103, Chapter 103 (1/2)

Du Ke was thinking about how to answer the emperor's words. It was not appropriate to directly answer the emperor, "You are wrong." But in fact, in Du Ke's eyes, this matter is not a bad thing. At least Qin Fang has solved the matter, and did not harm the innocent woman among the robbers. Moreover, all the evidence has been obtained. As long as he disposes of it, After killing the bandits and the county magistrate, and returning the seven pieces of money left in the bandit's den to the people, the emperor's reputation will inevitably increase. So in Duco, it couldn't be more perfect.

However, it is the emperor who is asking the question. Even if the emperor is generous and careless, as a minister, he still has to say nice things. Du Ke can become the emperor's confidant and secretly join forces before the emperor seizes the throne. He is naturally a smart person.

So Du Ke just pondered for a while and then replied: "This matter is a bad thing for the emperor and the court, but the advantage is that the matter has been solved for seven years, so it is a good thing. Therefore, the emperor's answer is in the eyes of Wei Chen It seems, half right and half wrong.”

oh? Du Ke's answer aroused the emperor's interest. He smiled lightly and said to Du Ke: "This is really rare. To hear such an answer from your mouth shows your attitude and measures to solve this matter. I'm still quite satisfied. You just didn't tell me that I guessed wrong."

Du Ke said seriously: "I don't dare."

The emperor snorted: "Come on, you should tell me what happened."

"According to the order." Du Ke continued, "Does the Emperor still remember Qin Fang at the Yongzhou Border Military Camp?"

"Qin Fang?" The emperor thought for a while, "Is it the Qin Fang who proposed to break up the surrendering barbarians into pieces and resettle them?" He did have an impression, mainly because this happened not long ago.

Du Ke: "Yes, this matter is also related to Qin Fang." If you can make an impression on the emperor, listen to the emperor's answer and expression, it is still a good impression, that is a good thing. "General Qin took three thousand surrendered barbarians on foot to Yunxiang County for resettlement. By the way, he was transferred to Yunxiang County as the general guarding the city. When passing through Huanshui County, two major things happened."

The emperor asked, with an unpredictable expression: "Huanshui County? I remember that Huanshui County is quite wealthy." It takes three days to ride a horse from Huanshui County to the capital. The distance is not far or close, but from the location of Qiguo From the looks of it, it’s pretty good, so it can be considered a good county. "What? In this relatively wealthy county, two major events can happen? I have not received a memorial from Huanshui County."

There was no cabinet in Qi State. Except for the memorials of generals that went through the Ministry of War, the rest of the memorials went directly to Tianting. In other words, if something happens in Huanshui County, the memorial will be sent directly to the emperor and then sorted out by the chamberlain. Memorials are distinguished by different colors to distinguish emergencies. The emperor then reviewed the memorial starting from its urgency.

Du Ke‌: "The first thing is that hundreds of the three thousand barbarians led by General Qin fell ill. This disease is a contagious cold. After the onset of the disease, the patients will cough, have a headache, and feel general weakness. Although it is contagious, But if you take the medicine on time, there is no life-threatening risk. Now General Qin has isolated the patient from healthy people. However, it takes a long time from onset to recovery, about a month. If you take the medicine every day during this month, it will be enough. The cost of medicinal materials is quite high.”

What is the emperor most afraid of? Common people are most afraid of getting sick, and the emperor is also most afraid of getting sick. The emperor can afford a doctor... No, he has an imperial doctor and medicinal materials, but he is different from the common people. The common people are afraid of spending money when they are sick, while he is afraid of death when he is sick.

When the emperor heard this, he felt irritable. Although infectious diseases were different from plague and smallpox, they also made him irritable. Fortunately, Qin Fang has been under control and is in isolation: "Have you confirmed it with the imperial doctor? Are you sure it's just an infection and not fatal?"

