The night is getting darker, the temperature in Beijing is slightly lower in the Mid-Autumn Festival, and wearing two single clothes is not enough to keep out the cold. Some beggars on the streets are huddled up to keep each other warm.
Chang Yu stood in the middle of the yard in the Dongchang Yamen, looking at the bright moon above his head as if to touch it: "I wonder how many more people will freeze to death this winter?"
"If we deal with it properly, maybe..." Jiang Fa leaned against the pillar in the corridor and looked at the moon in the sky and said softly. Chang Yu sighed, turned to look at his expression, and suddenly said: "Master Jiang, are you homesick?"
Jiang Fa smiled bitterly and shook his head: "I'm in a humble position, I'm alone in the world, I have no family, no job, which home do I want?"
"After all, he has a family. I heard that Master Jiang is from Zhaobao Town, Wen County, not far from Chenjiagou. Do you have any relatives at home?" Chang Yu wanted to explore less about other people's private affairs, but just looked at it on this full moon night.
When a lonely guest showed his homesickness, he couldn't help it.
Jiang Fa shook his head: "There are no people in the house of the fugitives who died in the early years, otherwise they wouldn't have lived in Chenjiagou." Then he looked at Chang Yu: "If the little old man dies one day, the governor will
Can I be buried back in my hometown?"
Chang Yu walked up to Jiang Fa and patted his shoulder: "Stay well in the Yamen, our family will take care of you in your old age. If you feel homesick, just go back and have a look. After a hundred years, our family will let Master Jiang return to his roots."
of".
Jiang Fa stood up to say thank you, feeling warm in his heart and feeling that everything was not so real. Although he had been with Chang Yu for a long time, he always felt that he was too strange. His words, deeds, and way of dealing with people were not as good as his status and status.
Everyone in this era is so out of place, but one thing is very true. The little eunuch treats them very well and respects them very much.
The two chatted some more, and Chang Yu told him that he would be leaving the capital for Shanhaiguan in the next few days. Jiang Fa said, "Wang Ting and the others should be back in Beijing within three to five days, and they will be able to accompany the governor to leave the customs together."
Chang Yu shook his head: "I'm afraid it's too late, and their injuries have not healed. Our family just went to Shanhaiguan for a trip and there was no need to mobilize people." But Jiang Fa insisted that the protection level should not be bottomed out. After all, people who wanted Chang Yu dead were too
There are too many, and the elusive killer hasn't been caught yet so we can't be careless.
Jiang Fa is the oldest personal attendant in the yamen. Perhaps it is because he is always nagging because of his age, but Chang Yu enjoys his nagging, which is very much like the nagging of the elders in the family. What he lacks most now is
With this kind of emotion, he was also the closest to Jiang Fa in the yamen.
"That man is a good traveler from house to house. Logically speaking, he should be back by now. Could it be that there was some accident?" Jiang Fa looked at the sky and said suddenly. Chang Yu smiled slightly: "It's not like I'm going to steal things, I have to chat for a while.
"Knock."
There is a large house to the west of the imperial city. Although it is late at night, there are still lights seeping out of the house. This is the residence of the state leader Zhou Kui. At this time, he is secretly discussing today's affairs with his two sons in the study.
"Dad, sister really doesn't want to kill us, right?" The second son of the Zhou family looked red. It could be seen that he had just finished drinking. Zhou Kui looked sad, with a big knot on his brow, and shook his head gently: "Although not
I know where I touched your sister's back, but even though I thought about it a lot, it still wouldn't make her want to commit murder."
"Sister, I won't have murderous intentions, but that dog eunuch can't tell for sure. He has a lot of tricks at his disposal, including Dongchang and Jinyiwei. It's not impossible for us to die accidentally!" said the boss of the Zhou family.
His face turned blue. When he bumped into Chang Yu on the street today, he saw the murderous intent in his eyes and almost peed.
"No matter how powerful the eunuch is, he is just a dog under your sister's command. He doesn't dare to do anything without your sister's order." Zhou Kui was quite unconfident when he said this. He knew the methods of eunuch Quan very well.
When Wei Zhongxian was in power, except for the emperor, all the queens, concubines and princes were not submissive and fearful to him.
"But dogs will jump over the wall when they are anxious, so we have to be on guard." Zhou Kui sighed: "We still have to find a way to see your sister and ask her why. If this relative is broken or exists in name only, our Zhou family will still..."
Before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted: "You can't prevent it, and you can't see it either."
"Fart!" Zhou Kui glared at his two sons, only to find that they looked frightened. Only then did he realize that it was not his two sons who had spoken just now, who could it be!
