Qin Lingsi's eyes lit up after hearing what Shopkeeper Cao said, and she immediately became interested.
"What does this have to do with the imperial examination?"
Shopkeeper Cao said: "The young man who was beaten was a scholar who took part in the imperial examination. My men overheard their conversation, and the gang of foreign horse dealers stepped forward and warned the young man to leave Jiangdu Prefecture. They did not move until the young man refused.
hands!"
Wang Da yelled: "Damn it, how dare these dogs be so arrogant in Jiangdu Prefecture? Owner, I will help you catch those bunch of birds!"
Qin Lingsi waved her hands and said: "You can continue studying, I will handle it myself!"
Leave with Shopkeeper Cao.
After the two of them arrived at the roasted duck shop together, it happened to be noon and the sun was shining brightly.
The people outside the roasted duck shop were surrounded by people, and a group of foreign horse dealers were surrounded in the middle, and there was a lot of discussion.
Several government officials were questioning the horse dealers, and a young scholar with a bruised nose and face, who was pale and supported by two clerks, was also being questioned.
Qin Lingsi was about to go over when shopkeeper Cao suddenly said: "Owner, listen to the questions from the government officials first!"
Qin Lingsi thought: "Do you suspect there is something wrong with the Yamen servant?"
Shopkeeper Cao chuckled and said: "I estimate that the person who hired the horse dealer behind the scenes will definitely bribe the government officials to avoid making the matter a big deal!"
Qin Ling thought: "Are government officials so easy to bribe?"
Shopkeeper Cao sighed: "You can't blame them. They are all common people who are doing corvee work. Not only do they have no money, but they also have to delay the family's farm work. It's normal to take the opportunity to earn a few points."
Qin Lingsi felt a shiver in her heart and said: "Listen to what you said, the situation of these government servants accepting bribes is very serious?"
Shopkeeper Cao glanced around: "Let me tell you, they do collect money often!"
Qin Lingsi felt vaguely that this was a big problem, and thought to herself: "You need to tell your brother-in-law as soon as possible when you get back!"
At this moment, a government officer in the crowd said loudly: "You can fight for a seat. This case is a fight between the two of you. Come back to the government office with me and eat three days in prison!"
The young scholar said anxiously: "Master, they were obviously the ones beating me, why did it turn into a mutual beating!"
Some people in the crowd also shouted: "Yes, Zhou Laosi, this husband was beaten like this, and there was only one of him, how did it turn into a mutual beating?"
That week, Lao Si was different from other common people who were serving as corvees. He took the initiative to work as a servant in the yamen, so he was appointed as the squad leader.
In recent times, more and more people like Zhou Laosi have taken the initiative to work in the government offices, and their income is taken from the common people.
Zhou Laosi has been a yamen officer for a long time and knows how to deal with the people watching the excitement. He glared and said: "Who is talking? Come forward and accompany me to the yamen to make a case!"
The man suddenly fell silent.
Zhou Laosi turned to the scholar and said, "Let me ask you, did you fight back just now?"
The scholar said: "If a group of them fights the next one, the next one will naturally resist!"
Zhou Laosi shouted: "Since you resist, you are fighting each other!"
The young scholar begged: "Master Cha, I am a scholar taking part in this subject. Tomorrow is the day when the results will be released. You have put me in jail. How can I read the results?"
Zhou Laosi rolled his eyelids: "Then I don't care, who will let you fight with others? Don't worry, the yamen has regulations. If the fighting is minor, you will only be imprisoned for three days! I think you are pitiful, so I will imprison you for three days.
Let’s do it!”
The scholar stamped his feet and said: "I am a foreigner. If I win the lottery tomorrow but fail to show up, I will lose my qualifications!"
Zhou Laosi spread his hands: "Then I have no choice. This is the rule of the yamen! Besides, there are so many people taking part in the imperial examination, I don't think you can win!"
"I don't think it's that he can't hit, but you don't want him to hit!" came a female voice from the crowd.
Zhou Laosi was furious: "You bastard, who is talking nonsense? Stand up for me!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Qin Lingsi walked in from the crowd.
Zhou Laosi suddenly felt as if he had been cast on a body-fixing spell, and was stunned.
After a while, he bent down and said with a smile: "Master, why are you here?"
Qin Lingsi said coldly: "Old Si Zhou, you are getting more and more courageous. How dare you sabotage my brother-in-law's imperial examination?"
Zhou Laosi made a puff, knelt on the ground, and said anxiously: "Even if the villain has the day to be bold, he won't dare!"
Qin Lingsi scolded: "How dare you pretend to be stupid in front of me! Do you believe I will transfer you to General Wang's trap?"
Zhou Laosi trembled all over and said: "Please show your noble hand and spare my life!"
Qin Lingsi said solemnly: "From now on, if I ask you something and you answer something, if you hesitate for a moment, I will send you to the military camp immediately!"