Du Ke replied: "After Wei Chen entered the palace, he went to the imperial hospital and confirmed with the imperial doctor. In fact, this disease is more common every spring. However, every year, people who have no money to buy medicine die from this disease. There are also many people who are sick.”

When the emperor heard this, he looked at Du Ke thoughtfully: "You mean, let the court allocate funds to Qin Fang to treat barbarians?"

Du Ke's heart tightened and he immediately spoke righteously: "The barbarians have just surrendered to us. If hundreds of people die at once, once this matter spreads to other barbarians, not only those barbarians who are waiting and watching will not dare to surrender again." , even other barbarians will be worried. However, General Qin has already settled this amount."

Now the emperor was surprised: "How did Qin Fang solve the problem? Could it be that he paid for it himself?" He didn't think anyone would do this.

Du Ke: "This is the second thing I want to say. It is also a more serious matter. It affects the reputation of the imperial court and... your Majesty's reputation."

As soon as Du Ke said these words, the originally relaxed atmosphere in the imperial study room disappeared, and the emperor's face became serious: "What's going on?" He would never allow anything that would affect the reputation of the court and his personal reputation to happen.

Du Ke: "The magistrate of Huanshui County colluded with the bandits, General Qin..." He told everything, and then handed over Qin Fang's letter, which also contained the testimonies of many bandits.

The emperor received the letter first, and there was naturally no problem with what Qin Fang wrote in the letter. If there were any problems, Du Ke would not turn it over. But after receiving the letter, the emperor said in a serious tone: "He would actually think of writing to you."

Du Ke did not try to figure out the meaning of this sentence. He explained: "General Qin has just been promoted to General Wude, and he probably doesn't know the rules of the court yet. In early March, Wei Chen went to the Yongzhou Military Camp, and it was considered that he had a relationship with him. He is somewhat familiar with it, so he wrote this letter to Wei Chen. "The addition of the word "ba" also shows that he is not very clear or very sure about Qin Fang's actions, which can rule out collusion between him and Qin Fang. ‌ is.

Civil servants and military generals collude, even if they don't plot against the prince, this is not what the emperors of the past generations wanted to see. Duko knew this, so he explained himself. However, he also knew that the emperor would not doubt, after all, where was Qin Fang? Coming from a grassroots background, with no backdoor or backing, I was promoted just this month. With such an innocent identity, no one can doubt him. Not to mention as wise as an emperor?

But it's one thing that the emperor doesn't doubt it. As a minister, he still has to show his attitude.

The emperor smiled and said: "Qin Fang is really interesting. It's just about suppressing bandits. Since he also wants to take Sanqi's money as military salary and use it to build a military camp in Yunxiang County, he is acting like the Marquis of Yonghe."

Duko smiled apologetically and didn't answer.

The emperor said again: "But this is fine. If everyone is as conscious as Qin Fang, and they need money to find their own solutions, why should I worry about the money from the treasury? Look at those who need money to build dams and cause floods. If you want money, why don’t you follow Qin Fang’s example and kill bandits to make money?”

Duko continued to smile apologetically. How should he answer this? Are you saying that they are afraid of death and dare not suppress the bandits? "Then the emperor promised him three pieces of money?"

The emperor said: "Just give him four pieces. The extra piece will be the silver reward I will reward him with." In other words, it was returned to Qin and made private.

However, the emperor is not at a loss. This money was obtained by Qin Fang from suppressing bandits. He originally planned to keep 70% of the money for the people of Huanshui County. Now he has received 10% of it. Speaking of which, it means that the people can only get 60%.

However, since it was the emperor who rewarded him, Qin Fang naturally took advantage of it.

three days later

"General... General, my heart is back." As soon as Tao Shan arrived at the bandit's den, he hurried inside. The rain has stopped and the weather has improved. Those who were healthy still lived in the camp of the brigade, while those who were sick were moved to the bandit dens.

Kunshi and others heard Tao Shan's voice and came out one after another.

