Chapter 012: Thousands of Households Punished

Starting from Tianjin, Chen Cao traveled slowly all the way, after arriving in Dezhou, he changed to a waterway official ship, and went south under the banner of Jinyiwei along the way, unimpeded, even if he occasionally encountered an official ship, those who were not big officials took the initiative to get out of the waterway, after all, Jinyiwei is not a good stubble, maybe he went out of Beijing to investigate the case, Chen Cao also really experienced the feeling of a fox and a fake tiger.

The canal was very fast, through the waterway to the Yangtze River, disembarked at the mouth of the Longjiang River, and rode into Nanjing in only two hours, and the whole journey took less than seven days.

When Chen Cao returned to Nanjing, the first thing he did was to go to Nanzhen Fusi to go through the entry procedures and hand over the official documents, and the first stop was the Experience Division, where he met Yang Yong, who was an acquaintance.

Yang Yong was also surprised, the little-known Yin Feng General Banner a few months ago, now returned from Liaodong but became the head of the Nanzhen Fu Division, and the official rank was higher than Yang Yong, but Yang Yong was experienced in the Division, and belonged to the middle cadre level, and the two were just equal.

"Chen Qianhu has been absent for a few months, and when he comes back, he will already be the head of the Nanzhen Fusi, congratulations." Yang Yong smiled and arched his hand towards Chen Cao.

Chen Cao also smiled and returned the salute to Yang Yong: "Yang has experienced the award, if Yang Experience is not present that day, I am afraid that Chen will be framed by those villains." ”

Chen Cao mentioned the old feelings, Yang Yong was very useful, and hurriedly waved his hand: "You're polite, you and I are both colleagues in Weizhong, besides, my Jinyi Wei is not something that those scholars can get along, so I naturally want to help my own people speak." ”

After touting the two compartments, Chen Cao went straight out of the experience division and went to the middle hall to meet the pacification envoy Xu Xianchun, and Xu Xianchun also learned the news in advance and was already waiting for Chen Cao in the middle hall.

"Humble Chen Cao, I have seen the pacification envoy."

Xu Xianchun was drinking tea, and when he saw Chen Cao entering the hall, he put down the teacup, nodded and said: "Chen Cao, you have gained face for my Nanzhen Fusi, and the commander has specially issued an order to let the official take care of you. ”

Chen Cao felt that Xu Xianchun's words were too obvious, but he was a newcomer, so he didn't want to talk nonsense, so he smiled: "Humble provincial, provincial..."

Xu Xianchun saw that Chen Cao was so upright, nodded with satisfaction, and then said solemnly: "It's good to know, Liu Lei's matter is ordered by His Majesty, even the official doesn't dare to stretch out his hand, and I'll leave the rest to you." ”

The yamen of the Fusi of Nanzhen is on the left side of the Fengtian Gate of the Imperial City, next to the important yamen such as the Nanjing Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Households, and the right side is where the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies of Nanjing is located.

Chen Cao's office is in the yamen of the Zhenfu Division because he has been promoted to the official of thousands of households, and the first thing Chen Cao is doing now is to deal with Liu Lei.

There is no edict prison in the South Town Fu Division, but there is a Weizhong Prison, and the torture masters of the North Town Fu Division are basically from the criminal prison of the South Town Fu Division.

Liu Lei was so fat that his body was trembling at the moment, his face was pale, his limbs were weak, and in addition to being frightened, his own diabetes may have been committed.

"Chen Qianhu, Lord Chen, his subordinates have eyes and don't know Mount Tai, everything is a small fault, and please ask Lord Chen to be extrajudicial and forgive a small life..."Liu Lei cried and kept pleading.

Chen Cao's head hurt when he heard this, then he shook his head, pointed to the torture instrument on the desk, looked at Zhao Xindao: "According to the rules, give him a review first, don't let him die, and try him again tomorrow." ”

When Liu Lei heard this, he shouted: "Spare your life, my lord..."

Going home is the first priority, Chen Cao set off for Liaodong in November, and came back in mid-February, after three months, he didn't say that he missed it, he just wanted to watch his cheap little sister and himself finally earn those silver.

As soon as Chen Cao entered the house with his front foot, Chen Qing ran close to him, and said with a sinister face: "Brother, I didn't expect you to have these affairs, it seems that the rumors in Nanjing City are not false." ”

'What the hell? Chen Cao looked at Chen Qing blankly, and was about to step forward to give her a brain meltdown, when he saw a person walking out of the courtyard, who was not Li Fengchun?

"Sir is back." Li Fengchun blushed slightly and said embarrassedly.

