Chapter 37 Chapter Thirty-Seven

After Xiao Taiping learned about Mr. Qian's extraordinary interest in him from Mr. Bai Er, he was a little nervous at first.The first thought that came to mind was to follow the coal ship and flee to the south of the Yangtze River to avoid the limelight.Mr. Bai Er disagreed. The reason is that Zhang Sanye and Cao Bajin have been dead for many years, and the "rebel self-confession" has not fallen into the hands of the government. Make Qian Zhixian suspicious.Xiao Taiping was right after thinking about it, so he calmed down and watched Mr. Qian continue to sing this good show about stealing thieves.Mr. Qian was also cunning, sniffing around, but didn't smell the prey, so he didn't sing this good show to death. He changed the way of the play, caught the hapless Mr. Wang and fiddled with it repeatedly like a cat playing with a mouse. He also unintentionally helped Xiao Taiping.

When Uncle Wang's brother, Second Master Wang, found Xiao Taiping Kiln, Xiao Taiping was really surprised, and for a while he dared not agree to buy Wang's Kiln with cash.It's not that he is afraid that the Wang family will find a bad debt, but that after the kiln is bought, the crime will break out, and he will not be able to escape with the money, and he will end up with nothing.But Xiao Taiping loved Uncle Wang's kiln too much. After thinking about it for two days, he decided to buy it.After buying it, I thought, this time I really won't leave, even if Mr. Qian wants to sing the big drama of the twisted case, he has to sing along with him.After getting along with Mr. Qian for three years, Xiao Taiping thought he had seen through Mr. Qian. As long as the price was fair, Mr. Qian would dare to sell even his own father—it would be great to make a deal with Mr. Qian.

Sure enough, Lord Qian came to Qiaotou Town to look for Xiao Taiping not long after Uncle Wang died.Mr. Qian was uncharacteristically enthusiastic, he didn't want Xiao Taiping to treat him to wine, but he wanted to invite Xiao Taiping to have a drink—it was still flower wine, and he would eat it in Yuguer's Nuanxiang Pavilion.It is said that it is to eat flowers and wine, but Mr. Qian does not want the girls to accompany him. Even Yu Gu'er wants to stay in the room to pour wine for Mr. Qian, but Mr. Qian does not allow it.Xiao Taiping pretended to be confused, saying that Mr. Qian liked to try new things the most, and asked Yu Gu'er to find a pretty girl who had never been touched to accompany Mr. Qian.

Only then did Master Qian have something to say, and he explained the purpose of drinking: "...Ah, brother Xiao, we are going to discuss a huge business today. It is best not to be in front of anyone except you and my brother." Xiao Taiping smiled and asked: "My lord, how big is this day's big deal?" Master Qian said: "Your brother drinks first, and we will talk about it after three rounds of drinking." So, drink. After three cups, Mr. Qian said: "Mr. Xiao Tuan, you ask me how big this business is? Let me put it this way, it might cost us both our wealth and lives. Do you think this business can be too small? "

Xiao Taiping smiled calmly and said, "Master, are you kidding me? You will be your seventh-rank magistrate, and I will be my coal mine owner. Everyone is living a good life. How could you take my life and wealth? Hey, Xiao What's going on with the regiment?" Lord Qian nodded to Xiao Taiping with his chopsticks, and called out the head of the Second Regiment more clearly: "President of the Second Regiment, you are not mean enough, I have talked to you to this point, and you are still pretending to be confused with me!" Xiao Taiping said: "I'm not pretending to be confused, indeed... I really don't know what happened."

Mr. Qian became angry, and he slapped the table: "Okay, okay! Since you said that, I won't talk to you today, let's see you in the lobby tomorrow—this county thought that you, Xiao, were reasonable, and looked at you As a brother of Tiji, I asked you to come to Nuanxiang Pavilion to talk, just to have a better talk, so as not to tear the face between brothers..." Only then did Xiao Taiping get serious: "Hey, Mr. Qian, don't be angry, is someone slandering me? Sir, please make it clear, so... so that I can know!" Lord Qian sighed, and recounted Uncle Wang's words emphatically, saying that he was so worried about Xiao Taiping, that he broke the law of heaven for the first time and tortured Uncle Wang to force him to change his mind. He made a confession, confessed to the false accusation, and saved Xiao Taiping.

