I heard that Zeng Jianyuan of Jingmingyuan came to the door with a large group of Taoist priests, and County Magistrate Ren rushed out to welcome them. Seeing this formation in front of the Yamen, I felt a sudden shock in my heart, and my momentum immediately dropped by three points.
While he was secretly thinking about where he had offended Zeng Jianyuan, he said with a smile: "What east wind blew today, so that the Zeng Jianyuan came to our Shiquan County Yamen. It is really not welcome, not welcome!"
Zeng Jianyuan stepped in and said, "Go and talk to your Yamen."
County Magistrate Ren personally led the way to the flower hall to serve tea.
Zhao Ran secretly thought, it seems that Zeng Jianyuan is very powerful in Shiquan County, and he has pushed the dignified county magistrate to such a humble position, like a mouse seeing a cat.
All the inspectors from the square hall of Jingmingyuan were guarding outside the hall. Only Zeng Jianyuan, Zhao Ran, and a few deacons went in and took their seats. Upon seeing this, County Magistrate Ren felt a little uncomfortable when he spoke, and he felt even more uncomfortable.
Virtual panic.
Zeng Jianyuan politely sipped tea and introduced to County Magistrate Ren: "This is Zhao Duguan of Wujiyuan in Guyang County. He is also a monk practicing in Huayun Pavilion. He is my good friend, and he is also a senior scholar from Shiquan County.
Said. This young man is the cousin of Du Guan Zhao, and I am accompanying Du Guan Zhao here today."
County magistrate Ren hurriedly raised his hands and said: "It turns out to be Master Zhao. I have heard about his name for a long time! I heard that Master Zhao is from Zhaozhuang in our county. This county is polite! Is this little friend also from Zhaozhuang?"
Zhao Ran bowed his head and said, "I'm causing trouble to my parents."
County Magistrate Ren asked: "Did Guan Zhao come here to investigate the case of the Zhao clan leader's first bandit?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Zeng Jianyuan let out a "ha", patted the table and said: "Old Ren, is it really your place?"
Magistrate Ren wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and thought to himself that it was a good thing that he didn't mess around, otherwise he might not be able to get anything done today.
Then he said: "At noon the day before yesterday, the Zhao clan leader kidnapped Zhao Ming and his wife, as well as seven housekeepers and maidservants, to the county government office to accuse his family of colluding with bandits. I didn't believe it at first, but the Zhao clan leader said it categorically.
It was the Daomen inspection who had caught the thief. It was confirmed beyond any doubt, so we had to arrest him first. We had a meeting yesterday and found something fishy, so we suppressed it. Because the matter involved the Daomen inspection, we were about to go to Wen Jingmingyuan to report to the police today.
The prison was notified of this matter, and the official documents were written, but they had not yet had time to be sent out..."
With that said, Magistrate Ren called the yamen waiting outside the house and ordered him to go to the execution room to get a document. As expected, it was sent to Zeng Prison, requesting verification of the matter.
Zeng Jianyuan said with satisfaction: "Old Ren, you are really cautious. To tell you the truth, I don't know anything about those people who claim to be Taoist patrolmen. The so-called arrest of bandits is purely slander."
Zhao Ran said: "Old parents, Zhao Ming and his wife are Pindao's clan uncle and clan aunt. They are my cousin's parents. They are honest people and have always been kind to others. Pindao has been cared for and supported by them since he was a child. He understands it best.
It is impossible to collude with any thieves. As for those Taoist patrols, I really don’t know where they came from. The Song Xiong they arrested is not a bandit, but a layman of the fire industry of Junshan Temple in Guyang County, a poor Taoist.
There is Song Xiong’s signature document here, please let your parents take a closer look!”
Ren Xianzun said: "Master Zhao Xian is too polite. It turns out that Master Zhao has such a relationship with Zhao Ming and his wife, but this county did not know about it. Please forgive me." He took the signed document and looked at it twice, and said: "It seems that this matter
It is indeed suspicious! Someone, go and find Mr. Li!"
Not long after, Capt. Li, who was in charge of the third class of the county government, came in to reply, and the county magistrate Ren said: "Go quickly and arrest Zhao Sihu and his family in Zhaozhuang. The case will be heard in court today. Capt. Li, this matter involves Taoist Qingyu
, someone is pretending to be a Taoist patrol, you must not leak anyone, if something goes wrong, you will not be spared!"
Zeng Jianyuan said: "Let's see, someone is pretending to be inspecting our gate. This matter should not be ignored. It is better to let Yu Fangzhu go there and Li Captou will lead the way to help. We have horses here and can walk fast.
