Chapter 1,201: Solve the robbery and take advantage of others
Returning to his home in Sishui Township, Su put down the two hundred shields on his back, his face filled with brilliance:
"Second brother, with this money, plus what we have saved over the years, I will probably be able to build a house for you! Once you build the house and marry a wife, you can continue the family line!"
Building a house, marrying a wife and having children is the lifelong ideal of ordinary people.
After Su Mingzhe heard this, he immediately couldn't laugh or cry:
"Brother, you should keep this money for yourself and find a matchmaker to find a wife! Now that I am the director of the pavilion, am I still short of money?"
When Su Mingzhe saw that his elder brother was still refusing, he quickly waved his hand and said:
"Brother, please listen to me first. I have troubled you to plant all that land, as well. I am now the director of the pavilion in Surabaya. I will be very busy with official duties in the future and will not have time to take care of the family! Okay, let's start with that. Well, I still have to catch the thief, and I’ll talk about other things when I get back!”
Su Mingzhe said and took Cao Wushang out of the house.
Cao Wushang, who had been silent when he came to a deserted place outside, suddenly spoke:
"Brother Su, it's our brother's fault for framing your eldest brother this time. However, you also sent us to the government for investigation. You can't retaliate again..."
When Su Mingzhe heard what he said, his eyes suddenly showed contempt and disdain, and he said:
"Cao Wushang, do you regard me as a gangster like your brothers? I, Su Er, am an upright man. I say I am going to catch thieves, but I am going to catch thieves. Are you still afraid that I will frame you?"
After hearing this, Cao Wushang smiled and did not dare to speak again.
Su Mingzhe looked at the sky and saw that it was getting late, so he had no intention of continuing to talk nonsense with Cao Wushang:
"Let's go and see the rich man's house first!"
After Qin unified the six kingdoms, thirty-six counties were established.
Pei County, where Su Mingzhe is located, belongs to Sichuan County and is even the county seat. It is a truly large county. There are nearly 50,000 households in the county, accounting for one-eighth of the total population of Sichuan County.
Sishui Township, where Su Mingzhe is located, is a large township not too far from the county seat. Its population ranks among the top among the twelve townships in Pei County, with nearly 4,000 households and a total population of more than 15,000 people.
This large township has a total of more than 20 pavilion directors.
The jurisdiction of each pavilion chief is approximately equivalent to a village, with about two hundred households.
The rich man Zhang was originally the only official in the pavilion. He owned a hectare of land by himself and was the envy of his neighbors.
However, no one is perfect.
When this rich man was serving in the army, he was seriously injured and was inhumane, and three fingers of his right hand were cut off by the enemy. After returning to his hometown, although he had no worries about food and clothing, he could only rely on renting out the land and bringing an old servant with him. Live life.
Su Mingzhe took Cao Wushang to visit and asked about the case.
Zhang Li had already learned that Liu San and others framed Su Da and was taken to the county government by Su Mingzhe, but he did not know yet that Su Mingzhe had become the new local pavilion chief due to his merits.
As the saying goes, there are three things a new official needs to do when taking office.
When Zhang Li learned about Su Mingzhe's intention, he also thought that the new pavilion chief would come to his house to investigate the case as soon as he took office. He was brave enough to do his job, so he quickly asked his old servant to take him to the stolen warehouse to check for clues.
The old servant was really old, with gray beard and hair, and his back was hunched. He walked, panting every step, and after leading the two of them to the door of the warehouse, he said with full anger:
"Chief Su Ting, my family's food is usually stored in this warehouse. Five days ago, when the villain was patrolling the night, he didn't hear Heizi calling the yard, so he ran over to check. As a result... he saw Heizi lying down. Standing there motionless...these damn thieves just took away the food, but why didn't they even let my black man go?"
Su Mingzhe listened to the old servant's description, went into the warehouse and took a look, and then began to think:
"The two boxes in the warehouse contained at least fifty or sixty dan of grain. The thief only stole two dan, so he must have committed the crime alone!"
"Furthermore, this thief killed Heizi, who was looking after the house, but did not alert the old servant. He must have stepped on it, or he is very familiar with Zhang Fu's family... This may be an acquaintance who committed the crime!"
Su Mingzhezi
After carefully searching for the original person's knowledge of Zhang Fuhu, I slowly came up with a guess in my mind.
However, there is no basis for this speculation.
So, after a while, Su Mingzhe lowered his head and smelled it silently.
Using your nose to smell the thief's remaining scent and tracking it are one of the few methods Su Mingzhe can use at the moment.
After all, his current cultivation level is almost non-existent.
But even using the sense of smell is difficult.
After all, it has been five days since the food was stolen.
