Bang!
As soon as Zhu Ping'an opened his mouth, a "double regulation" across time and space came out, which perfectly filled the loopholes of the complicated and time-consuming handling procedures of the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Justice, making Zhang Xiancheng and others spit out blood and shout that Zhu Ping'an was a hooligan.
"Zhu Ping'an, I'm going to fight you!"
Li Dianshi felt that he had quite a bit of fighting power, and when he was placed under double supervision, he even attempted to resist, wanting to capture the leader first against Zhu Ping'an. However, he was just fat, and his fighting power was just that of a worthless person. As soon as he jumped up with a roar, he was easily and casually suppressed by the vigilant Liu Dadao with one hand, just like beating a cub.
"Take them away! Find three empty rooms in the inn and separate them. You will take turns to keep a close watch on them. Before they explain the problem clearly, they are not allowed to step out of their rooms without my order! No one is allowed to contact them either! They must eat, drink, defecate, urinate, and sleep in their rooms!"
Zhu Ping'an ordered that Zhang Xiancheng, Yao Zhubu, and Li Dianshi be placed under double supervision at the post station.
"Zhu Ping'an, you are abusing lynching!"
"Zhu Ping'an, you are being a hooligan, you are taking advantage of a loophole..."
"Eunuch Qian, did you see that Zhu Ping'an was lawless, bypassing the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Justice, and abusing private punishment? You have to take charge of this for us."
Zhang Xiancheng and three others were forcibly taken to the double-regulation room. They struggled and shouted loudly in excitement.
But it's no use.
Their savior, Eunuch Qian, couldn't even save himself, and was being beaten with a stick while howling like a pig being slaughtered, so how could he care about them? Besides, Eunuch Qian also had resentment towards County Magistrate Zhang and his men. In Eunuch Qian's opinion, if it weren't for County Magistrate Zhang and his men, he wouldn't have ended up like this!
"Uncle Liu, I will keep this contract as evidence of this case. This is your ancestral pearl, please keep it. This fifty taels of silver is their compensation to you and will be used for your recovery."
After Zhu Ping'an placed Zhang Xiancheng and others under double supervision, he returned the original pearl to Old Man Liu and took out fifty taels of silver from Eunuch Qian's stolen goods and gave them to Old Man Liu as compensation from Eunuch Qian.
"Thank you, Mr. Magistrate, and thank you, Mr. Justice."
Old man Liu was so excited that he burst into tears after finding his ancestral pearl. He kowtowed to Zhu Ping'an repeatedly in gratitude.
"My Lord, the wounds on my body are only superficial. I will be fine after a few days of rest. No compensation is required. No compensation is required."
Old Man Liu took the pearl and waved his hands repeatedly, refusing the compensation of fifty taels of silver.
"Why don't you pay compensation? You are old, Mr. Liu, and they beat you up like that. How can you not pay compensation? Medical expenses, lost wages, nursing expenses, transportation expenses, food allowance, nutrition expenses, rehabilitation expenses... Oh, and mental damages. Add it all up. Fifty taels of silver is really not much."
Zhu Ping'an said with a smile, and insisted on putting the fifty taels of silver as compensation into Old Man Liu's hands.
"My Lord, no need, really no need. We don't need so much compensation." Old man Liu shook his head repeatedly.
"Old Liu, if the county magistrate tells you to take it, just take it. How can you complain about having too much silver, really?"
"The magistrate really cares about us common people. He is truly a just man. Old Liu, just keep it."
The onlookers persuaded.
"Thank you, my Lord. Thank you, my Lord." Under the persuasion of the onlookers and Zhu Ping'an's insistence, Old Man Liu accepted the fifty taels of silver as compensation and kowtowed repeatedly in excitement to express his gratitude.
Similarly, Zhu Pingan took another fifty taels of silver from the stolen money of Eunuch Qian as compensation and gave it to Liu Dianli who was being whipped. Liu Dianli refused for a long time, but only accepted it under Zhu Pingan's insistence.
That's all my money... ... Next to him, Eunuch Qian, who was being beaten with a stick, shed even more tears.
Next, Zhu Ping'an took out his writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone and wrote a letter to Chen Hong, the eunuch who was far away in Suzhou:
Mr. Chen wrote to me personally: I have seized a thug in Jingnan who claimed to be your adopted son. He pretended to be Mr. Chen's adopted son and bullied people in the name of Mr. Chen. He cheated people and stole thousands of silver coins and antiques and paintings. He fled to Jingnan and stayed in the Jingnan Posthouse illegally. He smashed the door of the posthouse and whipped the county clerk. He robbed the commoner Liu Qi of his ancestral pearl worth a thousand silver coins for one tael of silver. He sent people to break into the Jingnan County Government Office and disrupt the court... ...
When I lived in the capital, I had long heard that Mr. Chen was fair and law-abiding, never committed any crime, and strictly disciplined his subordinates. If he were Mr. Chen's adopted son, he would be as upright and loyal as Mr. Chen. How could he indulge in doing his job and instead cheat, bully, and rob people? Therefore, I concluded that this villain was impersonating Mr. Chen's adopted son. In addition to compensating the victim, I will confiscate the stolen goods according to the law. Among the stolen goods, there are 1,000 taels of Taicang official silver and a jar of pearls. Please ask Mr. Chen to pass them to His Majesty. Because this criminal has ruined the reputation of His Majesty everywhere, it is really abominable and he deserves death! I specially escorted him to Mr. Chen's place and ask him to punish him severely!
The autumn air is getting cooler, so please nourish your mind and body.
--------In the autumn of the 31st year of Jiajing, Zhu Ping'an, the magistrate of Jingnan County.
After finishing writing, Zhu Ping'an stamped the seal of Jingnan County Government and handed it to Liu Dadao, asking him to take the letter, one thousand taels of Taicang official silver, and a jar of pearls, and escort them to Eunuch Chen Hong in Suzhou after the execution of Eunuch Qian and his gang.
The reason why Zhu Ping'an gave one thousand taels of Taicang official silver and a jar of pearls to Chen Hong was that he didn't want to cause any trouble.
Zhu Ping'an was well aware of Eunuch Qian's identity, and also knew that Emperor Jiajing had ordered people to purchase Jinbao Pearl.
The 1,000 taels of Taicang official silver and a jar of pearls that Eunuch Qian brought as a gift were obviously public funds and official business. If I withheld these, Chen Hong's job of purchasing gold, treasure and pearls would definitely be greatly affected. Then he would definitely not let me off and would have an excuse to get angry. However, now that I have the evidence of Eunuch Qian's crime and the handle on him, and I have sent the Taicang official silver and pearls to Chen Hong, plus this letter from me, even if Chen Hong is unwilling and angry, he can only swallow it with gritted teeth. Because he is not in the right at all, if he makes a fuss, it will only embarrass himself.
As for the 8,600 taels of silver notes, 1,580 taels of silver ingots, loose silver, house deeds, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, etc. that Eunuch Qian had collected through great efforts, Zhu Ping'an accepted them all with a smile. Limited by the county government's finances and the cumbersome and time-consuming process of reporting merits and asking for rewards from the government office, Zhu Ping'an was worried about the shortage of funds. The stolen money from Eunuch Qian was just right for giving rewards to young and strong people.
After a while, after Eunuch Qian and others were beaten with sticks, Zhu Ping'an ordered the doctor to give them simple treatment to prevent their wounds from becoming inflamed and dying during the escort. Of course, they would not be given more treatment, after all, they deserved it.
Afterwards, Liu Dadao took ten yamen runners, rented a few horse-drawn carriages, put Eunuch Qian and others on the carriages, and escorted them all the way to Suzhou.