Chen Cao then remembered that he was in Tianjin before, Luo Sigong said that he would take Li Fengchun home, looking at the little sister next to him, Chen Cao nodded and said, "Hmm..."

The answer was very simple, but it was comfortable in Li Fengchun's heart, so he followed Chen Cao to the middle hall and poured Chen Cao a cup of tea with his own hands: "Half a month ago, someone from Jinyi Wei came to the shipyard and handed the official document of the teaching department to his mother, and then brought the slave family to Mr. 's house. ”

"I took all the things you handed over to me, I thought that I would come back to handle your redemption when Liaodong was finished, or if the teaching department issued an official document, things would be much simpler, but," Chen Cao put down the teacup and turned his head to look at Li Fengchun, and said with some pity: "Your identity has entered my Chen family, and you can only be a concubine, are you prepared?" ”

Li Fengchun's eyes are red, there are many rules in the Ming Dynasty, a person like her who is from a good background marries into a family, if she is lucky, she is a concubine, and if she is unlucky, she is a girl who has a room, and she is not as good as a concubine, Li Fengchun is also betting that Chen Cao, a great literary son, is a person who understands sincerity, and now it seems that she is right, so she quickly knelt down in front of Chen Cao and sobbed: "Slave, no, concubine Xie Gongzi's great grace." ”

"Hey..."Chen Cao sighed and said: "In the future, you and I will be people who share the same bed, why are you kneeling with me?" Get up..."

As soon as the words fell, Song Che walked into the lobby quickly, looking at the scene in front of him, quite embarrassed: "Am I here at the wrong time?" ”

Chen Cao waved his hand, looked at Li Fengchun and said, "In the future, you will be a member of my Chen family, go and talk to my grandmother first, let's go down." ”

After Li Fengchun got up and saluted Chen Cao, then turned around and bowed to Song Che as well, Song Che returned the salute with a fist to Li Fengchun, and then said: "Yaozhong, the matter of you killing the three Tartar generals in the Liaodong Formation has spread in Nanjing City, you kid can." ”

Chen Cao immediately returned to his previous cheerful appearance, and said with a smile: "It's not so expressive, I've heard of it, but I'm also in danger, and I was almost hacked to death by a tartar under a horse." ”

Song Che said and lowered his head and whispered: "I'm afraid you don't know, the matter of killing Liu Zuo and imprisoning Liu Lei in the battle has also spread in Nanjing, you must know better than me who Liu Lei is..."

Chen Cao has a lot of things to do now, and suddenly thought of a very important thing, so he looked at Song Che and said, "Shi Xiu, you are in the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division, you have to help me a little." ”

Song Che said with a proud face: "You and my brother don't have to talk about this, you just say..."

Sending Song Che away, before he turned around, he saw Li Xiang's carriage entering the alley at the mouth of the alley, and it was his old acquaintance Zhou Decai who drove the car. "Yo, shopkeeper Zhou," Chen Cao smiled all over his face, looked at Zhou Decai's face carefully, and found that there was no scar, so he smiled even happier, "How is it, how are you doing?" ”

Zhou Decai was also full of smiles, and bowed his hand to Chen Cao diligently: "Mr. Chen, oh no, Lord Chen is good, Lord Chen is good..."

Li Xiang's maid Xiaochun opened the curtain and smiled apologetically at Chen Cao, Chen Cao disagreed, and then Li Xiang walked out of the carriage: "Chen Cao..."

Looking at Li Xiang's beautiful face, Chen Cao chuckled in his heart, and hurriedly clapped his hands: "It's a bad thing..."

Before leaving Shenyang, Chen Cao had promised Li Wan'er that he would propose marriage to his father Li Rubai after arriving in the capital, but now that he has been back for so long, he has forgotten about this matter, thinking of Li Wan'er lifting a sword to kill himself, Chen Cao couldn't help but shudder.

Li Xiang looked at it in his eyes and asked with concern: "Where are you uncomfortable, do you want to call a doctor to treat you?" ”

Chen Cao came back to his senses, smiled awkwardly, thinking about how he couldn't get along with the surname Li, and then said, "No need, by the way, Miss Li has something important?" ”

Li Xiang leaned over and saluted: "Your Majesty ascended the throne and summoned my father to the capital to take up a post, I am about to leave for the capital in the near future, in addition to telling you a word before leaving, I also want to ask you something." ”

Li Maohui was promoted?

Recalling the previous 'Hongmen Banquet', Chen Cao arched his hand and said, "Miss Li will teach. ”

"What you promised my dad that night." Li Xiang lowered his head as he spoke, his face slightly red.

Propose...

