Chapter 014: Praying Mantis Catches Cicadas

That night, Zhao Xin and Xu Kaixian, who were in charge of collecting news, entered the Qianhu Office one after another, and Han Shizhong, who was heading to Jiangning, also returned to Xuanwu Lane before the city gate was closed.

Chen Cao stared at a few people in the hall: "Han Shizhong, you speak first." ”

Han Shizhong hugged his fists and said: "Lord Qiyu, my subordinates went to Jiangning quickly, and went directly to the county government to inquire about the county magistrate as my Jinyiwei, and then searched the home of the deceased Zhang Liang, Zhang Liang has been studying in Guozijian, and the family sent a slave to take care of his food and lodging in the city, on the night of the crime, Zhang Liang returned to Jiangning, and many people in the family and slaves confirmed that his left eye was bruised, and said that his right chest was painful, and he did not seek medical treatment, and the slave who delivered food early the next morning found that he had died on the bed. ”

As he spoke, he took out a large roll of rice paper from his baggage: "This is their testimony, and it has been drawn." ”

"What did Jiangning County say?" Chen Cao looked at the confession, and then asked.

"Jiangning County conducted an autopsy and concluded that the deceased died of internal organ bleeding caused by a broken sternum, and I found many letters in the deceased's study, and my subordinates felt that it might be useful, so they all seized it and brought it back." Han Shizhong said and asked his lieutenant to bring in a large bag of things, which was full of items from Zhang Liang's study.

"Where is the slave who is in charge of his life?" Chen Cao raised his head and asked.

"Lord Hui, my subordinates did not find a slave in his house, and my subordinates also inquired, and the slave disappeared on the night of the crime." Han Shizhong arched his hand.

Chen Cao knocked on the desk, then stared at Zhao Xin and said: "Launch the cavalry, from now on, look for Zhang Liang's servant, I estimate, he is the key person in this case." ”

"My lord, my subordinates inquired in the drunken township building and learned that Song Zongqi did have a quarrel with the deceased that night, and then there was a big fight, and a familiar corner of the subordinate quietly told his subordinates that the cause of the incident seems to be that the deceased first insulted Song Zongqi's family, and then there was a fight." Zhao Xin replied.

Chen Cao snorted, and then asked, "Did you go to your good friend to prostitute by the way?" ”

Zhao Xin laughed awkwardly, then touched his head with his hand, Xu Kai first looked at Zhao Xin jokingly and shook his head, and then said: "My lord, all the evidence points directly to Song Zongqi, but his subordinates also let Tiqi around the drunken township building go to investigate his slave, and there will be news tomorrow at the earliest." ”

Chen Cao nodded, then ignored everyone and began to look through Zhang Liang's letter brought back by Han Shizhong to see if he could find some answers in it.

Jinyiwei in the thirteen provinces have a town guard thousands of households, each provincial government-level institutions, there are also a lot of Jinyiwei seat detectives, Ying Tianfu in Nanjing City, naturally indispensable Jinyi Wei seat detectives, Nanjing Yamen have Jinyi Wei on duty, one is responsible for finding out the news, the other is to monitor this is the officials and generals, whether there is any intention to fight corruption, moves.

Today is the trial of Song Che's murder case in Tianfu, the presiding judge is Huang Chengxian, who was sentenced by Tianfu Tong, and Chen Cao was the same as the trial at that time, for the sake of fairness, Liao Wen of the Beicheng Soldiers and Horses Division was invited to come to observe, and there were also Jiangning County envoys and other officials concerned, Chen Cao did not come in person in order to avoid suspicion, but sent Han Shizhong, the chief flag officer, to come to listen to the case.

After all the characters arrived, Huang Cheng first patted the hall and summoned Song Che to pass through.

Song Che has a military status, and the government prison does not dare to torture in private, so when he appeared, he was the same as when he met Chen Cao, unscathed.

"Song Che, you are originally in the army, and you can leave the hall today, you can not kneel for the time being, and answer while standing." Huang Cheng spoke first, then stared at Zhang Liang's wife who was kneeling in the hall and asked, "Zhang Chen, this official opened the court, you first reported to your home, what is the relationship with the deceased Zhang Liang?" ”

Zhang Chen cried and cried: "Enlighten all the adults, the people's woman's surname is Chen, Jiangning's family, and Zhang Liang is the father-in-law of the people's women. ”

"If you have any grievances, tell me carefully."

