Zhang Xuezeng has been the prefect of Suzhou for several years, but the past few days have been the most magical during his tenure.
The successive experiences made him almost unable to believe his eyes and ears.
On June 20th, two days after Shen Shuren's case was concluded, Shen Tingyang came to his door in person, gave him money and secretly asked him to handle business affairs and annihilate his relatives for justice.
But this was nothing, because just two or three days later, a new wave of more generous visitors came, again for Shen Shuren's case.
The purpose of this visit was to ask Zhang Xuezeng to write the dossier as lightly as possible to avoid having Shen Shuren sent to Nanjing for questioning.
The identity of the visitor was obviously completely unexpected by an outsider like Zhang Xuezeng - he was actually Zheng Hongkui, the fourth brother of Zheng Zhilong, the commander-in-chief of Fujian coastal defense, and a military officer in Dudu.
Zhang Xuezeng tried his best to figure out why a coastal defense officer who was originally from Fujian would care so much about Shen Shuren.
The price he paid to prevent Shen Shuren from being transferred to Nanjing was several times more than Shen Tingyang! Whose son is this Shen Shuren?
My father came up with two thousand taels plus ten sticks of Korean ginseng just for business, but an outsider offered five thousand taels plus two boxes of Annan Ganoderma in exchange for a favor?!
See you soon.
Fortunately, Zhang Xuezeng still has political sensitivity and a sense of conspiracy. In addition, Shen Tingyang repeatedly told him to keep things confidential no matter what, so Zhang Xuezeng did not dare to act erratically immediately.
When something goes wrong, there must be a monster. He has already felt that if these two forces can be so abnormal, there must be a hidden big shot behind the scenes who is paying attention to this matter.
This money must be very hot to hold, and no one knows whether they can bear the consequences of regretting it.
Therefore, when Zheng Hongkui's money arrived, he had no choice but to pretend that the mirror was hanging high and that oil and salt were not coming in. He first used false pretenses and condescension to stabilize Zheng Hongkui.
After seeing him off, he followed the first-come, first-served professional ethics and immediately revealed the news of Zheng Hongkui's visit to Shen Tingyang to see what Shen Tingyang meant.
Shen Tingyang said: Knowing that Zhangfutai is difficult to do, he gave money before because he was afraid that others would hinder Zhangfutai from enforcing the law impartially. He had no other intention. Therefore, as long as Zhangfutai is willing to enforce the law impartially, he will make up for it. We hope that Zhang Futai will give top priority to the national law.
As for who is behind Shen Tingyang, Shen Tingyang is naturally very strict and will not reveal it no matter how Zhang Xuezeng hints.
…
The two sides were fighting like this, and three or four days passed quickly.
Chen Shuren has been issued a document by the Suzhou government in the past few days. He is temporarily not allowed to leave the city and must wait for the final transfer decision.
Of course, he is still very free in Wu County. After all, the first trial found that there was no problem with him.
Every day, Shen Shuren would be comforted by new and old friends such as Zhang Huangyan, Gu Yanwu, Zheng Sen, etc. Shen Shuren also quietly added fuel to the fire, became more familiar with Zheng Sen, and gradually understood Zheng Sen's current attitude towards the court. , attitude towards the family.
On the 24th, it was the day after Zheng Hongkui sent money to Zhang Xuezeng, but Zhang Xuezeng delayed it by doing Tai Chi and reported it to Shen Tingyang.
Since Shen Tingyang came to Wuxian, he naturally wanted to see his son. This was also the first time that father and son could meet openly after the incident.
The meeting place was nothing more than a garden belonging to the Shen family in Wu County. With the luxury of the Shen family, it was of course impossible for the Shen family to have a garden mansion only in Taicang. There were also gardens in Wu County, the prefecture, and there were more than one.
Shen Tingyang was worried and still a little wary of the Zheng family's obstructive energy, but when he saw his son, his trust in his son was far from what it was a month ago.
Although the errand assigned by Mr. Yang Ge still lacked the finishing touches, Shen Tingyang felt inexplicable confidence as soon as he saw his son.
My son is really capable. He can handle such subtle operations. There must be a way to solve the subsequent troubles, right?
"Zheng Hongkui also gave Zhang Xuezeng money, and now it seems that Zhang Xuezeng is afraid of violating the law because of it. But I am always worried that Zhang Xuezeng will not be punished if he refuses Zheng Hongkui, which will make the Zheng family nervous and impulsive.
Moreover, if Zhang Xuezeng hesitates to make a decision and delays for a few more days, if the Zheng family immediately asks Zheng Sen to pretend to be ill, or even break the rules and leave Suzhou on an excuse, something bad may happen."
Shen Tingyang expressed his worries without any reservation, and in his heart he was secretly looking forward to his son creating another miracle.
Chen Shuren did not disappoint him.
He sat across from his father and drank tea leisurely: "Didn't my father think of this possibility in advance? Use yourself to save others. If you can stuff money with others, others won't stuff money with them?"
Shen Tingyang was stunned and felt a little ashamed: "I really didn't expect this. After all, we are our own business. As far as the Zheng family is concerned... well, it is actually their business. However, we have been negligent. , the key is what to do now? Could it be that you could have thought of it in advance?"
Chen Shuren put down the tea cup and calmly said: "Actually, before Zheng Hongkui went to Zhang Xuezeng's place, my son already knew in advance that he would go. In the past few days, my son secretly made friends with Zheng Sen, and the effect was pretty good.
Before Zheng Hongkui went to send the money, Zheng Sen had secretly told me to reassure me that their family was also very concerned about my affairs, and that his fourth uncle had gone to clear up the aftermath and save me from being sent to Nanjing for further scrutiny. cross-examination.
