Chapter 40 Chapter 40 Finale

The man had no choice but to look left and right, but besides the straw, there was only a mouse hole in the corner.After a long while, he suddenly remembered something, endured the pain in his leg, gritted his teeth and tore off a piece of fabric from his skirt, then bit his finger, bleeding, stroke by stroke on the fabric without knowing it. What is written. At this time, another jailer came over with an oil lamp, raised it up, and shook the man so hard that he couldn't open his eyes.The jailer didn't bother to look at him, and only said to the people around him, "Don't talk nonsense with him. The cell boss can tell you, this man is a repeat offender and a death row prisoner. It is strictly forbidden for outsiders to contact him. Be careful!"

After all, he was about to unlock the lock and snatch the cloth from the man's hand, but was stopped by the jailer who came first. "Hey, what can it be? Isn't he about to be killed after the fall, and it won't be a few days. Let him write, let him write, isn't it just a last word?" The later jailer glanced at him leisurely and thought it was the same, so he staggered away without saying a word. The kerosene lamp in the prison was flickering, and he looked up to see the two people leave. A strange smile appeared on his mouth, and then he bit his other finger, Under the dim light, I began to write vigorously.

By the time the carriage arrived at the prison in Jiangdu County, it was past the end of time. The road was rushed and bumpy, everyone was in a panic, there was no need to disguise, even the magistrate stood in front of them at this moment and couldn't see the carriage, he didn't think they were refugees, but he would treat them as beggars begging along the street. Lian Xin brushed back her bun, her forehead was bruised and her cheeks were still stained with blood.He didn't care too much, and followed behind him step by step, still three or two steps away, the yamen guard at the prison gate saw two people from a distance, and immediately stopped shouting, but when he saw the shining silver in Yinzhen's hand, Hastily fell silent, smiling all over his face.

"Yo, who are you planning to see? Such a big deal." At this time, the jailer came out from the inside and saw that the eyeballs of the yamen guards were about to fall on the ingot of silver. He immediately raised the whip in his hand and scolded: "It's really worthless. I haven't seen money." What's the matter?" The yacha made himself boring, bowed his head and dared not speak.There was another one who was not reconciled, looked up and took another look, and was frightened out of courage when the jailer whipped him on the back. Yinzhen squinted, seeing the jailer's arrogant face, he was not angry, and took out another ingot from his sleeve, this time, it was gold.

"I want to see Zhao Ji'an." The jailer's eyes lit up, but when he heard the name, his face instantly became a little strange, "What? Zhao Ji'an! No, no, no, no, no, he is a repeat offender. The county lord ordered him not to see anyone. Take your money back. After that, he looked suspiciously at the outfits of the two of them again, "Aren't you locals? What's the relationship between you and that Zhao?" Yinzhen didn't speak, just looked at him. The jailer didn't linger too much, snorted, turned around and walked inside. "Ten thousand taels."

Yinzhen slowly took out a bank note from his bosom, thin paper with the seal of Daxing Bank stamped on it.This piece of paper is light to hold in the hand, but it represents vain money—money that a jailer would not be able to fish out in thirty years. "this……" After a while, another jailer came out, his eyes widened when he saw the bank note in his hand.Then he looked at the two clerks who were also in a daze at the door, and stabbed his companion, "You are stupid, that's ten thousand taels, money that our buddies can't use up in a lifetime, what are you doing with it!"

"But he wants to see Zhao Ji'an!" "Just look, you are afraid that he will steal someone away!" The jailer looked at Yinzhen, and then at the bank note in his hand. After looking around, his eyes still fell on the bank note, he swallowed, and after a lot of effort, finally waved his hand to let him go. The cell door was locked, and passing through the interrogation room, there were cell after cell. Two guards, one with a whip and the other with a kerosene lamp, sent them into the inner cell and stopped going in.Before entering the door, Yinzhen took out two ingots of silver from his sleeve and gave them to the yamen guards. He took care of the guards very happily, but the jailer didn't care much, so he simply didn't follow.

"Hurry up, the jailer will come later, and none of you will be able to leave." It was dark in the cell. Prisoners eat, drink, and scatter all inside, so the smell is naturally so good that it can't be smelled anywhere.Walking all the way in from the outermost room, Lian Xin saw piles of prisoners in the cells, and some cells were even full of people. Pig and sheep. "There are so many prisoners. Could it be that, as the person said, the people of Yangzhou are aggressive and there are thieves in groups?" Lian Xin followed behind him, allowing him to hold her hand, and just after she finished speaking, she heard someone interrupt her.Looking along the source of the sound, it was an old farmer squatting on the side of the fence, with skinny shoulders, sunken eyes, stains on his beard, and clean clothes.It seems that he was detained not long ago.

