When Xiao Dong heard Zhang Shi say this, he was a little suspicious, and said: "I have also seen several cases tried by the Criminal Department and Dali Temple in the capital. How come you've never heard of the strange thing of beating a drum and getting boarded?"

Zhang Shi said with a smile: "Although the villain is not in the officialdom, I have also heard that the trial of the criminal department is just a formality. What is the outcome of the case, before the adults of the Criminal Department were promoted, they already had a strategy in their hearts. Besides, the cases tried by the Criminal Department are all big cases that shake the world, where are the ordinary people allowed to beat the drums of the Yamen of the Criminal Department? Just as the so-called gentleman can deceive him, Lord Xiao is a loyal person, and even if he goes to the Criminal Department for trial, he does not know what they have done behind their backs. ”

Li Qiufeng walked behind the two of them, and listened to Zhang Shi praising Xiao Dong as a "loyal person", which made him laugh in his heart. secretly thought that Xiao Dong was not only narrow-minded, but also cunning and greedy. If he had been a loyal man, there would be no more treacherous villains in the world.

Zhang Shi continued: "The second drawback is that the people are afraid of being beaten by the board of the yamen, and even if they have grievances, they dare not go to the yamen to knock on the drums and voice their grievances. In this way, if there is really a big event, the people will only think of their own ways to hide, and will not report to the yamen at all. It is because of this great tomorrow that it seems to be peaceful, but the imperial court and the county governments in various places have become deaf and blind, completely unaware of the dangers, once a major event happens, the yamen is completely defenseless, and when caught off guard, there is a danger of overturning. The villain went to Fujian the year before last to run a business, and only then did he know how harmful this disadvantage was. It stands to reason that although the Japanese are fierce, compared with the Ming court, the difference between them is more than 10 million times? However, the scourge of the Japanese is getting worse and worse, killing and injuring countless officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, and the reason is that the people are afraid of the government and know that the Japanese are coming, but they do not dare to report to the government. In this way, the yamen and the officers and men did not know the location of the Japanese invaders, and the Japanese invaders knew the situation of the officers and men very well, and they picked out the defenseless places of the officers and soldiers to intrude.

When Li Qiufeng heard Zhang Shi say this, he secretly thought in his heart that this Zhang Yuan was extremely smart and could see things very clearly. Officials like Xiao Dong, who enjoyed happiness in the capital, naturally did not know much about the suffering of the local people and the shortcomings of the yamen in various places.

Xiao Dong said in a deep voice: "Zhang Yuanwai, you said so much, don't you want to go to the county yamen to report the loss of the big ship?"

Zhang Shi heard that Xiao Dong's tone was not good, and his heart sank, and he hurriedly said with a smile: "How dare the villain have such a plan? The villain just reminded Lord Xiao that the local yamen is no more than the six departments of the capital, and the Tiangao Emperor is far away, and a small Qipinzhi County can determine life and death. When they heard of the profits, they rose up and retreated in distress. I'm afraid that if we beat the drum, the county magistrate may not be willing to go to the court to handle the case. ”

Xiao Dong snorted, and said: "If he dares not to be promoted to the court to handle the case, Xiao will drag him out of the inner hall!

Zhang Shi thought to himself, you bastard used the name of the Firearms Bureau to be powerful and powerful after you went to various places, and you are used to being arrogant, I don't know how difficult these local officials are. Lao Tzu's kind words remind you, you think that Lao Tzu is harming you. In that case, I'm going to see what you bastard can do to move these filthy officials and let them get the big ship back for you!

Xiao Dong saw that Zhang Shi was silent, and thought that he was overwhelmed by his own momentum, and he was quite proud in his heart. didn't know that Zhang Shi was thinking of himself as his old man in his heart. Everyone had ghosts, stopped talking, and walked straight to the yamen of the magistrate of Dongliao County.

After touching about half a pillar of incense, everyone had arrived in front of the Yamen of Zhixian County. I saw a big lantern hanging on the left and right sides of the gate, and under the light of the lantern, you could see a drum stand on the right side of the gate, and a big drum was placed on the stand, which was supposed to be a drum for the people to beat. In front of the door, two catchers were standing together, talking in whispers.

Xiao Dong strode towards the yamen, and the shopkeeper Hu and the others followed closely behind him. Zhang Shi was about to follow, but Wei Erbao, who had been silent before, quietly grabbed his placket. Zhang Shi was stunned and turned his head to look at Wei Erbao. I only heard Wei Erbao lower his voice and said, "Master Zhang, don't go to provoke Lord Zhixian." Otherwise, otherwise we will all lose our lives here. ”

Zhang Shixin became suspicious, and said, "What does Shopkeeper Wei mean by this?"