Qin Fang has been free these days, waiting for Tao Shan to come back. He came and went for six days, and he was impatient to wait. Mainly because I was afraid that the county magistrate would suddenly come over. But there is something unexpected. It has been several days, and the county magistrate has not sent anyone. Maybe the bandits and the county magistrate seldom communicate with each other except for sharing the stolen goods.

Qin Fang finally waited until Tao Shan came back. Looking at the dusty Tao Shan, he said: "Thank you for your hard work. Has the letter been delivered to Lord Du Kedu?"

Tao Shan smiled honestly: "It's not hard, the letter has been delivered to Mr. Du. My subordinate brought back Mr. Du's letter and the emperor's imperial edict."

When Qin Fang heard this, he immediately knelt down to receive the order. Tao Shan respectfully asked for the imperial edict and handed it into Qin Fang's hands.

After receiving the imperial edict, Qin Fang said to Tao Shan: "Go and have a good rest first."

Tao Shan: "Yes."

Back in the house, Qin Fang read Du Ke's letter first. Du Ke wrote in the letter that he would come to Huanshui County soon. Since his imperial mission was not as fast as Tao Shan's travel, he asked Tao Shan to come first with his letter and imperial edict. At the same time, he also asked Qin Fang to detain the county magistrate after receiving the imperial edict, and wait until he comes to talk about the rest. Also, the letter mentioned that the emperor promised three feet of stolen money as his military salary, and rewarded him with one pound of stolen money in return.

Qin Fang was very happy after reading the letter. The robber's silver has been counted, there is a total of 50,000 taels of silver, not counting the remaining jewelry and so on. If he is rewarded with a piece of silver, he must have at least 5,000 taels of silver.

Qin Fang seemed to realize that the money was flying freely. It turned out that... suppressing bandits was the fastest way to make money.

The door of the room suddenly opened, and Qin Fang came out with the imperial edict: "Here comes someone."

Soldier: "General?"

Qin Fang: "Quickly count the number of people. Everyone will follow my general to the county seat to capture the county magistrate."

Soldier: "Yes."

Half an hour later, all the soldiers gathered at Wulipo. Qi Guo's two hundred soldiers and Manzi's three hundred soldiers, a total of five hundred soldiers, were all here.

Qin Fang stood at the front, holding the imperial edict in his hand and said: "The emperor has an edict, ordering us to take down the magistrate of Huanshui County, everyone is ready to go."

"Yes." The neat voice was very loud. In the past few days, the soldiers have received three cents of military pay, and they have eaten several meals of meat, so they are in high spirits right now.

Huanshui County seat

The reason why the county magistrate pays attention to the bandits' den in Wulipo is that they seldom contact each other and only contact them when they are dividing the stolen money. Because if they contact too much, it will be bad if someone finds out the clues. Secondly, he has been busy recently, and the matters at Feng Family Medical Center made him very irritable. There is no way to dismiss a murder case lightly, not to mention that everyone has seen it.

County government office

The county magistrate glared at Dr. Feng who was sitting aside angrily: "How many times have I told you not to test medicine on the common people, don't test medicine on the common people, why don't you listen? It's okay now, it's over Three people have died, what if the families of those people are uneasy? "

Doctor Feng smiled carelessly: "When you first took the money, you looked so cheerful. I thought you were just talking and didn't care that I was testing the medicine on ordinary people."

The county magistrate: "You...but now you have caused a loss of life."

Doctor Feng disagreed: "The lives of those cheap people are cheap to begin with, and I chose people from extremely poor families. If I give them a little silver as compensation, they won't care about these lives."

The county magistrate said, "Why don't you talk about how you almost involved someone of status a few days ago? If it weren't for the head of the police letting the other party leave directly, this matter might not have ended well if it involved irrelevant people."

Doctor Feng: "The people are gone, why are you still mentioning this?"

The county magistrate: "I warn you for the last time, don't test the medicine on the common people, otherwise..."

