"I have read some files about Runing's matter these days, and the more I read, the more interesting it becomes."
Hearing Su Hao talk about official business, Li Zhi responded with a faint smile.
"How do you say this?" Su Hao asked.
Li Zhi spread out a large piece of densely drawn paper and said to Su Hao: "In other words, look at it, this is the diagram of powerful relationships that I and Geng Shu have drawn by sorting out the files these days. From this picture,
The powerful people and officials in Runing's prefectures and counties are inextricably linked to each other, and all the threads are connected like a cobweb."
The plowing book Li Zhi refers to is Zhou Ruyuan, who is a down-and-out man. These days, it is Zhou Ruyuan who, together with Li Zhi, has read various case files borrowed from the Runing government office, and analyzed them about the exploitation of powerful landlords in Runing.
The context of the common people. Zhou Ruyuan has lived at the bottom of society for many years and is very familiar with various ugly phenomena among the people, so he was able to draw such a relationship diagram together with Li Zhi.
Su Hao lay down on the picture and only looked at half of it before he felt dizzy. As Li Zhi said, the relationship between the characters in the picture was so complicated that it was almost impossible to figure out a context. Sometimes it was Zhang San and Li Si.
There is some kind of connection, and sometimes there is some kind of connection between Li Si and Wang Wu. They go around three times and two times. In the end, it is impossible to tell who has what kind of relationship with whom.
"Why is it so complicated?" Su Hao asked strangely.
Li Zhi said: "This is what I find interesting. In the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, all officials are corrupt. It can be said that it is known to everyone, young and old. But in other places, officials are corrupt, either by themselves, or by themselves.
Whether it is colluding with colleagues to commit corruption, or colluding with superiors or subordinates to commit corruption, once a case is investigated, it can involve at most ten or twenty people. The structure is very clear.
Runing Mansion is different. Officials from various states and counties in the whole government are colluding together. Any case will involve people from four or five counties, going around and around, and in the end you will be unable to find anything. Before that, the imperial court
We have also sent officials down to investigate the case, but they have never been able to carry out the investigation. This is the reason."
"That's it." Su Hao nodded slightly.
Su Hao had already understood the situation in Runing before. He knew that some powerful landowners in Runing Prefecture colluded with the government to gradually push ordinary farmers into the abyss of bankruptcy through tempting gambling and loan sharking. Many farmers
Because he could not repay the loan sharks at high interest rates, he had to mortgage his land and house to the landlord and became a tenant farmer.
Things like this also exist in other state capitals, but they are not as common as in Runing. Important officials in the court also heard about these things, but when Runing came to investigate, they could not find any evidence. Repeatedly
It took a lot of effort, but I could only hit a few small flies. I couldn't hit the real big tiger.
After listening to Li Zhi's introduction, Su Hao roughly understood some of the reasons, that is, there was a top-down, criss-crossed corruption gang in Runing Mansion. They helped each other. The process of harming farmers was broken down into countless small parts.
If you want to find out the origin of something, you must find every subject in this link, and this is impossible.
Establishing such a complex criminal network does not happen overnight, and there must be a strong core to lead it. Su Hao couldn't help but sigh. If these people used this kind of wisdom for the right path, how could the Ming Dynasty decline like this?
How about going down?
"Since there is nothing to check, how did you find out?" Su Hao asked with a smile.
Li Zhi said: "It is said that there is no investigation, but in fact it depends on people. Put all the cases together and think about it slowly, and you will naturally figure out the mystery. I and Gengshu have been busy with this these days.
By the way, Xue Yong also provided me with a lot of clues. It is said that some of the clues were left behind by Cheng Yi’s father who investigated the case earlier.”
"I hope we can investigate this case clearly and let Mr. Cheng rest in peace," Su Hao said.
Li Zhi said: "Although the clues have been sorted out now, in order to prove the crimes of these people, we still need evidence. This big net can affect the whole body. If there is no suitable name, it will be inconvenient to investigate further."
Go down. This is the problem we are facing now."
Li Zhi said it was a difficult matter, but Su Hao thought he couldn't find a better solution. Although he was a time traveler, what he was good at was technology, not conspiracy, so he was willing to give up on this issue.
. He knew that when Li Zhi said he had encountered a problem, it was actually just a gesture. Ancient think-tanks all had this problem, that is, before offering a good strategy, they would exaggerate the difficulty to show their brilliance.
Su Hao had known Li Zhi for a long time and had gotten to know Li Zhi's speaking habits. He chuckled and said, "Do you have any clever ideas for me to solve this problem?"