"Little girl, you don't know something. Those locked in Jiangdu prison are not only ordinary people, but also ordinary people. Those vicious ones, the yamen servants don't dare to deal with them." Lian Xin and Yin Zhen exchanged glances, and approached a little closer, "How do you say that?" If a rich family suffers in prison, there will always be people who can't stand it.The people in the family ran around to take care of him, and naturally paid money to redeem him.The more you lock up, the more lucrative you will be. Generally, if you are a little bit involved, you will definitely try to catch it.But these people right now are ordinary people, and they will die of poverty, so there is no spare money to buy relationships.What profit can the yamen catch them by arresting...

"It's not that dog county magistrate, he asked the Yacha to drive us out of Jiangdu County. We didn't want to, so we were arrested!" On the other side, there was a voice complaining.The two felt more and more baffled when they heard the words.The government extorted and extorted money, and the people fled to other places in unbearable suffering, but I have never seen people who did not resist and stop them, but drove people out. "What is the reason for this?" This time, no one responded to the question, and there were only countless heavy sighs that sounded one after another.

Both of them felt a little heavy in their hearts, so they didn't bother much, so they quickened their pace and walked in. Actually, very close.The innermost cell was pitch-black, with damp tentacles on the walls. Without the kerosene lamp, the whole person would be in hell. Under the dim light, Zhao Ji'an was groping for the blood-stained cloth, rubbing it over and over again.It took him nearly two hours to finish writing this thing. Every single word is not only his life, but also the life of the people in Jiangdu County, and even the people in Yangzhou City.But looking at it, the widened eyes became a little straight, the eyes were dark and bright, bright and dark, and I hadn't eaten for a long time, and at this moment the hunger surged up wave after wave, and it was uncomfortable to scratch my heart and liver. The sound of unlocking, mixed with the sound of footsteps, was very soft. Zhao Ji'an trembled, and the chain rattled, but hurriedly stuffed the cloth under his buttocks, sat firmly, and then leaned against the fence, closing his eyes, looking like he was dying. The person who came was not a jailer, let alone a county magistrate. "You are the head of Jiangdu County, Zhao Ji'an?" The soft voice, very thin, is that of a woman.Zhao Ji'an raised his head, and there were actually two young men, at first glance, they didn't look like locals, and one of them was disguised as a man. "who are you?" Suddenly, Zhao Ji'an was a little embarrassed.Subconsciously scratching the lice on his back, his long and curved nails scratched the sore, pus and blood trickled down his shoulder blades. "We are from the capital." It was Yinzhen who spoke, and after speaking, he squeezed Lian Xin's hand.She understood, and walked to the corner of the cell, wary of others eavesdropping. "Are you... a senior official from Daxing City?" Zhao Ji'an is quite knowledgeable, he has been the chief bookkeeper of Jiangdu County for three years, and has accompanied the county lord to socialize with many officials of Yangzhou City.But if it's a high official from the capital, what will he do... Holding on to the fence, Yinzhen lowered his voice, "I'm here to investigate the case. You used to be the director of Jiangdu County, why did you go to prison, did you know something, or was framed by someone... " "Investigate?" What case... With so many grievances, which one do you want him to talk about? There was no one around, so Yinzhen simply lowered his body.The closer he got, the stronger the smell of urine became, but he didn't even frowned, "Officials in the south of the Yangtze River died one after another, and the court was shaken. If you know anything, please let me know." Zhao Ji'an froze for a moment, then started laughing in an instant.The common people live in dire straits, and the imperial court doesn't care.The government oppresses the good people, giving and receiving privately, and the court doesn't care.The death of a few officials was mobilizing and mobilizing the crowd with great fanfare, and they simply sent people to come. If the three officials who died in vain knew, I really don't know whether to cry or laugh. "You said you were sent by the imperial court, but what evidence do you have?" Zhao Ji'an leaned against the fence, curled up his legs, and looked at him with a half-smile. Human life is at stake. Who can guarantee that this supervisory censor is really the supervisory censor, and not Chen Biyan and his group specially sent to trick him?Jiangdu County is already a den of thieves, and even the city of Yangzhou is now half buried in the mud.The person who knew the truth was killed and arrested. He was the only one who survived.Death is not terrible, but the terrible thing is that the truth cannot be revealed. Jiangdu County has been in darkness for a long time, and the people are suffering so much. When will it be the end, when will it end? Thinking of this, he couldn't help moving his butt subconsciously.What he was sitting on now was the account details he had memorized, which recorded that from April to June last year, the magistrate of Jiangdu County bribed officials from various places and received money from local wealthy households.He had hidden the original ledger in an extremely secret place.This one is to be kept close to him, and when he is executed after autumn and someone picks up his body, maybe it can be passed on. "This is an edict from the emperor." A roll of bronzing bright yellow silk