Zhang Chen wiped his tears with an embroidered handkerchief: "Back to your lords, the folk woman Xianggong has a reputation for showing off her talents, and has been studying hard in Nanjing Guozijian, but last night she suddenly returned to Jiangning's home from Nanjing City, and when she came back, she still had bruises on her face, and Xianggong did not say the reason, so she went back to the room to sleep, and this morning when the woman got up, she found out... Found... Xianggong has passed away. Ahh

After the main process was finished, Huang Chengxian turned his head to look at the Jiangning County envoy sitting on the side and asked, "How did your county deal with it?" ”

The envoy stood up and bowed his hand to Huang Chengxian: "Back to my lord, after receiving the report from the bitter master, the lower official took the servant to Zhang's house for inspection, and after careful inspection, Zhang Liang died of internal organ hemorrhage caused by sternum fracture. ”

"Jiang Ning is doing it, but there is something to do?" Huang Chengxian asked in a serious voice.

"Back to the adult, the small one is a family heirloom, and the autopsy has been carried out for many years, but it is a matter of fact, if the adult does not believe it, you can call the Tianfu to do another examination."

Huang Cheng nodded first, and then asked Zhang Chen: "Zhang Chen, the official asked you, who sent Zhang Liang home?" ”

Zhang Chen raised his head and said, "Back to my lord, it was his personal servant who sent Xianggong back." ”

"Where is that man?"

Zhang Chen thought about it carefully, then shook his head: "I disappeared the next day, I must have been scared and went home." ”

"Okay, Song Che, the official asked you, did you have a fight with Zhang Liang that night?"

Seeing Huang Cheng ask himself first, Song Che nodded, and then said a little angrily: "Dingjiao adults know that I took my subordinates to the drunken village building that night, and when I was about to go out, Zhang Liang suddenly shouted insults at me, and his words affected my deceased parents and other daughters in the family, I thought about it carefully, I didn't have any intersection or grudge with him in my life, and he didn't look like he was drunk at the time, he was angry at the time, and he did something with him, at that time..."

"Okay," Huang Chengxian waved his hand and said: "You admit to doing it, this case is actually very simple, the two of you are fighting in private, you are from the military, Zhang Liang is a powerless Xiucai is naturally not your opponent, because you missed and caused the other party to bleed to death." ”

"My lord, I did punch him at that time, but the force was only the most shocking, and he would definitely not die, I didn't kill him." Song Che heard Huang Chengxian's words and immediately refuted it.

In fact, according to Huang Chengxian's statement, Song Che's crime is negligence causing death, according to the law of the Ming Dynasty, that is, exile, with his military identity, 100% exiled to Liaodong or Northwest and other places to garrison, this situation is just to live in another place in disguise.

But this result was a big blow to Song Che.

Syllable...

Shocked Tang Mu patted, only to hear Huang Chengxian say: "The case is closed, Song Che, the chief flag officer under the Wucheng Soldiers and Horses Division, caused death by negligence, according to the law, dismissed from his post and exiled for 3,000 miles, and sent to Liaodong to garrison the border, although the deceased Zhang Liang in this case was a prisoner of Guozi, but he had a fight with Song Che, and verbally insulted the other party, and all parties had the intention of revenge afterwards in their testimony, although he died, he was not disappointed, and Song Che was sentenced to compensate the Zhang family with two hundred taels of silver, and all parties were detained..."

"Lord Liao, the lowly position was wronged, and the lowly duty is not such a heavy hand..."Song Che shouted.

Liao Wen's face was not embarrassed, they also searched around a lot in the Beicheng Soldiers and Horses, and all the news they got was unfavorable to Song Che, it was already very good for Song Che to get this verdict today, it was a big deal to resist for a few more years, and when the emperor got married, he could return to Nanjing after the amnesty of the world.

After Liao Wen shook his head lightly at Song Che, he led people out of the palace, while Han Shizhong immediately went towards Xuanwu Lane.

In the lobby of the Thousand Households in Xuanwu Lane, Chen Cao was sitting precariously and listening to Han Shizhong's report: "My lord, it is also a good thing that Song Zongqi was sentenced like this. Now exiled to the border of Liaodong, there are Tartars infested there, if you make meritorious service, you can also make up for it and return to Nanjing. ”

Chen Cao listened quietly, his right hand habitually tapping on the desk, his previous fishing experience told him that if he wanted the fish to be hooked, he had to learn to wait, but now: "Let me ask you, you said that Guozijian didn't even send someone to observe?" ”

Han Shizhong nodded: "Yes, I only went to Beicheng Terracotta Division and the envoy of Jiangning County, and there were no officials from Nanjing Guozijian to come." ”

The word unscientific came to Chen Cao's mind, Zhang Liang was a student of Guozijian, and when something happened, Guozijian didn't even send a professor to observe.