"What else?" Doctor Feng asked, "Are you ready to part ways peacefully?" He had another question to ask, County magistrate, do you dare? He just didn't say it out loud.

But, didn't the county magistrate know what he meant?

At this moment, there was a huge noise outside, and the head of the police rushed to the door: "My lord... My lord, something bad has happened."

The county magistrate shouted in the room: "What's wrong? What's going on?" The anger that was not vented on Doctor Feng went to the head of the police.

The head of the police said: "Someone claimed to be General Wude, and was ordered to arrest you. He has surrounded the county government office."

The county magistrate was stunned, and although he shouted: "How dare you, General Wude, you are so bold. I haven't heard the news from the court. Who dares to fake the imperial edict?" As he said, he strode out of the room, "Where is that shitty general?" In front of outsiders, he is an honest county magistrate. Only in front of his own people, he reveals such a "true nature".

Head of the police: "At... at the gate of the county government office."

At the gate of the county government office at this time, Qin Fang was wearing the uniform of General Wude, standing there majestically. He was tall, with a resolute and cold face. His years of life at the border made his skin darker than that of ordinary people. So he was like a martial god without a word or a smile. Although he had been an official for a short time and did not have much authority, he had become more arrogant and gained authority through this bandit suppression. He was very good at pretending in front of the common people in the county. Besides, he was holding the imperial edict, and he felt that there was a reward in his heart, and it was the time for him to be full of energy.

So in the eyes of others, this was a great general.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know."

"This is the general, generals all wear this kind of clothes."

"Why did they destroy the county government?"

"That's right, they are so bold."

"Could it be that the county magistrate has done something wrong?"

"Shut up, don't talk nonsense, you are asking for trouble."

"That's right, it's okay, but don't say some things carelessly."

"Be gentle, your mouth will cause trouble."

Amid the discussion of the people, Qin Fang said loudly: "Dear fellow villagers, please be quiet, your county magistrate is colluding with officials and bandits, and this general has come to arrest him under the order of the court, The imperial envoy will be here soon."

"What? The county magistrate is colluding with the bandits?"

"Isn't that possible?"

A bold person asked curiously: "General, are you talking about the bandits in Wulipo?"

"You are asking for your life, and you dare to mention the bandits in Wulipo?"

"Even if I mentioned it, they can still kill me in front of the general."

"That group of damn Wulipo bandits are unlucky, they should have been arrested earlier."

"Even if they were arrested earlier, so many people would not have been killed."

Qin Fang said: "Yes, it is the bandits in Wulipo outside the county town."

After Qin Fang's recognition, the people started talking again. "I told you so. Every time the county magistrate said that no one can be arrested without evidence, it turns out that the officials and the bandits are colluding, and the county magistrate must have benefited from it."

"Bah, why would such a person be the county magistrate? He should be arrested."

In the crowd, a woman quietly left. She ran home desperately. After turning left and right in the county town, she came to a dilapidated hut: "Mother... Mother... God has opened his eyes, God has finally opened his eyes."

A blind old lady came out of the dilapidated hut, and a little girl was supporting her. The old lady asked in a hoarse voice: "What's wrong?" Her voice was full of tension and concern. This hoarse voice was not natural, but was blinded by crying.

The woman said, "Mother, a group of soldiers came to the county town just now. They were not the yamen runners of the county government, but soldiers from the army, led by a general. The general led the soldiers to surround the county government. The general also said that the county magistrate colluded with the bandits in Wulipu, and he came to arrest people under the order of the court. He also said that everyone should not worry, and the imperial envoy will come soon. Mother, let's go to the general now and ask him to redress our grievances."

The old lady hesitated: "But...but will the general redress our grievances?"

The woman said: "Do you want your husband to die with regrets? ? And the imperial envoy is coming soon. What if that beast kills people to silence them before the imperial envoy comes? Or, if that beast escapes before the imperial envoy comes, won’t we be unable to catch him for the rest of our lives and be unable to avenge our husband? "

When the old lady heard this, she immediately said, "You are right. Let's go to the general and ask him to redress our grievances."

