The yamen of the prefect of Baoding, because of the "seal", is a little deserted in the yamen.

Cao Hao and his entourage entered the yamen and were directly welcomed to the inner yamen living room for tea.

The furnishings of this living room are very simple, and there is no gold, stone and jade, and what hangs on the wall is just calligraphy and painting given by friends.

Cao Hao saw it and nodded secretly. Zhu Zhilian has been in office in the Baoding prefect for five years, and the people are very good, and he is an honest official. Looking at the furnishings around and the tea for guests, it can also be seen that he is not arrogant.

It is the previous "birthday gift" and "New Year's gift" of the Governor's Palace, and the one he gave here is also the lowest among the officials of the Zhili Prefect.

You must know that Zhu Zhilian Kangxi was a thirty-first jinshi, and in the same year, he was specially named the prefect of Haozhou and entered the official career. However, because of the excessive popularity of the people, and the descendant of the former emperor, he is still in the prefect's office.

Three years of Qing Governor's Mansion, 100,000 snowflakes of silver.

If Zhu Zhilian had the slightest intention of making money, he would have already accumulated tens of thousands of family fortunes.

But as far as Cao Hao knows, the Zhu family is doing well. Their family is simple, with two wives and concubines, two sons and a daughter, the eldest son is married and has a grandson; The second son, seventeen, is a member of the middle school entrance examination, and is now studying in the house; The eldest daughter has not yet reached the end of the year, and she will be in the boudoir.

There are no more than ten slaves and maids, which are worse than the rich squires, and they do not have the style of official eunuchs, and they have been criticized. There are local gentry who want to send Zhu Zhilian a beautiful maid, but Zhu Zhilian only said that he couldn't afford it, and refused the other party's kindness several times.

In addition to supporting his family, the rest of his money is used to buy books. It doesn't matter if it's an old book or a new book, as long as you see it, you will be worried about it. In the officialdom of Zhili, they all called him a "bookworm".

However, he loves books as he loves books, but he is only willing to buy them himself, and never accepts books from others.

Perhaps it is precisely because of his full reading of poetry and books that Zhu Zhilian has no officialdom and a bit of elegance, and his boss is still as usual.

On the contrary, the staff member who followed him was about the same age as Zhu Zhilian, named Liu Chuan, but he was shrewd between his eyebrows and eyes, and cautious and tentative in his words.

Although Cao Hao was curious about Dai Wang's case, he did not speak first.

However, Zhu Zhilian took the initiative to mention the murder of Dai Wang without waiting for Cao Hao to ask, and Liu Chuan, who was familiar with the case, added the details.

Dai Wang's family lives in Nancheng, is the daughter of a homeless person, and entered the Dai family as a child daughter-in-law when she was a child. The Dai family was originally a family of crafts, and the head of the family, Dai Fu, made furniture for a living. Because his son Dai Xingguo was a little clever, the family did their best to provide him with education.

didn't wait for Dai Xingguo to grow up, and Dai Fu died.

The livelihood of the whole family depends on the Wang family and the mother-in-law Qin's spinning and weaving, and doing odd jobs to maintain. When Dai Xingguo came out of his suit, he participated in the children's exam, won the show, took him as a student, and studied in the county.

A few days later, the Qin family suffered a stroke and was paralyzed, and thanks to the Wang family's day and night service, he has been unable to breathe until now.

I don't want to, but disaster falls from the sky.

Wang went to the street to grab medicine, but was seen by Mao Renxing and caused trouble.

Mao Renxing was calculating, bought off the students in the county school, coaxed Dai Xingguo to eat wine, and signed a contract to sell people. After that, Mao Renxing took his subordinates and went to Dai's house to pick up people.

Wang recognized him as the one who teased him, refused to follow, and took a kitchen knife out to pick people up.

I don't know if the other party was annoyed and angry, or if he tore the handle by mistake, Wang's blade was added, so he lost his life.

