Chapter 130
"Master, Master! Liu Wu sent a message saying that none of the people sent out to do this mission have returned. I went to inquire and heard that they were all detained by Zhang Fangyuan!"
Qin Zhong, who was waiting for news, crushed the thin porcelain teacup with a bang when he heard the sound. He felt vaguely uneasy as he had not received any news for a long time. He did not expect that nothing would come of it.
He stood up and grabbed the collar of the servant who came to report the news: "You said that he was detained by Zhang Fangyuan? Is he okay?"
"It's just that the coachman was slightly injured. He was fine going in and out of Shencao Hall!"
Qin Zhong felt a tightness in his chest, not knowing which link had gone wrong so that things could not be done.
"Quick, let the driver harness the horses. I need to see the magistrate."
The people sent out this time would certainly give him away when interrogated. In fact, they were sent hastily because the matter was urgent. If they had known this would happen, they would have sent someone who was already a dead person. Zhang Fangyuan was very cunning and this time he was careless and fell into his hands with the handle.
By then, the witnesses and evidence would inevitably be handed over to the government, so he had to ask the magistrate to protect him first no matter what.
Qin Zhong hurriedly arrived at the county government office. He didn't even dare to enter through the main gate, so he knocked on the door from the side door.
It took a while for the side door to open. The servant who came in took a look at Qin Zhong and saw that he was in a hurry and didn't look like he had any good news. He stopped at the door and said, "It's Young Master Qin."
"I have something urgent to see you, sir. Please let me in."
"My Lord is busy with important matters and may not have time to see Master Qin. You should come back another day."
After saying this, the servant was about to close the door, but Qin Zhong quickly blocked it and said, "I must see you today, sir. Please let me know."
"Master Qin, no matter how urgent your matter is, I will not see any guests today. Please don't embarrass me."
After he finished speaking, the servant looked back and gave a signal, and several people came up and asked Qin Zhong to leave. Looking at the door slamming shut, Qin Zhong wanted to go up and knock again, but he withdrew his hand when it hit the door.
"What does the county magistrate mean?"
Qin Zhong couldn't see anyone and felt uneasy. He gritted his teeth and turned around to go back. Just as he was thinking of a countermeasure, the carriage was suddenly stopped.
"What's going on?!"
Qin was furious and rashly opened the curtain, but the person outside had calmed down.
"I was just about to go to the mansion to look for Master Qin, and now you've come here on your own, saving us another trip."
Qin Zhong looked at the yamen runner: "What do you mean?"
"Master Qin, don't you know what you did? Boss Zhang just came to the county government office and brought people to sue you for attempted murder." The bailiff said, "Come on, please go ahead. We can't waste time. You know, the salt administrator is here."
Qin felt a chill in his heart.
All the people in the hall were present. Huang Guan had just been involved in a lawsuit, and now he had to interrogate Qin Zhong in the court. His face looked even uglier.
"Defendant Qin Zhong, Zhang Fangyuan sued you for attempted rape. Do you admit it?"
Qin Zhong said nothing, but just glanced down at Huang Guan.
Huang Guan knew what Qin Zhong meant, he just blamed the boy for not knowing the occasion. The Salt Administrator was sitting nearby, and he dared not say a word.
He slammed the gavel: "The plaintiff has submitted witnesses and evidence. If you have nothing to refute, then you have committed this crime!"
Qin Zhong saw that Huang Guan would not speak for him, so he quickly argued: "Sir, there is no reason for me to take the risk of harming Zhang Fangyuan."
"Of course you have your reasons. The news of the Zhang family's salt bid was not announced. You want to change the situation. It's not for no reason. You have sufficient reasons."
Yu Mingda, who had been silent all this time, shouted angrily.
"Since Your Excellency has not made it public, what should I do..." Before Qin Zhong could finish his words, he felt a fierce gaze sweeping across his forehead.
Qin Zhong looked at Huang Guan's expression and held back the words that were about to come out of his mouth.
"Did the Zhang family really obtain the salt permit?"
"How could this be false? Did you just hear what the Salt Administration said? "
The merchants who were watching the trial outside were inevitably disappointed when they learned the result of the selection of salt merchants, but some of them showed unnatural expressions.