Xiao Taiping hurriedly thanked Mr. Qian, and said reasonably: "My lord, just... I just accused my brother of blaming you, and my brother also has to thank you for a thousand taels of silver--My lord, please don't push it, this is a brother. A little thought from..." Mr. Qian didn't answer Xiao Taiping's words, but said: "Nian Luan is the year-long chaos second only to Chang Mao, and the case of the remnants of the Tian Party is a shocking case. For you, Mr. Xiao Tuan, I really bet on this donation." The seventh-rank magistrate of the county was remanded with his family and his life."

Xiao Taiping said: "Brother, if you are really the head of the Second Regiment of the Twien Party, your lord is really betting everything on it!" Master Qian smiled coldly: "Mr. Xiao Tuan, do you really think that Wang Xishan framed you?" Xiao Taiping also raised his face: "Didn't you just frame me?!" Master Qian nodded: "So, you, Xiao Tuan, don't always accept favors from this county?" Xiao Taiping waved his hand straight: "That's not true! Brother, how dare you not accept your favor? You defended my brother and me, and saved my brother from a big trouble of causing official complaints. Brother will not dare to forget. My lord If money is tight right now, just say the number, even if you thank Sir for two thousand taels, brother... will not say anything."

Lord Qian pinched his chin and pondered. Xiao Taiping thought that Mr. Qian was considering the price he offered, he had made a lot of decisions in his heart, and he was ready to retreat further, planning to add another one thousand taels to Mr. Qian when Mr. Qian opened his mouth to bargain. Unexpectedly, Mr. Qian, who has always loved money, still didn't talk about money this time, but only asked Xiao Taiping: "Hey, Mr. Xiao Tuan, tell me about it. With my ability to ask questions in this county, I really can't ask anyone. Is the case of the remnants of the twitter party coming?"

These words were so cold that Xiao Taiping couldn't help shivering: "My lord, what... what does this mean?" Mr. Qian said: "What do you mean? Xiao Tuan always thinks that if the officers and soldiers of the patrol battalion in this county encircle Kuzipo and bring all the men who speak Kuzi language to the hall of the county for a proper repair, Spend a little more energy and move more than a dozen sets of torture instruments. I dare not say too much, maybe ten or eight confessors can be found, right? Huh?" This Mr. Qian is simply a born devil.Xiao Taiping knew that Mr. Qian really wanted to do this, let alone ten or eight, maybe eighty brothers with confessions could be found.The Kuzipo in the eighth year of Guangxu is no longer the Kuzipo in the seventh year of Tongzhi. The kiln workers of Cao Tuan will no longer protect him, the head of the second regiment who has made a fortune, but will take the opportunity to fight him, the big kiln owner.

