After the matter was completed, the confession was delivered to the sergeant of the express delivery shop. After that, the crowd gradually dispersed, and Magistrate Li also retreated to the back hall.
A staff member, Mr. Liu, came up to him and suggested with a worried look on his face: "I have been traveling in the capital for the past two years. The imperial envoy, Mr. Fang, was the chief minister of the county at that time. I heard that although Mr. Fang is very young, he takes action after making plans.
He is good at taking things unexpectedly and is very experienced.
Thinking from this, I am afraid that this matter is not that simple, and Mr. Fang should not handle official affairs in such an impetuous, arrogant and rude manner."
Magistrate Li didn't take Master Liu's advice seriously and said with a smile: "After dealing with him several times, I really can't see how sophisticated Fang Qin is in his actions.
But come to think of it, you won’t lie. Maybe it’s because this is Suzhou Prefecture, not the capital, and the place is different and the climate is different. Or maybe his help is thousands of miles away, and it won’t work alone in Suzhou Prefecture.”
Master Liu had personally heard and witnessed Fang Yingwu's deeds when he was in the capital, but he still felt that something was not right.
He wanted to say something else, but he heard the proprietor say again: "You can be more open-minded. Even if what you say is reasonable, Fang Yingwu does have hidden methods, what can I lose?
Even if the impeachment is unsuccessful, it is just unsuccessful. It is impossible for the imperial envoy Fang Yingwu to be stationed in Suzhou Mansion forever. Taking a step back, can I be worse than the official?"
Mr. Liu thought about it carefully and used almost all the assumptions, but he really couldn't think of any other means that Commissioner Fang Qin could use.
In the end, I could only comfort myself by saying that I was probably over-worrying. Maybe it was because Fang Yingwu was too successful in doing things in the past. He had been doing things smoothly for too long, which led to his anger. He couldn't calm down when he came to a new place, so he became arrogant.
stand up.
In fact, it is not to blame that Governor Li was careless. At this time, even Cai Kongmu, the party involved who knew the inside story, was extremely confused, let alone Magistrate Li.
But having said that, Magistrate Li should still be very careful. The matter of the joint petition here must not be hidden from anyone. God knows what Commissioner Fang Qin will do when he finds out.
Mr. Fang is an imperial envoy after all. If you want to share the same fate and die together, it will be really difficult to deal with it.
Therefore, before the imperial court expressed its stance, Magistrate Li was extra vigilant and sent people very intensively to inquire about all the news related to the imperial envoy's residence.
A few days passed, but there was no movement at the Imperial Envoy's residence, and there were no instructions from the Imperial Envoy. It was as if nothing happened.
With this thought in mind, Governor Li became even more nervous and intensified the surveillance of the mansion.
But the latest news is that Mr. Fang, the imperial envoy, left Suzhou City and went to the west to play on Taihu Lake. Moreover, Mr. Fang seemed to be too happy to miss Shu, completely forgetting his official duties, and he didn't seem to want to return to Suzhou City in the short term...
After hearing the news, Magistrate Li couldn't help but fell into deep thought. What happened to the imperial envoy? Like Cai Kongmu, Magistrate Li also felt extremely confused.
Just when Magistrate Li was at a loss for what to do with Fang Yingwu's behavior, Mr. Liu came out of the reception room responsible for the distribution of official documents, hurriedly came to Magistrate Li, and handed the official documents in his hand to the proprietor.
When Magistrate Li saw Master Liu's expression, he knew that this must be an official document that must be taken seriously. He opened it and took a look. It turned out that the official document was sent from Nanjing.
Looking more closely, the content is to inform the Suzhou Prefecture that Wang Jing, a middle official, was ordered to go to Jiangnan to purchase medicinal materials and books for the palace.
Magistrate Li suddenly felt a headache. Not long after he had received an imperial envoy, why did another eunuch arrive with orders to purchase?
Anyone with some experience in officialdom knows that such eunuchs are extremely difficult to serve, and they are all close associates of the emperor. They are far more annoying than any imperial envoy!
The official document said that the order was to purchase medicinal materials and books, but no one would think that there were only medicinal materials and books. Who in the officialdom does not understand what kind of virtue the emperor is? All kinds of treasures, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, or just silver. They are all indispensable!
