Mo Fei went to Songjiang Mansion to investigate the He Jiu murder case, and because he was an official, he went to handle official business on behalf of the Shuntian Mansion. Whether it is taking the post road, or going south along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the traffic is very convenient.

It's just that the time he has spent has already greatly exceeded the estimated time, and now he says that he almost can't come back to see him, and it is obvious that something dangerous has happened in the meantime.

Mo Fei is Lin Haoran's classmate and his most trusted subordinate. Although the status of the two of them was further expanded, he was still quite happy to see Mo Fei come back safe and sound.

The two sat opposite each other at the tea table, Lin Haoran took the initiative to pour Mo Fei a cup of tea, and then looked at Mo Fei with a solemn face, listening to Mo Fei's experience of going to Songjiang and the results of the investigation.

Mo Fei's journey to Songjiang Mansion was very smooth, and he did not notify the local yamen, but directly found He Jiu's home. It's just that this He Jiu is a snake-like figure, and it took a lot of time to arrest him.

Lin Haoran was most worried that He Jiu had left his hometown incognito, or was directly killed. At this moment, when he heard that Mo Fei had captured He Jiu, his hanging heart also lowered slightly, and he nodded happily: "It's good if someone catches it!" ”

"People are caught, but things are far from as simple as we imagined!" Mo Fei had a wry smile on his face, looked at Lin Haoran and then said solemnly: "When the lower officials escort He Jiu back to the Songjiang Mansion for detention, I will know that the murderer of Zeng Si, the deceased of Zengjiazhuang, has confessed to the law, so He Jiu is not a murderer!" ”

After working hard to catch the suspect He Jiu to the Songjiang Mansion, only to be told that the murderer had already been punished and pleaded guilty, Mo Fei's feelings at that time would be so complicated.

Even though Lin Haoran thought that Zeng Aniu's gang had told a big lie, but even if he shook his head and vetoed it, no one would come all the way to Shuntianfu to falsely accuse others, and asked tentatively: "Did He Jiu find a scapegoat?" ”

"Your Excellency is wise!" Mo Fei bowed his hand to Lin Haoran, and then solemnly continued: "The lower officials naturally don't believe it, so they are investigating in private. The murderer who claimed to have killed Zeng Si was called He Bi, his father owed He Jiu's family a sum of money in his early years, and he has not paid it back so far, He Bi is willing to die for He Jiu's crime in order to repay this debt! ”

Lin Haoran knew that this kind of thing was not uncommon, and there was no shortage of bankrupt people in both Leizhou Mansion and Guangzhou Mansion, but he frowned and asked suspiciously: "The Songjiang Prefect, as a parent official, can't he see through this, and he can't even see that He Jiu found a scapegoat?" ”

Mo Fei's face immediately showed a look of sarcasm, and he said jokingly: "It's not that he can't see through it, but he is just pretending to be confused!" My lord, do you know whose protégé this Songjiang prefect Zang Jifang is? ”

"Whose protégé?" Lin Haoran picked up the teacup and asked quietly.

Mo Fei raised his eyes to look at Lin Haoran, and announced the answer word by word: "Zang Jifang is a jinshi of the Ugly Sect, and the chief examiner who presided over that session of the examination is none other than Xu Gelao, who was the secretary of the Ministry of Rites at the time!" ”

Although Xu Jie recruited a lot of protégés by becoming a teacher at the Hanlin Academy, the serious protégés of the 800 were 300 Jinshi of the 32nd year of Jiajing.

"It turned out to be Xu Ge's protégé!" Lin Haoran took a sip of tea and sighed secretly when he felt the matter.

Mo Fei was a vicious person, and he continued with a look of indignation: "Xia Guan has heard that Zang Jifang went to Songjiang to serve as the prefect, which was arranged by Xu Jie. He arranged for his protégé to go to his hometown to serve as the head of a government, obviously because he wanted his Xu family to cover the sky with one hand in Songjiang, and it was no wonder that Zeng Aniu and others would go over Songjiang Mansion and sue directly! ”

Lin Haoran knew that Xu Jie was not only good at forbearance, but also a cautious official, so he arranged for his protégé Zang Jifang to serve as the prefect in Songjiang, I am afraid that he wanted to prevent "backyard fire".

It's just that he is a person who aspires to become the first assistant, so naturally it is impossible to discuss the rights and wrongs of the second assistant here, thinking about it with a teacup, and suddenly asked in his heart: "In this way, the Xu family's encroachment on the Zeng family's farm property, I'm afraid it is difficult to have empirical evidence, right?" ”

With a protégé who served as the prefect of Songjiang to help cover up, coupled with the power of the Xu Mansion in Songjiang, these things that were not conducive to the Xu family were naturally wiped clean.

Mo Fei looked at Lin Haoran with secret admiration, and said with a faint sadness on his face: "That's true!" In the newly made fish scale book in Huating County, those fields are owned by others, and they have nothing to do with the Xu Mansion. It's just that the lower officials conducted an investigation in private, and some villagers secretly confided some truths to the lower officials, and many people called the Xu family Xu Bancheng behind their backs! ”

"Xu Bancheng?"

Lin Haoran took a sip of the slightly cold tea, a bitter color appeared on his face, and he sighed softly.

He had already heard of the Xu family's family background, and even benefited most of the Songjiang cloth from the Xu family. It's just that you can't blame the Xu family too much, in fact, all officials in the world are like this, which has become a major stubborn disease of the Ming Dynasty.

Not to mention the incumbent high-ranking officials of the imperial court, in fact, after the retirement of many high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty, they will slowly become the home of the local eunuchs, sitting on tens of thousands or as high as 100,000 acres of land.

After many civil officials of the Ming Dynasty returned to their hometowns, although they lost their official positions, they still maintained some influence in the capital through the ties of protégés, fellow villagers and fellow villagers.

It is said that the Shangshu Dong Fen, who retired and returned home in Wucheng County, attached himself to the powerful in the official, lived in the township and occupied the fields, and accumulated wealth. There are more than 100 quality houses, each with a large businessman, and the interest is millions. There were no less than 1,000 domestic animals and servants, and more than 300 ships sailed."

The Dong family also used part of the family wealth to lend private debts, integrating land rent exploitation and usury exploitation, and his family occupied tens of thousands of acres of land in Wucheng and Wujiang, and was one of the few eunuchs in Nanxun, Zhejiang.

In addition, in the same county, the sacrificial wine festival returning home was due, and the two families were rampant, and the people's grievances were great, and thousands of people appealed.

Wang Ruxun, the governor of Zhejiang, and Peng Yingshen, the governor of Nanchang, the governor of the imperial history, decided to arrest the original sacrificial wine fan. The sacrifice of wine Fan was humiliated and hanged himself, and the Fan family went to Beijing to complain.

The emperor was angry, and ordered Peng Yingshen and Zhang Yingwang to be imprisoned, and Zhang Yingwang in Zhizhi County was in the land of smoke and miasma, Wang Ruxun and Peng Yingshen were both cut to the people, and even the officials who recommended Wang Ruxun and Peng Yingshen were implicated.

Later, no one dared to inquire about the matter, and the Dong family continued to commit lawlessness, and the people continued to complain.

It can be seen that the poisonous insects that devour the Ming Dynasty are not limited to the clans, corrupt officials and corrupt officials, in essence, there are also these retired maggots, who have quietly plundered a large number of fields, and even made profits through lending.