What Xiao Taiping thought of, Master Qian naturally thought of it too.Next, Mr. Qian said more clearly: "Mr. Xiao Tuan, I have been to this county in person. It is really a poor and poor place! There are poor boys with bare buttocks. I heard that some women There is no shame. The county stood on the slope and thought about it. If the county showed kindness and told the poor and impatient gangsters that this county only dealt with the chief villain, the poor gangsters would not only not do it, but would give them back. The poor men who acted as testimonials each received three or five taels of silver rewards, hey, don’t you think you can’t ask one or two of the second group to come? Isn’t it so? Huh?” A layer of cold sweat broke out on Xiao Taiping's head. Mr. Qian was very satisfied with the effect of his blackmail, so he said no more, put on a smiling face, raised his glass and said, "Come on, come on, let's not talk about business, drink, drink! We are still brothers today! " Xiao Taiping tried his best to calm down, picked up a glass of wine, and drank it down. Master Qian applauded Xiao Taiping: "Drink to your heart's content! Okay, just drink like this, and have another drink!" Then came another cup. After drinking this glass of wine, Xiao Taiping opened his mouth: "Master Qian, brother... really convinced you!" Lord Qian stared at Xiao Taiping, and asked kindly: "Tell me, what do you convince me?" Xiao Taiping said: "I admire your skill in interrogating the case. As far as you are asking the law, you don't need to let the patrol battalion do anything, and no one needs to be arrested. As long as you arrest me alone, and use more than a dozen sets of torture instruments, you will have to recruit yourself. My lord, you want me to recruit whatever I want. Don’t ask me to recognize the head of the second regiment of the twisted party, you... you just want me to recognize you as the prince of the long-haired puppet dynasty, I... I dare not deny it !" Lord Qian was not annoyed at all, pointed at Xiao Taiping and laughed straight: "Brother Xiao, you scold me, you scold me—how can I punish you, brother? Who are we going to? I only punish those poor people! No More than ten poor men testified to your death, and I will not pass it on to your brother! I estimate that at least twenty poor men will testify to your death. Think about it, you all came to Qiaotou Town empty-handed back then. Twelve years have passed, they haven’t issued it, but you Xiao Taiping, who will speak for you? If you don’t believe me, brother, I’ll bet you a thousand taels of silver. How about it?” Xiao Taiping knew in his heart that he couldn't escape this time.Although Mr. Qian has not obtained evidence of the chaos so far, as long as this vicious dog persists in chasing him like this, he will definitely get the evidence, and if he talks about the deal with Mr. Qian at that time, he is afraid of the price. will be higher. Therefore, Xiao Taiping said helplessly: "Forget it, forget it, Mr. Qian, I will not bet with you anymore! We have known each other for not a day, and we are happy people. You...you can set a real price for this transaction." Bar!" Mr. Qian was so happy, he slapped the table, stood up obliviously, and said, "Okay! Brother Xiao, you are a nice person, but you are reasonable! You are very reasonable! Hey, this will be easy to handle. I have already thought about the price. Now, let me tell you now, do you think it’s fair or not?——Your brother insisted on giving me two thousand taels of silver, and if you don’t allow me to push it, brother, I won’t push it. This is the first sum. The second The pen is my brother’s life money for my risky life. I don’t ask how much my brother wants. Let’s weigh it fairly. You can pay as much money as my brother weighs. This is called rebuilding a golden body. The silver for rebuilding the golden body came out, and my brother will be executed for your brother's twisted case in the future, so you don't have to be ashamed. The third sum is the price of my seventh-grade black yarn, brother, and I will pay less. Five thousand taels!" Xiao Taiping was stunned, he never thought Mr. Qian had such a big appetite.The first sum of two thousand taels plus the third sum of five thousand taels is seven thousand taels of silver.The second tranche is calculated according to Mr. Qian's weight, probably more than three thousand taels, and the total is more than ten thousand taels of silver.If he really paid the more than 10,000 taels of silver, except for the two coal kilns and those kiln lands in his hand, his silver savings would be empty.So, he made the point clear and said, "My... my lord, this... this business doesn't seem... not very fair, does it? Besides, brother... can't come up with so much cash all at once!" Mr. Qian thought the deal was fair, so he said without hesitation: "Brother, I won't say a second price. That's it. If you don't have enough money, your brother can borrow some to make up for it. I owe you less, and my brother won't force you." You hang yourself." Xiao Taiping felt extremely painful in his heart, he looked at Mr. Qian in a gloomy manner and remained silent. Mr. Qian said again: "President Xiao Tuan, don't you think about it, what kind of case is this, brother, how much risk do I have to take? Is this price still high? To tell you the truth, Uncle Wang just gathered a crowd to beat him. It doesn’t count if you died in the