This is the real wolf coming! If there is any sentence to describe Magistrate Li's current mood, it would be like a wave of ups and downs, or a wolf coming in through the front door and a tiger coming in through the back door.
Magistrate Li took the official document and forgot about Fang Yingwu for the moment. He frowned and thought about how to deal with the eunuch purchase. Then he saw a servant standing by the door. He reported loudly: "Master! Several officials are coming in front.
, said to be the precursor to purchasing eunuchs!"
It came so fast! Magistrate Li had no choice but to invite people in. There were three people in the group. The first person was wearing the casual clothes of a fifth-grade military attaché. He was quite delicate and feminine, but he behaved in a high-spirited and domineering way, not like a good person.
.
But he said that this person had stepped into the threshold, and without saluting, he said: "I am a royal minister of thousands of households in Jinyi Guards. I have been ordered to purchase eunuchs and princes, and I will go to Suzhou Mansion first to stand in front!"
Magistrate Li nodded, "I understand, but I wonder what Wang Qianhu's plans are now?"
Wang Chen took out a stack of paper from his arms and placed it on the public case. Magistrate Li lowered his head and looked at it. It turned out to be treasure banknotes issued by the Ming Dynasty, which were banknotes used as money.
Wang Chen pressed the stack of treasure banknotes and said in a light voice: "This is five hundred guan treasure banknotes. Please ask the government office to exchange them into silver taels."
Magistrate Li's face suddenly darkened, and he exchanged five hundred guan of treasure notes into silver taels. Is this a joke...
The treasure banknotes were customized and started to be issued by Emperor Taizu. According to the official price set by Taizu, a treasure banknote is equivalent to one thousand copper coins, or one tael of silver.
But the treasure banknotes are paper money after all, not real gold and silver. Over the years, due to the excessive printing and issuance by the imperial court, the treasure banknotes have depreciated extremely rapidly. At present, the consistent treasure banknotes can only be exchanged for one or two cents in the market, that is to say, five hundred
Guanbao banknotes are only equivalent to a few hundred copper coins, and cannot even be exchanged for one tael of silver.
So it was a bit of a joke to exchange five hundred gold notes for silver, but Wang Chen Wang Qianhu obviously didn't come here just to make a joke.
Magistrate Li suppressed his anger and asked aloud: "How much silver does Wang Qianhu want to exchange his treasure banknotes for?"
With a slight smile on his lips, Wang Chen said easily: "According to the official price, one guan of treasure banknotes is equivalent to one tael of silver. Naturally, five hundred guan of treasure banknotes will be exchanged for 500 taels of silver. Suzhou Prefecture will not take this small amount of silver."
Why don’t you come out?”
The official price? The treasure banknotes have already plummeted to one or two percent of the official price. Who still recognizes the official price on the market now? Magistrate Li looked at the treasure banknotes in silence, not knowing what else to think about.
Wang Chen patted the treasure banknotes, sneered, and threatened: "The prince went to the south of the Yangtze River to purchase, and the emperor gave some salt. The treasure notes are the capital, and I exchange them for silver. It is also for the prince's purchase needs. What, Suzhou
The government doesn’t want to take it?”
After struggling for a moment, Magistrate Li sighed, "That's all, I will pay it to you!"
Today, I am not a wise king, and I am closer to eunuchs than ministers. From time to time, I hear that local officials are unlucky after being sued for offending eunuchs. After thinking about it, Magistrate Li is still unwilling to risk five hundred taels of silver.
At the risk of offending Wang Jing.
Wang Chen turned around and laughed, and said arrogantly: "Master Li, I guess you know the truth!"
Magistrate Li frowned even more tightly, fearing that this was just the beginning... How could the eunuch purchased for the emperor only have an appetite of five hundred taels? How could he be satisfied with just a mere treasury?
What's more, these five hundred taels may have been taken by Wang Chen on his own initiative, and could only be considered as a small test of the waters by this group of people. The nature of these eunuchs and lackeys is not like that of a restrained civil servant like Fang Yingwu.
PS: I looked at the word count of the document and found that it was only 7,000 words short of 200 words. But I really can’t write it, so please forgive me!