In ancient times, wealthy families had servants to guard their homes, and they even hired some martial arts masters to protect their homes, not to mention Zhou Kui, a relative of the emperor. There was also a team of masters to guard the homes, but at this time, someone sneaked in without knowing where they were.
Not to mention how timid I was.
A man in black walked out of the shadow of the bookcase in the corner. As soon as he pulled out the long knife in his hand, the three Zhou family masters who were about to scream immediately shut their mouths. Zhou Kui's face was full of horror: "You, are you a Jinyiwei or a Dongchang fanzi?"
He had long heard that Jinyiwei's tentacles were everywhere. In the previous dynasty, a certain official said and did something at home, and the emperor knew it all the next day. But now it happened to him. The three of them chatted for a long time without noticing that they were next to him.
Stand alone!
Who wouldn’t be frightened?
"Those are the emperor's yamen. They don't look down on me. I'm just passing by here to ask for some money." The masked man in black chuckled sinisterly. The third son of the Zhou family breathed a sigh of relief: "It turns out he is a hero from the Green Forest Road. He wants money."
It's easy to handle..." Before he could finish his words, Zhou Kui glared at him fiercely. This stupid thing didn't believe him. If the man in front of him was a killer, he wouldn't admit that he was from the Yamen.
"How much money do you want?" Zhou Kui asked in a low voice, suppressing the fear in his heart. Just as the man was about to speak, he suddenly heard the door of the room ringing. Zhou Kui felt happy, thinking that the nursing home had noticed something strange, but he didn't expect the door to open with a creak.
Someone walked around the screen and said with a smile: "Boss Li, your medicine is so effective. It knocked down not only people but also dogs."
It turned out that they were accomplices, and Master Zhou Kui's heart suddenly went cold: "Heroes, let's negotiate a price, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone!"
"As long as the old man is willing to pay, we won't hurt anyone, but if the old man is very stingy, then don't worry about us being ruthless." The man in black gently touched Zhou Kui's face with the tip of his knife.
I patted it a few times and it was cold to the bone.
Zhou Kui was extremely frightened. At this time, he determined that this person must be sent by the young eunuch to kill him, and he knew that he was stingy and deliberately wanted to steal money: "You, you tell me a price!"
"One hundred thousand taels!" the man in black said calmly, and Zhou Kui gritted his teeth: "Kill us, how can I get so much money!"
What Zhou Kui said is true. It's not that he doesn't have so much money, but that Ning Yuan will never give out so much money even if he dies, because he is an iron rooster.
Historically, thieves came to Beijing and tortured hundreds of officials. Zhou Kui's wife and daughter-in-law were forced to commit suicide. His eldest son was beaten to death without paying for it. It was not until he and his younger son were beaten to death that he realized that if they were beaten to death,
There is no point in keeping any more money, so I hand over my family assets.
Until how long?
Three million!
But no matter how much money he had, he was stingy. Chang Yu and Wu Mengming defrauded him of a hundred thousand taels of silver. He couldn't eat well or sleep well for several months. Every day, various yamen were doing things. At this time, a snitch came (of course, he also knew that he was not as good as a snitch).
Simple) I asked for one hundred thousand taels when I opened my mouth. How could I give it so easily?
"We have inquired before we came here. You are not an ordinary rich man. I heard that you are also a marquis (at the beginning of the year, Emperor Chongzhen raised funds for the army and made Zhou Kui the Marquis of Jiading). Is one hundred thousand taels of silver considered a thing?"
"Bold snitch, do you think this is an ordinary prince's mansion? This is..." As soon as the second son of the Zhou family opened his mouth, he was slapped by Zhou Kui, and then he glared at the man in black: "I don't have any money, I don't believe you really dare to do it.
kill!"
Hey, the man in black saw Zhou Kui's suddenly hardened tone and looked at the accomplice next to the screen: "Knife or poison?"
Needless to say, these two people were Li Bingxiao and Wang Lang, who came to frighten Zhou Kui on Chang Yu's orders. Together, they could even come and go from the Dongchang Yamen, and Jiang Fa, who was in charge at the time, didn't even notice, let alone the job of the Guozhang's Mansion.
.
"Although using a knife is troublesome, but it's exciting, it's better to use a knife." Wang Lang said, pulling out a sharp blade from his waist, pulling it over to Zhou Kui and putting it against his heart. The tip of the knife penetrated his skin, and Zhou Kui was frightened and scared out of his mind: "You
,You, hero, wait a moment..."
"Come on, give it or not, just a word."
"Give, give, give!" Zhou Kui collapsed immediately. He rushed over to see if the other party dared, but he didn't hesitate and felt unsure.
