Dayou's Cangzhou is located in the south of the capital. It has convenient transportation and has always been a prosperous place. The merchants coming and going have brought good business opportunities here. As a result, inns, teahouses, restaurants, cloth shops, and banks are everywhere here, and even some small businesses are running here. For a time, Cangzhou became Dayou's most prosperous capital besides the capital.
Zhong Yehan walked along the streets of Cangzhou with Ximen Dehao and two guards. He stopped from time to time to look at the dazzling array of goods on the stalls, and occasionally asked about people's livelihood, such as how the prefect of Cangzhou was doing. ah? How is the public security in Cangzhou? Some troubled people really complained: "Master, this is your first time in Cangzhou! Everything is good in our place, except that there are many bandits. No, three incidents happened in just three months." Commit a home invasion and robbery.”
"Why are there so many bandits here?" Zhong Yehan was a little confused.
"It's not because of money. We are rich in Cangzhou, and some thieves from other places are interested in our fat meat. If anyone is targeted by them, they can only consider themselves unlucky. Losing some property is considered a good thing. If you dare to resist, Have you heard of Jia Xian? It just clicked!" The man made an exaggerated movement.
"Then why doesn't the government care?" Zhong Yehan asked rightly. Having too much money cannot be a reason for thieves to wreak havoc.
"Government! Don't mention it. As for the prefect Duan Wenliang, you were obviously the plaintiff in whatever case he decided. You don't even know when you became the defendant. Let me tell you something. Last year, a widow sued her father-in-law for harassment. She was also the case that Duan Wenliang tried. After repeated trials, the final conclusion was that if the daughter-in-law did not seduce the father-in-law, why would the father-in-law harass the daughter-in-law? The daughter-in-law must have been unable to bear the loneliness and wanted Hongxing to cheat on her. In the end, Duan Wenliang The verdict is to scratch the widow's face, saying that your father-in-law will no longer be interested in you."
Zhong Ye gasped coldly. This dog official actually fooled the people like this. I will settle the score with you after I collect all the evidence!
"Didn't you hear that the emperor sent a prince here?" Zhong Yehan was more concerned about Zhong Langfu's performance in Cangzhou.
When the man heard this, he immediately stopped talking: "Uncle, you are busy, I have something else to do!" After that, the man walked away quickly.
A dark cloud rose in Zhong Yehan's heart. If Zhong Langfu did well in Cangzhou, the people here would definitely praise him. But the man just looked like he was afraid of something. Could there be something hidden here
Zhong Yehan said to Ximen Dehao behind him: "Is there a better teahouse here? Let's go sit in the teahouse and maybe we can hear some news."
Ximen Dehao looked at Zhong Yehan in embarrassment: "Sir, let's go to Cangzhou Yamen! It's not very safe here." Ximen Dehao also felt vaguely that something was wrong. Did the third prince do something inappropriate? Otherwise Why do the people of Cangzhou avoid talking about him when he is mentioned!
Zhong Yehan waved his hand: "No hurry, let's find a teahouse first. Look, there is one over there." Following the direction of Zhong Yehan's finger, there was indeed a teahouse with a second floor. The facade was quite big and far away. It looked like there were quite a lot of guests, and it seemed that it was already full of guests.
Zhong Yehan quickened his pace: "Let's go, let's go over there and rest for a while."
Zhong Yehan didn't care whether Ximen Dehao agreed or not, and walked straight towards the teahouse. Zhong Yehan walked into the teahouse and walked upstairs and sat down at a seat by the window. The waiter immediately brought hot tea: "Two guests, would you like some pastries?"
Zhong Yehan nodded: "Okay, you can order whatever you like and we'll have a taste."
"Okay!" the waiter agreed and went in.
Storytelling was being taught in the teahouse. Storytelling was a very popular entertainment item in ancient China. In that era of cold weapons, people could only create heroes by relying on the iron mouth of the storyteller.
At this time, there were several young people at the next table. They clamored to hear Bao Zheng's verdict: "Hey! Storyteller, why do you keep talking about this paragraph? We like to hear Bao Zheng's verdict. Let's talk about the guillotine case instead today! "
Several people echoed: "That's it, what's the use of these flying over the wall? Have you ever seen Feixia? Or tell me something practical for us ordinary people."
The storyteller was a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing a robe. Seeing that everyone liked to listen to Bao Zheng's play, he said: "Okay! Then I will tell you a story about Bao Zheng's civet cat being replaced by the prince!"
Zhong Yehan coughed lightly and asked the young people: "You are so young, why do you like to hear stories about solving crimes? Aren't martial arts ones pretty good!"
The young man shook his head: "Old sir, what our people lack is not heroes who can fly over the roof and walk over walls. Those heroes are all based on books. In fact, there are no heroes. What we in Cangzhou lack is Bao Qingtian, who is like a god in solving cases. !”
Zhong Yehan picked up the tea cup and walked over, then sat down at their table: "You don't mind if I sit here!"
"Of course, whatever you want!"
Zhong Yehan took a sip of tea and said, "I am a merchant from the past. I heard that Cangzhou is not peaceful. Is this true?"
A young man in his twenties said: "No, I advise you to be careful when you go to bed at night, otherwise you will not know how you will die."
"Is it so scary?"
"Of course, every house here is closed at night, and the streets are even quieter. If you don't believe it, you can see it tonight."
"Ah! It's so serious! Doesn't the government even care about it?"
"What the hell! Duan Wenliang, the prefect of Cangzhou, can solve a few romantic cases, and some of them are unclear. There is also a new prince who is even more confused..."
An older man next to him quickly stopped him: "You don't want your life, what nonsense are you talking about!"
Zhong Yehan immediately understood that the son I sent didn't look too good: "Haha, little brother, can you tell me how this prince solved the case? I heard that he gave the headless case to broken!"
