Chapter 294: Reward
This is really adding fuel to the fire!
Even a shrewd and calculating aide like Yan Chaoqing couldn't help but wipe the sweat off his forehead, not to mention others. Gu Yu, who only watched the show and was not afraid of the stage, asked Song Mo with a smile: "Brother Tianci, those people are probably here for the three small flags of the Guards, right? If the three small flags of the Guards are gone, those people may not be so active. Are we just going to let those thieves go?"
"In two months, Shuntian Prefecture and Wucheng Bingma Division will have to give an explanation to the emperor," Song Mo said calmly, "If we still offer a large reward, wouldn't it make things difficult for Master Huang and the Earl of Dongping?"
"That's right!" Gu Yu touched his head and smiled, "People from Shuntian Prefecture and Wucheng Bingmasi said that all the thieves have been caught, but we are still holding a bounty there, which is equivalent to accusing Dongping Bo and Mr. Huang of killing innocent people and taking credit for it. If the emperor finds out, they will be finished." At this point, he widened his eyes, "Brother Tianci, what should we do with the bounty? We can't just give it to Shuntian Prefecture and Wucheng Bingmasi for nothing and let Huang Qi and Zhou Shaochuan be good people, right?"
"If they dare to come to claim the reward, I will continue to offer a bounty." Song Mo said proudly, "I have already given them a step. If they don't follow the trend and want to climb up the ladder, don't blame me for being ruthless!" He added, "In this way, both the black and white worlds will know what is going on. Let's stage another scene and have someone send the thief's body over. We will still pay the bounty, and then someone will help me continue to hunt down the thief. If you dare to target our Duke of England's Mansion, you must be prepared to be hunted down for the rest of your life." He ordered Xia Lian, "Spread my words."
Xia Lian responded respectfully.
Huang Qi and Dongping Bo, who received the news, breathed a sigh of relief.
"Although Song Yantang is a bit of a fool, he still knows his limits!" Dongping Bo said to Huang Qi with emotion, "I think the bounty issue should be handled by the Duke of Ying's Mansion! Didn't the emperor also reward the Duke of Ying with three small flags?"
The implication is that since the emperor agrees with Song Mo's behavior, he should not insist on his own opinion.
Huang Qi smiled bitterly.
Things have come to this, what can he do if he disagrees?
"Then send more people to patrol near the British government!" Huang Qi said, "In case someone gets into a dispute over the reward, we can also help the British government."
Song Mo didn't care about this and ordered Liao Bifeng: "Those yamen runners who guard the Yingguo Mansion will be provided with one lunch every day."
Liao Bifeng responded respectfully.
The people from Shuntian Prefecture and Wucheng Military Command cheered.
From time to time, news of thieves came in.
Song Mo handed this matter over to Yan Chaoqing and Xia Lian, and practiced calligraphy at home every day.
Dou Zhao asked him, "Aren't you going to the palace?"
Song Mo smiled and said, "Am I not helping Shuntianfu and Wucheng Bingmasi to track down thieves?"
Dou Zhao burst out laughing.
Song Mo pulled her hand: "Have you finished your work?"
Dou Zhao has officially taken charge of the reward for the Duke of England's mansion.
"It's just some trivial matters," Dou Zhao said with a smile, "very simple."
Song Mo smiled slightly.
With Dou Zhao's intelligence, these things might really be easy for her.
He said, "It's time to appreciate chrysanthemums again. If you are free this afternoon, I will accompany you to the flower market in Fengtai. Maybe we can find chrysanthemums that you like. Then we can buy them back. Next year, won't your flower garden have a few more varieties?"
How could it be so easy to come across such precious chrysanthemum varieties? But Song Mo was very excited, and Dou Zhao couldn't bear to dampen his excitement. He thought that he would just accompany him out to relax, so he smiled and agreed. The two of them went to the Fengtai flower market with a small group of people.
Those flower growers were used to dealing with wealthy families. Although they did not know Song Mo and Dou Zhao, they saw that one of them was wearing calfskin court boots and the other was wearing lotus seed-sized South Pearl earrings, and they looked very impressive. They knew that they were not ordinary people, so they responded cautiously and took out the best chrysanthemums in their homes.
But to Dou Zhao, they looked very ordinary, not as good as the flowers and plants she left in Zhending. She looked at them casually and bought a few pots for fun.
Song Mo knew that none of these were to her liking, so she called the flower farmer over to ask, "Can the flowers and plants survive if we transplant them at this time?"
"It depends on what kind of flowers it is." The flower farmer who was questioned by Song Mo was in his forties and looked honest. "If it is hosta or snapdragon, then it's not a big deal. They are planted in autumn and bloom in spring. But if it is glory or marigold, it won't work. They are planted in spring and bloom in summer..."
"Oh!" Song Mo didn't know that there were so many things to learn about growing flowers. He also felt that this man was very practical, so he asked him to help find some exotic flowers and plants. "My wife likes to grow flowers and plants very much. You can just send them to the Duke of England's mansion when the time comes."
The flower farmer was surprised and delighted, and answered "yes" tremblingly.
Song Mo and Dou Zhao returned to the Duke of Ying's Mansion.
Song Yichun's messenger is waiting for Song Mo.
Upon hearing that Song Mo had returned, he immediately went to Yizhitang to seek an audience.