"This matter really wrongly blames the Qin family and the county magistrate."
"It's not unfair to blame him. Since we haven't obtained the salt permit, why should we pay so much silver to Huang Guan? The salt administration has never accepted gifts, but he has made a lot of money. He has plundered the merchants in the city for many years."
The merchants also thought it made sense and felt a little relieved.
"Well, now that things have come to this, why don't we all gather ourselves together and congratulate Zhang Fangyuan?"
"That's right. From now on, merchants in Siyang will have to look up to the Zhang family."
The lawsuit was simple. With the salt administration in charge, the county magistrate did not dare to be partial. Zhang Fangyuan brought the witnesses and evidence. Qin Zhong's defense was useless and there was no room for delay in the case.
Yu Mingda felt that the nature of the case was extremely bad, so in order to set an example, he ordered a heavy sentence, imprisoned him in prison, and exiled him during the autumn conscription.
After the matter came to an end, merchants of all sizes in the city were quite wary of the Zhang family, but they also wanted to curry favor with them, so they waited for the Zhang family to hold a banquet to celebrate. However, they waited until the Salt Administration officially announced that the Zhang family had obtained the qualification for salt permits, but they never hosted a banquet. People in the city murmured that the Zhang family might have become so powerful after obtaining the salt permits that they looked down on the merchants in the city and did not give others the opportunity to celebrate.
The sun was scorching until early June.
The scholar who had gone to Beijing to take the imperial examination returned home. A team of red silk horses drove in from the city gate. Zhang Ruijin rode up on his tall horse. Only then did everyone know that the Zhang family had produced two successful candidates in the imperial examinations, and that after the palace examination, he had been appointed by the emperor as the Tongzhi of Zangzhufu.
Now I am returning to my hometown to thank my teacher, and will take up the post next year.
Every household in the city was envious. From then on, the Zhang family was no longer an ordinary merchant family. They had officials in the family and the court backed them.
Zhang Fangyuan then set up a grand banquet for three days and three nights to entertain guests. All the merchants, celebrities and officials from Siyang came to congratulate him. The banquet was lively and lasted almost all night.
After the banquet, Zhang Fangyuan finally had time to invite his close friends to have a leisurely dinner.
Yu Mingda never left Siyang, and finally waited for this banquet.
"Zangzhu Prefecture is a rich place. Although it is not as good as the top three in the first class who can stay in the capital and be assigned to the Imperial Academy, your ranking is not low. It is a good thing to be assigned to a rich prefecture for training. Your future prospects will not be lower than those of the Imperial Academy."
Luo Yan was also happy and drank a lot. During the meal, he praised Zhang Ruijin highly.
Yu Mingda was even more delighted to see the handsome new scholar. He thought Luo Yan had good taste. If he had not acted early, he would have betrothed his daughter to him.
"You are young, so it may not be appropriate for you to stay in the capital now. It will not be too late to go to the capital when you have established a foundation in the future."
Yu Mingda patted Zhang Ruijin's hand and said, "Come on, have another drink with us two old guys."
Ruijin picked up the wine glass and followed respectfully.
Seeing that the two old gentlemen really liked Ruijin, Zhang Fangyuan also toasted them with two glasses.
Yu Mingda was drunk, and he took Zhang Fangyuan's hand and said, "You are a good parent, very good."
"That villain Huang Guan dared to secretly collect money with the salt permits behind my back. I have already reported this matter to the police. It won't be long before he finds another place to go. When he does, he will return all the money he collected with the salt permits."
Zhang Fangyuan was quite surprised that this matter had been brought to the attention of Yu Mingda. He wondered whether he had been investigating secretly or someone had reported it.
But no matter what, this is good news. Zhang Fangyuan toasted again and said, "Lord Yu is very righteous!"
Yu Mingda laughed loudly.
The banquet ended late at night.
The Zhang family had many guests, while the Qin family was busy running around to get Qin Zhong out and had no time to spare.
"Sir, for the sake of our friendship, you cannot watch Zhong'er being exiled! Xiangshui only has this one brother."
"You still have the nerve to beg me?"