Chen Cao thought of what he said that night, and then felt a big head, Li Wan'er also said that she wanted to propose, what should I do now, but thinking that Li Wan'er was far away in the capital, Chen Cao felt relaxed: "Well, now that I have been promoted, it stands to reason that I am a barely worthy girl, so let's go to Beijing in the near future and propose to Lord Li, how about it?" ”

Li Xiang listened, nodded, didn't say a word, turned around last time, Zhou Decai gave up his hand to Chen Cao, and then drove away.

...

In addition to Chen Cao's office in the Yamen of the Zhenfu Division, the residence of the Thousand Households where he is located is located in Xuanwu Lane by the Qinhuai River, except for one time every five days, the rest of the time is in the Thousand Households Office in Xuanwu Lane.

In the signing room of the middle hall, Chen Cao's descendants Zhao Xin, Gao Chong, and the other three small flag officials Liao Yaowen, Han Shizhong, and Xu Kaixian all knelt under the hall, and Chen Cao was conferring officials on them.

"Liu Lei's incident, after the seat of his 100 households became vacant, our 1000 households transferred a 100 households to the past, and the remaining 100 households, the commander promised the adults to let me deal with it myself." As he spoke, he glanced at the five people kneeling below: "Zhao trusts a hundred households, Gao Chong is a hundred households, as for the three of you, Liao Yaowen and Han Shizhong were promoted to the chief flag officer, and Xu Kaixian was transferred to my side as a secretary, do you have any objections?" ”

"My subordinates are willing to die for my lords." The five of them said in unison, they all knew in their hearts that the position of Jinyiwei, if they were just their virtues, they would be small flag officials until they died, and they would not be promoted at all, and now that Chen Cao was rising and could transfer them over, it would also be won by Xu Xianchun or Luo Sigong, and no one would complain.

"Okay, let's all get up..."Chen Cao said, and then instructed: "In the future, we will share the blessings together, and I will take care of the difficulties myself." ”

"How can that happen," Zhao Xin and Chen Cao had the longest time and talked the most: "Your Excellency is now our boss, what is it called when you take us?" What en? ”

"The grace of knowing the grace of encounters...", Gao Chong added.

"Yes, that's what it means, if there is any disaster in the future, adults just rest assured, we will definitely do it properly for adults, even if it doesn't work, the black pot will let me Zhao Xin carry it."

Everyone laughed, Chen Cao nodded noncommittally, and then said: "I will personally handle Liu Lei's affairs, and there are important things for you to do at the moment, listen carefully..."

...

"My lord, there is a famous post..."Xu Kaixian is Chen Cao's secretary, and there is also a part-time job to replace the original Zhao Xin's position and become Chen Cao's personal guard.

Chen Cao took the name card, opened it and took a look, the first thing that caught his eye was the words 'Nanjing Right Guard Commander', and then turned the second page, which was Zhang Tiande's detailed resume.

Don't think about it, Zhang Tiande must have helped Liu Lei say good things this time, Chen Cao closed the name post, and pretended to be unusually forced: "I know, take my driver's license and return it to the person they are waiting for." ”

"Driving. Driver's post? Xu Kaixian thought that there was something wrong with his ears, so he said cautiously: "My lord, my Jinyiwei's driver's license is used to arrest criminals, is it really a driver's license?" ”

"Oh..."Chen Cao felt embarrassed, and then said: "Forget it, then give them my name card, and say that they will definitely come to the door when the time comes." ”

Zhang Tiande didn't want to find Chen Cao, but he couldn't get in the way of his fierce wife Zhang Liu, so he had to hand Chen Cao a famous post, thinking that he was a third-grade commander to hand over a five-grade thousand households, and suddenly felt that he couldn't pull down his face, not to mention that he was the son of his former old brother.

In the main hall of the Zhang family, Chen Cao was drinking tea and waiting for Zhang Tiande, he didn't blame Zhang Tiande for drying himself, he promised to come to Zhang's mansion, but to give Zhang Tiande a face, and by the way, he came to pretend to be a big deal, anyway, Liu Lei's matter was decided by His Majesty's Chrysostom, and he would definitely die.

"Oops... Let YCIS you wait for a long time..."After Zhang Tiande entered the main hall, he hurriedly stepped forward and patted Chen Cao's shoulder as an elder and said: "I'm really sorry for YCIS you, there are too many things in Weili, I can't get out of my body, I think of YCIS waiting too long, no, I will come back quickly before the matter is dealt with, Yaozhong sit down, housekeeper, change tea for YCIS, and bring good Yunnan Pu'er." ”

Xu Kaixian, who was standing behind Chen Cao, said with a sneer on his face and in a low voice: "I was deliberately late for a treat, and it wasn't my family that asked you for something." ”

Zhang Tiande was stunned for a moment, but when he saw Chen Cao smiling and didn't stop it, he understood a little, and then pretended not to hear it, and pulled Chen Cao to the middle hall.

