Chapter 161 A series of slaps

Author: Fat Bird Goes First

Chapter 161 A series of slaps

Su Ze also thought about having Chang Ning Wei pretend to be Japanese pirates and directly burn Zhuangzi outside Cai Yuan.

But the murder of an official who lived in the countryside was no small matter. Even if he was killed by "Japanese pirates", the government must conduct a detailed investigation and it is absolutely impossible to close the case hastily.

Once the clues are revealed and Chang Ning Wei is found, he will rebel if not rebel.

What's more, Lin Mojun may not agree to do this.

Leading the guardsmen to kill Ming Dynasty squires is completely different from leading a fleet to rob and smuggle merchants.

Su Ze sighed. In the final analysis, it was the completely different operating logic of land power and sea power that prevented him from using the power of the sea.

The operational logic of land-power countries is completely different from that of sea-power countries.

No matter what political system it is, Lu Quan pursues political "security".

What the expansion of land power requires is a sense of security. Binding people to the land is for the sake of sense of security, and banning the sea is also for the sake of sense of security.

Occupying every pass and every city, if administrative technology and communication technology were not available, land-based countries would even want to manage every inch of land and all the people on the land.

Lin Mojun could pretend to be a Japanese pirate and cause trouble at sea, but it would be different once he landed ashore, which would be tantamount to provoking the entire empire's sense of security.

Now the Ming court mobilized materials from the southeast of the country and mobilized half of the country's elite troops to clear out the Japanese pirates who came ashore. It was because these Japanese pirates captured cities and killed people, seriously threatening the stability of the empire, that the Japanese rebellion was finally put down.

Su Ze had no intention of challenging the military strength of the entire Ming Empire. Although the Ming army was terrible during the Jiajing period, it was not to the point where he could defeat it with just a few hundred men.

If it's really like this, then Jiajing should hang himself on an old crooked neck tree.

Lu Quan pursues ultimate control, and a large part of the wealth collected through layers of efforts is used to maintain the stability of the empire.

Stability is the most important thing, and behavior that challenges the imperial order must be severely suppressed.

When the empire's control power declines, or the empire loses its governing authority, it is time for the empire to fall apart.

But the logic of sea power is completely different.

The ocean is vast and it is impossible to control all areas on the sea.

Even controlling a route is impossible.

Just like the Portuguese, they wanted to control the routes of Eastern spices, but a large part of the spices were still smuggled into Europe by the Ottomans. Over the years, they had no way to monopolize the sales of spices.

The same is true for the South American routes. Spain established colonies, but it could not stop the British and Dutch from taking advantage of it.

What sea power values ​​is influence. By controlling each node and weaving a network, sea power countries focus more on profits.

How much is the investment to maintain rule, how much is the additional investment to suppress the rebellion, and what is the profit from occupying this area.

This is why Britain after World War II was able to give up its rule in India so decisively.

Although the United States and the Soviet Union intervened, it is undeniable that Gandhi's struggle movement at that time had already made the costs of British colonization in India greater than the benefits.

As a continental country, it is difficult to imagine such behavior of giving up territory casually.

But in maritime countries, this kind of thing is normal.

Colonization is for making money, not for spreading money.

If you can't make money, you will naturally have to withdraw your investment.

All in all, there are rules on the road on land, and there are rules on the sea on the sea.

Except for the complete collapse of order at the end of the dynasty, in times like the 33rd year of Jiajing, bandits were the most disciplined organizations.

The villagers of those families in the city cannot be robbed, and the members of those families cannot be kidnapped. These are all things that must be kept in mind.

But even if he doesn't use the people from Chang Ning Wei, Su Ze still has plenty of ways to deal with the Cai family.

Almost everyone at Feihu Gambling House was imprisoned, but Cai Bangzhuang, the proprietor of the gambling stall, was sent to the county jail for less than two days when he developed a high fever and Chen Shufei asked his family to carry him back.

Cai Bangzhuang died that night when he returned home. His family went to the county government to file a complaint, but they were told that the people who fought at the gambling stall that day were "robbers" who came to Nanping County from other counties.

Cai Bangzhuang's family is naturally dissatisfied with this result, but our Ming Dynasty is also a society governed by law, and we must also pay attention to evidence when doing things.

All the gamblers who were in the casino that day left in a hurry, and it was impossible to come forward to testify.

Even the members of the gambling den who were imprisoned could not tell who they had offended.

Even at that time, they couldn't tell who made the move first.

Gambling houses are illegal to begin with. The shopkeeper of an illegal gambling house died immediately. He sent the petition back to Cai's family and asked the government officials to threaten them and not allow them to continue suing.

What makes Cai Yuanwai uncomfortable is that the gambling house incident is just the beginning.

