The crops in the fields are lush and green, and farmers in twos and threes are bending down and working in their own fields.
Gray sparrows were chasing each other on the willow trees beside the official road with their tails raised, chirping non-stop, and pulling the green leaves to the bottom.
The clear stream in Magou flows slowly, nourishing every inch of land on the shore.
On the pipeline, three figures on horses were walking slowly towards Magou Town.
The man in the middle, wearing a bright red gown, is particularly eye-catching.
"Commander Duan, Magou Town should be in front of us. Where should we start to find the loopholes in Ma Yunshan?" a captain asked in a low voice.
Duan Tianming tossed his hair back: "The file says that Ma Yunshan has a younger brother named Ma Lianshan who runs a jade business, so we'll start with him first."
"I'm afraid you won't get any valuable information by asking directly, right?"
"From now on, we are jade merchants from Langfang, Hebei Province." Duan Tianming nodded, used both legs to clamp the horse under his crotch, and entered Magou Town.
In the early morning in the town, it was not as noisy as in the county town. In front of the only breakfast stall selling steamed buns, there was only a woman sitting with a two or three-year-old child, quietly eating steamed buns.
"Huh..." Duan Tianming stopped the horse, turned over, pulled the horse's rein on the tree next to him a few times, and sat next to the simple table.
"Shopkeeper, bring up a cage of meat buns."
"Sir, this is a big steamed bun, you may not be able to finish it all?!" The shopkeeper hunched over, rubbed his hands on the apron in front of him, and came forward with a smile.
"Big steamed buns, there are three of us, just order as much as you like." Duan Tianming smiled, put the riding crop in his hand on the table, and looked around.
Holding a big plate, the shopkeeper put six big meat buns in it and brought it up with a smile: "The guest officer's accent is probably not from Shaanxi, right? The people in Magou Town are honest and like to eat these affordable big steamed buns.
As for steamed buns, I didn’t make Xiaolong steamed buns. Six steamed buns should be enough for the guests to satisfy their hunger."
While talking, he put the small plate in his hand on the table and poured a little sauce, vinegar or other condiments into it.
"Isn't Lantian famous for jade all over the world? We came here from Hebei just to buy some better jade." As he said that, Duan Tianming had already picked up a hot bun, dipped it in the seasoning water in the small saucer, and drank it hard.
took a bite.
"The guest came from Hebei to buy jade? Then he went to the wrong place." There were no other customers anyway, so the shopkeeper stood beside the table and started chatting, "The main production area of Lantian's jade is thirty miles south of the county.
In the deep mountains of the Qinling Mountains there is a place called Yuchuan. As the name suggests, it is the place where jade is produced."
"South of the county? Then we really went to the wrong place. We originally thought that jade would be found in a place with beautiful mountains and clear waters, so we traced it back along this river." Duan Tianming raised his right hand and pointed at Ba not far away.
River channel.
"The moon in the sea sheds tears, and the warm sun in Lantian makes the jade smoke. It is the Yuchuan in Lantian. Please finish your meal early and rush to Yuchuan. There is not even a single jade in this Magou Town." The shopkeeper laughed.
He was talking, showing off the verses he had learned from nowhere.
After eating two buns, Duan Tianming still felt not very full: "The shopkeeper is still a scholar? No wonder your buns are so fragrant. Here are three more."
"Your Majesty, you are joking." He said modestly, but the shopkeeper was very pleased with it. He quickly brought three more big meat buns and stood next to the table. He couldn't hold back the conversation he had started, "Sir, your Majesty."
I meet many people here every year who trace the river upstream in search of beautiful jade. However, there are also streams in the south of the county, so why would you just go up the Bahe River?"
Duan Tianming was stunned for a moment. Before he could think of a response, a captain next to him said: "The Bahe River is a little bigger, and there are more stones in the river."
"Hahaha, there are many stones, but no jade." The shopkeeper laughed.
Suddenly his face changed, as if he remembered something, and said to himself: "That's not right either."
"No, does the shopkeeper feel that what he said is wrong?" Duan Tianming also tried his best to talk to the shopkeeper.
