to pay back.

The pottery master Bo insisted that four thousand taels and one taels could not be less, and Zhou Zhixian hid his face and cried about how wronged he was as an official, and in the end, he knelt down and kowtowed.

A big man said that crying tears were coming, Han Xiufeng really couldn't stand it, but the pottery master was unmoved, Zhou Zhixian saw that begging for mercy didn't work, wiped away his tears and put on a broken jar and broken posture, saying that the silver is only 1,500 taels, and if there is no more, you can take it.

Maybe thinking that the county government, the government government and the Daotai yamen are not far from Chaotianmen, and they will have a long night and many dreams, and the pottery master Bo didn't want the cooked duck to fly, so he finally agreed to "go private" with 1,500 taels, and asked Zhou Zhixian to hurry back to the boat to get the silver ticket.

The situation is stronger than people, and Zhou Zhixian can only suffer this dumb loss.

Taking advantage of the time when he went back to get the silver ticket, the pottery master Bo asked Guan to take the shopkeeper of Li Ji Tong Tin to the hall, looked at Li Defu with the eyes of a death row prisoner, and asked coldly: "Bold Li Defu, do you know what crime you have committed?" ”

Li Defu's courage was already frightened, and he cried while kowtowing: "I know, I know, the villain knows, I beg the second master to raise his noble hand and let the villain ......"

"Let you go, you have committed a big sin of losing your head, let this official let go?"

"The villain is willing to pay, the second master, the villain is willing to pay five hundred taels, is five hundred taels enough?"

"Five hundred taels, Li Defu, your net worth is worth five hundred taels? You are called Hanako when you are the official! By now, you should know that you have committed the great crime of killing your head and robbing your family, if you do business, not only will you not be able to keep your head, but your little family business will also be confiscated! ”

"Five hundred taels, the villain is doing a small business, and the villain can only get so much."

The pottery master snapped and slapped the public case, and scolded: "Li Defu, it seems that you will not die if you don't have the heart of the Yellow River, okay, this official will fulfill you, Guan Da ......!" ”

"In!" Guan Tou came out in response.

"Lock up the criminals who stole and buy official copper, and escort them to the county office for trial!"

"Huh!"

Li Defu thought that if he was imprisoned in the class room, no matter how much silver he spent, he would not be able to save his life, so he hurriedly crawled to the front of the public case, hugged the leg of the case and cried: "Second master, the villain can't take out so much silver for a while, can you give the villain a few days, one thousand taels, the villain is willing to pay a thousand taels, just ask the second master to raise his noble hand and let the villain go." ”

"One thousand taels, if you tease the official, there are more than one thousand taels in your house!"

"Second master, there are old and little ...... villains"

"There's an eighty-year-old mother, right, and everyone who was brought to the yamen said so! For the sake of your usual honesty, the official can raise his noble hand and let you go, but you have to take two thousand taels, and one tael less is not to be discussed. ”

Li Defu is not only the shopkeeper of Li Ji Copper and Tin Shop, but also one of the main affairs of Copper Tin Tooth Shop. Some people are not convinced and sue the yamen, but there are rules and regulations, and they have a license issued by the government, so it is useless to sue.

His family has a big business, he has the Huguang Guild Hall to support him, and he can talk to the county lord and even the mansion, and those in the city who do copper and tin trading dare not speak out.

Han Xiufeng had already seen that he was not pleasing to the eye, and felt that it was not too much to let him pay two thousand taels, so he couldn't help but say: "Shopkeeper Li, if you can't even save your life, what's the use of asking for so much silver." I know your family background, the second master doesn't care if you want 2,000 taels, it's really not much, and he has to help you bear this big responsibility. ”

"Yes...... But the silver tickets on the case are also mine! ”

"Yours?" The pottery owner Bo Le, patted the public case and laughed: "Shopkeeper Li, you open your eyes to see clearly, prick up your ears to hear and understand, this is the stolen silver seized from the criminals who stole and sold official copper." If you keep saying that these silver tickets are yours, the official will not be able to exonerate you even if he wants to. ”

Han Xiufeng reminded: "Shopkeeper Li, you can't talk nonsense, you will really lose your head if you spread it." ”

Li Defu is not a melon baby, how can he not understand this truth, so he can only say with a bitter face: "What the second master said is that those silver tickets are not villains, but the villain really can't take out two thousand taels for a while." ”

"If you can't get it now, you can let your family go back and get it."

"I don't have it at home, I don't have it on the counter, and it's useless to go back."

"There is no counter at home to borrow, you Huguangxing helps so many rich businessmen, your shopkeeper Li is so popular with you, borrowing two thousand taels is not a matter of one or two sentences!"