The Cai family suddenly received a large number of arrest tickets.

Several people in the Cai family who were in charge of shopping had received arrest warrants from the county government in the past few days, and someone accused them of harvesting and cutting.

Harvesting and cutting off raw materials was a serious crime for Ling Chi, so naturally he had to be imprisoned in a cell first.

Cai Yuanwai sent someone to inquire and found that the people suing his family's stewards were children from the almshouse.

These children complained to the government that their brothers and sisters had been abducted and trafficked by the stewards of the Cai Mansion. There was also a lot of circumstantial evidence that they saw the stewards of the Cai Mansion talking to these children and even taking some of the children away.

"This is unreasonable! Does Baizhi County understand the laws of the Ming Dynasty? Do you also accept the complaints of these street children?"

Mr. Cai is a pale, fat old man. His exact age cannot be determined by his long-term pampering.

However, according to the retirement age stipulated by the Ming Dynasty, Cai Yuanwai was over sixty years old.

Cai Yuanwai wore a Jinxian crown. Although he was complaining, he was working non-stop and was carefully rebinding an ancient book.

Standing opposite Cai Yuanwai was a middle-aged man wearing silk and satin. He did not wear a crown, but tied his head with a square scarf. He raised his hands to Cai Yuanwai and said:

"Someone has filed a complaint against these children, so the county government will naturally accept the case."

Cai Yuanwai put down the ancient book in his hand and said: "Then go to court! I will order the law and the accuser will be guilty of the same crime! Framing is a serious crime!"

The middle-aged man sighed. His name was Fang Jing, and he was a famous barrister in Yanping Mansion.

On weekdays, Fang Jing is basically the one who handles the Cai family's lawsuits.

Fang Jing was well-informed in the Fuya County Government and was also a well-known person in Yanping Mansion, but in front of Yuan Cai, he still looked like a junior student.

There is no way, why is Cai Yuanwai a qualified official? Fang Jing is just a scholar.

Fang Jing said: "Well, the people who are prosecuting these children this time are from the prefect's family."

Cai Yuanwai finally put down the ancient book in his hand, frowned and said, "Prefect?"

Fang Jing nodded bitterly. Although he was a servant of the magistrate's family, he was also a member of the official's family. If someone from the magistrate's family came forward to sue these children, how could the county dare not accept it?

Not to mention that these complaints are all witnessed and written. If the county does not accept the complaint, you can also file it directly with the government.

Upon hearing that Magistrate Fang had intervened in this matter, Cai Yuanwai's expression finally changed, and he was no longer as calm as before.

"The gambling house incident and these lawsuits were all done by the same person, right?"

Fang Jing nodded. Someone was obviously planning the Feihu Gambling House incident. Cai Bangzhuang died after being detained in the county jail for two days. To this day, the people in the gambling house are still being detained in the county jail.

Now, so many false accusations have been made out of thin air, and all the important managers of the Cai family have been arrested. It is obvious that someone is targeting the Cai family.

"Check! Who is it that I have trouble with?"

Cai Yuanwai threw down the ancient book and gave the order with a ferocious look on his face.

The next day, Fang Jing knew who did it without using his connections to investigate.

The first issue of October was not published on time due to the Japanese invasion, so a new issue was issued on October 7.

The front page is still the serial Peony Pavilion, but the second page is a murder case in the county.

Although Xiong and Cai are used to replace the characters, anyone can tell who Cai is referring to.

The case involved Father Xiong becoming addicted to gambling, the tea plantation paying tribute, Xiong going to a gambling house to argue, being dumped in a tributary of the Min River, and then Father Xiong committing suicide after signing a sweet knot. All the processes were written in detail.

The names of people and places appearing in this article, and even the names of gambling houses, are all local to Nanping County, and the writing style is easy to understand. However, the plot twists and turns, and it also involves human life lawsuits, and it soon became a topic of discussion throughout Nanping County.

Hot spots.

It is self-evident who this Cai is.

The Cai family no longer dare to go out to buy groceries.

Scholars in Nanping County have cut themselves off from the Cai family for fear of losing their reputation.

That's what reputation is like, some things just can't be left out in the sun.

Many big families in the county have done this by forcing people to death to seize other people's property.

Forced buying and selling, contract traps, these are also common operations.

But you can only do it secretly and cannot do it openly.

Once it is made public, it will be despised by everyone.

Now the reputation of the Cai family is like this. The families who used to interact with it no longer dare to interact with the family. The Cai family is always noticed and saluted when they go on the street. The Cai family's house is also trashed and thrown into shit.

The Cai family now dare not even leave the house, and the children of the Cai family do not dare to go to school.
To be continued...