"My lord," Han Shizhong interrupted Chen Cao's association: "Maybe the Guozijian side thinks that Zhang Liang's death is not certain." ”

"My lord," Zhao Xin walked into the lobby quickly: "My lord, my subordinates personally went to Jiangning, intimidated the local Qingpi, and then arrested a few, and got a news from it, Zhang Liang's slave is called Zhang Qi, who sold himself to the Zhang family, and Zhang Qi has a son named Zhang Fourteen." ”

Chen Cao raised his head: "Good guy, you actually named your son Fourteen, are you sure the name is correct?" ”

Zhao Xin smiled when he heard this, and then said: "The subordinates are not mistaken, they are indeed called Zhang Shishi, this guy is a good gambler, and he borrowed usury in the hands of these green skins, but Zhang Shishi paid off the loan shark yesterday, and the subordinate felt that something was wrong, so he went to Zhang Qi's house to investigate, and the adults didn't know, the whole family of the Zhang family was gone." ”

Boom...

Chen Cao slapped the table: "There is really a problem with this guy, Zhao Xin, you did a good job." ”

"Subordinate Lord Xie praised."

"Have you ever found out where Zhang Qi's family went?" Chen Cao asked.

Zhao Xin shook his head: "The subordinates have already asked the local Tiqi to investigate, and they have also strictly ordered those green skins to tell the local Tiqi after they get the news, since they are gone, they should not show up so soon, my lord, is Zhang Qi implicated in the case?" ”

Not to mention implicated...

Chen Cao already knew in his heart that Song Che's case had been closed, and the file had also been sent to the Nanjing Criminal Department, which would be sent to the Beijing Criminal Department for filing after review, but if Song Che wanted to return to Nanjing, he had to find Zhang Qi and overturn Huang Chengxian's verdict in order to save Song Che, and now, he was not much in a hurry.

"The matter of finding the whereabouts of Zhang Qi's family will be handed over to Han Shizhong to take over, remember, this is a major matter, and it must be done well."

After the matter is over here, Chen Cao went straight to the Song family, Song Yin couldn't help crying after learning what happened to her eldest brother Song Che, but now even Chen Cao has no good way, because the evidence points to Song Che, and the key person Zhang Qi's family is nowhere to be found.

What's more, Song Che himself has always clarified one thing, that is, he has not made a heavy hand, and Zhang Liang cannot die, so Zhang Qi, who sent him back for the whole thing, must know everything.

"Brother YCIS, what can I do now?" Song Yin cried.

Chen Cao couldn't see a woman crying the most, she was still such a good-looking woman, so he patted her on the shoulder and said: "Don't worry, I will overturn the case for Shi Xiu sooner or later, but now that the case is over, the file has been sent to the Jingshi Criminal Department, Shi Xiu can only go to Liaodong, what I can do is to send someone to follow the escort all the way, so that he will not suffer on the road." ”

Song Che was escorted to Liaodong three days later, and before leaving, Chen Cao saw him off, and specially explained that Chen Cao took care of his little sister Song Yin, so Chen Cao generously said that he was going to take Song Yin to Chen's house to take good care of him.

Song Che has no opinion, the two have a great relationship, even if Chen Cao accepts Song Yin, it is better than following his useless big brother.

"Shi Xiu, you take this thousand taels of silver tickets, Liaodong is not as good as Nanjing, in addition, these scattered silver are used on the road, take care all the way, I will definitely overturn the case for you." Chen Cao said and handed over the burden handed over by Zhao Xin to Song Che.

"Yew Chung, take your time in the case, as long as you remember that I was wronged, and my little sister will please give it to you."

...

The landlords of the Ming Dynasty enclosed the village, and liked to call themselves a certain outsider, a certain master, of course, claiming to be a real official, and a landlord like Chen Cao also moved the surrounding tenants around their mansions to form a large village, and then changed the name to 'Chenjiazhuang'.

Of course, around Nanjing, there are many Zhuangzi like Chenjiazhuang, and Chen Cao's Zhuangzi is already a small family relative to the landlords of Nanjing.