Zhou Laosi said repeatedly: "Yes, yes!"
Qin Ling thought: "How many bribes did you receive?"
Zhou Laosi wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said: "Ten, ten taels of silver!"
"Who bribed you?"
Zhou Laosi pointed at the group of horse dealers: "These are the people!"
Qin Lingsi looked at the group of horse dealers and said coldly: "Tell me, why do you want to embarrass this young master?"
The leader of the horse dealer hesitated and said nothing.
Shopkeeper Cao raised his head and said: "Boy, open your eyes and see clearly. This owner of Qin is the sister of Princess Chu. No one in Jiangdu Mansion dares not to answer her questions!"
Zhou Laosi stood up suddenly, kicked the horse dealer leader, then knelt back and shouted: "Hurry up and say it!"
The leader of the horse dealer staggered after being kicked, and was supported by his men before he could stand still. He did not dare to resist, and fell to his knees, pleading to Qin Lingsi: "I also charge money to do things, so please spare me.
!"
Qin Lingsi shouted: "Whose money was collected?"
"The man didn't tell us his name. He found us in the horse market, gave us fifty taels of silver, and asked us to drive Lu Yiming out of Jiangdu. If he refused to leave, we would fight with him."
"Why fight?"
"He said that as long as he bribed Team Leader Zhou of the government office and asked him to arrest us and Lu Yiming into the government office, Lu Yiming would not be able to catch up with the release of the results!"
Qin Lingsi then turned her gaze to the young scholar and said, "Your name is Lu Yiming?"
The scholar had been secretly sizing up Qin Lingsi. Hearing this, he hurriedly said: "Xiao Ke, Lu Yiming, pay your respects to Master Qin!"
Qin Ling thought: "Do you have any enemies?"
Lu Yiming said with a bitter face: "No, Xiao Ke only arrived in Jiangdu half a month ago and has not made enemies with anyone!"
Shopkeeper Cao said: "Master Lu, did you offend anyone when you took the imperial examination?"
Lu Yiming shook his head: "No, Xiao Ke only focused on the exam and didn't talk to the other candidates."
Qin Ling frowned, thinking that this matter would no longer be investigated.
She asked Lu Yiming a few more questions, but still couldn't find any clues, so she had to give up and bought a roast duck at Caoji Duck Shop. While eating it, she escorted Zhou Laosi and the gang of horse dealers to the Jiangdu government office. After handing Zhou Laosi to Guo Huan, Qin Lingsi returned to the palace.
Around the same time, Qin Lingsi returned to the palace and entered the study, but could not see Zhang Yangquan. When she asked the guards in the palace, she found out that he had accompanied Qin Lingjun out.
Qin Lingsi has a restless temper. After waiting for a quarter of an hour, she became impatient and went out for a walk again. She didn't return home until about 1 hour.
It happened that Zhang Yangquan and Qin Lingjun came back. Qin Lingsi found the two of them in a stone pavilion in the back garden and told them about the massive corruption and bribery of the government officials.
"Brother-in-law, although these things are small, their impact is very bad. You can't ignore them!"
Zhang Yangquan pondered for a long time and sighed: "You reminded me of this very well. If it is not stopped quickly, it will easily make the people distrust the government!"
Qin Ling thought: "It was good when Guo Huan was the county magistrate. But now it's like this. It must be because Sun Hong, the governor, didn't do a good job!"
Zhang Yangquan shook his head and said: "The root cause does not lie with Sun Hong. He just copied the system of the Yuan Dynasty. The problem lies in this system!"
If this trend continues, Jiangdu Prefecture will soon form a group of subordinate officials. They have no salary and specialize in squeezing money from the people. They are despised by officials and disgusted by the people.
Qin Lingjun thought for a while and said, "How about letting the city defense be responsible for public security?"
Zhang Yangquan said: "The city defense specializes in dealing with special agents. Letting them be responsible for public security will easily affect the original work."
Qin Ling thought: "You can't just ignore it, right?"
Zhang Yangquan said slowly: "This matter needs to be solved from the root cause. After the imperial examination is dealt with, I will start to deal with it again!"
Seeing that she had achieved her goal, Qin Ling nodded, turned around and left.
Qin Lingjun suddenly stopped her: "Wait a minute!"
Qin Lingsi turned her head and said, "What?"
Qin Lingjun stared at her and said: "According to your temperament, I won't let you go to Anfeng. You shouldn't compromise so easily. Do you have some other evil ideas?"
Qin Lingsi pretended to be angry and said: "What are you talking about! I am turning twenty this year, and I am not a child. How can I still cry like before?"
Qin Lingjun still frowned and stared at her, as if she didn't believe it.
Qin Lingsi was afraid that she would see her flaws, so she hummed: "I'm too lazy to talk to you!"
He turned around and left Shiting, returned to his room, and began to pack his luggage quietly.