The murder case was attributed to the Qingyuan County Ya, and the county magistrate filed a case for "accidental injury and death". Because the injured person has the Wang family deed in his hand, "from accidental injury to death" has become "the theory of injuring slaves and maids by mistake", and the treatment is reduced. In the end, he was fined two hundred taels of silver and imprisoned for three years.

The case file was sent to the prefect's yamen, but Zhu Zhilian saw that something was wrong.

Dai Xingguo has achieved fame, even if he is a poor and filial mother, there is no reason to sell his wife. If you get the name of "injustice" in this way, you will be criticized in your career in the future.

He has been in officialdom for more than 30 years, and how many cases he has judged, where can he not see the cattiness.

The deceased was a married man, and the place of murder was Wang's husband's house, and most of them were "annihilated". In addition, it is a murder case in vain, and there must be no suspicion of coercion. The case was closed so hastily, and the women became slaves and maids again, which really seemed strange to the committee.

When he searched, he learned that she was a filial woman, and when he heard about her filial piety, he felt respect, and he investigated more carefully.

Mao Renxing's family is rich and flamboyant, and he takes people to Dai's house in broad daylight, and his whereabouts fall in the eyes of his neighbors.

When Wang died, although the yamen closed the case, it couldn't stop the mouths of the people, and rumors came out.

Zhu Zhilian touched the melon along the vine, and found Mao Renxing's head, so he asked Liu Chuan to investigate it in detail, and then he knew about Qi.

Cao Hao listened, his face already sinking.

There are many injustices in the world, and if he doesn't know it, even if he hears about it, he can't ignore it.

Filial piety comes first, and all evil silver is the first.

Now, it is the filial piety that damages the body, the silver man is free, and the justice of heaven is lost.

However, at present, there is no physical evidence to be certified, and Cao Hao can't just listen to Zhu Zhilian's words.

He thought for a while and said, "Master Zhu, since you feel that the case is suspicious, should you mention it to the government for retrial, or send it back to the county government for retrial?" The people of the Dai family, if they have no objection to the case, there is no bitter master, how can Lord Zhu file a case? ”

If the Wang family is really wronged and dies, and the case is moved to the government for trial, it will make a big fuss.

It would be good if the truth could be found and the real culprit would be brought to justice; If you check and investigate, you can't be convicted, not only Zhu Zhilian is involved, but it is also easy to cause public resentment.

When Zhu Zhilian heard this, he was angry, and said: "That Dai Xingguo's shameless You, who exchanged his conscience for fame, has been selected as a 'tribute student', and will enter Beijing and enter the national prison after the year, how can he stand out for the Wang family?" ”

Skipping the level of trial is a taboo in officialdom. If there is a bitter master paper, it can be regarded as a famous teacher; Otherwise, even if there are any doubts about the case, it will be remanded for retrial.

Thinking of this, Zhu Zhilian's frustration became heavier, and he frowned: "Then remand for retrial, I want to see what Qingyuan County will say next time?" Dai Sheng is unscrupulous, and there is a paralyzed Qin family, if she is willing to come forward, she will also be a bitter master. ”

Having said that, it is related to the son's fame, what can this parent do?

Cao Hao knew less, so he didn't say more, and took Song Hou and Jiang Jian to leave the prefect's yamen.

Out of the prefect's yamen, Song Hou said: "The lord is reckless, although the lord has relied on it, but after all, he has left the capital, and he must prevent the villain from attacking." Since he knew that Mao Renxing had a palace behind him, he shouldn't go with Zhu Zhilian. Although Zhu Zhilian is the heart of the people, inviting adults over is suspected of taking advantage of the situation. ”

Cao Hao said: "Don't worry, sir, I have a sense of proportion." Mao Renxing relied on Xie Tianlai, Xie Tianlai walked the door of Zhuangwangfu, and the eighty percent he relied on behind him was also Zhuangwangfu. But when I went out of Beijing, the sixteenth master never mentioned this person, but this person became a trend in Qingyuan, and there was something wrong with it. It would be good to take advantage of this case and investigate him well. If it's really a murderer, you can't let the Wang family die in vain......"

