Tao Jiong is a decent gentleman.

He is not pedantic, and his temperament is not very gentle. After all, as a child who lost his father at a young age, he depended on his widowed mother for his life, and if he didn't have a sleek temperament, it was easy to become unlikable, and he would be oppressed by the people around him.

But he has his own bottom line as a person, and the education he received from his parents and teachers since he was a child also let him know what to do and what not to do, and never cross that line.

He is not a nerd who reads to death, he is still quite talented in practice, and during his tenure as the county magistrate, he unexpectedly found that he was quite good at investigating and adjudicating cases. Therefore, when a friend who served in the Ministry of Officials told him the news that the post of Zhenjiang Governor was vacant, he immediately accepted the appointment. Even if he waited a few more months, it would be possible to find an official vacancy from the sixth rank and be promoted smoothly, he didn't care.

However, Zhenjiang is much more prosperous than the previous office, and he is quite happy in his heart. His old mother lived in a prosperous city since she was a child, and after she got married, she also lived a prosperous life, and she never suffered much, even after losing her husband. But because his son went to a poor county after leaving the office, she didn't say a word and followed, and she really suffered for a few years. Now as long as his mother can live a rich and leisurely life again, what does it matter if he delays his official position in Qipin for another three years? He's young anyway.

But when he arrived in Zhenjiang, he found that things were not quite the same as he imagined. The prefect of Zhenjiang was domineering and acted very meanly, which made him very unaccustomed to it. But he also knew that he was not capable of fighting the other party, and if the two sides were too stiff, he would die by himself, and he would never accept it if his mother, wife and niece were involved. Therefore, he adopted an attitude of confrontation with Buddhism, not taking the initiative to provoke the prefect, but he was also unwilling to go along with the other party. Anyway, he just came from the capital, and he knew that the second prince was in trouble with the Lin family, and he couldn't take care of a small person like the Zhenjiang prefect for the time being. He didn't have to do anything, he just secretly paid attention to the other party's incriminating evidence, and when the imperial court sent an angel down to investigate, he sent those incriminating evidence, and the matter was settled.

If the angel could have sent the Zhenjiang prefect to justice without his help, he might not even have to come out with this head.

Tao Jiong rebelled against the prefect of Zhenjiang in this way, and the latter naturally looked at him unpleasantly. But the prefect of Zhenjiang is not a fool, and he also received a letter from the family in the capital, knowing that the second prince and the Lin family are in trouble, if he acts carelessly, attracts the attention of the Cao family, and uses him to deal with the Lin family, then neither his family nor the Lin family will save him. He knew that Tao Jiong had acquaintances in Beijing, and he was still an official in the Ministry of Officials, so he didn't dare to cause a war easily, so he was so vigilant about Tao Jiong, but he didn't start to deal with it. But he is not willing to let a person who is not obedient to him like this, so he is also secretly planning some insidious means in private.

When Tao Jiong sentenced several cases one after another, returned the innocence of the innocent, and made the rich people who were in the same stream with the Zhenjiang prefect suffer, the relationship between the two sides became more and more tense. The prefect of Zhenjiang found out that Tao Jiong was collecting evidence of his crimes, and also found that he had a familiar colleague in the capital, with a deep background, and seemed to have something to do with the Cao family, and he also had a heart to protect him, so in addition to resentment, he did not dare to easily disadvantage his family, so he had to send his subordinates to keep an eye on his family's actions, and beware of him sending those incriminating evidence to the capital one day.

Although Tao Jiong's family is currently acting without hindrance, in fact, the whole family is being targeted, and as long as they go out of the house, they don't have much privacy. Even within the door, it's hard to say what secrets their home has that the people around them don't know. Tao Ying said in the letter that her uncle's study was robbed twice before and after, but nothing was lost, not even the silver ticket in the book disappeared, and I don't know which thief with high vision visited. In addition, the family hired four people before and after Zhenjiang, two of them had been bribed to be eyes and ears for others, one was too afraid to resign voluntarily, and the remaining one was honest and loyal, but the family couldn't believe it, so they had to reward people with silver and ask people to walk. Now the subordinates of the Tao family are all old servants who have followed the master for many years, and the reliability is no problem.

