Zhao Peng and others were also confused at this moment. They didn't know why officers and soldiers suddenly rushed out to arrest them.
"What are you doing? You are so bold. You dared to set fire to the warehouse last night. According to the law, if the damage caused by arson exceeds five horses, you will be exiled for two thousand miles. If you lose more than ten horses, you will be hanged!"
The chief official was dark-skinned and spoke with a loud voice that made people's ears hurt.
As soon as these words came out, even the melon-eaters were surprised.
"It turns out you set the fire!!"
In this era, most buildings were made of wood, and the biggest fear was fire. Therefore, the laws regarding arson were extremely strict, and the common people had zero tolerance for arsonists.
That year, a fire broke out in Zhenzhou, burning down half of the city and killing an unknown number of people.
Therefore, what ordinary people fear most is fire. A fire may destroy their century-old business. When I heard that the fire last night was set by these people, my eyes immediately turned red.
"Set fire?? It wasn't us, we didn't set fire!"
Liu Cai and the others were also officials, so they naturally knew how serious the crime of arson was, so they immediately denied it.
But the leading official didn't care about this: "Whether it was you who set the fire, come back with us and we will find out!"
"How dare you, who are you, dare to take us!"
Now Liu Cai and the others felt guilty. There were quite a few people who had seen the four of them last night. If the other party confirmed that it was them who set the scene, they would be in big trouble.
You must reveal your identity immediately.
But Zhao Peng on the side stood in front of Liu Cai and the other four: "Since you said it was our brothers who set the fire, let us brothers go with you, but this matter has nothing to do with us, so
Just take them away, adults."
At this moment, Liu Cai and others couldn't help but widen their eyes and looked at their senior brother in disbelief.
Even Nie Haitang couldn't believe that the senior brother actually pushed the four junior brothers out like this.
But in the face of the doubtful looks of the junior brothers, his expression remained unchanged. He patted Liu Cai's shoulder and whispered: "Just in time, you go and have a look inside the cell. As for the matter of arson, don't worry, I will take care of this matter myself."
I will help you clarify."
"cell?"
Although Liu Cai didn't know why the elder brother wanted them to go to the cell, he still nodded and agreed out of trust in the elder brother.
"Well, you think this is a vegetable market. Here you come to bargain, and you take everyone away without leaving anyone behind!"
The black-faced official at the head was obviously not as easy to talk to as Zhao Peng thought. He waved his hand and a group of officials immediately surrounded him. However, Zhao Peng suddenly took a step forward. No one even saw clearly what happened. Zhao Peng's hand was on
On the shoulder of the black-faced officer.
"Look clearly, what is this!"
I saw Zhao Peng lift up his clothes and reveal the sign in his arms to the black-faced officer.
"You are... oh, please be gentle." Before the black-faced officer could say anything, he felt his shoulder being pinched by Zhao Peng's fingers, causing a sharp pain.
Zhao Peng let go of his hand: "If you know it, don't tell it! Ask what you should ask, and don't ask what you shouldn't."
At this moment, the black-faced official's expression flickered in and out, and he waved his hands around: "Take the four of them and go!"
The others didn't know what to do when they saw this, but now that they had spoken, they immediately put away their swords and forced Liu Cai and the four of them to leave.
"Huntian Prison!"
Although Zhao Peng's movements were fast, he could not escape Xu Tong's eyes. At a glance, he saw the word Huntian Prison written on the sign in Zhao Peng's arms.
No wonder they wanted to track down the Moduo Cult, they turned out to be people from Huntian Prison.
Xu Tong thought about it and sneered secretly in his heart: "I was worried that no one would stand up and be a target. Now that you have jumped out yourself, it will be much easier."
Thinking of this, he already had a preliminary plan in mind.
"It's him again!"
Nie Haitang was anxious when he saw Liu Cai and the others being taken away, but when he turned around, he saw Xu Tong sitting aside and watching the fun. He had already noticed that this guy was unhappy, but seeing that this guy was still watching the fun made him feel very uncomfortable.
However, Zhao Peng had no time to take care of this and hurriedly left with Nie Haitang and junior brother Li Xinliang.
The three of them left, and Xu Tong wandered back to the inn.
As soon as he returned, he saw Guo Yi rushing up to him and holding his arm: "Your Majesty, where have you been?"
"The City God's Temple has a ghostly presence. I'll go watch the fun."
It's okay not to mention the City God's Temple. When it came to the City God's Temple, Guo Yi found it incredible. They had just finished repairing the City God's Temple when the Master of the City God appeared.
He quickly pulled Xu Tong inside and asked in a low voice: "Your Majesty, how did this City God appear?"
"How do I know if a spirit appears? Call everyone here, let's go out to work!"
"Still going to the City God's Temple?"
"If you don't want to go, go to the river and have a look."
Xu Tong read Yang Sanniang's paper and realized that the matter was very simple. Yang Sanniang's husband was an honest fisherman.
Because he could not pay the money offered by the so-called Heshensi, he was dragged into doing coolies by the people of the Heshensi.
As a result, she died inexplicably. Yang Sanniang had no way to complain about this matter, but was beaten up and finally ran to the Chenghuang Temple.