As he was talking, Zhang Yi had already brought someone over and said, "Master, there is a messenger from Beijing, and he is waiting for the master in the house." ”

"Chincha?" When they heard this, they were all shocked.

"Is it an attendant, or an official of the Ministry of Rites?" Cao Hao asked.

"It's the seven-rank internal official, and there is also a head of the Ministry of Rites, as well as the guards in the palace." Zhang Yi replied.

Cao Hao was surprised when he heard this.

What kind of purpose is it so solemn?

It had been less than ten days since he returned from the capital, and he really couldn't imagine what unknown changes would occur in these ten days.

Although he was puzzled, it was not good to delay, so he got on his horse and led everyone back to his house.

Because he wanted to see the Qincha, he first went back to the inner house to change his official uniform, and then went to the living room to meet the two Qincha. Before that, Zhang Yi was instructed to open the lobby and set up incense tables.

When receiving the decree in the official office, you must show respect in the lobby.

I don't want to, when I saw Cao Hao, the young chamberlain did not open the holy decree, but passed on the Yongzheng edict, and ordered Cao Hao to send the decree to the Baoding prefect's official office, and Zhu Zhilian, the prefect of Baoding Prefecture, was named a first-class marquis to Cheng Ming Taizu's ritual.

When Cao Hao heard the content of the decree, he felt absurd.

Among the sons of Zhu Taizu, there are 12 feudal feuds, and the descendants of the Zhu family are all over the place.

Fortunately, the second half of this will is to lift the son of the acting king from the white flag to the white flag Han army, which can be regarded as breaking away from the identity of the slave of the Son of Heaven.

It wasn't until he walked into the prefect's yamen again that Cao Hao came to his senses.

Fortunately, the emperor was still clear and knew that Zhu Zhilian was a good official, so he did not let him go back to Beijing to observe the sacrifice, but ordered him to choose one of his descendants to be sent back to the capital to prepare for the Spring and Autumn Festival.

I don't know Cao Hao's surprise, just when Zhu Zhilian led people to open the middle door to welcome Qin, his expression was also a little abrupt.

After Cao Hao finished announcing his decree, Zhu Zhilian breathed a sigh of relief.

Liu Chuan was clever, and after listening to Cao Hao's introduction of the accompanying internal officials and the director of the Ministry of Rites, he prepared two silver seals. I don't know if the two are satisfied or not, in short, they are passable on the surface.

The internal official didn't say much, but the main thing explained after Cao Hao finished speaking. That is to let Zhu Zhilian quickly choose a son to return to Beijing, saving him from delaying the spring festival.

Jingzhong has already given the Hou Mansion, which will be taken care of by the Ministry of Rites, and will only be able to move in when Zhu Hou's children return to Beijing.

Looking at that posture, I couldn't wait to take someone away from Zhu's house immediately.

Zhu Zhilian is not a person from Lijie, his face has faded heavily, only the joy of the marquis remains, and he can't see the slightest difference, and said: "It's getting late today, and it's not good for the two adults to leave to return to Beijing." I wonder when the two adults are ready to leave? Xia Guan planned to let the eldest son go with the two adults, and asked the two adults to take care of him. ”

The chief looked at the internal official, and when he saw that he didn't speak, he said, "I'm afraid I'm going to disturb Lord Cao tonight, so I'll go back to Beijing tomorrow morning." ”

The accompanying guards stayed in the Governor's Palace, and these two people followed Cao Hao back to the Governor's Mansion to settle down.

Early the next morning, at the beginning of the morning, Zhu Zhilian brought his eldest son Zhu Zhen to the governor's mansion.

Zhu Zhen is twenty-five or six years old, with clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, and he also looks docile and respectful between answers.

Due to the rush of time, Zhu Zhen first returned to Beijing with everyone, and his wife and children returned to Beijing after the year.

The chamberlain and the ceremonial official are ordered to bring the people who bear the sacrifice back to Beijing, how are the family members, and where to take it to heart.

Although the red seal of the prefect's yamen was a little thinner, the governor's palace also prepared a "tea money" for them, and everyone returned to Beijing very satisfied......

(To be continued)