The lady continued, "Mother, Xin will go by himself. You and Juer will not go. You can hide here. If the general does not redress Xin and instead colludes with that beast, then you should just forget about Xin and run away from here."

The little girl called Juer held back her tears and nodded: "Mother, Xin knows, don't worry."

The old lady said: "Xin goes, Xin goes to the general to seek justice, you and Juer hide. My daughter-in-law, Xin is old and won't live long. If Xin follows Juer, it will implicate her. But you are different, you are still young, and I can rest assured with you taking care of Juer."

The woman also knew this, but: "Mother..."

The old lady shook her head: "Xin has made up his mind, you send Xin to the general, and then find a place to hide yourself."

Qin Fang didn't know that an unjust case was waiting for him. At this moment, he waited for the county magistrate in front of the county government.

The county magistrate of Huanshui County was a thin man with little meat on his body. No wonder no one suspected that he was colluding with officials and bandits, because he was too thin, and he couldn't afford meat and was poor. If the officials and bandits colluded, the county magistrate must be rich and must have eaten and drunk a lot, so such a person should be obese.

The county magistrate in front of him, with this dignity, looked like a person who was not full. If he had not learned the truth from the bandits, he would have been deceived by his appearance.

While Qin Fang was looking at the county magistrate, the county magistrate was also looking at Qin Fang. The man in front of him could not tell his age from his appearance, but his tall body was full of solemnity, which made the county magistrate swallow his saliva. He had no doubt that the other party could crush him to death. However, as a local snake, the county magistrate had also experienced ups and downs. He even dared to cooperate with bandits, let alone a general? He said in a cold voice: "Who are you? You dare to pretend to be an official appointed by the court and break into the county government office privately. You have committed a serious crime punishable by the execution of nine clans. You should leave immediately. I can still plead for you."

Qin Fang was too lazy to talk to him. Seeing him coming out, he said directly: "Come here, tie him up with this general. If he dares to struggle, just remove his limbs."

Lieutenant Yang: "Yes."

The county magistrate felt cold all over. When a scholar met a soldier, he couldn't explain himself clearly. Shouldn't the other party explain his identity to him at this time? Then he continued to question his identity to buy time, and then find a way to escape. However, the person in front of him was obviously different from the one he planned. He didn't say a word and directly sent someone to tie him up. What's going on?

The county magistrate hurriedly stood behind the head of the police: "Captain Zhang, stop them."

Captain Yang mocked: "When I was killing the enemy on the battlefield, you were probably still bullying the people. Stop me. I don't know how much blood my knife has seen. How dare you come?"

Speaking of it, Captain Yang is not a bandit, but when he opened his mouth at this moment, he really looked like a bandit. I don't know if he did it on purpose.

The head of the police took a few steps back. To be honest, he was just domineering in Huanshui County, but he didn't dare to fight with these people who had been on the battlefield.

Captain Yang said again: "Our general is here to arrest corrupt officials under the order of the emperor. If you know what's good for you, surrender and you can suffer less punishment. If you don't know what's good for you, you will suffer less punishment. If you don't know what's good for you and want to die in vain, it's your own fault."

The yamen runners who were blocking the county magistrate immediately gave way.

Captain Yang immediately took people to arrest all the people who should be arrested.

Qin Fang was waiting outside, looking at Captain Yang to show off his power. At this time, there was a cry from the crowd: "General, it's wronged... General, it's wronged..."

The crowd moved aside, and saw that the one who was crying out for injustice was a blind old lady. She took a cane and walked a few steps, then knelt directly on the ground: "General, the old woman is wronged..." Because she didn't know where Qin Fang was, she knelt directly.

The people cried out to the old lady, and then to Qin Fang. Qin Fang was also a little confused. It was the first time he met someone crying out for injustice against him.