"I don't believe you at all. You're a very bad boy." Uncle Wu pointed at him and smiled, then signaled the guards to open a large wooden box.
Inside were neatly stacked piles of mulberry paper bags of varying thicknesses.
Wu Shilai picked one up at random and saw that it said 'Nanhe uncle Fang Jiong falsely accused someone of murder for property seizure'.
Upon opening it, the case was clear, the characters and events were detailed, the confessions and physical evidence were all available, and the clerical work was very solid.
He picked up another one, which was the case of 'adultery between Dongning uncle Jiao Pei and his daughter-in-law'.
When I opened it, I found that the case was clearly recorded, with detailed time, place and characters. Even the duration of each case and the tricks used were recorded clearly, and it was described as if I had seen it with my own eyes.
After Wu Shi finished reading, he drank several sips of tea to suppress the strangeness in his heart. He couldn't help but smile bitterly and said, "My dear nephew, where did you get these deadly things?"
"It's impolite not to reciprocate." Zhao Hao still stood in front of the French window with his arms folded, watching the firelight reflecting the red surface of the lake.
Although Xiaocangshan is just a drop in the bucket in his assets, it is the face of Mr. Zhao in Jinling City. It has been a long time since Zhao Hao was slapped in the face like this.
"Last year, the Caoyun Group repeatedly messed with me, but I only filed a Hengtong complaint and didn't settle accounts with the masterminds behind the scenes."
As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and pulled down the thick curtains, and said in a cold voice: "A bunch of stinking nobles, if we don't deal with them, they really think they are a cow struck by lightning - Niu Boyi brought lightning!"
"Haha, you have such a big mouth..." Wu Shilai knew that he was really angry, otherwise Mr. Zhao would be very careful with his words because he valued his status.
He lowered his head and looked through several files, and came to the conclusion in his heart that such solid casework skills and such detailed surveillance records could definitely not be produced by Zhao Hao's Jiangnan Group, which had been established for only two years.
Wu Shilai noticed that many of the cases were old cases from seven or eight years ago, or even ten years ago. So it was obvious that there was an organization that could monitor the noble families for so many years and make professional records and investigations.
In the Ming Dynasty, only the Jinyiwei could do this. The Dongchang, which was suppressed during the Jiajing period, did not have this ability. Not to mention the government offices at all levels who just muddled through their days...
This reminds me of last winter when uncle and nephew Lu Wei and Lu Yi were released from prison. Although they were demoted to civilians and returned to their hometowns, they finally regained their freedom.
At the time, Wu Shilai thought it was the result of the great efforts of the two Lu families in Suzhou to rescue him. Now it seems that Zhao Hao and Jiangnan Group also made great efforts...
So Uncle Wu is really knowledgeable and he guessed it right the first time.
Yes, when Zhao Hao was in Beijing last winter, he was entrusted by the Lu family to spend a lot of money to bribe a group of senior eunuchs in the Imperial Household Department to speak for the uncle and nephew of the Lu family who had been imprisoned in the imperial prison for more than three years.
Now that the nine great families have become a thing of the past, the Pinghu Lu family has no chance of making a comeback. Emperor Longqing imprisoned the uncle and nephew to vent his anger and to see if he could confiscate the Lu family's property to restore some blood to the palace. Who knew that the Lu family's property had long been swallowed up by the Xu family, so how could it be the turn of the emperor?
Therefore, Lu Wei and his nephew had become useless, and Lu Bing was his father's brother after all, so it would not be a good thing to let them die in the imperial prison. So when Gao Gong came to power, Longqing made a slight gesture, and Gao Huzi asked for an imperial decree to release Lu Bing on the grounds that he had saved the late emperor and assisted him, and that his son should be given a break.
This not only demonstrated the emperor's benevolence, but also allowed Gao Gong to do a favor for the Jiangnan Gang.
After Lu Wei and Lu Yi returned to Suzhou safely, Lu Kuang discussed with them and presented Zhao Hao with a copy of the files that the Lu family had secretly transcribed during their decades of service as Jinyiwei. First, as a thank you gift, and second, this item was no longer something the Lu family could own, and it would only bring disaster.
Zhao Hao ordered people to keep the files in the Xishan Island warehouse of the Security Department. This time, he carefully selected these two boxes and brought them to Nanjing.
Therefore, he came to Nanjing to stir up trouble. He challenged Chen Wangmo in the mourning hall of Duke Wei just to make things seem more logical.
Master Zhao repeatedly stressed the importance of having a legitimate reason to fight.
But he didn't expect that the gang was also eager to settle accounts with him...
This is really a coincidence, as if you were squeezing your nose while closing the door.
~~
After a long while, Wu Shilai glanced through the files hastily, then he heaved a long sigh of exhaustion and said, "There are too many. I can't handle it alone."
"Who said Uncle Wu should go it alone?" Zhao Hao sat up straight on the sofa and praised Wu Shilai, saying, "With your current status, it would be beneath your dignity to personally fight like the younger generation. You just need to give a general outline and open the curtain of this drama, and then countless people will naturally follow suit!"
"Oh, you want to turn these Nanjing nobles into stray dogs that everyone wants to beat!" Wu Shilai understood immediately.
"Aren't they?" Zhao Hao smiled faintly.
"That's true." Wu Shilai couldn't help but nod his head with a smile. The nobles in Nanjing were mostly former officials of Emperor Jianwen who had stood on the wrong side during the Jingnan Campaign. Having been away from Beijing for more than a hundred years, they were marginalized to the extreme. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been so obsessed with the grain transport business. They really had no other ambitions.