Not much of the smell remains.
Su Mingzhe smelled it for a while and finally found a little unusual smell, and immediately ran out the door with Cao Wushang.
The old servant hesitated for a moment, then turned to look for his master, and the two of them followed out.
Within a moment, the two caught up with Su Mingzhe and Cao Wushang, and the four of them arrived at the entrance of a dilapidated courtyard.
Seeing that Su Mingzhe was about to break in, Zhang Li quickly stopped him and said:
"Brother Su, this is my nephew's wife's house. My nephew Zhang Qing has served in the army for more than two years and hasn't come back yet. He must be in danger. Now, there is only one mother-in-law left in his family with a posthumous son. , she will definitely not steal my food!"
"Is that so? You can find out if you go in and ask."
Su Mingzhe pushed Zhang Li away expressionlessly and broke into the courtyard directly.
In the dilapidated courtyard, a woman was holding a child and feeding her. After seeing the four people appear, she hesitated for a moment and still greeted Zhang Li:
"Uncle, are you out to enjoy the cool weather?"
"Yeah, come out and enjoy the cool air!"
Zhang Li saw that Su Mingzhe had sharp eyes and kept scanning the entire dilapidated yard. He was afraid that Su Mingzhe would see something. He was about to speak, but Su Mingzhe had already found a clue. He took a quick step to the kitchen and pushed away a pile of firewood. A dark hole was revealed:
"Mr. Zhang, the stolen grain from your house is in this cellar."
After Su Mingzhe said that, regardless of Zhang Li's face becoming ashen, he walked up to the woman and introduced himself:
"Ms. Zhang Qing, I am Su Er from the front of our village, and I am also our newly appointed pavilion chief. Your uncle's family lost a few bags of food. You reported it to the official. I was ordered to investigate..."
When Mrs. Zhang Qing heard Su Mingzhe's intention, she did not dare to hide it and immediately explained:
"That food was... sent here by my uncle."
When Zhang Li heard this, he immediately became angry:
"You said it was Zhang Hong who stole our food?"
When Su Mingzhe heard the name "Zhang Hong", he immediately curled up his lips:
"Zhang Hong... I remember that last winter, he had gone to Weishan Lake nearby to become a water bandit... Mr. Zhang, am I remembering this correctly?"
"Brother Su, let's take a step to talk!"
Zhang Li struggled internally for a moment, pulled Su Mingzhe aside and whispered:
"That Zhang Hong is also my nephew. Since he is the one who got my food, it is a misunderstanding. This case... I have withdrawn it!"
When Su Mingzhe heard this, he felt as if he had heard a fantasy, and a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth that sent chills down the spine:
"Mr. Zhang, you need to know that this is a theft case that went to the county magistrate's court. For your case, Liu San, the original director of the pavilion, and his accomplice Lu Wan were interrogated and tortured. Cao Wushang was also arrested. "You were convicted of 'false accusation'. Now, do you think you can withdraw by simply saying 'withdraw'?"
"Then, Brother Su, tell me, how can we withdraw?"
Zhang Li felt his scalp numb when he saw Su Mingzhe's sneer. He also knew that there was a water bandit in his family. If he didn't bleed heavily, he might be in danger of ruining his family.
Su Mingzhe was not polite, raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and said with a chuckle:
"Master Zhang, according to Qin law, because this case has had a very bad impact, if you want to withdraw this case, you need to use a first-class title to compensate for the crime. In this case, your family's one hectare of land and nine acres of house will But it’s not yours anymore!”
"You...you are robbing someone by force!"
Zhang Li never expected that the newly appointed Su Er would be more ruthless than Liu San in the past. As soon as he opened his mouth, he wanted to take away his foundation. He was so angry that his hands and feet trembled and he couldn't say a word.
"Mr. Zhang, don't try to smear anyone's innocence. I'm just telling you a fact. I didn't say that I wanted your land, let alone your house!"
Seeing that Zhang Li was angry, Su Mingzhe was afraid of angering him to death, so he simply took a step back, came to Mrs. Zhang Qing, and said expressionlessly:
"Ms. Zhang Qing, you have taken in the stolen goods and need to go to the county office with me. Should you leave this child to the care of a neighbor, or should you carry it with you?"
Mrs. Zhang Qing is just an ordinary woman. She was so frightened by what Su Mingzhe and Zhang Li said that she was trembling all over. She only held her son tightly with both hands and refused to let go.
At this time, Zhang Li finally remembered that he had no children and had to rely on Zhang Hong and Zhang Qingnian to provide for him until the end of his life. He could only sigh, stopped Su Mingzhe, and said sadly:
"Brother Su, please be merciful and we will do as you say!"