The reason why Xu Tong took over this case was that it was a side mission.
Side mission 2: Third sister complains
Mission description: Sister Zhou’s husband died under strange circumstances, but the Yuyang prefect only said that he slipped and drowned. Sister Zhou had no way to sue and could only seek help.
Mission requirement: Find the cause of death of Sister Zhou’s husband Ma Liuzi and seek justice for Sister Zhou.
Mission time: three days.
Mission penalty: none
On the other hand, the City God's Temple has just opened, so we can't let Sister Zhou run into it and die, otherwise it will be a bad thing.
So today I simply went to the river to have a look.
By the way, I want to think of a way to find out where the river demon is.
As soon as they heard that the prince was going to do something serious, Guo Yi and others immediately became energetic and accompanied Xu Tong to the river.
Yuyang claims to have nine rivers, but in fact there are not that many. However, not far to the north after leaving the city gate, you will find the mouth of the Sancha River.
There is the Ziya River, the intersection of the South Canal and the North Canal, and the starting point of the Haihe River.
It leads up to the capital and down to the seaside. Of course, the capital of this era is not a good place.
Therefore, the business aspect is not as developed as it was in the future.
However, Tianjin's fishery is quite developed, and as it is an important military garrison town, repairing river channels can strengthen maritime transportation capabilities and improve people's livelihood development.
It's just that in the past two years, every repair has resulted in human death. The three river inspectors before Xu Tong all died inexplicably.
That's why Xu Tong never went to the governor's Yamen to report, but planned to start from another angle, first find a way to kill the river demon, and then report to the governor's Yamen.
When the group came to the mouth of the river, they saw that the river was full of mud, and some men with bare arms were digging hard on the bank.
If you show any signs of neglect, someone will pick up a whip and whip it down hard.
"Sir, these people are all from the Heshen Division."
Guo Yi seemed to be inquiring a lot. One look at the badges on these people, and he knew that these were probably the Heshensi who the common people said was more terrifying than the River God.
The so-called Heshen Division is actually an agency set up by the yamen with a clever name. It has neither formal reporting nor formal official assignments, and the people it recruits are all ruffians.
These people are not good people to begin with, but after putting on official clothes, their behavior is even more unscrupulous.
Seeing that an old man was so tired that he was dizzy, the other man went up and beat him severely, not caring about his life or death.
"Bah, these scumbags!"
When Guo Yi saw this, he couldn't help cursing secretly. People like him despised these people.
"What are you looking at? Get out of here!"
Just as he was talking, a supervisor came over and signaled Xu Tong and the others to leave, but he did not take Xu Tong and his party seriously in his words.
They are the River Gods, who are also considered officials. They are not just officials, but also represent the River God.
No matter whose son you are, you must take a detour when you see them.
Xu Tong glanced at the man, raised a smile, stepped forward, and casually took out a silver coin and gave it to him.
When the other party saw the white money, his eyes widened. He didn't even bother to be polite to Xu Tong. He grabbed the money and put it in his arms. He raised his head and wanted to point his nostrils at Xu Tong: "What's the matter?"
"In this case, I have a friend who was sent here to dig a river channel without paying any money. I wonder if I can be accommodating and release him."
Xu Tong asked with narrowed eyes.
"This matter...is difficult!"
The man looked at Xu Tong and said with curled lips.
Xu Tong took out another ingot of silver and presented it to him. Looking at the silver, the man nodded with satisfaction: "You are sensible, but I don't care about this. I will take you to see my master."
"Hey, good, good!"
Xu Tong nodded repeatedly and followed the man inside. When he reached the river embankment, he saw six or seven people sitting in a small shed. There were wine and meat on the table, and they were eating and drinking.
The man signaled Xu Tong to wait a moment, then walked to the shed and whispered a few words in the ear of the bearded man. Although they were far away, Xu Tong could hear clearly.
"Brother, here comes a big fat sheep, rich!"
The bearded man nodded calmly when he heard this, and then motioned for Xu Tong and others to come over.
First he glanced at Xu Tong, and then at the dozen or so people behind Xu Tong, but he didn't take them seriously. If it really mattered, why come here and talk to the magistrate? It would be better than the emperor's edict.
"If you want to take someone away, that's fine. Just give me three hundred taels of silver and take the person away."
"Three hundred taels! You are crazy."
Guo Yi was already very sensitive to money figures. When he heard this, his expression suddenly changed.
"Keep shouting, what kind of place do you think this is? If you can get money, take it. If you can't, huh, you just come in like this. Each of you has fifty taels of silver. If you can't get it out, don't leave!!"
The bearded man glared, slapped the table and cursed.
Xu Tong waved his hand to signal Guo Yi not to be angry, and walked forward with a smile: "Three hundred taels is too cheap, at least five hundred taels."
"Um??"
The bearded man was startled, glanced at Xu Tong, and immediately grinned and said: "Hey, you're pretty cool, tell me, what's your friend's name?"
As he spoke, the bearded man took out a roster from under his butt.
"Oh, my friend's name is simple, just Ma Liuzi."
"Ma what??"
The bearded man was startled and suddenly raised his head. As soon as he raised his head, Xu Tong slapped him in the face: "Ma Dongmei!"