"The strong must not be poor and the weak must not be poor, and the rich must not be poor. Then the public family will have more than enough, and the kindness will be extended to the small people." Le Yue
"Absurd words!" Hu Miao suddenly shouted and asked, "They also said that they were saving money and selling it to provide relief. Are they just hoarding it?"
Luo Boyan felt aggrieved and said, "We are all from a good family. How dare we do such a treasonous act? Please be careful!"
"Really?" Mi Zhu said softly, "Then they are competing to buy grains that have been exported to the prison at low prices, and then selling them at high prices. Is this what you call a relief effort?"
As he said this, before anyone could quibble and prevaricate, he took out a piece of silk from his sleeve and read it word for word, clearly recording the amount of grain he bought from which household, when and where, among which Although the numbers are wrong, they are still true.
Luo Boyan and others were a little panicked, and they quickly fell to the ground and said bitterly, "Everyone Ruijian, we really don't know..."
"Still quibbling!" Hu Miao suddenly stopped him and said coldly, "Do you think the court will not know about these tricks?"
Several people behind Luo Boyan were stunned. These days, they were not aware of the fact that Hou Wen still wanted to draw a clear line with them. They still looked at Hou Wen subconsciously, hoping that Hou Wen could say something nice to them.
However, Hou Wen ignored them and instead sneered and said, "Needless to say, just take him to Tingwei Prison and wait for trial!"
No matter how many people behind him exclaimed, Luo Boyan just stood up and said, "Hou Wen! You said we are hoarding, but what about you? Selling official food is also a serious crime!"
Hou Wen's face did not change, and he said funnyly, "You have nothing to do, so you want to slander and frame the good people. You said that I resell official rations, but I am constantly providing relief every day, so where do you get the official rations to resell?"
Both Fu Wan and Sima Fang were silent. Hou Wen had a reputation for integrity in the court. Before Luo Boyan died, he was biting and biting randomly. He didn't know how to pick someone who had bad deeds. He said that Hou Wen, who had always been upright, had deducted official rations. Who would believe it if he went out? This is also the image Hou Wen created to deceive Fu Wan and others. Hu Miao's expression changed and he suppressed his move to speak. Although he was unwilling to do so, Hou Wen looked confident at this time. It was obvious that he had eliminated everything that might threaten him. With his usually good official reputation, no matter how much Hu Miao said, it would be intentional slander in the eyes of others.
At this time, the old god Jia Xu said, "Take it to Tingwei Prison first, and the family property will be temporarily sealed. The Du branch and Junshu Prison will inventory the property. If what you said is wrong, don't blame the law for being merciless."
In fact, when it comes to this, Jia Xu and others did not give a sufficient reason to imprison these famous powerful people. However, after several mutations at this time, no matter how cunning Luo Boyan and others were, they were temporarily in disarray. , had no time to take care of all aspects. As soon as Jia Xu finished speaking, Sima Fang immediately gave an order to the outside, called for the guards with halberds to tie Luo Boyan and others one by one, dragged them onto the prepared carriage, and headed all the way to Tingwei. go.
When the people in the city pavilion who had not completely dispersed saw this, they shouted long live, saying frankly that the imperial court was wise and was finally willing to punish these profiteers and tyrants.
"It's over now. Fortunately, under the pressure, we didn't add any unnecessary extravagance and cause turmoil." Sima Fang breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, it didn't require so many people to arrest the wealthy merchants this time, but the emperor insisted on using public opinion to push back the reform of the system. , not just to capture wealthy merchants, so the two military attachés from the capital, Zhi Jinwu and Chengmen Xiaowei, were put into battle together.
Hu Miao glanced at Hou Wen unexpectedly and said leisurely, "Although Hou Yushi is an official who is innocent and is known to everyone, since someone has accused you, no matter what, you should go to court and defend yourself."
Hou Wen showed no fear on his face. After he laid down, Sima Fang nodded in agreement with his eyes and said, "Master Lao Fu reminds me."
