Chapter 328: Wild Talk
Shenzhou, Baisha County.
In the inner hall of the government office, Magistrate Qian, Chief Zhang, and the heads of two large local households, Fei Zhuang and Tang Yingzhi, were sitting around the hot pot, discussing the recent events in the city.
They couldn't avoid the word "Secret Bureau" no matter what they said.
Everyone now knows that Princess Guangping established a comprehensive affairs bureau in Jinxia City and took away most of the yamen's functions. Of course, everyone disagreed with such an obvious violation of regulations. The imperial court finally sent a new governor. I thought there would be a fight, but unexpectedly, this person turned out to be a softie who only knows how to deal with refugees all day long. While disappointing everyone, it also created a lot of jokes.
But when Jinxia City moved the Secretariat branch to Baisha City, Zhixian Qian and others couldn't laugh anymore.
He is the official official who has been canonized by the imperial court, so there is no reason to hand over his power to others.
If it weren't for the fact that this "branch" only had four or five people, only rented a small shop as a base, and had no intention of interfering in the county's political affairs for the time being, he would have to kick this branch out even if he fell out with the princess.
Of course, a thousand-mile dike breaks in an ant nest - as long as he is still the leader of a county, he must take strict precautions even if the other party does not reveal his intentions.
Qian Zhixian has let his subordinates spread the word. No matter what this affairs bureau is going to do, whoever dares to pick on them or have any contact in private will make it difficult for the perpetrators to walk away!
"I heard that this affairs bureau is collecting the number of residents in the county?" Tang Yingzhi put a piece of boiled meat into a bowl, "It seems to be exchanged for salt."
"Mr. Tang's information is not very well-informed." Master Zhang said with a smile, "They have been struggling for almost half a month. However, the few young people working on the matter have no hair on their lips, and the matter has basically fallen through after my little plan. ”
"Oh? How did Mr. Zhang do it?"
"It's simple. Get a group of people and come to your door every day to ask for salt. As for the residents' information, isn't that just fabricated?" The head clerk poured himself a glass of wine. "It's easy for them to see the clues, but so what? As long as you don't give them Salt, just make a fuss at the door. Besides, I don't need to promote this trick, the beggars just pick it up - it's just a small bag of salt after all. We can survive the winter."
"What a plan!" Tang Yingzhi picked up the wine glass and raised it towards Master Zhang, "I'll give you a toast!"
"Everyone, please don't rush to be happy." Fei Zhuang's expression was much calmer, "I just heard about something, which may cause some trouble."
"What's up?"
"After the accident at the mine five months ago, Mrs. Pan came to the Secretariat."
The atmosphere at the scene suddenly condensed.
This incident can be regarded as an "accident" in the county, and the cause is not complicated: the Fei family is the main exploiter of Baisha Mine, and the Pan family has several brothers who work as shovel workers in the mine. Feizhuang's third son had a quarrel with the Pan family, and led his men to beat him to death in a quarrel, and then disguised it as a mining accident.
The mine is inherently dangerous, and it is common for a few people to die occasionally. This is not the first time that the Fei family has done this kind of thing. Even when the county magistrate has someone who needs to be dealt with secretly, he will ask the Fei family to help.
The accident happened to the Pan family - what a coincidence, no one expected that some of the relatives of the deceased had been engaged in adultery. After receiving the bodies of the brothers, the Pan family's wife claimed that they did not die in the mining accident, but were killed alive. He was beaten to death, and he did not hesitate to go to the county government office for this. Magistrate Qian would definitely not expose the family's background, not to mention that the other party also offered her a large amount of filial piety money. Naturally, she lost the case and beat Pan Jianniang half to death in the name of false accusation.
At this point, the case should have been closed - the Pan family was just a humble family, not even a humble family, so there was no way it would cause any trouble. Therefore, when they heard Fei Zhuang mention this matter again, everyone's faces showed obvious surprise.
"Where did you hear that?" Qian Zhixian couldn't help but ask.
"Inside the Secretariat." Fei Zhuang said solemnly.
"Did you pay off the spy?"
"Humph, after all, they are just a bunch of idiots. They have never seen anything in the world." He knocked on the table lightly and said, "The first few times we met, I was a little reserved. They said that Jinxia City has official discipline and discipline, but I really think of myself as an official. I came to see him. When the golden leaves moved, his eyes were straight and he couldn't speak clearly."
"Mr. Fei is very clever." Master Zhang pondered, "Do you think this Secretariat...could it be that they want to take advantage of the Pan family to interfere in Baisha City?"
"It's hard to say. The main reason is that the time they have been here is too short, and I can't find out the details of each one. But this matter... it's best not to get to Jinxia."
"It makes sense." There was a hint of gloom in Qian Zhixian's tone. He had warned the locals not to have private contact with the Secretariat, but some people turned a deaf ear to him. No wonder he was so ruthless. "I heard that to win over a group of people, simply giving benefits may not necessarily work. Sometimes a combination of kindness and power is the most appropriate method."
"The magistrate already has an idea?" Fei Zhuang raised his eyebrows.
"Yes, I pay attention to evidence in my work. Since I have doubts, I might as well take the people from the Secretariat and Mrs. Pan to the mine. Field research is always more reliable than verbal confrontation, right?" County Magistrate Qian sighed, "But places like mines are full of dangers."
The corners of Fei Zhuang's mouth turned up involuntarily, "In the end, they all died in the mining accident?"
"Of course that won't work," Qian Zhixian picked up a meatball and placed it on the table, "They are the people sent by the third princess after all. At this time, one death is enough."
The other three people looked at each other and it was obvious who this candidate was.
The magistrate slowly pressed down his chopsticks until the meatballs turned into a puddle of meat, "Anyone who sees a living person like this in front of him will feel sincerely panic, right? As long as it is involved in the mining, it will be inevitable Accidents will happen, this is Wei. After seeing Enwei, they should be more cautious in their next choice."
"In this way, the Pan family can be completely shut up." Fei Zhuang said happily, "Jiang is indeed a hot old man. I give you a toast!"
"Together, together." Qian Zhixian smiled and raised his glass.
At this moment, a servant walked out of the inner hall and said, "Sir Qian, Tang Luming from the Secretariat has a letter he wants to send to you."
He opened the letter and spread it out in front of the table, "Ah... I really want to talk about the Pan family's wife. Anyway, since the other party has taken the initiative to deliver it to my door, I'll trouble Mr. Fei to arrange a reception."
"In other words, this matter can be settled thanks to your help..." Fei Zhuang was suddenly startled mid-sentence. He saw Qian Zhixian's expression suddenly change, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with what he wrote later?"
"How can this not make sense? How can this not make sense!" The more Qian Zhixian looked back, the more incredible he felt. At the beginning, he thought it was a "discussion letter", but at the end, he discovered that it was an "ultimatum letter"!
The letter read in a high-sounding tone: "We have obtained all the evidence in the Pan family case and require you to immediately close the government office, take off your official robe, tie your hands, and cooperate with the Secretariat's investigation. This is an ultimatum, and the time limit is The deadline is tomorrow morning. If you don’t comply, Jinxia’s capture force will launch a forceful attack from the north gate, and you will be responsible for the casualties.”
"Issued by the Jinxia City Affairs Bureau."
What is this stuff?
Qian Zhixian's first reaction was that he had been fooled. Not to mention the extremely arrogant tone of the letter and the nonsense in the content. Just the word "arrest" was nonsense! He is an official of the imperial court. Who is qualified to take off his official robe, except for the official department?
Does the other party still want to rebel? ?