The young man was frightened by the middle-aged man just now, and quickly shook his head: "I don't know this, you should ask others!"
Zhong Yehan understood immediately upon hearing this that this young man was afraid of getting into trouble! Talking about a prince in private is a serious sin, let alone slandering a prince! Zhong Yehan took a sip of tea and was about to leave when suddenly a thin middle-aged man walked across from him. He smiled at Zhong Yehan and said, "Your guest is from out of town?"
Zhong Yehan nodded: "Yes, I am a small businessman. I passed by here. What do you think?"
The thin man glanced at Zhong Yehan and said, "I don't dare to accept advice. I just want to know why the old gentleman is so interested in the prince?"
Zhong Yehan was stunned and wondered what this guy wanted to do. Could it be that he was from the government
"I'm just a businessman who occasionally writes something. If the current prince has any deeds, I would just like to learn about them and write them into his article. If any storyteller is interested in the future, I can publicize them."
The thin man looked Zhong Yehan up and down, and suddenly his face changed: "Write something and pay back the merchants. I think you are a troublesome person. Come on! Arrest this old guy!" Just after the thin man finished speaking, he suddenly came from the side. Several uniformed government officials rushed over and looked at Zhong Yehan eagerly.
Simon Dehao, who was sitting next to him, was furious. He slammed the table: "Bold, who are you? How can you arrest people in broad daylight?"
The thin man pointed at the officials: "Can't you tell? We are from Cangzhou Prefecture. It is a serious crime for you to talk about the prince in private. Take him away!"
Ximen Dehao shouted: "Who dares! You know who he is..."
Zhong Yehan waved his hand before Ximen Dehao finished speaking: "Okay! I will go with you. I don't believe it. You can convict me based on just a few words!"
Ximen Dehao understood as soon as he heard this. The emperor was trying to test Duan Wenliang, the prefect of Cangzhou: "Okay! Let me go too, old man!"
The two guards behind Zhong Yehan also came closer. At this time, as long as Zhong Yehan or Ximen Dehao gave an order, they would beat these government servants to pieces. However, these two old men remained calm, as if they would not catch the tiger's cubs if they did not enter the tiger's den. The master didn't say anything, and they didn't dare to make any decisions. They could only watch the development of the situation helplessly.
Zhong Yehan stood up: "Okay, okay, okay, I don't believe it anymore. There is something unreasonable about this Dayou."
The thin man waved his hand, and several government officials were about to arrest him. Zhong Yehan waved his hand: "No need to bother, I will leave on my own!"
Those government officials didn't care about that, so they tied Zhong Yehan up immediately. Ximen Dehao was shocked: "You slaves, how dare you, how dare you..."
"What, you dare to say that we are slaves, tie us up!" Following the thin man's order, the government officials immediately tied up Ximen Dehao. Ximen Dehao looked directly at Zhong Yehan and said in his heart, Your Majesty, it's time for you to reveal your identity, otherwise you might suffer some losses if you go to jail, and you will regret it later and forget about it.
However, Zhong Yehan didn't care at all. He walked out of the teahouse calmly. The tea-drinking guests looked on timidly, not daring to say a word for fear of getting into trouble.
Zhong Yehan felt desolate in his heart. This Cangzhou magistrate had managed the place like this and deserved to be killed!
Who is that thin guy and why is he so awesome! In fact, he was none other than Wu Hongwei, the nephew of Duan Wenliang, the prefect of Cangzhou. This boy led a group of government officials to arrest people all day long, especially those who dared to talk about the third prince. It should be said that Wu Hongwei and his uncle are the same, and in order to please the prince, they tried their best to flatter him. They not only fawned over the prince in words, but also in actions.
Therefore, it should be said that Zhong Langfu lived a relatively comfortable life in Cangzhou. He ate big fish and meat during the day and was served by beautiful girls at night, which made the prince not want to return to the capital. Why should I go back to that place? It’s so nice here! Eat delicacies from the mountains and seas, play with stunning beauties, life is like this, why regret this life!
On this day, Zhong Langfu was playing a vulgar game with a charming beauty with a glass of wine in his hand. Duan Wenliang walked in: "Oh, Your Highness, you are really a genius. You can come up with such a wonderful game. I admire you, I admire you!" Duan Wenliang has been in the officialdom for so many years, and he is very good at flattery. He started to flatter Zhong Langfu before he could see clearly what he was up to.
Zhong Langfu smiled: "Zhifu Duan, you are exaggerating. Your Highness hasn't started playing yet. How do you know that I play the game very well?" Yes! Zhong Langfu is right! You have to have a basis for your flattery! You can’t take random pictures.
Duan Wenliang rolled his eyes: "His Highness must have never heard of games played by this official. You ask me to guess." Duan Wenliang looked at the dice on the table and said, "His Highness must be playing dice with Miss Qing'er."
Zhong Langfu glanced at Duan Wenliang disdainfully: "Every fool knows that His Highness and Qing'er are playing dice, so what do you think the loser should do?"
Duan Wenliang smiled infatuatedly: "It must be, it must be, if you take off one piece of clothing at a time, don't you think so, Your Highness?"
Zhong Langfu shook his head: "No, guess again."
Duan Wenliang frowned: "Then, who loses and takes off two pieces of clothing?"
Zhong Langfu still shook his head: "Why do you always want to take off other people's clothes? Don't you think about how embarrassing it would be if His Highness loses."
Duan Wenliang chuckled: "Your Highness is so wise and powerful, how could he lose? The loser must be Miss Qing'er, don't you think so, Qing'er?"
That Qing'er opened her red lips lightly and her face turned slightly red: "Sir, you are right. How can a little girl, an ordinary person, defeat the Third Highness of the current prince!"