scarves, dragon and phoenix, was taken out from the bosom, and there was still residual warmth. Zhao Ji'an took it tremblingly, the poor and lowly people, who have never seen the sky, there is a vigorous and powerful line written on the scarf, and the signature is stamped with the seal of the jade seal.Zhao Ji'an held it in his hand, as if it weighed a thousand catties. "The grass people kowtow to my emperor, long live, long live, long live..." The iron chain was pulled and rattled, Zhao Ji'an fell to his knees in tears, choked up, and finally burst into tears.The majestic seven-foot man was forced to this point, and Yinzhen helped him up, "Since you know that my identity is true, tell me about your grievance quickly." Zhao Ji'an couldn't help nodding his head, thousands of words came to his lips, but he didn't know how to speak for a while. Every year it is said that the emperor's kindness is mighty, and every year there is a mountain of evils.The people in the south of the Yangtze River are looking forward to Haiqing and Yan, and their hearts are cold.It was hard to wait for a big official to come, but can he really eliminate corrupt officials and punish corrupt officials... "The Lord has an order, and Xiaomin dare not disobey." Yinzhen nodded slightly, and asked: "The prisoners in that prison all claimed to be disaster victims, and they were sent to the big prison because they didn't want to leave their homes. What's going on?" Zhao Ji'an sighed. "You don't know. There has been a severe drought in the south of the Yangtze River for many years, the land has no harvest, and the government has increased the tax by 50%, which is too harsh. Later, a plague of locusts broke out, causing the people to be overwhelmed, and a large number of people fled to other places. That Jiangdu The county magistrate, Chen Biyan, was originally a soldier, and he had already used some of the outdated customs in the barracks. When the imperial court sent people to pay pensions, he simply used the trick of eating empty wages on the common people." "You mean—a false report!" Zhao Ji'an nodded, "Most of the local population has fled, and the reported number is quite different from the actual number. The county government just took this opportunity to embezzle the extra money. In the long run, the government has tasted the benefits and simply sent those who were unwilling to leave. The people drove them to other places, so as to embezzle more relief money." Yinzhen's face was gloomy, and he remained silent for a while. Empty pay has a long history, especially in the military.But the imperial court expressly stipulated that only 30% of the tax increase was allowed. Unexpectedly, the mere Jiangnan dared to increase the tax to 50%.Officials, big and small, worked in collusion to play tricks of deceiving their superiors and their subordinates, and obediently obediently and secretly violatingly.Really the sky is high and the emperor is far away. "Do you know who is involved here?" Yinzhen's voice was sharp, and coldness welled up in his eyes. Zhao Ji'an smiled wryly and shook his head, "I'm afraid there is not a single person in Yangzhou City that is clean. My lord, it's not that the grassroots can't trust you, but that this matter is too big and involves more than just a few officials. It’s a huge wave, the grass people really don’t know whether to say it or not!” Whenever the imperial court sent to supervise, it was either done hastily, or took advantage of the officials and worked in collusion.Can this one be an exception?Even if he is an exception, isn't he afraid of offending those high-ranking officials... "It's useless, no matter who comes, I can't control it!" Zhao Ji'an hung his head absently.Disappointed, since there is no way to appeal, and since being beaten into a trick, I have already begun to be disappointed.But he didn't despair, he glanced at it from the corner of his eye, and weighed it in his heart, just to see how the adult in front of him would react. "If you really feel that there is no way to appeal, you won't write a blood book in this prison." Yinzhen's eyes were deep, looking at his unscabby fingers, the index finger was broken, the thumb was also broken, and the blood from the wound on the ring finger had dried up, it didn't look like a wound from torture. Zhao Ji'an subconsciously turned his hands away, and said with some embarrassment: "That's because I'm thirsty, no, there's no water to drink." At this moment, most of the time has passed.If it was delayed any longer, even if they could make it back in time, they might be bumped into by inspectors passing by, and their lives would be confessed here. Yinzhen looked at him steadfastly, and said after each sentence: "You should know what the consequences will be if someone finds out that I am here to visit you. Moreover, if you don't tell me the truth now, you will Take the grievances of the people of Yangzhou into the coffin. No one will hear your complaints, and no officials will come to investigate again." "This……" Zhao Ji'an was choked by his words, and stared at him for a long time, but kept silent for a long time, and couldn't look away for a long time.At any rate, he was born as a Jinshi, and at any rate he was from a scholarly family. He could tell that the man standing in front of him was not an ordinary person, because such an aura and aura made him unable to say any more words of rejection. "Okay, I'll give you the evidence!" Just die, anyway, he is already waiting for Qiuhou to be executed, if the person in front of him can really present this evidence to the emperor, all his hard work will not be in vain. "The officials in Yangzhou City have been rotten from top to bottom. Whether they are in office or idle, there is no good thing. Zheng Weili, the former scholar of the Wenhuadian University