Moreover, before Zheng Sen spoke, I had already prepared countermeasures for this possibility - I had investigated before the incident and found that among the local officials in Suzhou, there was Cao Zhende of Susonghe Road, who was a member of Zhu Dadian, the Governor of Water Transport.
My father should know that the officials in charge of river management and water conservancy roads in various areas of the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers are often involved in water transportation affairs and have interests in them. Cao Zhende is in charge of the management of the canal in Susong territory, so it is normal for him to obey Zhu Dadian.
It's just that Cao Zhende has lived in a prosperous place for a long time, doesn't want to be promoted, and doesn't care about central government affairs, so he didn't fully understand the conflict between my family and Zhu Dadian's family before. After all, my father had previously cut off Zhu Dadian's wealth by participating in the "water transportation to sea" project. The road incident only happened two months ago. Those with poor sense of officialdom may not be smart enough to figure out the key.
Therefore, Hai'er took advantage of this. After learning that the Zheng family had come forward, Hai'er secretly used money to hint to one of Cao Zhende's masters, so that he could remind his employer and get benefits from both sides:
Our Shen family has already enmity with Zhu Dadian. As Zhu Dadian's eyes and ears in Suzhou, if he discovers that our Shen family has done something illegal, he will immediately collect the information and report it to Zhu Dadian in Huai'an, then he will definitely be appreciated by Zhu Dadian.
What happened next was a matter of course. It was only a few days' journey to Lianghuai and back. When the news reached Zhu Dadian's ears, he would definitely take advantage of the situation and try his best to harm our Shen family.
After Zhu Dadian took action to put pressure on Zhang Xuezeng and let him handle business matters, Zhang Xuezeng would have the opportunity to reject the Zheng family, and he would not have to worry about damaging his relationship with Zheng Zhilong."
Shen Tingyang was completely shocked after hearing his son's eloquent strategy for plugging leaks.
What kind of conspiracy is this! Such a game actually includes all these off-board moves!
Zhang Xuezeng is on the first floor, Shen Tingyang is on the second floor, Zheng Zhilong is on the third floor, Zhu Dadian is on the fourth floor, and Yang Sichang is on the fifth floor above.
And Shen Shuren, the manipulator who pulls the strings, is naturally in the atmosphere. Although he himself has no strength, he can play both sides and use his strength to play the game extremely well. The analysis and pull of interests are already Made it to the extreme.
Shen Tingyang was shocked for a long time before he said with some disbelief: "I advocate changing water transportation to sea. Although it will harm the Zhu family's financial road, it is mainly to save money for the court and reduce road losses. How can Zhu Dadian hate me so much? What if? He still has a public spirit and is unwilling to avenge his private revenge, so what should we do?"
"It's impossible. Cutting off someone's wealth is like killing one's parents. How could those corrupt beasts who suck the blood of water transporters let our family go? If my father doesn't believe it, then just wait for another two or three days and we will see what happens." Shen Shuren said very seriously. Have confidence.
Shen Tingyang gritted his teeth and decided to wait and see again. It was not long anyway, and he had nothing else to do at the moment.
…
Three days later, everything turned out as Chen Shuren expected.
Zhang Xuezeng, the prefect of Suzhou, once again invited Zheng Hongkui to his door.
Zheng Hongkui thought that the matter was settled and Zhangfutai was finally willing to accept the money, looking quite relaxed.
However, behind closed doors, Zhang Xuezeng's polite expression but unquestionable firm words immediately caught Zheng Hongkui off guard.
"Zheng Dusi, I really don't deserve these nourishing medicinal materials last time. My body is too weak to be replenished, so you should take it back."
"Zhang Futai, what do you mean?" Zheng Hongkui stood up immediately.
Zhang Xuezeng made a false gesture: "Don't be impatient. I still want to be on good terms with Brother Ling. I hope this incident will not damage the relationship between the two families.
I am also helpless. Yesterday I got a hint from Zhu Dadian, the Governor of Water Transport. I guess that Governor Zhu must have a deep hatred for the Shen family because Chief Shen repeatedly advised His Majesty to change the water transport to sea.
Now someone in the Shen family is in trouble, and they want to turn a small matter into a big one, not to mention taking advantage of the principles of the "Da Ming Law". I can't afford to offend, so I can only deal with it officially. With your care, I have delayed it for five or six days. It’s the limit, let’s leave it at that.”
As if to prove that the matter had nothing to do with him and not to draw hatred towards himself, Zhang Xuezeng secretly glanced at Zheng Hongkui's letter from Zhu Dadian.
Of course, it was limited to looking at it with the naked eye. After reading it, Zhang Xuezeng burned the letter on the candlelight.
Zheng Hongkui had no choice but to acquiesce to the matter. At the same time, he was also a good man and did not take back the thousands of taels of silver. He only said: "Zhangfutai Gaoyi, our Zheng family has recorded the nourishing medicinal materials of only a few thousand taels of silver. It's better to stay at Zhangfutai, after all, it has delayed us for five or six days, so it's deserved."
Zhang Xuezeng didn't really want to give back the money, so the other party gave him a step, and the matter went smoothly.
Zheng Hongkui left the Suzhou magistrate's office and immediately began to think about how to find another way to fulfill his elder brother's instructions and bring his nephew back to Fujian safely.
However, this time, Zheng Hongkui had no chance to complete the mission, because just two days later, before he could come up with a plan, his nephew Zheng Sen suddenly disappeared.
Of course, Zheng Sen did not leave without saying goodbye. He also left a secret letter to Zheng Hongkui explaining the specific reasons.