Huang Guan felt extremely annoyed when he saw Qin Qi's earnest pleas. If he had not notified the Qin family to make preparations in advance, how could he have been so unlucky to be caught by the salt administration.
It would be fine if they were greedy together, but as a subordinate, he took more than his superior. No one would swallow his anger.
Huang Guan opened his mouth and cursed, "You are not good enough to accomplish anything, but you are always bad. I have placed my hopes on you two, but you still caused such a thing. How can I help you? I don't even know who to ask for help!"
"Where did you say that?"
Huang Guan suppressed his anger and saw that Qin Qishang was unaware of the situation. It seemed as if he didn't know that he was in a difficult situation.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, and suddenly softened his tone, "I know you only have this one son, and I have been watching him all these years. Now that the Zhang family is so powerful, I am afraid that no one can suppress them anymore."
Qin Qi saw this and said hurriedly: "I don't have the energy to fight with the Zhang family. I just want Zhong'er to be safe and sound. Thank God for your mercy."
"Well, for Xiangshui's sake, I will try to smooth over the relationship with the higher-ups, but building connections..."
Qin Qi was very considerate and quickly handed the brocade box he had brought with him to Huang Guan: "Thank you for your concern, sir!"
Huang Guan looked at the silver bills and gold nuggets in the brocade box with satisfaction: "Don't worry, I will take care of this matter carefully."
Qin Qi thought that the situation would be improved if Huang Guan agreed, so he went back and waited. When Yu Mingda had left the county, there was still no news from the county government, so he hurried to inquire.
You wouldn't know unless you asked. Once you went to the county government office, you found out that the owner had changed and you couldn't find the Huang Guan family at all. They had disappeared without a trace.
The old servant in the county government who did not follow him took some of the reward money and said, "Master Qin, don't you know? County Magistrate Huang was demoted by the court and is no longer the magistrate of Siyang."
Qin Qi was shocked: "Where did Magistrate Huang go?"
"He went to a remote and poor village in Lingnan to serve as a county magistrate. He left the city in disgrace during the day and left at night."
The old servant sweeping the floor shook his head: "I'm afraid he must have offended some of the big merchants in the city, so he left without telling anyone. Now that he has lost his power, how can he not run away secretly?"
After hearing these words, Qin Qi knew that the place was deserted, and he fainted without even being able to catch his breath.
"It is said that all the money that Huang Guan collected from the salt was returned to the merchants, but the Qin family got into trouble and the money was confiscated. Huang Guan also lured Qin Qi out of half of his wealth and ran away. Qin Qi not only failed to rescue the people but also lost the money, and he was so angry that he was bedridden."
When the new county magistrate took office, the first thing he did was to clear out the prisoners in the jail. On the day Qin Zhong was exiled, Zhang Fangyuan and Xu He went to watch the excitement and couldn't help but talk about these dirty things.
"The Qin family and Huang Guan have been in the same nest for so many years, and it is retribution for them to end up like this. But there is one thing I still don't understand, how did Lord Yu discover Huang Guan's corruption?"
Zhang Fangyuan said, "I only found out about it later. The salt administration made a decision after meeting with the merchants. Huangguan summoned Qinzhong for a secret talk that day."
"The merchants who were waiting for the news thought that Huang Guan had given the salt permits to the Qin family. The merchants who had paid Huang Guan to speak well of the salt administration were unhappy. They felt that Huang Guan had long been interested in the Qin family but deliberately cheated them of their money, so they reported the matter of Huang Guan's confiscation of money to Lord Yu."
Zhang Fangyuan smiled and sighed, "It's a self-defeating move."
Xu He watched the Qin family members who came to see him off to exile wailing in unison, which could be considered an explanation to the people who had been oppressed over the years. The exile team went away one by one, and the noisy voices gradually faded away with them. The two did not follow the team.
Zhang Fangyuan gently pulled Xu He closer, and he picked up Xu He's hands: "Things have come to an end. After the autumn harvest, we will go to the salt fields to get salt and sell it to the shops. We will be busy then. Let's go back to our hometown while we still have some free time."
Xu Hehui shook Zhang Fangyuan's hand: "Okay."
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