Don’t inform too many people, in case the news gets out and the thieves can escape.”
Magistrate Ren said: "Then let the prison guard do it."
At that moment, Yu Fangzhu personally led the team and set off with twelve patrol experts from Jingmingyuan. Capt. Li did not dare to neglect, so he led the way in front of him, and the group hurried to Zhaozhuang to pick up people.
Zhaozhuang is sixty miles away from Shiquan County, and the road is not easy to walk. It takes about a day for ordinary people to walk, but Yu Fangzhu and others are riding horses. It is such an important matter, and the horses are whipping on the road.
It didn't take long to arrive at Zhaozhuang.
The inspectors rushed into Zhaozhuang like lightning and came directly to the outside of Zhao Sihu's house. Seeing that the door of the house was closed, the inspectors who were good at leg and foot skills immediately stepped forward and without saying a word, they jumped up and kicked him up. He only heard "
With a "click" sound, the door was suddenly kicked open, and the door latch inserted inside was shattered into two pieces and fell to the ground.
Seeing Capt. Li next to him, he was secretly frightened. He thought that the inspectors in Jingmingyuan were really good people. Compared with the gang of people under my command, they were really incomparable.
The inspectors swarmed into the house, and the house was in a panic. After a thorough search, they could not find Zhao Sihu, the leader of the Zhao family, but only captured his family members.
When Capt. Li asked, he found out that Zhao Sihu was obsessed with the big house owned by Zhao Ming's family. He had been living there for the past two days, saying that he wanted to help the government take care of the house.
The big house owned by Zhao Ming's family is just outside the village, and it is the most conspicuous place in the whole Zhaozhuang. As soon as Li Captou pointed at the tall house, Yu Fangzhu led the team and rushed over.
When I came to the door, I saw someone standing outside the door with a look of surprise and uncertainty.
Yu Fangzhu reined in his horse and asked, "Who are you?"
Li Captou caught up with him on horseback and said to Master Yu Fang, "This is the housekeeper of Zhao Sihu's house." He then asked, "Where is your master?"
This man was Zhao Wu who led the hunt and sent Zhao Ran to Shiquan County. When he saw Capt. Li, he smiled and said, "Master Li is here? Please come in quickly..."
Li Captou scolded: "Stop talking nonsense, is Zhao Sihu here?"
Zhao Wu nodded and bowed and said: "Yes, yes, my fourth master is inside, helping the Yamen to guard the house, and be careful to prevent young people from entering and stealing. I will go in and report now..."
Yu Fangzhu waved his hand: "Take it!"
A patrolman threw a lasso from his horse. The lasso was fast and accurate, and it circled Zhao Wu directly. Going back, Zhao Wu was tightened by the lasso and flew over in the air. He fell heavily under the hooves of the patrol horse and fell immediately.
The whole thing was confused.
The inspectors rushed in like wolves and tigers, and not long after, they pulled out the naked Zhao Sihu from the bed in the main room. It turned out that this man had been moaning all day long and had made an appointment with the village's widow Ma, and they were making love on the bed.
Also caught at the scene in the village were four or five strong men, nephews and nephews of Zhao Sihu's family.
Zhao Sihu panicked, was tied up and knelt in front of the Fang Master and Li Captor, and kept shouting: "Master Li, Master Li, why is this? Where do you start talking about this?"
As soon as Captou Li was about to answer, he was stopped by Yu Fangzhu, who waved for an inspector to come forward and ask questions.
"Zhao Si, what happened to you has happened! Explain the crime immediately, otherwise you will be severely punished!"
Zhao Sihu argued: "I, Zhao Si, have a clean family background. My father has worked for the Xizhenwu Palace for ten years. What crime is there? Could it be that Zhao Ming's fellow is falsely accusing me? I also ask Li Captou and all the Taoists to investigate carefully!"
The patrol officer who asked the question slapped Zhao Sihu across the face, causing stars to pop out of Zhao Sihu's eyes and blood to ooze from his nose and mouth.
"You still dare to quibble. To tell you the truth, this case was taken over by Master Yu Fang of my Jingmingyuan, and my Zengjianyuan personally dealt with it!" Then he turned to the Zhao family's nephews who were kneeling on the ground and shouted: "There are others.
, if you want to survive, confess it quickly!"
The housekeeper Zhao Wu was tied to the ground by a rope, and he used his buttocks to exert force, and rubbed sideways over him, shouting: "Master Tao, spare your life, I want to make the first report! Report Zhao Sihu's collusion with the demon sect!"