He took a look just now and found that the entire town's streets were completely quiet. If he wanted to have a reason to stay here that would not make people suspicious, he could only find some far-fetched reasons from the shopkeeper's words.
"You have come all the way, and talking to you won't cause any trouble." The shopkeeper looked around and lowered his voice, "A few days ago, a villager in Magou Town found a stone in the river.
, actually let the evil woman from Malianshan take action. In the process, his father was beaten to death. Last night, the county magistrate came to the town in person, and even took the whole family and their bodies into custody in the middle of the night.
Have you gone to the county seat?"
"The shopkeeper is saying that the magistrate took away the evil woman who was sitting on the dead body overnight?"
"Where." The shopkeeper stared, "The house where the dead man was taken away is adjacent to several people."
"Oh? That's not right. The magistrate did not detain the murderer, but took the victim's family away, even the corpse. I'm afraid it's not appropriate to do this." Duan Tianming frowned.
Dongchang was handling major cases in the court, but he never expected that such local officials would ignore right from wrong and take things out of context.
"My guest doesn't know that the murderer is the daughter of the Grand Master of Lantian County," the shopkeeper said in a low voice.
Duan Tianming raised his head: "Oh, so that's it, I understand."
Seeing that Duan Tianming's expression was not surprising enough, the shopkeeper hurriedly said: "That's not all. The murderer's husband, Ma Lianshan, is a wealthy man who runs a jade workshop in Lantian County. The family has money, the county government has power, and the people are just sitting to death. In the end,
It's better to just spend some money."
"Spend some money to solve the problem? The magistrate of Lantian is the father of the murderer, but the magistrate of Xi'an Prefecture is not. As long as the villagers are determined to appeal, not only the murderer will be severely punished, but even the magistrate of Lantian will be taken down. This kind of people who are paid by the imperial court are not the father of the murderer.
Those who don't care about the people will not have any good results." Duan Tianming said coldly.
If I hadn't been involved in something important, I would have intervened and settled the case myself.
How could a small county magistrate treat such poor people? How could Dongchang tolerate him?
"Sigh." The shopkeeper let out a long sigh, "The neighbor of the deceased was a failed scholar. Although he was down and out, he was also the kind of righteous person who couldn't get rid of the sand in his eyes. He argued hard last night.
Only then did we learn that the county’s purpose of settling the matter with money had not succeeded. However, if the county government is promoted to court now, who knows what the outcome will be.”
"Justice failed scholar?" Duan Tianming's eyes flashed with relief, and he laughed, "To have the title of scholar, he must have read a lot of books. If he pursues justice wholeheartedly, your Lantian magistrate will not only
If I can’t protect my murderous daughter, I’m afraid I won’t be able to protect the hair on my head either.”
The shopkeeper looked worried and shook his head: "If everything goes well, this will definitely be the result. But Ma Lianshan's brother Ma Yunshan is an official in the capital. I heard that he is still in the six departments of the imperial court. If he secretly uses force
, I’m afraid the Xi’an Prefecture has to give some face, and maybe suppress this case. These days, it’s more difficult for ordinary people to find a place to reason with each other than to go to heaven.”
Duan Tianming was shocked and couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly.
Just now, I heard from the shopkeeper that the murderer's husband was named Ma Lianshan. I thought it would not be such a coincidence, but he had the same name as Ma Yunshan's younger brother.
When I heard the shopkeeper speak in detail, I felt a little angry and a little happy at the same time.
I was still worried that I couldn't find any flaw in Ma Yunshan. I just fell asleep when the other party handed me a pillow.
If Ma Yunshan doesn't take action in this case, the most he can do is to accuse him of being implicated, so that he can no longer serve as the commander of the Imperial Guard. If he dares to take action, he will be digging his own grave and opening the way to hell for himself.
door.
"The shopkeeper just said that the cause of this incident was a stone?"
"Yes, the deceased's family wanted to build a house and went to quarry stones in the river. I don't know what kind of stone they dug out, but it caused such a big thing."
"Does the shopkeeper know where the river is?"
The shopkeeper raised his right arm and pointed toward the southeast: "If you see that temple, it's called Shuilu Temple. The place where the accident happened is the river outside the wall of Shuilu Temple."