and Minister of the Ministry of Officials, colluded with Lu Jian, the governor of Yangzhou, and the prefect. Zhang Weiliang and others resold food for disaster relief officials, falsely reported the number of victims, and even embezzled disaster relief money and killed officials appointed by the court... However, the biggest corrupt officials are not them, but the governor of Liangjiang, Cha Bina!" The governor of Liangjiang is in charge of the military, civilian and government affairs of Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi provinces. If you say that the country is a moth, no one can be called better than him. After Zhao Ji'an finished speaking, he took out the blood book that he had written for a long time from the back of his butt.No matter how much Ren County magistrate Chen Biyan thought, he would never have thought that the evidence of his life was placed on top of his own head! He handed him the cloth covered in blood, a reassuring smile suddenly appeared on his face, and he closed his eyes. Yinzhen held the material in his hand, and got up immediately, Lian Xin didn't know that they had finished talking, but he saw him dragging her out with a gloomy expression, thinking that there was nothing to gain.Who knew that by the time he got out of the prison in Jiangdu County and returned to the carriage, he would have already obtained the evidence. "Go back to the other courtyard immediately!" The octagonal building didn't go back either, but he wanted to rush back to the other courtyard immediately. Lian Xin knew that he was going to join Li Wei and the others, but at this moment, he heard the sound of horseshoes in the distance, the sound was messy, Mixed with noisy shouts, it seemed that many people were riding towards here on horseback. "Oh no!" The coachman took a look and said to the human beings in the car, "It seems to be officers and soldiers in the government office!" Chief envoy Lu Jian and others have repeatedly said that Yangzhou is home to unscrupulous people, especially rogues, so it seems logical to die in the hands of rogues or mobs. According to inspector Zheng Yi, that is probably how he died. of. "Your Majesty, what should we do?" The coachman was also in a hurry, he couldn't care less, and even called out the word "Emperor". In the current situation, if he was caught on the spot, there would never be anyone left alive.Yin Zhen frowned tightly, and glanced at Lian Xin beside her, only to see that she quickly tucked her hair into the hat, and jumped out of the carriage before he had time to react. "Lian Xin!" As soon as he called out her name, the coachman seemed to have reached a consensus with her, and he had already whipped his whip... The horse neighed, and galloped forward with all four hooves, galloping towards the north. "If there is only the emperor in the palace, then that counts—one concubine..." If you don't leave, I will never give up. The wind hurt her face, Lian Xin ran as hard as she could, with her back turned to the direction of the carriage. In any case, without her, there is only one concubine missing in the palace, and there will be new additions in the draft three years later.But he is the emperor, the only emperor in the world, without him, the world will be in chaos.And more importantly, she didn't want anything to happen to him... Oh, so she didn't know until now that she loved him so much. But when did it start? Maybe it was the first time he held her and called her name. Maybe it was when we were together day and night in the warm pavilion. Maybe it was when she slept in the Hall of Mental Cultivation all night, and he sat on the side of the couch and watched him all night... Too many, she can't remember. The corners of Lian Xin's mouth turned up slightly, her eyes were bright, but her sight was covered by moist tears. He lived so alone in this world, and he was the Ninth Five-Year Venerable, but it was so hard and difficult.How she wanted to be with him all the time... The arrow pierced through the air in an instant, and Lian Xin felt herself being pulled back by a strong force, and then there was a sharp pain from the horse's hoof stepping on her shoulder blades, dust filled her mouth and nose, and the smell of blood was everywhere...It hurts too much, my calf And abdominal cramps followed.Lian Xin prostrated herself on the ground in pain, and could still hear the neighing of horseshoes and the yelling of human voices. At this moment, he should have been out of danger... Lian Xin raised a smile on her lips, very faint, and then closed her eyes. On December 20th, Cha Bina, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, deceived his superiors and concealed the truth from his subordinates. There are more than two million silver buried in it, and they will be executed immediately. Cha Yangzhou chief envoy Lu Jian, magistrate Zhang Weiliang, Tongju Li Chunfang and other seven people colluded with each other, punished the court officials, framed loyal ministers, embezzled officials, money and food, and executed them by hanging. The magistrate of Zhajiangdu County, Chen Biyan, the magistrate Dong Fang, and the chief secretary Cheng Wenyuan, together with 12 people, colluded with each other, concealed and murdered the court officials, falsely reported the amount of disaster relief, and were hanged and executed after autumn. When Li Wei arrived at the Yamen of Jiangdu County with the imperial decree in hand, the county magistrate Chen Biyan and others had hanged themselves to death.Although there was no one inside, he still read the contents of the imperial decree verbatim. The moment he stepped out of the government office, Li Wei turned his head to look at the plaque that said "Mirror hangs high". Outside the door, snowflakes began to flutter. This is the first snow this winter.