In a different place, Zhang Tiande pulled Chen Cao to sit down on the main seat on his right hand, and then sat on the main seat of the middle hall.

"Yew Chung, after your father died in battle, I can't help but be an uncle, I didn't go to your house to mourn, I'm sorry..."

Chen Cao felt that Zhang Tiande was a little fake, and when he thought of his cheap father's face, he didn't want to expose it, so he just nodded without smiling, and then said: "Things are people, things are people." ”

Zhang Tiande felt a little embarrassed when he heard Chen Cao say this, but now that the words have been spoken, the things asked by his wife still have to be done: "Yaozhong, now you are not the same as in the past, and it is difficult to talk about inviting you to come today as an uncle." ”

Chen Cao nodded: "Well, I know, Mrs. Zun is more anxious." ”

Zhang Tiande's face turned red, and then he sneered: "Don't hide it, Liu Lei is my brother-in-law, he has suffered something now, I, who is a brother-in-law, really can't be left alone." ”

What Chen Cao didn't know was that Zhang Liu had been sitting behind the screen in the middle hall since they entered the middle hall, listening to their conversation.

Chen Cao nodded with a smile and said, "Uncle Zhang's words make sense, hey, if Mrs. Zun hadn't been so anxious about the marriage letter between me and Shuhua at that time, the little nephew thought that things would definitely not come to this point." ”

Zhang Tiande and Zhang Liu behind the screen were both embarrassed, and their faces were not good-looking, but Zhang Liu, who was obviously better than Zhang Tiande, suddenly heard the clue from the middle.

Co-authored, this is likely to be Chen Cao's deliberate revenge.

"What does YCIS think there is room for this to turn around?" Zhang Tiande asked cautiously.

Chen Cao shook his head: "Liu Lei escaped from the battle, and he intended to confuse the army's heart, uncle, you know, this crime in the army alone can kill him, not to mention that he is still a Jinyi guard, he is responsible for supervising the battle in the battle, and he knows the law and violates the law. ”

Zhang Tiande already knew this result, he was not surprised, only Zhang Liu behind the screen let out a cry in surprise, Chen Cao turned his head to stare at the screen, and then looked at Zhang Tiande, and said with a smile: "Uncle also likes to hide behind the screen, I thought that only literati have this habit." ”

Thinking of this, Chen Cao knew that most of the people behind the screen were Zhang Liu's, she was embarrassed to see herself, so she said coldly: "Uncle Zhang also knows my Ming military law, like Liu Lei's situation, fell into the hands of my Jinyiwei, basically there is no good result, how big the hat is buckled for him, that is also my Jinyiwei's decision, the little nephew is fortunate not to be dishonored, His Majesty and the commander make the adult trust, let me deal with Liu Lei's matter by myself, think about it, the little nephew can not live up to the trust of Your Majesty and the adults." ”

Zhang Tiande's eyes lit up, and he actually heard the catty from Chen Cao's words, and then turned his head to stare at the many slaves and maids standing on the side and said, "You all go down." ”

Then he looked at Chen Cao and asked cautiously, "YCIS, is there room for compromise in this matter?" ”

Chen Cao was overjoyed in his heart, and then he figured out what Xu Xianchun said to himself before, 'The only seat with oil and water in Nanzhen Fusi', and after secretly figuring it out, he turned his head to look at Xu Kaixian and said, "How is Liu Lei's case written on the official document?" ”

Xu Kaixian is also an old fritter of the Fusi Division of Nanzhen, and after Chen Cao asked, he immediately said in a straight voice: "Lord Hui, after my review by the Criminal Division, there were many Weizhong brothers at that time to testify that Liu Lei's escape from the battle, cholera and other crimes are true, according to the law, dismissed and beheaded, the remaining family members and men were exiled for 3,000 miles, and the female dependents were demoted to lowly status and enslaved in the Jiaofang Division. ”

Hiss...

Zhang Tiande took a deep breath, Zhang Liu's behind the screen almost couldn't sit still, and he was about to get up, if it weren't for the housekeeper next to him who had received Zhang Tiande's order before, so that the maid grabbed Zhang Liu's family, he would definitely rush out to question Chen Cao at this moment.

"YCIS, isn't this the case going to get to this point?" Zhang Tiande then asked.

Chen Cao nodded and said: "Indeed, but Your Majesty is furious about this matter, and it is very clear in the edict that Liu Lei is certain to die, even if I can't change this, but others..."