"But I gave you one hundred thousand taels of silver, can you take it with you?" The eldest brother of the Zhou family suddenly said, and Wang Lang looked at Li Bingxiao in surprise: "Yes, we can't take it all with just the two of us."
Li Bingxiao raised his eyebrows: "Do you have any banknotes?"
"There are not so many. Even if there are so many, do you dare to mention them?" The boss of the Zhou family seemed to have found a foothold, and his expression was actually proud. Seeing the two men in black looking at each other, he sneered: "Two good men meet each other.
Just keep it in moderation, since you won’t leave empty-handed after coming here, how about saying goodbye to the world with three thousand taels?”
"Three thousand taels, it's a little too little," Wang Lang pouted, and Li Bingxiao said, "The young master is right, you should accept it when you see it. I'm just afraid that none of us will be able to bear the three thousand taels, right, young master?"
No, no, no, the eldest brother of the Zhou family quickly waved his hand: "We won't hold anyone accountable after all the good guys have taken it. The banknotes belong to Daming Bank. They have branches in several big cities in Beizhili. You can go out of the city at dawn."
I went to pick it up somewhere, and we can’t trace it even if we want to.”
"Hey, that's a good idea." Wang Lang chuckled and pressed his hands: "What do you think, sir?"
"Is two thousand taels okay?" Zhou Kui gritted his teeth and Wang Lang moved the tip of his knife forward. The man couldn't help shouting again: "Okay, okay, just three thousand, I'll take it later."
"Wait a minute." At this time, Li Bingxiao took a step forward and walked up to Zhou Kui: "We are very well-informed in this business. Not long ago, Daming Bank opened for business. It is convenient to deposit and withdraw interest-bearing loans, attracting many merchants and wealthy gentry.
People are competing to deposit money. Business people deposit money to facilitate turnover, while wealthy households deposit money to earn interest. Mr. Hou is so rich and loves money so much that he can't only save two or three thousand taels!"
After hearing this, Zhou Kui wanted to slap the boss of the Zhou family, but he begged: "This bank has newly opened, who dares to save more? I really only have a few thousand taels for daily use."
"Really? Then why don't you bring me the deposit slip and show it to me? I don't want your deposit slip. I just want the banknote. Don't try to hide it from me. I'm literate." Li Bingxiao sneered, and Zhou Kui's face turned pale.
.
There is a difference between a depository check and a bank check. A depositary check is equivalent to a passbook for future generations. It is a ticket stub, and it is given to you. Even if the person is wrong or the deposit is wrong, you cannot withdraw it. However, a banknote is equivalent to cash and can be used for transaction expenses.
If you recognize the person, you can also directly withdraw money with the ticket.
Seeing that Zhou Kui didn't speak, Li Bingxiao shouted: "Let him bleed." Wang Lang turned the tip of the knife and directly pierced a hole in Zhou Kui's arm. Blood flowed profusely. Zhou Kui was in pain and wanted to scream, but Wang Lang covered him with his hand.
Mouth, the tip of the knife was pressed against his heart: "In a word, if you don't give it, I will plunge it in, and I will never talk nonsense to you again. The worst is that I won't lose the money."
Wuwuwu, Zhou Kui struggled hard: "You are the people sent by the eunuch, you are not snitches, you..."
Wang Lang moved the tip of the knife forward, and Zhou Kui's eyes suddenly opened, and he immediately closed his mouth due to severe pain in his heart.
"Don't talk about those useless things. I won't give you a word!" Wang Lang sneered. Before they came, they had been instructed by Chang Yu. The most important torture for this stingy guy was to torture him himself. It would only be useful if it hurt him, so from beginning to end
He didn't touch his two sons, because even if he killed the two brothers, he wouldn't give out a penny.
This trick worked as expected. Zhou Kui begged in a low voice, "Wait a minute. It's true that I have deposited 100,000 yuan at Daming Bank, but I can't withdraw the deposit money even if I give it to you."
"I told you that we want banknotes, not your deposit checks!" Wang Lang snorted coldly.
"The banknote is only 20,000 yuan. If you want it, don't just stab me to death. There is no more money." Zhou Kui's eyes were red, and he was willing to risk it.
"Okay, twenty thousand, just twenty thousand!" Wang Lang looked at Li Bingxiao and saw that he nodded, so he escorted Zhou Kui to his bedroom to get the banknotes. At this time, the guards in the palace were fascinated by him and had no need to be careful.
Yes.
There were only two Zhou brothers left in the study. Looking at the cold man in black, Zhou Laoer boldly asked: "Are you really not sent by that little eunuch?"
"Guess" Li Bingxiao chuckled. The Zhou brothers immediately felt like they had fallen into an ice cave and did not dare to say another word.