Li Zhi stroked a few beards under his chin with his hand and said slowly: "It is actually easy to break this situation. That is to find a weak point and pick it apart first. Then you can follow the clues and cover the entire network."
It broke."
"Sir, what do you think is the weak point?" Su Hao asked again.
Li Zhi said: "A few days ago, Xiong Minyang sent someone to report some situations in Luoshan County. I and Geng Shu analyzed it and felt that starting from Luoshan County might have some effect. If I can change it, I would like to go to Luoshan in person.
Let’s go there.”
Su Hao thought for a while, nodded and said: "Since you have made up your mind, sir, please let me go. I will send Xue Yong to escort you there. However, when there is a conflict, you only need to stay behind the scenes and give guidance."
That’s all, don’t put yourself in danger.”
"It's natural for me to save this." Li Zhi said, "After I get there, I will stop taking action in Runing City for the time being. When news comes from Luoshan, it won't be too late to bring someone to deal with it."
"I understand, just go ahead and do it." Su Hao agreed.
The next day, Li Zhi, accompanied by Xue Yong, quietly left Runing City. Such a bad old man was not within the sight of Liu Qichang and others, so no one noticed this incident, let alone
Know where he is going.
One evening a few days later, in front of the largest gambling house in Luoshan County, several people dressed as farmers came. The leader was a middle-aged man who looked to be in his 40s and was the oldest among the group.
One of them. He was wearing coarse shirts and trousers, and had a timid look on his face. At first glance, you could tell he was the kind of honest farmer who had never been to the city.
"May I ask, is this Xinglong Gambling House?" the middle-aged farmer asked the gatekeeper.
"Yes." The boy looked at the middle-aged farmer's dress and replied lazily. Judging from his dog eyes, the farmer could at most find 20 cash on his body, which would only be enough to reach some streets.
I just go to a small gambling house to have fun, how can I enter a big casino like Xinglong Gambling House.
"Can we go in?" the middle-aged farmer asked again.
The waiter said: "This is a gambling house. If you have money, you can go in. If you don't have money, you can stay there. Do you have money?"
"Uh... I have one, two or seven cents of silver, is that enough?" The farmer said softly, and at the same time he covered his chest tightly with his hands. He probably hid the money there, for fear that others would snatch it away after hearing about it.
How can such a poor person have more than one tael of silver? The man muttered in his heart, but with a smile on his face, he made an invitation gesture and said: "Of course that's enough, please come in, congratulations on getting rich!"
"Third brother, are you really going to gamble?" asked a young man following the middle-aged farmer. This middle-aged farmer was none other than Mo San from Maqiao Village, and the person who asked him was clearly Xiong Minyang.
There were two young men walking behind, Liao Yiming and Yin Guoxian, soldiers from the Kanyu Camp. However, at this time they were all dressed like local farmers.
"Xiong Jun... uh, brother Xiong, if you don't take a gamble, what else can you do?" Mo San pretended to have a sad face, "Just one or two silver dollars is not enough to pay off the debt, so I can only take a gamble.
Already."
"But, what if we lose the bet? We only borrowed this little money after you mortgaged the land." Xiong Minyang said, looking at him, he seemed to be trying to persuade Mo San to give up gambling, but he inadvertently said
A bit of information was revealed.
"This guest, after entering the gambling house, you can't talk about losing." The janitor interrupted Xiong Minyang and said: "Who doesn't know that our Xinglong Gambling House is a blessed place, but every guest who comes to gamble
, there is no one who can’t win money. I see this old man’s eyebrows are shining, which is a sign of good luck. Today, I brought you brothers together. It is really wise. I will make money in a short time.
We have several thousand taels of silver, but without you brothers, I’m afraid I still wouldn’t be able to move it.”
"Brother, do you think I really look like I can win money?" Mo San pulled the guy and asked eagerly.
"Of course, I've been working in this gambling house for so many years, and I'm pretty sure when it comes to people!" the guy said loudly.
"Hey, that's good. Brother Xiong, you see, this brother said that I will win money, so let's bet on this today." Mo San seemed to be encouraged by the waiter, and his chest stood out.
After a few minutes, they strode towards the gambling house. Xiong Minyang and others couldn't help but find it funny when they saw that the always honest Mo San was so involved in the drama. However, in front of the guy, they still kept their faces tense.
, followed Mo San into the gambling house.
"Bah, you poor man, just wait until you lose and lose your pants." The guy looked at Mo San's back, spit in a low voice, and then quickly ran into the gambling house from the side door to deliver the message. He needed to let the people inside
The croupier knew that the guy who just came in had mortgaged the land and borrowed money to gamble. For such a person, he must be allowed to lose all his money.