Chapter 45 Cause of Fu Qian's Death
The next day, Qin Qixuan came back to report the investigation.
"Your Highness, Master Fu. I went to investigate among the people yesterday. They were very cautious at first, but later they believed me and began to denounce Zhang Yongcai."
The county magistrate's real name was Zhang Yongcai, and he was the illegitimate son of Zhang Yixian, a famous rich man in the capital.
Although he was a illegitimate son, Zhang Yixian also relied on his father's relationship to get a position as a county magistrate in Liancheng.
"He took office half a year ago, and as soon as he took office, he took eight concubines, many of whom were unwilling to follow him at first, but were forced to live in his house. He is a lustful man, and many beautiful girls in Liancheng dare not go out, fearing that they will be captured and raped."
"It's not that no one wants to file a complaint, but his family is rich, and Zhang Yongcai has spies all over Liancheng. Some families who are forced into a corner just say that they want to file a complaint, and they are reported by Zhang Yongcai's lackeys, and the whole family will be killed, and the women will be sent to the army."
Fu Qian and Pei Xuanyi frowned when they heard Qin Qixuan's words.
If it weren't for this flood, the people of Liancheng don't know how long it would take to get out of the sea of suffering!
"Moreover, we asked him to take over the disaster relief, but he didn't make any arrangements. Instead, he continued to live a life of debauchery. I think he promised well before, but he was just perfunctory. If we hadn't come to Liancheng, even if we sent food, I'm afraid the county magistrate would have embezzled it!"
Qin Xixi was stunned when she heard this.
She finally remembered how Fu Qian died in the original book!
This Zhang Yongcai was originally the son of a wealthy businessman, and he was on good terms with several wealthy businessmen around him.
Zhang Yongcai naturally knew that Fu Qian had transferred food and grass from the wealthy businessmen.
In the original book, after Fu Qian arrived, he first went to find the Liancheng County Magistrate. Zhang Yongcai also pretended to be sympathetic to the people, promised everything, and arranged for Fu Qian to live in the mansion.
But he turned around and sold the grain and straw that Fu Qian brought again, taking the lion's share for himself, and the rest was divided among the wealthy merchants.
Fu Qian sensed something was wrong and wanted to go out to find out what was going on, but Zhang Yongcai's men had already surrounded him, so Fu Qian was placed under house arrest.
In a few days, there will be the last rainstorm of the rainy season.
Under the rainstorm, the grain and straw that Zhang Yongcai had picked up for disaster relief were also soaked. Due to the continuous rainstorm, there was no chance for them to dry, and the few grains could not reach the victims.
The hungry victims originally thought that the officials sent by the court had come, and they would finally be saved.
As a result, his parents and brothers died one by one, and the grain and grass had not been distributed. He immediately thought that the official must be in cahoots with Zhang Yongcai, and he was furious.
The victims finally couldn't bear it anymore and rioted. Then they went together, caught Fu Qian and Zhang Yongcai, and burned them.
Afterwards, the victims looted the county magistrate's mansion. The gold, silver, treasures, and stored grain were enough for the remaining people in Liancheng to survive the rainy season!
It was not until the court sent troops to suppress the riots, continued to purchase grain and grass, and replaced the new county magistrate that the anger of the people in Liancheng was calmed.
These were all Qin Xixi's thoughts, and Pei Xuanyi naturally heard them.
Fu Qian is the princess's consort, and naturally his aunt in terms of seniority.
Hearing that Fu Qian died so tragically in his previous life, Pei Xuanyi's face turned pale, and his eyes looking at Fu Qian were mixed with shock, grief and fear.
It is hard to imagine, if they did not provide disaster relief privately this time, but went to the county magistrate with food in a high-profile manner from the beginning, would they be placed under house arrest and then burned to death like Fu Qian in his previous life?
Fu Qian noticed Pei Xuanyi's eyes and was a little surprised.
He was thinking, why did Pei Xuanyi look at him as if he was looking at a deceased friend?
He shuddered when he thought of this.
What are you thinking about! Unlucky. He shook his head vigorously to get rid of the strange feeling.
Looking again, Pei Xuanyi's eyes had returned to normal.
Qin Xixi's little head thought of many things, and she was very anxious for a while.
This county magistrate is so bad! And the rainstorm is coming, we have to get rid of this big disaster of the county magistrate first, so that we can properly control the flood and help the victims protect their food!
Little Xixi was very anxious and could only try hard to speak.
"Bad...bad guy!"
Everyone was a little surprised that little Xixi could already say so many words!
Only Zhou Fangyu's eyes flashed with fear.
Pei Xuanyi had also made preparations in advance and took people to capture Zhang Yongcai.
When they arrived at the county magistrate's mansion, Zhang Yongcai was still chasing and playing with his concubine in the yard, not looking hungry at all.
He was startled when he saw Pei Xuanyi, and his face turned pale when he saw the soldiers behind Pei Xuanyi.
"I am a member of the Zhang family, you, you can't touch me!"
Pei Xuanyi showed disdain.
"You are just a small county magistrate, but you dare to rob the people's daughters, squeeze the people's fat and blood, and make the people suffer and dare not speak. You deserve to die a hundred times for this crime, not to mention that you have the Zhang family to support you? This time when I return to Beijing, I must raid the Zhang family together!"
Zhang Yongcai finally fell to the ground with a dead face.
The soldiers rushed in and arrested everyone in the county magistrate's mansion.
After Pei Xuanyi had a thorough investigation, he let the captured girls go.
The sister mentioned by Qin Xixi looked dazed when she knew that her parents had died long ago.
When the officers and soldiers were not paying attention, she hit her head against a pillar and died, and left the world.
Pei Xuanyi couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable.
This girl no longer has anyone to care about in the world, and she has lost her chastity. It will be difficult for her to live in this cruel world in the future.
Now that she is dead, I wish her to be reunited with her parents in another world.
After everything was settled, Pei Xuanyi hurried to check the remaining food in the people's homes.
Thinking of what Qin Xixi had said before, there would be a rainstorm coming soon, and it would be the last rainstorm of this rainy season.
As long as the rainstorm can be passed, the victims will really survive the disaster.
So he thought about it and ordered his soldiers to inform the people from house to house to let their grain dry in the sun today and store it in watertight grain jars after the sun went down.
He also ordered his men to find some craftsmen to help the people repair the leaking roofs.
Although the people were somewhat confused by Pei Xuanyi's request, they still followed his instructions, thinking that this was the words of the benefactor who provided them with food.
As a result, within a few days, without any warning, Liancheng began to rain heavily again, and it did not stop for several days.
Because the people had made preparations long ago, the losses were very small, and they were not defeated by this rainstorm again.
They thanked the little grandson, saying that he was the great benefactor of Liancheng, and praised the current emperor, saying that he was a wise monarch who was rare in the ages, and that he had intelligent and capable children and grandchildren.
In this way, the disaster in Liancheng was basically settled, and only some post-disaster reconstruction work needed to be worried about.
On this day, Pei Xuanyi and Fu Qian were thinking about how to start the reconstruction, and Zhou Fangyu, who had been resting in the room, was carried in by a servant.