"Second master, where do you want me to borrow it in the middle of the night?"

"This is your business, this official is on official business, and I don't have so much effort to spend with you. If you don't see two thousand taels of silver before dawn, you will wait to be put on death row, and wait for the queen of autumn to ask for beheading! ”

……

If it was all night in the county government court, Shopkeeper Li didn't dare to joke with his life, so he could only follow Guan Zhutou out to find his servants, and ask the servants to go back to report the news quickly, so that the family could raise money overnight.

The pottery master Bo was very busy, and asked Yu Youfu to bring the tea helper to the hall.

Although the tea gang has a backer, it is a group of poor foot men who sell coolies after all, and they can't squeeze much oil and water, but for the pottery owner Bo, grasshoppers are also meat, which scared them, and finally the head of the tea gang was willing to pay 150 taels to buy his life.

After all the work was done, Liu San, a family member of Zhou Zhi County, also sent 1,500 taels of silver tickets.

Even if you get into a big lawsuit, as long as you can get a lot of money, everything is easy to say! Seeing the silver ticket, the pottery master Bo immediately asked Guan to arrest the head and release the person, and the seized ship of Yunnan copper was also returned.

Two thousand seven hundred taels of silver tickets in hand, and two thousand one hundred and fifty taels to be sent later, the pottery master Bo is people are in good spirits on happy occasions, and it is rare to be generous, and he actually asked his old servant Zhao Bo to go back and let his family make supper and send it, and even brought two jars of good wine that had been treasured for several years.

After a few glasses of wine, the pottery master Bo said regretfully: "Brother, our hearts are still too soft!" Look at these silver tickets sent by the family surnamed Zhou, all of them are 'west', and the least one is also two hundred taels, where is this made, I bet that even if he asks for another two thousand taels, he can get it like his turtle son! ”

"Second master, the dog is still jumping off the wall in a hurry, it's already very good that we can pull out our teeth and let him give 1,500 taels."

"That's right, the turtle son's official can't do it for a few days, if he is in a hurry, he will really break the jar and break, anyway, he is a dead pig and is not afraid of boiling water."

"So when it comes to the silver in the hand, it is the silver."

"That's the point, brother, come on, let's have a drink!"

"Second Master Xie, do it first as a respect."

Seeing that Han Xiufeng drank it all, Tao Master Bo also dried it up, and then changed his words: "Brother, this matter was done neatly tonight, and I really can't bear to let you go." Isn't being an official for thousands of miles just trying to make a fortune, think about it, if you don't go to the capital to make a confession, just stay in Ba County, do something like tonight three or five times a year, and you can make a fortune? Why bother to leave your hometown so far, I don't know if I can make up for the shortage, and even if I can make up for it, I don't know if it's a fat shortage or a bitter shortage. ”

"Second master, you think I'm willing to leave my hometown, but tonight this matter is unavoidable."

"Who said that it is impossible to meet," Tao Master Bo put down the wine bowl, looked at Han Xiufeng with a smile and asked: "Brother, the transport official surnamed Zhou only transported 450,000 catties of Yunnan copper this time, don't you think it's a little less, don't you think it's strange?" ”

Han Xiufeng was stunned, and immediately reacted: "Second master, I am really a little strange what you said, the Beijing Bureau minted money thanks to Yunnan copper and lead, but this year only 450,000 catties can be transported, how much can this copper be minted, think about it is less than in previous years, and much less!" ”

"I happen to know that this year, the total number of copper offices in Yunnan that the imperial court has made has not changed, but it is not divided into one or two liberations in previous years, but in six batches. The turtle son surnamed Zhou is the first batch, and there are five more next, maybe it will arrive in a few days, do you think those transport officials will do the same tricks as the turtle son surnamed Zhou? ”

"There is this possibility, but their courage is not necessarily as big as that of Zhou Zhixian."

"Brother, a shrewd person like you should be able to think that they can only do things in our Ba County, we have so many dangerous waterways in Ba County, it is normal for the ship to capsize and sink copper, and there is an excuse for the ship to sink and the copper catty is lacking. After passing the Three Gorges and entering the boundary of Hubei, the waterways after that were calm and calm, and they couldn't do anything they wanted to. ”

Han Xiufeng thought to himself that you have tasted the sweetness, but this silver is not so easy to earn, in case of the incident in the east window, there will be a life to make money and a life to spend it. Han Xiufeng didn't want to always take risks, he felt that he should still accept it when he saw it, so he picked up the wine he had just poured and said with a wry smile: "Second master, I know that you are thinking about me, and I am not a person who knows what is good or bad, mainly because I entered Beijing to confess not only to make a shortage, but also to glorify my ancestors and comfort my uncle's soul in the sky." ”