In today's Chen Mansion, Chen Qing and Li Fengchun are two of their own daughters, Song Yin lived in a room with Chen Qing after arriving at Chen's house, Xiaolan, the backyard steward, four maids and twelve beautiful slaves and maids, Chen Cao took a closer look, most of these maids and slaves were about fourteen or fifteen years old.

"Big brother, where did you buy these people from?"

At the end of Wanli, there was a drought in the Shaanxi and Gansu regions, and the displaced people from the two places poured into the two capitals.

Slaves and maids are two different things, if you talk about Chen Cao's lust, both can be on it, but maids are generally sold to the master's family from a good family, and at a certain age, they have to be returned to the maid's family like the palace maid, and the slave and maid are different, the slaves and maids are all lowly people, and after being sold into the master's family, they are the master's family, and it is not a problem to kill them at will, and the government will not ask.

This is equivalent to the harem system, Xiaolan is the steward of the entire backyard, although she is from a lowly background, then a maid, and finally a slave.

Chen Cao also bought some slaves by the way, all of them were homeless, bought one and sent it to the family, ten slaves are ten families, and Chen Cao placed them at the entrance of the Zhuangzi.

Today's days are very good, Chen Cao takes a concubine, marrying a wife is different from taking a concubine, marrying a wife requires three media and six certificates, the government registers, and a big feast, and the concubine is simple, set a few tables are lively and lively, invite some relatives and friends, even the sedan chair is not used, let alone go to the government to register, the Ming Dynasty landlord rich merchant official killed a concubine There are many things.

There were seven or eight tables in the Jinyi Wei system, basically all of them were in charge of the 100 households, 100 trial households and individual flag officials, of course, Xu Xianchun, the pacification envoy, and Zhang Yanzong, the nominal governor of the Nanzhen Fu Division, also sent people to send congratulatory gifts, plus some officials from the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division, and the entire banquet was set up for nearly twenty tables.

"My lord, the housekeeper of the Wei State Mansion has sent a congratulatory gift." Xu Kaixian was in charge of welcoming guests at the gate, and walked to the courtyard to inform Chen Cao.

Chen Cao didn't dare to slack off, even if it was just a housekeeper, it was something that Chen Cao couldn't afford to provoke, so he hurriedly greeted him, and the person who came was the housekeeper Wei Zhong, who gave a carriage of congratulatory gifts, and after handing over the gift list to Chen Cao, he gave it away, and Chen Cao sent it away before turning back.

In the new room, Li Fengchun wore a pink hijab and a pink auspicious dress, sitting on the edge of the bed until Chen Cao entered the house after drinking.

Although it is not a big red dress, Li Fengchun is happy from the bottom of his heart, his father-in-law is a great talent, and he is the official of Jinyiwei, thinking of this, Li Fengchun couldn't help trembling.

"Are you crying?" Chen Cao lifted his hijab, and didn't see Li Fengchun crying, so he smiled and said, "What are you shaking?" But you have a cold? ”

Li Fengchun raised his head, his eyebrows stared at Chen Cao, and it was even more shining and moving in the candlelight, after enduring it for so long, Chen Cao was already impatient, and ripped off Li Fengchun's auspicious clothes, revealing white shoulders, the silk clothes were thin and moist, some of them were transparent, there was no underwear in this era, and then there was no sag at all, in this way, Chen Cao's hands were trembling, and he opened the shoulder jacket, and what caught his eye was Li Fengchun's red belly pocket.

"Xianggong, the concubine is unemployed, please have mercy..."

The most satisfying thing in life is to lie on a woman's belly and sleep lazily, whether it is before or after the crossing, Chen Cao is like this, when he opens his eyes early in the morning, what catches his eyes is the touch of red on the white sheets, and then look at Li Fengchun beside him, because of the seven expeditions in a row last night, he has fallen asleep unkempt, and he has not woken up until now.

But a slave came to the door, and whispered outside the door: "Master, Zhao Baihu is here and is waiting in the main hall." ”

Zhao Xin must have had something early in the morning, Chen Cao just got up, Li Fengchun opened his eyes, and then sat up with difficulty, ready to dress Chen Cao.

"Okay, you were tired last night, so you just lie down and rest, and it's not too late to get up when you've slept enough." Chen Cao whispered in Li Fengchun's ear, and then reached out and grabbed a handful on Li Fengchun's chest.

Li Fengchun nodded with a red face, then covered the silk cover and continued.