cell, but in the end you forced me to pay 10,000 taels of silver!” Only then did Xiao Taiping endure the piercing pain, and nodded in agreement: "Then...then I will forcefully give you this... this ten thousand taels of silver!" Mr. Qian is very serious about business, and immediately pointed out: "Hey, your brother is not ten thousand taels! Seven thousand taels is dead, and life gold is too expensive. I won't blackmail your brother, and you don't lie to me. Pay as much as you want." Xiao Taiping looked Mr. Qian up and down, wanting to take advantage of the pitiful advantage, and said, "My lord...does your lord weigh only one hundred and seventy-eight catties? Even if it's three thousand taels...it's justified... " Mr. Qian waved his hand straight: "Not only, not more! We'll know when we call it." Mr. Qian really did it, he opened the door immediately, called Yu Gu'er, and ordered to find a large scale.Yu Gu'er didn't know that the two masters were drinking well, so why did they ask for a name?Yuan wanted to ask, but when he saw Xiao Taiping's dark face, he didn't dare to ask, so he asked his subordinates to go to the charcoal yard to find a scale for weighing charcoal, and personally delivered it to Mr. Qian and Xiao Taiping's room. Xiao Taiping couldn't weigh it all by himself.Master Qian called Yu Gu'er again, and asked Yu Gu'er and Xiao Taiping to carry him by the name.Seeing that Yu Gu'er was very shocked, Lord Qian said to Yu Gu'er: "This county made a bet with Uncle Xiao - I said I weigh two hundred catties, but Uncle Xiao didn't believe it, and said that I was only one hundred and eighty catties. Then I had to show it to Uncle Xiao on the spot." Xiao Taiping and Yu Gu'er lifted the poles to support them, and the tall and fat Master Qian bent over and hugged the weighing hooks. Sure enough, Mr. Qian was right. Mr. Qian is more than two hundred catties, and two hundred and three catties is still taller. Putting down the weighing hook, Lord Qian was extremely proud: "Haha, Brother Xiao, you are doomed to lose this time..." Yugu'er asked Xiao Taiping: "Uncle Xiao, what did you lose?" Xiao Taiping only sighed with a bitter face, and remained silent. Master Qian was in a hurry to settle the accounts, put away his smiling face and chased Yu Guer out: "Go, go, we still have something to do!" As soon as Yu Gu'er left, Lord Qian immediately settled the accounts: "One catty is sixteen taels, two hundred and three catties and three taels is three thousand two hundred and fifty-one taels. Brother Xiao, you can do the math again, right? Adding the seven thousand taels, the total silver for this transaction is 10,251 taels." Xiao Taiping nodded and smiled wryly: "I...I don't count, my lord's business is so good, I can't make a mistake." Mr. Qian did a good job of calculating the accounts - not only the one-time big accounts in front of him, but also the small accounts that will flow in the future.After settling the one-time big account, Mr. Qian didn't call it, and then talked about the issue of the monthly rules: "...Brother, since I have wronged such a big deal for your brother, the monthly rule of one hundred taels is not enough. Yes! I thought about it for a while, let’s say one thousand taels. What do you think, my brother?” Xiao Taiping couldn't bear it any longer, and risked to tear himself apart with Mr. Qian, he said decisively: "Mr. Qian, since I have recognized your more than 10,200 taels of silver, I can't add any more monthly regulations! Besides! Said, I am not the only one who can decide this month's rules, and Mr. Bai Er and Mr. Li Wuye probably won't agree to it either." Mr. Qian said: "Mr. Bai Er and Mr. Li Wu, brother, I don't want you to talk about it, I will talk about it! I have a way to get them to agree-they are gangsters, this crime is not small!" Mr. Qian was so vicious that he even scammed Mr. Bai Er and Mr. Li Wu. Xiao Taiping didn't want Mr. Bai Er and Mr. Li Wu, who kindly protected him, to suffer and be deceived, so he made up his mind and turned his face before Mr. Qian: "Mr. Qian, are you serious? Don't say that there is no such thing as twisting the case." One thing to say, even if there is, it has nothing to do with Mr. Bai Er and Mr. Li Wu! I, Xiao, have really become a twister, will I go and talk to them? My lord, you have thought clearly, you want to make this deal, Or do you want to destroy the three coal mines in Qiaotou Town? Let me make it clear to you now, if you really force me to have nowhere to go, at most I will die, and we won’t be able to talk about any business!" After saying this, Mr. Qian became a little scared—afraid that the good money he had already got would fly away, so he said: "Hey, no, no, Brother Xiao, let's discuss it again, discuss it again..." The result of further discussions was that the monthly regulations only mentioned four hundred taels a month. Xiao Taiping still wanted to press down again, sighed and said: "My lord, four hundred taels a month, and four thousand eight hundred taels a year, how much do our three kilns make in total? Just give me another one hundred taels. Let me catch my breath, okay?" Master Qian gritted his teeth and made the final concession: "Okay, okay, brother, I'll let you another fifty taels!" Xiao Taiping saw that he couldn't hold it any longer, so he had no choice but to accept the three hundred and fifty taels of monthly rules.After admitting it, Xiao Taiping