Wei Erbao was startled, put his right index finger to his lips, and "shh I only heard Wei Erbao whisper: "The villain just heard Master Zhang and Master Xiao talking, and knew that Master Zhang was a serious person and knew the dirty methods of these officials. Things are just like what Master Zhang said, there were indeed people in our Dongliao County who beat the drums at night before, but after entering the yamen, not only did the case not be completed, but they were beaten by the county magistrate for thirty boards, and he died before he could be sent home. In these years, no one dares to beat the drum anymore. The current magistrate of Dongliao County is surnamed Li, and if he says something offensive, this old man Li is a big corrupt official. In the eyes of Master Li, he only recognized silver and silver tickets. Master Xiao went to beat the drum so vigorously that he touched the county master's moldy head, but I am afraid that we will all have to be beaten. Looking at Uncle Xiao's appearance, he will definitely not listen to Master Zhang's persuasion. It's better for a few of us to wait outside the yamen, and let Uncle Xiao and Uncle Hu enter the yamen to see the county master. ”

Zhang Shi knew that what Wei Erbao said was true, but he didn't understand why he wanted to tell him about it. It was Zhang Shi who groaned slightly, slowed down, and said in a low voice: "Shopkeeper Wei, why do you want to tell me about this?"

Wei Erbao said: "Master Zhang is much smarter than Uncle Xiao. Follow Master Zhang, and he will definitely not let the villain suffer. It is a villain who naturally knows everything in front of Master Zhang, and he is endless......"

Before Wei Erbao's words fell, Xiao Dong had already walked under the stone steps of the Yamen gate. When the two arresters saw Xiao Dong and his group coming over, they thought they were people passing by in front of the yamen, but they didn't care. It's just that Xiao Dong went straight to the yamen, and in the blink of an eye, he arrived at the bottom of the stone steps, and seeing that he was about to step up the stone steps, the two catchers were shocked and shouted loudly: "Stop! Who are you?!"

Wei Erbao was talking to Zhang Shi in a whisper, when he heard the loud shout of the catcher, he was so frightened that his body trembled, his head almost shrank into his neck, and he looked up at the gate of the yamen with a frightened face, and he didn't dare to say a word again.

Seeing Wei Erbao like this, Zhang Shi secretly laughed in his heart that he was timid. At this time, Xiao Dong did not stop at all, and had already stepped up the stone steps. Standing at the top of the stone steps, the two catchers saw Xiao Dong approaching, and knew that the situation was different, so they hurriedly reached out and pulled out their waist knives, pointed at Xiao Dong and shouted: "Stop Lao Tzu!

Xiao Dong was not afraid, and still walked towards the stone steps. A catcher quickly raised his waist knife and was about to slash at the top of Xiao Dong's head. It's just that he just raised the knife, only to feel that Xiao Dong had arrived in front of him, and he was no more than half a foot away. The catcher was frightened, and he was about to retreat in a panic, only to feel a tightness in his chest, but it was Xiao Dong who reached out and grabbed his chest, and then threw it back hard. The catcher flew into the air like a cloud of fog and fell straight down the stone steps. Caught up screaming in fright, and after a while, he heard only a "bang" and fell to the ground with a heavy weight. The catcher only felt a sharp pain all over his body, and he couldn't get up again for a while.

Before the other catcher could see how Xiao Dong made a move, his companion had already fallen onto the road in front of the yamen. He was so frightened that he turned around and ran towards the gate, trying to escape back to the yamen for help. It's just that he just ran two steps, only to feel a chill on the back of his neck, and a hand has grabbed his neck. Catching Kuai knew that something was wrong, and was about to swing the steel knife and stab him in the back. Unexpectedly, the hand that grabbed his neck suddenly exerted force, and he felt a tingling pain in his neck, and the strength of his whole body disappeared without a trace in an instant. The right hand could no longer hold the waist knife, only heard the "bang", and the waist knife had fallen on the stone slab. Immediately, I only heard the sound of "hoo", and the catcher was also thrown out, and happened to fall next to the first catcher. The two catchers struggled to get up on the ground, but their whole bodies were in pain, as if they had fallen apart, and they couldn't stand up for a while.

After Xiao Dong threw the two catchers to the bottom of the stone steps, he strode to the side of the drum, reached out and grabbed the drumstick from the shelf, and knocked it on the drum surface. I only heard the sound of the drums loud, which shook everyone's ears. And it was late at night, and the drums suddenly sounded, and the sound shook all over the world, which made people feel thrilling.