Song Mo took out the letter and glanced at it hastily. He saw that the letter was full of words blaming him. He only asked about the current situation at the end. He suddenly thought of Dou Zhao taking advantage of the chaos to get the pair of cards. He was moved and wrote a letter back to Song Yichun, saying that he had blamed himself for being too narrow-minded and only thinking about Yizhitang in his heart, but forgot that Yizhitang was part of the Duke of Yingguo Mansion. Now that he has listened to his father's teachings, he has learned from his mistakes and decided to take on the responsibility of the Duke of Yingguo Mansion. When his father is not at home, he will perform the duties of the Duke of Yingguo on his father's behalf and He was responsible for repairing all the burned houses within 15 days, and temporarily offered a reward of 50,000 taels of silver to the thief who broke into the Duke of Ying's mansion. He also received the support of the emperor and received a reward of three small flags of the Guards from the emperor. He told Song Yichun all the details and ordered Song Yichun's messenger to "send it to the Duke of Ying immediately at an urgent speed of 600 miles, day and night."
The messenger did not dare to delay and set off with the letter.
Song Mo was still feeling angry and said to Dou Zhao, "I'm afraid he won't let me go unless he kills me!"
Dou Zhao gently stroked his arm and said softly, "That depends on whether he has the ability to do it. You have already died once, do you have to die again to be considered 'filial'? What about your mother-in-law? She has spent so much effort on you, are you going to just forget about it and ignore it?"
Song Mo laughed, "Don't worry, I'm neither a foolishly loyal person nor a foolishly filial person. As you said, I've died once, and he can't put a knife to my neck and I won't say a word and let him do it." Then he put his arm around Dou Zhao's shoulder, "Let's go to Fengtai to buy flowers tomorrow, right? Even if we can't buy any rare flowers and plants, it's good to go and relax."
Dou Zhao pursed his lips and smiled.
Don't you want to stay at home and be bothered by these trivial matters?
After lunch the next day, Song Mo accompanied her to Fengtai again.
Someone informed the Duke of Ying's Mansion of the thief's whereabouts, and the people from Shuntian Prefecture and Wucheng Bingmasi joined forces to quickly arrest the man. After interrogation, it was found that the man was indeed one of the thieves who broke into the Duke of Ying's Mansion, and the one who reported the incident was actually the thief's brother!
The people from Shuntian Prefecture and Wucheng Bingcheng Division were all in shock.
But what is even more unexpected is that after the thief learned of the bounty of the Duke of England's Mansion, he knew that even if he escaped the pursuit of the Duke of England's Mansion this time, he would face encirclement and suppression by his fellow gangsters and the government in the future, and he would have to hide for the rest of his life under a false name.
Rather than living in such fear and trepidation, it would be better for him to let his brother receive the bounty. After all, his brother can get the bounty and support his parents on his behalf.
He asked his brother to cut off his head and report it to the police.
His brother couldn't bear it, and he was afraid that there would be no evidence after he died, so he reported the case in his brother's name, hid in a small alley in the north of Kyoto, and waited for the government to arrest him.
Yan Chaoqing's eyes lit up when he found out, and he told Xia Lian, "Send the 1,000 taels of silver reward over with great fanfare—we only look at the results, not the process."
Xia Lian responded and left.
The situation in Kyoto between the black and white worlds became even more chaotic.
The culprit appeared in the flower farmer's yard again with his wife.
Someone pushed open the fence and walked in.
"Excuse me, are you Lord Song, the prince of the Duke of England?" He looked at Song Mo with a smile.
The title was a bit inappropriate, but it revealed Song Mo's true colors.
The visitor was obviously very familiar with Song Mo.
Song Mo didn't know the other person.
He calmly blocked Dou Zhao behind him, looked at him, and said calmly: "I am Song Yantang."
Dou Zhao looked at the newcomer curiously.
He was only in his early twenties, with an ordinary appearance and plain clothes, but his eyes were sparkling, revealing a shrewdness and competence that was inconsistent with his age and appearance.
She couldn't help but be confused for a moment.
This person looks so familiar!
I seem to have seen it somewhere.
And it seemed very important, leaving a deep impression in her heart.
Dou Zhao frowned.
How come I can't remember it?
Zhu Yicheng, who had been instructed to keep a distance and follow behind them, walked over slowly and calmly.
The visitor saluted Song Mo respectfully and said, "My name is Chen Jia, courtesy name Zanzhi. I serve as a minor flag officer in the Jinyiwei. I was once ordered to go to Fujian to escort Duke Dingguo back to Beijing..."
Song Mo's expression changed drastically.
Chen Zanzhi, however, acted as if he hadn't seen it. "I have always admired Duke Dingguo for his noble character and upright conduct. I have always wanted to find out who ordered our Jinyiwei to arrest Duke Dingguo. It's a pity that I am of low rank and have not made any progress." At this point, he revealed a bit of distress. "It has been several years since the incident. I am really afraid that the prince has forgotten the grudges of the past. I know that the prince will definitely be disdainful of meeting him in this way, but after thinking about it, I finally came. I only hope that the prince can help me investigate the cause of Duke Dingguo's death and clear Duke Dingguo's name..."
Song Mo's heart was filled with alarm.
Duke Dingguo had passed away three or four years earlier, and he had never dared to investigate the cause of his uncle's death!
Thunder, lightning, rain and dew are all grace from the Lord.
If the final investigation finds that this matter is related to the emperor, can they still reason with the emperor?
If he acted too hastily, he might alarm the emperor and make him think that he harbored resentment. Not only would he lose the emperor's favor and be thrown into prison, but his family, which was already in trouble and could no longer withstand the blow, and his fifth uncle, who was exiled to Liaoning, would also be implicated.
All he could do was wait.
He waited for everyone to forget about it, for the new emperor to ascend the throne, and for him to have enough power to force the new emperor to make a choice... But not at this time, when he was just a rookie who had just entered the officialdom, and he touched on this sensitive injustice. Especially after his uncle passed away, when the Japanese pirates were rampant but no one was able to stop them.