immediately turned from defense to offense, asking Mr. Qian to write down a written statement, writing down this transaction related to the "Twister Remnants Case". This time it was Master Qian's turn to be in a daze. Mr. Qian was stunned for a long time, then Fang patted Xiao Taiping on the shoulder and said: "Brother Xiao, who are we with whom? Why are you worried about brother? Didn't brother tell you the first time I met you? To receive money from others is to be a man." Disaster relief, how can you write such a twisted article again?!" Xiao Taiping said: "My lord, please remember, it is not my lord who wrote about this twisted case today, but I bought this genuine twisted case from my lord. My lord also said that it is a big perversion of the law. Then, in order to prevent Xiao Xiao from taking advantage of this threat in the future, I have to leave a proof!" Lord Qian laughed straight away: "Your brother scolded me again and again—brother knows, isn't Xiaoxiao you referring to me? Brother is not angry with you either. Brother swears to your brother: brother is the most honest , since your brother paid a lot of money to buy this twisted case, if anything happens, brother will take care of it for you!" Xiao Taiping said: "Yes, I just want my lord to write this down." Lord Qian admitted the truth: "Brother Xiao, you wouldn't take your brother's credentials and sue your brother for corruption?" Xiao Taiping said: "My lord, don't you think about it. I have so many kilns in my hand. Will I let the peace live, and go to provoke officials? Besides, brother also knows that my brother is very appreciated by the governor, so why don't you give me money?" Dare to ask for trouble? Who doesn’t know the principle of mutual protection between officials? My lord, in the final analysis, I just want to live in peace.” Master Qian was relieved, and followed Xiao Taiping's words: "That's true! You really understand the reason. Not to mention the relationship between brother and the governor, even if there is no such relationship, officials and officials will always protect each other on the scene. I This Xiaozhi County is greedy for ink, the magistrate, Daotai, governor, and governor are all greedy for ink, who has the right to criticize others!" Xiao Taiping sarcastically said: "Not only are you equally greedy, but I'm afraid you are just as clever in answering questions. Your Lord Qian can ask the head of a twisted party, and the prefect may be able to ask a fake prince..." Mr. Qian was very happy, he laughed and said: "Smart, smart, you brother Xiao is really smart! Don't worry about doing business with a smart man like you." Out of reassurance, Mr. Qian followed Xiao Taiping's wishes and boldly wrote down the evidence—— Q According to Wang Xishan, the owner of the Wangjiayao Kiln in Qiaotou Town, Xiao Taiping, the owner of the Xiaojiayao Kiln, was originally the head of the Second Nian Party Regiment, and Kazipo was where the remnants of Cao Tuan’s subordinates gathered on the West Second Road of the Nian Party. Xiao Taiping confessed to this .After serious discussions with Qian Baoshan, the county magistrate, Xiao Taiping settled the case with a price of 10,251 taels of gold and silver.After Qian Baoshan, the magistrate, received the silver, he would never pursue it, and promised to pledge his wealth and take responsibility for it.There is no evidence for words, but the evidence is written. When writing this evidence, Mr. Qian was very proud of himself, thinking that his method of blackmail was very clever, but he never thought that Xiao Taiping was really the head of the Second Regiment of the Nian Party.But after knowing that everything is irreversible, Mr. Qian left black and white evidence of corruption and gangsters, and became an accomplice of the remnants of the twisted party.Afterwards, Cao Fuli, the former master of Cao Tuan, once again brought up the case of twisting, Mr. Qian executed Cao Fuli in horror, and covered it up in every possible way. It was not so much protecting Xiao Taiping as protecting himself.In addition, Mr. Qian did not expect that the members of the Xiao clan would pass on this paper of greedy ink from generation to generation.During the Revolution of 1911, the content of this certificate was even published on the leaflets of the Revolutionary Party, which appeared on the streets of Qiaotou Town, Mohe and the provincial capital as iron proof of the corruption of the Manchu government... It is also because of this bold Lord Qian that the history of Cao Tuan's participation in the Nian Chaos can truly end in the autumn of the eighth year of Guangxu.Although Xiao Taiping, the former head of the Second Cao Tuan Regiment, paid a heavy price for the Cao and Xiao rebel families, he also bought himself and the Cao and Xiao families' peace and prosperity at the end of the Qing Dynasty's rule, and made Qiaotou Town The coal kiln industry has made considerable development and prosperity in the subsequent ups and downs. However, Xiao Taiping did not see this at the time.After thinking about it, I always thought that I had suffered a big loss—it was on one of the most unlucky days that I made the most unlucky deal with Mr. Qian.So he was furious.Master Qian walked forward, Xiao Taiping missed Cao Tuan's rebellious career, and thought he had a new understanding of the old principle of coercion by officials.This almost made a big mistake...