Prefect Cai failed to beat the drum because the one who beat the drum was a member of the Xu family.
Although he was extremely annoyed, he had to give face to the Xu family, so Prefect Cai asked Mr. Hu to leave first and met the visitor in the signing room.
The person who came was Xu Xu, the steward of the Xu family.
Actually, Xu Fan should have come here by himself, but firstly, what happened yesterday was too embarrassing; secondly, he still hadn't let go of his status as a junior cabinet minister; thirdly, the Xu family had always been bossy to the government, and this was their custom...
After some thought, Xu Fan decided to ask Xu Xu to come to Suzhou government office to ask Cai Guoxi for help in rescuing the person.
In the eyes of the former young cabinet minister, his brother was at least a fifth-rank official of the imperial court. The Suzhou government must be afraid that the matter would get out of hand, and would immediately order Zhao Hao to release him. Maybe they would even punish the boy.
Little did he know that his good brothers and servants had already offended Governor Cai countless times.
What they didn't know was that Master Zhao actually knew that Cai Guoxi was already unhappy with the Xu family, and actually sent people to stir up trouble in advance.
As a result, Cai Guoxi, who was already furious with the Xu family, immediately became displeased when he saw that Xu Fan was clearly in Suzhou City but still only sent a servant to deliver the message.
This means he treats me as a servant of the Xu family!
"What's the matter?" Magistrate Cai asked, suppressing his anger.
Xu Xu was also a person who didn't care about others' expressions. Or rather, he only cared about his master's expression. He continued to follow the routine:
"Don't blame me, my dear, this is a serious matter and we can't delay it for even a moment!"
As he said this, he took out the petition with only the title page changed and handed it to Magistrate Cai.
"My second master and five hundred family members were attacked for no reason on Xishan Island. Their lives and deaths are unknown. This is truly a shocking case that has never been heard of in the past two hundred years!"
Prefect Cai didn't even look at the petition, and asked in a cold voice: "Why are so many of you going to Xishan Island in a group? Don't you know that they are suppressing bandits there?"
"Uh..." Xu Xu heard the unfriendly tone of Governor Cai and thought to himself, where does he get so angry? Did he eat explosives?
But he still said stubbornly: "Seek justice."
"What kind of justice do you want to see? Do you need to bring 500 people with you?!" When Prefect Cai heard this, he was surprised that they dared to deceive him with this excuse and could not help but question them in a cold voice.
"This..." This question was not easy to answer. Xu Xu hesitated for a moment before saying, "It was a businessman named Liu from Xishan who came to my Second Master and complained that he was bullied by the magistrate of Kunshan, who took away his son and seized his ancestral property. Second Master was kind-hearted, so of course he came to his aid..."
"What about Liu? Let him come to see me too." Prefect Cai snorted coldly, "I want to ask him, what era is this? Do you still need others to help you? Do you still have the government in your eyes?!"
"This..." Xu Xu was stuck again. Why were the prefect's questions more incisive than the last?
He couldn't help scratching his head, and after a while he said awkwardly: "That fellow betrayed us at the last minute, which caused my Second Master to be captured."
"That's strange. He asked Xu Kun to do justice, but why did he turn against him at the last minute?" Prefect Cai laughed teasingly, "What kind of friends did your Second Master make?"
"This... this..." Xu Xu was almost embarrassed, and quickly turned back to the topic, saying loudly: "Let go of everything else first, and ask Grandpa to immediately order Kunshan County to release our Second Master and his five hundred family members. And apologize to my Xu family and compensate for the losses..."
Prefect Cai burst out laughing. That coward Xu Kun was inferior in skills and his entire army was wiped out, yet he still had the nerve to ask others to apologize and pay money. Did he really think that the government office was run by his family?
You're dreaming.
"What are you laughing at, husband?" Xu Xu was stunned. He had already felt that Governor Cai was being sarcastic.
"Did I smile?" Prefect Cai touched his face and said calmly, "It's too late to be sad."
"Then please give the order immediately, my dear grandfather." Xu Xu didn't care about that and urged him. "If you delay for a moment longer, my second master will suffer more."
"Then let's delay it for a few hundred or even a thousand moments..." Prefect Cai secretly gloated over the misfortune, and in a businesslike manner, he ordered the drafting chief attendant, "Send a letter to Kunshan County immediately to find out what's going on."
"Ah?" Xu Xu got angry when he heard it. "My husband, this won't do. You are in Xishan and you are writing in Kunshan. Isn't this going in the opposite direction? Besides, what kind of family is my Xu family? How can I deceive you?"
"The government has its own rules. Although this government governs the entire prefecture, it cannot bypass Kunshan County and directly issue orders to its gunner camp." Governor Cai said calmly: "We can only order the Kunshan County Magistrate to issue orders to the gunner camp."
"Then at least give a direct order to the Kunshan County Magistrate and order the Gunner Battalion to release the hostages immediately?" Xu Xu held the table with both hands, forgetting about the hierarchy as he spoke.
Or rather, he originally felt that as the manager of the Xu Mansion, he should be on equal footing with the prefect.
"The matter involves three parties. We can't just listen to your one-sided story, right?" Prefect Cai looked at Xu Xu's two unruly hands and wished he could chop them off.
"Please take back what you said, my dear grandfather. What is the status of my Xu family? How could we deceive the government?" Xu Xu's tone suddenly became higher.
"You bastard! I want you to teach me how to talk and do things!" Prefect Cai finally couldn't hold back any longer and slammed the table and stood up.
"I..." Looking at the cannibalistic Prefect Cai, Xu Xu's expression froze. Then he raised his head and sneered, "I represent the Xu family."
"I would like to advise my grandfather not to protect each other and make excuses. Otherwise, once Minister Lin and the other officials and ministers in the capital know about it, do they really think they can protect the Zhao father and son?"
"How dare you! Do you think I was brought up by intimidation?!" Governor Cai saw that even though he was furious, this fellow still didn't know how to restrain himself and became even more arrogant. He actually used the governor, the minister and the university scholar to put pressure on him!
If this frightens him, I'd better not resign as the prefect!
I'm afraid that my master will also look down on me.
Thinking of this, Magistrate Cai slammed the table again and shouted, "How dare you, you dog slave, defy the government and threaten me. Come, give me twenty strokes of the cane!"
Immediately, the officers standing guard outside rushed in, grabbed the stunned Xu Xu and dragged him out.
Xu Xu finally reacted and yelled at Prefect Cai: "Cai Guoxi, you are awesome! Are you hitting my butt? You are hitting the Xu family's face!"
"That's right. I have to save some face for the Xu family." Prefect Cai sneered and said, "Then let's change it to spanking the Xu family! Get them out of the yamen and give them forty slaps on the face!"
"Cai Guoxi, just wait, you will regret it..." Xu Xu roared at the top of his lungs. His bulging veins and twisting body showed how unbelievable and unacceptable it was for him!
"Eighty slaps!" Cai Guoxi immediately doubled it.
Xu Xu shut his mouth immediately.
Little guy, can’t I cure you?
ps. The third of three consecutive updates, please give me a monthly ticket~~~ and~~~
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