For now, Tao Jiong's family seems to be safe. As long as the prefect of Zhenjiang is worried about Tao Jiong's ranking in Beijing, he will not dare to disadvantage him easily; And Tao Jiong is worried about the safety of his mother, wife and niece, and he will not do anything risky, just wait for Jingzhong to send someone to check the prefect's mansion, and it will not be too late to come forward, and the evidence collected is also hidden in a safe place, not afraid that it will be found.

However, the little girl Tao Ying was cautious and felt that her uncle's family's idea was too naïve. They wanted to wait until the Lin family in Jingzhong lost power, or the Cao family knew about the Zhenjiang prefect and sent someone to investigate, the latter would naturally be caught, and the danger they faced would disappear completely. But you need to know that the dog jumped over the wall in a hurry, and when someone comes to check the Zhenjiang prefect, who can guarantee that this person will not kill people for fear of leaking criminal evidence? The Tao family lives in the back of the government, for the prefect, it is just a matter of stretching out his hand, a fire burns people, and then reports that the weather is dry and dry, and there is an accidental fire, who can prove that this is murder?

Even if someone could prove that the prefect had killed someone, what could they do? The Tao family is dead.

The little girl Tao Ying was not willing to die like this. She thinks she should take the initiative.

She had already persuaded Tao Jiong to take the initiative to send a letter to that friend in Beijing to test the other party, whether she intended to govern the Zhenjiang prefect?

The answer, however, is disappointing.

The second prince and the Lin family seem to be a little cold at present, but the prince and the Cao family are not hot either. The emperor still didn't like Empress Cao and the crown prince, and in addition to scolding the second prince, he also scolded the prince. The Cao family didn't look like a reliable thigh, and the family on the same list was hesitating whether to stay a little farther away from the Cao family, lest the Cao family be unlucky and become a pond fish. Tongbang is very sympathetic to Tao Jiong's situation, but has no intention of taking the initiative to contact the Cao family and participate in the open and secret struggle between the Cao family and the Lin family, so as not to be misunderstood by the emperor that his family is a henchman of the Cao family.

He persuaded Tao Jiong to continue to wait, and it is estimated that within this year, the fate of the Lin family will be clear. At that time, there is no need for the Cao family to make a move, and someone will pull the Zhenjiang prefect down. Anyway, Zhenjiang is also a good place.

After Tao Jiong knew this friend's attitude, he didn't make any more attempts. Even the official eunuch family in Beijing is reluctant to get involved, let alone other friends who have no background? Anyway, there are only a few months left before the end of the year, and he will always wait for the Zhenjiang prefect to be brought to justice.

Seeing this, Tao Ying couldn't persuade more, but just in case, she wrote this letter, and together with half of the incriminating evidence of the Zhenjiang prefect collected by her uncle, she entrusted it to the pastry shop owner who was grateful to Tao Jiong. He didn't have to do anything, and he didn't have to deal with the Tao family frequently, he just had to be an ordinary small businessman, and deal with all the officials or servants who came to investigate, and waited until the person who could say the few kinds of snacks she had ordered beforehand came to the door.

Tao Ying didn't say what she hoped the Xie family could do with this brocade cloth bag, she seemed to have put the choice in the hands of the Song family and the Xie family. If they decided to give up and pretend they didn't know, she wouldn't complain. Tao Jiong still has half of the prefect's incriminating evidence, which is enough to crucify him.

After reading the letter, Song silently passed it to the other three children, and sighed faintly.

Xie Jinzhi put the letter away again and looked up at Song: "What is Grandmother's decision?" Which yamen should we go to to file a complaint? ”

After hearing this, Song suddenly smiled.