Zhao Xin saw Chen Cao walking into the lobby, and hurriedly stepped forward to salute: "My lord, the calming division has come to order the lord to escort the prisoner to Beijing for trial." Chen Cao rubbed his sleepy eyes: "Who?" ”

"Zhejiang Dusi Songjiangwei commanded Lu Hua." As he spoke, he handed the official document to Chen Cao.

"I heard that a year ago, there was a group of Japanese invaders landed in Songjiang, Zhejiang prepared Japanese soldiers Li Rulong had already warned that there were Japanese invaders, but Lu Hua did not pay attention at the time, and then was broken through the stone gate by the Japanese invaders to prepare for the Japanese thousands of households, the entire thousand households did not survive, the Japanese invaded straight in, attacked under the Songjiang Mansion City, the entire Songjiang Wei collapsed without a fight, Lu Hua took people to fight to the death all night, was attacked by the Japanese invaders into Songjiang, and finally Taizhou prepared Japanese reinforcements arrived, and the Japanese invaded and fled."

Chen Cao listened to Zhao Xin while reading the official document, and almost understood the cause and effect, and then closed the official document and said, "When will Lu Hua arrive?" ”

"Already on the way, five days at most."

The last time Chen Cao went out of Nanjing was more than three months ago, the weather in Nanjing City in April has warmed up a lot, as the so-called wind and sunshine are not long, after arranging the affairs of the family, Chen Cao took the people to personally escort Song Jiangwei to command Lu Hua to the capital.

It takes almost eight days to take the canal from Nanjing to the capital to Tianjin, and it takes two days to get from Tianjin to the capital, the waterway is easy, and it is much more comfortable to take a boat all the way than to ride a horse.

Eight days later, Chen Cao arrived in Tianjin Wei, first went to the command of the Yamen to hand over the official document, Luo Sigong was not in Tianjin, Chen Cao did not have to pay a visit, and then took the stamped official document to the capital, handed over to the Beizhen Fusi to take over, and his task was completed.

When Chen Cao and his party arrived outside the Chaoyang Gate of Jingshi, Chen Cao received a message that made him almost fall off his horse.

Liaodong General Army, raider Ning Yuanbo Li Rubai died in his own mansion.

"Zhao Xin, hurry up and find out what's going on..."

After Chen Cao finished speaking, he felt a little in a trance, Li Rubai could be said to have been fooled by himself, but after killing the thief leader Murhaqi by mistake, he was the one who was summoned to Beijing to sacrifice prisoners and then make up for his merits, and now, Chen Cao didn't dare to imagine what Li Wan'er would do to himself when he learned that he was coming.

Chen Cao first went to Beizhen Fusi to hand over, and then went to Luo Sigong's mansion to pay a visit, and after paying the salute, he praised Luo Sigong before returning to the post station tiredly.

"My lord," Chen Cao walked into the room, and Zhao Xin hurriedly greeted him: "The subordinates asked a few brothers of the Fusi of Beizhen, General Li entered Beijing to offer prisoners, and the Holy Dragon Yan Dayue ordered General Li to attack Earl Ningyuan, and in due course, there was a speech official to mention the defeat of General Li in Liaodong, and then with the help of the former Prime Minister Congzhe to get rid of the impeachment of the Yan official, but...

At the beginning of the month, Yuan Yingtai, the new Liaodong Economic Strategy, wrote a letter, saying that the battle of Baitapu had nothing to do with Li Rubai, but that it was the credit of the then chief flag officer of Jinyiwei, that is, your lord, and said that Li Rubai forced the adult to hand over the credit, and also attached the testimony of Shenyang Jinyiwei. ”

Hiss...

"What the hell are they trying to do?" Chen Cao read silently.

Zhao Xin continued: "Since then, the imperial historian has begun to write to impeach Li Zongbing for the defeat of Liaodong, and fifteen days later, that is, the day before yesterday, Li Zongbing died in the mansion. ”

Zhao Xin saw that Chen Cao was silent, so he whispered: "My lord, my subordinates listened to the Han generals who were guarding the Qianqing Palace, and the saint was quite sorry for the death of General Li, and I heard that he would be posthumously sealed. ”

Chase the seal?

Chen Cao smiled helplessly, what kind of posthumous sealing, it is just that the ministers of the imperial court are afraid of the Li family who is sitting in Shenyang, otherwise they will not engage in any posthumous sealing: "The Donglin Party is terrible..."