Even so, the Office of the Governor-General of the Grand Canal gradually gained the upper hand. A civil servant like the Governor-General of the Grand Canal made a bunch of nobles in the General's Office obey him completely. What else could they be but a bunch of useless people?
"Uncle Wu, aren't you always worried that Lord Gao will settle accounts with you later?" Young Master Zhao picked up the beautiful glass wine bottle from the table, poured a glass of blood-red wine for Wu Shilai and said, "I have thought of a great article for you. If you do it well, I won't say you will be promoted, but I guarantee that Lord Gao won't be able to touch you.
Then he poured himself a cup, clinked his glasses with Wu Shilai's, and said, "How about the title 'Petition for the Rectification of the Nobles in the Capital'?"
"Hmm..." Wu Shilai groaned as he held the wine glass. He understood Zhao Hao's meaning very well. In the Ming officialdom, reputation was a ladder for promotion and a talisman. As one of the Four Remonstrants of Yuezhong, he was very familiar with this.
Moreover, Uncle Wu is now the Censor-in-Chief of Jiangdu. In principle, he can report any illegal activities in the cities along the Yangtze River. This is his duty and there is nothing wrong with it.
Instead of worrying all day long, it would be better to give him a shot and raise his reputation so high that Gao Gong won't be able to do anything to him.
And when it comes to gaining reputation, is there any way safer and more efficient than this group of nobles?
there is none left.
Wu Shilai pondered for a moment, made up his mind and said, "Okay, I'll take this one. Then what?"
"After Uncle Wu submits his petition, you don't have to worry about it anymore." Zhao Hao said with a smile, "There are so many hungry imperial censors in Nanjing City. Just help them complete their tasks this year."
"Well, you make the arrangements." Seeing that he was confident, Wu Shilai stopped worrying. Although the Jiangnan Gang lacked a big boss in the court, Jiangnan was a place with a flourishing literary fortune. Jinshi were like leeks, and there was always another crop. There was definitely no shortage of thugs.
After all, he was a thug from the Jiangnan Gang. Uncle Wu laughed and said, "How will this trend end?"
"This is something that the nobles are worried about." Zhao Hao took a sip of wine and said, "When will they realize that they are a bunch of pitiful creatures and stop being so arrogant? Then they will naturally know what to do."
"Haha, that's right." Wu Shilai thought about it and couldn't help laughing: "These guys are used to being lawless. Which one of them is not a piece of shit? If they don't tuck their tails between their legs and behave themselves, what else can they do but seek death?"
As the two were talking, a man suddenly came in and whispered in Zhao Hao's ear.
The man had been in for quite some time before Wu Shilai noticed him and was startled. "Where did this guy come from?"
"I'm here to report the news." Zhao Hao sneered and relayed the content of the man's report. It turned out that Fang Wen had heard that the nobles had made two preparations. In addition to setting fire to Xiaocang Mountain, they also sent servants out of the city before dark to pretend to be Yangtze River pirates and kidnap him!
Wu Shilai was startled and said angrily, "How dare you, you thief? Are you really that brave?"
"Anyway, if something goes wrong, we can just blame the millions of soldiers. What does it have to do with them?" Zhao Hao sneered and said, "People are particularly bold when they are sure that they are not threatened."
"When I get back, I will dispatch troops to escort you to Suzhou. Let's see who dares to touch the ships of the Yangtze River Government!" Wu Shilai said domineeringly. The Yangtze River is under his control, so how can he tolerate others messing around?
"Uncle Wu, please be patient. We might as well take advantage of the situation and make things bigger than it is." But Master Zhao smiled strangely and whispered his plan to Wu Shilai.
"Oh my God, can you do this?" Wu Shilai gasped.
"What's wrong with that?" Zhao Hao said confidently, "This time I'm going to make them drop yellow mud into their crotches, it will be shit if not shit!"
~~
Perhaps because of the fire at Xiaocang Mountain, Mr. Zhao canceled his plan to return to Suzhou the next day.
The next day, he personally inspected the fire scene, expressed his condolences to the owner and girls of the brothel, and said that the Xiaocangshan Management Company would rebuild the brothel for free! At the same time, more stringent fire prevention measures would be taken to prevent fires from happening again.
Then Zhao Hao visited Shangyuan County Magistrate Zhang Dongguan and personally reported the arson case on Xiaocang Mountain. Zhang Dongguan said that he would conduct a thorough investigation and do his utmost to maintain the business environment in the county.
While Master Zhao was cleaning up the aftermath of last night's fire, Chen Wangmo's younger brother, Chen Wangcheng, hurriedly left the city through the Shen Ce Gate on horseback, accompanied by a dozen servants.
Zhao Hao's sudden change of itinerary caught them off guard, so they had to quickly inform the ambushed personnel to stay calm. Don't wait for a long time and think you've missed it, so you go back home.
The group went out of Shangyuan Gate again and rode their horses downstream along the river.
At dusk, Chen Wangcheng and his companions ran for more than 80 miles and arrived at Beixinzhou on the Yangtze River. Beixinzhou is a sandbar in the middle of the river, located on the river surface between Guazhou and Yizheng. The island is covered with dense reeds and swamps.
Because it is a newly silted sandbar, it is not suitable for living yet. Therefore, only in autumn will farmers from both sides of the strait come by boat to harvest reeds, and no one lives here at this time.
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