Zhang Tiande: "......"

From the beginning to the end of the conversation, for a total of two hours, the two sides carried out a series of bargaining, and finally saved Liu Lei's family, but Zhang Tiande paid the price of 80,000 taels of silver for this, Zhang Tiande was in pain, and this money was not a problem at all for his wife Zhang Liu, their Liu family was Liu Lei, the only seedling, and Liu Lei has only one son since he got married, only four years old, and the Liu family naturally did not hesitate to pay 80,000 taels of silver in order to protect the lifeline of this inheritance.

This is also the first successful transaction since Chen Cao's new official took office, with 80,000 taels of silver tickets, Chen Cao slowly and leisurely left Zhang's house, and then took Xu Kai to a restaurant to eat, and took so much money from others, so naturally he was embarrassed to stay at someone else's house to eat, although this is understandable, but think about it carefully, once Zhang Liu's evil is born from the side of his heart, not to mention ambushing knives and axes, just poisoning himself in wine and food This business is almost over.

Before pushing it to the next person, he said that the discipline was not strict, and then he would pay some money to the Chen family, hey...

The amount of 80,000 taels of silver is not small, Chen Cao can't swallow it alone, not to mention that Xu Xianchun mentioned it at the beginning, and these things he did would definitely not fall behind Xu Xianchun's ears and eyes in the Qianhu Office, so Chen Cao calmly revised the price to 50,000 taels, took out 40,000 taels and asked Xu Kai to hand it over to Xu Xianchun first, and then the remaining 10,000 taels were dotted up and down in the Qianhu Office, and everyone shared the money together, as for the 30,000 taels, it naturally fell into Chen Cao's pocket, and all the money could not be eaten, and he had to reserve a copy for the commander Luo Sigong when he entered Beijing in the future.

Liu Lei's death date is also fast, because he is a military personnel, and the conviction was done by Jinyiwei himself, so after Xu Xianchun received the 40,000 taels of silver tickets submitted by Xu Kaixian, he signed the official document very coolly, and then sent someone to Tianjin, and waited until it was confirmed over there, it was Liu Lei's death date, and the beheading and execution was the matter of the Criminal Prison Division, and after careful calculation, Liu Lei was alive for up to half a month.

Drinking and going home, the time was not early, Zhao Xin and Song Che came to the door with their heels, in the main hall, Chen Cao did not shy away from Song Che, and looked straight at Zhao Xin, after Zhao Xin confirmed, he said: "My lord, my subordinates have inquired about many people in the past few days, and after synthesizing the news, I have copied it on it, please take a look." ”

Chen Cao took the paper, and then asked Song Che, "Shi Xiu, how is the matter with you?" ”

Song Che nodded and said: "After the Marquis of Shouning sat down and died, the Zhang family moved back to their ancestral home in Shandong from Nanjing, and after Wanli Ye gave the Zhang family a reinstatement, Zhang Yanzong led the people of his clan back to the old house in Nanjing, but there is one thing, Zhang Yanzong was famous in Shandong, and the master at that time was the current cabinet chief assistant Ye Xiang Gao Ye Pavilion Lao. ”

Song Che paused and said: "After Zhang Yanzong succeeded Jinyi Wei Tongzhi, he was more restrained in doing things, but I found some old cases on the side of the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses," he said and handed the file in his hand to Chen Cao and said: "Zhang Yanzong's nephew Zhang Xiaolin was once questioned by the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division because of a murder case, and the coincidental thing is that the bitter master of this case revoked Zhang Xiaolin's position in the end, and Zhang Xiaolin paid some settlement expenses. ”

"It's as simple as that?" Chen Cao didn't think so, otherwise Song Che would not have been able to tell himself about these irrelevant things.

Song Che shook his head: "In the Confucius Temple Street of Qinhuai River, there is a brothel called Jixinfang, which is Zhang Xiaolin's property, but I inquired carefully, and its actual boss is Zhang Yanzong, and the people received by Jixinfang are basically the famous people called by Nanjing City, and the bitter master of this case is the prostitute of Jixinfang."

This prostitute is famous, and was finally bought, but it is rumored that she was taken as a concubine by an official, and then the news is that the prostitute's family has to report to Ying Tianfu, of course, the son of this bitter master, I heard that he is also from the Zhang family, and he is running the sea trade. ”

"Haimao?" Chen Cao frowned, it seems that Luo Sigong let himself wade into the troubled waters for a certain purpose: "Things seem to be irrelevant, but there are too many things in it, Shi Xiu, your favor is too good, next time I invite you to drink." ”

"Hey, let's not say these kind words, I'll help you keep an eye on it later."