At this moment, the Ding family is in the study of Mr. Ding.
Ding Zhize, the old man of the Ding family, is now over seventy years old. He has gray hair and is sitting on a recliner with his eyes closed, as if he is asleep.
In front of Ding Zhize, Ding Daoxiao looked like a filial son and a virtuous grandson, and Li Changqing, the Qianhu of the Demon Suppression Department, stood side by side.
Ding Zhize, who was once in the fifth realm of martial arts, has already lost his vitality and blood, his muscles have atrophied, and his physical strength has seriously declined due to his old age.
But neither Li Changqing nor Ding Daoxiao would underestimate the leader of the Ding family.
The other party once rose to the rank of Zuo Shilang in the Ministry of War, and was in charge of the food and fodder for the troops stationed across the country, the mobilization of the army, and the appointment of military officials. Now he has been in office for only three or four years, but he still has a great influence on the officialdom.
For example, in the three major military towns in the north of Lingzhou, most of the generals in them were promoted by this old man.
Mr. Ding asked: "How was that man arrested?"
Ding Daoxiao shook his head: "I don't know. The demon of the Immortal Way should be hiding very secretly. I don't know how the Wu family and the Hao family found them."
Old Mrs. Ding raised his head and asked with half-open eyes: "He didn't miss anything, did he?"
Li Changqing said: "I asked, but he didn't say anything about the Ding family. But just in case, he was possessed."
Mr. Ding said: "Changqing, you did the right thing. Thank you for your hard work on this matter. Dao Xiao, go to Meishan now and stop all the living corpses mining in the mountain and deal with them."
Ding Daoxiao frowned and said: "No need, no one has found out about Meishan. The loss of one day of shutdown..."
Old Master Ding shook his head, pointed at Ding Daoxiao and said: "You... are confused! Do you think that when a person is possessed by a demon, everything will be over after he dies? Then you are underestimating the Demon Suppressor and our Majesty, interrogating alone.
At that time, the prisoner became possessed and died. If something like this happened...I'm afraid the Demon Suppression Department will send people down to investigate this matter soon."
"He Wenyan must also speed up, and Changqing you must cooperate well.
Before the Demon Suppression Division sends another person... he must let him dig out all the bad debts under Wu Wei and Hao Wen, including the land they seized, the money they embezzled, the taxes and corvees they evaded, the bribery accounts, and their involvement.
The lawsuits, as well as the things that exceed the regulations inside and outside, must be thoroughly investigated, so that the chief minister can impeach Wu Siqi (Mr. Wu Ge)."
Ding Daoxiao nodded in agreement, and then asked: "And Chu Qiguang..."
Old Master Ding waved his hand and said: "Let the people of the Immortal Way take revenge on him, and don't let any of it get to us."
Ding Daoxiao asked again: "Wu Wei said that the cabinet has reached an agreement and is preparing for peace talks and mutual trade?"
"The cabinet vote is just for the emperor to see." Mr. Ding closed his eyes and said calmly: "I am too young today, so I would be too happy to have success and listen to slander. Whether we can open a mutual market or not, you have to ask us and these nine questions.
Border Army Town.”
"Smuggling is the lifeblood of millions of soldiers and civilians on the nine sides. If it weren't for us, where would the money from the north come from to support this imperial army? How would we support the two great warrior gods?"
"Now the imperial court wants to compete with the people for profit. This is a way to harm the country and the people."
…
In the main hall of the Wu family, Wu Wei, Hao Wen, Hao Yongtai, and Chu Qiguang sat together.
"How can it be such a coincidence? You happened to be possessed during the interrogation?" Hao Wen said in shock and anger: "I don't know how much money Li Changqing from the Demon Suppression Division has received from the Ding family, how dare he do such nonsense?!"
Wu Wei said: "It's not that simple. Just relying on money... Li Changqing wouldn't dare to do such a thing. I'm afraid he has already worn a pair of trousers with He Wenyan and the Ding family."
Wu Wei and Hao Wen felt worried when they thought of the county magistrate, thousands of households in the Demon Suppression Division, and the Ding family, the local snakes, all standing together. It was true that the Demon Suppression Division had such a bad reputation that countless wealthy families, high-ranking officials, and nobles had fallen.
It's in their hands.
Wu Wei and Hao Wen had mostly tried to drive away the Demon Suppressor, but they had never thought of confronting them head-on.
Seeing the worried looks on the two people's faces, Chu Qiguang thought about what Qiao Zhi said and encouraged him: "The witness became possessed during the interrogation. According to the rules, the Demon Suppression Division will definitely send someone over again.
Mr. Wu, you can write a letter to Mr. Wu Ge and ask him to urge this matter and ensure that the people who come will not favor the Ding family again, and they must do so quickly..."
Wu Wei and Hao Wen both nodded, but they were still worried about Qianhu Li Changqing, the Demon Suppressor.
At this moment, the Wu family's butler ran in and said in a panic: "Master, it's not good! The Demon Suppression Division has arrested the young master!"
"What?"
The housekeeper said: "They said that someone confessed that the young master spent money to let them contact the people to go to the Yamen to complain, so they took the young master away."
Wu Wei said angrily: "That's nonsense, Bing'er is only twelve years old! You're a bastard of people!"
But the bad news over the next few days doesn’t stop there…
Hezhi County continued to send people to measure the land of the Wu family and the Hao family, and one by one the tenants wanted to break away from the relationship between the two families.
In particular, some tenants who originally changed their names to donate land to the Hao family in order to avoid taxes, taxes, and corvees. After learning that Hezhi County wanted to equalize taxes and labor, they calculated that the imperial taxes were much less than before, and immediately
They all clamored to change their names back to their original names and let the Wu and Hao families return to their own land.
The Ding family even took the lead in withdrawing their land. Although he did not have much land to begin with, and his human and financial resources were concentrated on coal mines, shops, and caravans, it also aggravated the development of the situation.
Then the tenants got into trouble and even surrounded the Wu family's and Hao's family's mansions. The two families sent out nursing homes to drive away the people. As a result, the Demon Suppressor arrested the young masters, stewards, accountants, servants, etc. from both families in one go.
I took 15 people back for questioning and they said it was related to the case.
Wu Wei and Hao Wen were first invited by the Yamen for questioning, and then were taken away by the Demon Suppression Division to explain the problem.
In addition, Hao and Wu's grain stores, restaurants, teahouses, and dental shops in the county were all inspected and turned into a mess, unable to do business at all.
There was the coercion of the Demon Suppressor at the top, the cooperation of the local officials and county magistrates, and the Ding family, a local gangster, who led the way. Wu Wei and Hao Wen were almost played to death, and they had no power to resist.
The demon salary case, which was originally a lively case, gradually subsided because the leaders were arrested by the Demon Suppression Division.
…
When they gathered in the Wu family hall again, Hao Wen said angrily: "He Wenyan now relies on the support of the Demon Suppressor. Now he is simply bullying others."
Wu Wei sighed: "They wanted to arrest the people we went to appease the tenants. The people we sent to investigate the Ding family were also arrested. Even the person we sent to report to Shenjing, Li Changqing, was arrested. This is shameless.
It’s over.”
These days, with the Demon Suppressing Department targeting them everywhere, the Wu family and the Hao family are literally unable to do anything and can only be slaughtered by others.
Hao Wen on the side retreated and said: "How about we go to Hezhi County to admit our mistakes and surrender, and each of us withdraw from the land?"
"It's not a bad idea." Wu Wei's attitude was not as tough as before, and he said worriedly: "You can send someone to talk to them first and see what their attitude is."