Hu Miao's eyes wandered over Hou Wen and Wang Ling as if they were scrutinizing, he snorted slightly, then waved his sleeves and left.
So everyone had their own things to do. After the Jinwu Sima Fang and the city gate captain had finished their ambush, they had to continue to supervise the security of the area for a period of time. Pingzhun Ling Jia Xu and Junshu Ling Mi Zhu were already preparing to enter the palace.
Report the details and start to make the next move. As for Zhang Ji, You Chu, and Jia Kui, the three imperial students who were involved for no reason and watched a good show were given instructions by Fu Wan, who likes to get close to juniors.
After a few words, they were sent back.
Before leaving the house, Hou Wen, who was full of confidence, could not help but look back at Wang Ling. Wang Ling raised his eyebrows and quietly said to Hou Wen when no one was around, "Don't worry, Mr. Hou, you are the censor overseeing the Jingzhao Relief."
, those wealthy merchants are hoarding money, which is exactly what Hou Jun is responsible for. The more powerful Hou Jun impeaches him, the less anyone dares to say anything."
Hou Wen wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said with a smile, "Yes, yes. It's all thanks to Yanyun. If Yanyun hadn't helped me and was willing to intercede in front of Huang Gong, I would have been ruined this time."
Wang Ling smiled "haha", shook his sleeves, and said in an old-fashioned way, "You and I are both from Taiyuan County, why do we need to be so polite?"
Hou Wenshen thought so. At this time, the Xiang Party was very powerful, and it was reasonable for Wang Ling to take the initiative to help for the sake of the people of Bingzhou. But what he didn't know was that as the imperial censor, he was responsible for this matter.
After Luo Boyan and others were imprisoned, they had certain rights to rescue them. With him as a guarantee, Luo Boyan and others might have a chance of survival. But he was afraid of being implicated, so he gave up the rescue under Wang Ling's persuasion.
Choosing to protect his own life wisely, he also had to add insult to injury to Luo Boyan and others to prove his innocence, and Luo Boyan would definitely not want to see Hou Wen go free. In this way, the two parties who were supposed to have a stake in each other suddenly became enemies, exposing and accusing each other, and making all kinds of evidence of crimes
He confessed on his own without further investigation.
"I heard that many people in the government and the public are talking about the serious crimes being punished for hoarding." Mu Shun of Xiaohuangmen gently fanned the emperor and said in a slow tone.
The emperor was lying on the couch and taking a nap. Hearing this, he opened his eyes and said softly, "Who's responsible?"
"His Royal Highness Hou Wen." Mu Shun whispered, glancing at the emperor without any trace. "It is said that he has recently contacted Zuo Fengyi, You Fufeng, Hongnong and other places to take action against the powerful merchants in Guanzhong.
Ask the imperial court to strictly prohibit hoarding everywhere and distribute the goods evenly to help the people."
"He didn't say this a long time ago." The emperor suddenly opened his eyes, stood up from the couch, and pointed at the table. Mu Shun immediately put down his fan and offered the emperor a bowl of cold drink. The emperor drank it all in one gulp.
After returning the tea bowl to Mu Shun, he said again, "Now I am afraid, busy making amends, and clearing away my suspicions. How can it be so easy?"
Mu Shun thought for a while and asked nonchalantly, "But I heard that Wang Ling has a fellow countryman's friendship with Hou Wen and takes good care of him."
The emperor suddenly glanced at Mu Shun meaningfully. Mu Shun was so frightened that he didn't know what he said wrongly. When he was feeling uneasy, he saw the emperor slowly looking away, as if he was looking at him just now.
As if it had never happened, he said flatly, "So what if Zhaofu? I'm just trying to appease him for now, just in case they are in jail but still collude with them and continue to cause trouble."
A burst of cold sweat broke out on Mu Shun's forehead, he didn't dare to say anything more, he just lowered his head.
"Some people are far smarter and more capable than you think." The emperor moved on the spot and said like a reminder and a hint, "You think it will be a disaster to protect Hou Wen at this time.